:01:24. > :01:34.The county council election campaign builds up, and UKIP,
:01:34. > :01:34.
:01:34. > :38:00.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2186 seconds
:38:00. > :38:04.protest vote for party on the verge Welcome to the local part of the
:38:04. > :38:08.Sunday Politics, I'm Andrew Sinclair. Coming up, the local
:38:08. > :38:12.elections: What has accounts Account will -- what has the county
:38:12. > :38:17.council ever done for you? Apart from looking after the roads,
:38:17. > :38:23.waste-disposal... UKIP is taking these elections very seriously.
:38:23. > :38:28.Nigel Farage was back in the region. How seriously can we expect his
:38:28. > :38:31.counsellor to take the day-to-day grind of local politics? Very
:38:31. > :38:35.seriously indeed. One of the reasons we have risen in the polls,
:38:35. > :38:39.I have got this travelling around the country, people say that we
:38:39. > :38:47.speak for them. If people place their trust in us, we need to do
:38:47. > :38:52.the job well. First, let's meet our guests. Bernard Jenkin has,
:38:52. > :38:57.Conservative MP, and Kelvin Jenkins, Labour MP. There has been only one
:38:57. > :39:01.story, the death of Baroness Thatcher. I heard you speak quite
:39:01. > :39:05.movingly about Baroness Thatcher in her later years. Sometimes it was
:39:05. > :39:15.hard to believe this small, frail lady once held the world in the
:39:15. > :39:16.
:39:16. > :39:23.palm of her hand. Yes. Everyone is testament to the fact that she was
:39:23. > :39:27.a colossal political figure. She dominated not just British politics
:39:27. > :39:36.but global politics. The frigid we have seen on the television screens
:39:36. > :39:41.have been greeted by Soviet leaders, President Reagan... -- the
:39:41. > :39:45.television footage. This country roads in the imagination and
:39:45. > :39:50.respect of every country around the world as a result of her leadership.
:39:50. > :39:55.You used to visit her regularly, what did she talk about? It came
:39:55. > :40:01.and went in later years... You always needed to be on your mettle,
:40:02. > :40:05.because occasionally you would just get a flash of the old market, --
:40:05. > :40:12.the old Margaret Thatcher, she would pick you up on something,
:40:13. > :40:19.excoriate the weakness of your argument, the lack of logic, the
:40:19. > :40:22.great brain under there was still powering away, even though she was
:40:22. > :40:28.not as a live to current events. She was really interested in
:40:28. > :40:37.talking about the past, childhood, upbringing, that was very
:40:37. > :40:42.interesting. You are trade-union officer in the 1980s, why did you
:40:42. > :40:48.not go? I'm a democratic socialist and it would be hypocritical to pay
:40:48. > :40:55.respect to someone like did not agree with. -- someone who I did
:40:55. > :41:01.not agree with. She was very popular. If you look at Luton, it
:41:01. > :41:05.had to Conservative MPs. Different boundaries, democratic changes. --
:41:05. > :41:10.two Conservative MPs. Just because somebody is popular it does not
:41:10. > :41:13.mean they are right. In retrospect, many people have been popular and
:41:13. > :41:20.years later have been proved to be very unhelpful, wrong and damaging
:41:20. > :41:25.to Sidey. Lady Thatcher's death men lots of campaigning was put on hold.
:41:26. > :41:30.-- damaging to society. It is less than three weeks until polling day.
:41:30. > :41:36.If you live in a unitary authority, you will not get to vote this year.
