Browse content similar to 29/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the final week of the election campaign we reveal that target | 0:01:25 | 0:01:29 | |
councils. The Essex County Council reveals how badly the expenses | 0:01:29 | 0:01:39 | |
0:01:39 | 0:01:39 | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1673 seconds | 0:01:39 | 0:29:32 | |
system failed under Lord Welcome to Sunday Politics in the | 0:29:32 | 0:29:38 | |
east. Coming up, how will the political map changed in the | 0:29:38 | 0:29:44 | |
election? Can Labour comeback in this region and will be a Liberal | 0:29:44 | 0:29:54 | |
0:29:54 | 0:29:57 | ||
Democrat push on? Now we will meet our guests. MPs from the Liberal | 0:29:57 | 0:30:03 | |
Democrats, Labour, and Conservatives. Let us start with | 0:30:03 | 0:30:12 | |
news that we are back in recession. The economy shrank by 0.2%. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:21 | |
Elizabeth, at is too far and too fast ringing in your ears? Not at | 0:30:21 | 0:30:28 | |
all. We are in debt -- we're in a different situation. The eurozone | 0:30:28 | 0:30:32 | |
has put in a lot of measures that will help growth but it takes time. | 0:30:32 | 0:30:42 | |
For example, the A11 is being expanded. That will bring in jobs. | 0:30:42 | 0:30:45 | |
In Norfolk we are bucking the trend in manufacturing, getting more | 0:30:45 | 0:30:50 | |
manufacturing jobs, when I speak to more local firms they are taking on | 0:30:50 | 0:30:54 | |
orders. As a country, we have a productivity problem, at | 0:30:54 | 0:31:00 | |
competitive problem, it has been there a long time. These reforms | 0:31:00 | 0:31:07 | |
take time to work. We must not lose the interest rates and the credit | 0:31:07 | 0:31:13 | |
rating. That is right. That is why we need to grow the economy. We | 0:31:13 | 0:31:16 | |
have been saying that austerity is self-defeating if you cut too fast. | 0:31:16 | 0:31:21 | |
If you do that it damages the economy. What we have gone after | 0:31:21 | 0:31:27 | |
all his pain is even more debt, we are needing to borrow �158 million | 0:31:27 | 0:31:32 | |
and George Osborne wanted to. Frankly, it is a disaster. This is | 0:31:32 | 0:31:34 | |
a central plank pure economic policy, you cannot spend your way | 0:31:34 | 0:31:40 | |
out of the deficit. What is to be done? First met in the news is very | 0:31:40 | 0:31:43 | |
disappointing. We hope to see better economic growth. In my | 0:31:43 | 0:31:48 | |
constituency, it was rated as the most successful city in the country. | 0:31:48 | 0:31:52 | |
Actually, unemployment in Cambridge is coming down and it is lower than | 0:31:52 | 0:31:55 | |
it was when Labour were in power. The problem is one of balance. If | 0:31:55 | 0:31:59 | |
you keep borrowing and to the Ed Balls plan of continuing to rack up | 0:31:59 | 0:32:04 | |
more debt, that is a problem. If you cut too much, that is also a | 0:32:04 | 0:32:10 | |
problem. We need to find the right balance in between. I'll come back | 0:32:10 | 0:32:14 | |
shortly. Now to the news that Margaret Moran will not be put on | 0:32:14 | 0:32:19 | |
trial for allegedly fiddling her expenses. She has been found not | 0:32:19 | 0:32:24 | |
fit to stand. The charges against her include 21 counts of fraud and | 0:32:24 | 0:32:28 | |
forgery totalling �80,000. The hearing has been told the 56-year- | 0:32:28 | 0:32:34 | |
old suffers from a depressive illness, extreme anxiety and | 0:32:34 | 0:32:41 | |
agitation. Staying with expenses, the former leader of Essex County | 0:32:41 | 0:32:45 | |
Council, Lord Hanningfield, went back to take his place in the House | 0:32:45 | 0:32:50 | |
of Lords. His return coincided with a report criticising Essex County | 0:32:50 | 0:32:54 | |
Council's oversight of its expenses. Major flaws have been highlighted | 0:32:54 | 0:32:58 | |
about the lack of control in 2009 when Lord Hanningfield was the | 0:32:58 | 0:33:02 | |
leader. Auditors have expressed serious concerns about the use of | 0:33:02 | 0:33:06 | |
corporate credit cards. They said poor record keeping made it hard to | 0:33:06 | 0:33:10 | |
see if chauffeur-driven cars were being misused. They said it and | 0:33:10 | 0:33:18 | |
hospitality were not always been registered. -- presents. | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
