Browse content similar to 12/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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And in the South East - Bridging the gap - there are plans for a new | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
Thames crossing to improve the region's transport links - we'll be | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
:01:36. | :01:36. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1715 seconds | :01:36. | :30:11. | |
asking whether it's really Joining me in the studio today is | :30:11. | :30:14. | |
the Conservative MP for Dover and Deal Charlie Elphicke and the | :30:14. | :30:16. | |
Labour columnist and prospective Police Commissioner candidate for | :30:16. | :30:18. | |
Sussex, Paul Richards. First - the Immigration Minister | :30:18. | :30:21. | |
and Ashford MP Damian Green has said this week that he wants to cut | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
the number of migrants entering the UK by allowing only 'the brightest | :30:24. | :30:29. | |
and best' to come here. Charlie Elphicke, is he right to reject | :30:29. | :30:34. | |
middle managers and unskilled workers? We need them to staff our | :30:34. | :30:43. | |
hospitals and care homes, don't we? If you look out people looking for | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
work in places like Dover and where I represent, people say they cannot | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
get an opportunity because the people from Eastern Europe. We need | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
a chance to get a job. You're confident that your constituents | :30:55. | :31:01. | |
will rise to the occasion? Yes, as the benefit system is changing to | :31:01. | :31:06. | |
encourage work and make it pay, this is the right way forward. | :31:06. | :31:11. | |
what do you make of these comments? The Labour introduce the | :31:11. | :31:14. | |
Australian-style system saying if you want to come to the country, | :31:14. | :31:18. | |
you have to contribute to it, but there should not be an anti- | :31:18. | :31:24. | |
immigrant rhetoric, because we rely Andy Butt coming to live here that | :31:24. | :31:29. | |
may not have high skills, but they will put in the hours. -- that may | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
end up coming to live here. Now, anyone who's tried to drive north | :31:33. | :31:36. | |
from Kent into London and Essex will be familiar with regular | :31:36. | :31:38. | |
traffic jams on the Dartford Crossing. But the misery that | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
particular piece of road causes motorists could be coming to an end. | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
The coalition government is looking at building an alternative bridge | :31:47. | :31:49. | |
or tunnel across the Thames. Supporters say it'll ease | :31:49. | :31:53. | |
congestion and create new jobs in Kent. But those who oppose the | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
scheme claim we don't need another crossing and, if it does go ahead, | :31:56. | :32:06. | |
:32:06. | :32:09. | ||
the environmental cost will be too The Dartford crossing is the | :32:09. | :32:15. | |
gateway to Essex, London and beyond, carrying up to thousands of | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
vehicles every day. But there can be a traffic bottleneck with | :32:19. | :32:26. | |
tailbacks and destruction. -- disruption. The only other way is | :32:26. | :32:31. | |
to use the ferry, but takes foot passengers from Gravesend to | :32:31. | :32:37. | |
Tilbury, and it does not always have much custom. There are plans | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
for a newer road crossing to ease congestion and provide easier | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
travel. Easier travel would be welcome. That could be delays of up | :32:45. | :32:50. | |
to three hours on both sides of the river. You are stuck there and you | :32:50. | :32:54. | |
cannot get off. If you have to cross the river, there is no | :32:54. | :32:59. | |
alternative. It is costing you time and money. It is a mess, a | :32:59. | :33:05. | |
bottleneck. We have got to leave out. I have lost count of the | :33:05. | :33:08. | |
number of times I was still care, and I would not wish it on our | :33:08. | :33:13. | |
anyone, even a government minister! The Government minister in charge | :33:13. | :33:17. | |
of the roads is taking a new crossing seriously. We have | :33:17. | :33:21. | |
committed ourselves to looking at another crossing or a tunnel or a | :33:21. | :33:29. | |
wide bridge. The existing a tunnel and bridge, they are designed for a | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
capacity of 135,000 vehicles per day. It has hit 180,000. Three | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
routes around discussion, and one option is alongside the existing | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
Dartford crossing and one is to the west of Gravesend to Tilbury in | :33:43. | :33:49. | |
Essex. One is to be eased, the longest journey by far. The council | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
in Gravesham is opposing the plans because they say it would damage | :33:54. | :33:57. | |
the countryside and make the existing crossing free would solve | :33:57. | :34:04. | |
the problems. At the moment it costs �1.52 crossover at Stafford. | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
In 1991, when the bridge was added to the existing to a lot, they said | :34:08. | :34:14. | |
they would scrap the toll, but the toll is still in place. At this | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
timber yard in Dartford, it says the toll is not the problem cannot | :34:18. | :34:23. | |
be a happy to pay as a more routes would mean more business. We could | :34:23. | :34:29. | |
do more deliveries. We could save on the fuel costs. We could supply | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
two-way customer base further afield or in areas where they | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
previously would have considered the natural boundary of the Thames | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
as being a barrier to doing business with Kent based businesses. | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
I would strongly welcome it. It needs to happen sooner rather than | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
later. In addition to freeing up the roads and two more trade, there | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
