14/04/2013 Sunday Politics South East


14/04/2013

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the blue tide - can Ed Miliband and the Labour Party reclaim lost seats

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2196 seconds

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later, too much too young? A teenager resigns before she even

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start work as Kent 's first police youth commissioner. So was the job

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just a bad idea? Joining me in the studio with their take on the weeks

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stories are at Gordon Henderson and UKIP leader Nigel Farage. Welcome.

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Let's start with Margaret Thatcher. She began her political career in

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1950s Kent. She wanted to become the MP for Dartmouth. She lost to

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elections but found a husband. As Prime Minister she would change the

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landscape of the Southeast forever, driving forward the plans for the

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Channel Tunnel. It created jobs but many were lost as Chatham stockyards

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and counts remaining coal mines were closed. I wonder what you would have

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made of the current political issues facing the Southeast? Where would

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Baroness Thatcher have positioned herself on the latest wave of EU

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immigration, Romanians and Bulgarians? Would you have aligned

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herself with Nigel's party? Yell pack -- What she would have done, I

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believe, would probably have been tried to find a way to prevent the

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influx of Romanians and Bulgarians. She would have found a way of

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ensuring that we British introduced laws to prevent that happening.

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we can't, and she knew that. She was a pragmatic lady and she was not

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afraid to make a tough decision. The great thing about her and what every

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Conservative leader since has not had is that she connected with

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working families in this country. But she was impenetrable on Europe.

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She created the single European market and that surrendered many

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national powers. Her legacy now is this hostility to Europe. Two things

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at the same time. In 1975 she campaigned for us to stay part of

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the common market. She changed her mind. Midway through her term she

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realised that this was not the free trade common market that she

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believed in and she saw the political side of it. She became a

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fierce Euro-sceptic and for the last years of her life she believed that

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Britain should leave the EU. Would you claim her for UKIP? I couldn't

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do that. But there would be no UKIP without her. She would have given us

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a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty and we would have rejected

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it. I can almost guarantee that immigration will come up before the

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end of the show. Let's move on. At the height of Labour's popularity

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Labour held a 45 County Council seats in Kent, Sussex and Surrey.

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They now have less than a quarter across a vast swath of the

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Southeast. Will that change? In the run-up to the County Council

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elections were examining the challenges facing the major parties.

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-- we are. Dover has been a marginal area for

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decades. The town and villages nearby traditionally vote for Labour

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while the rural areas vote Tory. In the last election all the Labour

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candidates lost their seats. In 2001 Labour had a healthy quota of

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councils across the Southeast, but by 2009 they had clung on to just

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nine of them. They have now edged into double figures. They claimed an

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11th in Sussex, but the party has got a lot of work to do if they want

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to put themselves back on the political map in the Southeast. So

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what I Labour's targets in the region? There are some

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constituencies in the Southeast that Labour have got a chance of winning

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back in 2015, so they do have to put in some effort there. It is not

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wasted effort by any means. Beyond those areas? It will always be

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difficult. Why is that?These political traditions take a long

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time to build up and a long time to become eroded. Labour says it is the

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party of the Southeast 's squeezed middle income families. We have the

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highest property prices outside London, high energy bills and the

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fastest-rising rail fares in the country. A season ticket from Dover

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to London now costs nearly �5,000. Getting people to believe in

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Labour's promises is a challenge. There is a big problem that Ed

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Miliband is talking about rail fares that is not delivering. How can you

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lower rail fares? How can he lower gas bills? The Tories are offering

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solutions, shale gas, tackling green subsidies, but Labour are talking

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about carbon subsidies which is not reducing the cost of living. He

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hasn't given an answer. Dover is the gateway to England which means the

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Southeast has the highest number of foreign-born constituents outside

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London. Schools and other public services are in crisis because of

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overwhelming demand. UKIP is tapping into public concerns about

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immigration. Although they didn't win any seats in 2009 they had

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almost as many votes as Labour in Sussex, and I'm sorry they had a

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third more. Could they put Labour into third place on polling day?

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Labour 's problem is that they are trying to play catch up. They say

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they will be tough on immigration but people know they had an almost

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open door policy. I think Labour have a major challenge with UKIP.

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Normally I would say the Conservatives, and the Conservatives

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have their own set of problems with UKIP, but I think that Labour are

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going to have to watch UKIP very closely indeed. If they beat Labour

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in seven or eight council seats then I'm not entirely sure what that does

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with the one nation agenda. Could another poor performance from Labour

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see the party lose its grip on the Southeast completely?

