:01:18. > :01:28.Conservatives urge Cameron to understand their policy concerns.
:01:28. > :01:28.
:01:28. > :42:17.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2448 seconds
:42:17. > :42:22.And the battle between countryside on the Sunday Politics in the South
:42:22. > :42:30.West: The constituency chairman who says Conservative grassroots won't
:42:30. > :42:35.tolerate being labelled "loons". There are a lot of committed people
:42:35. > :42:40.here, so to refer to them in that way, that is completely
:42:40. > :42:43.unacceptable. And for the next 20 minutes, I'm joined by UKIP MEP
:42:43. > :42:47.William Dartmouth and Gary Streeter, the Conservative MP for South West
:42:47. > :42:53.Devon. This week, the government's identified four road schemes in the
:42:53. > :43:02.region which will benefit from �165 million of funding. Is David Cameron
:43:03. > :43:09.finally being nudged to think about infrastructure? No, I think we have
:43:10. > :43:17.been doing infrastructure all the way through. This is just more of
:43:17. > :43:22.the same and it is very welcome. know that UKIP are keen to see
:43:23. > :43:31.something done about potholes. are keen that they are mended, but
:43:31. > :43:34.we are also very keen that there is an appropriate amount of of money
:43:34. > :43:40.spent on infrastructure. The Southwest probably does not have its
:43:40. > :43:43.fair share. The multiple billions being spent by the coalition
:43:43. > :43:53.government does absolutely nothing for the Southwest. If anything, the
:43:53. > :44:00.
:44:00. > :44:03.reverse. I do not agree with that. I have said so myself in the comments.
:44:03. > :44:06.The government this week turned up the pressure on local authorities to
:44:06. > :44:09.build more homes. The Planning Minister was reported in a national
:44:09. > :44:12.newspaper as saying house building would create more human happiness
:44:12. > :44:16.than empty green fields. Not an uncontroversial idea in the rural
:44:16. > :44:23.South West. Janine Jansen caught up with the Minister in Devon this
:44:23. > :44:27.week. The planning bigwig came to the Southwest this week. He gave the
:44:27. > :44:32.team a pat on the back for its enthusiastic attitude to house
:44:32. > :44:37.building. For him, the more it, the merrier. Depending Mister made
:44:37. > :44:47.front-page news this week with his controversial comments. -- the
:44:47. > :44:47.
:44:47. > :44:51.Planning Minister. I do not write the headlines but I stand by
:44:51. > :44:56.everything I have said, which is that we need to build more houses.
:44:56. > :45:00.We have a crisis for a younger generation. People, particularly
:45:00. > :45:06.people who have been brought up your and are working locally and may not
:45:06. > :45:10.have huge salaries, do they not have a right to have a home and a bit of
:45:10. > :45:18.a garden for their kids to grow up in? But one place the Minister did
:45:18. > :45:22.not visit is this 3-acre site. There are controversial plans for homes
:45:23. > :45:30.here and arguments are still raging about the choice of this site. And
:45:30. > :45:35.it is one of the reasons that this counsellor left Tories to become an
:45:35. > :45:41.independent. My age or concern is that the plan is for too many
:45:41. > :45:45.houses. The growth forecast has shown that there is a decrease in
:45:45. > :45:55.the population and that has been ignored. The latest census Leicester
:45:55. > :45:58.
:45:58. > :46:05.said that only 3000 people had lit -- move here in the last ten years.