is also the economic benefits of building the crossing itself. | :34:57. | :35:01. | |
immediate effect will be lots of jobs building out. That will have | :35:01. | :35:06. | |
to be a good thing in a recession. The timescale for this, I would | :35:06. | :35:11. | |
like to see us get on with it as soon as possible, but at the moment, | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
the jobs are desperately needed. It is very strange that people are | :35:15. | :35:20. | |
opposing it. The Department for Transport will consult on a new | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
crossing in the next year, and as part of this they will talk to the | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
local councils. But are these people opposing the plans putting | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
in the years and ahead of commercial interests, if new jobs | :35:31. | :35:39. | |
and uneasy passage across the river? -- at the speed of a putting | :35:39. | :35:43. | |
these plans ahead of commercial interests and new jobs and NEC | :35:43. | :35:53. | |
:35:53. | :35:57. | ||
passage across the river. Would this not bring huge benefits? | :35:57. | :36:02. | |
The reality is, we need improve traffic links, but we need to | :36:02. | :36:10. | |
remove the physical barriers on the crossing. We need the roads to run | :36:10. | :36:13. | |
smoothly and without the barriers they would run smoothly. I know you | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
want to get rid of the toll, it was eight years since they were meant | :36:17. | :36:23. | |
to go, if anything, it is going to go off, this is unrealistic. It is | :36:23. | :36:27. | |
unrealistic to say that he will consult on an idea without trying | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
to look at options. One option is to remove the toll. Delivered this | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
promise. If the toll was removed, it will not stop in Justin because | :36:38. | :36:42. | |
the predicted volume of traffic is going to exceed the capacity that | :36:42. | :36:47. | |
is there are now. Yes, but they have not demonstrated or prove this, | :36:47. | :36:51. | |
and on the consultation, they say be able Breen be crossing east or | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
west to Gravesend, they will not look at affecting the locals. We're | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
talking about localism and the Government, but we are ignoring | :37:00. | :37:08. | |
local people and concerns. Some of the concerns, it would lift poverty, | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
it would generate growth, some people are so stifled by the | :37:11. | :37:16. | |
congestion, they want this, and local residents will benefit. | :37:16. | :37:19. | |
the local benefits will be seen by better traffic links over the | :37:19. | :37:24. | |
bridge. Get rid of the tolls and see what happens. As well as | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
employment, there are opportunities there to be created, there are lots | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
of brownfield sites to be developed, we are looking here at destroying | :37:32. | :37:36. | |
the Green Belt and areas of outstanding natural beauty. If you | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
look at Gravesend, this is destroying the local environment. | :37:41. | :37:46. | |
This argument is used often, but is the current infrastructure... Let's | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
move away from tolls, do you think the current infrastructure in this | :37:50. | :37:56. | |
area is OK as it is and does not need expanding? No, if you go along | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
the A2, there are four lanes and that is often held up with traffic | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
jams and accidents and a row problems to a great shame because | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
of it. All of the local MPs agree this would be a good thing is, | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
naturally it would be beneficial, do you really think that just by | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
lifting the tolls, the problem would be solved and you want to | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
stand in the wake of this book for Gravesham? I am not saying that at | :38:20. | :38:27. | |
all. We can look out for the best place to put the bridge would be | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
and remove the toll. The Government is bringing in a consultation, but | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
we hear from the county council that the bridge will be there | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
within three to five years. I do not know how they can do this, they | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
need to go forward with an existing routes that they have already | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
considered. There was no consultation there, that is | :38:45. | :38:52. | |
predetermined. Charlie, you're presumably in favour of this? | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
think this is a great idea. We need more jobs and money across Kent as | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
a whole. It would benefit Gravesham and be great for East Kent, Dover | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
and Deal and Thanet, and would be great for the county. Poor, what | :39:06. | :39:11. | |
would you say? I respect the position of John Burton, but we are | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
in a desperate position economically, and we need these | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
jobs and infrastructure coming for were it, so I would want to see | :39:19. | :39:24. | |
some kind of cross St, the debate would be about where, but we need | :39:24. | :39:27. | |
it for jobs and growth in the region. The main high demand is | :39:27. | :39:31. | |
about tolls, and the sympathy with this? The previous Labour | :39:32. | :39:34. | |
governments did not get rid of it eight years ago and they could have | :39:34. | :39:40. | |
done. Now, the finances are in MS, so the idea to suddenly find the | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
money to get rid of the tolls is a bit pie-in-the-sky. We need to be | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
realistic. We need more transport because we know the M25 crossings | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
