Browse content similar to 18/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello, this is the news in the south-east. Coming up a blast from | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
the past or a future sense of energy? | :30:34. | :30:39. | |
We examine the pros and cons of making nuclear a priority in the | :30:39. | :30:43. | |
south-east. With me in the studio is Conservative MP Gordon Henderson | :30:43. | :30:46. | |
and the newly and winter and leader-in-waiting of Brighton and | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
Hove City Council, the Green Party's Jason. Thank you for being | :30:50. | :30:56. | |
with us. A couple of weeks, we brought you news of a possible late | :30:56. | :31:01. | |
night levy for bars and clubs open after midnight. We now know Sussex | :31:01. | :31:05. | |
police are in favour of the idea. Councils would accept the levy and | :31:05. | :31:12. | |
it would help pay for police costs associated with binge drinking. Now, | :31:12. | :31:17. | |
Brighton has an estimated alcohol cost of �100 million a year. Jason, | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
it is unsurprising police want a bit of money to help them with this. | :31:21. | :31:25. | |
Why don't you agree it is a good idea? Well, obviously police are | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
struggling with cuts, but what we know from the trade in Brighton and | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
Hove is the licensing industry is already struggling to make ends | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
meet and this could push a lot of them over the edge. We think there | :31:37. | :31:42. | |
is a middle ground to find. Even �1,500 a year? Some of them are | :31:42. | :31:48. | |
really struggling, and we are seeing people buying the drinks at | :31:48. | :31:52. | |
home. They buy their drinks on the supermarket and don't actually buy | :31:52. | :31:56. | |
drinks in the clubs, so as to -- so they are struggling to make ends | :31:56. | :32:04. | |
meet. Gordon, you have worked in the industry. Yes, all are not | :32:04. | :32:10. | |
drinking! Where drinkers cause a problem, they should contribute, | :32:10. | :32:16. | |
shouldn't a? I am not a great believer of additional taxes and I | :32:16. | :32:25. | |
would certainly support this levy if it was going to be across a | :32:25. | :32:29. | |
whole industry. But many of our pubs are really struggling at the | :32:29. | :32:34. | |
moment. In the bigger cities, however, we do have a problem with | :32:34. | :32:37. | |
alcohol-fuelled violence and binge drinking, so we do have to do | :32:37. | :32:42. | |
something to tackle that. My own view is there are probably enough | :32:42. | :32:48. | |
laws available to the police to come down on it anyway. So I'm not | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
entirely in support of a levy, because as Jason said it would just | :32:53. | :32:59. | |
push some people into bankruptcy. However, if this is going to stop | :32:59. | :33:04. | |
violence, I think we should at least look at it. OK, more on that | :33:04. | :33:08. | |
shortly. Now, would you want a nuclear power station as a | :33:08. | :33:18. | |
:33:18. | :33:18. | ||
neighbour? One council wants one right in their backyard. Last week, | :33:18. | :33:23. | |
the government said a new plant threatens environmental damage to | :33:23. | :33:25. | |
the neighbourhood. The existing nuclear power station is being | :33:25. | :33:30. | |
wound down, but with locals Dean and climate change a bigger risk to | :33:30. | :33:33. | |
us all, should the government changed its mind and build another | :33:33. | :33:43. | |
:33:43. | :33:47. | ||
Dungeness power station is on the South Kent coast. One is due to | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
stop generating power in 2018, the other is already been | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
decommissioned. Most existing operations across the country are | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
scheduled to be closed within the next decade, and the only way | :33:58. | :34:02. | |
nuclear power can continue his if new plants are built. But whilst | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
the government has earmarked new sites, Dungeness is not one of them. | :34:06. | :34:11. | |
A growing number of voices, including the local MP as well as | :34:11. | :34:15. | |
councils, think the government should change its mind. I think it | :34:15. | :34:19. | |
is the wrong decision. The current power station employs 500 people | :34:19. | :34:24. | |
directly on the site, the nuclear industry employs 1,000 people in my | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
constituency. That is a lot of jobs in an area of relatively high | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
unemployment for the south-east. I think Dungeness is a good site, it | :34:32. | :34:36. | |
is in an area of high energy demand and can produce more than enough | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
electricity for the whole of Kent, so it makes sense. It seems a shame | :34:41. | :34:45. | |
that we may end up importing nuclear energy from under the sea | :34:45. | :34:49. | |
in France. Whilst nuclear power stations are expensive to build, | :34:49. | :34:55. | |
some say they are cost-effective and necessary. One such supporter | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
