:00:11. > :00:15.We all know the Government is trying to balance the nation's
:00:15. > :00:23.books but it's led to protests on the streets as our economy starts
:00:23. > :00:27.to feel the squeeze. We have seen factory closures, jobs
:00:27. > :00:34.under threat and rising unemployment. All this experience
:00:34. > :00:37.I've got and there's nothing out there. You think what's the point.
:00:37. > :00:45.Families across East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire are struggling to make
:00:45. > :00:50.ends meet. The prices keep going up and up. If we didn't have the
:00:50. > :00:56.benefits coming in, we would be in so much trouble. It is easy to
:00:56. > :01:01.think our economy is teetering on the edge. But some say there are
:01:01. > :01:05.signs of the green shoots of recovery, with a cut in Humber
:01:05. > :01:15.bridge tolls on the way, a real desire for growth and the potential
:01:15. > :01:15.
:01:15. > :01:19.for a green energy jobs boost. are getting ahead of our seems. We
:01:19. > :01:25.need to start looking at the opportunities that will flow on
:01:25. > :01:28.from it, it is extremely exciting. Tonight we are at the University of
:01:28. > :01:38.Lincoln's business school to find out what the future could hold for
:01:38. > :02:01.
:02:01. > :02:04.Welcome to our economy, the Look North debate. There is less than
:02:04. > :02:08.two days until the budget and tonight we have an audience of
:02:08. > :02:11.invited people from across East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. No
:02:11. > :02:15.doubt they will have their own ideas about what the Chancellor
:02:15. > :02:20.should be doing in Wednesday's budget. We have business leaders,
:02:20. > :02:29.farmers, politicians, and ordinary families who are struggling to make
:02:29. > :02:33.ends meet. I am Tracy Cook. My husband works, he is on an average
:02:33. > :02:39.wage. I am unable to work because I have three children out of four
:02:39. > :02:44.with additional needs. We get working tax credits, we get DLA and
:02:44. > :02:48.child tax. That is what we live on. We couldn't live on my husband's
:02:48. > :02:55.wages. If you have got your budget to go shopping on the maximum I can
:02:55. > :02:59.afford to spend is �100. With four children, that is not always easy.
:02:59. > :03:04.I do use cash loans for things we wouldn't be able to afford. You do
:03:04. > :03:13.pay over the odds, but sometimes you don't have any choice. The
:03:13. > :03:18.prices keep going up. Electric and gas especially, but I don't see why
:03:18. > :03:22.my kids should freeze so we end up overspending. It is my choice that
:03:22. > :03:26.I have children, but it is not my choice that I couldn't work. We are
:03:26. > :03:30.real people. We live off these benefits. Someone like David
:03:30. > :03:35.Cameron, he can say we are going to do this and that, but it will never
:03:35. > :03:40.effect him. It is easy to ruin someone else's life when it's not
:03:41. > :03:46.affecting your own. Tracy Cook is here tonight. What should the
:03:46. > :03:51.Chancellor be doing on Wednesday to help families like your? It should
:03:51. > :03:57.be a fairer budget for everyone. He keeps making these cuts, but like I
:03:57. > :04:03.had already said, we live off these benefits. My husband is on a low
:04:03. > :04:09.wage and we wouldn't be able to afford to be able to live, to be
:04:09. > :04:16.able to go shopping. I need him to understand when he makes these cuts
:04:16. > :04:25.it is people like myself that are affected. Any who identifies with
:04:25. > :04:35.Tracy's situation. You are from Hull. It is a massive problem. Fuel
:04:35. > :04:42.poverty is a massive thing that effects thousands of families.
