Browse content similar to 20/05/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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And in the South East: All aboard the Boris Express - hHow London's | :01:27. | :01:37. | |
:01:37. | :01:37. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1799 seconds | :01:37. | :31:36. | |
Mayor has ambitions to control some I'm Natalie Graham and this is the | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
Sunday Politics in the South East. Coming up in the next 20 minutes: | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
Is purple the new blue? We ask if the rising share of UKIP votes in | :31:45. | :31:50. | |
May's local elections will loosen the Tory's grip on the region. | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
Joining me in the studio today is Deputy Conservative Party Chairman | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
and MP for Sevenoaks Michael Fallon and UKIP's leader and the South | :31:56. | :32:05. | |
East MEP Nigel Farage. First, we heard this week that Maidstone will | :32:05. | :32:09. | |
be one of ten places in the country to be given a share of a million | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
pound fund to target alcohol abuse. It's a problem that costs the | :32:14. | :32:23. | |
country up to �13 billion a year. Michael Fallon, is �1 million among | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
10 areas just a drop in the ocean? Is not be a key demand but | :32:27. | :32:33. | |
Maidstone bid for this money. -- it is not a huge amount. It is a big | :32:33. | :32:39. | |
problem nationally, of course. It affects our hospitals, there is at | :32:39. | :32:45. | |
huge cost to it and we need to do lots of other things as well. | :32:45. | :32:53. | |
are a lot of other areas in the south-east, Nigel Farage, where | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
alcohol is not just the problem. is a huge amount of money but it | :32:58. | :33:04. | |
changes nothing at all. The younger generation go out with the express | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
intention of getting drunk. That is why they go out, on a Friday and | :33:09. | :33:15. | |
Saturday night. Until we can turn that around, then frankly, I think | :33:15. | :33:21. | |
the problem is going to go on. do we do that? Be is a cultural | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
thing, Nigel is right about that. We have a binge drinking culture in | :33:26. | :33:29. | |
this country that doesn't seem to apply in other countries in Europe. | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
But we do need to look at the price at which alcohol is sold. It is | :33:33. | :33:41. | |
cheaper than water in some supermarkets. We need to look good | :33:41. | :33:51. | |
:33:51. | :33:55. | ||
beer taxes -- a look at. We're all familiar with Boris Johnson's plans | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
for an airport in Kent, but now it seems he has his eye on another | :33:58. | :34:06. | |
mode of transport in the county. In his manifesto, the London Mayor | :34:06. | :34:09. | |
said he was going to lobby the Department of Transport to take | :34:09. | :34:12. | |
control of rail routes from the capital to Dartford and Sevenoaks | :34:12. | :34:15. | |
when the Southeastern franchise comes up in 2014. But will these | :34:15. | :34:17. | |
proposals benefit commuters, or is it a case of imperium condens? | :34:17. | :34:20. | |
That's empire building if you're not a classicist. Helen Drew | :34:20. | :34:28. | |
reports. The Mayor of London could be forgiven for being more familiar | :34:28. | :34:33. | |
with Seven Sisters tube then Sevenoaks station. But Boris | :34:33. | :34:36. | |
Johnson wants control over suburban railways can and that includes | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
trains into London from Sevenoaks and Dartford. And surprisingly, his | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
idea has been met with local opposition, including from within | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
his own party. Why difficulty with these proposals is that nothing at | :34:48. | :34:53. | |
all will benefit local people. The proposals from bent -- from | :34:53. | :34:59. | |
Transport London say nothing about price increases are, and the fact | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
there will be additional stops along the route from Dartford which | :35:03. | :35:12. | |
will slop the service. -- slow up. The Mayor of London should be just | :35:12. | :35:17. | |
that, the Mayor of London and not the mayor of North Kent. | :35:17. | :35:20. | |
Department of Transport chooses he gets the railway contracts and its | :35:20. | :35:28. | |
did light criteria -- it stipulates criteria. For a number of London- | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
bound commuter services, Boris Johnson wants to take control. This | :35:31. | :35:40. | |
would mean splitting the South Eastern franchise. Boris Johnson is | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
interested in having control over the part that goes from Sevenoaks | :35:44. | :35:51. | |
and Dartford. They have told us they will consider making a bid | :35:51. | :35:57. | |
regardless of who is control. The London overground already runs many | :35:57. | :36:01. | |
of the capital's services. It is a system that Boris Johnson played in | :36:01. | :36:05. | |
his recent manifesto. But he went being control of trains to the rest | :36:05. | :36:12. | |
