:01:08. > :01:11.the latest scandals will finally force the Government to act.
:01:11. > :01:17.It's not the best day for MPs to complain about expenses, but many
:01:17. > :01:24.are angry about the new system. Expect fighting talk.
:01:24. > :01:34.And in the south-east: It is revealed that police have drawn
:01:34. > :01:34.
:01:34. > :42:21.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2447 seconds
:42:21. > :42:28.tasers against under 18 is more than reports of a failed leadership coup
:42:28. > :42:32.takeover. Is the Green party on the verge of imploding?
:42:33. > :42:41.They say politics makes for strange bedfellows. We have to for you this
:42:41. > :42:44.week. Tracy Crouch, a Conservative MP, and in Labour representative.
:42:44. > :42:49.You are talking about childcare issues. The Deputy Prime Minister
:42:49. > :42:52.was in Kent this week promoting the governments plans to provide some
:42:52. > :43:00.households with a limited amount of free nursery care. Nick Clegg said
:43:00. > :43:06.that more than 3000 children in the county would benefit. However,
:43:06. > :43:10.critics said they would have to axe full-day sessions. I was first
:43:10. > :43:17.informed of this change by a parent who contacted me who said they had
:43:17. > :43:22.been informed by the nursery that they had instituted changes. I don't
:43:22. > :43:26.think it is very good for local community integration. Who is more
:43:26. > :43:32.important here? The very poor two-year-olds who will get this
:43:32. > :43:39.care, or the middle-class kids who would go there anyway? I don't think
:43:39. > :43:43.it isn't either or option. Chatham has one of the highest rates of
:43:44. > :43:47.deprivation in the country. To have a solution from the Government
:43:47. > :43:52.saying that some children can come here and some can't, that's really
:43:52. > :43:55.unacceptable. Nick Clegg told me this week that he fills the
:43:56. > :44:02.Government is taking big steps to make childcare unaffordable. Is that
:44:02. > :44:07.the truth, Tracy Crouch? I think it is a step forward, but I think
:44:07. > :44:11.across Europe, there is a far different approach to providing
:44:11. > :44:15.childcare, and I think you have to look at particular areas. If you
:44:15. > :44:23.take the case of Chatham, this is a low income area. This is not a
:44:23. > :44:29.wealthy area. Would you bring back universal free childcare? I think
:44:29. > :44:32.you must look very carefully. One thing we have been arguing for a
:44:32. > :44:37.locally and nationally is to get people back to work, and one of the
:44:38. > :44:42.biggest problems people have is the childcare issue. Thank you for
:44:42. > :44:48.that. Staying with children, children as young as 16 have been
:44:48. > :44:52.tasered by Kent police. In Kent and Surrey, tasers have been drawn
:44:52. > :44:58.against, and used, against people aged under 18 70 times in the past
:44:58. > :45:05.two years. It has also been revealed that almost half of the people who
:45:05. > :45:14.tasers were used against had mental health issues.
:45:14. > :45:19.I am a taser Officer! This is a taser. Firing needles charged with
:45:19. > :45:23.50,000 volt, it can incapacitate its target immediately. More and more
:45:23. > :45:27.police officers in the south-east are using them, but there is concern
:45:27. > :45:32.about whether they are being deployed appropriately, particularly
:45:32. > :45:38.against teenagers. Under the Freedom Of Information Act, we have learnt
:45:38. > :45:42.that tasers were drawn or fired against teenagers more than 72 times
:45:42. > :45:48.in the past three years. People as young as 16 have been tasered by
:45:48. > :45:52.police, and children aged just 14 or 15 have been threatened with them.
:45:52. > :45:57.Sussex police say they do not believe teenagers have been tasered
:45:57. > :46:04.since 2010. Tasers were introduced only to be
:46:04. > :46:08.used in extreme situations. We have seen cases, however, are teenagers
:46:08. > :46:14.who have had them used on them for being drunk, verbally abusive, or
:46:14. > :46:23.being on a railway line. It is hardly a life-threatening
:46:23. > :46:30.incident... We're not talking about a modern-day truncheon, we are
:46:30. > :46:34.talking about a 50,000 volt assault weapon. In America, they have been
:46:34. > :46:44.linked to 500 different deaths. That must be a big concern. You're
:46:44. > :46:47.