:04:42. > :04:46.Families have to make a choice of making sure their kids are warm or
:04:46. > :04:50.buying food. It is really important we change it. It is appropriate
:04:50. > :04:55.when talking about the potential for green shoots of recovery that
:04:55. > :05:01.we have a number of farmers here tonight. We are talking about the
:05:01. > :05:07.cost of living and the cost of food, Lincolnshire is snon as the bread
:05:07. > :05:12.basket of England, fantastic produce grown here, but why is food
:05:12. > :05:16.so expensive? Take fuel as an example. That cost has to be
:05:16. > :05:21.absorbed within the farming production business. It is very
:05:21. > :05:25.challenging and difficult out there. For example, nationally, 24% of
:05:25. > :05:30.growers didn't actually turn a profit last year. So there are big
:05:30. > :05:33.issues in terms of industry, in terms of Lincolnshire there is
:05:34. > :05:40.great opportunity as well. We have some of the best land in Europe
:05:40. > :05:44.frankly, with we've got some world class producers, what is a
:05:44. > :05:47.stronghold are the increasing costs of production and the need for
:05:47. > :05:51.businesses to try and absorb that when there is little opportunity to
:05:51. > :05:58.do so. Which is why we are seeing a lot of businesses fall to the
:05:58. > :06:02.wayside over the past 20 years in food production. Up until 2008
:06:02. > :06:07.Lincolnshire farming contributed an additional 34% to the economy, so
:06:07. > :06:11.in terms of its importance, and you are right to call it the bread
:06:11. > :06:17.basket of the country, it is crucial to supply affordable,
:06:17. > :06:21.healthy fruit and vegetables in the country. Let's speak to one of our
:06:21. > :06:25.MPs, Andrew Percy, Conservative MP. Do you think the Chancellor is
:06:25. > :06:29.aware of the unique set of problems we have in East Yorkshire and
:06:29. > :06:35.Lincolnshire? Absolutely. Every politician in the country is aware
:06:35. > :06:45.of the north/south divide and here in Yorkshire, even in the good
:06:45. > :06:45.
:06:45. > :06:49.years we were moving relatively backwards. More people became
:06:49. > :06:57.dependent on benefits. We know the poverty gap widening. He is aware
:06:57. > :07:03.of that. These problems can't be solved overnight. Fuel is a massive
:07:03. > :07:08.issue at the moment. We have acted on that. We have taken 2.5 pence
:07:08. > :07:10.off fuel. We have delayed Labour planned inflation rises. But oil
:07:11. > :07:20.prices are beyond the control of government. Whatever the Government
:07:20. > :07:25.does on fuel, we are still at the behest of international markets.
:07:25. > :07:32.think the Government could reduce VAT, they have increased VAT to 20%.
:07:32. > :07:38.We say it is unnecessary, to reduce that, that would give everybody
:07:38. > :07:47.three pence per litre reduction. Andrew makes fair points in
:07:47. > :07:52.relation to north/south divide. The Government's policy in relation to
:07:53. > :07:56.families is complete disarray at the moment. We have a situation
:07:56. > :08:03.where by they are scrapping effectively tax credits for people
:08:03. > :08:07.who can only work 16 hours a week. They receive �73 a week. It tells
:08:07. > :08:11.them forget having a job, don't bother, unless you can get your
:08:11. > :08:17.hours increased to 24 hours a week, don't bother with that job, go on
:08:17. > :08:21.benefits. The policy is in demret disarrare, as a result of decisions
:08:22. > :08:29.made by the Treasury. Another issue which is pertinent to most families
:08:29. > :08:32.is the issue with child benefit. If you earn �43,000 you will lose your
:08:32. > :08:37.child benefit. It sounds a lot of money, but it is not when you think
:08:37. > :08:40.of the cost of living. The Government's policies are in
:08:40. > :08:48.complete disarray. Tory backbenchers are extremely annoyed
:08:49. > :08:53.about this policy. We have got quite a few business people here
:08:53. > :09:00.tonight. You run a huge retail construction firm based in East
:09:00. > :09:04.Yorkshire, what would you like to see from the budget? On fuel 80% of
:09:04. > :09:09.a gallon of fuel is tax, where one could say if you want to be a
:09:09. > :09:14.greener country, you have to get people out of the cars, but 80% of
:09:14. > :09:17.that tax is going out to business and then business pass it on to the
:09:17. > :09:27.consumer. I don't think we can possibly be taxed any more in that
:09:27. > :09:28.
:09:28. > :09:32.way. The Government has got to go elsewhere. You are an art zan
:09:32. > :09:38.chocolatier. How is the cost of fuel affecting your business?
