Browse content similar to 09/12/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Here in the East, the MP who finally succeeded in getting the | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
fuel duty escalator scrapped. And, a blight or a blessing? Would | :01:33. | :01:43. | |
:01:43. | :01:43. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2134 seconds | :01:43. | :37:18. | |
Welcome to Sunday Politics, I'm Etolle George. | :37:18. | :37:23. | |
Later, controversy over planning decisions to build solar farms on | :37:23. | :37:32. | |
prime agricultural land. The price of localism, which was given to | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
communities in at the last election, has promised -- has proven to be | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
but false promise. And George Osborne grunts the wishes of this | :37:42. | :37:48. | |
MP, and makes the dream of motorists come true. Fuel duty | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
affects every man and woman in the country because it impacts on food | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
prices and transport prices. It is a toxic tax, and the Government has | :37:59. | :38:05. | |
said, we have at Palma de Mallorca rises. | :38:05. | :38:08. | |
First let's meet our guests, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge, | :38:08. | :38:10. | |
Julian Huppert, and Peter Bone, the Conservative MP for Wellingborough. | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
Let's begin with the news that the boss of the first private company | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
to run an NHS hospital has stepped down. Ali Parsa founded Circle in | :38:17. | :38:20. | |
2004. The company took over the running of Hinchingbrooke Hospital | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
in Huntingdon in February. It has incurred a �4 million deficit in | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
its first six months. Steve Melton is taking Mr Parsa's place as | :38:28. | :38:34. | |
interim chief executive. patients expect us to fix the | :38:34. | :38:37. | |
quality first. Meanwhile, behind the scenes we are working on long- | :38:37. | :38:41. | |
term sustainable economics. This is a ten-year contract, and we are in | :38:41. | :38:43. | |
our first year. So we are absolutely focused on getting | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
quality right first, and then a sustainable hospital in economic | :38:46. | :38:50. | |
terms second. Julian Huppert, are you reassured, or are there alarm | :38:50. | :38:57. | |
bells ringing? There are definitely alarm bells. | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
There have been problems with a hospital for a long time. People | :39:01. | :39:07. | |
who live there have to face the uncertainty for many years. This | :39:07. | :39:10. | |
approach of having a private company running it is an | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
interesting approach. I hope it works out, because what is more | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
important than any discussion is what sort of health care do people | :39:19. | :39:29. | |
:39:29. | :39:29. | ||
get when they need it? Peter, what about private companies running it? | :39:29. | :39:35. | |
The quality is what matters first. Let us but the economics second. It | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
would have been wrong if they cut the quality of service to make the | :39:39. | :39:45. | |
books balance. In the NHS, the one thing that seems wrong is that we | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
broke -- wobbly too much about balancing the books... But don't we | :39:50. | :39:57. | |
have to think about balancing the books? If you are taking over a | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
hospital that has not been run very well, met us but the quality right | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
first. This Chief Executive may have resigned, but he will still | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
have to go in front of the select committee, so the public accounts | :40:12. | :40:19. | |
committee will look into that. - is it a time for experimenting? | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
can understand why three or four years ago the then Government | :40:24. | :40:29. | |
decided to stay but trying something different. Do you think | :40:29. | :40:36. | |
it will be followed elsewhere? it works well. If not, we will have | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
to say that was a mistake and it should not have happened. The key | :40:40. | :40:49. | |
is the quality, and what happens to patients. The industrialisation of | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
