29/04/2012 Sunday Politics North East and Cumbria

In the North East and Cumbria... Voters have an opportunity to

deliver a verdict on the Government's handling of the

economy at the polls on Thursday. What can the parties expect? We're

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1674 seconds

Hello and a very warm welcome to your local part of the show. Coming

up... Should the Department for

International Development and its 1,600 civil servants be moved from

here in London to Tyneside? We speak to an MP about his

parliamentary campaign to ship jobs out of Whitehall. Talking about

that, the local elections and the renewed recession, my guests Bishop

Auckland MP Helen Goodman, Newcastle Lib Dem Greg Stone, and

Scarborough and Whitby MP Robert Goodwill. Welcome one and all.

First, voters across much of the North East and Cumbria go to the

polls on Thursday. They may be called local elections but

inevitably the outcome will also be seen as a verdict on the

performance of David Cameron's government. It's likely to prove

testing for both the coalition parties, while Labour needs to show

its message is getting across. In the week that the economy

officially went back into recession, Mark Denten travelled to Hartlepool,

a town with its fair share of economic problems, to gauge the

mood of voters. Hartlepool. It is traditionally a

Labour town. The council has cut �19 million from its budget over

the last three years. The place has the second-highest unemployment in

the region and to port has just missed out on a multi-million pound

international order. If that sounds a bit grim, today, the weather is

doing a passable imitation of November even though it is the end

of April. We're in a double dip recession as well. So what is the

top issue of the mines -- on the minds of people at this local

market? The cost of living has gone up so much. You find yourself with

less every day. We just have to tighten our belts. My son has been

on the dole for nearly one year. He does not get a letter in the door

to say sorry, we cannot take you or are there is nothing going. He has

just struggling at the moment like everyone. - Nahki is just

struggling. -- he is just. Hartlepool's port recently missed

out on a 125 million pound project, but could have bought badly needed

jobs to the area. The contract for the wind turbines went to Scotland.

While Labour say they are plenty of local issues around, these

elections are mostly about passing a verdict on the Government.

Hartlepool is hurting at the moment. We have seen some savage cuts. They

have increased the poverty in the town. Just with the tax credit

changes, that has taken �2.6 million out of the economy. The

shops and businesses could potentially close. Then it would be

a ghost town. At the moment, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems have

six councils between them. But both parties reject claims that

coalition policies have made this time's economic problems worse.

Labour were in power for 13 years before the coalition Government

took over. That was not even two years ago. Unemployment was still

on the rise even then. Hartlepool has suffered, but I do not believe

it has suffered any more than many other towns in the country. The

coalition Government have had to make some savage cuts. We all

accept that. When you take over trillions of pounds worth of debt

from the previous Labour Government, they had little choice.

regional growth fund has paid �1.5 billion in the region. Pensions are

up 60% since the coalition was formed. I can only see the time

going up, not down. And there are some positive economic signs in a

yard just outside the time. Hartlepool steelworks has just

secured a in multi-million pound contract for the Gulf of Mexico. It

will safeguard 700 jobs. But I cannot get more or economic reasons

to be cheerful? According to the smaller parties fight in the

selection, the answer is, ditch the main parties. Massive cuts to the

local Government expenditure has left the council in Hartlepool with

an awful choice of making certain cuts. But the local Labour Party in

Hartlepool have exacerbated the situation by overspending for here

on year for the last 10 years. are at the bottom of every single

deprivation League, a bad health, we are sitting at the bottom. If we

need to send a message to the main parties that they have let us down

and we want them to do something about it. Hartlepool - a battered

economy and some voters are bound to deliver their verdict. They will

be delivering the verdict on the people who run their time, and also

the country. The sentiments we heard there are

typical of what many people are thinking, which is that they're

hurting and they're blaming the Government.

The economic situation is not good. We saw that we are and technical

recession. If you live at the unemployment position in the North

East, although we have 24,000 more people employed than two years ago,

but there was in 9,000 drop and youth unemployment has stabilised.

It is good news from here, good news from the British Steel site,

and good news for other investments in my constituency. We can see the

private sector jobs coming through to replace the jobs and the state

sector, but we can no longer afford to fund. Voters consensus have

moved on from the effects of cuts to the fact that the strategy at

the moment is not working on a national scale because we are in

recession. This time last year, it was forecast that the Conservatives

would lose hundreds of consuls. If we gained councils. Is that you're

predicting this year?! Only a month ago, in Scarborough Borough, will

be to concede that we had not previously held and to control of

the council. We got more votes than all the other parties put together.

There are people still prepared to go wide there and vote Conservative.

