:00:13. > :00:18.Ed Miliband has finally found a tax policy for a new Labour Government.
:00:18. > :00:22.It's one they are familiar with. We will put right a mistake made by
:00:22. > :00:27.Gordon Brown and the last Labour Government. We would use the money,
:00:27. > :00:32.raised by a "Mansion Tax", to reintroduce a lower, 10p starting
:00:32. > :00:36.rate of tax. The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury is here
:00:36. > :00:39.to reveal whether this is a manifesto promise. So these have
:00:39. > :00:43.been closed down for how long? of the Government's ideas,
:00:43. > :00:47.channelled through Queen of shops, Mary Portas, was to quick start the
:00:47. > :00:53.high street. Why have so few towns used the money they were given to
:00:53. > :00:58.do just that. Is the largest democracy in the world, but why do
:00:58. > :01:03.so many of India's serving politicians stand accused of
:01:03. > :01:06.serious crimes. It is an astonishing fact that half
:01:06. > :01:11.the ministers in the Uttar Pradesh Government are charged with crimes,
:01:11. > :01:15.ranging from rape, murder and robbery. This is a nationwide
:01:15. > :01:18.problem. The Olympic and Paralympic athlete,
:01:18. > :01:21.nicknamed "blade runner", Oscar Pisorius, has been charged with the
:01:21. > :01:31.murder of his girlfriend, in a shooting in his house in preoria.
:01:31. > :01:32.
:01:32. > :01:36.We will speak to the man who helped write his autobiography.
:01:36. > :01:42.Good evening, it was a very bad mistake. That was Ed Miliband's
:01:42. > :01:45.verdict today on Gordon Brown's scrapping of a 10p tax rate in 2008,
:01:45. > :01:49.as he readopted the policy, saying he was determined to put it right
:01:49. > :01:54.after the election. He swiped one of the Lib Dem policies, the
:01:54. > :01:58."Mansion Tax", to help pay for it, promising the tax would be levied
:01:58. > :02:02.on property worth more than �2 million. They accuse the Government
:02:02. > :02:07.of rewarding those at the top, while squeezing everybody else.
:02:08. > :02:12.Paul Mason is with me. As taxes go, this one is a bit familiar? In the
:02:12. > :02:15.great political chess game over tax and spend, someone is finally
:02:15. > :02:19.getting round to moving the first chess piece. It is Ed Miliband,
:02:19. > :02:23.into the middle of the board, with the proposal to cut taxes for 24
:02:23. > :02:29.million people, a bit, and pay for it by taxing housing worth more
:02:29. > :02:34.than �2 million. We we call in political speak, "mansions". The
:02:34. > :02:40.Institute for Fist * studies, that everybody likes -- The Institute
:02:40. > :02:45.for Fiscal Studies, that everybody likes to quote. Says it is not
:02:45. > :02:50.clear whether the tax would pay for the 10p tax rate. The politics are
:02:50. > :02:55.clear. We reported this back in 2007. Labour people lived through
:02:55. > :03:00.it. It was the moment where the political class, and the media, to
:03:00. > :03:05.an extent, suddenly discovered there were people who earned
:03:05. > :03:07.�12,000, and Gordon Brown had discovered how to make them very
:03:08. > :03:11.annoyed. And people in Labour date that moment as the day the wheels
:03:11. > :03:15.came off the cart. The problem with political chess, is once you move
:03:15. > :03:20.your piece, somebody else can move their's. While this was designed as
:03:20. > :03:23.a long-term gambit, a big idea, a blue sky thinking turned concrete.
:03:23. > :03:33.As we are about to Lear, the other political parties also have ideas
:03:33. > :03:34.
:03:34. > :03:38.in the short-term about how to respond.
:03:38. > :03:45.Ten pennies, to be exact, scrapping the 10p tax rate for low earners
:03:46. > :03:51.was, for many, the point at by Gordon Brown lost the plot. He
:03:51. > :03:55.reduced the rate to 20p but ending the rate for the lowest paid. Then
:03:55. > :04:00.he paid for it again at the polls. In hindsight he wished he hadn't.
:04:00. > :04:04.What happened with 10p? It stunned me, because it really hurt, that
:04:04. > :04:09.suddenly people felt I wasn't on the side of people on middle and
:04:09. > :04:15.modest incomes. Because on the side of hard working families is the
:04:15. > :04:20.only place I have ever wanted to be. But, Labour's political currency
:04:20. > :04:24.was tarnished. So today, like a new penny, Ed Miliband turned up with
:04:24. > :04:29.that rare thing in opposition politics, a commitment! Let me tell
:04:29. > :04:34.you about one crucial choice we would make. Which is different from
:04:34. > :04:39.this Government and different from the last Government. We will tax
:04:39. > :04:44.houses worth over �2 million. And we would use the money to cut taxes
:04:44. > :04:48.for working people. We will put right a mistake made by Gordon
:04:48. > :04:54.Brown and the last Labour Government. We would use the money,
:04:54. > :05:01.raised by a "Mansion Tax", to reintroduce a lower 10p starting
:05:01. > :05:05.rate of tax. David Cameron has focused on taking the low paid out
:05:05. > :05:10.of income tax all together, by raising the starting point for
:05:10. > :05:14.paying. Some Conservatives would like to copy today's move. We have
:05:14. > :05:18.taken two million people out of tax all together. We have cut taxes for
:05:18. > :05:22.20 million lower earners, that is the right thing to. Do we have
:05:22. > :05:24.raised the threshold to nearly �10,000 before people pay tax.
:05:24. > :05:28.After that, rather than continuing raising the threshold, which is
:05:28. > :05:33.actually very expensive. What we should do is focus on restoring the
:05:33. > :05:38.10p income tax rate. Something and inexplicably got rid of by Gordon
:05:38. > :05:41.Brown. I have called this, campaigning over the many months,
:05:41. > :05:45.the great Gordon Brown repeal bill. Labour is pitching this as the
:05:45. > :05:48.first of its big ideas for the future, but some Lib Dems see it as
:05:48. > :05:55.the basis of a cunning and rather immediate plan.
