Browse content similar to 04/11/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the South West. Sarah Wollaston explains why she voted against the | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
government on Europe. And calls for a new tax to control | :01:27. | :01:37. | |
:01:37. | :01:37. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2067 seconds | :01:37. | :36:05. | |
Coming upon the Sunday Politics in the south-west. Should there be a | :36:05. | :36:09. | |
tax on second homes? We will hear from an MP who says yes because the | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
sight of houses with the lights off is breaking his heart. | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
For the next 20 minutes I am joined with the Conservative MP Sarah | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
Wollaston and Labour councillor Darren Campbell. Welcome to the | :36:20. | :36:25. | |
programme. Sarah was one of the MPs who rebelled against the government | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
on the boat on the EU budget, which angered some of her Tory colleagues, | :36:29. | :36:34. | |
and provoked heated exchanges in the House. Here is a flavour of | :36:34. | :36:37. | |
what happened. The Conservative Party is united on | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
Europe. We are all opposed to the increase in the Budget, and we | :36:43. | :36:51. | |
would like to strengthen things. Can I just say, if the honourable | :36:51. | :37:00. | |
lady goes into the division lobby said that it to that of the Prime | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
Minister she is not helping him or the party. If this party hopes to | :37:03. | :37:07. | |
be in government after the next general election it has to get a | :37:07. | :37:10. | |
grip and starts supporting the Prime Minister. | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
David Cameron is under a lot of pressure to make the coalition work, | :37:14. | :37:17. | |
and you have undermined him on this issue. Don't you feel this might be | :37:17. | :37:23. | |
slightly damaging? I have not undermined him, I am representing | :37:23. | :37:32. | |
my constituents, and the clear message I get is we're taking... | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
Torbay have taken 11% cuts in the form of a grant, 6% this year, do | :37:38. | :37:43. | |
we have one -- want to hand all the savings to Europe? Brixham had a | :37:43. | :37:48. | |
handout from Europe. Yes, but this is money we could be the | :37:48. | :37:57. | |
distributing, we're talking a big difference. This debate is about | :37:57. | :38:00. | |
asking you up to take note about how people feel in Britain, and | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
people in Britain really do want them to make the same choices that | :38:05. | :38:10. | |
people in my constituency are making. You said that the Tories | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
are united on Europe, but how can you say you are delighted when you | :38:14. | :38:17. | |
have got people like Sir Tony baldy who was part of the Major | :38:17. | :38:27. | |
:38:27. | :38:27. | ||
government, and says he knows too well the consequences of rebelling | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
on fact like this. But this is an issue about the Budget. And what we | :38:32. | :38:42. | |
:38:42. | :38:44. | ||
are seeing is that, and I do not know any Tory MP who wants to get | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
real with this. This motion was calling on the Government to take | :38:48. | :38:53. | |
note of how we feel, but it is also more important that we were asking | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
the European Union to take note, because they would have been | :38:56. | :39:03. | |
watching, and it showed that a clear majority in parliament are | :39:03. | :39:07. | |
saying to Europe, people in this country want you to do the same as | :39:07. | :39:17. | |
:39:17. | :39:20. | ||
we are asking of our constituents. Thank you. His David Cameron right? | :39:20. | :39:24. | |
Back in July we were advocating cuts in the EU budget. It is not | :39:24. | :39:29. | |
opportunism. It is recognition that Europe has got to play its part in | :39:29. | :39:36. | |
cutting its budget at a time when budgets are going to be cut in huge | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
amounts, affecting frontline services and end users. Europe has | :39:40. | :39:45. | |
to play its role. Ed Miliband supported an increase in the EU | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
budget under the last Labour government, and this change of mind | :39:50. | :39:54. | |
was only on Monday. It is not a change of mind, it is a change of | :39:54. | :39:59. | |
circumstance. The economy in 2005 was different. We have had a global | :39:59. | :40:05. | |
crisis since then, and a double-dip recession. The reality is we have a | :40:05. | :40:12. | |
European economy that is an very briefly, a bad start for the Chief | :40:12. | :40:14. | |
Whip. If Andrew Mitchell was there, which | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
are still have rebelled? I am very clear that I would have been | :40:18. | :40:23. | |
representing my constituents on this, which would have made no | :40:23. | :40:27. | |
