Browse content similar to 29/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the East... Where does it all go? We all pay tax, so shouldn't we | :01:21. | :01:31. | |
:01:31. | :01:31. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2020 seconds | :01:31. | :35:12. | |
And are housing benefit changes Welcome to Sunday Politics East. | :35:12. | :35:18. | |
I am Amelia Reynolds. Coming up, as rents rise, local housing | :35:18. | :35:22. | |
allowances are failing to keep up. It is leaving some families facing | :35:22. | :35:26. | |
the prospect of losing their home. But first, let us meet this week's | :35:26. | :35:33. | |
guests. On home turf, the Lib Dem MP for Cambridge, Julian Huppert. | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
And Bob Blizzard, the former Labour MP for Waveney and its prospective | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
parliamentary candidate. I want to ask about this week's | :35:40. | :35:46. | |
growth figures or lack of them. The UK economy shrank by more than | :35:46. | :35:53. | |
expected at the end of fleshier, with growth falling by 0.2% and | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
debt topping a trillion Pounds. Are we heading for that double-dip | :35:56. | :36:04. | |
recession? It is not encouraging. We have not managed to pick up from | :36:04. | :36:11. | |
problems in 2008. But the East of England is doing relatively better. | :36:11. | :36:17. | |
Cambridge won a big accolade. There was a study showing that 80 is a | :36:17. | :36:21. | |
city doing the best across the country, still delivering, with | :36:21. | :36:26. | |
unemployment coming down. Long-term unemployment and youth unemployment | :36:26. | :36:33. | |
is going down. It is very good news. Bob blizzard, Labour said they | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
would keep the cuts. So you would - - so we would still be in the same | :36:37. | :36:43. | |
position if you were in charge. What we can see this week is | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
absolutely clear. David Cameron has got it wrong. We are going through | :36:48. | :36:55. | |
the pain of higher taxes and lower pensions and pay. We have record | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
deck of a trillion pounds and we are not even an economy that is | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
standing still, it is shrinking. The coalition has got it wrong, | :37:04. | :37:11. | |
cutting too deep, too far. The is no getting away from the cuts or | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
getting out of paying your taxes. But do we know what the taxes are | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
spent on. One Suffolk MP has a cunning plan. He revealed all in | :37:21. | :37:31. | |
:37:31. | :37:33. | ||
the House of Commons this week. Around 26 million people pay income | :37:33. | :37:43. | |
tax every year, but none of us know where it goes. Benefits, transport. | :37:43. | :37:53. | |
:37:53. | :37:56. | ||
Schools, hospitals. Maybe defence? Who knows? Would you like to know? | :37:56. | :38:02. | |
Riding to the rescue, the MP for Essex. If he gets his way, we will | :38:02. | :38:09. | |
all get a statement telling us higher taxes are spent. It would be | :38:09. | :38:15. | |
a national water cooler moment. Instead of talking about the latest | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
television, he believes week will be intrigued, amazed or even out | :38:20. | :38:26. | |
raged at how taxes are spent. This is the sort of big round someone on | :38:26. | :38:36. | |
:38:36. | :38:41. | ||
�2,000 would go on benefits, just over �1,000 on NHS and over �800 on | :38:41. | :38:51. | |
:38:51. | :38:53. | ||
education. �92 on roads and �53 on You would not expect to know -- you | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
would expect to know what you pay for in a restaurant. You should | :38:57. | :39:03. | |
know what your taxes are spent on. It can be meaningless hearing about | :39:03. | :39:10. | |
Chileans. But having a statement would make it more realistic. -- | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
meaning with hearing about trillions. This is just a puff | :39:15. | :39:23. | |
piece. There is one MP that thinks this would be a waste of money, but | :39:23. | :39:31. | |
it has been well received amongst many. | :39:32. | :39:36. | |
And we are joined by Ben Gummer. Why do you think it is all | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
important to know every last detail? Aren't there more important | :39:40. | :39:46. | |
things to worry about? It is our biggest outgoing and we are told | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
nothing about how much we pay and where it goes, meaning that or | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
representatives like me and was then the studio, it makes it | :39:54. | :39:59. | |
difficult to connect with voters to say where money is going and | :39:59. | :40:03. | |
decisions made. It is utterly bizarre that we hand over thousands | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