:05:55. > :05:59.Are they serious when they say they want a "Mansion Tax" and want the
:05:59. > :06:03.rich to pay their fair share. If they are, let's see the colour of
:06:03. > :06:09.their money. Why not put it forward in the Finance Bill, why not move
:06:09. > :06:13.an amendment with to the budget. If they move to a core Lib Dem
:06:13. > :06:18.flagship policy like that, why wouldn't Liberal Democrat MPs
:06:18. > :06:25.support it. Is this political posturing, or is it for real.
:06:25. > :06:28.But Labour is playing a longer game. It is called "subverting the Tory
:06:28. > :06:32.catchphrase", they have done it with the words "one-nation", and
:06:32. > :06:38.today went to the birth place of a slogan they would like to haunt the
:06:38. > :06:42.Conservatives at the next election, think 1957. Some genial
:06:42. > :06:47.commentatored said I coined the phrase which had a certain
:06:47. > :06:51.popularity, I don't know who it was, who said something like, "you never
:06:51. > :06:56.had it so good". It was the Tory Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan,
:06:56. > :07:00.who coined those words, in Bedford, in the days of black and white, to
:07:01. > :07:04.signal an era of rising living standards. Ed Miliband wants to
:07:04. > :07:07.make stagnating living standards the issue now. Look at this graph,
:07:07. > :07:11.showing real average earnings, they are falling as David Cameron comes
:07:11. > :07:17.to office, and on both key measures, they are not expected to recover
:07:17. > :07:21.much by 2015. Though, after that, the feel food factor fight -- fool
:07:21. > :07:25.good factor right come back. Labour wants to fight the election on the
:07:25. > :07:33.bays of pennies in your pocket. So -- basis of pennies in our pocket.
:07:33. > :07:36.It is starting by pledging to took back the -- put back the ten deadly
:07:36. > :07:40.pennies Gordon Brown took off people back in the day.
:07:41. > :07:43.The Eastleigh by-election is two weeks away, the seat vacated by the
:07:43. > :07:47.fast-driving Chris Huhne. Our political editor has been there all
:07:47. > :07:51.day ahead of a report on that election battle for tomorrow's
:07:51. > :07:55.programme. First of all, any sense that Labour
:07:55. > :07:59.know exactly how this is going to be received? Ed Miliband did intend
:07:59. > :08:02.for that policy to be something of a Valentine's Day present to the
:08:02. > :08:08.low-paid around the country, but also in Eastleigh. Having been out
:08:08. > :08:12.and about today, it doesn't feel yet that it is mere hours old that
:08:12. > :08:15.it is playing. This is a by- election where we are hearing
:08:15. > :08:18.immigration a lot, and Europe a fair amount. There is the cost of
:08:18. > :08:21.living and the economy is issues up and down the high street, there are
:08:21. > :08:26.four or five shops boarded up, they are fed through these decisions
:08:26. > :08:30.rather than at the forefront of voters' minds. Today I did put to
:08:30. > :08:33.the Conservative candidate, wasn't it a bit galling that a Labour
:08:33. > :08:36.leader is announcing tax cuts today, even though's not in Government,
:08:36. > :08:39.rather than a Conservative one, and she wriggled a bit. That is really
:08:39. > :08:43.the heart of it. My sources, my Conservative sources are saying to
:08:43. > :08:48.me, this is smart politics by the Labour leader. They are rather
:08:48. > :08:51.envious, they suggest that very hard at the next budget coming next
:08:51. > :08:54.month, that the Chancellor, George Osborne, is looking carefully what
:08:54. > :08:58.he can do in this area. It won't be funded by a "Mansion Tax", but what
:08:58. > :09:03.else can he do to bring down the cost of living and down tax. This
:09:03. > :09:07.is about a real change in Labour strategy? I don't think it should
:09:07. > :09:11.be overdone. I think it is a real change. There is three key things
:09:11. > :09:14.for me, but I don't think today we saw the Labour leader set out an
:09:14. > :09:19.economic strategy. They are not seen spinning it like that. The key
:09:19. > :09:23.things are these, the first is that oppositions like to set the agenda,
:09:23. > :09:26.they don't get to do it often, he has done that today. You have
:09:26. > :09:33.Conservatives and Lib Dems, as we heard in the package, scrabbleing
:09:33. > :09:35.to have their answer. The second is this is a signal of intent, it is a
:09:35. > :09:39.value, it is something politicians get to do, it is cheap and free,
:09:39. > :09:42.and they are held to it. That is what he has done, he has said if I
:09:42. > :09:47.get in power this is the sort of thing I will do, not the whole
:09:47. > :09:51.thing I will do. The third thing is this, when the voters are showed
:09:51. > :09:57.pictures of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, they say Gordon Brown, that
:09:57. > :10:03.is a problem for the Labour leader and the Shadow Chancellor who have
:10:03. > :10:08.worked so closely with Gordon Brown. Such a public trouncing of a man
:10:08. > :10:13.once their mentor is still alive today. The one series of detailed
:10:13. > :10:17.questions that we will all have to answer, I will have to answer, when
:10:17. > :10:21.I'm not in Eastleigh, concludes is this something a Labour Government
:10:21. > :10:25.will say they will do now, nowhere near power now, or will they do it
:10:25. > :10:32.when they are in power. They are saying it is not a manifesto pledge,
:10:32. > :10:36.for many people that feels like weird political sophistry. I asking
:10:36. > :10:39.Rachel Reeves in a moment, Labour's Shadow Chief Secretary to the
:10:39. > :10:44.Treasury whether it will be a manifesto commitment. As was said,
:10:44. > :10:48.a lot of people, still at the top, are tainted by the dropping of the
:10:48. > :10:53.10p tax. At the time it happened, Ed Miliband said the dropping of
:10:53. > :10:57.the 10p tax was part of a fairer system. I mean, he was clearly,
:10:57. > :11:01.either he had his fingers and toes crossed, or he genuinely thought it
:11:01. > :11:04.was a fair system and it burnt you? What Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have
:11:04. > :11:08.said today, is it was the wrong decision. They got it wrong, Gordon
