Browse content similar to 25/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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And in the North West: A decade of dreams. As proud Preston marks ten | 0:01:24 | 0:01:34 | |
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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1833 seconds | 0:01:34 | 0:32:08 | |
years as a city, we ask what's Welcome to Sunday Politics North | 0:32:08 | 0:32:14 | |
West. Coming up, as Preston marked 10 years as a city we wonder about | 0:32:14 | 0:32:22 | |
its future. My guests this week are Alison McGovern, David Nuttall, and | 0:32:22 | 0:32:29 | |
Bill Winlow. They will be commenting on our stories over the | 0:32:29 | 0:32:34 | |
next 20 minutes. The MP for Tatton delivered his third Budget this | 0:32:34 | 0:32:39 | |
week. George Osborne stuck to the plan, cutting the deficit. While | 0:32:39 | 0:32:43 | |
the national headlines were dominated by changes to income tax, | 0:32:43 | 0:32:48 | |
some specific measures affected the North West. The biggest | 0:32:48 | 0:32:52 | |
announcement was upgrade in the railways. �130 million is to be | 0:32:52 | 0:32:57 | |
spent improving speed and capacity. Manchester becomes the second city | 0:32:57 | 0:33:01 | |
in the UK to get a so-called city deal, extra powers devolved from | 0:33:01 | 0:33:06 | |
London. It will also get super-fast internet to support businesses, but | 0:33:06 | 0:33:10 | |
Liverpool has missed out. There are moves towards regional pay that | 0:33:10 | 0:33:13 | |
could mean public sector workers in the region getting paid less than | 0:33:13 | 0:33:21 | |
other parts of the country. He our political editor has more details. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:25 | |
GlaxoSmithKline, already a major employer in Ulverston, now it has | 0:33:25 | 0:33:29 | |
plans to create hundreds of new jobs and says it is down to changes | 0:33:29 | 0:33:36 | |
jobs and says it is down to changes in taxation. We will make the drugs | 0:33:36 | 0:33:41 | |
in Britain. The simple dynamic is we will get a lower tax rate is we | 0:33:41 | 0:33:47 | |
do more work in Britain. No wonder at the Prime Minister was visiting | 0:33:47 | 0:33:52 | |
the pharmaceutical company in search of a tonic. If we are | 0:33:52 | 0:33:58 | |
friendly to business, weaker manufacturing business -- we can | 0:33:58 | 0:34:05 | |
manufacture in Britain. Some of those ingredients were in the | 0:34:05 | 0:34:09 | |
Budget box. The Chancellor announced the upgrading of three | 0:34:09 | 0:34:13 | |
railway lines. Manchester to Sheffield, Manchester to Bradford, | 0:34:13 | 0:34:18 | |
and pressed into Blackpool. years, transport investment in the | 0:34:18 | 0:34:25 | |
North of England was neglected. Not under this Government. Greater | 0:34:25 | 0:34:29 | |
Manchester is getting a so-called city deal, the Treasury will return | 0:34:29 | 0:34:34 | |
as much as �30 million a year to invest in the regional economy. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:38 | |
Good intentions are blighted by the reality of rising unemployment and | 0:34:38 | 0:34:47 | |
a flat economy. It is clear it is not a budget for this area. We have | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
seen today, and the leader of the opposition make this point very | 0:34:50 | 0:34:58 | |
clear, cutting the tax break is helping millionaires. -- cutting | 0:34:58 | 0:35:03 | |
the 50p tax rate. The Chancellor is cutting more than he is investing. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:07 | |
The debate is whether this will make things worse. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:12 | |
He looks a bit lonely walking into the distance. David Nuttall, how | 0:35:12 | 0:35:15 | |
does this Budget demonstrate that the coalition has the right | 0:35:15 | 0:35:21 | |
economic strategy for this region? I think you have to set the budget | 0:35:21 | 0:35:25 | |
