:01:27. > :01:37.And in the South East: All aboard the Boris Express - hHow London's
:01:37. > :01:37.
:01:37. > :31:36.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1799 seconds
:31:36. > :31:40.Mayor has ambitions to control some I'm Natalie Graham and this is the
:31:40. > :31:45.Sunday Politics in the South East. Coming up in the next 20 minutes:
:31:45. > :31:50.Is purple the new blue? We ask if the rising share of UKIP votes in
:31:50. > :31:53.May's local elections will loosen the Tory's grip on the region.
:31:53. > :31:56.Joining me in the studio today is Deputy Conservative Party Chairman
:31:56. > :32:05.and MP for Sevenoaks Michael Fallon and UKIP's leader and the South
:32:05. > :32:09.East MEP Nigel Farage. First, we heard this week that Maidstone will
:32:09. > :32:14.be one of ten places in the country to be given a share of a million
:32:14. > :32:23.pound fund to target alcohol abuse. It's a problem that costs the
:32:23. > :32:27.country up to �13 billion a year. Michael Fallon, is �1 million among
:32:27. > :32:33.10 areas just a drop in the ocean? Is not be a key demand but
:32:33. > :32:39.Maidstone bid for this money. -- it is not a huge amount. It is a big
:32:39. > :32:45.problem nationally, of course. It affects our hospitals, there is at
:32:45. > :32:53.huge cost to it and we need to do lots of other things as well.
:32:53. > :32:58.are a lot of other areas in the south-east, Nigel Farage, where
:32:58. > :33:04.alcohol is not just the problem. is a huge amount of money but it
:33:04. > :33:09.changes nothing at all. The younger generation go out with the express
:33:09. > :33:15.intention of getting drunk. That is why they go out, on a Friday and
:33:15. > :33:21.Saturday night. Until we can turn that around, then frankly, I think
:33:21. > :33:25.the problem is going to go on. do we do that? Be is a cultural
:33:26. > :33:29.thing, Nigel is right about that. We have a binge drinking culture in
:33:29. > :33:33.this country that doesn't seem to apply in other countries in Europe.
:33:33. > :33:41.But we do need to look at the price at which alcohol is sold. It is
:33:41. > :33:51.cheaper than water in some supermarkets. We need to look good
:33:51. > :33:55.
:33:55. > :33:58.beer taxes -- a look at. We're all familiar with Boris Johnson's plans
:33:58. > :34:06.for an airport in Kent, but now it seems he has his eye on another
:34:06. > :34:09.mode of transport in the county. In his manifesto, the London Mayor
:34:09. > :34:12.said he was going to lobby the Department of Transport to take
:34:12. > :34:15.control of rail routes from the capital to Dartford and Sevenoaks
:34:15. > :34:17.when the Southeastern franchise comes up in 2014. But will these
:34:17. > :34:20.proposals benefit commuters, or is it a case of imperium condens?
:34:20. > :34:28.That's empire building if you're not a classicist. Helen Drew
:34:28. > :34:33.reports. The Mayor of London could be forgiven for being more familiar
:34:33. > :34:36.with Seven Sisters tube then Sevenoaks station. But Boris
:34:36. > :34:41.Johnson wants control over suburban railways can and that includes
:34:41. > :34:44.trains into London from Sevenoaks and Dartford. And surprisingly, his
:34:44. > :34:48.idea has been met with local opposition, including from within
:34:48. > :34:53.his own party. Why difficulty with these proposals is that nothing at
:34:53. > :34:59.all will benefit local people. The proposals from bent -- from
:34:59. > :35:03.Transport London say nothing about price increases are, and the fact
:35:03. > :35:12.there will be additional stops along the route from Dartford which
:35:12. > :35:17.will slop the service. -- slow up. The Mayor of London should be just
:35:17. > :35:20.that, the Mayor of London and not the mayor of North Kent.
:35:20. > :35:28.Department of Transport chooses he gets the railway contracts and its
:35:28. > :35:31.did light criteria -- it stipulates criteria. For a number of London-
:35:31. > :35:40.bound commuter services, Boris Johnson wants to take control. This
:35:40. > :35:44.would mean splitting the South Eastern franchise. Boris Johnson is
:35:44. > :35:51.interested in having control over the part that goes from Sevenoaks
:35:51. > :35:57.and Dartford. They have told us they will consider making a bid
:35:57. > :36:01.regardless of who is control. The London overground already runs many
:36:01. > :36:05.of the capital's services. It is a system that Boris Johnson played in
:36:05. > :36:12.his recent manifesto. But he went being control of trains to the rest
:36:12. > :36:18.of Kent and some fear the changes will cause confusion. The present
:36:18. > :36:27.system is very simple. You buy a return ticket from Sevenoaks to
:36:27. > :36:34.London. The danger is that we face having to all three different train
:36:35. > :36:39.operators providing a services -- two or three. It is chaos for those
:36:39. > :36:44.of us who live outside the GLA area. There is a real risk that we could
:36:44. > :36:54.end up as the country cousins who get whatever is left over after the
:36:54. > :36:54.