For council tax payers in Essex this was all but how their money | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
was being spent and the checks that should have been in place. The | 0:33:25 | 0:33:29 | |
auditors look that the expenses system that operate at the County | 0:33:29 | 0:33:33 | |
Hall in 2009 and expressed serious concerns. They felt there was no | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
clear guidance on expenses and no proper way of scrutinising or | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
questioning the claims. This was while Lord Hanningfield was the | 0:33:41 | 0:33:45 | |
leader of Essex County Council. These are not small sums of money | 0:33:45 | 0:33:52 | |
in question. In 2008 to 2009, the total a mind of expenses claimed by | 0:33:52 | 0:33:58 | |
all members came to �140,000. That is the sort of sum you would assume | 0:33:58 | 0:34:02 | |
it would be carefully accounted for. But the auditors also said | 0:34:02 | 0:34:08 | |
significant progress has since been made. The current leader was keen | 0:34:08 | 0:34:17 | |
to point this out. We have a new constitution, a new system. We | 0:34:17 | 0:34:21 | |
publish every item of members' expenses on our website. Some | 0:34:21 | 0:34:24 | |
councillors all this report two years ago but it has only just been | 0:34:24 | 0:34:29 | |
made available to the public now. Some people think that delay itself | 0:34:29 | 0:34:33 | |
is unacceptable. I think the whole affair with Lord Hanningfield and | 0:34:33 | 0:34:38 | |
the fact that they have not seen this report brings a question of | 0:34:38 | 0:34:45 | |
our confidence in to politicians. There has been a crisis of faith in | 0:34:45 | 0:34:47 | |
our elected representatives and these measures are not doing | 0:34:47 | 0:34:51 | |
anything to restore that confidence at a time when it is desperately | 0:34:51 | 0:34:56 | |
needed. Even the opposition parties in Essex acknowledge that things | 0:34:56 | 0:35:01 | |
have improved under the new leader. In 2009, under Lord Hanningfield, | 0:35:01 | 0:35:09 | |
it appears there was a markedly -- markedly relaxed approach to | 0:35:09 | 0:35:12 | |
finances, even though it had already announced that they would | 0:35:12 | 0:35:20 | |
save hundreds of millions of pounds a year to balance the books. Lord | 0:35:20 | 0:35:24 | |
Hanningfield is already charged under his parliamentary expenses, | 0:35:24 | 0:35:28 | |
the council expenses are still being investigated. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:33 | |
Aqua, about Margaret Moran, do you understand the public anger? Very | 0:35:33 | 0:35:43 | |
angry. Those of us who sat through the public anger during that period | 0:35:43 | 0:35:47 | |
know how bad it is. The problem is wider than one of expenses. The | 0:35:47 | 0:35:52 | |
Government has told councils to curb the spending on high salaries | 0:35:52 | 0:35:56 | |
to GE executives. We found this week of the 10 councils with the | 0:35:56 | 0:35:59 | |
highest paid chief executives, nine of them are Conservative, four of | 0:35:59 | 0:36:06 | |
them in this region, the highest is Essex, paying �271,000 to the chief | 0:36:06 | 0:36:12 | |
executive. With regard to Margaret Moran, what do you think the | 0:36:12 | 0:36:22 | |
0:36:22 | 0:36:24 | ||
reaction will be? There may be a sense that justice will not be done. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:29 | |
We still have a sense of frustration and fury. I think it | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
was a very sad episode and I hope we will not see anything like that. | 0:36:32 | 0:36:37 | |
We are much more transparent now. Does this finally draw a line under | 0:36:37 | 0:36:41 | |
it? I do not think so because I think we have lots of public bodies | 0:36:41 | 0:36:44 | |
that need to be more transparent about the money their spending. | 0:36:44 | 0:36:50 | |
That applies to central government, local government, and things like | 0:36:50 | 0:36:55 | |
the police service, Network Rail. Bodies that serve public money -- | 0:36:55 | 0:36:59 | |
spend public money must be transparent. I think we have made a | 0:36:59 | 0:37:02 | |
lot of changes in terms of transparency but there is a long | 0:37:02 | 0:37:06 | |
way to go. It is interesting you mention that because moving on to | 0:37:06 | 0:37:09 | |
