Browse content similar to 10/02/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the North East and Cumbria... The new police commissioners set | :01:21. | :01:25. | |
out their budgets, but can putting up council tax to pay for the force | :01:25. | :01:35. | |
:01:35. | :01:35. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2458 seconds | :01:35. | :42:34. | |
really be justified? That is coming Hello and a warm welcome to your | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
local part of the show. Coming up... | :42:37. | :42:40. | |
The new Police Commissioners across the North East and Cumbria set | :42:40. | :42:42. | |
their budgets, but can some of their planned increases in council | :42:42. | :42:47. | |
tax really be justified? My guests this week are two women | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
with their eyes on a seat at Westminster. Conservative Anne | :42:51. | :42:53. | |
Marie Trevelyan, who contested Berwick at the last election, and | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
Anna Turley, who will be fighting Redcar for Labour in 2015. | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
Let us kick off with Middlesbrough mayor Ray Mallon and his latest | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
idea to attract business back into the town centre - offering free | :43:02. | :43:12. | |
:43:12. | :43:12. | ||
parking at two of the council's main city centre car parks. Could | :43:12. | :43:22. | |
:43:22. | :43:24. | ||
free parking catch on? Goodness revived East city-centre as | :43:24. | :43:34. | |
:43:34. | :43:37. | ||
We have seen experiments in certain areas where this has really | :43:37. | :43:42. | |
increase trade. I would support his attempt to see if this can draw | :43:42. | :43:50. | |
trade into Middlesbrough city centre. It is a gamble and a way, | :43:50. | :44:00. | |
:44:00. | :44:01. | ||
because it could cost the city �300,000 in lost revenue. I admire | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
Ray Mallon to try and stimulate the local economy, but we have to look | :44:06. | :44:13. | |
a cross a broader cuts a cross the place and we it up. What is good | :44:13. | :44:20. | |
for Middlesbrough, but it might not be for other people. It could be | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
banned for the likes of Redcar, if it drew people away from there into | :44:24. | :44:30. | |
Middlesbrough? At absolutely. The problem at the moment is that the | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
economy is flat lining and the Government has chosen not to reduce | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
Value Added Tax. These are the sort of things that could tell people | :44:40. | :44:46. | |
and shops. By one of the problems with this is that you could as they | :44:46. | :44:56. | |
:44:56. | :44:56. | ||
have something of a free-for-all. Yes, but you have to listen to the | :44:56. | :45:00. | |
business community and if they say that the lack of free parking is a | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
disincentive then you have to listen to that. | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
Our top story this week is the cost of policing: Three months into the | :45:07. | :45:10. | |
job, the five new Police and Crime Commissioners for Cumbria and the | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
North East have set their budgets. In Northumbria, Vera Baird is | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
putting up the force's slice of council tax by 3.5%, one of the | :45:16. | :45:18. | |
biggest percentage rises in the country. | :45:18. | :45:21. | |
Other forces say they are also increasing the charge, to offset | :45:21. | :45:23. | |
funding cuts. Yet, the government wanted police commissioners to | :45:23. | :45:32. | |
offer a council tax freeze. Bobbies on the beat, it is what we all want, | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
but it is not cheap. We all pay a slice of council tax to make it | :45:37. | :45:44. | |
happen. But Vera Baird is picking up the charge by 3.5%. It is | :45:44. | :45:49. | |
causing some consternation. It is an assured that the Police and | :45:49. | :45:58. | |
Crime Commissioners met at gave Vera Baird a tough time or over the | :45:58. | :46:05. | |
rise of 3.5%. This was after a council tax freeze was promised, | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
but everyone will now pay more because of the extra police charge. | :46:10. | :46:20. | |
:46:20. | :46:21. | ||
Vera Baird was unrepentant. council leader has said -- the | :46:21. | :46:25. | |
police have said they are that breaking point with regard to the | :46:25. | :46:32. | |
cuts. Four fifths of the people we surveyed said they would be | :46:32. | :46:39. | |
entitled to pay 10p per person to increase the number of police | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
people on the beat. But there are different laws apply to different | :46:44. | :46:52. | |
forces from Northumbria. She has two key the rise to less than �5 | :46:52. | :47:01. | |
for a Band D property. She is able to charge less than other forces | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
because Northumbria has always had the lowest council charges. In | :47:07. | :47:17. | |
Durham, the Band D property bill will call up by 3.7 -- �3.70. | :47:17. | :47:23. | |
Cleveland's bill will rise by �3.89. Only in North Yorkshire will there | :47:23. | :47:31. | |
be a freeze. But there bill of �205 is already �120 higher than | :47:31. | :47:37. | |
Northumbria. Some believe the rises are unjustifiable. Instead, they | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
