:36:04. > :36:08.A warm and spring-like welcome to your local party official. Dust
:36:08. > :36:15.like buses, you wait a long time for an election, and three come
:36:15. > :36:18.along at once. A by-election South Shields, Amaia election and of
:36:18. > :36:21.course the elections for the County Council For Ulster of joining me at
:36:21. > :36:31.the table are the MPs for Carlisle and Stockton North.
:36:31. > :36:33.
:36:33. > :36:36.We will also topped the Liberal Democrats, and we will be in... Let
:36:36. > :36:43.us start with the funeral of Lady Thatcher. The Prime Minister said
:36:43. > :36:46.we are now Thatcherites. Are you? That is the last thing I am, but it
:36:46. > :36:50.was only right and proper that there was recognition of the
:36:50. > :36:54.passing of a long-term serving prime minister. For me, it was a
:36:54. > :36:59.lot of money that could have been put to other uses, particularly in
:36:59. > :37:04.this region. Is it a vote winner for due to go around Carlisle
:37:04. > :37:08.seeing you and a Thatcherite? have all the children of Fatah, and
:37:08. > :37:13.I think she changed society quite dramatically. If you look back to
:37:13. > :37:18.where we were in the 1970s to the early 1990s, she changed things for
:37:18. > :37:21.the better. I also accept that she is a historical figure now, and we
:37:22. > :37:26.have to move on to the politics of today and the issues that matter
:37:26. > :37:31.today. We are seeing back with the present leadership. Our voters in
:37:31. > :37:36.the north-east ready to move on? The voters moved on a long time ago,
:37:36. > :37:43.but there were things happening this week not so good. But in the
:37:43. > :37:53.north-east we have seen a rise in unemployment again. 12,000 of them.
:37:53. > :37:57.I do not think they are Thatcherite. An election campaign has got under
:37:57. > :38:02.way. Labour leader Ed Miliband was doing his bit for his party in
:38:02. > :38:07.South Shields, which his brother represented for 12 years. A quick
:38:07. > :38:10.visit to support his party's candidate in North Tyneside. One of
:38:10. > :38:17.the battlegrounds will be the county council elections in Cumbria.
:38:17. > :38:24.There is a new factor for them to consider, in the shape of UKIP.
:38:24. > :38:28.At this museum, you will see Cumbria's rich history and conquest.
:38:28. > :38:36.Now, during the elections there will be another set of insurgents
:38:36. > :38:43.trying to batter down the fences. This is the leader of their legions.
:38:43. > :38:48.Nigel Farage has footsoldiers, too. They fielded just four candidates
:38:48. > :38:53.in the last elections. This year they have more than 50. The party
:38:53. > :39:00.says it is on the marched. It is time for a change, for some fresh
:39:00. > :39:04.thinking. We are 42% up in terms of members. You will see a lot more
:39:04. > :39:09.people, Ex Conservatives, who are so fed up with the present
:39:09. > :39:13.incumbent and the rest of the guys, that they will join us. I am also
:39:13. > :39:16.very hopeful that we will continue to get people from the other party
:39:16. > :39:19.is. The Conservatives had a big hitter of their own this week,
:39:19. > :39:25.though. They would love to remain the largest party on the current
:39:25. > :39:29.council, but are they worried that UKIP may be about to ruin their
:39:29. > :39:33.charges -- chances? I am not worried but we mustn't
:39:33. > :39:38.underestimate them. The message I have to my candidates is get out
:39:38. > :39:42.there, campaign on local issues, on the issues you have worked hard on,
:39:42. > :39:46.this is a Cumbrian election, not a national election, so we will fight
:39:46. > :39:51.on our record of the last four years of what we can deliver.
:39:51. > :39:55.Voters here believe there are issues that need tackling. Things
:39:55. > :40:05.like cutting business rates to encourage business to fill up some
:40:05. > :40:08.empty shop so. There are little places where people can go to.
:40:08. > :40:18.Supporting the farmers, supporting the education of youngsters and
:40:18. > :40:19.