the report about Essex County Council, what about people in | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
general losing confidence in politics? I think it is good if | 0:37:12 | 0:37:16 | |
people question politics and politicians, because we need to be | 0:37:16 | 0:37:19 | |
accountable to the electorate, we need to be transparent about what | 0:37:19 | 0:37:27 | |
we do, and we do not want a culture like this. Although it is painful | 0:37:27 | 0:37:33 | |
in the short term, the expenses scandal has created a demand for | 0:37:33 | 0:37:36 | |
more transparent culture, which will ultimately result in better | 0:37:36 | 0:37:41 | |
performance for public bodies. you think that reform of the House | 0:37:41 | 0:37:46 | |
of lards, meaning people who have committed reform -- committed | 0:37:46 | 0:37:51 | |
offences are not able to take up their seats, is that better? | 0:37:51 | 0:37:55 | |
think so. The idea that people got thrown out of a House of Commons | 0:37:55 | 0:38:01 | |
for transgressing serious rules, but could still going to the House | 0:38:01 | 0:38:06 | |
of Lords, I believe Jeffrey Archer was allowed to go back. The rules | 0:38:06 | 0:38:09 | |
need to change and I believe that House of Lords should be wholly | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
elected anyway and they believe they would have to fall in with the | 0:38:12 | 0:38:16 | |
same rules as a House of Commons. People will want to know I this | 0:38:16 | 0:38:21 | |
happened. There are lots of questions. People will want to know. | 0:38:21 | 0:38:26 | |
One of the key things is getting every councillor in the country to | 0:38:26 | 0:38:31 | |
be transparent. Every council except one in the north is | 0:38:32 | 0:38:36 | |
publishing everything they spend above �5,000. I agree completely | 0:38:36 | 0:38:40 | |
about the reform of a House of Lords. We need to get rid of party | 0:38:40 | 0:38:50 | |
0:38:50 | 0:38:50 | ||
patronage. We will come back to you shortly. First, the local elections. | 0:38:50 | 0:38:54 | |
We are into the last few days of the campaign with voting on | 0:38:54 | 0:38:57 | |
Thursday in this year's local elections. Labour is fighting to | 0:38:58 | 0:39:01 | |
wrest back control of the target councils. The Liberal Democrats are | 0:39:01 | 0:39:04 | |
fighting off challenges in there and the Conservatives are still | 0:39:04 | 0:39:12 | |
hopeful they may have an ace up their sleeve. Elections are taking | 0:39:12 | 0:39:15 | |
place on 19 of the region's councils next week, and here they | 0:39:15 | 0:39:20 | |
are. Cambridge, controlled by the Liberal Democrats, the Labour | 0:39:20 | 0:39:23 | |
authorities of exit and Stevenage, Norwich, Colchester and Milton | 0:39:23 | 0:39:28 | |
Keynes, they all have no overall control. All these other councils | 0:39:28 | 0:39:31 | |
are run by the Conservatives. It seems very likely that most of | 0:39:31 | 0:39:35 | |
these councils will still be run by the Conservatives after Thursday. | 0:39:35 | 0:39:39 | |
The party has enormous majorities in places like Daventry and | 0:39:39 | 0:39:43 | |
Huntingdon share. But in some places, there have been battles | 0:39:43 | 0:39:53 | |
0:39:53 | 0:39:53 | ||
going on. Not least, are low. -- Harlow. In most places the | 0:39:53 | 0:39:57 | |
campaigning has been low-key but not here. With a Conservative | 0:39:57 | 0:40:00 | |
majority of just one, Labour and Conservative have been sending in | 0:40:00 | 0:40:05 | |
the big guns. Labour what is to be a referendum on the government's | 0:40:05 | 0:40:11 | |
record. And hearing people say they want action on jobs, help for | 0:40:11 | 0:40:15 | |
pensioners, they do not understand why cutting the tax for the | 0:40:15 | 0:40:19 | |
wealthiest is the priority. Conservative message is cutting | 0:40:19 | 0:40:23 | |
council tax and running authorities more efficiently. We are embracing | 0:40:23 | 0:40:30 | |
transparency, procurement, innovation, and enjoy working. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
Labour did well here last year and they want to show that the | 0:40:33 | 0:40:37 | |
fightback is more than a flash-in- the-pan. Norwich is a key target | 0:40:37 | 0:40:42 | |
council, they hope to make greater gains in Great Yarmouth and here in | 0:40:42 | 0:40:50 | |
