Browse content similar to 14/10/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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And in the South East, fighting the freeze, while Brighton's Green | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
Party is considering defying the Government by putting council tax | :01:30. | :01:40. | |
:01:40. | :01:40. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2172 seconds | :01:40. | :37:52. | |
Hello and misses the Sunday Politics in the South East. Coming | :37:52. | :37:57. | |
up later - a one-man-band all the biggest threat to the Tories in the | :37:57. | :38:03. | |
South East? How serious is the challenge posed by UKIP? Our guests | :38:03. | :38:08. | |
at Damian Collins the Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe and the | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage who is also the MEP. This England. | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
Unfortunately was unable to make it to the studio to Mesa joins us from | :38:15. | :38:23. | |
London. Malcolm to. Scallop wars have broken and the Channel. Sussex | :38:23. | :38:26. | |
fishermen have been returning with tales of tangling with French | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
counterpart over lucrative Scot ground. About 40 French ships | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
surrounded a British vote on Monday. About 15 miles off the French coast | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
and threw stones and shouted abuse. -- British vote. The French are | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
angry that the British are exempt from rules designed to replenish | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
stocks. It seems unfair that the French went to fish stocks finding | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
out the British got there first. pick a lot of my constituencies in | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
Kent will not have many sympathies with the French fishermen who have | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
caused as many dismays but this should not be a stand off in the | :39:04. | :39:10. | |
high seas. What the British are doing our legal, but it does not | :39:10. | :39:14. | |
seem very fair on people nurturing stocks. The French fishermen are | :39:14. | :39:17. | |
very good at interpreting laws in their own way without caring if it | :39:17. | :39:23. | |
is fair to us. Not much diplomacy here from Damian. Nigel will you be | :39:23. | :39:29. | |
more diplomatic? No! I am a great sympathise with the British fishing | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
fleet. The Conservative Party have almost destroyed it up by signing | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
as a to a common policy. This dispute about scallops, our | :39:37. | :39:43. | |
fishermen are angry because our percentage of the cod quota is 7%. | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
Getting back to this particular issue, the French have been | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
refraining from fishing them all summer and by the time they come | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
back, the British have got there first. If you're a fisherman, you | :39:55. | :40:01. | |
have to have quota or you go for things off quota. Given that our | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
fleet only have 7% of the Channel cod quota and the French have 77, | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
we have to fish for other things and brightly the whole thing is | :40:10. | :40:13. | |
ludicrous to what we ought to do is draw a line in the Channel and | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
declare each half national waters, that would work and would be | :40:16. | :40:22. | |
perfectly fair. OK, we will leave it there for now. The grey is on | :40:22. | :40:25. | |
Brighton and Hove City Council are considering raising council tax | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
bills -- the Greens on Brighton and Hove City Council, in defiance of | :40:30. | :40:32. | |
the Government. At the Tory party conference, | :40:33. | :40:35. | |
ministers made it clear that they wanted local authorities to free | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
his bills and by using a stick and carrot tactics often cash | :40:39. | :40:49. | |
:40:49. | :41:01. | ||
incentives for those two comply -- Brighton and Hove is the only place | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
in the country where the Greens are the largest party. Have a different | :41:05. | :41:08. | |
agenda politically and a different view of local politics from the | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
Government. This week, the local government minister Eric Pickles | :41:11. | :41:16. | |
made it clear what he thinks about council tax. Conference, I believe | :41:16. | :41:20. | |
in lower taxes. Whereas labelled doubled the council tax, we have | :41:20. | :41:26. | |
worked with councils for the last two years to freeze it. This year, | :41:26. | :41:30. | |
we are offering an additional fund to help councils freeze their bills | :41:30. | :41:35. | |
again. But here in Brighton and Hove, the message was not well | :41:35. | :41:37. | |
received. Rather than freeze council tax, the council has been | :41:37. | :41:45. | |
planning to put it up. They are talking about a 3.5% increase. To | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
ease pressure on council services. Brighton and Hove City Council is | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
responsible for managing things like emptying bins, sweeping | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
streets and running libraries. In all, it provides over 800 services | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
and employs around 6,000 staff. The Green Party wanted to put council | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
