:33:25. > :33:29.of the show. This week, a warning that
:33:29. > :33:32.Middlesbrough could be heading towards bankruptcy if cuts continue.
:33:32. > :33:37.Durham MP Roberta Blackman-Woods and North East Euro MP Fiona Hall join
:33:37. > :33:41.me in the studio to give us their take on the spending review.
:33:41. > :33:43.And they are here on loan from tomorrow, but is it time the North
:33:43. > :33:46.East got the Lindisfarne Gospels back for good?
:33:46. > :33:48.Let us start with the Mayor of Middlesbrough Ray Mallon, who has
:33:48. > :33:53.hit out at Communities Secretary Eric Pickles for failing to
:33:53. > :34:00.understand the scale of the problems facing the town. He warned that
:34:00. > :34:05.further cuts could push Middlesbrough towards bankruptcy.
:34:05. > :34:12.These cuts are too quick and too deep. They are savage to a place
:34:13. > :34:18.like Middlesbrough. As it stands, we are heading towards bankruptcy. This
:34:18. > :34:26.is happening all over the country to local authorities. I am sure they
:34:26. > :34:34.will echo my comments. Look at the brass tacks. The budgets are
:34:34. > :34:44.re-juice yet the age of the adult population is growing. The amount of
:34:44. > :34:46.
:34:46. > :34:52.people needed here is growing. We can estimate that they ended future
:34:52. > :34:58.years, the vast majority of our budget will be spent on adult social
:34:58. > :35:07.care. It is complete nonsense what the communities secretary is seen.
:35:07. > :35:13.He needs to see at first hand what people are having to live with. I
:35:13. > :35:21.stand for value for money, efficiency and effectiveness. But I
:35:21. > :35:31.am not a magician. Unfortunately, it seems that Eric sometimes thinks he
:35:31. > :35:33.
:35:33. > :35:40.is a magician and can just weave his magic wand. Will councils be able to
:35:40. > :35:45.cope with this? Well, we have seen this before and councils have
:35:45. > :35:52.managed to adapt. We are not getting the full story here. There has been
:35:52. > :36:02.a storm money for many aspects of council spending, such as the adult
:36:02. > :36:12.social care that Ray was talking about the. Sorry is not telling the
:36:12. > :36:13.
:36:13. > :36:19.truth in this? I understand that many councils are under pressure to
:36:19. > :36:26.make the cuts required, but there are also opportunities for them to
:36:26. > :36:33.come together and share costs like some have done. The actual amount of
:36:33. > :36:40.spend that councils have is actually only down by 2%, which is not
:36:40. > :36:45.catastrophic, is it? I think what we should ask is why they were out the
:36:45. > :36:52.dispatch box seeking more cuts. To me, it just shows that they have
:36:52. > :36:56.failed. And the trouble is that the people who'd be the brunt of that
:36:56. > :37:01.feel you are communities, particularly in the North. And it is
:37:01. > :37:06.taking away from the councils who have the greatest needs. The
:37:06. > :37:16.government is complacent and has no regard for the deal difficulties of
:37:16. > :37:16.
:37:17. > :37:20.people. People rely on council services. But when you look at the
:37:20. > :37:30.cuts in some government departments are as high as 10%, surely local
:37:30. > :37:34.
:37:34. > :37:38.councils have to take their share of them? What we have seen is the cuts
:37:38. > :37:42.being applied very unfairly. It is mostly northern councils which are
:37:42. > :37:44.suffering the most. So what can our town halls do to
:37:45. > :37:47.save money, apart from cut front-line services? Some believe
:37:47. > :37:49.they need to think more radically, by sharing work with neighbouring
:37:50. > :37:59.councils, or perhaps we should consider scrapping some local
:38:00. > :38:03.
:38:03. > :38:13.authorities altogether. A council printing works in stock and. These
:38:13. > :38:16.
:38:16. > :38:22.days, it is busier than ever. promotional leaflets and folders and
:38:22. > :38:29.also do general formwork, the likes of the annual tax bill. Although
:38:29. > :38:35.this unit is the based in Stockton, it also does the printing for
:38:35. > :38:43.Darlington Council. The sheer package saves Darlington �1 million
:38:43. > :38:49.a year. Over the last three years, the council in Darlington has faced
:38:49. > :38:59.the 14 million cut in its funding. Over 400 jobs have been lost and
:38:59. > :39:01.