:46:47. > :46:54.talking about young people here are very vulnerable. I can speak to the
:46:54. > :46:57.leading personal injury lawyer in the south-east. I am surprised and
:46:57. > :47:02.slightly disappointed that the use is on children when the guidelines
:47:02. > :47:06.clearly say that children are in a specific group, they are vulnerable
:47:06. > :47:13.because of the likelihood that they could have... They are highly likely
:47:13. > :47:20.to have a cardiac arrest is a teaser is username, or they are likely to
:47:20. > :47:24.suffer head injuries. Kent police or that tasers are safe and often
:47:24. > :47:27.effective against teenagers as a threat, so firing them is rare. But
:47:27. > :47:31.these new figures come just months after it was revealed that half of
:47:31. > :47:39.the people tasered in Kent and almost half in Sussex were mentally
:47:39. > :47:43.ill. They would rather tasered and the next stage would be... Tasers
:47:43. > :47:46.used to only be issued to specially trained firearms officers, but now
:47:46. > :47:53.hundreds of regular police officers are carrying them when they respond
:47:53. > :47:59.to emergency calls. You then have the option to arm the taser, and the
:47:59. > :48:07.last step is deployment. In Sussex, 164 regular officers are now
:48:07. > :48:12.undergoing training. It is a strict four-day training course. We put our
:48:12. > :48:19.officers under a significant amount of pressure. Campaigners say that is
:48:19. > :48:23.not enough. Firearms officer will be trained for months and months and be
:48:23. > :48:27.reassessed constantly. What are looking at now is people going out
:48:27. > :48:31.with tasers who have only had three or four days of training. That is
:48:31. > :48:36.why you see them using them against young people at inappropriate times
:48:36. > :48:40.in inappropriate circumstances. Police officers argue that tasers
:48:40. > :48:45.protect them and the public, and that they cause less harm than bat
:48:45. > :48:51.on, pepper spray, are gone. The Surrey police commissioner says he
:48:51. > :48:55.wants more people to happen. Police unions want every police officer to
:48:55. > :49:02.carry one. But the wider use of tasers worries at least one Sussex
:49:02. > :49:07.MP. The more there are, the more readily they will be used, and that
:49:08. > :49:12.is not good police activity. The skill of a police officer is to be
:49:12. > :49:15.able to come situation down without using weapons, and the danger is if
:49:15. > :49:21.that someone who is not trained in a firearm use of such a weapon, it
:49:21. > :49:24.could exacerbate the situation. more tasers are issued to regular
:49:24. > :49:28.officers, but the risk of Debbie used against young and vulnerable
:49:28. > :49:31.people increase, and could the use of such a powerful weapon eventually
:49:31. > :49:39.lead to someone being seriously injured?
:49:39. > :49:48.Joining us now is the Seri Police And Crime Commissioner. Is staging a
:49:48. > :49:54.child ever justified? -- is teetering a child ever justified?
:49:54. > :50:00.Let's put that in perspective. Mostly it is teenagers. Teenagers
:50:00. > :50:05.have played rugby for England, they have fought for England. When you're
:50:05. > :50:09.talking about a large and disordered teenager, they can hurt you a lot
:50:09. > :50:13.and hurt themselves a lot. We ask our police officers, and this is
:50:13. > :50:17.what the public tell me, the electing public, they want police to
:50:17. > :50:24.keep them safe. Our police cannot keep them safe unless they have
:50:24. > :50:29.adequate equipment to do so. Can I just finished? I really want to be
:50:29. > :50:36.clear about the circumstances. When is it OK? In our report, we heard
:50:36. > :50:46.about a 14-year-old girl in Surrey who was self harming and was
:50:46. > :50:47.
:50:47. > :50:53.threatened with a taser. Two other teenagers were drive stunned.
