:01:15. > :01:18.And in the South West: The prominent Liberal Democrat -
:01:18. > :01:28.packing his bags for conference and calling for his leader's
:01:28. > :01:40.
:01:40. > :01:43.And in the South West: The prominent Liberal Democrat -
:01:43. > :01:53.packing his bags for conference and calling for his leader's
:01:53. > :01:53.
:01:53. > :35:32.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2019 seconds
:35:32. > :35:42.Good morning.. We will discuss Nick Clegg's pledged to restore trust in
:35:42. > :35:47.# I 'm sorry, I'm sorry. # the next 20 minutes I am joined by
:35:47. > :35:53.Labour's Alison Seabeck and the conservative Oliver Colvile.
:35:53. > :36:03.Air power that you had been dressing up in military uniform?
:36:03. > :36:03.
:36:03. > :36:13.went off to the mock Wharram Percy. I under which each uniform?
:36:13. > :36:14.
:36:14. > :36:21.done the same thing, having shoe? It really does give you first-hand
:36:21. > :36:26.experience. We will get you to dress up and come in and show was
:36:26. > :36:32.the uniform sometimes. We have a packed programme, starting with the
:36:32. > :36:37.news that a UKIP at a conference. Nigel Farage tells us that he is
:36:37. > :36:43.increasingly possum -- optimistic about winning a seat in the south-
:36:43. > :36:46.west. The massive gap it used to exist
:36:46. > :36:49.between her and European elections cause and our general election
:36:49. > :36:56.scores is narrowing. We are up in the opinion polls and people are
:36:56. > :37:00.beginning to trust us more. Their understanding that we do not just
:37:00. > :37:04.talk about who governs Britain, but we are also talking about how that
:37:04. > :37:09.Britain should be governed. We have a broader agenda, whether we're
:37:09. > :37:14.talking about fisheries or a wind farms. These are issues which are
:37:14. > :37:20.huge and the south-west. Could it be you see that he has his eye on?
:37:20. > :37:25.I do not been so. But he has targeted it is in the past? Yes,
:37:25. > :37:29.but he has never actually made a breakthrough. The UKIP candidate
:37:29. > :37:34.last time was disappointed that they did not make any more progress.
:37:34. > :37:44.The issue here is that I am a Euro- sceptic, but I am not year-old
:37:44. > :37:47.
:37:47. > :37:53.suicidal. We have to make sure that if we have -- that we have a
:37:53. > :37:57.relationship with a run European neighbours. But we also do not want
:37:57. > :38:01.to be told exactly what to do by the European Commission. Were she
:38:01. > :38:08.agree to that question mark you think there is no threat to plummet
:38:08. > :38:11.from you honourable gentleman? are talking about doing deals with
:38:11. > :38:16.the Conservatives. I honestly cannot see David Cameron wanting to
:38:16. > :38:22.hook up with another minority party, adding further deals. I'm quite
:38:22. > :38:27.confident that the Conservatives will stand in every seat in the
:38:27. > :38:30.south-west and Nigel Farage's which will not happen. But what about
:38:30. > :38:35.UKIP as a viable alternative to those disillusioned with all three
:38:35. > :38:41.main parties? You always have a degree of protest vote. Usually at
:38:41. > :38:46.by-elections, not always at general elections. If you look at the
:38:46. > :38:50.appalling, UKIP did not do very well in the south-west at the
:38:50. > :38:55.general election. The Liberal Democrats, because they are in
:38:55. > :39:02.government, are no longer the dustbin vote. UKIP are now being
:39:02. > :39:07.perceived as doing that. I am sure Nigel Farage will be delighted to
:39:07. > :39:09.have been called a dustman. Coalition believes that if it can
:39:09. > :39:15.kick-start the construction industry it can create thousands of
:39:15. > :39:25.jobs and potentially get the economy out of recession. It has
:39:25. > :39:28.
:39:28. > :39:34.returned once again to the crucial area of planning.
:39:34. > :39:44.This man has been fishing out of the poor at four or 20 years. In
:39:44. > :39:44.
