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It's 20 years since Bill Clinton immortalised the phrase, "it's the | :00:07. | :00:12. | |
economy, stupid". He was referring then to the crisis hitting the US | :00:12. | :00:15. | |
committee in the 1990s. That phrase works just as well today here in | :00:15. | :00:21. | |
Britain. In particular, in the North West. We're here at the | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, a shrine to our | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
industrial heritage. What about our industrial future? In a special | :00:29. | :00:33. | |
North West Tonight Debate we're asking, what is being done? What | :00:33. | :00:43. | |
:00:43. | :01:02. | ||
isn't being done? What should be A warm welcome to you at home and | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
to everybody here, our guests at the Museum of Science and Industry. | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
Each one of these people has a vested interest in making sure the | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
North West economy is a huge success in the future. Where do we | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
stand today? In the week when the Budget is to be announced. We have | :01:17. | :01:22. | |
heard, haven't we, the potential that public sector workers may have | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
their pay frozen to bring in line with private sector pay. That will | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
hit workers here in the North West we will talk about that and much | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
more. Before we check on the state of the economy here, let's check | :01:33. | :01:39. | |
what our state of mind is, first of all. A straw poll, who of you here, | :01:39. | :01:44. | |
no matter what is going on, feels optimistic about the North West's | :01:44. | :01:51. | |
economy? Pretty much. Max, you put your hand up. Why? Investment is | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
still going into the North West. Jaguar Land Rover, the new mercy | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
crossing. The Government has to carry on helping us and meet us | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
half way. We need a Government who can help us with growth and we can | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
continue to be optimistic. feels pessimistic? As a recent | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
post-graduate there is little for job opportunities. Whatever | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
investment has come into the region it hasn't filtered to us. When I | :02:18. | :02:24. | |
apply for a job there is 1,000 applying for the job. The prospects | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
for me are limited at the moment. We know that everyone is feeling | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
the pinch in their back pocket, for some people it's harder than most. | :02:31. | :02:40. | |
Here is one story. My name is Tammy, I'm 24, I'm a carer for the elderly. | :02:40. | :02:46. | |
I live in Blackpool. I'm married, for four years. I have two boys. | :02:46. | :02:54. | |
Andrew is age six and Adrian is aged four. I spend money on my | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
council tax, rent, gas, water and electric. I'm cutting back on my | :02:59. | :03:03. | |
food and shopping to save for electric and gas. I feel that we | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
are being punished for working really. When we were on benefits it | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
was easier. I make a budget list every week of what I have to pay | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
out. At the end of it, it seems a small amount what is left. I would | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
like to know when the cost of living is going to come down? We | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
don't have a crystal ball, we do have Professor Alan Harding, an | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
expert in the economy. When is the cost of living going to come down, | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
what is your sense? Don't hold your breath would be my short answer to | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
that question. There are two sides of this, aren't there? The way we | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
experience the cost of living depends on what we earn. Partly on | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
the cost of the stuff that we consume. On the earning side you | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
will talk later on in the programme about the squeeze on earnings in | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
the public and private sectors in recent years. On the other side, we | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
know the cost of certain things. If you bought a computer five years | :03:58. | :04:02. | |
ago you can get get a Bert computer than less than you paid then, | :04:02. | :04:07. | |
energy, housing, food. Three big items in every family's expenditure. | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
It's all going up. You talk about energy. Here is a really | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
interesting statistic. The average debt to gas and electricity | :04:15. | :04:21. | |
companies has more than doubled since 2005. If a person owed �320 | :04:21. | :04:25. | |
before they now owe �640. The number of people isn't going up. | :04:25. | :04:32. | |
The poor are getting poorer. Tory MP, what are you doing about it? | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
It's important to note that inflation will be coming down | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