:11:08. > :11:11.Brown got it wrong when he was Chancellor. And that we would not
:11:11. > :11:18.just apologise for it, but if we were in Government we would put it
:11:18. > :11:21.right by reinTateing that 10p rate of tax. -- reinTateing that 10 --
:11:21. > :11:24.reinstating that 10p tax. They are taking responsibility, they were in
:11:24. > :11:29.Government at the time, they made a mistake, the last Labour Government
:11:29. > :11:33.made a mistake, it is something we want to rectify. But basically, now,
:11:33. > :11:36.what you are saying is, that it puts Labour and Ed Miliband said it
:11:36. > :11:39.puts Labour back on the side of working people. So you weren't on
:11:39. > :11:43.the side of work people before, you weren't on the side of working
:11:43. > :11:47.people since before you scrapped it? We introduced tax credits in
:11:47. > :11:51.Government, which helped people, working families. We got that one
:11:51. > :11:54.wrong. We were wrong to get rid of the 10p tax rate. Politicians don't
:11:54. > :11:58.often admit they have made mistakes. We have said we would make a
:11:58. > :12:01.mistake and also that we would put it right. Is it a priority for you
:12:01. > :12:06.and a manifesto commitment? next election is still more than
:12:06. > :12:08.two years away. We have been clear that we will not write our
:12:08. > :12:12.manifesto two-and-a-half years ahead of the next election. But it
:12:12. > :12:17.is something that we want to do, if we were in Government today we
:12:17. > :12:20.would do it. And in the package earlier today it was said something
:12:20. > :12:22.that could be done today by the Government. Ed Balls and Ed
:12:22. > :12:25.Miliband said we will work with the Liberal Democrats and the
:12:25. > :12:28.Conservatives if they want to do this on bringing it forward in the
:12:28. > :12:30.budget this year in this parliament. Let's just be clear, on the
:12:30. > :12:34.question of the "Mansion Tax", which you think will raise whatever
:12:34. > :12:37.it is that you need, �2 billion. If the Liberal Democrats put that
:12:37. > :12:42.forward, or indeed you put it forward, you would vote that
:12:42. > :12:46.through? We would support a "Mansion Tax", but using that money
:12:46. > :12:49.to cut taxes for ordinary working families. 25 million of them.
:12:49. > :12:53.would definitely vote for that, no question? We are saying today that
:12:53. > :12:57.is what we would do if we were in Government today. We said we would
:12:57. > :13:01.work with other parties. What would stop you producing this 10p tax,
:13:01. > :13:05.what would make you ditch it, for example? We don't intend to ditch
:13:05. > :13:11.it. We're not going to start writing a manifesto in a piecemeal
:13:11. > :13:14.way. It is only �2 billion of �670 billion of spending? It is �2
:13:14. > :13:18.billion here and there. This is a costed policy, it is something we
:13:18. > :13:20.want to do, we plan to do but we are still more than two years away
:13:20. > :13:24.from an election. It does seem that you are trying to change the
:13:24. > :13:27.weather. You are trying to say, look, we are now on the side of
:13:27. > :13:31.working people, we made a massive mistake, this is actually only a
:13:31. > :13:35.very small part. OK you are making some kind of nod towards a future
:13:35. > :13:39.Labour Government's economic policy, but actually, it is such a small
:13:39. > :13:42.part. If it is totemic and says you are on the side of working people,
:13:42. > :13:45.commit to it now? If you lock at what the Conservatives and Liberal
:13:45. > :13:48.Democrats did two years before the election, the Conservatives said
:13:48. > :13:51.they would raise inheritance tax threshold to a million pounds, the
:13:51. > :13:54.Liberal Democrats said they would get rid of tuition fee, and they
:13:54. > :13:56.came into Government and didn't do those things. That shows the
:13:56. > :14:00.dangers of making promises two years before the election. This is
:14:00. > :14:03.something we want to do, we plan to. Do but we are not going to write
:14:03. > :14:07.our manifesto two years ahead of an election. We have been very clear
:14:07. > :14:11.today. If we were in Government now, and at the next election we want to
:14:11. > :14:14.do this. We want to ask more of those with broadest shoulders, and
:14:14. > :14:20.use that money to cut taxes for ordinary people struggling right
:14:20. > :14:25.now with the rising costs of living. The IFS says it is something like
:14:25. > :14:29.7p a week in the end. It is not that much? The "Mansion Tax", the
:14:29. > :14:33.IFS have said the calculation it would bring in about �2 billion.
:14:33. > :14:36.They don't know how it will be valued yet? They say it sounds
:14:36. > :14:41.reasonable, and those are the estimates others have come up with.
:14:41. > :14:46.A �2 billion revenue, could, for the 24 million basic rate tax-
:14:46. > :14:48.payers, save them �100 each year. That is �2 a week. For a family
:14:48. > :14:51.that is struggling at the moment, with rising gas and electricity
:14:51. > :14:55.bill, rising train fares, the rising cost of food, this could
:14:55. > :14:59.make a substantial difference to them. But the problem is, this was
:14:59. > :15:04.an idea you had, you ditched the idea, it was a policy you had had,
:15:04. > :15:07.you ditched that, now you are reheating it. And the IFS is saying,
:15:07. > :15:11.and the words they said is "there is no plausible economic
:15:11. > :15:15.justification for this". What the IFS said, when we introduced the
:15:15. > :15:19.10p rate of tax is it was the wrong thing to do. It was a very popular
:15:19. > :15:24.tax. They did say that today? the IFS have never been in favour
:15:24. > :15:28.of the 10p rate of tax. They think it is an overcomplication of the
:15:28. > :15:32.tax system. The reality is the 10p rate of tax sent a very good signal
:15:32. > :15:36.that work pays, it was a popular tax and it improves those work
:15:36. > :15:39.incentives for people on lower incomes to go back to work, to take
:15:40. > :15:44.more hours. We think it is the right thing to do to reintroduce
:15:44. > :15:47.that 10p rate. What the IFS are not saying is it is not affordable.
