Browse content similar to 15/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the East: Rain hasn't dampened spirits here at the Latitude | :01:17. | :01:21. | |
Festival in Suffolk, but we see dark clouds over the rest of our | :01:21. | :01:31. | |
:01:31. | :01:31. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1799 seconds | :01:31. | :31:30. | |
arts scene after a revolution in Hello from the Latitude Festival in | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
Suffolk, I'm Etholle George. Later we will be looking at how MPs | :31:34. | :31:37. | |
from the East contributed to the Government's defeat on the reform | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
of the House of Lords. But first let's meet our guests for | :31:42. | :31:44. | |
this week, the MP for Suffolk Coastal, Therese Coffey for the | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
Conservatives, and Labour's Tom Watson, MP for West Bromwich East, | :31:47. | :31:53. | |
who's here at Latitude for the book festival. And as you're both | :31:54. | :31:56. | |
members of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, let's start | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
with a quick word about the Army having to be brought in to provide | :32:00. | :32:10. | |
:32:10. | :32:13. | ||
security at the Olympics. Therese Coffey, two weeks to go. It | :32:13. | :32:19. | |
is not very impressive. Should we have known about this before? | :32:19. | :32:28. | |
clearly G four S have mixed up. But luckily the Armley are helping with | :32:28. | :32:33. | |
security. So we will make sure that the games of the Cure and we can | :32:33. | :32:40. | |
sort out some of the issues. -- the army. -- are secured. What kind of | :32:40. | :32:48. | |
impression does it leave people? is deeply disappointing. We owe an | :32:48. | :32:57. | |
extreme -- huge debt to the people. I am told that you have been | :32:57. | :33:03. | |
offered tickets. When you go? am an Olympic ambassador or on | :33:03. | :33:07. | |
behalf of the Government, so I will be hosting different activities on | :33:07. | :33:15. | |
their behalf. But are you taking up the tickets? Absolutely. I am | :33:15. | :33:19. | |
representing the people of Britain. We will come back to you both | :33:19. | :33:24. | |
short-lived. Let us hope the Olympics go off without a hitch and | :33:24. | :33:27. | |
gain the praise which has been heaped upon the Cultural Olympiad. | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
The festival was raised in the House of Lords went Lord Lloyd | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
Webber had this to say. Arts funding is under unimaginable | :33:37. | :33:44. | |
strain. Creative industries have been cut. A recent example is the | :33:44. | :33:48. | |
Film Council. And some university music departments are having to | :33:48. | :33:58. | |
:33:58. | :34:01. | ||
close. So I want to be clear - our bus creative potential has been | :34:01. | :34:07. | |
strangled without any clear funding strategy. -- vast creative | :34:07. | :34:16. | |
potential for. Arts funding is now More then half the arts | :34:16. | :34:19. | |
organisations here have failed to get government funding in the | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
recent shake-up. And last year's headline figure of more than �11 | :34:22. | :34:25. | |
million will drop to �10.7 million by 2014/15 under the new system. | :34:25. | :34:28. | |
Deborah McGurran went to see what all the changes have meant in this | :34:28. | :34:37. | |
region. Luton's annual celebration it is a | :34:37. | :34:44. | |
must-see event. Britain is the capital of the carnival in the | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
world. Thousands turn up to -- turned up to enjoy the in 81012 | :34:51. | :34:56. | |
excitement, but it suffered funding cuts in recent years. Art cannot be | :34:56. | :35:02. | |
sustained without investment. For every �1 invested in the arts, �7 | :35:02. | :35:09. | |
is returned back to the balance sheets for the Exchequer. To beat | :35:09. | :35:19. | |
:35:19. | :35:20. | ||
the blog, she painted dried flowers... | :35:20. | :35:26. | |
It dark cloud descending over the portrait trust, when they were told | :35:26. | :35:30. | |
that their core funding would be ended. It was one of those weird 48 | :35:30. | :35:36. | |
hours when on day one you get appalling news, and on date two you | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
get a phone call at 9:30am from the Arts Council, saying, although we | :35:43. | :35:47. | |
do not think you can be in year round organisation, we really think | :35:47. | :35:52. | |
your core activity is brilliant and we want to see it continue. Boehner | :35:52. | :35:58. | |
have lottery funding for three years and are -- they now have | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
lottery-funded for three years. After three years, and I have not | :36:02. | :36:10. | |
got my crystal ball...! 40 miles away, all might look well at the | :36:10. | :36:14. | |
Colchester Mercury Theatre, but the future there will still be | :36:14. | :36:20. | |
challenging. We have got to be more entrepreneurial, so that the core | :36:20. | :36:24. | |
function of this theatre, serving the community is of Colchester and | :36:24. | :36:31. | |
Essex, is supported by new income streams. | :36:31. | :36:38. | |
Of all it is -- its grant is in real terms a cut, it is one of the | :36:38. | :36:44. | |