of Kent and some fear the changes will cause confusion. The present | :36:12. | :36:18. | |
system is very simple. You buy a return ticket from Sevenoaks to | :36:18. | :36:27. | |
London. The danger is that we face having to all three different train | :36:27. | :36:34. | |
operators providing a services -- two or three. It is chaos for those | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
of us who live outside the GLA area. There is a real risk that we could | :36:39. | :36:44. | |
end up as the country cousins who get whatever is left over after the | :36:44. | :36:54. | |
:36:54. | :36:54. | ||
Inner London commuters who vote for Boris Johnson have had their share. | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
Boris says there will be longer and more frequent trains and it will | :36:59. | :37:06. | |
potentially hold down fares. shouldn't extend his powers, I | :37:06. | :37:11. | |
don't think, outside Greater London. This is not Greater London, thank | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
God. I think it is bad because we are not part of the London area and | :37:15. | :37:20. | |
we shouldn't be treated like it. Boris Johnson is riding high on his | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
recent re-election as mayor of London, and there's a fair chance | :37:24. | :37:28. | |
he could get control of the suburban trains. In nearby it | :37:28. | :37:37. | |
Medway, they're afraid it he might succeed and expand his plans. | :37:37. | :37:47. | |
:37:47. | :37:47. | ||
would seem almost a logical step. We are all very concerned about the | :37:47. | :37:56. | |
London then creep, that London will creep into the suburban counties. | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
The Department of Transport is asking local authorities if they're | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
interested in controlling their local rail services, which could | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
mean that can count council has power over the franchises. The | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
government has told us that all options will be looked at -- Kent | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
County Council. The Thames estuary airport idea started with Boris | :38:12. | :38:19. | |
Johnson and is now being looked at in detail by the government. So it | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
will signal West transport commuters if this plan goes full | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
steam ahead? Helen Drew reporting. From our Westminster studio, we | :38:28. | :38:30. | |
have Caroline Pidgeon, the Liberal Democrat Chair of the London | :38:30. | :38:35. | |
Assembly's Transport Committee. It sounds as though they may be | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
considerable benefits for Kent commuters if you do cake -- take | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
control of the franchise? Are don't think it would have any impact on | :38:45. | :38:51. | |
the south-east. It is a cross party idea, not just the Mayor of London. | :38:51. | :38:56. | |
It will be huge benefit to London passengers and Kent passengers if | :38:56. | :39:00. | |
we could run a model such as the London overground on some of those | :39:00. | :39:08. | |
South Clifton routes. -- South Eastern. But there are lots of | :39:08. | :39:14. | |
other parts of the South Eastern network who need much faster and | :39:14. | :39:19. | |
frequent trains. There is a real opportunity with South Eastern | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
franchise coming up and Thameslink to look at how we can package them | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
together. We think the majority of trains into London should be run by | :39:28. | :39:34. | |
the Mayor of London. We could see a saving of around �290 million which | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
could be reinvested in the transport network. But the real | :39:38. | :39:44. | |
benefit to passengers is more reliable trains. And that's great, | :39:44. | :39:48. | |
that's fantastic for anyone who commutes in from the outlying | :39:48. | :39:51. | |
stations, it is the rest of the rail network. Why should you care | :39:51. | :39:55. | |
what happens to the rest of the rail network and the south-east who | :39:55. | :40:00. | |
doesn't stand to benefit? I think all passengers will benefit. We | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
have seen huge satisfaction with London over ground where we have | :40:05. | :40:08. | |
seen transport London running that service. It has got higher | :40:08. | :40:14. | |
satisfaction and performance than any other train operator and the | :40:14. | :40:23. | |
country. We want to read -- replicate that. At the moment, | :40:23. | :40:26. | |
trains on the London Underground got to Watford and Uxbridge. | :40:26. | :40:31. | |
would almost make more sense be to take control of the hall of the | :40:31. | :40:37. | |
south-east network? We have already heard about some of your passenger | :40:37. | :40:40. | |
groups being concerned, there is no point in taking control of the | :40:40. | :40:46. | |
faster trains into London, but the suburban ones, there is a real | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
answer for actually having London takeover those routes and wonder | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
more efficiently. On the principle of democracy, is it right that the | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
