Browse content similar to 22/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the East Midlands: Are some GPs being unfair to women | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
who want abortions? And is the Government going cold on | :01:36. | :01:46. | |
:01:46. | :01:46. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1735 seconds | :01:46. | :30:42. | |
the electrification of Midland Hello, I'm Marie Ashby with the | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
talking points in the East Midlands. Our guests this week need little | :30:45. | :30:47. | |
introduction. Former Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is | :30:47. | :30:49. | |
Labour MP for Derby South and Stephen Dorrell, Conservative MP | :30:49. | :30:51. | |
for Charnwood, is chairman of the Health Select Committee. | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
Coming up: East Midlands MPs combine forces to fight for Midland | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
Mainline to be electrified. But is the Government going cold on the | :30:57. | :31:03. | |
idea? And a reality check for the Lib Dems in one of our cities. | :31:03. | :31:06. | |
First, an issue that always generates controversy - abortion. | :31:07. | :31:09. | |
This week a Chesterfield surgery hit the headlines over a notice | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
warning some of its doctors won't speak to patients about | :31:12. | :31:14. | |
terminations or emergency contraception. So should GPs be | :31:14. | :31:23. | |
free to exercise their conscience? Or are they overstepping the mark? | :31:23. | :31:29. | |
Kate Smurthwaite from the Abortion Rights campaign is also with us. | :31:29. | :31:32. | |
The surgery says the notice is there to save women the time and | :31:32. | :31:35. | |
embarrassment of seeing a doctor who's not prepared to give them an | :31:35. | :31:44. | |
abortion referral. What is the problem with that? People going | :31:44. | :31:48. | |
into the surgery, it is shocking to see. You don't expect to see a sign | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
of it says because of our religious backgrounds these other treatments | :31:52. | :31:55. | |
you can and can't have had different doctors. There is | :31:55. | :31:59. | |
something shocking about it. That said, we know that around the UK, | :32:00. | :32:03. | |
around one in five doctors has an issue with termination and will not | :32:03. | :32:07. | |
refer. We need to find some way that women can see doctors who are | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
happy to give them the treatment they need. I am not 100 % | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
comfortable of a sign in his surgery. I don't normally go into | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
the doctors and explained my ailments to the receptionist. I | :32:19. | :32:23. | |
wait for the privacy of a consultation room. Clearly, we need | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
to let women know that if they are not going to get the treatment they | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
want from one doctor, they can be referred. You can always ask for a | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
female doctor or if you have a preference a witch doctor you see. | :32:35. | :32:42. | |
That is useful. If I know there is a doctor that they think fair | :32:42. | :32:48. | |
religious views are more important about my bodily autonomy, I don't | :32:48. | :32:56. | |
want to see them about an ear infection even. Do you agree with | :32:56. | :32:59. | |
Kate that the surgery is piling pressure on women who already have | :32:59. | :33:01. | |
a difficult decision to make? have mixed feelings. It has always | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
been the case that doctors have a right to say this is not something | :33:07. | :33:15. | |
I personally am comfortable with. But they are not going to perform | :33:15. | :33:20. | |
the abortion. Surely they should be able to give advice? Well, some | :33:20. | :33:26. | |
people are not comfortable with that. Certainly, I'd take it Kate's | :33:26. | :33:33. | |
point entirely, it is awkward for somebody. It would be particularly | :33:33. | :33:36. | |
awkward to have that difficult conversation with a doctor who says, | :33:36. | :33:43. | |
no, I want nothing to do with this. It is also a bit awkward to have to | :33:43. | :33:48. | |
have this conversation with a receptionist. Maybe that is | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
something that we ought to look out to try to ease that problem as much | :33:52. | :34:01. | |
as possible, for both parties. is one thing that doctors might | :34:01. | :34:04. | |
refuse to carry out abortions but surely they should not refuse to | :34:04. | :34:08. | |
talk to a patient. I don't that -- I don't think that surgery is | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
saying we refuse to talk. There are saying that if a patient has come | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
in seeking a termination, it is probably in the interests of that | :34:17. | :34:27. | |
patient as well ours of the doctor to avoid the circumstances. I think | :34:27. | :34:33. | |
we're all agreeing that what we are looking for is a sympathetic way of | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