:40:19. > :40:26.giving them something to do. will the opposing parties show that
:40:26. > :40:28.they can offer as valid an alternative as UKIP? The Liberal
:40:28. > :40:32.Democrat way of working is doing things with people, with
:40:32. > :40:37.communities, which is a different way of doing things. It is about
:40:37. > :40:43.involving people and being more local, about being less central. At
:40:43. > :40:48.the end of the day, it is about engagement with people. The Labour
:40:48. > :40:53.party is saying that you can trust us to seek to protect vital
:40:53. > :40:58.frontline services where we can. We will not be adopting the slash and
:40:58. > :41:02.burn approach of some of our opponents. They can trust us to do
:41:02. > :41:05.the best for the whole of the community in Cumbria. There have
:41:05. > :41:10.been blurred battle lines in Cumbria in recent years as the
:41:10. > :41:14.county has been run by an unlikely conservative Labour coalition. For
:41:14. > :41:17.now, all the alliances are off as the party's fight each other for
:41:17. > :41:22.supremacy. We have representatives from all of
:41:22. > :41:26.the parties. Let's start with UKIP. Everyone is impressed with the
:41:26. > :41:29.number of candidates you got out. But if we are sad here in a couple
:41:29. > :41:33.of weeks and you have won a couple of seats or none, that will not
:41:33. > :41:37.amount to much the stock what we are looking at more than anything
:41:37. > :41:41.is the share of flops. That we had a five-year plan, and we are
:41:41. > :41:46.growing year on year. There was appalled recently that put us on
:41:46. > :41:50.19%, ahead of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. We hope to
:41:50. > :41:57.become the opposition. It is a five-year plan, so we are looking
:41:57. > :42:05.at will chair. People are turning to us as a new and exciting of
:42:05. > :42:13.eternity. If they take votes from you, you could lose seats. We have
:42:13. > :42:18.got to get our message across, and attract people that may vote UKIP
:42:18. > :42:22.your Liberal Democrat. I have to confirm that we work well at
:42:22. > :42:26.national and local level. I think we have preserved many frontline
:42:26. > :42:31.services in Cumbria, and that's what we will focus on. But the
:42:31. > :42:35.problem is that UKIP have moved on to a lot of your territory and the
:42:35. > :42:39.armed we ring people over. At the national level, they want to come
:42:39. > :42:49.out of Europe and have a referendum. The Conservative Party declared we
:42:49. > :42:55.
:42:55. > :42:59.will have a referendum in 2007 Dean. -- 2017. John Shipley, you have
:42:59. > :43:07.fewer candidates than UKIP, suggesting they are on the way up.
:43:07. > :43:12.I do not think that is true. It is not great and a counter like
:43:12. > :43:17.Cumbria to have less candidates and UKIP. But what matters is winning
:43:17. > :43:21.seats, and we have a good record in Cumbria and Northumberland and
:43:21. > :43:27.Durham, of winning seats. I think it is reasonable for us to
:43:27. > :43:31.concentrate our resources. Alex, I will come to you. Labour would love
:43:31. > :43:35.to make this referendum on the government and cuts, but it does
:43:35. > :43:38.not get us very far because at the end of the day, you have to come up
:43:38. > :43:43.with a new idea of how to make these councils are work. That is
:43:43. > :43:47.very much the case. We must not ignore the challenge from any other
:43:47. > :43:51.party, but as far as UKIP are concerned, we have to make sure
:43:51. > :43:54.people get under the Veneer of what they are about and some of their
:43:54. > :43:59.right-wing policies and friends they keep. I am worried about some
:43:59. > :44:05.of that. Whilst we go out there with our own message and talk about
:44:05. > :44:09.developing service or preserve service, we have to make people
:44:09. > :44:16.understand the reality of what they are facing. Name one policy that
:44:16. > :44:19.you think is far right? I consider the decision to try to stop
:44:19. > :44:25.maternity leave and paternity leave is quite a right-wing policy. What
:44:25. > :44:29.use is that two families? I want to talk about the election campaign.
