:01:24. > :01:27.In the North West: Feeling blue? Can small businesses
:01:27. > :01:37.here trust the tories to help? And the Prime Minister gives me his
:01:37. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :37:03.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2126 seconds
:37:03. > :37:08.reaction as the West Coast mainline In the north-west, feeling blue? To
:37:08. > :37:12.small businesses here trust the Tories for help? And the Prime
:37:12. > :37:16.Minister says sorry as the West Coast Main Line contract the rails.
:37:16. > :37:26.I am extremely angry about what has happened. I am very apologetic and
:37:26. > :37:29.we must get to the bottom of exactly what happened.
:37:29. > :37:34.The full interview with the Prime Minister coming up, but first let
:37:34. > :37:38.me introduce this week on -- this week's guest. Estimate the is the
:37:38. > :37:42.Conservative MP for Wirral West, and will many MPs lost their jobs
:37:42. > :37:47.in the reshuffle, she was promoted to work and pensions minister.
:37:47. > :37:54.No move for David Denver, still professor of politics at the
:37:54. > :37:58.University of Lancaster.. Esther, in a previous job you were
:37:58. > :38:01.involved in television. Where you impressed by the way Ed Miliband
:38:01. > :38:08.came across at the Labour conference? That is going back, I
:38:08. > :38:12.left television 15 years ago. To be fair, you see it. He did her speech
:38:12. > :38:17.copying in David Cameron Colin Oates, speaking to the audience and
:38:17. > :38:22.talking about his life. One thing that made me smile is that Red Egg
:38:22. > :38:28.has taken on Disraeli, and Blair see is despising one nation, we
:38:28. > :38:32.just worried democracy, make me smile. He did not use which could
:38:32. > :38:38.have been an in-joke between him and his friends, talking about
:38:38. > :38:42.Conservatives and the notion about one nation. He did not spend it on
:38:42. > :38:46.his head about not being able to deliver. He cannot deliver that,
:38:46. > :38:51.that is our philosophy and now he is backing up with that trade
:38:51. > :38:54.unions. Weaselly words possible in the future. David, what is the
:38:54. > :38:59.challenge for the Conservatives going into this conference? They
:38:59. > :39:02.must shore up their core support. They seem to have spent up their
:39:02. > :39:07.time thinking of ways really need their natural supporters as that
:39:07. > :39:10.explains why they are in trouble in the opinion polls. They must get
:39:10. > :39:14.those natural supporters back on side.
:39:14. > :39:17.We will pack up on that in a moment. Let's look at the Conservatives
:39:17. > :39:20.recent record in the north-west going into conference.
:39:20. > :39:25.Two years ago at the General Election, the party more than
:39:25. > :39:31.doubled its number of MPs, winning 21 of 72 seats. The Conservatives
:39:31. > :39:35.share of the vote increased to 32%. Since then the party suffered heavy
:39:35. > :39:39.losses in local elections losing around 140 councillors and control
:39:39. > :39:43.of four councils. It was in Blackpool seven years ago that
:39:43. > :39:47.David Cameron's speech won him the party leadership. Since then,
:39:47. > :39:51.Conservative fortunes in the town have fluctuated, winning the
:39:51. > :39:54.parliamentary seat but losing the council. Our correspondent has been
:39:54. > :40:04.asking the town's businesses if the Government understands what
:40:04. > :40:09.Blackpool need to flourish. We can change this party and change
:40:09. > :40:17.this country. We are not frightened of debate, or
:40:17. > :40:22.we do not mind having an argument. This is where David Cameron's
:40:22. > :40:27.journey to Number Ten started, with that speech seven years ago. Since
:40:27. > :40:30.then we have at rebranding and detoxification. But have the
:40:30. > :40:34.Conservatives managed to shake off the nagging suspicion that actually,
:40:34. > :40:37.they do not really get places like this and do not understand regions
:40:37. > :40:41.like ours? This vitamins and supplement
:40:41. > :40:45.manufacturer is the sort of business that Tories generally like
:40:46. > :40:49.and understand. It is in good health, employs solidify people and
:40:49. > :40:53.makes a profit. Using a flat at Government invention they want to
:40:53. > :40:57.expand to bigger premises. We have been in touch with the Regional
:40:57. > :41:01.Growth Fund, we appear to take all the right boxes for them. It has
:41:01. > :41:05.not been as quick as he wanted, we want the money in the account
:41:05. > :41:11.tomorrow. There seems to be a lot of form-filling to do, lots of
:41:11. > :41:17.boxes to tick. But potential is to double our size in the next two or
:41:17. > :41:21.three years. We could keep another 20 or 30 people in employment.
