23/06/2013 Sunday Politics North East and Cumbria

the Chancellor prepares to answer bail -- unveil his spending plans,

we ask if it is time to forget about upgrading the A1. And our local

museums are under pressure. Will they be forced to introduce charges

to survive? Lots to talk about with my guests.

Let's start with the men and women who sought and deliver our letters.

Royal mail is to be privatised but this week, postal workers voted to

fight it, despite the offer of free shares. I shuddered a worker

recently and it was incredibly hard work. Did it give you an insight

into whether the government is right or wrong on this? It did. I

discussed the changes with over the last year. We've had a new chief

executive who have made a great difference. The Royal mail is making

a great difference. The Royal mail is making profits now. Why would we

want to take this act of the private sector? It was a privatisation too

far for Margaret Thatcher, to put it into the private sector. Why would

we want to take this out of the public sector? The workers could

have shares. Only 10% of the shares are going to the workers. I think

that says something about how they value the workers. It also does say

that the fact 96% voted against it, a bribe of �1500 is not enough to

make them give up their investment in the public service ethos of the

Royal mail, which we want to maintain. This is taking a risk with

a public service which has been in public hands for 450 years, just to

raise some money for the Chancellor. The Royal mail needs to be

independent of the government if it is going to have the finance for the

future. There is a guarantee that it is still going to be able to deliver

a letter anywhere in the country for the same price. To be able to do

that, it needs the private capital behind it. The Royal mail has become

more profitable in recent years and that is certainly true. It is

because it is on a journey to privatisation. The government has

also helped by taking the pensions of the Royal mail which is -- was

costing a lot. We need to go further.

We will come back and this another time. Let's move on to the top

story. The government and its attempt to try and head off a

closure threat to the National Railway Museum in York. Ministers

are thought to have reached a deal to keep museums open, albeit with

significant budget cuts. But museums across the region are facing a

financial squeeze which may force admonition charges. -- admission

charges. Built in the town where passenger

railway began, locomotion is a museum with a big appeal to railway

enthusiasts and families. This offshoot of the National Railway

Museum opened ten years ago. But its future and that of its big sister in

York had been placed under threat because of funding cuts. This week,

after protests from locals and MPs, a deal was struck with ministers.

Both Railway museums are expected to stay open but they will face cuts of

at least 5%. So is the local MP satisfied that it is going to stay

open in the long term? Not until we find out what is going on. It's not

just a question of whether it is open or closed, it's also very

important that we maintain free entry. Of course, a 5% cut is a

significant that because it comes on top of cuts in previous years. It is

one of the National museums and in the case of this one, a third of the

visitors are local. Local people are not going to visit several times

over if it costs them five quid every time. Free entry is also

extremely important. It has been a tough time for regions -- museums

showcasing the North East 's private exhibition in science and

technology... This boat was the fastest thing on the seven seas.

This is one of 13 venues run by Tyne & Wear museums. The cuts have

already had an impact here. It might mean making efficiency savings, in

some cases we've had to look at opening hours and we will start to

charge for some services. We may start to charge for exhibitions or

activities. The five councils in Tyne & Wear has long worked together

to jointly pay for the museum service. Now, Sunderland Council is

pulling out that arrangement and going it alone. The aim is to

concentrate what many the council has on ones like this. We want to

develop more local all -- locally orientated exhibitions. It really

opens it up to the community and allows us to do things in a

different way. With little money to go around, museums are battling

other sectors like arts and libraries for what resources are

available. The question for politicians is, economically and

socially, how much value is there in heritage?

How can museums best cope with what is a tough economic climate? I'm

joined by the president of the Society of antiquaries. The obvious

thing to do is to charge but is that the right thing to do? I think it

would be a major mistake. There was a strong argument for charging for

temporary exhibitions or special activities. I recently acted as a

Stewart -- Stewart and it was fascinating to see the number of

people to come -- and came in, a wide range of people, would not be

able to afford to go on a regular basis. And yet they were getting so

much out of their visit. It is cutting opening hours a better

solution? That's a difficult one. Our biggest problem in the

north-east of England is attempting any of the museums are properly

funded already. None of them have a full complement of stuff already.

