:01:33. > :01:35.And in the North West: Salford's preparing to vote for a
:01:35. > :01:45.mayor, but does anybody in Manchester know they're getting the
:01:45. > :01:45.
:01:45. > :30:35.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1729 seconds
:30:35. > :30:38.Hello, I'm Arif Ansari. In the next 20 minutes:
:30:38. > :30:44.Salford's preparing to vote for a mayor, but does anybody in
:30:44. > :30:47.Manchester know they're getting the choice to follow in a referendum?
:30:47. > :30:50.We will come to that hidden vote later. But Salford has already
:30:50. > :30:55.decided - the city does want a mayor and the election takes place
:30:55. > :30:58.in 11 days' time. I'll be discussing that with my guests this
:30:58. > :31:00.week - the Conservative Euro MP Saj Karim, the Labour leader of Salford
:31:00. > :31:10.City Council John Merry, the Liberal Democrat MP for Manchester
:31:10. > :31:13.Withington John Leech, and political commentator Jim Hancock.
:31:13. > :31:23.But let's start by hearing from five of the ten candidates who want
:31:23. > :31:36.
:31:36. > :31:40.to become Salford's first city 2011 was Salford's and has a
:31:40. > :31:44.horribilis. I campaigned because I wanted to bring dignity back to the
:31:44. > :31:51.city. I want to reveal our association within Greater
:31:51. > :31:59.Manchester. I believe salt but should come first. Decisions should
:31:59. > :32:05.be fought Salford, Salford people and Salford jobs. I'm going to cut
:32:05. > :32:10.council tax by 50 %, a freeze council house rents for three years
:32:10. > :32:20.and protect essential services. I will do this by recalling one of
:32:20. > :32:31.
:32:31. > :32:38.I want the best for my family therefore I want the best for
:32:38. > :32:43.Salford families and their -- Salford people and their families.
:32:43. > :32:53.My priorities will be the elderly and the most vulnerable. I will
:32:53. > :32:54.
:32:54. > :32:59.work to bring jobs and prosperity This is the chance for everyone in
:32:59. > :33:03.Salford to have a fresh start. At the moment, we have been dominated
:33:03. > :33:13.for 40 years by Labour and this year it is the year we can actually
:33:13. > :33:18.
:33:18. > :33:23.This is a proud city and we need to move the name of Salford into the
:33:23. > :33:31.future to bring investment, regeneration and most of all, to
:33:31. > :33:41.reach out tentacles of this city, and that is the reason we need
:33:41. > :33:42.
:33:42. > :33:49.people like myself. That is the Well, joining me now is Jim Hancock,
:33:49. > :33:54.a long time political observer of the North West. Are you excited
:33:54. > :33:58.about the election? I can be excited by a by-election for a
:33:58. > :34:04.parish councillor so why am the wrong person to ask! In Salford, we
:34:04. > :34:09.do not have the big actors standing up. It has not attracted the
:34:09. > :34:13.business community, people from outside what you might describe as
:34:13. > :34:22.the normal political spectrum. Interesting choices, we heard the
:34:22. > :34:25.English Democrats won the council tax by 60 %. Community Action Party
:34:25. > :34:29.want free public transport. The Greens want to cut a third of
:34:29. > :34:34.councillors, an interesting proposal. BNP won local people to
:34:34. > :34:39.get housing. A couple of independent as well. They are
:34:40. > :34:49.attracting attention. Let's take a look at the rest of
:34:50. > :34:55.
:34:56. > :35:02.I have a passion for Salford because I was born in Bury. I want
:35:02. > :35:07.to try and reduce crime and the problems with other issues that we
:35:07. > :35:17.have. As I am independent, other people with ideas can come forward.
:35:17. > :35:17.
:35:17. > :35:23.I am here for the people of Salford, We speak to people in the streets,
:35:23. > :35:32.talk about housing, it we feel the weight the system is unfair so I
:35:32. > :35:42.would like to get rid of that. Industry, jobs, this is what we
:35:42. > :35:45.
:35:46. > :35:50.I was very honoured four years ago to be elected. It gave me an
:35:50. > :35:54.insight into the council and how it runs and the problems that are
:35:54. > :36:01.there within the council. I joined the Green Party. It is a modern
:36:01. > :36:11.party, a new party and a great idea. It does some great work with in
:36:11. > :36:14.
:36:14. > :36:17.I would fight against cuts to hospitals and National -- a
:36:17. > :36:21.national health services. On the Welsh side, the government has
:36:21. > :36:26.already accepted that their colleges -- policies are damaging
:36:26. > :36:36.to health. On the well-being side, we would fight against vandalism,
:36:36. > :36:39.
