Browse content similar to 16/12/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Mixed news for the region's jobseekers. | :01:23. | :01:26. | |
And the new twist in the tale of one town's campaign against a major | :01:26. | :01:36. | |
:01:36. | :01:37. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2152 seconds | :01:37. | :37:29. | |
Hello, coming upon the Sunday Politics in the South West... | :37:29. | :37:33. | |
Remember the row about whether one South Devon town really needed | :37:33. | :37:36. | |
another coffee shop? In new campaign group says it represents | :37:36. | :37:41. | |
the silent majority who actually wanted a Costa in Totnes. | :37:41. | :37:48. | |
And I'm joined by Lord Whitty and Sheryll Murray. Welcome, both of | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
you. Let's begin with the encouraging news for the region's | :37:53. | :37:57. | |
jobseekers. On Wednesday, the MoD announced that 300 jobs at | :37:57. | :38:02. | |
Devonport dockyard would be secured to refit HMS Ocean. An informant | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
figures show the first sign of a long-term fall in the number of | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
people claiming jobseeker's allowance across the region. One | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
analyst said this could be the beginning of private sector | :38:13. | :38:19. | |
recovery in the south-west. Sheryll Murray was keen to make sure the | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
Prime Minister noticed a good news. Will my Right Honourable Friend | :38:23. | :38:27. | |
join me in congratulating my two young entrepreneurs who have taken | :38:27. | :38:36. | |
the initiative to take -- start HGVs company -- start HGVs company | :38:36. | :38:41. | |
in my constituency? Does the Prime Minister agree this is just the | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
sort of business initiative we need to see? | :38:45. | :38:48. | |
Lord Whitty, is this evidence that the Government is in fact putting | :38:48. | :38:54. | |
things back on track? That is premature. I am glad to see there | :38:54. | :39:04. | |
are new enterprises being set up. I must say, that the view I get back | :39:04. | :39:05. | |
must say, that the view I get back from small businesses in the south- | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
west and elsewhere is that they are still having problems getting | :39:09. | :39:14. | |
credit from the banks and cuts in public expenditure are hitting them. | :39:14. | :39:20. | |
We are not yet in a position to say there is serious revival. | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
Unemployment 8% down year-on-year in the south-west? There is | :39:23. | :39:29. | |
something going on there. It is not clear if the figures are consistent. | :39:29. | :39:35. | |
We should wait and see before we start charging from the rooftops. | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
The Autumn Statement growth figures had to be reduced, and yet we have | :39:39. | :39:43. | |
got these unemployment figures which seemed to be screaming, yes, | :39:43. | :39:48. | |
the private sector is growing. How would you balance that? When you | :39:48. | :39:55. | |
look at it, a lot of people, like my constituents who have taken the | :39:55. | :40:01. | |
initiative, and realised the country could not go one way if a | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
public sector growing and being subsidised. People are taking the | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
initiative to start businesses and help themselves. The government's | :40:09. | :40:13. | |
message and the Conservative message is getting out there. If it | :40:13. | :40:17. | |
continues, then hopefully we will see the economy grow in the way | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
that we want. You mention public sector jobs. You have not seen | :40:22. | :40:30. | |
public sector cuts and a bike that is going to cost. -- and the bike. | :40:30. | :40:33. | |
Do you think growth in the private sector will offset future public- | :40:33. | :40:39. | |
sector cuts? I have met people in my constituency, one particular | :40:39. | :40:41. | |
lady in Gunnislake, who has left the public sector and started her | :40:42. | :40:49. | |
own business, because she recognises that we cannot maximise | :40:49. | :40:53. | |
credit cards to subsidise jobs, which we have seen over the last 12 | :40:53. | :40:58. | |
months. People are realising may need to help themselves and are | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
taking the initiative. Is it enough to realise that we need to take the | :41:02. | :41:05. | |
initiative, do you see that happening on the ground? Certainly | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
people need to take initiative but the problem people have got is that | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
the private sector will not revise -- revive unless there is a growth | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
in demand in the economy. That demand a different economic | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
perspective from the government in relation to timing their cots and | :41:22. | :41:27. | |
so on. There is a problem with this being sustained. Hopefully, those | :41:27. | :41:30. | |
companies will get off the ground but unless there is a total | :41:30. | :41:34. | |
