:01:24. > :01:27.Do hard-working families forced to use food banks to keep their
:01:27. > :01:37.children fed. And the growing numbers of students trying to keep
:01:37. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :37:13.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2136 seconds
:37:13. > :37:18.Welcome to Sunday Politics. Coming up: The food banks help feeding
:37:18. > :37:21.more families who have jobs, but cannot make ends meet.
:37:21. > :37:25.People perhaps would not have come piquantly, people who are in and
:37:25. > :37:31.out of work. Those periods out of work they do not have the money to
:37:31. > :37:34.feed themselves. And it is cheaper, it is beautiful
:37:34. > :37:40.and the classes are in English. Small wonder students from here are
:37:40. > :37:43.going over there to study. You have not got the large bet you will have
:37:43. > :37:49.to pay off for the next 30 years if you are in the UK.
:37:49. > :37:53.First, let's meet the guests for this week's. Gavin Shuker, the
:37:53. > :37:57.shadow minister for water, and Dave Hodgson, Liberal Democrat mayor for
:37:57. > :38:01.Bedford. The region's only elected mayor.
:38:01. > :38:05.Let us start with the story that has affected everyone, flooding.
:38:05. > :38:12.They have devastated parts of the region. Many roads became
:38:12. > :38:16.impassable, people were evacuated, many of which were -- had badly
:38:16. > :38:19.damaged homes. You have been warning of how serious it is of the
:38:19. > :38:23.government fails to reach an agreement with insurance company.
:38:23. > :38:27.Absolutely. The concerns are with people clearing up after some
:38:27. > :38:32.devastating floods across the country and the region. This
:38:32. > :38:35.Government are failing on flood insurance, we need a deal where
:38:35. > :38:41.200,000 homes are appropriately protected after June next year.
:38:41. > :38:44.They are failing on flood defences, and failing on the clear up,
:38:44. > :38:48.because local authorities do not have the money they used it.
:38:48. > :38:54.Central covered -- government is not go in today. Bedford was hit
:38:54. > :38:59.badly. Has there been a busy we? was busy, and you worry when it
:38:59. > :39:04.starts to rain again. We are lucky, there were only a handful of houses
:39:04. > :39:11.that had to be offered evacuation, but none evacuated. It was very
:39:11. > :39:13.close and some claim -- cases. Now, to the plight of hard-working
:39:13. > :39:17.families in the East who are struggling simply to feed their
:39:17. > :39:20.children. Since the start of the recession we have seen food banks
:39:20. > :39:25.springing up in the towns and cities to help people having a hard
:39:25. > :39:33.time. Now, they are being used by an increasing number of people in
:39:33. > :39:37.work and yet cannot manage to support their loved ones.
:39:37. > :39:44.We are out of recession, employment is at record levels, but that is
:39:44. > :39:48.not evident here. I have a passport for one of the
:39:48. > :39:53.children. In Milton Keynes, they expect to
:39:53. > :39:56.hand out 8,500 bags of food this year, 1,000 more than last year.
:39:57. > :40:00.Eight times more than four years ago.
:40:00. > :40:05.There has been a big change in the sort of people coming here. They
:40:05. > :40:12.are people who would perhaps not have come previously, people in and
:40:12. > :40:17.out of work. Those people do not have the resources to pay their
:40:17. > :40:23.bills and feed and sell. previously they would have had
:40:23. > :40:33.something to fall back on? DE&S, last week we had four children with
:40:33. > :40:34.
:40:34. > :40:37.the family, and they had a large bill for gas and electricity coming,
:40:37. > :40:42.and they had to choose whether to pay it or feed their children.
:40:42. > :40:46.In this family, Kay works at the local college and Simon wanted to
:40:46. > :40:51.stay at home to bring up the children. They have lost �150 a
:40:51. > :40:55.month in tax credits and their food bill has gone up �20 a week. She is
:40:55. > :40:59.still on a pay freeze, and Simon is looking for a part-time job. They
:40:59. > :41:02.understand the need for austerity but say it is painful. We are
:41:02. > :41:06.trying to do something for the better good but you cannot see an
:41:06. > :41:12.end result. If you see an immediate result, it inspires you to carry on.
