Browse content similar to 29/04/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the south-east, concern for animal welfare. The RSPCA says live | 0:01:30 | 0:01:33 | |
exports at Ramsgate are in breach of the rules. We hear from the | 0:01:33 | 0:01:43 | |
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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1676 seconds | 0:01:43 | 0:29:39 | |
Hello, this is the Sunday Politics in the south-east. Coming up in the | 0:29:39 | 0:29:43 | |
next 20 minutes. Will it be a democratic snub or a liberal dose | 0:29:43 | 0:29:48 | |
of good will? We take a look at the Lib Dem's prospect in next week's | 0:29:48 | 0:29:53 | |
local council elections. Joining me is the Lib Dem MP get East Berlin, | 0:29:53 | 0:30:03 | |
0:30:03 | 0:30:03 | ||
it Stephen Lloyd, and the Greens south-east MEP, Keith Taylor. First, | 0:30:03 | 0:30:06 | |
is the Brighton and Hove Greens council losing its nerve? It has | 0:30:06 | 0:30:14 | |
modified its policy of bubbling -- doubling parking charges on the | 0:30:14 | 0:30:18 | |
seafront by introducing a cheaper tariff. It will be �15 for eight | 0:30:18 | 0:30:27 | |
hours on the seafront, instead of �20. Keith, you are an ex | 0:30:27 | 0:30:31 | |
councillor, is this the reality of power? Backing down? They are | 0:30:31 | 0:30:36 | |
looking to the fact that air pollution is the number-one health | 0:30:36 | 0:30:40 | |
risk for environmental causes. They are trying to solve the problems of | 0:30:40 | 0:30:46 | |
congestion and pollution. This whole furore it is about a small | 0:30:46 | 0:30:49 | |
proportion of the parking stuck in the City. I am really pleased they | 0:30:49 | 0:30:53 | |
are announcing that they have reviewed it, and the charges are | 0:30:53 | 0:30:59 | |
coming down. Part of the bigger plan is that parking charges in | 0:30:59 | 0:31:03 | |
areas within 10 minutes of the seafront have been frozen, or have | 0:31:03 | 0:31:09 | |
been kept very low. So that way, it is stopping the cars entering the | 0:31:09 | 0:31:14 | |
most polluted and can jesting air - - congested areas. You know from | 0:31:14 | 0:31:18 | |
your experience in Eastbourne, raise parking charges and there is | 0:31:18 | 0:31:25 | |
a big uprising. There is. The East Sussex council a shot up charges a | 0:31:25 | 0:31:29 | |
few years ago much to the disgust of the Champ -- the town. I was | 0:31:29 | 0:31:34 | |
talking to a Brighton resident recently, he showed me a picture of | 0:31:34 | 0:31:37 | |
the stretches up by the seafront, and there was a quarter of mile of | 0:31:37 | 0:31:43 | |
parking spaces and only one car parked there. I knew the Greens | 0:31:43 | 0:31:50 | |
would compromise otherwise the whole Tamar did combusted. -- the | 0:31:50 | 0:31:55 | |
whole town would have combusted. The RSPCA started monitoring the | 0:31:55 | 0:31:59 | |
live export trade in Rams court -- Ramsgate port last month. Ramsgate | 0:31:59 | 0:32:03 | |
is the only port in the country that transports livestock for | 0:32:03 | 0:32:06 | |
slaughter across the Channel. Animal rights campaigners say the | 0:32:06 | 0:32:10 | |
practice is cruel and unnecessary, but they have not stopped tens of | 0:32:10 | 0:32:14 | |
thousands of sheep and calves being shipped from there to Europe in the | 0:32:14 | 0:32:21 | |
past year. He is this human profit over animal welfare? | 0:32:21 | 0:32:29 | |
The emotional reaction to live animal exports from Ramsgate port. | 0:32:29 | 0:32:33 | |
Every time the livestock lorries arrive, there is a protest. It is | 0:32:33 | 0:32:38 | |
the only port in England that exports live animals for slaughter. | 0:32:38 | 0:32:42 | |
