15/04/2012

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:01:27. > :01:29.Here in the East: The campaign gathers pace for

:01:29. > :01:39.hundreds of candidates facing election on May 3rd.

:01:39. > :01:40.

:01:40. > :30:38.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1738 seconds

:30:38. > :30:42.And we reveal who is being hit the Hello and welcome to the programme.

:30:42. > :30:46.Coming up, how women and in particular all the women are

:30:46. > :30:50.bearing the brunt of job cuts in this region. We can reveal that the

:30:50. > :30:55.number of women are losing jobs has increased by one third.

:30:55. > :30:59.First come up let's meet our guest. Baroness Angela Smith, formerly MP

:30:59. > :31:03.for Basildon and Norman Lamb, Liberal Democrat Business Minister

:31:03. > :31:08.and MP for North Northorpe. Let's talk about the price of stamps

:31:09. > :31:15.first, people are apparently stocking up. -- north Norfolk.

:31:15. > :31:20.This cannot be right, cannot? one likes price increases, but the

:31:20. > :31:24.price had been massively below the European average. In a way, the

:31:25. > :31:29.most important thing is to protect the universal service. This is the

:31:29. > :31:33.fact that you can pay the same amount to serve -- to send a letter

:31:33. > :31:38.anywhere in the United Kingdom. The same price to anywhere, six days

:31:38. > :31:40.per week. Detecting that is critically important. The last

:31:40. > :31:46.Labour Government introduced competition so that the Royal Mail

:31:46. > :31:50.was facing really tough competition. -- protecting that is critically

:31:50. > :31:55.important. We are taking some really tough measures and getting

:31:55. > :32:00.Royal Mail back in order. This is an operational decision from the

:32:00. > :32:07.Royal Mail want the price of stamps. Ansell a Smith, despite backbench

:32:07. > :32:10.opposition, the Royal Mail sell-off did start under Labour, is that a

:32:10. > :32:18.mistake under Tyneside? Will be making it very clear that full

:32:18. > :32:25.privatisation was never an option for the Royal Mail. The price is

:32:25. > :32:31.61p for one first class stamp. The service has gone worse. I do not

:32:31. > :32:37.agree with that. So early, Norman, I listened to shoot, so please

:32:37. > :32:42.listen to me. I got my post on Friday after 4:30pm. This has never

:32:42. > :32:47.been the case, it has always been before lunchtime. The future is

:32:47. > :32:50.really bright, we have protected every postman's pension by taking

:32:50. > :32:54.over a massive deficit from the Government and making sure the

:32:54. > :32:59.Royal Mail will be in a fit state to compete in the future and be a

:32:59. > :33:03.really successful company. The future is bright. I am not as

:33:03. > :33:08.convinced as you. It you can afford the price of a

:33:08. > :33:12.stamp, there is the time to begin for a postal vote. We have till

:33:12. > :33:17.Wednesday to register. Here is a look at how this year's elections

:33:17. > :33:23.are shaping up. The care silkier in Norwich's one of 19 across the

:33:23. > :33:27.region holding elections on May 3rd. -- the council here in the Norwich.

:33:27. > :33:31.Later there are running Stevenage and Ipswich. The Liberal Democrats

:33:31. > :33:36.are in charge of Cambridge, and called Chester, Milton Keynes and

:33:36. > :33:41.Norwich are in no overall control. Our councils will be electing one

:33:41. > :33:48.third of their seats, apart from Daventry, which has a boundary

:33:48. > :33:52.change. It will be electing all of its 36 new seats. For a reminder of

:33:52. > :33:58.how would the region stands at the moment, the Conservatives are

:33:58. > :34:03.defending 182 seats, Labour just 49 and the Liberal Democrats with 46.

:34:03. > :34:06.The last time these seats were fought was 2008. Gordon Brown was

:34:06. > :34:12.the Prime Minister, we were about to hit a recession and Labour did

:34:12. > :34:15.badly. In theory, this you should be a good one for Labour. There

:34:15. > :34:19.will be some interesting battles. In Milton Keynes, the Conservatives

:34:19. > :34:23.are fighting their coalition partners, trying to gain overall

:34:24. > :34:28.control. In Cambridge, the Liberal Democrats are under threat from

:34:28. > :34:32.Labour in the only council they still run in the region. That is

:34:32. > :34:35.unless they finally managed to take control of Colchester, where they

:34:35. > :34:39.hope to increase their two-seat advantage over the Conservatives.

