Browse content similar to 04/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Later in the programme: Rail electrification for South | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
Wales is on the timetable, but what about the case for rail | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
electrification in the north? We'll hear from the Welsh Secretary, | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
:01:35. | :01:35. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2058 seconds | :01:35. | :35:53. | |
Hello. Coming up on the Sunday Politics Wales: | :35:53. | :35:56. | |
There's been much talk about rail electrification in the south, but | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
what about in the north? And we continue our look at the | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
Police Commissioner elections in Wales. This week we proceed in a | :36:04. | :36:07. | |
southerly direction. Joining me are two AMs - north and | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
south. Plaid Cymru's Dafydd Elis- Thomas and the Conservative, Nick | :36:10. | :36:17. | |
Ramsay. Let's follow one quickly from the | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
discussion we just heard about the US elections. It is a very tight | :36:22. | :36:27. | |
contest. Maybe or endorsements will make a difference. Who would you be | :36:28. | :36:36. | |
voting for? I will be coming out in favour of Barack Obama tomorrow. | :36:36. | :36:46. | |
The Why? Because I think the whole issue of the way politics in the | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
United States has been handled, the division between Congress and | :36:50. | :36:56. | |
presidency, I disastrous for government in the country. I am | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
critical of it Barack Obama not being green enough. I think it is | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
going to come down to the economy. I think it is wide open. I am going | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
to go for Mitt Romney, partly because my crew leader in the | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
assembly, Andrew RT Davies, announced he was related to Mitt | :37:15. | :37:21. | |
Romney a few weeks ago. I don't know where they are the Mitt Romney | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
will be able to get in touch to tell us whether he is related or | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
not. We will be back with you shortly. | :37:28. | :37:30. | |
Politicians, councils and business groups need to work together to | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
make the case for the electrification of the North Wales | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
rail line, according to the Secretary of State for Wales, David | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
Jones. He's told the Sunday Politics Wales that meetings have | :37:39. | :37:42. | |
already taken place between the UK and Welsh governments to try to | :37:42. | :37:45. | |
make progress on investment in a faster train service to help boost | :37:45. | :37:55. | |
:37:55. | :37:55. | ||
the region's economy. Here's Brian Meechan. | :37:55. | :37:58. | |
The Welsh government believes a ratification of the North Wales | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
Line will help tackle poverty by creating businesses and jobs across | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
the region. The town is also a gateway to Europe with its links to | :38:07. | :38:11. | |
Ireland. Supporters of high-speed rail say it is not just about the | :38:11. | :38:15. | |
economic growth it will bring to this region, it also creates a | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
vital transport link between Ireland and North East Wales and | :38:20. | :38:25. | |
then on to Liverpool and Manchester. Experts put the cost at �300 | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
million. The local MP believes that will build on the money that has | :38:29. | :38:34. | |
gone into the West Coast line in England. There has been huge | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
investment on the West Coast rail. Some �9 billion has been spent | :38:38. | :38:44. | |
already but it only goes as far as Chester. We needed to go west | :38:44. | :38:47. | |
further. It is an international link and we need have an | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
international status. The UK government is planning high-speed | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
rail link that goes from London at to Manchester and Leeds. It has | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
also pledged to the electrification of the line not just a Cardiff but | :39:01. | :39:03. | |
the Swansea. Councils across the region say North Wales cannot be | :39:03. | :39:11. | |
left behind. What we have not had is this feeling of somebody knows | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
what the plan is for Wales from infrastructure. We have had the | :39:16. | :39:23. | |
development of the North Wales road that has made a difference but | :39:23. | :39:29. | |
somehow nobody in government at Westminster level, or in Wales, has | :39:29. | :39:35. | |
really got this picture of, if OK, what is North Wales going to the | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