:41:12. > :41:16.But it is being on a diet on not losing weight. -- and not losing
:41:16. > :41:21.weight. We're not actually seeing any results, and I cannot see how
:41:21. > :41:27.we can see results. It is the middle to the lower band of people
:41:27. > :41:30.taking a lot of the brunt of these austerity measures. They have got
:41:30. > :41:36.pay freezes because they are not the ones who have private
:41:36. > :41:41.businesses, they have not got second homes, and it seems to me
:41:41. > :41:44.that the rich do not seem to have had as much pressure put on them.
:41:44. > :41:47.According to a recent report it is those on low and middle incomes
:41:47. > :41:54.most feeling the pinch at the moment. There is no sign of things
:41:54. > :41:58.getting any better. It is putting families in a very tough position.
:41:58. > :42:01.It is also in terms of their borrowing habits, so we are seeing
:42:02. > :42:08.household's struggling with debt, unable to save the amount they
:42:08. > :42:14.would like, and also households unable to spend and what we think a
:42:14. > :42:19.essentials. Then there are those on higher incomes, like this lady. She
:42:19. > :42:22.runs her own publishing company, and a website where big cost of
:42:22. > :42:26.food and fuel are constant complaints. Next year she will
:42:26. > :42:30.probably lose her child benefit. Would it be the end of the world
:42:30. > :42:34.have we lost it? No, we would make do and mend, we would get by, but
:42:34. > :42:38.the Government wants us all to be this community of people starting
:42:38. > :42:42.their own businesses, then we are penalised as soon as we start to do
:42:42. > :42:46.well. But does not make sense. government says it is doing what it
:42:46. > :42:51.can to help. Council tax will be frozen for a third year, and it
:42:51. > :42:55.seems the Chancellor has listened to the campaign by the Harlow MP to
:42:55. > :42:59.do something about fuel duty. But at the Milton Keynes food bank,
:42:59. > :43:03.they expect to help even more people next year as the benefit
:43:03. > :43:08.changes start to bite. Austerity is hurting and making people angry.
:43:09. > :43:11.The pain is set to continue. Is there any help at hand? The big
:43:12. > :43:16.event this week will be the Chancellor's Autumn Statement.
:43:16. > :43:19.There will be some good news for motorists on fuel duty with some
:43:19. > :43:25.money for infrastructure projects in the region, but there is likely
:43:25. > :43:28.to be an admission that things will not improve until 2018. In London
:43:28. > :43:33.is Matthew Hancock, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk,
:43:33. > :43:36.George Osborne's former chief of staff. Now he is a business
:43:36. > :43:42.minister looking after apprenticeships, skills and further
:43:42. > :43:46.education. Families are telling us we cannot go on like this. You have
:43:46. > :43:52.already moved your targets for austerity from five years to seven
:43:52. > :43:58.years. Are we going to hear it is moving to eight years? As you say,
:43:58. > :44:05.we all know what is tough across the country. The reasons for that
:44:05. > :44:10.are well rehearsed, we had the biggest deficit in peacetime
:44:10. > :44:16.history. We are on the right road and making progress, the deficit is
:44:16. > :44:21.down by one quarter, and it is coming down, but is this easy?
:44:21. > :44:26.Absolutely not. Is there still further to travel? Of course there
:44:26. > :44:31.us. When you have a debt problem as a country, it is very difficult to
:44:31. > :44:40.work your way out of it, but the argument that I have been making is
:44:40. > :44:44.that we have got to make sure that everybody plays their par at. --
:44:44. > :44:51.plays the part. The richest are paying the biggest proportion of
:44:51. > :44:58.dealing with the deficit. If you could let me interject, let of the
:44:58. > :45:01.new. -- let me deal with these issues. The figures do not bear out
:45:01. > :45:08.what you are saying. You're going to fill your debt repayment target.
:45:08. > :45:12.How hard we get for these families? As I said, the deficit is down by
:45:12. > :45:15.one quarter, and everyone knows that you do not get out of a debt
:45:15. > :45:20.problem by borrowing more. We have got to deal with it has a country
:45:20. > :45:26.and live within our means, and anyone who is offering magic
:45:26. > :45:31.solutions is frankly not telling the truth. But there is a positive.