according to forecasts. That is good news. The Government made | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
important steps in reducing what would of been the price of fuel | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
under the previous government by 6p. It's important to keep on tackling | :04:49. | :04:53. | |
the deficit. We will keep interest rates low and mortgage payments low | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
which are important for households who are struggling to pay their | :04:57. | :05:02. | |
mortgage payments. Is it worth the price we are paying? I have a young | :05:02. | :05:09. | |
family of my own as well. You are a single mum. You won Dragon's Den? | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
have a little boy. Similar situation to Tammy. It's hard. | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
People are spending more. It's easy to get things on finance. You see | :05:20. | :05:26. | |
adverts, "borrow money" it's 3,000% APR. So easy to borrow money and | :05:26. | :05:34. | |
get things on finance nowadays. What Tammy said she used to be | :05:34. | :05:40. | |
better on benefits. The changes to tax credits will mean that hard- | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
working families are �65 a week worse off. Unless they get extra | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
hours they will lose the tax credits. They could say to families, | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
we will not penalise because you are prepared to get out of work and | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
look after your family. There are other ways. We will change things | :05:58. | :06:06. | |
with the Work Programme. 1 months. She could lose �65 a week. She | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
can't manage. Let's see what the Chancellor has to say in the Budget. | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
We made significant progress in terms of getting people out of tax. | :06:14. | :06:17. | |
We made significant progress. Let's see what the Chancellor does. That | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
is a real opportunity. You run a hair and beauty salon. What are | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
people telling you about how life is? A lot of my clients have lost | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
their jobs. Some of them have take an cut in their salary. It's had a | :06:32. | :06:36. | |
serious impact on my business. The only way we have been able to | :06:36. | :06:43. | |
combat it really is do special offers and... What - how do you | :06:43. | :06:48. | |
respond to what he is saying about how they are helping the poor not | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
to get poorer? I don't see how it will balance out the way the | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
Government planned to deal with this issue. One of the reasons why | :06:56. | :07:02. | |
is because I have girls who work for me, young girls, with families, | :07:02. | :07:09. | |
similar to your self- -- yourself. They are struggling anyway. I'm the | :07:09. | :07:13. | |
owner of a small business. If I'm expected to give them more hours, | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
then some of them are going to have to go. If you look at what people | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
are saying about the North West economy, we heard about good news | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
and the manpower surveys more businesss are optimistic about | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
taking more people on. We have to create an environment where there | :07:31. | :07:36. | |
are more jobs. Is it really working? It is. You had your hand | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
up there. See something believing. Go around the Trafford Centre and | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
have a look, how many shops are closing down? We had 10,000 square | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
footrest raupbt much we closed it down because of the rent prices. We | :07:51. | :07:57. | |
have a unit down stairs, the rents are going up. The big boys should | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
work... We will talk about the demise of the high street. You | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
travelled from Cumbria Tony to be here. You are interested in how the | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
fuel, you know, the cost of petrol is strangling people's domestic | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
budgets. What do you want the Government to do about it? | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
Certainly, the cost of fuel and energy generally is a major problem, | :08:17. | :08:23. | |
not just for me and for others as individuals, as a small business, | :08:23. | :08:29. | |
the energy costs we pay are crippling. My gas bill typically is | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
about �200 a month. The electricity is not far short. That makes it | :08:34. | :08:41. | |
very hard for any small business to survive. Is it difficult in Cumbria | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
where using your car is the only way of getting about in a lot of | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
cases? Getting around in Cumbria is a maidge o problem for businesses | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
and visitors. You wanted to put your hand up there, Norman? For me, | :08:55. | :09:00. | |
the economy has spent the last four years tightening the budgets, | :09:00. | :09:03. | |
working within tight constraints. We are being told that the future | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
growth of the economy is going to come from the SME market. Small | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