:41:36. > :41:41.This will be an important set of elections, not least in Essex. It
:41:41. > :41:47.is being dominated by the Conservatives. Our political
:41:47. > :41:52.reporter has been looking at the issues. County councils are not
:41:52. > :41:57.usually high profile. Essex has been the spotlight for the wrong
:41:57. > :42:01.reasons. Former Conservative leader Lord Hanningfield was jailed for
:42:01. > :42:08.fiddling his expenses. He stepped down, but will that episode cast a
:42:08. > :42:14.shadow over these elections. I think people need to recognise that
:42:14. > :42:20.this is about the county of Essex, on behalf of 1.4 million people in
:42:20. > :42:24.Essex. People want to recognise what are competent Conservative
:42:24. > :42:33.administration may have had here. It has saved, although the last
:42:34. > :42:39.four years, �364 million. -- or the last four years. We have already
:42:39. > :42:48.provides roads and schools. They have also branched out, launching a
:42:48. > :42:52.scheme to save post offices in rural areas. High-profile schemes,
:42:52. > :43:00.but they were all expensive. They have all been scrapped. The focus
:43:00. > :43:03.is back on main issues like roads. In north Essex, the Liberal
:43:04. > :43:07.Democrats want a high street pedestrianised. It is one of their
:43:07. > :43:11.main issues, even though the county council suspended a temporary trial
:43:11. > :43:15.that this week. The town is a Lib Dem fortress in a largely blue
:43:15. > :43:21.county. The vehicle ban is controversial, so will it harm them
:43:21. > :43:27.here? One of the major reasons is the air quality in the high street
:43:27. > :43:32.was very bad, it will affect people with asthma. If we do not reduce it
:43:32. > :43:40.we will be fined by the mayor -- by the European Union. Will they care
:43:40. > :43:44.about it? It will be something they care about it if their council tax
:43:44. > :43:53.goes up. The council tax saving affects 50,000 potholes, but Labour
:43:54. > :43:59.say there are still problems. should be more priority given to
:43:59. > :44:05.pot or repair. One of my constituents damaged their park to
:44:05. > :44:13.the cost of �2,000. I had reported that before he did it. People get
:44:13. > :44:16.angry. In the south of the county, shoppers look for bargains. People
:44:16. > :44:20.in Basildon are among those who will decide the result of this
:44:20. > :44:26.county council election, but will they vote on local issues or will
:44:26. > :44:33.they be swayed by the factors? Council tax. Anything else?
:44:33. > :44:41.Immigration. People coming into the country and sponging off the
:44:41. > :44:48.government is my main concern. Keeping Basildon clean, keeping the
:44:48. > :44:53.council tax down. Keeping crime down, that sort of thing. When it
:44:53. > :44:59.comes to benefits, at the end of the day, it is one of those ones,
:44:59. > :45:05.people are suffering. Conservatives dominate with 59
:45:05. > :45:10.seats. The Liberal Democrats have 11. This time there is no European
:45:11. > :45:12.election, which may well mean a lower turnout. With UKIP and the
:45:12. > :45:17.Green Party's standing more candidates in Essex than ever
:45:17. > :45:25.before, they will be hoping to win seats at the expense of the bigger
:45:25. > :45:30.parties. The Conservatives have saved millions of pounds, but they
:45:30. > :45:39.lost lots of money on those schemes. Is this a record to be proud of?
:45:39. > :45:42.Yes. Essex has always been a very tightly funded council. To strip
:45:42. > :45:46.out �360 million without fundamentally affecting public
:45:46. > :45:51.services, particularly with burgeoning demand on children's
:45:51. > :45:58.services, social services, it has been difficult but they are running
:45:58. > :46:02.a tight ship. I hope people will bear that in mind. When these seats
:46:02. > :46:12.were last up for grabs, it was to those in the nine, Gordon Brown was
:46:12. > :46:15.on his way out, David Cameron was coming in. -- 2009. You are correct,
:46:15. > :46:19.this a high-water mark. We are bound to lose some seats across the
:46:19. > :46:25.whole country. I would be absolutely shocked if we lost
:46:25. > :46:29.control in Essex, but I expect to see some casualties across the
:46:29. > :46:33.country because we are coming from a high water mark. Tory councils
:46:33. > :46:38.are very good at saving money, millions of pounds, they are also
:46:38. > :46:42.good at keeping down council tax. I do you campaign against that?
