Browse content similar to 02/12/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Do hard-working families forced to use food banks to keep their | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
children fed. And the growing numbers of students trying to keep | :01:27. | :01:37. | |
:01:37. | :01:37. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2136 seconds | :01:37. | :37:13. | |
Welcome to Sunday Politics. Coming up: The food banks help feeding | :37:13. | :37:18. | |
more families who have jobs, but cannot make ends meet. | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
People perhaps would not have come piquantly, people who are in and | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
out of work. Those periods out of work they do not have the money to | :37:25. | :37:31. | |
feed themselves. And it is cheaper, it is beautiful | :37:31. | :37:34. | |
and the classes are in English. Small wonder students from here are | :37:34. | :37:40. | |
going over there to study. You have not got the large bet you will have | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
to pay off for the next 30 years if you are in the UK. | :37:43. | :37:49. | |
First, let's meet the guests for this week's. Gavin Shuker, the | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
shadow minister for water, and Dave Hodgson, Liberal Democrat mayor for | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
Bedford. The region's only elected mayor. | :37:57. | :38:01. | |
Let us start with the story that has affected everyone, flooding. | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
They have devastated parts of the region. Many roads became | :38:05. | :38:12. | |
impassable, people were evacuated, many of which were -- had badly | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
damaged homes. You have been warning of how serious it is of the | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
government fails to reach an agreement with insurance company. | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
Absolutely. The concerns are with people clearing up after some | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
devastating floods across the country and the region. This | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
Government are failing on flood insurance, we need a deal where | :38:32. | :38:35. | |
200,000 homes are appropriately protected after June next year. | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
They are failing on flood defences, and failing on the clear up, | :38:41. | :38:44. | |
because local authorities do not have the money they used it. | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
Central covered -- government is not go in today. Bedford was hit | :38:48. | :38:54. | |
badly. Has there been a busy we? was busy, and you worry when it | :38:54. | :38:59. | |
starts to rain again. We are lucky, there were only a handful of houses | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
that had to be offered evacuation, but none evacuated. It was very | :39:04. | :39:11. | |
close and some claim -- cases. Now, to the plight of hard-working | :39:11. | :39:13. | |
families in the East who are struggling simply to feed their | :39:13. | :39:17. | |
children. Since the start of the recession we have seen food banks | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
springing up in the towns and cities to help people having a hard | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
time. Now, they are being used by an increasing number of people in | :39:25. | :39:33. | |
work and yet cannot manage to support their loved ones. | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
We are out of recession, employment is at record levels, but that is | :39:37. | :39:44. | |
not evident here. I have a passport for one of the | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
children. In Milton Keynes, they expect to | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
hand out 8,500 bags of food this year, 1,000 more than last year. | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
Eight times more than four years ago. | :39:57. | :40:00. | |
There has been a big change in the sort of people coming here. They | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
are people who would perhaps not have come previously, people in and | :40:05. | :40:12. | |
out of work. Those people do not have the resources to pay their | :40:12. | :40:17. | |
bills and feed and sell. previously they would have had | :40:17. | :40:23. | |
something to fall back on? DE&S, last week we had four children with | :40:23. | :40:33. | |
:40:33. | :40:34. | ||
the family, and they had a large bill for gas and electricity coming, | :40:34. | :40:37. | |
and they had to choose whether to pay it or feed their children. | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
In this family, Kay works at the local college and Simon wanted to | :40:42. | :40:46. | |
stay at home to bring up the children. They have lost �150 a | :40:46. | :40:51. | |