business. There is no long-term strategy or direction to give us | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
that confidence to drive our businesses forward. We are talking | :09:18. | :09:21. | |
about business economy, what about personal economy? I hear what you | :09:21. | :09:25. | |
are saying regarding how you will stimulate growth and jobs. If that | :09:25. | :09:28. | |
is not translating into something real on the ground for people like | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
me, and other people who are highly skilled - Is it the government's | :09:33. | :09:37. | |
responsibility, do you not have to have personal responsibility, we | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
are in difficult times, we are spending on the never ever... | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
applied for 100 jobs and got two interviews that is not filtering | :09:46. | :09:53. | |
through to people like me. We will move on and come back to that. What | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
you were saying about high street and boarded up shops. We are | :09:56. | :10:02. | |
feeling the pinch in our own pockets, we are not buying as much | :10:02. | :10:08. | |
that leads to boarded up shops. Here is one story. I own a men's | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
shop. We found it difficult over the last few years. Last year we | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
thought we were going to go under. It was the worse year I had in | :10:18. | :10:25. | |
retail. There were a lot of empty shopss. Businesses closing down. | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
Woolworths went and other stores went. Half of the town centre was | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
empty. The VAT came as a surprise. That didn't help at all. The | :10:34. | :10:39. | |
business rates have gone up. We never had a decrease. The Trafford | :10:40. | :10:43. | |
Centre around the corn certificate free parking. Here it is difficult | :10:43. | :10:51. | |
to park. How can we get customers back on the high street spending | :10:51. | :10:58. | |
money? Meet Michael Jones, it's a different situation. We imagine | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
chestshire East doesn't have as many problems, what are you doing? | :11:01. | :11:06. | |
We are working with the local businesss to make it work. We | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
published a prospectus saying we are open for business. Come and | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
invest in our high street. You can't rely on big stores coming | :11:15. | :11:19. | |
down. You have to look at boutiques and get the community involved. We | :11:19. | :11:24. | |
are doing that. In maxles field we are doing well with local markets. | :11:25. | :11:29. | |
We haven't had much help in stock Stockport, we have been neglected | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
over the last few years. When the recession hit in, Trafford Centre | :11:34. | :11:40. | |
around the corner, free parking all the empty shopss, businesses are | :11:40. | :11:46. | |
going down. Come to maxles field. We are getting the community who | :11:46. | :11:52. | |
are creating community-led solution including our weekly market. There | :11:52. | :11:59. | |
are community resolutions we can find working in partnership with | :11:59. | :12:05. | |
councils and businesses. We are seeing success. Absolutely. I agree | :12:05. | :12:10. | |
with Michael, I think the community issue is an important issue. Come | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
to Stockport it's divided than Macclesfield. What was your | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
perspective on it? It's important to improve the environment around | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
shops. Where I live in Marple, four miles away, there are street | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
markets regularly. There are food festivals. That comes from the | :12:28. | :12:32. | |
bottom up. That comes from businesses wanting to improve their | :12:32. | :12:38. | |
local district. That made a huge impact. Where do you get the sense | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
of community spirit from. The North West has the highest proportion of | :12:42. | :12:51. | |
vacant shop units of any UK region. 20%. Almost 20%. Hazel, and Anne, | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
at the back When I was in government we set up a project to | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
bring life back to shopping centres. This problem has been around for a | :13:00. | :13:04. | |
long time. That meant local councils giving you relief on your | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
rates, water. The cost that is strangle small businesses. We could | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
do something about the VAT. When the VAT went up, I bet your sales | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
went down? We could have a temporary reduction in VAT. Put | :13:17. | :13:21. | |
money in people's pockets. At the moment, people are not spending | :13:21. | :13:27. | |
because people, like Tammy, have no money to spend. When councils can't | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
raise council tax, business rates are bound to go up, they have to | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
find their revenue from somewhere? We have been lucky. We got the | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
community together. We just outside Stockport, at the bottom of the | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
food chain. We have a fish and chip shop there. We took a leap of faith. | :13:45. | :13:50. | |
Shops were closing down at the rate of one every two months much we | :13:50. | :13:56. | |
decided to open one of the efforty units. The council were supportive. | :13:56. | :14:04. | |