:41:21. > :41:25.Ardley on your side? It is difficult -- difficult to tell. I
:41:25. > :41:30.think they are on their own side. They are not the only people
:41:30. > :41:33.looking for investment. conducted a survey, at over 70% of
:41:33. > :41:36.those who took part said that they were struggling to get the finance
:41:36. > :41:41.they need. Do you get the sense that people think that the
:41:41. > :41:45.Government is applying a policy which perhaps she is Berkshire or
:41:45. > :41:51.Kent but there is not tuned to the needs of Lancashire? Definitely. It
:41:51. > :41:54.is a series of things that Latisha is most definitely crying out for.
:41:54. > :41:59.-- that Lancashire is crying out for.
:41:59. > :42:03.There were true blue rinses, if not necessarily true to -- True Blue
:42:03. > :42:07.voters. The company which runs this attraction benefited from millions
:42:07. > :42:10.in the now abolished north-west Treasury agency. If there was no
:42:10. > :42:15.funding available, we would still have one attraction rather than
:42:15. > :42:19.eight in the town. That is really critical. It would be very sad for
:42:19. > :42:23.the town come not to have that choice. Where would Blackpool's
:42:23. > :42:28.featured the? If you take a walk along Blackpool's promenade, it is
:42:28. > :42:32.not difficult to see where a lot of that funding has been spent.
:42:32. > :42:37.Although it looks very smart and glamourous, the Conservatives would
:42:37. > :42:40.argue that the cash should be spent elsewhere. You have a nice new
:42:40. > :42:46.promenade, but local people cannot use it any more because the traffic
:42:46. > :42:50.is backed up. We have replaced the old local funding agency with local
:42:50. > :42:55.enterprise partnerships across the country. The total size of the pot
:42:55. > :42:59.of money is substantially reduced by more than 90%, so the ability of
:42:59. > :43:06.the lead to step into the shoes of the me to develop a disease, BR or
:43:06. > :43:12.hampered from birth. But they focus on their people and their voters. -
:43:12. > :43:17.- Development Agency. I think that it would be wrong of
:43:17. > :43:20.them and rather short sighted. We should try to work together. We
:43:20. > :43:25.would see the fruits of economic growth.
:43:25. > :43:27.Whether that economic tide turns in places like Blackpool will call a
:43:27. > :43:36.long way to deciding the fate of many a politician, including
:43:37. > :43:41.perhaps David Cameron himself. We are also joined from the
:43:41. > :43:47.conference in Birmingham by the MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood, Ellie
:43:47. > :43:50.Colin shock. Let me start with estimate they, the main thrust
:43:50. > :43:56.seems to be that the Government is not doing enough to support Private
:43:56. > :44:03.businesses. It is doing a lot and I think it will not happen overnight.
:44:03. > :44:09.It has been two years now. Yes, but 13 years of decline. Competitive --
:44:09. > :44:13.we are back up to 8% in competitive and is globally. If you look at it
:44:13. > :44:17.low ratings, they slumped right down in things like regulation, we
:44:17. > :44:22.went from fourth to detect police and we're coming back up to 17th
:44:22. > :44:27.place. We must put in place a plethora of things to get right.
:44:27. > :44:31.This has already begun, in competitiveness we fell to 12, we
:44:31. > :44:36.are back up to eight. We have done that in two years. We're putting in
:44:36. > :44:40.a lot of the infrastructure. I come from the construction industry,
:44:40. > :44:44.that has been hardest hit, that is a tough time for many businesses.