ensuring that the necessary difficulty is avoided. Do you think | :34:36. | :34:39. | |
doctors are taking their principles too far by refusing to see someone | :34:39. | :34:45. | |
who wants abortion advice? It is a very long-standing convention, as I | :34:45. | :34:50. | |
understand it. There has been an acceptance and understanding for a | :34:50. | :34:54. | |
very long time. Put the question of the other way. If someone has a | :34:54. | :34:58. | |
conscientious objection to being involved in terminations, is that | :34:58. | :35:00. | |
the reason why somebody who otherwise has a commitment to a | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
medical career should be denied the opportunity of using their skills | :35:04. | :35:08. | |
for the benefit of the patients? are not just talking about | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
abortions. Some doctors will not give a emergency contraception like | :35:12. | :35:18. | |
the morning-after pill. Doesn't that lead more women down the line | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
of thinking the only thing that is available to me is it an issue? | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
it shouldn't lead to that conclusion. But it could. | :35:27. | :35:33. | |
shouldn't if there is any kind of advice given. The reason the | :35:33. | :35:37. | |
emergency termination... The medical termination using a police | :35:37. | :35:41. | |
regarded by the doctor as a reason for conscientious objection, and | :35:41. | :35:47. | |
they regard that as a form of abortion. What do you think? It is | :35:47. | :35:50. | |
not a form of abortion. All the medical evidence suggests it | :35:50. | :35:56. | |
doesn't cause an embryo that has implanted and was ever to be | :35:56. | :36:00. | |
discharged. Pit-stops implantation and fertilisation, which is what | :36:00. | :36:05. | |
happens when you don't get pregnant. -- it stops. That is a side issue. | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
The issue is we have quite high levels of doctors at their who | :36:11. | :36:13. | |
choose to exercise his conscientious objection. You are | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
right, it's been around for something -- for a long time but | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
that doesn't mean it is acceptable. For a long time we sent small boys | :36:21. | :36:28. | |
up chimneys. It doesn't mean that was a good idea. It is difficult | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
because it is a slippery slope. There are people out there who have | :36:33. | :36:36. | |
religious objections to blood transfusions and those who think | :36:36. | :36:40. | |
that those who have a smoking addiction shouldn't be entitled to | :36:40. | :36:45. | |
treatment. We must not go down a road where people say I don't want | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
to be involved with that. We have seen a slip from abortion to this | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
thing about emergency contraception. Sooner or later, people will talk | :36:53. | :36:56. | |
about contraception in the same way. We have to stamp it out now. Should | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
things stay as they are? I don't accept the argument that this is a | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
slippery slope and what next? The truth is, this is a discrete | :37:06. | :37:12. | |
subject that has been much fought over and this is the conclusion | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
that has been arrived at. Perhaps too discreet. Maybe we should | :37:17. | :37:25. | |
discuss it more. I'd been easily defined. I don't think there is any | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
evidence that the boundaries of the debate are being shifted. Thanks | :37:28. | :37:38. | |
:37:38. | :37:40. | ||
for joining us. Next: our MP's combined forces this | :37:40. | :37:42. | |
week to press the government to electrify the Midland Mainline. | :37:42. | :37:45. | |
They practically queued up to support a motion from Loughborough | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
MP, Nicky Morgan. It is about unfairness. There is �12 billion | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
being invested in railways and only �200 million being invested in the | :37:55. | :38:01. | |
Midland Main Line. It is likely to grow by 800,000 over the next 20 | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
years also so there is clearly a demand for the service but there is | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
also a huge economic benefit. Upgrade of the Midland Main Line | :38:10. | :38:12. | |
would bring huge benefits to Leicester for example and also I | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
imagine, Loughborough. independent report prepared for the | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
councils and executive estimated that up grading and electrifying | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
the Midland Main Line would generate �450 million worth of | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
wider economic benefits in terms of higher business productivity. This | :38:27. | :38:31. | |