our countryside is an allegation that levelled at the growing number | :40:53. | :40:57. | |
of solar farm is in our region. Many have been given the go ahead | :40:57. | :41:01. | |
without applications being discussed more widely. Opponents | :41:01. | :41:05. | |
say the Government's determination to make green targets is at the | :41:05. | :41:14. | |
expense of our countryside. Solar farms, the answer to our | :41:14. | :41:22. | |
energy woes, or at desecration of the countryside? The height, there | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
is going to be 40,000 panels over this area. It will absolutely | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
transform the landscape. 35 years here are coming to an end for Roger | :41:34. | :41:40. | |
and his family. They are selling up, musing, they say, a quarter of the | :41:40. | :41:48. | |
value of their farm -- home. this is a rural setting, and it is | :41:48. | :41:53. | |
being turned into an industrial setting. In at a world where we | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
cannot feed the people on the planet, we should not be taking | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
agricultural land out of use. This is driven entirely by subsidies. If | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
you think about it practically, we do not need energy in the middle of | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
the summer when it these panels will be producing the main energy, | :42:13. | :42:19. | |
we need it in the depths of the winter. Be owner of the land | :42:19. | :42:24. | |
declined to comment, but the Government says that if planning | :42:24. | :42:27. | |
applications do not adversely impact on the environment, they | :42:27. | :42:33. | |
should be approved. Proposals for solo farms like this one in Weston | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
Longville can simply be decided on by his single planning officer. | :42:37. | :42:41. | |
They do not have to be discussed at council meetings. Once given the | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
go-ahead, there is not a lot anybody opposed to the plans can go, | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
unless they are willing to take proceedings to the High Court. | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
Going to a High Court is extremely expensive, and David Cameron has | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
recently announced that he is going to become -- it is going to become | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
more expensive and more difficult. That means that the promise of | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
localism, which was given to local communities in the run-up to the | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
last election, has proven to be a false promise, one at that has not | :43:15. | :43:25. | |
:43:25. | :43:27. | ||
been kept to. The Prime Minister has twisted the localism agenda to | :43:27. | :43:35. | |
sit other purposes. Lack energy has just got approval for the country's | :43:35. | :43:40. | |
largest solar farm. Much of what you see in the countryside has been | :43:40. | :43:50. | |
:43:50. | :43:51. | ||
grown for energy. Solo it is a far more effective use of the land. | :43:51. | :43:56. | |
Opponents argue Solar farms are expensive, that solar energy cannot | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
be stored, and that we get it when we need it least. But farmers say | :44:01. | :44:07. | |
it makes economic sense. We are in it to make a profit, but also there | :44:07. | :44:13. | |
is a need for food and energy, and water, and farmers have to do the | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
best they can and diversify. current spate of solar forms take | :44:19. | :44:23. | |
advantage of a terrace that are expected to change in the spring. | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
The reason there is a rush to get some of those sold of forms | :44:27. | :44:30. | |
completed by the end of March is that everybody is aware that the | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
Government is going to change the support but Solar receives in April. | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
At the moment we do not know what that support level will be. | :44:40. | :44:45. | |
level of support Solar Energy receives from the Government may | :44:45. | :44:50. | |
determine whether this becomes the landscape of the future. | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
Dunion, is it right that these decisions do not go before for | :44:54. | :45:00. | |
council? Are unsurprised there is not a role for a planning committee | :45:00. | :45:07. | |
involvement. In Cambridge City Council, the normal thing would be | :45:07. | :45:12. | |
that the planning application would go to an area committee. People | :45:12. | :45:18. | |
