:01:31. > :01:36.David Cameron puts his Culture The proposals to move homeless
:01:36. > :01:46.families from London to two of our cities amount to human trafficking
:01:46. > :01:46.
:01:46. > :29:37.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1671 seconds
:29:37. > :29:40.and our Olympic organisers running Hello, I'm Marie Ashby, and my
:29:40. > :29:42.guests in the East Midlands this week are Andrew Bridgen, the
:29:42. > :29:47.Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire, and Paul Holmes,
:29:47. > :29:50.the former Lib Dem MP for Chesterfield. Coming up:
:29:50. > :29:54.Next week, voters in Nottingham will decide whether they want an
:29:54. > :30:01.elected mayor. Two campaigners with strong links to Labour nail their
:30:01. > :30:06.colours to the mast. One is very much in favour of the idea. We need
:30:06. > :30:09.to move on from a Victorian system whereby the leader of the council
:30:09. > :30:15.is chosen by just a few politicians from one political party in a
:30:15. > :30:20.secret meeting. And the other is very much against it. Without an
:30:20. > :30:23.increase in powers, without more resources or and it -- a
:30:23. > :30:26.geographical expansion of the city, it is a pig in a poke.
:30:26. > :30:28.Plus, the shopkeepers who've been told to take down their Olympic
:30:28. > :30:32.rings. Are the organisers being a rotten sport?
:30:32. > :30:35.First, the issue that has dominated the headlines in two of our cities.
:30:35. > :30:39.The proposal to move hundreds of homeless families from London to
:30:39. > :30:42.Derby and Nottingham. It comes from the Smart Housing Group which
:30:42. > :30:46.advises several London councils. The agency says it would relieve
:30:46. > :30:53.housing pressures in the capital. But would it increase pressure
:30:53. > :30:59.here? Antrim, the leader of the Labour
:30:59. > :31:03.group says it would be akin to human trafficking. I think he has
:31:03. > :31:07.got a hint of truth in that. It is completely unnecessary. There are
:31:07. > :31:12.plenty of houses available in London within the benefits Cup and
:31:12. > :31:19.these councils have a regal -- a legal requirement to look at the
:31:19. > :31:22.location to find accommodation for homeless people. Politicking is
:31:22. > :31:29.going on with people's lives just before the mayoral election in
:31:29. > :31:32.London. Not all of these councils are Labour. Some of them are Tory
:31:33. > :31:37.councils. I am only aware that Westminster might have made an
:31:37. > :31:43.inquiry. Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea as well.
:31:43. > :31:46.is mostly Labour councils playing politics. So that will give Ken
:31:46. > :31:52.Livingstone a slide advantage. don't think they would agree with
:31:52. > :31:58.that. I think Grant Shapps has come out and said this shouldn't be
:31:58. > :32:03.happening. There are plenty of houses even around the centre of
:32:03. > :32:08.London and their houses available for under the �400 a week rent cap.
:32:08. > :32:15.Even �400 a week to people in the North, that is a huge amount of
:32:15. > :32:25.money. What do you think, Paul Holmes? The cap is a good idea but
:32:25. > :32:31.it is going up to �28 billion, but the fact that some councils by
:32:31. > :32:36.using this capital at election time, the Tory councils in Westminster,
:32:37. > :32:42.they have decanted council tenants 20 years ago. They are making use
:32:42. > :32:46.of that. Wet at the bottom of this is that nobody builds council
:32:46. > :32:53.houses anymore. If you have got a cap housing benefits, somebody
:32:53. > :32:57.cannot -- not everybody can go into private housing. They are busy
:32:57. > :33:01.thinking seriously about this. There is even maps showing us where
:33:01. > :33:06.Derby and Nottingham are so they can plan their route on a train,
:33:06. > :33:09.find their way here. These councils have a legal requirement to look at
:33:09. > :33:13.the location of where their house homeless people within their
:33:13. > :33:17.borough and that is not going to be the Midlands from London.