say that Police and Crime Commissioners should look for | :47:40. | :47:47. | |
different ways to save money. chief ghost constable came to the | :47:47. | :47:53. | |
City Council and said they would protect the council tax free use. | :47:53. | :47:59. | |
The net figure they should be looking for for savings is �700,000 | :47:59. | :48:05. | |
out of the budget of nearly �300 million. The one thing they can | :48:05. | :48:11. | |
agree on is the bonus of having extra officers on the streets. But | :48:11. | :48:16. | |
at the moment, should we really have to pay more to keep them | :48:16. | :48:18. | |
there? Another one of the Police | :48:18. | :48:20. | |
Commissioners increasing council tax is Durham's Ron Hogg and he is | :48:21. | :48:30. | |
:48:31. | :48:31. | ||
with me now. There is a view that there was a moral duty to implement | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
this council tax freeze. Why have you not done that? I do not agree | :48:36. | :48:44. | |
with that. Our main aim is to deliver an efficient police service. | :48:44. | :48:50. | |
The council tax increase by having posed will bring me in less than | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
�500,000 per annum. If you look at the council tax we gather from | :48:54. | :49:00. | |
policing, it is we Gillott the national average for council tax. | :49:00. | :49:08. | |
We get about 25 % of our policing budget from council tax. Therefore, | :49:08. | :49:16. | |
the reductions in our funding a much more acute. We were | :49:16. | :49:25. | |
constrained any amount we could actually increase. What we did, we | :49:25. | :49:34. | |
carried out a survey among the community and over two-thirds | :49:34. | :49:42. | |
agreed with this. We had significant backing from the | :49:42. | :49:48. | |
community over this. Now, people are saying they did not like the | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
idea of Police and Crime Commissioners. Second leg, up one | :49:52. | :49:55. | |
of the first things you do when in office is to say they are going to | :49:55. | :50:00. | |
have to pay more council tax? I can understand that. But what this will | :50:00. | :50:10. | |
:50:10. | :50:10. | ||
do well give us more police officers on the streets. But when | :50:10. | :50:14. | |
4/5 of your budget is eaten up in staff costs, you have to look at | :50:14. | :50:24. | |
other ways to cover the costs. We are creating 60 jobs in a row | :50:24. | :50:30. | |
community. We have the Capitol building projects which will again | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
see work going into the local communities. Money will be going | :50:34. | :50:44. | |
:50:44. | :50:44. | ||
out, but significant money will be coming in. No, we have heard about | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
the wildlife problems which have caused the delay in the building of | :50:49. | :50:56. | |
the headquarters which has cost you something like �250,000. We have to | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
take these matters seriously and into consideration. We want to move | :51:01. | :51:07. | |
out of the current headquarters and if we move into the new ones, we | :51:07. | :51:15. | |
will save �750,000 per annum. That is my commitment to reducing the | :51:15. | :51:23. | |
costs for the local community. In the current climate, is it | :51:23. | :51:29. | |
acceptable for Labour commissioners to put up council tax? I've think | :51:29. | :51:34. | |
it is an incredibly difficult time. I think I'll councils and police | :51:34. | :51:37. | |
commissioners should do everything to keep prices down as much as | :51:37. | :51:44. | |
possible. I you convinced that they are doing that? I had my sympathies. | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
They are being forced into this by the government cuts. They have very | :51:49. | :51:54. | |
little choice as to what they can do. Both Conservative and Labour | :51:54. | :51:57. | |
police commissioners are being forced to implement these cuts, so | :51:57. | :52:02. | |
I do not see it as a party political issue. I am frustrated on | :52:02. | :52:10. | |
their behalf. That is the reality of this, isn't it Anne Marie | :52:10. | :52:13. | |
Trevelyan? This is cuts imposed by the government. You cannot blame | :52:13. | :52:23. | |
him? I agree. I think Ron set out a very clear argument. The reality is | :52:23. | :52:29. | |
the council's but trying to maintain council tax freezes. I was | :52:29. | :52:32. | |
speaking to people in Derry yesterday and there question was, | :52:32. | :52:38. | |
are we going to see more policemen in Berwick? This is not going to be | :52:39. | :52:42. | |
for the rural areas of Northumberland. The rural | :52:42. | :52:47. | |
populations, who are struggling from all sorts of pressures such as | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
the cost of fuel, this is another drawback. They will not see the | :52:52. | :53:02. | |
benefit of this. There are going to be extra officers, and they could | :53:02. | :53:09. | |
be all over the pack should. As Vera Baird says, people are | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
prepared to pay it if they're going to get better policing. | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
certainly, if that was the case, but people in rural Northumberland | :53:18. | :53:25. | |
do not think they're going to see the benefits of this. If they can | :53:25. | :53:28. | |
explain how rural areas will benefit, because we tend to be left | :53:28. | :53:38. | |
:53:38. | :53:38. | ||