Around 80,000 left the country this way last year. The animals are | 0:32:42 | 0:32:45 | |
mainly sheep and calves on their way to the Continent. Everybody | 0:32:45 | 0:32:50 | |
that is down there can carry these and wave them. Campaigners | 0:32:50 | 0:32:52 | |
including Kenneth action appears live exports say this is called the | 0:32:52 | 0:32:57 | |
animals, as it means they are being crammed in for very long journeys | 0:32:57 | 0:33:01 | |
for more time than it would take to drive from Kent to Scotland. Let's | 0:33:01 | 0:33:05 | |
say a farmer from Kent wishes to send some animals across. The have | 0:33:05 | 0:33:11 | |
to load his transporter, moved to an area close to the dock, where | 0:33:11 | 0:33:14 | |
they have to have a minimum of an hour's rest while they are | 0:33:14 | 0:33:22 | |
inspected. They then board the ship from Ramsgate and takes four-and-a- | 0:33:22 | 0:33:26 | |
half hours to get to Calais. They are then unloaded, and their | 0:33:26 | 0:33:32 | |
nearest abattoir is an hour-and-a- half away. So we are already | 0:33:32 | 0:33:36 | |
talking about a journey time of approximately eight hours plus. And | 0:33:36 | 0:33:42 | |
it is just the slaughter. Animals going anywhere else, down to Spain, | 0:33:42 | 0:33:46 | |
have considerably more time on the wagon. How long can those journeys | 0:33:46 | 0:33:52 | |
take? The Jenny's can take two or three days. In the last few weeks, | 0:33:52 | 0:33:56 | |
the RSPCA has taken matters into its own hands and is monitoring | 0:33:56 | 0:34:00 | |
every live export. It is the first time in 10 years the charity has | 0:34:00 | 0:34:03 | |
done this at a UK port. It does not have the power to stop the trade, | 0:34:03 | 0:34:07 | |
so the better it can hope for is to get enough evidence to prosecute | 0:34:07 | 0:34:12 | |
exporters if they are not treating the animals properly. All of the | 0:34:12 | 0:34:16 | |
legislation and the rules are compliant on being enforced, and we | 0:34:16 | 0:34:20 | |
know they are not being enforced. Our own investigations and our own | 0:34:20 | 0:34:26 | |
spot checks hit Ramsgate have shown that some of the standards are not | 0:34:26 | 0:34:30 | |
being implemented and that is a real concern. The annals are often | 0:34:30 | 0:34:36 | |
slaughtered soon after the genet which -- after their journey which | 0:34:36 | 0:34:39 | |
campaigners say is needless because they could be slaughtered here and | 0:34:39 | 0:34:44 | |
then shipped abroad. But the way food is labelled a board means it | 0:34:44 | 0:34:50 | |
is not happened. French people like a French sheep, but there is a huge | 0:34:50 | 0:34:54 | |
loophole. If your sheep is in France for just a short time it can | 0:34:54 | 0:34:58 | |
be labelled as the produce of France. Thanet District Council | 0:34:58 | 0:35:02 | |
owns the port, and whilst it is against the trade, the 19th century | 0:35:02 | 0:35:06 | |
harbours Act said it had no choice but to accept it. But the council | 0:35:06 | 0:35:10 | |
says it will not make the exporters lives easy. Within the framework of | 0:35:10 | 0:35:17 | |
the law, we are hoping that by exposing the infringements to the | 0:35:17 | 0:35:20 | |
welfare of animals, that it is going to make the trade more and | 0:35:20 | 0:35:25 | |
more difficult to operate out of that port -- the port of Ramsgate. | 0:35:25 | 0:35:31 | |
There is plenty of scope within the law to make it difficult for the | 0:35:31 | 0:35:39 | |
Some farmers say they need to stem the animals abroad for slaughter to | 0:35:39 | 0:35:42 | |
get the biggest possible price. But the RSPCA says there is a market | 0:35:42 | 0:35:47 | |
here which would also generate jobs. If we keep the animals like sheep | 0:35:47 | 0:35:50 | |