:45:31. > :45:36.We are making progress. In the same way we heard this week that
:45:36. > :45:43.immigration is down by a quarter, we are making progress. When people
:45:43. > :45:47.say they are making sacrifices, I entirely understand that. We have
:45:47. > :45:52.to make sure that everyone plays the part. Let me ask you a question.
:45:52. > :45:56.Let me put the case of these families. They do not feel like
:45:56. > :46:01.they are in it together. These people are losing. They are losing
:46:01. > :46:07.their child benefit next month and are being hit hard and the
:46:07. > :46:14.wealthier people. People losing their child benefit are in the top
:46:14. > :46:17.15% of earners. It is the people right at the top who are paying the
:46:17. > :46:25.largest contribution, but of course everyone is affected because as a
:46:25. > :46:30.nation, we were borrowing �1 for every �4 the government spent. I
:46:30. > :46:33.understand it is difficult and hard, but the crucial point is that we
:46:33. > :46:38.are one-quarter of the way through bringing the deficit down. I do not
:46:38. > :46:41.think anyone expected this to be easy. Let us bring the other guests
:46:42. > :46:45.in. Gavin Shuker, we're not doing badly, we still have a triple-A
:46:45. > :46:50.rating, and you have heard what Matthew Hancock said. Unemployment
:46:50. > :46:55.and inflation is falling. couldn't have heard a more
:46:55. > :46:58.complacent answer on this issue. The reality is that borrowing is
:46:58. > :47:02.going up and the debt is going up. This government are borrowing more
:47:02. > :47:07.than five years than the last Labour government borrowed and 13.
:47:07. > :47:12.To say we're making progress, I do not agree. And the family in the
:47:12. > :47:20.film put it very well. They're willing to share -- take their fair
:47:20. > :47:26.share of the pain. If they believe that we are going to make progress,
:47:26. > :47:31.that is fine, but we're not doing that. Dave Hodgson, are the Liberal
:47:31. > :47:34.Democrats failing the people? They have promised it would be the
:47:34. > :47:39.welfare they paid for this. 80% of deficit reduction is coming from
:47:39. > :47:42.cuts, which affects those with lower incomes. We know the people
:47:42. > :47:50.are being affected. We have seen it in Bedford where we have a food
:47:50. > :47:58.bank. We have more people turning up to a place where we can get
:47:58. > :48:06.meals for �1 for people who have to work. We know it is austere, but we
:48:06. > :48:13.need to talk about how we deal with it, and we have to say that we are
:48:13. > :48:18.taxing the rich are more. We are taxing them 45%, and we would like
:48:18. > :48:22.50% of the rich, and we think that is right. We have taken too many
:48:22. > :48:27.people out of tax entirely, -- We have taking people out of tax
:48:27. > :48:30.entirely, and nothing that is the right thing. If we have spent money
:48:30. > :48:36.on a stimulus package, that money has to come from somewhere, and it
:48:36. > :48:43.will be expensive. This Government said it would close the deficit in
:48:43. > :48:47.four years, now it looks like Kate. -- looks like gategate. It is clear
:48:47. > :48:51.that the plan is not working, and I think a plan has said very sensibly,
:48:51. > :48:58.not pulling out resources in the economy is the right way to go, and
:48:58. > :49:03.to get growth. Matthew Hancock, what is your reaction? One of the
:49:03. > :49:09.area as the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have come together is
:49:09. > :49:12.on stopping the poor people from the paying income tax. If you are
:49:12. > :49:19.on a minimum wage, you pay half the income tax now that you did under
:49:19. > :49:25.Labour, because as the mayor said, we are raising the level at which
:49:25. > :49:31.you start to pay tax. But to fix the least well-paid the most. There
:49:31. > :49:35.are 2 million people, the lowest paid people, who are not paying
:49:35. > :49:41.income tax when they used to pay income tax under Labour. If you are
:49:41. > :49:45.on a minimum wage and doing a full 35 a week, you are doing half of
:49:45. > :49:50.the income-tax I did it. There is support therefore people on the
:49:50. > :49:54.lowest wages, but is it this -- as it difficult? Yes, it is. The
:49:54. > :49:57.deficit being down by one-quarter is very important, and the fact
:49:57. > :50:03.that unemployment is coming down and inflation is coming down shows
