05/05/2013 Sunday Politics South West


05/05/2013

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In the South West: The local elections dealt body blows to the

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coalition parties, new footholds for Labour and the breakthrough UKIP had

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2227 seconds

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Hello, I'm Martyn Oates, coming up on the Sunday Politics in the South

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West...we'll hear from some of the region's brand new UKIP Councillors.

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you,

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and then you win. And for the next 20 minutes, I'm

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joined by Conservative MP George Eustice and the Lib Dem peer John

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Burnett. Strangely enough, we're kicking off with UKIP. In Thursday's

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elections they took their first seats on each of the four South West

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councils up for grabs. Across the patch that breaks down to one

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councillor in Dorset, three in Somerset, four in Devon and six in

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Cornwall. George, three of those are in your very marginal constituency.

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You must be worried about that. Look, my constituency has always had

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a strong UKIP contingent, I myself was a UKIP candidate before, I have

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never hidden that fact or the reason why I left, which is that I felt

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UKIP are counter-productive to the cause they claim to support. In the

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case of the euro debate ten years ago, they said you couldn't keep the

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pound and stay in the union, they have been proven wrong on that. Now,

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they are counter-productive to the debate we are having about

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negotiating. I've got a majority of 66, and with that majority, you are

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never complacent. You can either threat -- fret about your components

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or you can roll your sleeves up and get things done and have a record to

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stand on for the next election. That's what I've been doing.

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Nationally, I have read a campaign. John, you are a Euro-sceptic Lib

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Dem. Many people probably don't even believe that exists! I remember Nick

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Clegg wrote a paper about eight or nine years ago and the thrust of it

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was Europe should do less and do it better. I hope he dusts that down. I

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always was against the euro. What was George, campaign director of the

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anti-euro group? I'm not Euro-sceptic, I'm a euro realist. I

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don't believe the British people want to see that. I think David

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Cameron's speech earlier this year hit the nail on the head in many

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ways. We always have a problem in mid-term. Economy, immigration and

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the EU are all important issues. In a moment we'll be joined by the

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UKIP chairman Steve Crowther, to find out what we can expect from

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UKIP councillors in office. But first, here's John Henderson with a

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look a the rise of UKIP in the South West.

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Making history, Cornwall's first ever UKIP councillor celebrates.

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flabbergasted. We're very close in many seats and I think the main

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parties are shocked. Perhaps picking up votes from its opposition to gay

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marriage and a type of renewable energy. Wind turbines are a big

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issue here. Not least because of the increasing recognition of the

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concern over health effects. They won in Somerset. It sends a very

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important message to the Government that the people are not happy with

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issues surrounding the European Union. They won in Devon. Everyone

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seems fed up, is the best way I can put it. With everything. And they

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won in Dorset. Gandhi once said first they ignore you, then they

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laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win. You get started

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life in the early 1990s. They got their first MEP in 1999. In 2004,

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they got any other, and the party still got to South West MEPs. At

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times, they made a lot of noise. This was William Dartmouth getting

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high rate a few years ago. The Tories branded them a party of

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clowns, but they cranked up their push in the South West. Nigel Farage

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brought the party bus into battle. The party put up over 200 candidates

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across the four Southwest counties, a record number with its leader keen

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for even more. If anyone is here who is not yet a UKIP candidate, please

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come forward. One such candidate was Susan Bowen. She bowed out as the

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UKIP candidate after being disowned for speaking at a BMP perform a

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rally in 2010. Some in the north Cornish town were nonplussed.

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don't like the BNP as an organisation. There was no sign of

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her on the campaign trail, but her name remained on the ballot paper.

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She came second, beating the Conservatives. Immigration is what

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we're all talking about but nobody listens to it. UKIP is a way of

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protesting. Until Friday, UKIP councillors were thin on the ground

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in the south-west. Julian Parrott has been the sole UKIP voice in

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Torbay. For the past few years, he has been brushing shoulders with the

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established political classes, the mainstream, which he says has run

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out of ideas. We're seeing the breakdown of tribal boating on the

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basis of one out ideology. Where is the bedrock Labour and Conservative

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support? That now is a thing of the past. We're now talking about a

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society which is very differently structured. UKIP remains a long way

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from council control, but it has made a lot of people in the region

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wonder, what might be next? George, is it not likely that UKIP

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is making this breakthrough because, frankly, it is offering policies

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which appealed to Tory voters when you are not, and in fact you often

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dismiss and deride these policies? think what is absolutely true if

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this is a big protest vote. There is a lot of disillusionment, and we

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need to listen to that protest and respond to it. But when I've been

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going around and talking to people, I find when I explain to them what

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we've already done, promising an EU referendum and cutting immigration

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by a third, sorting out the welfare system, they actually don't realise

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the things we've achieved. So it is about helping people to understand

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what this Government has achieved. Well, UKIP are opposed to gay

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marriage, wind farms, they will protect the countryside. Aren't

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these key things which are pressing buttons on the countryside? Yes. I

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would say probably the majority of UKIP voters are former Tory voters.