difference to me who was the chief whip. It is unfortunate that so | :40:27. | :40:33. | |
much rebate was handed back, 54% of a rebate was handed back in 2011, | :40:33. | :40:39. | |
which voters are not happy about. We have to move on. Last week it | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
was revealed -- revealed that Cornwall has the largest number of | :40:42. | :40:45. | |
second homes in the country. We reported calls from Andrew George | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
for a new planning rules to allow councils to control numbers. | :40:51. | :40:57. | |
Another of the Liberal Democrat MPs is proposing a new tax on second | :40:57. | :41:06. | |
A winter's night in cost and mackerel, and many homes remain in | :41:06. | :41:16. | |
darkness. -- in Cawsand. A legacy of second-home ownership. You can | :41:16. | :41:19. | |
see huge areas of places with no lights on, which hits the local | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
economy. People might spend a bit of money when they are there, but | :41:23. | :41:33. | |
when the RMT, they are not helping. A recent report found that 85% of | :41:33. | :41:40. | |
people surveyed thought it was good for their area. 49% felt measure | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
should be taken to reduce the negative impact of second home | :41:43. | :41:47. | |
buying. What it does this say that we need to look into this a bit | :41:47. | :41:51. | |
more. The issue of a second home is a very long spectrum, you can have | :41:51. | :41:56. | |
a second home that is rented out for 40 or 50 weeks of the year, | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
providing revenues for the local shot, the local pub, the local | :42:01. | :42:04. | |
builder, but on the other end of this spectrum, you can have one | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
that might only be used for two begins in you and the odd week. | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
It is those relatively unused properties that he is targeting, | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
and has proposed changing to planning laws so that local | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
authorities could cap the number of second homes in the area. He is | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
also suggesting changes to the tax system where second homes could be | :42:23. | :42:26. | |
charged a higher rate of council tax, there is also a suggestion of | :42:27. | :42:30. | |
a mansion tax on second homes which would raise money to provide | :42:30. | :42:39. | |
affordable housing for local people. You could have a two layer pricing | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
system in the county, you would have to oversee it and he feared it | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
would be. If you succeeded in switching holiday properties into | :42:46. | :42:54. | |
local housing, which I have my doubts about, you are undermining a | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
critical part of the local economy so you trading houses for jobs. | :42:59. | :43:07. | |
Classic Cottages in Helston employs 35 people and markets cottages. The | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
company chairman Simon Tregoning is sceptical about political | :43:10. | :43:18. | |
interference, concerned it may do more harm than good. A what are | :43:18. | :43:21. | |
they trying to achieve? The youngsters that I employ are also | :43:21. | :43:27. | |
looking for houses, so we see all shades of the argument. | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
Tourism boss of so welcomed the debate. -- bosses welcomed the | :43:31. | :43:36. | |
debate. You could not stop someone buying a second home, so we have to | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
think this through a bit more. It is an area that is worth debate, | :43:40. | :43:44. | |
but no one has a silver bullet to solve this where you gain the | :43:44. | :43:48. | |
economic benefits but there are no negatives. | :43:48. | :43:52. | |
Spending by second homeowners injects �150 million into | :43:52. | :43:59. | |
Cornwall's economy each year. It provides a living for some, but | :43:59. | :44:03. | |
others crave for communities they once had. | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
To discuss this we are joined by a Lib Dem MP, Stephen Gilbert. | :44:08. | :44:13. | |
Welcome to the programme. Do you support the idea of more taxation | :44:13. | :44:18. | |
for second homeowners are? Absolutely. It is welcome that the | :44:18. | :44:21. | |
coalition government has removed the discount that second-home | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
owners were able to benefit from, something we did not see from | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
Labour and 13 years. We need to see that -- Major that local | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
authorities have the powers to set a limit to the number of second | :44:33. | :44:37. | |
homes in a particular area. If you go to some communities in Cornwall, | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
you will find it up to half of the residences and empty for up to nine | :44:42. | :44:45. | |
