:01:21. > :01:31.the blue tide - can Ed Miliband and the Labour Party reclaim lost seats
:01:31. > :01:31.
:01:31. > :38:07.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2196 seconds
:38:07. > :38:12.later, too much too young? A teenager resigns before she even
:38:12. > :38:19.start work as Kent 's first police youth commissioner. So was the job
:38:19. > :38:23.just a bad idea? Joining me in the studio with their take on the weeks
:38:24. > :38:31.stories are at Gordon Henderson and UKIP leader Nigel Farage. Welcome.
:38:31. > :38:37.Let's start with Margaret Thatcher. She began her political career in
:38:37. > :38:44.1950s Kent. She wanted to become the MP for Dartmouth. She lost to
:38:44. > :38:47.elections but found a husband. As Prime Minister she would change the
:38:47. > :38:53.landscape of the Southeast forever, driving forward the plans for the
:38:53. > :38:56.Channel Tunnel. It created jobs but many were lost as Chatham stockyards
:38:56. > :39:03.and counts remaining coal mines were closed. I wonder what you would have
:39:03. > :39:08.made of the current political issues facing the Southeast? Where would
:39:08. > :39:12.Baroness Thatcher have positioned herself on the latest wave of EU
:39:12. > :39:20.immigration, Romanians and Bulgarians? Would you have aligned
:39:20. > :39:27.herself with Nigel's party? Yell pack -- What she would have done, I
:39:27. > :39:33.believe, would probably have been tried to find a way to prevent the
:39:33. > :39:39.influx of Romanians and Bulgarians. She would have found a way of
:39:39. > :39:45.ensuring that we British introduced laws to prevent that happening.
:39:45. > :39:51.we can't, and she knew that. She was a pragmatic lady and she was not
:39:51. > :39:55.afraid to make a tough decision. The great thing about her and what every
:39:55. > :40:01.Conservative leader since has not had is that she connected with
:40:01. > :40:07.working families in this country. But she was impenetrable on Europe.
:40:07. > :40:14.She created the single European market and that surrendered many
:40:14. > :40:23.national powers. Her legacy now is this hostility to Europe. Two things
:40:23. > :40:27.at the same time. In 1975 she campaigned for us to stay part of
:40:27. > :40:32.the common market. She changed her mind. Midway through her term she
:40:32. > :40:36.realised that this was not the free trade common market that she
:40:36. > :40:41.believed in and she saw the political side of it. She became a
:40:41. > :40:47.fierce Euro-sceptic and for the last years of her life she believed that
:40:47. > :40:55.Britain should leave the EU. Would you claim her for UKIP? I couldn't
:40:55. > :40:59.do that. But there would be no UKIP without her. She would have given us
:40:59. > :41:05.a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty and we would have rejected
:41:05. > :41:12.it. I can almost guarantee that immigration will come up before the
:41:12. > :41:16.end of the show. Let's move on. At the height of Labour's popularity
:41:16. > :41:21.Labour held a 45 County Council seats in Kent, Sussex and Surrey.
:41:21. > :41:26.They now have less than a quarter across a vast swath of the
:41:26. > :41:32.Southeast. Will that change? In the run-up to the County Council
:41:32. > :41:40.elections were examining the challenges facing the major parties.
:41:40. > :41:47.-- we are. Dover has been a marginal area for
:41:47. > :41:57.decades. The town and villages nearby traditionally vote for Labour
:41:57. > :42:02.while the rural areas vote Tory. In the last election all the Labour
:42:02. > :42:07.candidates lost their seats. In 2001 Labour had a healthy quota of
:42:07. > :42:14.councils across the Southeast, but by 2009 they had clung on to just
:42:14. > :42:21.nine of them. They have now edged into double figures. They claimed an
:42:21. > :42:26.11th in Sussex, but the party has got a lot of work to do if they want
:42:26. > :42:30.to put themselves back on the political map in the Southeast. So
:42:30. > :42:37.what I Labour's targets in the region? There are some
:42:37. > :42:41.constituencies in the Southeast that Labour have got a chance of winning
:42:41. > :42:47.back in 2015, so they do have to put in some effort there. It is not
:42:47. > :42:53.wasted effort by any means. Beyond those areas? It will always be
:42:53. > :42:59.difficult. Why is that?These political traditions take a long
:42:59. > :43:07.time to build up and a long time to become eroded. Labour says it is the
:43:07. > :43:12.party of the Southeast 's squeezed middle income families. We have the
:43:12. > :43:17.highest property prices outside London, high energy bills and the
:43:17. > :43:22.fastest-rising rail fares in the country. A season ticket from Dover
:43:22. > :43:27.to London now costs nearly �5,000. Getting people to believe in
:43:27. > :43:33.Labour's promises is a challenge. There is a big problem that Ed
:43:33. > :43:38.Miliband is talking about rail fares that is not delivering. How can you
:43:38. > :43:45.lower rail fares? How can he lower gas bills? The Tories are offering
:43:45. > :43:50.solutions, shale gas, tackling green subsidies, but Labour are talking
:43:50. > :43:55.about carbon subsidies which is not reducing the cost of living. He
:43:55. > :43:59.hasn't given an answer. Dover is the gateway to England which means the
:43:59. > :44:05.Southeast has the highest number of foreign-born constituents outside
:44:05. > :44:09.London. Schools and other public services are in crisis because of
:44:09. > :44:14.overwhelming demand. UKIP is tapping into public concerns about
:44:14. > :44:18.immigration. Although they didn't win any seats in 2009 they had
:44:18. > :44:25.almost as many votes as Labour in Sussex, and I'm sorry they had a
:44:25. > :44:28.third more. Could they put Labour into third place on polling day?