is Margaret Thatcher's former press secretary. Nuclear energy on the | :35:00. | :35:07. | |
government's own predictions is the cheapest form of electricity | :35:07. | :35:17. | |
:35:17. | :35:21. | ||
generation. On the government's own projections. And that takes into | :35:21. | :35:27. | |
account wind, renewables, gas and coal. And as that also take into | :35:27. | :35:32. | |
account the building of a new plant and the decommissioning? Yes, it is | :35:32. | :35:40. | |
the total cost. Frankly, Nuclear is a poor man's friend. And keeping it | :35:40. | :35:46. | |
electricity down there would be beneficial. In Kent, East Sussex | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
and Surrey, over 180,000 households are in fuel poverty and the problem | :35:50. | :35:59. | |
is getting worse. In some areas of the south-east, over 15% of | :35:59. | :36:07. | |
household of fuel poor. Some also argue nuclear is better for the | :36:07. | :36:15. | |
environment. One unlikely supporter is the former head of Greenpeace in | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
the UK. He says it is there any way to meet carbon reduction targets. | :36:20. | :36:28. | |
Taking into account the full life- cycle of production and | :36:28. | :36:35. | |
decommissioning, the carbon dioxide emissions from nuclear are about 18 | :36:35. | :36:40. | |
from what they are from a coal fire station and a quarter of a gas | :36:41. | :36:46. | |
fired power station. Nuclear is the only way that the UK government can | :36:46. | :36:51. | |
meet its carbon reduction targets which are legally binding under the | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
climate change act. He is also in favour of spending public money on | :36:54. | :36:58. | |
nuclear, something which already happens for certain renewable | :36:58. | :37:02. | |
sources. There will need to be subsidies of some sort, that will | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
have to be accepted. But it is necessary to subsidise nuclear | :37:07. | :37:12. | |
because it is an essential part of climate protection. That is what | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
sending -- spending public money on. Some say more needs to be done to | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
secure that the region's future electricity supply. Is the solution | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
to prioritise nuclear ahead of other energy sources? To help the | :37:25. | :37:31. | |
environment, job opportunities and people's fuel bills? | :37:31. | :37:38. | |
Joining us now from a studio in Oxford is Catherine. Nuclear power | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
- cheaper, helps reduce carbon emissions, and the people of | :37:42. | :37:46. | |
Dungeness want it! Why do you say they should not get it? Well, it | :37:46. | :37:52. | |
certainly isn't cheaper. It may be less carbon emitting, but it is not | :37:52. | :37:57. | |
cheaper. It 2008 the cost was a �38 per megawatt lower than coal and | :37:57. | :38:02. | |
gas and much lower than onshore and offshore wind. But that does not | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
take into the cost of decommissioning and waste product. | :38:06. | :38:13. | |
He said that that was eight level lysed generation cost. Know, we | :38:13. | :38:19. | |
have always had subsidised decommissioning. That has never | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
been at the door of the energy companies. And we now know that | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
decommissioning is hugely expensive and the radioactive waste lies | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
around for thousands of years in a dangerous state. Well, let me pick | :38:34. | :38:40. | |
you up on a one. In the last 24 hours, the chief scientist for the | :38:40. | :38:44. | |
government, said David King, argues that you can re-use that waste. He | :38:44. | :38:50. | |
says plutonium could be used to create even more energy. Do not | :38:50. | :38:55. | |
always, the technology is not there. Some of it can be used, but most | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
cannot. And also, it is not sustainable. We don't have enough | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
uranium in stable countries. If all power stations were built that | :39:04. | :39:08. | |
people would like to be built, we would probably have about 20 years | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
of uranium that we know of, say it is not sustainable. What we need to | :39:12. | :39:18. | |
be doing is putting the money into renewable and into energy reduction. | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
We heard about people in fuel poverty, if we put money into | :39:22. | :39:26. | |
helping them with their fuel padding and more efficient use of | :39:26. | :39:33. | |
energy, we would save enormous amounts without going down a very | :39:33. | :39:39. | |
risky route. Let's talk about it being risky. Obviously there was | :39:39. | :39:46. | |
Japan, but let us look at two very good to -- robust opinion polls. | :39:46. | :39:50. | |
They both demonstrated that public support for nuclear power in this | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
country has not gone down, it has gone up. The people of Dungeness | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
want it, they don't feel there is a risk. The market forces are not | :39:58. | :40:06. | |
