12/05/2013 Sunday Politics South


12/05/2013

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today's programme, why can't a woman be more like a man and get involved

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in local government? Three quarters of the people who contact local

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councils are women but when you get into the chamber they are

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outnumbered to two one. Let's me the two politicians who are with me.

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Carolina Noakes got involved in politics and is still there. The

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Conservative MP for Romsey and Southampton. John denim is a former

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Cabinet Minister. Welcome to the programme. The Queen's Speech this

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week. John, what would you pick out as telling? The government has lost

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sense of direction. Two major announcements. One was on childcare

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which fell apart. We did not have a build to sort out the banks and get

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them lending. We did not have a Bill to guarantee jobs who were out of

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work for a long time so they stop claiming benefits. We did not have a

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Bill to use top employers abusing the minimum wage. There were key

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things that should have been in the speech and were needed to get the

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economy going. How many more years can we go on with the economy

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flatlining with unemployment too high? I think I would say that one

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of the most important things we saw from the Queen's Speech was the

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announcement on crime and anti-social behaviour, and

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immigration, and you only have to look at the results from elections

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to see that these results are important. People who are not

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entitled to use the NHS should not use it. This is a Queens speech that

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was made on the back of an envelope. There was nothing in there to deal

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with real issues get the economy going. There was nothing on mansion

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tax. Was it a thin legislative programme? You i think the economy

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is the make or break but I don't think it was then. I know later we

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will be talking about HS2 and that is unimportant and big project. The

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government is getting on with a focus on the economy and making sure

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we cut tax for the lowest paid and they have made massive strides on

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immigration but want to do more. pills got a mention in the Queens

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speech. Two of them were to do with High Speed Two. As well as the

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high-speed rail ale, the government has announced a preparation Bill so

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they can spend money ahead of the next election. Opponents of the

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project say it is disregarding due process and it is trying to give a

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future government the excuse of saying High Speed Two cannot be

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cancelled because so much has been spent on it. Joining me now is

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Martin, leader of Buckinghamshire county council. He opposes High

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Speed Two. No surprise, in the end, that there was this preparation

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Bill, but do you think there is something sneaky going on here?

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morning. Yes, I think the Bills were leaked in advance by the government

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and what we have here is a cabinet trying to give the impression of

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momentum of this project, when the reality is that it is over budget

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and well behind schedule. They say they are cracking on and it has

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cross-party support so why wait? Certainly, within government, it

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has. There is a lot of opposition to this and the business case has

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fallen apart. It is poor value for tax payers money. It is at a time

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when we should be investing in high-value projects and not waiting

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until 2033. I doubt there is a constituency in the whole country

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that does not have roads that need repairing. This is where we should

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be putting our money rather than the big white elephant. You talk about

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costs and the indication is that it has gone past the billion. Is that

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the latest big? They will be spending up to a billion, I would

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guess. This is even before an inch of track has been laid. This is

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going into PR companies to try and sell the project. This is not the

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way money should be spent. Is there a sense that getting the preparation

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Bill through means they are tying the hands of a future government?

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am not sure about a future government because there is

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cross-party support but I think what they are doing for the country as a

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whole is giving the impression of momentum and the fact that they

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cannot go back on this. The reality is that there are better

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alternatives to kick-start the economy when we really do need jobs

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and growth, rather than investing in this project. Let's bring in our

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guests. It does feel, John, that this has cross-party support but

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people are still opposed to it. us look at the underlying problem...

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They are not convinced! We are quite incapable of taking any long-term

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decisions and sticking to them. No decision on Heathrow or nuclear

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power. No decision on wind power or transport. One of the things holding

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this country back is the inability to get together and say there are a

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few big things we need to do. We need to sort out our rail system,

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our transport system more generally, our energy supply. Agree them, do

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them and say what ever happens at the next election, these things will

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go ahead. If we don't we will never bring the strength to the country.

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It does look like hesitancy. It needs a preparation Bill, surely?

