Browse content similar to 13/09/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Afternoon, folks, and welcome to the Daily Politics of. The row over | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
the government scheme to change its planning policy is hotting up. The | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
coalition promised to put communities in the driving seat, | :00:34. | :00:39. | |
critics say the plan could cause irreversible damage to England's | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
green and pleasant land. Who is right? | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
Just how united is the United Kingdom? We will take a look at why | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
the Unionist parties in Scotland are doing so badly. Together, on | :00:52. | :01:00. | |
Ed Miliband has just made a speech to the TUC, promising to be a | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
critical friend of the unions. You can hear how much they like his | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
criticism! We will look at how he did. And they have had their | :01:11. | :01:14. | |
expenses cut, their pay frozen, and now some of them can lose their | :01:14. | :01:19. | |
constituencies. We will be speaking to some MPs facing an uncertain | :01:19. | :01:29. | |
:01:29. | :01:36. | ||
future following the proposed The aim man who knows what it was | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
like to be a Labour politician who was successful in Scotland, Jack | :01:40. | :01:49. | |
McConnell. Welcome to the programme. Let's take a look at his leader, Ed | :01:49. | :01:57. | |
Miliband, who has been addressing Despite being heckled over his | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
decision not to back strikes for pension reform and his support for | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
academy schools, Mr Miliband warned the union should not be "the | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
enemies of change". Of course the right to indust reel action will be | :02:10. | :02:20. | |
:02:20. | :02:32. | ||
necessary and is important as a As you know better than I do, just | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
15% of the private sector workforce is represented by trade unions. You | :02:36. | :02:42. | |
know that you need to change if that is to change. That was Ed | :02:42. | :02:50. | |
Miliband. He was heckled... His grasp of Education and Grammar... | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
We will get letters about that. We will send them to the Labour leader. | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
Now, he was heckled there, perhaps unsurprisingly, because he said it | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
was a mistake, the strikes in the summer, but Mark Serwotka, the | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
leader of the public services union, said the speech was a misjudgment. | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
Was he right? It seems to me that sometimes Labour leaders like to be | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
heckled at the TUC because it gives them a wider appeal outside that | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
forum. Was his top language the right language to use? Is it time | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
to distance himself from the union's first marked from what I | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
saw, he was probably trying to strike the right tone. He said | :03:31. | :03:34. | |
there would be times when we would work together and times when we | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
would disagree, and we would have to live at that. The bigger | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
challenge on these occasions is to lay out a vision for the country. I | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
have not seen the whole speech, I am not sure whether he attempt to | :03:44. | :03:49. | |
that. Arguably, he owes his leadership to the unions. To what | :03:49. | :03:53. | |
extent is he in their pockets? don't think he is in the pockets of | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
everybody. Is he not? I think the result last September left him with | :03:58. | :04:05. | |
a problem in terms of where support from the unions was. He needs to | :04:05. | :04:09. | |
make sure he is working for the wider appeal and not just returning | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
to the base, because the base is not big enough to win an election, | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
and it is not right in principle. But has he got a problem, though? | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
He may want to distance himself, but does he have the power to | :04:21. | :04:29. | |
reform the unions? They give 80% 7 -- 87% of donations to the Labour | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
Party. They can determine the results of the leadership election. | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
Haven't they got him? I think he probably does. I was surprised when | :04:37. | :04:40. | |
he managed to secured the change to the Shadow Cabinet elections. I | :04:40. | :04:45. | |
thought that was quite a brave move, a controversial one, and he | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
achieved it quite easily. I think a new leader, and he is relatively | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
new, as a lot of power and momentum. The question is how he will use it. | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
The challenge is to move on from the record of the last two years | :04:59. | :05:02. | |
and used it positively to lay out a vision for the future, not to get | :05:02. | :05:10. | |
stuck in what happened in the past. Thank you. Why we were talking, we | :05:10. | :05:15. | |
have just heard from the House of Commons that James Murdoch will be | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
recalled to the Culture Select Committee while they continue his | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
interrogation. You will remember we carry that live on the Daily | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
Politics, his appearance with his father. They will have him back a | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
loan at the lawyer's seemingly contradicted his evidence. -- Be | :05:33. | :05:40. | |
alone. Could Jack McConnell's period in Scotland be the last time | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
a Labour politician holds the pose while Scotland is still in the | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
United Kingdom? Alex Salmond has promised a referendum on | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
independence, but not quite now, perhaps because most polls show | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
that an independent vote would be a gamble for the nationalists. Even | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