:39:44. > :39:48.that time, traditional coronal -- Cornish fishing villages have
:39:49. > :39:54.become hot property areas. When it comes to owning his own home, he
:39:54. > :39:58.fears that he has missed the boat. A I am a fisherman, I want to stay
:39:58. > :40:04.here in this village, four generations of my family come from
:40:04. > :40:08.here. One day I might have to move out of this village, may be made
:40:08. > :40:12.inland a bit more weight it is cheaper. For years, affordable
:40:12. > :40:22.housing has been a key method of helping people like David Guy.
:40:22. > :40:25.
:40:25. > :40:30.Affordable means sold or rented at a below market value. The
:40:30. > :40:35.government says it is going to spend �300 million building 15,000
:40:35. > :40:40.affordable homes, but at the same time it is relaxing the rules next
:40:40. > :40:50.year so that firms can start building risky commercial
:40:50. > :40:51.
:40:51. > :40:54.developments without having to provide a affordable home. We are
:40:54. > :40:58.telling the housing companies to get on and build. I want private
:40:58. > :41:06.houses built, I once social houses built, we want to get Britain
:41:06. > :41:14.building. Community benefits, parks and playgrounds, I things that
:41:14. > :41:18.developers have to provide. initial plans for the site just
:41:18. > :41:22.over here included two affordable homes, but the developer managed to
:41:22. > :41:32.get those dropped. It is an example of what we could see more rock when
:41:32. > :41:33.
:41:33. > :41:42.it comes to the new rules regarding section 100 and sex requirements.
:41:42. > :41:45.Section 106. It to be a travesty of Labour to
:41:45. > :41:55.made to some kind of idea of reservations, we only those who are
:41:55. > :42:03.
:42:03. > :42:08.hugely wealthy can afford to buy. When I first read it government's
:42:09. > :42:12.proposals, my immediate thought was, what about the affordable housing?
:42:12. > :42:17.If they government will not make developers provide it, then who
:42:17. > :42:23.else will? My concern is that we may have some Belmont but it might
:42:23. > :42:32.not solve any of the housing worries, because it might not
:42:32. > :42:37.provide affordable housing. David is left wondering what he
:42:37. > :42:41.gets. We are joined by a property
:42:41. > :42:47.developer Robin Furby. Well can to the programme.
:42:47. > :42:52.It was your development on the Lizard that we just on the film.
:42:52. > :42:58.What was it that we are providing only two affordable homes on that
:42:58. > :43:03.site unviable for you? Three have to add up the cost of the site, at
:43:03. > :43:07.it cost of building houses and some that theory -- fairly standard
:43:07. > :43:11.spreadsheets which you get you are allowed to make around 15 per cent
:43:11. > :43:19.as a profit. If you make less than 15 per cent you are allowed to go
:43:19. > :43:24.back to local authority and after meeting the affordable housing
:43:24. > :43:30.department, they accepted that ever scheme was not viable. To you think
:43:30. > :43:34.that now that these rules had been relaxed, that a lot of affordable
:43:34. > :43:41.housing elements will be dropped? They is a misunderstanding of how
:43:41. > :43:48.housing rules work. There are three types of affordable housing, social
:43:48. > :43:52.rent, intermediate and now the college affordable rent. I think it
:43:52. > :43:56.is a change in the next year, because some of those types of
:43:56. > :44:01.affordable housing actually cost more to build than you can sell
:44:01. > :44:05.them to a housing association for, whereas others are OK, they wash
:44:05. > :44:10.their face and they make a small profit. It's a this will help the
:44:10. > :44:14.construction industry? I think it is a positive move, but it is not
:44:14. > :44:19.really a huge change. The mechanism already works, in that you can
:44:19. > :44:25.negotiate the type of affordable housing that you want to provide.
