:00:09. > :00:13.Hello. Well, who would have thought it? Four years after our economy
:00:13. > :00:19.was plunged into crisis we are still here, desperate to avoid
:00:19. > :00:24.another recession. We have got huge debts and mass unemployment. The
:00:24. > :00:34.question is this, how will we get ourselves out of this mess and back
:00:34. > :01:00.
:01:00. > :01:07.on the road to prosperity? APPLAUSE. Good evening took Silicon Fen in
:01:07. > :01:12.Cambridge. This is the headquarters of a company called ARM. They
:01:12. > :01:18.design the important bits then you're electrical products like
:01:18. > :01:23.mobile phones, telephones, washing machines and cars. It is very
:01:23. > :01:32.successful and the company is now worth over �7.5 billion,
:01:32. > :01:36.considerably more than Marks & Spencers. The hi-tech companies
:01:37. > :01:41.clustered around here are among the best in the world. We want to find
:01:41. > :01:46.out how this ruin can drive the economy back into growth. We have
:01:46. > :01:52.business leaders, entrepreneur's, investors and politicians. Before
:01:52. > :02:01.we hear from them, let's get things started with some research which
:02:01. > :02:06.has been specially commissioned for this programme. Times are tough but
:02:06. > :02:12.according to this research our region is doing better than most.
:02:12. > :02:19.Our unemployment rate is below the national average. We have got a
:02:19. > :02:26.good the range of growth companies and industries. We have Silicon Fen,
:02:26. > :02:32.a cluster of technology companies. Hour I t and life sciences
:02:32. > :02:36.companies have been very resilient during the downturn. We have
:02:36. > :02:42.motorsport engineers, pharmaceutical companies, we do
:02:42. > :02:47.more than our share of research and development in this region. We have
:02:47. > :02:57.an emerging renewables industry. We are particularly good at
:02:57. > :02:57.
:02:57. > :03:03.encouraging start-up companies. Harlow in Essex has seen the
:03:03. > :03:09.biggest upturn in company numbers. We have reasons to be cheerful.
:03:09. > :03:17.were talking about new businesses. We have a terrific example of one
:03:17. > :03:24.here. This family started a shellfish business on a river in
:03:25. > :03:30.Suffolk. Let's look at their story. We are very proud of seeing our own
:03:30. > :03:36.oysters on sale. When we are farming we never usually seek any
:03:36. > :03:40.produce apart from beef on sale but the oysters we see everywhere. We
:03:40. > :03:48.are planning to reintroduce native oysters into this river because
:03:48. > :03:56.they were wiped out by a bug. The thing about school is that it is
:03:56. > :04:00.all academic now. I am dyslexic and I cannot do that very well. If you
:04:00. > :04:05.cannot be employed by anyone else you can always start your own
:04:05. > :04:12.business. You just have to get out there and be you're born boss, try
:04:12. > :04:17.it out, what is the worst that can happen? -- Be Your Own boss. There
:04:17. > :04:22.is no denying that your son has the right kind of get out of the Earth
:04:22. > :04:28.attitude but is that enough in this climate? It does not change the
:04:28. > :04:33.fact that we have to supply shops and restaurants what they want,
:04:33. > :04:36.when they want it and for the money than they can pay. If we do not do
:04:36. > :04:42.that all the time all the enthusiasm in the world will not
:04:42. > :04:47.keep your business thriving. I am sure everyone here wishes you the
:04:47. > :04:52.best of luck. Harlow is doing very well for the number of start-up
:04:52. > :04:58.businesses. You are leader of the council, why is it, what are you
:04:58. > :05:04.doing right? Two things. The great location we have with the airport
:05:04. > :05:08.just up the road and the motorway network. The council have also
:05:08. > :05:14.taken a pro-business approach. We have a regeneration team who deal
:05:14. > :05:18.with businesses on a one-to-one basis. Businesses do not get the
:05:18. > :05:23.run around and shunted from department to department.