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Ed Miliband visited Kent earlier this week.

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Labour held on to just nine seats in the elections this year. How do you

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define success this time around? want to improve on our results from

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2009 but we are setting out a different choice than that offered

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by this government. The biggest issue is around the cost of living,

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standards of living, and we are setting out a practical way in which

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we would make a difference. If we were in government now we wouldn't

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have a tax cut from millionaires, we would be protecting tax credits. We

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would set up in mansion tax and bring back a 10p starting rate of

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tax. We would also take on the energy companies and trade companies

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that are pushing up the cost of living. It is a practical set of

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proposals. We would also say that this is important for council

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elections, led to give councils more power to control the high street.

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That is a massive factor, including the cost of living, when you see

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moneylenders popping up on the high street. These elections are about a

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different direction for the country governing for the many, not just for

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the top. You have pockets of popularity in the Southeast but it

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is an affluent area. Are there Labour policies that speaks to those

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voters? I think that people who ten years ago would have considered

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themselves comfortable the oft are now struggling. Everyone is

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struggling and I think we have a message for people right across the

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Southeast, which is around standards of living. Cost of living is an

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issue whether you are a low income or middle income. Wages aren't

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rising, prices seem to go up and up, energy bills, fuel in your car,

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and we are offering a different alternative. We can't transform it

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overnight but if I was Prime Minister I would wake up every

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morning thinking how could I make a difference to the many and not just

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the richest in society. In the last elections UKIP had an equal or

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higher share to you. Why are they voting for them instead of you?

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People vote for different parties for different reasons. The best I

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can do is set out my stall. Can any of the established parties,

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Conservatives or Liberal Democrats, turn things around? That is why

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people are turning to UKIP. I don't think they can solve the problems of

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this country. Leading Europe won't solve those problems, but my duty is

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to say to those people considering voting for another party that, look,

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there is a practical alternative from Labour. That is the best thing

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I can do to counter any opponent in this election, including the

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opponent who says, let's just sit at home and not vote. You've been

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talking about over demand for our services. We have a crisis in

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schools, a crisis in houses. Is this immigration? Well, I've done lots

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about immigration since I became a leader because I recognise that it

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is a massive issue and we got it wrong in government. How did we get

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it wrong? We underestimated the number of people coming in from

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Eastern Europe. It put pressure on wages, and it is not right wing to

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see, let's talk about this issue. I would see that any immigrants coming

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in from Eastern Europe are governed by the correct controls. Secondly,

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let's not have people coming in and getting paid less than the minimum

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wage. Let's also say to everybody that you have to integrate, learn

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English and become part of society. Can you win people over? I think we

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can. I'm coming to places across the Southeast where Labour has got a

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small presence. Why? Partly because I want to win as many seats as I

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can, but also to demonstrate that Labour has a message for the whole

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of the country, including areas where we have done badly in recent

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years. And asking people to look at Labour and what we are offering.

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Lets talk to our guests. Gordon, should the Conservatives in Kent be

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more worried by UKIP than Labour? In the latest opinion polls Labour are

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11 points ahead of your party. think the Conservatives in Kent must

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expect to lose things to Labour. We must accept that because we are part

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of government, the government party always loses in local elections.

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when it is popular. When Tony Blair was leader he kept it constant. When

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you are a popular government, you don't necessarily lose seats.

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have slowly built up our local government representation throughout

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the Labour Party's term in office. Unfortunately, I've seen the way we

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lost elections during the last Conservative government. I was one

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of those casualties. What we will see is... Because Labour aren't

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universally loved, what we will see is the Labour strongholds that they

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lost in 2009 that they didn't expect to will swing back to them. Nigel,

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traditionally voters in the Southeast had a love affair with

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Labour under Tony Blair. They only dropped one seat by 2005 and in the

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last elections, 2009, Blair is gone. They lose all but two of their

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weeks. Ed Miliband would do well to listen to these concerns. Is talking

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about cost of living, that is what people care about. He didn't

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volunteer it to begin with. He didn't even touch on youth

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unemployment. In Labour areas, youth unemployment is the biggest social

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problem that we've got. That is why it is madness, with over 20% youth

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unemployment in the Southeast, to open the door to immigrants from

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Bulgaria and Romania. He doesn't intend to do anything about that,

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nor do the Conservatives or the Lib Dems. UKIP has been doing well and

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does look like a threat, what if you want to win at a local level you

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need to change your name. UKIP sounds like one issue party and it

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isn't relevant at County Council elections. Why not change the name?