increase in demand and growth in the economy, that will not be | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
sustainable. If you work for one of the region's | :41:39. | :41:41. | |
councils you might well be worried about the prospect of joining the | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
dole queue. Local authority leaders are faced with tough decisions | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
about whether to cut staff to meet dramatic savings required by | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
government and some fear the next funding settlement, due in the | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
coming weeks, will put more pressure on their budgets. | :41:57. | :42:04. | |
It is a turbulent time in local government. It is two months since | :42:04. | :42:10. | |
Iraq over controversial privatisation proposals led to the | :42:10. | :42:17. | |
ousting of Alec Robertson. motion has been carried... West | :42:17. | :42:20. | |
Somerset council is teetering on the brink of becoming a skeleton | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
body commissioning services from other authorities. West Somerset | :42:24. | :42:28. | |
council does not have enough finance to fund what it is doing at | :42:28. | :42:33. | |
present. There have to be savings. Things are not likely to get easier | :42:33. | :42:38. | |
any time soon. Councils are biting -- battling with cuts from | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
Whitehall amounting to more than 30% and they are predicting another | :42:42. | :42:47. | |
20% in next spending round, from 2015. With the government making it | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
clear that a local authorities are going to have to make do with less, | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
councils across the south-west are grappling with how to keep their | :42:56. | :43:00. | |
heads above water. This week, councillors in Cornwall voted | :43:00. | :43:05. | |
through a much slimmed-down version of a partnership with BT and the | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
NHS. Things like IT systems and technology monitoring people's | :43:09. | :43:13. | |
health in their homes will stay but supporters of the original deal say | :43:13. | :43:17. | |
the compromise puts more jobs at risk. It is a smaller scheme and | :43:17. | :43:24. | |
the potential is not as great. What I believe it means is that those | :43:24. | :43:31. | |
services within the council are going to have to make significant | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
servings -- savings in the coming years and it will be a challenge. | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
Councillor Double says the council was to get new ways of working. The | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
man who now leads the council thinks days like this are too risky | :43:43. | :43:49. | |
in the current financial climate. There has been a survey of | :43:49. | :43:54. | |
authorities in England and they say that this year, 12% of authorities | :43:54. | :44:00. | |
will really struggle to balance their books and next year, 25% of | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
authorities will be in the same position. The government really | :44:04. | :44:09. | |
must come to the conclusion that there is a limit to what local | :44:10. | :44:13. | |
government can expect to do. Local Government Association echoes | :44:13. | :44:21. | |
this morning. This is the so called graph of doom illustrating a | :44:21. | :44:27. | |
funding gap by 2020. No more is this squeeze being felt more than | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
by England's smallest council facing budget cuts of 1.5 million | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
over three years. Crisis meetings have been held this week but the | :44:35. | :44:39. | |
government minister sent to help is not reaching for the chequebook. | :44:39. | :44:43. | |
they can get the right structure in place, it is not a matter of | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
financial handouts. That is not what West Somerset have been asking | :44:46. | :44:51. | |
for. They are looking for a sustainable solution. | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
possibility of a big hike in council tax in West Somerset is | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
still on the table. The rise is not been ruled out in Cornwall either | :44:58. | :45:03. | |
and the outlook is bleak. Councils are braced for the details of their | :45:03. | :45:06. | |
next financial settlement before Christmas and there is not much | :45:06. | :45:16. | |
:45:16. | :45:16. | ||
We are joined by the vice chair of the Local Government Association. | :45:16. | :45:23. | |
Not much hope of festive cheer. We have a council that has run out of | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
money, a council having to privatise core services, what does | :45:26. | :45:34. | |
it mean? Councils are going to be under huge pressure. There has been | :45:34. | :45:44. | |
:45:44. | :45:44. | ||
a 30% cut in councils' funding over the last few years. We have to look | :45:44. | :45:48. | |
at the most vulnerable people in society, children care, the elderly, | :45:48. | :45:52. | |
people with disabilities, so on all our services will get cut deeply | :45:52. | :45:57. | |
over the next three years. Something like at a 90% cut for | :45:57. | :46:04. | |
planning, transport, community wardens and safety, all of those | :46:04. | :46:09. | |
things will be cut to the bone and beyond. We did speak to the | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
Department for communities and local government. Given that cancer | :46:12. | :46:19. | |
has account for one quarter of government spending it is vital | :46:19. | :46:23. | |
they contribute. -- given that councils. The country cannot live | :46:23. | :46:29. | |
outside its means. You cannot keep borrowing and borrowing. Consuls | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
are probably the most efficient part of the government's service | :46:33. | :46:39. | |
and yet, we're having the biggest cuts. I do not think we government | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
understands how vital some of the services are that councils up and | :46:43. | :46:48. | |
down the country provide two really vulnerable people and the services | :46:48. | :46:52. | |
that people need every single day of the week. We're going to put bat | :46:53. | :46:57. | |
to one of our guests. Has the government gone too far west these | :46:57. | :47:02. | |
cuts and it is too much too fast? For 10 years before I got elected I | :47:02. | :47:10. | |
was a local councillor. I sat on Cornwall County Council and | :47:10. | :47:16. | |
Carriden District Council. Councils assumed they were going to get the | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
same increase your round year when they looked at their future | :47:20. | :47:26. | |
planning. -- year on year. They took that into account. We have got | :47:26. | :47:33. | |
to a stage when the country cannot afford to give councils this | :47:33. | :47:36. | |
increase in funding. At the end of the day, what the Government is | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
doing is giving local councillors the opportunity to control their | :47:42. | :47:46. | |
own budgets. The what we are hearing here, and from the Audit | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
Commission as well, they say that next year, 25% of councils will be | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
in the same boat as the two we have mentioned. One is facing bankruptcy | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
and the other has lost its leader over privatisation measures because | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
they believe these services should be protected. One of the things we | :48:04. | :48:09. | |
have had for 12 years his local councillors being told how to spend | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
their money and what to do. They have forgotten how to manage | :48:12. | :48:17. | |
budgets. What the government is now saying is, they know best how to | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
deliver local services on the ground, but they do have to manage | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
those budgets and stick to them. the past, local councils have had | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
too much money and it is time to cut back and tighten your belt? | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
nation clearly does have to tighten its belt and councils have to play | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
their part, absolutely, but the Government has targeted cancels | :48:41. | :48:44. | |
much more than central government departments and is allowing much | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
more waste in central government. Even central government says | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
councils are the most efficient part of the public service, so why | :48:53. | :48:58. | |
not let us do more? The real problem here is we have to look | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
after the most vulnerable people and the cuts have gone too deep. | :49:03. | :49:08. | |
The West Somerset cards or has a proposal to put up council tax by | :49:08. | :49:17. | |
49%, �50 per has sold. What we do say? -- �50 per household. But | :49:18. | :49:21. | |
government has taken decision- making power away from councils and | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
we are not allowed to think about things like that, because central | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
government makes decisions were cancelled. Lord Whitty, what do you | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
think? Is there fat to be cut and what about the increase proposal in | :49:34. | :49:40. | |
West Somerset? I agree with Gerald that councils ought to make their | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
own decisions in what ever budgets they have got. We are of one mind | :49:44. | :49:51. | |
on that. Behind that, the government have embarked on a | :49:51. | :49:53. | |
course of cutting public expenditure which we can argue | :49:53. | :49:58. | |
about the totality of, but in this context they have put aged him out | :49:58. | :50:02. | |
of the burden on the public authority up -- they have put a | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
huge amount of the burden on the public authorities. Local budgets | :50:05. | :50:11. | |
have been cut more than three times. That is not the right sense of | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
priorities. What ever there is at the macro level, that is wrong. | :50:16. | :50:23. | |
Cornwall and West Somerset are some of the poorest authorities in land. | :50:23. | :50:26. | |
-- in Milan. If they are having to make decisions which affect their | :50:26. | :50:30. | |
people it is because the Treasury have decided local authorities will | :50:30. | :50:36. | |
bear the brunt. With this rise in council tax, if West Somerset | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
council wanted to increase council tax for specific purposes, of | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
course they can do it. They just have to ask their council tax | :50:44. | :50:54. | |
payers by way of a referendum if they wanted. They can put it up for | :50:54. | :51:01. | |
specific purposes according to the Localism Act. They have to axe -- | :51:01. | :51:06. | |
asked the tax payers if they wish them to do this. Will the same | :51:06. | :51:12. | |
applied to George Osborne? In October, Costa Coffee was | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
apparent -- forced to abandon plans to open up in Totnes after a | :51:16. | :51:20. | |
protest campaign. The move was held up as an example of big business | :51:20. | :51:23. | |
listening to the people but it has emerged not everyone in the town | :51:23. | :51:29. | |
was happily about it decision. -- happy about the decision. There are | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
questions about how democratic the campaign really was. | :51:34. | :51:38. | |
Totnes, one of the region's most flourishing market towns, famed for | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
its beauty and independent spirit, held up by government ministers as | :51:43. | :51:48. | |
a pioneer of localism. What Totnes does today the rest of the country | :51:48. | :51:54. | |
will do tomorrow. We are taking the spirit of Totnes around the country. | :51:54. | :52:00. | |
A few months ago, Totnes was deemed to be leading the way once again. | :52:00. | :52:05. | |
Campaigners in Totnes are claiming victory after they forced a | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
multinational coffee giant to scrap plans to set up a shop in the town. | :52:10. | :52:18. | |
It followed a protest petition. An MP got involved. Along with | :52:18. | :52:22. | |
representatives from the town, she met the company in October. | :52:22. | :52:28. | |
wanted cost up to visit Totnes and show them the impact this would | :52:28. | :52:32. | |
have and that we did not want a clone high street. One of the | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
reasons people were coming to Totnes was because there was a | :52:35. | :52:42. | |
different offer. Her intervention came after the local authority | :52:42. | :52:47. | |
approved plants backing the cafe. Six district councillors voted | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
against the plan, 17 voted in favour. Costa Coffee's last-minute | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
decision not to set up shop left some stunned and wishing they had | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
voiced support. Hindsight is a lovely thing. A lot of people | :53:00. | :53:06. | |
didn't really do anything because they thought it inevitable. They | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
got their planning permission, we thought it was going to happen. We | :53:10. | :53:15. | |
didn't think because it was such a small number of people protesting | :53:15. | :53:21. | |
that it would have any effect. Then suddenly, it did. In fact, the | :53:21. | :53:25. | |
campaign had collected over 5,000 signatures, but there have been | :53:25. | :53:31. | |
questions raised about how representative it was of the local | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
population. A counter group has been set up by Matt, which he says | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
has more than 400 supporters. of people I spoke to did not feel | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
they were represented had -- represented. A lot of people didn't | :53:45. | :53:49. | |
really mind and they did not feel represented. It was only be people | :53:49. | :53:57. | |
who had protested against it who had been covered in the media and | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
eight were perceived to represent the views of the majority. What has | :54:00. | :54:04. | |
happened in Totnes has been seen as a victory for people power but has | :54:04. | :54:08. | |
also led to questions about which people had the power and what it | :54:08. | :54:14. | |
all means for those not on the winning side. | :54:14. | :54:19. | |
It was unusual to see an MP getting so involved in a planning | :54:19. | :54:23. | |
application for a shock. If it was in your constituency, which you | :54:23. | :54:28. | |
have done the same thing? Bear in mind that I have been a local | :54:28. | :54:31. | |
councillor so I have been involved in the planning process. I know | :54:31. | :54:39. | |
that an MP does not have any power when it comes to planning decisions. | :54:39. | :54:42. | |
Westminster have in the past been very dominant, and that is why we | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
have changed the planning law so that local people and local | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
councillors take those decisions. That is wary -- where they should | :54:51. | :54:57. | |
be taken. But it was the pressure group with the most say, but 17 | :54:57. | :55:01. | |
councillors had voted in favour of the application, against six. | :55:01. | :55:06. | |
