28/04/2013 Sunday Politics South East


28/04/2013

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out of the Blues - as county Council elections loom, we look at the

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2296 seconds

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parties targeting the Conservative Politics in the south-east. Coming

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up: Could thousands of farm workers lose out to migrant labour over

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Government plans to abolish their wages board? To talk about that with

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us is the prospective parliamentary candidate for which the ball and --

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Surrey and Whitstable from the Lib Dems and a professor from the

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University of Kent, Tim Lockhirst. The number of people in the

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south-east asking for assistance with red has risen by 50% in the

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past year, according to Shelter. At present, we play the highest red and

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property prices outside of London. Let me ask you, James, we have major

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changes to housing benefit. People refer to it as a bedroom tax. So

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arrears are going to get worse? That is a concern. I am not entirely

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convinced about the bedroom tax myself. Homelessness is a concern,

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particularly families that are struggling at the moment. I think it

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is incumbent on local authorities to support homeless charities and

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voluntary organisations and to keep supporting them to help counter the

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problem. They mention food. This is an

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interesting one, because, ten, we have seen stories about the increase

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in the number of people going to food banks.

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I think the biggest mystery in the economy at the moment is that

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unemployment is not rising, but wages are stagnant or falling.

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People are facing hard times. So even people who are in hard work --

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people live work are struggling to pay their bills.

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Is there a problem here of greedy landlords? In my street is

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reasonably, and landlord demanded a �400 increase in Redfern attended.

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-- in rent. That is very tough. That is part of

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the problem. There are a number of libraries out there who have taken

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on a second property. In this case, it is incumbent on the landlords to

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consider their tenants and consider the rest that their tenants can

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afford. County Council elections take place

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this Thursday and a final report on the challenges facing the major

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political parties in the south-east, we take a look at the Conservatives.

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They currently hold 75% of the seats in Kent, Sussex, and Surrey. But the

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smaller parties are hoping to capitalise on tensions between

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Conservative councils and the Government to gain votes.

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Gravesend is at hand that enjoys some of the hottest weather in the

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country, but its political battles are heating up this week as well.

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The Conservatives gained three County Council is from labour here

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in 2009 and now hold for out of its five seats. It was a good year for

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the Tories, who held onto strong majorities in East and West Sussex

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and Surrey. And in Kent, they made a staggering 19 games, to hold 74 out

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of the 84 seats on Kent County Council. It means the Conservatives

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are now defending three quarters of the County Council sees in the

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south-east, but that also makes the party with the most to lose. And

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after three years in Government, and a big drop in opinion polls, the

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situation is not as sunny as it was. The Conservatives' hold on key

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marginal seas could suffer the consequences.

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Internet terror, there is no question that -- in terms of local

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politics, there is no question that things are difficult. We are talking

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about the future of Britain in Europe, the marriage vote, things

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were the Conservatives are under threat from UKIP. UKIP has a strong

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line on these issues with its old-style conservative.

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One-way David Cameron has tried to bolster popularity is by offering to

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freeze Council tax. Every single pound has been hard

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error. Early mornings, late nights, the children, long shifts. And then

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you come home, and there on the doormat is the Council tax bill.

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There is a clear moral imperative duty that tax down.

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But some Conservative councils have defied that and raise the tax.

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Community Secretary Eric Pickles, who visited Gravesend is weak, has

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not heard in his anger. I think Conservative Council leaders

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in the south-east are as likely to feel that Labour leaders in the

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North have been hard done by. Keeping tax down and coping with

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unprecedented cuts has put pressure on frontline services. Kent has made

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cuts of �49 million this year, with social services for the elderly and

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disabled and children's services the worst affected. There has been

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criticism of the millions of pounds spent on consultants to advise on

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how to make savings. A Gravesend, the Labour led Council, which also

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raise Council tax, says local services cannot work without

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fussing. We are seeing problems on our roads,

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our street lighting, the sorts of problems we might have an education

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and social services. What I'm saying is that those people are amongst the

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most weakest and vulnerable. They are suffering disproportionately

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more in terms of the crisis of the need, and I don't think Kent County

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Council have been particularly supportive of those people.

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The Conservative party itself has admitted that it expects up to lose

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500 Council sees this week. It is not just UKIP posing a threat, as

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the right-wing English Democrats are fielding 23 candidates in Kent. The

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hope that they can win marginal seats like Gravesend. But good

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enough to challenge Council leadership?

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From conservative point of view, the worst-case scenario is that they

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seas. It is very important nationally. It is like a major

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American state. To lose it visitor to the Conservative party's prior.

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It happened once in the 1990s and it can't happen on an idea for the

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party. As voters go to the polls this

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Thursday, conservative county councils will be feeling the heat.

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But how nervous will they be? And could the results make nervous

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reading for David Cameron? Joining us now from Westminster

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studio is the Conservative MP for Sevenoaks, Michael Fallon, who is

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also the Government's Business and Energy Minister. Everyone

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acknowledges that he will lose seats. What does acceptable failure

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look like in Kent? We did spectacularly well for years

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ago. We are defending this time, across the country, 1500 seas.