lucky ones. It will retain its core funding, because it made its list | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
for the national portfolio of arts organisations. Out of 60 | :36:47. | :36:52. | |
applications from the east, on the 30 was a -- has selected. In April | :36:52. | :36:57. | |
this year, regular funding was replaced by a national port for | :36:57. | :37:01. | |
Neil organisations. There is also grants for the arts and national | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
strategic funding for things like touring programmes, as well as | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
renaissance in the regions for museums. But in the final touches | :37:08. | :37:12. | |
to the set for its latest production, Norwich Puppet Theatre | :37:12. | :37:16. | |
was one group which lost its core funding two years ago and had to | :37:16. | :37:22. | |
stop productions. There was lots of staff, reduction of hours, pay | :37:22. | :37:31. | |
freeze. We survive the first year, we wanted to start again. We | :37:31. | :37:35. | |
secured an 18 month grant which secured two new productions. You | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
cannot plan into the future, but you need to. By that is a sentiment | :37:40. | :37:47. | |
shared by a Norfolk dance, who have a 25 year history. | :37:47. | :37:50. | |
organisations to be strategic, but to be funded on a project by | :37:50. | :37:55. | |
project basis, is a huge problem. How do you pay for the office, for | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
the telephone, for the photocopier? It is very complicated and very | :38:00. | :38:08. | |
difficult. A working budget of �120,000 two | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
years ago had dwindled to �30,000, and with no discernible funding | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
stream outside of the local authorities, work like this faces | :38:16. | :38:21. | |
an uncertain future. And since that report was compiled, | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
Norwich Puppet Theatre have heard they've got another 18-month grant. | :38:24. | :38:34. | |
:38:34. | :38:36. | ||
Joining us now is the festival founder and organiser, Melvin Benn. | :38:36. | :38:40. | |
I presume the minute this weekend is over, you start preparing for | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
next year, but if you had to live a hand-to-mouth, how difficult would | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
that be? It is really difficult. But is one of the things that the | :38:51. | :38:59. | |
funded organisations do suffer from, but short term outlook. If they get | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
a three-year grant or subsidy, they do not hear about the follow on and | :39:04. | :39:11. | |
so quite close and sell that termination is due. Therese Coffey, | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
we heard about an 18 month grant. If you had to thrive on an 18 month | :39:16. | :39:21. | |
grant, it would be tricky. So some organisations may feel it is hand | :39:21. | :39:27. | |
to mouth, but what we feel is a continuation of grants for | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
successful people, and we have seen that with the National Board for | :39:30. | :39:38. | |
Neil organisations... But not all of the organisations that were on | :39:38. | :39:44. | |
regular funding, are now. I do not think anyone is surprised that when | :39:44. | :39:47. | |
the Government decided to reduce public spending, arts would take | :39:47. | :39:52. | |
that share. But the lottery funds have been redirected towards arts, | :39:52. | :39:56. | |
and after the Olympics there will be a lot more. But 2015 per we be | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
if 4% real cut, but more money is going to the high quality diverse | :40:02. | :40:08. | |
arts of rings that our region enjoyed. -- enjoys a. Do people | :40:08. | :40:12. | |
have to accept that this is the way of things, and lived with this | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
uncertainty. One of the key things for arts are organisations is about | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
organisation -- audience development. You do not get an | :40:21. | :40:27. | |
audience of the night. Some organisations need to be | :40:27. | :40:34. | |
sustainable over a long period. -- overnight. You need a bit more | :40:34. | :40:40. | |
space than 18 months. What about, Melvin Benn, general policy? Lord | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
Lloyd Webber said there is no clear funding strategy for the long term. | :40:45. | :40:53. | |
I think that is an issue. We have discussed this a number of times. | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
The arts will not be immune from the general economic climate. In | :40:57. | :41:04. | |
the main, be cuts they have had they have administered pretty well. | :41:04. | :41:09. | |
But they do need to know what they are looking at long-term. We are a | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
civilised society - civilised societies need to put money into | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
their arts. And we need, as a structured society, as poor as we | :41:18. | :41:23. | |
think we are at this point, we are one of the wealthiest the site is a | :41:23. | :41:29. | |