They've been having cuts for year after year. It's very difficult to

see exactly where they are going to make any more cuts. You cannot blame

councils though. There are choices between schools and museums.

cannot blame them but one does have to think about what museums do for

the community. In February 2011, there was an economic assessment

which showed that for every �1 invested in cultural organisations

in Newcastle, �5 was generated. That is serious returns. It's the museums

that attract tourists to the area and tourism does play an enormous

part of the generation of this area. The government is trying to get more

private benefactors to help. I don't know many. It's a problem. We are in

a recession. People don't have a lot of spare cash but there are ways of

giving money. People don't tend to give of -- give money in their

wills. Frankly, museums need the cash. Do you think museums will

close? Some of them may have two and that would be very sad for the local

The reasoning behind it is Sunderland has three museums in the

partnership. There is a feeling that it needs to make more of them, that

the museums have a great cultural value but they must bring people

into the city for economic reasons as well. Over the past few years,

Sunderland hasn't had as much focus on its museums as Newcastle has with

the discovery Museum which is a massive attraction in the

north-east. Is that something you can understand? I don't think Sunder

land was subsidising museums in Newcastle. I'm sad that Sunder land

doesn't want to continue to be part of... Every museum has had to

respond to cuts in its own way. I regret it. I think we need to

support ourselves as a region. It is a decision for Sunderland. Is it

short-sighted for Newcastle to cut funding to other museums? I agree

with so much of what Lindsay has said about not just money it

generates through tourism but also by inspiring young people. Is it

naive for the council to say we're not going to fund it any more?

is not what the council are saying. When there is �100 million of cuts

from government and it has to make to civil -- difficult decisions, and

the council did consult on the fairest way of doing it... They've

set up in Newcastle of culture fund which isn't the same amount of money

as was there before but it will attract more money and it will

support our continuing arts and heritage, and also the economic

benefits as well. The accusation is that the blame for this lies with

the government cuts. We are where we are with the cuts, with all the

major political parties. We need to move on and look at choices under

the ways of doing things. accusation I'm making is that the

government is not valuing this. does value them that there are other

competing things. There's the NHS, benefits, defence, transport.

is the future for museums? They have to compete with that. Different

people will have different priorities. I like going to museums

but the people who also pay taxes might not that be bothered and they

have to be considered as well. just come -- reject completely

decision that the Labour Party agrees with the way in which this

for life in Newcastle, that survives without any public funding

whatsoever. There are models where it can work. We need a diverse range

of museums. The Centre for life is brilliant. It is rather expensive

for children and families particularly to go on a regular

basis. It has big, blockbuster exhibitions which are great but I

remember going to the science Museum in exhibitions park on a regular

basis, it was free and inspired me to go into science and engineering.

That is what we want for our children. We need to maintain that

in these difficult times. We need partners. If the government is

serious about private money coming in, why doesn't it make it much

easier for people to give it? think they should. That is something

we should look at, making it easier for people to donate to museums.

breaks? Possibly. To sponsor museums. To have exhibitions, to

advertise and to market sooner get new streams of money coming in the

museums so we can keep up the very, very valued cultural offer but also

that it is financially sustainable. Let's move on to the first woman to

run the Northern TUC. There is a new plan to get seven of the biggest

councils in the north-east working together. With those and the rest of

the week 's political stories, here is David.

Seven north-east councils are to work together on boosting economic

growth. It will allow councils to have more power over transport and

spending. Attempts to save the second

Battalion Royal Regiment of Fusiliers have been raised in

Parliament by the MP for North Tyneside. What message does the

Secretary of state have for the 10,000 north-east and is who signed

a position now with Downing Street to save the regiment? We've had to

make very difficult decisions in relation to the structure of the

army, as we draw down its size to match our ambitions to our budgets.

York council has admitted the news football and rugby stadium will not

be built on time. The discovery of newts means 2014 will not be met.