month in tax credits and their food bill has gone up �20 a week. She is | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
still on a pay freeze, and Simon is looking for a part-time job. They | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
understand the need for austerity but say it is painful. We are | :40:59. | :41:02. | |
trying to do something for the better good but you cannot see an | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
end result. If you see an immediate result, it inspires you to carry on. | :41:06. | :41:12. | |
But it is being on a diet on not losing weight. -- and not losing | :41:12. | :41:16. | |
weight. We're not actually seeing any results, and I cannot see how | :41:16. | :41:21. | |
we can see results. It is the middle to the lower band of people | :41:21. | :41:27. | |
taking a lot of the brunt of these austerity measures. They have got | :41:27. | :41:30. | |
pay freezes because they are not the ones who have private | :41:30. | :41:36. | |
businesses, they have not got second homes, and it seems to me | :41:36. | :41:41. | |
that the rich do not seem to have had as much pressure put on them. | :41:41. | :41:44. | |
According to a recent report it is those on low and middle incomes | :41:44. | :41:47. | |
most feeling the pinch at the moment. There is no sign of things | :41:47. | :41:54. | |
getting any better. It is putting families in a very tough position. | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
It is also in terms of their borrowing habits, so we are seeing | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
household's struggling with debt, unable to save the amount they | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
would like, and also households unable to spend and what we think a | :42:08. | :42:14. | |
essentials. Then there are those on higher incomes, like this lady. She | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
runs her own publishing company, and a website where big cost of | :42:19. | :42:22. | |
food and fuel are constant complaints. Next year she will | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
probably lose her child benefit. Would it be the end of the world | :42:26. | :42:30. | |
have we lost it? No, we would make do and mend, we would get by, but | :42:30. | :42:34. | |
the Government wants us all to be this community of people starting | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
their own businesses, then we are penalised as soon as we start to do | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
well. But does not make sense. government says it is doing what it | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
can to help. Council tax will be frozen for a third year, and it | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
seems the Chancellor has listened to the campaign by the Harlow MP to | :42:51. | :42:55. | |
do something about fuel duty. But at the Milton Keynes food bank, | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
they expect to help even more people next year as the benefit | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
changes start to bite. Austerity is hurting and making people angry. | :43:03. | :43:08. | |
The pain is set to continue. Is there any help at hand? The big | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
event this week will be the Chancellor's Autumn Statement. | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
There will be some good news for motorists on fuel duty with some | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
money for infrastructure projects in the region, but there is likely | :43:19. | :43:25. | |
to be an admission that things will not improve until 2018. In London | :43:25. | :43:28. | |
is Matthew Hancock, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk, | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
George Osborne's former chief of staff. Now he is a business | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
minister looking after apprenticeships, skills and further | :43:36. | :43:42. | |
education. Families are telling us we cannot go on like this. You have | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
already moved your targets for austerity from five years to seven | :43:46. | :43:52. | |
years. Are we going to hear it is moving to eight years? As you say, | :43:52. | :43:58. | |
we all know what is tough across the country. The reasons for that | :43:58. | :44:05. | |
are well rehearsed, we had the biggest deficit in peacetime | :44:05. | :44:10. | |
history. We are on the right road and making progress, the deficit is | :44:10. | :44:16. | |
down by one quarter, and it is coming down, but is this easy? | :44:16. | :44:21. | |
Absolutely not. Is there still further to travel? Of course there | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
us. When you have a debt problem as a country, it is very difficult to | :44:26. | :44:31. | |
work your way out of it, but the argument that I have been making is | :44:31. | :44:40. | |
that we have got to make sure that everybody plays their par at. -- | :44:40. | :44:44. | |