:36:39. > :36:44.Very proud to be from Salford. Salford needs a strong person that
:36:44. > :36:48.is going to take them forward. There are a lot of issues around
:36:48. > :36:58.youth and they need jobs and that is why I am here. I think I can
:36:58. > :37:03.
:37:03. > :37:07.create jobs and work opportunities Labour has been in charge of
:37:07. > :37:13.Salford for many years, have they got any ideas to take the City
:37:13. > :37:17.forward if you won the mayoral election? We certainly have. You
:37:17. > :37:21.while setting one of our great ideas over the last years which has
:37:21. > :37:27.come to fruition. We have more ideas about the regeneration of the
:37:27. > :37:31.city. We have a tremendous record... What ideas have you got? For the
:37:31. > :37:35.first time since the 1930s, the population has increased. People
:37:35. > :37:45.want to come and live in Salford. There are a few things we need to
:37:45. > :37:48.do now. We want to preserve the superior service we give to elderly
:37:48. > :37:52.people in Salford, we want to preserve the renewal of the city
:37:52. > :37:56.and we want to make sure that Salford increases in prosperity.
:37:56. > :38:01.Those are the key issues we are fighting for. But doesn't everyone
:38:01. > :38:05.want to do that? Clearly, and one of the problems is that Salford has
:38:05. > :38:08.been under Labour control for an awful long time. There has not been
:38:08. > :38:13.a massive amount of progress. We have got the BBC here, but
:38:13. > :38:19.generally speaking, people feel there is not an alternative to
:38:19. > :38:24.Labour. What policies are you bringing to the table? As a Norman
:38:24. > :38:30.made the comments in his clipped, he is very interested in local
:38:30. > :38:34.issues, regeneration issues, making sure we get jobs here into Salford.
:38:34. > :38:38.But this is very vague. Can the Conservatives bring forward any
:38:38. > :38:44.actual policies? This is about making sure that local people have
:38:44. > :38:50.much greater power over local decisions. The Conservative Party
:38:50. > :38:53.has put for a platform that makes it absolutely clear that it wants
:38:53. > :38:57.to tackle the issues that Labour has addressed -- resisted
:38:57. > :39:02.addressing bought so long. The Labour Party campaigned against
:39:02. > :39:06.having the mayoral elections. Now we have genuine local
:39:06. > :39:09.representation. First, to tackle the situation of youth unemployment,
:39:09. > :39:12.Karen has a clear agenda in place to make sure that we will come
:39:12. > :39:17.forward with the jobs and growth agenda to make sure we have local
:39:17. > :39:21.people being employed in local jobs, and in particular concentrated on
:39:21. > :39:25.the use. That includes training and development, and Karen has taken
:39:25. > :39:28.the initiative to the extent that she has a parliamentary meetings
:39:28. > :39:32.here in the town hall but I have attended to try and see what we can
:39:33. > :39:39.do to bring these things to the fore. That is all well and good,
:39:39. > :39:42.but she has done nothing about the �64 million over two years for this
:39:42. > :39:45.central government has taken out of the budget of Salford. The reason
:39:45. > :39:53.they have taken it out is because they have transferred a fair chunk
:39:53. > :40:02.of that too sudden authorities by decreasing the grant available.
:40:02. > :40:05.What is the Labour Party's position on this? All we need is an
:40:05. > :40:11.independent, strong individual who can come forward with a separate
:40:11. > :40:14.set of policies to what the council is. With all due respect, Karen
:40:14. > :40:18.will be leader of the Conservative group. The point is that what I
:40:18. > :40:23.have said is that they had taken �64 million out of the Salford
:40:23. > :40:27.budget and increased budgets of the authorities like Surrey because
:40:27. > :40:32.they have given them a two and a half percent up lived on the ground
:40:32. > :40:35.they get. Is there a general. That people wanted change, they were fed
:40:35. > :40:41.up with what was going on with the way the council was run and that is
:40:41. > :40:49.why they went for a Mayer? The fact remains that 18 % voted in the
:40:49. > :40:55.referendum. Only 10 % voted for this system. 10 % turned out on a
:40:55. > :40:58.chilly night in January... So you would rather we did not have it?
:40:58. > :41:05.am on record as saying that, but there is something more important
:41:05. > :41:08.than the system. The thing that is most important is local government
:41:08. > :41:12.review in local government. I hope all of us can agree that one of the
:41:12. > :41:22.problems with this country is it has been too centralised in the
:41:22. > :41:24.
