:01:36. > :01:38.In the South West: Delays in the benefits system.
:01:38. > :01:48.New figures show our region has the highest proportion of people
:01:48. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :40:02.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2293 seconds
:40:02. > :40:12.Welcome to the Sunday Politics in the south-west. Coming up: Plans
:40:12. > :40:19.
:40:19. > :40:23.for them at the Walker -- notorious didn't work -- plans for the
:40:23. > :40:25.notorious... It is a tale of two cities with
:40:25. > :40:28.today's guests. Oliver Colvile, Conservative MP for Plymouth Sutton
:40:28. > :40:31.and Devonport and Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP for Exeter. Welcome, both
:40:31. > :40:34.of you, to the programme. There were momentous scenes at County
:40:34. > :40:37.Hall in Truro this week as Cornwall Council sacked its Tory leader Alec
:40:37. > :40:40.Robertson with a vote of no confidence. He lost his job over
:40:40. > :40:42.large-scale plans to privatise council services. And for
:40:42. > :40:46.apparently wanting to push them through in defiance of the
:40:46. > :40:54.council's majority view. Here is the man who has replaced him in the
:40:55. > :41:00.There has been a lot of concern about the lack of member
:41:00. > :41:06.involvement, and the members had their day to day. They have come at
:41:07. > :41:11.it from various angles, and for the first time they felt empowered. One
:41:11. > :41:17.councillor said, as she left, in 41 years at County Hall, I have never
:41:17. > :41:23.seen so much drama in a single day, and that is true.
:41:23. > :41:32.Oliver, are we seeing a miss, even Conservatives, reacting against the
:41:32. > :41:36.Government's message and austerity -- message of austerity? They have
:41:36. > :41:39.to make sure they are bringing value for money as far as the
:41:39. > :41:42.taxpayer is concerned. It is important delicate of the way of
:41:42. > :41:52.doing that and making sure it is delivered. But there is a broader
:41:52. > :41:57.
:41:57. > :42:00.issue here, under way in which the previous Labour government tried to
:42:00. > :42:07.introduce lots of members in the decision-making process. You're a
:42:07. > :42:09.great campaigner for democracy and the constitution. Do you approve
:42:09. > :42:12.Thatcher government introduced a system that allowed this kind of
:42:12. > :42:21.thing to happen? A leader pursue something through, completely at
:42:21. > :42:27.odds with the majority of the council? Well, it didn't go through.
:42:27. > :42:32.Most local authorities manages -- managed to exist perfectly well.
:42:32. > :42:37.This is a classic example of the poor Corniche being let down again
:42:37. > :42:42.by their county council. If you go back many years, Kent -- Cornwall
:42:42. > :42:45.County Council has been a shambles. People in Cornwall have an
:42:45. > :42:53.opportunity next May to put some Labour councillors in their to
:42:53. > :43:01.bring commonsense. But under the rules, Alida could theoretically
:43:01. > :43:06.bring something through. Only if they are scrutiny chairs. -- a
:43:06. > :43:09.leader could bring something through. If the Conservative group
:43:09. > :43:14.of Cornwall County Council were functional and not totally
:43:14. > :43:18.dysfunctional, this would never have got through. I just have to
:43:18. > :43:27.say that what should have happened is they should have been an amount
:43:27. > :43:31.of discussion with the Conservative group in order to do it. We need to
:43:31. > :43:36.make sure that actually local authorities are managed in a much
:43:36. > :43:40.better way, making sure that the group's come to a collective
:43:40. > :43:47.decision. It sounds like that did not happen, and a few people made
:43:47. > :43:51.up the decision which did not work. We must move on.
:43:51. > :43:54.A growing number of people in the south-west are relying on food
:43:54. > :43:58.handouts from charities, and according from one group the region
:43:58. > :44:06.has the highest proportion of people using them. It is happening
:44:06. > :44:13.in some surprising places the -- some surprising places.
:44:13. > :44:22.This has been opening three minutes, but they have already dealt -- Six
:44:22. > :44:31.cases. This man says he would have starved if it was not for this.
:44:31. > :44:36.There are so many people applying for the same vacancy, and only so
:44:36. > :44:42.many people get through the see the process before calling anyone.
