Power The Year the Town Hall Shrank

You can fight it, you can protest about it as much as you like,

but do you know what?

They always win, don't they? They always win.

As people, are we able to make a difference?

Are we able? Can we beat them?

CHANTING

Cos I don't know whether we, I don't know whether we can.

CHANTING

Today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink.

When we confront the bills from a decade of debt.

We are going to bring the years of ever-rising borrowing to an end.

We are going to ensure that what we buy, we can afford.

That the bills we incur, we have the income to meet.

And that we do not saddle our children

with the interest on the interest on the interest

of the debts that we were not prepared ourselves to pay.

SHOUTS OF AGREEMENT

As 2011 began, the country watched as our town halls came under siege.

CHANTING

Local councils had finally decided

where they would make billions of pounds of cuts.

Their adversaries made a last and desperate effort to change their minds.

CHANTING

But it was too late.

When you have to make savings of £36 million,

it is an impossible task

to simply have no impact on front-line service delivery.

No-one wants to close facilities.

And neither do I.

But we are where we are.

The city of Stoke-on-Trent had been hit hard.

This was no longer a political numbers game.

It was real life. And the cuts were about to bite.

But for the councillors here and in every other city,

it was time to be judged.

I think it's due for change, this area.

-Three against.

-That's ones against, as well.

So, who would carry the blame?

The council? The Government?

Or would Stoke turn its back on both of them?

My name's Councillor Coleman.

I represent Weston and Meir North Ward.

I'm a British National Party councillor.

Nazi scum, out of Stoke!

Stoke-on-Trent is a city in serious trouble.

And we've proven that people will vote BNP

in large numbers in this city, when the conditions are right.

Nazi scum, out of Stoke!

BIRDSONG

How many of you know that Charlie Chaplin wrote this next song?

I'm sure you'll know this song, so I want you to sing along, please.

# Smile though your heart is aching

# Smile even though it's breaking

# When there are clouds in the sky

# You'll get by

# If you smile... #

Heathside House Care Home had been open for 30 years.

In five weeks, it was due to shut.

The 30 residents, most of whom suffered from dementia,

would have to be found new homes.

Council care of the elderly was gradually being privatised.

But the residents weren't the only casualties.

The home employed around 40 staff,

and not all would be guaranteed new jobs with the council.

Why did you get into this job in the first place?

I actually looked after me dad, that's what I started by,

when me dad was poorly, looking after him and me nan.

And I always wanted to be a nurse.

But I thoroughly enjoy.

I get great pleasure, job satisfaction, really.

Some people might assume it's a sad place to work.

No, it's a lovely place to work.

A lovely place to work.

My mother was in a care home, she needed help.

She was in a lovely place, you know.

That's that room done.

What have you been told so far about your jobs?

-Not a lot.

-Nothing.

-Not a lot.

Not a lot at the moment.

It's going to be a couple of weeks before we know about jobs I think.

They've got to wait to see who they're signing off on redundancy

before they can make the decision as to who they can put into jobs.

-What's that like?

-Stressful. Very stressful.

We've all been through such a lot of emotions, haven't we?

Because we've all been redeployed before, as well.

Gaynor and I have only been here just over two years.

We thought this is it now, we've got a new job, we won't be moving again.

And now we're on our way.

There's nothing you can do about it, there's nothing you can do.

You've just got to wait and see.

See what happens, hope for the best.

APPLAUSE

It was said that closing the home

would save the council half-a-million pounds a year.

Did you think that you would stay here until you died?

Oh, yeah. Leave this home, the place we've come.

We didn't know who he was, but then he just...axe!

He said, "It's closing, that's end of."

They didn't ask you whether you wanted it closing.

They didn't ask you that.

Just said, "Oh, the place is closing down, that's it."

Didn't ask you whether you wanted it closing or not, they just said it.

We've never seen him. He stays... He doesn't come here.

We've not seen him.

We've just been told.

They haven't come themselves to tell us.

Just decided. He said he can't keep them open.

Don't know what he means by that.

But the man who'd driven the cuts through,

council leader Mohammed Pervez,

was now occupied by something else.

He had an election to win.

How does Mrs Pervez feel

about you being the leader for another four years?