:36:54. > :36:59.Inner London commuters who vote for Boris Johnson have had their share.
:36:59. > :37:06.Boris says there will be longer and more frequent trains and it will
:37:06. > :37:11.potentially hold down fares. shouldn't extend his powers, I
:37:11. > :37:15.don't think, outside Greater London. This is not Greater London, thank
:37:15. > :37:20.God. I think it is bad because we are not part of the London area and
:37:20. > :37:24.we shouldn't be treated like it. Boris Johnson is riding high on his
:37:24. > :37:28.recent re-election as mayor of London, and there's a fair chance
:37:28. > :37:37.he could get control of the suburban trains. In nearby it
:37:37. > :37:47.Medway, they're afraid it he might succeed and expand his plans.
:37:47. > :37:47.
:37:47. > :37:56.would seem almost a logical step. We are all very concerned about the
:37:56. > :37:59.London then creep, that London will creep into the suburban counties.
:37:59. > :38:02.The Department of Transport is asking local authorities if they're
:38:02. > :38:06.interested in controlling their local rail services, which could
:38:06. > :38:09.mean that can count council has power over the franchises. The
:38:09. > :38:12.government has told us that all options will be looked at -- Kent
:38:12. > :38:19.County Council. The Thames estuary airport idea started with Boris
:38:19. > :38:23.Johnson and is now being looked at in detail by the government. So it
:38:23. > :38:28.will signal West transport commuters if this plan goes full
:38:28. > :38:30.steam ahead? Helen Drew reporting. From our Westminster studio, we
:38:30. > :38:35.have Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat Chair of the London
:38:35. > :38:41.Assembly's Transport Committee. It sounds as though they may be
:38:42. > :38:45.considerable benefits for Kent commuters if you do cake -- take
:38:45. > :38:51.control of the franchise? Are don't think it would have any impact on
:38:51. > :38:56.the south-east. It is a cross party idea, not just the Mayor of London.
:38:56. > :39:00.It will be huge benefit to London passengers and Kent passengers if
:39:00. > :39:08.we could run a model such as the London overground on some of those
:39:08. > :39:14.South Clifton routes. -- South Eastern. But there are lots of
:39:14. > :39:19.other parts of the South Eastern network who need much faster and
:39:19. > :39:23.frequent trains. There is a real opportunity with South Eastern
:39:23. > :39:28.franchise coming up and Thameslink to look at how we can package them
:39:28. > :39:34.together. We think the majority of trains into London should be run by
:39:34. > :39:37.the Mayor of London. We could see a saving of around �290 million which
:39:38. > :39:44.could be reinvested in the transport network. But the real
:39:44. > :39:48.benefit to passengers is more reliable trains. And that's great,
:39:48. > :39:51.that's fantastic for anyone who commutes in from the outlying
:39:51. > :39:55.stations, it is the rest of the rail network. Why should you care
:39:55. > :40:00.what happens to the rest of the rail network and the south-east who
:40:00. > :40:05.doesn't stand to benefit? I think all passengers will benefit. We
:40:05. > :40:08.have seen huge satisfaction with London over ground where we have
:40:08. > :40:14.seen transport London running that service. It has got higher
:40:14. > :40:23.satisfaction and performance than any other train operator and the
:40:23. > :40:26.country. We want to read -- replicate that. At the moment,
:40:26. > :40:31.trains on the London Underground got to Watford and Uxbridge.
:40:31. > :40:37.would almost make more sense be to take control of the hall of the
:40:37. > :40:40.south-east network? We have already heard about some of your passenger
:40:40. > :40:46.groups being concerned, there is no point in taking control of the
:40:46. > :40:50.faster trains into London, but the suburban ones, there is a real
:40:50. > :40:54.answer for actually having London takeover those routes and wonder
:40:54. > :40:58.more efficiently. On the principle of democracy, is it right that the
:40:58. > :41:03.mayor of London has power over people who want part of his
:41:03. > :41:07.electorate? Many of them travelling to London every day so they
:41:07. > :41:10.automatically use services within London. But there is already a
:41:10. > :41:15.President. The London Underground goes outside the London boundary.