light in 10 years' time in terms of infrastructure? Business leaders | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
argue that there needs to be a serious look at the benefits. | :39:43. | :39:47. | |
would like them to prepare the business case. I would like to see | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
that happen very quickly and I would like the business case to be | :39:52. | :39:57. | |
implemented relatively quickly. But it is important that we forecast | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
and quantify exactly what that business bounce, that economic | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
benefit, is actually going to be. Llandudno railway station is to | :40:07. | :40:13. | |
benefit from over �5 million worth of investment from the Welsh and UK | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
governments. It will mean improvements to the front page and | :40:16. | :40:26. | |
:40:26. | :40:31. | ||
a new ticket office and that will be delivered by 2014. It is a major | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
Investment, whatever way you look at it and that is why we need to | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
build the business case sooner. We have got to convince the Department | :40:39. | :40:43. | |
for transport that it is a good Investment, which is why we want to | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
start the discussions sooner rather than later. The UK and Welsh | :40:48. | :40:55. | |
governments have already held meetings about electrification. | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
Rectification is not cheap and its supporters F - except that these | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
are challenging times with the public finances but they say the | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
economic benefits it will bring, including creating jobs, means it | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
has got to be a priority for North Wales. | :41:11. | :41:15. | |
Let's get the reaction from our guests. The Secretary of State, | :41:15. | :41:21. | |
David Jones, said there that he and others must persuade many agencies | :41:21. | :41:27. | |
to go ahead with this. Is he going to be able to do that? I think he | :41:27. | :41:31. | |
will. David Jones is very good at persuasion and that is what it | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
needs. If we have had a discussion about rectification in South Wales | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
for a long time and we have got what we wanted there. North Wales | :41:40. | :41:45. | |
must not be left behind. The sooner we see a letter vacation in the not | :41:45. | :41:51. | |
as well, if the better for the Welsh economy. At the moment, the | :41:51. | :42:01. | |
:42:01. | :42:02. | ||
timetable runs almost hourly out of Chester. It makes, it is not make | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
any sense at all to run a diesel locomotive under electric overhead | :42:08. | :42:14. | |
wires. I believe that should be done. But we have a huge problem | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
with the main road in terms of lorries. When there are divergence, | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
they cannot the Conwy Valley on roads which are not built for that | :42:23. | :42:28. | |
sort of traffic so we need to look for rectification for freight, if | :42:28. | :42:32. | |
to take freight off the road as well. But we also need to look at | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
Chester to Newport. Once you have done those two, it makes sense to | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
have an rectification with in Wales as well off because the valleys | :42:41. | :42:51. | |
:42:51. | :42:51. | ||
will already be electrified. There will be plenty of it pilots' give | :42:51. | :43:01. | |
some people have a fair way. The economic dimension, the case was | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
made in the peace there, but last week we were talking about | :43:04. | :43:09. | |
infrastructure spending and how that helps the economy. How would | :43:09. | :43:14. | |
this fits into that? If it is not just the passengers, he it is the | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
freight as well. North Wales is the main road to Ireland. You can take | :43:19. | :43:26. | |
freight off the road. But there has got to be a good business case. We | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
saw delays and problems with the electrification of the South Wales | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
line off because I don't think the right arguments were made early on | :43:33. | :43:37. | |
enough with a that business case. But we have seen that the UK | :43:37. | :43:42. | |
government are receptive as long as the right arguments are made. David | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
Jones has an interest at their and he is the perfect person to push | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
this. Infrastructure is very important. As the economy improves | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
and we come out of recession, if we have got to have that so we are | :43:53. | :43:59. | |
best suited to meet the challenges. Timetable wise, plenty of people | :43:59. | :44:04. | |
have got things to say about timetables for railway lines, but | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
