:01:44. > :01:47.Sunday Politics in the East Midlands... The head of the East
:01:47. > :01:57.Midlands Ambulance Service response to claims that spending cuts are
:01:57. > :01:57.
:01:57. > :28:52.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1615 seconds
:28:52. > :28:55.danger ring leads. And how long Hello, I'm Marie Ashby. My guests
:28:55. > :28:58.in the East Midlands this week are Chris Williamson, the Labour MP for
:28:58. > :29:01.Derby North, who's Shadow Communities Minister - and the
:29:01. > :29:04.chairman of Nottingham Liberal Democrats, Issan Ghazni. Coming
:29:04. > :29:07.up... After an unborn baby dies following a long wait for an
:29:07. > :29:15.ambulance, we ask if our regional service is being undermined by
:29:15. > :29:18.spending cuts. Plus, one of our local dailies has become a weekly.
:29:18. > :29:21.Are others facing the same fate? First, the Coalition is under even
:29:21. > :29:25.greater strain after the Lib Dems abstained this week in a Commons
:29:25. > :29:33.vote over the conduct of Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. The Tories
:29:33. > :29:39.survived the motion. But at what cost? Do you think that Nick Clegg
:29:39. > :29:43.was right to tell his MPs to abstain? Absolutely. The decision
:29:43. > :29:50.taken by David Cameron was not a Coalition decision. It was a
:29:50. > :29:53.personal decision. And as such, we felt that whatever happened in the
:29:53. > :30:01.Leveson Inquiry, if Jeremy Hunt goes into the inquiry and we have
:30:01. > :30:06.had issues that remain outstanding, and that these issues should be
:30:06. > :30:12.legitimate be taken up to an inquiry. But is that not a cowardly
:30:12. > :30:19.way out? Actually, it shows that we are independent. You cannot have
:30:19. > :30:24.your cake and eat it. Some people have said that we are in the pocket
:30:24. > :30:28.of the Conservatives. That we do what they want us to do but
:30:28. > :30:35.actually we have proved that on an issue of principle, we are
:30:35. > :30:39.independent. But is the Coalition intact? Yes, because that is the
:30:39. > :30:43.primary focus and priority. The Coalition is intact but on
:30:43. > :30:47.principle we felt that there was no need to support this. You might not
:30:48. > :30:55.like it but the Coalition held firm and the Government was not defeated
:30:55. > :30:58.on that motion. But what is the point of the Liberal Democrats?
:30:58. > :31:04.They have had a long track record of sitting on the fence and
:31:04. > :31:08.appearing to be all things to all people. We have seen that in local
:31:08. > :31:11.and national government. The Liberal Democrats are enabling this
:31:11. > :31:18.right wing and ideologically driven government to push through some of
:31:18. > :31:26.the most right-wing and terrible economic and social policies that
:31:26. > :31:31.we have seen since probably before the second world war. That is not
:31:31. > :31:36.right, Chris. Let's talk about the Murdoch issue. When it comes to
:31:36. > :31:40.that, we will not take any lessons from Labour. We have not got any
:31:40. > :31:45.moral obligation to take a leaf from their book on that issue
:31:45. > :31:50.because, let's go back to the way in which the Labour Party behaved
:31:51. > :31:55.towards Rupert Murdoch. It was disgraceful, the way in which you
:31:55. > :31:59.were bowing down to Rupert Murdoch. You have certainly upset some
:31:59. > :32:04.Conservative MPs. One had to miss a funeral and another had to come
:32:04. > :32:10.back early from honeymoon. It is no wonder you will find it hard to get
:32:10. > :32:15.the House of Lords reforms. these issues are not compatible. We
:32:15. > :32:19.have got a conservative and it -- commitment made at Cabinet level
:32:19. > :32:24.about an issue of national importance, which is about the
:32:24. > :32:32.democracy of the House of Lords. But this issue is about whether or
:32:32. > :32:39.not a minister should be referred to an inquiry... And you abstained?
:32:39. > :32:44.These issues are not compatible. Really, I think this illustrates
:32:44. > :32:50.that they are not fit to hold public office. We will have to
:32:50. > :32:53.Next, we all need to know we can trust the ambulance service in an
:32:53. > :32:56.emergency. But are spending cuts jeopardising the service we get in
:32:56. > :32:59.the East Midlands? A Retford couple certainly think so. Sarah Gould and
:32:59. > :33:02.her partner, Gary, have blamed delays in response times for the
:33:02. > :33:06.death of their unborn child. Their MP, John Mann, claims spending cuts
:33:07. > :33:09.and shift changes mean fewer ambulances are available. The chief
:33:09. > :33:17.executive of the East Midlands Ambulance Service, Phil Milligan,
:33:18. > :33:24.joins me now. We must get one thing straight, how long did it take for
:33:24. > :33:32.an ambulance to reach Sarah Gould from the time the children centre
:33:32. > :33:37.called 999? First, this is a tragic case. My heart goes out to Sarah
:33:37. > :33:45.and her partner. She had been 13 weeks pregnant and was looking
:33:45. > :33:51.forward to a bundle of joy and it was a desperate situation. -- 30.