Finally, the cost of Cumbria hosting the torch relay was revealed. It was

just short of �250,000. The government is spending review is

published on Wednesday and the counsellor needs to find �11.5

billion of cuts. No small task. -- the Chancellor. George Osborne will

also announce some spending on infrastructure like roads and

railways. I went out to find out what he might be able to get for his

money. Welcome to Northumberland is only

one dance, quick, quick, slow. Many have made a road safety case for

making this a dual carriageway as of this route. Hardy emigres have made

fishing equipment since 1872. Proud of their history, it also likes to

be proud of the local road network. If you're looking to invest in

Northumberland, you would worry about the A1 at the moment. You

would worry less if it was a dual carriageway. Tourism would benefit

because it would make assets -- access easier. There's a strong

economic benefit. Whether it is actually being measured, I wouldn't

know. We are an international company. Have difficulty attracting

good people from Tyneside because they don't want to get stuck on the

A1. But successive governments have done absolutely nothing. How about

another option? This is a rail line in County Durham, or what is left of

it. It was shut 22 years ago. But it has an unlikely champion who wants

it open. He grew up nearby and he couldn't understand why they were no

trains. Now, this 17-year-old has started a campaign to get them back.

Is this nostalgia? Or economics? reporter couple of years ago said

they were going to be 2000 passengers per day using the line.

People are needed to run the trains, people needed to man the stations,

everything like that, running the local -- when the local signalling

as well. The benefits in many ways, jobs massively. So perhaps the

government should look elsewhere. The Sage in Gateshead is already a

conference venue. But with limits. It is currently missing business

because it doesn't have enough space. There is a plan to extend the

facilities into the car park. That would attract the next mated 75

extra conferences a year, create hundreds of jobs and pump millions

of pounds into the local economy. The bill for that, �30 million.

Perhaps we need to think beyond bricks and mortar. This business

Centre near Sunderland is already generating jobs but operate --

offering the best broadband connections. For companies like this

one, that is vital. David and Claire now employ five people and are

growing fast. They believe investment in Internet

infrastructure could pay dividends. If we look 30 years back, we had a

really good Manufacturing and natural resources in the north-east.

Those are all gone now. We need to replace them with something and I

think this is called the technological revolution now. The

north-east needs to take advantage of that and make it a great region

again. Road, rail, buildings, broadband. No shortage of ideas on

how to boost the economy but will any of them strike it lucky in this

week 's spending review? Let's assume the Chancellor is

feeling generous. If he had to do choose between making a dual

carriageway of the A1 or broadband here which would you choose? The

Chancellor should give the choice to the local authorities, perhaps this

new combined authority, to make it based on economic benefit. There is

a good argument for making the A1 a dual carriageway. We have to make

sure that the benefits would not also pass to Scotland, which has a

much greater investment -- inward investment. But broadband, the

current situation is complete chaos and I know businesses in Newcastle

who are crying out for faster speeds. I think investing in

broadband has got to be a priority. Particularly for small businesses

and our regional economy. north-east chamber of commerce

believes making a dual carriageway out of the A1 is the number one

priority. That will not benefit Sunderland, will it? It is a

national project. We have two capital cities that are not united

by a motorway. It's important that that happens. What would you choose?

I think you need a mixture of both. I agree that we need more local

discretion of infrastructure decisions but I think superfast

broadband has got to be an absolute priority. We are a region that we

are in a global economic race. We must absolutely be at the top.

problem is that the history of the coalition suggests what we are

likely to get is very little. cake has got to be divided up

somehow and you can only spend what you've got. It is not about

superfast broadband actually, because we haven't even got decent

broadband in vast swathes of the area. That is what small businesses

need. It wouldn't take a huge amount to get small businesses off. As the

north-east done enough to make these schemes shovel ready? Have we solve

the case to get the investment? Absolutely. We've had a -- economic

review after economic review, setting out the case. We have

said... I've seen the documents that Newcastle City Council sending out

about broadband. Remember that 80% of all transport funding is south of

Nottingham. Because our economy is so lopsided, because we don't have a

regional authority any more, we don't get the attention and the

independent assessment of our economic needs. We can always do

more, if that is what you are saying. But we are too far away to

get the same level of attention as London does for example. Does the

Chancellor need to make a priority of the north-east because of our own

-- because of our unemployment rate? There is the need for infrastructure

investment. I think so. Infrastructure is the one big thing

in terms of spending that would benefit the north-east. More here

perhaps than the south. Well, we mustn't do anything to damage the

south. That would be wrong to do that. But we must also do everything

we can to help the regions. We are not like in Germany where you have

strong cities outside the capital, strong regions that make sure those

regions can cope independently. more cuts to councils. Can

Sunderland survive that? Well, they've also -- already made �100

million of cuts and that has gone through. Can it survive more?I

think they can. There is enough that can be done. That's about it from