This is a conversation I need to have with Mrs Pervez probably on 6th May.

HE LAUGHS

The day after the election.

She's probably counting on me not to win.

HE LAUGHS

She's not mobilising votes against you, is she?

I hope not!

Pervez, the Labour politician,

was clear about his hope for the future.

A clear majority and to take control.

But the rest of Stoke was struggling to deal with the present.

All over the city, services were being cut back

or disappearing altogether.

Bus subsidies, street sign cleaning, public toilets,

swimming pools, libraries,

a golf course, Shopmobility...

When you looked at what was being cut,

you realised how much this council had taken on itself to provide.

..Museums, teenage pregnancy units...

And that everything going was almost certainly never coming back.

The council had grown to become the city's single biggest employer.

Now 700 of its 6,000 workers faced redundancy.

How did you get into this game, Mick?

Er...I was a fitter on JCB.

And funny enough, going back with job cuts and stuff

and, er...I was unfortunately one of them that had to go.

Yeah, I'm qualified like an hydraulic fitter, but...

..that all went out the pan.

A friend of mine says, "There's jobs going on the council."

16 years later, I'm still here.

It's a good job. It's just, you know, with all this,

it's not a good atmosphere at the moment to be here.

Everybody, the uncertainty and everything, it's not nice.

There was discontent in this city.

And some had already turned to a new voice to champion them.

On a national level, I've always voted Labour.

Me whole family has.

But at a local level, the last few times, I've always voted BNP.

Huh! I'm not racist.

I'm, er...patriotic.

There's quite a strong following for the BNP in Stoke,

or there has been, hasn't there?

A lot of it's down to frustration. The way the council's being run.

There's a hell of a lot of immigrants

being moved into this city.

Um...actually, me son and his girlfriend,

they're only 18 and she's expecting a baby in May.

And the trouble you have trying to get housing.

Even the council turned around to him and said,

"Look in the private sector because we haven't got nothing for you."

You know, it's things like that. It's frustrating.

The BNP had secured a foothold in Stoke,

winning its first seat eight years earlier.

Although it had recently lost councillors,

there were still more here than anywhere else in the UK.

Put Stoke BNP and his name.

Just in case it goes wrong.

Your followers...

Are you all going to the same ward, then?

Because Micky's is the biggest ward, it's 8,500 houses,

we started Micky's ward early through necessity.

You can come along with us, follow us.

And, er...

We're going to put our leaflets out, is basically what it is,

and then engage in very casual conversation

with anybody we come across on the way.

You can bring your camera, film it, see what sort of response we get.

# It's just another Manic Monday

# I wish it was Sunday... #

Manic Monday from The Bangles on BBC Radio Stoke.

With me, five politicians from Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Representatives from five of the groups.

Labour, Conservative and Independent Alliance,

the Liberal Democrats, City Independent Group and Community Voice.

We also asked the British National Party to take part in this debate,

but they've declined on the basis that they are busy campaigning.

DOG SNARLS

You're not going in that one, Micky?

No, because there's a dog in there.

No. No, I daren't.

Of the 13 council seats the BNP was defending nationally,

five were in Stoke.

-All the other politicians are on Radio Stoke at the moment.

-Are they?

Yeah, that's a bit boring for me.

I'm a bit tired of those politicians.

In fact, I get more and more angry with them everyday.

And I don't really want to sit down

looking at their horrible faces and hearing their crap.

I'm tired of it.

So what I want is regime change. I want them out.

So I don't want to sit down and work with them and justify them.

I can't stand, literally physically,

they make me feel sick when I sit opposite them

and look at their smug faces.

It's just disgraceful. I can't sit opposite them.

They make me sick, physically.

So, you know what, I'd rather be out here with me mates, doing this,

doing something useful for the party. Where are they going?

This is what happens, Dave.

Unemployed dad Micky White was new to the BNP

and standing as a councillor for the first time.

During my short life, I'm 33,

I've seen this county go from bad to worse.

Now that I have a baby daughter,

I feel it's my duty to stand up and fight to make our Britain

a great place to live once again.

Micky's typical of the new membership of the BNP.

Disaffected, betrayed.