:15:48. > :15:54.What they are saying is they don't think it is the right priority
:15:54. > :15:58.priority. However it was a popular rate of tax and improved work
:15:58. > :16:05.incentives. This is not a big, bold idea, it is safe stuff? If you are
:16:05. > :16:10.a family earning, a mum or dad earning � 12,000-�20,000 a year,
:16:10. > :16:17.and this means you are �100 better off, this is a difference,
:16:17. > :16:21.especially at a time when every penny counts. Are you worried about
:16:21. > :16:25.restructuring the tax system, and we don't know whether it will be in
:16:25. > :16:30.the manifesto or not and depends on whether we get in, why not say here
:16:30. > :16:35.is something bold and new, rather than relying on trashing Gordon
:16:35. > :16:38.Brown? People want something to address their concerns, that is the
:16:38. > :16:41.rising cost of living and waging going down. This will put money in
:16:41. > :16:44.the pockets of ordinary people, we think that is a priority, and we
:16:44. > :16:51.will fund it by asking a bit more from those who live in the biggest
:16:51. > :16:55.houses in this country. In a moment, what hope for the high street? And
:16:55. > :16:58.why do so many of India's serving politicians stand accused of
:16:58. > :17:00.serious crimes? TRANSLATION: This charge is a
:17:00. > :17:10.conspiracy against me. It was slapped on me during the last
:17:10. > :17:14.Government. It is a conspiracy. The Government's big idea to revive
:17:14. > :17:18.the high street was to put Mary Portas on the case. The fairy Queen
:17:19. > :17:23.of shops took our her wand and point today 12 troubled town
:17:23. > :17:29.centres in England, including Croydon, Dartford and Stockport.
:17:29. > :17:33.Then the gift of money to 12 every year to spread her fairy dust on
:17:33. > :17:39.the chosen high street. A freedom of information request has revealed
:17:39. > :17:44.in total less than 15% of the money has been spent.
:17:44. > :17:48.It is the bleakest of times for the high street. Caught between out of
:17:48. > :17:52.town retail parks and on-line competition, town centres have been
:17:52. > :17:55.shedding jobs and shutting shops in far greater numbers than they did
:17:55. > :18:00.at the depth of the recession. The Government's announced a high
:18:00. > :18:04.street Innovation Fund, urged lower business rates, and appointed a TV
:18:04. > :18:08.guru, as their retail Tsar. Prime Minister asked retail expert,
:18:08. > :18:11.Mary Portas, to take a look at what could be done. She has come forward
:18:11. > :18:20.with 28 recommendations. It is my job, as Government minister to take
:18:20. > :18:24.a look at those recommendations and see what we can get into place.
:18:24. > :18:29.Mary Portas became famous for telling shops how to smarten up
:18:29. > :18:32.their offerings on TV. A key recommendation of her's was a
:18:32. > :18:36.competition. Local people would form town teams to come up with
:18:36. > :18:39.ideas for revitalising their high streets. She wanted radical,
:18:39. > :18:43.creative thinking. Stockport is full of creative people, one of the
:18:43. > :18:47.things it is lacking is a social hub where these people can come
:18:47. > :18:52.together and collaberate. That is what she saw in this submission by
:18:52. > :18:56.Stockport, filmed by a local student. In pay Stockport was one
:18:56. > :19:02.of 12 lucky winners to become a "Portas Pilots" pilot town. The
:19:02. > :19:07.plan was to revive the local area with young people. Mary Portas came
:19:07. > :19:10.and saw what we are all about. town was awarded about �100,000 of
:19:11. > :19:15.central Government money, to put its plans into action. In Stockport
:19:15. > :19:18.seven months later, less than a tenth of money has been spent.
:19:18. > :19:22.have been pretty frustrated by the way it has gone. Really we wanted
:19:22. > :19:25.to build on our creative ideas and get things going in Stockport, in
:19:25. > :19:30.this part of the town. It has been hard to do that and get things
:19:30. > :19:33.going, with the way that it has been set up. That money, doled out
:19:33. > :19:38.by Grant Schapps in May, was supposed to kick start the revival
:19:38. > :19:40.of the high street, and get the "Portas Pilots" going. Disclosures
:19:40. > :19:50.under the Freedom of Information Act reveal just how little of that
:19:50. > :19:59.
:20:00. > :20:03.Of the �1.2 million handed out to Town Halls by Grant Schapps, less
:20:03. > :20:07.than 15% has been use. Grant Schapps has now moved on to a new
:20:07. > :20:12.job. In the underbanks area of Stockport, they are still waiting
:20:12. > :20:16.to be revitalised. It has rather run down over the years. There used
:20:16. > :20:20.to be more shops there, there is a bed shop under that unit. They
:20:20. > :20:25.demolished it and rebuilt and it has never opened it. That was a
:20:25. > :20:29.hair dretser, that closed the same time -- dresser, that closed the
:20:29. > :20:39.same time that was rebuilt much that was a God pine furniture shop,
:20:39. > :20:40.
:20:40. > :20:45.that moved out to one of the mills, hasn't been rebuilt. John runs a
:20:45. > :20:50.Christian bookshop, and has to compete with on-line and big out of
:20:50. > :20:53.town shops. We were here a couple of week ago with Mary Portas doing
:20:53. > :20:57.a photo shoot. I haven't noticed any long-term lasting effects yet.