:39:01. > :39:08.jobs have been hit in the likes of the arts Centre, which closed. There
:39:08. > :39:13.is a further �40 million cut coming in the budget. If Darlington where
:39:13. > :39:22.to stop cutting the grass, entering the bends, closing leisure centres
:39:22. > :39:27.and museums and libraries tomorrow, that would equate to the �14 million
:39:27. > :39:34.we have two fame. It is a significant challenge, particularly
:39:34. > :39:37.for the likes of us. How are you going to manage this? There are
:39:37. > :39:44.certain savings we can put into place, but that will only take so
:39:44. > :39:48.far. We have had already 400 members of staff made redundant over the
:39:48. > :39:54.last few years unlucky at the scale of cuts we have defined, there could
:39:54. > :40:03.be a similar number coming up. some of these arguments get short
:40:03. > :40:07.shrift. There are so many councils. So many of them could may urge. The
:40:07. > :40:11.good meals together and share the services. Every business has to go
:40:11. > :40:21.through cycles where you have to adapt to these changes. Why can they
:40:21. > :40:27.
:40:27. > :40:34.not do that? We are in this position, so is it not time for them
:40:34. > :40:38.to think more radically? I think we had already seen local authorities
:40:38. > :40:45.working in a much more co-ordinated day. We do of county council should
:40:45. > :40:50.have got together to try and have certain functions sheared. You could
:40:50. > :40:58.not get rid of the whole load of councils could you not? Well, you
:40:58. > :41:02.have to be very careful about that. Everything comes at a price. People
:41:02. > :41:05.want to have local representatives. I think councils are taking very
:41:05. > :41:11.effective action to try and take money away from the backroom
:41:11. > :41:16.functions and to try and reduce the cut to front-line services as much
:41:16. > :41:19.as possible. This is really challenging. This is the most
:41:19. > :41:24.challenging financial environment ever faced by local authorities and
:41:24. > :41:28.of cuts keep coming year on year, we are going to see local councils
:41:28. > :41:36.simply not able to provide the services they do at the moment.
:41:36. > :41:40.is the reality. What we saw in Darlington is that councils can
:41:40. > :41:48.think of a lie, but still they are struggling to cope and are stealing
:41:49. > :41:55.down cannabis. They asked councils who could save. We have heard the
:41:55. > :42:00.likes of the amount of money spent by some councils on consultants.
:42:00. > :42:09.these are fiddling round the edges. What is left for the councils to
:42:10. > :42:15.cut? There's not so much for them to cut. We have seen the letter. It is
:42:15. > :42:19.not nice. It is not easy to have to live through butter has to be known
:42:19. > :42:24.that Newcastle were still receiving a lot more money than some of the
:42:24. > :42:32.wealthier councils down south. is absolute rubbish. What you are
:42:32. > :42:37.trying to say is these cuts and there are still a lot of scope for
:42:37. > :42:42.local councils to make changes to services. That is not true. It is
:42:42. > :42:48.the councils in greatest needs. The true risk Council in the country,
:42:48. > :42:51.Liverpool, has been given the biggest cut. The councils who are
:42:51. > :42:58.coping with areas of the biggest deprivation are receiving the
:42:58. > :43:02.biggest cuts. You have to target the communities with the greatest needs.
:43:02. > :43:11.You have to look at the overall figures. The councils in the North
:43:11. > :43:21.are still getting -- the North East are still coping very well in
:43:21. > :43:27.
:43:28. > :43:32.comparison to the likes of the North West. It is difficult, but we come
:43:32. > :43:39.back to the fact that this is needed. Would you prefer councils to
:43:39. > :43:46.have the freedom to argue for a council tax rise in order to protect
:43:46. > :43:48.services? Generally, we should give more power to local government. The
:43:49. > :43:53.government is passing down a lot of responsibilities to local
:43:54. > :43:58.government, for example in the Administration of benefits. But it
:43:59. > :44:02.is not giving them the resources to do that. At a general level, I think
:44:02. > :44:07.we should be sent to local government, make your case out, try
:44:07. > :44:11.and make your money go further, but what the adults are doing and it is
:44:12. > :44:17.really important we do not leave lose sight of this, they are being
:44:17. > :44:26.very imaginative to come together and plan for the future. Councils
:44:26. > :44:32.are trapped here. BR having budgets cut but you're giving them the
:44:32. > :44:42.freedom dashed not giving them the freedom to raise council tax. Is
:44:42. > :44:44.
:44:44. > :44:47.that unfair? We have seen the role that communities can pay. I am going
:44:47. > :44:52.to stop you just fear. Because that is the story we are about to come
:44:52. > :44:55.When Newcastle Council announced last year it wanted to shut all but
:44:55. > :44:59.eight of its local libraries, the protests were long and loud. Yet the
:44:59. > :45:02.story did not end there. Four out of the five libraries due to close for
:45:02. > :45:07.good this week will in fact be reopening, under the control of
:45:07. > :45:17.local people. Let me tell you a story that begins in a place not far
:45:17. > :45:17.