:33:17. > :33:21.Especially if they have got family down there. And there is no need
:33:22. > :33:26.for it at all. There are hundreds and hundreds of houses within the
:33:26. > :33:31.�400 a week capfuls stock what are your main concerns if people did
:33:31. > :33:35.come here? So that it will not happen? Can you foresee of social
:33:36. > :33:39.problems arising if it were to happen? You could see a situation
:33:39. > :33:42.where somebody who found themselves in London homeless because they had
:33:42. > :33:50.moved from the Midlands, that for me would be legitimate if the
:33:50. > :33:54.council said they had to go back to the Midlands. But for a family to
:33:54. > :33:59.be based in London to be homeless through economic circumstances and
:33:59. > :34:03.then to be moved 100 miles away from where their friends and family
:34:03. > :34:07.are, that is no way to treat people and the Housing Minister has made
:34:07. > :34:11.it clear he is not going to allow that to happen. Already, Nottingham
:34:11. > :34:15.primary schools are running out of places. Who will play for these
:34:15. > :34:20.people's benefits? All that has pressure on what we can provide.
:34:20. > :34:25.you move large numbers of homeless unemployed people from the South of
:34:25. > :34:30.England to Nottingham, Derby it's a trick, it throws huge problems on
:34:30. > :34:33.those areas who have their own unemployment rates, they have not
:34:33. > :34:38.got the services the etc, so you cannot decant the prop him.
:34:38. > :34:41.that is what it feels like. We have heard about the problem, and Ilott
:34:41. > :34:48.pushed at someone else and hope it goes up way. They shouldn't be
:34:48. > :34:53.doing that. Back on housing, there are some houses in Newham
:34:53. > :34:57.theoretically in the bracket, but they will not take a lot of people
:34:57. > :35:02.on housing benefit. They will not allow those people. The housing cap
:35:02. > :35:07.is having an effect. It is suppressing the rise in rents.
:35:07. > :35:11.Previously, housing benefit, the amount doubled in 10 years which
:35:11. > :35:19.was driving rents up, whereas now where the housing benefit cap is in
:35:19. > :35:22.place, it is suppressing rent rises and rents are more affordable.
:35:22. > :35:25.is certainly causing a lot of debate.
:35:25. > :35:27.Next, on Thursday, Nottingham holds its referendum on whether the city
:35:27. > :35:30.should have an elected mayor. Leicester's already got one. So
:35:30. > :35:34.should Nottingham have one, too? We invited two people with close links
:35:34. > :35:38.to Labour to pitch for the votes of the undecided. One is very much in
:35:38. > :35:41.favour of the idea, the other vehemently opposed. First up, the
:35:41. > :35:49.former Head of Communications for the city council, Stephen Barker,
:35:49. > :35:56.with the case for an elected mayor. I think modern cities are run by
:35:56. > :36:00.mayors. They deal with other mayors. Both the previous government and
:36:01. > :36:04.the current Government hope very much that UK cities will choose to
:36:04. > :36:11.be governed by mayors and many ambitious cities are choosing to go
:36:11. > :36:14.for it now. There was a prevailing wind of change in favour of mayors
:36:14. > :36:19.and in Nottingham, which has achieved a lot in recent years, but
:36:19. > :36:24.not as much as other cities, needs not to fall further behind. Times
:36:24. > :36:27.change, we move on, we modernise, and we need to move on from a
:36:27. > :36:31.Victorian system whereby the leader of the council is chosen by just a
:36:31. > :36:36.few politicians from one political party in a secret meeting. We need
:36:36. > :36:40.the lever of the city to be tested at the ballot box across the city,
:36:40. > :36:45.not just in one ward. That is the fundamental democratic principle at
:36:45. > :36:50.the heart of this referendum. We all need to choose the person that
:36:50. > :36:54.leads the city. The elephant in the room in this debate is Nottingham
:36:54. > :36:58.City Council's title administrative boundary. At Trent Bridge, very
:36:58. > :37:02.example. Standing two miles first from the square, I am not in
:37:02. > :37:06.Nottingham. Nottingham Forest Football Club is not actually in
:37:06. > :37:10.Nottingham. Trent Bridge cricket ground is not in Nottingham. If one