:20:57. > :21:01.They put some money, I think into the Dickens Festival, early
:21:01. > :21:06.December. I think there is plans for some of the money to go into
:21:06. > :21:08.something happening in June. But long-term, no, I don't know what
:21:08. > :21:11.the investment objectives are. have also seen a breakdown of
:21:11. > :21:21.exactly what the town teams have been spending their money on. I
:21:21. > :21:32.
:21:32. > :21:36.will give awe few examples. In the The second key part of the
:21:36. > :21:41.Government's strategy was to set up the high street Innovation Fund,
:21:41. > :21:45.for the towns with the most vacant shops. In April 100 towns got
:21:45. > :21:48.�100,000 each. How much of that money has been spent? Judging by
:21:48. > :21:53.the figures we have seen, very little. Five councils revealed out
:21:53. > :21:59.of that money they had spent nothing at all. So why not? Joe
:21:59. > :22:03.thinks that in Stockport it has got bogged down in bureaucracy. They
:22:03. > :22:06.have selected the usual suspect, the Chamber of Commerce, large
:22:06. > :22:09.retailers and the local shopping centre, and they haven't really
:22:09. > :22:15.engaged with local community. Portas wanted any interested local
:22:15. > :22:19.to get involved. So in Stockport, 259 people are on the town team.
:22:19. > :22:22.They vote on every single spending decision. So far they can't even
:22:23. > :22:26.agree a promotional website. Obviously the more democracy you
:22:26. > :22:30.inject in something the longer it can take. But also, I think, there
:22:30. > :22:36.is an issue about making sure the money is spent wisely. I think what
:22:36. > :22:40.would be absolutely the wrong thing to do is to say we can spend
:22:40. > :22:44.�100,000, �200,000 on day one. That is great, we will spend it on a
:22:44. > :22:47.project. It turns out to be wrong, and the project is not sustainable,
:22:47. > :22:52.a year later we are saying that was wasted money, wasn't it. Retailers
:22:52. > :22:56.say the Government is giving �11 million for high street revival
:22:57. > :23:01.with one hand, and taking away �175 million with another. That is what
:23:02. > :23:04.it will cost shops when business rates rise in April. That is the
:23:04. > :23:08.third key part of the Government's strategy, help with rates. The
:23:08. > :23:12.localism act gave councils the power to cut rates for struggling
:23:12. > :23:16.businesses. Are they doing that? The reality is for the council, of
:23:16. > :23:25.course, that we are also facing huge cuts, and we need it make the
:23:25. > :23:28.books balance. If we give discounts to business rates, that is cuts to
:23:28. > :23:31.services. That is a big challenge for us. We are looking at targeting
:23:31. > :23:35.cuts to business rates. It would be wrong to say we could afford to
:23:35. > :23:40.make really big cuts. In the toughest areas, business is
:23:40. > :23:45.so bad that shop rents have fallen by nearly a third. Yet rates are
:23:45. > :23:50.still based on boom time rents from 2008. The Government said it won't
:23:50. > :23:54.revalue them to 2017. In the moon time, no amount of
:23:54. > :23:59.creative thinking is likely to stop shops from shutting.
:23:59. > :24:04.We asked the Government to appear tonight, but no minister was
:24:04. > :24:13.available. Joining me from Lyndon is Sara Scott, part of the group
:24:13. > :24:18.which successfully bid to make MarketRasen a "Portas Pilots". And
:24:18. > :24:25.the writer of Sold Out, about the death of the high street. Is your
:24:25. > :24:29.view this is good money after bad? Yes, I'm afraid it is.
:24:29. > :24:35.We have a situation where ghost town Britain, boring town Britain,
:24:35. > :24:39.call it what you like. The indisputable facts are that 50
:24:39. > :24:44.stores a day are closing down. But it's not just the high street that
:24:44. > :24:49.has the problem. It is also the out of town parks. We have seen six
:24:49. > :24:54.major chains in a year go bust. Isn't if a laudible aim to bring
:24:54. > :25:01.back life to the high street, to bring it a hub of the town?
:25:01. > :25:04.Absolutely. There are good parts of the "Portas Pilots" review --
:25:05. > :25:09.Portas review. Not when they can't make a decision? If they are going
:25:09. > :25:12.to spend money on Peppa pig, we have a problem. The issue is a
:25:12. > :25:22.community issue, and communities that have the local economy rooted
:25:22. > :25:32.
:25:32. > :25:36.in the community will be successful. It is not just a retail issue.
:25:36. > :25:41.You were given �98,000 how much have you spent? Half of it. Did you
:25:42. > :25:45.have a plan? We have a plan and are putting it in place. We were a
:25:45. > :25:50.local group it took time to be constituted and a bank account open.
:25:50. > :25:53.We didn't have a penny at our disposal for three months. But we
:25:53. > :25:56.got on and made things happen. It is not about how much you get and
:25:56. > :25:59.how people are spending it, it is the results generating and the
:25:59. > :26:02.ideas. It is public money, surely it is about getting results?
:26:02. > :26:06.Absolutely, and that's what the focus should be. I think today
:26:06. > :26:09.there has been a lot of coverage about how quickly people are
:26:09. > :26:18.spending, and that's not really the case. It takes a little while to
:26:18. > :26:23.get projects on their feet and get momentum behind. That certainly for
:26:23. > :26:25.us the projects are all in full swing. Have you put retail units in,
:26:25. > :26:30.or found different ways of utilising shops. Have you managed
:26:30. > :26:36.to reopen shops? For us, in the six months since we have had the cash
:26:36. > :26:41.in place, we have managed to cut vacancy rates on the high street by
:26:41. > :26:44.50%, that is a substantial increase in occupancy. We have opened two
:26:44. > :26:49.community shops to allow our independent artists and producer as
:26:49. > :26:52.route on to the high street. Do you think this sounds more optimistic.