:41:24. > :41:28.past. If we set the politics aside, the candidates for the Labour, Tory
:41:28. > :41:32.and the Liberal Democrats are able in their own way, I think Salford
:41:32. > :41:38.has an opportunity. If Manchester turns down his referendum and
:41:38. > :41:43.Salford is the only city that has a mayor, Salford does have an
:41:43. > :41:48.opportunity to project its image and project the City of Salford for
:41:48. > :41:53.the future. How? Because it will have a strong individual, whoever
:41:53. > :41:58.it may be, who can push the case for Salford, whereas the problem
:41:58. > :42:05.for Salford is that it Manchester goes for a Mayer, because the
:42:05. > :42:10.Salford Mail become peripheral and no disrespect to Salford, to the
:42:10. > :42:19.Manchester mayor, whoever that is, they will end up being in the
:42:19. > :42:21.limelight. Well, let's pause and move from
:42:21. > :42:24.Salford to neighbouring Manchester. On the day of the local elections
:42:24. > :42:27.there will also be a referendum there, asking if they fancy having
:42:27. > :42:30.a mayor, too? But perhaps the bigger question is whether anyone
:42:30. > :42:32.in Manchester even knows it's taking place. Believe me, many
:42:32. > :42:35.don't. And I've been trying to find out, why not.
:42:35. > :42:38.It's a question hanging over Manchester - the future of the
:42:38. > :42:41.city's political system. Stick with a council leader or switch to a
:42:41. > :42:44.city mayor? This is potentially a big change for Manchester, the city
:42:44. > :42:47.mayor would be voted for by the people rather than by councillors.
:42:47. > :42:50.But what's most striking is the almost complete lack of debate in
:42:50. > :42:53.the city. No surprise then that the Manchester Evening News hasn't had
:42:53. > :42:58.much of a campaign to cover. The paper's political editor suspects
:42:58. > :43:02.the Labour leadership would rather the question went away. This is the
:43:02. > :43:07.first I have heard about. I have heard about the one in London, not
:43:07. > :43:13.in Manchester. I know there is talk about a may have been elected, but
:43:13. > :43:19.I did not know about a referendum. No, I had not heard that and that
:43:19. > :43:25.is surprising because IMA politics student. No surprise that the
:43:25. > :43:29.Manchester Evening News has not had a big campaign to cover. They are
:43:29. > :43:32.hoping that what they have achieved, and the fact that business and the
:43:32. > :43:37.public sector have worked quite well together in Manchester, people
:43:37. > :43:41.will just see that and this -- and say this is something we want for
:43:41. > :43:47.Manchester. The man who successfully changed the system in
:43:47. > :43:50.Salford says a male would re-engage voters. They are not interested in
:43:50. > :43:53.politics because they don't think they can change them. With an
:43:53. > :43:59.elected mayor, they can because they get the actual vote before the
:43:59. > :44:03.Mayer. The business sector -- sector is largely against a mayor,
:44:03. > :44:06.fearing it would be too disruptive. It is not as if you are changing
:44:06. > :44:10.the nameplate on the door of an office, you are talking about
:44:10. > :44:13.creating offices, new powers, new ways of relating to local
:44:14. > :44:18.councillors. Speaking of power, the government talks about Manchester
:44:18. > :44:23.getting its own Boris or Ken. One expert on regional government says
:44:23. > :44:26.that is not what is on offer. mayor of London is Mayer for the
:44:26. > :44:29.whole metropolitan area. If we translate that to Manchester, it
:44:29. > :44:35.would be for the whole of Greater Manchester. That is what people are
:44:35. > :44:39.struggling with. If we went for the London type model, we would need
:44:39. > :44:44.more support. Because local government works pretty well in
:44:44. > :44:49.Manchester, there is not much pressure for change. But voters may
:44:49. > :44:54.prefer a system which allows them to decide who leads the council.
:44:54. > :44:59.Jim, what is your take on us? Why it is the debate not really
:44:59. > :45:04.happening? Mancunians feel they have been reasonably well governed
:45:04. > :45:08.so why fix it? I do want to challenge the political class in
:45:08. > :45:11.the studio because there is a form on this. A few years ago the
:45:11. > :45:15.previous Labour government tried to have a referendum and it gave the
:45:15. > :45:20.money and there was no debate because the councillor class did
:45:20. > :45:24.not want it. They have tremendous power to suppress the discussion.
:45:24. > :45:27.And the reason they do not want it? Because they would like to choose
:45:28. > :45:32.their leaders are amongst the group that forms the council. The
:45:32. > :45:38.Conservatives have changed the debate and brought it forward, have
:45:38. > :45:43.mandated veteran -- referendums. I do think it is a shame they has not
:45:43. > :45:47.been a full-scale debate, but it is an attempt by the Labour Party to
:45:47. > :45:51.get the no vote. I have a hunch that Manchester will say, Liverpool
:45:51. > :45:55.has an elected mayor, I think we won one as well. Is that what is
:45:55. > :45:58.happening here, John? Hardly, if there is a general debate and
:45:58. > :46:03.feeling, you would be picking it up and the Manchester Evening News
:46:03. > :46:08.would be picking it up. I don't detect any real sign of Age Concern
:46:08. > :46:14.in Manchester. But the politicians are not pushing it. It is our fault
:46:14. > :46:17.rather than the media? We cannot recall what is not their! There is
:46:17. > :46:22.a referendum taking place, I would have thought you would have given
:46:22. > :46:27.it a more prominent place. If you are concerned about that. There is
:46:27. > :46:31.a difference between Manchester and Liverpool. I will reflect on it.