so, the SNP's own ratings are well above the union parties, and in a | :06:01. | :06:05. | |
moment we would get the thoughts of Jack McConnell and Murdo Fraser, | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
the guy in the running to become the next leader of the Scottish | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
Conservatives. He is campaigning to wind them up, which is an | :06:12. | :06:17. | |
interesting way to become leader. But first, here is Adam Fleming. | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
These Scottish National Party's most recent victory, preventing the | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
nation's favourite fizzy drink being watered down by the EU when | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
they considered limits on how much colouring you could put in one | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
product. The issue of independence is still bubbling away as well. | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
When Alex Salmond led the SNP to one unprecedented majority in the | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
elections to the Scottish parliament in May, it became | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
inevitable that there would be a referendum on whether Scotland | :06:44. | :06:48. | |
should stay part of the UK. When the referendum happens, the | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
campaign will be run by this Westminster MP, reckons that | :06:53. | :06:56. | |
history is on his side. 20 years ago, people said there would not | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
even the devolution, and then we had a referendum and there was. And | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
then people said, there is a Scottish parliament, but there will | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
never be an SNP government, and now there is. People say there will | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
never be an independence referendum, but there will be. What are the | :07:12. | :07:16. | |
tastes of the Scottish public? A poll for the Herald found that 39% | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
agreed with independence, 38% disagree, the first time it has | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
ever been that way around in this series. Their mind that lead of 1% | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
is well within the margin of error. -- bear in mind. The nationalists | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
will not be swapping to champagne just yet, but they are celebrating | :07:34. | :07:37. | |
that their opponents are losing their fears. Since the election, | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
the leaders of Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories in Scotland have all | :07:42. | :07:45. | |
stood down or announced they are going to, meaning that focus has | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
been on campaigns for the leadership rather than for a future | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
referendum. Scotland's only Tory MP, also a Scotland Office minister, | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
says it is now time to toughen up the message. The Government is | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
already making the case for the union. We are not neutral on the | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
issue of Scottish independence, but I think it is clear that we need to | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
set out more clearly to people in Scotland exactly what the UK | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
government does in Scottish terms. David Cameron's preferred solution | :08:16. | :08:26. | |
:08:26. | :08:27. | ||
is the Scotland Bill, currently going through the -- currently | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
going through Westminster, which would give more tax-raising powers | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
to Holyrood. Jack McConnell, as you have seen, | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
is in the studio with as in Westminster, and Murdo Fraser, the | :08:38. | :08:43. | |
deputy leader of the Conservative Party, he is, by the look of that | :08:43. | :08:50. | |
Crane, in Glasgow. That is right. How does separating the Scottish | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
Conservatives from the UK Conservatives make the case against | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
separatism? Because we need a stronger centre-right Unionist | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
Party in Scotland, and what we currently have, the reality is that | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
there are many people and Scotland who share our political values on | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
issues like enterprise, taxation and law and order and so on, but | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
they do not on to vote for the Conservative Party, because we have | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
a huge identity problem. People think we are controlled from London | :09:18. | :09:22. | |
and we do not but Scotland first. I think the best way to save the | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
Union is to have a strong centre- right Unionist Party taking on the | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
SNP and campaigning for Scotland's place in the UK. We have to accept | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
that the Conservative Party in Scotland has not done that well. I | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
think it is a disgrace that in the last three general elections, we | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
have only managed to return one member of parliament to Westminster. | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
Unless we change drastically, the prospects for the future are not | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
looking very good. Other than changing a name, what else would | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
change? First of all, this is not a name change. It is not disbanding | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
of rebranding. You would still be the Scottish Conservatives? | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
would, of course have a new name, but we are having a new party, and | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
we will have a relationship with the UK Conservative Party, in the | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
same way that the Conservatives in Bavaria have a relationship with | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
the Christian Democrats in the rest of Germany. We would be Sister | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
parties. That would allow us to articulate the Scottish interest. I | :10:15. | :10:18. | |
think the key difference at the heart are the party would be a | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
