Browse content similar to 25/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the South: Taking out the trash. The | :01:27. | :01:29. | |
government's offering councils extra money to bring back weekly | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
bin collections. But will that encourage us to recycle more or | :01:32. | :01:42. | |
:01:42. | :01:42. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1827 seconds | :01:42. | :32:10. | |
Welcome to Sunday Politics South. My name's Peter Henley. On today's | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
show: It may be rubbish to you and me, | :32:13. | :32:16. | |
but to councils, it can be a real headache. We've had umpteen schemes | :32:16. | :32:19. | |
trying to get us to recycle more and throw away less, and now the | :32:19. | :32:23. | |
government's offering extra cash to bring back weekly collections. | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
More on that later in the programme. First, let me introduce you to the | :32:27. | :32:30. | |
politicians who'll be with me for the next 20 minutes. And in a small | :32:30. | :32:34. | |
break with tradition on account of the Budget, we have three this week. | :32:34. | :32:36. | |
George Hollingbery is the Conservative MP for Meon Valley, | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
Gerald Vernon Jackson is the Lib Dem leader of Portsmouth City | :32:39. | :32:42. | |
Council and Richard Williams is the leader of the Labour group on | :32:42. | :32:49. | |
Southampton City Council. A senior Conservative told me what | :32:49. | :32:54. | |
I thought was quite a good one liner after the Budget. He said, | :32:54. | :32:58. | |
the reason that that they are getting rid of the warnings on the | :32:58. | :33:04. | |
back of cigarette packets and making it a blank packet, it is not | :33:04. | :33:10. | |
a healthy thing, it is so that they have got trim for the new policies | :33:10. | :33:15. | |
the accolade -- the Coalition are dreaming up. The freeze on | :33:15. | :33:18. | |
pensioners allowances did feel a little bit like that. I think times, | :33:18. | :33:27. | |
as we know only too well, are very tough. There was a very complex set | :33:27. | :33:31. | |
of release at the top of the tax system for pensioners. After quite | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
a number of decades, is there any real reason why a pensioner should | :33:35. | :33:41. | |
have a different personal allowance? So, it is revenue rising, | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
not simplifying? It is clearly a combination of both. I do not think | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
anybody would be wise if they said it was not about raising money. | :33:50. | :33:54. | |
they make a mistake by not saying that? They think it might have been | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
advisable to put it more on the table, but if you look into it, it | :33:58. | :34:03. | |
does seem to me that pensioners have been protected in many ways | :34:03. | :34:09. | |
across this budget on the previous few. And to take away a small have | :34:09. | :34:13. | |
added that top end does not seem wildly unfair. There is a point in | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
that. The baby boomers who are coming to retire now had a relief | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
on their mortgages, have their tuition fees paid at university. | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
Conveyor for this tax? I think it is completely the wrong choice at a | :34:26. | :34:31. | |
time when we have, as a Government, the Government appears to be | :34:31. | :34:38. | |
reducing tax for the very richest people in the country. Nothing | :34:38. | :34:42. | |
against Wayne Rooney, but does he really needs another 50 of thousand | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
pounds in every million pounds that he earns? One pensioners and people | :34:46. | :34:52. | |
struggling are going to be hit. We were at the other day and it was | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
raised by many people. They went out on Thursday. The amount of | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
people who said, that is just the way this Government is. I think it | :35:00. | :35:05. | |
is a wrong choice that a wrong time. If Labour is not like that, why | :35:05. | :35:10. | |
would the 50 pence rate not go back in the manifesto? I'm sure when I | :35:10. | :35:15. | |
speak to him, I will be suggesting that. Even if it raises more money? | :35:16. | :35:21. | |
Would you say, no, go back to 50p? It certainly needs to be raised and | :35:21. | :35:28. | |
discussed. The Liberal Democrats have been saying, we have got the | :35:28. | :35:33. | |
mansion tax. We have got the tycoon tax. They have not. What | :35:34. | :35:40. | |
concessions have you got? Are a thing two concessions. The first is | :35:40. | :35:45. | |
taking 2 million people out of tax, the people at the very bottom of | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
the pile Hoare of learning... Conservatives like that? Absolutely. | :35:49. | :35:53. | |