I would have done under those circumstances is every | :55:06. | :55:09. | |
representation of that concern with regard to a planning application | :55:09. | :55:14. | |
into my office, I plus they wanted the local planning department. | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
you would not have got involved? Probably not in this instance. | :55:19. | :55:24. | |
you think she had a lot of sway? am not sure what sort of power a | :55:24. | :55:28. | |
member of parliament has and we have to remember that we all deal | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
with things in a different way. I personally would have made sure | :55:33. | :55:42. | |
that I had accounted for the silent minority in this instance, and I | :55:42. | :55:46. | |
think it is my position in my constituency as the Member of | :55:46. | :55:51. | |
Parliament to take a passive role as often as I can. What does this | :55:51. | :55:55. | |
tell us about localism, local pressure groups having so much | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
power? And yet another local groups saying, we did not want you to have | :56:00. | :56:05. | |
that say. At the end of the day it needs to be the decision of the | :56:05. | :56:09. | |
council. It is quite frequently that those who shout loudest are | :56:09. | :56:14. | |
not representative of the total number. At the end of the day the | :56:14. | :56:19. | |
council should take the decision. At least Costa Coffee pay their | :56:19. | :56:24. | |
taxes! When they came to my little town in Dorset, they actually | :56:24. | :56:31. | |
transformed. We now have more independent cafes. This is not all | :56:31. | :56:37. | |
one-way. Were you interested to see a Tory MP standing up against Free | :56:37. | :56:44. | |
Enterprise? It is an unusual take. There may have been some pressure | :56:44. | :56:52. | |
from the independent traders. I think this is a planning issue and | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
the council and other people should have taken the decision. You are | :56:55. | :57:00. | |
not worried that local pressure groups are getting too much power? | :57:00. | :57:05. | |
If they are not representative then they are. The council needs to make | :57:05. | :57:08. | |
that judgment. It is time for the round-up of the | :57:08. | :57:18. | |
:57:18. | :57:18. | ||
political week. Train passengers were told fares | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
will rise above inflation next year. The First Great Western boss said | :57:23. | :57:29. | |
it was for ministers to explain why, not him. We think we provide value | :57:29. | :57:32. | |
for money. Coastguard cuts means important | :57:32. | :57:34. | |
local knowledge will be lost according to a report from the | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
Transport Select Committee. South West dairy farmers are | :57:39. | :57:42. | |
unhappy about the price they get for their milk were told they could | :57:42. | :57:46. | |
get money from the taxpayer. The government will help them negotiate | :57:46. | :57:52. | |
with processors and supermarkets. There is a much brighter future for | :57:52. | :57:55. | |
milk production than there has been for a very long time. | :57:55. | :57:59. | |
Oliver Colvile asked the Prime Minister why that city of Plymouth | :57:59. | :58:03. | |
had missed out on super-fast broadband. I am sure he will be | :58:03. | :58:07. | |
glad to know that Devon and Somerset has been allocated �33 | :58:07. | :58:10. | |
million to deliver super-fast broadband. | :58:10. | :58:13. | |
Cornish nationalists were encouraged by census figures | :58:13. | :58:16. | |
showing the number of people who call themselves Cornish has more | :58:16. | :58:24. | |
than doubled. Do you call yourself Cornish? | :58:24. | :58:29. | |
I do. I do not speak Cornish, and neither did my grandmother or | :58:29. | :58:33. | |
mother. I recognise, as someone who travelled across the border into | :58:33. | :58:38. | |
Plymouth to work for a number of my early years, but there is an | :58:38. | :58:42. | |
economic benefit from our neighbours in Devon. Whilst I think | :58:42. | :58:48. | |
our heritage is very important, we have to be realistic with regard to | :58:48. | :58:53. | |
the economic situation but Cornwall finds itself in. I want to ask you | :58:53. | :58:56. | |
about the Coastguard issued, as someone with in the fishing | :58:56. | :59:00. | |
community. What is your reaction to the select committee report which | :59:00. | :59:04. | |
says that it is talking of low morale amongst Coastguard, a loss | :59:04. | :59:09. | |
of skilled workers and skilled knowledge with these cuts? I have | :59:10. | :59:13. | |
always maintained we must not lose their local knowledge. I was | :59:13. | :59:18. | |
heartened when I heard the Minister confirm that the new National | :59:18. | :59:28. | |
:59:28. | :59:29. | ||
Centre would not close any local centres, on Nairn -- unless there | :59:29. | :59:38. | |
was absolute sureness that the National Centre could cope. I need | :59:38. | :59:41. | |
to see the evidence. The new national co-ordination Centre has | :59:41. | :59:47. | |
only just got up and running. The jury is out. Let's wait and see. | :59:47. | :59:54. | |
Brixham has not closed yet. We have not got long left. What is your | :59:54. | :59:59. | |
take on this? I think the government may be right that some | :59:59. | :00:07. | |
rationalisation is sensible. If you get rid of the local offices, you | :00:07. | :00:12. |