:50:53. > :50:57.The alternative is that they can be beaten with a metal bar, sprayed
:50:57. > :51:01.with pepper spray, requiring hospitalisation. The police officer
:51:02. > :51:08.might have to punch or kick them, or they can have a low 50,000 volt
:51:08. > :51:13.shock which, after five seconds, is all over. Curious that he missed the
:51:13. > :51:17.other alternative, which is to try and reason with a 14-year-old child.
:51:17. > :51:20.We all know that the obvious approach is to moderate in a
:51:20. > :51:26.compassionate and dignified way and try and talk the situation down.
:51:26. > :51:31.Please do not be silly. What we are dealing with, what we want, as a
:51:31. > :51:34.moderate approach that does not involve physical force. But should
:51:35. > :51:39.physical force be necessary, regardless of who it is being used
:51:39. > :51:47.on, we want to minimise injury to them, injury to the public, and
:51:47. > :51:52.injury to the officer. We saw someone they are saying that the
:51:52. > :52:02.risk of a child having a cardiac arrest with a taser is high. We also
:52:02. > :52:06.spoke to a mental health charity, who told us that tasers user mental
:52:06. > :52:16.health patients can make this situation even more traumatic.
:52:16. > :52:23.stay with teenagers... Forgive me, a 14-year-old is a child. OK, OK, we
:52:23. > :52:26.will talk about being threatened with a taser. A taser is armed and a
:52:26. > :52:33.red dot appears wherever it is aimed. People see that and then they
:52:33. > :52:36.think, OK, I will not do that. It is a way for police to calm people
:52:36. > :52:45.down. I wish people would stop being so naive about what is required to
:52:45. > :52:52.control and naive -- were cried to control a dangerous person. We want
:52:52. > :52:55.our police to protect us. Violent crime in Surrey is down
:52:55. > :52:58.year-on-year. Surrey has among the lowest levels of violent crime
:52:58. > :53:05.anywhere in the country. You are calling for more of your officers to
:53:05. > :53:10.have tasers. With the evidence not suggest the opposite? No, because
:53:10. > :53:16.you have completely missed the point. Taser is the least dangerous
:53:16. > :53:22.way of applying physical force to a human body. But why do we always
:53:23. > :53:26.need physical force? Let me answer again. We want a moderate and
:53:26. > :53:31.measured approach. Negotiation is always best, but there comes a time
:53:31. > :53:36.when you have to apply physical force. I do worry about the
:53:36. > :53:42.possibility of a death in Surrey? In America, 500 deaths have been linked
:53:42. > :53:48.to tasers. Let me just make the other point, as well as the risk of
:53:48. > :53:57.death, people can experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from bold
:53:57. > :54:03.miscarriage -- bolt miscarriage. course I am worried about serious
:54:03. > :54:09.injury. Tasers reduce the risk of serious injury. But you are only
:54:09. > :54:14.giving officers three days of training... Can I finish my point?
:54:14. > :54:18.It is the least dangerous way of applying force. Most people
:54:18. > :54:23.surrender when a taser is drawn. You do not need to strike them or spray
:54:23. > :54:30.them, they generally give up. After the taser has been fired, they fall
:54:30. > :54:34.down, they are handcuffed, and it is all over. If they are struck with a
:54:34. > :54:41.stick or other physical force, they generally require medical treatment.
:54:41. > :54:47.A taser is the least dangerous form of physical force. You make that
:54:47. > :54:55.point repeatedly. Thank you. Let's put that -- let's put these points
:54:55. > :55:03.to our guests. The violent crime is down in Surrey.
:55:03. > :55:09.However, some police unions want all police officers to be issued with
:55:10. > :55:13.tasers. Do you agree with that? I do not see the need for the police
:55:13. > :55:18.often is to have tasers in the same way I do not see the need for them
:55:18. > :55:21.to have guns. Tasers are important, however. I think it is incredibly
:55:21. > :55:26.important when a police officer arrives at a situation, they must
:55:26. > :55:29.judge it as it is presented to them, and quite often children as young as
:55:29. > :55:34.14 can be self harming and a taser is designed to incapacitate that
:55:34. > :55:38.person so that an officer can deal with them. Obviously, I would like
:55:38. > :55:43.to see them try and talk to that person first. The mental health
:55:43. > :55:46.charity that we spoke to thinks that is the wrong way to tackle it. Half
:55:46. > :55:51.of the tasers use in the last year in Kent were used on people who were
:55:51. > :55:56.mentally ill. Does that worry you? This gives me great cause for
:55:56. > :56:02.concern. Something like a taser, a powerful weapon, and there is just a
:56:02. > :56:12.few days training given. Some of that trees are -- some of that
:56:12. > :56:13.