of course includes the creation of hundreds of jobs through | :38:31. | :38:34. | |
construction activities and the refurbishment works on the trains | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
themselves, as well as encouraging more businesses to relocate and | :38:38. | :38:41. | |
invest around the Midland Main Line the corridor as journey times | :38:41. | :38:46. | |
reduced. While the business case for London mainline metrication | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
does indeed look impressive -- Midland Main Line, there can be no | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
doubt that the project would be complex and challenging and it | :38:56. | :39:01. | |
would be an expensive one to deliver. Network Rail is -- has | :39:01. | :39:06. | |
estimated that the capital cost of electrification would be �530 | :39:06. | :39:09. | |
million, not including the other improvements referred to in the | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
debate. Major engineering work would be required, just to make | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
room for the overhead wires. Over 50 bridges would have to be rebuilt. | :39:19. | :39:25. | |
Not so long ago... Theresa Villiers accepted the case for improving the | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
line. Now, looking at that, it looks like she is not so sure. | :39:29. | :39:34. | |
all know that we live in very straitened circumstances of the | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
burden of proof on people who are arguing, as we all are, the case | :39:37. | :39:42. | |
for this investment has got somewhat more difficult because of | :39:42. | :39:51. | |
the circumstance. There seemed to be a lot of yes but so. -- yes, | :39:51. | :40:00. | |
buts... That figure covers the cost of the new bridges and the extra | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
gauge. The question is whether this is an investment that delivers a | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
return both in terms of the improved rail performance and in | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
terms of wider economic performance. The answer is that it does. Do you | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
get the feeling that she has already made up her mind? I cannot | :40:17. | :40:24. | |
remember a time when every MP, the length of the Midland Main Line, | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
didn't support electrification and I've never met an MP from that area | :40:27. | :40:37. | |
:40:37. | :40:40. | ||
who could understand why it has ever gone ahead. I think Stephen is | :40:40. | :40:43. | |
right. It is likely to be a question of money. The fact is, why | :40:43. | :40:48. | |
has it never, in all these years, been a high priority project? A | :40:48. | :40:52. | |
remember once being told, we were all told, that it was because there | :40:52. | :40:55. | |
were a lot of business users on the Midland Main Line. You would think | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
that would be a better reason for it to be done but somehow, it has | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
never happened. I hope before I leave politics that it will happen. | :41:03. | :41:12. | |
That is a challenge! It seems grossly unfair that according to | :41:12. | :41:15. | |
Sir Alan Meale the East Midlands has received only �200 million of | :41:15. | :41:18. | |
the �12 billion invested in rail networks. That is a way of looking | :41:18. | :41:21. | |
at it. I prefer personally the approach that simply says, let's | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
look at this as a discrete project. It delivers a return to rail users | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
and a return to the wider economic benefit of their communities on the | :41:29. | :41:36. | |
line. That by itself is an argument for doing it. It does seem that | :41:36. | :41:40. | |
�500 million seems a small price to pay. It sounds ridiculous, �500 | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
million! But look what we get back from it is what people are saying. | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
It's a big project, there is no question of that. If you look | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
around the country of Investment taking place in Israel, in other | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
parts of the country, it is very hard to understand why this has not | :41:57. | :42:06. | |
been a higher priority. -- Investment taking place on the | :42:06. | :42:12. | |
railway. You can see from the film you have shown, there were a number | :42:12. | :42:18. | |
of East Midlands MPs present at that debate to express support. | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
Margaret, myself, the majority of the East Midlands MPs have written | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
to ministers and have made the case. That we will go on doing. Is it a | :42:27. | :42:37. | |
:42:37. | :42:38. | ||
question of keeping on going? keeping nagging away! | :42:38. | :42:41. | |
Next, in less than two weeks, voters in one of our cities will be | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
heading for the polls. And it could mean the end for the only Tory, Lib | :42:45. | :42:53. | |