months of the year, only used during the summer. That really does | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
have an impact in terms of local businesses, schools, and an impact | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
that has a price to pay in the local economy. How much more should | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
taken -- second homeowners pay? That is an issue that can be | :44:58. | :45:07. | |
debated. Or we are now unable to charge 100% of council tax, but I | :45:07. | :45:11. | |
would be keen to go to 200%, with the proviso that the local | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
authority has powers to limit the numbers. Limit the number of second | :45:16. | :45:21. | |
homes? How would they do that? Those communities have less money | :45:21. | :45:28. | |
going around them. Stephen, sorry to interrupt you. How would local | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
authorities limit the number of second homes? If you were selling a | :45:32. | :45:35. | |
house that was your prime residents, do you think you should not be | :45:36. | :45:41. | |
allowed to sell it to a second home or no? The proposal we have put | :45:41. | :45:43. | |
forward is that local authorities should be given powers through the | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
planning system to enable people wanting to purchase a second home | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
to apply through the planning process for that. That way, local | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
communities who want to increase the number of second homes will be | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
able to do so, and those at saturation will have the power to | :45:58. | :46:04. | |
prevent it. I am going to be that now to say. What do you make about | :46:04. | :46:10. | |
what he is saying, that he could limit the number of second homes? | :46:10. | :46:16. | |
There are areas where it is out of bounds. Some areas have 40% of | :46:16. | :46:20. | |
second home-ownership, which is out of balance. Particularly when | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
people do not use them for the majority of the here and they do | :46:24. | :46:31. | |
not let them out. The problem is, any mechanism in place, there could | :46:31. | :46:36. | |
be consequences to that. If we ask people to pay 150% of council tax, | :46:36. | :46:43. | |
what would stop them saying it is the main residence? We also have to | :46:43. | :46:48. | |
remember that many of these people might be second homeowners | :46:48. | :46:51. | |
initially, and they contribute a huge amount of their community. | :46:51. | :47:01. | |
:47:01. | :47:01. | ||
Many people who contribute the most to their community first introduced | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
-- were first introduced by being a second homeowner, so they might | :47:07. | :47:12. | |
spend more time there permanently. What do you say to that? She is | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
quite right to suggest we would need to think carefully about the | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
mechanism to introduce a restriction on the number of second | :47:19. | :47:29. | |
:47:29. | :47:33. | ||
homes, but it is a power that local communities and at saturation point, | :47:33. | :47:38. | |
they want powers to limit the number of. Darren Powell, do you | :47:38. | :47:43. | |
support this issue? I am in favour of doing what we can to reduce the | :47:43. | :47:46. | |
number of second homes because there is such an impact on the | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
local housing stock, and the ability for young people to stay | :47:49. | :47:55. | |
within the communities. What about the example of some are not allowed | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
to sell their house to a second homeowner, will that not lead to | :47:59. | :48:01. | |
localise downturn in the housing market and individual homeowners | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
losing a lot of money? I do not think you would be able to regulate | :48:06. | :48:13. | |
it. You could listed as a primary residence, and your actual London | :48:13. | :48:16. | |
or Manchester home could be your secondary residence because it is | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
this -- if it is a discretionary power, not all authorities will | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
adopt it because it is only in regions like ours with it is a big | :48:24. | :48:31. | |
problem. A lot more to discuss before legislation. | :48:31. | :48:38. | |
Thank you. The region's pubs are still closing at an alarming rate, | :48:38. | :48:42. | |
and this week, several south-west MPs backed calls for government | :48:42. | :48:45. | |
intervention. They want ministers to scrap the beer duty escalator | :48:45. | :48:51. | |
which they say has an unfair impact on the local. They say that since | :48:51. | :48:55. | |
the tax was introduced four years ago it has put 60p on to the | :48:55. | :49:00. | |
average pint of beer. Earlier this year, we filmed Wendy, | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
who was at the start of an ambitious project to turn a | :49:04. | :49:09. | |