tax up last year but was defeated and says it may try to do the same | :42:05. | :42:11. | |
thing again. Council tax bills in Brighton and Hove are currently | :42:11. | :42:16. | |
�1,482 a year for an average house in band D. 85% of this bill is set | :42:16. | :42:22. | |
by the council. The rest by a fire and police authorities. If the | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
council's charges rose by 3.5%, bills would go up by �44. A | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
suggestion that is met with scorn by the Green Party's opponents. | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
They are crazy. We are said that the council tax should be frozen | :42:35. | :42:38. | |
from day one. We said this last year and we succeeded last year but | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
they did not want to do and right up until the end, they tried to | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
increase the council tax by 3.5% but fortunately, Labour joined us | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
to defeat that. I have said from day one, the cut tax should be | :42:52. | :43:00. | |
frozen. This is what people want. And now we have an offer from the | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
Government to freeze council tax. How can it make any sense to | :43:03. | :43:09. | |
increase it? Does anyone want to pay more council tax? I think it is | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
high enough already. I live in the city centre so it is already quite | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
steep. I would be against it because I fear we pay enough | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
already. I do not know how I would be able to pay it, really. What of | :43:22. | :43:25. | |
the question is slightly different? Would people be prepared to play | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
less than �1 per week to keep libraries and other services | :43:28. | :43:34. | |
running as they are now? Yes, but that changes it probably, that | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
sounds more achievable.? If that was signed and sealed, then of | :43:38. | :43:44. | |
course but they can say these things and it is interesting that | :43:44. | :43:49. | |
it does not happen. I do not want any more council tax. The Greens | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
have minority control of the council and given the Tory | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
opposition, they would need Labour support. And then they would have | :43:55. | :44:00. | |
to hold a referendum. Imposed by the Government which would cost | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
around �300,000. Earlier this year, the Government said councils had to | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
hold a ballot if they wanted to raise council tax by over 3.5%. But | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
it has just lowered that two 2%. The point about referenda is that | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
they are yes or no questions. Politics are not usually about that, | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
it is about how much so this is a misfit between the sort of issues | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
it is dealing with and the way the Government is doing this. The | :44:24. | :44:29. | |
Government is doing this to make sure that it can put a limit on | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
what local councils do. Technically they are saying it you can do it | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
with a majority support but we know it is difficult to vote for tax | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
rises. That is like turkeys voting for Christmas so unless you are | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
voting for tax rises on billionaires, you will not get it. | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
If they do manage to find allies to pursue the rise, they will be | :44:47. | :44:54. | |
taking a stand because the Government and will be out of lamb | :44:54. | :44:56. | |
with virtually every other council in the country. | :44:56. | :45:04. | |
I am joined by the leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
Jason Kitcat. What do you need the money for? We are facing the | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
highest per-capita cuts by any council in the region. We need to | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
make up from the huge pressure that all of our services are having to | :45:16. | :45:24. | |
deliver for our citizens, but it -- whether that is libraries, keeping | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
the seafront in order, keeping the streets clean. These services | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
depend on us as a council to provide funding. But also as the | :45:32. | :45:36. | |
report pointed out, he face an uphill struggle to face residents | :45:36. | :45:39. | |
that they might feel differently if they knew what this money was going | :45:39. | :45:44. | |
to go towards. I know this is hypothetical, because you have not | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
have the final budget through from government but what specifically | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
with this extra money go towards? number of areas we will look at to | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
use this money for. The Government has cut council tax benefit by | :45:58. | :46:07. | |
about 80% fall last and so there are the very poor and working | :46:07. | :46:10. | |
people who will be hit by these changes so that money will reduce | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
the impact of benefit cuts. We are talking about �3 million. If you | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
went for that 3.5%, that is not a lot in the context of a budget of a | :46:20. | :46:28. | |