plays the part. The richest are paying the biggest proportion of | :44:44. | :44:51. | |
dealing with the deficit. If you could let me interject, let of the | :44:51. | :44:58. | |
new. -- let me deal with these issues. The figures do not bear out | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
what you are saying. You're going to fill your debt repayment target. | :45:01. | :45:08. | |
How hard we get for these families? As I said, the deficit is down by | :45:08. | :45:12. | |
one quarter, and everyone knows that you do not get out of a debt | :45:12. | :45:15. | |
problem by borrowing more. We have got to deal with it has a country | :45:15. | :45:20. | |
and live within our means, and anyone who is offering magic | :45:20. | :45:26. | |
solutions is frankly not telling the truth. But there is a positive. | :45:26. | :45:31. | |
We are making progress. In the same way we heard this week that | :45:31. | :45:36. | |
immigration is down by a quarter, we are making progress. When people | :45:36. | :45:43. | |
say they are making sacrifices, I entirely understand that. We have | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
to make sure that everyone plays the part. Let me ask you a question. | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
Let me put the case of these families. They do not feel like | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
they are in it together. These people are losing. They are losing | :45:56. | :46:01. | |
their child benefit next month and are being hit hard and the | :46:01. | :46:07. | |
wealthier people. People losing their child benefit are in the top | :46:07. | :46:14. | |
15% of earners. It is the people right at the top who are paying the | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
largest contribution, but of course everyone is affected because as a | :46:17. | :46:25. | |
nation, we were borrowing �1 for every �4 the government spent. I | :46:25. | :46:30. | |
understand it is difficult and hard, but the crucial point is that we | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
are one-quarter of the way through bringing the deficit down. I do not | :46:33. | :46:38. | |
think anyone expected this to be easy. Let us bring the other guests | :46:38. | :46:41. | |
in. Gavin Shuker, we're not doing badly, we still have a triple-A | :46:42. | :46:45. | |
rating, and you have heard what Matthew Hancock said. Unemployment | :46:45. | :46:50. | |
and inflation is falling. couldn't have heard a more | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
complacent answer on this issue. The reality is that borrowing is | :46:55. | :46:58. | |
going up and the debt is going up. This government are borrowing more | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
than five years than the last Labour government borrowed and 13. | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
To say we're making progress, I do not agree. And the family in the | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
film put it very well. They're willing to share -- take their fair | :47:12. | :47:20. | |
share of the pain. If they believe that we are going to make progress, | :47:20. | :47:26. | |
that is fine, but we're not doing that. Dave Hodgson, are the Liberal | :47:26. | :47:31. | |
Democrats failing the people? They have promised it would be the | :47:31. | :47:34. | |
welfare they paid for this. 80% of deficit reduction is coming from | :47:34. | :47:39. | |
cuts, which affects those with lower incomes. We know the people | :47:39. | :47:42. | |
are being affected. We have seen it in Bedford where we have a food | :47:42. | :47:50. | |
bank. We have more people turning up to a place where we can get | :47:50. | :47:58. | |
meals for �1 for people who have to work. We know it is austere, but we | :47:58. | :48:06. | |
need to talk about how we deal with it, and we have to say that we are | :48:06. | :48:13. | |
taxing the rich are more. We are taxing them 45%, and we would like | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
50% of the rich, and we think that is right. We have taken too many | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
people out of tax entirely, -- We have taking people out of tax | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
entirely, and nothing that is the right thing. If we have spent money | :48:27. | :48:30. | |
on a stimulus package, that money has to come from somewhere, and it | :48:30. | :48:36. | |
will be expensive. This Government said it would close the deficit in | :48:36. | :48:43. | |
four years, now it looks like Kate. -- looks like gategate. It is clear | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
that the plan is not working, and I think a plan has said very sensibly, | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
not pulling out resources in the economy is the right way to go, and | :48:51. | :48:58. | |
to get growth. Matthew Hancock, what is your reaction? One of the | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