rant. The Government wants to get more business involved, morph | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
philanthropists involved, like in America. -- mayor or philanthropic | :41:34. | :41:42. | |
trusts. Taxes here are lower in arm -- higher than in the States. This | :41:42. | :41:47. | |
is a pie-in-the-sky policy, isn't it? No, the Government has changed | :41:47. | :41:54. | |
its tax policy on charitable donations, and organisations have | :41:54. | :42:00. | |
developed -- benefited. On a organisations are not going to be | :42:00. | :42:06. | |
able to be able to raise that type of cash, but I still think there is | :42:06. | :42:11. | |
good quality funding for organisations. You will get more | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
people out Snape Maltings for a quiet taste performance -- | :42:15. | :42:22. | |
performances than at the South Bank. Melvin Benn, what do you think of | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
this at that -- idea of philanthropists and business is | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
stepping up to the plate? I don't think it will happen. I do not | :42:29. | :42:34. | |
agree with this point. I do not think the Government have any clear | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
idea what they are doing with this. There is no tax incentive for be in | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
the arts, and in truth, we ought not to be relying on that. We ought | :42:44. | :42:49. | |
to be relying on public subsidy rather than private subsidy. | :42:49. | :42:59. | |
:42:59. | :43:03. | ||
understand you are involved in an organisation in the dance. Do | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
people who want to get involved have to accept they will have to | :43:06. | :43:12. | |
leave their county and go elsewhere? No, dance East has been | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
remit to deliver a dance around the region. I hope what will happen is | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
that dance East will be able to look at some of the work that | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
Norfolk bands has been able to do, and support the organisation's -- | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
the audiences. But it is disappointing to see locally based | :43:30. | :43:36. | |
schemes. I do not think some -- people will necessarily come for | :43:36. | :43:39. | |
artists and -- saved the smaller groups. Are you concerned about the | :43:39. | :43:45. | |
future of the arts, Melvin Benn? Yes. We are still in good shape, | :43:45. | :43:53. | |
and the cuts have not hip as as hard as people thought they would, | :43:53. | :43:59. | |
but we should still be afraid. knew concerned, Therese Coffey? | :43:59. | :44:08. | |
have a strong arts body across the country. Oh I think the future is | :44:08. | :44:15. | |
bright. Melvin Benn, thank you. Now to the vexed question of the | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
reform of the House of Lords. The Government has confirmed it's now | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
planning to introduce a timetable motion for the Lords Reform Bill in | :44:21. | :44:23. | |
the autumn, after its plans were thwarted earlier this week. Many | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
Tory backbenchers from our region were leading figures in the revolt, | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
and it doesn't sound like they will be easily persuaded. Here's Andrew | :44:29. | :44:39. | |
:44:39. | :44:41. | ||
Sinclair. Reforming the House of Lords is in | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
big deal for its number of our MPs. The atmosphere here at Westminster | :44:45. | :44:54. | |
this week has been quite a febrile. It's is very important that we | :44:54. | :45:01. | |
modernise our democracy. This is not a priority for my constituents. | :45:01. | :45:07. | |
Of the 91 Conservatives who have appalled, 13 came from our region. | :45:07. | :45:14. | |
-- rebelled. The normally loyal Louise Mensch, the reliable Richard | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
Fuller, were among them. This is not the usual suspects of extremes | :45:19. | :45:24. | |
among the Tory party, this is much more to do with the fact we want | :45:24. | :45:30. | |
good Government. Most of the people in these -- this place would be | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
elected under 15 Gia terms, and they would represent a region | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
rather than a constituency. -- 15 year terms. It cannot have one | :45:40. | :45:47. | |
party sticking to it everything. Voting for -- because we have | :45:47. | :45:50. | |
committed to the Coalition agreement, and then allowing a | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
whole lot of rebels voting against the Prime Minister. He has made it | :45:54. | :46:00. | |
very clear he wants this reform. Let us now just make it happen. | :46:00. | :46:08. | |
This Bill is it dead duck without a referendum. It would die in a sad | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
and lonely death in the Lords unless there is a firm commitment | :46:11. | :46:16. | |
to a referendum at the time perhaps of the general election. But is a | :46:16. | :46:21. | |
strong message for many Conservative backbenchers to Number | :46:21. | :46:26. | |