I'm glad we have been able to persuade the Government do that. We | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
have also persuaded the Government to reduce taxes for 21 million | :35:58. | :36:02. | |
people in are the country. I think that is extremely good. I do not | :36:02. | :36:05. | |
like everything in the Budget. what you not like? A I would have | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
cut the 50 pence tax rate. If you have done that and maybe offered | :36:11. | :36:14. | |
him more to people at the end of the scale? In all these things, you | :36:14. | :36:18. | |
have to have a debate. The issue, even though it is important for the | :36:18. | :36:22. | |
image of the 50 pence tax rate, so that people realise everybody has | :36:22. | :36:27. | |
to pay it, but it actually was not a very effective tax. It did not | :36:27. | :36:31. | |
bring in very much money. If we are going to increase the stamp duty on | :36:31. | :36:37. | |
homes, very expensive homes, to 7%, that is probably a reasonable thing | :36:37. | :36:42. | |
to do. But the image of it is the problem. Is the Coalition and | :36:42. | :36:48. | |
stronger after this Budget? I think it is stronger by default in that | :36:48. | :36:52. | |
everyone has nailed their colours to the mast. They are part of the | :36:52. | :36:55. | |
Government. This is not a difference between, we have got | :36:55. | :36:59. | |
this out of the Government. They are part of the Government. Adair | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
would say about the 45p tax rate, instinctively, all politicians at | :37:04. | :37:07. | |
the moment want to leave it where it does. But I really want to go | :37:07. | :37:12. | |
out and talk about people -- talk to people about reducing the top | :37:12. | :37:18. | |
rate of tax? No, I do not. But, surely the right thing to do is put | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
the tax rate at the point where it raises the most money. That is the | :37:21. | :37:25. | |
problem we are facing. Politically, it would have been terribly easy | :37:25. | :37:29. | |
for George Osborne to turn round and say, it is not the right time. | :37:29. | :37:35. | |
It is raising �500 million. Has he done the brave thing here? I think | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
it is the wrong thing to do. The humour of the optimum level for tax, | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
I believe that is �48. everybody seems to have a different | :37:43. | :37:48. | |
version. I think the �50 level sent a message that if you were more, | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
you pay more. That people want to avoid tax, this is what no one has | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
talked about, why are you wanting to be part of the United Kingdom? | :37:56. | :38:01. | |
If you would be part of the United Kingdom and the won �150,000 a year, | :38:01. | :38:05. | |
you have a legal and moral responsibility to pay their tax. If | :38:05. | :38:12. | |
you want to have provided, then live abroad. What we need to be | :38:12. | :38:19. | |
making sure is that the attack that -- cut down on tax havens. People | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
should be paying tax on everything. That has been a real feeling for | :38:23. | :38:28. | |
decades, that we have not cracked the issue of tax havens. What about | :38:28. | :38:33. | |
regional pay? Do you think that is a good idea that we should be able | :38:33. | :38:37. | |
to pay more on the south from we have got shortages? It is a real | :38:37. | :38:42. | |
complexity. There are going to be at odds effects throughout the | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
country if you put that in place. They have been talking about the | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
difficulties we have more depressed areas like a bigger cities against | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
wealthier areas and how that most staff around. But the simple fact | :38:53. | :38:57. | |
is that in parts of the north-east, the public sector is the but for -- | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
biggest employer. It depresses private business. They cannot | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
compete to get the best people because the public sector pay is | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
higher than they can afford. provide flexibility. Would you be | :39:09. | :39:13. | |
in favour of it gravlax certainly. But we have to be careful how we | :39:14. | :39:22. | |
implemented. It is a very dangerous policy to step on. The hall purpose | :39:22. | :39:25. | |
-- the whole purpose is that we try to work together in local | :39:25. | :39:28. | |
Government so that for the worry health worker or a social worker in | :39:28. | :39:31. | |
Newcastle or Portsmouth or Southampton, you will pay for the | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
same job. That is what this is about. Is someone in Newcastle poor | :39:36. | :39:40. | |