:09:38. > :09:44.had this last year. It is still killing me. I work from home and go
:09:44. > :09:49.to shows. But the fact is that we have to look very hard this year.
:09:49. > :09:54.We don't take our car or vehicles off the drive unless we have two or
:09:54. > :09:58.three journeys to do in one go. It is still crippling us. We could do
:09:58. > :10:05.with the price of fuel coming down. It's tough. Fuel is a priority for
:10:05. > :10:08.you. Absolutely but farming, there is a real opportunity to try and
:10:08. > :10:13.alleviate the pressures here, particularly in energy. I would
:10:13. > :10:16.like to see the Government alleviate some of the issue around
:10:16. > :10:21.feeding tariffs. The incentive was there and taken away and we are
:10:21. > :10:28.left with confusion, and industry and business, we don't know whether
:10:28. > :10:33.to go forwards or backwards. businesses I speak to, they say to
:10:33. > :10:37.me the consultation was the the problem. The reality is we expected
:10:37. > :10:47.it to go down, 43 pence, there was no discussion with businesses. It
:10:47. > :10:52.was just done with one shake of... What Karl isn't telling you about
:10:52. > :10:58.the feeding tariff is what it's paid for. It's paid for by higher
:10:58. > :11:07.electricity bills. People on the one hand are saying it wants higher
:11:07. > :11:12.fuel bills but it is arguing for money to be put on to fuel bills.
:11:12. > :11:17.They got the policy policy wrong. We are going to talk about green
:11:17. > :11:20.energy in detail. Let's talk about unemployment. A huge challenge
:11:20. > :11:25.facing many people in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The
:11:25. > :11:31.jobless total rose again last week in parts of Hull now, there are 35
:11:31. > :11:38.people chasing every vacancy. For some people there's little sign of
:11:38. > :11:42.any optimism in sight. I'm 40-years-old and I have been
:11:43. > :11:50.looking for work for three years. All this experience I've got and
:11:50. > :11:55.there's nothing out there. I had a job driving with a soft drinks
:11:55. > :12:05.company and I did that for 18 years. Three years ago I found myself
:12:05. > :12:11.
:12:11. > :12:16.unemployed. I did numeracy and literacy through the job centre. I
:12:16. > :12:21.asked for training for fork lift lessons and they said there's no
:12:21. > :12:27.funding any more. I want to be a security guard and you need a
:12:27. > :12:30.licence, but they don't fund that either. If I want to work in the
:12:31. > :12:35.town I am not going to get somewhere to live, it is impossible
:12:35. > :12:45.to do. People say what is the point, I have to keep on the dole. It's
:12:45. > :12:47.
:12:47. > :12:54.been really hard. Peter is with us now. How optimistic you will find a
:12:54. > :13:00.job? I am not very optimistic really. There's that many people
:13:00. > :13:03.applying for the same jobs. I'm not getting no feed back. There's no
:13:03. > :13:10.letters coming back saying you haven't succeeded with this
:13:10. > :13:14.application. I have one or two where I had an interview. There's
:13:14. > :13:18.no joy to be honest. Who else has first hand experience of
:13:18. > :13:24.unemployment? Lee, you are a stew student here. Tell us your
:13:24. > :13:28.experience. About three years ago I was employed through the financial
:13:28. > :13:32.services sector and as Peter was saying I was applying for jobs left
:13:32. > :13:36.right and centre. Very little feed back was coming back to me unless I
:13:36. > :13:44.was chasing it. I was fortunate to be passing the university one day
:13:44. > :13:49.during an open day and walked in, explained my situation, and was
:13:49. > :13:54.encouraged to apply for a course. I didn't have any qualifications
:13:54. > :13:58.other than my GCSEs and A-levels, so it was a opportunity to take a
:13:58. > :14:04.step back, refocus, retrain and give myself a new direction. I
:14:04. > :14:09.really feel it's benefited me. Professor Andrew Atherton from the
:14:09. > :14:14.university, what are the economic circumstances that's led to this
:14:14. > :14:20.problem, high unemployment? To pick up on Lee's point, the first
:14:20. > :14:26.question we get asked is what kind of job am I going to get if I go to
