04/11/2012 Sunday Politics East

Britain Here in the East: The candidates of Corby declare their

colours. And the spare rooms that mean tenants will lose hundreds of

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2063 seconds

pounds a year under new Government Hello and welcome to Sunday

Politics East. Later in the programme, more bedrooms than they

need. The dilemma for social housing tenants facing cuts to

their benefits. In the long term the likelihood is that I would fall

into areas. If that happens I could be evicted and I would end up

homeless. And our bobbies on the beat really the best way to fight

crime? Our commissioner candidates have their say. The Labour MP for

Newton north and the Conservative MP for North West Norfolk. Let's

kick-off with our soundbite of the week, the Conservative MP for

Peterborough. He says we need to limit the number of migrant workers

coming into our region. 34 % of children in our primary schools do

not speak English as a first language and that is having an

impact. The Government needs to pick up from the mess left by the

last Labour Government. Do we need to take control back of our borders

as Stewart Jackson is suggesting? I'm agree with him. We do have a

fairly strict border controls but I do not see why EU citizens should

be treated differently from Commonwealth citizens. In your

constituency they do a great deal of the agricultural work, limit

their numbers and some of those businesses would fold, would they

not? That is correct but a balance must be struck between the needs of

business, food processing and agriculture in need access to

Labour. We have 1.4 million EU citizens working in this country of

those 400,000 are unemployed or economically inactive. We must make

sure that those are out there able to work or if they are not and they

finished their work they go back to their own country. I think we can

tighten up the rules under the existing framework and we should do

that. And now on to social housing. Tenants are due to lose hundreds of

pounds every year if they have a spare bedroom. Those benefits are

due to go even if they need the extra room for at carer. There are

nowhere near enough smaller homes for the affected people are to move

into. That lack of choice is a particular problem for the region's

remote area is. This grandad used to be a builder but his chronic

arthritis put paid to that. He has been registered disabled since 1992.

I worry what will happen to my family. The reason he is losing

sleep is because his home has three bedrooms. Now his doctors have

grown up, two of them are ready. From April, people on housing

benefit will lose 14 % for the first empty room and 25 % for the

second. For this man that will mean losing more than �20 per week.

is compounded in a rural area is where there will not be

neighbouring smaller properties. We have just one social housing home

left for individuals to use in one particular area. There are 1,400

homes in West Northolt that have only one bedroom. When the housing

benefit changes come into force and people need to downsize their is

expected to be a shortfall. That could mean that another 800 single

bedroom properties are needed here. At the moment we do have a

shortfall of single bedroom properties. We are looking towards

the future and we have a plan to build 700 new houses over the next

three years. There will be a mixture of housing to tried to

address some of these problems. changes will also affect people

like this woman who has already moved to a two-bedroom home. She

suffers from M E but will be penalised for keeping a room for

appear. It will be a reduction of 14 % in my benefits. By cutting the

amount of money I get it will be impossible to manage. This could be

the last crop here. The Government says it is right that tenants

living in homes larger than their needs make a contribution to their

rent or move. Many people could be affected. The cuts to welfare are

opposed by Labour. This week we spoke to Lord David Freud asking

him to explain the Government's position. And Baroness Hollis has

been campaigning in the Lords to make disabled people exempt from

the changes. The overall cost of housing benefit has been soaring.

It is up from 12 billion at the beginning of the decade it is at 23

billion now and will go on to 25 billion if we do not do anything.

The cost of carrying these extra bedrooms costs as half a billion

pounds each year. At a time of financial crisis we cannot go on

avoiding that. Savings come because people do not move. They will not

be able to move because housing associations do not have smaller

accommodation available so as a result people will be staying in

the homes they have but finding the need to take 10 or �15 per week out

of their benefit payments and as a result of that they could get into

arrears and lose their home. People to do a number of things, were some

more and pay the extra money. It is less than three hours worked per

week to pay for the extra bedroom. They could take in a lodger which

is something that a lot of people are looking at closely. They could

also look to downsize. People with children might think twice about

taking a lodger. They would work extra hours if they could find

extra jobs. Most people on benefits are disabled and not in work.