or cards in the country, we have got a market for them, the farmer | 0:35:50 | 0:35:54 | |
is being paid, we send them to an abattoir and slaughtermen are paid, | 0:35:54 | 0:36:01 | |
it is better for a British animal to be kept in Britain and turn into | 0:36:01 | 0:36:05 | |
good British food. That we know the consumers and public wants to buy | 0:36:05 | 0:36:09 | |
British. So surely we should give the map of the car -- opportunity. | 0:36:09 | 0:36:12 | |
It is it necessary for British sheep and calves are to go on | 0:36:12 | 0:36:15 | |
journeys which it is said to last for days, when instead they could | 0:36:15 | 0:36:20 | |
be slaughtered in this country, provided more local jobs and more | 0:36:20 | 0:36:24 | |
local produce? From a studio in Birmingham we are | 0:36:24 | 0:36:29 | |
joined by Peter Garbutt from the National for Masumi him. Why is | 0:36:29 | 0:36:32 | |
this trade messes -- the National Farmers' Union. Why is this | 0:36:32 | 0:36:37 | |
necessary? This is a legitimate and lawful trade. The market exists in | 0:36:37 | 0:36:41 | |
the Continent, people wants to buy English stock and British stock | 0:36:41 | 0:36:45 | |
over there. And as long as the transport takes place within the | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
law, following the tight regulatory guidelines that we all have to | 0:36:49 | 0:36:52 | |
follow, there is no reason that our farmers should not be allowed | 0:36:52 | 0:36:57 | |
access to that market. You say it is unlawful, but we had from the | 0:36:57 | 0:37:03 | |
RSPCA inspectors are saying they are concerned the guidelines are | 0:37:03 | 0:37:09 | |
not being followed. The NFU has also called for their enforcement | 0:37:09 | 0:37:13 | |
of the standards in Europe. We were there to be no loopholes that | 0:37:13 | 0:37:16 | |
people can get through. We have seen it two revisions of the | 0:37:16 | 0:37:20 | |
legislation in the last 10 years, and we want the standards to be | 0:37:20 | 0:37:25 | |
abided by. So you will welcome the RSPCA inspectors' presents at | 0:37:25 | 0:37:30 | |
Ramsgate? They are there at Ramsgate to insure their standards | 0:37:30 | 0:37:35 | |
are being met, and I do not think any shipments have been shocked. | 0:37:35 | 0:37:40 | |
People are adhering to the guidelines. They cannot stop | 0:37:40 | 0:37:46 | |
shipments, but they can raise concerns. Death or issued warnings | 0:37:46 | 0:37:53 | |
in March. -- Defra issued warnings. We have a high level of scrutiny at | 0:37:53 | 0:37:58 | |
Ramsgate and still export are going out. Do you think the RSPCA are | 0:37:58 | 0:38:01 | |
wrong to raise these concerns about lack of ventilation and of the way | 0:38:01 | 0:38:08 | |
the animals are being handled? have very strict guidelines... | 0:38:08 | 0:38:13 | |
they are not being adhered to a point to the RSPCA. If they are not | 0:38:13 | 0:38:17 | |
being adhered to, we would expect the government to bring prosecution | 0:38:17 | 0:38:22 | |
notices. And that is what is happening. We expect the trade to | 0:38:22 | 0:38:27 | |
continue. It might be lawful, but people do not like it. Animals | 0:38:27 | 0:38:32 | |
being cooped up for high times in height images without access to | 0:38:32 | 0:38:38 | |
water, it is not a nice. I can understand the people's opinions of | 0:38:38 | 0:38:42 | |
these traits are not good, and we need to listen to public opinion. | 0:38:42 | 0:38:47 | |
But we also have to base it on sound science. There was a lot of | 0:38:47 | 0:38:53 | |
science conducted, or when the legislation was drawn up, and none | 0:38:53 | 0:38:57 | |
of them have suggested that overseas travel is a detriment to | 0:38:57 | 0:39:01 | |
