27/05/2012 Sunday Politics East


27/05/2012

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Here: A boost for our hi-tech industry. Meanwhile, up workers are

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1676 seconds

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fighting for jobs at Remploy Hello and welcome to Sunday

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Politics East. As Remploy factories face closure workers are forced to

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find work in mainstream employment. You are like a sparrow amongst the

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starlings but here you are like a starling amongst the starlings -

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all in the same boat. First, the economics secretary to the Treasury

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is here. Let us start with a quick word about the IMF report this week.

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It said the government might have to make some tough measures to

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boost growth, such as cutting taxes like VAT. I know you think there

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should be more growth, but do you think the IMF wants to see growth

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as well? I believe they say it for themselves. These cuts on posterity

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are self defeating in terms of people losing their jobs when it

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doesn't have to happen. I'm glad to be on with your other guest. Let us

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begin on a mature note. Let us have a debate here based on what the IMF

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said. Briefly, the IMF was positive in his report but there are mixed

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messages. Britain needs to deal with its debts and that is what

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this country has been doing and it has and as credibility to turn to

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measures for growth. There isn't actually a fierce opposition

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between austerity and growth. You need one to get to the other.

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has been a mixed picture for jobs in the region. On the positive side,

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the government gave millions to Life Science Research and one of

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our universities announced plans to create more jobs. On the negative

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side, there were redundancies and uncertainty as some well known -

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might in some well-known companies. The Cromer crab Company has been

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buying and processing the local produce and selling it around the

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world and for the last year, the town has been fighting to keep it

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open. They thought they were getting somewhere but this week,

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they learned the plant will close in the summer. We all carried hope

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in our hearts that something would come up and the owners would find a

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buyer who would continue the crowd processing operation but the news

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today that 109 jobs is going is a bit at blow. They have been

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fighting hard to send -- save Lola cars in Huntingdon. The future of

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the correct an oil depot became more and Sourton with reports that

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refining could go elsewhere. The Cambridge computer firm Autonomy

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has uncertainty after its founder left and it reported a big drop in

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sales. But the government says this is only one side of the story. This

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week, the Science Minister was digging for growth as he announced

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�127 million for a research project in Cambridge and Norwich. Thousands

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of jobs are likely to follow. is real support for East Anglia

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where there are so many world-class centres. There are many businesses

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to grow and bring us that jobs that the Coalition believes in for hi-

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tech jobs in the future. Ruskin University announced a new project

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in a move which could create 12,500 jobs. A delegation from China

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visiting Norfolk this week is believed to be close to invent

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sting tens of millions of pounds in the automotive engineering centre.

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It is a great opportunity to bring jobs in Norfolk and wrote the

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skills base we have. This large amount of investment is welcome

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news. Government MPs are saying it puts the region at the forefront of

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the economic recovery. By creating those jobs will take time and that

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is not such good news for those out of work now.

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Terry Smith, new hi-tech industries taking off but that is not

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compensation for people who are losing their jobs now. Where will

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they get jobs from -- Chloe Smith. It is extremely sad for those.

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Every job lost his up a tragedy for an individual and family. What we

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have to do in government is put in place the conditions to get jobs

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out there. Things like infrastructure, credit to

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businesses and this kind of funding that can help innovation in the hi-

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tech economy. Richard, we have seen a lot of investment in life

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sciences. That has got to be good news, hasn't it? I think more could

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have been done. The local management dip their best and was

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involved in negotiations. And Labour's campaign did his best to.

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I agree that the East - in our universities and businesses - has a

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specialism in life sciences. There is a great expertise in terms of

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medical degrees and this will add to that in terms of medical

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technology. When we talk about the government, giving a bit with one

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hand when you take away a huge slice with the other. If you take

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the universities, they have taken �2 billion a weight recently. We

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have seen local enterprise partnerships set-up when the east

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of England Development Agency was set up with 140 million. Giving

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with one and taking away with the other. We had the double dip is

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worse than feared. You need a plan for quotes, don't you? Has David

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Cameron asked you to look at a triple-A rating to borrow money?