is looking after vulnerable children worth less than somebody | :39:40. | :39:44. | |
looking after vulnerable children in Portsmouth? They are being paid | :39:44. | :39:49. | |
more in Newcastle because the cost of living is less. Everybody should | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
be treated the same for the same job. There are other factors. There | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
are housing differences. There are economic differences. Where do you | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
draw the line? Is the wrong thing to do. It is sending the wrong | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
message that you what was more in this part of the country than in | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
that part of the country. It is the job that they perform which is | :40:09. | :40:14. | |
equally important as in Newcastle as anyone else. The practical | :40:14. | :40:17. | |
problems with a target when you break things into small units and | :40:17. | :40:22. | |
negotiate, the employers tend to be pushed up to pay more. | :40:22. | :40:26. | |
Buckinghamshire broke away from the local-government pay deal which all | :40:26. | :40:29. | |
councils are normally done, and they have ended up paying more than | :40:29. | :40:33. | |
the surrounding areas. I think is good news for people who want to | :40:33. | :40:36. | |
push up pay for people in the public sector, it is bad news for | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
those who have to run the businesses. If you keep up pay | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
rates high in places like the north-east, you make that sector | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
much larger and in difficult times like we are facing, the public | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
sector has to pay less and spend less and you automatically make | :40:54. | :40:59. | |
things more difficult. Do you devalue the work that people do in | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
different parts of the country if you give them different pay rates? | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
How do you judge house prices? According to Eric Pickles, having | :41:08. | :41:11. | |
your bins emptied every week is a basic right. He's so keen on it | :41:12. | :41:14. | |
that he's offering �250 million to help councils bring back weekly | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
collections. But the department won't say how many have expressed | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
an interest. The deadline for that was ten days ago. And anyway, as | :41:22. | :41:24. | |
Tiffany Foster reports, there are almost as many different schemes | :41:24. | :41:34. | |
:41:34. | :41:40. | ||
for taking out the trash as there It is all rather a mess. A lot of | :41:40. | :41:44. | |
people do not know what is going on. The beauty of local Government is | :41:44. | :41:49. | |
that each council, and they are locally elected and are able to | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
choose which system of collection may think their residents like. | :41:53. | :42:02. | |
just wish that we could do it a In the past 20 years, what we throw | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
away and how we deal with waste has changed dramatically. Things like | :42:05. | :42:08. | |
landfill tax, improved ways to recycle rubbish has meant big | :42:08. | :42:18. | |
:42:18. | :42:18. | ||
changes in the way we think about It's exceedingly confusing, | :42:18. | :42:22. | |
especially if you live in Berkshire. Here, the unitary authorities act | :42:22. | :42:26. | |
independently of each other. Every one has a collection and disposal | :42:26. | :42:32. | |
system slightly different to the neighbouring one. | :42:32. | :42:36. | |
In Reading, they're sticking to fortnightly collections. So it's | :42:36. | :42:39. | |
general rubbish one week and recycling the next. So you get a | :42:39. | :42:44. | |
grey bin, a red bin and a green bin, and it's free. | :42:44. | :42:47. | |
In West Berkshire, they also collect on alternate weeks. So one | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
week it's the black bin for general rubbish, the next it's a green box | :42:51. | :42:58. | |
for bottles and glass, card and paper. A green sack for plastics | :42:58. | :43:03. | |
and tin, a green bin for food waste and a green bin for garden waste. | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
And it's all free. In Wokingham, it's weekly | :43:07. | :43:13. | |
collections. So it's black bags, soon to be blue bags, black boxes | :43:13. | :43:16. | |
for recycling, green sacks, soon to be brown bins, for garden waste, | :43:16. | :43:25. | |
but this will now cost you �60. There's no food waste collection or | :43:25. | :43:34. | |
Long-time residents like Peter Teague in Wokingham have embraced | :43:34. | :43:44. | |
the changes. But the latest round is a step too far. It is ridiculous. | :43:44. | :43:52. | |
I cannot believe that something that was working so well, they | :43:52. | :43:56. | |