:46:05. > :46:09.But he stands by his can-do attitude to help young people and has the and
:46:09. > :46:19.their families. I think there is a lot of hysteria about the fact that
:46:19. > :46:24.people are moving down into the South West. My family dates back to
:46:24. > :46:31.the 1700s here, and I am proud to be local. We are building houses for
:46:31. > :46:36.local people and I am very proud that we are able to do so. One local
:46:36. > :46:43.and he says that the biggest issue in her patch is housing, but she
:46:43. > :46:48.knows that it is a double-edged sword. Clearly, we must maintain
:46:48. > :46:52.what is so special about England, and that is our green land and our
:46:52. > :46:56.farmland and our farmers. That is what we need to preserve. Clearly,
:46:56. > :47:03.clearly, clearly she is not going to be able to please all of the people
:47:03. > :47:07.all of the time. Let us pick up on that thought at the end. Your
:47:07. > :47:15.colleague is saying that we must do everything we can to protect the
:47:15. > :47:19.countryside. But you cannot have both, can you? It is about getting a
:47:19. > :47:24.balance. I think the Minister was wrong and his choice of words about
:47:24. > :47:28.houses being more important fields. I grew up on a farm in this area.
:47:28. > :47:34.There is nothing greater than looking out over open landscape. We
:47:34. > :47:38.need to preserve that, but we do need to build more houses as well.
:47:38. > :47:41.In some cases that will be on a greenfield. If I look back over the
:47:41. > :47:45.time I was at Westminster, the biggest thing that has faced my
:47:45. > :47:49.constituency in the last two years is affordable housing for local
:47:49. > :47:54.people. Our children and grandchildren. We have to build to
:47:54. > :48:04.accommodate their wishes. When macro William, UKIP does believe that
:48:04. > :48:08.
:48:08. > :48:13.housing demand is -- UKIP does believe that the housing demand is
:48:13. > :48:19.caused by immigration. There has been an increase of 13% and that is
:48:19. > :48:26.why there is the need for more housing. It is driven by mass
:48:26. > :48:30.immigration. We have had, in one year, 2010, I think this is a very
:48:30. > :48:38.important point because this is the background, in one year, 2010, more
:48:38. > :48:42.people integrated into the UK then from 1066 up until 1950 altogether.
:48:42. > :48:50.There is mass immigration. We have open borders and we will continue to
:48:50. > :49:00.have open borders and that has an effect on housing on the education
:49:00. > :49:00.
:49:00. > :49:04.and welfare. Gary has had plenty of constituents coming to him, local
:49:04. > :49:08.families and people who have families and his constituencies. We
:49:08. > :49:14.have had countless people on this programme and other programmes in
:49:14. > :49:21.saying that they know local people are seeking affordable housing. You
:49:21. > :49:26.are saying those people are wrong. am not saying that at all. I am just
:49:26. > :49:35.saying that councils provide the housing on a basis of what is called
:49:35. > :49:41.predict and provide. They see with the population projections are, and
:49:41. > :49:45.on that basis they provide the housing. Where does the prediction
:49:45. > :49:49.come from? The answer is that it comes from mass immigration, and the
:49:49. > :49:55.fact of the matter is that according to the government does not own
:49:55. > :50:02.statistics, the population for the South West as a whole will increase
:50:02. > :50:06.by 70% by 2030. That results in more houses. Immigration has been too
:50:06. > :50:16.high in this country. But is it driving the high in this country.
:50:16. > :50:16.
:50:16. > :50:20.But is it driving me-crisis? -- the housing crisis? Why should someone
:50:20. > :50:24.have to move somewhere else to find a property? It is about providing
:50:24. > :50:28.homes for our children. Most of the immigration into Devon and Cornwall
:50:28. > :50:32.is from people living in London or Manchester or Birmingham and so on.
:50:32. > :50:40.Most people watching this programme right now we've got here perhaps in
:50:40. > :50:44.their early retirement years come and that trend will continue. --
:50:44. > :50:54.moved here perhaps in their early retirement years, and that's trend
:50:54. > :50:55.
:50:55. > :50:59.will continue. The affordable conditions have gone down and down.
:50:59. > :51:08.The market conditions have not been favorable to first-time buyers.
:51:08. > :51:12.they have not. The more housing you build in an area like this, the more
:51:12. > :51:19.affordable it becomes, because you have more supply and prices either
:51:19. > :51:24.stabilize or reduce. We need that extra property. We need the housing
:51:24. > :51:27.generally across the board. That is for our children to live in.