:45:17. > :45:22.from here. For library lovers, it was a horror story. Protests earlier
:45:22. > :45:28.this year about council cuts, among them proposals to close five
:45:28. > :45:36.libraries in Newcastle and see more by 2015. No, that script has
:45:36. > :45:42.changed. This is one of the library is slated to close, but will stay
:45:42. > :45:48.open run by volunteers from the local community. We raise money from
:45:48. > :45:52.a number of events. This is a beautiful building and is very well
:45:52. > :46:02.adapted for the likes of concerts, lectures, children's activities and
:46:02. > :46:04.
:46:04. > :46:08.suchlike. It has been very well maintained by the council up until
:46:08. > :46:16.now, so it is not as if we are taking over our building that is on
:46:16. > :46:26.its last legs. This building is a beautiful facility. Under the
:46:26. > :46:27.
:46:27. > :46:32.original plans, a libraries would of close by 2015. -- eight libraries.
:46:32. > :46:37.Four have been rescued and there are plans for the community to take
:46:37. > :46:46.others on. One of them has shut for good, much for the annoyance of
:46:46. > :46:52.local users. Pretty disappointing. Josh knows they are virtually every
:46:52. > :47:00.night. The man in charge of the service in the city is relatively up
:47:00. > :47:05.heat. We have been able to give support to community groups of the
:47:05. > :47:10.transferrin buildings and the stock. It is a partnership of community
:47:10. > :47:16.organisations and the council which has very well for years. So ugly
:47:16. > :47:23.fears of libraries shutdowns unfounded. Was the local council
:47:23. > :47:26.playing politics with libraries over the cuts? We have to make
:47:27. > :47:33.large-scale cuts over the next few years, so it is unfair to say we
:47:33. > :47:37.were playing with this. We were being very realistic and honest and
:47:37. > :47:43.upfront. In County Durham, the council is in the process of handing
:47:43. > :47:52.over dozens of community centres to local groups to run as part of its
:47:52. > :48:02.evening routines. Gemma practises hard and shootings in one of them.
:48:02. > :48:08.
:48:08. > :48:12.But with this comes great responsibility. The council will
:48:13. > :48:17.continue to pay for repairs on the Arisaig, but the part of that is
:48:17. > :48:21.that they will only pay for 70% of that and we have defined the other
:48:21. > :48:25.30%. There was an upside to the spending
:48:25. > :48:28.review this week and it came in the shape of some extra money for road
:48:28. > :48:30.improvements, like the A19. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny
:48:30. > :48:40.Alexander also promised a feasibility study into dualling the
:48:40. > :48:41.
:48:41. > :48:48.A1 north of Newcastle. London gets a variety of projects. We get a update
:48:48. > :48:54.on a previous I cancel programme and the talk of a feasibility study. Is
:48:54. > :48:58.that really good enough? I am pleased that the study is going to
:48:58. > :49:04.take place. Previous governments have failed to do this with regard
:49:04. > :49:14.to the A1 and we have had that confirmed today by Danny Alexander.
:49:14. > :49:14.
:49:14. > :49:17.It is great news for the North East. It is a commitment which could
:49:17. > :49:27.easily be going back on. They are looking at a feasibility study. We
:49:27. > :49:28.
:49:28. > :49:34.have heard this all before. Yes, but previous governments have failed.
:49:34. > :49:42.But I think we will see it coming pretty quickly. With regard to this
:49:42. > :49:47.road, this is more than the Labour Party ever did. What I would say was
:49:47. > :49:51.that the last infrastructure plan from this government introduced 561
:49:51. > :49:54.projects and so far southern hub in Deal honoured. We need to see
:49:54. > :50:00.something happening on the ground, not these empty words from the
:50:00. > :50:06.government. I as the chief secretary and now is whether the road was
:50:06. > :50:09.going to happen, whether the A1 would happen, what percentage would
:50:09. > :50:18.come to the North East of infrastructure spending and he could
:50:18. > :50:21.not tell me. The last time I hear, it was one half of 1%. This region
:50:22. > :50:26.has been shortchanged by the government. These projects are all
:50:26. > :50:34.going to happen after 2015. The cover is done nothing to stimulate
:50:34. > :50:38.economic growth in the short term. There has been broadband investment
:50:38. > :50:45.and investment in green industries, should be not be praising them for
:50:45. > :50:48.that? Well, if they actually happened. The record of delivery, as
:50:48. > :50:58.opposed to what he has been absolutely abysmal from this
:50:58. > :50:58.