:05:23. > :05:26.crucial are the banks in all of this? A lot of these small
:05:26. > :05:30.businesses tell us that the banks are not lending to them which is
:05:30. > :05:37.why the council uses its Government funding to make business life
:05:37. > :05:42.easier. We have a building with very easy terms and shared
:05:42. > :05:48.facilities that make it easy for start-up businesses to get it going
:05:48. > :05:54.with minimum finance. We hear it all the time that it is tough for
:05:54. > :05:59.small businesses because banks are not lending to them. As a banker,
:05:59. > :06:03.we desperately want to lend to businesses. The only way that best
:06:03. > :06:13.regional economy will be successful is by us all watching businesses
:06:13. > :06:19.
:06:19. > :06:22.grow. Why are we not getting the money go? A lot of the small
:06:22. > :06:30.businesses are not coming to the banks and asking for support
:06:30. > :06:35.because there is a fear that we will see no. People with business
:06:36. > :06:40.plans must approach the banks as fairly as possible with their ideas.
:06:40. > :06:48.OK, that is good news, you are seeing if you do not cast you do
:06:48. > :06:54.not get. Graham Bright you are the spokesperson for the Conservative
:06:54. > :06:59.Party, why have the Government not meet the banks give loans? We do
:06:59. > :07:05.have a guarantee scheme where the banks must lend to small businesses.
:07:05. > :07:09.The Government is very committed to small businesses. I was chairman of
:07:09. > :07:14.the Small Business Committee. are hearing that you are committed
:07:15. > :07:18.to it, Simon Wright, a Lib-Dem MP, we hear all the time that Vince
:07:18. > :07:25.Cable, he wants to help small businesses but it seems that the
:07:25. > :07:31.money is not getting through? project merlin was introduced we
:07:31. > :07:36.saw a 13 % increase in lending. What is that? It is a requirement
:07:37. > :07:40.put on banks to lend more money to small businesses. They are largely
:07:40. > :07:44.meeting their targets but nonetheless I hear similar stories
:07:44. > :07:49.from small businesses that they are not getting access to the finance
:07:50. > :07:56.they need. Later this week we will read about credit easing from the
:07:56. > :08:06.Government. What would Labour be doing differently? We would not
:08:06. > :08:06.
:08:06. > :08:11.just see it, we would do it. -- not just say it. Lending has gone down
:08:11. > :08:17.by �10 billion. I agree that many countries around this region do a
:08:17. > :08:22.brilliant job and we are supporting them but one thing is for sure that
:08:22. > :08:28.this Government is not the one doing it. Are you getting the
:08:28. > :08:33.support and funding that you need to grow? We are not. It is a
:08:33. > :08:38.familiar story. The Government last year did put a lot more money into
:08:38. > :08:42.this region, �70 million in infrastructure for life sciences
:08:42. > :08:47.and health care but when you look at other markets like France,
:08:47. > :08:52.Germany, Singapore, we are talking billions there. If we are going to
:08:52. > :08:58.be globally competitive we need funding. Do you feel the east is
:08:58. > :09:06.overlooked? I do. It is interesting that this region was singled out as
:09:06. > :09:12.not receiving some funding. Let me put that 0.2 Graham Bright, you are
:09:12. > :09:21.not investing in success here? are investing in infrastructure
:09:21. > :09:28.which is important. Money is going end to the railway and the local
:09:28. > :09:34.roads. The Thames linked links Luton and King's Lynn down to the
:09:34. > :09:39.south. There are new docks being built on the Thames side. The new
:09:39. > :09:45.Crossrail. Everything is the it to actually keep business and allow
:09:45. > :09:50.business to move about. Hamel is sitting in the right place, we want
:09:50. > :09:54.to put everyone in the right place. We will talk more about
:09:54. > :09:58.infrastructure but let me bring you end, you are what people call at
:09:58. > :10:03.business angel. You step in where the banks and potentially
:10:03. > :10:07.Government fear to tread, what is the key to growth in this region?