:46:31. > :46:35.The crucial difference is that Manchester has already got an
:46:35. > :46:39.agreement with central government about a combined authority and a
:46:39. > :46:42.great deal about devolution of power down to the 10 local
:46:42. > :46:47.authorities in Greater Manchester. The fact remains that whatever our
:46:47. > :46:51.political complexion, I work happily with the leader in Trafford
:46:51. > :46:53.and with the leader of Stockport, we work as 10 local authorities and
:46:53. > :46:59.I don't think that we have been particularly weak in putting
:46:59. > :47:05.forward the view 0.4 Greater Manchester. Both of you who have
:47:05. > :47:08.interviewed me, have ever accuse me of being weak in terms of fighting
:47:08. > :47:14.for Salford's interests. I think it is good that 10 local authorities
:47:14. > :47:18.are working together. I don't see how a man to step Mail would help.
:47:18. > :47:23.Could it potentially break up the Labour monopoly of power in
:47:23. > :47:26.Manchester? I have never been in favour of a late bid may years.
:47:26. > :47:36.There is a danger in Manchester because it is such a high-profile
:47:36. > :47:40.City that we might get all sorts of independent. The problem in London
:47:41. > :47:47.is that it has become a beauty contest between two rather are the
:47:47. > :47:53.politicians, Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. I am not sure that
:47:53. > :47:56.they are popular. Boris is popular, possibly, the Ken's campaign has
:47:56. > :48:00.disappeared. In Manchester, there has never been a massive local
:48:00. > :48:04.appetite for at -- an elected mayor. I don't know whether that is
:48:04. > :48:09.because people think Manchester is well run or whether they just are
:48:09. > :48:13.quite happy with the arrangements as they are. If the Conservatives
:48:13. > :48:17.are so keen on this, and they have been pushing the agenda, why are
:48:17. > :48:21.they not at their campaign for a referendum? The fact that the
:48:21. > :48:24.matter is that in Manchester, it is down to the Labour Party and the
:48:24. > :48:28.Liberal Democrats to be making sure that the general public are aware
:48:28. > :48:32.of this. We are not in the position that I wish we were in in
:48:32. > :48:36.Manchester. The Labour Party is doing what they did in Salford,
:48:37. > :48:40.trying to strangle the idea of birth. They do not want the
:48:40. > :48:45.Manchester people to have any influence over and above what they
:48:45. > :48:49.have now on local dishes ins. It is our agenda to try and bring the
:48:49. > :48:56.power to as local A-level as we can. They will carry on resisting now.
:48:56. > :49:00.As far as beauty contests up and turned -- are concerned, elections
:49:01. > :49:06.ought to be fought on ideas. The fact that you have personalities
:49:06. > :49:09.get involved is not necessarily a bad thing. We will leave it there.
:49:09. > :49:11.Now it's time for the rest of the week's political news with Gill
:49:11. > :49:13.Dummigan. The Blackburn MP and former foreign
:49:13. > :49:16.secretary Jack Straw is facing legal action by a Libyan military
:49:16. > :49:21.commander who alleges he was illegally taken from Britain to
:49:21. > :49:25.Libya in 2004 when Mr Straw was in office. Lawyers for the commander
:49:25. > :49:31.allege that Mr Straw was complicit in torture. UK ministers have
:49:31. > :49:34.denied this. Salford was one of the places proposed this week as a new
:49:34. > :49:41.home for the House of Lords. Former Labour cabinet minister Lord Adonis
:49:41. > :49:45.says it would better reflect the country and save money.
:49:45. > :49:49.If we want to distribute power across the regions of England,
:49:49. > :49:52.moving the second chamber has no reason to be in London now. Moving
:49:52. > :49:54.into one of the big cities of the Midlands or the North might make
:49:54. > :49:57.sense. Finally, two of the 12 candidates
:49:57. > :50:00.in Liverpool's Mayoral election are claiming that the council has been
:50:00. > :50:03.telling them what not to say The Liberal candidate Steve Radford and
:50:03. > :50:05.socialist Tony Mulhearn say they were both asked to make cuts in
:50:05. > :50:15.their contribution to the official election booklet. The council says
:50:15. > :50:19.
:50:19. > :50:22.it was simply helping them to keep A reminder that there's a list of