should have a say. Having said that, as we panned out from that image, | :45:18. | :45:23. | |
from further away I thought the solar farm it looked very much like | :45:23. | :45:31. | |
another farm. Bit is not growing food, though. It is not, and the | :45:31. | :45:36. | |
world does actually produce enough food to feed everybody, but we do | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
not produce it in at the right places. We can have a balance | :45:41. | :45:47. | |
between eight -- energy creation and food grows from. If people are | :45:47. | :45:53. | |
concerned about having these farms built near by, the only recourse is | :45:53. | :46:00. | |
going to the High Court. That is completely undemocratic. We said we | :46:00. | :46:03. | |
were going to bring in that localism, but local councils were | :46:03. | :46:09. | |
going to decide, and the recent White local councils are proving | :46:09. | :46:14. | |
these things is that because if they do not approve them, the | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
development will go to appeal, and the council will have cost awards | :46:18. | :46:24. | |
did against it. The Government has to do what it said it would do, | :46:24. | :46:30. | |
have localism. The reason we do not have it is because the Liberal | :46:30. | :46:36. | |
Democrats are in favour of this wishy-washy climate change rubbish. | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
Liberal Democrats claimed to be Democrats, but here it they want a | :46:41. | :46:48. | |
centralised Government, Stalinist control. Beta is wrong on this. We | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
are keener on that vocalist decision-making. The fact that we | :46:52. | :46:59. | |
have to generate energy and be in favour of localism. Are you in | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
favour of letting local councils make decisions? A set at the | :47:04. | :47:11. | |
beginning that I am keen that local councils should be involved. I want | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
to come back to our point that you made about the fact that you said | :47:15. | :47:22. | |
it looked like any other form. Some would say this is building on | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
greenfield and turning green field into brownfield. I can understand | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
their concerns about that. I thought the farmer's comment was | :47:30. | :47:37. | |
good. We have to supply food, and energy. We need to do far more on | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
energy efficiency, and that is not talked about enough. The best thing | :47:42. | :47:51. | |
to do is not to build accord plant, a gas plant... A gentleman, what is | :47:51. | :48:01. | |
:48:01. | :48:03. | ||
to stop these solar farms from popping up all over the place? | :48:03. | :48:07. | |
does not matter what the local council says. If Gillian it was | :48:07. | :48:12. | |
right that local councils could turn these damn, that is fine. But | :48:12. | :48:18. | |
if they turn them down, they are automatically... A I think the key | :48:18. | :48:22. | |
thing is what level the subsidy is at. I would like to see a gradual | :48:22. | :48:27. | |
phasing out of subsidies. Hydro- Electric does not require a subsidy | :48:27. | :48:36. | |
now, because it is a mature technology. Peter Bone, it is your | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
Government that has brought in at the east terrace. It is the | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
wretched Liberal Democrats who are forcing us to do it. But am going | :48:45. | :48:51. | |
to campaign to have Tory values in this, and real localism. We also | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
have a responsibility to our cells and the planet to make sure we have | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
somewhere that is worth living in ten, 20 years. If we do not do | :49:00. | :49:05. | |
something about climate change, our grandchildren will have far worse | :49:05. | :49:11. | |
things than a solar farm are being built in the countryside. This | :49:11. | :49:16. | |
week's Autumn Statement. How was it for you? The Chancellor had to | :49:16. | :49:21. | |
admit that austerity will continue until 2018, and that will mean a | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
more spending cuts and a squeeze on all our budgets. But there were a | :49:26. | :49:31. | |
few crumbs of comfort. Super-fast broadband for Cambridge, and that | :49:31. | :49:38. | |
announcement about fuel duty. From college yards of | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
Northamptonshire to the isolated villages of the Fens, the rising | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