:34:39. > :34:43.Great Yarmouth is a straight to be fight over the Conservatives and

:34:43. > :34:48.Labour, with Labour needing to gain a four-seat to snatch control from

:34:48. > :34:53.the Tories. Clipper's hopes are also high in Harlow, where the

:34:53. > :34:59.Conservatives currently hold the council. -- Labour's corpse. Labour

:34:59. > :35:03.are also working to make gains here in a Norwich where the Green Party

:35:03. > :35:08.are just three seats behind. Degrees are fielding some new

:35:08. > :35:13.candidates this time, with six of their seats are up for election,

:35:13. > :35:17.Labour's success could depend on how well does new faces perform. We

:35:17. > :35:21.are a joint by Stuart Agnew, a member of the European Parliament

:35:21. > :35:26.for the UK Independence Party. Your party has not really made any

:35:26. > :35:30.kind of breakthrough at the local level, why is that? We have made a

:35:30. > :35:36.breakthrough at the local level, just look at Ramsey in Cambridge a

:35:36. > :35:43.worthy have full control of the town council, we have a district

:35:43. > :35:48.councillor and we are causing great effect in the district council.

:35:48. > :35:54.that is a town council rather than a County Council. Build from the

:35:54. > :36:02.bottom, that is what Peter is doing. We have two other people like him

:36:02. > :36:06.in the region, we have a man who had jobs will know all about and we

:36:06. > :36:12.have another Smith in Great Yarmouth. Norman Lamb, let's talk

:36:12. > :36:17.about recent history, or where be shocked by last year's results? He

:36:17. > :36:23.lost 12 seats in last year's council, north nor fog. How much of

:36:23. > :36:27.able was that to you? It was not nice to lose seats like that.

:36:27. > :36:33.have not been in Government since the Second World War and we realise

:36:33. > :36:38.that being good -- that being in Government is tough. Our message is

:36:38. > :36:41.that the -- at steel local level we're working to protect services.

:36:41. > :36:46.In every Liberal Democrat council we have a frozen council tax, that

:36:46. > :36:49.is not the same in every other council. At the national level, we

:36:49. > :36:54.are working in Government to reduce that the tax burden for people on

:36:54. > :37:01.low and middle incomes. This year, 21 all and middle income earners

:37:01. > :37:03.will get a tax cut on top of a �200 tax cuts last year. We are focusing

:37:03. > :37:10.on are those hard-working people whose budgets are squeezed into the

:37:10. > :37:13.tell to get by. Angela Smith, Labour made gains in the East last

:37:13. > :37:20.year, but there are areas in which you are not getting through, what

:37:20. > :37:23.can be done? It will be interesting be sure. Significantly, at there

:37:23. > :37:28.will be the number of seats past the fighting. We are fighting a

:37:28. > :37:33.full slate of candidates, whereas the Norman's party are not fighting

:37:33. > :37:40.a full slate of candidates in any council. He -- the United Kingdom

:37:40. > :37:45.Independence Party have a greater number of candidates in some

:37:45. > :37:47.councils than the Liberal Democrats. We have found it easier to get good

:37:47. > :37:51.candidates through this election, I am confident we will make

:37:51. > :37:54.significant gains across the regions. Actually, this year be

:37:54. > :38:00.have made again from Labour and gains from the Conservatives in

:38:00. > :38:07.local councils. By-elections are a different thing, you have lost a

:38:07. > :38:10.third of your seat. I am not denying that, if you try and to the

:38:10. > :38:14.right thing and I am absolutely convinced that working with another

:38:14. > :38:19.party to try and get this country head of the mess it has been in was

:38:20. > :38:24.the right thing to do. Let's bring Stuart Agnew back in. If you as a

:38:24. > :38:31.party cannot break in locally to a greater extent, what does that

:38:31. > :38:36.mean? We are breaking through, we are moving forward all of the time.

