:01:38. > :01:41.In the north-east and Cumbria: is it time to set up our own local
:01:41. > :01:51.banks? And doctors in rural areas say
:01:51. > :01:51.
:01:51. > :37:27.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2135 seconds
:37:27. > :37:33.surgeries may have to close if Hello and welcome to your local
:37:33. > :37:39.part of the show. With me this week Hexham's crow Guy Opperman and
:37:39. > :37:45.South Shields Emma Lewell-Buck just five weeks into the job. We are
:37:45. > :37:48.discussing if it is time to set up our own local high-street banks.
:37:48. > :37:54.And we are in North Yorkshire where doctors are warning changes to
:37:54. > :37:57.government funding may lead to the closure of rural surgeries. Labour
:37:57. > :38:02.started to set out what it would do to the welfare system if the party
:38:02. > :38:06.gets into government. Child benefit will not be restored to high
:38:06. > :38:13.earners and the winter fuel allowance will be cut for the
:38:13. > :38:17.richest pensioners but another idea has gone down like a lead balloon.
:38:17. > :38:23.Sir Arthur Shields, Labour territory for generations and after
:38:23. > :38:26.a by-election last month it stayed that way. This place has been a
:38:26. > :38:30.Labour for 80 years and while the party has fought off its
:38:30. > :38:35.challengers here it has been under pressure to say what it would do
:38:35. > :38:39.about the nitty gritty of the economy. Shadow chancellor Ed Balls
:38:39. > :38:43.said winter fuel payments would be taken away from well off all the
:38:43. > :38:53.people but how has that gone down here with just over 20,000 people
:38:53. > :38:58.They should just carry on with it because a lot of people have made
:38:58. > :39:02.their money through hard work. the man who would be Chancellor did
:39:02. > :39:08.not only talk about pensions. He is also considering a lower benefits
:39:08. > :39:12.for the North. A fare cap on household benefits which takes
:39:12. > :39:17.account of housing costs in different parts of the country,
:39:17. > :39:21.with an independent body advising on whether the caps should be
:39:21. > :39:26.higher in high-cost areas like London but potentially low but in
:39:26. > :39:35.other parts of the country. this senior Labour MP is have a
:39:35. > :39:42.number of it. I am found it opposed to regionalisation of pay and
:39:42. > :39:49.regionalisation of benefits. Four people seeking work in Newcastle
:39:49. > :39:59.upon Tyne alone there are not enough to of jobs for people who
:39:59. > :40:01.
:40:01. > :40:05.need them. Emma Lewell-Buck, where do you stand? My colleagues are
:40:05. > :40:12.correct. They have been asked a question about regionalisation of
:40:12. > :40:19.benefit rates. It would be unfair and costly. But what a Ed Balls was
:40:19. > :40:24.talking about was should a review should look at the housing benefit.
:40:24. > :40:34.He is talking about you would have different caps for benefits in
:40:34. > :40:41.different parts of the country. So the cap could go up in London and
:40:41. > :40:45.down in the north-east. It is unfair. Ultimately, we are a low
:40:45. > :40:53.wage economy, we already have high levels of unemployment. You would
:40:53. > :40:59.not want that. Does this not make sense? Benefits should reflect the
:40:59. > :41:02.housing costs in an area. You know that we fought for nearly 18 months
:41:02. > :41:07.working with the TUC to stop regional pay and that was a
:41:07. > :41:12.campaign that we were successful with before and after the election.
:41:12. > :41:16.I believe we should maintain the equal levels of pay across the
:41:16. > :41:23.country and I find the pronouncements of Ed Balls and this
:41:23. > :41:28.is the first Labour policy we have had in any shape or form, to tried
:41:28. > :41:35.cuts to winter fuel but still provide free TV licences, it is
:41:35. > :41:41.illogical. The principle of regionalisation of benefits? A I am
:41:41. > :41:46.not in favour. I do not believe a nurse in a Surrey should receive
:41:46. > :41:53.more than a nurse in Middlesbrough. There was also the stuff about
:41:53. > :42:02.winter fuel payments. What do you think? We are talking about
:42:02. > :42:09.pensioners in over 40 -- �42,000 a year. Those pensioners would not
:42:09. > :42:16.suffer if the winter fuel allowance was cut. They'd normally spend
:42:16. > :42:22.their winters abroad. But you are making the system more complicated
:42:22. > :42:28.and also there is inconsistency here. In tis not taken away a
:42:28. > :42:35.universal benefit because that was put into a dress fuel poverty. A
:42:35. > :42:41.lot of people benefiting from of it are not suffering from fuel poverty.