:26:52. > :26:56.Do you think they will be able to survive without a further cash
:26:56. > :26:59.injection, it will make a long time for the shops to make money,
:26:59. > :27:04.especially with the rates? This investment is a drop in the ocean.
:27:04. > :27:07.Long after the cameras have stopped rolling and the reality TV has gone.
:27:07. > :27:12.Because that is what will come out of this for Mary Portas. The TV
:27:12. > :27:18.programme is being made now. But this is a PR fluff that is going on.
:27:18. > :27:22.What we need is to concentrate on what the town centres need. It is
:27:22. > :27:26.not a retail destination. Make it residential? Make it a combination
:27:26. > :27:30.of things. I do think town teams need to be set up with local
:27:30. > :27:36.business people, local residents, and they need to concentrate on
:27:36. > :27:42.making their town unique. For the local community. Isn't the problem
:27:42. > :27:45.that people in Market Rasen go elsewhere for shopping. There can't
:27:45. > :27:48.be social engineering to stop them going to where they think the
:27:48. > :27:51.better shops are? That's right, if it is just about shopping. But I'm
:27:52. > :27:55.with Bill on this one. It is about creating an inviting community
:27:56. > :27:59.space that people want to come and spend some time. It is about
:27:59. > :28:02.reinventing the high street, not just trying to recreate something
:28:02. > :28:06.that has had the day. For example we know that all over the country
:28:06. > :28:10.libraries are shutting down, what do you do, take an empty shop and
:28:10. > :28:15.turn it into a library. What are the more creative ways to
:28:15. > :28:19.revitalise the high street, then? Exactly that. We did a survey of
:28:19. > :28:21.our high street visitors last summer, and we analysed that really
:28:21. > :28:26.carefully to find out what was missing. One of the things people
:28:26. > :28:29.wanted was a bookshop. Bookshops are quite hard to run these days at
:28:29. > :28:32.a profit. We have created a book swap on the high street and put it
:28:32. > :28:36.at the heart of a community store. It gets people in, talking to each
:28:36. > :28:40.other. Connecting in a way that unfortunately had become lost in
:28:40. > :28:46.some communities. You are shaking your head here. The facts are the
:28:46. > :28:49.general public are changing the way we behave, and our values have
:28:49. > :28:55.changed. Shopping on-line will be a very real thing in the future. Two
:28:55. > :29:02.week before Christmas, Amazon reported for the first time in
:29:02. > :29:06.history, they sold more e-books an hard copy books. What future
:29:06. > :29:10.Waterstones and other high street book shops, none. Customers are not
:29:10. > :29:14.going to the high street in sufficient numbers to make it a
:29:14. > :29:18.viable proposition as a retail destination. It needs to be, what
:29:18. > :29:24.was said, a complete package, based on residential, entertainment,
:29:24. > :29:28.restaurants, arts, and that's where Mary Portas has got the right idea
:29:28. > :29:32.in some of her 28 recommend David Kellys. About the town teams and
:29:32. > :29:37.the local communities. But we have to recognise that the high street
:29:37. > :29:39.that we once knew -- recommendations, about the town
:29:39. > :29:45.teams and local communities. We have to recognise that the high
:29:46. > :29:48.street we knew is dead and not coming back. I would say on the way
:29:48. > :29:53.to revitalisations with the right ideas from town teams across the
:29:53. > :29:57.country. David Cameron is making a three-day
:29:57. > :30:00.visit to ind next week. He will be arriving in a country still
:30:00. > :30:04.traumatised by the gang rape of a Delhi student, just before
:30:04. > :30:08.Christmas. Who later died of her injuries. It set off weeks of
:30:08. > :30:12.protests over Indian attitudes towards women. It is also prompting
:30:12. > :30:16.deeper questions in the world's largest democracy about how it runs
:30:16. > :30:24.itself. As many of its serving politicians are themselves accused
:30:24. > :30:29.of rape, murder and other serious crimes.
:30:29. > :30:33.It was an he eruption many Indians believed was waiting to happen. The
:30:33. > :30:42.Delhi rape case has unleashed a torrent of anger at the old order.
:30:42. > :30:48.Bringing a darker side of India's democracy to light. The Government
:30:48. > :30:53.is promising speedier justice and tougher laws.
:30:53. > :30:58.Attempt to murder. Forgery, murder. But the suspected criminals, this
:30:58. > :31:02.activist is investigating, are the ones making India's laws, and he
:31:02. > :31:08.says these politicians are evading justice.
:31:08. > :31:14.The problem is that our judicial system takes such a long time, and
:31:14. > :31:19.those people in politics, because at times they get in this seat of
:31:20. > :31:26.power where they can delay their cases, not just four years but for
:31:26. > :31:31.decades. We have come to India's heartland,
:31:31. > :31:35.and its most popular state Uttar Pradesh.
:31:35. > :31:45.It is one of the engines of Indian politics, controlling the most
:31:45. > :31:45.
:31:45. > :31:54.number of seats in parliament. Down the line from Delhi is the small
:31:54. > :31:58.town of Nagina. The name means "jewel", here Manoj Kumar Paras is
:31:58. > :32:05.king. He is a minister in the state
:32:05. > :32:12.Government. He has also been charged with gang rape, and six
:32:12. > :32:15.years later there has been no prosecution or movement in his case.
:32:15. > :32:25.We find him at his home with his constituents, hearing pleas for
:32:25. > :32:29.
:32:29. > :32:32.help. He says the rape charge has been fabricated by his rivals.
:32:32. > :32:37.TRANSLATION: This charge is a conspiracy against me. It was
:32:37. > :32:40.slapped on me during the last Government it is a conspiracy. But
:32:41. > :32:49.before the election, people in my constituency knew about it, and
:32:49. > :32:53.they could see through it, and that's why I won by 30,000 votes.