:38:36. > :38:44.We are right behind the Liberal Democrats, by one point or half a

:38:44. > :38:47.point behind them. That is not say much at the moment. You can say

:38:47. > :38:53.that the UK Independence Party are a little small fry, but we keep

:38:53. > :39:00.getting bigger. We are standing 121 candidates this time. Four years

:39:00. > :39:05.ago there was 56. Terrific growth. We will follow the progress of the

:39:05. > :39:09.local elections as they continue. The latest unemployment figures

:39:09. > :39:13.will be published this week. They are expected to show a rise, West

:39:13. > :39:17.unemployment in the race -- in a day East has been rising over the

:39:18. > :39:21.past year. Analysis by this programme shows that middle-aged

:39:21. > :39:26.and older women are being hit harder than any other age group and

:39:26. > :39:31.are most likely to be out of work for longer. 93,000 people over 35

:39:31. > :39:35.are out of work in the east, an increase of 19% on last year. The

:39:35. > :39:41.majority are men but the number of women are losing their jobs has

:39:41. > :39:47.increased by one third. Today be able to a mock exam forger

:39:47. > :39:50.customer-service cause. At Milton Keynes College they provide courses

:39:50. > :39:54.for many unemployed people every year. Many in the class are young

:39:54. > :40:01.people who have never had a proper job. Among them also are people who

:40:01. > :40:05.until recently have been in work for most of their adult lives.

:40:05. > :40:11.have never been made redundant and never not had a job. It is so, yes,

:40:11. > :40:15.very hard and frustrating as well. I was only ever made redundant once,

:40:16. > :40:21.his years ago. I got a job straight away. I was offered around six jobs

:40:21. > :40:25.at the same time, I have never had this problem, ever. These women

:40:25. > :40:30.represent a growing trend. Middle- aged and experienced, but finding

:40:30. > :40:38.it hard to get another job. Jackie worked for more than 15 years at a

:40:38. > :40:41.distribution warehouse which closed last year, so, too, did enough.

:40:41. > :40:45.Dorothy ran at jewellery business. They are all looking for work.

:40:45. > :40:51.is actually hearts just getting a response from the company, even to

:40:51. > :40:54.acknowledge that they have it received your application. That is

:40:55. > :40:58.frustrating and demoralising. You begin to doubt your own ability.

:40:58. > :41:02.am finding that the jobs I am applying for appear to be several

:41:02. > :41:07.jobs rolled into one, so I think it is hard for any one person to have

:41:07. > :41:11.that multitude of skills. According to official figures, the number of

:41:11. > :41:14.men in the east over the age of 35 who are out of work has increased

:41:14. > :41:23.by 12% over the last year. The number of older women out of work

:41:23. > :41:26.over the same period has increased by 33%. I fear it will get worse.

:41:27. > :41:29.The cuts that are coming into the public sector had yet to be fully

:41:29. > :41:34.implemented, and we know that in the public sector there are more

:41:34. > :41:37.women currently employed there. It will get harder on them. There is a

:41:37. > :41:41.number of things he can do. The work programme is in place, if

:41:41. > :41:48.providing tailored support for individuals to help them overcome

:41:48. > :41:53.the barriers they personally face in getting into employment., also,

:41:53. > :41:59.looking at people wanting to move into self-employment. This will

:41:59. > :42:02.help women looking to set up for themselves in business. Milton

:42:02. > :42:06.Keynes is a growing town with plenty of employment opportunities.

:42:06. > :42:10.At the local college, they believe the key to helping people back into

:42:10. > :42:14.work is training. There is a skills mismatch between the skills they

:42:14. > :42:18.have acquired a their working lives and the skills now acquired --

:42:18. > :42:22.stills are now required by the economy. The first thing we need to

:42:22. > :42:28.do is IT training. You will find that going forward in the market

:42:28. > :42:32.place, every job requires a degree of IT knowledge and understanding.