in terms of this project, when would you expect it to happen? | :44:08. | :44:14. | |
There is a clear series of linked Investment. We have got the Swansea | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
Investment, which I issue now is paid for completely by the UK | :44:18. | :44:26. | |
government. I am looking to you because you are a supporter of the | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
UK government. But then there will be the electrification for the | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
valleys and that is very important in terms of Cardiff and Newport as | :44:35. | :44:42. | |
commuting and so on. But I am arguing not just to look at Chester | :44:42. | :44:47. | |
but also looking at Chester down to Newport, because you have got there | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
already something like 25 trains per day from Dewsbury to Cardiff | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
because you have got the Liverpool link and the Manchester link and in | :44:56. | :45:03. | |
order to get an effective integrated service, there is lots | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
we need to look at. It is a bit like a broad band. Once you have | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
got one piece, everyone else is missing out. The UK government, I | :45:13. | :45:17. | |
am pleased they are doing what they are doing, but they are creating | :45:17. | :45:22. | |
their own he pretends to have a more rectification. But we have a | :45:22. | :45:26. | |
very important point in the economic cycle. If we put | :45:26. | :45:36. | |
:45:36. | :45:44. | ||
investment in now, it will pay dividends in 20 years' time. | :45:44. | :45:51. | |
will leave it there for now. There are calls for a new inquiry into | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
the abuse of children in care homes in North Wales in the Nineties and | :45:55. | :46:05. | |
:46:05. | :46:06. | ||
Eighties. Keith Towler has at the request. - backs. He joins us from | :46:06. | :46:12. | |
our Swansea studio now. Thank you for joining us. Just Phyllis in, | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
why are you calling for a new inquiry? What we have seen in the | :46:18. | :46:25. | |
last 48 hours is some very strong evidence that victims who suffered | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
abuse in North Wales children's homes were denied the opportunity | :46:29. | :46:35. | |
to talk in full about what happened to them. This victim says that 30 | :46:35. | :46:38. | |
per cent of what he wanted to say he was not allowed to say and it | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
was not clear to him why. By today's standards, that is | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
completely unacceptable. The fact he has come forward with that means | :46:47. | :46:51. | |
we have got to take that seriously and the police and others should | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
have the opportunity to fully investigate what he has to say. | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
understand that any decisions will be taken by the first minister, | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
Carwyn Jones. Have you been in touch with him? What would you want | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
to impress upon him? I have not had the opportunity to get in touch | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
with the First Minister yet. I will write to him tomorrow morning. I | :47:15. | :47:20. | |
think what we need to do is sit down and understand what this is it | :47:20. | :47:29. | |
in is saying. We need to understand the terms of reference of the child | :47:29. | :47:32. | |
abuse report and what they were able to look at and what they were | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
not able to look at. F over the last 48 hours, people are saying | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
that maybe people are being protected, maybe the establishment | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
is being protected. By today's standards, whenever you look at the | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
allegations that a victim is making, it is always the wrong thing to try | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
and defend an individual or an institution in favour of looking | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
fully at what happened to somebody who suffered abuse. That is what I | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
will be saying to the first minister. Has anybody come forward | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
and contacted you or your office in recent weeks regarding any | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
allegations dating back to the Seventies or Eighties? If no, but | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
it is an important point that there might be people who are picking up | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
what is happening in the media and if they do want to get in touch, I | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
would be pleased to hear from them. My response has been to try to | :48:26. | :48:33. | |
support what this victim has said. Thank you very much for your time, | :48:33. | :48:40. | |