in the context of the overall national position. We mustn't | 0:35:25 | 0:35:31 | |
forget we are in a dire economic position. The last Labour | 0:35:31 | 0:35:41 | |
0:35:41 | 0:35:41 | ||
government let this country in a terrible economic state. �1 item | 0:35:41 | 0:35:46 | |
every �4 being spent was being borrowed. That is not sustainable. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:49 | |
The coalition government had set out a path that will take several | 0:35:49 | 0:35:53 | |
years to complete it actually start to enable this country to balance | 0:35:53 | 0:36:03 | |
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its books. You are already shaking your head. David Nuttall would say | 0:36:03 | 0:36:13 | |
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that. The Tories have to blame it on Labour, and you have to explain | 0:36:16 | 0:36:20 | |
why George Osborne is now borrowing more. We have to ask ourselves, how | 0:36:20 | 0:36:24 | |
much more money can we see taken out of our economy before things | 0:36:24 | 0:36:30 | |
start to get even worse? Of course we can all have a political | 0:36:30 | 0:36:36 | |
bunfight, but my constituents say to me the average family know that | 0:36:36 | 0:36:40 | |
prices are going up in the shops and they have less money coming in. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:48 | |
What was in the Budget to tackle that? There was a �220 tax cut for | 0:36:48 | 0:36:58 | |
0:36:58 | 0:36:58 | ||
those on basic income tax. Then there is the VAT hike, tax credits | 0:36:58 | 0:37:02 | |
changing so people pay more, the majority of people know that times | 0:37:02 | 0:37:07 | |
are hard and they do not see much getting better. That worries me | 0:37:07 | 0:37:14 | |
because it takes money out of the economy. Surely the Government is | 0:37:14 | 0:37:20 | |
in debt in -- injecting money into the economy by raising the tax | 0:37:20 | 0:37:26 | |
threshold. That is an important move. You must look at the net | 0:37:26 | 0:37:31 | |
position people around. You cannot give with one hand and take away | 0:37:31 | 0:37:39 | |
with the other. My constituents are finding times pretty tough. The VAT | 0:37:39 | 0:37:46 | |
tax hike is still hitting people in the shops. We have the news of tax | 0:37:46 | 0:37:50 | |
on older people rising. You must welcome some of the measures in | 0:37:50 | 0:37:55 | |
there, the ones I mentioned in the beginning. The Budget does seem to | 0:37:55 | 0:37:59 | |
be investing in the private sector, which they hope will then boost the | 0:37:59 | 0:38:05 | |
economy. The GlaxoSmithKline announcement is welcome and I would | 0:38:05 | 0:38:11 | |
pay tribute to the local MP who championed that. Do you agree the | 0:38:11 | 0:38:17 | |
private sector needs to be boosted? The news we saw there is they took | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
the decision some time ago and this is about where the investment is | 0:38:20 | 0:38:25 | |
going to go, it is fantastic to year. I do not think anybody really | 0:38:25 | 0:38:28 | |
thinks that is an overnight announcement in response to the | 0:38:28 | 0:38:32 | |
Budget. I think it is a sign of the fact that Britain is open for | 0:38:32 | 0:38:37 | |
business, and I am sure that were it not for the fact this government | 0:38:37 | 0:38:40 | |
has announced a reduction in corporation tax they would not have | 0:38:40 | 0:38:45 | |
made this decision. When I speak to businesses in my constituency, they | 0:38:45 | 0:38:50 | |
are still really worried about finance, not seeing projects | 0:38:50 | 0:38:57 | |
managed well... All these investments, is it enough to | 0:38:57 | 0:39:00 | |
counter what is region has been put through regarding for instance | 0:39:00 | 0:39:05 | |
public sector worker jobs going? Since the coalition came in, | 0:39:06 | 0:39:09 | |
something like 40,000 public sector workers have lost jobs. Fortunately | 0:39:09 | 0:39:15 | |
in Lancashire we have not had to sack anyone. How many have taken | 0:39:15 | 0:39:23 | |
