12/05/2013 Sunday Politics East


12/05/2013

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our services. We are the fastest-growing region in the

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country, but councils are left struggling to pay for new school

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1875 seconds

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Politics. Pressure on services, why our councils are having to dig into

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their pockets to pay for more school places. We've just been up at 22

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million over the next couple of trunk road. Could one council's

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decision not to pay up threaten this massive project? We don't see the

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income coming to us from the improvements on the road and that's

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why it is very difficult to put any back in. Let's meet our guests,

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Andrew Lansley, former Health Secretary and Julian Huppert, local

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MP Liberal Democrat for Cambridge. Let's talk about Europe. Nothing in

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this weeks Queen's Speech about a referendum on UK membership of the

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EU but two of our Euro-sceptic MPs on the east are trying to keep it at

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the top of the agenda. Conservatives John Baron and Peter Bone have

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tabled an amendment to the Queen's Speech expressing regret at the lack

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of an EU referendum bill. There is expected to be a Commons vote next

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week. Let's talk about this, Andrew Lansley, do you support it? It's not

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a case of supporting it but it's not objecting to it because in a sense,

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from the Conservative party's point of view, I don't speak for the

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coalition as a whole, but from the Conservative party's point of view

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there is a sense of regret in establishing the legislative

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framework for what we're going to do. As a party, after the next

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election, following the negotiations in Europe, we intend to give the

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people of this country the opportunity to decide our future in

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this referendum. If they work, this side of the next election, it could

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be positive. We are part of a coalition, so if I put my coalition

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hat on, we weren't able to do it. Julian Huppert? I don't support it,

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the Conservatives have a history of being split by Europe. I think we

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are just seeing another. It's a great shame because there are far

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more important issues for this country. We need to get jobs and

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growth, and the protracted discussion about the EU is a

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distraction. What about the pressure this is putting on the coalition?

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hope Andrew will take a sensitive -- sensible line when the vote comes

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around. There are about 3 million jobs within the UK that rely on our

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trade in Europe. We wouldn't lose all of that but we would put that at

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risk and that's the wrong thing to do. Are you annoyed by this, Andrew

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Lansley? No I'm not. It's simply expresses something that clearly

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many conservatives feel. It's not in that sense objectionable. The point

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is we don't know at this stage whether it will be one of the

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amendments selected because eventually in the house amendments

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are selected on behalf of the official opposition. So you don't

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foresee it producing more rifts within your party? No because from

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my party's point of view there is a consensus, a consensus that we want

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to have a negotiation with Europe to get the new settlement leading to a

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referendum. At the point at which there is a referendum, there will be

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people who want to vote to be part of that reshaped Europe, others who

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don't. We will come back to you shortly.

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This week the Queen's Speech introduced measures to tackle

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immigration. It's one of the reasons why UKIP did so well in the local

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elections. In this region we seen an increase in migration which has put

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pressure on all our services, but schools have been hit particularly

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hard. Deborah McGurran has been to Peterborough to see of the scheme

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that replaced it is keeping pace with demand.

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It's clear Nene Park Academy has seen better days with narrow

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staircases and in poor repair, the school is showing its age. It

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should've been rebuilt under Labour's loathing schools for the

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future programme which the coalition axed. We were disappointed because

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all the schools and the north of the city have been modernised, rebuilt

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refurbished. We were one of the two that got cancelled at the very end,

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so the school and the community here are known in catchment area so I

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understand why we've been waiting. In Peterborough, three school

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buildings were lost, 18 projects in Essex were cancelled, six were

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abandoned in Hertfordshire, 13 more in Luton and the same in Suffolk,

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and six went in Cambridgeshire. He rips Nene Park Academy there is a

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new �14 million building due to open in September and existing buildings

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have been refurbished since the school became an Academy two years

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ago. They've said they got a lot of new utilities for science

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especially, so looking forward to that. The art department is going to

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be a big studio with massive windows so there will be a beautiful view of

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the area. New technologies can help you learn and you can achieve better

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grades. The Council of had to pick up the tab for the developments

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here. We have been offered �22 million over the next couple of

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years which is really helpful. We need �108 million over the next five

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years. We are having to borrow it, it's as simple as that and there is

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a cost for that. You borrow a million, you've got to find money to

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do it. This school down the road is fortunate to have a former

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children's home being up graded. have an opportunity to become to

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form entry primary school, look at the new curriculum coming our way

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and look at how structures can help us do that in a positive way.