belief in devolution and decentralisation of power. In the | :10:23. | :10:26. | |
past, the Conservative Party was always hostile to devolution. That | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
has allowed power of bonus to paint us as anti-Scottish, and that has | :10:30. | :10:36. | |
led to our vote slipping away. We have been champion devolution and | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
decentralisation as a way to defeat nationalism. You mentioned Bavaria. | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
Can I point out that Bavaria is the richest part of Germany? It is also | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
the most right-wing part of Germany, and it is not looking for | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
independence. What does it have in common with Scotland? Scotland has | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
many natural resources, as you probably know, and a lot of | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
industries that are doing pretty well at the moment. It is the most | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
left-wing part of Britain and per- capita incomes are a percentage of | :11:05. | :11:08. | |
those in Bavaria. There is no evidence at all that Scotland is | :11:08. | :11:13. | |
the most left-wing part of Britain. People may vote for parties of the | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
left, but if you look at social attitudes, people's opinions are | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
very similar to those in the rest of the UK, and it is a sign of the | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
failure of the Scottish Conservative Party in recent years | :11:23. | :11:26. | |
that the only party of the centre- right in Scotland has not been able | :11:26. | :11:30. | |
to attract the votes are lots of people who share our political | :11:30. | :11:35. | |
values. That is why we need to change. Do you buy that plan? | :11:35. | :11:42. | |
think it is interesting, but it is... It may be part of the | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
solution. Their biggest problems since 1997 is a complete lack of | :11:49. | :11:58. | |
:11:59. | :11:59. | ||
confidence. I think they have failed, in some ways, similar to | :11:59. | :12:01. | |
some of the labour difficulties more recently in Scotland, they | :12:01. | :12:08. | |
have failed to articulate a series of policies that came together as a | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
centre-right vision for Scotland. I think in many ways both main | :12:11. | :12:15. | |
parties allowed the nationalists to fill both their spaces by appearing | :12:15. | :12:21. | |
to be more both Social Democrat and centre-right, because both main | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
parties were failing to declare a vision for Scotland that was in | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
that space. To get to fundamentals, isn't it hard for his centre-right | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
party in Scotland, whatever it is called for its links with the | :12:32. | :12:36. | |
Conservatives here, it is hard for it to prosper because of the very | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
devolution settlement that you agreed to? You agreed to a | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
parliament that spend �30 billion a year and doesn't raise one penny of | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
that money. It all comes in a grand. I think that makes it very hard for | :12:49. | :12:52. | |
a centre-right party to get anywhere, because the centre-right | :12:52. | :12:56. | |
message all over the world is you have to balance tax and spending, | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
spending and tax. We could have done that anyway. I think the | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
taxation changes in Scotland will improve that situation and a return | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
to at least more normal politics, but at any one of the last four | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
Scottish elections the Scottish Conservatives could have proposed a | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
cut in income tax and a cut in public expenditure. They were not | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
brave enough to do it, and they paid a price for that. There is | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
space for a centre-right party, but they need to fill that space | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
aggressively. Murdo Fraser, the accent that Jack McConnell has said | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
the unionist parties have been asleep on the job? -- do you | :13:32. | :13:37. | |
accept? Will you join with Jack McConnell, who wants to try and put | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
together a broadly based movement to save the Union? It is essential | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
we have a broadly based movement to save the Union. That needs to be | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
across all political parties and reach beyond politics and reach out | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
to people in the business community and in civic Scotland who share our | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
view. I am in no doubt about that, and that is something we want to | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
support broader. As far as his criticism goes, I think the problem | :14:00. | :14:04. | |
for our party has been, even when we have had good policy ideas that | :14:04. | :14:08. | |
the public have agreed with, because they have been such a | :14:08. | :14:11. | |
barrier in their mind to voting for a party with a Conservative | :14:11. | :14:14. | |
identity, they have not been prepared to listen to what we have | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
got to say. Changing the party as I propose, setting up a new party is | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
not a silver bullet, because we are still going to have to have the | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
right policies and the right personalities and the right | :14:25. | :14:28. | |
communication and the right message. What it will do for the first time | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
in probably 20 years in Scotland is it will give as a foot in the dock, | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
and people might start listening to what we have to say. Unfortunately, | :14:36. | :14:41. | |
you know, they have not been doing that in recent days. Alex Salmond | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
will lead the case for independence. Who will be the case for the union? | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
I think that is still to be determined. There needs to be a | :14:48. | :14:52. | |