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think it looks like the opposite. The government stated clearly that

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they want to crack on and laid the groundwork, and they are committed

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to a project which, although there are environmental impacts north of

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here, in the south it has the potential to free up capacity on the

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existing rail work and put more freight on the railways. They sound

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like arguments in favour was you've just lost the argument? It was

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interesting listening to John. I said the complete opposite. I think

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we should be cracking on with infrastructure investment now and

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not wait until 2033. We have so much rail investment we can make on

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existing lines and how many roads in this country are breaking up? We

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have infrastructure that needs putting down. It is not sexy or

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glamorous and we won't have Nick Clegg cutting a ribbon, but it is

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the nitty-gritty keeping the economy going. You need investment now and

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you need investment in housing which is a good way to boost the economy.

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I don't agree with Martin that you need to fix the potholes now or the

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railways in the future. If we can't say that we need to manage in

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difficult circumstances today, but there big projects ahead, then we

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will be losers. John, you know the answer is you can't spend the same

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money twice. You can't have your cake and eat it. You can't have the

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potholes, the roads upgraded and High Speed Two. This country is in a

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financial mess, it has limited amounts of money and if you are

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going to be spending it on High Speed Two, which as a dire business

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case, you are not spending it on existing infrastructure. You can do

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both. You can't spend the same money twice. Thank you very much. I think

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it is clear there is still a big argument. The dust is starting to

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settle on last weeks local elections and we have seen some changes in the

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make-up of our town halls. One thing that hasn't changed is that there

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are far fewer women in politics. But how do we solve it? A survey

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suggests that 75% of all phone calls made to councils are made by women.

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It is women who pay the council tax. It is women who get things

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done. There is no question that women engage with what councils have

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two offer but it is a different story when it comes to the politics.

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In our council chambers the fairer sex are outnumbered to 21 by men. In

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Parliament, it is even worse with less than a quarter of MPs women. In

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the House of lords, you are down to one in five. I am the first female

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ever in Portsmouth City Council. In 2013, that is a sorry state,

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actually. It is a male dominated world but there is no reason why I

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should not be in politics and speaking on these key roles. Women

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need to be represented. So what is happening? It is not as if young,

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smart women haven't stormed ahead in every other profession. Why is

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politics such a turnoff? Jackie Raymond was favourite to become the

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new leader of Southampton City Council but she has decided not to

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stand. People think politicians don't do much. We work ridiculous

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hours and that doesn't help when we still have a stereotype about women

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running the home, having children and how they can fit in and balance

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those things. Someone said to me there is a meeting coming up and he

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said to me can you do December the 3rd, and I open the diary and I open

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the diary NZ, of course I can do it. As I flicked to the 3rd of December

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in my diary I saw it was written, mum, can you spend some time with me

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today, it is my birthday? I thought, actually, I need to refocus

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my life because my kids come first. Over the years various methods have

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been sought to get women into politics. Remember Blair's babes?

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Yes, we can change it. We have two really demonstrate that as an

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individual you can make a difference and perhaps there is too much of an

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attitude, oh, it is not worth doing that and my voice will not be heard.

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You can change things and look back and say, I have achieved something

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there. We must keep on with this. More women in politics, more

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consensus, more collaboration. knows? Maybe when a teacher next

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asks, do you know what you want to be? You can reply, yes, prime

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minister. Is it all about children, do you think? I think there are

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still sexist attitudes and prejudices. They are not what they

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were. In 1979, when I got married, my wife was a Labour councillor and

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had suffered an indignity of a full council debate about whether she

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should keep her maiden name. That stuff has gone but there are

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assumptions and it is still the case in most households that women are

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expected, and may also want, to be there in the early evening. Look at

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how many political meetings take place in the early evening. We need

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to take positive action and my party have said that they want to select a

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woman candidate to take my seat at the next election. That guarantees

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some places. It is positive discrimination, but what about

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practical steps? One of the most difficult things is not whether you

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have all women shortlists or positive discrimination but it is

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about encouraging women in the first place to apply to become a

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candidate. When you look at the way Parliament and Council Chambers

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behaved, it is not very attractive and not very appealing. Contrast

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that with some of the work that goes on in the committees and it was

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largely consensual and collaborative. We had brilliant

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debates. As the chairman of the committee said to me on one

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occasion, this is Parliament at its best. I think it we saw more of that

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and there was greater understanding then you might find more women

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applying. I know that 25% of people who go on to the Conservative

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candidates list are women. Is it any surprise that the numbers in

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Parliament are so poor? Thank you. One of those big council changes I

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mentioned was on the Isle of Wight where do 20 candidates were

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elected, and for women. They have joined forces. He is Richard Priest.

:47:45.:47:55.
:47:55.:47:55.

You do have a slightly different approach as an independent. You all

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feel that you are more connected to your communities. That is how we

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come together. We were keen to form a group to have control of the

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council, but we recognise the connection we have with our

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respective communities, and that is important to us. We are disappointed

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that some of our female candidates were not successful. Across the

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chamber I think we will have to look at how we do our business but I

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think that is refreshing and interesting as we go forward.

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see yourself as less politician as the people that went before you?

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Absolutely. People told me are you going out to celebrate tonight? I

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said, no, we are running the youth club tonight. We are still connected

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with the community. I think we won back connection but we recognise we

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have a wider responsibility and we will happily take that. You can't

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just continue with your daily lives and say you are one representative,

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because you have two run things and take this seriously. A council that

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has a lot of challenges. Absolutely. We recognise that but all of the

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areas of the island have schools and there is a connection between the

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issues. I was very fortunate. The cross chamber support on the island

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is very good and we are keen to do policies in a different way. It is

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interesting you call Alan Turner the island MP, he is a conservative.

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recognise he is the island MP. There are a few liberal Democrats in

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there. If you are truly independent, you are going in different ways,

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aren't you? And that is a healthy debate is to have. We are about

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debate and discussion, and that is not unhealthy. It could be unhealthy

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decisions are not taken. It is clear that decisions have been taken but

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they have gone in the wrong direction. Sometimes openness is not

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a bad thing. If it takes a long time and you get the right outcome, it is

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not a bad thing. Has its KU that this is the people standing and

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taking over at council, independent of the party? Absolutely not stop it

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is evidence that people are more engaged and active. I would

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encourage anyone to stand for election. You would rather they were

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Conservative, wouldn't you? I will always work to get Conservatives

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elected but I think engagement in the democratic process is vitally

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important and, with women, some died to do that, so good luck to them.

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The Labour Party came out of the ordinary working persons struggle.

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Has it lost its way? What we are trying to do is, in those areas

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where it is not as strong as it was, we create the links that will

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describe. I don't think it is possible for the mainstream

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political parties to float on top of communities and hope to get the vote

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every four years. I think what Richard has described for the

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independence is the relationship that the mainstream parties are

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going to have to have in the future. I like to think I do that in my

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constituency and many of my counsellors do. Anyone that doesn't

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do that is going to be one ruble to the political community based

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campaigning that Richard has described. It is not a threat, but a

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challenge, but an exciting one because you will get better

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representation. Good luck. As I say, it is a challenge. You going to cut

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the officers pay? There will be a root and branch review and there are

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lots of challenges. We used it with a PFI contract on the roads? There

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are things we will look at but we recognise that there are already

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commitments in place that we cannot change overnight. We have a

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commitment to be connected to our communities as John says. Thank you

:52:46.:52:56.
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very much. Now, our regular round-up of the week in the south.

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Independent midwives and their supporters marched on Westminster

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saying they are being put out of business at the rising cost of

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insurance. They say it denies women choice. New homes for growing

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families in Hampshire. This new town north of Fareham got the backing of

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the planning Minister. Planning commercial space and retail space

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and actually creates new communities. New jobs for Reading

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with the opening of a Tesco's. Over 6000 applications for 1000 posts.

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Slamming on the brakes. The RAC calls for an end to Portsmouth's 20

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miles an hour zones. Finally, a strange announcement from a franking

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company. They are going ahead with test drilling in Sussex but are

:53:59.:54:09.
:54:09.:54:09.

looking for oil not gas. Going back to the Queen's Speech, and with

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exams coming there was an awful lot that seem to have the hand of gof in

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it. This idea that exams should be the deciding factor and not more

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jewellers. What you think about the way it is going? When I was in

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schools and a focused on kids like me, who would good at passing exams,

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lots of people came out of school with no qualifications. The reason

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we have a broader curriculum is because everyone has different types

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of talent. I fear that Michael Gove will go back to the days when there

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were good people passing exams but what happens to all the rest?

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Caroline, were you good at exams? was. I used to opt out of coursework

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when there was a choice. What I really want to see for our

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16-year-olds is that they come out with a qualification that they know

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is worth something and they can know it has achieved something. Thank you

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