:51:27. > :51:31.William, I know you have been critical of the government for
:51:31. > :51:36.taking a top-down approach to housing. What do you say to the
:51:36. > :51:41.leader of the council he said that he is local through and through and
:51:41. > :51:45.this is actually a true reflection of local need? I think we have
:51:45. > :51:49.established what the reasons are for the local need. Gary is absolutely
:51:49. > :51:54.right, there are people coming to the South West from different parts
:51:54. > :51:59.of the country. It is a nice place to be. But sometimes they are
:51:59. > :52:02.misplaced into other parts of the country through mass immigration.
:52:02. > :52:07.The three establishment parties, including and especially the
:52:07. > :52:10.Conservative Party, wants Turkey to be a member of the European Union.
:52:10. > :52:15.That would mean 18 million people could have the absolute right to
:52:15. > :52:22.come and live here. In six weeks, Croatia will become a member of the
:52:22. > :52:26.European Union. That is a nether 4.5 million people. We as a party are
:52:26. > :52:31.never going to say, you cannot have a house. You are trying to suggest
:52:31. > :52:33.we are saying that, I think. What have you got to say to all of these
:52:33. > :52:41.local families who are genuinely struggling to get affordable
:52:41. > :52:46.housing? We need to build more houses for them, don't we? You are
:52:46. > :52:52.saying that they are only needed from immigrants. -- for immigrants.
:52:52. > :53:01.There is an increase in population projected for Devon. That is what
:53:01. > :53:06.Devon County Council is working on. Your film did not cover this at all.
:53:06. > :53:16.Where is this coming from? You got to look at the overall thing.
:53:16. > :53:16.
:53:16. > :53:22.Because we are where we are, the temp one -- the UKIP takes the view
:53:22. > :53:30.that there should be more local influence in planning. I think the
:53:30. > :53:38.planning Mister the chakra Planning Minister has spoken very -- I think
:53:38. > :53:41.the Planning Minister has spoken very plainly about that.
:53:41. > :53:44.The chairman of a Devon Conservative association has threatened to resign
:53:44. > :53:46.if it emerges that a senior Tory really did describe activists like
:53:46. > :53:49.him as "swivel-eyed loons". This follows an exodus of local party
:53:49. > :53:53.members upset about Europe and gay marriage, as Jenny Kumah reports.
:53:53. > :53:57.Here, many local Conservative Party members are not happy. These local
:53:57. > :54:02.activists matter, because they help to raise funds for the party. It is
:54:02. > :54:07.them who go out, pounded the streets campaigning and giving out leaflets,
:54:07. > :54:12.hoping to get local conservative MPs elected. Membership numbers are in
:54:12. > :54:17.decline, and this is worrying the local party chairman. And the last
:54:17. > :54:21.six months, we have lost 55 members. -- in the last six months.
:54:21. > :54:26.There is nothing we can do if people die or move away, but a number of
:54:26. > :54:30.members have left as a consequence of government policy and how they
:54:30. > :54:36.see themselves being a cult of tune with government policy -- being out
:54:37. > :54:40.of tune with government policy. marriage is one of the issues that
:54:40. > :54:44.is bitterly dividing the party. Here, ten people have said they want
:54:44. > :54:50.to leave the party because of it. But others are passionately in
:54:50. > :54:53.favor. We use to get gay couples coming in and asking for
:54:53. > :55:00.accommodation and we would get a slip of paper out from under the
:55:00. > :55:03.counter and pass it to them. Things have changed now. Marriage is one of
:55:03. > :55:08.those things that forms a family unit, and the family unit is
:55:08. > :55:14.changing. To include people in it to me that has always got to be a good
:55:14. > :55:18.thing. Other issues, like the Coalition and grammar schools, have
:55:18. > :55:21.also inspired bitter debate. There has also been the matter of someone
:55:22. > :55:28.and David Cameron's inner circle allegedly dismissing local activists
:55:28. > :55:32.and describing them as swivel eyed loons. Naturally I feel very angry
:55:32. > :55:38.if that is true. It is an allegation. It has not been proven.