:44:25. > :44:29.But the thing is, you are, from a property developer's point of view,
:44:29. > :44:37.going to say that. It does benefit to because if the rules are relaxed
:44:37. > :44:41.than a lot less affordable homes will be built. I do not in that is
:44:41. > :44:47.so. A two year will not be built in the Wizard that were going to a
:44:47. > :44:57.belt. That is true. Oliver, do you think we are going
:44:57. > :45:01.to lose in the mind of affordable housing? I think we need to make
:45:01. > :45:06.sure that we need to start out people being able to get money to
:45:06. > :45:16.buy houses. The mean the bank's lending? The that is the key issue.
:45:16. > :45:17.
:45:17. > :45:20.No political party has got their policy right on that. Robin is not
:45:21. > :45:27.going to continue developing affordable homes if he does not
:45:27. > :45:32.have the market to sell to. What is going to be significant is that
:45:33. > :45:38.there will be more supply and more demand as well. Alison, what is
:45:38. > :45:43.your take on this? Will there be more jobs? This proposal is, I am
:45:43. > :45:46.afraid, adding further confusion into the whole process. We had a
:45:46. > :45:51.complete revamp of planning and there the government is saying that
:45:51. > :45:56.they are going to change it all again. What we are not getting a
:45:56. > :45:59.enough affordable homes to meet local needs. In Cornwall there are
:45:59. > :46:04.particular the difficult circumstances. The developers are
:46:04. > :46:09.already all making significant profits whilst making fewer units.
:46:09. > :46:18.If you look at many of the big developers, they are all making
:46:18. > :46:25.very substantial profits. The think that they are using the recession?
:46:25. > :46:31.What they're building RTR four- bedroom walls. What they're not
:46:31. > :46:37.bending -- 3 R four-bedroom homes. What they are not building other
:46:37. > :46:41.types of homes that are needed here in Cornwall. Alison is saying that
:46:41. > :46:45.there will be less homes built, that you cannot say that there will
:46:45. > :46:49.be more in that you are profiting out of the recession here? You have
:46:49. > :46:53.to draw a line underneath the big house builders, who do seem to have
:46:53. > :46:59.been doing well, and a lot of the smaller and medium-size firms who
:46:59. > :47:03.really struggle. The banks have a role, my own experience of the
:47:03. > :47:08.banks is that they are not really bangs at all, they do not really
:47:08. > :47:15.lend anyone any money any more, so I don't know why the government has
:47:15. > :47:18.not intervened. We have to move on, but thank you for joining us. Every
:47:18. > :47:22.politician knows that broken promises do not go down well with
:47:22. > :47:26.voters. Nick Clegg has now said sorry for failing to deliver his
:47:26. > :47:36.promise to scrap tuition fees. He has made a political hot cast which
:47:36. > :47:39.
:47:39. > :47:48.has already been turned into the song. -- broadcast. # There's no
:47:48. > :47:51.easy way to say we're sorry. # But a number of members in the
:47:52. > :47:56.south-west believe that the only way to rebuild trust is to see Nick
:47:56. > :48:03.Clegg go. Andrew Bridgwater is a man on a
:48:03. > :48:07.mission. I want to say to him now, police consider your position in
:48:07. > :48:13.the interests of the country and the party, and please resign.
:48:13. > :48:18.Lifelong liberal Andrew is not unhappy that there is a Coalition,
:48:18. > :48:25.but failure to contend with the Conservatives on issues of tuition
:48:25. > :48:33.fees and 10p tax, shows that the leader is not up to the job. We'll
:48:33. > :48:37.let the party leader to do difficult things and we do so in
:48:37. > :48:41.the light at the time of the fact that we think they are capable of
:48:42. > :48:45.doing it. Nick Clegg has let the party and the company down. Andrew
:48:45. > :48:55.is not the only one worried about what Clegg's leadership will mean
:48:55. > :48:58.
:48:58. > :49:06.for the party's electoral prospects. He has been accused by one MP of
:49:06. > :49:11.bumbling along. It is not about personality, it is about how Nick
:49:11. > :49:16.Clegg is doing rationally about representing Lib-Dem values. The
:49:16. > :49:20.time has come when he is now an issue, and it will have an impact
:49:20. > :49:25.coming into the general election. It will certainly have an impact in
:49:25. > :49:29.Cornwall, where next year all their seats will be up for election.