:50:03. > :50:07.that things are moving in the right direction. Let's bring Dave Hodgson
:50:07. > :50:15.back in. What about locally, like Bedford, can you stimulate growth
:50:15. > :50:20.locally? We rely on central government to an extent. We have
:50:20. > :50:27.some new projects in place, this time last year George Osborne
:50:27. > :50:33.announced the East Coast rail line and we want that to go ahead as
:50:33. > :50:39.quickly as possible. We want western bypass to be completed as
:50:39. > :50:44.well. When way to help save some money
:50:44. > :50:47.might be to study abroad. -- one way. A growing number of students
:50:47. > :50:53.are going to the Continent to take their degrees. Universities they
:50:53. > :50:57.are doing all they can to encourage them. Kevin visited an open day in
:50:57. > :51:07.Maastricht, where the intake from the UK increased by Sodade % last
:51:07. > :51:28.
:51:28. > :51:34.Fortified in the years to keep outsiders at bay, the city is
:51:34. > :51:39.facing a mini invasion from British students, and this women is one of
:51:39. > :51:44.them. She started at Maastricht University in the autumn, studying
:51:44. > :51:48.liberal arts. Languages are big thing I am interested in, so I am
:51:48. > :51:51.close to Belgium and Germany here, which is exciting. I friends are
:51:51. > :51:55.all from different countries in the world, so this is something I do
:51:55. > :51:59.not think I would have exposure to violent a UK university. Tuition
:51:59. > :52:04.fees were a key factor, and back home she would have paid �9,000 a
:52:04. > :52:11.year. Here the basic cost is 1,500 pounds, it is deliberately kept low
:52:11. > :52:17.by the Government. -- �1,500. And the rent is law. In Exeter that
:52:17. > :52:22.would have been �540 a month, here she pays �290 a month for a than 10
:52:23. > :52:26.minutes away. -- for a run which is 10 minutes away.
:52:26. > :52:36.This university first focused on medicine when it opened, now it
:52:36. > :52:37.
:52:37. > :52:47.broadens out. We're off to explore behind another grand Prasad to meet
:52:47. > :52:50.
:52:50. > :52:57.other students. I won two to go on broadened meet a new culture, you
:52:58. > :53:02.have obviously not got a larger debt to pay-off. Maastricht is
:53:02. > :53:07.exciting, it is completely new, and the �9,000 a year I would not have
:53:07. > :53:16.to pay something I will not miss. They are is an irony with tuition
:53:16. > :53:26.fees because it is the second most expensive in Europe here, but it is
:53:26. > :53:33.still cheaper than England. course you can party you, but it
:53:33. > :53:36.has to be the learning that drive you, -- that drives you. Many
:53:36. > :53:41.students believe that they could well remain in Holland and find
:53:41. > :53:46.jobs to help the economy grow. This open day is designed to find the
:53:46. > :53:52.next batch. This women is among those looking round, and like every
:53:52. > :54:00.good scholar, she has done her homework. I have been to various
:54:00. > :54:08.cities. They are all really nice and different. There are different
:54:08. > :54:14.things about all of them. I met this man in the street by chance.
:54:14. > :54:21.What does he think? I have just spent three RS and and the
:54:21. > :54:26.engineering bit, with 10 or 15 students, and it is totally
:54:26. > :54:31.different to England. University delivers virtually all
:54:31. > :54:36.of its courses in English, it has 16,000 students, just over 300 come
:54:36. > :54:39.from the UK, with 13 from this region. With such a gap between
:54:40. > :54:44.tuition fees here and back home, officials and Maastricht believe it
:54:44. > :54:49.is just the start of what will become a huge cross-Channel
:54:49. > :54:58.contingent. Why should people have to go and
:54:58. > :55:02.study abroad because they cannot afford a tuition fees? It is
:55:02. > :55:09.freedom of movement between here and the Netherlands, and for many
:55:09. > :55:16.years people have gone to universities across the world. Of
:55:16. > :55:20.course, tuition costs money, and if the Dutch government wants to
:55:21. > :55:29.contribute to the cost of British students going to university, that
:55:29. > :55:33.is a decision for them. Here, there is not much money to go around, and
:55:34. > :55:37.tuition fees have been rotten. It is a decision for every student to
:55:37. > :55:47.apply where they want, within the European Union, and people can do
:55:47. > :55:48.
