:01:26. > :01:30.Here in the east, the green energy plans of our councils are left high
:01:30. > :01:40.and dry by government cuts to the solar tariff.
:01:40. > :01:40.
:01:40. > :30:56.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1756 seconds
:30:56. > :31:00.And fun in the San? Not any more. Hello and welcome to the programme.
:31:00. > :31:07.Let's meet our guests but this week. Richard have it is Labour's member
:31:07. > :31:10.for the European Parliament for the East. Vicky Ford is the MEP of also.
:31:10. > :31:13.Coming up air the expat to his plans for a dream retirement have
:31:13. > :31:17.turned sour. Could the crisis in the Eurozone
:31:17. > :31:20.leave them stranded? First, the news that Chris Huhne is stepped
:31:20. > :31:25.down as energy secretary after being charged with perverting the
:31:25. > :31:27.court -- perverting the course of justice has resulted in a cabinet
:31:27. > :31:32.reshuffle. Norman Lamb has been appointed as
:31:32. > :31:36.business minister. This is a long over due promotion for an MP who
:31:36. > :31:40.has never had much of a public profile, but has always been highly
:31:40. > :31:45.regarded within his party. It is a very interesting role, and
:31:45. > :31:51.I think that the business department is absolutely central to
:31:51. > :31:54.try to get growth going in the economy and, in particular, to get
:31:54. > :32:01.jobs and if I can contribute to that massive challenge then I'll be
:32:01. > :32:05.very happy to do that. For the last 18 months, Norman Lamb has been
:32:05. > :32:09.working quietly behind the scenes to -- as the political adviser to
:32:09. > :32:14.Nick Clegg. He has impressed his party leader with his loyalty, at
:32:14. > :32:18.his grasp of detail. He is someone who is passionate about what he
:32:18. > :32:24.believes in and is trusted by his colleagues. He is an incredibly
:32:24. > :32:29.hard worker. A former lawyer, it to come through attempts to win his
:32:29. > :32:33.seat in North Norfolk. His majority is down below 12,000. Many expected
:32:33. > :32:38.him to become a minister when the coalition was formed, but he was a
:32:38. > :32:42.victim of internal politics. Mayor, a here and a half later, he has his
:32:42. > :32:49.commission, which few at Westminster will grudge him.
:32:49. > :32:55.Richard Hannah at, do you think that he now we can see Lib-Dems in
:32:55. > :32:58.the coalition? Chris Huhne is a personal matter.
:32:58. > :33:02.He was the biggest critic and was prepared to speak out in the
:33:02. > :33:08.Cabinet against David Cameron. The coalition is weakened in that way.
:33:08. > :33:11.A red when you go, the Daily Telegraph from me up and said, that
:33:11. > :33:14.Chris Huhne had been an MEP when this alleged slight had to place,
:33:14. > :33:19.and they asked, witty in the same flight coming back from the
:33:19. > :33:26.European Parliament? I had to go through all my old tickets to find
:33:26. > :33:31.out. I do congratulate one of our region's MPs coming into government.
:33:31. > :33:38.The key for, what do you make of the reshuffle being confined to the
:33:39. > :33:42.Lib Dems? It all goes back to the coalition, and people asking why
:33:42. > :33:46.they are so many Lib Dems in front bench seats in the first place.
:33:46. > :33:49.What I hope happens now is that there is a quick look at policy,
:33:49. > :33:53.and that we can carry on with some important policies like the cream
:33:53. > :34:00.deal, which is going to be really helpful for house owners to get
:34:00. > :34:04.their electricity bills down. Let's look at the good policies. We now
:34:04. > :34:06.have a new energy secretary. He will have to oversee the
:34:06. > :34:13.government's Supreme Court challenge to the ruling that its
:34:13. > :34:17.cut sick in Paris were unlawful. On the six weeks notice was given that
:34:17. > :34:20.subsidies were to be reduced one also were in solutions that will
:34:20. > :34:24.not be completed by a certain cut- off point. This to the industry
:34:24. > :34:27.into chaos. We can reveal that millions of pounds of investment in
:34:27. > :34:35.the solar industry in the region has been put on hold as plans to go
:34:35. > :34:37.green had been shelved. When the sum is out, I used my
:34:37. > :34:43.washing machine. I feel so lucky that I have been given the
:34:43. > :34:48.opportunity to help -- to have green electricity and it has
:34:48. > :34:55.changed my life completely. Brendan Nicoll lives in a council house.
