05/02/2012 Sunday Politics North West

Good morning. Stop throwing snowballs for just a second and

concentrate on this week's Sunday Politics. Hello, I'm Annabel Tiffin.

In the next 20 minutes in the North West: Deja vu in the Wyre as

campaigners gear up to fight a fourth application for underground

gas caverns. We'll be talking to the company which wants to put them

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1764 seconds

Hello, deja-vu in the wire as campaigners gear up to fight a 4th

application for underground gas caverns. We will be talking to the

company that wants to put them there. -- Wyre. David Miliband has

been back in the news and he has been seeing some harsh words about

his brother Ed Miliband or at least the Labour Party, saying they will

alienate the business community, how have these words gone down?

Labour needs to continue its new thinking that has happened around

the policy. What about those who say that Labour face electoral

disaster? I think it says some things that people will be

interested in. This week, potential job losses in your constituency,

that must be worrying? It is. It sounds like there will be up to 350

jobs going in the pharmaceutical industry. They have been going

through some difficult times. What that means is they will be spending

less on research and development. You will be having a visit to

Macclesfield in the near future to see what can be done about

contracting opportunities to make good use of the skills we have in

the area. Well let's stay with the theme of the ecomony because

there's growing concern that BAE Systems is on the verge of losing a

major deal to supply Eurofighter Typhoons to the Indian Air Force.

The company has two factories in Lancashire, at Warton and

Salmesbury. India has entered into exclusive negotiations with a

French competitor which produces the Rafale fighter. As our

Political Editor Arif Ansari reports, the final decision could

affect dozens of firms. RAF Typhoon aircraft in combat over Libya last

year. It's a highly regarded piece of military engineering. But

India's not so keen. We have called on the Prime Minister to personally

get involved over there. If this needs a delegation to India let's

start talking to them. The Prime Minister's already tried. India's

preparing for its largest ever arms deal, worth about $11 billion. But

now this plane the French Rafale has won "preferred bidder" status

meaning exclusive negotiations. is not a good place to be but there

have been comments in the press and some colleagues have been saying we

have lost but we have not lost and it is important at this stage that

we up the ante because we can still win this. Here they are. The

Eurofighter Typhoon is built by a consortium of countries - the

Rafale is purely French. The Typhoon flies faster. And higher.

But crucially, the Rafale is cheaper. It's not just worrying for

BAE Systems but the entire supply chain. Euravia Engineering is not

directly affected. But concern is shared across the areospace sector.

In Lancashire alone we have 2,500 injured leading businesses. About a

quarter of the total Lancashire employment base will be involved in

this. This weekend a British defence minister is in India as the

lobbying effort continues. But for now France is winning this

financial dogfight. Is the feeling in India that this is a done deal

and the contract is going to France? It is important to remember

that a bloke France is apparently the sole contender for this deal we

have not yet heard a formal announcement. When we get down to

the final negotiations there have been suggestions that the French

might get across the line but in India anything can happen. The

details do seem to lean towards the sole provider being France. There

has been some speculation here that the decision may have been down to

poor relations between Britain and India? This is all about economics.

India is making a huge investment here, more than $10 billion. They

are looking for a good deal. France was the lowest bidder. They have

now come out as the preferred negotiation partner. This is also

about transfer of technologies to Indian firms. What can India get

out of it? We will hear eventually hoopoe the best deal forward.

can we expect a final decision? may be some months away from a

final announcement being in mind that negotiations will now kick off.

It is yet unclear how and when we will hear exactly how it will be

rolled out. Thank you for joining us. We heard that this is not a

done deal but with a preferred bidder it may well be. David

Cameron went out there with a delegation, what more can he do?

have the MoD with a defence minister out there right now. We

need to seek what we can do, economic issues are or related to

this, then we can make the best case. We are not the preferred

provider on an economic basis. What we need to do is redouble our

efforts. It is a bit embarrassing for David Cameron that he went out

there and appeared to have a special relationship and now they

have just gone off with the French. It is a tough economic climate.

you think that BA Engineering are paying the price for Labour and the

air defence policy? It is paying the price of the labour government

ordering more than it could afford. I do not think so. We might still

have a chance but the French have lobbied very hard for this. I'd

think it might be the case that Nicolas Sarkozy has just edged

ahead of David Cameron in terms of relationships abroad. Another story

in the news this week - Pilkington glass in St Helens. Jobs are going

with production going to China. And now in this case, France. There are

jobs coming and going. Have we got the skills base that can make the

sort of product that the rest of the world wants? We still produce

some very good things. Labour has been accused of not concentrating

on manufacturing. That is a relative measure compared to how

successful our financial services have been over the last decade.

That will push the proportion of manufacturing down a bit further.

It is worth saying that we are seeing some good figures in some

countries. -- in some companies. Now, this weekend's likely to be

the coldest so far this winter and when the temperature falls, demand

for gas surges. But where we store our gas reserves has been a topic

of fierce debate in Lancashire for more than eight years now. An

application's currently in to build the UK's biggest gas storage

facility under the Wyre Estuary - public consultation closes this

week. An active campaign's been set up to oppose the plans. Sounds

familiar? Well, that's because it's the FOURTH time it's happened.