:42:41. > :42:47.We specifically looked at it and decided not to do it. No one has
:42:47. > :42:52.committed anything beyond this Parliament. It is not a possibility.
:42:52. > :43:01.I can guarantee you it is not our proposal nor would it be our
:43:01. > :43:05.proposal in any way to make regionalised pay all benefits.
:43:05. > :43:11.If you have a bank account the chances are it is with one of the
:43:11. > :43:17.big high-street operators which control three-quarters of all
:43:17. > :43:22.accounts but 70 years ago it was all different. That sort of choice
:43:22. > :43:26.and competition is what many believe we need once more in the
:43:26. > :43:30.banking sector and on Friday a conference was held to explore the
:43:30. > :43:34.options for creating a new network of regional banks run by local
:43:34. > :43:38.communities or even our councils. The government has heard it has
:43:38. > :43:45.already legislated to make it easier for those who want to
:43:45. > :43:50.establish a new back. We want to make it easier. People said
:43:50. > :43:53.regulatory approvals were a nightmare. What we have said is
:43:53. > :43:58.that if you are setting up something that is new, it should be
:43:58. > :44:04.straightforward, you should have help getting, clearing those
:44:04. > :44:08.hurdles and they should be lower for a bank that will be smaller. We
:44:08. > :44:14.have done that so the conditions are now in place for people to come
:44:14. > :44:24.forward and propose regional banks. The first new bank to set up on the
:44:24. > :44:30.High Street was Metro Bank. Most of its branches are run London but its
:44:30. > :44:34.founder was born and bred in the North East and is here now. There
:44:34. > :44:39.is too much concentration in the big six banks which control three-
:44:39. > :44:44.quarters of all current accounts, they have become very complacent,
:44:44. > :44:49.they make bad loans, they are having to cut back on the lending
:44:49. > :44:55.they are doing, all of which is to the detriment of people and to
:44:55. > :45:02.small businesses. But to compete with the Barclay's Bank's and HSBCs,
:45:02. > :45:07.do you not be their scale? Crap it is quite possible to create local
:45:07. > :45:14.banks. Metro Bank has proved that. Over the last three years it has
:45:14. > :45:21.grown over 180,000 customer accounts, almost �1 billion in its
:45:21. > :45:28.balance streets -- sheets. government talked about what it has
:45:28. > :45:31.done so far but what else needs to be done to make this happen? From a
:45:31. > :45:35.regulatory perspective the government have done a huge amount,
:45:35. > :45:40.they have reduced the amount of capital of the backs have to hold,
:45:40. > :45:45.they have simplified the or the preservation process, so all of the
:45:45. > :45:49.barriers we faced three years ago in launching have in effect been
:45:49. > :45:55.removed. There is a tremendous political will to see this happen
:45:55. > :46:02.throughout the UK. This is a personal crusade for you. You tread
:46:02. > :46:06.that conference. Could it transform the north-east and Cumbria? Yes,
:46:06. > :46:12.for too long people have felt the city of London banks are not
:46:12. > :46:16.serving their constituents whether that is in South Shields or Hexham.
:46:16. > :46:20.What we have tried to do is try to shake-up the banking system and
:46:21. > :46:26.produce real competition and that competition would be a local or
:46:26. > :46:36.regional banks working with the local community and you could have
:46:36. > :46:39.
:46:39. > :46:45.towns all regions of 30, 40, 50,000 people have been a community bank.
:46:45. > :46:51.If the Germans can do it, we can. Spain where some of those local
:46:51. > :46:58.banks got into trouble had to be rescued. America did not stop the
:46:58. > :47:01.sub Prime crisis. But the Spanish banks made the simple mistake of
:47:01. > :47:08.expanding a wider and beyond the local crack recognition. What we
:47:08. > :47:17.saw on Friday was a real charge for a university to set-up a bang, a
:47:17. > :47:21.local authority to set up a bank, it can only be a good thing and I
:47:21. > :47:28.would happily move away from Barclay's all Lloyd's to a local
:47:28. > :47:34.regional bank. Where are Labour on this? We are fully supportive of
:47:34. > :47:38.regional banks. It is a good way for small businesses to get credit.