:37:10. > :37:15.thing has come from the referendum debate already, it is at least the
:37:15. > :37:19.boundary issue is further up the agenda. But I believe that only a
:37:19. > :37:23.mayor would have the means and motivation to actually do something
:37:23. > :37:27.about it. Now we are stuck with people that matter thinking that
:37:27. > :37:32.Nottingham is a city only half the size that it truly is and with half
:37:32. > :37:37.the population unable to take part in a referendum on Thursday. The
:37:37. > :37:42.decision for now is whether or not Nottingham once a mayor at all. Of
:37:42. > :37:45.course, consideration of what candidates might be available in
:37:45. > :37:50.November will be for Labour but we can be sure that Nottingham these
:37:50. > :37:55.bold and determined leadership from somebody that wants to put the city
:37:55. > :37:59.on the map. Come rain on a truck -- come rain or trying on Thursday,
:37:59. > :38:02.vote for a mayor in Nottingham. Convinced? Well, the former Labour
:38:02. > :38:05.Leader of the city council, John Taylor, insists you should think
:38:05. > :38:09.again. The idea of a directly elected
:38:09. > :38:14.mayor from Nottingham is unwanted and unnecessary, and more probably
:38:14. > :38:18.just a diversionary stunt from Clegg and Cameron. We are told that
:38:18. > :38:21.only a directed -- directly elected mayor can bring about long-term
:38:21. > :38:27.investment and stable leadership which a city like Nottingham needs
:38:27. > :38:29.but without an increase in powers, without more resources or a
:38:29. > :38:34.geographical expansion of the city boundaries, none of that is on
:38:34. > :38:39.offer. We are being asked to vote for a pig in a poke. Supporters of
:38:39. > :38:43.the mayor say it is needed for brave long-term planning and
:38:43. > :38:48.accessing resources but I can tell you that over the last 25 years,
:38:48. > :38:51.Nottingham has enjoyed that brave, consistent and long-term future in
:38:51. > :38:56.planning big projects. The refurbishment of the old market
:38:56. > :38:59.square built with private sector money and the building of the
:38:59. > :39:04.Nottingham Contemporary are the envy of other cities, all done
:39:04. > :39:08.without a mayor. And that same, highly pragmatic approach has been
:39:08. > :39:11.applied by council leaders to the city's services. There has been
:39:11. > :39:15.dramatic improvement in education, crime has been reduced and
:39:15. > :39:20.Nottingham is now the cleanest of all the major cities. That costs
:39:20. > :39:25.money. Be directly elected mayor will not have any more cash. They
:39:25. > :39:29.will be faced with making millions of pounds worth of cuts. I believe
:39:29. > :39:34.in the importance of a city driving the regional economy and I
:39:34. > :39:39.understand how that should work. Or should have some one or somebody in
:39:39. > :39:44.charge of infrastructure, land use planning, highways, transport, big
:39:44. > :39:51.investment decisions but the mayor, whoever that is, their authority
:39:51. > :39:56.would stop at Trent Bridge. And boots, it is in Broxtowe. We used
:39:56. > :40:00.to have somebody who did that. They have been scrapped. As for getting
:40:00. > :40:05.local kids, their chance to share in the city's prosperity,
:40:05. > :40:10.programmes have been cut. The mayor is irrelevant. For all these
:40:10. > :40:14.reasons, I will be urging everyone in Nottingham to simply vote of no.
:40:14. > :40:19.So, who gets our MPs' vote? A pig in a poke. That's what John Taylor
:40:19. > :40:24.says people in Nottingham will get if they vote for a mayor.
:40:24. > :40:28.I would disagree. More than half the people in the country and half
:40:29. > :40:32.of the jobs are based in our cities. They need to be areas of
:40:32. > :40:37.regeneration and growth and you need a strong figure to lead at
:40:37. > :40:42.that. And mayors have been successful across the world and in
:40:42. > :40:46.London of focusing that energy and drive. Not always. You are talking
:40:46. > :40:51.about Stoke and Doncaster? They were dysfunctional before the mayor
:40:51. > :40:56.came along. They need a major disorganisation and the mayor was
:40:56. > :41:00.not strong enough to deliver it. We need more transparency as well.
