Browse content similar to 18/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the North West: Big budgets and power over policing. | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
But with few votes and deadlines looming, are our new commissioners | :01:35. | :01:45. | |
:01:45. | :01:45. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2391 seconds | :01:45. | :41:37. | |
Coming up in the North West: Big budgets and power over policing. | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
But with few votes and deadlines looming, are our new commissioners | :41:40. | :41:46. | |
in for a dog's life? They all have Rostand, no support. It will be | :41:46. | :41:51. | |
extremely difficult to have any impact this first time around. | :41:51. | :41:54. | |
You have stuck with us through weeks of campaigning, all the | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
excitement and in the end just 15% of you voted. Or, to put it another | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
way, the vast majority of you decided not to. But the Police and | :42:01. | :42:04. | |
Crime Commissioners do matter. And today we have one here. The former | :42:04. | :42:06. | |
Labour MP Jane Kennedy is Merseyside's new commissioner. | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
Graham Evans is the Conservative MP for Weaver Vale in Cheshire and a | :42:09. | :42:12. | |
former Special Constable. And Dr Robert Ford is an expert on voting, | :42:12. | :42:22. | |
:42:22. | :42:24. | ||
based at Manchester University. am very proud to be working with | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
Merseyside Police and the communities of Merseyside. Are you | :42:29. | :42:39. | |
:42:39. | :42:40. | ||
convinced the policy was still right? I am. Within three years, I | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
think the public will agree. Next time around, I think the turnout | :42:45. | :42:55. | |
:42:55. | :42:56. | ||
will be significantly higher. key question for us will be why the | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
public responded with a massive yawn of indifference. | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
So they have got a lot of power and a big budget. But not many people | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
voted for them. There are six new police commissioners in the region. | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
For the Conservatives, Richard Rhodes won in Cumbria and John | :43:10. | :43:12. | |
Dwyer in Cheshire. And for Labour there were successes for Alan | :43:12. | :43:14. | |
Charles in Derbyshire, Clive Grunshaw in Lancashire, Tony Lloyd | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
in Greater Manchester and Jane Kennedy on Merseyside. But why did | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
so few of us vote? Our reporter spent a quiet day at one polling | :43:23. | :43:30. | |
station trying to find out. The signs were out. And the doors | :43:30. | :43:37. | |
were open. There was just one thing missing from this election. The | :43:37. | :43:47. | |
:43:47. | :43:52. | ||
electorate. MUSIC. Walk on by. | :43:52. | :44:02. | |
:44:02. | :44:07. | ||
I think it is a force. I will not be voting. I am going to the shops. | :44:07. | :44:14. | |
I'll always fought in general elections and local elections, but | :44:14. | :44:19. | |
not for this. Almost a year ago, one of the most shocking crimes in | :44:19. | :44:22. | |
the region happened on Salford's streets when Anuj Bidve was | :44:22. | :44:28. | |
murdered. This polling station has a short walk from where that crime | :44:28. | :44:31. | |
took place. You would think policing would be a big issue in | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
this area. The Poles have been open for six hours and the has seen a | :44:37. | :44:44. | |
grand total of 25 people through those doors. And apparently this is | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
one of the busier polling stations. In fact, across Greater Manchester, | :44:47. | :44:50. | |
turnout was just 13.9%. In Merseyside, it was below 13. | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
Cheshire and Derbyshire both managed to muster a 14% turnout. | :44:54. | :44:57. | |
And there wasn't much more interest further north, as 15.5% of people | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
in Lancashire voted. Cumbria was the highest in the region at 16.4%, | :45:03. | :45:12. | |
with nearly one in four voters in the South Lakes going to the polls. | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
It is in November, there are no other elections happening. We need | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