redundancy? 7,000. There must be a rebalancing of the economy, we need | 0:39:23 | 0:39:27 | |
to get the private sector moving, and start making things again in | 0:39:27 | 0:39:32 | |
Britain. You know yourself, local government have taken the biggest | 0:39:33 | 0:39:37 | |
cuts of any government department. Howard is that hit the economy in | 0:39:37 | 0:39:44 | |
the north-west? -- how is that hitting? I want you to answer | 0:39:45 | 0:39:48 | |
whether you agree in principle with what the coalition have done by | 0:39:48 | 0:39:55 | |
priding -- by boosting the private sector in this region? Nobody is | 0:39:55 | 0:40:01 | |
private than me of the strides that have been made by the private | 0:40:01 | 0:40:06 | |
sector in my part of the world. People bought Liverpool would be | 0:40:06 | 0:40:09 | |
down and out when the recession came and we were not. The private | 0:40:09 | 0:40:16 | |
sector has stayed pretty strong and robust. That is the approach I want | 0:40:16 | 0:40:23 | |
to see. That too many years of hard work. There was lots of investment, | 0:40:23 | 0:40:29 | |
and one of the biggest problems we have had in Merseyside is we had | 0:40:29 | 0:40:31 | |
the North West Development Agency working very hard alongside the | 0:40:31 | 0:40:35 | |
private sector to build up the economy of the north-west. All | 0:40:35 | 0:40:38 | |
those projects were stalled over night when the new government came | 0:40:38 | 0:40:46 | |
in and swept away the North West Development Agency. They have next | 0:40:46 | 0:40:54 | |
to no resources. They have just been given an extra �31 million. | 0:40:54 | 0:40:58 | |
have got a project in my own constituency where we had to �0.5 | 0:40:58 | 0:41:02 | |
million that should have been invested in the project, delayed | 0:41:02 | 0:41:06 | |
for 18 months because of politics. The Lancashire Enterprise Zone is | 0:41:06 | 0:41:11 | |
up and running and going well. We will attract further business into | 0:41:11 | 0:41:17 | |
the area. It is important that we get engineering concerns into those | 0:41:17 | 0:41:24 | |
areas. That is where I come back to the fact we have to build things. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:30 | |
We have to sell things to the rest of the world. As a Liberal Democrat, | 0:41:30 | 0:41:36 | |
how comfortable are you with some of the things in the Budget? Mostly | 0:41:36 | 0:41:40 | |
comfortable, some things are clearly hours and some things are | 0:41:40 | 0:41:48 | |
the Conservatives. The granny tax does not exist, that is nonsense. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:53 | |
In a year, we will have extra pensions for people. Are you aware | 0:41:53 | 0:42:02 | |
of that? You cannot deny that those people in that generation are | 0:42:02 | 0:42:07 | |
unhappy. Of course I cannot because they are being told that through | 0:42:07 | 0:42:13 | |
the media. I can see the logic of it, because it was not efficient. | 0:42:13 | 0:42:17 | |
The 50p tax rate was also not a vision, it did not bring in much | 0:42:17 | 0:42:24 | |
money. Politically speaking, was this not a gamble? It was not a | 0:42:24 | 0:42:33 | |
gamble. The measures that are being brought in, that will only get the | 0:42:33 | 0:42:37 | |
right, are going to raise five times as much as the Revenue that | 0:42:37 | 0:42:44 | |
the 50p tax rate was racing. They were saying it would raise �100 | 0:42:44 | 0:42:49 | |
million, and these measures will raise five times that. George | 0:42:49 | 0:42:53 | |
Osborne is a Cheshire MPs I always live in hope he will listen to | 0:42:53 | 0:42:59 | |
people in the north-west, although my constituents tend to think he | 0:42:59 | 0:43:06 | |
was on another planet, but they think he has the wrong priorities. | 0:43:06 | 0:43:10 | |
We have mentioned the granny tax, actually, I think all people have | 0:43:10 | 0:43:17 | |
already faced a difficult time, and I think they quite rightly feel... | 0:43:17 | 0:43:22 | |