Dem Coalition in the region. It may not have the chandeliers and | :42:53. | :42:55. | |
mahogany furniture of the cabinet room in Number 10 but Derby's | :42:55. | :42:58. | |
cabinet does have plenty in common with David Cameron's. There's one | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
big difference though. While Ed Miliband has to put up with the | :43:01. | :43:04. | |
status quo until 2015, in Derby, there are elections almost every | :43:04. | :43:10. | |
year. And this time, power is in the balance. The manifestos for | :43:10. | :43:13. | |
Derby may reveal something about the way each party is treating this | :43:13. | :43:19. | |
election. This is the Conservatives won. It is 12 pages long. The Lib | :43:19. | :43:22. | |
Dems manifesto is eight pages long. Labour's manifesto is one piece of | :43:22. | :43:28. | |
paper. You can never take the election for granted. You need to | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
get out on the doorstep, secured a promise of individuals to vote for | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
you, make sure all polling day that they are going out and voting for | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
you. The reason our manifesto is short is we want to over deliver | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
and and a promise. A let's look at the numbers. To win outright | :43:44. | :43:48. | |
control of the Council, you need 26 councillors. Labour are close to | :43:49. | :43:52. | |
that magic number, they have got 22 at the moment. They tell me they | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
are pretty confident of picking up at least before macro they need for | :43:56. | :44:03. | |
a majority. Privately, the kiss it is think they will... They hope | :44:03. | :44:07. | |
that Labour's gains will not come from them but for the Lib-Dems and | :44:07. | :44:10. | |
said. The Lib Dems are the smallest party at the moment with 12 | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
councillors but they have to defend of those seats this year. If last | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
year's results were repeated again this year, it could be a very bad | :44:18. | :44:24. | |
fear for the did Dems. I think things have moved on a lot the last | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
12 months. We've been out for the doors, telling people what they | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
have been doing and everything is still to play for. We've got a | :44:31. | :44:34. | |
couple of weeks to go. The signs are out there on the doorstep have | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
been positive. Like their coalition partners, the Conservatives are | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
keen to highlight the big regeneration projects they have | :44:42. | :44:45. | |
invested in. But will this big- spending be enough to impress | :44:45. | :44:51. | |
voters? What matters is stability and investors and businesses having | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
confidence in the council administration. I think they have | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
been reasonably confident and happy with the coalition administration | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
as we've had it. From my point of view, I would prefer an all-out | :45:03. | :45:13. | |
:45:13. | :45:14. | ||
Conservative administration. What of the smaller parties? Could they | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
get their only George Galloway? They are putting up far more | :45:17. | :45:21. | |
candidates between them than they have in any recent election. | :45:22. | :45:25. | |
Council budgets will fall again next year of the year after. With | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
the Conservatives and the Lib-Dems are promising a third council tax | :45:30. | :45:33. | |
freeze on top. With so little wriggle room, you have to wonder | :45:33. | :45:37. | |
whether being in charge of their local council right now as much fun. | :45:37. | :45:42. | |
But local politics isn't the only game being played here. Unlike its | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
neighbours, Derby is not being asked if it wants an elected mayor. | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
It is not getting a local enterprise zone either. For a city | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
that can sometimes feel like its football club is a championship | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
side rather than a Premier League One, on 3rd May at least, Derby | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
will be in the FA Cup final politically speaking. You can be | :46:01. | :46:06. | |
sure if Labour win, Ed Miliband will hail it as the start of a | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
winning streak. If the coalition can hold them off, you will hear | :46:09. | :46:19. | |
:46:19. | :46:21. | ||
the cheers from Westminster all the way up the motorway. | :46:22. | :46:24. | |
Well as Chris Doidge made clear, unlike Leicester and Nottingham who | :46:24. | :46:27. | |
have elections every four years, Derby has three every four years. A | :46:27. | :46:30. | |
recipe for greater democracy or instability? One for you to answer, | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