are chock-a-block. We need the extra capacity. What about in | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
Airport in the Thames estuary? That would make this look like a very | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
small argument! It would! Them they do not think anybody wants the Mad | :40:02. | :40:11. | |
Cat Island idea! Big projects like that go horribly wrong! We think | :40:11. | :40:16. | |
that the island in Kent is a bit mad! To look at Southend, Manston, | :40:17. | :40:20. | |
this would drive the economy on both sides of the estuary and | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
create more jobs and money. John Burton, not a lot of sympathy for | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
your argument, do you think you will be able to stop this going | :40:28. | :40:34. | |
ahead? We have to represent local people, and the local view is | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
agreeing with this side and we need to have a proper link across the | :40:38. | :40:41. | |
bridge and we need to think about the road is the structure in Kent | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
and Essex and how they are affected. Is this the right location of their | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
takeaway be told? Let's test it. If you want a bridge orate tunnel, put | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
it in the right place, not just grab something because it is quick | :40:54. | :41:04. | |
:41:04. | :41:05. | ||
and easy to do. Thank you. The alcohol fuelled party which | :41:06. | :41:08. | |
began with the introduction of 24 hour licensing could be about to | :41:09. | :41:11. | |
end. The Government wants to 'rebalance' the law to tackle the | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
social disorder which has become a problem for many of our coastal | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
towns. In Brighton and Hove, it's estimated that alcohol misuse costs | :41:17. | :41:20. | |
the police and the economy a hundred million pounds year. One | :41:20. | :41:23. | |
solution being considered is a late night levy. A tax on clubs and bars | :41:23. | :41:26. | |
which serve alcohol after midnight. The money raised would go to the | :41:26. | :41:29. | |
police and local councils and the Sunday Politics South East has | :41:29. | :41:32. | |
learned Sussex Police will be meeting to discuss the levy next | :41:32. | :41:34. | |
week. But would it solve the problem, or kill off local | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
businesses? If you were elected Police | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
Commissioner, Paul Richards, you would have to implement this levy, | :41:43. | :41:48. | |
is it a good idea? Beepers and look at this closely because the money | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
going into the police force is down. -- people should look at this | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
closely. Late-night trouble on the street cost a lot of money to | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
police. Maybe the local businesses that are benefiting from this extra | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
custom should put more money back into the police force. About 70 % | :42:06. | :42:10. | |
of the cash raised would go to the police with this scheme, so it | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
would pay for the officers needed. But did you not think this money | :42:14. | :42:20. | |
would be ring-fenced for the police, they could do what they wanted? | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
Police Commissioners will set the budget, so if they want to go down | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
this route, then the money should be ring-fenced into these areas. | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
The balance needs to be got right, so we do not want to see late-night | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
business is going at a business because of this. It is not a | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
punitive fine, it is a contribution from profits to allow the police to | :42:40. | :42:47. | |
do their jobs so that other people do not have to pay for the policing. | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
It does sound reasonable, there are a lot of problems socially, health | :42:52. | :42:59. | |
why is, police have a lot to clear up, why should these people not to | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
contribute to the messy caused? That does not deal with the base | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
problem, there will not be less people a drunk and clogging up | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
Accident and Emergency. At least they would contribute to the public | :43:10. | :43:16. | |
service that helps them. The issue is 24 hour drinking and laid-back | :43:16. | :43:21. | |
licences, they should be less of an idea of this culture. People cannot | :43:21. | :43:27. | |
get a drink after 2am hacks back be polite to go out after 2am. | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
understand this. Because there is a late-night licence, people are | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
walking back late at night, vandalising cars, are fighting in | :43:36. | :43:41. | |
the streets, people are up in arms because of this. I need to be aware | :43:41. | :43:47. | |
of the nuisance that this caused as. There should be less of it. You're | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
saying you do not want a tax on fun, you want a ban on drinking after | :43:51. | :43:57. | |
midnight? I want to stop their late-night irresponsible drinking | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
that clogs up accident and emergency and people being sick and | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
fighting and vandalising property. You must be frustrated that the | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
Government is not going further with this? One of the big mistakes | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
was the idea bet you could have Continental, cafe culture, 24 hour | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
drinking, but that is not the way we are here. Of the Budget not | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
drink in a plasma because it is a cold country, they tend to have | :44:23. | :44:30. | |
closing time at 12 o'clock at night. -- people will not drink in a play | :44:30. | :44:38. | |