divided into three separate sections and three different bits | :43:56. | :44:00. | |
of organisation. It seems madness. The solution is simple, the council | :44:00. | :44:05. | |
insists. Households should just throw away less. We need to reduce | :44:05. | :44:12. | |
that down to about 8.8 kilograms per property per week. We have | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
introduced our blue Agnes scheme which gives a residents' eight blue | :44:15. | :44:21. | |
bags, 6,400 litres a year that they can use throughout the year. That | :44:21. | :44:29. | |
is equivalent to more 8240 litre wheelie bin ends at every fortnight. | :44:29. | :44:33. | |
-- emptied every fortnight. What a lot of numbers. But do the | :44:33. | :44:35. | |
figures really add up? Local opposition group councillors think | :44:35. | :44:41. | |
not. The intention is right but I do not understand it how just | :44:41. | :44:45. | |
providing people with a tea bags a year for their normal rubbish is | :44:45. | :44:50. | |
going to make the rest of the rubbish away. They are predicting a | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
20% reduction in the amount of landfill waste, but they are not | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
saying how they're going to get people to will throw us away. | :44:58. | :45:01. | |
Looming large over all of this is the Secretary of State Eric | :45:01. | :45:03. | |
Pickles' promise of cash for councils who bring back weekly | :45:04. | :45:07. | |
collections. Since even some Tory councils have rejected this, it | :45:07. | :45:17. | |
:45:17. | :45:22. | ||
begs the question, is this all a You are going to tell me that the | :45:22. | :45:26. | |
way they collected in Portsmouth is the best way, but, you are, aren't | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
you? A I'm going to say it is right for Portsmouth. It might not be | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
right for somewhere else. But Sydney is not right for Wokingham. | :45:35. | :45:38. | |
Surely all these ideas are always full. But everybody adopted the | :45:38. | :45:44. | |
same, it would be more efficient. But Manchester is a rural area. | :45:44. | :45:49. | |
Portsmouth is different. We are a city. We have got terraced streets, | :45:49. | :45:53. | |
block of flats. They have got to work out a system. In Portsmouth, | :45:53. | :45:58. | |
we have cut the weekly rubbish collection. I take the point about | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
the city and the country, but that man said it is wasteful, ridiculous, | :46:03. | :46:09. | |
badness. Difficult for people to get their heads around. I do not | :46:09. | :46:13. | |
think it does. People manage to make it work reasonably well. In | :46:13. | :46:20. | |
each local area, we can work out what is right. While it is a Eric | :46:20. | :46:24. | |
Pickles spending all this money, so determined to get the weekly | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
collection? Is it one of those promises he made that has come to | :46:28. | :46:32. | |
regret? I agree this is a local matter. It is entirely down to | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
local councils tooth of the issue of the way they see fit. That is | :46:36. | :46:41. | |
what local Government is for. While this does -- Willey's different | :46:41. | :46:49. | |
schemes? It is down to local councils to resource and spend the | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
money the way babies it -- they said, the way they see fit. If Eric | :46:54. | :46:58. | |
Pickles wants to make money available to help them make choices, | :46:58. | :47:02. | |
let them make their choices. But what I have to say, when I was a | :47:02. | :47:09. | |
councillor, it was put in by a weekly collections. One is | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
recycling and won his domestic refuge. There were a few teething | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
problems, but on the hall, everybody thinks it is fine. | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
know how much people care about their rubbish. During the strike, | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
it piled up. People in Southampton would like the council to collect | :47:24. | :47:28. | |
the waist. They have not done that. The Tory administration has been | :47:28. | :47:32. | |
rubbish about it. They have caused so much anger and dissatisfaction. | :47:32. | :47:39. | |
I think it was the strike. He will -- we will decide whether your | :47:39. | :47:41. | |
wallet to the strike or not. There are some leaflets around | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
Southampton. They are not made by us, they are made by the Tories. | :47:46. | :47:49. | |
They are pointing out that people were very unhappy about the strike | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
when the pins were not collected. They quite rightly want their bins | :47:53. | :47:57. | |
emptied. This council cannot guarantee to do that. But the | :47:57. | :48:01. | |
Labour take control, we will take the bins when there should be taken. | :48:01. | :48:06. | |