derelict pub into a vibrant business. We have come back, and it | :49:09. | :49:14. | |
seems that despite all the hard work, trade are struggling. She has | :49:14. | :49:19. | |
recently had to lay off her chef to save money, and she has had to step | :49:19. | :49:26. | |
in to fill the gap. In the summer it was just worse than a normal | :49:26. | :49:32. | |
winter. In terms of the weather? Yes, people were not coming out. We | :49:32. | :49:36. | |
have just had to lay off the chef, because we could not afford them | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
and keep the roof over our heads. She is not alone. According to the | :49:41. | :49:46. | |
industry, beer sales are down 5% and pub closures are up 50%. | :49:46. | :49:51. | |
Traders say the beer duty escalator was partly to blame. The tax was | :49:51. | :49:56. | |
introduced in 2008, under Labour. It goes up by inflation plus 2% | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
every year. That means a pint costs 60 ends more than it did four years | :50:01. | :50:09. | |
ago. -- 60p. This week MPs called for the government to review the | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
tax. But there are those who think that | :50:12. | :50:17. | |
keeping the price of alcohol high is not necessarily a bad thing. | :50:17. | :50:21. | |
would call for the government giving benefits to pubs to sell | :50:21. | :50:26. | |
soft drinks more cheaply, serve hot food throughout the day and give | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
information about the harm caused by alcohol. But we do not know that | :50:30. | :50:40. | |
:50:40. | :50:42. | ||
it should be by taking away the duty tax escalator. They are | :50:42. | :50:47. | |
hitting an industry which is finding it very hard, and I think | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
they play on the fact that there is a lot of harm done by alcohol. But | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
there are lots of good things done. A pint of beer in a pub is | :50:57. | :51:02. | |
relaxation. Why keep aiming at thing that -- things that people | :51:02. | :51:07. | |
enjoy? MPs voted in favour of the review of the tax before the Budget, | :51:07. | :51:13. | |
but the out -- outcome of the vote has no cold on the Government. The | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
Health Minister did say that he was listening, and they will introduce | :51:17. | :51:20. | |
a range of measures to help the pubs. | :51:20. | :51:24. | |
You have campaign such -- tirelessly about alcohol | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
consumption, and beer consumption is now going down, maybe as a | :51:28. | :51:33. | |
result of the duty. Are you pleased? To be honest, I was at the | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
debate because I do support pubs, and I met with several publican's | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
before the vote. And I am very concerned about the closures of a | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
rural pubs, which are at the heart of the community, and for me the | :51:46. | :51:49. | |
issue is the difference between the price of the very cheap alcohol | :51:49. | :51:54. | |
causing harm in supermarkets, which is the area we should be tackling, | :51:54. | :51:58. | |
I do not think there is an issue with the price of beer and a pub. | :51:58. | :52:02. | |
It is already relatively very high. So the beer escalator duty should | :52:02. | :52:08. | |
be scrapped? I would agree that we need a review. We need to get rid | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
of the ultra cheap alcohol which is causing the problems. It is the | :52:13. | :52:18. | |
shift to home drinking that is the problem. | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
Labour introduced this policy in 2008. We have heard that beer has | :52:22. | :52:27. | |
gone up 60p a pint since then. This will continue to rise. Is now a | :52:27. | :52:33. | |
good time to say enough is enough? I think we need to look at the | :52:33. | :52:37. | |
consequences of having the escalator. We heard in the film | :52:37. | :52:40. | |
about the number of pubs closing, which is 60 a week across the | :52:40. | :52:45. | |
nation. My local pub closed a few months ago, and I know the impact | :52:45. | :52:53. | |
it has had on the community. It is absolutely right, as someone who | :52:53. | :53:02. | |
represents a town centre, I see the consequences of the high strings | :53:02. | :53:07. | |
ladder that you can buy so cheaply, on antisocial behaviour. Was the | :53:07. | :53:11. | |
duty escalator one of Gordon Brown's money spinner has? You have | :53:11. | :53:17. | |
got to consider economic budgets that were laid down in 2008 which | :53:17. | :53:24. | |
was totally different than they are now. | :53:24. | :53:27. | |
Stephen, you took part in the debate, and called for it to be | :53:27. | :53:30. | |
scrapped. Where do you see the shortfall in revenue coming from a | :53:30. | :53:36. | |
fit his scrubs? The important thing is when you get to the top of the | :53:36. | :53:42. | |
escalator it is time to step off, and we see that the beer duty | :53:42. | :53:45. | |
escalator is having an impact in terms of local businesses, and | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