Can't get work, struggling to get anywhere with his young family.

Sees no future with the mainstream parties,

looking for something new. We're talking his language.

He joins up, we like him, it's all natural, it's all good.

Put him forward as a candidate and he's gone from being somebody

who's been angry and frustrated on the dole

to being somebody who's a member of the party

and fighting for the future of his,

not just himself and his family, but his community.

I've looked for work ever since I've come out of work, but...

How many jobs have you gone for?

On average, I'm topping about 20 jobs a week.

And that's sending out application forms and emails.

And you just don't get nothing back off them.

And it's ridiculous to think you're in a country

where there used to be loads of jobs.

My granddad used to say you could walk out of one job, into another.

Can't do that today.

Because it...they've sold us out.

It shouldn't be happening. It should not be happening.

I don't know where the rest of 'em are.

-Have you lost them?

-Yeah.

I don't know which way they've gone.

Right.

Micky didn't talk like most politicians.

We'll walk back down here.

You could understand why he wanted to be heard.

In that way, he was different to the others.

It is a bit rich to sit here listening to this spin,

and it doesn't do the image of local politics any good,

the people out there on the street know that it's spin

and it's just unacceptable.

-They seemed to be trapped...

-Gosh, that was hairy!

-..by their own political rhetoric.

What we do is analyse, evaluate and propose.

What you do is a lot of hot air. Actually, that's what you do.

Well, I've not noticed what you've done, apart from walk differently.

Walk away, Brian. Fog off!

As they argued amongst themselves, the cuts were taking effect

and the redundancy notices were being sent out.

I've seen one of their leaflets saying a true independence.

Presumably, true means...

What are you, then? You don't support any mainstream party.

-What are you?

-Well, that's that, then, isn't it?

MUSIC: "Ya Ya" by Lee Dorsey

ANIMATED CHATTER

-Have you?

-LAUGHTER

Pensioners were being moved out by the day.

Some to private homes,

others to the last of the council-run homes.

As for the staff, several had gone for voluntary redundancy

rather than wait to see if the council could find them new jobs.

One of the residents still to be placed in a new home was Alice.

She was 93.

She'd lived all her life in Stoke.

Along with thousands of others in the city, including some of the carers,

she'd previously worked in the potteries.

But the factory she'd worked in was now derelict,

like most of Stoke's manufacturing industry.

-How are you, Alice?

-Oh, I'm fine. I'm enjoying it.

I wish I was a doon!

SHE LAUGHS

Do you like the seaside?

I don't usually come here. I usually go abroad.

Seychelles, I usually go.

Did you used to go down to the seaside when you were younger?

With Mum and Dad.

Where did you go?

Blackpool.

Didn't know anywhere else.

-Have you ever been to Blackpool?

-Yes.

Do you like it?

Did you used to go with your husband?

Well, I did when... Because he died, you know.

So I'm a widow. How are you fixed?

SHE LAUGHS

What are we having for dinner?

Hey! You turn around, bloody nosey!

-Alice?

-What?

What about chips in the wrapper with salt and vinegar?

No. No. No.

Caviar.

LAUGHTER

Nothing but the bloody best!

Alice's dementia was severe.

She thought she still owned her own house

and would soon be going back there to live.

It was sold seven years ago.

Go on, then, give us a tune.

ALICE SINGS

# And you go...

# Though you'll never know When the train will go

# Get ready, get steady

# We'll all... #

-THEY LAUGH

-That's very good.

-Well done, Al!

-ALICE COUGHS

-Oh, don't choke!

'When the time came for Alice to be moved, she wouldn't be told. It would be too upsetting.

'Instead, she'd simply be taken off one day to a new home.'

I know they say, erm...

..who's to say anything will happen with their health,

but I've seen it in the past

where they do die within a few months of leaving.

You know, being uprooted from one place to another.

Maybe I shouldn't say that, but it's how you feel, isn't it?

-Let's get out of the wind a bit, Alice.

-Yeah, yeah.

'For the senior staff who'd built up years of service,

'a job with the city council had always felt like a job for life.

'Not any longer.'

'I don't think any of us thought it would be as bad as it is.'

The tension's really, really quite strong, you know.

'You really do feel the stress of it all.'