The precinct is on the up. Who can give support and ideas to him, he | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
wants to make a success of business? We need to look at the | :14:08. | :14:13. | |
parking situation. You can't go into Manchester. If you look at | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
House of Fraser, �6 to park. If you have a system where you get the | :14:19. | :14:26. | |
redemption back. Parking is killing. It's a huge issue. I understand | :14:26. | :14:31. | |
that Redcar abolished car parking charges and retail sales went up | :14:31. | :14:40. | |
25% as a consequence. Max, and Michael, max your view? I mean, I | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
think Liverpool is doing well. Actually the whole shopping estate | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
in Liverpool isn't doing well. We had a historical pattern in the | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
north North West that we have to look at again. Not every part of | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
the shopping viability in the North West can provide for the future. | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
People have to change. Do we have to go, the high street is dying, we | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
can't do anything to save it. Is that the future? I think the high | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
street is the future. It will not be normal shops, services, exciting | :15:14. | :15:20. | |
things like farmer's markets. You could do a fashion shop show. In | :15:20. | :15:26. | |
London there are fashion shops. If you have a fashion show you could | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
get more people. You are in a business, what is your suggestion? | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
You have to be pro-active and think of ways to encourage people to use | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
your business. You have to think outside of the box. When business | :15:38. | :15:44. | |
rates are going up, VAT is going up, you are on a down ward spiral, how | :15:44. | :15:53. | |
do you do that? How do councils support businesses? We talk to | :15:53. | :15:57. | |
retailers and the owners of properties like Scottish Widows and | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
talking about how to develop the new future. It's over for the | :16:03. | :16:08. | |
traditional high street. Do we accept that? It is over for the | :16:08. | :16:11. | |
traditional high street it's the community high street. There is an | :16:11. | :16:16. | |
opportunity for everyone. It's about entertainment, eating, night | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
life. It's about providing the offer that brings people out who | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
will spend six or seven hours doing a range of things in which shopping | :16:24. | :16:32. | |
is part of it. Who is spearheading this? Who will do this? Some of the | :16:32. | :16:38. | |
work that happened before with the Mary Portas project which will | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
energise communities and give greater empowerment to them. There | :16:41. | :16:48. | |
is an opportunity to become a Porta pilot. We are doing that in | :16:48. | :16:50. | |
Macclesfield. There will be other communities bidding against us, | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
that is great. There has been a shift in the people's spending | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
habits. Technology allowed people to buy in different ways. It's very, | :16:58. | :17:04. | |
very different now. I have a relative of mine who has a small | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
shop, they do most of their business in dress making over | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
Facebook, by having a virtual shop so they have a presence somewhere | :17:12. | :17:17. | |
else. People are calling and asking for dresses from here and there. | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
it a case of adapt or die? You have to adapt and bring in new ideas and | :17:22. | :17:28. | |
change to give it an increase. hope that you do that. We want you | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
to succeed. Absolutely. That is what is happening on the high | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
street. Let's talk about what is happening in the public sector, | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
shall we now. Huge story there. We have seen cuts to libraries, social | :17:41. | :17:46. | |
services, benefits and, ultimately, for some it means the end of their | :17:46. | :17:53. | |
job. My name is Brian, I have worked here for 33 years. The | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
company was opened after the Second World War. They opened about 17 | :17:56. | :18:04. | |
sites at the beginning. We ended up with 90 odd sites. We are now in a | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
place where they want to close everything. They will throw us on | :18:08. | :18:17. | |
the scrap heap. I'm at the end. They have taken my job away, my | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
dignity away. They are taking the reason why I get up in the morning. | :18:21. | :18:28. | |
They are taking my life away. Can you tell me, how is this going to | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
help me as a person, and other disabled people, when you are | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
making us redundant? Very powerful film there from you Brian. Jackie, | :18:39. | :18:45. | |
you work with Breakthrough UK, you help disabled people. You get a | :18:45. | :18:50. | |
sense there that losing your job is not only about losing your job, but | :18:50. | :18:55. | |
also your dignity? You are absolutely. The unemployment rate | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