out of the sort of things. �700,000 worth of savings could have | :53:38. | :53:42. | |
delivered this council tax freeze out of a budget of �300 million. | :53:42. | :53:51. | |
Would have been so difficult to find the saving elsewhere? A thing | :53:51. | :53:56. | |
there real pressures on councils, not just from the policing point of | :53:56. | :54:04. | |
view. There are having to make a look at all their assets and the | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
best management of them to avoid people having to pick their hands | :54:08. | :54:17. | |
in their pockets. But crime is falling a cross the regions, so | :54:17. | :54:24. | |
where is the justification for this rise in police officers? The things | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
are improving and the police are doing a fantastic job, but the | :54:28. | :54:35. | |
issue here is, we are seen less visibility of police officers. We | :54:35. | :54:41. | |
are seeing a loss in police officers and a cut in staff. This | :54:41. | :54:49. | |
is going to have an impact on the community and on victims. You're | :54:49. | :54:53. | |
were talking about people in rural areas who want to see people more | :54:53. | :55:03. | |
visible. But Vera Baird said that to try and make up for the cuts of | :55:03. | :55:12. | |
one 5th they have had, they would have to make cuts a cross the board. | :55:12. | :55:16. | |
I support asking our public services to work as efficiently as | :55:16. | :55:22. | |
they can to use the resources that are available. They have to use | :55:22. | :55:32. | |
:55:32. | :55:34. | ||
them as effectively as possible to provide the services we need. I | :55:34. | :55:39. | |
think Northumbria has done a very good job in streamlining services, | :55:39. | :55:42. | |
but I do not think that Vera Baird is going to make a great | :55:43. | :55:47. | |
improvement in the policing and especially not in the rural | :55:47. | :55:57. | |
policing, as I have said. By key both very much. -- and Frankie both | :55:57. | :56:03. | |
And if you want your say on the police council tax rises, there is | :56:03. | :56:05. | |
more on my blog at bbc.co.uk/richardmoss. | :56:05. | :56:08. | |
The vote over gay marriage may have been overwhelmingly passed in the | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
Commons, but its legacy could be a toxic one for Conservatives in the | :56:11. | :56:14. | |
north. The region's Tory MPs were divided over the issue, while some | :56:14. | :56:17. | |
of their party members believe David Cameron was wrong to raise it | :56:17. | :56:20. | |
in the first place. Here is our Cumbria political reporter Megan | :56:20. | :56:30. | |
:56:30. | :56:31. | ||
Paterson. Marriage means something different to all of us. We want to | :56:31. | :56:40. | |
get married and spent the rest of our lives together. I want to get | :56:40. | :56:46. | |
married and make that solemn vow in front of God. It is important to be | :56:46. | :56:52. | |
with somebody. It is not just a case of living with someone. To be, | :56:52. | :56:58. | |
it is the all come at that side of things. Been married is important. | :56:58. | :57:05. | |
It is important to me. It is no secret that planning any marriage | :57:05. | :57:10. | |
can cause tension and the Bill for equal marriage seems to cause | :57:10. | :57:15. | |
division among Conservative MPs in the North East and Cumbria. John | :57:15. | :57:20. | |
Stephenson is not convinced there is a niche for change. I do not | :57:20. | :57:26. | |
think the issue is necessary for this Parliament. I felt restate his | :57:26. | :57:33. | |
call would have been perfectly fine, sticking with civil partnerships. I | :57:33. | :57:39. | |
do not think there was any need for change. He was one of five MPs from | :57:39. | :57:49. | |
:57:49. | :57:51. | ||
the area who voted against the Bill. Three Conservative MPs voted in | :57:51. | :58:01. | |
:58:01. | :58:04. | ||
favour - William Hague, Rory Stuart and Gary Orr Harman from Hexham. | :58:04. | :58:08. | |
Would anyone feel less married because we have a constituents who | :58:08. | :58:14. | |
are getting married. I am not yet married. I have yet to find the | :58:14. | :58:24. | |
:58:24. | :58:27. | ||
women who would put up with myself! She is out there, I promise you! | :58:27. | :58:30. | |
Your perception of the division is not what I see in the House of | :58:31. | :58:38. | |
Commons. It genuinely is not. This is the three wart. Everybody | :58:38. | :58:43. | |
expresses their conscience. It is not the case, in my it view, that | :58:43. | :58:49. | |
this is about defying anybody. If it was, it would not be a fee of | :58:49. | :58:55. | |
court. There is concern that it will alienate court party members, | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
going against the views of activist and failing to convert non- | :59:01. | :59:06. | |
Conservative voters. I think it will do damage to our core | :59:06. | :59:09. | |
membership. I think the feeling, the feeling of people I have spoken | :59:09. | :59:16. | |
to, feel it was rather unnecessary to have it at this time. I think | :59:16. | :59:20. | |
that some will probably resign their membership. Paul Flynn, not | :59:20. | :59:29. | |
for ever, but I think as a protest. The David Cameron will be hoping | :59:29. | :59:37. | |
that, despite that, they will say Conservative for better or worse. | :59:37. | :59:47. | |
:59:47. | :59:49. | ||
If you do have any proposals for him, write to him, not to me! Where | :59:49. | :59:56. | |
do you stand at this? I think the whole point was what he said about | :59:56. | :00:01. | |
the idea of the fee for it. You've caught with your conscience. But I | :00:01. | :00:06. | |