:33:51. > :33:56.But how long did it take? We took the call and we were told she could
:33:57. > :34:00.not hear the heartbeat. We treated at with the utmost importance. In
:34:00. > :34:06.two minutes we had a response vehicle with a highly trained
:34:06. > :34:11.paramedic out on the street. It arrived 30 minutes later it. She
:34:11. > :34:19.had with her very quickly... paramedic but not an abeyance until
:34:19. > :34:24.when? And a midwife looking after her. When did the ambulance
:34:24. > :34:30.arrived? We then sent an ambulance. That was on the way very quickly
:34:30. > :34:35.and arrived after 34 minutes. minutes before she got access. Are
:34:35. > :34:41.you not supposed to response to an emergency within eight minutes?
:34:42. > :34:46.This was not an eight-minute emergency. Why not? Because when we
:34:46. > :34:53.take a call we asked if the patient, if their heart has stopped. Then we
:34:53. > :35:00.can send out a vehicle straight away. But this woman was 30 weeks
:35:00. > :35:04.pregnant and bleeding. Was that not a top priority? Within two minutes
:35:04. > :35:09.the vehicle was on the road with a paramedic and with the right
:35:09. > :35:13.equipment to go up and help the midwife. But it still took 34
:35:13. > :35:18.minutes. You said you did the best you could under the circumstances
:35:18. > :35:23.but it is well short of what you are duty bound to do. Last year we
:35:23. > :35:30.were told he responded to 72 % of emergency calls in eight minutes
:35:30. > :35:34.compared to a national average of 35 %. Back in December I saw that
:35:34. > :35:38.we could do better and I was not happy with performance. We have
:35:38. > :35:44.made changes and we are achieving that national target and I want to
:35:44. > :35:53.do better in the future. I want us to be confident that we have got a
:35:53. > :35:57.sevens people can trust. -- service. Some people have said spending cuts
:35:57. > :36:04.are hitting the ability to respond effectively. What evidence have you
:36:04. > :36:09.got that this is happening? We have got a �3 billion top-down
:36:09. > :36:13.reorganisation which the Government said that they would not implement.
:36:13. > :36:18.We understand the East Midlands Ambulance Service will be closing
:36:18. > :36:22.60 ambulance stations across the region. It appears that with
:36:22. > :36:25.spending cuts which will effectively happen as a consequence
:36:25. > :36:29.of this are necessary reorganisation, and the closure of
:36:29. > :36:35.these stations are bound to have an impact on the service to the wider
:36:35. > :36:44.public. That is why I think that he is absolutely right to have
:36:44. > :36:49.spending cuts... Spending cuts? First, can I say that I offer my
:36:49. > :36:55.condolences to the family. It is a very tragic case. It is something
:36:55. > :37:00.which is not very nice to hear about. In terms of spending cuts, I
:37:00. > :37:06.did not think it is a case of spending cuts. We have got other
:37:06. > :37:11.issues that the Chief Executive will get to the bottom of. You are
:37:11. > :37:21.talking about 3 billion in terms of the cost of the up eagles. It is
:37:21. > :37:22.
:37:22. > :37:32.actually 1.2, the actual cost. -- are people. -- reorganisation. The
:37:32. > :37:34.
:37:34. > :37:41.net savings... Day of 4.5 billion. If you were talking about wastage,
:37:41. > :37:51.let's talk about... You have wasted �12 billion on a useless data
:37:51. > :37:51.