Stuart Pollitt reports. For the last decade there has been

uncertainty over what happens to this land. If most of the people

who live nearby had their way the answer would be nothing but there

are plans to build the largest underground gas storage facility.

June Jackson's family has farmed this land for generations. She's

spent years battling her own landlords and their plans to

develop these fields. It has been extremely time-consuming. We have

had volumes after volumes of planning applications. Most of

these filing cabinets are full of information regarding the gas

storage. Plans to store gas here have also dominated Howard's life.

It is putting people's safety at risk. They are concerned about

storing vast quantities of gas in this area. In terms of the

Environment it is very dangerous. Halite Energy plans to drill more

than 1,000 feet underground to create 19 salt caverns which could

store 20% of the country's gas. We are here on a Site of Special

Scientific Interest, can you understand why people are not keen

that you are going to be building? We make a lot of environmental

improvements. Everything we do above ground will be carefully

blended into the environment. There are 70 of these facilities

worldwide. It has a well-tested and mature approach. Cold winters for

the last two years have highlighted the vulnerable state of the UK's

gas supplies. Eddie Proffitt, who represents major gas users, says

that must change. DUP is short of gas storage. -- the UK. We need

something. But it hasn't been welcomed by a succession of

planning bodies. This scheme was first proposed in 2003. The

following year a second application was submitted. After a public

inquiry it was refused by the Secretary of State in 2007. A year

later Canatxx submitted a third application. In January 2010,

Lancashire County Council refused that. Now a fourth application has

been lodged by Canatxx's successor company Halite Energy. The area's

MP, an opponent of this scheme, says the company should take the

hint. They keep trying to apply and I think the message should go out

no means No Oh, what part of the objections do you not understand?

Halite says it's learnt from previous applications and that this

one is very different. But June's just hoping that when a decision's

made on it early next year then she'll finally be able to move on.

I am sincerely hoping that this is the last time and this time next

year I can have a huge bonfire with all of this! Can't you take the

hint? Why don't you just give up? It is a substantially different

application this time and things have moved on. It is generally the

same thing though, isn't it? How is it not? It is half of the scheme

originally proposed. Different things are now employees. We need

to understand the position in natural gas. We have declining

North Sea reserves. We are now importing natural gas. We are using

more renewables. I understand your arguments for why you want it but

at the end of the dead people do not want it and they want it to go

away. It is important that people understand that in France and Italy

they have 57 and 80 this days' storage and in this country we only

have 40 days storage. This is a call the country. We need this to

keep energy prices down, to keep our house is warm. We are keen to

get across to people the facts of this application and the planning

application that we have now is fully available for inspection. It

involved significant consultation with the public and to go back to

the previous applications to understand why they did not succeed.

You are at the same company but just with a different name? It is a

brand-new team. But it is the same company that has put in these

previous applications. Nor, we are a brand new company. But Companies

House says you have just changed your name. The reason I am pressing

you on that is I am wondering how fear it is that companies can come

back with application after application after application in

the same place. You can see in this case there is a national need for

more gas storage. We have to weigh that up against the local interest.

Why are we having all these public inquiries if they will just come

out with a new one? The localism bill was trying to get around that.

I think the Government's whole approach to planning is in a bit of

a mess. This will probably go to the Secretary of State. What limits

the planning applications? We are talking about reforms of planning.

The Localism Act comes into force in the Spring. Presumably this sort

of development might get a kinder reception now? With this particular

case because there is a national infrastructure issue around it

things will still be required. It is critical. I think it is a bit

rich for Jonathan to talk about how planning policy might be in a mess

because we have been burdened for the last 30 years with a top down

bureaucratic approach which we have got to get rid of. This goes to the

Secretary of State but that is not localism. We are taking out the

infrastructure policy commission. Out with these infrastructure

projects where we do not need to have the same rights of appeal that

gives more power to be local community. There's a heavy emphasis

there on what's good for the economy rather than social concerns.

With this particular case there are some major issues and concerns

which will be revisited. It is not just this application which our

future on gas storage is Hinchcliffe. -- hinged with. Well,

we'll have to stop it there because it's time to take a look at what

else has been going on in the region, with Gill Dummigan.

Liverpool Council's finally won its battle to allow cruises to begin

and end there. Until now cruiseliners have only been allowed

to make less lucrative stop off visits. But the council's agreed to

repay up to �9 million of government subsidy. The former

leader of Bury council, Bob Bibby, has been released on bail - after

being arrested on suspicion of corruption. Mr Bibby and another

Conservative councillor Jim Taylor, were questioned about allegations

that they accepted bribes over a planning application. They've been

bailed until April. A report into how to transport electricity in the

north of the region has concluded that pylons are the cheapest option.

Campaigners for underground cables say they're disappointed. When you

are in the middle of nowhere in the best parts of the rule England I

think you want them to go somewhere else. -- rural England.

hundreds of jobs could go at the drugs giant Astra Zeneca in

Cheshire as the company sheds more than 7,000 posts globally. Unions

fear up to 10% of jobs at the firm's Alderley Edge site are under

threat. We were talking about the House of Commons beer that some

want banned. I did not realise MPs could suggest beers. That is right.

A beer from my constituency was a previous supplier. I am probably