:14:26. > :14:32.the University of Lincoln. We have open days where that is what people
:14:32. > :14:39.are asking. Our team are there to advise on that. In In terms of
:14:39. > :14:43.broader unemployment, the problem we have is Hull is a big city with
:14:43. > :14:51.big industry issues and challenges, high levels of unemployment. There
:14:51. > :14:57.are parts of Lincolnshire where even with 3 million unemployment,
:14:57. > :15:02.labour market is site. We have set up a engineering school with
:15:02. > :15:05.Siemens, they want the right graduates with practical applied
:15:05. > :15:09.skills, so there are places, but the job situation is very difficult
:15:09. > :15:15.but there are other places where there are people are looking for a
:15:15. > :15:22.different type of skill. Plenty of people here have plenty of
:15:22. > :15:26.experience. I was working for a firm plastering and my job was to
:15:26. > :15:31.be a secure one on the week I was told. On the Friday I was given a
:15:31. > :15:39.notice to say there was no more work for me and on the Saturday I
:15:39. > :15:45.saw two colleagues in town who said two Polish lads had been taken on
:15:45. > :15:50.in my place. There's no work for English people. They need to make
:15:50. > :15:57.cuts and a lot of farmers are employing migrant labour because
:15:57. > :16:05.they will get it cheaper. You are a farmer in the county. That's right.
:16:05. > :16:10.There is a minimum wage which you have to pay anyway, and he is not
:16:10. > :16:16.wrong saying they will do it cheaper, but the only way they will
:16:16. > :16:24.do it is if the gang master take it off the worker. We are a legitimate
:16:25. > :16:34.business, we have to pay holidays. Why don't you employ more British-
:16:35. > :16:38.
:16:38. > :16:43.born workers. We would love to and we do. Our workforce is nearly 60%
:16:43. > :16:49.market workers. These migrant workers who work these 12 hour days
:16:49. > :16:55.will do it on minimum wage, but when it was English workers you had
:16:55. > :17:01.to give us a proper pay and overtime. But because you can get
:17:01. > :17:07.it done cheaper, you you prefer to employ migrants rather than British.
:17:07. > :17:12.It is because of the work ethick. We would love to be the English
:17:13. > :17:19.workers. Don't get me wrong, the work is tlrks but from the source
:17:19. > :17:29.you have to use, there's more often or not, no-one to work the longer
:17:29. > :17:33.
:17:33. > :17:38.hours. You put a broken accent on, and you will find there is work.
:17:39. > :17:45.You are a farmer. One of the biggest challenges is that it is
:17:45. > :17:50.very seasonal work and one of the biggest issues to get domestic
:17:50. > :17:54.situations engage indeed this is the welfare system. If work is
:17:54. > :17:58.available and people take that work for a week or a month, it can take
:17:58. > :18:02.up to ten weeks after that work has ended for any income then to come
:18:02. > :18:07.back into that family home after that work. What the Government
:18:07. > :18:10.could do is provide a bit more flexibility to accept that there
:18:10. > :18:16.are seasonal peeks and opportunities for UK citizens to
:18:16. > :18:21.actually go into the workplace, but not create that barrier where it is
:18:21. > :18:26.a working and no income into the family until they get back on to
:18:26. > :18:33.the jock seekers system. Then we might be able to see flexibility
:18:33. > :18:38.and more UK assistance demoming. it too easy to bring in migrant
:18:38. > :18:44.workers. There has been an issue with the large immigration we
:18:44. > :18:50.haven't be able to control. There is an issue in that I talk to
:18:50. > :18:57.employers and say why are you employing so many migrant labourers,
:18:57. > :19:03.they say because it is cheaper, sometimes they will they are the
:19:03. > :19:13.only ones that turn up. But in some cases it hasn't had the skills in
:19:13. > :19:16.
:19:16. > :19:20.this country. The Irish r issue with unemployment, some is to do
:19:20. > :19:30.with migration, but other issues are to do with the skills we have
:19:30. > :19:40.in this country. 7 million people in this country are unemployed.
:19:40. > :19:49.
