Browse content similar to 24/06/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Here, parts of the region where a third of working households are one | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
bill away from financial disaster. And we're in Brussels on a special | :01:27. | :01:37. | |
:01:37. | :01:37. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2004 seconds | :01:37. | :35:01. | |
Hello, I am Marie Ashby. My guests in the East Midlands this week as | :35:01. | :35:07. | |
Shadow Treasury Minister, Chris Leslie, MP for Nottingham East and | :35:07. | :35:10. | |
the Conservative MP for Derbyshire South, Heather Wheeler. Coming up, | :35:10. | :35:14. | |
he has been censured for breaching the code of conduct over his | :35:14. | :35:19. | |
European expenses. So should Councillor David Parsons stand down | :35:19. | :35:25. | |
as leader of Leicestershire County Council? We have brought the Mayor | :35:25. | :35:28. | |
of Leicester to Brussels to meet the city mayors here to find out | :35:28. | :35:32. | |
whether he might have an answer or two. | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
First, Nottingham-based Experian has told the Sunday Politics that a | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
club of working households in Ashfield and Leicester are just one | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
bill away from financial disaster, putting them in the 10 most | :35:45. | :35:51. | |
vulnerable areas of the country. According to Experian, as many as | :35:51. | :35:54. | |
238,000 working households have little or no savings and struggle | :35:54. | :35:59. | |
to feed themselves and their children adequately. The coalition | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
is constantly emphasising the importance of being better off | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
working. These are working households and these figures are | :36:05. | :36:10. | |
frightening. Those would be. It is interesting Experian have done this | :36:10. | :36:18. | |
work. And also the areas chosen, Ashfield and Leicester. I would | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
like to see the detail. But actually, what is interesting is | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
that everything we are doing as a government, the coalition | :36:26. | :36:30. | |
Government, is trying to make things better for every strata of | :36:30. | :36:35. | |
society. Some people's experience of what poverty really means is | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
different to other's. This group and described as traditionally | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
proud self-reliant working people. That is good, people should be | :36:44. | :36:51. | |
proud to work. Everything we do is about making work pay. It is good | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
they are classed as working people, not good -- not good they are in | :36:56. | :37:01. | |
such dire straits. White class them as one bill away? Everyone gets | :37:01. | :37:08. | |
bills. -- why are those people classed as one bill away? It has | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
been interesting the way people's pensions and savings and insurance, | :37:14. | :37:19. | |
insurance tax, whatever, people have been attacked over the last 15 | :37:19. | :37:22. | |
years with different ways of raising money and France. It has | :37:22. | :37:32. | |
affected people. Undoubtedly. In Europe constituency Nottingham East, | :37:32. | :37:38. | |
22,000 and also that one bill away. -- in your constituency. Low and we | :37:38. | :37:47. | |
are already insignificant poverty in Nottingham as things are. Low | :37:47. | :37:52. | |
You are saying the Government is doing everything that they can. | :37:52. | :37:57. | |
seems to be everything that can be done to make things worse, some | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
changes hitting hard, and very significant changes to housing | :38:01. | :38:08. | |
benefit, to other welfare changes. But some would say you got us into | :38:08. | :38:14. | |
this in the first place. That would be said. We are back in recession, | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
there are not the job opportunities for people to move out of it. More | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
people have to go to part-time work. It is not as though people do not | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
want to work, doing the right thing for themselves and their families, | :38:27. | :38:30. | |
it is the conditions that the Chancellor has decided, stubbornly | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
raising taxes quickly, cutting back the support that has been there, | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
not increasing child benefit. The child share component of the | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
working tax credit, not giving people the opportunity to get back | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
into work. You are looking at the sea wrong way around. In South | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
Derbyshire, the number of apprentices rose by 80% in one ear. | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
That is because there was not meaningful work for those young | :38:57. | :39:04. | |
kids. -- one a year. Those people have those aspirations. In your | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
constituency, the number of job- seeker Allowance claimants has gone | :39:07. | :39:15. | |