:56:13. > :56:18.training must involve when not to use the taser. Thank you. Now, two
:56:18. > :56:28.years after the Queen Party took over Brighton Council, the party is
:56:28. > :56:28.
:56:29. > :56:38.covered by infighting. Ivy green Party in Brighton, the first to gain
:56:39. > :56:41.
:56:41. > :56:47.control of a local authority in the country, about to implode? I am
:56:47. > :56:53.joined now by a Green Party representative. Was there a coup?
:56:53. > :56:57.No. We are a different kind of politics here. Within our politics,
:56:57. > :57:01.we talk about our differences not behind closed doors. At the same
:57:01. > :57:04.time, it is perfectly true that a single councillor got in touch with
:57:04. > :57:08.an opposition councillor and made some proposals, but at the same
:57:08. > :57:18.time, she has now accepted that that was a naive thing to do. She has
:57:18. > :57:18.
:57:18. > :57:26.apologised profusely. To be clear, she tweeted. This is Alex Phillips.
:57:26. > :57:30.I can't imagine... Your leader described this is disappointing.
:57:30. > :57:36.Behind closed doors, he must have been furious. You must see this in
:57:36. > :57:43.the context of her being just one councillor who did this. Most other
:57:43. > :57:48.parties would kick around. They would discipline her in some way.
:57:48. > :57:51.do not operate on that kind of level. She has apologised absolutely
:57:51. > :57:55.everybody. She has written individual letters to every
:57:55. > :57:58.councillor to apologise for this act. So, you can say that she has
:57:58. > :58:02.seen the error of her ways and I don't think the opposition
:58:02. > :58:04.councillor comes up very well either, because he was leaking
:58:04. > :58:12.correspondence which was confidential between the two of them
:58:12. > :58:16.in order to score a political point. It would be quite irresistible. The
:58:16. > :58:23.City Council leader, the Green Party leader, and Caroline Lucas, the
:58:23. > :58:26.Green Party MP, this cannot have improved their relationship. Their
:58:26. > :58:30.relationship is quite good, actually. It is a robust
:58:30. > :58:34.relationship because they must work together. Additionally, Caroline is
:58:34. > :58:39.not a member of the council. It is quite common up and then the country
:58:39. > :58:48.for an MP and a council to have disagreements on the way forward,
:58:48. > :58:52.but in this case, sorry... I am intrigued, I am really intrigued,
:58:52. > :58:57.how you govern a big city like Brighton is no clear sense of
:58:57. > :59:01.loyalty within the ranks. Everyone can have their own opinions. It is
:59:01. > :59:05.fascinating, but actually, is it good for Brighton and Hove? I think
:59:05. > :59:08.it is very good for the city in the way that we do it. We are more
:59:08. > :59:12.transparent than other parties. With other parties, you get a situation
:59:12. > :59:16.where the leader of the party makes a declaration that everybody else
:59:16. > :59:20.posting to line because otherwise, they risk their jobs. If you look at
:59:20. > :59:26.the Labour party a few years ago, the leaders decided that something
:59:26. > :59:31.had to be done, decided something on his own, and the end result of that
:59:31. > :59:38.was the Iraq war. We have a situation where people are
:59:38. > :59:44.re-elected every year, and it is fully representative. It strikes me
:59:44. > :59:47.in the case of a member of the Green Party was anti-gay marriage, she was
:59:47. > :59:52.not made to feel welcome in the party because her opinions on
:59:52. > :59:56.equality did not line up with the general principles of the party. So,
:59:56. > :00:00.it seems you can have opinions on almost everything, but not
:00:00. > :00:06.everything. That was a different situation. It is not that she was
:00:06. > :00:11.not made to feel welcome, she is no longer cancer, but she is still a
:00:11. > :00:18.member the Green Party. If it had just been her views on equal
:00:18. > :00:22.marriage, it would have been fine. There were a lot of other things.
:00:22. > :00:30.Stay with us. Let's bring in our other guests. Thence, what would you
:00:30. > :00:38.have done? You were the leader of the Labour group on the council. If
:00:38. > :00:43.one of your fellow Labour councillors was treating about
:00:43. > :00:52.this... There are very clear rules about this. There is a clear process
:00:52. > :00:56.for how we deal with that. At the moment, in our council, we can see
:00:56. > :01:00.to Conservative councillors, colleagues, having a fight in the
:01:00. > :01:08.local newspaper. No party is immune to this. We are very clear on how we
:01:08. > :01:13.deal with things, however. Tracy Crouch, what do you make the way --
:01:13. > :01:17.what do you make of the way the Green Party operate? I think it is
:01:17. > :01:23.very interesting. With the three main political parties, you know
:01:23. > :01:26.what you're getting. I think on the whole, the three main political
:01:26. > :01:31.parties are often well disciplined and well behaved. There are of
:01:31. > :01:39.course issues that divide individuals within the party, but we
:01:39. > :01:42.have policy. How often do you disagree with David Cameron? Well,
:01:42. > :01:47.there have been some disagreements and my voting record shows that. But
:01:47. > :01:50.actually, quite often, a lot of discussion takes place
:01:50. > :01:55.behind-the-scenes and not in public, which can actually enhance
:01:55. > :01:59.the policy going forward. That is the difference here. Whether it
:01:59. > :02:05.happens behind closed doors or not. Is it not to the detriment of the
:02:05. > :02:10.party to wash its dirty linen in public? I don't think so. One of the
:02:10. > :02:13.things about democracy, you know what you're getting with the
:02:13. > :02:17.Conservatives with something but not like Europe, but when you say that
:02:17. > :02:23.you know what you're getting, with the Green Party, everything comes up
:02:23. > :02:25.from the bottom. The leaders are elected regularly. The party is
:02:25. > :02:33.governing the direction of the party rather than the leader taking it
:02:33. > :02:43.with a wanted to go. Thank you very much indeed. It is time now for a
:02:43. > :02:45.
:02:45. > :02:50.round-up of the week's other political events.
:02:50. > :02:54.ANC at the Maritime Hospital is dangerously unsafe. The hospital is
:02:54. > :02:58.under pressure but says that it is safe. Developers want to bring a
:02:58. > :03:02.brand-new town in the countryside just north of Brighton. It is hoped
:03:02. > :03:07.the town will create jobs and ease the housing crisis, but you by
:03:07. > :03:13.residents are not impressed. should be totally dismissed. It is a
:03:13. > :03:17.crazy idea, and I cannot believe it. And as for shale gas could be coming
:03:17. > :03:21.to the south-east. Greenpeace has identified 16 constituencies in Kent
:03:21. > :03:28.and Sussex which could become home to fracking sites. And in Brighton,
:03:29. > :03:36.as the bedroom tax begins to bite, a house hunting event has been held.
:03:36. > :03:46.People are downsizing to avoid the tax. We are now in a three-bedroom
:03:46. > :03:49.
:03:49. > :03:51.house and the family home that we can keep. It is brilliant. My health
:03:51. > :04:01.and safety raider was screaming now at that man and his trampling, but
:04:01. > :04:02.
:04:03. > :04:08.we will not focus on that. Let's start with the Maritime Hospital.
:04:08. > :04:15.am very concerned. All Accident and Emergency departments are under
:04:15. > :04:22.pressure and it is a consequence of a broken system as a whole. I have
:04:22. > :04:26.discovered that that hospital spent �350,000 on extra staff in Accident
:04:26. > :04:32.and Emergency last year. Money does not solve the problem. It is not
:04:32. > :04:37.necessarily about the money. That unit was built to serve 50,000
:04:37. > :04:42.patients per year, but it is currently serving 90,000. Very
:04:42. > :04:46.quickly, the house swap. That looks at you brilliant opportunity.
:04:46. > :04:51.Anything that can get waiting list and, in Medway, we have 70,000