:44:29. > :44:33.Let me raise your manifesto. It has a whole page dedicated about
:44:33. > :44:37.talking about the numbers of people who are going to come from Romania
:44:37. > :44:41.and Bulgaria. Even if you got all 50 people elected, the answer is
:44:41. > :44:46.you could not stop many of those coming to live in Cumbria, could
:44:46. > :44:50.you? If you are talking about making this a referendum on cuts,
:44:50. > :44:56.let us make it a referendum on about -- on the number of people
:44:56. > :45:04.coming to the country. The amount of people who come put strain on
:45:04. > :45:07.councils. The biggest industry in Cumbria is tourism. 27,000 people
:45:07. > :45:12.unemployed in the tourism industry in Cumbria, and 67% of those are
:45:12. > :45:21.migrant were Acres. If you look at those to the stereos, unemployment
:45:21. > :45:30.virtually does not exist. -- look at the tourist areas the stop but
:45:30. > :45:36.we need to sort out high youth unemployment in this country.
:45:36. > :45:42.A lot of your supporters find that appealing. Your policies have not
:45:42. > :45:45.stopped people defecting to UKIP. accept there are some people
:45:46. > :45:54.flirting with UKIP, but I would say to them in Cumbria that the only
:45:54. > :45:59.two party's dogma and -- the two parties... Be are not flirting!
:45:59. > :46:03.Which party do they want running local services to make sure council
:46:03. > :46:07.tax is kept down and delivering services? I think people will think
:46:07. > :46:16.the Conservative Party will do that, not the fringe parties. Alex,
:46:16. > :46:20.should Labour not be the party of protest? We always have been! We
:46:20. > :46:23.need to speak to voters and be clear that the message. There is no
:46:24. > :46:27.good protesting about the Government doing this or that, we
:46:27. > :46:34.have their back at the moment and we have to make the best of what
:46:34. > :46:38.they give us. People need to be aware of what is happening. We need
:46:38. > :46:41.to protect services for vulnerable people, and the schools. There is
:46:41. > :46:44.nothing you can actually do about the amount of money coming from
:46:44. > :46:49.central government. The perception is that you just moan about it but
:46:49. > :46:53.do not come up with positive solutions. If you look at my own
:46:53. > :46:56.local authority, there will be some 1,000 jobs going in Stockton, but
:46:56. > :47:00.they have consolidated the number of buildings they have got. The
:47:00. > :47:04.Labour council are working hard to try to protect services essential
:47:04. > :47:09.to people whilst protesting along the way to the Government's. John,
:47:09. > :47:13.there is a strong likelihood that you will lose more councils this
:47:13. > :47:17.time. How many councillors can the Liberal Democrats lose before it
:47:17. > :47:20.becomes a depressing that people think the game is up? We are
:47:20. > :47:26.defending one-fifth of the seats, and bear in mind that the last
:47:26. > :47:34.elections were 2009, four years ago, and that is when Labour was on its
:47:34. > :47:38.last legs, so we made a number of games. However, we have a live in
:47:38. > :47:48.net gains in local government by- elections since November. We're
:47:48. > :47:49.
:47:49. > :47:53.incredibly strong. -- 11 net gains. Are you going to keep all of your
:47:53. > :47:57.seats? There is a strong chance we will make some gains. It is
:47:57. > :48:02.possible that in some places where well known candidates have stood
:48:02. > :48:08.down, there may be some problems, but in the main, we think our 40s
:48:08. > :48:17.very steady. Can I just say about UKIP, withdrawal from Europe loses
:48:17. > :48:20.jobs from other region -- from our region exporting. It loses �700
:48:20. > :48:25.million in European development money that this region has so
:48:25. > :48:29.effectively spent. I have to answer this. Are you trying to say we
:48:29. > :48:32.would stop trading with Europe of which came out of it? Of course not.
:48:32. > :48:38.People would not set up in the region because they would not be
:48:38. > :48:47.inside the single market and they would not have access to EU's trade
:48:47. > :48:51.agreement. We did sign our own trade agreements. -- could sign.
:48:51. > :48:54.That would take several years the stock we're getting off the point
:48:54. > :49:02.here. Have you got any targets for the amount of seats you want to
:49:02. > :49:12.win? We have internal targets, and we hope to take at least 25 seats.
:49:12. > :49:13.