up by 19% in 12 months. unemployment has gone down. We can | :39:15. | :39:21. | |
do statistics. You cannot blame everything... You Cabinet Secretary | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
said we could be facing a decade of spending cuts. What do these people | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
have to look forward to? I do not know why Sir Jeremy Heywood said | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
that. The state is too big. We need a smaller state. I put that on | :39:37. | :39:42. | |
every leaflet I distributed and got a 9.8% swing, so people believe me. | :39:42. | :39:48. | |
We do not need a big state, it is too big. We shall leave it there. | :39:48. | :39:52. | |
Next, a story which has sent political shockwaves through | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
Leicestershire County Council. The council's Standards Committee has | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
ruled the leader, David Parsons, breached its code of conduct over | :40:00. | :40:06. | |
his European expenses. She declined to join us. Were as now is | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
Councillor Sarah Hill, deputy leader of the lead in Group on the | :40:10. | :40:19. | |
council. -- with us night. Let us explain how that came about. -- | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats group. He was paid by one | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
body, East Midlands Councils, they receive the same amount that he was | :40:27. | :40:32. | |
meant to give back to EMC. The inquiry found he had failed to | :40:32. | :40:38. | |
repay �4,000 on time, not quite the same as pocketing the money. | :40:38. | :40:42. | |
but he had the benefit of the money for over 12 months in some cases, | :40:42. | :40:48. | |
in his back account, so he had the benefit of the interest. Apparently | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
�150, but he said there was no dishonest intent. Free possibly, | :40:53. | :41:01. | |
but a massive failure to keep track of what he was doing. -- quite | :41:01. | :41:09. | |
possibly. What should happen? should resign, not showing the | :41:09. | :41:14. | |
standards you would expect as leader of the council, breaking the | :41:14. | :41:17. | |
Code of Conduct on five different accounts. It is disappointing to | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
see that as a leader of the Council the size of Leicestershire. I am | :41:22. | :41:29. | |
sure others would agree. He the we were, do you agree? Absolutely not. | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
-- Heather Wheeler. There is a lot of money revolving here, it can | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
take six weeks to deal with, but it should not have taken longer than | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
that. But it absolutely dead. There are also disputes about some | :41:44. | :41:51. | |
cheques going missing. It has caused an awful lot of trouble. | :41:51. | :41:56. | |
was warned about this. Have been warned about something is fine. If | :41:56. | :42:03. | |
it is find... He had to act upon it. Free maybe this system needs to be | :42:03. | :42:11. | |
changed. -- Maybe this system needs to be changed. He had letters | :42:11. | :42:18. | |
asking him to change that. should not go through the council. | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
Should David Parsons stand down? The Liberal Democrats are calling | :42:22. | :42:27. | |
for that. The Labour group are calling for that. It has to be for | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
the council and local people to decide. He has been humiliated by | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
these allegations. He has to go through training, for example, in | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
council standards. That is part of the punishment. Ultimately, it is | :42:41. | :42:45. | |
for local people in Leicestershire to have a say on whether he should | :42:45. | :42:51. | |
continue. He has made an apology. Had the Standards Committee met a | :42:51. | :42:56. | |
fortnight earlier, they would have been able to suspend David Parsons. | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
Since then, the Department of Communities has watered down their | :42:59. | :43:04. | |
powers. How can that be right? is not watering down the powers. | :43:04. | :43:10. | |
That is what it feels like. It has made it more important. With | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
allegations of fraud, it is a criminal matter for the police. | :43:14. | :43:19. | |
Nobody has taken this to the police, which is quite right, because it is | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
obviously a mix up in paperwork. Leicestershire County Council has | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
gone from strength to strength under his leadership. None of this | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
paper work should have been going through his hands. It is far from | :43:31. | :43:41. | |
over? It has not. Some papers were released on Friday. Nearly �2,000 | :43:41. | :43:45. | |
of outstanding invoices has been discovered. That is unfortunate, | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
pitting us to square one and I am sure there are revelation will come | :43:50. | :43:57. | |
out. And the council will discuss this again at the end of the week? | :43:57. | :44:01. | |
We have a full council, the Conservative group will meet us | :44:01. | :44:04. | |
before the full council, but we will see where it takes us and I am | :44:04. | :44:10. | |