and thousands of pounds to the Government, get we have no | :40:07. | :40:14. | |
explanation of how that is spent. The figures are interesting. About | :40:14. | :40:20. | |
�2,000 goes on pensions and benefits if you earn �25,000. Isn't | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
this going to fuel controversy, with people saying they do not want | :40:25. | :40:33. | |
their money spent on that? Yes and I hope that happens. People might | :40:33. | :40:37. | |
engage more with the ballot box. People do not vote because they | :40:37. | :40:41. | |
feel no connection between what they do and what we do in | :40:41. | :40:45. | |
Parliament. That will make cuts of more accountable and make voters | :40:45. | :40:55. | |
more engaged. -- that will make us more accountable. If you take it as | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
25p per itemised statement, or everyone working, we are looking at | :40:59. | :41:07. | |
�5 million. I have given the maximum costs, which is unusual for | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
politicians. It could be considerably offset, going out with | :41:12. | :41:19. | |
existing revenue letters, or it could be sponsored by advertising. | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
By that point, it will cost little. The return is amazing, because for | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
the first time, you connect people with money which at the moment is | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
expressed in billions and trillions and turn it into what it means for | :41:35. | :41:42. | |
them. Let us bring guests into this. It is all about being accountable | :41:42. | :41:49. | |
and value for money. It is a good idea, giving people more | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
information. Some people could say we do not spend enough on some | :41:54. | :41:59. | |
things. That could be good. It could also dispel myths. There is a | :41:59. | :42:05. | |
lot of discussion about money going to be EU, which is tiny compared to | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
other things. Councils do do this already, sending out a list of what | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
is spent roughly. We could have informed discussions with people | :42:14. | :42:23. | |
knowing more. This would be a way forward. It is important we help | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
the public make a connection between taxes and what is received | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
on it. My one worry about Ben Gummer's suggestion is that, with | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
his personal itemised bill, people may look at the items they do not | :42:37. | :42:42. | |
like, cross that out, and maybe tried to withhold money. That is | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
what happened to councils when Margaret Thatcher said we had to | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
itemise what was there for non- collection. People with help that | :42:50. | :42:54. | |
amount of money and it was costly trying to recover these bits of | :42:54. | :43:02. | |
unpaid tax. How would you answer that? Most taxpayers paid by Pay As | :43:02. | :43:10. | |
You earn, so they cannot do anything. But a lot of people have | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
self-assessment and have to be a balance. You will find some people | :43:13. | :43:20. | |
saying they will not pay for that. That is what worries me. We are | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
talking about 5% top tax payers. But let us engage people. People | :43:27. | :43:32. | |
refuse to peeve their portion of the US expenditure during be | :43:32. | :43:37. | |
Vietnam war. -- people refuse to pay. Some people went to prison as | :43:37. | :43:42. | |
a result. Why not have the same things for people care about? The | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
war in Iraq might have been more of a problem if people could see the | :43:46. | :43:53. | |
cost it was causing. I voted against the Iraq war, not you | :43:53. | :44:02. | |
saying I voted for it. Julian would like to make a point. I would like | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
it if it identified things for people. I would love it both of you | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
parties opposed spending money on Trident. It would be good for | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
people to know. Then people can challenge things. I think there | :44:16. | :44:22. | |
will be things where people will want more money. We would go back | :44:22. | :44:28. | |
to the days or poll tax protests, which are a nightmare. We will have | :44:28. | :44:35. | |
to leave it there. Thank you very much. We shall see what happens. | :44:35. | :44:41. | |
More from the both of you later. We are moving on to the Government's | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