:49:13. > :49:21.Anything beyond that is a bonus. Cumbria? No, across the country. It
:49:21. > :49:29.is a five-year plan. That is half of the poling of the Liberal
:49:29. > :49:35.Democrats. We're going to use this as a springboard to go on and win
:49:35. > :49:41.the elections later. We want to concentrate on local government and
:49:41. > :49:46.who is going to deal with Cumbria. But there is a long game. And UKIP
:49:46. > :49:50.know there is a longer game. Your seat is a marginal seat, and it
:49:50. > :49:55.only takes a couple of 1,000 people to say, we will vote for UKIP, and
:49:55. > :49:59.you have got. But you are reverting back to national politics. In two
:49:59. > :50:02.weeks, it is a local government election which is what we are
:50:02. > :50:08.concentrating on. The people of Cumbria want to know who are going
:50:08. > :50:13.to be representing them. Give us one Cumbrian policy you have got a
:50:13. > :50:17.sell to people. Cumbria has more wind turbines than the rest of the
:50:17. > :50:21.England altogether. We will put a stop to that, as they are scanning
:50:21. > :50:27.the landscape. But you cannot do that, can you. The decision goes to
:50:27. > :50:35.government. But the planning decisions are made at a local level,
:50:35. > :50:38.and frankly they need to be stopped. Thank you.
:50:38. > :50:43.The Green Party are fielding more than 30 candidates and we will be
:50:43. > :50:47.speaking to them about this next week. The mayor of Hartlepool
:50:47. > :50:50.Stuart Drummond has just over one week left in his job before the
:50:50. > :50:57.post is corrupt, and in his will -- Middlesbrough Ray Mallon wants a
:50:57. > :51:07.vote at the end of his term to decide whether to do the same. Has
:51:07. > :51:11.
:51:11. > :51:14.Whitley Bay has plenty going for it, certainly plenty of charm, but in
:51:14. > :51:19.recent decades some of that charm has become to wear just a little
:51:19. > :51:24.thin. Who could restore a place like this to its former glory?
:51:24. > :51:28.Perhaps the elected mayor of North Tyneside. Over the last decade,
:51:28. > :51:31.successive mayors from different parties have tried to regenerate
:51:31. > :51:36.the seafront. On the 2nd May, voters will get to decide who
:51:36. > :51:42.should do a job for the next four years. The some of the voters think
:51:42. > :51:47.elected mayors have been good for the area? The council should be
:51:47. > :51:53.able to do the job. I do not think he has done much good. I do think
:51:53. > :51:56.so, but her problem is that she has not got the majority on the council.
:51:56. > :52:02.In the mayoral election campaign, the issue of the post of mayor has
:52:02. > :52:07.become an issue in itself. One candidate wants to abolish the post
:52:07. > :52:11.he is seeking to win, arguing it is fundamentally flawed. The mayor of
:52:11. > :52:14.North Tyneside gets to choose the Cabinet, even when they have a
:52:14. > :52:18.relatively small group of councillors. They get to choose the
:52:18. > :52:26.budget even when they only have a minority. We have got 60
:52:26. > :52:30.councillors here, and 48 have got very little influence. Another
:52:30. > :52:34.candidate promises residents are saying the future. I promised I
:52:34. > :52:39.would consult with the residents and look at the system and see what
:52:39. > :52:46.is the best way forward. I think it is the residents' Joyce how we run
:52:46. > :52:49.North Tyneside, which is about democracy. -- residents' choice.
:52:49. > :52:54.Consulting is different from holding a referendum. Would you
:52:54. > :52:58.hold a referendum? I would ask if they wanted a referendum.
:52:58. > :53:01.Conservative has been in the job since 2009, recently running a town
:53:01. > :53:05.hall with the Labour opponents making up the majority of
:53:05. > :53:12.councillors. She does not favour a return to the previous way of
:53:12. > :53:15.running it. If you had the old system, what happens is the leader
:53:15. > :53:22.of the council then has to go to their grip, then they have to go to
:53:22. > :53:26.Council, and it may take years and years to get anything done, but
:53:27. > :53:32.equally you might never get anything done. It led us to being
:53:32. > :53:37.the worst performing council in the country. So does the system have a
:53:37. > :53:40.future as it drifting slowly out of sight?
:53:40. > :53:43.-- or is it drifting slowly out of sight.