:32:53. > :32:59.lot of people find it hard to understand how ministers such as
:32:59. > :33:05.yourself, and other politicians can uphold the law if they are facing
:33:05. > :33:14.serious charges themselves? TRANSLATION: Just charging someone
:33:14. > :33:24.is not enough. You have to wait until you are convicted. Anyone can
:33:24. > :33:28.be charged for any number of reasons. But in many other
:33:28. > :33:33.countries, in many other democracies. Please stop the camera,
:33:33. > :33:37.please. In many other countries, no, if we could carry on. Please stop
:33:37. > :33:42.the camera. Why do you want to stop, I wanted to ask you another
:33:42. > :33:52.question? Then the minister is gone. His supporters make their feelings
:33:52. > :34:00.
:34:00. > :34:04.clear. Nothing more. For many, Uttar Pradesh is a harsh place.
:34:04. > :34:09.Millions live in extreme poverty, their lives governed by caste and
:34:09. > :34:16.tradition. Here it's rare for women to press charges at all. Many never
:34:16. > :34:25.even report an assault, because of the social stigma. We are looking
:34:25. > :34:33.for the woman the minister is accused of raping.
:34:33. > :34:37.Is she here? The woman seems to have disappeared. And we are coming
:34:37. > :34:47.up against a wall of silence here. Everyone seems to be too scared to
:34:47. > :34:48.
:34:48. > :34:58.tell us where she is. One villager asks who will save
:34:58. > :35:01.
:35:01. > :35:06.them if they go against the establishment. In 2012, these are
:35:06. > :35:10.the 370 is attempted murder. This man says he tried to go against the
:35:10. > :35:13.establishment. He accuses his local minister of trying to kill him,
:35:13. > :35:19.after he challenged him in a local election. The police documents show
:35:19. > :35:27.there is a case to answer. TRANSLATION: I am a common man, and
:35:27. > :35:33.this was my first election. He was a sitting politician, if it was a
:35:33. > :35:39.false charge the police would never have resisted a case against him.
:35:39. > :35:45.But there has been no movement in the case so far. Like so many in
:35:45. > :35:51.India's overloaded justice system. We are on our way now to find
:35:51. > :35:57.member member Ali, the man accused of -- Mehboob Ali, the man accused
:35:57. > :36:03.of attempting to kill his rival. It is not just attempted murder he's
:36:03. > :36:07.charged with, but many others, including robbery and kidnapping.
:36:07. > :36:12.This is Mehboob Ali's town, he has won four elections here, and been
:36:12. > :36:22.in power for over 15 years. We pay him a surprise visit, and
:36:22. > :36:24.
:36:24. > :36:28.find him surrounded by supporters. Mehboob Ali! Mehboob Ali. They are
:36:28. > :36:35.celebrating because he has just been promoted to Transport Minister.
:36:35. > :36:41.The police are here to guard him, not arrest him. He disputed whether
:36:42. > :36:45.he's even been charged with attempted murder. TRANSLATION:
:36:45. > :36:49.my political career, 150 people have fought elections against me,
:36:49. > :36:54.there is not a single person who can say I harmed him. Not one
:36:54. > :36:58.person. You can say anything about anyone if you want to. But this is
:36:58. > :37:02.now an official charge. The police have registered this, they have
:37:02. > :37:07.accepted it as an official charge, and so it has to go to court.
:37:07. > :37:12.Shouldn't you stand down until you can clear your name? No, no.
:37:12. > :37:20.But how can people trust you to uphold the law, if you are wanted
:37:20. > :37:23.by the law? Maybe there's a complaint in a court or a police
:37:23. > :37:26.station, everyone has the right to make a charge. But maybe after an
:37:26. > :37:36.investigation it might be found to be untrue. I don't know anything
:37:36. > :37:43.
:37:43. > :37:49.about this. Religion is one clue to
:37:49. > :37:52.understanding how things work here. The minister is Muslim, and he
:37:52. > :37:56.delivers Muslim votes for the ruling party. And whatever the
:37:56. > :38:03.charge, politicians can stay in office as long as they are not
:38:03. > :38:08.actually convicted. It is the start of a new session at the Uttar
:38:08. > :38:14.Pradesh State Assembly. Both ministers are in the chamber. And
:38:14. > :38:17.in their element. They are far from the only ministers here with
:38:17. > :38:23.spending cases, yet many wonder who is benefiting from the policies
:38:23. > :38:27.they are making. It is an astonishing fact that half
:38:27. > :38:31.the ministers in the Uttar Pradesh Government are charged with crimes.
:38:31. > :38:36.Ranging from rape and murder to robbery. And this is just the
:38:36. > :38:45.starkest example of what is a nationwide problem. A third of all
:38:45. > :38:49.India's elected politicians are facing some kind of criminal charge.
:38:49. > :38:52.The shadow over India's democracy goes all the way to Delhi. All the
:38:52. > :38:59.main parties have promised change, but instead the number of alleged
:38:59. > :39:03.criminals in their ranks keeps rising.
