17/11/2013 Sunday Politics North West

Morning, folks. Welcome to the Sunday Politics.

Downing Street announces an inquiry into allegations of hardball tactics

and intimidation by unions in industrial disputes. That's our top

story. Thousands dead. Hundreds of

thousands without homes. Millions affected. What is Britain doing to

help the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan? We'll ask

International Development Secretary Justine Greening.

Winter is coming and so, it seems, is another crisis in England's

hospitals. I'll be asking the Shadow Health Secretary how he'd put a stop

to And in the North West: Are we

lagging in the jobs market? And joined`up thinking: why Merseyside's

six councils reckon they'll be better together.

fatalities on the capital's streets, and renewed calls to get lorries off

the roads in peak hours. With me, the best and brightest

political panel that money can buy. Janan Ganesh, Nick Watt and this

week, Zoe Williams, who'll be tweeting their thoughts throughout

the programme. The Government has announced a

review to investigate what the Prime Minister has called "industrial

intimidation" by trade union activists. Bruce Carr QC will chair

a panel to examine allegations of the kind of tactics that came to

light during the Grangemouth dispute, when the Unite union took

their protests - replete with a giant rat - outside the family homes

of the firms' bosses. Earlier this morning the Cabinet office minister,

Francis Maude spoke to the BBC and this is what he had to say. To look

at whether the law currently works and see if it is ineffective in

preventing the kind of intimidatory activity that was alleged to have

taken place around range mouth during the previous disputes --

Grangemouth. We make no presumptions at the beginning of this. I do think

it is a responsible thing for the government to establish what

happened and really do a proper review into whether the law is

adequate to meet the needs. That was Francis Maude. This is a purely

political move, isn't it? Unite did this a couple of times, it is hardly

happening all over the country but the government want to say, we are

prepared to investigate Unite properly, Labour isn't. This seemed

a lot worse when I thought it was a real rat. I thought it was a giant

dead rat. I am not sure if you know much about rats but real rats are

not this big, even the ones in London. The thing is, obviously it

is naked politics but I think it is more intelligent than it looks. They

are trying to taint Miliband as a week union puppet and that doesn't

really wash. They hammer away with it and it might wash for some

people. But it really castrates Miliband in the important issues he

has to tackle. Zero hours, living wage, all of those things in which

he needs to be in concert with the unions, and to use their expertise.

He is making them absolutely toxic to go anywhere near. It keeps the

Unite story alive, have to kill -- particularly since Mr Miller band is

under pressure to reopen the investigation into what Unite are up

to -- Mr Miliband. They are frustrated, not only at the BBC but

the media generally at what they think is a lack of coverage. I see

the political rationale from that respect. There is a risk. There are

union members who either vote Tory or are open to the idea of voting

Tory. All Lib Dem. If the party comes across as too zealous in as --

its antipathy, there is an electoral consequence. Ed Miliband has been

careful to keep a distance. Yes they depend on vast amounts of

money. When Len McCluskey had a real go at the Blairites, Ed Miliband was

straight out there with a very strong statement. Essentially Len

McCluskey wanted Blairites in the shadow cabinet sacked and Ed

Miliband was keen to distance himself or for that is why it is not

quite sticking. Another story in the Sunday papers this morning, the Mail

on Sunday got hold of some e-mails. When I saw the headline I thought it

was a huge cache of e-mails, it turns out to be a couple. They peel

away the cover on the relationship between Ed Miliband and Ed Balls,

with some of Ed Miliband's cohorts describing what Mr balls is trying

to do as a nightmare. How bad are the relations? They are pretty bad

and these e-mails confirm the biggest open signal in Westminster,

which is that relations are pretty tense, -- open secret. That Ed

Miliband doesn't feel that Ed Balls is acknowledging the economy has

grown that Labour needs to admit to past mistakes. The sort of great

open signal is confirmed. On a scale of 1-10, assuming that Blair-Brown

was ten. I think it is between six and seven. They occupy this joint

suite of offices that George Cameron and -- David Cameron and George

Osborne had. It is not just on the economy that there were tensions,

there were clearly tensions over HS2, Ed Balls put a huge question

over it at his conference. There will be more tensions when it comes

to the third runway because my information is that Mr balls wants

to do it and Ed Miliband almost resigned over it when he was in

government. I don't think Ed Miliband is thinking very

politically because he has tried live without Ed Balls and that is

not tenable either. -- life without. He has defined a way of making it

work. That is where Tony Blair had the edge on any modern politician.

He didn't want to make Ed Balls his Shadow Chancellor, he had to.

Somebody said to him, if you make Ed Balls Shadow Chancellor, that will

be the last decision you take as leader of the Labour Party. Is it as

bad? I was surprised at how tame the e-mails were. At the FT it is

compulsory, one French word per sentence! To call him a nightmare,

compared to what they are willing to say in briefings, conversations

bits of frustrations they express verbally come what is documented in

the e-mails is actually pretty light. It has been a grim week for

the people of the Philippines as they count the cost of the

devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan. HMS Daring has just arrived

near the worst hit areas - part of Britain's contribution to bring aid

to the country. It has been one of the worst natural

disasters in the history of the Philippines. Typhoon Haiyan hit the

country nine days ago, leaving devastation in its wake. The numbers

involved are shocking. The official death toll is over 3600 people, with

many thousands more unaccounted for. More than half a million people have

lost their homes and the UN estimates 11 million have been

affected. David Cameron announced on Friday that the UK government is to

give an extra ?30 million in aid, taking the total British figure ?250

million. An RAF Sea 17 aircraft landed yesterday with equipment to

help aid workers get too hard to reach areas. HMS Illustrious is on

its way and due to arrive next weekend. The British public have

once again dipped into their pockets and given generously. They have

given more than ?30 million to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

The International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, joins

me now for the Sunday Interview Good morning, Secretary of State.