coming up with the money since the big nuclear catastrophes of | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. Not one nuclear power station has | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
been built without government subsidy since then because it is | :40:13. | :40:18. | |
too expensive for the markets - the insurance, the decommissioning, the | :40:18. | :40:22. | |
building and all the safety features make it an enormously | :40:22. | :40:29. | |
expensive form of energy in terms of environmental and safety | :40:30. | :40:35. | |
concerns. If we actually put that money into investment into | :40:35. | :40:41. | |
renewables and into energy reduction, we would actually have | :40:41. | :40:46. | |
sustainable and save electricity supplies. Thank you. Jason, I am | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
intrigued to know the official Green party line on this. In terms | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
of the green movement, it threatens to split you down the middle. | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
we oppose it. The government had been playing fast and loose with | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
the figures here. They don't include the insurance costs, the | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
security costs. But it is not just the government to gives these low | :41:06. | :41:10. | |
figures. The Royal Academy of Engineering puts it down as a penny | :41:10. | :41:17. | |
for penny almost as cheap as gas. If you look at the go Shemar, only | :41:17. | :41:25. | |
about �1.4 billion of insurance was liable to the insurers. The rest | :41:25. | :41:29. | |
was the government's liability. There is a limitless cost to | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
dealing with this very dangerous fuel, which is limited - there is | :41:35. | :41:39. | |
less than 20 years' worth of uranium. Why would we spend | :41:39. | :41:49. | |
billions in such a short an energy source? Well, Gordon, you are the | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
last person I would expect to hear endorsing nuclear power. The your | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
constituents, wind energy surely has to be the future. If you get a | :41:58. | :42:04. | |
great at the tight -- appetite for wind energy, you could get that | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
turbine up and running and that would mean jobs for people. | :42:08. | :42:11. | |
Absolutely, and I'm a great supporter of the both onshore and | :42:11. | :42:20. | |
offshore wind. But I'm not an expert about nuclear. I'm an expert | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
on what I think my constituents want, and what they want is to be | :42:23. | :42:28. | |
able to turn the light on and have power. My big concern isn't about | :42:28. | :42:34. | |
the environment, I mean, I am concerned, but my big concern is | :42:34. | :42:39. | |
energy security. We are increasingly going to be held | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
hostage by overseas supplies of energy, so we need our own supplies, | :42:43. | :42:48. | |
and we need them from a mix of sources. One of them is no clear. | :42:48. | :42:51. | |
That doesn't mean to say we cannot put money into reducing the need | :42:51. | :42:57. | |
for it, which is what the Green Party want. We will have to leave | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
it there. We are back to policing - should it ever be for-profit? | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
Earlier this week, Sussex police talked to private security | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
companies about privatising part of their service. Almost every area of | :43:11. | :43:19. | |
service was up for discussion. Police forces across the country | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
have to make 20% budget cuts, but his privatisation really the answer, | :43:24. | :43:29. | |
and will it change policing for good or evil? Gordon, let's start | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
with you. Theresa May clearly believes that some sort of | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
outsourcing is the way forward. Kent Police told us this week they | :43:36. | :43:45. | |
will not look at privatising or out serving anything - have they got it | :43:45. | :43:50. | |
wrong? Good for them. I would oppose any suggestion that we | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
privatise the core police service. So, what would you be happy with | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
them doing? Well, there is always an argument for some of the | :43:59. | :44:02. | |
services. For instance, the maintenance of vehicles, canteens, | :44:02. | :44:06. | |
things civilians could easily do. But the actual core services, | :44:06. | :44:15. | |
patrolling our streets, we cannot sub-contract that. So you would | :44:15. | :44:18. | |
make a distinction between frontline policing and backroom | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
policing? Well, even back room policing I would be nervous. Why, | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
what you worried about? Because there has to be continuity, and if | :44:27. | :44:36. | |
you have the police themselves on the front line, they need to be | :44:36. | :44:45. | |
able to communicate with the backroom. There is civilisation | :44:45. | :44:55. | |
already in -- severely ionisation - - some of the areas have been | :44:55. | :45:01. | |