:46:42. > :46:47.of them are in areas where people are much more affluent, have less
:46:47. > :46:51.difficulty than we do in Luton, for example, where there is lots of
:46:51. > :46:56.pressure on local authorities. We have a very young population,
:46:56. > :47:03.children's services are very expensive. I hope we see a big
:47:03. > :47:09.surge in Labour support in Essex. Your party leader is back here.
:47:09. > :47:14.You're hoping to do well. It is a conservative region by majority but
:47:14. > :47:22.we have held up to 22 parliamentary seats. I think we will men -- we
:47:22. > :47:27.will win many more. Picking up on one point in that film, how much at
:47:27. > :47:32.ease about local issues? Inevitably, national issues play a part. People
:47:32. > :47:41.are worried about employment, living standards are falling in
:47:41. > :47:48.real terms. By common consensus, the party to watch this year will
:47:48. > :47:55.be the UKIP. Their great breakthrough came in the 2004
:47:55. > :48:00.elections, taking 16% of the vote. At the next year's general election,
:48:00. > :48:05.they got less than 3% of the popular vote. In 2009 they were
:48:05. > :48:10.above 16% in the European election, but down to 3% in the general
:48:10. > :48:18.election. But in last year's Corby by-election they got more than 14%.
:48:18. > :48:25.In Eastleigh, they came second with more than 27%. A recent survey put
:48:25. > :48:28.support at 21%. That is higher than anywhere else in the country. Now
:48:29. > :48:38.they are fielding more candidates than ever before in local elections.
:48:38. > :48:43.Critics say they are for protest votes. Nigel Farage disagrees. I
:48:43. > :48:47.spoke to him earlier this week. are growing political party, we
:48:47. > :48:51.have succeeded in European elections, we are beginning to do
:48:51. > :48:55.well in parliamentary by-elections. We now need to establish a base in
:48:55. > :49:05.local government. Goodness me, there is a need for it. There is a
:49:05. > :49:09.
:49:09. > :49:14.need for do you Kip -- need for the UKIP vote. We will explain what the
:49:14. > :49:19.impact of the immigration board is. A you want to get out of the EU, if
:49:19. > :49:23.you are talking about immigration. These are not county council issues.
:49:23. > :49:29.Yes they are. It is county councils to pick up the bill. Think about
:49:29. > :49:35.policing, schools, hospitals, the former police commissioner of
:49:35. > :49:39.Cambridge said we do not have the infrastructure to support people
:49:39. > :49:44.coming here who cannot speak English. If you to control, you
:49:44. > :49:49.would not be able to change that. Local politics can have a big
:49:49. > :49:52.impact on national politics. We are on the verge of opening the door to
:49:52. > :49:56.the whole of Romania and Bulgaria next year and these county councils
:49:56. > :50:02.are a very good means of telling the coalition government we do not
:50:02. > :50:07.want that. So really, these are not about local issues. It is about
:50:07. > :50:11.both. One is a big national issue. We are absolutely the only party
:50:11. > :50:19.opposed to the building onshore and offshore of these ugly discussed in
:50:19. > :50:23.wind turbines, and they will fight against that. Cutting to use
:50:23. > :50:29.services in Norfolk, spending on youth services has gone in Norfolk.
:50:29. > :50:36.Do you support that? If you look at what has happened to the pay of
:50:36. > :50:43.people work for local councils, an explosion in pay and pensions.
:50:43. > :50:47.Money is being wasted by county councils on climate change officers.
:50:47. > :50:53.Would you find you've services? you manage the budget correctly,
:50:53. > :50:55.and apply a pragmatic businesslike approach, you should be able to cut
:50:55. > :51:00.money out of the administration to leave more money for frontline
:51:00. > :51:05.services. We have to accept we are living in straitened times, the
:51:05. > :51:11.economy is rough, there are going to be cuts. What about the proposed
:51:11. > :51:18.waste incinerator for King's Lynn, argue in favour of that? No, I am
:51:18. > :51:23.not. There are plenty of landfill sites, but what has happened, what
:51:23. > :51:27.has Europe got to do with it? Because of the European union's
:51:27. > :51:33.landfill director of, councils they use land will have to pay a fine
:51:33. > :51:36.for doing it, and that is why they are moving towards incinerators. --
:51:36. > :51:42.directive. Once you have set up an incinerator you need to keep
:51:42. > :51:50.feeding it. What about the out sourcing of services? Is that a
:51:50. > :51:55.good idea? All I want is for us to get bank fraud but, for us to have
:51:55. > :52:01.public services that give us the best possible results.