:55:49. > :55:55.that. Is it a good thing or a bad thing people going abroad? It is a
:55:55. > :55:58.good thing. My sister went abroad to study a language. It is
:55:58. > :56:03.happening more frequently. I thought we were wrong to break the
:56:03. > :56:13.pledge by tuition fees -- of tuition fees by the party. But we
:56:13. > :56:23.must remember that over half of the students will not pay until they
:56:23. > :56:23.
:56:23. > :56:28.have earned a -- over half of the people will not pay as much as
:56:28. > :56:32.27,000. We have got to be realistic about how much it will cost. Gavin
:56:32. > :56:40.Shuker, you went University in Cambridge. Would you have done that
:56:40. > :56:44.if the judge and fees elsewhere were so low? -- the tuition fees?
:56:44. > :56:51.It is a helpful measure to bring up in the House of Commons, and I
:56:51. > :56:56.voted against trebling tuition fees to �9,000. Across Luton, it has led
:56:56. > :57:02.to 500 fewer young people going to university. That is a tragedy.
:57:02. > :57:08.There will be many people who will remember this at the ballot box.
:57:08. > :57:13.Dave Watson, will we lose these people permanently abroad? There is
:57:13. > :57:17.a danger of that. When the Labour Party brought in tuition fees, we
:57:17. > :57:26.saw those numbers of recruitment dropping, and they picked up
:57:26. > :57:30.slightly, never reaching the same target. Matthew Hancock, thank you
:57:30. > :57:40.For Your a time. Finally, to the political round-up
:57:40. > :57:46.
:57:46. > :57:53.of the week. She thought she would be OK. I had
:57:53. > :57:59.a meeting with the cheek -- Chief Whip in the morning at 10 o'clock,
:57:59. > :58:05.and I expected to beef line. But it was not. The Conservative whip
:58:05. > :58:09.remain suspended until she has built bridges. Stuart Jackson
:58:09. > :58:14.thought he would be orate addressing a UKIP meeting where he
:58:14. > :58:18.said he was at one with them. -- he would be all right.
:58:18. > :58:23.But there was success in Milton Keynes, with the Red Bull Formula
:58:23. > :58:29.One team. Pointed out by the town's MP, which prompted the Prime
:58:29. > :58:33.Minister's ending. I am delighted to pray -- paid tribute to the
:58:33. > :58:38.Formula One team, which sadly be the Formula One team based in my
:58:38. > :58:43.constituency! There were celebrations for 100
:58:43. > :58:52.women vicars to a camp -- having a champagne breakfast, following the
:58:52. > :58:58.church's decision not to allow Gavin Shuker, you a member of the
:58:58. > :59:02.Christian shows Socialist Movement. -- Christian Socialist Movement.
:59:02. > :59:06.Were you disappointed? This, my church has led by women, and I
:59:06. > :59:09.believe in women at every level of the Church. I am not in the Church
:59:09. > :59:13.of England, and it saddens me that many people have tried to give them
:59:13. > :59:16.a kicking, when the same people they say they want to be appointed
:59:16. > :59:21.to the Rolls, they do not agree with in terms of their own
:59:21. > :59:25.religious beliefs. Dr thing the Bishop of Chelmsford is right to be
:59:25. > :59:35.seeing two women in the church, do not give up? -- do you think?
:59:35. > :59:39.amazes me is there are 36 bishops in the House of Lords, and they
:59:39. > :59:49.have to be male. That has to be wrong. It is in evitable that this
:59:49. > :59:50.