price of fuel has become a major issue. In a mini-budget which had | :49:47. | :49:53. | |
little to shout about, this was the announcement to delight MPs. | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
typical motorist in Kettering will from January be paying �5 less | :49:59. | :50:05. | |
every time they fill up at the pump. Can I thank my honourable friend of | :50:05. | :50:12. | |
my half of my colleagues for putting up the fuel back into the | :50:12. | :50:18. | |
tank... Be MP for Harlow has spent the last two years leading the | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
campaign against fuel duty. Finally he says, the Government has got the | :50:22. | :50:30. | |
message. The fuel duty affects everybody, especially those in | :50:30. | :50:35. | |
white vans who are trying to go to work. It also affects those taking | :50:35. | :50:42. | |
buses. But the price of fuel is not coming down. No we also want fuel | :50:42. | :50:49. | |
duty cuts, but I am happy that they have frozen fuel duty, a permanent | :50:49. | :50:55. | |
freeze, not just a three-month freeze. Two long awaited road | :50:55. | :51:01. | |
schemes were approved, one for the Afive in Bedfordshire and another | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
widening scheme for their M25. Cambridge will get ultra-fast | :51:05. | :51:11. | |
broadband, but there is also funding for research and biocides. | :51:11. | :51:16. | |
And extra money for the Regional Growth Fund. All this on top of | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
funding announced in it earliest -- earlier budgets for the Dr Foster | :51:21. | :51:31. | |
:51:31. | :51:32. | ||
end of the meat and A14. We have to rebuild an economic model. I am so | :51:32. | :51:41. | |
excited about our science base, it will not create jobs overnight but | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
it will build a sustainable future. Do is was also the week when the | :51:45. | :51:49. | |
Chancellor had to announce further austerity measures, affecting all | :51:49. | :51:54. | |
of us. There will be less money for policing and local councils, and | :51:54. | :51:59. | |
benefits will rise less than the rate of inflation. In last week's | :51:59. | :52:07. | |
programme, we visited the Milton Keynes phone bank. There've -- food | :52:07. | :52:13. | |
bank. We have had a 20% increase on our demand and services this year, | :52:13. | :52:22. | |
I can see it being in the same next year if not more. There are people | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
who really want to try and find work at the moment, there are small | :52:26. | :52:32. | |
businesses struggling. That is what we should be prioritising, not a | :52:32. | :52:37. | |
tax cut for millionaires which seems to be George Osborne's out of | :52:37. | :52:44. | |
touch priority. Next year at bay will start work on a widening to | :52:44. | :52:52. | |
the A14 in Cambridgeshire. Peter Bone, are you happy about the | :52:52. | :52:58. | |
fuel announcement? I thought it was a pretty good autumn statement. | :52:58. | :53:04. | |
Every time you fill your tank, you will be saving �5. That is a real | :53:04. | :53:10. | |
significance saving for hard- working families. For many people, | :53:10. | :53:16. | |
especially people on benefits, it was not a good autumn statement. | :53:16. | :53:20. | |
Benefits are going up. The idea they are being cut in cash terms is | :53:20. | :53:30. | |
:53:30. | :53:31. | ||
wrong. I listened, and because of the Labour Party we are in this | :53:31. | :53:39. | |
mess. Given the cards that the Chancellor had, I think it was a | :53:39. | :53:43. | |
pretty good statement. Why of the best things about the Autumn | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
Statement was what was not in it. I have been pushing hard against the | :53:48. | :53:56. | |
idea that David Cameron proposed, I think it would be lucky but much | :53:56. | :54:02. | |
look lovely that people could live in -- live in a stable family, but | :54:02. | :54:11. | |
I am pleased we have cut back on the number of cuts. Are you not as | :54:11. | :54:15. | |
a party claiming a lot of credit for the parts of the Autumn | :54:15. | :54:20. | |
Statement that are benefiting lower income families? That is not | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
terribly coalition? There is no surprise that we have different | :54:26. | :54:33. | |
priorities from the Conservatives. Peter and I disagree on a number of | :54:33. | :54:38. | |
things. We are very pleased about reducing the amount of money that | :54:38. | :54:44. | |
is being raided from welfare, we are very pleased we have managed to | :54:44. | :54:48. | |
go further in terms of lifting poorly paid people out of income | :54:48. | :54:53. | |
tax. Does that mean you are the good guys and the Conservatives are | :54:53. | :55:00. | |