sure it will not only. Thank you. From one man clinging on to a power | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
for another who wants more. The elected Mayor of Leicester, Sir | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
Peter Soulsby, is urging David Cameron to give him more control | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
over the local economy and the transport system. John Hess has | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
taken him to Brussels. This is a journey about political | :44:26. | :44:31. | |
power. Leicester's city mayor, so Peter Salsbury, heading to Brussels | :44:31. | :44:37. | |
to meet its city mayor. Economic development is top of his agenda. | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
The mayor can provide co-ordination and influence, but does not up a | :44:41. | :44:50. | |
banner to make things happen. are in the historic heart of | :44:50. | :44:58. | |
Brussels city centre to meet an old Brussels friend, Jef Baeck. They | :44:58. | :45:04. | |
are some with their own mayor. beats Sir Peter on the mayor's | :45:04. | :45:10. | |
powers. You have the police, one thing, but all other activities. | :45:10. | :45:18. | |
You organise a city, commercial activities, even health. I would | :45:18. | :45:24. | |
say, it is a local king. We have come to visit one of the mayor's | :45:24. | :45:29. | |
projects that probably merits a royal seal of approval. It is | :45:29. | :45:35. | |
lovely... It was once derelict, but it has been transformed, promoted | :45:35. | :45:41. | |
by the city mayor, and has won awards. It was a factory until the | :45:41. | :45:48. | |
1980s, was in the for almost 20 years. There are now 42 apartments, | :45:48. | :45:55. | |
if mostly three-bedroomed, poor families to rent. We decided it | :45:55. | :46:00. | |
could be a good idea to make this from the factory, a place for not | :46:00. | :46:08. | |
really social housing, but average housing. To create a mixed city. | :46:08. | :46:13. | |
Fascinating. This is the type of economic regeneration that he wants | :46:13. | :46:18. | |
as part of his city next for Leicester. If only, he says, he had | :46:18. | :46:23. | |
the powers of the Brussels may have. The mayor has control of the site, | :46:23. | :46:27. | |
knotting -- not sitting around waiting for someone, having control. | :46:27. | :46:35. | |
What local people, you can make things happen. -- with local people. | :46:35. | :46:41. | |
Time for us to meet the city's mayor. On top of the staircase, a | :46:41. | :46:45. | |
reminder of predecessors. Freddy Thielemans has been the Socialist | :46:45. | :46:50. | |
mayor of Brussels for 12 years. Do you have responsibility for | :46:50. | :46:56. | |
economic development within your area? For example, the police? I do | :46:56. | :47:03. | |
not have control of those. And have both and they are very important. | :47:03. | :47:10. | |
The mayor is the chair of the city. And he is the identity of a city. | :47:10. | :47:15. | |
Exactly right. That is very important. | :47:15. | :47:21. | |
Quite a wide range of funding available to you? | :47:21. | :47:28. | |
We have commercial taxes that will local, restaurant taxes, terraces, | :47:28. | :47:36. | |
taxes on charities, taxes on parking, taxes that helps a lot, | :47:36. | :47:38. | |
giving us and the Normans independence. | :47:38. | :47:47. | |
He faces elections this autumn, with public transport a big issue. | :47:47. | :47:53. | |
We want to improve what is happening in the city, more backing | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
of public transport, more individual possibilities, like | :47:57. | :48:06. | |
walking, cycling, motor biking. I think that that is truly the | :48:06. | :48:09. | |
future demand. The city mayor of Brussels, Freddy | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
Thielemans, is more than just a figurehead with significant | :48:13. | :48:19. | |
political powers over police and economic development, for example, | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
that out of powers because Salsbury wants for Leicester and he is | :48:22. | :48:28. | |
taking that message to Downing Street. -- the sort of powers that | :48:28. | :48:33. | |
Sir Peter Soulsby wants. It is not just about powers. It is also about | :48:33. | :48:36. | |
providing leadership. To that extent, the role of the mayor of | :48:36. | :48:42. | |
Brussels and one of a UK cities such as Les there are many similar. | :48:42. | :48:47. | |
Two men with very different powers to run their cities. -- such as | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
Leicester. He wants to tell the Prime Minister that Brussels has | :48:52. | :48:56. | |
the answer for me UK. If it is good enough for Boris | :48:56. | :49:02. | |
Johnson, surely he should have more powers? I think it is a pretty | :49:02. | :49:08. | |
convincing case. If you are the leader of a Cabinet, as in | :49:08. | :49:13. | |
Nottingham, whatever the form of constitution, I think our cities | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
and local authorities do need to have more powers devolved to them. | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
Ultimately, we have to accept that we are living in one of the most | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
centralised constitution's anywhere in the developed world. Whitehall | :49:25. | :49:30. | |
is very good at clinging on to Paris. Across the political divide, | :49:30. | :49:38. | |
we all sometimes see -- clinging on to Paras. We all sometimes say that, | :49:38. | :49:42. | |