Half of the pensions do not pay any tax at all. I will have to stop you | 0:43:22 | 0:43:27 | |
there. Preston is celebrating its past, but what about the future? 10 | 0:43:27 | 0:43:32 | |
years ago, it was the Golden Jubilee, and Preston became | 0:43:32 | 0:43:37 | |
England's 50th city. One decade on, and with plans for investment in | 0:43:37 | 0:43:47 | |
0:43:47 | 0:43:48 | ||
tatters, many are concerned Preston has lost its way. | 0:43:48 | 0:43:51 | |
Famous for its bus station and having the first stretch of | 0:43:51 | 0:43:56 | |
motorway in the country, Preston has been dubbed the third city of | 0:43:56 | 0:44:01 | |
the north-west. But is it heading in the right direction? 10 years | 0:44:01 | 0:44:08 | |
ago, it was granted city status with much royal fanfare. | 0:44:08 | 0:44:15 | |
There were grand plans for Preston. A �700 million revamp 11 years in | 0:44:15 | 0:44:22 | |
the making. Everything relied on the Tithbarn Project, but it | 0:44:22 | 0:44:29 | |
collapsed when John Lewis pulled out of the scheme. It has been the | 0:44:29 | 0:44:37 | |
work that dominated thinking in the City, Tithbarn, Tithbarn, really we | 0:44:37 | 0:44:45 | |
have a decade of Tithbarn plight. For shoppers and traders that the | 0:44:45 | 0:44:53 | |
lure of Tithbarn has left this huge hole. Pressed indeed a Plan B. | 0:44:53 | 0:45:03 | |
0:45:03 | 0:45:05 | ||
is at it, it looks rough. -- it is a mess. They need to slash the | 0:45:05 | 0:45:09 | |
rates and the car parking, they need to get people back into town. | 0:45:09 | 0:45:15 | |
Some people see this as the time of -- as a sign of the economic Times, | 0:45:15 | 0:45:23 | |
others see it as a poor policy. need to look at bringing tourism, | 0:45:23 | 0:45:27 | |
the night-time economy, housing, there is a range of other things | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
that need to be done. We need to pull it together, we need a | 0:45:30 | 0:45:34 | |
figurehead, someone that will knock some heads together and say this is | 0:45:34 | 0:45:39 | |
where we're going. Preston works alongside Lancashire County Council. | 0:45:39 | 0:45:43 | |
The partnership has not always run smoothly, with political power | 0:45:43 | 0:45:48 | |
struggles along the way. Press the needs a unitary and authority where | 0:45:48 | 0:45:55 | |
the city council can decide for itself what is the ideal situation. | 0:45:55 | 0:45:59 | |
We could perhaps have a revenue budget 10 times the size we have at | 0:45:59 | 0:46:09 | |
0:46:09 | 0:46:09 | ||
the moment. As being part of a two- tier political system Helby back? - | 0:46:09 | 0:46:17 | |
- help you back? It has in the past. This year, Preston will hold its | 0:46:17 | 0:46:22 | |
prestigious Guild event. There is another cause for celebration, the | 0:46:22 | 0:46:28 | |
university attracts over 3,000 international students. We have | 0:46:28 | 0:46:36 | |
doubled in size. When you speak to people about being a city, that | 0:46:36 | 0:46:41 | |
helps to convince people in China and other places to come here. | 0:46:41 | 0:46:44 | |
years ago there were great expectations but many feel the city | 0:46:44 | 0:46:54 | |
0:46:54 | 0:46:55 | ||
has landed on hard times. As Lancashire County Council MP, at | 0:46:55 | 0:47:00 | |
you will know about Preston, does it need a Plan B? It certainly does. | 0:47:00 | 0:47:10 | |
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The project that has collapsed has been a real problem. The fact that | 0:47:11 | 0:47:14 | |
that Tithbarn Project has not come in has wrecked the whole plan for | 0:47:14 | 0:47:24 | |
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the future. I have always felt this has been the wrong approach to take, | 0:47:24 | 0:47:27 | |
especially as the economy is shifting. To bring in large | 0:47:28 | 0:47:32 | |
department stores and those other things... What is the alternative? | 0:47:32 | 0:47:37 | |