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A lot of people in your party agree with these policies. Well, we have

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been trying to get the planning policy changed so that we can reject

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more wind farms. We are doing a lot to sort out the school system. You

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don't have to go back to grammar schools to improve the education

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system. Steve, is this a protest boat? It isn't just a protest vote.

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There is this language in politics which party is used to explain away

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bad results at half term. That is not what is happening. We've spent

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20 years building up to where we are. What's interesting is you

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mentioned a number of things to George. They are not conservative

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policies, they are the policies of all the other parties. There is

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nothing to choose between them. This is why UKIP has gained a seats

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nationally. It is not any EU vote, it is about disillusionment.

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Essentially, there is no differentiation between the other

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parties in Government. A lot of those things they are supporting,

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people do not like. There is no question that a lot of your policies

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appealed to Tory voters. We've got to get away from this idea that UKIP

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takes away Tory voters. It has taken away large numbers of labour and Lib

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Dem voters. It has also done one other thing, which I'm very proud

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of, which is bringing new people back into the democratic process. In

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the Eastleigh by-election, 15% of people were those who hadn't voted

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in years. We believe in renewable energy, of course we do. That is

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what the planning system is all about. We are fully supportive of

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the academy programme. If you ask the Labour Party now, they would be

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against that programme. So let's just look at it in the context of

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history. I don't dismiss lightly what UKIP have done, but only a

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third of people went to vote last time, and in addition to that...

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Sorry, I just want to come back to the policy on and -- on wind farms.

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Is their concern over the health associated with wind turbines?

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something we are looking very closely at. But I would like to

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point out this is not about wind farms. It is about energy. Well,

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your objection to wind farms is people argue they are ugly. That

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isn't our objection. Our objection, the problem is - and it is the great

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illustration of where we have come from dashed the other governing

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parties have left us in a pickle. They have entirely failed to equip

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this country with the resources that we will have need of. There will be

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soaring prices and massive energy poverty. All the governing parties

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have contributed to that. That is why we find ourselves rising in

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popularity. We have been utterly let down by our governing parties. Even

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the chairman of gem is coming on to the BBC, saying we're facing a

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catastrophe. Are you at all concerned that any of your

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councillors might embarrass you in office in the way some of your

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candidates in Paris due during this campaign? I'm very campaigned -- I'm

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very proud of our candidates. happens very embarrassing incidents

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during the campaign. I'd like to point out less than 0.5% of the

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candidates were in any way embarrassing. But you don't

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routinely get this with other parties, do you? The media would be

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on it like a shock if one of the governing parties had an

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embarrassing candidate who spoke at a BNP rally, for example. The point

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is, there was a concerted effort by the other parties to actually trawl

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through every word that any of our candidates had any -- had ever put

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on the Internet and tried to find embarrassing things. If we had done,

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it would've been a more fair playing field, to be honest. I'm very proud

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of our candidates. They are ordinary folk who have worked for years. You

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will see now what it means to elect UKIP could representatives. They

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will work at the grassroots and represent the views of their

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electorate. Steve Crowther, thank you. Now, with

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a whistlestop tour of how all the other parties did on Thursday,

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here's Ben Woolvin. The Tories kept control of Devon and

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Somerset county councils, their relief almost palpable. The people

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of Somerset have spoken, they said they clearly understand some of the

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tough decisions we've had to make, but they'd seen the plan we have for

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the future, the plan for jobs, for investment, for looking after

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vulnerable children. They've said yes to that plan, and I'm really

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happy. But voters had a different message for the Conservatives of

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Cornwall, who now face the prospect of opposition, having lost 18

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councillors, including their former leader, Alec Robertson. It's really

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sad. I was a council leader myself mid-term, and it is really awful

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when hard-working councillors who have served their communities well

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lose their seats because people want to send a message to Westminster.

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It's really sad. The Lib Dems only lost two seats here, making them the

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biggest party on Cornwall Council. In Dorset, the Lib Dems lost four,

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in Devon, where they once enjoyed control, the party has been reduced

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to nine. The man who leads them is preparing for the bunker. I love an

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old saying by our party president which is that after the nuclear

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war, the two things that would be left would be cockroaches and

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Liberal Democrats with leaflets knocking on doors. Around here, we

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claim to be indestructible because we aim to serve the public well.