Welfare Reform Bill. It has suffered six defeats in the House | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
of Lords, with the bishops launching the assault on the | :44:48. | :44:54. | |
benefit cap of �26,000. Existing benefits for housing will be | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
integrated into this existing credit and critics claimed children | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
will be hardest hit the families have no where to bowl. Joseph Holt | :45:02. | :45:09. | |
met one family facing that. -- know where to bowl. Many more may face | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
them -- may find themselves in a similar situation with no where to | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
For Kristel Hartup and her family, time is running out. They are | :45:19. | :45:25. | |
desperately seeking accounts will house. Now my tenancy is ending, I | :45:25. | :45:31. | |
am facing becoming homeless. The only help his temporary | :45:31. | :45:37. | |
accommodation or privately renting, but I cannot afford that. | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
family has been on a waiting list for two years, but there are many | :45:41. | :45:48. | |
families like Harrods and not enough homes. When I am on my own, | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
it is a frightening place to be. We may have to live an hour away from | :45:54. | :46:01. | |
my mother. The council had said they will do all that the can, but | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
a hostel can be a short-term reality. Jimmy's Night Shelter is | :46:05. | :46:11. | |
home to Barry Griffiths. She had a job as a civil servant, a home and | :46:11. | :46:19. | |
relationship. Government cuts saw the job go, the rest soon followed. | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
Finding his own place again is his number one priority, but it is | :46:24. | :46:29. | |
difficult. We looked around one property available, but there is a | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
considerable shortfall between housing benefit and rental prices. | :46:34. | :46:39. | |
It is pretty tough as an individual to get a house in Cambridge. There | :46:39. | :46:45. | |
is a lot of demand for student population, or every other type of | :46:45. | :46:51. | |
population, with a big competition from the city council to try and | :46:51. | :46:59. | |
get places, especially if you are like myself. This is where the | :46:59. | :47:05. | |
benefits cut hit hard and it has got worse. The benefit is | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
calculated on a wide area, and the large part of the county, | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
calculated on a percentage depending on the highest and low | :47:14. | :47:22. | |
rents. That sets the local housing allowance to very low levels. | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
allowance border two bedroom property is �575 per month. There | :47:27. | :47:33. | |
are currently only 10 properties below �700. That is not likely to | :47:33. | :47:38. | |
change unless there are more properties available. There are | :47:38. | :47:42. | |
currently around 400 in the properties, like these. Around 100 | :47:42. | :47:48. | |
of them are talking to the council and could end up on council books. | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
Given there are approaching 100 homeless households in the county, | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
the council say this sooner they can get hold of these empty | :47:57. | :48:03. | |
properties, the better. This property has been empty for five | :48:03. | :48:08. | |
years. South Cambridgeshire District Council recognised the | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
need for more stock, working alongside a company that manages | :48:11. | :48:18. | |
homes, more properties like this could soon have tenants. A family | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
in housing need will live here, perhaps one that has recently | :48:22. | :48:26. | |
become homeless or has been living with relatives and been asked to | :48:26. | :48:31. | |
leave. Perhaps someone already in a privately rented property and the | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
landlord needs it back. Perfect for someone like Kristel. Sadly, she | :48:37. | :48:45. | |
lives outside of the region -- of the area, so she has few options. | :48:45. | :48:51. | |
do not know how -- I do not know what to do it. | :48:51. | :48:59. | |
Kristl Hartup ending that report. Julian Huppert, you are campaigning | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
over using empty properties like the one in the film. A nice idea. | :49:02. | :49:09. | |
But there are just under 100 in Cambridge. We think there is more | :49:09. | :49:15. | |
like 1,000. The council is doing work on 100. One thing I am keen to | :49:15. | :49:21. | |
do is support a campaign, where you can report empty homes. If a home | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