:44:42. > :44:46.people through the JobCentre can use the service. This week, it
:44:46. > :44:53.emerged that in the last six months, the South West branches of this
:44:53. > :44:58.charity had been busier than any other region. Across the south-west,
:44:58. > :45:04.some 13,500 people have used for banks operated by the trust since
:45:04. > :45:08.April. In Plymouth, the number of people using the service has
:45:08. > :45:13.quadrupled over the past four years. But there are also signs that
:45:13. > :45:17.people are struggling in areas that are traditionally seen as a fluent.
:45:17. > :45:25.This week, the Conservative lead South Hams District Council tweeted
:45:25. > :45:31.it would help start a food bank for families in crisis. There are great
:45:31. > :45:35.pockets of this area where there is a need, and all the little villages
:45:35. > :45:39.around the district. With things like a paper mill closing, there
:45:39. > :45:45.could be a lot more hardship, so it is good to have things in place for
:45:45. > :45:48.people to get help if they need it. Unemployment and the rising cost in
:45:48. > :45:54.food and fuel bills are all factors, but there are calls for the
:45:55. > :45:58.Government to do more. Relying on young people debating, that is
:45:58. > :46:06.great that young people do that, and we do volunteering very well,
:46:06. > :46:11.but not being able to feed itself, I think that is an embarrassment to
:46:11. > :46:15.the government. Batten Plymouth, one of the
:46:15. > :46:25.problems is linked to the delays in benefit payments. Dan did not get
:46:25. > :46:31.any payments for weeks after he signed on. It is in a fortnight
:46:31. > :46:36.currently without money, and there was a problem at the start, too.
:46:36. > :46:40.And the people providing the services that he is not alone.
:46:40. > :46:43.wish I could say this was an odd example, but it is not. It takes a
:46:43. > :46:46.long time to get these things set up and running, and you think
:46:46. > :46:50.everything is going along fine when suddenly something happens and
:46:50. > :46:54.there is no payment. It is not until you go and ask what has
:46:54. > :46:57.happened that they say you have missed an appointment or at the
:46:57. > :47:05.loss you sit 0 or something similar. There is no notification that there
:47:05. > :47:08.is not going to be any money. -- lost a sick note.
:47:08. > :47:15.They say that they never claimed times have remained consistent,
:47:15. > :47:20.with most claims being turned around and 16 days. It says it is
:47:20. > :47:26.reforming labour's broken welfare system to make work pay, and lift
:47:26. > :47:29.thousands out of pores of -- poverty.
:47:29. > :47:39.He is she right to say this is an embarrassment to the Government?
:47:39. > :47:45.
:47:45. > :47:55.do not think it is. We need to make sure that what we have got is the
:47:55. > :47:55.
:47:55. > :47:59.economy settles for people can get But it is the fact that this is
:47:59. > :48:02.happening on the scale it is the problem. We need more jobs in to
:48:02. > :48:05.Plymouth and more investment, we need to make sure that we have
:48:05. > :48:10.better skills as well, and that is the argument I have been saying for
:48:10. > :48:15.a while. I know you are a Plymouth MP, this is happening and what many
:48:15. > :48:23.people would see as the highly affluent Conservative-run South
:48:23. > :48:28.Hams. There is an issue to see that we get more jobs into the area.
:48:28. > :48:30.What about the help in the meantime? Anyone who has an issue
:48:30. > :48:34.or a problem can come and talk to me about it, and there has
:48:34. > :48:39.obviously been some delay in people getting the benefits. A lot of
:48:39. > :48:43.people, the trusts is 43% of people they deal with. I am willing for
:48:43. > :48:51.them to come and talk to me, and we will clear up the mess to do with
:48:51. > :48:56.benefits. You have left them in a mess. We did not have food banks
:48:56. > :49:02.under the Labour government! We have had one in Exeter over there
:49:02. > :49:06.last year, and it has trebled. Fuel prices are going up, benefits and
:49:06. > :49:09.wages are going down, and people are facing this hardship. There has
:49:09. > :49:13.been the abolition of emergency grants, so people who are in hard
:49:13. > :49:20.Japan do not have their benefits through a do not get anything, so
:49:20. > :49:24.they are desperate. -- people who are in hardship to not have the
:49:24. > :49:29.benefits through. People who deserve benefits are being messed
:49:29. > :49:34.around for weeks. It is about making sure we have more
:49:34. > :49:38.investments will be can get people back into jobs. But people should
:49:38. > :49:41.be getting the benefits that they deserve first. If anyone has an
:49:41. > :49:46.issue in my constituency, they can come and speak to me about it, and
:49:46. > :49:49.I will take up their case. We have got a benefits problem that we
:49:49. > :49:56.inherited of the previous Labour government, and it became much more
:49:56. > :49:59.dependent upon the state, and we need to make sure we sort this out.