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Labour are only defending 250. Concentrate, if you will, on the

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south-east. What do you expect to happen in Kent, East Sussex, and

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Surrey? We have not set a specific target,

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but clearly, we did so well in 2009, so we will clearly not do as well as

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that again. We are in the mid-term of a very difficult period for the

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Government. Obviously, we will not repeat our success of 2009, but we

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will not set a specific target this time.

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Could you lose control, overall control, of Kent?

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I certainly hope not. Kent has been a good Council. It has managed cuts

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to its budget very efficiently. It has done well in Council tax.

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certainly hope we will not lose it. Let's talk about Council tax. Three

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of our county councils, Kent, East Sussex, and West Sussex. Those three

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have frozen Council tax. But let me ask you this. Do we have a moral

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duty to have enough school places? Surrey Saint with the extra 2% that

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they added to their Council tax that they did add 2000 more school

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places. Kent 's needs more school places by 2015. Who will the voters

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think has done the right thing? Let me answer that directly. Kent

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are providing more school places. They are nowhere providing as many

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as they need. They are doing that in my own

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constituency in Sevenoaks. It is perfectly possible to provide new

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school places and live within your means. I am very proud of Kent for

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keeping the Council tax down. The thing that would benefit their

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constituents who are struggling most is not to get the poorest people to

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pay more Council tax. As a direct result of your Government changing

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Council tax benefit and 1310% less into the pot, there are people who

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are genuinely struggling on tiny salaries will have to pay Council

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tax for the first time or pay more Council tax.

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I think people should pay more Council tax. -- I think people

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should pay Council tax. I do not think it is very people do not. I

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think most people who get up in the morning and go out to work one to

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see a benefit system that properly rewards work and does not,

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necessarily, favouring those who are not prepared to do what they are

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doing. Let's pick up on another issue.

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Commentators say he will be punished for -- commentators see you will be

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punished for, because your Government wants to legalise gay

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marriage. You could have offered them an alternative.

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Of course, the marriage has been controversial. But there are young

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people who do not see what the fuss is about. I would hope that when

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people come to look at how people vote on Thursday, they would not

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simply treat the vote as a protest that they would look overall at what

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this Government is doing on the big things, getting the deficit under

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control, rebalancing the budget, and making the welfare system much

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fairer. Those are the big things that happen to most of my

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constituents. Do you recognise the description in

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the report their of UK as old-style conservatives? Because if he is

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right, they are going to be the people you're voters will turn to.

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They are certainly getting protest votes and I don't think they're just

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getting from former conservatives. They are getting them across the

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spectrum. They have become the party of protest, because if you want to

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protest you can't vote Liberal Democrat and more because they're

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part of the Coalition. At the mid-term Government, when tags have

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been tough, people look for a protest vote and you can buy the

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obvious recipients of that at the moment.

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I called file, thank you for joining us. -- Michael Fallon, thank you.

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Let's turn to the panellists. Could we see the resurgence of

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labour-intensive and UKIP is something people are overexcited

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about? That's what makes the south-east

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interesting. If you don't think the Conservative party is conservative

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enough, you can vote for UKIP. Michael Fallon says they do not have

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a specific target in this part of the world. I can tell you that they

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have one target. The Conservative party wants to know whether Labour

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or UKIP will take most votes from them. You can not entirely a red

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herring. They can take votes from the Conservatives. They don't really

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need to take seats to do a lot of damage.

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What your party, James? Liberal Democrats at a local Council level

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have helped ask because the brand is seen as toxic because of the Liberal

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Democrats being part of this Government.

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What we're are finally on the doorstep at the moment is that

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Liberal Democrat support is still there, particularly in my area. Due

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in Kent, we are the opposition to this to -- we are the opposition to

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the Conservatives. We have a county councils year were Council tax was

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mentioned, where the County Council was not spending that and

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prioritising that properly on local services such as education, which

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matter most to people. Let's think about Council tax. Let's

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remember that we're not just broadcasting to Kent, but also

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Surrey, where the Council tax went up. They said it will create wealth

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as a new school places. Will people punish them at the County Council

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elections next week for putting up Council tax, or only reward them for

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these priorities? I suspect the answer is neither. I

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suspect that people will vote on national issues, and in that sense,

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the Conservatives in Surrey have been very clever. They think that

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the Government will take a kicking at this election and they are not

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necessarily going to take a greater kicking for doing something that

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they think serves the interests of the local population. I admire him

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for trying it. A... I think it might work.