figure of popular appeal, perhaps out with the parties. I think there | :14:52. | :14:57. | |
is a need to redirect the whole strategy. I think the strategy that | :14:57. | :15:03. | |
was used in the past by some to try and almost impose a 1950s | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
Britishness and Scotland failed. Gordon Brown's efforts? I think the | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
strategy... I'll take that as a yes. The idea of threatening people | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
economically, although there are big worries about it, it does not | :15:17. | :15:21. | |
work. We need a positive strategy that actually articulate why | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
Scotland is a stronger and better place inside the UK. Are you going | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
to be the next leader of what may be called the Scottish | :15:30. | :15:38. | |
All I can tell you is since I made my proposal public last weekend, I | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
have had a tremendous and positive response from members of the party | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
and perhaps more important, people who are not members of the party, | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
people interested in coming and joining our new project. If members | :15:49. | :15:52. | |
of the party have ambition for the future, they will support my | :15:52. | :15:57. | |
leadership bid. We got the message. Keep us posted. Thank you. Anyone | :15:57. | :16:00. | |
who's tried to find housing in the last couple of years, particularly | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
in the south-east of England, won't be surprised to hear that we're in | :16:03. | :16:10. | |
dire need of more homes. That most people kind of agree on. However | :16:10. | :16:15. | |
deciding where to build is trickier. The Government is consulting on a | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
new planning policy which it claims will make the system less | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
bureaucratic, simpler and so on. But it's got a lot of people hot | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
under the collar. Jo's got more. Yes, just before the election, the | :16:26. | :16:29. | |
Conservatives promised a radical reboot, claiming that the planning | :16:29. | :16:32. | |
system was broken and pledging to put local communities in the | :16:32. | :16:39. | |
driving seat. The new coalition swept away leb's regional spatial | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
stratjids, which the previous government used to determine house | :16:43. | :16:50. | |
building targets. Over the summer, the ministers announced their new | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
national policy framework, simplified from 1,000 pages to 52, | :16:53. | :16:59. | |
with the presumption in favour of sustainable development. Opposition | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
soon mounted from the narblg trust, the RSPB and the Cambaign to | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
Protect Rural England, who described the proposal and a -- as | :17:10. | :17:15. | |
a threat tot countryside. Bob Neil said it was a smear campaign by | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
left-wingers. George Osborne and Eric Pickles pledges to plough on, | :17:20. | :17:24. | |
saying the current system is an arbitrary break on growth. Let's | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
speak to Shaun Spiers from the Cambaign to Protect Rural England. | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
The Government has tried to make clear that what's it's doing is | :17:31. | :17:36. | |
giving local more power in terms of planning putting them in the | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
driving seat. Is that wrong? It's not wrong in principle. What | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
they've come up with is a document which has knighted all developers | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
in favour of it. Every environmental group I've come | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
across is deeply alarmed by what they're proposing. Far from putting | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
local communities in the driving suit this is the state siding with | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
developers. Do you accept the planning system had to be | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
simplified and that in the current situation we're in, we have to do | :18:04. | :18:08. | |
something to promote growth and let planning go through? We certainly | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
agree that the system should be simplified in principle, theres no | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
problem with shrinking down from 1,000 pages to 50 and so on. | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
Clearly we need lots more houses. But the planning system was | :18:22. | :18:28. | |
delivering 207,000 houses, a net increase of 207,000 houses, in 2008. | :18:28. | :18:33. | |
The curve was rising. Then the housing slump happened. Same with | :18:33. | :18:37. | |
growth, you know, strong economies in Europe have strong planning | :18:37. | :18:43. | |
systems. What the Government is proposing is to move from a German | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
or Scandinavian style planning system to a grok or Spanish style. | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
It was on the curve upwards before the slump, now they're trying to | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
regain the house building an the growth that had started beforehand. | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
You can see why people would say this is any more byism, they don't | :18:59. | :19:07. | |
want that sort of growth happening. CPRE has been outspoken in our | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
support for more affordable rural housing. There's no evidence that | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
it's the planning system that is holding back house building. The | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
Government has cut its own social house prog Graeme for reasons we | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
understand about controlling the deficit, and people aren't buying | :19:21. | :19:25. | |
and the banks aren't lending. That's why houses aren't being | :19:25. | :19:32. | |
built. Shaun Spiers, thank you. We're joined bit planning minister, | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
Greg Clark. Welcome tot Daily Politics. The Government has said | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
that local people will be in the driving seat with this new set of | :19:39. | :19:45. | |
planning proposals, but it also says "That local authorities should | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
approve all individual proposal wherever possible". If you read on, | :19:49. | :19:53. | |
