:01:36. > :01:41.In the East: What hope can the forthcoming budget of the family's
:01:41. > :01:51.desperate for better times? And the battle is on to save our high
:01:51. > :01:51.
:01:51. > :32:06.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1815 seconds
:32:06. > :32:10.Perhaps this week's budget may do something for some much needed a
:32:10. > :32:14.job creation. But what about help for our high streets? Rows of
:32:14. > :32:20.discount stores and charity shops are now commonplace. What can be
:32:20. > :32:28.done? After the number of vacant shops doubled last year? Mary
:32:28. > :32:33.Portas tried to turn things around. The government has announced that
:32:33. > :32:40.12 High Street will have the opportunity to become Mary Portas
:32:40. > :32:44.pilots. Mary Portas, shopping expert, offering her advice to one
:32:44. > :32:48.high street retailer. She has been given �1 million to spend on a
:32:48. > :32:57.pilot project to take 12 High Street and see if she can return
:32:57. > :33:05.them to the heart of their communities. This one is hoping to
:33:05. > :33:12.beat one of them. We are looking at things like arts and Kraft shops.
:33:12. > :33:17.It is a social experience as much as anything. We speech is an old
:33:17. > :33:23.market town, but not particularly affluent. As a shopping area, it
:33:23. > :33:28.has serious competition from Peterborough and King's Lynn. This
:33:28. > :33:37.woman to go with his high street flower shop 18 months ago. The rent
:33:37. > :33:42.is a big chunk of Fife fixed cost, so is the business rates. -- Mike
:33:42. > :33:50.fixed cost. We are delivering day- in and day-out, so a huge amount
:33:50. > :33:55.goes on the running of the van with diesel costs. Mary Portas once it
:33:55. > :34:02.to be easier to become market traders. This town has the market
:34:02. > :34:09.at its heart. But the leader of the council says they're going to have
:34:09. > :34:14.to be even more radical. The whole of the shopping area, it stretches
:34:14. > :34:19.way down the High Street. Behind me, way down to Norfolk Street, another
:34:19. > :34:23.half a mile down there in that direction. It is unrealistic and it
:34:23. > :34:27.is not sustainable in the long term. We have to look at contraction.
:34:28. > :34:33.People are not just going to browse around, buying the odd nick knack
:34:33. > :34:43.in places like this. On Wednesday, all eyes will be scrutinising the
:34:43. > :34:45.
:34:45. > :34:48.Chancellor's Budget for growth. would love to see even a small
:34:48. > :34:53.sustained growth over the next three years. I would love to take
:34:53. > :34:56.on apprentice. All that has to be coupled with the public having
:34:57. > :35:06.confidence in the economy, and without that, we're not going to be
:35:07. > :35:07.
:35:08. > :35:14.able to grow. Joining us in the story -- in the studio is the head
:35:14. > :35:22.of the Federation of Small businesses. The banks have to be
:35:22. > :35:31.mentioned. They say they are giving support to small businesses. But
:35:31. > :35:34.that is not necessarily the case. People are being told there is
:35:34. > :35:39.support but that systems of getting us aboard a not easy. When you
:35:39. > :35:42.actually look at the support, there are so many options are. And a
:35:42. > :35:47.small business is trying to run a business, we don't have time to go
:35:47. > :35:51.out and did the research that the big guys do. One of the issues is
:35:51. > :35:57.around it not only making support available but making it easy to
:35:57. > :36:05.access. The lady with the flower shop, it is that thing about fuel
:36:05. > :36:13.costs. If I as an individual, choose to go from A to B, I choose
:36:13. > :36:20.to do that. As a business, I have to use transport. So you would like
:36:20. > :36:25.to see that addressed in the Budget? Absolutely. I pay VAT or my
:36:25. > :36:35.fuel costs as well as everything else. What about business rates?
:36:35. > :36:38.yes. Where I am in Chelmsford, I had not paid business rates for a
:36:38. > :36:43.year and it looks like I won't pay them again this year. But I am
:36:43. > :36:47.unusual and Chelmsford is unusual. It is looking at what support can
:36:47. > :36:54.be made available and making that support up fierce and making it
:36:54. > :37:01.easy to access. Let me bring in our other two guests. Dr downpour to
:37:01. > :37:08.come on that question of consumer confidence, how do we start to
:37:09. > :37:15.restore that? The first thing is to make sure that as much as possible,
:37:15. > :37:19.we support businesses and the Mary Portas report is a good step in the
:37:19. > :37:23.right direction. It is about making sure we have local a authorities
:37:23. > :37:26.and councils that have proper plans about how to bring alive the
:37:27. > :37:36.vibrancy of town centres in terms of commerce and trade and also
:37:36. > :37:40.making sure that we have locally sensitive business rates to support
:37:40. > :37:46.shops in struggling areas. There are not any easy answers for it. In
:37:46. > :37:52.terms of the fuel costs, the government has made steps to reduce
:37:52. > :38:00.the fuel that would have been 10 pence higher under the previous
:38:01. > :38:04.government. Money to move dependancy away from fossil fuels
:38:04. > :38:10.and support green energy and other technology to reduce home fuel
:38:10. > :38:20.bills. The government's policy has been endorsed, hasn't it, Richard
:38:20. > :38:21.