:19:49. > :19:56.Aren't the migrants adding to the unemployment figures. The bigger
:19:56. > :20:03.The There is an issue with the politicians to get a handle on.
:20:03. > :20:09.It's been too difficult for us to start. I think we should. We need a
:20:09. > :20:14.plan for jobs and growth. In the last 12 months in my constituency,
:20:14. > :20:18.youth unemployment has increased by 77%. We have unemployment at 3
:20:18. > :20:28.million, youth unemployment a million. The Government are not
:20:28. > :20:41.
:20:41. > :20:44.doing anything to deal with that issue. Of Let's get away from the
:20:44. > :20:48.politics, we talked about unemployment and the financial
:20:49. > :20:52.squeeze on families. Let's move on and look at potentially some of the
:20:52. > :21:00.positive news out there. Many say there is some light at the end of
:21:00. > :21:08.the tunnel and that could come from green energy.
:21:08. > :21:18.I am Matt Jukes, port director. Green port hull is the
:21:18. > :21:18.
:21:18. > :21:25.redevelopment of Alexandra dock to provide manufacturing facility for
:21:25. > :21:30.Siemens. 200 million pounds investment, will create a factory
:21:30. > :21:34.employing around 700 people. You then apply the port multiplier,
:21:34. > :21:39.which is the number of indirect jobs in the city to support those
:21:39. > :21:45.700 jobs. 4,000 people will come on to the docks to work every day and
:21:46. > :21:48.20,000 people employed in Hull. It is probably the biggest development
:21:48. > :21:54.ever taking place in the docks apart from when the docks
:21:54. > :21:58.themselves were built. We are in an ideal location. We are in the right
:21:58. > :22:03.spot, lady luck has played a hand here. We are getting ahead of
:22:03. > :22:06.ourselves in terms of getting Siemens here and green port
:22:06. > :22:15.delivered, but beyond that, when you look at the opportunities that
:22:15. > :22:18.will hopefully flow on from that, it is extrimly exciting. A very
:22:18. > :22:22.exciting development, but it is going to need the support of the
:22:22. > :22:26.engineering giant Siemens, where are we with that, has that deal
:22:26. > :22:30.been signed and sealed? We are committed planning applications to
:22:30. > :22:34.the counsel and MMO and it is going through the process of being
:22:34. > :22:38.approved hopefully. We would hope that will be approved by the
:22:38. > :22:42.council mid-April time, then we have process that sits behind that.
:22:43. > :22:47.The timings at the moment are that we are hopeful, late summer early
:22:47. > :22:50.autumn we will have what is known an unconditional consent, which
:22:50. > :22:55.means we will do the development, nobody can stop us and that is the
:22:55. > :23:03.timing we are working to. Hopefully this will bring new jobs and many
:23:03. > :23:07.people need them right now. We have a couple of lads from British
:23:07. > :23:11.Aerospace BAe Systems. You are the main union representive there. Are
:23:11. > :23:16.you optimistic about green jobs possibly as a driver of our
:23:16. > :23:24.economy? I think there is some real optimism there and I am pleased
:23:24. > :23:29.seem Siemens are coming in, but I think think and I am sure every is
:23:30. > :23:33.aware the difficulty of BAe Systems at the moment which 900 members
:23:33. > :23:37.jobs disappearing, going into the unemployment pool. What is really
:23:37. > :23:45.keen for us, we want advanced manufacturing with Siemens coming
:23:45. > :23:50.in, but we also need the BAe Systems, people properly employed.
:23:50. > :24:00.The potential to support Siemens in the event of BAe Systems on the
:24:00. > :24:02.
:24:02. > :24:06.sight is clearly there. It is a great opportunity. This could be a
:24:07. > :24:12.hugely exciting prospect and comes at a time when East Yorkshire
:24:12. > :24:16.desperately needs jobs for skilled workers. Absolutely, and it is
:24:16. > :24:20.desperately disappointing that BAe Systems is planning to end
:24:20. > :24:25.manufacturing at bruf. And it is very difficult to understand the
:24:25. > :24:32.logic of that when it is a key manufacturing manufacturing
:24:32. > :24:38.capability in a strategically important industry. There are good
:24:38. > :24:43.prospects for East Yorkshire in going forward in renewable energy.