:10:07. > :10:12.The essay is an area where we have a large amount of research and
:10:12. > :10:18.development. When the bank's top about small businesses, early-stage
:10:18. > :10:22.companies do not even qualify. I am talking about companies that are p
:10:22. > :10:27.Revenue, they have not got their project, they are doing research
:10:27. > :10:31.and development in biotech and other forms of technology. Those
:10:31. > :10:35.companies are our future and we have to do something
:10:35. > :10:44.internationally to get them equivalent to similar companies in
:10:44. > :10:54.other countries. I want to introduce warrant East, one of our
:10:54. > :10:56.
:10:56. > :11:00.guests and a Heath executive here at ARM. -- Warren East. What
:11:00. > :11:08.briefly do you think has been the key to success and the reason for
:11:08. > :11:15.growth? We have been at it for 21 years. We started in a barn at 21
:11:15. > :11:21.years ago. We have firstly some excellent technology. The way we go
:11:21. > :11:25.about our business is collaborating with potential competitors, using
:11:25. > :11:31.our technology to help service their companies and then we take a
:11:31. > :11:34.small share in their profits. That has allowed us to move around,
:11:34. > :11:43.target the growth markets and we have a culture that has helped us
:11:43. > :11:48.go along. Some might say that ARM has succeeded against the odds.
:11:48. > :11:53.What are the challenges facing us in this region? There is no doubt
:11:53. > :12:03.that this region has potential economically but will it realise
:12:03. > :12:09.that? We pay more tax each year to the Treasury than we get back. In a
:12:09. > :12:18.sense, we get poor value for money from Government. This is reflected
:12:19. > :12:24.in our infrastructure. Our roads leave a lot to be desired, Our
:12:24. > :12:30.Railways, our broadband connections. Hour access to Government funding
:12:30. > :12:35.is not always easy. The Regional Growth Fund is biased towards
:12:35. > :12:39.poorer regions. We have to ask if we will fulfil our full potential
:12:39. > :12:43.if our roads are always congested, our computers don't work
:12:43. > :12:53.wonderfully well and also if we do not have equal access to Government
:12:53. > :12:55.
:12:55. > :13:00.Another guest is Andrew Olley, you run a shop in Ely and you have one
:13:00. > :13:06.major gripe. One of the challenges facing us is the demice of town
:13:06. > :13:11.centres. -- demise. And my belief it is because local authorities
:13:11. > :13:15.don't put enough focus on that town centre and they're more encouraged
:13:15. > :13:25.to take money from out of town development of supermarkets.
:13:25. > :13:30.have been to Ely and let's hear more about your situation. I run
:13:30. > :13:34.City Cycle centre in Ely. We have been here for 40 years. Over 40
:13:34. > :13:39.years how. As an independent trader. Along with a will the of other
:13:39. > :13:44.trades within this city centre. But all of us are under threat as never
:13:44. > :13:53.before. If a town centre has parking charges in it, and you have
:13:53. > :13:59.huge car parks of 500 free spaces in a Sainsbury and 1,000 in a
:13:59. > :14:04.Tescos that is planned, people go out of town. Huge amounts of money
:14:04. > :14:11.are given to local authorities each time they allow out of town
:14:11. > :14:16.developments. People will vote with their wheels and we'll lose our
:14:16. > :14:23.town centre,. Well the Government has brought in the TV presenter and
:14:23. > :14:27.expert marry - Mary Portas. How will the Government do this. Well
:14:27. > :14:31.it is not the Government. It is local authorities. We're looking at
:14:31. > :14:38.the moment at changes in terms of planning regulations and that is a
:14:38. > :14:42.big debate. I take the point very much about out of town shopping,
:14:42. > :14:48.compared with the city centre. I like going in the city centre and
:14:48. > :14:53.enjoy that shopping. Really, this is down to local authorities being
:14:53. > :14:57.sensible about it. Getting the balance right. And one of the big
:14:57. > :15:02.issues is parking. As we have been told and we have got to address
:15:02. > :15:08.that in our towns. Isn't one of the problems that we like to say yes we
:15:08. > :15:12.love our town centre, but we still shop in the out of town