:34:55. > :35:01.Brenda. A few months ago, so photovoltaic panels were installed
:35:01. > :35:06.in her red. To save that amount of money every here is amazing, and I
:35:06. > :35:10.utilises as much as I can. The plan to install solar panels -- a
:35:10. > :35:13.Palmerston and stole many thousands of solar panels over many houses
:35:13. > :35:19.over three years. But when the government cut a subsidy to solar
:35:19. > :35:23.panels, the project ground to a halt. This remains one of many who
:35:23. > :35:27.missed out. The cos I am on a pension and I am disabled, I have
:35:27. > :35:34.to have Mike heating on all the time. My energy bills are quite a
:35:34. > :35:42.lot. So having the panels will have made the big difference? It would
:35:42. > :35:46.have, yes. I was gutted. Everything had been working correctly. We had
:35:46. > :35:54.the surveys done and the hats looked at all the properties, they
:35:54. > :35:58.were all suitable. Ha law is far from alone. Of the road in Wootton,
:35:58. > :36:04.the council there had planned to install solar panels on 4,000 of
:36:04. > :36:10.its properties. In the end, it managed 126. Sunday politics has
:36:10. > :36:12.discover that in just 300 local authorities, an estimated �44
:36:12. > :36:17.million of investment is in jeopardy.
:36:17. > :36:21.The diocese of St Edmunds in Ipswich put panels on just over 100
:36:21. > :36:25.vicarages. It has abandoned its plans for churches and community
:36:25. > :36:32.halls. We queued up everything knowing that we had up until April
:36:32. > :36:37.this year to complete. -- we dear to up everything. We had planned
:36:37. > :36:40.there is in accordance with their environmental policy. People are
:36:40. > :36:44.upset their as the subsidy was too high. They were spending hundreds
:36:44. > :36:47.of pounds of taxpayers' money. The government must look at it again,
:36:47. > :36:51.because it is not fair to cut community schemes that actually
:36:51. > :36:55.benefit people are more income. Last month, the government was
:36:55. > :36:59.found to have acted illegally in how it cut the solar subsidy. It is
:36:59. > :37:05.appealing to the Supreme Court. While the legal wrangling continues,
:37:05. > :37:08.councils, charities and the solar industry are left in limbo.
:37:08. > :37:13.We are joined by Adrian Ramsay, deputy leader of the Green Party
:37:13. > :37:18.and former Norwich councillor. This tariff was unsustainable. It had to
:37:18. > :37:23.come down, but that? It is one thing for the government to review
:37:23. > :37:29.the level of the tariff, but it is another two/it by half. Another
:37:29. > :37:32.still to conduct a consultation. -- quite another to cut it in half.
:37:32. > :37:36.The way the government has gone about this is disgraceful, and it
:37:36. > :37:40.has caused chaos in the solar industry and caused real problems
:37:40. > :37:45.for local councils. What the people who were going to benefit from this
:37:45. > :37:50.scheme, either by having a job from it, as 20,000 jobs were created, or
:37:50. > :37:55.by having their energy bills have been reduced, really the government
:37:56. > :38:00.ought to think again. A As and the tariff been hijacked by the middle
:38:00. > :38:04.classes? Only the better-off can afford to take advantage of it.