:49:29. > :49:34.So serious questions are being asked about whether support from
:49:34. > :49:38.the voters will still be there. There is a strong liberal tradition
:49:38. > :49:43.here, but the people I spoke to were not treating the party's
:49:43. > :49:46.chances. What have they done for you? I am not aware they have done
:49:46. > :49:50.anything for me. I think their support will be down in the next
:49:50. > :49:55.election as a result of what has happened. A lot of people are
:49:55. > :50:00.disillusioned. We need to get someone in his a bit more forward-
:50:00. > :50:04.thinking. We're very proud of what we have
:50:04. > :50:07.achieved in government, getting people out of poverty, restoring
:50:07. > :50:10.the link between pensions and earnings. I'm sure we will be
:50:10. > :50:18.mentioning those within our campaigning.
:50:18. > :50:24.Three Lib Dem councillors in Cornwall did not share his optimism,
:50:24. > :50:29.and have defected in recent months. Particularly due to their tuition
:50:29. > :50:33.fee U-turn. We need a pledge, we did not stick to it, and for that I
:50:33. > :50:37.am sorry. But this is too little too late for
:50:37. > :50:43.Andrew, who is urging other party members to speak out. A what we
:50:43. > :50:49.really need to do is do what I am doing, coming out and stating my
:50:49. > :50:55.views publicly, and not shielding my identity. Because then the
:50:55. > :51:00.leadership will have to step up and take notice. Nick Clegg says he is
:51:00. > :51:04.staying put, but it seems that choppy waters are ahead.
:51:04. > :51:09.Nick Clegg himself has dismissed those concerned about his position.
:51:09. > :51:13.He told us the descent was actually the result of strong leadership.
:51:13. > :51:17.When you lead in a strong way, people will disagree with you. But
:51:17. > :51:22.what I think we have done, and I have put my hands up will be have
:51:22. > :51:27.made mistakes, I have apologised, but John Hall, on the pick
:51:27. > :51:34.judgments, stepping up to the plate to make sure that the government
:51:34. > :51:37.has strong leadership, we had been doing the painstaking,
:51:37. > :51:42.controversial work of bringing the country back from the brink, which
:51:42. > :51:47.is where Labour left it and I think we had done the right things.
:51:47. > :51:51.I am joined from Brighton by one South West MP who is sticking with
:51:51. > :51:55.his leader. Welcome to the programme, Stephen Gilbert. You may
:51:56. > :52:02.be standing by Nick Clegg, but others clearly are not. Are you
:52:02. > :52:04.worried? Not at all. But in the vast majority of the Liberal
:52:04. > :52:14.Democrats blackening to brighten over the weekend, the entire
:52:14. > :52:18.parliamentary party, ever -- are full square behind Nick Clegg. We
:52:18. > :52:22.are coming together with ever political rivals, are Conservatives,
:52:22. > :52:29.to come together when the country needs it. Focusing on liberal
:52:29. > :52:33.values, taking 2 million people out of income tax, delivering the the
:52:33. > :52:36.world's first Green Investment back. It is a legacy that Liberal
:52:36. > :52:42.Democrat should be rightly proud of and it is one that Nick Clegg is
:52:42. > :52:46.delivering. What about his apology over tuition fees? Would you stand
:52:46. > :52:50.by that? If I think the apology was the right thing to do. I think what
:52:50. > :52:54.Nick Clegg recognise was that there was no way that that pledge should
:52:55. > :53:00.have been made by the Liberal Democrats, by myself. I am sorry
:53:00. > :53:03.for making that pledge. But it was a core a grassroots policy, and it
:53:03. > :53:07.seems only to have been dropped so that the leadership could make
:53:07. > :53:11.their way into the government? Presumably which could then be
:53:11. > :53:18.justified by policies which it then in the lamented. They only way
:53:18. > :53:23.which we would have been able to implement that pledged would be if
:53:23. > :53:27.we were the majority government. We were not in majority government at
:53:27. > :53:32.the end of the last election. We have a Labour Party he introduced
:53:32. > :53:39.fees and then tripled the and. The Conservative Party is wedded to
:53:39. > :53:43.fees. We have had no apology from the Labour Party about their broken
:53:43. > :53:49.promises to students on this issue. I think it is refreshing that a
:53:49. > :53:55.politician of his stature has taken a view to say sorry. Is there an
:53:55. > :53:59.apology from new Alison for what Stephen as a poll -- from what
:53:59. > :54:04.Stephen is asking you to apologise for? I think they are delusional.