:38:21. > :38:25.Howard? By the European Commission? Well, Britain is cutting out
:38:25. > :38:28.services and our jobs and spending at a rate which is the second worst
:38:28. > :38:31.in the whole of Europe. David Cameron has been in America this
:38:31. > :38:36.week where they are not cutting as hard and employment is growing and
:38:36. > :38:46.there is growth in the economy. The sort of complacency we had earlier
:38:46. > :38:53.from down, the Federation of Small Business as well. They ask every
:38:53. > :39:02.quarter, are things getting better? 3/4 say in Suffolk, Essex, and a
:39:02. > :39:06.region, they're getting worse. has job creation? Apparently, if
:39:06. > :39:12.every self-employed person in Britain employed one person, there
:39:12. > :39:16.would be no unemployed people. Now, if you think that in this area, the
:39:16. > :39:21.number of small businesses, I think in Essex, we have the largest
:39:21. > :39:26.number of self-employed people anywhere in the country. If you
:39:26. > :39:30.give support to small businesses, it is about supporting the
:39:30. > :39:36.unemployment, about support in the economy, it is about making sure
:39:36. > :39:46.that the hall clock starts to work within... How are you going to do
:39:46. > :39:48.
:39:48. > :39:52.that? It is about supporting small businesses. The government has made
:39:52. > :40:01.sure we get broadband investment in Suffolk and Norfolk and other
:40:01. > :40:05.counties, which is so vital for small businesses. About National
:40:05. > :40:12.Insurance, Labour wants to help people with small businesses by
:40:12. > :40:22.saying they should have a National Insurance holiday. We want to have
:40:22. > :40:23.
:40:23. > :40:30.companies like hares but want to employ apprentices. We want out-of-
:40:30. > :40:34.town shopping to do about it up... Let me give the last word to this
:40:34. > :40:39.lady. Are you optimistic about the future? Absolutely, because
:40:39. > :40:42.otherwise we may as well just pack up and go home now. More from both
:40:42. > :40:49.if you in a moment. Were want to move on now to a new phrase
:40:49. > :40:55.rehearing a lot of. It is the squeezed middle. It is being used
:40:55. > :40:58.by all the parties now and it is a recognition that where we may be
:40:58. > :41:07.all in it together, middle-class families seem to be bearing the
:41:07. > :41:11.pain of the Cup's most. -- the cuts. This is Milton Keynes, and in the
:41:11. > :41:15.eyes of the politicians, this is the heart of aspirational England.
:41:15. > :41:21.People who want to work and better themselves and their family. But at
:41:21. > :41:25.the moment, many here do not feel aspirational, they feel squeezed.
:41:25. > :41:31.It is the extras, the bits like holidays that we can't afford any
:41:31. > :41:34.more. We have had to sell all of our cars. And petrol is so
:41:34. > :41:42.expensive that we have to think really carefully before we do any
:41:42. > :41:47.long journeys. Simon and K at they life has become much more of a
:41:47. > :41:50.struggle. Kay works at the local college. Simon, a teacher, gave up
:41:50. > :41:54.work to look after their children because it was cheaper than using
:41:54. > :41:58.child care. They are on a fixed rate mortgage. Child benefit has
:41:58. > :42:02.been frozen and next month they expect to lose up to �200 a month
:42:02. > :42:12.in tax credits. They can't afford repairs to their home and they
:42:12. > :42:13.
:42:13. > :42:23.think very carefully about shopping. In the 12, the kids ask for things.
:42:23. > :42:25.
:42:25. > :42:30.-- the Tory I'll. I can't afford to just put my hand in my pocket.
:42:30. > :42:33.country, we are broke, but we can't sit around just doing nothing. I do
:42:33. > :42:38.think that in some ways, all the focus has been put on people who do
:42:38. > :42:44.not have a job at all. And so the people who are working like
:42:44. > :42:50.ourselves, we do seem to be suffering is a bit more. We don't
:42:50. > :42:55.get help with this -- prescriptions, council tax, fees for courses.
:42:55. > :43:01.There is no extra help. Milton Keynes, like many seats in this
:43:01. > :43:04.area, used to be Labour, then it went over to the Conservatives.
:43:04. > :43:09.Aspirational middle England will probably hold the key to the next
:43:09. > :43:14.election. At the moment, we are having the second year of the
:43:14. > :43:18.council tax freeze. In the Autumn Statement, and the Prime Minister
:43:18. > :43:25.announced that the Chancellor announced that fares would not be
:43:25. > :43:29.going up as much as they were. government is doing its best to
:43:29. > :43:35.clobber those people who are in work and doing their best to get on
:43:35. > :43:40.a life. And the withdrawal of the educational maintenance allowance
:43:40. > :43:48.etc, if you're a long -- a young family in Milton Keynes try to get
:43:49. > :43:53.on, life is a lot harder. This week's budget is about all about
:43:53. > :43:57.putting more money back into people's pockets. The tax cut will
:43:57. > :44:02.probably be paid for by some sort of new tax on the very well-off.
