Browse content similar to 30/09/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the South East: Why the people of Dartford could | :01:32. | :01:42. | |
:01:42. | :01:42. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2119 seconds | :01:42. | :37:01. | |
signal victory or defeat for Ed Hello, I'm Natalie Graham, and this | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
is the Sunday Politics in the South East. Coming up: | :37:06. | :37:09. | |
Whether it is mansions, council tax or free TV licences, will targeting | :37:09. | :37:14. | |
the region's wealthiest voters backfire on the politicians? | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
Joining me in the studio today is Amber Rudd, who is the Conservative | :37:18. | :37:20. | |
MP for Hastings and Rye and Parliamentary Private Secretary to | :37:20. | :37:25. | |
the Chancellor George Osborne. Also joining us is Lord Bassam, former | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
leader of Brighton Council, and Labour's chief whip in the House of | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
Lords. First, the new road scheme linking | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
Bexhill and Hastings moved a step closer this week when the | :37:35. | :37:38. | |
government approved orders for buying up the necessary land. The | :37:38. | :37:42. | |
project will cost more than �90 million. The council says it will | :37:42. | :37:45. | |
bring development and jobs to the area. But opponents are strongly | :37:45. | :37:49. | |
against the scheme because of its effect on the landscape and widlife. | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
They are continuing to fight it in the courts and say it is the wrong | :37:53. | :38:01. | |
way to solve local traffic problems. Gummer, you will be familiar with | :38:01. | :38:09. | |
the arguments. -- Amber. It is not worth the damage? This is a debate | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
that has been going on for over 20 years. People are already suffering | :38:13. | :38:19. | |
from fatigue. Most of us who live in the area and love it up excited | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
at the prospect of the road. It is not just about trying to sort out | :38:24. | :38:27. | |
the roads, it is about economic regeneration. It is about the | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
opportunity it gives for new businesses and jobs. He you say | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
that but a report by the council says the opposite. They say they | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
are small benefits. I do not think that is true. East Sussex County | :38:42. | :38:46. | |
Council has been the biggest promoter of this road. It will | :38:46. | :38:52. | |
bring it 3,000 jobs. We must point out huge amounts of effort has gone | :38:52. | :38:56. | |
into environmental mitigation. There will be special measures for | :38:56. | :39:05. | |
the badgers and dormice. For Lord Bassam, what do you think? For the | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
road has been a long argued for. We were going to approve it when we | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
were in government. But you did not manage it. We had put a lot of | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
money into other projects in Hastings to try to regenerate the | :39:20. | :39:25. | |
economy. It is important the thing does not stop there and we make | :39:25. | :39:31. | |
sure it links up properly with the a 21. I agree with Amber. We need | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
to protect the local environment. It is right the Council listens to | :39:37. | :39:44. | |
those. We will leave it there. Are there will be a judicial review. | :39:44. | :39:54. | |
:39:54. | :39:54. | ||
That will be heard in October. judicial review was turned down. | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
They have asked to leave for appeal. We hope that will be turned down. | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
To the Labour Party now. It is holding its conference in | :40:04. | :40:06. | |
Manchester this weekend, surfing a wave of favourable opinion polls. | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
But there is evidence that its recovery is weaker in the South | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
East than other parts of the country. So can Labour win back the | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
seats in Sussex and Kent that it lost in 2010? One that will be | :40:16. | :40:18. | |
watched particularly closely is Dartford because the party that | :40:18. | :40:28. | |
:40:28. | :40:32. | ||
wins the seat normally forms the next government. | :40:32. | :40:37. | |
Dulford in north Kent is only 16 miles from London. It is a popular | :40:37. | :40:43. | |
commuter and since 1964 it has been the country's most reliable seat | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
for elections. The party that wins here get into power. It is a key | :40:47. | :40:56. | |
battleground and local issues will be important. This is Bluewater | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
shopping centre which is in the Dartford constituency. In spite of | :41:00. | :41:04. | |
money changing hands, unemployment is higher than the national average. | :41:04. | :41:14. | |
:41:14. | :41:15. | ||
It is just over 10%. They have an on-site learning shop which runs | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
sessions for people out of work, like these young people. It is | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
disheartening because you apply and applied and you fill in application | :41:25. | :41:33. | |
forms and hand in your CV and some people just don't reply. I have | :41:33. | :41:39. | |
handed out over 200 CVs to shopping centres in my area. I have applied | :41:39. | :41:48. | |
for about 20 jobs every two weeks and I have had one interview. | :41:48. | :41:58. | |