:37:51. > :37:57.system which has not done anything. Let us turn back... The number of
:37:57. > :38:03.hospitals that we have built... would like to bring Phil Milligan
:38:03. > :38:07.back in. Gentlemen, please! Let's bring him back in and talk about
:38:07. > :38:12.the closure of the stations because you had been discussing these bans
:38:12. > :38:20.as a way of saving money is. Unions have said that ambulances will be
:38:20. > :38:24.further away. This is not about saving money. I have got to use the
:38:24. > :38:30.money I have got to support the best service I can. The reduction
:38:30. > :38:35.is not about saving money. We will continue to operate from 100 bases
:38:35. > :38:40.around the East Midlands. More than 100 yesterday and they will be more
:38:40. > :38:45.than 100 tomorrow. But how can we be certain that with these changes
:38:45. > :38:50.people like Sarah Gould will get the service when she needs it? They
:38:50. > :38:58.will be further away. We are investing in the front line. Not
:38:58. > :39:01.cuts which have been mentioned. 44 more front Line staff, last year,
:39:01. > :39:05.more than �9 million spent on services and �8 million on
:39:05. > :39:11.ambulances. I am protecting the but line and making sure we are
:39:11. > :39:14.responding to patients. We must move on, gentlemen. Next, they're
:39:14. > :39:17.part of our daily lives, but for how much longer? Jane Dodge
:39:17. > :39:24.investigates what the future holds for our regional daily papers.
:39:24. > :39:29.now the presses roar into action. The rush and bustle of producing
:39:29. > :39:32.millions of newspapers is on again. Those were the days. Everyone it
:39:32. > :39:35.seemed had their nose in a newspaper. Can't we get those
:39:35. > :39:40.papers out quicker? Sales now are tiny in comparison. Many
:39:40. > :39:43.advertisers have gone elsewhere and thousands of jobs have been lost.
:39:43. > :39:47.This reporter and her photographer are a sign of the times. They work
:39:47. > :39:50.for an online newspaper - The Lincolnite. It competes with the
:39:50. > :39:55.Lincolnshire Echo - which after more than a century as a daily
:39:55. > :40:02.newspaper - has become a weekly. The changes have come at a cost
:40:02. > :40:08.according to the leader of the city council. We had more specialism and
:40:08. > :40:12.in-depth knowledge. We had a more political knowledge. I am not
:40:12. > :40:17.saying that is entirely lacking now. But it is less evident and we have
:40:17. > :40:22.got to work harder to make sure people understand the content and
:40:22. > :40:28.what we are up to. This used to be the offices of the Lincolnshire
:40:28. > :40:32.Echo. Probably three years ago. Jon Grubb is all too aware times are a
:40:32. > :40:35.changing. He used to be the editor of the Lincolnshire Echo but left
:40:35. > :40:41.when its owners - Northcliffe Media - part of the Daily Mail Group -
:40:41. > :40:46.decided to make it a weekly. If you consider that Tesco's has a profit
:40:46. > :40:51.ratio of 8%, many businesses will be quite happy in the East Midlands
:40:51. > :40:54.to have a ratio of 5%. Daily newspapers are doing pretty well in
:40:54. > :41:01.comparison but it is not enough for the shareholders and what we are
:41:01. > :41:05.used it. They are nearer 20 %. at The Lincolnite they're
:41:05. > :41:07.discussing this morning's story. The online newspaper has a
:41:07. > :41:15.permanent staff of just three, but a monthly online readership of
:41:15. > :41:20.50,000. We have done the same job as any other journalist, whether it
:41:20. > :41:24.is going to council meetings and reporting accidents or daring to be
:41:24. > :41:27.County Council, it is the same job but a different medium. In the days
:41:27. > :41:30.when newsrooms were dominated by men with moustaches, papers like
:41:30. > :41:35.the Leicester Mercury were selling 200,00 a day. It now sells around a
:41:35. > :41:44.quarter of that. The Derby Telegraph has seen its circulation
:41:45. > :41:47.plummet to just under 31,000. But sales of the Nottingham Post have
:41:48. > :41:54.fallen by 17% in the last year making it the worst performing
:41:54. > :41:57.regional newspaper in the country. Later this month The Post is due to
:41:57. > :42:00.move to smaller offices. It's also got a new editor who's already
:42:01. > :42:07.overseen the switch from a daily to a weekly on his last paper - the
:42:08. > :42:10.Scunthorpe Telegraph. So is the Nottingham Post also set to become
:42:10. > :42:14.a weekly paper or even disappear altogether? Not according to its
:42:14. > :42:17.new editor Mel Cook. He says the paper constantly leads with stories
:42:17. > :42:25.other media follow, is number one in the community for news and
:42:25. > :42:31.information, and will remain that way. It will stay as a daily and
:42:31. > :42:36.has already made an operating profit of �965,000 this year, up
:42:36. > :42:40.bomb last year. But according to the National Union of journalists,
:42:40. > :42:45.the owner has not committed to the long-term survival of the regional
:42:45. > :42:50.newspapers. I think we have to have a different look at the ownership
:42:50. > :42:55.structure of the media. There is nothing this government has done so
:42:55. > :42:59.far that suggests that they are doing that. We approached the
:42:59. > :43:04.editors of the three local day the papers but they all declined
:43:04. > :43:08.interviews. In a debate in Westminster, a local MP called for
:43:09. > :43:16.government subsidies to keep provincial newspapers a plate.