:44:44. > :44:47.It is a mixed picture. If you look at the motoring industry and
:44:47. > :44:52.manufacturing and some finances, if you look at other things they are
:44:52. > :44:57.successful. Other things are not in this tough time. Let me bring in
:44:57. > :45:01.every. We are also doing well in things like Unilever and
:45:02. > :45:04.Engineering. They are doing well in places like Wirral. Eric, are you
:45:04. > :45:11.happy with the progress the Government has made on this, or
:45:11. > :45:16.would you like them to be seen to be doing more Yeovil than everybody
:45:16. > :45:17.would like more things to happen. That it thing for us is that we're
:45:17. > :45:21.getting the Infrastructure Investment that we have been
:45:21. > :45:25.waiting on for years. Blackpool in particular will get the letter
:45:25. > :45:30.vocation of the what rail line to Preston, and that will be a large
:45:30. > :45:34.bin for business. -- electrification for the rail line.
:45:34. > :45:39.These kinds of infrastructure improvements, I think, long-term,
:45:39. > :45:43.will help businesses start moving. One example that you have raised
:45:43. > :45:46.yourself is that you have asked about energy policy, and what is
:45:46. > :45:52.the overarching strategy from the Government on that for example. It
:45:52. > :45:55.sounds like you feel things should be different. What I was trying to
:45:55. > :46:00.say there is that Lancashire, at the moment, we have massive
:46:00. > :46:10.potential in terms of energy. Whether it is gas or storage all
:46:10. > :46:13.
:46:13. > :46:17.went far as it can see, -- or storage or wind farms out at sea.
:46:17. > :46:21.David, get up on this? Regional policy for a long time has been
:46:21. > :46:25.highly controversial. Do you keep the development agency? Some people
:46:25. > :46:31.say it is a colossal waste of money, some people say it does good stuff.
:46:31. > :46:36.The answer is no doubt somewhere in the middle. It is the same year,
:46:36. > :46:41.you gave us many statistics which I am afraid we just -- which do not
:46:41. > :46:46.cut very much ice with people. Torquay, let's put it like this. We
:46:46. > :46:51.were declining from a 97 right the way through from 13 years. We fell
:46:51. > :46:54.in many of those tables, and what we must do his claim it back up. We
:46:55. > :46:59.have started to climb back up. I will not see for one minute that it
:46:59. > :47:04.is easy for businesses. As someone who runs a business, it is tough
:47:04. > :47:10.times. I would also say that it is asked fixed -- a mixed picture. If
:47:10. > :47:14.you are in export or Engineering, that has improved recently. It is a
:47:14. > :47:19.fractured picture. What to the Conservatives need to do, David, to
:47:19. > :47:23.pick this up? To tell the truth, and regional
:47:23. > :47:30.policy is at kind of small area, in people's perceptions of what is
:47:30. > :47:34.going on. I mean more generally. Not for me, I and tampering --
:47:34. > :47:39.championing it. What they must do is get the economy as a whole going.
:47:39. > :47:43.To get the deficit cut at to get things moving. And if they do that
:47:43. > :47:47.things will come good? Things will improve, but I still think they
:47:47. > :47:52.have serious problems with core supporters. Look at the support for
:47:52. > :47:56.the United Kingdom Independence Party. This is very unusual so far
:47:56. > :48:01.from i European election. That is where a lot of would be natural
:48:01. > :48:06.Conservatives are going. If you look at the economy, it is
:48:06. > :48:12.improving. I want to bring Eric back in. Are you worried that your
:48:12. > :48:16.core support could be drifting to the right? Not really, I know that
:48:16. > :48:20.there is some unease in the ranks, but at this stage with this kind of
:48:20. > :48:26.world recession, what would you expect? The professor may remember,
:48:26. > :48:31.years back, it was not new cap, it was the SDP. There is always
:48:31. > :48:36.someone with protest to worry about. The main Love Me Do talk -- my
:48:36. > :48:41.supporters are worrying about is getting the economy fixed.