area as the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives have come together is | :49:03. | :49:09. | |
on stopping the poor people from the paying income tax. If you are | :49:09. | :49:12. | |
on a minimum wage, you pay half the income tax now that you did under | :49:12. | :49:19. | |
Labour, because as the mayor said, we are raising the level at which | :49:19. | :49:25. | |
you start to pay tax. But to fix the least well-paid the most. There | :49:25. | :49:31. | |
are 2 million people, the lowest paid people, who are not paying | :49:31. | :49:35. | |
income tax when they used to pay income tax under Labour. If you are | :49:35. | :49:41. | |
on a minimum wage and doing a full 35 a week, you are doing half of | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
the income-tax I did it. There is support therefore people on the | :49:45. | :49:50. | |
lowest wages, but is it this -- as it difficult? Yes, it is. The | :49:50. | :49:54. | |
deficit being down by one-quarter is very important, and the fact | :49:54. | :49:57. | |
that unemployment is coming down and inflation is coming down shows | :49:57. | :50:03. | |
that things are moving in the right direction. Let's bring Dave Hodgson | :50:03. | :50:07. | |
back in. What about locally, like Bedford, can you stimulate growth | :50:07. | :50:15. | |
locally? We rely on central government to an extent. We have | :50:15. | :50:20. | |
some new projects in place, this time last year George Osborne | :50:20. | :50:27. | |
announced the East Coast rail line and we want that to go ahead as | :50:27. | :50:33. | |
quickly as possible. We want western bypass to be completed as | :50:33. | :50:39. | |
well. When way to help save some money | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
might be to study abroad. -- one way. A growing number of students | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
are going to the Continent to take their degrees. Universities they | :50:47. | :50:53. | |
are doing all they can to encourage them. Kevin visited an open day in | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
Maastricht, where the intake from the UK increased by Sodade % last | :50:57. | :51:07. | |
:51:07. | :51:28. | ||
Fortified in the years to keep outsiders at bay, the city is | :51:28. | :51:34. | |
facing a mini invasion from British students, and this women is one of | :51:34. | :51:39. | |
them. She started at Maastricht University in the autumn, studying | :51:39. | :51:44. | |
liberal arts. Languages are big thing I am interested in, so I am | :51:44. | :51:48. | |
close to Belgium and Germany here, which is exciting. I friends are | :51:48. | :51:51. | |
all from different countries in the world, so this is something I do | :51:51. | :51:55. | |
not think I would have exposure to violent a UK university. Tuition | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
fees were a key factor, and back home she would have paid �9,000 a | :51:59. | :52:04. | |
year. Here the basic cost is 1,500 pounds, it is deliberately kept low | :52:04. | :52:11. | |
by the Government. -- �1,500. And the rent is law. In Exeter that | :52:11. | :52:17. | |
would have been �540 a month, here she pays �290 a month for a than 10 | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
minutes away. -- for a run which is 10 minutes away. | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
This university first focused on medicine when it opened, now it | :52:26. | :52:36. | |
:52:36. | :52:37. | ||
broadens out. We're off to explore behind another grand Prasad to meet | :52:37. | :52:47. | |
:52:47. | :52:50. | ||
other students. I won two to go on broadened meet a new culture, you | :52:50. | :52:57. | |
have obviously not got a larger debt to pay-off. Maastricht is | :52:58. | :53:02. | |
exciting, it is completely new, and the �9,000 a year I would not have | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
to pay something I will not miss. They are is an irony with tuition | :53:07. | :53:16. | |
fees because it is the second most expensive in Europe here, but it is | :53:16. | :53:26. | |
still cheaper than England. course you can party you, but it | :53:26. | :53:33. | |
has to be the learning that drive you, -- that drives you. Many | :53:33. | :53:36. | |
students believe that they could well remain in Holland and find | :53:36. | :53:41. | |
jobs to help the economy grow. This open day is designed to find the | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
next batch. This women is among those looking round, and like every | :53:46. | :53:52. | |
good scholar, she has done her homework. I have been to various | :53:52. | :54:00. | |
cities. They are all really nice and different. There are different | :54:00. | :54:08. | |
things about all of them. I met this man in the street by chance. | :54:08. | :54:14. | |
What does he think? I have just spent three RS and and the | :54:14. | :54:21. | |
engineering bit, with 10 or 15 students, and it is totally | :54:21. | :54:26. | |
different to England. University delivers virtually all | :54:26. | :54:31. | |