:15:12. > :15:19.supermarkets and do shopping on the internet. It is difficult to match
:15:19. > :15:25.the two. No, I love our market towns. I'm sure you shop in a
:15:25. > :15:30.supermarket now and then. But it is not up to local authorities to be
:15:30. > :15:35.balanced if the is ripping up the planning laws. I would like to
:15:35. > :15:39.endorse what Richard said, you know, we're in a business audience, there
:15:39. > :15:44.are many strengths in the region, but our businesses are suffering
:15:44. > :15:49.too, whether it is the regional development agency that was
:15:49. > :15:56.abolished, the local enterprise departments, the regional growth
:15:56. > :16:03.fund, the Alice Bhandhukravi - ebroadband support. The Government
:16:03. > :16:11.is -- the broadband support. Our business needs help too. You don't
:16:11. > :16:17.get far without hereing the words A14. Paul Davey, it is one o' your
:16:17. > :16:24.main bug bears. We're the largest container port in the UK, moving
:16:24. > :16:27.40% of the UK's imports and exports through region and the A14 is our
:16:27. > :16:33.major route to markets for our business and others. And there
:16:33. > :16:42.should be a priority for Government to commit some investment into
:16:42. > :16:47.improving the bottleneck opt A14. Toll roads, the A14, A11. What do
:16:47. > :16:51.you think? There are no firm proposals, David Cameron's asked
:16:51. > :16:57.the Department for Transport to go to look at this and come back in
:16:57. > :17:03.the autumn. In the meantime we're getting the A14 improvement and
:17:03. > :17:08.gets the A11 dualed. We are getting a lot of thing that Iical pained
:17:08. > :17:14.for which Labour failed, your party, you have been critical of the
:17:14. > :17:19.coalition, perhaps urging us to go faster. But we are delivering on
:17:19. > :17:22.projects that are important. You're a managing director of Stansted
:17:22. > :17:29.Airport and we heard the coalition say they're doing what they can.
:17:29. > :17:33.What is your main challenge? For us it is about Serbty -- certainty.
:17:33. > :17:37.Infrastructure is a long-term game and we need to know where the
:17:37. > :17:41.Government is going. We heard the speech from the Prime Minister
:17:41. > :17:49.about infrastructure. But the fact that it is being talked about is
:17:49. > :17:53.important for us. Bee, you run a haulage firm and apart from fuel
:17:54. > :17:58.prices what do you find is one of your main challenges running a
:17:58. > :18:04.business? One of challenges we have is the planning law, which various
:18:04. > :18:08.businesses have touched upon, until we untravel that red tape
:18:08. > :18:13.associated with planning, it is hard to see how we will move
:18:13. > :18:17.forward quickly. It has become a slow process. Who else is finding
:18:17. > :18:22.it a problem with red tape here? Businesses and red tape is
:18:22. > :18:26.something we hear a lot about. Why aren't you make it easier for
:18:26. > :18:33.businesses? I also run a medium sized business in the east. And yes,
:18:33. > :18:38.there is red tape. Yes we have got to address some of it. A lot of it
:18:38. > :18:43.is European, but we make it worse. And it is difficult to operate a
:18:43. > :18:49.business, if you're a medium sized company, you need so many resources
:18:49. > :18:52.to look through the red tape, to see how you deal with it. To
:18:52. > :18:58.actually organise yourself around it. Burr that stops the sort of
:18:58. > :19:05.growth that we want. Pee Kerr Kendal, president of the -- Peter
:19:05. > :19:11.Ken Tall, president of the farmers union. Is Rep tape a problem?
:19:11. > :19:15.farmers want to get out of their office and produce food. We produce
:19:16. > :19:21.more food than any other region. Farmers are tearing their hair out,
:19:21. > :19:25.because they can't get planning permission to build reservoirs. You
:19:25. > :19:33.can't write off reservoirs, the last Government changed taxation
:19:33. > :19:37.for that investment. Farmers spend too much time tick boxes and
:19:37. > :19:43.filling forms. Next to you, Alex Paul representing the tourism
:19:43. > :19:50.industry in the east. We have heard mentions in the conversation about
:19:50. > :19:57.broadband. Is that something that is proving challenging for you?