It's my life, it's my work.

I'm a caring person. It's been my forte in life, you know,

to do this job. This kind of work.

I'm not ready to give up at all.

That's it.

-Have you met David Miliband before?

-Yes. I met him before his...

..during his leadership campaign.

You didn't back the wrong one, did you?

HE LAUGHS I'm not saying anything!

Could that be you, one day?

Could be. Who knows what the future holds.

-Westminster beckons?

-Eh? HE LAUGHS

Even though he'd just made the biggest cuts to his city in living memory,

the political ambitions of Leader Mohammed Pervez remained intact.

-The format is fast and furious.

-Right, OK.

How are you?

-I'm all right.

-You're looking very...

-I know.

-Nice to see you.

-This is Mohammed.

-Hello, Mohammed, nice to see you. Fantastic job you're doing.

-Thanks very much.

-I've been reading about it. Absolutely fantastic.

-Thank you.

-So you've been in Telford?

-I have been in Wolverhampton...

-Right.

..Telford and Redditch today.

Some people do Beijing, Moscow, Los Angeles,

other people do Redditch, Wolverhampton.

-Which is the heartland?

-Well, of course, Stoke, goes without saying.

So Pervez is going to lead the majority group.

Yes, you're in control now, aren't you?

We're in a sort of coalition, major party being ourselves,

-but hopefully we'll take control in May.

-Great, great.

Upstairs is a small bunch of media, a small bunch of students doing...

'The former Foreign Secretary had been drafted in to boost the council leader's local campaign.'

Politics has got very disconnected from where people's lives are.

A lot of people have become pretty disillusioned,

because it looks like the art of politics is to have the maximum difference between

what you say in advance of the election and what happens afterwards.

'We can't afford to be complacent. Every candidate has to be out

'on the streets campaigning really hard.'

Nothing should be taken for granted and we will continue to campaign until 10 o'clock on the 5th May.

-Brilliant.

-Thank you. Now you've made me lose my way.

Let's try and catch them up.

Thank you.

Hello, what's your name?

'As we chased Mohammed Pervez, who was chasing David Miliband...'

-Are you going to walk to the train station?

-Yeah.

-OK, do you want me to come with you?

-No.

-OK...

-'..it felt like we were leaving the real world further and further behind.'

-OK, thanks very much.

-Lovely to meet you. Good speech.

-Thanks very much.

-Speech of a council leader.

-Thanks a lot.

-Look after yourself.

-OK.

-Can I take a picture?

-Can do.

-'You're a Labour politician, you believe in Labour values.'

-'Yes.

'I am applying Labour values as far as I can. Don't forget...'

'Let's talk about that, let's talk about Labour values.'

Do you feel that care for the elderly should be a public service provision,

-or are you happy for it to be privatised?

-Erm...

-You're a Labour politician.

-Yes, I mean, I think there is...

an element which says we need to provide choice

for our elderly people, a package that's suitable for them.

Closure of care homes isn't choice.

Yes, but they might be losing a care home that they currently live in

and there will be an element of disruption when they move...

Do you think disruption is the right word?

I mean, what we're talking about is that some people could die...

..prematurely, by being moved.

-Yeah, erm...

-I'm skirting round it, but that's what I mean.

There's always a risk, there's always an element of risk,

even in our own care homes, we have moved people,

we haven't had a case where people have died as a result of the...

Excuse me, can I just...?

'There was no doubt that the national debt had left Mohammed Pervez

'and politicians like him in a tight spot.

'But it also felt like they were no longer sure what they really believed in.'

MUSIC: "Move Mr Man" by The Contours

# Uh-huh-huh, come on!

# Woo-hoo-hoo!

# Baby, baby

# Just one more chance

# Baby, baby, just one more chance

# Well... #

'Stoke was the jewel in the BNP's crown,

'according to party leader Nick Griffin.

'He kicked off their general election campaign here a year ago.

'Now they were back for another national launch.'

# You don't know what to do... #

'Local leader Michael Coleman told us to meet him

'at a Tesco car park on a quiet Sunday morning.'

What's the secrecy around the venue? Why is it that it's not announced until the last minute?