it says if there isn't a local plan, the local plan must be sovereign, | :19:53. | :19:58. | |
if there isn't a local plan you should have a means of deciding. | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
Any development that is prose -- proposed has to be sustainable. It | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
can build on the green belt. It has time prove the design standards. | :20:08. | :20:13. | |
the green belt will remain as sacrosanct after the chaifrpgz as | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
it is now? It's strengthened. At the moment the regional strategies | :20:17. | :20:22. | |
which we are getting rid of, impose reviews to delete or adjust some of | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
these green belts. We're taking that threat away and giving a new | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
protection that communities will have to designate green space that | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
they value within towns and cities, so that they'll be able to protect | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
them for the future. It's really important that the planning system | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
should be unchanged in its commitment to protect the ordinary | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
space that's we value. In your draft here, the words are all in | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
favour of development, I mean it's planning, presumption in favour of | :20:51. | :20:54. | |
development, you add the word sustainable, because every | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
politician does these days. Local plans, you need to respond to rapid | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
shifts in demand. You need to approve development proposal that | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
accord with statutory plans. Grant permission where the plan is absent, | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
silent or indeterminate. It weighs things in favour of development. | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
don't think it does. It sets out the conditions that have to apply | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
if you have that presumption. They say you can't damage the green belt. | :21:21. | :21:26. | |
You must promote higher standards of design and can't damage town | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
centres. There's a whole list of problems that could present | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
themselves for which the planning system, as it always has done, is | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
there to stop happening. We all agree that we need a simpler | :21:38. | :21:43. | |
planning system. If you have 1300 pages, only the specialists then | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
can get a handle on it. We're trying to, by getting rid of the | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
imposition, give power to local people, but to do that you need it | :21:52. | :21:56. | |
make it intelligible to people. Have you urged property developers | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
to lobby the Prime Minister on this? I've said to anyone who | :21:59. | :22:03. | |
speaks to me that they should make their views known. This is a debate. | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
It's good that we're having a debate. If you had 1300 pages of | :22:07. | :22:09. | |
planning policy, it's very difficult for people to have a | :22:09. | :22:12. | |
debate. You've urged the British Property Federation to lobbery. | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
Prime Minister on this? No I haven't. Can I quote the theme from | :22:17. | :22:24. | |
their policy officer, Greg Clark and his officials are deeply | :22:24. | :22:26. | |
concerned that the level of opposition provoked, worried that | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
Number Ten might be spooked by this mobilisation of Middle England and | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
do a U-turn like forestry. I've never had any concern about that. | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
Why did she write that? I don't know. The whole Government has said | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
in its manifesto and before that it's really important that we start | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
to unlock the planning system, to be able to build the homes we need. | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
If you have a situation in which the first-time buyer, without | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
parental support is now in their late 30s, we're taking from the | :22:56. | :22:59. | |
next generation the opportunities that my generation and your | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
generation had to own a home in which to bring up a family. We | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
agree, Shaun Spiers and I had a conversation a few days ago, we | :23:07. | :23:10. | |
agree the system needs to be simplified. I think it's important | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
that we reassert that the fundamental purpose of the planning | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
system to balance growth with the protection for our natural and | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
historic environment is not going to change. That is there in black | :23:21. | :23:28. | |
and white. Can you see why people are nervous when someone like John | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
Rhodes says "It's not meant to be the opportunity for communities to | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
resist development. It's meant to be part of a strategy which | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
encourages greater development." So much for localism. Our analysis is | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
if you impose on people from above, this raises their hackles and | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
people, quite rightly, impose the imposition of hundreds of identicut | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
homes in which they have no say. If you trust local people to assess | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
what they need, design the homes in collaboration with the local | :23:58. | :24:02. | |
community, I I you can get tot situation we all want to see in | :24:02. | :24:06. | |
which communities are providing homes for the future but doing so | :24:06. | :24:13. | |
in a way that enhances the local environment. When I used to travel | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
around Scotland, planning was a huge issue. Businesses felt they | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
couldn't get the proper planning permissions. You did something | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