:38:04. > :38:08.What we have seen in the film is quite the opposite. Because of the
:38:08. > :38:13.feed in tariff rates, councils have been successful in installing solar
:38:14. > :38:20.panels and helping people who are in fuel poverty. Having the feat in
:38:20. > :38:26.Paris Skeels -- he in Paris schemes have met that what the people
:38:26. > :38:32.benefited. What will councils are following measures that the Green
:38:32. > :38:37.Party produced for energy economy there. The benefits of solar energy
:38:37. > :38:39.have been broadened out, and my concern is that the government's
:38:39. > :38:45.approach is holding back progress that we need to be making to catch
:38:45. > :38:50.up. I will come to Vicky Ford in a second. Are you concerned that all
:38:50. > :38:54.this is ultimately going to push up carbon emissions? Yes, I am. We
:38:54. > :39:03.need to be doing more to meet the European targets and to do our role
:39:03. > :39:09.in helping climate change. Vicky Ford. The FT in Paris are supposed
:39:09. > :39:19.to help homeowners go green. -- the feat in tariffs. Something had to
:39:19. > :39:23.be done quickly. As long as the result is the same, does it matter?
:39:23. > :39:26.There is still a lot of value in investing in this. The effect of
:39:26. > :39:31.too many people taking advantage of this is that everyone's energy
:39:32. > :39:35.bills will go up because they have been so much. So, you should have
:39:35. > :39:40.community schemes and they should be supported, you should have
:39:40. > :39:43.social policy to help people in energy policy -- people in energy
:39:43. > :39:49.poverty, but it should not necessarily be the same tariff and
:39:49. > :39:58.the same levels that you give to the middle classes. Let's bring
:39:58. > :40:05.Richard her it in. They need to sort out what they think about this.
:40:05. > :40:11.The cuts are worse than Adrian said. Some thought -- 43p and sometimes
:40:11. > :40:15.in 9p. What the government had done was illegal. What is unsustainable
:40:15. > :40:21.is that our economy will -- our economy with global warming. This
:40:21. > :40:30.is the worst sort of short-termism. Cuts made to affect carbon in the
:40:30. > :40:33.future. How high would you let consumer bills go? Whether there is
:40:33. > :40:39.greater in -- where there is greater investment in Solar Energy
:40:39. > :40:44.in Germany bills have gone down. In Britain, it is going down. This is
:40:44. > :40:48.not just in Havel, I was helping the business somewhere else and the
:40:48. > :40:54.sort of jobs and businesses we need to be supporting for the future,
:40:54. > :40:56.and it is they who are being had hardest. Her heart will it be for
:40:56. > :41:02.the new Energy Secretary if the government was is the Supreme Court
:41:02. > :41:06.appeal? I think it will be really bad for the Solar industry in terms
:41:06. > :41:09.of the chaos that has been created in the short term and in terms of
:41:09. > :41:12.planning for the future. People will still be able to get some
:41:12. > :41:18.return on the best but, but the question is, have they gone about
:41:18. > :41:26.this in the rate we? The level of the cut-rate is horrendous, and
:41:26. > :41:31.even if you say it is acceptable, why primitive before? Do you think
:41:31. > :41:36.that the government could have lost momentum in the consultation
:41:36. > :41:43.progress -- consultation process? The ice has clearly upset a lot of
:41:43. > :41:46.business, and that is a big concern. -- this has clearly. I do support
:41:46. > :41:51.more renewable energy, that is something I have to support. We
:41:51. > :41:57.need to look at how they can be priced. We need to support
:41:57. > :42:04.community action in energy-saving sat in Haiti by your fuel. Thank
:42:04. > :42:08.you very much. -- in Haute you buy your fuel. Many of us fantasise
:42:08. > :42:13.about having a place Abbott, possibly when you retire.
:42:13. > :42:17.That has become a reality for many from our region. Since the European
:42:17. > :42:21.financial meltdown, there has been a different reality. The euro has
:42:21. > :42:25.collapsed in value and the value of homes has plummeted. So concerned
:42:25. > :42:35.is the government, they are drawing up contingency plans in case
:42:35. > :42:36.