must be very frustrating. Yes, it is. I was turned down. Other | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
residents who have jobs, many commute to London. For those who | :42:02. | :42:08. | |
drive, the toll will increase next month from one pound 52 for �2. | :42:08. | :42:14. | |
Rail fares are likely to go up by around 6%. Lyndon Jones is what | :42:14. | :42:19. | |
politicians referred to as the squeezed middle. His season ticket | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
has gone up four years. On top of the other increases, the gas | :42:26. | :42:33. | |
electricity, and the price of going across the Dartford crossing, it is | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
all adding up and reducing my monthly take-home available income. | :42:38. | :42:46. | |
It is not good news. I am not happy. Voters faced with this price | :42:46. | :42:54. | |
increase will take this thing into account. Despite national opinion | :42:54. | :42:58. | |
polls, Labour's recovery in the South East has been weaker than in | :42:58. | :43:05. | |
the north. In Dartford, the party lost seats at the local council | :43:05. | :43:13. | |
election. In the last General Election, problems with the Labour | :43:14. | :43:19. | |
Party were greater in this part of the country. We do have a bigger | :43:19. | :43:27. | |
majority to fight against in the next election. It will not be an | :43:27. | :43:33. | |
easy task. We are confident we can make a good inroad into that. | :43:33. | :43:39. | |
some commentators say aspiration is important in the region. This is | :43:39. | :43:43. | |
the place where the aspiring classes live. They one the Labour | :43:43. | :43:49. | |
party to represent their values. -- we want. They are not convinced Ed | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
Miliband shares their values. Can they make the South East as popular | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
as it was under Tony Blair? For the electorate, Ed Miliband looks like | :43:59. | :44:09. | |
:44:09. | :44:10. | ||
a left-wing Labour than in 1997. Labour needs to convince crucial | :44:10. | :44:15. | |
swing voters in Dartford it can improve their fortunes in economic | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
difficulty. It needs to come up with a vision that matches the | :44:19. | :44:29. | |
:44:29. | :44:31. | ||
aspirations of people of all ages. Steve Bassam, we heard from Lyndon | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
Jones and the squeezed middle. There is a long way for your party | :44:35. | :44:40. | |
to go to convince people like him to vote for you? I do not think | :44:40. | :44:46. | |
voters in the south are that different. We have made a lot of | :44:46. | :44:53. | |
progress there. Last year's elections in Hastings, we took six | :44:53. | :45:01. | |
seats off the Tories. One was for the Lib Dems. But we have | :45:01. | :45:08. | |
consolidated their. It means seats like those, it means those will be | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
up for grabs. I think we can recover the lost ground from 2010. | :45:13. | :45:23. | |
I think Ed Miliband will take as in that decision -- in that direction. | :45:23. | :45:33. | |
:45:33. | :45:34. | ||
I am more vulnerable than Dartford. They have a majority of 11,000. I | :45:34. | :45:40. | |
try not to look at that too much. I tried to deliver on the ground for | :45:40. | :45:44. | |
Hastings. I am trying to help people get the jobs they want and | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
make sure the cost of living does not, as in the example, go down. | :45:48. | :45:53. | |
But that is the trouble. The utilities, the train fares, the | :45:53. | :45:59. | |
Dartford crossing, those are going up. We have always said these are | :45:59. | :46:03. | |
difficult times. It is a difficult time to build the economy. I | :46:03. | :46:09. | |
hesitate to say this but there are signs of improvement. I was as a | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
jobs fair in Hastings yesterday. 350 jobs on offer. The economists | :46:14. | :46:20. | |
who are saying this week the tide is turning. I have looked at the | :46:20. | :46:23. | |
statistics for young unemployment and they are horrific in Brighton | :46:24. | :46:29. | |
and Hove and they are not good in Hastings. You might think there are | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
signs of improvement but that is not how young people feel. | :46:33. | :46:39. | |
mentioned the victories in Hastings. Crawley, you hardly made any gains. | :46:39. | :46:49. | |
You are not -- you did not gain control, which you expected to do. | :46:49. | :46:55. | |
You are not making as much as a recovery as you would like to see. | :46:55. | :46:59. | |
We took control of Southampton. We made a lot of progress in Crawley, | :47:00. | :47:07. | |
actually. We will get control in the next set of district elections. | :47:07. | :47:15. | |
Mind that recovery is strong in the south. We are making of the lost | :47:15. | :47:21. | |
ground. In Hastings, unemployment has increased by 14%. -- has | :47:21. | :47:28. | |
decreased. Thank you. Now we will hear from Ed Miliband. He has been | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
talking to our political editor. She began by asking him what Labour | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
would do about the need for greater airport capacity in the South East. | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
We have said what needs to happen is there needs to be a proper look | :47:42. | :47:47. | |
at the environmental issues we face around aviation, a proper look at | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
the business case around aviation and any decision is made. It is not | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
good the Government has kicked this into the long grass. We would like | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
a quicker decision. We will look at the way the commission works. | :48:00. | :48:06. | |
People want a bit of certainty and that is what we will have to do in | :48:06. | :48:12. | |
our own policy review. environment and climate change | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
Secretary, you were against a third runway at Heathrow. What is your | :48:17. | :48:24. | |
position now? I remain sceptical about Heathrow. The key thing about | :48:24. | :48:30. | |
this is you have got to start with... We have got big | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
environmental commitments as a country. We want to cut our | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
emissions by 80%. Aviation has got to fit within that. I wanted to | :48:39. | :48:43. | |
start with that and then look at the business case and make | :48:43. | :48:47. | |
decisions. I do not think it means no extra capacity anywhere but I do | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
not think we can carry on as we are. We have got to strike the right | :48:52. | :48:56. | |
balance. On education, Labour have been clear they do not support | :48:56. | :49:01. | |
grammar schools. In Kent, they have that grammar school system. But | :49:01. | :49:06. | |
they are expanding it for the first time in half a century. People in | :49:06. | :49:11. | |
Kent will have that concern that if Labour get in, you do not support | :49:11. | :49:17. | |
the education system they cherish? It is supposed to be a cross-party | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
consensus that we do not want new grammar schools and that is not the | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
way forward. But I want to drive up standards of education. One issue | :49:26. | :49:33. | |
is the education of people who are not academic and need vocational | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
skills. Michael Gove is announcing changes to GCSEs. But that is not | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
the biggest issue. What about the kids that are not academic but do | :49:42. | :49:47. | |
not want to go to university? That is that 15% we do not talk about. | :49:47. | :49:52. | |
We need to help them. That will be one of the things we will talk | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
about in the coming months. You are doing well nationally in the polls. | :49:57. | :50:03. | |
But that is not translating in the South East. You made some gains | :50:03. | :50:08. | |
that were not enough. Is it just that you do not risen at their in | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
the way that Tony Blair did? think we are in party be building, | :50:13. | :50:20. | |
particularly in the south. We have some distance to go. -- rebuilding. | :50:20. | :50:27. | |
We need to talk about how we will rebuild Britain. Prices and living | :50:27. | :50:32. | |
standards, energy bills, we need to talk about how we will make a | :50:32. | :50:37. | |
difference in terms of jobs and make the bank's work for them. It | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
is about rebuilding the economy and Britain. That will speak to people | :50:42. | :50:47. | |
in the South East. Are you confident you can win in the South | :50:47. | :50:51. | |
East? You have no MPs there at the moment. Are you confident Labour | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
has the right message? I am. Talking about the economy and how | :50:55. | :51:00. | |
we will build it up, people voted for change two years ago. They | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
thought David Cameron would bring change. But he made it worse, not | :51:05. | :51:08. | |
better. People are losing the benefit of the doubt for the | :51:08. | :51:16. | |
Government. They want to know how we will change the country. Thank | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
you. Is he sounding too left wing? That is the accusation we heard | :51:21. | :51:25. | |
earlier. I do not think that is true. I think he does understand | :51:25. | :51:32. | |
the aspirations of people in the South. He talked about schools, | :51:32. | :51:38. | |
jobs, banking. All of those things are really important in the South | :51:38. | :51:45. | |
East. They are the 7th largest regional economy in the UK. Ed | :51:45. | :51:50. | |
Miliband I understand that. He will address those issues. You mentioned | :51:50. | :51:54. | |
education. We touched on grammar schools. But he is not talking to | :51:54. | :51:59. | |
the middle classes in the way Tony Blair did? He was talking against | :51:59. | :52:03. | |
Michael Gove. But a lot of Michael Gove's policies who are playing | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
well with aspirational parents in this part of the world. Fighting I | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
think the reaction to Michael Gove's attack on grade inflation | :52:12. | :52:18. | |
has been mixed. My daughter has just done her GCSEs and her | :52:18. | :52:25. | |
friends' parents did not take too kindly to Michael Gove's | :52:25. | :52:29. | |
interventions. We need to focus on training and education and make | :52:29. | :52:33. | |
sure people are well qualified. That is exactly where Labour is. | :52:33. | :52:39. | |
That is where voters are. A I am sure you will see that is where the | :52:39. | :52:47. | |
Conservatives are. If -- you will say. In that conversation, he | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
touched on a lot of things that mattered. But he did not have any | :52:52. | :52:57. | |
answers. He is very good at framing the question but something like his | :52:57. | :53:07. | |
aviation policy, he has no view at all. I think it is quite reasonable | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
to say we have to look at this carefully and say we need to decide | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
on the best thing for everyone. But just to attack us without no | :53:15. | :53:19. | |
answer... I am looking forward to the Labour Party Conference and | :53:19. | :53:23. | |
hearing what they will actually do rather than just attacking the | :53:23. | :53:28. | |
Government. I do not think Boris Ireland is such a good idea. But we | :53:28. | :53:34. | |
need extra capacity somewhere. -- Boris Ireland. We cannot afford to | :53:34. | :53:41. | |
kill off Heathrow. Would it not be refreshing for a politician to say, | :53:41. | :53:49. | |
an estuary would boost jobs and the economy? I am not sure about it. We | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
need to look more carefully at Heathrow as well. There are too | :53:52. | :54:01. | |
many options out there. Everyone has so many options. We need to | :54:01. | :54:06. | |
look at them all. Next, the policies that could hit | :54:06. | :54:09. | |
you where it hurts - the wallet. The Liberal Democrats talked about | :54:09. | :54:12. | |
wealth taxes again this week, and Labour and the Tories are also | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
known to be looking at them. Whether it is raising council tax | :54:15. | :54:17. | |
on expensive houses, a mansion tax, or taking away universal benefits | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
for affluent pensioners, squeezing the rich is a subject that will not | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
go away. And the South East would be affected more than many other | :54:26. | :54:34. | |
parts of the country because of relatively high property values. | :54:34. | :54:37. | |
Amber, you are Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor | :54:37. | :54:42. | |
of the Exchequer. What is his thinking? He has not share that | :54:42. | :54:47. | |
with me. My view, if you were to ask me, we are not a country that | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
is overtaxed and we should not be looking at wealth taxes in the same | :54:52. | :55:01. | |
way the Lib Dems are. They claim they are making progress. | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
Commentators are saying George Osborne has approved some kind of | :55:04. | :55:09. | |
tax on property. A I am behind the curve on that one. The one that | :55:09. | :55:14. | |
matters is we have had a 7% stamp duty tax which is now on very | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
expensive houses. So I would say we have already done that. We have | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
made sure the wealthier do pay their share by withdrawing child | :55:23. | :55:30. | |
benefit from a high paid. We are all in it together. A wealth tax | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
would not play well with your constituents? We are not overtaxed | :55:35. | :55:40. | |
in this country. We need to look for efficiency and better | :55:40. | :55:46. | |
government. So you think we should have more taxes? No, we are not | :55:46. | :55:51. | |
under taxed. You are right. A I am glad you have clarified that. We | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
need to look at taxation. The Government got it wrong in the last | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
Budget, giving millions back to millionaires for and squeezing | :55:59. | :56:03. | |
people on lower incomes. They did not get the balance right. A Ed | :56:03. | :56:11. | |
Balls is thinking about a wealth tax as well? All Chancellors have | :56:11. | :56:17. | |
to do that. If we are to ensure there is money to invest, you have | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
got to do that. He has been saved a lot of interesting things. That | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
will emerge as being one of them, perhaps. You live somewhere where | :56:27. | :56:34. | |
property prices just continue to rise? Brain is a property bubble. - | :56:34. | :56:42. | |
- Brighton. I am not opposed to taxes which are fair. But I worry | :56:42. | :56:47. | |
about the Government's policy because it is giving a lot of money | :56:47. | :56:57. | |
:56:57. | :56:59. | ||
back to will the house sold its -- to wealthy households. Whether | :56:59. | :57:06. | |
you're raising revenue efficiently or whether it's there, there are | :57:06. | :57:16. | |
:57:16. | :57:23. | ||
two issues here. -- it is fair. had a property tax in the sense we | :57:23. | :57:32. | |
had rates. Property does not move and it is easier to tax and track | :57:32. | :57:37. | |
down. A once you start recalculating, you are opening up... | :57:37. | :57:42. | |
Some people will say if you have a wealth tax on property, you are | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
just getting an advance against the inheritance tax so there is no more | :57:46. | :57:55. | |
any money. So you cannot just say, let us tax a big houses. There is | :57:55. | :58:01. | |
clearly a debate going on amongst the three parties and we will be | :58:01. | :58:06. | |
looking at the possibility of a... Were due like to see a wealth tax? | :58:06. | :58:12. | |
I'll would like to see us tax bigger properties. -- would you | :58:12. | :58:22. | |
:58:22. | :58:29. | ||
like to see. Now the round-up of the political week. | :58:29. | :58:34. | |
The Lib Dems have seen a few storms recently but as we gathered for | :58:34. | :58:40. | |
their conference in Brighton it was another problem troubling the party | :58:40. | :58:44. | |
president. We love everything about Brighton with the exception of the | :58:44. | :58:48. | |
prices of the hotel bar. A sober Nick Clegg promised there will be | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
brighter days ahead but warned of tough decisions. One of the first | :58:53. | :58:57. | |
decisions they made was to renew their opposition to airport | :58:57. | :59:03. | |
exemption -- expansion in the South East. John Terry's conviction by | :59:03. | :59:13. | |
the FA for racially abusing another player was backed by MPs. They are | :59:13. | :59:20. | |
unacceptable, that type of language. The pancake champion it flipped | :59:20. | :59:26. | |
when her researcher told a bad joke. She tweeted she punished the | :59:26. | :59:36. |