civilised already. Jason, where would you draw the line? I think it | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
is shocking. It is ill-considered, you cannot possibly have private | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
contract is doing investigation and providing the public safety and | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
protection that police officers do. But also, it is ill-considered. We | :45:14. | :45:17. | |
see time and again that this sort of outsourcing just creates an | :45:17. | :45:24. | |
additional level which adds costs. The NHS, in their move towards | :45:24. | :45:31. | |
privatisation, they cost went towards 14% up from 5%. It will | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
really undermine confidence. All because of these austerity measures | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
from the government, it is ill- considered. I used philosophically | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
opposed to privatisation, or privatisation of the police | :45:42. | :45:47. | |
specifically? Boat. Is this green philosophy, that privatisation is | :45:47. | :45:52. | |
that? There is obviously a grey area on this, I would not expect | :45:52. | :45:55. | |
the police to be building their own photocopiers or printers, and they | :45:55. | :45:59. | |
should use the best providers there, but when it comes to core services, | :45:59. | :46:06. | |
the reason they are in the public sector is it is different from a | :46:06. | :46:12. | |
commercial centre. Their duty is to serve everybody. Are you aware that | :46:12. | :46:20. | |
they already privatised aspects such as custody suites? Yes, and it | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
is regrettable. What is your concern? Well, it is about | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
democratic accountability. accountability, do you believe many | :46:28. | :46:31. | |
people believe the police are that accountable as they stand? I would | :46:31. | :46:34. | |
have thought there is quite a broad perception that nobody ever takes | :46:34. | :46:37. | |
the blame in the police when someone goes wrong anyway. | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
welcome I think there is an issue there and at the police should be | :46:41. | :46:44. | |
more directly controlled by directly elected councillors, but | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
that is an argument that has been winning with the government at the | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
moment. The government is introducing elected commissioners | :46:51. | :47:00. | |
who will be in charge of local police forces. That is still | :47:00. | :47:03. | |
democracy, because people will be able to select those people. That | :47:04. | :47:07. | |
is what we're talking about. You want accountability, you cannot get | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
more accountable than being elected. If I would prefer more councillors | :47:11. | :47:14. | |
to be involved rather than creating another level of one person who | :47:15. | :47:23. | |
could easily influenced. I was a councillor on Kent Council and I | :47:23. | :47:33. | |
:47:33. | :47:36. | ||
know that actually one remove from there protection of our people. | :47:36. | :47:46. | |
:47:46. | :47:49. | ||
us take a round-up of this week's Water companies across the south- | :47:49. | :47:52. | |
east will introduce hosepipe bans next month to conserve water | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
supplies in drought conditions. The Environment Secretary said we must | :47:57. | :48:04. | |
act now. The family of a Kent businessman | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
extradited to the US welcomed the Prime Minister raising the issue | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
with the President during talks in Washington. But they said it is | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
done action, not words. The region has no premier football | :48:17. | :48:23. | |
clubs, but that did not stop Damian Collins introducing a Bill saying | :48:23. | :48:28. | |
that owners of top-flight teams past a fitness test. | :48:28. | :48:34. | |
And there was a ding-dong over Big Ben. Visitors will be able to visit | :48:34. | :48:44. | |
:48:44. | :48:44. | ||
it for free after a U-turn over charges. Why did Hitler tried to | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
spend so much time bombing it out of existence of it is not a symbol | :48:48. | :48:55. | |
of Britain? Let's start with a hosepipe ban. | :48:55. | :49:04. | |
Gordon, people in quite large much the -- numbers called my radio show | :49:04. | :49:10. | |
to say they didn't care. Would you report a constituent who you are | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
caught breaking the ban? No, I wouldn't, I think that is for | :49:14. | :49:21. | |
police to detect people. I have to say, I have always worried about | :49:21. | :49:29. | |
the hosepipe ban. It is daft to me. You can just use a watering can! | :49:29. | :49:35. | |
Let's talk about football clubs. She Division to be included in this | :49:35. | :49:39. | |
scrutiny? I don't believe the government has any duty to look | :49:39. | :49:44. | |
after football clubs. Jason? Well, the seagulls obviously very | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
important to our community so it is important they are well run. Well, | :49:48. | :49:53. |