:24:44. > :24:48.Wave and tidal power, biomass and biofuels. The challenge is now
:24:48. > :24:52.because now it is very, very tough, very high levels of unemployment.
:24:52. > :25:00.The jobs are going to come down the line. It is bridging the gap,
:25:00. > :25:04.particularly if we lose so many skilled jobs. Could this be the
:25:04. > :25:11.solution, do you think the you have the skills to pick up on the green
:25:11. > :25:21.energy jobs boom? To be honest, I have got to be interested in that
:25:21. > :25:32.
:25:32. > :25:41.type of work. That type of work, I am not interested in. Help being
:25:41. > :25:46.the big programme on the health and education from the government, NHS
:25:46. > :25:51.programme, �500 million and we promised that that work would go
:25:51. > :25:56.locally and that promise has been exceeded with 90% local labour on
:25:56. > :26:01.that. There's got to be a will to do it. We have to have promises
:26:01. > :26:08.from Siemens that when we get a multi-planner - if you can spend
:26:08. > :26:13.this money locally, but there's got to be a will and there's got to be
:26:13. > :26:19.promises kept. This is the big worry, how confident are you these
:26:19. > :26:23.will be jobs that go to local people. It is a huge challenge to
:26:23. > :26:31.skill up the local workforce so we can grab these jobs locally.
:26:31. > :26:35.There's lots of work going on in that area. Paul's company has a
:26:35. > :26:41.training academy that's very well regarded and it's beginning that
:26:41. > :26:47.work in terms of the gentleman here, he can work in these industries. It
:26:47. > :26:51.is possible to retrain people from the more traditional jobs that
:26:51. > :26:55.existed in the local marketplace into these new forms of employment
:26:55. > :27:00.and that's a challenge we must meet. Are you confident local workers
:27:00. > :27:08.have the right skills here? That is one of the big challenges, to make
:27:08. > :27:15.sure when we do deals, that is when immediately what must kick in is
:27:15. > :27:18.making sure we work with Siemens, and other supply chains, let's not
:27:18. > :27:22.lose sight of the fact this is going to be a cluster, and we then
:27:22. > :27:26.have two years in which to make sure people are skilled in the
:27:27. > :27:31.right way, Siemens a big stake holder in the city of Lincoln here
:27:31. > :27:35.and the university, we are hopeful they will do the same in Hull and
:27:35. > :27:39.benefits for the East Riding and they have said they will look to
:27:39. > :27:44.employ as many local people as they can. They have done a big selection
:27:44. > :27:50.process. They started off with 100 locations and down to 30 in the UK.
:27:51. > :27:56.The challenges that Hull have got, there are vngs to someone like
:27:56. > :27:59.Siemens. Is there a danger we could talk down our economy too much. You
:27:59. > :28:03.are a business woman from Lincolnshire. Tell us your story.
:28:03. > :28:07.When we are talking about the unemployment rate rising, I think
:28:07. > :28:12.that's been increased because we did have the middle of the
:28:12. > :28:16.population, but we have now increased the the pension age, so
:28:16. > :28:19.we have more older people coming into the market. We are
:28:19. > :28:24.discouraging students from going to university because they can't
:28:24. > :28:31.afford it. Isn't it time if we have companies like yourselves coming to
:28:31. > :28:36.Lincolnshire, how about bringing or promoting apprenticeships, so
:28:36. > :28:46.students maybe go to Siemens, get trained and then you will keep
:28:46. > :28:47.
:28:47. > :28:51.local workers in the local area. You work at BAe Systems. I am going
:28:51. > :28:55.to lose my job by the end of the year. The trick we miss is the
:28:55. > :28:58.investment into the UK. We have foreign companies can coming into
:28:58. > :29:04.our country, starting off businesses, whereas we should be
:29:04. > :29:07.there first, not reliant on Siemens doing T the the UK government and
:29:07. > :29:12.Labour and Conservative, they shubed the ones doing it and
:29:12. > :29:16.bringing it there so we have jobs going forward. We can invest the
:29:16. > :29:19.money back into the people. We watch these companies come in, pay
:29:19. > :29:23.our people, they pay some of the taxes some of the time and they
:29:23. > :29:31.then take the profits out to their own countries. We lose out
:29:31. > :29:36.nationally in so much. It's worked to a large extend in Scotland and
:29:36. > :29:42.in Wales, is regional government the key to economic success? In
:29:42. > :29:52.other words, home rule for the north.
