:01:25. > :01:28.And in the South East, after a year of extreme weather and poor
:01:28. > :01:38.harvests, as the Government planning could pile more misery on
:01:38. > :01:39.
:01:39. > :43:57.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2538 seconds
:43:57. > :44:03.He hello, this is Sunday politics and the South East. Later, how much
:44:03. > :44:08.should we pay for old-age care? Joining us in the studio to be, the
:44:08. > :44:15.Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells and Treasury minister, Greg Clark,
:44:15. > :44:20.and Sussex-based commentator Paul Richards. We will hear their views.
:44:20. > :44:25.Benefits cost money, and people in Kent, Sussex and Surrey make a
:44:25. > :44:29.massive contribution to the port. No research suggests the South East
:44:29. > :44:33.is responsible for a third of the country's tax revenue, so do we get
:44:33. > :44:38.value for money or are we propping up the rest of the country? Do you
:44:38. > :44:45.think we should get more? To own forget in the South East
:44:45. > :44:50.there are plenty of poor people and people in need of work. As a nation,
:44:50. > :44:57.of course some regions have more than others, that is the point of
:44:57. > :44:59.being a nation. We will come to benefits and old
:44:59. > :45:03.age care later on, but one cannot help looking at Scotland, which
:45:03. > :45:09.takes more from the pot and be put in, and they get free here and
:45:09. > :45:12.tuition fees, as well. That cannot help but seem a bit unfair.
:45:12. > :45:17.Different regions contribute different amount, but in the
:45:18. > :45:21.Victorian age it was the north that was the powerhouse of the economy.
:45:21. > :45:29.It has no Adie's gone the other way as we have read balanced towards
:45:29. > :45:33.financial services. A in the constituency like yours, Greg Clark,
:45:33. > :45:40.often perceived to be one of the wealthiest parts of the country, a
:45:40. > :45:47.new story this week about a food Bank of Russia would estate.
:45:47. > :45:52.People do not think about the poor in areas like this.
:45:52. > :45:56.People get the wrong idea about parts of Tunbridge Wells. There are
:45:56. > :46:00.pockets of deprivation where people really struggle. When costs are
:46:00. > :46:04.higher, as they are here, it is even more difficult. On the
:46:04. > :46:07.question of whether we get our fear Shea, in the past this was too
:46:07. > :46:11.political. Under the last Government there was something
:46:11. > :46:15.called a heat map, where they looked for NHS Investment according
:46:15. > :46:18.to how marginal the constituency was. I think that is completely
:46:18. > :46:22.wrong, we suffered from that because we had to wait for years to
:46:22. > :46:28.get a new hospital here. What you can invest in here, road schemes,
:46:28. > :46:32.for example, can contribute to the success of the local economy and to
:46:32. > :46:37.the national economy. Everyone knows that the A21 is something
:46:37. > :46:44.that deserves investment and can help pay its way. We will come back
:46:44. > :46:48.to the money paid by us later on. Last year, many of our farmers
:46:48. > :46:52.struggled with drought and floods and poor harvests. Our food bills
:46:52. > :46:56.could rise steeply as a result. Amidst these difficulties, the
:46:56. > :47:01.Government is making noises about it reallocating EU subsidies many
:47:01. > :47:05.farmers rely on. What is the new year are likely to print for the
:47:05. > :47:15.beleaguered agricultural industry in the South East. -- likely to
:47:15. > :47:15.
:47:15. > :47:19.To 1012 was the year farmers in the South East was -- were glad to see
:47:19. > :47:25.the back of. Drought gave way to some of the wettest summer months
:47:25. > :47:28.on record. The worst harvest and a generation for arable and fruit.
:47:28. > :47:35.Livestock farmers battled rising feed prices and the spread of the
:47:35. > :47:38.Schmallenberg virus, which led to stillborn and performed lambs.
:47:38. > :47:46.Instability here and abroad has already begun to push up food
:47:46. > :47:50.prices, but could the real effect At this arable farm in
:47:50. > :47:54.Sittingbourne, they are having to sift through the week they
:47:54. > :48:00.harvested last year and probably many greens that did not develop
:48:00. > :48:05.properly in the poor weather. Is this normal?
:48:05. > :48:10.No, we have not done it since 1985, and it is a function of the lack of
:48:10. > :48:16.sunlight giving shrivelled greens. With fields walk -- waterlogged
:48:16. > :48:24.since September, Kevin has fully planted two thirds of his crops. It
:48:24. > :48:29.has been a long, hard slog so far. We are short of autumn crops.