:48:41. > :48:47.How does the Prime Minister c'est? I spoke to David Cameron in Downing
:48:47. > :48:51.Street. -- see this? Mr Cameron, there is a feeling
:48:51. > :48:54.amongst many people, including some on the right, that the Conservative
:48:54. > :48:58.Party is becoming out of touch with the north-west of England. Is there
:48:58. > :49:02.room for improvement always. We are in Government at a very difficult
:49:02. > :49:07.time for our country. We have had to take a series of tough and
:49:07. > :49:11.unpopular decisions to get the deficit down. We got it down by a
:49:11. > :49:14.quarter in two years, that is good progress. We have one million new
:49:14. > :49:19.Private sector jobs in the economy but there is always room for
:49:19. > :49:25.improvement. How many of you ministers do you think are north-
:49:25. > :49:30.west MPs? I do not have an exact count, but the second most
:49:30. > :49:34.powerful... It is just three. second most powerful person in the
:49:34. > :49:38.Government sets for an north-west seat. The Treasury is involved in
:49:38. > :49:43.every single session the Government takes. He sits at the heart of
:49:43. > :49:47.Cabinet. If you look at the funding decisions that have been taken in
:49:47. > :49:51.infrastructure, railways, road improvements, enterprise zones, he
:49:51. > :49:56.can see his influence and you can see the stamp of the north-west.
:49:56. > :50:01.Whether it is messy crossing or science parks, support for science,
:50:01. > :50:05.you can see the stamp of his influence all four this Government.
:50:05. > :50:08.There has certainly been in destruction Investment, but you can
:50:08. > :50:14.also look at the huge cuts to local Government: you can look at the
:50:14. > :50:17.Dick cuts to public sector employment, the fact that there has
:50:17. > :50:23.been a lack of support for the Private sector that was supposed to
:50:23. > :50:29.be filling the gap. -- you can look at the BT cuts. My Asian wide we
:50:29. > :50:34.have seen a million new Private sector jobs, there has been more
:50:34. > :50:39.jobs in the Private sector. -- nationwide we have seen a million
:50:39. > :50:41.new Private sector jobs. Everything that does this
:50:41. > :50:46.organisations and small business organisations are asking for, we
:50:46. > :50:50.are doing. They said please cut corporation tax, we are doing that.
:50:50. > :50:54.They said build the infrastructure, we're doing that. This is kick-
:50:54. > :50:58.start the housing market, we are doing that. They said reform the
:50:58. > :51:05.planning system, he had taken the planning guidelines from 1,000
:51:05. > :51:09.pages to 52. This is all to create jobs in the Private sector. Cuts
:51:09. > :51:13.are one thing, incompetence is something else. There are serious
:51:13. > :51:17.questions, as you know, over what happened with the West Coast main
:51:17. > :51:21.line. Have you spoken to the former Transport Secretary about this?
:51:21. > :51:25.an extremely angry about what has happened in very apologetic that it
:51:25. > :51:30.has happened. We must get to the bottom of exactly what has happened.
:51:30. > :51:34.I asked the Cabinet Secretary before this happen to look again,
:51:34. > :51:37.but we did not pick up on this technical fault in the way that the
:51:37. > :51:42.franchise operation was run and we now need a proper inquiry which
:51:42. > :51:45.will be held, and people will be held to account. Well that include
:51:45. > :51:50.the political role of ministers? Yes, it will include everything.
:51:50. > :51:53.From what I have seen so far, there were technical errors made in the
:51:53. > :51:57.department about how the figures were compiled. This review will
:51:57. > :52:01.look at exactly who was responsible and they must be held accountable.