:44:02. > :44:04.The aim will be to make things a little less painful for
:44:04. > :44:07.aspirational middle England. For this family, and the thing that
:44:07. > :44:11.gives them extra spending money would be welcomed. But the
:44:11. > :44:18.Chancellor has little room for manoeuvre. So will any of always be
:44:18. > :44:24.enough SMAC real people facing real problem. Richard Howard, do you
:44:24. > :44:29.feel any responsibility when you see things like that? Absolutely.
:44:29. > :44:35.Ed Miliband raised this issue and has put it right at the centre of
:44:35. > :44:38.British politics. That family is absolutely typical of 200,000
:44:38. > :44:42.families in Britain who were having their working tax credits taken
:44:42. > :44:46.away from them this week. Labour says and the government -- in the
:44:46. > :44:51.Budget, the government should reverse that. It is cutting the tax
:44:51. > :44:58.owed the people on over �150,000 a year to add on to a pension tax
:44:58. > :45:04.relief for the same group of people of �1.6 billion. They are not
:45:04. > :45:08.helping them. Buddied tolerated high-spending, you tolerated other
:45:08. > :45:16.things, do not feel the responsibility that you have
:45:16. > :45:23.created the plight of a family like that? This lady said that the banks
:45:23. > :45:29.were at fault before. What I feel is that people like that family
:45:29. > :45:36.need help now. The government has got absolutely the wrong priorities.
:45:36. > :45:39.If you take working families, if one partner stays at home, they are
:45:39. > :45:45.being discriminated against by the government's changes in child
:45:46. > :45:55.benefit. First of all, you have rightly highlighted that we
:45:55. > :46:01.inherited a record level of national debt. That is �2 that
:46:01. > :46:08.everybody is pain in debt interest. I spend a lot of my last few weeks
:46:08. > :46:14.with the family -- with a family, and we see that the biggest
:46:14. > :46:17.frustration amongst that family and all the group's they meet is that
:46:17. > :46:20.the benefits system is too complicated. Those people on
:46:20. > :46:24.benefits are better off than people who were not on benefits, and that
:46:24. > :46:34.should never be the case, but thanks to the Labour government the
:46:34. > :46:38.
:46:38. > :46:45.people of -- a better off on benefits than in work. It is a
:46:45. > :46:49.clear priority... These people are working. But those people who were
:46:49. > :46:55.in work will be �700 per year better off thanks to this
:46:56. > :46:59.government's plans. That is lower paid families that are benefiting.
:46:59. > :47:04.You saw that man there say he couldn't afford to buy in you
:47:04. > :47:10.should for someone who is going to work. The cuts that your government
:47:10. > :47:14.upbringing and is too far and too fast. The changes that your
:47:14. > :47:20.government is bidding and to taking away the tax credit and taking away
:47:20. > :47:26.child benefit actually is making it more expensive to work than to stay
:47:26. > :47:32.at home. Your speculating that we are bringing in policies. We
:47:32. > :47:36.haven't actually brought the men, because the current system is the
:47:36. > :47:42.legacy of the Labour government as was highlighted earlier, and the
:47:42. > :47:45.Labour government spent and spent and spent. The priority is were not
:47:45. > :47:51.supporting hard working families. What this government wants to do is
:47:51. > :47:55.take those families out of tax and make them better off. There will be
:47:55. > :48:00.lots more to talk about on Monday night when I will be looking at the
:48:00. > :48:04.economy with a special programme. 11pm. I will be talking to business
:48:05. > :48:08.leaders and politicians to see what can be done to help this region
:48:08. > :48:14.drive the economic recovery. Now, it is time for the weekly round-up
:48:14. > :48:24.of all things political. This week, MPs break out in this wet but it is
:48:24. > :48:24.
:48:25. > :48:32.all in a good cause. -- in a sweat. MPs showing solidarity of running a
:48:32. > :48:41.Sport Relief mile. The surprise announcement prompting Chelmsford's
:48:41. > :48:47.winning city-state is has caused a rift among Essex MPs. There was a
:48:47. > :48:52.success they Essex. Now, there wasn't! Chums would! Equally
:48:52. > :49:02.unexpected was the backing for a third runway at Heathrow. It is
:49:02. > :49:03.
:49:03. > :49:08.more practical to build a third runway. Good news for this man who
:49:08. > :49:15.has managed to make sure visitors will not be charged to see Big Ben.
:49:15. > :49:23.But bad news for gardeners as a hosepipe ban is introduced.
:49:23. > :49:31.water companies, Anglian Water, has a good drought plan. Hopefully,
:49:31. > :49:37.there is enough water left to freshen up our MPs. Is the city
:49:37. > :49:43.state his award a good thing? well done to Chelmsford. Also to
:49:43. > :49:53.Luton who did a brilliant campaign. And coming mentioned to Labour by-
:49:53. > :49:53.
:49:53. > :49:59.election victories -- can we mentioned two Labour by-election
:49:59. > :50:03.victories? Good news all round. Thank you very much indeed for