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The plan begins with recognising when you have a problem. Richard,

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I'm afraid, does not understand that. She a lack of credibility

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with which Labour left our economy in is overwhelming. But what a back

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infrastructure projects? It is from that position we have to begin. We

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have to recognise that the position is tough at the moment and that

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party left the economy in tatters. We have to put up with that Des and

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doing that gives us credit on the international scene. Are you going

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to use that to borrow to invest to stimulate growth? We have to be

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able to use that and we are able to use that to use the Government's

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balance sheet to increase growth. The government is doing something

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right, isn't it, Richard? They are doing something right. This is the

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week in which they have had to admit figures on recession are

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worse than thought. The construction industry has been

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shrunk. In France, people are turning away from Conservatives

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towards a social democratic candidate. The German Conservatives

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are losing their regional elections and it is only a matter of time

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where the people make a judgement. You mention Greece and Europe. A

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creek - that quick comment on Greece. Again, we are left in a

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position where there are Conservative Euro-sceptics who want

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to blame Europe whereas growth is better in Germany than in Britain.

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Things are tough in Greece and they have some responsibility for where

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they have got to but sitting on the edge of Europe and spectating has

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not help businesses in this region. There is a lot more to talk about

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on that but I want to move on. One set of workers are struggling to

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hold on to their jobs and they are the employees that Remploy. One

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fact respect -- set up for disabled workers is set to close. It is one

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of 13 factories nationwide that is up for review. Hundreds of disabled

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workers will have to find new jobs. Harvey has learning and mobility

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difficulties. He has worked for Remploy for 21 years and knows

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everything there is to know about the factories product, cardboard

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packaging. It is a good company and offer support. It offers people a

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chance to get back to work and get self-respect and dignity and

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training. What I you going to do if this place closes? Probably never

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work again. As hard as I might do, no one will employ me because they

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look at my disability. Susan has worked for Remploy for a long time.

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She has autism. Before getting her job 15 years ago she had been

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unemployed. If you saw what we have been doing today it shows we have

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jobs just the same as able-bodied people. Perhaps not on a production

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line and working quickly but we still work for are bread-and-butter

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and still earn a wage and we are not on benefits. The employee was

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set up after the Second World War. For those who had been disabled

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during the conflict. Of their 54 factories, 36 now face possible

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closure, including Remploy in Norwich which has 28 disabled

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employees. We cannot show your working because Remploy's head

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office which comes under government control, will not allow West in.

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The average wage is �14,000 a year and the government pays �11,000 per

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employee to cover specialist support they need at work.

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important thing for anyone affected by the decision here to make sure

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the money we used and the projected budget we use is supporting more

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disabled people is that this is an opportunity to support existing

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Remploy factory employees into new work where required, to put in

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place the sort of training that can make a real difference to the sorts

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of jobs they might be able to get. I would reassure them that we will

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make sure the support is there - one on one support - to make sure

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they can look at all the options. While this factory attract business

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from factories like Marks and Spencer, year-on-year, it has

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operated at a loss. So will business leaders really be

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interested in taking all of this on? No-one -- it doesn't require

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modernisation but they can remain open. It is a vital life source for

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people and their families and to prevent them being a burden on the

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tax payer. There is talk of a ballot for strike action but there

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is little optimism. You can go and speak to someone with your problems.

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All birds Of A Feather go together. If you going to the outside world

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you are like a sparrow amongst the starlings. But here you are a

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starling amongst starlings - all in the same boat. We will be staying

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in touch with them to see how they get on. Joining us is Glen Holden

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from the GMB union. What you think the future of that plant is?

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don't think it has too much of a future, unfortunately. And

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disappointed Remploy didn't take the opportunity to come on the

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programme. We have a brand here which can be sustained and moved

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forward into the future. Isn't there an argument for getting these

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workers into mainstream jobs rather than segregating them? Let us make

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it clear that we have always said people should have a choice to go

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into mainstream employment and a lot have chosen to do so. Others

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have chosen to stay at the factory. In 2011 there was a voluntary

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redundancy factory where people saw a future with a factory and chose

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to remain with them. I don't think there is a case financially or

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economically for the closure of the factories. We are not against

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modernisation and the unions will not say that necessarily 54

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factories will remain open. But is -- there is not a case for all too

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close. But there are thousands of pounds of subsidies over the years

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- is that enough incentive for employers to take on these workers?

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I don't think it is at the end of the day. There are liabilities and

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there is always a level of subsidy required as within rail network. No

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one is saying there shouldn't be a subsidy but this is quality

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employment. Clare week and Richard are aware of that. The let me bring

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them in. -- Chloe. It will leave hundreds of workers back on

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benefits. Not the case. I have visited this factory. I have talked

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about this recently with members of Remploy. I'm conscious of some of

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the numbers involved here. There were 26 people at the Norwich

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factory. You could compare that to the many tens of thousands of

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disabled people in the City as a whole. I think we have to look at

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how the budget available - the protected budget for specialist

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employment - could be used to help many more people. Harvey said he

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will never work again in that film. Harvey and anyone else in that

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situation, if that were the case at Norwich, would get a very decent

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package to help him. We must make the money go further to help more

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disabled people. That is what we want to see. Richard, modernisation

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started under Labour. You could have done more? I have to

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contradict what we have heard. Ian Duncan Smith said earlier this

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month, they sit around and drink t. Say that to Harvey and Susan. I

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have been associated with the Norwich factory and don't deeply

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concerned the government will not let the cameras in. Local

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management has done a great job in building the business up. They are

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real jobs. We are talking about a comparison as a company where they

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have a major contract for a hotel. If that is closed down, look at

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ways beach in the Fens. The Remploy factory was closed and beat survey

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shows that 85 diff -- 85% of the people are still out of work years

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later. Do you think they will find mainstream jobs? No I don't and the

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statistics will reflect that. 85% of those people left in 2008 did

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not find meaningful employment. Only 7% remain in employment. I

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deal with a host of employers and the longest that anyone has lasted

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in those companies in mainstream employment has been about one year.

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We will keep in touch with them to see what their future is. Thank you

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for joining us. It is time for our weekly political round-up. There

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were calls once again to reduce the cost of filling up your car. Here

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It is now a law that the coast of Suffolk is the only place in UK

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waters where ship to ship all transfers can take place. We sent

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out a big flashing beacon to come to our area so I am concerned there

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will be a significant increase in their number. And onshore, EDF has

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said it remains on course for expansion at Sizewell as the

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Government's energy bill pledged financial incentives for future

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nuclear development. But it was the price of petrol that prompted calls

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for -- from the Harlow MP for a fuel duty cut. It feels like you

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need a if court order to get prices down. One baby bonding charity won

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praise from the PM. How where does her huge credit. Princess Anne's

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passions for all things the question was reflected at this new

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home in Newmarket for people who work in the racing industry.

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Is there ever going to be any good news on crippling fuel prices?

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is another of those things that need to be seen in the round. Many

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people know what it is like to fill up a car. The fact days that it is

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the kind of decision that needs to be taken in the round. Prices are

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deeply affected by the Middle East, by the global energy crisis and, of

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course, the Government listens to the other half of the equation

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about fuel duty. The government has put in around �4.5 billion for the

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motorists which is significantly better than what Labour did. If

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there were called to lower duty again, is it a wise use of public

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money. Rigid, I know you will say this. People are using their cars

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less aren't they? I represent my constituency just as much as any

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other MP. When the energy bill Kay mac this week, Greenpeace said

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there was a complete failure to support renewable energy, a failure

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of leadership from the government. The east of the region has been the

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