about that. Interestingly we did it pretty much with all-party | :24:23. | :24:27. | |
agreement. Within the last six months or so as mine time as First | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
Minister in 2007, we passed new laws, then the Nationalist | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
government then enacted them and pursued the regulations, broadly | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
with all-party support. The main objective was to speed up decision | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
making, not just to deal with some of the issues around how many | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
regulations there were, but actually how efficient were the | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
local planning departments. My experience, one of the biggest | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
problems for everybody, both local people and businesses, is the | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
bureaucracy and lack of speed when making decisions. If we get the | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
overall framework right, I think the Government is not necessarily | :25:01. | :25:05. | |
way off the mark here, then that's one thing. Actually making the | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
whole system more efficient seems to be absolutely key. And if you | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
get your new planning proposals and development is agreed under these | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
new proposals, we will not see the hypocritical spectacle of Cabinet | :25:19. | :25:24. | |
ministers opposing development in their own constituencys. It's | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
always reasonable to oppose bad verplt. I covered that. If you go | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
through all this, if they oppose development in their own backyard. | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
The decision will be made bit local Council. That's how it should have | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
been over the last few years. shall watch with interest. Greg | :25:40. | :25:42. | |
Clark, thank you for coming in today. | :25:42. | :25:46. | |
It's a tough time to be an MP. Yesterday the Boundary Commission | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
proposed a shake up of Britain's electoral map, the plan is to cut | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
the number of MPs, equalise the Parliamentary constituencies and | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
end Labour's built-in advantage. So far we've had the plans for England | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
and Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales come later. They seem to have | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
worried MPs of all parties. Who is facing the biggest upset? From the | :26:07. | :26:09. | |
Conservatives, Ken Clarke and Iain Duncan Smith face the most | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
disruption. For the Liberal Democrats, senior figures including | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
Chris Huhne and Vince Cable will have to win redrawn seats. Labour | :26:18. | :26:23. | |
faces the biggest upheaval with Ed Balls and Andy Burnham looking | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
vulnerable. I'm joined from central lobby by two new MPs expecting a | :26:26. | :26:33. | |
big change in their parts of the country, Andrew Percy from the | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
Conservatives and Alison McGovern for Labour. Thanks for joining us | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
on the programme. How likely is it that you could lose, you'll lose | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
your constituency and you'll have to fight for your seat? My seat | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
will be divided up three ways on the first maps. In the past when | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
they've done boundary reviews do change. I've been in a situation | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
where my constituency goes three ways. It could leave me looking for | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
one of those three or without a seat. You could be looking for a | :27:00. | :27:03. | |
new job? Very well. If you know of anything going, let me know. | :27:03. | :27:11. | |
will! I suppose one thooz ask, why did you support the proposal in the | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
first place snfrplt I did and I didn't. The principle is right of | :27:15. | :27:20. | |
reducing down the number of MPs. We do have a very heavily numbered | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
legislature in this country. We have big variation. The principle | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
is right. You can argue whether or not we should have put the Boundary | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
Commission in quite it strait jacket we have. It is about | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
fairness isn't it, it's about having more similar sized | :27:37. | :27:39. | |
constituencies with votes having more equal weighting. You can't | :27:39. | :27:43. | |
disagree, can you? The problem with this billuals set from the very | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
start, as Andrew was saying, with the strait jacket on the Boundary | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
Commission in terms of numbers. No regard is being taken of | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
communities in my constituency now who are going to be faced with | :27:55. | :28:00. | |
being represented by an MP with a huge constituency, place that's | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
take 90 minutes to drive to. So it's really some of the options | :28:04. | :28:10. | |
that has been thrown up yesterday are unsustainable in terms of the | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
tradition with the constituency link. That's why people are as | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
cross as they are about it. Briefly, across the country people would | :28:18. | :28:22. | |
think 50 fewer seats is a good thing. It costs less. Interestingly, | :28:22. | :28:25. | |
we have got lots more members of the House of Lords, there's a | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
disparity with what's going on in Parliament. I think the thing that | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
people are really cross about is the inability of the Boundary | :28:32. | :28:35. | |
Commission to take care of local community links. That's what the | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
debate will be about. I have to stop you there. Thank you both. | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
That's it for today. Special thanks to Jack McConnell for being our | :28:43. | :28:47. |