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At a Commons debate this week, the Shadow Environment Secretary, Mary

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Creagh, said that getting rid of the Agricultural Wages Board which has

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existed since 1948 will mean a race to the bottom in terms of wages for

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managers and labourers in the industry. The Government however

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argued that the AWB is simply out of date. Will this pave the way for

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jobs when the EU migrants who are willing to work for less? We can

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sleep at a representative from the TUC. -- we can speak narrowed to a

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representative from the TUC. Yes, this will see a race to the

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bottom. Even the governments own figures suggest that farm pay will

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fall by �141 million. Why do farming workers need appeal

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board when we have a national minimum wage? There is only 80p

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difference between the farmers wait at the national minimum wage, so

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what is the problem? That minimum rate from the

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Agricultural Wages Board is for trainees, and they are mostly

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nationally by more that -- mostly nationally on more than that. When

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the economy starts to recover as people have a choice, reducing

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go-karting cabbages, bending over and doing hard work, or would you

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stack shelves unless the market? There is a worry, and there should

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There is a worry, and there should be a worry for farmers, attracting

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be a worry for farmers, attracting the right kind of leader.

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Why does this particular industry, or why to the workers in this

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industry, need this kind of protection? 1848 seats for itself.

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It is out of date. -- 1948 speaks for itself.

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I don't think going back in town would be good for anyone, because it

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would have a gone through those communities. But it might not be

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good for employers either. There are a whole number of problems, and one

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is that small employers and medium-sized employers, for the

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first time, all have to think about setting pay rates for the workers

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and now that Unite, the trade union, is gearing up to negotiate with

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them, so that'll be a painful process and time-consuming process.

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If it is painful and time-consuming, why is the National Farmers Union

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favour? ( RSA. James, the Liberal Democrats do not have a clear policy

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on this. What you as an individual thing should happen to wages in

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agriculture? I agree with Paul in that I think we

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should be keeping the ad also wages fall. My concern is that if it is

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abolished, wages could come down. The board is more than just wages,

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excess conditions and sick pay. There is a whole raft of issues

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involved in that. If we abolish the board, those could threat.

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Is there a problem here that British workers don't want farmers? If we

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are talking about if it is an option of going out and working in a field

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or staying at how my benefits, there is a sense that Eastern Europeans

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don't mind. There is an element of truth in

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that. There are experienced agricultural workers who come in

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from Eastern Europe because they have skills which are useful to

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farmers and people running agricultural business. I do not

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think that is a bad thing and I am not opposed to immigration. I think

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we also have to think about job creation. If we want to create more

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jobs in this sector of the economy, it seems to me to be fair that the

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market should set the level of wages as it does in every other sector of

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the economy. People be protected is a good thing. I don't think we need

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additional controls in this industry.

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Let's go back to poll for a second. James there be saying this is about

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more than just pay. This is quite old-fashioned language, isn't it? It

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says you are entitled to a bed and freshwater. It covers sick pay as

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well. I'd eat the things you care about, or is it just the pain that

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matters? The accommodation or is there

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because there are awful stories of people being offered rotted caravans

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with no water and no sewage disposal, so that it is therefore a

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purpose. The abolition of sick pay worries me. Falling back on

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statutory sick pay meaning that people come back to work where they

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are not quite ready to do so. Why should we worry about that? Well,

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because a quarter of death at work are in farming.

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Then he very much for joining us. It is time for a round-up of the week

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:59:48.:59:48.

's other political events in 60 seconds.

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Geraniums lead to Championship will be marked with a victory parade. The

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chairman turned down the councils for our open top bus tour through

:59:56.:59:59.

the time. We are very grateful to the Council

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for the offer, but it just will not happen because it doesn't work with

:00:03.:00:09.

the schedule, but we will see the bus for next year.

:00:09.:00:13.

Dover MP has criticised Google boss Eric Schmidt after was revealed that

:00:13.:00:19.

Google only paying 0.2% corporation tax on profits in 2011. He said that

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tax avoidance is an ethical and Google must pay a fair share.

:00:24.:00:29.

Brighton and Sussex NHS Trust has been named the worst in England for

:00:29.:00:33.

the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours to be admitted for

:00:33.:00:35.

Accident and Emergency, with 52 waves of 12 hours of recorded since

:00:35.:00:44.

January. And Orlando Bloom has backed a local

:00:44.:00:51.

towns -- ten 's bid to become a centre of culture. He set the town

:00:51.:00:59.

versus fighting to become an actor. Let's pick up, what is going on in

:00:59.:01:02.

Accident and Emergency departments? We had a Secretary of State this

:01:02.:01:07.

week saying it was all about out of hours GPs. They either of you have a

:01:07.:01:12.

sense of the story? I think one of the biggest mistake

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is the last Government made was to change the GP contract and has

:01:18.:01:22.

created a national crisis whether or not GPs on call for people who need

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them out of hours. James, what do you think the problem

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I agree with him honest. In years gone past, we should have been

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focusing on frontline services such as a key. That did not happen under

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the last Government and now we are paying.

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Category. He worked there. Your life is centred. We heard Orlando Bloom

:01:48.:01:51.

being wheeled out there to back it as an uppercut city of culture or

:01:51.:02:01.
:02:01.:02:05.

cat. -- and there to market as an uppercut city of culture.

:02:06.:02:15.
:02:16.:02:16.

Category is fantastic! Category is my hometown. I represent

:02:16.:02:19.

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