to set this against a background that we have never had a democratic | :45:20. | :45:24. | |
voice in policing before. There should have been a candidate | :45:24. | :45:29. | |
booklet going through each door. I got one because I requested one | :45:29. | :45:34. | |
online. But people should have got one by right. That will have | :45:34. | :45:43. | |
affected the turnout. And had no legs -- no idea this existed. I | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
don't know any of the candidates. am floating because I think this is | :45:48. | :45:58. | |
important. Why did I thought? Solemn duty, I suppose. I think a | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
15% turnout is unfortunate, but the job is the job. We have to move on | :46:03. | :46:13. | |
:46:13. | :46:22. | ||
now. We have had the election. Where more than eight out of 10 | :46:22. | :46:25. | |
people eligible to vote didn't, at least some were showing an interest | :46:25. | :46:30. | |
in what was going on. This low turnout was effectively engineered | :46:31. | :46:37. | |
by the coalition. When the help this election in November and the | :46:37. | :46:45. | |
Government did not explain the role properly. And the ballot paper was | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
a new method of floating. People -- they were warned it would be a low | :46:51. | :46:55. | |
turnout. We anticipated it during the campaign. A lot of people don't | :46:55. | :47:00. | |
agree with the policy. Elected commissioners like myself have a | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
real job to take people with us to demonstrate that we're going to do | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
a good job and the fact that we're here is now a fit to complete and | :47:09. | :47:16. | |
we have to do the best that we can. Do you feel undermined by the lack | :47:16. | :47:24. | |
of mandate? I don't. The people who should be embarrassed are Theresa | :47:24. | :47:27. | |
May and David Cameron, whose flagship policy Dom Mark I | :47:27. | :47:31. | |
understand it is not your embarrassment. Do you feel | :47:31. | :47:36. | |
undermined because you have a low mandate? I don't. I put myself | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
forward knowing that this was going to be a difficult election to fight | :47:40. | :47:46. | |
with a role that the public either don't understand our don't like to, | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
very suspicious of party politicians carrying out this role, | :47:49. | :47:56. | |
so I went in for a writ -- fully aware of that. I wanted Merseyside | :47:56. | :48:00. | |
have the best person for the job. I believe that have a lot to offer | :48:00. | :48:06. | |
with my experience. It is in doing that job going forward that I'll to | :48:06. | :48:12. | |
demonstrate that they chose wisely on Merseyside. What went wrong? | :48:12. | :48:20. | |
paper was produced saying that the turnout should be about 18%. | :48:20. | :48:30. | |
:48:30. | :48:31. | ||
November elections would mean 5% less. No party election broadcasts. | :48:31. | :48:40. | |
No leaflets. 5% for each of those. It was all was light and natural | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
experiment when you have elections the you don't tell anyone about. | :48:43. | :48:51. | |
The figure was only slightly lower than the predictions. This was | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
predictable and avoidable. The government didn't take that actions | :48:55. | :48:59. | |
they were told to take. It is important to remember that we don't | :48:59. | :49:04. | |
have any money. It would have cost the taxpayer a lot of money to do | :49:04. | :49:09. | |
some of the things you are alluding to. You clearly have some money | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
because you have run these elections and the first place. | :49:13. | :49:16. | |
was not right for the Government to throw millions of pounds at this | :49:16. | :49:26. | |
:49:26. | :49:27. | ||
election. Why hold that? You have now embraced the policy of lawyer | :49:27. | :49:34. | |
have criticised it. In five years' time, I believe the public will | :49:34. | :49:41. | |
engage. They have not engage this time. What you think when wrong? | :49:41. | :49:48. | |
November election, no direct mail involved because of the cost and | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
there was a problem getting the message across. The Government | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
wanted independent candidates to come forward. Independent | :49:57. | :50:00. | |
candidates cannot afford to campaigned in the way that you can | :50:00. | :50:10. | |
if you have a party machine behind you. 12 independent police and | :50:10. | :50:17. | |
crime commissioners have been elected. Isn't that partly because | :50:17. | :50:25. | |
turnout was rather low, to put it mildly? Yes. There was a very low | :50:25. | :50:35. | |
:50:35. | :50:35. | ||
bar to clear. �5,000 of their own money. Campaigns run by volunteers. | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
To say that that was a good way of running things does not seem right | :50:39. | :50:43. | |
to me. If you're going to hold democratic elections, you must | :50:43. | :50:48. | |
engage the public. We know that there are simple things to which | :50:48. | :50:53. | |
the public response. One of the things was holding the elections | :50:53. | :50:57. | |
concurrently with local elections would not have cost a penny. The | :50:57. | :51:04. | |
decision to hold them by themselves in November seems to me to be | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
stupid it as many voters didn't realise there was a poll on. Loads | :51:08. | :51:14. | |
of people did not know what these elections were about. There was a | :51:14. | :51:22. | |
by-election in Manchester where there was an 18% turn up. This is a | :51:22. | :51:26. | |
new policy and it is always difficult to get that point across | :51:26. | :51:36. | |
to people. In four years, when they have a reputation and the public | :51:36. | :51:42. | |
have found that the good job that all PCC's will do, I think the | :51:42. | :51:52. | |
:51:52. | :51:53. | ||
turn-up will increase. The jury is out. The conduct of the PCCs will | :51:53. | :52:01. | |
be very important. There are huge challenges ahead. Most importantly, | :52:01. | :52:08. | |
they're going through a period of the draconian cuts. Local | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
authorities are losing �200 million from the parts of the budget they | :52:13. | :52:22. | |
have been using to help reduce crime and offending. It is very | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
difficult. It will depend on how we can work through the next three- | :52:26. | :52:36. | |
:52:36. | :52:44. | ||
and-a-half years. While we are on the subject of turnout, a record | :52:44. | :52:48. | |
was set in this week. But again not in a good way. Labour's Lucy Powell | :52:48. | :52:51. | |
was elected MP for Manchester Central in a by-election after Tony | :52:51. | :52:54. | |
Lloyd stood down to become police commissioner. It never gets a high | :52:54. | :52:57. | |
turnout but 18% was the lowest for any parliamentary by-election since | :52:57. | :52:59. | |
the Second World War. The time of year is difficult. Some | :52:59. | :53:06. | |
people thought this was just the police commissioner election. It | :53:07. | :53:10. | |
was a vote of all the other parties which has been hugely depressed | :53:10. | :53:20. | |
:53:20. | :53:20. | ||
this evening, not for Labour. is not strictly accurate. 15% of | :53:20. | :53:27. | |
Labour voters did not show up. It is not a record you want to have, | :53:27. | :53:37. | |
:53:37. | :53:37. | ||
to be their MP elected with the lowest turnout ever. Not very | :53:37. | :53:47. | |
:53:47. | :53:47. | ||
intensive campaigning by anybody. Labour were very confident. They | :53:47. | :53:51. | |
were not expending a lot of resources to get anybody out to | :53:51. | :53:57. | |
vote. None of the other parties felt they could win him. If you | :53:57. | :54:02. | |
have a very safe seat with the one competing very hard, then the | :54:02. | :54:12. | |
:54:12. | :54:12. | ||
voters will struck in differently. They know the result. Compare that | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
with Corby which changed hands and there was a 45% turn out. | :54:17. | :54:22. | |
Is it just one of those things that we have say seats and that is that? | :54:22. | :54:27. | |
Should we be worried? Safe seats are something we talk about in | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
politics, but in truth we shouldn't take any seat for granted. We | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
shouldn't take falters for granted. We have to work with the resources | :54:36. | :54:45. | |
we have got. I know that we did use all the resources we had available. | :54:45. | :54:51. | |
In Merseyside, some of our volunteers went to help there. | :54:51. | :54:58. | |
will say this does not matter? Course it matters. Tony Lloyd was a | :54:58. | :55:08. | |
:55:08. | :55:09. | ||
good MP and I think his replacement will be good. We want to engage | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
with constituents as much as possible. The time of year was not | :55:13. | :55:22. | |
great. The weather was not great. So, not a huge mandate, but this | :55:22. | :55:25. | |
Thursday the new xommissioners will officially get to work. And they | :55:25. | :55:28. | |
have got a deadline of just 10 weeks to try to make their mark. | :55:28. | :55:38. | |
:55:38. | :55:45. | ||
This report is on the winners and the job. | :55:45. | :55:48. | |
Here at the Cheshire count, it is naturally a day of celebration for | :55:48. | :55:53. | |
the elected candidate. But for all the new PCCs it is now that the | :55:53. | :56:00. | |
hard work really begins. That's because in barely two and a half | :56:00. | :56:03. | |
months time, they will have to finalise their first budget a issue | :56:03. | :56:06. | |
their first policing plan. And if that sounds like a challenge, that | :56:06. | :56:09. | |
is because quite simply it will be. They have got about 10 weeks to | :56:09. | :56:13. | |
work on this. They will have no staff in place, no support, they | :56:13. | :56:21. | |
will be totally reliant on what the police forces tell them. It is | :56:21. | :56:24. | |
going to be extremely difficult for anybody to make any real difference | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
this first time round. situation could have been different | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
had the Government decided to hold elections in the spring. That way, | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
PCCs would've had a had a full year to decide on their budget. As a | :56:34. | :56:36. | |
former Assistant Chief Constable with Cheshire Constabulary, | :56:36. | :56:39. | |
Cheshire's new PCC John Dwyer certainly has all the credentials | :56:39. | :56:45. | |
to make an impact in his new role. He is under no illusions. It is a | :56:45. | :56:49. | |
tough task. The timescales as you rightly say are very tight, but I | :56:49. | :56:55. | |
can do it. I've got a good team behind me who can help me to do | :56:55. | :56:59. | |
that. I've anticipated this to be about a 60 hours a week job. It is | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
not a job to be played at, it is not a job to be done part-time, and | :57:03. | :57:07. | |
I am prepared to roll my sleeves up and get on with the task in hand. | :57:07. | :57:10. | |
Among the commissioners' tasks will be empowering people into having a | :57:10. | :57:12. | |
say on how crime is tackled in their area. Statistically, Cumbria | :57:12. | :57:17. | |
is among the region's safest places to live. But the force's resources | :57:17. | :57:27. | |
:57:27. | :57:28. | ||
must be spread thinly across a huge rural area. I am conscious that | :57:28. | :57:33. | |
people are suspicious of politicians making promises and not | :57:33. | :57:39. | |
delivering. I will deliver on my promises. The new commissioner's | :57:39. | :57:42. | |
take on their roles amid troubled times. In summer, officers from | :57:42. | :57:45. | |
across the region took part in national protest at cuts to front | :57:45. | :57:48. | |
line policing. Addressing this will be a key priority, says Greater | :57:48. | :57:54. | |
Manchester's PCC. We have got to make sure there is a strategy set | :57:54. | :57:56. | |
forward that can take Greater Manchester Police forward, despite | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
the present round of cuts. But we will be taking the case about 20% | :58:02. | :58:05. | |
cuts back to central government and saying what they are doing is | :58:05. | :58:10. | |
reckless. Mr Lloyd will be working closely with Chief Constable Sir | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
Peter Fahy. His background as a long-serving Labour MP would seem | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
to fit well with Sir Peter's call that the PCC can have an influence | :58:16. | :58:19. | |
on the national stage, and join the force in some difficult discussions | :58:19. | :58:26. | |
with ministers. But he too admits there is much to be done. Certainly | :58:26. | :58:29. | |
number one is the budget and some really difficult decisions over the | :58:29. | :58:34. | |
next few years. We have got to lose 300 officers this year, next year | :58:34. | :58:37. | |
and the year after. I think second is then the threat of organised | :58:37. | :58:40. | |
crime, and third is probably the number of difficult investigations | :58:40. | :58:43. | |
we have got. Despite the low turnout, the Prime Minister David | :58:43. | :58:46. | |
Cameron has claimed the public will become more interested when PCCs | :58:46. | :58:55. | |
begin their work. Officially, their job starts on Thursday. | :58:55. | :59:01. | |
It sounds as though you're in for a tough job? I thought that when I | :59:01. | :59:05. | |
put myself forward. The budget is quite clearly at the core of this. | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
I want the opportunity to speak to the Home Secretary to say that if | :59:09. | :59:12. | |
there is another round of cuts coming in December, it is important | :59:12. | :59:17. | |
she takes time to hear what the elected representatives of the | :59:17. | :59:22. | |
police force areas have to say about those budgets. I don't want | :59:22. | :59:26. | |
another 600 police officers being cut from this Budget without time | :59:26. | :59:31. | |
for me to make representations about the impact of VAT. Part of | :59:31. | :59:35. | |
your job is to work out how the police can be more efficient? | :59:35. | :59:40. | |
will work with the chief constable to do that. They have lost �60 | :59:40. | :59:48. | |
million from the budget already and have been doing a fantastic job. | :59:48. | :59:53. | |
They had been able to maintain policing services and keep crime | :59:53. | :59:57. | |
rates are relatively down. What we don't want is to see that good work | :59:57. | :00:02. | |
being undermined by further swingeing cuts that will damage of | :00:02. | :00:07. | |
the good work they have bumf will start the PCC's are replacing an | :00:07. | :00:12. | |
elected police authorities, totally anonymous. If you look at | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
Hillsborough, if the had a PCC in place in Merseyside Orange | :00:16. | :00:21. | |
Sheffield at the time, what those travesties -- tragedies have | :00:21. | :00:31. | |
:00:31. | :00:32. | ||
happened? I would like to think that PCC's will make a difference. | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
In four years' time, the general public will turn out in greater | :00:37. | :00:46. | |
numbers. You think policing will improve despite the cuts? Each | :00:46. | :00:50. | |
authority is different. Chief constables have had it good for | :00:50. | :00:57. | |
many years when the money was coming in. The true test of | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
leadership for chief constables and the police and crime commissioners | :01:02. | :01:09. | |
is to cope with these challenging times. Did the candidates who were | :01:09. | :01:15. | |
former police officers do well? lot of them stood as independents. | :01:15. | :01:22. | |
The seemed to do well. It was interesting because in the polling | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
ahead of the election, people said they did not want politics in | :01:26. | :01:31. | |
policing. Then very often at the polls they will plump for the party | :01:31. | :01:36. | |
label because they know what that stands for. Those who did turn up | :01:36. | :01:39. | |
really seem to have actually gone with that message and look for the | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
person with the most experience in policing, even if they have no | :01:43. | :01:51. | |
political experience at all. It is usually close in Lancashire between | :01:51. | :01:57. | |
the Conservatives and Labour. Perhaps they made a tactical | :01:57. | :02:03. | |
mistake in choosing someone without a policing background? Perhaps. | :02:04. | :02:08. | |
When the public were offered people with a policing background, they | :02:08. | :02:16. | |
tended to do quite well. I had the experience of working with the | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
police. I think people toes be for that reason. There are risks | :02:21. | :02:26. | |
involved with former police officers doing the role. They will | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
have to learn to leave their own experience behind. They have to | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
work with policing as it has changed. They will have to learn | :02:36. | :02:44. | |
some politics as well. This is a strategic role, it is not the day- | :02:44. | :02:50. | |
to-day running of the police. It is up to the police and crime | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
commissioner us to set the strategy. Time for the rest of the week's | :02:56. | :03:03. | |
news now. Here is our round-up in 60 seconds. | :03:03. | :03:07. | |
A proposed by a mass incinerator was the burning issue in Greater | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
Manchester this week. A public inquiry is looking into the | :03:11. | :03:19. | |
council's decision to reject plans. Rochdale MP says they should | :03:19. | :03:29. | |
:03:29. | :03:35. | ||
investigate Cyril Smith over A new scheme is underway to keep | :03:35. | :03:45. | |
:03:45. | :03:48. | ||
local people in the Lake District. Isle of Man Treasury figures show | :03:48. | :03:57. | |
no films made on the island has made a profit. | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
The planned column of steam meant to be installed last year in | :04:01. | :04:05. |