:42:36. > :42:42.thousands of experts decide to come home. -- thousands of ex pats.
:42:42. > :42:46.We are two hours south of Alicante. Many foreigners have been attracted
:42:46. > :42:50.to pitch routes down in this part of Spain. Particularly the British.
:42:51. > :42:59.The weather is great and there is plenty to do. Life here is not as
:42:59. > :43:03.idyllic as it used to be. His woman has had to install new security
:43:03. > :43:08.after being burgled. A number of homes in the area belonging to ex
:43:08. > :43:15.pat had been burgled. It is economic. It is since the recession
:43:15. > :43:20.has hit. The crime rate has increased. Outside, her husband has
:43:20. > :43:24.just received the new electricity bill, which has gone up because of
:43:24. > :43:27.new taxes. The couple from Ipswich have noticed that life here has
:43:27. > :43:31.become a more risky and expensive. Several of their neighbours have
:43:31. > :43:36.already returned to Britain. They want to go back for health reasons,
:43:36. > :43:41.but it is impossible to sell at a decent price. At the moment, there
:43:41. > :43:45.are people who are really desperate to get back to the UK, they are
:43:45. > :43:52.almost prepared to half the price of their houses. This is all we
:43:52. > :43:56.have, so we cannot afford to give it away, so to speak. For many ex
:43:57. > :44:00.pats, the Spanish team is becoming harder to love. This could from
:44:00. > :44:06.Suffolk are keen to stress that none of them up are millionaires,
:44:06. > :44:11.and they poured what little savings they had into living abroad. Since
:44:11. > :44:17.we have lived here from 2007, I think we have lost almost, maybe
:44:17. > :44:23.one third of what a pensions were worth. Property is not moving, so
:44:23. > :44:27.technically you are trapped. When we first moved here, you definitely
:44:27. > :44:33.got things cheaper here. Close, when he came to Spain years ago and
:44:33. > :44:37.got cheaper clothes, now the go back to England. Spain is a country
:44:37. > :44:41.in trouble, and it shows. The roads are full of unprepared pot holes
:44:41. > :44:48.and the property market is in freefall. Youth unemployment now
:44:48. > :44:53.stands at 51%. The 800,000 Britons who without you are caught up in it.
:44:54. > :44:58.They are starting to worry a lot. They are not on skid Row, of course,
:44:59. > :45:04.but the value of their pound has fallen an awful lot. Coupled with
:45:04. > :45:10.rising prices here, that means latest hate. There are reports that
:45:10. > :45:14.in some of the big cities, some Britons are receiving food parcels
:45:14. > :45:18.from charities. Back in Britain, there are real fears that things
:45:18. > :45:21.could become too hard for British expats here.
:45:21. > :45:25.Senior sources in the Foreign Office had told be that contingency
:45:25. > :45:29.plans are being drawn up in case the euro collapses or the situation
:45:29. > :45:34.here were since so much that thousands of Britons want to come
:45:34. > :45:38.home. The plans, I am told, could involve chartering planes and boats.
:45:38. > :45:43.If the cash points ran dry, emergency loans might be available.
:45:43. > :45:48.Ministers insist these are worst- case scenario plants. Most of those
:45:48. > :45:55.I met were keen to stay here if at all possible. -- worst-case
:45:55. > :46:02.scenario plans. Richard, I do concern as to what
:46:02. > :46:06.might happen to expats as we have seen their? I am sure it is true
:46:06. > :46:09.that the people you are talking to, and others, people of modest means
:46:09. > :46:14.to have put their life savings into it and what a better life, he
:46:14. > :46:17.cannot have anything but compassion for them. There are key, what is
:46:17. > :46:24.your view on this? Should the government be making contingency
:46:24. > :46:28.plans? I think it is really difficult, because there are many
:46:28. > :46:32.people across the UK and East Anglia who have seen their house
:46:32. > :46:38.prices and earnings top. Property prices in Spain have collapsed, and
:46:38. > :46:45.are still falling, as he says. -- scene of property prices and
:46:45. > :46:49.earnings a drop. The euro is now going down. The big issue here is,
:46:49. > :46:54.how uncertain the economy is. In Spain, one in every two young
:46:54. > :47:01.people is unemployed. In Italy, it is one in every so the -- one in
:47:01. > :47:07.every three, added France it is one in every four. When we look at the
:47:07. > :47:12.deficit, the budget deficits across the Eurozone, that is around-4%.