Keith Towler. Dafydd Elis-Thomas, what do you | :48:40. | :48:47. | |
make for the call for a new inquiry? I fully support his call. | :48:47. | :48:56. | |
I was aware of some of these issues and I discussed them and I heard | :48:56. | :49:06. | |
:49:06. | :49:07. | ||
this was the worst job. I think we have got to make sure that at all | :49:07. | :49:13. | |
times the evidence presented by people who have been abuse should | :49:13. | :49:21. | |
be for front, at the forefront of our concerns. I am sure most people | :49:21. | :49:25. | |
would agree with the sentiments from Keith Towler, who are calling | :49:25. | :49:32. | |
for a new inquiry. Exactly. If you look at the original inquiry, and I | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
think that, at the time, if that was needed, but things have moved | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
on. All sorts of rumblings are going on. It is better that all | :49:41. | :49:46. | |
this is dealt with in an inquiry. We have a Children's Commissioner | :49:46. | :49:51. | |
now, if we did not have that then. I think Keith Towler is the person | :49:51. | :49:54. | |
to progress this with the First Minister when he gets an | :49:54. | :50:01. | |
opportunity. It was the very horror of child abuse in Wales, in North | :50:01. | :50:04. | |
Wales in particular, which brought about the appointment of the | :50:04. | :50:10. | |
Children's Commissioner. This is a job for Keith Towler to do, | :50:10. | :50:12. | |
particularly for the police to investigate, but it may also be | :50:12. | :50:15. | |
something that the first minister might want to make a statement | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
about this coming week when the Assembly will be meeting, and I | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
hope he does. It's less than two weeks now until | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
polling day for the elections to choose the first ever Police and | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
Crime Commissioners. It'll mean a big change in policing with the new | :50:29. | :50:31. | |
commissioners replacing local police authorities, giving them | :50:31. | :50:33. | |
control over budgets, priorities and appointing the local chief | :50:33. | :50:38. | |
constable. We have four forces in Wales. We've already featured Gwent | :50:38. | :50:44. | |
and North Wales, this week, Mark Hannaby reports on South Wales. | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
This is the headquarters of South Wales Police in Bridgend. The force | :50:49. | :50:54. | |
covers an area containing more than 40 per cent of Wales's operation. | :50:55. | :50:58. | |
That area extends from Swansea and the Gower in the west through the | :50:58. | :51:01. | |
South Wales valleys and the Glamorgan close to Cardiff in the | :51:01. | :51:07. | |
east. Recorded crime here fell six per cent in the year to June. | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
Responsibilities include policing major sporting events, that | :51:10. | :51:16. | |
included the Olympic football in the summer. The budget is �249 | :51:16. | :51:22. | |
million. Total savings of �46 million are planned by 2015. 292 | :51:22. | :51:27. | |
police officer posts will have gone off but there will be around 175 | :51:27. | :51:37. | |
:51:37. | :51:37. | ||
more faith community support officers. - community support | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
officers. There are four candidates. The winner will be responsible for | :51:43. | :51:47. | |
appointing the Chief Constable, setting up policing priorities, | :51:47. | :51:52. | |
reporting on progress and setting up budgets. Tony Verderame, a | :51:52. | :51:55. | |
businessman and chairman of the Cardiff Older Persons Forum is | :51:55. | :52:03. | |
standing as an independent. I think it should remain independent, | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
impartial and deliver a service where it is needed most. It should | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
not come under the umbrella of the politicians. I think it must have | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
knowledge within the community as - and experience of what can be done | :52:19. | :52:23. | |
within the community and deliver what communities need, not what the | :52:23. | :52:27. | |
politicians want to. For another independent candidate is Michael | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
Baker, a lawyer and former police officer. I am a man of great | :52:32. | :52:37. | |
integrity, having been a police officer for 30 years. I know how | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
the police service works. I am a listener, I am also a commercial | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
mediator, which means I know how to listen to people and take their | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
views on board. I am not afraid of the police service. I have taken | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
action against the police service and tell them to account. I can | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
take forward complete independence and impartiality. The Conservative | :53:01. | :53:07. | |
candidate is Caroline Jones. She has worked in the Prison Service. | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