:39:03. > :39:08.At this Delhi-based watchdog, they have been campaigning against what
:39:08. > :39:12.they call the criminalisation of Indian politics for years. Staff
:39:12. > :39:15.have built a database of accused politicians, based on the
:39:15. > :39:19.declarations they all have to make before an election. If India's
:39:20. > :39:25.justice system can't bring them to account, its director warns the
:39:25. > :39:30.damage will spread. If you want to give somebody poison, it doesn't
:39:30. > :39:36.matter whether you are giving a full bottle of poison or a
:39:36. > :39:39.tablespoon of poison. Poison is poison. One of the reports said
:39:39. > :39:43.that criminalisation is poison. We are not talking about a tablespoon
:39:43. > :39:47.of this sort of people, we are talking about a full bottle of
:39:47. > :39:50.these guys. A judicial commission appointed by
:39:50. > :39:57.the Indian Government recently recommended all politicians facing
:39:57. > :40:01.charges should resign. But with a general election
:40:01. > :40:07.election in India next year, many suspected criminals are preparing
:40:07. > :40:11.to return to power. Before the end of the programme, we
:40:11. > :40:15.will have tomorrow morning's front pages. First, to millions Oscar
:40:15. > :40:19.Pisorius is a hero, the South African athlete, dubbed "blade
:40:19. > :40:23.runner", is an Olympic and Paralympic star. But today he was
:40:23. > :40:27.charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steencamp, after
:40:27. > :40:33.a fatal shooting in the early hours of the morning at his home in
:40:33. > :40:38.Pretoria. The man who ghost wrote his autobiography spoke to us via
:40:38. > :40:43.Skype from his home in Italy. I began by asking him how well he
:40:43. > :40:50.knew Pistorius? I think that I know him quite well. But I know the
:40:50. > :40:54.Pistorius of before. The new Pistorius is somebody that, for me,
:40:54. > :41:03.is completely unknown. Is that because you think he has changed a
:41:03. > :41:08.lot since stardom? When he was training here in Italy, his life
:41:08. > :41:17.was very quiet, very normal, and especially he was only focusing on
:41:17. > :41:23.working very hard. I found the new situation very difficult. Only
:41:23. > :41:28.sometimes from South Africa where having some information regarding
:41:28. > :41:31.some behaviour that was not nice and simple as the one that he has
:41:31. > :41:35.expressed here in Italy. Of course we don't know yet what actually
:41:35. > :41:38.happened, though he has been charged with murder. When you say
:41:38. > :41:44.that you heard from South Africa that there were some things that
:41:44. > :41:50.weren't so nice, what kind of behaviour are you talking about?
:41:50. > :41:54.The situation in his party when he has had big argument with a
:41:54. > :42:00.girlfriend of one of his friend that at the end he finished to go
:42:00. > :42:08.to the police station to explain his behaviour. Tell me, though, do
:42:08. > :42:12.you think that you ever saw any sparks of volatile, difficult
:42:12. > :42:18.behaviour when you were working alongside him in Italy? No, never.
:42:18. > :42:23.Never because he was always very pleasant with everybody. Maybe that
:42:23. > :42:32.one time he was a little bit serious, because sometimes he was
:42:32. > :42:41.closing himself because he wanted perhaps to save his privacy.
:42:41. > :42:45.shocked are you about this arrest and charge? It is a big shock.
:42:45. > :42:51.Because we came early in the morning that the first time I
:42:51. > :42:56.thought that was a nightmare, and I was still sleeping, I thought I was
:42:56. > :43:03.still sleeping, because I couldn't believe it. I know that in South
:43:03. > :43:08.Africa and a young boy can have a violent reaction, because the
:43:08. > :43:14.society there is quite violent with a lot of guns around. But I
:43:14. > :43:22.couldn't believe that he can kill a person. That is something that I
:43:22. > :43:28.cannot accept and that I cannot forgive. If at the end of this,
:43:28. > :43:32.Oscar Pisorius is found guilty of murder, do you think that will
:43:32. > :43:38.destroy him, it lobbously have destroyed his career? That's for
:43:38. > :43:45.sure. The career is normal. But the problem will destroy him as a human
:43:45. > :43:51.being. I don't know how he will survive. -- inside a jail. Because
:43:51. > :44:01.you know, he is a man that has fought for the freedom of the
:44:01. > :44:01.
:44:01. > :44:04.people, the freedom to be normal. If he finshes in jail, I don't
:44:04. > :44:08.understand what his reaction will be. Thank you very much for joining
:44:09. > :44:12.us tonight. Thank you to you. Of course we will hear more from
:44:12. > :44:22.the court in Pretoria tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning's front
:44:22. > :44:22.
:44:22. > :45:11.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 48 seconds
:45:11. > :45:16.pages, that story makes most of the Love is supposedly in the air
:45:16. > :45:20.tonight. Unless you are at work, that is. After a brief trawl of
:45:20. > :45:23.Valentine's pictures from around the world, we quite liked these,
:45:23. > :45:33.lanterns being released into the sky in Taiwan to much flash
:45:33. > :45:35.
:45:35. > :45:41.photography. From all of us here, # Love is waiting there
:45:41. > :45:46.# In my beautiful balloon # Way up in the air
:45:46. > :45:56.# In my beautiful balloon # For we can fly
:45:56. > :46:06.# We can fly # Up up and away
:46:06. > :46:15.
:46:15. > :46:19.# My beautiful Good evening, what a difference the
:46:19. > :46:23.day makes. It has felt much milder today. A little chilly Friday,
:46:23. > :46:27.first thing, there could be the odd patch of ice and pocket of fog to
:46:27. > :46:30.watch out for. Otherwise it looks largely dry and fine for many of us,
:46:30. > :46:35.with some good spells of sunshine. Certainly so across many parts of
:46:35. > :46:39.northern England, eight or nines, those temperatures on a par with
:46:39. > :46:42.what we have seen today. A shade lower because it will start
:46:42. > :46:46.slightly colder. Good spells of sunshine, slight winds, very
:46:46. > :46:49.pleasant, and essentially dry, there is the joud site chance of
:46:49. > :46:53.the odd shower popping up in western areas. That is more likely
:46:53. > :46:57.as we head our way further north. Even here, through parts of North
:46:57. > :47:01.West England and Northern Ireland, far fewer showers than we have seen
:47:01. > :47:05.during the day today. They will be light as well. One or two through
:47:05. > :47:09.Dumfries, Ayrshire and Galloway, up to the north of Scotland, here too
:47:09. > :47:12.much dryer than it has been during the day today. And less windy as
:47:12. > :47:15.well. The prospects, as you can see, through Friday and Saturday through
:47:15. > :47:19.the northern half of the country, bring rather more cloud in through
:47:19. > :47:24.Saturday. Fog in the morning as well. That weather front bringing a
:47:24. > :47:27.smattering of rain, potentially, fog could be an issue for east
:47:27. > :47:32.Wales and England on Saturday morning. It look like a cloudier