city council like yours, that will not cover that much. The benefit | :46:28. | :46:36. | |
reduction in the year ahead will be worth about �2.5 million so that | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
increase would close the whole. The book libraries we operate cost tens | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
of thousands of pounds per year so �1 million could save many branch | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
libraries. The Government is offering new �2 million if you | :46:48. | :46:57. | |
don't go through this. Why do not go for that? That is one off money. | :46:57. | :47:05. | |
This is a one off grant and what it effectively masks is the cost of | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
these phrases. We also have to note that this is a government to | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
proclaim they are local list and that they are restricting what | :47:15. | :47:21. | |
councils can and cannot do -- they are in to localism. One of the few | :47:21. | :47:25. | |
things we are left to decide on his varying council tax. Will to people | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
in the City are already concerned about we were spending their money. | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
The cemetery is installed on the seafront. And we have not installed | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
any so the trees. You are planning to spend thousands of pounds. | :47:37. | :47:45. | |
are seeking a grant to renew a shed for the solar panels on the railway | :47:45. | :47:48. | |
which needed to be replaced 10 years ago. If we are successful | :47:48. | :47:52. | |
with the ground, that will go ahead. The shed will be closed by the | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
railway board if we do not act on it so the oldest electric railway | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
in the country is depending on us to take action. 45,000 is the | :48:02. | :48:07. | |
amount you said you would put into that. Other examples, the revenue | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
increase from raising parking charges. Lots of people you are | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
already getting quite a lot of extra money from them since you | :48:13. | :48:20. | |
have been in power. They may feel that but it is an inevitable | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
consequence because of the cuts imposed on this council by the | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
Government. Let's just remember the fact that the freeze last year | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
added an additional 3.6 million black hole to our budget thanks to | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
the work of the Tory and Labour parties locally. The chances of | :48:37. | :48:42. | |
this going ahead of very slim, aren't they? Us to you can persuade | :48:42. | :48:47. | |
your colleagues on other parties to back you? I need to talk to the | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
other group leaders and itself of the Conservatives have made their | :48:51. | :48:53. | |
minds up there we are in conversation with all of them. We | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
are trying to seek consensus, and we owe it to the citizens of the | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
City to protect services and come to a clear budget which protects | :49:05. | :49:09. | |
budgets and services and delivers value for money. We are doing that. | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
On we have done very well year on year and we are getting good | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
ratings from the external audits we are getting. Been two, it good luck | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
with persuading your colleagues on the council. Damian Collins, we | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
heard from Jason Kitcat that he is blaming the Government for this, | :49:26. | :49:32. | |
lowering the threshold for the referendum. He is now trying to do | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
things but he says that goes against localism. We want local | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
people to have a say and if authorities want to increase | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
council tax, they can ask people for their consent. There does not | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
sound like the people of Brighton will go for that. It comes on | :49:48. | :49:54. | |
following increases in parking charges. The reason the Government | :49:55. | :49:59. | |
has wanted to help councils freeze council tax, our local authority | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
has managed that for two years, we know that when people have less | :50:02. | :50:06. | |
money to spend it is a fixed cost and it makes a real difference so | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
all councils should really be looking at spending and sake, what | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
can we save and what can we do to freeze the council tax? Giving | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
local authorities more control over their budget, it is a good thing | :50:17. | :50:20. | |
that in this case they want to go to the people and ask the people | :50:20. | :50:23. | |
through a referendum whether they would be prepared to put up more | :50:23. | :50:29. | |
money. Back is a matter for them and it is that they should go to | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
the people and ask them. I think there was a no. Nigel Farage joins | :50:33. | :50:39. | |
us now from Westminster. You want to keep government control of local | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
government so you would applaud what the Greens are doing. I think | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