Because, incredibly, we've got people who oppose us

who would wish to disrupt our activity today.

So you keep the venue secret until last minute?

As best as we can, yeah. This is an RV point, this isn't a venue.

'I was called up last night by an elderly lady in Normacot

'who's afraid of what will happen with the mosque that's being built there.'

For a huge mosque to be built in Normacot,

a once traditional English town, is really a visual sign for me

for the on-going invasion and occupation of my country

by a foreign body of people, and I just don't agree with it.

It makes me angry, it makes my English heart full of fury, and I disagree with it.

This manifesto, it's exciting, it's positive, it's uplifting.

I can only recommend it to you. Please get a copy, take it away and read it. It's great.

APPLAUSE

If there's anybody that has any questions?

Why should anyone vote for a Nazi?

-Why should someone vote for a party of Holocaust deniers and football thugs?

-Football thugs?

-Yes.

-Where do you come from?

-You've had your say.

-You've had your say. You've had your say.

-You've come to my city...

-You've had your say, OK?

-You don't mind the Asians coming here, then?

-OK, let's pull this down.

-It's a free country, we can say what we...

-So let me say what I want to say.

-We can hear. There's no need to get any closer. We can hear you.

You're a party of Holocaust deniers, Nazis, fascists, racists.

'Micky, the new candidate, seemed unsettled by the protest.'

No platform for the BNP! No platform for the BNP!

Nazi scum, out of Stoke!

'By joining the party, he'd risked turning himself into a hate figure.'

-CROWD CHANT:

-Nazi scum, out of Stoke! Nazi scum, out of Stoke!

'But it raised a question - had he found the BNP or had it found him?'

-Hi, Micky.

-You all right?

-Hurry up cos of the doors!

-The doors slam.

-So sorry.

'A few days later, we visited him at home.'

This is what we've got left to put out.

When I counted this morning, there's 3,600.

This is the little 'un. She can be a bit timid with cameras.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-This is my mum, this is the old man.

-I'm your dad, not the old man!

-So, that's littl'un by the like, I said.

-Angel.

-Angel.

What do you think about Micky standing?

He's doing very well, you know. I'm hopeful. He'll do well.

You know, hope he does well.

See, he works on Fedex, you see, and there's a lot of foreign migrants,

immigrants that work on there. And the biggest problem on there

is the foreigners are getting all the overtime

and the British blokes aren't getting a damn well thing off there,

and that disgusts me, it really does.

And this is why I try and tell people you've got to come and vote for us now.

We're the way forward, that's how it's got to be.

It's not...I'm not being racist, I'm not being fascist or anything.

We've got to start thinking for our own country.

I print these off the net, and we're expecting a load more coming in,

and as you can see there, these are the words

that are being spoken by the migrants over there,

and it says, "The UK will be like a paradise.

"You get rich on benefits without working."

-What paper's that in?

-That's in the Sun.

It's not fair. I don't think it's right in any way.

I'm standing because I had 18 month of unemployment,

and we've gone through absolutely hell.

We couldn't get a dime out of the system, and I paid...

I've worked since I were 16

-and I've had some horrible jobs. And...

-But you did it.

I did it because I had to. And this is why when I got made redundant off

Steel Light and I had the leaflet off the British National Party

and I read through it, and it rang bells, alarms went off in me head,

and I'm thinking, "They're right.

"They're right by everything they are saying."

Do you get worried if, you know, people accuse Micky,

because he's a BNP candidate, of being fascist?

That's their problem, not ours.

Just tells the truth, don't he?

That's what he wants and that's it.

-It doesn't upset you?

-No.

He can't do any worse than what's there now, can he?

Conservative or Labour, he can't do any worse.

Hope he does well for him to get somewhere.

I won the Activist Of The Year Award 2010 for all the hard work,

all the information that I gave to Michael Coleman.

It says, "Micky White, BNP Activist Of The Year 2010."

And I was chuffed as punch, because they dropped it on me and...

You know what Mick's like. You've met him.

He shocked me with that, because I did a speech on Halal,

Halal food, and, you know, all the slaughtering method on that.

And he just dropped that on me afterwards.

What's your relationship with Michael,

because you really seem to look up to him?