Cambridge. We have a better street cleaning record in the city centre | 0:40:50 | 0:40:54 | |
and the further you go away, it declines. Much as we like to | 0:40:54 | 0:41:00 | |
present a great city for tourists, residents count as well. Often they | 0:41:00 | 0:41:04 | |
do not provide enough parking spaces. They have an unrealistic | 0:41:04 | 0:41:08 | |
expectation that people will be able to ditch their cars, and that | 0:41:08 | 0:41:12 | |
is just not true. We are putting new money into detox problems Bogg | 0:41:12 | 0:41:17 | |
-- detox programmes for the homeless, helping young people, | 0:41:17 | 0:41:21 | |
getting young people into employment, and this is a real | 0:41:21 | 0:41:28 | |
priority for us. Cambridge is the only council in the region | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
controlled by the Liberal Democrats. The party knows this could be | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
another difficult year. It is talking up the benefits of being in | 0:41:36 | 0:41:40 | |
the coalition. The whole message is about helping hard-working families | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
who need a bit of a break. People on the whole understand that things | 0:41:43 | 0:41:47 | |
are really difficult. We are clearing up an enormous economic | 0:41:47 | 0:41:51 | |
mess. Housing has been a big talking point in Colchester in | 0:41:51 | 0:41:55 | |
Milton Keynes where both the Tories and Lib Dems are buying for overall | 0:41:55 | 0:41:59 | |
control. In Norwich, the shambles of her outsourced council contract | 0:41:59 | 0:42:04 | |
is being raised on the doorsteps. It is very tight in places. Some | 0:42:04 | 0:42:09 | |
votes could make all the difference. Not surprisingly, the Tories are | 0:42:09 | 0:42:15 | |
defending the largest number of seats. 182, twice the number being | 0:42:15 | 0:42:18 | |
contested by Labour and Liberal Democrats put together. With the | 0:42:18 | 0:42:22 | |
coalition on the ropes, it will be very interesting to see how much | 0:42:22 | 0:42:30 | |
this graph changes by next weekend. It will indeed. Another bad weekend | 0:42:30 | 0:42:35 | |
for the Conservatives. That was after the Budget, the Jeremy Hunt | 0:42:35 | 0:42:41 | |
affair, and the recession. It will affect you on the polls. Added a | 0:42:41 | 0:42:46 | |
lot of people understand we are in a very difficult time, we faced an | 0:42:46 | 0:42:51 | |
unprecedented budget debt left by the previous government and we are | 0:42:51 | 0:42:57 | |
addressing that. Obviously they are art issues -- they are issues about | 0:42:57 | 0:43:02 | |
working in the coalition. I think fundamentally the key issues about | 0:43:02 | 0:43:09 | |
welfare reform, they are having massive impact in the schools in my | 0:43:09 | 0:43:14 | |
constituency. That is what voters will judge us on. As the party, | 0:43:14 | 0:43:20 | |
Labour is a minor player in this election. We suffered some bad | 0:43:21 | 0:43:24 | |
years but I think this is when we will come back. Sadly for local | 0:43:24 | 0:43:31 | |
government, I think for the councillors and one to be -- ones | 0:43:31 | 0:43:35 | |
that want to be, they will not be judged about local issues, people | 0:43:35 | 0:43:41 | |
will use them as a verdict on central government. We have a | 0:43:41 | 0:43:44 | |
government that inherited an economy that was growing, and have | 0:43:45 | 0:43:52 | |
landed us back in recession, I think it is quite reasonable. | 0:43:52 | 0:43:59 | |
you agree with Bob? He is right to say that people will be judged on | 0:43:59 | 0:44:03 | |
what is happening nationally. In Cambridge, people have been running | 0:44:03 | 0:44:06 | |
it very well, and I hope the people will vote on local issues that | 0:44:06 | 0:44:10 | |
affect people wherever they are. I think nationally there have been | 0:44:10 | 0:44:14 | |
some issues. The economy has been bad for some years. What has been a | 0:44:14 | 0:44:17 | |
real shame for me is some of the good things in the Budget have been | 0:44:17 | 0:44:23 | |
lost. 2 million people light of tax, 25 million people have had some in | 0:44:23 | 0:44:33 | |
Cup tax back. -- income tax. We have increased pensions. Howard is | 0:44:33 | 0:44:37 | |
being in a coalition get in the way of campaigning? As long as you | 0:44:37 | 0:44:40 | |