:43:16. > :43:20.they are supported at a rate payer expense and local television
:43:21. > :43:25.stations are individually supported by the BBC to buy their content,
:43:25. > :43:31.why should open newspapers not at his advantage when they offer an
:43:31. > :43:34.irreplaceable function? Any such action must be swift. More than a
:43:35. > :43:39.dozen jobs have gone at Leicester Mercury and Nottingham Post this
:43:39. > :43:49.year. This week, 10 start at the Derby Telegraph have been told
:43:49. > :43:50.
:43:50. > :43:55.their jobs are now at risk. -- What do you think? It is a
:43:55. > :43:59.phenomenon across the country. The advent of the internet and social
:43:59. > :44:03.media, I think the economic downturn we have experienced is
:44:03. > :44:08.also contributing because we have got less businesses expending money
:44:08. > :44:18.on advertising in the local newspapers. What impact have the
:44:18. > :44:22.cuts had already on editorial staff? We have had a big reduction
:44:22. > :44:27.already at the Derby Telegraph and that has a knock-on implications
:44:27. > :44:34.for the reporting of democracy. When I was in local council, 20
:44:34. > :44:41.years ago, the coverage of the local democracy was a significant
:44:41. > :44:47.feature of what they did. Our local newspapers facing an overwhelming
:44:47. > :44:52.pressure from new media, or are they being defeatist? I think Chris
:44:52. > :44:59.is right and it is not just British, but a worldwide phenomenon. We have
:44:59. > :45:03.spoken about the demise of the printing press in some countries
:45:03. > :45:09.and actually the demise in the UK has been the quickest out of all
:45:09. > :45:19.the countries. And it is all connected with the media and the
:45:19. > :45:19.
:45:19. > :45:25.recession. But most importantly, it has got to be, and I think we have
:45:25. > :45:32.got some scope to look at subsidies for the media. His Louise Mensch
:45:32. > :45:37.right? I think we have got room for exploration. I am not saying that
:45:37. > :45:44.she is right. But we must link some of that with the way newspapers
:45:44. > :45:48.behave. For example, continuing with the democratic function of
:45:48. > :45:55.news delivery in the community and cohesion and social values. These
:45:55. > :46:00.could be linked to subsidy. Would you support subsidy? I am not sure
:46:00. > :46:06.it is the right way to go. Particularly at a time when we have
:46:06. > :46:12.got massive reductions in public services. If we are going to
:46:12. > :46:16.prioritise public spending, and putting money in local private
:46:16. > :46:23.organisations effectively, I do not think that is the right way to use
:46:23. > :46:29.that money. It would be better to create jobs. I think support needs
:46:29. > :46:34.to be given were of a possible to newspapers and the industry. Is it
:46:34. > :46:41.a problem, is it acceptable for Northcliffe Papers to owned so many
:46:41. > :46:44.newspapers in the area? Should we be looking at that? We should look
:46:44. > :46:50.at how news is made available online because a lot of people do
:46:50. > :46:56.not buy newspapers because they can read that online for free. That is
:46:56. > :47:02.their choice. We can give people an introduction and if people want the
:47:02. > :47:06.rest of the story, they can pay a subsidy. I think we need a more
:47:06. > :47:10.pluralistic offering. That would ensure that we continue to have
:47:10. > :47:19.print press. But we also support the internet and the way in which
:47:19. > :47:25.News has been circulated a mine. Do not forget -- online. We must make
:47:25. > :47:35.sure that we continue with print press. Time for the round-up of the
:47:35. > :47:40.
:47:40. > :47:45.The leader of Leicestershire County Council David Parsons will face the
:47:45. > :47:50.standards watchdog on Tuesday. That will rule on allegations that he
:47:50. > :47:53.broke the code of conduct after expenses for trips to Europe. The
:47:53. > :48:00.Audit Commission is investigating claims that the previous Labour
:48:00. > :48:05.majority in Corby acted unlawfully when it sold a quayside at Tesco
:48:05. > :48:11.for �80,000. The BBC has seen an e- mail stating the land was worth up
:48:11. > :48:13.to �8,000,000.10 year later. Leicester MPs Liz Kendall and John
:48:14. > :48:19.Ashworth had seen of representatives of British Gas
:48:19. > :48:24.after the axing of 300 jobs in the city. They are pressing for
:48:24. > :48:28.redundancies to be kept to a minimum. In the Commons tomorrow,