of disabled people is twice that of non-disabled people. There is some | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
work to do with employers to encourage employers to understand | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
that the barriers that disable people face in the workplace are | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
something they can do something about easily. Brian, presumably, | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
your point is, look, everybody is struggling to get a job, by these | :19:15. | :19:22. | |
cuts you feel more unfairly targeted, do you? Yes. Talk to | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
David. Remploy, you are going to close Remploy down. I don't think | :19:26. | :19:32. | |
you have thought it through at all. You want to put 1,700 people this | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
time on the dole. I know you are going to say you will find... | :19:38. | :19:44. | |
do you work, where? Wigan. I was speaking to a business on Friday | :19:44. | :19:48. | |
who employ, or contract out to Remploy, in Bolton. They were | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
asking me about the situation. What they are keen to do is to seek to | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
reemploy some of the people from Remploy to give them the work. They | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
do a fantastic job. The problem with Remploy. This isn't trying to | :20:01. | :20:06. | |
focus in on making things difficult for disabled people, it's the | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
overheads have been staggering, the cost of trying to provide the jobs. | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
We need to tackle that and make sure we can build on your skills | :20:14. | :20:21. | |
and find you jobs through private - What are the figures? I don't have | :20:21. | :20:28. | |
them. It was �25,000 per head. That is wrong, it's �18,000. That is a | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
high statistic. There are lower cost solutions that will help you | :20:33. | :20:38. | |
use your kills. Let's find a solution to get the skills and keep | :20:38. | :20:46. | |
the people in the jobs. Jackie? There are different solutions. | :20:46. | :20:50. | |
Remploy was set up after the Second World War to get disabled ex- | :20:50. | :20:55. | |
service men and women into work. It's out dated in the way it | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
provides services, in the way in which it provides employment for | :20:59. | :21:05. | |
disabled people, it needs to move on and move on koct constructively. | :21:05. | :21:08. | |
Subsidising people into work isn't the way forward. You can get eight | :21:08. | :21:14. | |
people into work for every one that you subsidise in Remploy. What | :21:14. | :21:19. | |
would you d for Brian, have the cuts been fair? They haven't been | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
fair, no. It's very difficult for people who are losing long-term | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
employment. There should be ways in which that money is spent | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
productively to ensure that more disabled people get employment. One | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
in five disabled people, one in five people are disabled in the | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
North West. That is a huge chunk of the economy, both from spending | :21:39. | :21:44. | |
power and from... If they are not employed a huge waste of energy. | :21:44. | :21:51. | |
You wanted to say something? biggest fear, along with Brian, is | :21:51. | :21:55. | |
knowing there are 2.5 million people unemployed across the | :21:55. | :22:01. | |
country, by now making up to 1,760, which could follow up to nearly | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
3,000 furthermore disabled people, my biggest fear is, what quality of | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
life is a disabled person, am I going to have, knowing I will be | :22:12. | :22:18. | |
made redundant. This government is making me redundant. What quality | :22:18. | :22:22. | |
of life have I? Jackie said there is 100,000 in the North West. | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
Remploy is not just a business, it's a community for them people. | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
understand. What I think we need to do is find other solutions where | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
they are mutual organisations, get people together with the skills you | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
are able to use. Based on my experience there are people out | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
there who want it take you on. Want to employ people who worked at | :22:43. | :22:50. | |
Remploy. Let's find solutions for them. It isn't just about a | :22:50. | :22:57. | |
disabled situation. It's a wider. 23% of people in the North West | :22:57. | :23:03. | |
work in the public sector. We rely on public sector jobs here more | :23:03. | :23:09. | |
anywhere else. Steve Stock from unison, what impact is this | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
potential pay freeze going to have that we heard about just this | :23:13. | :23:15. | |
weekend? Not potential. It's happening. Local government workers | :23:15. | :23:21. | |
have had two years of a pay freeze, in their third year. Will it | :23:21. | :23:28. | |
unfairly impact people up here? pay freezes here and its hitting | :23:28. | :23:34. | |
the pockets of ordinary workers very hard. Very hard indeed. Brian? | :23:34. | :23:42. | |
I am member of the Nation until -- National Museum. At the moment | :23:42. | :23:48. | |
there were so much trimming. You mentioned about public sector and | :23:48. | :23:58. | |