of its courses in English, it has 16,000 students, just over 300 come | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
from the UK, with 13 from this region. With such a gap between | :54:36. | :54:39. | |
tuition fees here and back home, officials and Maastricht believe it | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
is just the start of what will become a huge cross-Channel | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
contingent. Why should people have to go and | :54:49. | :54:58. | |
study abroad because they cannot afford a tuition fees? It is | :54:58. | :55:02. | |
freedom of movement between here and the Netherlands, and for many | :55:02. | :55:09. | |
years people have gone to universities across the world. Of | :55:09. | :55:16. | |
course, tuition costs money, and if the Dutch government wants to | :55:16. | :55:20. | |
contribute to the cost of British students going to university, that | :55:21. | :55:29. | |
is a decision for them. Here, there is not much money to go around, and | :55:29. | :55:33. | |
tuition fees have been rotten. It is a decision for every student to | :55:34. | :55:37. | |
apply where they want, within the European Union, and people can do | :55:37. | :55:47. | |
:55:47. | :55:48. | ||
that. Is it a good thing or a bad thing people going abroad? It is a | :55:49. | :55:55. | |
good thing. My sister went abroad to study a language. It is | :55:55. | :55:58. | |
happening more frequently. I thought we were wrong to break the | :55:58. | :56:03. | |
pledge by tuition fees -- of tuition fees by the party. But we | :56:03. | :56:13. | |
must remember that over half of the students will not pay until they | :56:13. | :56:23. | |
:56:23. | :56:23. | ||
have earned a -- over half of the people will not pay as much as | :56:23. | :56:28. | |
27,000. We have got to be realistic about how much it will cost. Gavin | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
Shuker, you went University in Cambridge. Would you have done that | :56:32. | :56:40. | |
if the judge and fees elsewhere were so low? -- the tuition fees? | :56:40. | :56:44. | |
It is a helpful measure to bring up in the House of Commons, and I | :56:44. | :56:51. | |
voted against trebling tuition fees to �9,000. Across Luton, it has led | :56:51. | :56:56. | |
to 500 fewer young people going to university. That is a tragedy. | :56:56. | :57:02. | |
There will be many people who will remember this at the ballot box. | :57:02. | :57:08. | |
Dave Watson, will we lose these people permanently abroad? There is | :57:08. | :57:13. | |
a danger of that. When the Labour Party brought in tuition fees, we | :57:13. | :57:17. | |
saw those numbers of recruitment dropping, and they picked up | :57:17. | :57:26. | |
slightly, never reaching the same target. Matthew Hancock, thank you | :57:26. | :57:30. | |
For Your a time. Finally, to the political round-up | :57:30. | :57:40. | |
:57:40. | :57:46. | ||
of the week. She thought she would be OK. I had | :57:46. | :57:53. | |
a meeting with the cheek -- Chief Whip in the morning at 10 o'clock, | :57:53. | :57:59. | |
and I expected to beef line. But it was not. The Conservative whip | :57:59. | :58:05. | |
remain suspended until she has built bridges. Stuart Jackson | :58:05. | :58:09. | |
thought he would be orate addressing a UKIP meeting where he | :58:09. | :58:14. | |
said he was at one with them. -- he would be all right. | :58:14. | :58:18. | |
But there was success in Milton Keynes, with the Red Bull Formula | :58:18. | :58:23. | |
One team. Pointed out by the town's MP, which prompted the Prime | :58:23. | :58:29. | |
Minister's ending. I am delighted to pray -- paid tribute to the | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
Formula One team, which sadly be the Formula One team based in my | :58:33. | :58:38. | |
constituency! There were celebrations for 100 | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
women vicars to a camp -- having a champagne breakfast, following the | :58:43. | :58:52. | |
church's decision not to allow Gavin Shuker, you a member of the | :58:52. | :58:58. | |
Christian shows Socialist Movement. -- Christian Socialist Movement. | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
Were you disappointed? This, my church has led by women, and I | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
believe in women at every level of the Church. I am not in the Church | :59:06. | :59:09. | |
of England, and it saddens me that many people have tried to give them | :59:09. | :59:13. | |
a kicking, when the same people they say they want to be appointed | :59:13. | :59:16. | |
to the Rolls, they do not agree with in terms of their own | :59:16. | :59:21. | |
religious beliefs. Dr thing the Bishop of Chelmsford is right to be | :59:21. | :59:25. | |
seeing two women in the church, do not give up? -- do you think? | :59:25. | :59:35. | |
amazes me is there are 36 bishops in the House of Lords, and they | :59:35. | :59:39. | |
have to be male. That has to be wrong. It is in evitable that this | :59:39. | :59:49. | |
:59:49. | :59:50. |