:52:01. > :52:04.confident are you feeling? Sensibly optimistic, by which I mean, first
:52:04. > :52:10.past the post politics is difficult for a party that draws its support
:52:10. > :52:14.from across the board, without specific geographic locations, but
:52:14. > :52:19.the trend that has emerged across the last couple of years is the
:52:19. > :52:26.East of England is our strongest area. Why is this? Is it the spirit
:52:26. > :52:33.of Cromwell? I do not know. Is it the effect of the migration? Is it
:52:33. > :52:37.the fishing industry? It could be a combination. We have already
:52:37. > :52:44.managed to win seats at county council level. I would be
:52:44. > :52:51.disappointed if we get results we did not expect, a smattering of
:52:51. > :53:01.county council seats. Thank you very much.
:53:01. > :53:04.
:53:04. > :53:10.Stewart Agnew is the UK add peat m e p for the region. -- UKIP MP. I
:53:10. > :53:13.understand you slept on the way to a by-election and broke a leg.
:53:13. > :53:18.was the first casualty of a campaign that we felt we did very
:53:18. > :53:28.well indeed in. There are always casualties in every campaign and I
:53:28. > :53:31.
:53:31. > :53:38.am up for it. It has pretty well healed up. Is it a metaphor? What?
:53:38. > :53:46.Will you see a party not do well? Quite the reverse, we have never
:53:46. > :53:51.feel that so many candidates. We get to recognition -- we are
:53:51. > :53:56.getting recognition and people are realising the impact of the
:53:56. > :54:01.European Union on their lives. They are clearly conscious, they were
:54:01. > :54:05.quite willing to risk votes for us and European elections, they are
:54:05. > :54:11.beginning to do so at by-elections, and this is a big build up to what
:54:11. > :54:16.we really need, a significant number of seats in Westminster. It
:54:16. > :54:20.is a long road to travel but we are encouraged. These are local
:54:20. > :54:24.elections about local issues. Nigel Farage kept coming back to
:54:25. > :54:29.immigration. That is all he would talk about. This illustrates that
:54:29. > :54:34.you are policy light. No, it indicates that you have a supply of
:54:34. > :54:39.local services and demand for them. Immigration is creating a massive
:54:39. > :54:43.extra demand for our services and we have no control over it, and no
:54:43. > :54:48.idea how many immigrants will come here, how many languages they will
:54:48. > :54:55.speak, and yet the local authorities have to cope with that.
:54:55. > :54:58.It makes it difficult for them. In the past we have had three parties
:54:58. > :55:07.that sweep it under the carpet. We are pulling the carpet back and
:55:07. > :55:14.showing them where the problems lie. Let's talk to one of those parties
:55:14. > :55:19.argue losing sleep over it the UK I p -- losing sleep over the UK
:55:19. > :55:28.Independence Party? We should all be concerned that the extremes are
:55:28. > :55:32.getting more tempting. You said you will lose seats, are you going to
:55:32. > :55:38.lose it to them? They are picking up support from all political
:55:38. > :55:43.parties, Liberal Democrats lost a great many votes in the Eastleigh
:55:43. > :55:50.by-election, so this problem is facing all political parties. The
:55:50. > :55:53.problem is, they are a one-trick pony. They were talking about
:55:53. > :56:00.immigration as though there was a click of the finger and you can
:56:00. > :56:06.solve all this by voting UKIP. Ironically, if it costs
:56:06. > :56:15.Conservative seats in the selection, that this election, they will get
:56:15. > :56:18.precisely what they don't want, if they form a coalition instead of us.