agree with the Prime Minister, you should have the same legal rights | :00:06. | :00:15. | |
in union as any other. To challenge, out of seemingly nowhere, the | :00:15. | :00:19. | |
concept that marriage which has none between a man and a women and | :00:19. | :00:24. | |
not as the population to come with you and think about it, has cost a | :00:24. | :00:30. | |
lot of distress amongst traditional Conservative voters. I have done | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
more in my e-mail and postbag and this in recent weeks than on any | :00:33. | :00:39. | |
other issue. It is not a fear. It is a lack of understanding about | :00:39. | :00:44. | |
where this has come from, at the speed it has come up and it does | :00:45. | :00:50. | |
not make sense to them. I do not think this bill is coming from the | :00:50. | :00:55. | |
right place. I think we should take the whole thing away from me and | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
religious context and 80 Civil Union the norm a cross the United | :00:59. | :01:04. | |
Kingdom. It is complicated, but I think the Government did not want | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
to wade into anything which brought them into more conflict with the | :01:08. | :01:13. | |
Church of England. But I think this would have been better than this | :01:13. | :01:21. | |
next back we have ended up with. Are you finding members of the | :01:21. | :01:26. | |
party saying they have had enough? In the eye on local area, for | :01:26. | :01:35. | |
people have written to me to say they are resigning their membership. | :01:35. | :01:45. | |
:01:45. | :01:45. | ||
They are really voting on that on it religious basis. Could is a much | :01:45. | :01:51. | |
bigger issue than a party political bases. He wants to bring us into it | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
and ecosystem abroad, but I do not think this provides for that. -- | :01:59. | :02:07. | |
and equal system. I think it was the historic piece of legislation. | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
I think it was great to see it come through. I think in 50 years' time, | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
we will look back on this debate and see it that as being rather odd. | :02:18. | :02:27. | |
I think it is the likes of the way that we now look on the Bill to | :02:27. | :02:33. | |
pass the legality of homosexuality. I think it is fantastic that we can | :02:33. | :02:42. | |
find they have legislation which will give it equal rights to gay | :02:42. | :02:51. | |
couples. To you think this could be damaging for David Cameron? A thick | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
there eye a lot of issues where he needs to be dragged kicking and | :02:55. | :03:03. | |
screaming into the 21st century. But if he managed to offend older | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
members of the Conservative Party, is that not going to be a problem | :03:07. | :03:13. | |
for him? By are not so interested in that. If people want to play | :03:13. | :03:19. | |
party games, that is up to them, but I think it is a fantastic piece | :03:19. | :03:26. | |
of legislation. I think David Cameron is genuinely modernising | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
his you and make the something that works. The challenge is whether he | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
brings the party with them and that is where the time element could | :03:35. | :03:38. | |
have been better managed. Now, my lesser-known namesake | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
Richard III was back this week, removed from under a car park in | :03:41. | :03:43. | |
Leicester. We cannot promise you royalty, but | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
our reporter Megan Paterson has spent the week digging around and | :03:46. | :03:49. | |
managed to unearth a few political gems. And all in less time than it | :03:49. | :03:59. | |
:03:59. | :04:03. | ||
takes to pay a quick visit to see your nephews. Money for flood | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
prevention work has been announced by the government, will | :04:06. | :04:14. | |
Northumberland council announced a new flood it prepared prevention | :04:14. | :04:22. | |
scheme. The leader of Northern Rock has been elected as the peer in the | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
House of Lords. The Government was as to be more bold about their | :04:29. | :04:34. | |
reform of the banks will stop why don't we just nationalise the money | :04:34. | :04:43. | |
and good public services? A school near Stockton suffered a setback | :04:43. | :04:50. | |
when the local council refused planning permission. And finally, | :04:50. | :04:58. | |
the new arrivals at Newcastle United. In the European Parliament, | :04:58. | :05:02. | |
he thanked the French President for the influx of players to the club | :05:02. | :05:09. | |
from a cross the Channel. And that is about it from us. There | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
is special reports on the BBC all next week about the government's | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
welfare changes, starting tomorrow with a look at the so-called | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
"bedroom tax". That is on Inside Out at 7.30pm tomorrow evening on | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
BBC One. And on the Sunday Politics next | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
weekend, we will be talking about how disabled people will be | :05:23. | :05:25. |