despite all those promises about devolving, it has not been | :49:42. | :49:48. | |
happening. Will David Cameron give them more? The public and | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
astonished at the short memories of politicians. There were referendums | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
all over the country asking what people like a mayor. Nottingham | :49:56. | :50:06. | |
:50:06. | :50:09. | ||
said no. But no new cars. Should there be more? -- but no new Paras. | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
The new mayors coming in, where the towns and cities said yes, there is | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
the appetite on it. That will show how good they are, then be able, as | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
they will have a cabinet meeting with all the mayors coming to a | :50:23. | :50:28. | |
number 10, it is all very exciting. But should they have to prove | :50:28. | :50:35. | |
themselves? Absolutely. Exactly as Boris Johnson proved himself, being | :50:35. | :50:40. | |
re-elected, do you really think everyone will go carte blanche and | :50:40. | :50:47. | |
have tax-raising powers? The idea of Derek Hatton in Liverpool! | :50:47. | :50:56. | |
the idea that they should only get those if elected. Let me finish. -- | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
if re-elected. It is the cities and the people that should be able to | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
shape their own destinies, not wait to be told by departments in | :51:05. | :51:10. | |
Whitehall. We are seeing it as the budgets are cut, councils becoming | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
very dependent on central Government. What about localism | :51:15. | :51:23. | |
bill? Everything how you have recalled... It dictates to councils. | :51:23. | :51:29. | |
You must have been sitting through a different bill. I suspect I was. | :51:29. | :51:32. | |
And should be elected police commissioners would have something | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
to say. When we have those elections, yes. There is danger of | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
a dish joint. A meal that is directly-elected, a police | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
commissioner, -- an air that is directly-elected, Police | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
commissioner, but we need to sort out from an English perspective | :51:50. | :51:55. | |
what we are doing on devolution. The difficulty is the boundaries. | :51:55. | :52:00. | |
If it was a city with a city police force, it would be right to have | :52:00. | :52:04. | |
someone like on us. Time for a round-up of the stories and 60 | :52:04. | :52:11. | |
seconds. -- in 60 seconds. | :52:11. | :52:18. | |
US retailer, Walgreen, is being �4 billion on a 45% in Alliance Boots. | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
Walgreen would have the option to take over in three years' time.But | :52:23. | :52:29. | |
we are committed no jobs will be lost. We think it is an opportunity | :52:29. | :52:32. | |
to grow up jobs. Leicestershire police say they have | :52:32. | :52:36. | |
acted on claims that some officers have stopped and searched a | :52:36. | :52:40. | |
disproportionate number of black people. Equality and Human Rights | :52:40. | :52:44. | |
Commission says it will take legal action unless the ports can prove | :52:44. | :52:50. | |
the situation has improved. Corbett Conservative MP has launched a | :52:50. | :52:55. | |
macro blocking site to rival Twitter. She has regularly been the | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
victim of abuse from twitters that she has described as immoral and | :52:59. | :53:05. | |
misogynistic. Margaret Thatcher brought in the right to buy council | :53:05. | :53:08. | |
homes. Now the coalition is allowing the Labour majority in | :53:08. | :53:14. | |
Derby to keep the proceeds of new sales. | :53:14. | :53:17. | |
All those years that councils complained they could not keep hold | :53:17. | :53:21. | |
of the money from council house sales at the coalition has made | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
this happen. It is very partial, looking at the details, being only | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
allowed to keep the proceeds of the right to buy in some council house | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
sales. That means the council will have a few tens of thousands for | :53:35. | :53:39. | |
every sale, but will that replace like-for-like the houses that are | :53:39. | :53:46. | |
sold on? I think it is very dubious. The proceeds can be kept as long as | :53:46. | :53:51. | |
it is invested in new homes. have not seen new builds in social | :53:51. | :53:59. | |
housing. I am really sorry... you know how many new houses? | :53:59. | :54:05. | |
is terrible. There is just no will to do it. I arrived late here, | :54:05. | :54:12. | |
because I came from an opening of eight new social houses. This was | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
the first one of how many that have been done. We have been taking the | :54:17. | :54:26. | |
money that we have been given, the 50% up until now, and... | :54:26. | :54:32. | |
waiting lists are just growing. much money? Discounts of up to | :54:32. | :54:37. | |
�75,000, not leaving a lot for councils? Before it was only 50%, | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
so it will be more. Wetbacks are better than nothing? Of course. | :54:43. | :54:49. |