:49:59. > :50:09.In the south-west we have the biggest gap between earnings and
:50:09. > :50:10.
:50:10. > :50:13.house prices, that is the problem. I think it is a case that we have
:50:13. > :50:20.got to make sure we sort out the benefit matter and we make sure
:50:20. > :50:23.that people get back into work and there are no jobs. In terms of
:50:23. > :50:26.sorting this in the shorter term, people having to wait six weeks or
:50:26. > :50:35.two months to get their money, can something not be done to get some
:50:35. > :50:39.of -- some organisation into that? People can come and speak to me
:50:39. > :50:45.about that. You will have a lot of people knocking on your door.
:50:45. > :50:49.is fine. I am happy for this. Changes to constituency boundaries
:50:49. > :50:54.probably leave most people accept characters like us distinctly
:50:54. > :50:58.underwhelmed. Unless it involves giving a big chunk of Cornwall to a
:50:58. > :51:02.Devon MP. Two days ago the Boundary Commission came up with his latest
:51:02. > :51:12.thoughts on the new map, but where to draw the lines now looks like a
:51:12. > :51:15.sideshow to a huge row at the heart Uproar over the notorious Devonwell
:51:15. > :51:25.constituency struggling the D-Mark has dominated the boundary review
:51:25. > :51:32.
:51:32. > :51:35.in the south-west. -- straddling The big question is, whether all
:51:35. > :51:41.the clever people at the Boundary Commission are simply wasting an
:51:41. > :51:44.awful lot of time and effort. I think these are the zombie
:51:44. > :51:51.boundary changes. These are the walking dead proposals which will
:51:51. > :51:56.never see the light of day. In the summer or a lot of Conservative MPs
:51:56. > :51:59.scuppered the Lib Dems plan of reforming the House of Lords. Nick
:51:59. > :52:03.Clegg said his party would no longer support boundary changes,
:52:04. > :52:07.and there has been speculation that the Tories might try to tempt them
:52:07. > :52:14.back with a deal on party funding. But Nick Clegg said this week, this
:52:14. > :52:18.is an issue on which he will not budge. Because of a failure to
:52:18. > :52:21.deliver a wider package of reforms we had agreed within the coalition
:52:21. > :52:24.government, including the House of Lords reform, when it comes to a
:52:24. > :52:29.vote, the Liberal Democrats will not support the changes ahead of
:52:29. > :52:35.the election in 2015. Even without those presumably crucial Lib Dem
:52:35. > :52:39.votes, the Prime Minister told me just a couple of weeks ago that it
:52:39. > :52:46.still is full steam ahead. Do you have any hope of pushing
:52:46. > :52:49.through the constituency boundary changes? They are coming forward
:52:49. > :52:54.for a vote and a House of Commons, and my message to the MPs of all
:52:54. > :52:59.parties is that I think it is right that we cost -- cut the cost of
:52:59. > :53:04.politics and reduce the size of the House of Commons from 650-600. We
:53:04. > :53:08.say that every constituency has the same number of voters and it.
:53:08. > :53:13.attempt to achieve this through a deal on party funding might get the
:53:13. > :53:17.Prime Minister into trouble with his own troops. What I hope is not
:53:17. > :53:23.going on is that behind the scenes there is not some rather sordid
:53:23. > :53:27.trading on an unprincipled basis to buy the Liberal Democrats ascent.
:53:27. > :53:32.Would you be voting against it if it comes back to the Commons?
:53:32. > :53:38.I would. It would be completely wrong for us to attempt to secure a
:53:38. > :53:46.principled arrangement, a new electoral settlement, with an
:53:46. > :53:52.unprincipled the tea trade behind the stairs. -- dirty trade. This
:53:52. > :53:55.month would see his constituency changed completely -- disappear
:53:55. > :54:01.completely of the saw the light of day.
:54:02. > :54:05.I know your reputation for loyalty is legendary. But would you
:54:05. > :54:10.consider voting against this if it is bought by the shabby, dirty
:54:10. > :54:15.deal? The key thing is we need to reduce the number of members.
:54:15. > :54:22.you vote against? We would need to see what the proposals are going to
:54:22. > :54:27.be. Ultimately, I want to reduce the costs. I know why the
:54:27. > :54:33.Government wants to do this, but would you consider voting against?
:54:33. > :54:38.I am not going to answer a hypothetical question. He says we
:54:38. > :54:43.know what fuss was caused by plans to reform the House of Lords. He
:54:43. > :54:46.says any changes to party funding would be much more or unpalatable.
:54:47. > :54:51.I do not think we will go down that route, and Grant Shapps, chairman
:54:51. > :54:55.of the party, made that quite clear. That is not what is going to happen.
:54:56. > :54:59.We need to reduce the number of the Members of Parliament by 50. We
:54:59. > :55:03.need to save some money as far as the taxpayer is concerned and we
:55:03. > :55:10.need to make sure that is what we deliver. That is what we have voted
:55:10. > :55:14.for in Parliament in order to achieve. We come to the principal
:55:14. > :55:18.issue. All around the Prime Minister say that this makes things
:55:18. > :55:26.fairer and cheaper. But Oliver cannot vote against the changes
:55:26. > :55:30.because he banned -- benefits massively. I have made it quite
:55:30. > :55:38.clear that I would relish to fight the constituency on the current
:55:38. > :55:43.boundaries, I have always made that happened. It does not look as if
:55:43. > :55:48.the changes will go through, if Nick Clegg is going to vote against
:55:48. > :55:53.him, David Cameron has to cobble together a massive majority. So why
:55:53. > :55:59.on earth are we spending millions of pounds still doing it? And we
:55:59. > :56:03.have this uncertainty for the next few years. You make a point of
:56:03. > :56:07.being a constitutional reformer. David Cameron says this makes
:56:07. > :56:12.things fairer and more democratic. We have the boundary reviews every
:56:12. > :56:16.few years to make things fairer. The Boundary Commission make sure
:56:16. > :56:21.that constituencies are a similar size. But what we have got here is
:56:21. > :56:23.a clear gerrymandering, a reduction of 50 seats, a number that does not
:56:23. > :56:29.hurt the Conservatives but had several other party, when we
:56:29. > :56:33.already have 3 million people, mainly in inner-city areas, not
:56:33. > :56:40.even on the electrical -- electoral roll. He would make sure he got
:56:40. > :56:46.these on the electoral roll of he was concerned. The constituencies
:56:46. > :56:51.do not have even number of voters. Some people say that 20 more seats
:56:51. > :57:01.would not make any difference because you have so many rebels.
:57:01. > :57:04.
:57:04. > :57:08.Now, the regular round-up of the Former defence minister Nick Harvey
:57:08. > :57:11.prices the nuclear button at Prime Minister's Questions the stock will
:57:11. > :57:17.the Prime Minister keep an open mind on how to replace the nuclear
:57:17. > :57:23.deterrent? If you will have a nuclear deterrent, it makes sense
:57:23. > :57:31.that the you have something that is credible and believable, or there
:57:31. > :57:41.is no. And having won at all. -- there is no point in having won a
:57:41. > :57:45.
:57:45. > :57:49.Day centres are all under threat, there is nothing sacrosanct, so we
:57:49. > :57:54.have to make sure that we protect the Serb was his. Meanwhile, the
:57:54. > :58:04.tree is dwarfed by the 20 metres pregnant women. Anything that
:58:04. > :58:08.provides business into the town will be good for us. When her water
:58:08. > :58:12.bricks, I do not know what will happen.
:58:12. > :58:18.Handing out food to people in food Bangs, should the Tory council in
:58:18. > :58:26.the poorest part of the south-west be spending �20,000 on a garden
:58:26. > :58:29.decoration? We are trying to get people to come and visit the place
:58:29. > :58:39.because that would mean more money in the economy, and in Plymouth
:58:39. > :58:39.
:58:39. > :58:46.money to make sure we make more use of her -- our naval heritage.
:58:46. > :58:53.has a strong counter-argument. not think this will make a
:58:53. > :59:03.difference to the tourism trade. The Angel of the North was
:59:03. > :59:07.
:59:07. > :59:11.controversial to start with and has been a huge success. Ed Miliband
:59:11. > :59:19.suggested that the conference that there would be a consideration of
:59:19. > :59:24.reviewing the results. Of course we will consider the results. But
:59:24. > :59:29.Nuclear Disarmament position was at reviewed recently, Fang the this.
:59:29. > :59:36.And we will retain the nuclear deterrent, I am afraid Labour has
:59:36. > :59:39.got form in this regard. They talk about how they gave up in the past
:59:39. > :59:43.on the nuclear deterrent, and I wonder if that is a point of