Stabilise the wisdom of what we're doing. If you see what is happening

up to other countries who are trying dispenser way out of the

recession... A America, for instance? American growth is

slowing. Spain, Italy, and number of other European countries that

are in recession. You cannot spend one's way out of debt. He might

want to make this a referendum, but this should be about local issues.

In it should be. But the two things are linked. So the cuts that the

local councils are having to implement, and in Hartlepool, it is

�132 per person, are because of the decisions taken by George Osborne.

So what the Government is doing is hiding behind the cuts that they

are making and forcing the local authorities to make them. In a

Surrey, a much wealthier area, �2 per head. It is just not fair.

may be able to trade on some dissatisfaction, but does it mean a

lot if you have a number of councils in Hartlepool and

Sunderland unless you breakthrough in places like Carlyle and North

Yorkshire, where you vote is not strong? Across the North, people

are concerned about the state of the economy and the squeeze on

their living standards. In our regions, what we see is nine people

chasing every job. But are you about to make the breakthrough when

you need to commodities the places where you have not been winning in

the past? We do have to wait and see. It is not my job to make

forecasts. It is my job to point out to people that it really is

worth going out and Rodin. These are very important local elections.

There is a lot at stake. People need to send a message to David

Cameron. This is going to be another hellish

you for your party, is needed? The council is losing because of your

party's decision to go into Government. But this situation was

granted to us by the Labour Government. This situation arose

from a Labour's problems. For boaters and seem to think that wave.

-- Botha's. Who these are cuts that would have happened if they had won

the election as well. We are having to deal with this. He predicted

economic growth and it has not happened. We're trying to stabilise

the economy, which is difficult to do in the North East. The situation

I'm saying, I work in the private sector, I think there is optimism

might there about the prospects for the North East. As Robert said,

there has been some significant announcements in terms of large-

scale manufacturing jobs and the North East. That balance of getting

the private sector healthy and strong in the North East is one

that Labour did not do well on. They had massive growth in the

public sector on Labour Party payroll, but we need proper private

sector jobs. Outside parts of North Yorkshire,

due will be in retreat in places like North Tyneside, Sunderland,

Carlisle - that has to be worrying? We are fighting for every vote. But

Conservative councils to give people better value for money. Just

look at some of the crazy salaries being paid to council officials

under Labour. If I can get your answer the question, if your party

is in retreat in these places, or where support was built up during

the time of Labour, that is a problem for a party that wants to

be a national party, isn't it? Let's see but the results are on

polling day. This Government helped us freeze the council tax two years

ago. That is helping people in every single household and the

North East. That is something that people have noticed. They do

realise that whilst everyone has been squeezed, the Government are

trying to help in that way. Other than the label councils, who

are trying to take credit for this freeze,... There is there is a

negotiation between be councils. But I just want to come back to

private sector jobs and public sector jobs. This is really crucial

to understanding what is going on. When you make cuts in the public

sector, they also have knock-on impact on the private sector. This

Government cut building schools for the future. That affected 103

schools in our region. But also building firms, joiners. It has

knock-on effects. Why haven't we seen Nick Clegg

defending the Government in Newcastle? He is not and the

country. We are the ones you're making it fairer, greener and more

liberal. We have increased the pensions as well. The situation on

the tax has been unfortunate in my view. We have been distracted by

the media and their stories about Pastides. But thousands of people

across the North-East have been taken out of paying tax. That is a

real difference that the Liberal Democrats have made.

Well, one way the Government could boost the region's economy is by

transferring some of the tens of thousands of civil service jobs out

of Whitehall to the North. The idea's not new. The last Labour

government says it moved around 1,300 such jobs to the North East.

But is it time to be a bit bolder and shift entire government

departments out of London? Here's Fergus Hewison.

London's landmarks - bringing in tourists. The success of

governments have sought to move civil servants out of Whitehall and

the south-east. -- successive governments. But how successful

have they been? In 2010, Marine management organisation move into

this building behind me in Tyneside, bringing with that 100 jobs. In the

last nine years, at least 1,300 civil service posts have moved from

the south and the North East. Not common for the weather, were there?

But now, one MP has a more radical idea. I would like to see every

region getting a Government department. It would be a huge

cost-saving, taking jobs out of London. The real estate will then

be available to sell or lease out and it would make a significant

difference to Government revenues. So will, where could some of them

go? Transport could go to Birmingham, education to Nottingham,

communities and local Government to Liverpool and the Department for

International Development and at 1,600 jobs to Newcastle. But some

unions are not happy with the idea. We would welcome a more civil

service jobs in the North East of England. But we would not welcome

them on the basis of colleagues losing their jobs elsewhere in the

country. We certainly wouldn't welcome them on the basis of the

introduction of regional pay rates. This idea may never see the light

of day. But it has produced for the debate about the centralised nature

of Britain's Government. You have been a civil servant in

London and you have been an MP. Do you agree with this idea? I think

it is a good idea to have more jobs in the region. I don't know whether

this is quite the right way of going about it. We have plan to

move 20,000 jobs. I would like the business Department in our region.