:41:01. > :41:09.Nottingham City Council is the only one that is not its closed --
:41:10. > :41:14.disclosing expenses over �500. They -- the people want transparency. It
:41:14. > :41:17.is clear that it is a group of councillors in a darkened room who
:41:18. > :41:24.decide the leader of the city council is, not the people of
:41:24. > :41:31.Nottingham. Steven Barker is saying that. He insists it is time that
:41:31. > :41:41.the people of Nottingham have their say. That is a nonsense. You have
:41:41. > :41:41.
:41:41. > :41:45.city-wide elections. You might as well say, let's scrap the MPs in
:41:45. > :41:52.Parliament and elect David Cameron as President to do what they like,
:41:52. > :41:57.and that demagoguery approach is appalling and mayors a rare example
:41:57. > :42:01.of that. Looking to America, I have been unstudied city governments in
:42:01. > :42:05.two cities in America and believe me it is not an example we want to
:42:05. > :42:09.follow. The rife corruption and incompetence that goes on because
:42:09. > :42:15.of this system is one of the worst examples that Cameron could quote.
:42:15. > :42:20.Is the danger we give too much power to that 1%? It is people not
:42:20. > :42:24.systems that are corrupt. The mayor would be a person. He will have a
:42:24. > :42:30.lot of power, but also be accountable to the people. We can
:42:30. > :42:34.vote him out we like we do with an M P. There is also going to be a
:42:34. > :42:39.male role covenant of these mares that will go down and lobby on
:42:39. > :42:43.behalf of their cities to the Prime Minister. So they are going to have
:42:43. > :42:51.real power. They must have power because there are plenty of ex-
:42:51. > :42:53.Labour ministers that want to be mayors. Of course, it is
:42:53. > :42:58.interesting that the Conservatives on Nottinghamshire County Council
:42:58. > :43:04.have planned to abandon their current system and go back to a
:43:04. > :43:09.committee style system. If they go for the mayor, it is going to
:43:09. > :43:12.change that. They will go back to the Cabinet system. They have got
:43:12. > :43:18.plans to abandon it and go to committee style where more people
:43:18. > :43:22.have a say. Well, everyone in Nottingham will have a say...
:43:22. > :43:28.said that one person will have a say. It will be one person driving
:43:28. > :43:32.the vision, but he will have to have a mandate, what his aims are.
:43:32. > :43:38.And the people will vote. It is for the people in Nottingham to decide
:43:38. > :43:42.if what they won. You have to be in it to win it, so if they don't do
:43:42. > :43:47.it, could they lose out? Of the leader of any council can go and
:43:47. > :43:52.lobby in London and Europe and do effectively. They have done from
:43:52. > :43:57.Sheffield, Nottingham and smaller towns like Chesterfield. I was an
:43:57. > :44:01.MP for nine years and my colleague had far more power to influence
:44:01. > :44:07.than I did and he led the normal Council where he had the support of
:44:07. > :44:11.half the councillors. The mayor, he only needs the support of a third
:44:11. > :44:15.of the councillors and he can do what he wants. He can bulldoze
:44:15. > :44:23.anything through. As we have seen in Doncaster and Stoke and lots of
:44:23. > :44:28.American cities, it is a disaster. Isn't at the very positive in this?
:44:28. > :44:36.Doesn't it engage people in politics? The X Factor is then --
:44:36. > :44:42.The X Factor is not a good example of how to run a country. Boris
:44:42. > :44:45.Johnson and Ken Livingstone, it is about who you least dislike. It is
:44:45. > :44:50.ludicrous and demeans politics. It is anti-democratic and it is the
:44:50. > :44:56.very day interest. There is nothing democratic about a few councillors
:44:56. > :45:05.with a small majority and the council deciding between themselves
:45:05. > :45:10.whose turn it is to beat the leader. We are talking on principle. We are
:45:10. > :45:15.driving forward a city in difficult times and being a coalescing force
:45:15. > :45:19.for the city, that is a mayor. And having a mandate from the people.