I always got told when I started training, when I left school,

you always respect your elders and you look up to them

and you listen to what they tell you. And Mick is a damn good bloke,

and I respect everything that he says

and I respect everything that he does,

and he is a good mentor.

Everything he comes out with is truth,

and there's not one person in Stoke-on-Trent

that can say any different.

He just wants to do his best for his daughter,

like anybody, any man would.

What do you see?

What do I see? Um...

I see the future for this country.

I see a body of people who are very well organised, very motivated.

Um...they have money,

they have a direction,

they have the support of the regime under which we live,

and I can see them possessing what was once,

and I remember this even in my short life,

30 years ago, this was an English working class community.

And I don't like it.

I don't like it. I fear it.

What do your family think about your views?

Um...

It's a little like coming out if you're a gay.

I came out the closet when I was about 16, Dave, not as a gay,

but as somebody who supports

nationalist and patriotic politics in Britain.

And my family had to accept me or lose me.

Half of them have lost me, and the other half have accepted me.

When I was a younger man and didn't know as much as I know now,

I used to challenge myself and question.

I had many a sleepless night wandering about what I was doing

and what I was getting involved with,

because it is a huge step to sacrifice yourself 100%

for a cause and a campaign.

It is a massive step in a life, and I did question myself.

But I don't now.

Now I know I'm on the right road and I know I'm doing right.

Are all snakes poisonous?

Yeah. No.

No, they're not.

Right, what is an iceberg?

-Anybody know what an iceberg is? Iceberg?

-Frozen.

-Frozen that's right.

-Lettuce.

-A lettuce.

LAUGHTER

Lettuce(!)

There was just a handful of residents

left at Heathside Care Home.

Is the sun a star?

Moving day was now looming for all of them.

Well, all the bedrooms virtually are empty down here.

There you go, there's one.

Nobody in that, put the lights off.

And then we've got Emily's room.

All Emily's furniture's gone.

And then...Nora only went today,

she left us today.

Oh, she's left us with her rubber plant.

-What are we doing now?

-Just going to your room.

-Eh?

Just going to your room, put your cream on your leg.

May and John were both 86 and the home's only married couple.

Are we all right? Go on, May. May's coming with us.

May had been waking up in the middle of the night

worrying about where she was going to be sent.

-Got you this here, look, drying.

-Is it all right now, May?

-Yeah, almost. Almost, yeah.

-She's warming your 'jamas, see?

-Good.

-All right?

I'll wait here.

John suffered from Alzheimer's,

he didn't really know what was going on.

It felt like a blessing.

Good night, John.

-Good night, duck.

-Give us a kiss.

You'll be all right.

I'll be all right, ah.

Oh, thank you, Pam.

Mabel had lived at the home longer than anyone - 20 years.

-Had enough?

-Thank you.

She had no living relatives.

Is it unusual that you have got someone here

who's got absolutely no family and no friends that visit them at all?

Um, there's usually somebody, you know, that's kept in touch

over the years. A friend.

But, of course, as they're getting older,

those friends die, don't they? So it is quite unusual.

Has Mabel had a visitor since you've been here?

I haven't known anybody, no.

She likes me to go and give her a cuddle,

little chat at the end of the day.

It's that sort of thing you'll really miss about it, about Mabel,

and hoping somebody's going to do the same thing for her.

-Are you ready for snuggle down now?

-If you will put the key in the door.

I will put the key in the door. Give me a kiss.

God bless.

But the election that was taking place in this city

wasn't about the future of pensioners like Mabel.

Throughout all of this, people like her would remain silent.

Me husband died, you see, and I was a bit lonely,

so I came here for the company.

But I go back to me house now. I shan't be miserable.

No place like home, you know.

-You moving today as well, Mabel?

-Eh?

-You moving today?

This afternoon and be out in time for tea,

be in another place for me tea.

How do you feel about moving today, May?

Um...not very happy.

I didn't want to. I was happy here,

but we've all got to go somewhere.

I don't know where I shall end up.

I think the worst part is when they're taking the residents away.

Yeah, we've had two go out, which is quite upsetting,

because they really don't want to go, do they?

You spend more time here

with these than you do your own family, really.