mayor of London has power over people who want part of his | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
electorate? Many of them travelling to London every day so they | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
automatically use services within London. But there is already a | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
President. The London Underground goes outside the London boundary. | :41:10. | :41:15. | |
You have to have consultative groups and engage passenger groups | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
to make sure their voices are heard. This is not about trying to exclude | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
Kent, quite the opposite. It's about running a far more efficient | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
service all passengers. We heard from a lot of your constituents | :41:29. | :41:33. | |
there, Michael Fallon. What you make of this? Well, it's the | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
proposal. I have met transport London to discuss it. There two | :41:38. | :41:42. | |
issues. First, it is hard to add additional services. The lines are | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
at full capacity at the moment and I'm worried that fast trains would | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
be able to get through if the mayor start adding additional suburban | :41:49. | :41:55. | |
services. It is very important that commuters are able to get into the | :41:55. | :42:01. | |
London terminals. The platform capacity is the real issue. And the | :42:01. | :42:04. | |
second problem is the first. It can't be right that the mayor would | :42:04. | :42:11. | |
be able to increase fares when my constituents can't wait for it. -- | :42:11. | :42:18. | |
the second problem is the fares. Here is the Tory mayor looking to | :42:18. | :42:26. | |
exceed his powerful -- his powerful stop it has the potential to make | :42:26. | :42:36. | |
:42:36. | :42:42. | ||
people angry. -- looking to exceed his power. Why are we spending �32 | :42:42. | :42:49. | |
billion on HS2? Let put that point about capacity back to this lady. | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
We are at full capacity. There is some fine-tuning that can be done | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
by looking at the existing network, but we have got massive investment | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
going into stations such as London Bridge which will help us to | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
increase capacity and benefit all passengers. Nigel here has always | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
been one of our more ebullient politicians, but he's had an extra | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
spring in his step for the past two weeks since his party caused a | :43:14. | :43:17. | |
minor upset in the local elections. In Tunbridge Wells the Conservative | :43:17. | :43:20. | |
leader lost his seat to the UKIP candidate, and the party's overall | :43:20. | :43:26. | |
share of the vote in the council was 14%, up from 5% in 2008. Some | :43:26. | :43:28. | |
political commentators say that if this pattern is repeated during the | :43:28. | :43:31. | |
next general election, it could undermine the Conservatives enough | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
to provide Labour with a way back into the South East. Michael Fallon, | :43:36. | :43:46. | |
how worried are you? Of course we pay attention to the local | :43:46. | :43:49. | |
elections. Labour didn't do particularly well, Nigel won his | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
single-seat, I think it was, so of course we pay attention to that. It | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
has become, the you Kipp vote, a bit of a protest vote, and all | :44:00. | :44:05. | |
credit to them -- the UKIP vote. We have already put in place for a | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
referendum stopping any more powers being transferred to Europe. We are | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
trying to encourage the other countries in Europe to sort out the | :44:12. | :44:21. | |
big problems in the eurozone, which you can't just opt out of. Half our | :44:21. | :44:26. | |
trade is with Europe. Millions of jobs depend on it. We can't just | :44:26. | :44:30. | |
say we will wonder rough on Morrow and cover applies. We have to help | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
Europe resolve these problems -- we will wander off and cover our | :44:36. | :44:44. | |
highways. Justified % swing in Nigel's favour come at a general | :44:44. | :44:52. | |
election, you know that Labour will be the ones that again. We have got | :44:52. | :44:59. | |
to explain what we have done to stop more buyers drifting off to | :44:59. | :45:03. | |
Brussels and how we are involved in helping to sort out the eurozone's | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
problems and the mandatory that we do with Europe. We have to get that | :45:07. | :45:15. | |
over. -- the amount of trade. a-million people in London work in | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
financial services. Since your government came to power, you have | :45:19. | :45:28. | |
given away a total regulatory control. So don't tell me... For 13 | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
years, we had the Tory party in opposition. And here in the south- | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
east, a big Tory stronghold, people used to say they would agree with | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
me. But they had to vote Tory because they wanted to get Labour | :45:39. | :45:45. | |
out. And once David is in, we will see what his like. Well, now they | :45:45. | :45:53. | |
see it... The trouble is, you won't get much further. It is Labour that | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
will profit from your success. Everybody has told me, you're | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
wasting your time. Into the other nine, we came second across the | :46:02. | :46:10. | |
hall of the United Kingdom in the elections. -- across all of the | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
United Kingdom. We will carry on going as a political party because | :46:14. | :46:17. | |
we stand up and say what most people believe in. The interesting | :46:17. | :46:23. | |
thing is that Nigel has taken 1.4 million Conservative voters than | :46:23. | :46:27. | |
you over the past two years since you have been in government with | :46:27. | :46:34. | |
the Liberal Democrats. I hope they will see that if we get a clear | :46:34. | :46:38. | |
majority, the election will be able to do a lot of the things we wanted | :46:38. | :46:43. | |
to do in our manifesto. We are having to sort out the enormous | :46:43. | :46:48. | |
deficit and the banking problems that we inherited. You know the | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
people on the right to be a party of frustrated because Europe | :46:52. | :46:58. | |
coalition and a more likely to fall into Nigel's lap. In the end, or | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
when it comes to the real world, in the end, they then to see the you | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
have to have a Conservative government with a clear majority if | :47:05. | :47:09. | |
you're going to stand up to Europe. There's no point in having one | :47:09. | :47:17. | |
single party leader. You can't stand up to it. Your Prime Minister | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
promised us a referendum on a relationship with Europe. He has | :47:22. | :47:29. | |
broken that promise. People don't trust him and they see him as a | :47:29. | :47:35. | |
social democrat. I think there is a breach of trust. People don't trust | :47:35. | :47:41. | |
the big parties any more in this country and they look at UKIP which | :47:41. | :47:45. | |
is campaigning on a broad-based manifesto that is increasingly | :47:45. | :47:53. | |
appealing to people. We believe in giving people opportunity. Anybody | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
from Poland could walk in here tomorrow and you have encouraged | :47:57. | :48:07. | |
:48:07. | :48:10. | ||
that unsupported it. -- and supported it. Let's have grammar | :48:10. | :48:20. | |
:48:20. | :48:23. | ||
schools in Surrey, no? You have abandoned that. I would love to see | :48:23. | :48:32. | |
one in Sevenoaks, we have not abandoned that. In the end, we have | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
to deal with the real world. Europe as a dangerous place at the moment | :48:35. | :48:39. | |
and we have to see how best to protect our British national | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
interest. Thank you very much for now. It's time for a round-up of | :48:44. | :48:54. | |
:48:54. | :48:55. | ||
the week's events with a political There was a double blow for the | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
Green Party this week with the announcement that the party's | :48:58. | :49:06. | |
leader, Caroline Lucas, is to step down after four years but will | :49:06. | :49:10. | |
remain as the Brighton Pavilion MP. Is time for other people to come | :49:10. | :49:16. | |
forward. And Brighton and Hove's Green led cancel charges the | :49:16. | :49:23. | |
highest care costs in the country, compared to freak -- 3 care in | :49:23. | :49:33. | |
:49:33. | :49:39. | ||
other areas. -- free. Thank you, Mr Speaker. And this politician got | :49:39. | :49:49. | |
:49:49. | :49:49. | ||
the giggles after a mishap by AMP Charles Henry. I inadvertently sat | :49:49. | :49:59. | |
:49:59. | :50:03. | ||
He dealt with that very well. I don't think I have ever sat on | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
anyone's lap by accident in parliament! You have to be very | :50:08. | :50:14. | |
careful with your other minister answering when you sit back again. | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
You have to be very careful you don't sit on someone. Let's talk | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
about Caroline Lucas. Another small party that had success at -- in the | :50:23. | :50:30. | |
European elections. Why do you think she has done it? Running a | :50:30. | :50:40. | |
:50:40. | :50:40. | ||
small party is a big commitment. It is a seven-day-a-week job. You are | :50:40. | :50:43. | |
involved in all the fundraising. They had not been having an easy | :50:43. | :50:48. | |
time, particularly in the recession. I think she's probably recognised | :50:48. | :50:53. | |
that with a couple of years to go, she's got some problems holding | :50:53. | :51:01. | |
back her can stitch and see -- constituency. She does have a big | :51:01. | :51:04. | |
workload, looking after the party. I think her council has become | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
rather unpopular and there are some issues there. She will have a tough | :51:08. | :51:18. | |
:51:18. | :51:18. |