as a big as it is cold here. It is a big problem in a Sussex, Hastings, | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
East Bourne, Brighton and Hove. problem with an early licence is | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
lots of house parties, it is more noisy and damaging to the local | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
community. People will still want to stay up late drinking, that is | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
what they want to do, but banning them in the city centre means they | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
would do it in their homes. If you put a levy on the businesses | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
profiting from this behaviour, then the policing is there to stop this | :45:02. | :45:09. | |
kind of trouble. It is not a very high levy, I think it is between | :45:09. | :45:13. | |
�304,500 a year for a business making a good profit out of this | :45:13. | :45:23. | |
:45:23. | :45:24. | ||
licensing. -- it is between �300 and �4,500. There would be a | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
financial incentive then for the council to grant more late-night | :45:27. | :45:32. | |
licences. There are too many as it is, it needs to be reined in. | :45:32. | :45:38. | |
do you do that? You need to restrict licensing and be tougher | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
on licensing. A recent announcement of a tougher licensing regime for | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
lap-dancing clubs which is a good thing, we need a tougher licensing | :45:47. | :45:50. | |
regime for late night boxing and late-night drinking. You're not | :45:50. | :45:56. | |
worried about putting businesses at a business? I do not think there is | :45:56. | :46:00. | |
much trade after midnight anyway, and I think the right balance is | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
that the residents should be able to go to bed in peace and quiet and | :46:03. | :46:11. | |
not have disturbances on the way home. Another police would get 70 %. | :46:11. | :46:16. | |
What about giving some to the NHS because of the rise in admissions? | :46:16. | :46:22. | |
If that works with the police, then maybe that'll be OK. A very anti- | :46:22. | :46:28. | |
market message from Charlie. That is like saying we should have more | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
cigarettes sold, everyone has tried to rein in the amount of cigarettes | :46:32. | :46:35. | |
sold because they have been as bad for you, because late-night | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
drinking is a bad way for our culture to go as well because of | :46:38. | :46:42. | |
too much fighting. Let's break up a party there! | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
And now a round up of the week's events in the region with our | :46:45. | :46:55. | |
Political Reporter Alan Soady. It was a farewell Fabio Capello as | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
the England manager resigned. Sports minister and Faversham MP | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
Hugh Robertson put the boot in. a player in his team had behaved in | :47:04. | :47:08. | |
the way that he has behaved to the Football Association he would have | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
taken the top as possible action. Colonel Tim Collins was accused of | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
scoring an own goal, he wants to be Kent's collected Police | :47:17. | :47:20. | |
Commissioner but was criticised after revealing he would only do | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
with part-time saying that was all the job needs. An argument blew up | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
over plans for a wind farm of the Brighton coast. Caroline Lucas | :47:29. | :47:36. | |
insist it will be worth be changed in the CD of. And the South East | :47:36. | :47:38. | |
celebrated the two hundredth birthday of Charles Dickens. But in | :47:38. | :47:41. | |
the House of Lords, the quality of speech-writing was no match for the | :47:41. | :47:47. | |
Victorian novelist. I know these are hard times, so, I didn't have | :47:47. | :47:54. | |
any Great Expectations! Sounds more like bleak house to me! | :47:54. | :47:58. | |
That was Alan Soady. Paul Richards - what did you make of your Kent | :47:59. | :48:02. | |
counterpart Tim Collins saying he could do the job part time? You've | :48:03. | :48:06. | |
said you'd sacrifice a chunk of your salary if you were elected as | :48:06. | :48:13. | |
Police Commissioner. The salary is a substantial salary, �100,000 in | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
some constabularies. I admire Tim Collins and his public record is | :48:17. | :48:22. | |
there, but he is wrong here. It is a full-time job, not a part-time | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
job. It sets police budgets, hiring and firing constables, it | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
represents the public in the police service. A big job. But you think | :48:31. | :48:37. | |
it is overpaid? 30 % of the salary if I was selected would go to | :48:37. | :48:41. | |
police charities and victims' charities, because my campaign is | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
about to victims' rights and I think you can survive happily on | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
�60,000, but it is a full-time job, so, Colonel Collins, you have got | :48:49. | :48:55. | |
this wrong. Charlie, lots of fewer MPs have been voicing opposition to | :48:55. | :49:01. | |
the wind farms. Onshore wind farms is a bad idea, they are noisy, they | :49:01. | :49:05. | |
drive people mad, offshore wind farms, this is the right way to go, | :49:05. | :49:10. | |
so I think it is a good proposal in principle. Caroline Lucas has not | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
necessarily looked at the issue in terms of the current on the seabed | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
and making to for the environment and the sea bed is protected. | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
do you mean by that? You need to make sure that the environment is | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
not disturbed on the seabed and currents are not disturbed so | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
that's the flora and fauna are in the sea and they are not damaged. | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
As a general principle, the wind farm has been good of Thanet. | :49:35. | :49:39. |