:47:38. > :47:42.People have lost faith in the big banks. What they would trust is a
:47:42. > :47:47.local bank on their High Street which understood the region and
:47:47. > :47:54.business. Deal applaud the Government's efforts so far? I just
:47:54. > :48:00.want to get on and do it. One thing I would say is there was some
:48:00. > :48:04.missed opportunities here. Northern Rock could have been this very
:48:04. > :48:09.regional bank we talked about. You have not broken up the bank's you
:48:09. > :48:15.alone. Talking is one game but actions suggest there is not that
:48:15. > :48:20.much commitment. I spoke with the Chancellor on Wednesday this week
:48:20. > :48:25.and discussed with him the progress we have made. We pass the Financial
:48:25. > :48:29.Services Act of 2012, sorted out the regulators, encourage a new
:48:29. > :48:33.entrance and it is not just neutralising or taking back to the
:48:33. > :48:38.community big banks that exist, it is putting in new local
:48:38. > :48:46.organisations. But the government chose to sell Northern Rock off
:48:46. > :48:55.rather than turn it into a local operator? There would have been
:48:55. > :48:58.able -- there would not have been... What we are talking about his local
:48:58. > :49:07.entrants starting afresh and giving the sort of finance we need for
:49:07. > :49:11.bank lending, houses and for small businesses. What would Labour do?
:49:11. > :49:15.The idea that Ed Miliband has talked about is a British
:49:15. > :49:21.Investment Bank raising the capital that would filter down to regional
:49:21. > :49:31.banks. We do have that already with the regional bank Vince Cable is
:49:31. > :49:36.doing. Or regional banks have to be created by people within the
:49:36. > :49:41.regions, people who are part of the fabric of the local society, who
:49:41. > :49:45.understand the businesses. But it certainly needs a level of
:49:45. > :49:50.expertise as well? Absolutely but I have talked to a lot of business
:49:50. > :49:54.people here and there is a real commitment and passion to create
:49:54. > :49:58.new banks. They raised a lot of expertise to be called upon. I
:49:58. > :50:03.would be pleased to offer the experience I have to support people
:50:03. > :50:12.but the backs have to come from local communities. What are the
:50:12. > :50:15.dangers hear of someone being over- generous? We have seen the problems
:50:15. > :50:21.of over lending, lending to householders that cannot sustain
:50:21. > :50:25.that level of debt and you get a collapse. One of the reasons we
:50:25. > :50:29.have these problems was that banks were making loans back clearly were
:50:29. > :50:33.not going to be paid because they did not know the people they were
:50:33. > :50:39.lending to well. One of the advantages of regional banks is
:50:39. > :50:47.they would have those relationships. The only caveat is aware that the
:50:47. > :50:52.future will be in regional banks or banks based in regions? The idea
:50:52. > :50:58.for 40,000 people is great but not realistic. The community needs to
:50:58. > :51:02.be a little bit bigger and with the changes in technology, geographical
:51:02. > :51:06.boundaries are disappearing. The fact that 60 % of all banking
:51:06. > :51:13.transmissions will be done by mobile phones does away with the
:51:13. > :51:19.whole issue of geography. When will this happen? I think within the
:51:19. > :51:24.next 18 months you will see a bank being set up. I except entirely
:51:24. > :51:28.that there may be a larger one based out of Newcastle, but in
:51:28. > :51:33.Germany they have a much smaller local banks which service the
:51:33. > :51:38.40,000 people, it takes organising but it is very durable and there is
:51:38. > :51:42.great desire for this. It has been a busy week with
:51:42. > :51:52.debates in Parliament on the East Coast main line and the new
:51:52. > :51:55.
:51:55. > :51:59.emergency service telephone number 111. Here is the week in 60 seconds.
:51:59. > :52:06.A public enquiry in candle has heard the case for extending the
:52:06. > :52:16.boundaries of the late Christopher national parks -- Lake District
:52:16. > :52:31.
:52:31. > :52:36.Where does the political accountability for the 111 system
:52:36. > :52:45.like? Annie Macdonald wants the East Coast main line to be kept in
:52:45. > :52:50.public ownership. And UKIP has become the official opposition to
:52:50. > :53:00.Labour in South Tyneside after sitting three independence join the
:53:00. > :53:01.
:53:01. > :53:05.party. There is a warning this week that
:53:05. > :53:09.doctors' surgeries may be forced to close in rural areas because of a
:53:09. > :53:13.reduction in funding. The government says it wants to ensure
:53:13. > :53:17.money going to practices reflects the number of patients they serve,
:53:17. > :53:26.but local doctors fear that could have an impact on remote well what
:53:26. > :53:30.areas. The West Dales, 700 square miles
:53:30. > :53:36.with scores of different bird species, tens of thousands of
:53:36. > :53:43.pounds and hundreds of thousands of sheep. There were also 4,500 people
:53:43. > :53:48.here served by two GP surgeries. Dr Pam West is the senior partner at
:53:48. > :53:53.the Central Belt practice, it covers a vast area. We are an hour
:53:54. > :53:59.and a quarter's drive from the nearest hospital with an accident
:53:59. > :54:04.and emergency department. We provide a minor injuries service,
:54:04. > :54:10.we deal with people who are walking casualties, all our visitors as
:54:10. > :54:20.well as looking after our own patients. The main surgery is in
:54:20. > :54:27.