are a million unused bedrooms in the sector and 250,000 people are

living in overcrowded accommodation. We are hoping that to some extent

we will alleviate some of the overcrowding by getting people to

downsize to live in the size of property that suits their

circumstances. I know that in Norfolk alone we are going to find

something like �4 million taken out of the pockets of some of the

poorest and most vulnerable people who cannot pay their rent or move

somewhere else. Now let us pick up on that last point. It is clear

that in your constituency people will seek a cut in their benefit

with no real prospect of them being able to move to a smaller social

home, is that fair? Let us get this into context. The Government

inherited a massive national debt of nearly one trillion pounds. We

are paying for 2 billion per year in interest, 130 million per day.

One quarter of our expenditure goes on benefits. Benefits spent on

people of working age come up to 90 billion. 20 billion of that is

being spent on housing benefit. I do believe some changes have to be

made. Is it Althea way of doing it? In principle it is but I think more

flexibility has to be built into the system. Those people who have

nowhere to move to, people who are disabled, people who are foster

carers, we need to look at the housing Discretionary Fund to make

sure that councils have more flexibility. You obviously think it

is not fair but to look at the scenario, if you are renting

privately you are probably not going to be able to afford a house

for a single person with lots of different bedroom soul isn't it

fair that people in social housing should have the same tough choices?

It is their home and many have lived in it all their life and they

should not have to downsize. We are squeezing incomes from the poorest

in the land and many of our disabled. We are reducing taxes on

people with incomes of more than �150,000 per year, and failing to

collect taxes from corporations and the wealthy of billions of pounds

per year. The mention the discretionary payment but is that

going to go anywhere? By my figures it works out about �100 per person

which is a drop in the ocean. going to be 30 million any way

which will cover 40,000 people. I think that should be increased. I

think one size does not fit all. It is 30 million for England and

Wales, is it not? That is right. What I am suggesting is that one

size does not fit all. In some councils like King's Lynn you have

a community with a shortage of single bedroom housing. You have a

shortage of social housing generally. The point made was that

there are 250,000 people living in overcrowded accommodation with 500

million people on the waiting list and around the same number of spare

beds available. Putting some flexibility into the system, making

sure that people in family-sized houses have the incentive to move

to smaller houses if they are available, that makes sense.

have got nearly one third of working age social housing people

in benefits paid homes that are bigger than the need. At it is

their home. They should have the right to say they have security of

tenure. Many people will want to move but the real problem is that

we have 5 million people on the waiting list and successive

governments have restricted local councils from building council

houses. Or what about taking a lodger, isn't that a possibility?

Some people want privacy. Forcing people into that is wrong. If they

want to choose to do that that is fine but forcing them by twisting

their arm of financially I think is grossly unfair. They are going to

use housing benefit if they take a lodger actually, are they not?

needs looking at very carefully. You do not know? Downsizing and

taking a lodger is just an option. I do believe that one option does

not fit all and we need more flexibility in the system. We will

leave it there and look at the candidates for police and crime

commissioners. This week we hear from Hertfordshire and Essex but we

begin with Cambridgeshire. In Cambridgeshire, savings of �70

million are needed by 2015. -- �17 million. There are seven candidates

standing here. Whoever is elected faces a difficult job. I have been

a member of this party and feel I have the best credentials of all

the candidates. I have got a lifetime of experience in public

service and I am certain this job involves talking to the public. I

want to do that right down to grass roots, at parish level, to find out

what people are thinking so I can represent them. I know the problems

we have with crime, policing and law and order. I want to see more

officers on the beat and a tough stance taken at a with crime.

need a professional politician, someone who can bring people

together to bring about a more safe community. I will bring a strong

business focus to the police and made sure we have more constables

on the beat. I want to make sure the police and so are there for a

cols quicker. The current response is an acceptable on emergency calls.

I am an experienced candidate. I served on the Regional crime Squad

and the National crime Squad. If elected, I and the candidate for

the privatisation plans. People should vote for me because I will

deal with proper offender management and intervention.