:42:32. > :42:37.We need to get the skills and place before we consider things like

:42:37. > :42:40.healthcare or engineering. economic Secretary has taken a

:42:41. > :42:45.close interest in getting people back to work. She be so they held a

:42:45. > :42:48.surgery for young people in our Norwich constituency. Chloe Smith

:42:48. > :42:52.police Government money for training schemes and the new Youth

:42:52. > :42:56.Contract should make things easier. It is a tragedy to be out of work,

:42:56. > :43:00.and people want to be at work. Especially people who have

:43:00. > :43:03.experience and a good CV from elsewhere. The Government's work

:43:03. > :43:07.programme is designed to work across age groups, across men and

:43:07. > :43:10.women and young adults. It is designed to help people in a

:43:10. > :43:14.personalised way, getting work that's a is them. The people I met

:43:14. > :43:17.in Milton Keynes College attended all of the courses they can and

:43:17. > :43:21.still apply for jobs. They told me they do not want to live on

:43:21. > :43:27.benefits, they want to work. Middle-aged, particularly middle-

:43:27. > :43:30.aged women, is it a neglected area. We bring a wealth of experience, we

:43:30. > :43:35.may need some retraining and are the other companies prepared to

:43:35. > :43:39.invest in that? The longer you're unemployed, it seems to be getting

:43:39. > :43:46.harder and that affects our conference. Whereas I was a

:43:46. > :43:53.confident person, last year, I just expected to get a job but now it is

:43:53. > :43:56.2012 And I am not quite sure what the future hold. Norman Lamb, as a

:43:56. > :44:00.party, if you have the Youth Contract. You have work experience

:44:00. > :44:04.plans, but what is being done as a coalition Government and as a party

:44:04. > :44:07.for all the women? The first thing to see is that unemployment is

:44:07. > :44:12.dreadful, and the impact it has on your self-esteem is a really

:44:12. > :44:17.significant and so we all have to take this incredibly seriously. It

:44:17. > :44:21.is actually quite a long-term trend. In the past decade, unemployment

:44:21. > :44:24.among them and went up by 24%, under the last Labour Government.

:44:24. > :44:30.This is a challenge the whole of Europe if faces. What is being done

:44:30. > :44:33.for older women? Hit it is about helping everyone back into work.

:44:33. > :44:38.Although women have a particular challenge, but it is about learning

:44:38. > :44:41.new skills. We must make sure that Britain is in the best placed to

:44:41. > :44:44.win a new work in the future economy. We face a massive

:44:44. > :44:48.challenge from Asian economies and if Europe does not become more

:44:48. > :44:51.competitive and if the United Kingdom in particular does not, we

:44:51. > :44:56.will see this trend continue and by taking really tough action to get

:44:56. > :44:59.the deficit under control, I am convinced that the UK is now a much

:44:59. > :45:03.better placed than most other European countries to get

:45:03. > :45:08.employment back up to two good levels. So nothing specific for

:45:08. > :45:11.older women? They qualified just like everyone else does for all of

:45:11. > :45:14.the schemes that both Goldthorpe and Simon read talked about in the

:45:14. > :45:19.cut. Angela Smith, what would Labour do to help this particular

:45:19. > :45:23.sector? The report highlighted a couple of things. One is the skills

:45:23. > :45:28.issue. Another is that women of the siege never expected not to have

:45:28. > :45:31.the work. They have worked all of their life and thoughts Clive would

:45:31. > :45:35.get easier. Now they must work longer to get their pension. The

:45:35. > :45:38.work programme is there, and I have spoken to women on the work

:45:38. > :45:40.programme, they say it is not tailored to their needs. We must

:45:40. > :45:44.ensure that when we have these programmes that look at giving

:45:44. > :45:48.people the skills they need, they cannot always just be targeted to

:45:48. > :45:55.young people. If we do not employ the skills of the older workforce,

:45:55. > :46:00.women of my age, you have a chance to say something, do it. We will

:46:00. > :46:03.not have the economy in the future and, p a able to fill the vacancies.

:46:03. > :46:06.Let's just talk to Stuart Agnew about the bigger picture. UK

:46:06. > :46:12.unemployment is pretty bad, but it is worse in other countries in

:46:13. > :46:17.Europe. It is dreadful. In certain Eurozone countries, it is

:46:17. > :46:21.frightening. They are not growing, they are contracting here on year.