:55:38. > :55:43.If it is proven, and there isn't an apology forthcoming, I would
:55:43. > :55:49.certainly reconsider my position as a chairman, because of that has how
:55:49. > :55:53.people feel, I would question why I am doing what I am doing. It is not
:55:53. > :55:58.surprising that David Cameron has tried to smooth relations with the
:55:58. > :56:02.grassroots. In an e-mail to all party activists, the Prime Minister
:56:02. > :56:07.said he would never employ anyone who sneered at them, and he praised
:56:07. > :56:16.their duty and decency. But not everybody Hugh has received it has
:56:16. > :56:23.been impressed. -- not everyone who has received it has been impressed.
:56:23. > :56:28.You have called the other backbenchers swivel eyed. I broke a
:56:28. > :56:38.brilliant article all about this. -- I wrote a brilliant article about
:56:38. > :56:40.
:56:40. > :56:43.this and I said that I saw the same glint in the eye during the 1992
:56:43. > :56:48.election... People are saying this is the only issue that matters.
:56:48. > :56:52.Never mind if we hand the next election to Labour on a plate, the
:56:52. > :57:02.only thing that matters is this vote on it Europe, and I do not see it
:57:02. > :57:08.that way. I haven't seen no siblings going on today. Your -- I have seen
:57:08. > :57:14.no siblings going on today. Your perspective as an outsider, what do
:57:14. > :57:19.you make of this? I were member the late, great Frankie Howard, he had a
:57:19. > :57:23.great phrase which is, do not mock the afflicted. The fact of the
:57:23. > :57:28.matter, when David Cameron became the leader of the Conservative
:57:28. > :57:33.Party, the Conservative Party had 370,000 members. They have less than
:57:33. > :57:38.that now. David Cameron is abusive to those who disagree with him. He
:57:38. > :57:43.has been abusive of UKIP. He and his circle have now followed it up
:57:43. > :57:50.rather amazingly by being abusive of their strongest supporters, who
:57:50. > :57:55.obviously do not like it. The Conservative Party is run by a
:57:55. > :58:00.rather small metropolitan elite, who all basically think the same, and
:58:00. > :58:04.that creates big problems when you are running a political party, and
:58:04. > :58:09.it creates the problems when you are a Prime Minister. You were pretty
:58:09. > :58:16.critical of the government last year. Recently, you have defended
:58:16. > :58:21.David Cameron. But William has a point, doesn't he? Yes, I think the
:58:21. > :58:29.people who circle David Cameron are elitist. But what is the government
:58:29. > :58:34.delivering? They are delivering an economy that is reducing the debt
:58:34. > :58:43.and we are reducing immigration by a third. The government is delivering
:58:43. > :58:48.very well. No-one up at Westminster is sneering. The issues that are
:58:48. > :58:54.causing you problems C must be of some concern. Let's hear from the
:58:54. > :59:01.chairman again. I have got a letter here, a very long-standing party
:59:01. > :59:04.member who is a member of the Young Conservatives, and he writes that he
:59:04. > :59:08.has not renewed his membership this time around because he finds himself
:59:08. > :59:13.increasingly out of tune with the conservative policies and principles
:59:13. > :59:17.and it covers a wide range of issues, but homosexual marriage
:59:17. > :59:22.would be a perfect example. That is a perfect example of the kind of
:59:22. > :59:27.reason that people are leaving or not renewing. If you throw in things
:59:27. > :59:33.like your opposition to grammar schools or your enthusiasm for wind
:59:33. > :59:38.farms, you are letting them steal your clothes, aren't you? I was not
:59:38. > :59:44.aware that we are opposed to grammar schools. David Cameron has been as
:59:44. > :59:50.rude to people who have been to grammar schools I've -- as he has
:59:50. > :59:59.about UKIP. What the chairman described is happening in my area
:59:59. > :00:04.also. I get areas -- letters like that as well. I think this has been
:00:04. > :00:08.politically disastrous. Several of us were keen, and we said to the
:00:08. > :00:12.Prime Minister that we need to change course. We have had our 12
:00:12. > :00:18.month of madness. For the next two years, we will focus ruthlessly on
:00:18. > :00:22.the things that really matter to his country, reforming public services,
:00:22. > :00:27.immigration law and order issues, and I hope that people will judge us
:00:27. > :00:31.more positively in two years. latter point is exactly what David
:00:31. > :00:37.Cameron has said. But could there be a broader problem, where you have
:00:37. > :00:41.David Cameron pretty determined to modernize, as he calls it, change
:00:41. > :00:47.the Conservative Party, and people saying, we actually liked it the way
:00:47. > :00:51.it is and we do not want it changed. That is part of it. I have lost
:00:51. > :00:59.members. Nothing like the members we have been hearing of, but we have
:00:59. > :01:03.lost members. The important thing to think about is, who do we want to
:01:03. > :01:10.lead this country? It will be a straight choice. There are no other
:01:10. > :01:15.options. For all of the things we have been irritated about, David
:01:15. > :01:20.Cameron has done a fantastic job on the issues facing our country. But
:01:20. > :01:26.without these people to stuff envelopes and go and canvas, that is
:01:26. > :01:32.going to severely lessened his chances of running the country.
