18/03/2012 Sunday Politics East


18/03/2012

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In the East: What hope can the forthcoming budget of the family's

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desperate for better times? And the battle is on to save our high

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1815 seconds

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Perhaps this week's budget may do something for some much needed a

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job creation. But what about help for our high streets? Rows of

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discount stores and charity shops are now commonplace. What can be

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done? After the number of vacant shops doubled last year? Mary

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Portas tried to turn things around. The government has announced that

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12 High Street will have the opportunity to become Mary Portas

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pilots. Mary Portas, shopping expert, offering her advice to one

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high street retailer. She has been given �1 million to spend on a

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pilot project to take 12 High Street and see if she can return

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them to the heart of their communities. This one is hoping to

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beat one of them. We are looking at things like arts and Kraft shops.

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It is a social experience as much as anything. We speech is an old

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market town, but not particularly affluent. As a shopping area, it

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has serious competition from Peterborough and King's Lynn. This

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woman to go with his high street flower shop 18 months ago. The rent

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is a big chunk of Fife fixed cost, so is the business rates. -- Mike

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fixed cost. We are delivering day- in and day-out, so a huge amount

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goes on the running of the van with diesel costs. Mary Portas once it

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to be easier to become market traders. This town has the market

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at its heart. But the leader of the council says they're going to have

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to be even more radical. The whole of the shopping area, it stretches

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way down the High Street. Behind me, way down to Norfolk Street, another

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half a mile down there in that direction. It is unrealistic and it

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is not sustainable in the long term. We have to look at contraction.

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People are not just going to browse around, buying the odd nick knack

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in places like this. On Wednesday, all eyes will be scrutinising the

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Chancellor's Budget for growth. would love to see even a small

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sustained growth over the next three years. I would love to take

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on apprentice. All that has to be coupled with the public having

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confidence in the economy, and without that, we're not going to be

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able to grow. Joining us in the story -- in the studio is the head

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of the Federation of Small businesses. The banks have to be

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mentioned. They say they are giving support to small businesses. But

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that is not necessarily the case. People are being told there is

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support but that systems of getting us aboard a not easy. When you

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actually look at the support, there are so many options are. And a

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small business is trying to run a business, we don't have time to go

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out and did the research that the big guys do. One of the issues is

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around it not only making support available but making it easy to

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access. The lady with the flower shop, it is that thing about fuel

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costs. If I as an individual, choose to go from A to B, I choose

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to do that. As a business, I have to use transport. So you would like

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to see that addressed in the Budget? Absolutely. I pay VAT or my

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fuel costs as well as everything else. What about business rates?

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yes. Where I am in Chelmsford, I had not paid business rates for a

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year and it looks like I won't pay them again this year. But I am

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unusual and Chelmsford is unusual. It is looking at what support can

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be made available and making that support up fierce and making it

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easy to access. Let me bring in our other two guests. Dr downpour to

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come on that question of consumer confidence, how do we start to

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restore that? The first thing is to make sure that as much as possible,

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we support businesses and the Mary Portas report is a good step in the

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right direction. It is about making sure we have local a authorities

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and councils that have proper plans about how to bring alive the

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vibrancy of town centres in terms of commerce and trade and also

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making sure that we have locally sensitive business rates to support

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shops in struggling areas. There are not any easy answers for it. In

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terms of the fuel costs, the government has made steps to reduce

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the fuel that would have been 10 pence higher under the previous

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government. Money to move dependancy away from fossil fuels

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and support green energy and other technology to reduce home fuel

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bills. The government's policy has been endorsed, hasn't it, Richard

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Howard? By the European Commission? Well, Britain is cutting out

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services and our jobs and spending at a rate which is the second worst

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in the whole of Europe. David Cameron has been in America this

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week where they are not cutting as hard and employment is growing and

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there is growth in the economy. The sort of complacency we had earlier

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from down, the Federation of Small Business as well. They ask every

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quarter, are things getting better? 3/4 say in Suffolk, Essex, and a

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region, they're getting worse. has job creation? Apparently, if

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every self-employed person in Britain employed one person, there

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would be no unemployed people. Now, if you think that in this area, the

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number of small businesses, I think in Essex, we have the largest

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number of self-employed people anywhere in the country. If you

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give support to small businesses, it is about supporting the

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unemployment, about support in the economy, it is about making sure

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that the hall clock starts to work within... How are you going to do

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that? It is about supporting small businesses. The government has made

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sure we get broadband investment in Suffolk and Norfolk and other

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counties, which is so vital for small businesses. About National

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Insurance, Labour wants to help people with small businesses by

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saying they should have a National Insurance holiday. We want to have

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companies like hares but want to employ apprentices. We want out-of-

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town shopping to do about it up... Let me give the last word to this

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lady. Are you optimistic about the future? Absolutely, because

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otherwise we may as well just pack up and go home now. More from both

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if you in a moment. Were want to move on now to a new phrase

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rehearing a lot of. It is the squeezed middle. It is being used

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by all the parties now and it is a recognition that where we may be

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all in it together, middle-class families seem to be bearing the

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pain of the Cup's most. -- the cuts. This is Milton Keynes, and in the

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eyes of the politicians, this is the heart of aspirational England.