:19:57. > :20:01.the internet is a vital tool for tourism. And the internet for the
:20:01. > :20:06.businesses in the region is a business tool, a route to market.
:20:06. > :20:12.And with so many of the businesses in this region being small and
:20:12. > :20:16.medium, they need a strong, stable broadband to do their business. And
:20:16. > :20:24.they will lose business to other regions if customers can't reach
:20:24. > :20:29.them. So it is vital. Ann Glover, we have been talking here about the
:20:29. > :20:35.private sector. You represent the public sector. You're from Unison.
:20:35. > :20:40.Challenging times for you? Yes. We have lost thousands of jobs in the
:20:40. > :20:45.public sector and while we are fortunate to have areas like
:20:45. > :20:50.Cambridge where you have businesses that are doing well you have got
:20:50. > :20:55.areas of social deprivation, who rely on the public sector for
:20:55. > :21:00.employment and you know nothing exists in isolation. If people
:21:00. > :21:06.haven't got money, they can't spend on the highs and that affects a lot
:21:06. > :21:10.of small businesses. It's you know, job creation is important. There
:21:10. > :21:14.needs to be more investment in the public sector. And I don't think we
:21:14. > :21:19.will get it. But people need to earn a decent wage to have an
:21:19. > :21:29.income they can spend and that will help to isle the -- oil the wheels
:21:29. > :21:34.of the a the local economies. co-founded Acorn computers in 1979,
:21:34. > :21:41.got a huge amount of success and experience behind you. If you were
:21:41. > :21:49.starting out now, co--- do you think it would be harder or easier?
:21:49. > :21:54.Much easier. Why? At the time we started there was no venture
:21:54. > :21:57.capital, there was no knowledge on how to do high technology firm. And
:21:57. > :22:03.now we have a lot of the infrastructure that we lacked at
:22:03. > :22:08.the time is in place. So I think now is a better time to start a
:22:08. > :22:14.high technology company. That sense of optimism is probably not shared
:22:14. > :22:18.by the 208,000 people who are unemployed. If we look at any
:22:18. > :22:24.recession, one of the first casualties is jobs. People get
:22:24. > :22:32.thrown out of work. Many are young people. Between the ages of 16 to
:22:32. > :22:37.24. So what is being done to save the region's workers from the dole.
:22:37. > :22:44.Over to our political present. An drue. One of the region's MPs was
:22:44. > :22:48.saying that the lack of a properly stilled -- skilled workforce is the
:22:48. > :22:54.biggest problem facing the country. 40% of people in Britain have only
:22:54. > :22:59.been educated to a pacic skills level. That is a poor set of GCSEs
:22:59. > :23:03.and that is much higher than many parts of Europe and America and
:23:03. > :23:06.businesses are finding it hard to recruit staff with the rate skill
:23:06. > :23:11.and often have to recruit people from overseas. So the Government
:23:11. > :23:17.has been spending time and money in encouraging apprenticeships. But
:23:17. > :23:24.some people the problem goes further than that. In Japan every
:23:24. > :23:30.student studies maths until 18N Korea the figure is 90%. Here just
:23:30. > :23:37.0% of people study maths until 18. The Government's reviewing the
:23:37. > :23:41.National Curriculum, but MPs say unless maths and science gets
:23:41. > :23:46.greater prominence, we will never bridge that skills gap. Thank you.