Seven hours a day, five days a week,

so you're here more than you're at home, so they become your family.

We can't do much about it, though, can we?

We just have to accept it.

You've lived a lifetime here.

I have.

But I've enjoyed it.

-Come on, John.

-Come on, mate.

-You're going out with May.

-You're going out with your May.

-You what?

-You're going out with your May.

-Where?

-Come and get in the car.

-Eh?

-Come and get in the car.

-Go on, leave me here.

-No, we want you to come with us.

-John, we're going out with your May.

-Where?

-I'm not sure. Let's get in the taxi.

-Just have a cup of tea. Come on.

Come on.

-In this car?

-This red car.

-Red car.

-Yep. Come on.

Come here. Oh, God, don't start crying.

-Don't cry.

-You're going to be really happy.

It's a lovely home, it's lovely where you're going, all right?

Eh, do you want a cuddle? Do you need a cuddle?

-All right?

-Yeah, I'll be all right. Thanks anyway.

Take care, sweet pea.

SHE KISSES HER

-'Going where?

-On an adventure.'

Is May going?

May's gone, she's gone to another home.

Without me?

I thought we were friends.

Now she's gone without me.

Does Alice know where she's going, Kay?

Do you know where you're going?

I don't. Do you?

Where?

You know this place is closing today?

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

-Now stop it. I'm taking you to your new home.

-Where is it?

-Longton.

Oh, I don't like bloody Longton!

No, it's nice there, it's the posh end of Longton.

Eh, I live in Princess Row.

Yeah, I know you do, but you've got to stay there for a bit until

-your house in Princess Row is ready.

-Yeah.

-So come sit in this chair for me.

-Wait a bit, I'll do it meself.

I know you will.

Interfering.

Push your little bum back.

MUSIC: Bye Bye Baby by The Detroit Cobras

DOG BARKS

Labour and anti-facist groups had joined forces.

They'd been campaigning all over Stoke against the far right.

WHISTLES AND DRUMMING

Today they were marching through the city.

With no more elections for four years,

this was their opportunity to remove the BNP from Stoke for the foreseeable future.

HORNS AND DRUMMING

WHISTLES

Right.

Right. Let us...start tidying up.

Michael Coleman had decided to strip everything from the BNP's office in the town hall.

It was as though things were moving against him.

(CLEARS THROAT) This is one of our successful campaigns.

I mean, a picture speaks a thousand words, don't it?

Muslims wearing Ninja outfits... which we're not particularly keen on.

We did this one as well.

That's the Halal campaign that we did.

Erm...

I suppose it's a little bit religious.

Your opponents will say that a leaflet like that

stirs up tension in the community that might not be there.

They're right, it does.

That's what we're here to do, isn't it -

we don't won't status quo, Dave, the status quo is death for us.

We need to agitate, mobilise and radicalise.

And that's what that does.

That's our politics, that's our game,

and we're quite good at it.

What you have to remember about us,

this is us, this is the BNP here.

This is Rorke's Drift.

Boer War. 1885, I think it was.

Outnumbered 10 to 1, right?

All hope lost, and yet you fight on, you get your head down,

you stay united, you be strong,

you throw your punches and you just keep going on and on and on.

And that's the stuff we are made of.

DRUMMING

We're up against everybody, mate.

RADIO JINGLE

'It's six o'clock. I'm David Grundy.

'Polling stations will open across Staffordshire and Cheshire in the next hour.

'Voters will decide which system to use for Westminster elections

'in the first UK-wide referendum since 1975.

'They'll also be local council elections.

'Scientists are recommending that everyone over the age of 55...'

Come on, then.

Today's election was, in part, a judgement on the leader and his cuts so far.

But it would also reveal who the people of Stoke

wanted to manage the millions more cuts that would follow.

Who's doing yellow, who's doing white?

There were 44 council seats being contested across Stoke.

To win control, Mohammed Pervez needed Labour to take 23 of them.

A welcoming party had assembled to greet the far right.

Let's be sure, before...

CHATTER

Yeah!

ALL CHANT: Nazi scum! Nazi scum!

Nazi scum!

Nazi scum out of Stoke!

Nazi scum out of Stoke!

Nazi scum out of Stoke!