focus on local issues I do not think it is an issue. Nationally, | 0:44:40 | 0:44:45 | |
it means you have problems because we have different ideas. The | 0:44:45 | 0:44:49 | |
Conservatives were absolutely obsessed with the 50 pence rate. | 0:44:49 | 0:44:59 | |
0:44:59 | 0:44:59 | ||
You guys voted for it? You guys fail to vote against it. Is it | 0:44:59 | 0:45:05 | |
difficult to work in a coalition and bite at local level? I think | 0:45:05 | 0:45:09 | |
there are difficulties. What is different is the proposals for a | 0:45:09 | 0:45:15 | |
directly elected mayors. That is having a bigger impact in London. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:20 | |
Elsewhere, voters are not engaged with that. That is what I am saying, | 0:45:20 | 0:45:23 | |
we should extend the number of directly elected mayors we have | 0:45:23 | 0:45:28 | |
because then the race becomes about the specific policies for that area, | 0:45:28 | 0:45:35 | |
rather than a referendum on the government, which it shouldn't be. | 0:45:35 | 0:45:39 | |
You need to gain a foothold in this region, if you're going to form a | 0:45:39 | 0:45:43 | |
government. We do. I think we will see significant steps forwards at | 0:45:43 | 0:45:48 | |
these elections because people are very angry. We have all the people | 0:45:48 | 0:45:53 | |
who have lost their pensions and tax allowance, we have families on | 0:45:53 | 0:45:56 | |
about 20,000 a year with kids who are hundreds of pounds worse off. | 0:45:57 | 0:46:00 | |
People are going to send a message to David Cameron, you have got it | 0:46:00 | 0:46:06 | |
wrong and we want a change. The Lib Dems lost a third of their seats in | 0:46:06 | 0:46:10 | |
the local elections, will it be the same? I hope it will be a good | 0:46:10 | 0:46:15 | |
result. We have given money to pensioners and local people. Labour | 0:46:15 | 0:46:25 | |
0:46:25 | 0:46:28 | ||
did spectacularly badly four years ago. Thank you. Now the 62nd | 0:46:28 | 0:46:38 | |
0:46:38 | 0:46:43 | ||
political round-up. David Cameron I think not only are Cameron and Oz | 0:46:43 | 0:46:47 | |
0.2 mac posh boys who do not know the price of milk, but two arrogant | 0:46:47 | 0:46:57 | |
0:46:57 | 0:46:57 | ||
posh boys. Damning criticism of the Prime Minister and his Chancellor. | 0:46:58 | 0:47:04 | |
The future of Lotus cars in North it was raised in Parliament. This | 0:47:04 | 0:47:09 | |
has got concern. Reform of the privileged few in the eyes of lards | 0:47:09 | 0:47:14 | |
could put more pressure on the public purse. Conservatives are | 0:47:14 | 0:47:18 | |
reducing the number of MPs. What they did not say to the electorate | 0:47:18 | 0:47:26 | |
was, in return, we will give you 300 more are elected paid party | 0:47:26 | 0:47:33 | |
politicians. The probe history of local newspapers attracted praise. | 0:47:33 | 0:47:36 | |
Local newspapers were the most trusted news organisations in the | 0:47:37 | 0:47:46 | |
pub -- in the country. Quality we can all aspire to. Was Nadine | 0:47:46 | 0:47:53 | |
Dorries being disloyal? What she does voicing the concerns of many? | 0:47:53 | 0:47:58 | |
I don't think she was being very loyal. I think what people care | 0:47:58 | 0:48:03 | |
about is what the Government does. What people will judge us on is, at | 0:48:03 | 0:48:08 | |
the next election, has the economy improved, have we build new roads? | 0:48:08 | 0:48:17 | |
I think these personal attacks are missing the point. Charles Clarke | 0:48:17 | 0:48:21 | |
was not backward in his criticism of Gordon Brown, is it something | 0:48:21 | 0:48:26 | |
leaders need to expect? Nadine Dorries knows Cameron and Osborne | 0:48:26 | 0:48:30 | |
personally, so the comments are significant. Many people will agree | 0:48:30 | 0:48:38 | |
with her. Well the rest of us are suffering, David Cameron and George | 0:48:38 | 0:48:41 | |
Osborne gave a massive tax cut to millionaires, the richest people in | 0:48:41 | 0:48:47 | |
our society, and the Liberal Democrats like poodles all the men. | 0:48:47 | 0:48:50 | |
Are you surprised there is more dissent between the Conservatives | 0:48:51 | 0:48:55 | |
than the coalition? Nadine Dorries has a long track record of speaking | 0:48:55 | 0:49:01 | |
her mind, and his somewhat erratic in terms of what she says, but I am | 0:49:01 | 0:49:09 |