:23:46. > :23:55.A lot to talk about there. Let's start by introducing someone who
:23:55. > :24:02.has experience of being an pri - eapprentice. Zakar Hussain is work
:24:02. > :24:08.at a construction firm. This is his story. I'm production management
:24:08. > :24:13.trainee. I started back in 2010. I did go to college, but college
:24:13. > :24:17.didn't work and I went for an apprenticeship. At school the
:24:17. > :24:23.problem was that we never got drilled to get apprenticeships, it
:24:23. > :24:28.was get exams to get into college to do a course. But a lot of us
:24:28. > :24:36.didn't have a clue what an apprentice ship was. I get funded
:24:36. > :24:40.to do my degree and I'm progressing and I have a good site time and
:24:40. > :24:46.then become a project manager. I'm learning what I'm learning and it
:24:46. > :24:51.is fantastic. Zakar, you feel like you're getting a first class
:24:51. > :24:56.experience? Yes, first hand experience. I started with an
:24:56. > :25:02.apprentice and got the foundation grounding and my question would be
:25:02. > :25:06.to the local MPs, what are they doing for young people. A lot of
:25:06. > :25:12.people that leave university go to do a degree and get, because they
:25:13. > :25:17.expect to know when they leave when they don't know. So Richard, what
:25:17. > :25:21.would Labour do for young people. We did bring back apprenticeships
:25:21. > :25:26.and good for you and the others that are putting in as much as you
:25:26. > :25:30.can. Look at the problem with work fair, where the government said
:25:30. > :25:37.young people should work for nothing. And we had Tescos saying
:25:37. > :25:44.work on a night shift for nothing. And these companies, even Pound
:25:44. > :25:50.land walked away from it. That is not a serious support for people,
:25:50. > :25:54.16,000 in the east east didn't have a job, didn't have training and
:25:54. > :25:58.weren't in education. You say they are only picking out the bad
:25:58. > :26:03.expierce. You are talk about the young people, we have had ten
:26:03. > :26:09.people and given them three full- time jobs. The once we haven't
:26:10. > :26:14.given jobs have gone away with better CVs. I back companies like
:26:14. > :26:18.yous, but we would give a national insurance holiday to companies to
:26:18. > :26:22.give you a reward for bringing them in. That is something the
:26:22. > :26:28.Government took away. The scheme we have had has been positive. You're
:26:28. > :26:34.only looking on the negative side. Nick barton from from Stansted
:26:34. > :26:41.Airport, one of biggest employer in the region. How you finding its
:26:41. > :26:45.have you got the people. Have you had to make people redundant.
:26:45. > :26:52.yet. We have had four years of decline the airport is a barometer
:26:52. > :26:58.for how we feel in terms of air travel is discretionary and when we
:26:58. > :27:01.feel nerve us about the future, you're inclination to travel is
:27:01. > :27:08.reduced. Businesses are struggling to justify the expense and we see
:27:08. > :27:15.that in passengers. The issue for us is protectsing the business we
:27:15. > :27:22.have and protecting the jobs. There are around 10,000 jobs. How many
:27:22. > :27:27.are filled by local people? they are. But that has changed we
:27:27. > :27:33.use Tods struggle to recruit into the airport and we advertised 108
:27:33. > :27:37.seasonal jobs in the summer. We would struggle to fill the jobs,
:27:37. > :27:47.last summer we had over 2,000 applicants. So there was no
:27:47. > :27:51.
:27:51. > :27:57.difficulty filling them. The issue Harriet Fear, biotech industry,
:27:57. > :28:01.life sciences, is there a skills gap there? Yes there is. Some of
:28:01. > :28:06.the bigger companies say they are finding real skills gaps at the
:28:06. > :28:14.high end and are having to look at recruiting from overseas. Then you
:28:14. > :28:19.get into the whole conundrum of the red tape issued over immigration.
:28:19. > :28:25.One of the key issues is the fact that students are not taking
:28:25. > :28:31.science at degree-level whereas many should be. That then stems the
:28:31. > :28:38.pipeline of individuals coming through with the expertise.
:28:38. > :28:42.Professor Lloyd reason, you are in the education sector, you teach at
:28:43. > :28:47.Anglia Ruskin University. You teach entrepreneurial skills, we are
:28:47. > :28:51.hearing that people are not doing the right degrees and coming
:28:52. > :29:01.through with the right skills. is crucial that universities do
:29:02. > :29:04.