it is up to elected councils to live in that their taxes and be | :50:49. | :50:52. | |
judged at elections but on top of that I think if local residents | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
want to hold a referendum, whether it is on the scale of the Budget, | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
green belt development, ugly wind farms, then I think local residents | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
should have a right. As a general principle, central government has | :51:05. | :51:09. | |
far too much say over local government in this country and as | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
far as the Greens are concerned, I help always called Dan the | :51:13. | :51:18. | |
watermelons. Great on the outside but they are very road on the | :51:19. | :51:26. | |
inside. -- very red. So there should be up to spend council tax | :51:26. | :51:31. | |
as they wish? If I was on the council in Brighton, I would be | :51:31. | :51:34. | |
opposed to these increases and certainly opposed to the parking | :51:34. | :51:39. | |
charges brought in but this is our local democracy and how it works | :51:39. | :51:43. | |
and given there are checks, that is how it should be. Damian Collins, | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
do you agree? People in Brighton will have their say and I think | :51:47. | :51:52. | |
they will probably say no. It is always easy for any public bodies | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
to say, we cannot find savings. On the whole, savings can be made and | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
I think the public have a right to demand that any spending which his | :52:02. | :52:05. | |
discretion, any place where we have a bit more control over the pennies | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
being spent is a good thing. A long live on now and talk about the UK | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
Independence Party. On the effect that is having on politics and the | :52:13. | :52:17. | |
South East. It was once mocked as the provisional wing of the Rotary | :52:17. | :52:21. | |
Club and over the past seven years, UKIP has doubled its share of the | :52:21. | :52:28. | |
vote in the region. In Damian's constituency, it has almost | :52:29. | :52:35. | |
quadrupled the vote. How worried are you by this threat, Damian? | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
should never underestimate any voice in politics and a welcome | :52:39. | :52:45. | |
UKIP's contribution to the debate. I look forward to having a general | :52:45. | :52:51. | |
election campaign against a UKIP candidate like added in the last | :52:51. | :52:57. | |
election. The issue of European membership prosaic matter which is | :52:57. | :53:00. | |
important, tremendous Fox and change in Europe and the people | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
want to know what their deal with Europe will be. It is not the top | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
issue at my surgeries, it is not the issue that people of raised | :53:07. | :53:12. | |
with me, they are worried about their own living situation. It is a | :53:12. | :53:16. | |
big issue at Westminster, lot of your colleagues feel strongly that | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
if David Cameron had been more Euro-sceptic he would have won the | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
election out right. Maybe that he should do a deal with Nigel to get | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
ahead in the next election? I am not a great believer in a packed | :53:31. | :53:36. | |
and alliances to win elections. We should have the election campaign | :53:36. | :53:40. | |
and UKIP do well in European elections and that support has not | :53:41. | :53:43. | |
translate through to a general election. The general election will | :53:43. | :53:49. | |
be won by the party that has the best policies to maintain the | :53:49. | :53:51. | |
living standards and job creation the country needs. That is the | :53:51. | :53:54. | |
issue that is central to people's lives. That will determine how they | :53:54. | :53:59. | |
vote. Nigel Farage, you fought the last general election yourself and | :53:59. | :54:02. | |
the danger that you always face is that you do not win anything | :54:02. | :54:08. | |
yourself, you split the right-wing vote and letting the Lib Dems or | :54:08. | :54:13. | |
Labour win. His store at the UKIP did well in European elections and | :54:13. | :54:18. | |
its existence was seen as a protest vote against our membership of the | :54:18. | :54:21. | |
European Union. While it is fully justified, the party today has | :54:21. | :54:25. | |
evolved and changed. We are not talking about who governs Britain, | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
we are talking about how that Britain should be governed and that | :54:28. | :54:33. | |
is what we have got - a broad manifesto talking about education, | :54:33. | :54:43. | |
:54:43. | :54:43. | ||
green taxes, open-door immigration, talking about the thing that we | :54:43. | :54:53. | |
think need to happen. But these are the issues at Damian's constituency. | :54:53. | :54:58. | |
One gets raised in everybody's post back and surgery, our policies like | :54:58. | :55:04. | |
open-door immigration at a time of rising unemployment. -- those are | :55:04. | :55:08. | |
Policies. The things that get talked about and certainly I could | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
talk to about are why are we giving �50 million a day to a European | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
Union whose accounts have not been signed off for the past 17 years | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
when the money is needed at home? Surrey, Nigel, we will come back to | :55:21. | :55:27. | |
you in a minute. Your party leader started talking about a new | :55:27. | :55:31. | |