How much of the ?50 million that the government has allocated has got

through so far? All of it has landed on the ground now. HMS Daring has

turned up, that will be able to start getting help out to some of

those more outlying islands that have been hard to reach. We have

seen Save the Children and Oxfam really being able to get aid out on

the ground. We have a plane taking off today that will not read just

carrying out more equipment to help clear the roads but will also have

their staff on board, too. We have ?50 million of aid actually on the

ground? We instantly chartered flights directly from Dubai where we

have preprepared human Terry and supplies, and started humanity work

-- humanitarian supplies. A lot of it has now arrived. I think

we have done a huge amount so far. We have gone beyond just providing

humanitarian supplies, to getting the Royal Air Force involved. They

have helped us to get equipment out there quickly. We have HMS

Illustrious sailing over there now. Why has that taken so long? It was

based in the Gulf and is not going to get there until two weeks after

the storm first hit and that is the one ship we have with lots of

helicopters. The first decision we took was to make sure we could get

the fastest vessel out there that was able to help HMS Daring. HMS

Illustrious was just finishing an exercise and planning to start to

head back towards the UK. We have said to not do that, and diverted

it. Shouldn't it have happened more quickly? We took the decisions as

fast as we were able to, you can't just turn a big warship around like

the HMS Illustrious. We made sure we took those decisions and that is

while it will be taking over from HMS Daring come and that is why HMS

Daring is ready there. It will be able to provide key support and

expertise that has not been there so far. The US Navy is doing the heavy

lifting here. The US Navy had the USS Washington, there is an aircraft

carrier, 80 planes, 5000 personnel and they have the fleet, they are

doing the real work. We obviously helping but the Americans are taking

the lead. It is a big international effort. Countries like the US and

the UK, that have a broader ability to support that goes beyond simply

call humanitarian supplies -- have made sure we have brought our

logistics knowledge, we have sent out our naval vessels. It shows we

are working across government to respond to this crisis. Why does

only just over 4% of your aid budget go on emergency disaster and

response? A lot depends on what crises hit in any given year. We

have done a huge amount, responding to the crisis in Syria, the conflict

there and the fact we have 2 million refugees who have fled the country.

We are part of an international effort in supporting them. Shouldn't

we beginning more money to that rather than some of the other

programmes where it is harder to see the results question of if we were

to give more money to the refugees, it would be a visible result. We

could see an improvement in the lives of children, men and women.

What we need to do is alongside that is stop those situations from

happening in the first place. A lot of our development spend is helping

countries to stay stable. Look at some of the work we are doing in

Somalia, much more sensible. Not just from an immigration but there

is a threat perspective. There is a lot of terrorism coming from

Somalia. You only have to look at Kenya recently to see that. Which is

why you talk about what we do with the rest of the spend. It is why it

is responsible to work with the government of Somalia. Should we

give more, bigger part of the budget to disaster relief or not? I think

we get it about right, we have to be flexible and we are. This Philippine

relief is on top of the work in Syria. Where can you show me a

correlation between us giving aid to some failed nation, or nearly failed

nation, and that cutting down on terrorism? If you look at the work

we have done in Pakistan, a huge amount of work. Some of it

short-term. It is written by terrorism. That is -- ridden by

terrorism. That is not going to fix it self in a sense. Look at the work

that we do in investing in education. The things that little

girls like Malala talk about as being absolutely key. We are ramping

up our aid to Pakistan, it will be close to half ?1 billion by the time

of the election. Why should British taxpayers be giving half ?1 billion

to a country where only 0.5% of people in Pakistan pay income tax,

and 70% of their own MPs don't pay income tax. It is a good point and

that is why we have been working with their tax revenue authority to

help them increase that and push forward the tax reform. You are

right, and I have setup a team that will go out and work with many of

these countries so they can raise their own revenues. You really think

you will raise the amount of tax by sending out the British HRM see How

many troops I we sending out to protect them? They don't need

troops. We make sure that we have a duty of care alongside our staff,

but we have to respond to any crisis like the Philippines, and alongside

other countries we have two work alongside them so that they can

reinvest in their own public services. If they can create their

own taxes, will we stop paying aid? We need to look at that but the new

Pakistan Government has been very clear it is a priority and we will

be helping them in pursuing that. Let me show you a picture. Who are

these young women? I don't know I'm sure you are about to tell me. They

are the Ethiopian Spice Girls and I'm surprised you don't know because

they have only managed to become so famous because your department has

financed them to the tune of ?4 million. All of the work we do with

women on the ground, making sure they have a voice in their local

communities, making sure they have some control over what happens to

their own bodies in terms of tackling FGM, female genital

mutilation... Did you know your department has spent ?4 million on

the Ethiopian Spice Girls? Yes, I do, and we have to work with girls

and show them there is a life ahead of them with opportunity and

potential that goes beyond what many of them will experience, which

includes early and forced marriage. It is part of the work we do with

local communities to change attitudes everything you have just

said is immeasurable, and they broadcast on a radio station that

doesn't reach most of the country so it cannot have the impact. It only

reaches 20 million people and the project has been condemned saying

there were serious inefficiencies. That aid report was done a while ago

now, and it was talking about the project when it first got going and

a lot of improvements have happened since. I would go back to the point

that we are working in very difficult environments where we are

trying to get longer term change on the ground and that means working

directly with communities but also investing for the long-term,

investing in some of these girls start changing attitudes in them and

their communities. Why does the British taxpayers spend ?5 million

on a Bangladesh version of Question Time? We work with the BBC to make

sure we can get accountabilities... That is bigger then the BBC Question

Time Normal -- budget. That includes the cost of David Dimbleby's

tattoo! We are working to improve people's prospects but also we are

working to improve their ability to hold their governments to account so

that when they are not getting services on the ground, they have

ways they can raise those concerns with the people who are there to

deliver services for them. In your own personal view, should the next

Conservative Government, if there is one, should you continue to ring

fence spending on foreign aid? But it is critical that if we are going

to spend 7.7% of our national income, we should make sure it is in

our national interest and that means having a clear approach to

humanitarian responses, in keeping the country safe, and a clearer

approach on helping drive economic development and jobs so there is a

long-term end of the dependency Do you believe in an shrine in the

percentage of our GDP that goes on foreign aid in law? Yes, and that is

a coalition agreement. There have been a lot of agreements that you

are sceptical about ring fencing. We are focused on shaking up the

economy and improving our public finances. Why haven't you done that?

At the end of the day we will be accountable but we are committed to

doing that. You are running out of time, will you do it? I hope we can

find the Parliamentary time, but even if we don't, we have acted as

if that law is in place and we have already met 0.7% commitment. If you

are British voter that doesn't believe that we should enshrine that

in by law, which means that with a growing economy foreign aid will

rise by definition, and if you think we should be spending less money on

the Ethiopian Spice Girls, for whom should you wrote in the next

election? I think we have a very sensible approach. I don't know what

the various party manifestoes.. The only party who thinks we shouldn't

be doing this is UKIP. I think you have to look at the response to both

the Philippines crisis and Children In Need. Of all the steps we are

taking to get the country back on track, it shows the British people

will respond to need when they need it and it is one of the things that

makes Britain's special. Thank you. "It's always winter but

never Christmas" - that's how doctors describe life inside

accident and emergency. The College of Emergency Medicine have warned

that this year could bring the "worst crisis on record". If that

dire prediction comes, expect a spring of political recriminations,

but how prepared are the NHS in England? And what do they make of

this autumnal speculation? Giles has been to Leeds to find out.

This winter has already come to our hospitals. It had an official start

date, November the 3rd. That is when weekly updates are delivered to the

NHS's most senior planners, alerting them to any sudden changes in

patient numbers coming in. Where do they numbers register most then

A They are the barometer for what is going on everywhere else, and

they are the pressure point, so if the system is beginning to struggle

then it is in the A department that we see the problems. It is not

that the problems are the A departments, but they are the place

where it all comes together. Plans to tackle those problems start being

drawn up in May and they look at trends, even taking notice of any

flu epidemics in New Zealand. They also look at the amount of bets But

the weather, economic realities structural reforms, and changes to

the general health of the population, are all factors they

have to consider. We get huge amounts of information through the

winter in order to help the NHS be the best it can be, but we had to

redouble our efforts this year because we expected to be a

difficult winter. We know the NHS is stretched so we are working hard to

be as good as we can be. That means they are looking at winter staffing

levels, plans to ask for help from neighbouring hospitals, and

dovetailing help with GP surgeries, and still having the ability to move

up an extra gear, a rehearsed emergency plan if the NHS had to

face a major disease pandemic. You spend any time in any of our

hospitals and you realise the NHS knows that winter is coming and they

are making plans, but you also get a palpable feeling amongst health

workers across the entire system that they do get fed up of being

used as a political football. Doctors and all health care

professionals are frustrated about the politics that surrounds the NHS

in health care. They go to work to treat patients as best as they can,

and the political knock-about does not help anyone. I find it

frustrating when there is a commentary that suggests the NHS

does not planned, when it is surprised by winter, and wherever

that comes from it is hard to take, knowing how much we do nationally

and how much our hard working front line staff are doing. When the

Coalition have recently tried to open up the NHS to be a more

independent body, it is clear the NHS feel they have had an unhealthy

dose of political wrangling between parties on policy. The NHS is not

infallible or making any guarantees, but they seem confident that they

and their patients can survive the winter.

Joining me now from Salford in the Shadow Health Secretary, Andy

Burnham. Tell me this, if you were health secretary now, you just took

over in an emergency election, what would you do to avoid another winter

crisis? I would immediately halt the closure of NHS walk-in centres. We

heard this week that around one in four walk-in centres are closed so

it makes no sense whatsoever for the Government to allow the continued

closure of them. I would put nurses back on the end of phones and

restore an NHS direct style service. The new 111 service is not in a

position to provide help to people this winter. I think the time has

come to rethink how the NHS care is particularly for older people so I

propose the full integration of health and social care. It cannot

make any sense any more to have this approach where we cut social care

and let elderly people drift to hospitals in greater numbers. We

have two rethink it as a whole service. So you would repeal some of

the Tory reforms and move commissioning to local authorities

so the NHS should brace itself for another major top-down health

reorganisation? No, unlike Andrew Lansley I will work with the

organisations ie inherit. He could work with primary care trusts but he

turned it upside down when it needed stability. I will not do that but I

will repeal the health and social care act because last week we heard

that hospitals and health services cannot get on and make sensible

merger collaborations because of this nonsense now that the NHS is

bound by competition law. Let me get your views on a number of ideas that

have been floated either by the press or the Coalition. We haven't

got much time. Do you welcome the plan to bring back named GPs for

over 75s? Yes, but it has got harder to get the GP appointment under this

Government because David Cameron scrapped the 48-hour guarantee that

Tony Blair brought in. He was challenged in the 2005 election

about the difficulty of getting a GP appointment, and Tony Blair brought

in the commitment that people should be able to get that within 48

hours. That has now been scrapped. Do you welcome the idea of allowing

everyone to choose their own GP surgery even if it is not in our

traditional catchment area? I proposed that just before the last

election, so yes. Do you welcome the idea of how a practice is being

rated being a matter of public record, and of us knowing how much,

at least from the NHS, our GP earns? Of course, every political party

supports transparency in the NHS. More information for the public of

that kind is a good thing. Do you welcome this plan to make it will

form the collect in an NHS hospital -- make wilful neglect a criminal

offence. It is important to say you can't pick and mix these

recommendations, you can't say we will have that one and not the

others. It was a balanced package that Sir Robert Francis put forward.

My message is that it must be permitted in full. If we are to

learn the lessons, the whole package must be addressed, and that includes

safe staffing levels across the NHS. Staff have a responsible to two

patients at the government also has responsible at T2 NHS staff and it

should not let them work in understaffed, unsafe conditions -- a

responsibility to NHS staff. Is there a part of the 2004 agreements

that you regret and should be undone? A lot of myths have been

built up about the contract. When it came in, there was a huge shortage

of GPs across the country. Some communities struggle to recruit

This myth that the government have built, that the 2004 GP contract is

responsible for the AM decries is, it is spin of the worst possible

kind -- the A crisis. You would redo that contract? It was redone

under our time in government and change to make it better value for

money. GPs should be focused on improving the health of their

patients and that is a very good principle. Not so great if you can't

get 24-hour access. I agree with that. We brought in evening and

weekend opening for GPs. That is another thing that has gone in

reverse under Mr Cameron. It is much harder to get a GP appointment under

him and that is one of the reasons why A is an oppressor. -- under

pressure. What do you make of the review into intimidatory tactics by

unions? If there has been intimidation, it is unacceptable,

and that should apply to unions as well as employers. Was Unite wrong

to turn up and demonstrate? I don't know the details, this review will

look into that presumably. I need reassurance that this is not a

pretty cool call by Mr Cameron on the designed to appear near the

election -- that this is not a political call. Are you sponsored by

unite? No. Do you get any money from Unite? No. What have you done wrong?

It seems others are getting money from Unite. Can I tell you what I

think is the scandal of British party political funding, two health

care companies have given ?1.5 million in donations to the Tory

party, they have ?1.5 billion in NHS contracts. I wonder why you don t

spend much time talking about that and obsess over trade union funding.

We are happy to talk about that We see from e-mails that Mr Miliband's

closest advisers regard Mr Ed Balls as a bit of a nightmare, do you see

a bit of a nightmare about him as well? I don't at all, he is a very

good friend. I can't believe that you are talking about those e-mails

on a national political programme. My goodness, you obviously scraping

the barrel today. I have been in front-line labour politics for 0

years. I can't remember the front bench and the wider party being as

united as it is today and it is a great credit to Ed Miliband and Ed

Balls. We are going into a general election and we are going to get rid

of a pretty disastrous coalition government. It was worth spending a

few seconds to establish your not having nightmares. Thank you for

joining me. It's just gone 11:30am. You're

watching the Sunday Politics. Coming up in just over 20 minutes, I'll be

talking to the MP accused of using Hello, I'm Arif Ansari. Coming up in

the North West: Joined`up thinking, but will Merseyside's six councils

really be better together? The decisions for the Wirral and West

left with Wirral politicians and people who represent the business

forums. And joining me this week are the Labour MP for Manchester

Central, Lucy Powell, and the Liberal Democrat for Cheadle, Mark

Hunter. Welcome. And you were on opposite sides this week in Labour's

debate calling for the scrapping of housing benefit reforms. Mark, why

do you think your party's president Tim Farron voted with Labour? Were

you disappointed? As the deputy Chief Whip, of course I was

disappointed. But I think the important context is that there are

a quarter of a million households in this country living in overcrowded

accommodation and winner from all the statistics that there are 1

million spare bedrooms in the social housing sector so something has got

to be done in order to try and get those people currently living in

overcrowded accommodation into social housing wherever possible.

But Tim Farron felt that it was deeply unfair, the way you have gone

about it. Clearly, but you would have to ask him for his reasons I

suspect you have at asked him. Lucy, does Labour have plans on how to

contract housing benefit? What I said in the debate on Tuesday was

that this policy of the bedroom tax, not only is it morally wrong

but it will cost more than it saves any to the taxpayer and it cannot

work, it won't work in terms of what Mark is talking about in reducing

the housing waiting list so this policy is just a wrong headed one.

We need to tackle these issues that need a long`term strategy and this

blunt instrument will not work. Both get a flavour of the debate in the

Commons. Housing benefit payments and was

doubled up to 23 billion in the last Government. Like the poll tax, it is

based on mean mindedness and physical dogma. Just like I am being

shouted at now, unfortunately the voices of nearly 2 million people on

waiting lists have been shouted out. The same callous indifference shown

to my indifference has been shown by the Secretary of State by not being

here. Pick upon the point that Lucy is

making, Mark, that the policy does not work practically. We do not know

that because time will tell which of us is right about this. I would say

to Lucy and the Labour Party that there is not an alternative scenario

being put forward and of Labour think it is so easy to fix it, why

didn't they do it in 13 years they were in power? Diminished either

just heard saying, 2 million people an housing lists and this is a

determined attempt `` the Minister you just heard saying. As people

moving around, people trying to downsize, also is of unintended

consequences so my constituency we are ending up with a glut of two

bedroom flats in blocks which are not suitable for families and people

cannot afford the spare bedroom tax for single occupier so they are now

going to people much less in need so the people most in need on the

housing list are not getting anywhere near these properties

because they cannot access them This is about supply, housing

supply. We need a long`term strategy to build the right homes. Let's move

on. Now it was another difficult week

for workers at Blackpool Council, the latest local authority to

announce more job cuts. The news came as the latest unemployment

figures showed a 0.1% increase in the North West. That's the third

successive rise, contrasting with a national decrease. So why are we

struggling more than other areas? The news from Blackpool this week

was bleak. 700 jobs to go and ? 6 million in saving required. We are

talking about a serious impact on front line services. People will

find it harder to make benefit claims, to get blue badges, they

will find day to day transaction with the council take longer and

that is not fair. And they're not alone as councils across the North

West prepare their budgets for next year. A situation not lost on the

employment minister, herself a North West MP. To be fair, the North West

has got a more difficult picture than the rest of the country so

whilst I have seen 1 million more people in jobs across the country,

it is not fully reflected in the north`west. What the region needs is

more private`sector jobs. This week, AstraZeneca announced 300 new jobs

near Macclesfield. But for many finding any work is tough. You hear

these figures all the time saying unemployment is down and nobody is

unemployed and when you are living it day to day and you're not living

in your little bubble, it is hard. Opportunities for people like Nicky

to find work in the public sector are getting harder. But services and

construction are doing better in the private sector and for those

analysing the data say it is looking good for the Chancellor come the

election. From the Government perspective, we are looking at

growth up, jobs up, unemployment down, inflation is falling,

Government rowing is looking better. `` Government borrowing The

public sector is still feeling the impact of Government cuts in the

North West, and will do for years to come. But the Government hopes the

recovery will take hold in time for the next election. Mark, how worried

are you that unemployment is still going up in the region? It is

disappointing, there is a marginal increase and the figures

year`on`year will show that it is heading in the right direction,

downwards. We should not ignore the fact that the economic indicators

have generally been positive. The governor of the Bank of England

saying that the economy is picking up and the signs are more

encouraging, and unemployment nationally and youth unemployment

are generally going down. If the Government is trying to rebalance

the economy, and the national picture is going down, and we are

going up, we are going in the wrong direction. It is a very slight

increase. Any increase is obviously a cause for concern. The figures

only 12 month period show that the employment is generally coming down.

Freedom successive increases are still a problem. There is still work

to do `` three successive increases. High`Speed two is probably the most

high`profile of recent cases. We shall growth fund, lots of extra

things. You are fairly happy with progress made in Manchester? In

Manchester, we have had traditionally a better strategy for

bringing in private`sector jobs from the local authorities working

together and having that strategy but across the region as a whole,

the North West has been more reliant on public sector jobs and so when

they have been withdrawn as quickly as they are by this Government, we

need a strategy in place for what will replace them and it is no good

saying that we will leave it to the markets because what happens in that

sense is that the jobs go to the London and the south`east economies

which are growing quickly whereas the North West economies are being

left behind. But if you are saying that Manchester has got it game

together and doing well, that is an argument for other local authorities

not doing as well. Possibly sober then you must have the other

stretches in place to support those authorities doing that `` possibly

so, but then you must have. We have had other things stripped away. As

we saw in Blackpool, the continued cuts to local authorities, are you

worried about that or is that just the way we will see things with the

shrinking away the public sector? Course I am worried. These are

services that people desperately rely on. As this gone too far? They

certainly have two local authorities in the north and the North West

Labour would restore some of the funding? No, they have gone too far

in the North West and the Northern economies because we have seen and

liked cuts in the local Government where Manchester and the pool have

had some of the worst cuts `` Manchester and Liverpool. Whereas

London and oxygen have had virtually no cuts at all. So you chance for

funding to the North West? That is the opposite to what the Government

have done. They have effectively transferred some of the transferred

money from some of the most deprived economies. For every ?1 central

Government says, 20% goes to local Government, it is a major

expenditure area `` Government saves. As big as a former council

leader in Stockport and the performance of councils vary

greatly. Some of them very good taking these difficult decisions and

I don't pretend it has been easy, to protect front line services. Others

instead have gone straight out and looked at front line services. We

have had a letter from a viewer Mr Howarth, talking about the way that

they have been cuts to hospital after care to befriending services,

but huge amount of money but he points out that they have had a

devastating impact on those kinds of services. And that in his words

they are failing the most vulnerable. I do know what area your

correspondent is from so it is difficult to comment on individual

circumstances but certain only NHS spending has been ring fenced. We

are putting more money into the NHS. Local authorities now are working

much more closely with the NHS to try to get joined`up thinking and

provide better services in all of our communities. That is all

happening on the ground now. I am not pretending this is easy. There

have been tough decisions to take but we have taken them in the

coalition government and have provided that platform of stability

to get the economy moving. As you say, it has not been easy and the

cuts continue to divide opinion Could councils be better together?

Merseyside's six councils are looking at creating a combined

authority. It's what's happened in Greater Manchester where the ten

local authorities cooperate on major projects. But is it innovation, or a

throwback to the county council that was scrapped in the '80s?

# Come on, come on and let's stick together.

County councils were abolished in 1986. Back in the 1970s and 80s

Liverpool's authorities were stuck together in something called the

Merseyside Council. 25 years after it was disbanded, the six

authorities are joining forces once again but none of them are being

replaced. So what is the point of this new body?

One reason, supporters say, is to ensure the success of projects like

this. You can see the vessel out to sea, that will be deep in the

approach. A large shed down their complete in development and as we

come out here we have got the Liverpool development to allow us to

text of the largest container ships in the world. `` to take.

Liverpool's port, the UK's fifth biggest, already imports and exports

everything from Jaguars to soya beans. Its expansion by owners Peel

Holdings will lead to developments in each of the six Merseyside

council areas. It is not the answer to all our prayers but anything that

can streamline the process streamlines the way that it works

and the numbers of interaction that you have, that can only be

beneficial. This new council group won't be

involved in day`to`day decisions, instead concentrating on strategic

decisions about the economy, regeneration and transport. We have

six local authorities plus the local enterprise partnership collectively

making should he do decisions about where investment will go to in the

area in the future. Only greater matches as a combined authority but

Newcastle, Leeds and Sheffield are also looking to form combined

authorities on the same timetable as ourselves.

In a matter of months, hopefully we should see this site developed. You

can see it has been cleared. This is the latest part of Widnes to

be transformed. The town is growing as a river, road and rail transport

hub. It will give access to gritty funding `` greater funding

opportunities. In terms of the development and regeneration.

So far, so positive but across the Mersey in the Wirral, you will find

concerns from people that this is a return to what they think are the

bad old days when they were not in favour of the big mother over there.

`` brother. We do not want to be part of a big, cumbersome Liverpool

`based local authority. Even though this will not replace existing

authorities? It will have limiting powers and I will be pleased if it

has extremely limited powers. People are worried that people had not been

consulted and that this will be a partisan body. These decisions are

best left with local residents and local Wirral people who represent

the business forums. So even with the tide moving in the

direction of a combined authority, some still feel they are better off

on their own. And we're joined now by Phil Davies,

the leader of Wirral Council. Welcome. Dellacqua hello. Are you in

favour? It is a common sense way forward. It makes sense for the to

come to streamline decision`making because clearly these are issues

that cut across our boundaries. We're not talking about delegating

everything that we do, it is those strategic decisions which it makes

sense to cooperate around. That you have already got organisations like

Mersey travel for transport, the local enterprise partnership. Isn't

that their job? We often have to go to about five or six board

separately for agreement and have to take them to our own separate

councils and it takes an interest in double amount of time. `` takes an

awful lot of time. Visual enable us to compete with other city regions.

`` it will enable. Is this something the Government would like you to do

and they way to get more funding, or do you think it is a good thing It

is a bit of both. We are being pragmatic. The Government are

encouraging us to look at things like this. Maybe in the. Time,

savings, if we can share services between the councils will happen. It

is a good thing for the taxpayer. This will not cost any more money,

it is not an additional level of bureaucracy, it is more about having

a more streamlined process. As far as the critics go, that is one of

the charges against you, the extra bureaucracy. The other one is the

danger that places like the wearer or Sefton will get subsumed ``

places like the Wirral. We have six council leaders on the combined

authority. The leader... We have all got big voices and I will certainly

make sure that my voice is heard but we have got past the stage where

this is down to personalities. We have got quite a chore relationships

now and we know that what is often good for one authority is good for

the others as well. Lucy, how well has it worked in Manchester? And how

would you like to see it develop? It has worked very well in Manchester,

and I think it is something that is a reason that Manchester has grown

better than Liverpool's conurbation over the same time. Decisions can be

taken aback economic develop them, transport, jobs. But there are

savings that we have, how rude the cycle for example. `` how we

recycle. And I think it gives Manchester a bigger voice. I would

like to see it develop further, possibly with some kind figurehead

for the whole conurbation, so we can maximise the boys. `` the voice

Like a regional mayor. Mark, the issue I raised about people saying

that Liverpool will dominate, has that in an issue of Manchester

dominating? It is self`evidently the regional capital so it plays a lead

role in this but we are a good model in greater Manchester for how local

authorities can work together. It is not that revolutionary an idea, but

getting the ten as it is in Manchester, ten council leaders and

Chief Executive 's in the same room once a month actually does pay

dividends and there is a history of this being a successful approach in

Manchester and it is quite surprising that it is not yet being

taken up in parts of the country elsewhere. You want to see more of

it? Yes, it is the way forward. Why is the Government so keen? This is

about looking at other ways of working and you use the phrase

yourself, better together, although it is being used differently in

Scotland. Manchester has blazed the trail on this through the previous

association and greater Manchester authorities and through the new body

and I am very confident that Liverpool will follow the same way.

What you think about the idea of a regional mayor for Merseyside? My

view is that it is not the direction of travel that I would like to go

down personally, we have come to an agreement that the combined

authorities are a model that will work for us. All the reasons I have

mentioned. In terms of the models are up for grabs, the combined

authority will get broad consensus across all the leaders in Liverpool.

Joe has been talking about that but I disagree but we are open about

this. This is about making sure that all the residents of Merseyside can

benefit and I do generally deliberately genuinely believe that

it will work. We had from Blackpool Council, what is the position in

Wirral? The position is dire, we are losing lots of money over the next

three years and it is about fairness. More jobs to come `` more

job cuts to come? Sadly yes, and front line services are in danger

and for me it is about the agenda that needs to be rethought by this

Government that seems to be like a furnace. So what else has happened

this week? Mark Edwardson can tell us in 60 Seconds.

A "spectacular mistake" ` former Home Secretary Jack Straw confessed

that his Labour Government "messed up" on immigration. The Blackburn MP

said relaxing restrictions for Eastern Europeans was wrong.

A seven`year`old boy from Merseyside was ordered to leave the country,

leaving his mother behind. Jamie Leung from Southport is Canadian but

his mother Sara has dual nationality.

The Royal College of Nursing said staff shortages are threatening

patient safety. Hospitals in the North West are sending teams to

Portugal and Spain to recruit. There is so much on offer now, the

spread in what we have God, it is being spread so much more thinner.

`` that we have got. A food bank's being launched on the Isle of Man to

help tackle what's being described as the problem of the hidden hungry.

Last year the Salvation Army provided food parcels for 3,000

people. And Morecambe Bay's getting a ?

million make over. The heritage lottery funding will help wildlife,

historic sites and go towards a new cycle route.

Lucy, what do you make of Jack Straw saying that the Labour Government

made a spec to kill a mistake over Eastern European immigration? He is

saying what Ed Miliband has been saying, we did make a mistake and we

need to learn lessons. The estimates that were provided at the time

proved to be wrong and therefore we were not able to manage the impact

on our public services. You think he is right. Do you agree, Mark? He is

correct to apologise for the appalling record. Since the

coalition came into Government, immigration is down by one fifth so

we are taking measures to try to make sure that the immigration

policies... Thank you very much receiving it. We will return to this

if we hear more. Thank you. Andrew, it is back to you.

Who'd be an MP? It's a good question. Certainly something Mark

Pritchard must have asked himself when his picture graced the front

page of the Daily Telegraph, with allegations that he had offered to

set up business deals overseas in return for hundreds of thousands of

pounds. Mr Pritchard dismissed the claims as hurtful and wrong. He

referred himself to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner

who has now said there is insufficient evidence to

investigate. In a moment we'll talk to Mr Pritchard, but first let's

take a look back at how the story unfurled. A Conservative MP has

denied allegations that he used his Parliamentary contacts for financial

gain... The daily Telegraph says Mark Pritchard offered to broker

investments overseas. In a statement he said the allegations made by the

Telegraph are false. Mr Pritchard was secretly filmed... What do you

make of these allegations? He has referred himself to the

Parliamentary Commissioner for standards to clear his name and I

suspect this story will reopen the debate about what MPs should be

allowed, having business interests elsewhere. Is it not clear that you

did ask for money in consultancy services? First of all I would like

to apologise for the sunglasses I have had a lot of comments about

that. On a serious point, these claims by the Telegraph of false.

You didn't ask for ?3000? They are false, hurtful and malicious. It is

known widely that I have sued the Telegraph previously. I have also

been critical of their coverage of the plebgate affair, their reporting

of that. I have been supportive of the cross-party Royal Charter and I

know that some people in the media don't like my position on that. That

is why it is malicious. I believe in a free press. That free press also

has a responsibility to be fair accurate and lawful. In discussions

with this business who turned out to be a Telegraph reporter, it is true

that you ask for ?3000 a month consultancy fee. The point is..

That is the point. No. That video has been cut and pasted to serve the

Telegraph's story. The story was that we want to get Mark Bridger,

for whatever reason, at any cost. -- Mark Bridger hard. I would not go

down the line they were hoping I would go down. Everything I own

outside of Parliament is openly declared. We are allowed to have

outside witness interests. The Telegraph need to say clearly

whether they accept that or they don't. I think you need to say

clearly whether you asked for the money or not. You then went on to

ask for ?300,000 if it was a 10 million deal, you asked for 3%

commission. Let me be clear, if I was asking for income in return for

lobbying, or raising issues in Parliament, or setting up

Parliamentary groups, or going to ministers, writing to ministers

that would be completely inappropriate. I was approached by

somebody to advise them on business. It is entirely proper and entirely

within the rules for members of Parliament to have outside

consultancies and interests. Did you or didn't you? I am answering the

question in the way that I want to answer it, not in the way that fits

a particular narrative. The narrative, unfortunately, of some

parts of the Telegraph and to be fair, there are some very good

journalists, I know there is a dispute about the direction of that

paper at senior parts. Do they want to return to being a Catholic,

objective newspaper or do they want to slip into the slippery slope of

being an agnostic rag, looking for sensationalist headlines? Part of

this has come from your membership of these all-party Parliamentary

groups. You were in Malta when you are first approached, I think you

were on a trip there, Hungary is another one, there is an

uncomfortable overlap between your political and business interests. I

have no business interests in any of those countries. Some of the country

is the Telegraph mentioned, let me be clear, I have not even visited.

You were boasting that you knew the Albanian Prime Minister and the

Mayor of Teheran and the previous prime minister. I make no apology

for making foreign trips. I think it is unfortunate we have a narrative

developing in some parts of the press that if a politician goes

abroad at the taxpayers expense it is wrong. If they go abroad at a

host government's expense it is wrong. If they go abroad with a

charity, NGO and private company, even if it is declared, it is wrong.

We want people with an international perspective in Parliament. Look at

this map. You are a member of 5 country groups. I don't know what

Canada has done not to deserve you, or Australia. 54 groups, you are a

part of. You're like... This is the Mark Pritchard British Empire. That

is very kind. If I had global interests that white I would not be

in Parliament. No, no, no. That is the point... It is the suspicion,

that you used these groups to drum up business for your consultants.

Prove it, that is the trouble. These sorts of headlines, create

suspicion. I am suing the Telegraph... Have you issued a writ?

I expect an apology. Have you issued a writ? I have just answered your

question. It is yes or no, have you issued a writ? I am in final legal

discussions tomorrow about issuing a writ. You have raised something for

top the fact is that is inaccurate. I am a member of 40-something

Parliamentary groups, of which I make no apology. We have got 54 Let

me answer the question if I may It would be very useful. There are 196

countries around the world, it is less than a quarter of the country

groups on my figures. I make no apology. One of my regrets is not

having visited Syria, I don't know if I am a member of the Syria group,

part I should become a member, I make no apology. -- perhaps I should

become. When it came to the Syria vote, I was blind sided foot of yes,

we have excellent briefings. I had to make a judgement based on part

knowledge with nothing beats being on the ground, as even BBC

journalists recognised this week. Nothing beats being on the ground.

You posted about your connections in Albania to getting a business

contract. You meet these people through these all Parliamentary

groups. That is where there is an unhealthy overlap. That is what the

Telegraph said, let's wait and see. Look... You are a newspaperman, you

know lots of people in the newspaper industry, as well as being a

respected broadcaster. I am not going to prejudice my legal

proceedings against the Telegraph. I make no apology. A good politician

has to be local am a national and international. Hang on hang on -

has to be local, national and international. We need politicians

who get out of the Westminster bubble, who have a business

hinterland, who keep their foot in the real world and have an

international perspective. And ask for 3% commission? I have answered

the question. It was a cut and pasted video, photo shopped to suit

the agenda of the Telegraph. They need to get back to serious news

reporting and I wish those well at the senior part of the Telegraph who

want to get to those days. We look forward to the writ. Thank you.

Now - there's been more good news on the economy for George Osborne this

week - inflation's down, growth forecasts have been revised up and

unemployment has fallen again. On Friday the former Bullingdon boy

donned a head torch and went down't pit for just one of many photo

opportunities ahead of the Autumn Statement, which he'll deliver in

the Commons on fifth December. And, who knows, he might even take his

hard hat off for that. # Going underground.

# Let the boys all saying and let the boys all shout for tomorrow

# Lah, lah, love, love. # I talk and talk until my head

explodes. # Make this boy shout, make this boy

scream. # Going underground.

# I'm going underground. # I'm going underground.

George Osborne in his heart out he probably sleeps with it on. This

Autumn Statement is becoming a more important part of the political

calendar for the coalition. It looks like this is where they are finally

going to come up with some kind of response to Ed Miliband's game

changing electricity price freeze. The idea which is mooted is they

will move people's green tax on two general bills which is not an answer

but cosmetically it could have apolitical impact. George Osborne is

receiving a lot of representations from lobby groups, business, MPs on

his own side, for tax cuts and extra bits spending and he has to spend

the next two weeks reminding people of something that has been skewered

by the economic recovery. This country has a fiscal deficit which

is twice that of France, supposedly the crisis economy in western Europe

or if you accept it will take another parliament again to

eliminate this deficit, we are not even halfway through the age of

austerity. He is in no position to give anything away. He has to hold

the line. Danny Alexander has been useful but this is his real

challenge. He is going to give stuff away. When the Autumn Statement

comes away, 15 months from an election, Nick Clegg has been

talking about raising the tax allowance threshold even further,

talk of moving green levies of the electricity bills, he is going to

give stuff away. We will get funding for free school meals that Nick

Clegg mentioned in his party conference. The significance of the

Autumn Statement is twice a year, a Chancellor stands up and we all look

at the state of the economy. If you talk to members of the Chancellor's

circle, it is interesting how nervous they are. They say, don t

assume we are going to have this wonderful growth for ever, don't

assume everything is fine in the eurozone. I think what would help

the Chancellor is if somebody was able to see some of that humility in

public. It is recognised that he was far too triumphalist

speech he made on the 9th of September, when he said to Ed Balls,

we have one and you cannot make an economic policy on the cost of

living -- we have... Won. economic policy on the cost of

people don't seem to learn from Norman Lamont's green shoots. Labour

has moved from complaining there is no growth, now there is, to say

has moved from complaining there is is gross but living standards are

not rising. If the economy grows by nearly 3% next year, even the bank

is saying it will grow by 2.8%, living standards could start to

rise. It does but everybody in a difficult position politically if

the economy starts growing, ironically. We need to remind

ourselves that economy, the natural direction of an economy is to grow.

Unless the politicians screw up Unless you have some idiot in

charge! It is not a cause for the Morris dance that they seem to be

doing, certainly on the Tory side. Osborne is put in a difficult

position goes he will have to stop giving stuff away, he cannot push

the austerity line at the same time as jangling his magical growth - he

will have to start giving stuff away. It puts Labour in a difficult

position, it is very unlikely that living standards will match GDP Not

since 2003, GDP has been a great indicator. Wages have stagnated for

ten years, food has gone up 17% energy has gone up 24%. That is a

decade in which everybody has got poorer. The real sweet spot comes

when wages start to outstrip inflation. It is a sweet spot and

will be a huge challenge for Ed Miliband. As ever on the economy

with a sweet spot, you have a danger moment because that is when the

governor of the Bank of England will have to look at interest rates.

Everything he was saying last week was when we move toward 7%

unemployment come that is not the trigger for raising interest rates,

it is the moment when we look at it. Everything was saying he did not

want to do that. When do you anticipate wages outstripping

inflation? It hasn't happened for so long. The second half of next year.

Wages and prices are not the sole measure of living standards, there

are broader measures which no one seems willing to use.

That's all for today. The Daily Politics will be back at tomorrow at

midday on BBC Two and I will back here on BBC One at 11:00am next

week. Remember if it's Sunday, it's the Sunday Politics.