:54:04. > :54:09.The idea that this is strong leadership is crazy. Most people
:54:09. > :54:15.who watch the apology have said, why on earth had they done it? I
:54:15. > :54:18.think it is a PR disaster. We had very clear views on it tuition fees
:54:18. > :54:24.and they were not the same as the Liberal Democrats, and we stood by
:54:24. > :54:28.them. Have you come into this Coalition and you are putting their
:54:28. > :54:33.Liberal Democrat out? We have to remember the reason why the
:54:33. > :54:36.Coalition came about was because we had to clean up the mess that there
:54:36. > :54:41.previous Labour government left behind. We are not out of it yet
:54:41. > :54:44.and we need to continue the job that we started to do. If the
:54:44. > :54:49.Liberal Democrats want to have a debate about the leadership was the
:54:49. > :54:53.economy is in such a state, that seems to be self-indulgent. Do you
:54:53. > :54:58.think that Vince Cable would be better? You think he would be more
:54:58. > :55:03.popular? I think Nick Clegg is the right man for the right job and
:55:04. > :55:07.will lead us into the next general election and I think we will fight
:55:07. > :55:10.that with the legacy of the Liberal Democrat promises that we have
:55:10. > :55:16.implemented in government and that will make a difference to people's
:55:16. > :55:24.lives. Now a round-up of the Week in 60
:55:24. > :55:29.seconds. Is maternity leave to generous? An
:55:29. > :55:35.MP has asked ministers to ask -- to listen to small businesses to say
:55:35. > :55:43.that it is. In to have a company of six-12 employees where senior
:55:43. > :55:46.individual has been absent from the workplace and does not inform their
:55:46. > :55:55.employer until the 11th hour after a period of a year that they will
:55:55. > :55:58.not be coming back. The government announced that from October it is -
:55:58. > :56:03.- its official statistics will recognise Cornwall as a separate
:56:03. > :56:07.part of the South West. And money-saving plans to switch
:56:07. > :56:15.off some of the street lights in Somerset were met with amid an --
:56:15. > :56:20.with a mixed reaction. It will be fine when no one is around, between
:56:20. > :56:24.the hours of 12-three. But what about people like me to finish work
:56:24. > :56:29.at two o'clock in the morning? is true.
:56:29. > :56:34.I have a feeling he will be in the Dog House tonight. What about me at
:56:34. > :56:37.3am when I walking home? Is it a good way to save money, turn off
:56:37. > :56:41.the street lights? It is a really difficult one, because I would not
:56:41. > :56:46.want to be walking late at night with no street lights. Some people
:56:46. > :56:51.are trialling it, it will be interesting to see what the results
:56:51. > :56:55.are. Whether there will be an increase in crime or whether road
:56:55. > :56:59.accidents actually reduce. Personally, I would prefer not to
:57:00. > :57:03.be turning off the street lights. agree, I think it is right that we
:57:03. > :57:11.keep our streets as let as well as we possibly can in order to make
:57:11. > :57:19.sure that we do not see a rise in crime. I think that anybody walking
:57:19. > :57:24.home in darkened streets, that would be most unhelpful for them.
:57:24. > :57:28.This maternity leave issue, do you think it is too generous for small
:57:28. > :57:37.businesses? There is a broader set of issues, we need to look at the
:57:37. > :57:41.whole idea of regulation. We want to make sure we are not regulating
:57:41. > :57:51.so much that we are preventing small businesses in particular from
:57:51. > :57:51.
:57:51. > :57:55.employing people. Body make of it, Alison? A lot of small businesses