animal welfare, and none of them have suggested a limit to transport | 0:39:01 | 0:39:06 | |
links. If we could sell the produce in France and not export animals | 0:39:06 | 0:39:13 | |
for slaughter, would you like that? It would be great to exports -- | 0:39:13 | 0:39:17 | |
increase exports on the hook, but there is always demand for export | 0:39:17 | 0:39:27 | |
0:39:27 | 0:39:32 | ||
on the who. -- on the hoof. But these people are within the law. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:36 | |
I take issue with a couple of things that Peter said, perversely | 0:39:36 | 0:39:42 | |
about the stress experienced by the animals -- firstly about the stress. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:46 | |
I was speaking to a veterinary association yesterday that were | 0:39:46 | 0:39:54 | |
explaining the levels of stress can increased -- decrease immunity to | 0:39:54 | 0:39:58 | |
the diseases. Is there any difference between being in a ship | 0:39:58 | 0:40:06 | |
or on the road? I am not happy with the whole trade, I have been on | 0:40:06 | 0:40:11 | |
record signing early day motions, I have written to the... Animals | 0:40:11 | 0:40:15 | |
travel for eight hours on the road in this country quite lawfully, so? | 0:40:15 | 0:40:20 | |
You're not against that? No, I am not, it is a reality we have to | 0:40:20 | 0:40:26 | |
face. With the CJD, what concerns me is what the RSPCA says. They are | 0:40:26 | 0:40:29 | |
a respected organisation, and if they say they are not entirely | 0:40:29 | 0:40:33 | |
happy that the rules are being adhered to, I share that Abbey's. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:39 | |
One a point of accuracy, the European Parliament has voted its | 0:40:39 | 0:40:42 | |
position that there should be a maximum eight-hour limit, but we | 0:40:42 | 0:40:49 | |
are seeing of vehicles in Europe for 24 and 36 hours. This is not | 0:40:49 | 0:40:53 | |
popular, it is in the top three of my postbag complaints. It is not | 0:40:53 | 0:40:58 | |
worth doing for a very small number of farmers to make �15 more profit. | 0:40:58 | 0:41:02 | |
Let's put that point to Peter Garbutt. I think there is quite a | 0:41:02 | 0:41:08 | |
large European trade on this. There is a lot of over eight hour | 0:41:08 | 0:41:11 | |
transport in the EU due to this year sides of the area and the | 0:41:11 | 0:41:16 | |
Commission recently reviewed the legislation and decided not to | 0:41:16 | 0:41:20 | |
impose a maximum eight-hour limit. They said they would be better at | 0:41:20 | 0:41:27 | |
maximum enforcement across Europe, we would be behind that. | 0:41:27 | 0:41:32 | |
Thank you very much for joining us. This Thursday, the residents of | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
Hastings, Crawley, Tunbridge Wells, Maidstone and Tandridge will be | 0:41:36 | 0:41:41 | |
casting their vote in council elections. In the 2011 poll, the | 0:41:41 | 0:41:46 | |
Liberal Democrat vote was craft -- half in the south-east, falling | 0:41:46 | 0:41:51 | |
from 182 council seats to just 93, with most of the losses and run up | 0:41:51 | 0:41:53 | |
to benefiting the Conservatives as well as Labour. Will it be | 0:41:53 | 0:41:58 | |
different this time and what will the results tell us about the | 0:41:58 | 0:42:02 | |
political future of the party in the region? Let's go to the Liberal | 0:42:02 | 0:42:05 | |
Democrat MP for Eastbourne, Stephen Lloyd. It could get worse for you | 0:42:05 | 0:42:09 | |
on Thursday night. It could but I do not think it will. I was talking | 0:42:09 | 0:42:15 | |
to a number of colleagues on my way here, in Woking, Worthing and | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