settlement for the European Union. He stopped short of a referendum | :55:31. | :55:34. | |
which is what Nigel would like him to commit to. What would you like | :55:34. | :55:39. | |
him to do, or would you like a referendum? The important thing is | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
concerned about what Britain's relationship with Europe will be. | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
It is quite clear that Europe is changing. Europe may need new | :55:46. | :55:51. | |
powers to solve the crisis. Britain will not be part of that and the | :55:51. | :55:56. | |
Conservative Party campaign is for us to stay out of the eurozone. But | :55:56. | :56:00. | |
if Europe changes, our relationship will change as well. Most people | :56:01. | :56:04. | |
will want the kind of free trade arrangement that we had when we | :56:04. | :56:07. | |
joined the Common Market in the 1970s. If we can get that New Deal | :56:07. | :56:14. | |
and get powers back that we want, it is right that we get some | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
consent for that new deal. David Cameron has been talking about but | :56:18. | :56:21. | |
a lot of that is the correct approach. At the moment, if he said | :56:21. | :56:31. | |
if we had a referendum, people would say what that means for them. | :56:31. | :56:35. | |
Now a be in the next Parliament? my constituency, one person makes | :56:35. | :56:39. | |
toys and distributes them to 16 retail outlets across the European | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
Union, and I am sure that if they have a referendum, they would ask | :56:43. | :56:47. | |
what it would mean for the business. These are the questions that people | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
need to get an answer for. Nigel, you have been dismissed as a | :56:51. | :56:57. | |
provisional wing of the Rotary Club and you have been dismissed as | :56:57. | :57:02. | |
David Cameron call to fruitcakes and closet racists. I know you were | :57:02. | :57:09. | |
fined recently for your outburst in the Europe. Against Herman van | :57:09. | :57:16. | |
Rompuy way. I am not. I am not having this, I called Herman van | :57:17. | :57:22. | |
Rompuy a damp rag, Boris Johnson was talking about dishcloths are. | :57:22. | :57:26. | |
This is ludicrous. You do not think you're helping yourself with us, | :57:26. | :57:31. | |
and? You said yourself that David Cameron has accused us of being | :57:31. | :57:36. | |
closet racists, eccentrics and lunatics and I put a bit of fun by | :57:36. | :57:40. | |
saying someone has got the charisma of a damp rag and suddenly I am the | :57:40. | :57:47. | |
biggest bully in Europe. No apology from me. Now it is time for the | :57:47. | :57:57. | |
regular round up all the politics Did David Cameron no more than he | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
was letting on when he spoke to us about the cost of commuting in the | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
South East last week? I am not satisfied by what is happening on | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
the railways. Annual increases would be 1% above inflation just | :58:10. | :58:15. | |
under 3%. Thanet District Council is facing a judicial review over | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
his decision to suspend live animal exports through Ramsgate. The | :58:19. | :58:22. | |
authority which owns the port took the decision after 40 sheep have to | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
be put down. A plans by Paramount for a �2 | :58:27. | :58:30. | |
billion theme park could impose the sight of a new Thames crossing. A | :58:30. | :58:35. | |
council leader says the application for the park is the most favourable | :58:35. | :58:38. | |
of three possible routes for a third crossing. | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
And Boris has been banging the drum for industry airport again. After | :58:42. | :58:46. | |
calling for a review into aviation capacity to be speeded up, he took | :58:46. | :58:50. | |
his message to the Conservative Party conference. We are going to | :58:50. | :58:56. | |
sort out our Aviation capacity problem, aren't we? Yes. But we | :58:56. | :59:02. | |
will not bowler third runway. -- build a third runway. I know you | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
did not go to hear his speech in Birmingham, but what about Boris as | :59:06. | :59:11. | |
a future leader of the Conservative Party? He is a great popular figure | :59:11. | :59:17. | |
and we need characters and personalities in politics. We have | :59:17. | :59:22. | |
got a good leader but I think Boris, like every other member of the | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
party, is behind David Cameron. is not ruling it out. Not, long | :59:26. | :59:30. | |
term. We will have a look at that when the time comes but he is a | :59:30. | :59:34. | |
great figure and we will continue to enjoy him. Nigel Farage, he | :59:34. | :59:38. | |
would give you a run for your money. I like Boris, he's great and he | :59:38. | :59:41. | |
believes we should have a referendum on Europe and believes | :59:41. | :59:45. | |
that British business needs a break and he is the only Tory politician | :59:45. | :59:55. | |
:59:55. | :59:55. | ||
who you could talk to as a UKIP member. Maybe you could do a deal. | :59:55. | :59:59. | |
What I will push for is an in Out referendum and if David Cameron | :59:59. | :00:02. | |
does not wake up to the fact that is what nearly 80% of its own | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
voters want, he is doomed to lose the next general election by a big | :00:06. | :00:14. | |
margin. Iron-clad Nigel managed to get that in about a question about | :00:14. | :00:20. | |
Boris. By due to be aimed efficient one-club golfer than to be a Tory | :00:20. | :00:24. | |
Prime Minister who has let down millions of Conservative voters. | :00:24. | :00:27. | |
Nigel Farage, it is a shame we couldn't have you in the studio. | :00:27. | :00:31. |