:29:52. > :29:52.
:29:52. > :30:02.I am a Labour MP for Grimsby. I have always been a campaigner for
:30:02. > :30:08.
:30:08. > :30:12.the north. In the '90s when the Labour Party began to move to
:30:12. > :30:17.evolution for skort land and Wales, now that campaign for regional
:30:17. > :30:22.government and devolution to the north actually becomes relevant
:30:22. > :30:31.again. We are sandwiched between two areas which get more government
:30:31. > :30:36.help than we do. We get nothing. Scotland gets a worse deal was we
:30:36. > :30:43.are in an English parliament dominated by London and the south-
:30:43. > :30:47.east. Let's fight for ourselves. It is effectively a government for the
:30:48. > :30:51.south-east by the south-east. It is time to calm tain for the north --
:30:51. > :30:56.campaign for the north and for devolution we want power to rule
:30:56. > :31:00.ourselves. Do you agree with your colleague, would regional
:31:00. > :31:05.government boost our economy? been tried before by the previous
:31:05. > :31:12.Labour government. My predecessor was very keen on the idea. We had a
:31:12. > :31:17.referendum on it. I think it was rejected by a fair majority. We do
:31:17. > :31:22.stand up for the north. There is a problem in the north, Andrew would
:31:22. > :31:26.agree with me, we go to Westminster, we fight for our own constituencies,
:31:26. > :31:30.I have been chasing ministers through the division lobby the
:31:30. > :31:38.other day, I grabbed Ken Clarke and insisted he gave me five minutes of
:31:38. > :31:45.his time. We do it any way S wouldn't mess with Ken Clarke.
:31:45. > :31:51.agree with Karl. I partly represent East Yorkshire. The idea that we
:31:51. > :31:56.have a regional government, I don't think it would go down very well
:31:56. > :32:05.with my Lincolnshire residents. We do actually get a lot by working
:32:05. > :32:10.together as local councilors and MPs. We got �150 million for the
:32:10. > :32:14.Humber bridge. I like Austin but it is not that we get nothing. There's
:32:14. > :32:20.been an issue with Yorkshire not getting as much as Scotland has
:32:20. > :32:30.been getting. But I don't think if you ask the public they want a
:32:30. > :32:35.whole other layer of politicians at this time. I was a member of the
:32:35. > :32:43.East Midlands assembly and it did us no favours in Lincolnshire. As
:32:44. > :32:48.we have a north and south divide, similarly with the east and west
:32:48. > :32:55.divide, the towns and cities particularly the mining areas and
:32:55. > :32:58.in Grimsby, they have much more power than the rural areas, in
:32:58. > :33:03.rural communities are dying. Young people are moving, there are no
:33:03. > :33:08.jobs. The farming industry, the farms get bigger and we lose the
:33:08. > :33:15.jobs for the small hamlets. But there is opportunity there. Because
:33:15. > :33:18.these are ripe for development. We could be revitalising the villages
:33:19. > :33:24.and hamlets of Lincolnshire and that is what I am looking forward
:33:24. > :33:30.to. Do we need more politicians in the form of regional assemblies?
:33:30. > :33:34.you are going to do an opinion poll on the streets of Hull, I don't
:33:34. > :33:42.think it is going to be at the top of anybody's list. It was rejected
:33:42. > :33:46.in the north-east by 80% to 20% last time. What people want is more
:33:46. > :33:51.jobs and more successful businesses in the economy. That is what
:33:51. > :33:59.everybody is talking about. To do that we need Britain to be an
:33:59. > :34:04.enterpriser. Not just small enterprise zones all over the place.
:34:04. > :34:09.Etc You are a member of the youth parliament, what is your take on
:34:09. > :34:13.this, regional government? people don't want more decision
:34:13. > :34:19.makers, they don't want bureaucracy. Britain can be better. Economic
:34:19. > :34:21.stability for hard-working families should be the priority. You don't
:34:21. > :34:25.need billions of pounds to be invested. It is simple decisions
:34:25. > :34:29.that need to be made. Anyone who suggests there is no skills or
:34:29. > :34:34.talent amongst our kun trip, shame on them because every person in
:34:34. > :34:37.this country is skilled, talented and full of ambition, but we must
:34:38. > :34:42.invest in our people. We can drive this forward. We have plenty of
:34:42. > :34:49.opportunities but we have got to get rid of bureaucracy. At the end
:34:50. > :34:54.of the day, it is a shame on the government. Saying 97 to 2010, cut
:34:54. > :34:58.the party politics, let's get down to the problem, hard-working people
:34:58. > :35:08.want value for money and want the support. We have to engage with
:35:08. > :35:19.
:35:19. > :35:22.them and give people skills, training and investment. The bigger
:35:22. > :35:32.issue is that everybody's agreed they want to support working
:35:32. > :35:33.
:35:33. > :35:38.families but we need to - it may not be in at the moment to talk
:35:38. > :35:45.about it but we are still spending 120 million a day on interest. It
:35:45. > :35:55.would be lovely to shower money all over the economy. It is about
:35:55. > :35:57.
:35:57. > :36:01.priorities, Tim. We have gone through these arguments. I am quite
:36:01. > :36:06.contrary to what is being said. It isn't about fierce of bureaucracy
:36:06. > :36:10.and government, that is just the politics has a bad name. If you ask
:36:10. > :36:15.anybody which is the Powerhouse of Europe, they will tell you Germany.
:36:15. > :36:19.Germany is run on a series of federal skills reporting to central
:36:19. > :36:23.government. It is built on a backbone of small and medium
:36:23. > :36:26.enterprises that thrive off family industry. I think there is a real
:36:26. > :36:29.opportunity for us. There is no rebalancing of the economy. That
:36:29. > :36:33.has not happened. It is still the north and it is still the south.
:36:33. > :36:37.There is a real opportunity, it will cost money but it is being
:36:37. > :36:41.brave enough to get away from our old Conservative ways of doing
:36:41. > :36:50.business in England and look to what the Scots and Welsh have done
:36:50. > :36:55.and embrace it more. Anyone who wants to have their say. Rachel you
:36:55. > :36:59.represent the needs of older people. We work with older people, over 50,
:36:59. > :37:02.that is not old, is it. People are finding it incredibly hard because
:37:02. > :37:07.the things they need they can't afford. A lot of older people have
:37:07. > :37:11.a decision to make, to either be warm or hungry. That is really,
:37:11. > :37:17.really unacceptable. I think as well we were talking about the
:37:17. > :37:22.employment, older people are unemployed for longer and oler
:37:22. > :37:32.people's unemployment is increasing as well. It It shoulding a priority,
:37:32. > :37:33.
:37:33. > :37:37.that we can use their kills better. The only way I believe forward is
:37:37. > :37:47.to get our entrepreneurs on the case. Unless entrepreneurs start
:37:47. > :37:50.
:37:50. > :37:55.new businesses, we are shot. Just picking up on the point about
:37:55. > :37:58.Germany. Banks in Germany tend to look at the long-term investment
:37:59. > :38:02.with business is which has not not happened for many years in this
:38:02. > :38:07.country. We are still suffering here from a lack of support through
:38:07. > :38:12.the banking system. If you can get it, it is an exorbitant rate. We
:38:12. > :38:15.have to get businesses able to find the the the source of support to
:38:15. > :38:19.encourage them to trade. There are many opportunities around the world
:38:19. > :38:24.to trade. There are many strong businesses in this country that can
:38:24. > :38:27.develop further but we have to get rid of the log janl and that will
:38:27. > :38:33.bring employment back. We have run out of time. Thank you to everyone
:38:33. > :38:36.who had their say here. I am sorry you couldn't speak to everyone. I