Hastings, and the Duke is, we are doing well there and we are hoping | 0:42:19 | 0:42:26 | |
to gain some seeds. Do you think you will? I think we will. Were the | 0:42:26 | 0:42:33 | |
largest party is no overall control, but at the minute, from the views | 0:42:33 | 0:42:37 | |
we are getting in the doorstep, we are going to take control in that | 0:42:37 | 0:42:41 | |
area. In Worthing, we will take a couple of seats. In Eastbourne, we | 0:42:41 | 0:42:47 | |
don't have elections. But you do in Hastings. I visited Hastings last | 0:42:47 | 0:42:53 | |
weekend, or the weekend before last, it is a bit of a black! One of the | 0:42:53 | 0:42:59 | |
-- a bit of a Blair! One of the local candidates, Labour won it a | 0:42:59 | 0:43:04 | |
few years ago, they have got a huge majority, and what I was getting on | 0:43:04 | 0:43:11 | |
the doorstep is once they won this award, they just ignored us. Your | 0:43:11 | 0:43:20 | |
party in Crawley failed to meet the deadline to put in candidates. So | 0:43:20 | 0:43:25 | |
you are not filled in any. It is infuriating, it was an | 0:43:25 | 0:43:33 | |
administrative cock-up. It is human nature, Show Me one election where | 0:43:33 | 0:43:38 | |
some activist has forgotten to do something. Watch out this year, a | 0:43:38 | 0:43:46 | |
wedding, Mole Valley and Wedding and Hastings. -- Worthing, and | 0:43:46 | 0:43:52 | |
Hastings. We actually lost our last two Lib Dem councillors, and I | 0:43:52 | 0:43:56 | |
think that was a foretaste of what we are going to see next week. | 0:43:56 | 0:44:00 | |
do you think will happen with the Lib Dems? I cannot work out whether | 0:44:00 | 0:44:05 | |
they will get hammered or battered! I am not entirely sure what the | 0:44:05 | 0:44:10 | |
difference is, but I get the gist! Last time, they got blamed after | 0:44:10 | 0:44:14 | |
tuition fees, for the coalition government. This time round, you | 0:44:14 | 0:44:18 | |
could expect the Conservatives to lose seats, but the Lib Dems go | 0:44:18 | 0:44:23 | |
down with them. Of course they did. The Lib Dems have enabled a Tory | 0:44:23 | 0:44:28 | |
government to get us into a terrible situation, with austerity | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
measures, with a double-dip recession, whereas what we really | 0:44:31 | 0:44:36 | |
need is more jobs, especially for young people, which actually tackle | 0:44:36 | 0:44:40 | |
the real challenges of climate change. We need proper leadership | 0:44:40 | 0:44:49 | |
from government. Apart from parking charges! Is there anything wrong | 0:44:49 | 0:44:56 | |
for listening to people? People are blaming alike -- and right wing | 0:44:57 | 0:45:00 | |
Tory government, thank God we have got a party with liberals in it. At | 0:45:00 | 0:45:05 | |
the last Budget, we gave a tax benefit of 2 million people. With | 0:45:05 | 0:45:09 | |
the Liberals in government, we have got some a equilibrium. Without | 0:45:09 | 0:45:13 | |
us... If we are talking taxation, the government has just delivered a | 0:45:13 | 0:45:18 | |
huge benefit for very rich people. Do we want the gap between rich and | 0:45:18 | 0:45:28 | |
0:45:28 | 0:45:28 | ||
poor to carry on increasing? Can we talk about the Greenss? You are | 0:45:28 | 0:45:30 | |
fielding told candidate in Maidstone, and putting all your | 0:45:30 | 0:45:35 | |
eggs in one basket. Why Maidstone? And Red Hot East as well, we are | 0:45:35 | 0:45:41 | |
looking to add another councillor to our two existing councillors. We | 0:45:42 | 0:45:47 | |
are only a small party, we like to give as many people the chance to | 0:45:47 | 0:45:53 | |
vote Greens in every election. you have identified that area? | 0:45:53 | 0:45:56 | |