My priorities are to get more police out on the street by cutting | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
the bureaucracy which was left by the previous administration. If the | :53:15. | :53:20. | |
police were spend half-an-hour taking an incident from a member of | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
the public and then they would go back and spend four-and-a-half | :53:24. | :53:28. | |
hours dealing with the paperwork regarding that. Obviously, one of | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
my aims would be to cut the level of bureaucracy and have at the | :53:32. | :53:38. | |
police engage more with the public. Lay the's candidate is Alun Michael, | :53:38. | :53:43. | |
the former Cardiff and Penarth MP and the former minister responsible | :53:43. | :53:47. | |
for crime. It is absolutely crucial that we get the right person with | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
the authority to all the police to account but you also cut crime and | :53:51. | :53:55. | |
work with communities in order to make sure that every community in | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
South Wales is safer in the future and they have been in the past. I | :53:59. | :54:03. | |
think it is a big challenge at a time of cuts which is why I decided | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
to stand down from Parliament and often myself for election off but I | :54:07. | :54:13. | |
believe it is crucial if because it affects every member of the public. | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
The UK Government says if commissioners will not be there to | :54:16. | :54:21. | |
run police forces but to hold them to account. Floating is on 15th | :54:21. | :54:29. | |
November. - voting. You can find a more by going to a | :54:29. | :54:39. | |
:54:39. | :54:40. | ||
hour online pages. The address is on the screen. We'll have a look at | :54:40. | :54:43. | |
Dyfed-Powys next week. Now it's time for a quick look back at some | :54:43. | :54:45. | |
of the political stories of this week in 60 seconds. | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
Tour find council cost up with almost 2500 and use laptops after | :54:50. | :54:56. | |
it for more than 1000 of them for a Welsh government-backed project for | :54:56. | :54:59. | |
school pupils. The council said that he took his should have been | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
shared with another local authorities will stop the first | :55:03. | :55:06. | |
minister and the Welsh secretary welcomed confirmation that Hitachi | :55:06. | :55:13. | |
is survived nuclear project Horizon. Up to 6000 jobs could be created | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
while the new reactors are built on Anglesey. The UK government said it | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
would not challenge the new law off to put VAT - English and Welsh on | :55:21. | :55:30. | |
the same level at the Assembly. And the Anglesey MP urged the UK | :55:30. | :55:34. | |
government to protect the great British pint by scrapping a rise in | :55:34. | :55:38. | |
the attacks. Ministers rejected the call to scrap the be a duty | :55:38. | :55:43. | |
escalator amid fears costs are leading to pubs closing and the | :55:43. | :55:52. | |
Tories going bust. - breweries going bust. | :55:52. | :56:02. | |
Let's have a final chat with our guests. What do you think of the | :56:02. | :56:06. | |
plea to bring an end to the escalator? We have been talking | :56:06. | :56:11. | |
about this for a long time. But it has got to happen. He is very easy | :56:11. | :56:15. | |
to buy very cheap alcohol in supermarkets and get funds, which | :56:15. | :56:19. | |
are the heads of many rural communities, are going to the wall. | :56:19. | :56:24. | |
I think they should be a dispensation for community hopes | :56:24. | :56:29. | |
like pubs and I'm glad it is being progress. Would you endorse that | :56:29. | :56:38. | |
call? We are talking about pints. am a pig advocate of these new | :56:38. | :56:48. | |
breweries that are springing up all over Wales. I was launching one in | :56:48. | :56:54. | |
North Wales, but you can't have local beer without having local | :56:54. | :57:04. | |
:57:04. | :57:05. | ||
pubs in which to sell them. We can continue the pub talk after the | :57:05. | :57:13. | |
programme. Another thing we have touched on, the news that a catchy | :57:13. | :57:18. | |
have fought Horizon. That gives the project a bit of a boost. This is | :57:18. | :57:24. | |
very exciting business. This is the advanced boiling water reactor, and | :57:24. | :57:33. | |
it is not a big kettle. It is advanced Canadian technology. It is | :57:33. | :57:43. | |
:57:43. | :57:47. | ||
a very important Investment. It is a hugely important and also | :57:47. | :57:52. | |
provides us with low carbon energy and an opportunity to build a power | :57:52. | :57:58. | |
renewables. Was this a welcome boost? Definitely. 10 years down | :57:58. | :58:02. | |
the line, the lights are going to be going out. I think we are going | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
to be going down to four per cent of electricity surplus which is not | :58:06. | :58:12. | |
enough. We have got to have whatever power we can from | :58:12. | :58:14. | |
renewables and nuclear power. If you want to deal with carbon | :58:14. | :58:24. | |
:58:24. | :58:28. | ||
emissions, nuclear power has got to be the way ahead. They are also | :58:28. | :58:33. |