:52:01. > :52:05.Have you spoken to Justine Greening? I have not spoken to her
:52:05. > :52:09.since she left the department, but like this is, I was, as you would
:52:09. > :52:12.expect, contacted by all of the people involved in this, including
:52:12. > :52:16.Richard Branson, and they think it was then important to make sure
:52:16. > :52:22.that decisions were properly made. I asked the Cabinet Secretary, a
:52:22. > :52:25.senior civil servant, to take on the decisions that were made. I
:52:25. > :52:28.think that we did everything we could to check that the decision
:52:28. > :52:31.was properly made, but we did not become a clear technical faults and
:52:31. > :52:35.we must get to the bottom of how that happened.
:52:35. > :52:40.Thank you very much. In case you were wondering, Mr
:52:40. > :52:46.Cannon went to Birmingham by car. That Super Saver advanced tickets
:52:46. > :52:48.straight in the end. David, how much to issues like
:52:48. > :52:55.competence and what happened with Virgin Rail, how much does that
:52:56. > :52:59.matter? Competence is definitely a very important matter. Whereas
:52:59. > :53:03.floaters used to rely on tradition and their family and all that, they
:53:03. > :53:10.now want to be jetting parties and judging governments and judging
:53:10. > :53:16.opposition. And in particular, leaders. It is that evaluation of
:53:16. > :53:22.competence which will, in the end, decide the next election. The
:53:22. > :53:27.Tories so far have not really shone. What is going wrong? I think you
:53:27. > :53:30.are right, competent these key. We must prove that. We also have been
:53:30. > :53:33.totally different times and never before had you seen so many people
:53:34. > :53:40.taking judicial reviews, so many people seeking changes in
:53:40. > :53:44.Government policy, looking at variations. This would not have
:53:44. > :53:48.been needed if it had not been a flawed process. He must say, what
:53:48. > :53:54.do we need to do? Trust me, get 10 wires in a room that you will get
:53:54. > :53:58.10 different answers. So you are not embarrassed? Hang on, what I'm
:53:58. > :54:01.saying, I know now that I must look at things and say, how many of us
:54:01. > :54:07.are certain that this will stand the test of time? How many people
:54:07. > :54:11.could question that? Is it just THAT someone with a lawyer who can
:54:11. > :54:19.pay more money could change its decision? We must look at this,
:54:19. > :54:24.never before has this been the case. Are you embarrassed about what has
:54:24. > :54:29.happened? This is something that David Cameron has answered very
:54:29. > :54:32.clearly. We must take this on the chin.
:54:32. > :54:38.Berwick, do you think that the party is a tune at the moment with
:54:38. > :54:43.what voters want? I think the new MPs have been
:54:43. > :54:48.elected, the lot of us, no one third of us in the north-west or
:54:48. > :54:52.Conservative MPs and we are speaking to the electorate. We
:54:52. > :54:54.speak to them every weekend and talk to them as surgeries. We have
:54:54. > :54:59.that land line now and that strengthen the north-west that we
:54:59. > :55:03.did not have before in 1997 when there were hardly any North and MPs
:55:03. > :55:08.in the party. A as a pitch to David Cameron, there are only three
:55:08. > :55:13.north-west MPs or ministers. From someone like you be a minister?
:55:13. > :55:17.That is not up to me, it is not up to me at all. There are people who
:55:17. > :55:24.lived and grew up in the north-west to are in the cupboard. Justine
:55:24. > :55:26.cleaning comes from Sheffield. There are many people there. Many
:55:26. > :55:30.people have graduated from Lancaster University, perhaps not
:55:30. > :55:34.with what I have but they know about the north-west as well.
:55:34. > :55:39.Professor Denver, is there a difference between her and he
:55:39. > :55:45.appealed to voters in the north- west to the south-east? No, not at
:55:45. > :55:49.all. It is the same everywhere. People have the same concerns were
:55:50. > :55:55.that they love, people are much the same everywhere. We have this image
:55:55. > :56:00.of the South, everyone all toffs, and everyone in the North are rough
:56:00. > :56:04.cut. It is not like that. People are the same. It is the quality of
:56:04. > :56:07.the leaders and the competence of the Government. I do think it does
:56:07. > :56:11.help if you live within your community, if you know the values,
:56:11. > :56:15.if you have ran a this is their like I have done. It is my home
:56:15. > :56:19.town, I deliberately went back to fight a seat on Merseyside, I could
:56:19. > :56:23.have gone for a safer Sutton seat but I did not. At once to represent
:56:23. > :56:29.what I would class as my family, friends and my area, and I feel
:56:29. > :56:34.completely in tune with it. -- Maxi for southern seat.
:56:34. > :56:38.One of Labour's key attacks has been that the Conservatives are
:56:38. > :56:42.sudden and they bet too posh and not in touch. One of your
:56:42. > :56:47.colleagues, Nadine Dorries, has gone even further with that attack.
:56:47. > :56:50.Any truth to it? As we know, many of the Conservative MPs are based
:56:50. > :56:55.in the south. The totally represent those people. What we must make
:56:55. > :56:59.sure we do is get more Conservative MPs in the north-west, from the
:56:59. > :57:02.north-west, we did that in the 2010 election and we must fight harder
:57:02. > :57:08.and two more. We must make sure that we stand for the people that
:57:08. > :57:13.we represent, we do have to be appealing to the concerns of
:57:13. > :57:15.everyone, which are the same across the country. There is a greater
:57:15. > :57:18.public sector pay seen the north- westerly must get in touch with
:57:18. > :57:22.those people. Eric, thank you very much indeed
:57:22. > :57:29.for your time. Here is the rest of the week's
:57:29. > :57:32.political news. The head of children services and
:57:32. > :57:36.Rochdale council resigned one week after a damning report into the
:57:36. > :57:39.care of victims of the towns of child sex grooming scandal. The
:57:39. > :57:44.authority said Steve Garber is leaving of his own accord.
:57:44. > :57:47.Sir Norman Bettison is to retire from the police. He worked in the
:57:47. > :57:50.Yorkshire force at the time of Hillsborough.
:57:50. > :57:54.Blackburn MP Jack Straw apologised to the families of the victims for
:57:54. > :58:00.not doing more when he was Home Secretary. It is a matter of great
:58:00. > :58:04.regret to me at, of course I'm sorry.
:58:04. > :58:07.Ricky Tomlinson renewed calls to overturn a conviction for his role
:58:07. > :58:12.in the building workers' strike of the 1970s.
:58:12. > :58:18.The party conference machine may have left Manchester, but one woman
:58:18. > :58:22.was not going quietly. A few played a brilliant speech.
:58:22. > :58:26.Blackpool Tower is set to be one of the first venues in the country to
:58:26. > :58:35.take part in new Home Office rules on weddings, so you can tie the
:58:35. > :58:39.knot any time, day or night. So, David, we have had the first
:58:39. > :58:43.two conferences, we are coming into the search now, already started.
:58:43. > :58:48.Where are we left in terms of British policy?
:58:48. > :58:52.Pretty much the same as before. Despite the Ed Miliband thing, the
:58:52. > :58:54.publicity about his so-called wonderful speech, that will prove
:58:54. > :59:01.taken temporary blip and will go away and this week the
:59:01. > :59:04.Conservatives will get another blip and able medical up a little bit.
:59:04. > :59:07.They are too choreographed, it is all onwards and forwards and
:59:07. > :59:11.upwards to a better tomorrow. you will be off to Birmingham
:59:11. > :59:16.looking for that better tomorrow? Yes, and obviously I think what he
:59:16. > :59:20.must say quite clearly, what have we done? We have helped take 25
:59:20. > :59:24.million people at a tax, taking 1.1 million completely it attacks, we
:59:24. > :59:27.have put in place and the structure, but look at what we're doing with
:59:27. > :59:34.welfare and education, and that has for us to make their case and say,
:59:34. > :59:37.we are ser. Is a anyone listening? We are must make sure they do, it
:59:37. > :59:41.is not the listener's fault, we must make sure it has lost the ball.
:59:41. > :59:45.We must do our part. We must get it right and make sure we are
:59:45. > :59:49.listening to the public. It is that to be process.