the bad guys? He always thinks that! We have a set of things we | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
try to fight for, and that will continue through future Autumn | :55:05. | :55:12. | |
Statement. Peter, you said it was a good statement. What about the | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
gentleman at the food bank, he said a 20% increase in people wanting | :55:16. | :55:22. | |
help. What about the language of the Chancellor, talking about the | :55:22. | :55:27. | |
jobless being feckless and workshy? He made it clear that was a | :55:27. | :55:33. | |
misrepresentation of his views. We are in a complete economic mess, | :55:33. | :55:37. | |
that is for sure, and it is difficult for everyone. I am not | :55:37. | :55:42. | |
saying we will not be having food banks in Wellingborough. But the | :55:42. | :55:47. | |
coalition Government but doing their best to get us out of this | :55:47. | :55:54. | |
mess in that the most equitable way. To be fair to the Chancellor, I | :55:54. | :55:58. | |
think the Government have done a pretty good job this time. What | :55:58. | :56:06. | |
about this ultra-fast broadband for Cambridge? I think that is exciting. | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
Parts of Cambridge already have good Connectivity, and working | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
together with the County Council we should be able to roll out better | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
connections with some of the rural areas. That is a good thing from | :56:20. | :56:25. | |
the Autumn Statement. The idea of Wi-Fi across Cambridge City means | :56:25. | :56:33. | |
that people will be able to work anywhere. Then there is the �6 | :56:33. | :56:38. | |
million in the research and innovation budgets. B Tech, a new | :56:38. | :56:48. | |
:56:48. | :56:49. | ||
road to link the Afive to the M1. When I drove past the huge new link | :56:49. | :56:59. | |
:56:59. | :57:00. | ||
road to Corby, I bought a serious effort into getting the bypass | :57:00. | :57:04. | |
built. The Chancellor is recognising that are important | :57:04. | :57:07. | |
infrastructure projects that are now going ahead which previously | :57:07. | :57:12. | |
have been stopped. That is a good sign. A I have criticised the | :57:12. | :57:16. | |
Chancellor before for not putting enough investment into capital, and | :57:17. | :57:21. | |
it is good that he is making good steps. | :57:22. | :57:31. | |
:57:32. | :57:32. | ||
By now, it is all up in the air. 60 seconds. A new call for a second | :57:32. | :57:35. | |
runway to be built at Stansted Airport this week came from the | :57:35. | :57:39. | |
boss of Gatwick. And then, in due course, to have a second runway at | :57:39. | :57:42. | |
Stansted. A more traditional form of transport for Matthew Hancock, | :57:42. | :57:49. | |
named as Sports Parliamentarian of the Year for promoting horse racing. | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
Welcomed by his fellow Tories, MP Richard Bacon used the ten-minute | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
rule to argue that it was time to scrap the Human Rights Act. | :57:57. | :58:00. | |
supranational court can impose its will against ours, and in my view | :58:00. | :58:07. | |
this is fundamentally undemocratic. Good news for a school in Essex, | :58:07. | :58:12. | |
nicknamed Shed City by its own head teacher. Does he share my delight | :58:12. | :58:15. | |
that the Essex County Council has allocated �8.4 million to build a | :58:15. | :58:21. | |
new school, and may I thank him for his support for that campaign? | :58:21. | :58:24. | |
bad tidings for 50 disabled workers in Norwich, whose jobs are under | :58:24. | :58:27. | |
threat after news that the Remploy packaging plant failed to find a | :58:27. | :58:37. | |
:58:37. | :58:44. | ||
B Tech, what about Stansted Airport? We do welcome a second | :58:44. | :58:53. | |
runway? We need much more aviation capacity. A second runway, I am not | :58:53. | :58:58. | |
so sure. I do think we need to increase airport capacity as soon | :58:58. | :59:06. | |
as possible, as Stansted I am not so sure. Let us see it closer to | :59:06. | :59:13. | |
capacity before we think about that. Is it any more pie-in-the-sky it | :59:13. | :59:23. | |
:59:23. | :59:25. | ||
than that Boris Ireland? Stay Unsted simply -- Stansted is | :59:25. | :59:33. | |
running at half capacity. People don't seem to be, there are other | :59:33. | :59:39. | |
schemes, but this one is sticking a round. By air is currently space | :59:39. | :59:44. | |
for 60% increase in passenger numbers around the country without | :59:44. | :59:48. | |
building any new terminals or runways. It does not make sense to | :59:48. | :59:53. | |
start building new runways in an airport that is not being used. | :59:53. | :59:59. |