:01:32. > :01:40.These things have not changed. Gay marriage, he is not going to back
:01:40. > :01:46.down on it. This has been a political disaster. I have said this
:01:46. > :01:50.openly. We are now going to focus once again on the things he should
:01:50. > :01:54.have been focusing on all the way through. Some of them are going very
:01:54. > :02:04.well indeed, including a reduction on immigration, and an offer of an
:02:04. > :02:09.
:02:09. > :02:14.in or out referendum. William, your take. What people are alarmed by
:02:15. > :02:24.about the Conservative Party is that air is a focus on increasing foreign
:02:24. > :02:30.aid, where is we -- there is a focus on increasing foreign aid. We are
:02:30. > :02:40.running out of time. We must move on. Now, our regular round-up of the
:02:40. > :02:41.
:02:41. > :02:45.political week in 60 seconds. Firefighters protested planned cuts
:02:45. > :02:49.to front-line services. There will got -- there will not be the service
:02:49. > :02:59.that there currently is. It will take firefighters longer to arrive
:02:59. > :03:00.
:03:00. > :03:06.at incidents. Meanwhile, a new fire control centre is costing taxpayers
:03:06. > :03:11.�137,000 a month while it stands empty.
:03:11. > :03:14.Police forces across the region have agreed to share counterterrorism
:03:14. > :03:19.resources. There are national issues which need police intelligence, and
:03:19. > :03:23.this will make the whole system much more effective. By the services must
:03:23. > :03:30.be protected in the next government spending review says a group of Lib
:03:31. > :03:36.Dem MPs. And a restaurant manager is refusing to pay a �220 council fined
:03:36. > :03:43.for dropping a cigarette and down a drain. I think the whole way this
:03:43. > :03:50.thing was treated, it was as if it was more severe than what it was.
:03:50. > :03:55.Gary, I know that Labour have left that centre lying there, but you
:03:55. > :04:01.have had three years to sort that out. It is sitting there empty while
:04:01. > :04:05.people are paying for it. I have a lot of confidence in the top fire
:04:05. > :04:10.episode -- fire officers in Devon and Cornwall. I am going to find out
:04:10. > :04:20.what is going on. It is a bit of Gordon Brown's financial magic.
:04:20. > :04:21.
:04:21. > :04:26.is ancient history. I am not surprised about that fine. The
:04:26. > :04:34.council seems to have a little sense of proportion about what is or is
:04:34. > :04:40.not important. They should get the gentleman not to do it again and let
:04:40. > :04:46.matches live. It makes no sense at all. The man in the film described
:04:46. > :04:49.it as ludicrous. It is deeply irritated when cigarette smokers
:04:49. > :04:57.throw their cigarettes on the pavement and down the drain. That is
:04:57. > :05:03.not right. I can see both sides of the argument. Better down the drain