:29:04. > :29:12.their part. -- Lester Lloyd-Reason. It is our young, small, high-growth
:29:12. > :29:16.entrepreneurial businesses that are going to be growing as out of the
:29:16. > :29:20.economic imbalance. We have got to create the circumstances, provide
:29:20. > :29:25.the skills for these young entrepreneurial people and their
:29:25. > :29:31.businesses to achieve their aspirations. Simon Wright, it not
:29:31. > :29:35.enough being done at the moment to boost our young entrepreneurs?
:29:35. > :29:42.think we need to do more to encourage young people to continue
:29:42. > :29:49.with maths. As a former maths teacher myself I find this at a
:29:50. > :29:56.real shame. By a sign says such as those in Norwich the Teal Park have
:29:56. > :30:00.an ambition to expand their employees by 5,000 over the next 10
:30:00. > :30:07.to 15 years. We need to make sure these skills are in place so that
:30:07. > :30:11.young people can take advantage of the opportunities available.
:30:11. > :30:21.how have you found it getting the right people in the right jobs?
:30:21. > :30:28.Easy? The No, it is difficult. Even for this region which has high
:30:28. > :30:33.educational standards, we still do not have enough influence at school
:30:33. > :30:42.or university level to educate people in maths, sciences,
:30:42. > :30:49.technology and Engineering. Are you able to recruit locally? We are.
:30:49. > :30:55.But we need to recruit a fairly specialist skilled workforce and
:30:55. > :30:59.about 40% of our employees are here in Cambridge. When we add a few
:30:59. > :31:07.hundred people worldwide we are adding a significant proportion
:31:07. > :31:11.here. We are very lucky. We are able to find people. But similar
:31:11. > :31:18.companies in the region to whom we talk, doing the same sort of thing
:31:18. > :31:22.and without the brand, they find it much harder. Peter Kendall,
:31:22. > :31:28.agriculture is an interesting one because a lot of migrant workers
:31:28. > :31:33.are in the sector? A lot of young people are coming back into farming.
:31:33. > :31:39.There has been a real shift over the last five or 10 years when
:31:39. > :31:43.people realise that creating food is going to be important. There
:31:44. > :31:47.have been some great success stories with farms growing
:31:47. > :31:52.businesses in this region but we cannot do that without having
:31:52. > :31:57.migrant workers available. It is as sad tale but we have to have that
:31:57. > :32:02.otherwise be would not be harvesting the crops we need to
:32:02. > :32:06.feed deep population. Is that because people locally do not want
:32:06. > :32:13.to do the jobs? I think we in the farming industry have to
:32:13. > :32:17.communicate that these jobs are not all low-skilled. A lot of the
:32:17. > :32:22.farming businesses in the region do depend on that migrant work force
:32:22. > :32:30.will. What is the one thing that needs to be done to ensure that
:32:30. > :32:34.your students do succeed in the world? At our university we are
:32:34. > :32:39.passionate about providing our students with the employability
:32:39. > :32:44.skills to take control of their own couriers. It is a very different
:32:44. > :32:51.world from when I left university, then it was about getting a job and
:32:51. > :32:59.a courier, now it is about giving them enterprising skills and
:32:59. > :33:05.entrepreneurial skills. They do things that are things they enjoy.