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pressure on school places is immense in Peterborough were the growth in

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population is the sixth highest in the country. There is predicted

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shortfall in school places of 8000 x 2018, and how many projects have

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been started under the new school building project, none. That's the

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same figure for the rest of the region. We've seen a growing

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population in recent years, and it's what we would consider to be a

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phenomenal wave of children coming through. What about the governments

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new project, the priority building programme? It's very welcome that

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the government has introduced more funding to support schools. We have

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put in requests to bid for money pot. They are not looking to start

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until September 2017, my immediate needs are known. The timing is not

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perfect for what we need to do. seems to be taking a long time to be

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getting going. There were a lot of bureaucratic procedure is

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reminiscent of the old systems to be honest. It tends to come in fits and

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starts, one minute everything is happening, the next minute

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everything goes quiet. But it is taking longer to move that one than

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it did when we started to move on with this building here with this

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building herewith the City Council. Peterborough councils borrowing

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looks set to continue. In the past five years they have created 5000

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spaces, in the next five years another 8000 are needed.

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Earlier I spoke to the Education Minister Elizabeth Truss and I put

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it to her that this new scheme is too little too late. We are spending

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�5 billion in this Parliament on new school buildings and half a billion

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of that is going to be in the East of England, so progress is being

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made but what we're doing is in a much more efficient way than the

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building schools for the future programme. Schools are being built

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across the East of England at the moment. As we heard, the timing

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isn't perfect and in the meantime councils are happy to fill the gap.

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Councils do have responsibility for funding capital for school. The

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government's programme is there to help and what this programme does is

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target schools most in need, those were the population is growing and

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those with poor maintenance at the moment. The previous government's

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programme was focused on things like educational performance, and wasn't

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targeting those schools in the most need. But at a time when councils

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are having to freeze their council tax, is it fair that they are having

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to find this money from elsewhere and pay expensive interest? There

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are schools being built at the moment, the Thetford Academy is

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building this autumn. This new programme will come into being

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soon, as you've heard there are going to be two schools in

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Peterborough already on that list and more schools across the East of

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England. It's important we get value for money from these programmes and

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the schools under our programme are going to cost 30% less to build, so

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we will be able to use the money more efficiently. We will also be

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able to build the school is quicker, so from an average time of three

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years to an average time of two years, which means places will be

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open sooner. I you concerned that we're creating a gap year? We heard

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that birth rate is going through the roof in areas like Peterborough and

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as we heard nothing is being done at least at one school until 2017, so

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what are the school is expected to do and the council is expected to do

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in the meantime? Peterborough Council is funding school building

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to take place so that those places can be provided for children. We are

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providing 5 billion across the country and have a billion in the

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East of England and it's very much focused on those areas that need the

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most resources and what we have done in Peterborough in particular is

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that the new figures coming through or more accurate about the growth in

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population, so Peterborough will get the funding it deserves. You're

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focusing your funding on the areas they need the most resources, you

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say, and without taking anything away from the north-east, why are

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you going to that area next when clearly places are needed right

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here, right now in the East? We are funding half a billion worth of new

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buildings in the East in this parliamentary session, so there is

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money going in across the East of England and new schools being built.

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The point is that our programme is entirely based on which schools need

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it from the point of view of the condition of the buildings and which

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schools need it because the birth rate is growing in the area. The

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previous programme was all over the shop. In hindsight, was right to

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scrap the building schools for future programme, as it was done in

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one fell swoop? Absolutely, it was one of the government's most

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wasteful programmes, it didn't work, it wasn't delivering schools quickly

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enough, that fitted requirements for local communities. Some of those

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schools on that programme are being built under this government but they

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are being built much more efficiently, so at least 30%

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reduction in the cost of those buildings. It was right to scrap

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that wasteful programme and look again at the real needs of towns and

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cities in these areas. Thank you very much indeed.

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If money for building schools is in short supply, you could say the same

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thing about roads. There is a claim that funding disputes are

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threatening an upgrade to our busiest and most congested trunk

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road the Alpha 14. -- the A14. Parts carry up to 80,000 vehicles a day.

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The government announced a �1.5 billion improvement scheme last year

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for the stretch between Huntingdon and Cambridge. Part of it will be

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told. Work should start in 2018. But business leaders have claimed the

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upgrade in Cambridgeshire is being hampered by political infighting.

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Under current proposal some of the money would have to come from local

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councils because of the economic benefits the road will bring.

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Cambridge city councillors refusing to pay up. The Cambridgeshire

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Chamber of Commerce is unhappy, it says A14 congestion costs the local

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economy �12 million every month. terms of the city council, we don't

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see the income coming to us from the improvements on the road. That's why

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it's very difficult to put any backing in. We want everybody be to

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-- to be together because of we want the government to improve the road

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we need to have a united front and everybody going together. Julian

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Huppert, the Liberal Democrats accused of jeopardising this

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project, why don't they just pay up? That is simply not true. The key

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issue is where the money comes from, Cambridge City Council doesn't get

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any benefit from growth in new buildings outside the city

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boundaries, the city is already quite full with housing. The city

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council doesn't get the �5 million in cash that it is being asked to

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put into. I would like to see the road improves, I've campaigned for

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that since I was a young County Council. The viaduct at Huntingdon

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is well past its design life. The City Council doesn't get the �5

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million back to put into it. What about this lost money? It is

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absolutely right that national government should be putting money

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into this. I don't think the City Council, it doesn't get the money

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back, you'd have to take a huge amount out of what the City Council

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is currently doing for people. It should be funded nationally and I

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had people during the recent elections asking me why is it that

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people within Cambridge are expected to pay for it through their city

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council tax, County Council tax, through a toll and through NAT --

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and not through national funding. Andrew Lansley, how have local MPs

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done enough to back this? We have seen MPs working really hard in

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other areas, has enough being done for this road? We have worked very

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closely with the County Council and local authorities to make sure that

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it is backed firmly on the agenda. Going back to the national

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infrastructure plan that the government published. The A14 was

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the number-1 on that plan. It is essential we do it but the point is

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that money is very tight, to make this project run, we're going to

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have to do calling. That will bring in more than the �340 million that

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is needed. From the Local Enterprise Partnership and local authority.

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We're not asking the council to be the only council to contribute, it's

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a regional wide commitment. Do you think there could be a domino effect

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of one council doesn't pay, what about the others? It depends how

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that works. There were talks between the City Council and the County

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Council... The then leader of the County Council wanted to have a

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political fight over this. The City Council is happy to look at ways of

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helping the public transport environments, to make sure that it

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does work and I hope we can reach a sensible arrangement. It is

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unreasonable to expect a council which doesn't get the cash back to

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pay a sum equivalent to almost its entire annual budget. Can I take

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issue with this notion that came at city doesn't benefit. Remember this

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is not just rebuilding the A14 on its existing track, it's also

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including putting it alongside the carriageway. Right across the city

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from the northern bypass all the way out through my constituency to

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Huntingdon, we get a much better local road network, so commuting in

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a note is better -- commuting in and out. We've got to provide houses for

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people to work in Cambridge and if we don't have the A14... You're

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conflating the benefits from the city. I've campaigned for it for

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over ten years, but the city council finances don't get that money.

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need to have a unitary council and much more local control. Without the

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cash coming in you cant pay it. this whole model going to work? The

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M6 toll road has lost money in the past six years. Is this a good

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model? It is a good model. If you know the M6 toll well, people make

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the judgement that they don't need to use the tool because they can use

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the main M6 without paying anything. We're talking about a piece of toll

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road which for freight traffic in particular will be the only road to

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use, whereas local people in my villages like Long Stanton, they'll

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be hoping to get onto the local road and not necessarily pay a tall.

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sceptical about it. But I am pleased that there is action on the A14.

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About 12 years ago I was arguing we need to sort out some of the

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junctions. This government has found money to do very quick things,

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improve some of those junctions. are very short of time, 2018, is

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that soon enough? I hope of we all pitch in we can. These small schemes

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these small schemes can start any moment.

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To our round-up of the week. A Conservative MP having paid the

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price for jetting off to the jungle. She did the crime, she served the

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time, known Dean Doris has the Tory whip again. She was let back in so

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:52:38.:52:39.

she wouldn't be wooed back by UKIP, it's not. -- it's got.

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leadership only knew that because they knew me. Nick Clegg came to

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Essex to bang the drum for free child care. And our plans for a

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controversial new waste incinerator in Kings Lynn falling apart --

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Labour warned that taxpayers could lose out by millions of pounds.

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need to try and find it from somewhere. The taxpayer may be

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landed with it. And with Tesco closing their warehouse, this man

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has been fighting for workers rights to make sure their terms and

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conditions are not affected. Well, Andrew Lansley, Nadine is back

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in the fold, causing trouble for David Cameron again it seems or do

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you disagree? There are lots of Conservative MPs who agree with her

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about that issue. She was elected as a conservative, she is a

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conservative. It's important she served in Parliament as a

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conservative. Julian Huppert, where you stand on this? You happy that

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she is but back in the caller should. -- back in the coalition?

:54:05.:54:08.

Well she is certainly not a liberal, she is very much for the

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Conservative party. It does exempt of either splits in the Conservative

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party if this amendment is selected. It was only about not been elected

:54:18.:54:27.

to vote. We both know there was a longer history to it than that!

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that a concern, not only about Nadine, but about other Conservative

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MPs as well? All I know as MIDI herself said she was disappointed,

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she wanted to have the whip back. That seems to me to be absolutely

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fine. How worried are you, Julian, about people defecting to UKIP?

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would be alarming to see it happening from either Labour or the

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Conservatives. UKIP of a few messages but they don't have solid

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policies. In our region, at the last European Parliamentary elections,

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David Cameron band UKIP from being a member of the European Parliament,

:55:11.:55:15.

but he has defected from UKIP to the Conservative party and I would be

:55:15.:55:20.

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