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It's UKIP, it's a brand. It is a state of mind. What are you thinking

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about changing? The logo. The � was brilliant when we were fighting that

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battle. It is pretty redundant now. The name will stay, though. Thank

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you very much. It was a short lived partnership.

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Kent's Police and Crime Commissioner and Barnes and her 17-year-old

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junior Paris Brown. A week after the teenager got the job she was forced

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to quit after a series of tweets she'd made in the past came to

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light. Was she let down by and Barnes, and was the idea of her role

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flawed from the start? Do you think and Barnes let Paris down? Should

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she have recruited more carefully to avoid someone facing that public

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scrutiny? I would like to start by saying that I don't think the fact

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that Paris Brown has been hounded out of office by the newspapers when

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she was obviously in a vulnerable position and also evidently had

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something good to offer is something to celebrate at all. As far as and

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Barnes is concerned I think we should engage young people, but I do

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think she approached this in the wrong way. It seemed like a bit of a

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gimmick to offer a single individual a chauffeur driven car and �15,000

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each year. Politicians should be trying to engage with groups of

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young people who are given responsibility and trust put in

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them. What responsibility should young people have in politics?

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very much in favour of young people being put into positions shadowing

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various levels of government. I don't think it works on an

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individual basis, but there are lots of local authorities up and down the

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country starting Youth Councils and bodies which have been devolved

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budgeting responsibilities. Sometimes it has been very

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successful. You think young people should be given cash and make

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decisions on how to spend it? some cases it has worked very well

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and some young people have made decisions better than the adults

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making them on their behalf. In my more youthful days... Sorry! How old

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are you exactly? 19 years old, but when I was younger I was involved in

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a Youth Council myself and in one case we had a budget of some hundred

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thousand pounds and we were attacked for not being mature enough, but in

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fact we spend it on schemes introducing more library books to

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replenish dilapidated school libraries, funded reading

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privileges... I understand, but Nigel is moaning and groaning.

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are almost bankrupt, what were we thinking giving this girl �15,000 a

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year? Did Ann Barnes made the right decision? She has been a victim of

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something that is going to affect a lot of people as the years go by.

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Facebook and Twitter are used by young people to boast and the record

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is there for ever. I don't think we need more Youth Councils or youth

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Police and Crime Commissioner is. All young people are irrelevant?

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They aren't you relevant at all. disagree with Nigel and Conrad. I

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think there is an argument to be had over whether there is a need for a

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Youth Commissioner. I do agree that the girl was hounded out of her job,

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not only by the media but by a number of politicians who came

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forward and kept the story going. She is one of my constituents.

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you met her? I haven't, Archie is one of my constituents. -- but she

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is one of my constituents. The only thing that Ann Barnes let her down

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on was that she didn't tell her to let it blow over. I do tweet and I

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think the issue with tweeter is that people don't realise that it is a

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method of public broadcasting. do now. I think it is important that

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we take the offensive comments that Paris Brown made seriously and that

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we make clear that some of the comments she made should have no

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place in public life at all. She was 14 when she made them, she has now

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apologised, and I think from a 17-year-old who hasn't had the

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experience and media training that adult politicians have had, we

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should accept that apology. Thank you very much. We have a few more

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juicy bits of news. First, Brighton and now other A&E

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departments have said there is an increase in patients. Sussex Police

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say they are introducing a new category of hate crime to protect

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people such as Goths. Someone chased me down the street on the basis of

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how I look. This military school has been investigated by Ofsted

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overconcerned about student welfare. A very tough line has been taken.

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The go-ahead has been given to a new terminal and runway at the local

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airport. It will provide jobs and opportunities for the local

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community. Boris Johnson says if he gets a new Thames Estuary airport he

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wants to name it after Margaret Thatcher to honour her memory.

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Let's start with those problems at A&E. Really worrying for those

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families whose relatives may not be getting the best treatment. I've

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been told it is down to difficulties in getting GP appointments.

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population is rising quickly because of immigration, there are some parts

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of England with waiting times of nine hours and we are about to open

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:00:23.:00:23.

the door to even more people. think there needs to be an

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investigation into how the call centres run and how they direct

:00:27.:00:33.

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