:44:28. > :44:33.Labour 's problem is that they are trying to play catch up. They say
:44:33. > :44:39.they will be tough on immigration but people know they had an almost
:44:39. > :44:43.open door policy. I think Labour have a major challenge with UKIP.
:44:43. > :44:48.Normally I would say the Conservatives, and the Conservatives
:44:48. > :44:55.have their own set of problems with UKIP, but I think that Labour are
:44:55. > :45:01.going to have to watch UKIP very closely indeed. If they beat Labour
:45:01. > :45:10.in seven or eight council seats then I'm not entirely sure what that does
:45:10. > :45:15.with the one nation agenda. Could another poor performance from Labour
:45:15. > :45:22.see the party lose its grip on the Southeast completely?
:45:22. > :45:27.Ed Miliband visited Kent earlier this week.
:45:27. > :45:33.Labour held on to just nine seats in the elections this year. How do you
:45:33. > :45:37.define success this time around? want to improve on our results from
:45:37. > :45:45.2009 but we are setting out a different choice than that offered
:45:45. > :45:48.by this government. The biggest issue is around the cost of living,
:45:48. > :45:52.standards of living, and we are setting out a practical way in which
:45:52. > :45:57.we would make a difference. If we were in government now we wouldn't
:45:57. > :46:01.have a tax cut from millionaires, we would be protecting tax credits. We
:46:01. > :46:06.would set up in mansion tax and bring back a 10p starting rate of
:46:06. > :46:10.tax. We would also take on the energy companies and trade companies
:46:10. > :46:14.that are pushing up the cost of living. It is a practical set of
:46:14. > :46:19.proposals. We would also say that this is important for council
:46:19. > :46:24.elections, led to give councils more power to control the high street.
:46:24. > :46:29.That is a massive factor, including the cost of living, when you see
:46:29. > :46:33.moneylenders popping up on the high street. These elections are about a
:46:33. > :46:38.different direction for the country governing for the many, not just for
:46:38. > :46:42.the top. You have pockets of popularity in the Southeast but it
:46:42. > :46:48.is an affluent area. Are there Labour policies that speaks to those
:46:48. > :46:52.voters? I think that people who ten years ago would have considered
:46:52. > :46:56.themselves comfortable the oft are now struggling. Everyone is
:46:56. > :47:01.struggling and I think we have a message for people right across the
:47:01. > :47:06.Southeast, which is around standards of living. Cost of living is an
:47:06. > :47:11.issue whether you are a low income or middle income. Wages aren't
:47:11. > :47:16.rising, prices seem to go up and up, energy bills, fuel in your car,
:47:16. > :47:20.and we are offering a different alternative. We can't transform it
:47:20. > :47:23.overnight but if I was Prime Minister I would wake up every
:47:23. > :47:31.morning thinking how could I make a difference to the many and not just
:47:31. > :47:41.the richest in society. In the last elections UKIP had an equal or
:47:41. > :47:44.higher share to you. Why are they voting for them instead of you?
:47:44. > :47:51.People vote for different parties for different reasons. The best I
:47:51. > :47:56.can do is set out my stall. Can any of the established parties,
:47:56. > :47:59.Conservatives or Liberal Democrats, turn things around? That is why
:47:59. > :48:05.people are turning to UKIP. I don't think they can solve the problems of
:48:05. > :48:10.this country. Leading Europe won't solve those problems, but my duty is
:48:10. > :48:13.to say to those people considering voting for another party that, look,
:48:13. > :48:17.there is a practical alternative from Labour. That is the best thing
:48:17. > :48:23.I can do to counter any opponent in this election, including the
:48:23. > :48:29.opponent who says, let's just sit at home and not vote. You've been
:48:29. > :48:37.talking about over demand for our services. We have a crisis in
:48:37. > :48:42.schools, a crisis in houses. Is this immigration? Well, I've done lots
:48:42. > :48:50.about immigration since I became a leader because I recognise that it
:48:50. > :48:53.is a massive issue and we got it wrong in government. How did we get
:48:53. > :48:59.it wrong? We underestimated the number of people coming in from
:48:59. > :49:07.Eastern Europe. It put pressure on wages, and it is not right wing to
:49:07. > :49:12.see, let's talk about this issue. I would see that any immigrants coming
:49:12. > :49:16.in from Eastern Europe are governed by the correct controls. Secondly,
:49:16. > :49:20.let's not have people coming in and getting paid less than the minimum
:49:20. > :49:27.wage. Let's also say to everybody that you have to integrate, learn
:49:27. > :49:34.English and become part of society. Can you win people over? I think we
:49:34. > :49:39.can. I'm coming to places across the Southeast where Labour has got a
:49:40. > :49:44.small presence. Why? Partly because I want to win as many seats as I
:49:44. > :49:48.can, but also to demonstrate that Labour has a message for the whole
:49:48. > :49:54.of the country, including areas where we have done badly in recent
:49:54. > :50:00.years. And asking people to look at Labour and what we are offering.
:50:00. > :50:05.Lets talk to our guests. Gordon, should the Conservatives in Kent be
:50:05. > :50:15.more worried by UKIP than Labour? In the latest opinion polls Labour are
:50:15. > :50:19.11 points ahead of your party. think the Conservatives in Kent must
:50:19. > :50:26.expect to lose things to Labour. We must accept that because we are part
:50:26. > :50:36.of government, the government party always loses in local elections.
:50:36. > :50:37.
:50:37. > :50:43.when it is popular. When Tony Blair was leader he kept it constant. When
:50:43. > :50:47.you are a popular government, you don't necessarily lose seats.
:50:47. > :50:54.have slowly built up our local government representation throughout
:50:54. > :50:57.the Labour Party's term in office. Unfortunately, I've seen the way we
:50:58. > :51:03.lost elections during the last Conservative government. I was one
:51:03. > :51:09.of those casualties. What we will see is... Because Labour aren't
:51:09. > :51:18.universally loved, what we will see is the Labour strongholds that they
:51:18. > :51:20.lost in 2009 that they didn't expect to will swing back to them. Nigel,
:51:20. > :51:30.traditionally voters in the Southeast had a love affair with
:51:30. > :51:31.
:51:31. > :51:36.Labour under Tony Blair. They only dropped one seat by 2005 and in the
:51:36. > :51:46.last elections, 2009, Blair is gone. They lose all but two of their
:51:46. > :51:50.
:51:50. > :51:56.weeks. Ed Miliband would do well to listen to these concerns. Is talking
:51:56. > :51:59.about cost of living, that is what people care about. He didn't
:51:59. > :52:05.volunteer it to begin with. He didn't even touch on youth
:52:05. > :52:12.unemployment. In Labour areas, youth unemployment is the biggest social
:52:12. > :52:17.problem that we've got. That is why it is madness, with over 20% youth
:52:17. > :52:21.unemployment in the Southeast, to open the door to immigrants from
:52:22. > :52:27.Bulgaria and Romania. He doesn't intend to do anything about that,
:52:27. > :52:31.nor do the Conservatives or the Lib Dems. UKIP has been doing well and
:52:31. > :52:38.does look like a threat, what if you want to win at a local level you
:52:38. > :52:45.need to change your name. UKIP sounds like one issue party and it
:52:45. > :52:51.isn't relevant at County Council elections. Why not change the name?
:52:51. > :52:57.It's UKIP, it's a brand. It is a state of mind. What are you thinking
:52:57. > :53:07.about changing? The logo. The � was brilliant when we were fighting that
:53:07. > :53:08.
:53:08. > :53:15.battle. It is pretty redundant now. The name will stay, though. Thank
:53:15. > :53:19.you very much. It was a short lived partnership.
:53:19. > :53:25.Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner and Barnes and her 17-year-old
:53:25. > :53:28.junior Paris Brown. A week after the teenager got the job she was forced
:53:28. > :53:33.to quit after a series of tweets she'd made in the past came to
:53:33. > :53:41.light. Was she let down by and Barnes, and was the idea of her role
:53:41. > :53:45.flawed from the start? Do you think and Barnes let Paris down? Should
:53:45. > :53:51.she have recruited more carefully to avoid someone facing that public
:53:51. > :53:55.scrutiny? I would like to start by saying that I don't think the fact
:53:55. > :53:59.that Paris Brown has been hounded out of office by the newspapers when
:54:00. > :54:06.she was obviously in a vulnerable position and also evidently had
:54:06. > :54:16.something good to offer is something to celebrate at all. As far as and
:54:16. > :54:19.
:54:19. > :54:24.Barnes is concerned I think we should engage young people, but I do
:54:25. > :54:33.think she approached this in the wrong way. It seemed like a bit of a
:54:33. > :54:36.gimmick to offer a single individual a chauffeur driven car and �15,000
:54:36. > :54:41.each year. Politicians should be trying to engage with groups of
:54:41. > :54:47.young people who are given responsibility and trust put in
:54:47. > :54:52.them. What responsibility should young people have in politics?
:54:52. > :54:58.very much in favour of young people being put into positions shadowing
:54:58. > :55:04.various levels of government. I don't think it works on an
:55:04. > :55:11.individual basis, but there are lots of local authorities up and down the
:55:11. > :55:16.country starting Youth Councils and bodies which have been devolved
:55:16. > :55:21.budgeting responsibilities. Sometimes it has been very
:55:21. > :55:26.successful. You think young people should be given cash and make
:55:26. > :55:30.decisions on how to spend it? some cases it has worked very well
:55:30. > :55:37.and some young people have made decisions better than the adults
:55:37. > :55:45.making them on their behalf. In my more youthful days... Sorry! How old
:55:45. > :55:52.are you exactly? 19 years old, but when I was younger I was involved in
:55:52. > :56:00.a Youth Council myself and in one case we had a budget of some hundred
:56:00. > :56:04.thousand pounds and we were attacked for not being mature enough, but in
:56:04. > :56:12.fact we spend it on schemes introducing more library books to
:56:12. > :56:19.replenish dilapidated school libraries, funded reading
:56:19. > :56:25.privileges... I understand, but Nigel is moaning and groaning.
:56:25. > :56:35.are almost bankrupt, what were we thinking giving this girl �15,000 a
:56:35. > :56:37.
:56:37. > :56:41.year? Did Ann Barnes made the right decision? She has been a victim of
:56:41. > :56:46.something that is going to affect a lot of people as the years go by.
:56:46. > :56:53.Facebook and Twitter are used by young people to boast and the record
:56:53. > :56:57.is there for ever. I don't think we need more Youth Councils or youth
:56:57. > :57:05.Police and Crime Commissioner is. All young people are irrelevant?
:57:05. > :57:14.They aren't you relevant at all. disagree with Nigel and Conrad. I
:57:14. > :57:18.think there is an argument to be had over whether there is a need for a
:57:18. > :57:23.Youth Commissioner. I do agree that the girl was hounded out of her job,
:57:23. > :57:28.not only by the media but by a number of politicians who came
:57:28. > :57:36.forward and kept the story going. She is one of my constituents.
:57:36. > :57:43.you met her? I haven't, Archie is one of my constituents. -- but she
:57:43. > :57:51.is one of my constituents. The only thing that Ann Barnes let her down
:57:51. > :57:56.on was that she didn't tell her to let it blow over. I do tweet and I
:57:56. > :58:03.think the issue with tweeter is that people don't realise that it is a
:58:03. > :58:08.method of public broadcasting. do now. I think it is important that
:58:08. > :58:13.we take the offensive comments that Paris Brown made seriously and that
:58:13. > :58:19.we make clear that some of the comments she made should have no
:58:19. > :58:25.place in public life at all. She was 14 when she made them, she has now
:58:25. > :58:29.apologised, and I think from a 17-year-old who hasn't had the
:58:29. > :58:34.experience and media training that adult politicians have had, we
:58:34. > :58:44.should accept that apology. Thank you very much. We have a few more
:58:44. > :58:51.
:58:51. > :58:56.juicy bits of news. First, Brighton and now other A&E
:58:56. > :59:03.departments have said there is an increase in patients. Sussex Police
:59:03. > :59:09.say they are introducing a new category of hate crime to protect
:59:09. > :59:15.people such as Goths. Someone chased me down the street on the basis of
:59:15. > :59:23.how I look. This military school has been investigated by Ofsted
:59:23. > :59:30.overconcerned about student welfare. A very tough line has been taken.
:59:30. > :59:36.The go-ahead has been given to a new terminal and runway at the local
:59:36. > :59:41.airport. It will provide jobs and opportunities for the local
:59:41. > :59:48.community. Boris Johnson says if he gets a new Thames Estuary airport he
:59:48. > :59:54.wants to name it after Margaret Thatcher to honour her memory.
:59:54. > :59:56.Let's start with those problems at A&E. Really worrying for those
:59:56. > :00:05.families whose relatives may not be getting the best treatment. I've
:00:05. > :00:09.been told it is down to difficulties in getting GP appointments.
:00:09. > :00:13.population is rising quickly because of immigration, there are some parts
:00:13. > :00:23.of England with waiting times of nine hours and we are about to open
:00:23. > :00:23.
:00:24. > :00:27.the door to even more people. think there needs to be an
:00:27. > :00:33.investigation into how the call centres run and how they direct