actually if we enable them to thrive, we will be able to collect | :53:49. | :53:52. | |
more revenue than if we continue to penalise them by keeping the | :53:52. | :53:57. | |
escalated in place. OK, it is now time for the regular | :53:57. | :54:07. | |
:54:07. | :54:08. | ||
round-up of the political be. Wind turbine policy was blowing in | :54:08. | :54:12. | |
all directions. The conservative Energy Minister said enough was | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
enough, but the Lib Dems say he was just generating confusion. He is | :54:17. | :54:24. | |
talking from a personal perspective. No, he is the Energy Minister! | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
it is not go a month policy. Councillors might get control of | :54:30. | :54:34. | |
budgets currently set in Whitehall. There has been a big rise in fly- | :54:34. | :54:39. | |
tipping. Offences in Exeter doubled in two years. More people are happy | :54:39. | :54:44. | |
to reporter at the ease days. Disappointment in Dorset, the | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
Department for Transport says it would not pay �2 million to repair | :54:49. | :54:52. | |
the Beaminster tunnel. And some grassroots politics in | :54:52. | :54:58. | |
North Devon, where residents rolled up their sleeves to round up a herd | :54:59. | :55:03. | |
of feral goats. They have come back over and gone back where they | :55:03. | :55:07. | |
started, so I think we're going to have to reorganise and have another | :55:07. | :55:17. | |
That was the round-up of the week. Let us look at the wind turbine row. | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
It seems to show that the coalition is in disarray. Do you believe it | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
was a responsible for John Hayes to make these remarks signalling an | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
end to offshore wind turbines without consulting the government? | :55:31. | :55:35. | |
It is not a responsible because I have seen people in my constituency | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
surgeries who are in favour of environmental policies, but this | :55:39. | :55:43. | |
morning I saw 10 people in the surgery who have just had a wind | :55:43. | :55:50. | |
turbine built within 250 metres of their homes, and the person getting | :55:50. | :55:54. | |
all the subsidies does not live anywhere near it. If you are having | :55:54. | :56:01. | |
a loss of amenity because of it, you should have some degree of | :56:01. | :56:03. | |
compensation order your community should benefit from it. I welcome | :56:03. | :56:07. | |
the review that has been launched, the consultation on how we get the | :56:07. | :56:12. | |
right benefits to communities. Stephen, you work closely with the | :56:12. | :56:20. | |
energy secretary, was he fuming about this? No, not at all. What | :56:20. | :56:24. | |
John was setting out was his view about where the debate should go | :56:24. | :56:31. | |
back after the government has set out its target. We're at 6% at the | :56:32. | :56:37. | |
moment and we have a fair distance to go, if we're going to make | :56:37. | :56:40. | |
obligations under climate change and reduce the amount of carbon | :56:40. | :56:50. | |
:56:50. | :56:51. | ||
vomiting. -- the knitting. When we are looking at the onshore power | :56:51. | :56:56. | |
were, it is important we have people getting benefit from wind | :56:56. | :56:59. | |
turbines, which is why the Government are consulting. But the | :56:59. | :57:09. | |
:57:09. | :57:10. | ||
industry says it is confuse about policy. The policy is clear. It is | :57:10. | :57:16. | |
that one third of energy generation will come from renewables by 2020. | :57:16. | :57:22. | |
John's comments will be seen after the debate of 2020. Thank you for | :57:22. | :57:27. | |
joining us. Before we go, we have to ask you about your role in Costa | :57:27. | :57:34. | |
Coffee. It has pulled out his bed to open in Totnes. You were very | :57:34. | :57:40. | |
against them opening. How does that work, with the Tory policy being | :57:40. | :57:45. | |
very free-market? I was never against them, the other great | :57:45. | :57:51. | |
British company paying all their tax, it was about saying we as | :57:51. | :57:56. | |
appropriate to? In Totnes, we have a strong tradition of independence | :57:56. | :58:00. | |
and it is about keeping money in the local economy, the local | :58:00. | :58:04. | |
sustainable supplies, and we wanted Costa Coffee to visit the town and | :58:04. | :58:08. | |
say, look at the impact this would have, and a really strong feeling | :58:08. | :58:13. | |
was that we did not want a cloned high street. One of the reasons | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
people were coming to Totnes is because there is a different offer | :58:16. | :58:23. | |
there, and something you can end up destroying that. Were you surprised | :58:23. | :58:26. | |
that a Tory was supporting something which was not free | :58:26. | :58:32. | |
market? Of course not. Because Sarah is doing what an MP is doing | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
to represent her business and interests. It is to Costa Coffee's | :58:36. | :58:40. | |
credit that they took notice of the community and that the number of | :58:40. | :58:43. |