(CHANTING CONTINUES)

Nazi scum out of Stoke!

Nazi scum out of Stoke!

We don't want this filth!

We don't want your Nazi filth in this city!

HUBBUB

This is the thug right here!

That is a thug!

ALL CHANT: Nazi scum out of Stoke.

HUBBUB

Nazi scum out of Stoke!

HUBBUB

Nazi scum out of Stoke!

ALL CHANT: Nazi scum out of Stoke!

Have you seen the state of his back? What they've done to him?

We're good blokes, we're family men,

and this is what we're coming up against all the time.

It's getting out of hand now. The police should do something.

-Oh, well.

-You don't have to worry about it.

It's expected, it's one of those things.

The evening didn't begin well for the BNP.

But they weren't the only ones experiencing difficulties.

ALL CHEER

As the early results came in,

it was clear that the Tories and Lib Dems were suffering for their national coalition behind Labour.

I do hereby declare that Shazad Hussain is duly elected.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

BOTH LAUGH

Thank you. He'll be a nice addition to the Labour group.

Thank you very much.

Cheers, guys.

-How's it looking?

-Very good.

I'm only going by what results are being officially announced, but it's looking very, very good indeed.

-Hello. How are you?

-Yeah, very well.

-How's it going?

'Upstairs, Micky White's ward was being counted.

'He still didn't know how his future would play out.'

What are you thinking, Micky?

Nothing at the moment.

I'm just hoping. Just hoping and praying.

Are you excited?

I have been all day. I've been waiting all day.

I've been all over the place today.

The Jobcentre. I'm hoping I haven't got to go back down there again.

-Could be a big moment for you, couldn't it?

-It could be.

You could be a councillor tomorrow.

I'm hoping. I'm really hoping.

Bentley, Andrew David, 66.

-Coleman, Michael, 299.

-Michael Coleman's result was next.

Ruth, Victoria, 556.

I hereby declare that Ruth Victoria is duly elected.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The BNP had lost its leader. For the next four years,

Michael Coleman would find himself cast further into the political wilderness.

Don't worry about it.

Just got to laugh about it.

-Shall we laugh?

-Yeah.

Couple of years down the line, I'll be laughing when the city's gone.

-CHEERING

-Go on!

Pervez, Mohammed, 1,066.

Smith, Donald Winston, 200.

And I do hereby declare that Mohammed Pervez is duly elected.

APPLAUSE

-Well, it's a great night for Labour.

-It's clearly...fantastic.

-We have smashed the BNP.

-It's a damning indictment

of the Conservative and Lib Dem policy in Westminster.

-Yeah.

-We've got to bring that in.

-Yeah.

Also a reflection of Labour's sensitivity in handling the massive cuts.

Yeah.

Despite the enormity of the cuts made by Mohammed Pervez,

this election showed that the people of Stoke are returning to Labour for fear of something worse.

Nice big smile.

But watching the leader enjoy his success, it somehow felt like a hollow victory...

for his future had already been decided, far away in Westminster.

It would be down to him to wield the axe

when millions more were cut from his city,

next year, the year after and the year after that.

Heathside House was finally empty.

Of the staff, half had got new jobs with the council,

the rest had taken redundancy.

Gaynor was one of them.

After 21 years, her career with the council was over.

I'll get me keys, OK?

But as manager, it was down to her to lock up the home for the last time.

It's reality now, in't it?

It's just very weird. It's upsetting. It's...

It's just the strangest feeling. You know, the building's sort of...

very quiet and...

..sad.

It's sad, the building is.

I mean, for 30 years, it's had people in it.

And now there's nobody and nothing.

But still...

Times have changes and what people want has changed too, hasn't it?

I need to talk to you about your outstanding council tax,

because at the moment, you've got £8,000 outstanding.

-Get out of my house!

-I'm already in.

-Get out.

Did you know that the council's got £20 million that's owed

-in unpaid council tax?

-I know!

Anywhere else, they'd stand them against the wall and shoot them.

There's too many wishy-washy bloody liberal people,

especially on this council.

If we were a private company,

we would be in the bankruptcy court long ago.

There's something terribly wrong with this somewhere.

Something terribly wrong.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd