26/02/2012 Sunday Politics South East


26/02/2012

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And in the South East: Compensation culture vultures or the victims'

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last hope? We ask if plans to change legal aid for medical cases

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2041 seconds

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Good afternoon. Coming up, working against women, how the coalition

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government's cuts in public spending have hit the the male

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employees hardest. Joining me is the leader of the Labour group on

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Brighton and Hove Albion city council -- Brighton City Council.

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Interestingly, you joined forces with the Conservatives to oppose

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the green plans to put attacks on council tax -- an increase in

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council tax. We are not partners with the Conservatives, but we felt

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freezing council tax for next year was a good thing to do. We were

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very pleased that the greens saw sense and act our amendments. We

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were pleased that the Conservatives also supported us. A lot of Labour

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supporters feel you should have supported the Green Party. We have

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some issues with the ways the Green Party are running the council, they

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had inherited a �3 million underspend, have not fulfilled

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promises, one of which was to freeze council tax, but also

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restructuring, which has not happened. These are unlikely

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political alliances. The people of Brighton have been served well by

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parties working together, and the idea that there was going to be a

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10 % increase in council tax in the next three years was an

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extraordinary policy, so I am sure most of the council tax payers will

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be pleased with the result. amount of money paid out in

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compensation to victims of NHS negligence in the South East has

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shot up dramatically over the past few years. Figures show the Kent

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and East Sussex authorities forked out �37 million between them over

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the last financial year. The government says a growing

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compensation culture is partly to blame. What would this mean for the

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victims? Jill Phillips died at 68, leaving behind her husband and

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children. she had colon cancer, and the surgeon took away one small

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growth, causing the cancer to spread. At a recent inquest, the

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coroner ruled that her death was due to a series of medical failures

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amounting to neglect. The no win, no mack fee element was important,

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because as you can imagine as an ordinary family we would not have

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access to the funds necessary to investigate. That meant we had

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access to justice, which we would not otherwise have. Medical

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negligence payouts by the NHS have increased by 10 % nationally. In

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East Sussex that has gone up by 33 %. In Kent, the increase is less,

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but the total payout is �21.6 million. For many people, it is not

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about the money. We should not forget, Our Father may have

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received some compensation but nothing will ever compensate for

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the loss of his wife. As he said, it is a life sentence. It is a life

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sentence for all of us and no amount of money will ever

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compensate for that. It has never been about money but finding out

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the truth. Jill Phillips's family were fortunate a solicitor took

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their case, confident they stood a chance of winning. She says this is

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not always the case. I do 10 people know what to make a claim, I will

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tell nine of them I am sorry but there is no way they are entitled

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to compensation. They have the alternative option of legal-aid,

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but that will change as part of government in forms. Reliance will

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inevitably be pushed up on these lawyers. This is the most

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controversial of the proposals. It is not as people who support

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patients who are against the move, but the NHS is also pleading with

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the Government not to take this step. The NHS can see that legal-

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aid is by far the most cost- effective. It is far better than

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these other arrangements. reforms may increase negligence

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payments further. This will mean more lawyers will have to represent

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clients under these schemes. They are more expensive for the NHS, so

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in a sense, reducing legal aid will not reduce access to the lock,

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because that is well recognised. -- to the law. Patients can still take

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action but they will do it under these arrangements. It will be more

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expensive. The Prime Minister wants to tackle the country's

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compensation culture, which he says has partly led to the increase in

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pay out. Others say this is not true. It is a common myth. As a

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charity that deals with people and supports them when they have been

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affected by things going wrong, we can tell you the vast majority of

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people do not want to see the NHS, -- do not want to sue the NHS.

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Clearly this is crucial, to ensure the same as mistakes are not

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repeated. This could leave other families with fewer options and the

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NHS with a bigger bill. Joining me is the Conservative MP

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Mark Reckless. On the last point that Helen made, the NHS is opposed

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in the government changes because they believe it will cost more in

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the long run. Is that a possibility? I do not think that is

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likely. The reason we are bringing in these changes is to reduce the

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amount of taxpayers' money spent on legal aid. Also we are seeing the

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taxpayer soon the tax payer. -- suing. We want to see this money

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spent on patients. Are you sure this will mean there is still an

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avenue of justice? I think there is. The difference is that solicitors

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will take on what appeared to be good, clear cases, the changes will

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mean some cases that are less strong will not go to court in the

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way they do at the moment. Also, as he said on you clap, most people

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are not looking for a payout, they want to understand what happened,

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to know that lessons had been learned. That can be done much

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better through a proper complaints process than by going to court.

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said it will save money, but as we heard, many of the solicitors will

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only take on a case they think is going to win, at clear cut case,

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but also those cases cost more. They take longer in court. When

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they settle and are successful lawyer takes a greater amount of

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money from the NHS. There were two different lines, both cannot be

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true, one was that these will stop people taking cases the other was

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that they will make no difference. What do you think? I think it will

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reduce the number of cases. These Lions will only take strong cases,

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and the more marginal cases probably will not go to court. What

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I would like to say is people should have a complaints system

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that works. Are you not concerned about those people who have no

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avenue now? I am concerned but the priority for NHS money has to be on

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treating patients. The amount of money spent on litigation cannot be

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in anyone's interests. If we can reduce that and improve the

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complaints procedure, so it is less defensive, the NHS less worried

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about things, that should allow the NHS to learn lessons easier when

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things have gone wrong. It will give better satisfaction to the

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many people know what to understand what happened, and know the NHS is

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learning the right lessons. Are you concerned an increase in these

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cases will encourage compensation culture? I do not think so, and I

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think there is something interesting about the legal aid

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aspect, it is only really used in about 18 % of cases, so it is quite

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a small number of cases that refer to be delayed. What we have got

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here his lawyer's doubling their receipts of fees over the last 10

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years, which asked to be wrong. It is absolutely crucial we make

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public services respond much more effectively to those people they

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serve. Let's bring in Gill Mitchell, is it possible that the problem

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here is the standard of care in hospitals? Obviously patience if

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the Hasted come first, but we what -- what we seem to have here is an

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inequitable system, tragic cases of people with no choice but to go

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into these lawyers. I would urge the government to think again about

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the funding removal. Nobody seems to be listening to the NHS at the

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moment, not least the government. They know what they're talking

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about. I have heard a statistic that are claims are amongst the

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highest in the world. Mark Reckless, what you make of that? We want to

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reform the NHS because we want to make it better. That is the reason.

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We cannot allow it to just sit still with expanding life

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expectancy, we need to put the family doctors in charge. We need

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to stop this money going on legal claims. We're stopping referral

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fees for selectors there is, which is another area. Mr Reckless, thank

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you for joining us. The number of women out of work in and south-east

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is at its highest, whilst on a planet for men has gone down. --

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unemployment for men. That increase is almost twice the national

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average. Unions say it is because of government cuts in that public

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sector. Are going into the GMB union, women have suffered almost

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all the recent job losses. That is worrying. It is always worrying.

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Female unemployment started under the Labour government, we had 24 %

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reduction in women being implied. What is crucial is that we change

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the environment in which women have a much better chance, one of those

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things is getting nursery care, we want to introduce that much earlier,

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and also supporting the Low Pay Commission, that is actually

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putting in an increase in minimum wage. We have to make sure women

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have an equal position in the workforce, as they do with men.

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Those statistics are shocking. They will get worse as a result of

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public cuts. We are also rebalancing it. Across the country

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there are more women in work, as well. So there is a counterbalance.

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What we have a problem with is that women are often given part-time

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work, often the first jobs to go. We need to ensure we get, within

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the realignment, good quality full- time jobs. Gill Mitchell, as a

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public sector female employee, do you recognise this picture? Yes I

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do. The amount of unemployment amongst Women is the highest for 17

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years for two main reasons. It is because of a lack of access to

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affordable childcare. The government is supposed to be tried

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to increase it, but with the squeeze on local authority budgets,

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we are seeing children's centres closed, private sector nurseries

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raising their fees, grants to the voluntary sector nurseries drying

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up. All this is not helping women who want to work and want to have

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self sustainable family is. totally agree, this country has the

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highest cost of childcare any country in Europe. That has been

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the case for many years because of the regulation, the compliance

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issues for a chat year, we need to reduce that, make sure...

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trouble is that the private sector has a lot of business is standing

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up well, the public sector is taking the head. How do we make

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sure they imply women? One of the things for women is because we

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increased the personal allowances, 400,000 women and I no longer

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paying tax, so it is becoming much better for women to take jobs, and

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we try to increase flexibility in the market. We need those private

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companies and small businesses and entrepreneurs to come forward and

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start employing people. This get back to that -- this get back to

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the growth agenda. The economy is not growing. It is slipping back.

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The government has got to start investing in the private sector to

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generate growth. It has got to have another look at its Cup, -- the

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cuts in the public sector, because we will pay for the social

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breakdown. Lots of women are dependent on these jobs. It is

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extremely important and I totally agree. This is one of the biggest

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crisis facing the country. There is nothing you are offering to stop

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his head on women in the public sector. In East Kent we have

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attracted �40 million additional growth money to go to the private

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sector for them to employ people. This is going to be an important

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thing. Any woman facing her job loss, do not worry, you will help

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them by incentive lies in the private sector? We will do

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everything we can. We need more critical mass. We will have to

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leave it there. Time for a round-up of the week's events. The

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government admitted 500,000 Eurostar passengers were allowed

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into Kent without proper security checks. Theresa May insisted it was

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not her fault. The suspensions were completely unauthorised and that is

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simply not acceptable. Nick Griffin might not be the most

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PC of politicians, but he confirmed his party will field a candidate in

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the election to be the Sussex Police Commissioner. Plans to scrap

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child benefit were attacked by Mark Reckless. He says he is standing up

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for the squeeze the middle. Hats off to Treacy cried, officially

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Westminster's most proficient tosser, winning the pancake race.

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Before we get on to the subject of tossing, interesting position taken

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by Mark Reckless. What is your view on child benefit? I come from a

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different constituency, where the average wage is �17,000 per year.

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From my perspective I feel people at a higher rents should not have

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to -- should not get the compensation of tell benefit. --

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It is not lack of sympathy, but another aspect. Nick Griffin

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talking about the police commissioner, will that make things

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more interesting? I do not think contribution is the right word.

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That party have no contribution to make to British politics, it is

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another attention-seeking gambit, and they must not be allowed to

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