:56:18. > :56:25.I was in Suffolk the other day and several Labour activists were
:56:25. > :56:33.saying they are worried about UKIP. We have to accept they are a party
:56:33. > :56:38.of the right-wing. There is a big They have made a mistake if they
:56:38. > :56:44.want support across the board by pursuing a right-wing corner
:56:44. > :56:48.monarch -- economic policies. If they won support across the board,
:56:48. > :56:52.they should have actually not portray themselves as a party of
:56:52. > :56:56.the economic right, which is where they are. Is that how you portray
:56:56. > :57:00.yourself? We are pleasantly surprised at the level of support
:57:00. > :57:05.we are getting from what you might call Labour, people work hard for a
:57:05. > :57:08.living and find their lives are being given no future at all by the
:57:08. > :57:13.fact that their jobs are being taken, their children cannot get
:57:13. > :57:18.houses because of emigration. I keep coming back to it but it is a
:57:18. > :57:22.major problem. We are getting a really good, solid ground support
:57:22. > :57:29.from old Labour because New Labour have led Old Labour down. You look
:57:29. > :57:35.at the leaders of New Labour, can you really say they let present --
:57:35. > :57:38.represent a horny-handed sons of toil? They do not look like
:57:38. > :57:44.representatives of the working man. They are losing the support of
:57:44. > :57:50.their bedrock. There is an article in the Spectator that says they are
:57:50. > :57:53.moving into territory used used to have -- you used to have. I am a
:57:53. > :57:58.Euro-sceptic of the left, but I am a socialist and I look at the
:57:58. > :58:02.struggles and I can see why many people a Euro-sceptic. We are
:58:02. > :58:08.opposed to the kind of free market capitalistic economic policies
:58:08. > :58:11.pursued by UKIP and the Conservative Party. There is a
:58:11. > :58:16.message from Margaret Thatcher, but if you want to attack Labour votes,
:58:16. > :58:24.it is not by attacking to the letter, it is by standing for
:58:24. > :58:34.people to work hard, save hard, want to do the right thing.
:58:34. > :58:38.
:58:38. > :58:43.election campaign features heavily Maria Miller breezed into Basildon
:58:43. > :58:48.this week. She watched an Olympic Legacy project designed to hook
:58:48. > :58:51.young people into sport. What we are seeing from schools and
:58:51. > :58:57.community sports activities is there is issued a passion for sport
:58:57. > :59:06.in this country. Martin Bell is hoping to make dispatch -- to make
:59:06. > :59:14.a splash. They won more independent candidates. Politicians are all
:59:14. > :59:23.grey. We need people were fearless. The Labour leader chose Ipswich:
:59:23. > :59:28.She -- Jaws Ipswich to launch a campaign. We have come to Suffolk
:59:28. > :59:32.to launch our campaign. It was suspended on Monday following the
:59:32. > :59:37.announcement of Lady Thatcher's death. Tributes poured in for the
:59:37. > :59:46.former Suffolk MP. Margaret Thatcher was a very beautiful woman.
:59:46. > :59:51.She had beautiful plants and she had lovely ankles, and she knew
:59:51. > :59:58.precisely how to use both. She was more than just a politician. Will
:59:58. > :00:04.you be at her funeral? I will. It will be quite an event. 2000 people,
:00:04. > :00:09.leaders from around the world, and her political friends and many of
:00:09. > :00:17.her political enemies will be gathered at the invitation of her
:00:17. > :00:23.own family. Kelvin Hopkins, what will you be doing? Political work
:00:23. > :00:27.in the constituency, and chairing a meeting of the Parliamentary
:00:27. > :00:32.Science Policy, which is my main issue. Then I will be at a select
:00:32. > :00:35.committee meeting. You will not be going to any of these parties?
:00:35. > :00:43.not like personalised politics, I'll be dealing with issues rather