Essex, savings of �42 million are needed over four years. The police

will need to shed 1,000 posts to balance the books. When we have to

look nationally, there are things which people perhaps are not

interested in but the Commissioner has to be as part of the Budget.

Sees issues like counter-terrorism or serious organised crime, the

protection of children. Crime generally, we feel affirm line has

to be taken. We are not sympathetic to offenders. We think the victims

are not treated very well in many occasions. I think we should build

more prisons. The model of scrutiny for the Auld police the authority

was not good enough. I think there is a need for sharper scrutiny

which is about blowing fresh beer through the police. We want to see

police out on the streets. They want to see that the police are

doing a job and when they phoned the police they want them to turn

up and do the job professionally to solve their particular problem.

There are 2,400 families with complex needs to produce something

like 80% of the anti-social behaviour and 70% of burglaries.

The police ought to be cracking down on that kind of behaviour.

is one of the things I am very passionate about, managing domestic

violence and sexual crime which is on the increase. We really do need

to stop that and support the victims and we really need to see

how we can break the chain. Let us take a look at Hertfordshire where

the force needs to save �46 million over four years. It expects to cut

122 officers and 597 staff jobs by 2015. The police and crime

commissioners needs to be somebody who is in touch with the community

and listening to their views. That is something I have done most of my

life. In my spare time I am a borough councillor so I have had a

lot of experience also dealing with the police and getting the right

results for local residents. believe it is a really important

role. The victims of crime should be at the front of what we are

doing and that is a job that I am up for it. Safety on the streets is

what I feel I could do a fairly adequate job of, a good job

actually! How democratic is all of that? We are expecting deep turn

out to be fairly low. The board will be split between several

different candidates so is it a democratic process? We want to make

sure we get Labour candidates are elected. Derbyshire is a marginal

seat that we feel we can win. We are fighting on our policies and to

be accountable for or pausing police cuts and opposing

privatisation of the police force. The other parties will be on

policies for Government cuts. powers these commissioners have

will be huge, how strong do you think their mandate actually is?

do not think we should talk down the elections but what I am

noticing in King's Lynn and West Norfolk is an awful lot of interest.

I think we have to look at what Boris Johnson has done in London to

see what happens when you have someone directly elected who

actually accounts to the public. I think it is an exciting change and

will be good for policing and crime. We have another big election coming

up in the region taking place in one fortnight. The date for the

Corby by-election has been pecked. 14 candidates are contesting the

seat, it here they all are. The election will be held on Thursday

15th November. The former MP resigned in the summer for what she

said was family reasons, but were they? That seems to be a subject of

dispute in her household. Let's take a look at the round-up in 60

seconds. The row has broken out over why she left her job as MP for

Corby after her husband and rock star or manager said she quit

because she would not win next time. She nips off when it suits her

convenience to do so. A departure is never helpful however it takes

place. Are you cross with her? will look to the future. I never

made it up, -- he never made it up, he just got it wrong! Can we

protect services at the General Hospital? It is about jobs and how

we can get jobs for our young people. The future of Kettering

hospital has dominated this campaign and some say there is

nothing wrong with change provided it leaves patients with better

services. Of course we should debate about evolving services,

things do change will be time. We need to make sure patients are best

served but absolutely not by spearing them. -- frightening them.

That spat between the married couple will not help the cause very

much but there is a lot riding on this election, it could potentially

be very damaging for David Cameron. We have a first-class candidate,

every Tory MP is going up to the constituency. A number of people

have said to me that Corby itself is a very difficult Town. In deep

rural area as the conservative vote is very strong. Having said that it

will be a tough election. Of course when MPs stand down people will

question their motives. Of course in this case she did it genuinely

because of custody of her children. The hospital, Labour is just

scaremongering over that issue? That is not true. We have a

passionate belief in the NHS and local hospitals. If they were

threatening my local hospital I would be very angry indeed. You are

going to be campaigning for everything to be kept at Luton and

Dunstable. When we have these reviews should they not be kept

separate from the politicians? Closing hospitals is a political

issue and of course people are going to campaign about it.

Tomorrow I shall hear more detail of the campaign and I look forward

to that and a Labour victory. will hear more on that and what