:50:58. > :51:04.government. We need this economic growth though. Local businesses need
:51:04. > :51:07.support from the government. �2 billion across all the regions is
:51:07. > :51:15.simply not enough. Lord Heseltine themselves said it would take 70
:51:15. > :51:21.billion. The government is as usual channelling resources into London
:51:21. > :51:26.and the south-east and ignoring areas such as this. There has been a
:51:26. > :51:33.big gap in spending between the South and the North? Of course we
:51:33. > :51:38.would like more money, but there has been good news for the region. There
:51:38. > :51:41.is now going to be a special transition region category which
:51:42. > :51:47.Durham Tees Valley will be in and also because the government has made
:51:47. > :51:50.the decision, as Durham county council asked, they wanted to have
:51:50. > :51:59.more local control over spending and that is exactly what is going to
:51:59. > :52:02.happen. This could see �100 million extra coming to the area.
:52:02. > :52:05.And now, as they say, for something completely different. The
:52:05. > :52:08.1,300-year-old Lindisfarne Gospels go on display to the public from
:52:08. > :52:10.tomorrow, on loan from the British Library, with tens of thousands of
:52:10. > :52:14.visitors expected to flock to Durham's Palace Green. Local MPs
:52:14. > :52:24.welcome the exhibition, but think it should be just the start. Here is
:52:24. > :52:27.
:52:27. > :52:36.Mark with that and some of the other stories making the news this week.
:52:36. > :52:40.Seven cyclist died on the lords of the North East in 2011. The overall
:52:41. > :52:44.casualty rate is one of the highest in the United Kingdom. The hospital
:52:44. > :52:53.in Whitehaven is in hospital again after an investigation by the care
:52:53. > :53:01.quality commission. The Lindisfarne Gospels go on display tomorrow, but
:53:01. > :53:05.should be returned permanently to the region according to local MPs.
:53:05. > :53:14.Why can the British library not establish a base in Northumberland.
:53:14. > :53:19.They could display them permanently the. And an accolade for Olson in
:53:19. > :53:29.Cumbria, which is to become the first social enterprise stone in the
:53:29. > :53:31.
:53:31. > :53:35.United Kingdom. They have even set up their own co-operative. Let us
:53:35. > :53:38.talk about the Lindisfarne Gospels. We are very thrilled the upcoming
:53:38. > :53:44.two Durham. We have a more known. Should they be coming here
:53:45. > :53:50.permanently? Firstly, it is fantastic we have them back in
:53:50. > :53:56.Durham even for temporary period. People see it as a next ordinary
:53:56. > :54:01.exhibition. We should start back congratulating the Cathedral for a
:54:01. > :54:05.brilliant job in bringing them here. But it would be nice to have the
:54:05. > :54:09.media permanently. We would have to sort out a way of financing that. I
:54:09. > :54:13.would like to continue discussions with the University and Cathedral
:54:13. > :54:21.and the British library to receive we can achieve that. That would be
:54:21. > :54:26.fantastic. But at the moment, it is just great the RPM on temporary loan
:54:26. > :54:28.along with other important relics. It is very important people let go
:54:29. > :54:38.and see and important that we celebrate our heritage in this
:54:39. > :54:41.
:54:41. > :54:44.region. Should they be in this region? Firstly, I agree that it is
:54:45. > :54:54.fantastic they are here, but I agree that you have to look at the
:54:55. > :54:57.
:54:58. > :55:02.financial implications of them being here on the time. But I think that
:55:02. > :55:06.so many people visit them at the British library and maybe they would
:55:06. > :55:13.not be so many people got exposure to them if they were permanently and
:55:13. > :55:19.the North East. They are national treasures, so it is rather unfair
:55:19. > :55:22.for us to claim them simply for the North East. It was interesting in
:55:22. > :55:28.Parliament house MPs from other regions asked if they could have a
:55:28. > :55:32.loan of the Lindisfarne Gospels as well, which was rather nice. I think
:55:32. > :55:37.it's wonderful that people want to celebrate them and know more about
:55:38. > :55:42.them. If we hadn't permanently there really be able to loan out to other
:55:42. > :55:47.areas. One thing we want to acknowledge is that we really have
:55:47. > :55:51.excellent facilities in the North East in order to house the
:55:51. > :55:55.Lindisfarne Gospels and a lot of expertise in preserving them, so a
:55:55. > :55:59.should be possible. What we do not have in place a long-term fund which
:55:59. > :56:02.Ruud have to work on. And there will be a special
:56:02. > :56:06.programme on the Gospels tomorrow night here on BBC One at 10.35pm.
:56:06. > :56:10.That is about all we have got time for. It is the BBC news in a moment,