:41:15. > :41:19.You have to have consultative groups and engage passenger groups
:41:19. > :41:24.to make sure their voices are heard. This is not about trying to exclude
:41:24. > :41:29.Kent, quite the opposite. It's about running a far more efficient
:41:29. > :41:33.service all passengers. We heard from a lot of your constituents
:41:33. > :41:38.there, Michael Fallon. What you make of this? Well, it's the
:41:38. > :41:42.proposal. I have met transport London to discuss it. There two
:41:42. > :41:45.issues. First, it is hard to add additional services. The lines are
:41:45. > :41:49.at full capacity at the moment and I'm worried that fast trains would
:41:49. > :41:55.be able to get through if the mayor start adding additional suburban
:41:55. > :42:01.services. It is very important that commuters are able to get into the
:42:01. > :42:04.London terminals. The platform capacity is the real issue. And the
:42:04. > :42:11.second problem is the first. It can't be right that the mayor would
:42:11. > :42:18.be able to increase fares when my constituents can't wait for it. --
:42:18. > :42:26.the second problem is the fares. Here is the Tory mayor looking to
:42:26. > :42:36.exceed his powerful -- his powerful stop it has the potential to make
:42:36. > :42:42.
:42:42. > :42:49.people angry. -- looking to exceed his power. Why are we spending �32
:42:49. > :42:54.billion on HS2? Let put that point about capacity back to this lady.
:42:54. > :42:58.We are at full capacity. There is some fine-tuning that can be done
:42:58. > :43:02.by looking at the existing network, but we have got massive investment
:43:02. > :43:07.going into stations such as London Bridge which will help us to
:43:07. > :43:10.increase capacity and benefit all passengers. Nigel here has always
:43:10. > :43:14.been one of our more ebullient politicians, but he's had an extra
:43:14. > :43:17.spring in his step for the past two weeks since his party caused a
:43:17. > :43:20.minor upset in the local elections. In Tunbridge Wells the Conservative
:43:20. > :43:26.leader lost his seat to the UKIP candidate, and the party's overall
:43:26. > :43:28.share of the vote in the council was 14%, up from 5% in 2008. Some
:43:28. > :43:31.political commentators say that if this pattern is repeated during the
:43:31. > :43:36.next general election, it could undermine the Conservatives enough
:43:36. > :43:46.to provide Labour with a way back into the South East. Michael Fallon,
:43:46. > :43:49.how worried are you? Of course we pay attention to the local
:43:49. > :43:54.elections. Labour didn't do particularly well, Nigel won his
:43:54. > :44:00.single-seat, I think it was, so of course we pay attention to that. It
:44:00. > :44:05.has become, the you Kipp vote, a bit of a protest vote, and all
:44:05. > :44:09.credit to them -- the UKIP vote. We have already put in place for a
:44:09. > :44:12.referendum stopping any more powers being transferred to Europe. We are
:44:12. > :44:21.trying to encourage the other countries in Europe to sort out the
:44:21. > :44:26.big problems in the eurozone, which you can't just opt out of. Half our
:44:26. > :44:30.trade is with Europe. Millions of jobs depend on it. We can't just
:44:31. > :44:36.say we will wonder rough on Morrow and cover applies. We have to help
:44:36. > :44:44.Europe resolve these problems -- we will wander off and cover our
:44:44. > :44:52.highways. Justified % swing in Nigel's favour come at a general
:44:52. > :44:59.election, you know that Labour will be the ones that again. We have got
:44:59. > :45:03.to explain what we have done to stop more buyers drifting off to
:45:03. > :45:07.Brussels and how we are involved in helping to sort out the eurozone's
:45:07. > :45:15.problems and the mandatory that we do with Europe. We have to get that
:45:15. > :45:19.over. -- the amount of trade. a-million people in London work in
:45:19. > :45:28.financial services. Since your government came to power, you have
:45:28. > :45:32.given away a total regulatory control. So don't tell me... For 13
:45:32. > :45:35.years, we had the Tory party in opposition. And here in the south-
:45:35. > :45:39.east, a big Tory stronghold, people used to say they would agree with
:45:39. > :45:45.me. But they had to vote Tory because they wanted to get Labour
:45:45. > :45:53.out. And once David is in, we will see what his like. Well, now they