:54:27. > :54:32.The main income is worth about �78,000 a year. Without that money
:54:32. > :54:38.we would have to close one of out to a surgeries making all the stuff
:54:38. > :54:43.that that surgeries redundant. My concern is that when I come to
:54:43. > :54:49.retire, and I need my reward GP, they will not be a practice there.
:54:49. > :54:56.In the Dales village, the monthly lunch club is being held. These
:54:56. > :55:02.villagers are among those who rely on the surgery. I have been having
:55:02. > :55:08.treatment for none Hodgkinson's lymphoma and they have acted in
:55:08. > :55:12.taking a my blood samples to send off to the hospital. I have been on
:55:12. > :55:17.medication for a long time which necessitates going to the doctor
:55:17. > :55:25.sometimes as much as once a week, so if there was any suggestion of
:55:25. > :55:30.closing down the surgery, I would be pretty upset. The lower call MP
:55:30. > :55:34.is William Hague. He has written to the Health Secretary to raise his
:55:34. > :55:39.own concerns about the changes. In his reply, the Health Secretary
:55:39. > :55:49.says the plan is to move towards a more Urquhart will practise
:55:49. > :55:58.
:55:58. > :56:03.He has referred in his letter to fairness to GPs and I am asking for
:56:03. > :56:11.fairness to patients. There is deprivation, their last single
:56:11. > :56:18.parent families, elderly Pope Paul who do not drive. �78,000 here will
:56:18. > :56:28.spread out here. Eight government says X three directing NHS money
:56:28. > :56:32.
:56:32. > :56:36.where it is most needed. You're the party is supposed to be
:56:36. > :56:44.the big supporter of rural communities, why are you insisting
:56:44. > :56:49.on these changes? They are not necessarily at risk. What we are
:56:49. > :56:54.doing, I have met with my GPs who serve equally a well what airier
:56:54. > :57:01.and they accept that there is a difference but what we are doing is
:57:01. > :57:07.making the case that there has to be a rural element that goes with
:57:07. > :57:11.the GP practices in truly rural situations. We are still
:57:11. > :57:20.negotiating with the Department of Health and NHS England and the
:57:20. > :57:25.point was raised with me so I have exactly the same problems. There is
:57:25. > :57:29.the point being made by a number of MPs representing well what areas. I
:57:29. > :57:36.made my case and was the candidate for the Friends of Bellingham
:57:36. > :57:46.surgery who sued the Health Trust to get a greater part or all
:57:46. > :57:50.
:57:50. > :57:55.funding. My mother was a matron in an age NHS facility in rural Wales.
:57:55. > :58:00.What you see is part of the process of us making the case for the
:58:00. > :58:04.Department of Health. Potentially South Shields may benefit from this
:58:04. > :58:09.so do you have any sympathy for these will practices? What this
:58:09. > :58:16.shows its once again the Tories and the coalition cannot be trusted
:58:16. > :58:19.with patient care. They are spending nearly �2 million in the
:58:19. > :58:25.north-east on a top down reorganisation at the same time as
:58:25. > :58:31.talking about cutting GP services. M R's constituents would end up
:58:31. > :58:37.with more funding. The a would not. There is a crisis in the health
:58:37. > :58:45.service because of your government. Labour looked at phasing this
:58:45. > :58:50.payment out in 2008 said this is not a new proposal. It was always
:58:51. > :58:57.supposed to be a temporary measure. It needs to be connected to the NHS
:58:57. > :59:02.because it is about patient care ultimately. In his Emma saying she
:59:02. > :59:08.would increase the health budget to take care of this? It so, why are
:59:08. > :59:12.they committing less money to the NHS. We should be supporting
:59:12. > :59:16.patients but we need to find some element of compensating GPs like
:59:16. > :59:21.the one in the film for the will of Parliament that goes with such a
:59:21. > :59:27.practice. What would Labour do different need to protect GP
:59:27. > :59:32.services? It goes back to what I said earlier, they risk a lot of
:59:32. > :59:35.money being spent on we organisation in the NHS. We do not
:59:35. > :59:41.know what the situation will be like if we come back into
:59:41. > :59:48.government but we have always been the party of the NHS. What you can
:59:48. > :59:53.see it is that it is incomplete crisis at the moment. Your
:59:53. > :00:00.government has done a lot of GP bashing this week. I have nothing
:00:00. > :00:08.but support for GPs. It is not easy, Beryl problems. But we are sorting