:46:21. > :46:25.Greece has been contracting. It shouldn't be in the euro, the

:46:25. > :46:28.austerity measures are only making matters worse. The Greeks will see

:46:28. > :46:31.its in and we will see it in Portugal and Spain, where the

:46:31. > :46:37.victims of a horrendous social political experiment called the

:46:37. > :46:40.euro. Do you agree with Norman Lamb that it is about creating work

:46:40. > :46:43.opportunities by encouraging business into the United Kingdom?

:46:43. > :46:48.One way you can encourage businesses to reduce the burden of

:46:48. > :46:53.legislation on them, and so many small businesses, the legislation

:46:53. > :46:57.comes from the European Union. I can give you three examples.

:46:57. > :47:03.Companies in a Hertfordshire and at which are doing quite different

:47:03. > :47:06.things and suffering from the new legislation. We do not have them to

:47:06. > :47:10.speak to today unfortunately. agree be must tackle for

:47:10. > :47:14.legislation. Coming from both the UK Government and the European

:47:14. > :47:24.level. If Europe is to be able to compete with emerging economies in

:47:24. > :47:24.

:47:25. > :47:28.Asia, we have got to beat welcoming for businesses. The Government must

:47:28. > :47:32.accept a deficit and growth and jobs crisis. With these women do

:47:32. > :47:37.not get jobs he will not address any of these issues. Jobs is the

:47:37. > :47:40.most important issue. There is some light, I was talking to the head of

:47:41. > :47:43.a large recruitment business and they were saying that they are

:47:43. > :47:47.seeing a significant increases month on month on the number of new

:47:47. > :47:53.jobs coming through, so there is hope for the few to. Thank you both.

:47:53. > :47:55.Stuart Agnew, thank you for your time. Now a for her sixty-second

:47:55. > :48:05.round up. This week, politicians from across

:48:05. > :48:08.

:48:08. > :48:11.the parties paid their respects to -- parliamentarians. For much Prime

:48:11. > :48:18.Minister John Major joined a mourners at the funeral of Lord

:48:18. > :48:22.Newton of Braintree. How well you remember him? With

:48:23. > :48:26.very great affection, be have a lot of fun together. And if your idea

:48:26. > :48:29.of fun is backing a winner, Jimmy welcome plans for a new casino in

:48:29. > :48:33.Milton Keynes. At a time when the council does not have a lot of

:48:33. > :48:38.money, to be able to have money to put towards things that may benefit

:48:38. > :48:42.what other areas of the community is something worthwhile. One Eric

:48:42. > :48:50.Pickles's mind was alcohol abuse when he visited Great Yarmouth.

:48:50. > :48:53.we must find alternatives to the people who just drift into drinking.

:48:53. > :48:58.Welcome any Stan Ed Balls of would pensioners in Harlow before the big

:48:58. > :49:02.game. People here need the extra help, but it seems that with this

:49:02. > :49:10.Chancellor it is already richer getting the benefit. No doubt he is

:49:10. > :49:14.hoping his party fare better than his team did this weekend.

:49:14. > :49:19.Angela Smith, what about those measures against alcohol abuse? On

:49:19. > :49:22.reflection, was Labour wrong to bring him round the club drinking?

:49:22. > :49:25.It is not round-the-clock drinking that is the problem, many people

:49:25. > :49:31.enjoy drinking at different times of the day, it is the abuse of a

:49:31. > :49:35.call that is the problem. Many people enjoy alcohol and it does

:49:35. > :49:42.not lead to abuse. What I am sceptical about his alcohol minimum

:49:42. > :49:46.pricing. How do not think it will tackle the serious problem. Let's

:49:46. > :49:53.see what Norman Lamb says. The minimum price, 40p Brigitte, it

:49:53. > :49:55.will cost �2.7 billion annually, will address the budget? It was a

:49:55. > :49:59.Liberal Democrat manifesto commitments and we are now doing it

:49:59. > :50:02.in Government. The scale of alcohol abuse in this country is framing.

:50:02. > :50:08.We're out of scale with Europe when it comes to liver disease and

:50:08. > :50:14.trouble on her street. France has always had round-the-clock drinking

:50:14. > :50:19.but has not had these issues, it is the cultural issues. We are out of

:50:19. > :50:22.time. Thank you both. That is all from us, do not forget you can