voluntary sector. Year-on-year cuts by DCMS. What is that Department of | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
Culture, Media and Sport. This cutting we had about 18 voluntary | :24:02. | :24:08. | |
retirement from last year. Now we have to face the next cut. It's 150. | :24:08. | :24:13. | |
Where are the jobs going to come from? Who has an answer? It's not | :24:13. | :24:20. | |
about the pay freezes, it's about job losses. 635 public sector | :24:20. | :24:26. | |
workers jobs lost erday since this Government came into power. We are | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
too dependant on the public sector in the North West. Over the ten | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
years before the credit crunch 117,000 public sector jobs, only | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
17,000 in the private sector. wants to take this on. It's easy to | :24:41. | :24:48. | |
use that phrase. What about the nurses, the people who work in the | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
health service, carers, front line staff doing essential jobs. The | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
women in the North West have been hard hit by the public sector cuts, | :24:57. | :25:06. | |
they are low paid, part-time workers. It's easy to use that | :25:06. | :25:11. | |
emotive language, bobbies on the beat and nurses. 23% of the | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
workforce being in the public sector that creates a culture of | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
dependency not one of entrepreneurship and invasion. We | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
need more people like Kirstie, sat next to you. I want my police | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
officers when I'm in trouble. I want them to be there for me. | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
growth has to come from the private sector. The SME's are important to | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
our national and regional economy they are the engine of growth. | :25:36. | :25:42. | |
Banks should not be funding start- ups. Banks need to lend where they | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
will get 99% certainty to get their money back. There is funding | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
available. It's not as easy as walking down to your bank. They | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
need to be informed to understand that. Let's look at one person's | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
story about, who is struggling to find a job and we will carry on | :25:59. | :26:05. | |
this debate. I'm 20 years of age and looking for a job. I went to | :26:05. | :26:14. | |
college and did my Level 1 Child Care. I got a contracted job as a | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
teaching assistant. While I was on the course we learnt job skills, | :26:19. | :26:26. | |
interview techniques, motivation. To get a job I'm looking online, on | :26:26. | :26:32. | |
different websites and in the paper or on the Jobcentre information | :26:32. | :26:39. | |
page. I come back here a lot to use the computers and there are staff | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
around if I need a hand. Not having a job is really hard when you are | :26:44. | :26:47. | |
paying your own bills much you want to support yourself really. I would | :26:47. | :26:53. | |
like to know what is being done to help people like me find work? | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
Coral is here sitting next to Luke. You have a history degree, what are | :26:59. | :27:06. | |
you doing for work? I'm working in a supermarket. What value does your | :27:06. | :27:11. | |
degree hold? In the workplace I have there are four people with | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
degrees and one with a PHD. That is saying something is wrong. It's a | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
job afterall, are you grateful for the job? I am. I took forever, | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
almost it seems like, to get this job. What does that tell us? What | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
does that tell us about where we are? Talk to Luke, what does this | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
tell us where we are in the North West when one with a degree is | :27:37. | :27:45. | |
working in a supermarket and is grateful for it. We have 80% of the | :27:45. | :27:50. | |
Morrison jobs for local people by battling. The issue around | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
graduates, it's heartbreaking when you are worked, seen yourself | :27:55. | :27:59. | |
through college and great ambitions. Some jobs in supermarkets could | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
lead you to the Board. We need investment in this region. | :28:03. | :28:06. | |
Investment in our creative industries. We have great business | :28:06. | :28:10. | |
people in the room. Kevin here, Norman here. Investment in bio | :28:10. | :28:15. | |
sciences in this region could help to drive the economy. Aet's find | :28:15. | :28:21. | |
out. From my experience, we have recruited 15 people last year. I | :28:21. | :28:26. | |
took technical sales graduate on this year. You are quite correct, I | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
had 300 CVs that came through the door for that one position. It's | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
very heartbreaking when you see people who work very hard, spent | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
time getting these degrees. The jobs aren't there. We can create a | :28:40. | :28:46. | |
number of jobs. We can't take this... Make this gap up. It's very | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
difficult. I've children who are going through university right now. | :28:50. | :28:55. | |