:45:19. > :45:23.The Lib Dems are not as democratic as they would suggest. We believe
:45:23. > :45:26.in democracy where you have to have half the people on a council
:45:26. > :45:31.supporting what you were doing. You cannot railroad things through with
:45:31. > :45:36.less than a third. You would give them well-paid positions so they
:45:36. > :45:39.will go along with anything you say, which is what happened in Doncaster.
:45:39. > :45:43.Doncaster are elected a mayor because they had a corrupt Labour
:45:43. > :45:48.council and they are having a referendum to get rid of the mayor!
:45:48. > :45:53.Which way will it go? I don't know. I hope it will go yes for an
:45:53. > :45:59.election for mayor. Well, I don't know, that is down for the voters
:45:59. > :46:02.in Nottingham and the other cities, but a lot of them, as is happening
:46:02. > :46:05.with the 12th mayor paula mac, they will have a referendum to get rid
:46:05. > :46:15.of them. Thank you both. Time for our regular Sixty Seconds
:46:15. > :46:18.
:46:18. > :46:22.slot. Here's our political editor, The GMB members say they will take
:46:22. > :46:28.industrial action from tomorrow over Nottingham's workplace parking
:46:28. > :46:32.levy. The company can afford to cover the �300 it will cost each
:46:32. > :46:38.worker, they say. Imperial Tobacco say they are prepared to pay most
:46:38. > :46:43.of it. UKIP member Derek Clarke has repaid �31,000 after an
:46:43. > :46:47.investigation by his anti-fraud watchdog. He used the money to pay
:46:47. > :46:51.for two assistance. He says at no stage did he gain personally.
:46:51. > :46:56.Next, a novel way to decide the outcome of an election. By Labour
:46:56. > :47:00.group on air wash Council tossed a coin to resolve a split over who
:47:00. > :47:05.should be the new leader. Alex Phillips won by a head.
:47:05. > :47:08.Finally, the Olympics is running rings around businesses. Two
:47:08. > :47:17.shopkeepers have been told to remove the rings from their
:47:17. > :47:20.premises. They say the organisers are running away with themselves.
:47:20. > :47:27.Paul Holmes, do you think the Olympic organisers are taking their
:47:27. > :47:31.commercial rules way too seriously? I do. The Olympics has become
:47:31. > :47:35.demeaned over the last 20 years just by becoming a shop front
:47:35. > :47:38.window for large multinational companies. They pour vast amounts
:47:39. > :47:42.of money into the advertising that comes from it and they want to get
:47:42. > :47:47.their profit back. It is undermining the spirit of the
:47:47. > :47:52.Olympic sport stop do you agree? can see why the organisers want to
:47:52. > :47:57.protect their brand image. There will be a lot of foreign visitors
:47:57. > :48:01.and a lot of counterfeit goods. When you see the Olympic Cafe in
:48:01. > :48:06.London, which has been called for 20 years and it has been told to
:48:06. > :48:09.take it signed a, it is unreasonable. It is taking it far
:48:09. > :48:19.too far. It does seem sad that people are being penalised for
:48:19. > :48:21.
:48:21. > :48:25.trying to enter the spirit of the games. Isn't it sad? No business in
:48:25. > :48:31.Derbyshire is going to undermine the profit of the Olympics in
:48:31. > :48:34.London. On the face of it, this crackdown seems over-the-top, but
:48:34. > :48:39.organisers will say that if they give way to one shopkeeper, they
:48:39. > :48:43.would have to do it to all. There is a danger to the brand, they say.
:48:43. > :48:48.One of my colleagues wanted to send a letter out and he couldn't put
:48:48. > :48:53.the logo on their because it was protected at that level. Really?
:48:53. > :48:59.Yes. It had to be blanked out the. Have you got any tickets? I did put
:48:59. > :49:04.in for some but I didn't get any. Did you? No. I will watch a bit of
:49:04. > :49:08.it on television. Get into the spirit of it! Like the shopkeeper
:49:08. > :49:13.that was going to hand knit the rings false stop all the money was
:49:13. > :49:21.being diverted from places like Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire for