:00:55. > :00:59.lobbying and give voters the chance to kick out this great MPs. He did
:00:59. > :01:04.then and since come at nothing. We will ask Cabinet office Minister
:01:04. > :01:09.Francis Maude if the latest scandals will force the government to act. It
:01:09. > :01:14.is hardly the best day for MPs to complain about the deal they are
:01:14. > :01:24.getting on expenses, but many are angry about the new system.
:01:24. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:35.Conservative MP Noureddine Doris in the Newark constituency of
:01:35. > :01:35.
:01:35. > :42:13.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2438 seconds
:42:13. > :42:23.Patrick Mercer, and we hear from his reputation of our politicians: We're
:42:23. > :42:24.
:42:24. > :42:27.live from Newark with the latest on the Patrick Mercer story. He has
:42:27. > :42:35.resigned the Conservative whip, but should he be allowed to stay on as
:42:35. > :42:38.an independent MP? I will be getting reaction from local voters. Also
:42:38. > :42:41.this lunchtime: thousands of people across our region are asking for
:42:41. > :42:45.help as cuts in housing benefit bite. I think that the courts are
:42:45. > :42:55.going to be overrun with cases. All of the eviction process is that
:42:55. > :42:58.
:42:58. > :43:02.going to come up. -- eviction processes that are going to come up.
:43:02. > :43:04.We'll go across to Newark in a moment, but first my guests in the
:43:04. > :43:07.studio are Mark Spencer, the Conservative who's a neighbour of
:43:07. > :43:12.Patrick Mercer, as the Sherwood MP, and Chris Williamson, Labour's MP
:43:12. > :43:16.for Derby North. More allegations in this morning's papers, this time
:43:16. > :43:22.involving the House of Lords. All of the peers involved have denied doing
:43:23. > :43:25.anything wrong. But for both of you, after the expenses scandal, you have
:43:26. > :43:33.a hard enough time winning the public over, this must just make
:43:33. > :43:40.your job even harder. Mark Spencer? It is, and it is enormously
:43:40. > :43:45.frustrating. There are more than 650 MPs, 640 of them are working hard to
:43:45. > :43:50.their constituents and doing a good job, and it only takes two or three
:43:50. > :43:54.to tar the rest of us with a pretty uncomfortable brush. How do you
:43:54. > :43:59.legislate for the bad apples? the things we could do with the
:43:59. > :44:04.problem of lobbying is have a registry whereby all lobbyists have
:44:04. > :44:08.to register, whether they are companies or a charity. That would
:44:08. > :44:13.be an appropriate way forward. This needs to be addressed in a
:44:13. > :44:21.cross-party way, to ensure that we have legislation to stop this
:44:21. > :44:26.problem happening again in future. This is enormously complicated. How
:44:26. > :44:30.do you distinguish between big-money lobby groups and normal
:44:30. > :44:35.constituents? This week I have talked to the Fire Brigades union,
:44:35. > :44:39.to Nottinghamshire police, to the local vicar, all lobbying me over an
:44:39. > :44:42.issue that is going through Parliament. How do you distinguish
:44:42. > :44:50.between the people who are trying to buy influence and normal, genuine
:44:50. > :44:55.people, trying to influence the political process? But we have
:44:56. > :45:00.business interests involved and foreign governments. What is a
:45:00. > :45:02.business interests? Nottinghamshire Fire and rescue our lobbying me
:45:02. > :45:10.about how they deliver their services and how their pension
:45:10. > :45:15.system works. Aren't they a lobby group not? But there is a big
:45:15. > :45:19.difference between major companies and normal people. Francis Maude
:45:19. > :45:25.said he expected measures on the statute book by the next general
:45:26. > :45:32.election. Will Labour help? If we can get that collaboration, we can
:45:32. > :45:35.find a way forward. Except that it may not be straightforward. But it
:45:35. > :45:39.is not beyond the wit of parliamentarians to come up with a
:45:39. > :45:43.resilient system that'll prevent this sort of Cobham happening again
:45:43. > :45:53.to protect the reputation of the political process. -- this sort of
:45:53. > :45:55.
:45:56. > :46:00.problem. For the moment, thank you very much. It was already promising
:46:00. > :46:03.to be a big day in Newark. It's the Mayor's annual parade today. But
:46:03. > :46:06.with the resignation of the town's MP from the Tory whip, you can
:46:06. > :46:12.guarantee what the political small talk is this morning. Let's find out
:46:12. > :46:18.from Eleanor Garnier. Good morning from Newark's marketplace, where the
:46:18. > :46:24.new mayor has been welcomed into office. There will be celebration
:46:24. > :46:29.there, but not elsewhere. Will it the more like commiseration at the
:46:29. > :46:33.town's local Conservative Association now that the MP has
:46:33. > :46:40.resigned the Conservative whip. I am joined by Stuart Wallis, chairman of
:46:40. > :46:43.Newark conservatives and also, the leader of Nottinghamshire Lib Dems.
:46:43. > :46:52.Your first reaction when Patrick Mercer told you he was resigning the
:46:52. > :46:56.whip. Obviously it was shock. I had not heard anything at all. You must
:46:56. > :47:00.feel devastated after all the hard work you have put in, to building up
:47:00. > :47:05.such a healthy majority. You must feel let down. That is not quite
:47:05. > :47:08.true, if you think about this. He has been an exceptional constituency
:47:09. > :47:13.MP and has worked very hard for the town. He has earned a great deal of
:47:13. > :47:17.respect. I would like to say that there should be an inquiry into what
:47:17. > :47:23.has gone on, and until we have a report from that, it is unfair to
:47:23. > :47:28.comment in that way. If things have proved the front, then many people
:47:28. > :47:38.in this town will be saddened, but I prefer to wait for a proper inquiry
:47:38. > :47:38.
:47:38. > :47:42.into the exact circumstances. that inquiry, what is the
:47:42. > :47:48.constituency organisation's relationship with Patrick? Are you
:47:48. > :47:55.still supporting him? We need to have a working relationship. Let's
:47:55. > :47:58.be honest. It is less than 40 hours since this broke. I need to have
:47:58. > :48:05.lots of conversations with Patrick and with the Conservative party
:48:05. > :48:09.before I can give you an answer to that one. If your leader Nick Clegg
:48:09. > :48:13.had been more pushy about this and got that statutory register of
:48:13. > :48:19.lobbyists in, we might not have this situation. I think that you are
:48:19. > :48:23.right. This needs to look -- needs to be looked at again. Why have we
:48:23. > :48:26.not got the power of recall, and more transparency over what MPs do,
:48:26. > :48:33.and that is because the Conservatives and Labour have made
:48:33. > :48:41.it difficult to get those powers through. The Conservatives have
:48:41. > :48:49.blocked the power of recall. This is the time to look at those things
:48:50. > :48:54.again. You can see that the Dems might not get that through. Do you
:48:54. > :48:56.think Patrick Mercer should stay as an independent or resign as an MP
:48:57. > :48:59.and force a by-election? It is down to his constituents and to his own
:48:59. > :49:02.conscience. An investigation has still to take place. This region,
:49:02. > :49:07.the East Midlands, has been marred in the past by things like cash for
:49:07. > :49:13.questions. We have got to take a stand and make sure that people have
:49:13. > :49:17.the power of recall over MPs. just heard, the investigation still
:49:17. > :49:21.has to take place, and Patrick Mercer is denying the allegations.
:49:21. > :49:28.Whether he will remain as an independent MP or not, that is
:49:28. > :49:33.something I am going to be asking local voters later on. Should
:49:33. > :49:38.Patrick Mercer stand down? He has not been convicted of anything at
:49:38. > :49:47.this moment in time. Once the facts are established, we can answer that
:49:47. > :49:52.question. The prospect of a parliamentary by-election in Newark
:49:52. > :49:58.is not going to be welcomed. Not by me, because I will probably be on
:49:58. > :50:04.the streets of Newark, delivering leaflets. We need to make the
:50:04. > :50:08.decision later on whether there should be a by-election. Why do you
:50:08. > :50:13.think the prime minister is taking so long to bring in this register of
:50:13. > :50:18.lobbyists? It is a complicated issue, joined those lines as to what
:50:18. > :50:25.is a lobby group, and what is not. We need to find cross-party
:50:25. > :50:34.consensus as well, and it needs to stand the test of time for a
:50:34. > :50:38.generation. It is disappointing that no legislative programme has been
:50:38. > :50:41.brought forward by the prime Minister on this. Perhaps this will
:50:41. > :50:46.concentrate his mind and we will see something in the next Queen's
:50:46. > :50:51.speech. It takes two to tango in the coalition. But with Labour backing,
:50:51. > :50:59.this could come through fairly quickly. I would have thought there
:50:59. > :51:06.was consensus with the Lib Dems on this. So I can't see what the
:51:06. > :51:13.impediments actually is. Probably the same impediment that under the
:51:13. > :51:17.Labour government, why didn't Gordon Brown ring this forward.
:51:17. > :51:23.proposition was brought forward when we were in government. We did
:51:23. > :51:28.include it in the manifesto. We can all point the finger of blame. We
:51:28. > :51:34.need to grasp the nettle and get on with it. Grasping the nettle.
:51:34. > :51:36.Yesterday I was speaking to Ken Clarke about this. He said that a
:51:36. > :51:43.register of lobbyists was in legislative terms, fairly
:51:43. > :51:47.straightforward. But on recall, having a mechanism whereby a
:51:47. > :51:51.by-election is triggered, that is more complex. Is he right that it is
:51:51. > :51:56.much more complex? It is much more complex because you get individual
:51:56. > :51:59.lobby groups who might target an MP will stop let's take the example of
:51:59. > :52:02.gay marriage that has just gone through Parliament. If you have a
:52:02. > :52:12.lobby group against one of those and they disapprove of how an MP votes,
:52:12. > :52:13.
:52:13. > :52:23.then they can target that individual MP. It could cause mayhem. 10% of
:52:23. > :52:25.the electorate? Whichever way that, my seat as an example, the
:52:25. > :52:31.opposition could trigger a by-election quite easily. Would you
:52:31. > :52:41.welcome this? No, I wouldn't. It is a knee-jerk response to this media a
:52:41. > :52:43.few raw. -- furore. Mark is right when he says that a group of people
:52:43. > :52:48.could get together. It would undermine the political process. It
:52:48. > :52:55.is a gimmick. We have seen in California where the democratically
:52:55. > :53:00.elected Democrats candidate, for Governor, was replaced with our much
:53:00. > :53:09.what's in a ghetto is unresolved problems that flowed to the people
:53:09. > :53:15.of California as a result of that. But could this be dissed -- could
:53:15. > :53:20.this be embraced despite the opposition? We need to address these
:53:20. > :53:24.scandals that seem to keep rearing their head, and get on with the
:53:24. > :53:28.business of governing the country. The problem is, you go down this
:53:28. > :53:38.road, and it is a cul-de-sac, in my opinion and there would be many
:53:38. > :53:38.
:53:38. > :53:42.unintended consequences. We'll be returning to this issue later; but
:53:42. > :53:45.now let's take a look at another story from this week. There's been a
:53:45. > :53:48.big increase in the number of people across the East Midlands seeking
:53:48. > :53:50.help with paying their rent. It comes in the wake of the
:53:50. > :53:52.introduction of the Coalition's "under-occupancy penalty", or what
:53:52. > :53:55.Chris would no doubt, call the "bedroom tax". Before its
:53:55. > :53:58.introduction last month, Sunday Politics spoke to a tenant from
:53:58. > :54:06.Derby, who was worried what it would mean for her. Tim Parker's been back
:54:06. > :54:08.to see what's happened. June McDermott unpacks her groceries.
:54:08. > :54:14.They have not come from a shop, but the food rank. Since the benefits
:54:14. > :54:22.changes, she finds herself in debt and behind on rent for the first
:54:22. > :54:31.time in her life will stop I didn't know that these places existed.
:54:31. > :54:36.thought no, no chance, but yes, absolutely. The biggest largest
:54:37. > :54:41.number of people that they are helping at the moment is people
:54:41. > :54:44.suffering from benefit cuts. Jill helps to look after her
:54:44. > :54:51.grandchildren and as a full-time carer for her father who lives
:54:51. > :54:56.nearby, but her two-bedroom flat is deemed to be too big, and that means
:54:56. > :55:02.she's having to find an extra �16 a week in rent. I have been able to
:55:02. > :55:07.pay a little bit each week to pick -- protect myself from eviction but
:55:07. > :55:14.I am only doing that because I can go to the food bank. Her landlord is
:55:14. > :55:21.the housing provider, Derwent living. It says that some tenants
:55:21. > :55:26.are being affected more than others. It all began on April the 1st. 750
:55:26. > :55:34.of our residents were subject to it. Eight weeks in, and it is early
:55:34. > :55:42.days, and about 250 of those residents are not paying what is
:55:42. > :55:48.known as the bedroom tax. The bulk of people have found ways to deal
:55:48. > :55:52.with the additional payments they are having to make. So, families in
:55:52. > :56:00.all types of situations across the East Midlands, including here in
:56:00. > :56:04.Loughborough, are facing life with the under siege at, or bedroom tax.
:56:04. > :56:09.This woman has found a part-time job to afford the under siege charge she
:56:09. > :56:14.now faces. I have to pay a little bit more, with the bedroom tax, but
:56:14. > :56:19.I am still that are off and it has worked out better for me as well.
:56:19. > :56:26.But for Jill, in Derby, the future is looking more difficult. Sometimes
:56:26. > :56:30.you just want to put your head in your hands and cried. Last time, I
:56:30. > :56:34.said that the courts would be overrun with cases. They are not
:56:34. > :56:38.going to be able to cope with all the eviction cases that are going to
:56:38. > :56:43.come up. June is still waiting to hear if she can get any extra cash
:56:43. > :56:48.from her council to help her. Thousands more people across the
:56:48. > :56:55.region face the same weight. Is this issue in danger of becoming David
:56:55. > :57:00.Cameron's poll tax? This is about trying to bring fairness to the
:57:01. > :57:03.system. There are 250,000 people with overcrowded people, and 2
:57:03. > :57:07.million people on the waiting list for a council house, and there are
:57:07. > :57:11.all of these spare bedrooms within the system, and it is about trying
:57:11. > :57:17.to bring balance so that those with spare rooms can release them and
:57:18. > :57:21.those desperate for extra space can have it. Surely he has got a point.
:57:21. > :57:25.He hasn't got a point. This is a combination of cruelty and
:57:25. > :57:31.incompetence. We are talking about people's homes here. The
:57:31. > :57:36.Conservatives, rather than building houses, want to throw people out of
:57:36. > :57:41.their houses were they have brought their families. There are not enough
:57:41. > :57:46.single bedroom properties available. I would certainly like to see Labour
:57:46. > :57:52.get rid of this. It is pretty clear, with the statements that have been
:57:52. > :57:56.made that it is unlikely to change -- survive a change of government.
:57:56. > :58:03.It is about cruelty and incompetence. There are not enough
:58:03. > :58:07.single bedroom properties are available. Labour built a lot more
:58:07. > :58:09.houses than the Conservatives are doing now. Labour did this with
:58:09. > :58:15.people in private rented accommodation so that people in
:58:15. > :58:19.private rented accommodation were not getting that extra subsidy.
:58:19. > :58:25.we are talking about here is applying this to people living in
:58:25. > :58:28.council and housing association accommodation, people who aren't by
:58:28. > :58:37.definition living on modest incomes without the resources to be able to
:58:37. > :58:41.pay this additional rent. You are forcing people, only 271 single
:58:41. > :58:45.bedroom properties came available in Derby last year and there are
:58:46. > :58:52.hundreds more people than that affected by this. We will inevitably
:58:52. > :58:57.have stories of evictions. How argue, as an MP, going to with that?
:58:57. > :59:06.The government recognises that there are people under pressure and put in
:59:06. > :59:12.place a fund of �150 million to address that. And local authorities
:59:12. > :59:16.need to act to, rather than paying large salaries to chief executives.
:59:16. > :59:21.The money in this government fund does not meet the demands placed on
:59:22. > :59:27.it. Why not boost the economy and put people back into work? Why not
:59:27. > :59:31.do that? Stefanie said that she had coped, we heard from the housing
:59:31. > :59:36.chief who said two thirds of his tenants are paying it, so it is
:59:36. > :59:39.early days. And he said that one third of them are struggling and
:59:39. > :59:47.falling behind with their rent, and we're only one month into the
:59:47. > :59:50.scheme. How are people living on extremely low incomes being able to
:59:50. > :59:57.do this? Hats off to Stefanie in that report. People like her should
:59:57. > :00:05.be encouraged. It is pushing people into poverty. It is outrageous and
:00:05. > :00:09.appalling. Time for a round-up of some of the other political stories
:00:09. > :00:15.in the East Midlands this week - in 60 seconds. Nothing was to get the
:00:15. > :00:18.new preschool. The torch Academy which runs the slack schools in
:00:18. > :00:23.Nottinghamshire is being given the go-ahead to open a new school in the
:00:23. > :00:28.north of the city. Its plans for one at Trent Bridge have been rejected.
:00:29. > :00:35.The Bosworth MP David Tredinnick has warned his party that it is losing
:00:35. > :00:40.ground to UKIP. It says Tories should match the UKIP pledge to let
:00:40. > :00:45.doctors offer herbal and alternative remedies. The European Parliament
:00:45. > :00:50.has voted to restrict the use of three pesticides linked to declining
:00:50. > :00:54.honeybee populations. The East Midlands MEP wants limitations
:00:54. > :00:57.placed on another pesticide. Abhishek County Council has
:00:57. > :01:02.appointed a new acting chief executive after the departure of
:01:02. > :01:06.former chief, Nick Hodgson. He left when Labour took over following the
:01:06. > :01:16.council elections. They have appointed Ian Stevens, the
:01:16. > :01:25.
:01:25. > :01:29.environment services director. Let's return to Newark. When Patrick
:01:29. > :01:32.Mercer resigned the Conservative whip he said it was to save
:01:32. > :01:37.embarrassment for the Conservative party. But now that he's an
:01:37. > :01:40.independent MP, how does that affect local issues? I asked one local
:01:40. > :01:44.campaigner that question a few minutes ago. It should have a
:01:44. > :01:48.positive affect on the campaign. I understand he has lost the
:01:48. > :01:54.Conservative whip but he's independent now. He can speak out
:01:54. > :01:58.when he feels things are wrong, and people are not, we are not getting
:01:58. > :02:06.the right services. He can speak out. He does not have to follow the
:02:06. > :02:10.Tory party line and I hope that he does. That is what one local
:02:10. > :02:15.campaigner thinks. What about the boaters? Do they mind that he's able
:02:15. > :02:21.stand as an independent, or, should he be forced out, prompting a
:02:21. > :02:24.by-election? We feel that he's a very good MP, who does a lot of good
:02:24. > :02:31.for the town, and it is a pity that he has made a full of himself and
:02:31. > :02:35.slip up. He will continue to do a good job. This is a blip.
:02:35. > :02:41.Unfortunately it is one of these things he has got to look at himself
:02:41. > :02:48.and say, do I remain in politics. It is his decision. I think he should
:02:48. > :02:54.step down. It is exactly 48 hours since Patrick Mercer resigned the
:02:54. > :02:58.Conservative whip. And what many people here are asking is, if he's
:02:58. > :03:08.found guilty or innocent, can he win back the trust of local voters here
:03:08. > :03:14.
:03:14. > :03:18.a plague on both your houses. is why I said we need to bring
:03:18. > :03:21.forward legislation to stop it happening again in future. A
:03:21. > :03:25.statutory register would achieve that. It is not without its
:03:25. > :03:29.problems, to get it right, but we need to do that. It is really
:03:29. > :03:34.important to restore faith in the bloody good process. Winston
:03:34. > :03:37.Churchill said that democracy was the worst form of government apart
:03:37. > :03:43.from all the others that have been tried. We have to try and rescue
:03:43. > :03:47.democracy. When MPs return to the Commons tomorrow after yet another
:03:47. > :03:52.recess, what do you want to hear from the government? We need to look
:03:52. > :03:58.at the legislation and move forward. But none of this would be necessary
:03:58. > :04:08.if MPs acted with a bit more moral fibre and did what was right rather
:04:08. > :04:12.
:04:12. > :04:15.than chase the Holytown. -- the holy pound. It is important that we
:04:15. > :04:21.restore faith in analytical process. This is the best that we have got,
:04:21. > :04:24.and we have got to make it work. The majority of MPs are good, decent,
:04:24. > :04:30.upstanding individuals who believe in what they are trying to do, who
:04:30. > :04:35.want to try and make a difference for the people that elected them.
:04:35. > :04:40.don't know what the mood on the Tory benches would be, but if you bump
:04:40. > :04:45.into Patrick Mercer tomorrow, what would you say to him? He will
:04:45. > :04:50.probably be busy with other things, but let's see what happens. Let's
:04:50. > :05:00.see, when the truth comes out in the end, and we can decide to move
:05:00. > :05:02.
:05:02. > :05:04.forward. Thank you both for joining us. That's the Sunday Politics in
:05:04. > :05:08.the East Midlands, thanks to my guests, Chris Williamson and Mark