We need a plan B. You heard what the lady said, we need more cinemas, | 0:47:37 | 0:47:41 | |
restaurants, cultural life. You will probably need a lot more | 0:47:41 | 0:47:51 | |
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smaller stores, pretty stores, to encourage people to go when. -- | 0:47:52 | 0:47:57 | |
boutique stores to encourage people to go in. That will be encouraged | 0:47:57 | 0:48:01 | |
through the Enterprise Zone. could make a difference if it was | 0:48:01 | 0:48:11 | |
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not two-tier system? Preston is too small to become that. A unitary | 0:48:17 | 0:48:23 | |
authority of 35,000 is too small. Is the problem that there is it too | 0:48:23 | 0:48:29 | |
small -- is the problem that there is not an identity? I would agree | 0:48:29 | 0:48:37 | |
with you. We were offered a unitary authority and we turned it down. | 0:48:37 | 0:48:40 | |
Now we're seeing a problem between Lancashire County Council and | 0:48:40 | 0:48:44 | |
Preston. We need to get them to lay down their differences and start | 0:48:44 | 0:48:52 | |
looking closely at these projects. Lancashire has a lot of planning | 0:48:52 | 0:48:55 | |
authority over highways and traffic infrastructure, and that is not | 0:48:55 | 0:49:02 | |
working very well. Any approach to Preston is very difficult, the town | 0:49:02 | 0:49:10 | |
centre is very compact. The problem with a lot of regeneration is it | 0:49:10 | 0:49:15 | |
can be this lack of real identity, obviously the government is pushing | 0:49:15 | 0:49:18 | |
for elected mayors, thinking that will give it a boost. What would | 0:49:18 | 0:49:24 | |
you say about that? I think what we heard in the piece is you need a | 0:49:24 | 0:49:27 | |
clear vision and you need to have people accountable to delivering | 0:49:27 | 0:49:31 | |
that vision. Certainly in Merseyside, we have been lucky in | 0:49:31 | 0:49:34 | |
that all our local authority leaders have worked together to | 0:49:34 | 0:49:40 | |
drive forward the economic vision. The economy does not respect | 0:49:40 | 0:49:48 | |
administrative boundaries. Absolutely right. In Liverpool, we | 0:49:48 | 0:49:57 | |
are about to have the mayoral election. But there will block it. | 0:49:57 | 0:50:07 | |
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No, Liverpool had decided to go ahead and elect a mayor. -- the we | 0:50:08 | 0:50:18 | |
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all decided to block it. -- Wirral. Greater Manchester, should be a | 0:50:18 | 0:50:22 | |
Manchester mayor or a Greater Manchester mayor? I think it is for | 0:50:22 | 0:50:26 | |
Manchester itself. We had a referendum in Bury North, they were | 0:50:26 | 0:50:36 | |
not very happy. If any other cities -- if any of the citizens of | 0:50:36 | 0:50:41 | |
Preston what to enjoy a great day out, I would recommend they come to | 0:50:41 | 0:50:48 | |
my constituency! Now a round-up of other political news. | 0:50:48 | 0:50:52 | |
The Home Secretary Theresa May has ordered an enquiry into the leak of | 0:50:52 | 0:50:56 | |
controversial government documents referring to the Hillsborough | 0:50:56 | 0:51:00 | |
disaster. They show a senior Merseyside police officer wrongly | 0:51:00 | 0:51:05 | |
blamed drunken Liverpool fans in a briefing said to Margaret Thatcher. | 0:51:05 | 0:51:08 | |
Work has started on a terminal in Liverpool which will allow journeys | 0:51:08 | 0:51:14 | |
to start and end in the city. Pendle Council has bought the | 0:51:14 | 0:51:21 | |
historic Brierfield Mills for �1.5 million. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:26 | |
An MP is calling for a separate BBC radio station for Cheshire. Graham | 0:51:26 | 0:51:32 | |
Evans says the county needs its own voice. In the north-west of England | 0:51:32 | 0:51:37 | |
we have BBC Radio Merseyside and Radio Manchester, Radio Lancashire, | 0:51:37 | 0:51:42 | |
but we have no BBC Radio Cheshire. It is an outrage. Tributes have | 0:51:42 | 0:51:45 |