:33:05. > :33:09.It is very important to give them team leadership skills and a lot of
:33:09. > :33:14.our management students are here this evening. They are indeed, I am
:33:14. > :33:20.going to be asking for their take on things later. Before that, what
:33:20. > :33:26.we are going to do is talk about the Budget. As always, there is
:33:26. > :33:31.lots of speculation about what might go in it. Are you keeping
:33:31. > :33:37.your fingers crossed for Wednesday? We are hoping for a few freeze on
:33:37. > :33:43.the duty. It would be fantastic to think there is a reduction but that
:33:43. > :33:47.might be too optimistic. It does not just affect industries such as
:33:47. > :33:52.ours, the logistics industry, everything we buy in the UK at some
:33:52. > :33:59.point is delivered on a van or truck. It is affecting businesses
:33:59. > :34:05.in all sectors. It is biting into the pocket of everybody. What has
:34:05. > :34:10.George Osborne got up his sleeve? One thing I want to make sure he
:34:10. > :34:15.does his stick to what he said about corporation tax. We are
:34:15. > :34:20.heading in this country to be the lowest Corporate taxed country in
:34:20. > :34:26.the whole of the G7. That attracts not only British people to invest
:34:26. > :34:30.but foreign people to invest as well. That is terribly important. I
:34:30. > :34:36.also am concerned about fuel. I would like to remind everyone that
:34:36. > :34:41.if we had stayed with the regime we had we would be paying more and now
:34:41. > :34:44.per litre. I think he has got something up his sleeve. We will
:34:44. > :34:49.wait and see what happens on Wednesday but the budget is not
:34:49. > :34:57.going to be a giveaway Budget, it is going to be tough, but if Labour
:34:57. > :35:03.were in power you would not have the ability to pick together a
:35:03. > :35:09.giveaway Budget I there? If our proposals for attacks macro cut
:35:09. > :35:15.came in that would lower energy costs. If you are going fast in the
:35:15. > :35:22.wrong direction you should change direction, not change speed. Let me
:35:22. > :35:30.bring Simon Wright end. A lot of haggling in the coalition about who
:35:30. > :35:40.would get their way, what about you? I think the economy needs to
:35:40. > :35:44.see more pounds in people's pockets. The UK is one of the top 10 world
:35:44. > :35:52.destinations. We need to put money in people's pockets to help the
:35:53. > :35:57.retail sector. Do you support the income-tax hike? I want to ensure
:35:57. > :36:01.that after this but in the wealthy are paying their fair share and
:36:01. > :36:08.that those on low pay are taken out of the tax system as much as
:36:08. > :36:14.possible. I would like to see what some of you around the room are
:36:14. > :36:20.hoping for or think should be in Wednesday's budget. I personally
:36:20. > :36:28.hope there will be a focus on local authorities being given more
:36:28. > :36:33.control over their, more focus on their town centres. More control
:36:33. > :36:38.for local authorities? What is your wish list for the Budget? One wish,
:36:38. > :36:43.please. I would hope for the parliament to think longer term. We
:36:43. > :36:47.do not have wealth-creation if we are always fiddling with the next
:36:47. > :36:57.few years and not looking at the international competitiveness of
:36:57. > :37:00.
:37:01. > :37:06.our economy. And what would you like to see? I would like to carry
:37:06. > :37:11.on with the emphasis on schools. This is the way forward. Growth
:37:11. > :37:18.will come from lower down and anything that will help will be
:37:18. > :37:24.fantastic. I would like to see investment in jobs so that we have
:37:24. > :37:29.people earning a decent wage. would like to get a bit of a sense
:37:29. > :37:33.from our economy students here tonight. Not just economy students
:37:33. > :37:38.but business leaders perhaps entrepreneur's and business leaders
:37:38. > :37:46.of the future. If you are feeling less optimistic about the future
:37:46. > :37:52.can you put your hands up? And if you are feeling more a? That is
:37:52. > :37:56.what we wanted. And I can hear an audible sigh of relief all around
:37:56. > :38:02.because let's face it, if those guys are not optimistic, we are
:38:02. > :38:08.really going to be in trouble. We have heard a lot of use tonight
:38:08. > :38:13.from a lot of different people. You have experience and a good deal of
:38:13. > :38:17.success behind you. Seated either side of you are two young people
:38:17. > :38:24.about to make their way in the world of work, what would you
:38:24. > :38:28.advise be to them? My advice is go for it. What we do not have enough
:38:28. > :38:32.of his this entrepreneurial spirit of people starting their own
:38:32. > :38:36.businesses and creating employment. Ironically, during periods of
:38:36. > :38:41.economic hardship which we are going through at the moment, some
:38:41. > :38:45.very good people are being made redundant. Fortunately, they do not