:47:12. > :47:16.There is UK budget deficit is double that. We are still under a
:47:16. > :47:22.huge financial spending pressure to get our spending down, we cannot
:47:22. > :47:31.just afford to give it more and more money. How worried should we
:47:31. > :47:35.be about the perilous state of the you know? Well done to Becky for
:47:35. > :47:41.refuting the case for the hero of the back of a family in Spain. This
:47:41. > :47:45.is a major market. It is really tough out there. That affects jobs
:47:45. > :47:51.and businesses in her own region. Within the you know, Germany and
:47:51. > :47:56.France have better income and low unemployment and lower debt and us.
:47:56. > :48:03.The issue is not the you know, good or bad, the you know -- the issue
:48:03. > :48:07.is the euro crisis fuelled by banks and dodgy lending. In this week,
:48:07. > :48:11.when we have seen the failure to deal with banker bonuses and
:48:11. > :48:17.regulation, until the deal with that, we will not help a businesses.
:48:17. > :48:24.Vicky Ford? These countries cannot get themselves out of their
:48:24. > :48:27.economic crisis. That is why the pound went down in 2008, 2009. And
:48:27. > :48:33.thank goodness we are not in the you know, because we can save
:48:33. > :48:37.ourselves in ways that they can't. There is a lot more to say, and we
:48:37. > :48:47.will do that another day. It is time to sound the baleful stop time
:48:47. > :48:53.
:48:53. > :48:57.to look at the political high notes. The kiss of life for Hitchen but,
:48:57. > :49:01.as it becomes the first NHS hospital in the country to be run
:49:01. > :49:05.by a private company. It is also sure renewable energy that the
:49:05. > :49:08.local MP wanted to see in peak condition. Rebel, Europe is on the
:49:08. > :49:11.critical list. They Clacton in Peel once the
:49:12. > :49:16.people's place for a vote on whether or not they should be a
:49:16. > :49:20.national referendum to be the easier. Neighbouring Essex MP
:49:20. > :49:26.Bernard Jenkins applied pressure to David Cameron over his phantom
:49:26. > :49:29.European treaty veto. He a subset of member states --
:49:29. > :49:36.subset of member states can bypass the the tour and hijack it for
:49:36. > :49:40.their own purpose. Another MP's put pressure hits the
:49:40. > :49:45.roof after the loss of the Euro fighter contract. The �20 billion
:49:45. > :49:49.fighter contract has been lost two, of all people, the French. And we
:49:49. > :49:53.know now that the lead bidder on this was not the British Prime
:49:53. > :50:00.Minister or British government, it was the Germans. What on earth do
:50:00. > :50:03.they know about cricket at Currie? Vicky Ford, what are the it is idea
:50:03. > :50:06.of a private company running an NHS hospital?
:50:06. > :50:11.Are I think it is really interesting. Let's see how it does
:50:11. > :50:14.work. My big question is, why does it take four years from when the
:50:15. > :50:19.decision is made to actually have it running. Everything in the
:50:19. > :50:26.public sector takes so long. Richard, would you like to be
:50:26. > :50:30.treated their? They the Cameron came to a Tory party conference and
:50:31. > :50:34.said that the NHS was safe. This week, the BBC are reporting that
:50:34. > :50:41.not just picture book, but perhaps Great Yarmouth possible are