:45:53. > :45:58.see it... The trouble is, you won't get much further. It is Labour that
:45:58. > :46:02.will profit from your success. Everybody has told me, you're
:46:02. > :46:10.wasting your time. Into the other nine, we came second across the
:46:10. > :46:14.hall of the United Kingdom in the elections. -- across all of the
:46:14. > :46:17.United Kingdom. We will carry on going as a political party because
:46:17. > :46:23.we stand up and say what most people believe in. The interesting
:46:23. > :46:27.thing is that Nigel has taken 1.4 million Conservative voters than
:46:27. > :46:34.you over the past two years since you have been in government with
:46:34. > :46:38.the Liberal Democrats. I hope they will see that if we get a clear
:46:38. > :46:43.majority, the election will be able to do a lot of the things we wanted
:46:43. > :46:48.to do in our manifesto. We are having to sort out the enormous
:46:48. > :46:52.deficit and the banking problems that we inherited. You know the
:46:52. > :46:58.people on the right to be a party of frustrated because Europe
:46:58. > :47:02.coalition and a more likely to fall into Nigel's lap. In the end, or
:47:02. > :47:05.when it comes to the real world, in the end, they then to see the you
:47:05. > :47:09.have to have a Conservative government with a clear majority if
:47:09. > :47:17.you're going to stand up to Europe. There's no point in having one
:47:17. > :47:22.single party leader. You can't stand up to it. Your Prime Minister
:47:22. > :47:29.promised us a referendum on a relationship with Europe. He has
:47:29. > :47:35.broken that promise. People don't trust him and they see him as a
:47:35. > :47:41.social democrat. I think there is a breach of trust. People don't trust
:47:41. > :47:45.the big parties any more in this country and they look at UKIP which
:47:45. > :47:53.is campaigning on a broad-based manifesto that is increasingly
:47:53. > :47:57.appealing to people. We believe in giving people opportunity. Anybody
:47:57. > :48:07.from Poland could walk in here tomorrow and you have encouraged
:48:07. > :48:10.
:48:10. > :48:20.that unsupported it. -- and supported it. Let's have grammar
:48:20. > :48:23.
:48:23. > :48:32.schools in Surrey, no? You have abandoned that. I would love to see
:48:32. > :48:35.one in Sevenoaks, we have not abandoned that. In the end, we have
:48:35. > :48:39.to deal with the real world. Europe as a dangerous place at the moment
:48:39. > :48:44.and we have to see how best to protect our British national
:48:44. > :48:54.interest. Thank you very much for now. It's time for a round-up of
:48:54. > :48:55.
:48:55. > :48:58.the week's events with a political There was a double blow for the
:48:58. > :49:06.Green Party this week with the announcement that the party's
:49:06. > :49:10.leader, Caroline Lucas, is to step down after four years but will
:49:10. > :49:16.remain as the Brighton Pavilion MP. Is time for other people to come
:49:16. > :49:23.forward. And Brighton and Hove's Green led cancel charges the
:49:23. > :49:33.highest care costs in the country, compared to freak -- 3 care in
:49:33. > :49:39.
:49:39. > :49:49.other areas. -- free. Thank you, Mr Speaker. And this politician got
:49:49. > :49:49.
:49:49. > :49:59.the giggles after a mishap by AMP Charles Henry. I inadvertently sat
:49:59. > :50:03.
:50:03. > :50:08.He dealt with that very well. I don't think I have ever sat on
:50:08. > :50:14.anyone's lap by accident in parliament! You have to be very
:50:14. > :50:19.careful with your other minister answering when you sit back again.
:50:19. > :50:23.You have to be very careful you don't sit on someone. Let's talk
:50:23. > :50:30.about Caroline Lucas. Another small party that had success at -- in the
:50:30. > :50:40.European elections. Why do you think she has done it? Running a
:50:40. > :50:40.
:50:40. > :50:43.small party is a big commitment. It is a seven-day-a-week job. You are
:50:43. > :50:48.involved in all the fundraising. They had not been having an easy
:50:48. > :50:53.time, particularly in the recession. I think she's probably recognised
:50:53. > :51:01.that with a couple of years to go, she's got some problems holding
:51:01. > :51:04.back her can stitch and see -- constituency. She does have a big
:51:04. > :51:08.workload, looking after the party. I think her council has become
:51:08. > :51:18.rather unpopular and there are some issues there. She will have a tough
:51:18. > :51:18.