Ten Downing Street. We need a referendum. This is the grand | :46:26. | :46:29. | |
entrance to the House of Lords. Downing Street says it has already | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
started talks with the rebels, and says it is holding them in good | :46:33. | :46:40. | |
faith, and accepts that some people will be a moveable. But it insists | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
that it wants the issue debated in Parliament before Christmas. | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
Therese Coffey, they could not be further apart. Where are you on | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
this? I was happy to see it Procedure Committee, in order to | :46:53. | :46:59. | |
have it detailed debate, but I believe ten days is not long enough. | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
-- it to proceed to committee. I hope people who feel strongly come | :47:04. | :47:08. | |
up with something we can get consensus. There is an appetite I | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
think for reform. Very few people only want to leave it just as it is. | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
Neighbours say they want reform, but they do not vote for it. -- | :47:19. | :47:24. | |
Labour's say. They would say to you that there are a lot of other | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
issues concerning the public, and to see the Coalition squabbling | :47:27. | :47:36. | |
about this is not very edifying. where do you stand on this? I want | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
to see reform of the House of Lords, a would be happy to see a | :47:40. | :47:44. | |
referendum, but I think there are huge issues about welfare and the | :47:45. | :47:49. | |
cuts, but perhaps the public would rather we spend more time on for. | :47:49. | :47:55. | |
Therese Coffey what about all the other changes and the impact of | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
them on David Cameron? It seems to be the sum of changing his | :47:59. | :48:06. | |
leadership -- testing his leadership. -- summer off. I think | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
the strength of feeling was not quite so well known. It is coming | :48:10. | :48:15. | |
to the end of another long session of Parliament, and I think there | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
are a lot of MPs saying we do not want to spend a lot of time | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
debating this, but it is very important to our Coalition partners. | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
David Cameron has already said if we were elected it would be a third | :48:28. | :48:38. | |
term issue, but we have to work on the court -- on at this. I think | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
this shows that work relationships are not as strong as we would like. | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
Now it is time for our final political round-up before the | :48:47. | :48:57. | |
:48:57. | :49:01. | ||
summer break. Now the Cambridge MP wants to make | :49:01. | :49:05. | |
it harder for developers to turn a former pops into homes or | :49:05. | :49:14. | |
supermarkets. You get very sterile communities. -- pubs. If it is milk | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
which takes your fancy, dairy farmers fight for a fair price. | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
This is the second price cut in three months. The European Union is | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
providing almost �4 million of funding to improve rail services at | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
Ely, but the Colchester MP could not persuade the Prime Minister to | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
pump more money into the armed forces. If history is not kind to | :49:37. | :49:40. | |
prime ministers who are perceived to have left a mark country without | :49:40. | :49:46. | |
a strong defence capability. least you can console yourself with | :49:46. | :49:50. | |
a glass of water. Now that the drought is over and a hosepipe ban | :49:50. | :50:00. | |
has been lifted across the region. Have a great summer. | :50:00. | :50:05. | |
Do you think measures like this would help pubs in the future, or | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
is it that the tax on beer, supermarket pricing and the smoking | :50:09. | :50:14. | |
ban have all done their bit to not help publicans? There are lots of | :50:14. | :50:18. | |
regions why pubs succeed or do not succeed, but I think they're | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
already measures around community are at their protection which means | :50:22. | :50:28. | |
we can save pubs. I think some would say that if the pub does not | :50:28. | :50:31. | |
work, there might be better used for the community than serving | :50:31. | :50:39. | |
drinks. Mandy bus macro Therese Coffey, are pubs even more | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
important in a rural communities? It certainly acts as a community | :50:44. | :50:51. | |
hub. I have been to 98 of my 108 pubs in my constituency. Bate have | :50:51. | :50:59. | |
closed in that time, but it is right, the Government has already | :50:59. | :51:03. | |
brought in legislation to protect community assets. | :51:03. | :51:09. | |
Ben Dumo so much for your time. Are you going to see some music now? | :51:09. | :51:15. |