has been empty for more than six months, God took the website on | :49:25. | :49:35. | |
empty homes. -- go to the website. We have a massive housing crisis. | :49:35. | :49:40. | |
There are about 7,000 people in Cambridge waiting for housing. It | :49:40. | :49:46. | |
is upsetting to see all these houses sitting empty. Are you | :49:46. | :49:52. | |
taking this to the house? I will ask a question on Monday. We need | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
to build housing, have more affordable housing. But also use | :49:57. | :50:04. | |
the stock we have already. It can make a huge difference. Labour were | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
on the road to welfare reform and to support a benefit cap affecting | :50:08. | :50:15. | |
housing benefit. The problem we have is we have something like | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
30,000 people in the country, their total amount of benefit is greater | :50:19. | :50:25. | |
than what people would regard as an average working wage. What do we do | :50:25. | :50:34. | |
about that? The Government's CAB will save �270 million, -- cap. But | :50:34. | :50:39. | |
it will make 20,000 people made him less and been to bed and breakfast. | :50:39. | :50:47. | |
-- made homeless. So it does not balance? We need to make sure that | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
people who can work are better off by working. I am upset when people | :50:52. | :50:58. | |
who fell into the benefit trap come to see me. People find, starting to | :50:58. | :51:03. | |
work ended up with less money. That is not right. You have to make sure | :51:03. | :51:07. | |
there is the incentive to work. People getting so much from | :51:08. | :51:15. | |
benefits... You will not help them by putting council association | :51:15. | :51:23. | |
rents up. That will put more people on to housing benefit. That is a | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
different issue. Housing -- council housing prices are not going up | :51:27. | :51:35. | |
like that. Let us talk about high rents. Cambridge is a property hot | :51:35. | :51:42. | |
spot. What could be done for more affordable rents? The high rents | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
are fuelling the amount of housing benefit. The public does not like | :51:46. | :51:51. | |
to see that amount of money spent on benefit. If you cut housing | :51:51. | :51:57. | |
benefit while rents stay high, you put people into poverty. We have | :51:57. | :52:01. | |
started building more council houses, which did not happen under | :52:01. | :52:10. | |
Labour, we have already built more social housing. We have... If I | :52:10. | :52:14. | |
could finish. We have built more social housing and happened and 13 | :52:14. | :52:20. | |
years. I spoke to a housing association yesterday. Those people | :52:20. | :52:25. | |
would normally put up houses per year, which is decreasing because | :52:25. | :52:31. | |
their grant is being cut by more than 50%. We have to leave it there, | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
because I want to squeeze in the one minute round-up of this week's | :52:35. | :52:45. | |
:52:45. | :52:46. | ||
stories. And sisters have been doing it for themselves. | :52:46. | :52:50. | |
This end he started the week by calling for more female faces at | :52:50. | :53:00. | |
:53:00. | :53:01. | ||
the BBC. This MP -- this MP. And this is being fought for by another | :53:01. | :53:11. | |
:53:11. | :53:13. | ||
woman MPs. These are relatively easy successes in real terms. | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
how much have attitudes changed to extra-marital affairs? There was a | :53:18. | :53:25. | |
new study from the centre of integrity. And the collapse of a | :53:25. | :53:34. | |
company providing services for the council. 1 MP spoke out. This | :53:34. | :53:44. | |
raises questions about how contracts are dealt with. And a | :53:44. | :53:54. | |
:53:54. | :53:57. | ||
Let us pick up on that Centre for Integrity at the University of | :53:57. | :54:06. | |
Essex. Bob, do you tell the odd white lie? When people talk about | :54:06. | :54:16. | |
:54:16. | :54:17. | ||
politicians, it is said, the local is OK, it is all the others. MPs, | :54:17. | :54:23. | |
journalists, bankers, we have all taking and knocking. Do you feel | :54:23. | :54:31. | |
that our integrity in people's views have changed? We do see | :54:32. | :54:35. | |
issues and politicians need to regain trust. Lots of other groups | :54:35. | :54:41. | |
need to do that. I think one of the things that study says is how much | :54:41. | :54:45. | |
people feel they are part of our society. When people knew everyone | :54:45. | :54:52. | |
in a village, people were honest. We need to go back to that. Would | :54:52. | :55:02. | |
:55:02. | :55:03. | ||
you pick up �10 if you found it on the street? Yes. Thank you. That is | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
all for now. You can keep in touch through our website, where you will | :55:07. | :55:10. |