Are they being properly corrected? What you think about weekly | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
collections? In Southampton, there are more ready weekly collections. | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
We are excluded from that process already. But as a bit of a non- | :48:15. | :48:19. | |
issue. We bid to get some money out of it on the basis that we went to | :48:19. | :48:24. | |
keep the weekly collections. dear. Competition. | :48:24. | :48:28. | |
Now our regular roundup of the political week in the South in 60 | :48:28. | :48:38. | |
:48:38. | :48:42. | ||
Well to police brought in night- vision goggles this week to crack | :48:42. | :48:46. | |
down on the spate of midnight vegetable threat -- fest. The | :48:46. | :48:50. | |
parish council paid for the far- sighted solution. Winchester City | :48:50. | :48:55. | |
Council had to apologise after a 1000 people were sent someone | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
else's personal information along with council tax bills. And | :48:58. | :49:02. | |
Wiltshire and Dorset buses are struggling with a fuel bill of | :49:02. | :49:07. | |
nearly �1 million. Fares will rise substantially. The three Armed | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
forces combine to sign a covenant on Wednesday for better treatment | :49:11. | :49:16. | |
from Portsmouth council. It can be about getting on to the local GP | :49:16. | :49:20. | |
waiting list of getting to see a dentist. And sometimes, that can be | :49:20. | :49:24. | |
more difficult for servicemen and women and their families. | :49:24. | :49:30. | |
Dorset MP for got his military training. He was late on parade. | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
But the Speaker called in for a question about rescue helicopter | :49:33. | :49:43. | |
:49:43. | :49:45. | ||
When you have got a complaint to the boss on his big day on budget | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
day, it is best to be in the right place. A indeed. I was sitting | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
right next to him. Slightly awkward moment. He was a bit embarrassed. | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
The military Government. The roll- out was plain that. It was not the | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
case at all. Surely, if you are signing an agreement with these | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
people, what you're doing is saying, we will give you some extra | :50:05. | :50:09. | |
treatment. A no, it is saying we will work hard with the military | :50:09. | :50:12. | |
and military families to try and make sure that they get the | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
services. They are different from other people. But we need to be in | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
tune with that and work with them. A whole series of things we can do. | :50:20. | :50:24. | |
We can try to make sure all schools across the country recognise that | :50:24. | :50:27. | |
same this families and children need different things. Put a line | :50:27. | :50:30. | |
in the Ofsted report on every school things, how what we working | :50:30. | :50:34. | |
with service families? You are not doing that with other groups of | :50:34. | :50:37. | |
people. He won not saying you will find a special way of dealing with | :50:38. | :50:42. | |
them. We have lots of different groups and we work for them in | :50:42. | :50:45. | |
different ways. Council house tenants are a different group. We | :50:45. | :50:48. | |
would be them differently. The elderly get a different service. It | :50:48. | :50:51. | |
is Trent Bridge sure we do not provide exactly the same for | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
everybody because that does not work. Service families have | :50:54. | :50:58. | |
particularly needs that we'd be recognised. There was extra money | :50:58. | :51:02. | |
for the military in the Budget. Indeed. There was money for | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
refurbishing service accommodation and dealing with Council Tax what's | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
the men are a way fighting. There is a clear recognition from the | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
Government that more needs to be done. He managed to get a good play | :51:13. | :51:23. | |
again for the Labour campaign and the local election in a Southampton. | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
His the effect going to make a difference? Obviously. A very | :51:27. | :51:32. | |
tragic situation. All credit to everybody involved in overpowering | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
what was obviously a very deranged individual. All credit for people | :51:36. | :51:41. | |
involved. Just thinking about this local elections which are coming, | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
is it going to be difficult? They are never easy. You have good days | :51:46. | :51:52. | |
and you have not so good days. Thank you very much for being are | :51:52. | :51:55. |