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Labour made 17 gains across the region. They now have eight

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councillors in Cornwall, including a former MP. They lost the only seat

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they were defending here. Jude Robertson was beaten by 40 votes.

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The Greens got their first councillor in Cornwall and held on

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in Totnes. The Cornish nationalists gained one. But the people of

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Cornwall once again find themselves with no overall control. The Lib

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Dems have started power-sharing talks, but with very little love

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lost between them and some of the more influential independents, those

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negotiations are likely to be seated. We're joined now by two more

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guests, Michael, the new Labour councillor in Cornwall, and

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political analyst Adrian Lee. I want to begin with you, Michael, because

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your result is very interesting indeed. There are few places in the

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south-west which are traditional pockets of support. There is really

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no recent tradition where you are from. Yes, Labour went from fifth to

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first and I'm aware that is a very strong personal boat. Across

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Cornwall, I think Labour went from one councillor to eight. There are

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no no-go areas for the Labour Party. When you say it was a personal

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boat, are you suggesting it is a one-off? I'm proud to be Cornish and

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Labour and that was an important part of me standing. I'm very proud

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of my principles, which I've had that over 20 years. People knew I

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was a strong Labour candidate, someone who would stand up for our

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local area, so I think it is a combination of trust for me as a

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politician and a representative to speak up for the people, but also a

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recognition that I have strong principles, a progressive programme,

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a positive approach to working together, and standing up for our

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communities. Adrian, has significant do you think this is? We pore over

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the traditional Labour areas after every car -- after every election,

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don't we? Well, Labour had a disastrous result in 2009. This

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time, they have made considerable headway. We now back to where they

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were in the 1990s. The fact there is no Liberal Democrat representation

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in Exeter any more, it is entirely Labour apart from a couple of

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conservative areas. Elsewhere they did fairly well, particularly well.

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And of course getting seats like gun is late, which was almost a

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hereditary Labour supporting position. Elsewhere, in Somerset,

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they held onto Wellington. They've got a base upon which they can

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expand, but they were starting from a very low base indeed. George, the

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Conservatives had a really grim day, didn't they, in Cornwall?

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was disappointing, and we lost a lot of good councillors because a lot of

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our support voted UKIP. In some cases, that allowed UKIP candidates

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to win outright, but in other places it allowed the Lib Dems to take

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seats from is. That is disappointing but we have to listen to that. It is

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always sad when hard-working people lose their seats as a result of a

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protest vote. A drink, how bad was it for the Lib Dems? Pretty bad.

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They held on better in Cornwall than elsewhere, especially south

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Cornwall. But in Devon, Dorset and Somerset, therefore in the share of

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the vote was fairly uniform. The only bright spot for the is of

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course their position in Cornwall. John, you must be worried, not least

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if Labour is spreading into fresh areas, because you two have had

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Billy -- had the region basically sewn up. We did well in Cornwall, we

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didn't gain any seats, we didn't lose any seats. Devon wasn't good

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for us, I admit that. What is interesting for others is to see the

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protest vote not just being with Labour, but Labour and UKIP. I think

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history does teach us lessons. Labour is on the march in the

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south-west, you will suffer, when you? We will. But let's see. The

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economy is not in a good position, if it has improved by the election,

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I think the governing parties will get the recognition that. The

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deficit has gone down by a third. We will have a good story to tell and

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we will concentrate on the policies of the other two parties. We've got

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to draw the line there I'm afraid in. It's time for our political

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round-up of the week in 60 seconds. Demand for food banks continues to

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increase, bringing the total in the region to 18, according to one of

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the biggest providers. This is an ongoing thing, not just a recent

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thing. Concern from doctors as a private

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company takes on the running of nonemergency ambulances across most

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of the south-west. This has to be a concern.

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Solicitors claim legal aid cuts will damage justice. They are going to be

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pressurised to plead guilty. Somerset farmers asked the

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Government health -- help after a year of disastrous flooding. People

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are still adamant that they want the job done.

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And Plymouth submits its bid for UK city of culture 2017.

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John, you are a lawyer. Do you share these concerns? All I would say is

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legal aid for all criminal matters has been retained, anything to do

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with children has been retained, and at the end of the cutbacks, we will

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still have the most generous legal system probably in the whole of

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Europe. George, do you sympathise with the lawyers? We've got a lot,

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the biggest legal aid bill and we need to reduce it. I think we should

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