They will face the same situation. Let's look at one statistic. North | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
West saw the biggest rise of unemployment in any UK region | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
between November and January, 16,000. Is it a case now of | :29:03. | :29:06. | |
thinking, forget your history degree, it's not a passion, it | :29:06. | :29:11. | |
might not get you a job. Is it apprenticeships? The skills have to | :29:11. | :29:16. | |
be pointing in the right direction in the skills that will grow. If | :29:16. | :29:21. | |
our fund, we have three sector funds. Do we have the skill set in | :29:21. | :29:27. | |
the North West? Are we informing young people enough... We selected | :29:27. | :29:32. | |
those sectors because there is a experience pool in the North West | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
of great facilities, media cities on the creative side. It will take | :29:37. | :29:46. | |
time. We have 500 apprenticeship s. Young people need to know about | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
that. I have a sense that everything has been drawn to London. | :29:49. | :29:53. | |
It's all going down south. We need a champion for the North West who | :29:53. | :29:59. | |
will speak up, be our advocate and get our young people into jobs. Yes | :29:59. | :30:04. | |
it is. It is going down to London now. The Government drivers say to | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
me there are no ministers doing visits in the North West much we | :30:09. | :30:14. | |
need a champ champion up here that will make our case. Norman, you are | :30:14. | :30:19. | |
an employer. What is their future here? I don't think it will be | :30:19. | :30:22. | |
fixed with one simple thing. We have to look at long-term strategy. | :30:22. | :30:27. | |
We have to look at some sensible, short-term solutions which will | :30:27. | :30:33. | |
inspire confidence and give us growth. How will that help Luke and | :30:33. | :30:39. | |
Coral. Coral what, what do you think? I have been on different | :30:39. | :30:42. | |
courses. I have been on the return to work course, I have got the | :30:42. | :30:46. | |
skills. I don't have a degree or nothing like that. What I do have | :30:47. | :30:51. | |
is the experience and stuff. I'm keen to work. I did have a job, | :30:51. | :30:55. | |
which was cut because it was only a contracted job because of funding. | :30:55. | :31:00. | |
I find it really hard there isn't anything there. I agree with the | :31:00. | :31:05. | |
point about long-term strategies. There is no simple answer. We need | :31:05. | :31:09. | |
in the North West the climate for entrepreneurship, the guys on my | :31:09. | :31:13. | |
right had a student loan. Why aren't we lending at young people | :31:13. | :31:19. | |
at 16 or 17 who want to set up their own business? This country | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
50% want to be in business. We need to ask the Government through the | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
Budget to create a climate where young people, who haven't done a | :31:27. | :31:31. | |
history degree, nothing wrong with that, go with their skills and | :31:31. | :31:37. | |
create that entrepreneurship. are from Tranmere University, what | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
do you think? What Hazel was saying before, there isn't enough | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
education given to 16, 17, 18-year- old in terms of where to go to get | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
this help. Luke is saying that he doesn't know these courses and | :31:51. | :31:57. | |
everything that he can to get experience. There is not enough | :31:57. | :32:02. | |
education. In the midst of all this gloom, we are going to talk success | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
and the future and where the answers maybe. Take a look at this. | :32:07. | :32:14. | |
I'm Kevin Bird of EDM Limited we are a specialist training and | :32:14. | :32:18. | |
simulation company providing exports around the world. We | :32:18. | :32:23. | |
manufacturer training and simulation equipment include bg | :32:23. | :32:29. | |
cockpit trainers. Our markets have been Ministry of Defence, but we | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
recognised that we had to move overseas to develop further. | :32:32. | :32:35. | |
Throughout this recession we have grown the business. We have | :32:35. | :32:41. | |
continued to be able to recruit staff and we have focused on | :32:41. | :32:44. | |
creating apprenticeships within the business. China is a developing | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
market in terms of international air traffic. We recognise that | :32:47. | :32:52. | |
training in that sector was going to be a progressive business for us. | :32:52. | :32:57. | |
We need Government to be supportive and strategic for us and for | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
business across this country to export our way out of the trouble | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
that we are currently in. Kevin there, who is here, is the man who | :33:05. | :33:09. | |
could give work to Luke or to Coral or anybody else looking for it. Are | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
you doing enough to support people like Kevin who want to help the | :33:13. | :33:20. | |
North West economy? Absolutely. you Absolutely. The SMEs and the | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
growth SMEs generate are fundamental to our future. Whether | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
it's growth or export markets or getting into a new market on a | :33:28. | :33:30. | |
domestic front if you need investment for that that is what we | :33:30. | :33:35. | |
are here to do and drive employment as part of that. The North West is | :33:35. | :33:39. | |