That would help us to peace our exports.

This sounds like a good idea. The BBC made a bold statement. It moved

departments to Salford. Couldn't the Government did the same? There

were problems with that. We lost Jan Williams of breakfast TV

because she would not move. It is not always easy for people to move

because they have spices and other jobs and children in schools. If it

was such a good idea, why didn't the previous governments do it? We

do have a lot of Government jobs in Swansea and since Newcastle. We

have a lot of jobs outside the capital. But the Government

departments themselves, the minister going and with his

officials, it does need to be in London. Because that is what

Parliament is and that is where the Cabinet meetings are. This was

raised in Parliament recently. We are looking to save money by

closing down buildings in London and if there are obvious ways in

which we can keep people there we will do it, but it is not proper

via -- top of our priorities. Wedded to the region any favours or

heighten our dependence on the public sector? That is the issue.

The Liberal Democrats called for her jobs to be moved appear under

the previous Government and we got a few hundred jobs for the Work and

Pensions Society. Not all departments. The fact that those

jobs are are on offer could be a good thing. But one of the problems

and the North East is an over all dependence on the public sector. It

is on the ball like this. We need to have that rebalance the economy,

which has a stronger private sector. More public sector jobs and the

North East is not the way to go. thought the unions would be in

favour of this, but they're saying it is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Their main concern is about regional pay. We are opposed to

paying public servants less. Are they are opposed to moving whole

departments as well. That is clearly controversial. It might not

be the most sensible way of doing things. But what we do need to

remember is that what this Government has done is cut public

sector jobs in the North East far more than public sector jobs in

London. Now, it's been a wet old week. You

might have noticed. But Mark has finally dried out from his

experiences in Hartlepool and here he is to bring you the rest of the

political news in 60 seconds. Ed Miliband has accepted an

invitation to speak at the miners' colour in July. He will be the

first Labour leader to attend since Neil Kinnock in 1989. Hundreds of

because of March to London to protest at the BUPA's the tax. The

petition has been signed by nearly 500,000 people. Residents in West

Cumbria are not getting enough of the same nuclear we storage. That

is according to town and parish councils. Conservative MPs di Ofcom

has called for a fairer deal for schools in his constituency. I'm

represent schools in Northumberland who looked enviously at counties

and cities are where they have a greater degree of funding.

change is not an option. parliamentary inquiry has found

that people in the North East and Yorkshire received fewer honours

such as obese and knighthoods, of which is blamed on a number of

senior civil servants and military top brass to live in the south.

Is there anything to be read into this decision by Ed Miliband to

come to Durham? People have a good time. The important point is that

in the past, people have accused New Labour of ignoring the

heartlands and of taking some people for granted. This shows that

Ed Miliband is not doing that. are ignoring the unions, maybe. He

who pays the piper calls the tune. Ed wants to return some of the

death or getting the job that he has. I had an invitation to attend

the gala as well. Were you be going? Given the prospect of all

new mining jobs in North Yorkshire, I suggested it should be held

there! But Roberta said maybe you should come up. If it pulls out, I

will stand in! What you make of this? As Robert

says, Ed Miliband is a creature of the unions. He is dependent on them.

If he wanted to avoid that, which he has done in the past, he would

not go. I think it is more important for Ed Miliband to a rack

up votes in Devon and Derbyshire and everyone else. I think he is

making a case to be seen as the next Prime Minister. If the North

East will go down this route, which I would regret, I think it is more

about her plans rather than appealing to the country as a whole.

It is not their 21st century, is it? I have just been to their

miners' gala recently. It is a fantastic festival. It is about the

culture of the North East. It will include international elements and

going up to the cathedral, it is wonderful.

And that's about all from us. If you want to keep up-to-date with

the results of the local elections, you can join David Dimbleby on BBC

One and on the News Channel from 11.35pm on Thursday night. I'll be

in Hartlepool bringing you the picture from across the North East

and Cumbria. The Newcastle mayoral referendum won't be counted until

Friday. But we will be there for that, too. You need to tune into

BBC Two from noon. I'll be tweeting like a good 'un

throughout the two days to keep you up to date, and we'll bring you the