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People who want to work and better themselves and their family. But at

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the moment, many here do not feel aspirational, they feel squeezed.

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It is the extras, the bits like holidays that we can't afford any

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more. We have had to sell all of our cars. And petrol is so

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expensive that we have to think really carefully before we do any

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long journeys. Simon and K at they life has become much more of a

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struggle. Kay works at the local college. Simon, a teacher, gave up

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work to look after their children because it was cheaper than using

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child care. They are on a fixed rate mortgage. Child benefit has

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been frozen and next month they expect to lose up to �200 a month

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in tax credits. They can't afford repairs to their home and they

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think very carefully about shopping. In the 12, the kids ask for things.

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-- the Tory I'll. I can't afford to just put my hand in my pocket.

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country, we are broke, but we can't sit around just doing nothing. I do

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think that in some ways, all the focus has been put on people who do

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not have a job at all. And so the people who are working like

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ourselves, we do seem to be suffering is a bit more. We don't

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get help with this -- prescriptions, council tax, fees for courses.

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There is no extra help. Milton Keynes, like many seats in this

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area, used to be Labour, then it went over to the Conservatives.

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Aspirational middle England will probably hold the key to the next

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election. At the moment, we are having the second year of the

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council tax freeze. In the Autumn Statement, and the Prime Minister

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announced that the Chancellor announced that fares would not be

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going up as much as they were. government is doing its best to

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clobber those people who are in work and doing their best to get on

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a life. And the withdrawal of the educational maintenance allowance

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etc, if you're a long -- a young family in Milton Keynes try to get

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on, life is a lot harder. This week's budget is about all about

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putting more money back into people's pockets. The tax cut will

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probably be paid for by some sort of new tax on the very well-off.

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The aim will be to make things a little less painful for

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aspirational middle England. For this family, and the thing that

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gives them extra spending money would be welcomed. But the

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Chancellor has little room for manoeuvre. So will any of always be

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enough SMAC real people facing real problem. Richard Howard, do you

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feel any responsibility when you see things like that? Absolutely.

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Ed Miliband raised this issue and has put it right at the centre of

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British politics. That family is absolutely typical of 200,000

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families in Britain who were having their working tax credits taken

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away from them this week. Labour says and the government -- in the

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Budget, the government should reverse that. It is cutting the tax

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owed the people on over �150,000 a year to add on to a pension tax

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relief for the same group of people of �1.6 billion. They are not

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helping them. Buddied tolerated high-spending, you tolerated other

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things, do not feel the responsibility that you have

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created the plight of a family like that? This lady said that the banks

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were at fault before. What I feel is that people like that family

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need help now. The government has got absolutely the wrong priorities.

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If you take working families, if one partner stays at home, they are

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being discriminated against by the government's changes in child

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benefit. First of all, you have rightly highlighted that we

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inherited a record level of national debt. That is �2 that

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everybody is pain in debt interest. I spend a lot of my last few weeks

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with the family -- with a family, and we see that the biggest

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frustration amongst that family and all the group's they meet is that

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the benefits system is too complicated. Those people on

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benefits are better off than people who were not on benefits, and that

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should never be the case, but thanks to the Labour government the

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people of -- a better off on benefits than in work. It is a

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clear priority... These people are working. But those people who were

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in work will be �700 per year better off thanks to this

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government's plans. That is lower paid families that are benefiting.

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You saw that man there say he couldn't afford to buy in you

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should for someone who is going to work. The cuts that your government

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upbringing and is too far and too fast. The changes that your

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government is bidding and to taking away the tax credit and taking away

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child benefit actually is making it more expensive to work than to stay

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at home. Your speculating that we are bringing in policies. We

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haven't actually brought the men, because the current system is the

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legacy of the Labour government as was highlighted earlier, and the

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Labour government spent and spent and spent. The priority is were not

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supporting hard working families. What this government wants to do is

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take those families out of tax and make them better off. There will be

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lots more to talk about on Monday night when I will be looking at the

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economy with a special programme. 11pm. I will be talking to business

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leaders and politicians to see what can be done to help this region

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drive the economic recovery. Now, it is time for the weekly round-up

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of all things political. This week, MPs break out in this wet but it is

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all in a good cause. -- in a sweat. MPs showing solidarity of running a

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Sport Relief mile. The surprise announcement prompting Chelmsford's

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winning city-state is has caused a rift among Essex MPs. There was a

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success they Essex. Now, there wasn't! Chums would! Equally

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unexpected was the backing for a third runway at Heathrow. It is

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more practical to build a third runway. Good news for this man who

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has managed to make sure visitors will not be charged to see Big Ben.

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But bad news for gardeners as a hosepipe ban is introduced.

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water companies, Anglian Water, has a good drought plan. Hopefully,

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there is enough water left to freshen up our MPs. Is the city

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state his award a good thing? well done to Chelmsford. Also to

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Luton who did a brilliant campaign. And coming mentioned to Labour by-

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election victories -- can we mentioned two Labour by-election

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victories? Good news all round. Thank you very much indeed for

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