was there the other day. In Maidstone, we were doing a campaign | 0:45:56 | 0:46:00 | |
in the local community about reducing speed limits, which is a | 0:46:00 | 0:46:04 | |
big issue for me as a member of the Transport Committee in the European | 0:46:04 | 0:46:10 | |
Cup -- parliament. We had a fantastic response. So we are quite | 0:46:10 | 0:46:14 | |
hopeful of gaining seats. UKIP are fielding a lot more candidates, you | 0:46:14 | 0:46:18 | |
are not worried that they could game candidates? I do not know why | 0:46:18 | 0:46:22 | |
you would want to roads UKIP, in a European election, they never vote | 0:46:22 | 0:46:27 | |
or turn up. In a local election, they are trying to reinvent | 0:46:27 | 0:46:31 | |
themselves. I do not know if they have got any policies. In Seaford, | 0:46:31 | 0:46:35 | |
they won because they take votes from the Tories. Michael -- Nigel | 0:46:35 | 0:46:45 | |
0:46:45 | 0:46:49 | ||
Farage is not here to defend South-east MEP Nigel Farage welcome | 0:46:49 | 0:46:52 | |
the news that the Kent bitters them bits -- Christopher Tappin has been | 0:46:52 | 0:46:58 | |
mild -- released on bail. I am not a terrorist, I have never had any | 0:46:58 | 0:47:01 | |
corrections -- connection with terrorism. I am appalled that | 0:47:01 | 0:47:05 | |
things can come to this. Tracie couch, who has been | 0:47:05 | 0:47:12 | |
campaigning on behalf of asbestos victims, held a climbdown which | 0:47:12 | 0:47:17 | |
would have forced them to pay their own legal bills. The Green Party | 0:47:17 | 0:47:20 | |
leader Caroline Lucas criticise Southern Water for criticised -- or | 0:47:20 | 0:47:25 | |
waiting millions of gallons -- criticise other mortar for wasting | 0:47:26 | 0:47:32 | |
millions of gallons a day. Look no further from -- Mark | 0:47:32 | 0:47:38 | |
Reckless tested the Home Secretary Theresa May on her honest -- | 0:47:38 | 0:47:42 | |
knowledge of the ministerial code. I have not read every single | 0:47:42 | 0:47:46 | |
ministerial code, and every single Prime Minister there has ever been, | 0:47:46 | 0:47:52 | |
I have not. Well, Home Secretary, I have. | 0:47:52 | 0:47:57 | |
I cannot pretend my knowledge of the ministerial code is any good! | 0:47:57 | 0:48:02 | |
Be you admire him for his defiance and confident as a backbench MP? | 0:48:02 | 0:48:07 | |
am rather worried, I know him and I can imagine him reading every | 0:48:07 | 0:48:09 | |
single detail on every constitutional paper, rather him | 0:48:09 | 0:48:16 | |
than the! It is a good thing, to have backbench MPs, not intimidated | 0:48:16 | 0:48:21 | |
by ministers, prepared to be defiant. I asked a question of the | 0:48:21 | 0:48:24 | |
MPs on Wednesday, I reminded the Prime Minister that there are many | 0:48:24 | 0:48:29 | |
millions of people in this country who pay money into charity because | 0:48:29 | 0:48:32 | |
they once too hot and do not expect anything back. I called that | 0:48:32 | 0:48:37 | |
suffers, and I asked the Prime Minister, the percentage of wealthy | 0:48:37 | 0:48:41 | |
people who wants to get the money - - charity to get money back... | 0:48:41 | 0:48:46 | |
you are challenging as well! What is your knowledge of the | 0:48:46 | 0:48:50 | |
ministerial code, Keith Taylor? could stand improvement. One word | 0:48:50 | 0:48:55 | |
of praise for Mark Reckless. He has got enough about it -- to be | 0:48:55 | 0:48:59 | |
rebellious about, what coalition government is doing. But one great | 0:48:59 | 0:49:06 | |
thing he did was vote against the �9,000 tuition fees, and that was a | 0:49:06 | 0:49:11 | |
very sound move. That is what we need MPs to do, to live up to their | 0:49:11 | 0:49:18 |