:53:43. > :53:48.John Stephenson, you're on the record of being -- as being a fan
:53:48. > :53:52.of the system. But is it not over now? I am extremely supportive of
:53:52. > :53:55.it, and I would like to see them all over the country along with
:53:55. > :53:59.unitary authority. They are transparent, there is greater
:53:59. > :54:03.accountability, and local people know who is in charge. So why do
:54:03. > :54:07.people not want them? Some people have not been given the opportunity
:54:07. > :54:12.for them. I accept it has not taken root in the way that I would like
:54:12. > :54:16.to have done, but I hope that in due course, you will see more local
:54:16. > :54:20.referendum, and people will start to -- other places will start to
:54:20. > :54:27.pick up on the idea. Of the 12 cities we wanted to have a mayor,
:54:27. > :54:33.three did become that. Only 140. But to others went down that route.
:54:33. > :54:37.-- only one of them faltered. Alex Cunningham, you have one on your
:54:37. > :54:41.doorstep in Middlesbrough. These were introduced by Labour in the
:54:41. > :54:45.first place. Do you favour them? have never had strong feelings
:54:45. > :54:48.about them. The people should decide. We all agree that the
:54:48. > :54:58.people should decide whether or not they should have an active and
:54:58. > :55:04.there. -- an active mayor. The system does provide people who have
:55:04. > :55:08.strong promises to deliver on. sure people would disagree on that!
:55:08. > :55:18.John, you backed the idea in Newcastle, but the voters rejected
:55:18. > :55:21.it. It was a reasonably small margin. I agree with Alex that it
:55:21. > :55:24.is up to local people, but I do believe that there is an important
:55:24. > :55:31.issue at stake, which is the accountability that John referred
:55:31. > :55:34.to, which is, given that government is devolving so much more to local
:55:34. > :55:38.government, from where does the leader's power derived? You were
:55:39. > :55:44.the leader of a council. Did you not have a mandate? On the course
:55:44. > :55:51.of that, the powers were extended. Broadly speaking, a council's
:55:51. > :55:55.leader's power were today is the same as a mayor's power. The
:55:55. > :56:00.leader's power were should derive from the electorate as a whole.
:56:00. > :56:06.Paul Russell, this could be good for UKIP. Instead of having a build
:56:06. > :56:10.up of councillors, you could have someone in control stayed away.
:56:10. > :56:14.straight away. As long as there is a referendum first. In Liverpool we
:56:15. > :56:20.have one foisted upon us without a referendum. If the people vote to
:56:20. > :56:26.get rid of them, I am fine with that. UKIP believe in referendums.
:56:26. > :56:30.But we do not want to see on whether you have one or not.
:56:30. > :56:34.you get one to stand in North Tyneside? I do not know that much
:56:34. > :56:38.about it, to be honest. It is probably disappointing for some of
:56:38. > :56:42.the people. I want to see referendums on many Moorish is.
:56:42. > :56:51.John Stephenson, you want reform for local government as well. Could
:56:51. > :56:57.you have a mayor for the whole of Cumbria? I do not see why not. If
:56:57. > :57:01.you had a unitary, everyone would know who is in charge. How do you
:57:01. > :57:08.have so much power in one area of? Boris Johnson does it in London, so
:57:08. > :57:12.why can that not be extended to Cumbria? Thank you very much to all
:57:12. > :57:22.of you. Away from that election campaign,
:57:22. > :57:29.
:57:29. > :57:33.what else has been going on? It is Unemployment went up by 12,000 in
:57:33. > :57:37.the north-east between December and February, and stands at 10%. There
:57:37. > :57:41.was better news in Cumbria, where the number of people claiming
:57:41. > :57:45.jobseeker's allowance fell by 274. The future of children's heart
:57:45. > :57:49.surgery was debated in the Commons. A local MP said there had been
:57:49. > :57:54.anger and confusion over the decision to suspend operations at
:57:54. > :57:58.Leeds. The Tyneside MP urged ministers to make sure armed and
:57:58. > :58:03.war veterans are being assessed and treated for health problems. --
:58:03. > :58:13.mental-health problem is the stock they are expecting a surge in
:58:13. > :58:13.
:58:13. > :58:18.referrals as troops withdraw from Afghanistan.
:58:18. > :58:20.Vince Cable brought a gift in the shape of compensation schemes to
:58:20. > :58:24.help steelworks cope with carbon taxes.
:58:24. > :58:33.This out Shield by-election will take place in May, but you have
:58:33. > :58:41.lost your chance of you wanted to be a candidate.