Margaret. There are different views but I have always been in favour of | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
the electorate having an opportunity every year to take some | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
decisions and to influence what happens, instead of being stuck | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
with one outcome over that whole period. What other benefit would | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
there be to that system? It gives you a chance for people to reflect | :46:48. | :46:54. | |
the mood of how things are going. For example, a few years ago, we | :46:54. | :47:00. | |
had a group that were elected to lead the council who made various | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
promises and which had gone within days, almost, of the local election. | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
The following year, the electorate had a chance to respond. Having | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
elections every year makes councillors more accountable, | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
doesn't it? The other argument is that at a time when local elections | :47:17. | :47:21. | |
are often driven by reactions to national events and opinion polls, | :47:21. | :47:24. | |
it smooths out the effects of the swings around public opinion, | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
around the performance of the national government. As Margaret | :47:27. | :47:36. | |
says, there are views from both parties, all parties. I don't think | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
there's any great appetite to go down this road. I think we would | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
prefer a system which says that we have local elections every four | :47:44. | :47:48. | |
years and in the interim years, we have the county elections. | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
don't fancy having a general election every year for example! | :47:53. | :47:56. | |
There was a time in the 17th century when there was a strong | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
argument for that but we didn't adopt it. Have we moved on from | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
them? The other side of the coin, Margaret, is that if councils have | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
to worry about elections every year, are they not much less likely to | :48:08. | :48:11. | |
make tough decisions which would make themselves unpopular with the | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
electorate? I don't think that it necessarily follows. Councillors | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
who are looking to the long-term interests of the place they are | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
elected to help to run the will be prepared to take those decisions, | :48:24. | :48:29. | |
and have, from time to time. What it does mean is that they are | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
perhaps a bit more responsive to the electorate than they would | :48:32. | :48:39. | |
otherwise be. And that has to be a good thing. Of course it is a good | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
thing that councillors are responsive to the electorate. I | :48:42. | :48:45. | |
don't think you necessarily have to have annual elections to focus the | :48:45. | :48:48. | |
minds of elected officials on the fact that one day they will face | :48:48. | :48:58. | |
:48:58. | :49:00. | ||
the voters in the ballot box. Just time to update you on some of | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
the other stories making the news in the East Midlands this week in | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
Sixty Seconds, with Our Political Editor John Hess. | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
The GMB Union is holding meetings with BMI over the number of jobs | :49:10. | :49:13. | |
under threat as a result of the proposed takeover by British | :49:13. | :49:15. | |
Airways.The union estimates three hundred jobs could go at BMI's | :49:16. | :49:18. | |
headquarters and more than a hundred and fifty in its | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
maintenance hangars at East Midlands Airport. Angry | :49:23. | :49:25. | |
demonstrators made their presence felt at a meeting of Derbyshire | :49:25. | :49:28. | |
County Council.They were protesting against cuts which they claim would | :49:28. | :49:30. | |
decimate youth services.The council wants charities and other groups to | :49:30. | :49:37. | |
get involved. It'll review its policy next month. David Parsons | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
wins confidence vote. The leader of the Conservative majority in | :49:41. | :49:43. | |
Leicestershire, David Parsons, has survived a no confidence motion | :49:43. | :49:46. | |
brought by Labour and Lib Dem councillors. He's currently being | :49:46. | :49:53. | |
investigated over his expenses claims. Finally, VAT on warm | :49:53. | :49:59. | |
pasties is something of a hot potato for the Government. Now | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
Leicester South MP, Jon Ashworth, wants assurances that we won't be | :50:02. | :50:12. | |
:50:12. | :50:18. |