:48:29. > :48:34.He is not alone. More than 80% of the South East is rural. We have
:48:34. > :48:37.more than 4,500 farms and a supporting agricultural industry
:48:38. > :48:42.employing 18,000 people. Two-thirds of British apples are grown in this
:48:42. > :48:47.region. It is the UN certain to of the weather that challenges farmers.
:48:47. > :48:51.- Matt the uncertainty. This time of year there is that
:48:51. > :48:56.subsidy payment funded by the European Union. It is a significant
:48:56. > :49:01.part of their income not dependent on market forces, and for most
:49:01. > :49:05.farmers it can mean the difference between being profitable and not.
:49:05. > :49:09.Now its future is uncertain. It is crunch time for the UK's
:49:09. > :49:14.relationship with Europe. Agriculture is afford to -- 40% of
:49:14. > :49:19.the EU budget and David Cameron Watt's that reduced. He wants to
:49:19. > :49:24.channel funding away from farmers into rural development projects.
:49:24. > :49:30.When we have a year like this, it focuses the mind on why capped
:49:30. > :49:34.payments are there, and it is to build resilience into our industry.
:49:34. > :49:38.A Government report in 2010 shows it would be farmers in the UK that
:49:38. > :49:43.would suffer more than any other European state from the withdrawal
:49:43. > :49:48.of European payment. If they do lose out, how would farmers cope?
:49:49. > :49:52.It would be a disaster. What would happen is that the farmers that
:49:52. > :49:58.would survive would survive by being leaner, meaner, getting rid
:49:58. > :50:07.of all the good things we love about the countryside, the
:50:07. > :50:10.hedgerows, and reverting to prairie farmers. World praises means
:50:10. > :50:16.farming in the way they do in the plains of Russia are, of the
:50:16. > :50:19.Midwest of America. -- world prices. He this month, the Government put
:50:19. > :50:23.genetically modified food back on the agenda. Other types of
:50:24. > :50:27.innovation are already being used, but Professor Chris Atkinson, who
:50:27. > :50:30.has worked in agricultural research in Kent for 20 years, says the
:50:30. > :50:33.Government is not doing enough to support innovation. The Government
:50:33. > :50:38.has to take the attitude that the model we have for funding research
:50:39. > :50:44.does not work in the sense of delivering strategic and applied
:50:44. > :50:48.science. We need to change that and put money back into doing strategic
:50:48. > :50:54.research so that ultimately applied science will have something to
:50:54. > :51:01.delivered to growers to improve UK plc to make sure we can actually
:51:01. > :51:05.move with the times. We have this 48-70% increase in food production
:51:05. > :51:12.that will be required in the not- too-distant future. They need to
:51:12. > :51:16.put money behind the rhetoric. the new year begins, farmers face a
:51:16. > :51:20.nervous wait for the weather to improve. Indies Testing Times, is
:51:20. > :51:27.the Government making it harder for farmers to cope? -- in these
:51:27. > :51:31.testing times. Joy any of us now is the Conservative Leader in deep
:51:31. > :51:35.European Parliament, Richard Ashworth.
:51:35. > :51:39.You were a farm are for 13 years, your family is an farming, he must
:51:39. > :51:48.have had it bad? Even the most business savvy will need -- SFA
:51:48. > :51:51.will need help? Or all the evidence we have is for the average farm in
:51:51. > :51:56.the UK the single payment accounts for about half of the farm income,
:51:56. > :52:00.so it is vital. So are you planning and changing that? There seems to
:52:00. > :52:04.be a suggestion David Cameron want to channel these payments away from
:52:04. > :52:10.farmers towards a general rule development project. What does he
:52:10. > :52:13.mean by that? Firstly, there is a principle of the Common
:52:13. > :52:20.Agricultural Policy, meaning there is a level playing field in
:52:20. > :52:25.agriculture or. I do not think it is a question of our Farm has been
:52:25. > :52:29.disadvantaged. Secondly, there is a clear message, we have a growing
:52:29. > :52:36.world population and climate change threatening food supply, and the
:52:36. > :52:41.demand for agriculture to double output within 30 years. This is not
:52:41. > :52:47.the time to threaten incomes. You're not planning to be in charge
:52:47. > :52:50.or supervise any cuts in terms of subsidies to farmers at all? At the
:52:50. > :52:53.at -- are you seeing the Baltic of repayment they get, including
:52:53. > :52:58.people like the Queen and Prince Charles, who receive subsidies for
:52:58. > :53:03.their land, as well? What you have to understand is the common
:53:03. > :53:09.agricultural policy is not just a food policy. It is also off -- and
:53:09. > :53:14.environmental, regional and social policy. We are seeing should all
:53:14. > :53:17.those things necessarily be paid for out of the EU budget? The
:53:17. > :53:22.Budget will shrink, there was no doubt about that, and agriculture
:53:22. > :53:28.are demanding 40% of the Budget will take quite a hit. About 7% is
:53:28. > :53:34.the perceived average at present. But that reduction, it is important
:53:34. > :53:40.that reduction is not taken away from formers' incomes, but we have
:53:40. > :53:44.to look hard at expenditure, regional aid and social policy. Why
:53:44. > :53:48.can't the national governments meet that bill themselves? Why can't
:53:48. > :53:52.they have the ability to meet their own priorities? Provided it does
:53:52. > :53:57.not impact the single market, that is the way forward. Thank you very
:53:57. > :54:04.much. Let us talk to our guests today in the studio, Greg Clark and
:54:04. > :54:08.Paul Richards. The BBC uncovered evidence last year there were
:54:08. > :54:12.nearly 900 landowners in this country receiving more than
:54:12. > :54:19.�250,000 in subsidies. There were 130 who got more than �500,000.
:54:19. > :54:22.There were even 50 odd land borders record more than �1 million. --
:54:22. > :54:24.landowners. How can that be justified when we are seeing
:54:24. > :54:28.essential public services cut across Europe?
:54:28. > :54:31.How I think we should bring down the cost of the Common Agricultural
:54:31. > :54:36.Policy. It should be reformed. There are two ways that could be
:54:36. > :54:46.done. Trust double, from it being just about subsidising food, it
:54:46. > :54:51.should be more a boat investing in the economy and diverse are buying.
:54:51. > :54:54.-- about diversifying. Also, at the EU level, if we have priorities to
:54:54. > :55:04.help rural communities, different countries can make different
:55:04. > :55:05.
:55:05. > :55:09.decisions. The 40% going on the common agricultural policy is too
:55:09. > :55:13.much. We missed the chance to reform it when Tony Blair was the
:55:13. > :55:17.president of the EU. We could have afforded, but we missed the chance
:55:17. > :55:24.and we are still dealing with the problems that have done for years.
:55:24. > :55:28.Lot of people talk about things like local produce and organic
:55:28. > :55:33.produce. People want cheap food. Is it time to look at genetically-
:55:33. > :55:38.modified food? Per it is time to look at it again. It is not quite
:55:38. > :55:42.the same common agricultural policy, it has been reformed, but David
:55:42. > :55:47.Cameron has to play to the right on this, to the Euro-sceptic part of
:55:47. > :55:51.his own party and the UK porters hammered at -- haemorrhaging from
:55:51. > :55:55.the Conservatives... But UKIP does not seem to understand the farmers'
:55:55. > :56:00.position. Nigel Farage Today said farmers would be better off if we
:56:00. > :56:03.let Europe. I put that to the National Farmers' Union and they
:56:03. > :56:06.said in no uncertain terms they would be much worse off. You heard
:56:07. > :56:10.of the farmers saying how much they value the EU because they get the
:56:10. > :56:15.subsidies they need when times are tough, like the last couple of
:56:15. > :56:18.years, but you cannot have ministers negotiating from a
:56:18. > :56:23.weakened position. If the going with one hand tied behind their
:56:23. > :56:26.back because they are noising off about scaling down. The Americans
:56:26. > :56:29.were warming -- warning about that the speed.
:56:29. > :56:36.I had experience of this going to Brussels and been part of
:56:36. > :56:43.negotiations, but that is a possible to find her range of
:56:43. > :56:45.countries to recognise that they have to make cuts at home and want
:56:45. > :56:51.to make improvements to the EU budget. The Netherlands, for
:56:51. > :56:55.example. The Netherlands, Sweden, lots of like-minded countries who
:56:55. > :57:00.supported us in the negotiations we have been having. Of course, it
:57:00. > :57:04.makes sense. I think everyone in the European countries having to
:57:04. > :57:10.make cuts at home, should be aware of the fact that the EU should not
:57:10. > :57:14.be exempt from the taint of economies that the EU it sylphs is
:57:14. > :57:20.saying member states should practice. -- itself.
:57:20. > :57:23.One to another question, how much should we pay for all-age care? In
:57:23. > :57:27.some communities more than 20% of the committee is retired. Many
:57:27. > :57:32.people sell their own houses to pay for fees. It is money they would
:57:32. > :57:36.probably like to leave to their families. The leader of Kent County
:57:36. > :57:40.Council says it is time the Government announced a review into
:57:40. > :57:47.personal care. He joined us now. You would be did at the lower end,
:57:47. > :57:57.the end that came out in the report. You want a cap at �35,000. Be think
:57:57. > :58:01.that is affordable? Any one individual and a family, it
:58:01. > :58:05.was costed about �1.7 billion. The leader of Hampshire,
:58:05. > :58:07.Buckinghamshire and myself have written to the prime ministers
:58:07. > :58:16.suggesting that �1.7 billion should be found in difficult times with
:58:16. > :58:20.public expenditure and a raft of other areas. Three of those areas
:58:20. > :58:27.would be in freezing foreign aid budgets, and at local Government we
:58:27. > :58:34.have taken massive cuts in our grant to fund local Government
:58:34. > :58:37.services, putting foreign aid back to 2010 levels would three -- free
:58:37. > :58:42.up �3.5 billion. We have been talking about European grants to
:58:42. > :58:46.support community budgets. Another area, if they were frozen, would
:58:46. > :58:52.release amount of money. -- as significant a bag of money. The
:58:52. > :58:56.Government should re-prioritise. There are far too many families
:58:56. > :59:01.that have been having their hard- earned wealth lost and diminished,
:59:01. > :59:05.selling their houses because they are the unfortunate few who get
:59:05. > :59:11.themselves, through no fault of their own, in that position.
:59:11. > :59:16.are a wealthy man. If you end up in all -- and a sitcom, is it fear the
:59:16. > :59:19.taxpayer pays a massive bill and you only pay �35,000? Let us talk
:59:19. > :59:25.about a wealthy people, is that fair in the current climate, to say
:59:26. > :59:28.that you can keep your wealth? The word that nobody ever puts into the
:59:28. > :59:31.debate here his inheritance. There is nothing wrong with wanting to
:59:31. > :59:36.pass things on to your grandchildren, but that is what
:59:36. > :59:41.this is a boat, is it not? There is 40% of the population below the
:59:41. > :59:49.means tested threshold that get state aid in their domiciliary care
:59:49. > :59:54.package. Below �23,500 worth of assets they get that paid for.
:59:54. > :59:59.There is a raft of families to have modest savings, never dependent on
:59:59. > :00:04.state aid at any time in their life, and are unfortunate enough to lose
:00:04. > :00:08.everything because the cap has not set at a sensible level. We are
:00:08. > :00:13.trying to introduce that. We had the Deputy Prime Minister and Prime
:00:13. > :00:19.Minister at this week talking about introducing this, but the debate
:00:19. > :00:25.leads to be had as to what level of cap can help those hard learning --
:00:25. > :00:29.hard-working families from losing that there are modest savings that
:00:29. > :00:32.they wish to leave as a modest inheritance. So we are talking
:00:32. > :00:38.about inheritance, because that has been missing in this debate, often
:00:38. > :00:41.the ill and in the room, and people strive and aspire and want to leave
:00:41. > :00:46.something for their families. We should be clear this is what it is
:00:46. > :00:51.about, should we not? At it is about fairness.
:00:51. > :00:56.You have a 25% chance of needing long-term residential care when you
:00:56. > :01:01.get older. Most people who need it actually habit for a short space of
:01:01. > :01:06.time. There is a small but significant minority who needed for
:01:06. > :01:10.a long time, and it is difficult to plan for order at -- in advance for
:01:10. > :01:15.that. Almost randomly, people are given a huge bill that they would
:01:15. > :01:19.like to prepare for, but it is true random. How do you defend the
:01:19. > :01:23.Government postponed a decision on this? This was commissioned, the
:01:23. > :01:29.report came back with an answer, and two years later nothing has
:01:29. > :01:31.happened. The review has been commissioned, and the Deputy Prime
:01:31. > :01:36.Minister said that later in the spring we will have a detailed
:01:36. > :01:39.response saying how to implement it. We accept the principles and that
:01:39. > :01:43.it is important to provide this degree of fairness...
:01:43. > :01:48.Will definitely be a cab? Are we will announce how difficult
:01:48. > :01:52.it will be. At a time when we're having to pay down the biggest
:01:52. > :01:56.deficit we have had since the Second World War, it is not easy to
:01:56. > :02:02.find these sums of money. The fact that we are determined to try and
:02:02. > :02:08.make progress on this so's that our heart is in it, but we have to be
:02:08. > :02:13.practical, as well. -- shows that we supported.
:02:13. > :02:16.This idea of paying for it by the means of the war means tested
:02:16. > :02:19.winter fuel allowance. We are moving towards means-testing in
:02:19. > :02:26.this country, we are just interested for child benefit, why
:02:26. > :02:30.not means test some of the pension support? The more it important
:02:30. > :02:37.thing is to get people back to work. It is the generation in work now
:02:37. > :02:41.paying for the care of people who need the care now. As long as there
:02:41. > :02:46.are more people in work, we can afford the things we are talking
:02:46. > :02:50.about. It is fascinating, you are a Treasury minister as well as an MP,
:02:50. > :02:54.and you cannot tell us what the cap will be. The Tories are saying it
:02:54. > :02:58.should be around 30,000, but if you come up with something around
:02:58. > :03:06.70,000, the report says that some of that will not help the poorest
:03:06. > :03:14.people. We should have cross-party consensus on this. Get people back
:03:14. > :03:23.to work. That is a big they'd, is it not? -- that is a bit faded.
:03:23. > :03:28.at all. He have to be responsible. Very quickly, if you'd -- if the
:03:28. > :03:34.price that you pay for putting a cap on contributions to care home
:03:34. > :03:39.fees is means testing, it will be a hollow victory, will it not?
:03:40. > :03:44.law, the report also suggested that means testing level should go up
:03:44. > :03:49.from �23,500 worth of assets in property your savings to 100,000.
:03:49. > :03:52.That was included in the �1.7 billion annual cost of introducing
:03:52. > :04:02.of the recommendations and raising the threshold. That would take an
:04:02. > :04:02.
:04:02. > :04:07.enormous number of people out of this. 30,000, 35,000 - how much?
:04:07. > :04:10.For whatever is affordable. We have waited two years, why do we have to
:04:10. > :04:15.wait longer? Were it a few more weeks and the
:04:16. > :04:23.Prime Minister says that in the spring we will have an announcement.
:04:23. > :04:27.75,000 was mention... Sensible debate has to be had. When you look
:04:28. > :04:35.at pensionable benefits like heating allowances, there needs to
:04:35. > :04:38.be a debate about making the best use of those funds. Many people
:04:38. > :04:43.approaching pensionable age would love to see this recommendation
:04:43. > :04:53.introduced and there is give and take on it. Many people want to see
:04:53. > :04:54.
:04:54. > :04:59.our sixty-second review, here is Anti-road protesters continue their
:04:59. > :05:06.fight against the building of the Hastings-Bexhill link road. The
:05:06. > :05:10.council says it is a vital economic boost to a deprived area. There was
:05:10. > :05:13.scathing comment on the benefit cap. This is a mean and miserable piece
:05:13. > :05:18.of legislation from a mean and miserable Government. Are you
:05:18. > :05:22.annoyed by a charity mothers? Charlie Elphicke is. He wants
:05:23. > :05:26.tougher regulations. There is a sharp difference between the person
:05:26. > :05:33.holding the tenth and may be battling that in, and the person
:05:33. > :05:37.who are wrasses you in the street? Sunk -- a local council made the
:05:37. > :05:47.most money from parking charges outside of London last year, a one.
:05:47. > :05:52.-- hopping �1.3 million. And Damian Green was pushed off a bridge into
:05:52. > :05:58.a river by the Attorney General. It was not a parliamentary spat, but a
:05:58. > :06:02.night out at University 35 years ago. They have very little time
:06:02. > :06:05.left for this, Caroline Lucas, said Amin and miserable piece of
:06:05. > :06:11.legislation from the Government. She is talking about capping
:06:11. > :06:15.benefits at 1%. Paul Richards, isn't this political suicide
:06:15. > :06:18.defending and above inflation increase in benefits? Two-thirds of
:06:18. > :06:25.the people being clobbered by this Bill are in work. They are not the
:06:25. > :06:30.so-called shuckers, but are working hard. Walking people will benefit
:06:30. > :06:37.by �250 from the raising of the personal allowance. You cannot