ranked second in the UK for export- led growth potential. That is what | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
we are told here. Is that where we need to be looking? We used to be, | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
with the Port of Liverpool, we used to look out on the world and the | :33:47. | :33:52. | |
world came to us, is that what we need to do again? We are working | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
within severely constrained times. In terms of lending, you have to | :33:55. | :33:59. | |
have a healthy balance sheet. You have to have a good performing | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
company. How do you get to that point? It's a catch 22. Providing | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
employment is critical to any business moving forward. Have you | :34:08. | :34:14. | |
to think outside the box and stay one to 10 steps ahead of your | :34:14. | :34:17. | |
competition. The future is in the new mind sets coming threw. | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
came from the south and set up business in the North West whasm is | :34:20. | :34:26. | |
unique about where we live? What can we offer? Let's be positive? | :34:26. | :34:29. | |
Have a dynamic environment. It's about people, you are absolutely | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
right. The amount of enthusiasm and commitment and passion in this | :34:33. | :34:38. | |
region is outstanding. I have not experienced it anywhere else. | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
What is happening at the moment is this realisation that there are | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
opportunities in a global economy. No good to just think you can sell | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
to the guy down the road. It's about thinking there are | :34:48. | :34:52. | |
opportunities in India, China and using the opportunities from export | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
licences, from credit support, for businesses like his to go overseas | :34:57. | :35:04. | |
and sell their wares. Kirstie, what is it you do, food? Healthy food | :35:04. | :35:11. | |
brand called Kirsties. I was on Dragon's Den because I could not | :35:11. | :35:16. | |
get money from mi why else. If I go to the bank, if I went to the bank | :35:16. | :35:20. | |
two years ago, with an attempted business plan, I didn't know how to | :35:20. | :35:24. | |
write one. It was a no, no. They say they are lending, they are not. | :35:24. | :35:29. | |
We have to go to other places to get finance. You have to look out | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
for where... The Chinese market, is that where we have to be looking? | :35:36. | :35:45. | |
The growth sector is our students. I was at Manchester University, | :35:45. | :35:50. | |
10,000 Chinese study in the North West from Lancaster, Preston, all | :35:50. | :35:59. | |
over. 10,000, 20,000 fees, plus living, all the industry to | :35:59. | :36:08. | |
everybody. You think the academia. If Tranmere were to open a shop in | :36:08. | :36:13. | |
China, you would make a fortune. Take that back with you. The last | :36:13. | :36:18. | |
bit I want to say. In the North West there is no, in the North West | :36:18. | :36:26. | |
we have something to say. There is a cohesive policy it's | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
disintegrated. We have Cheshire enterprise, who is going to lead | :36:32. | :36:38. | |
intervention? Two comments. One from Max and Alan? You have to be | :36:38. | :36:45. | |
ambitious. We went to Shanghai. We signed over 50 deals ranging from | :36:45. | :36:50. | |
�5,000 to �500,000. The markets are there. They will come to this | :36:50. | :36:55. | |
country and invest. We have to look outwards and that is where our | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
money will come from that is where our economy will come from? | :36:59. | :37:03. | |
Absolutely. Universities are big global businesses in their own | :37:03. | :37:10. | |
right. Who worries me is that the more we go down in concentrating | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
research resources into many few places, they happen to be in the | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
south, Oxford, Cambridge and London, the more we ignore the development | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
of those things we are good at. North West, Kevin, we end with you. | :37:22. | :37:26. | |
The North West, what position are we in from your point of view, is | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
there something we can go away going, yeah, we should be positive, | :37:30. | :37:34. | |
no matter what? We have a great heritage. A will the of businesses | :37:34. | :37:38. | |
started in the north west. If you are pro-active and focused and you | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
can see opportunities, there are, there are success stories out there. | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
Businesses can grow. Businesses can develop. It -- it will have to be | :37:47. | :37:53. | |
exports. That is where we will end it. Brian, Luke, Coral, anybody in | :37:53. | :37:56. | |
our film, thank you very much. Thank you all for coming. Straw | :37:56. | :38:02. | |
poll at the end. How many of you feel more positive? Anybody more | :38:02. | :38:09. | |
optimistic now than they were at the beginning? You are waivering. | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
There are fewer of you optimistic now. Right, OK. Thank you so much | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
for all of you being here. The Budget is this week. We will be | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
waiting with bated breath to see what George Osborne has to deliver. | :38:22. | :38:27. | |
You can follow any of those developments across the BBC on | :38:27. | :38:30. |