24/06/2012 Sunday Politics South


24/06/2012

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In the South: Bikers are gearing up to oppose EU plans to stop them

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modifying their bikes - they say it would take away the freedom that's

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2001 seconds

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Welcome to Sunday Politics South, my name's Peter Henley. In the next

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20 minutes: Why it could be far from easy

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riding if EU plans to outlaw bikers' modifications to their

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machines come into force. Riders and politicians are revving up for

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a fight. More on that shortly. First though,

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let's meet the two politicians who'll be with me for the next 20

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minutes. Damian Hinds is the conservative MP for East Hampshire,

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and Gerald Vernon-Jackson is the Liberal Democrat leader of

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Portsmouth City Council, who generously stepped into the breach

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when the city's Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock had to go into hospital

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unexpectedly on Thursday for heart surgery. Thank you. I am seeing him

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later tonight so will pass on your best wishes. Also, we have had a

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lot of rain that has caused trouble for the Isle of Wight festival. In

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Portsmouth he have had to do special things to look after people.

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We opened the common up to were used as an overspill car park so

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that people caught with a -- without being able to get to the

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island had somewhere to stay. It seems like the least we could do

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when the weather is so terrible and the queues are appalling. On the

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island, it does seem a little bit like things have fallen apart. Is

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it that we are getting worse weather or less able to cope with

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it? It seems we are having very violent swings in the whether these

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days which is difficult to cope with. As a nation we are pretty

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resilient. Perhaps we are giving up much more easily. The swings from

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the good to the back and back again do seem to be more often and bigger

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swings. And probably, with global warming we will get more of this.

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So we probably have to spend more money to be prepared. Emergency

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planning is important. We learned this week that Education

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Secretary Michael Gove is getting ready to scrap GCSE exams and

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replace them with O-level style qualifications instead. GCSEs were

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introduced in the mid 1980s, by another Conservative education

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secretary as it happens, and if they're ditched it'll be the

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biggest exams upheaval for a generation. Joining me now is Pete

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Sopowski from the National Union of Teachers.

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Would you say that, I mean it is a rotten time for this to have been

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leaked. It will cause problems for pupils worrying about it? That is

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one of the concerns that everybody who has commentated has said. About

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time while students are doing exams. Normally be get this wants results

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are released. We think it is very bad timing. I have of the one that

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which I can expand on. You think it was political? I think it was to

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knock the doctors' strike of the top line of the headlines, but that

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is my view. It has come from somewhere and it is pretty

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deliberate. We will talk to our guests about that. On the substance

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of it, perhaps because of league tables and pressure on schools,

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competition between exam boards, the exams are getting easier,

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aren't they? Our would not agree with you. People are getting higher

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marks, maybe they are better at it? Could that not be that teachers are

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working hard and standards are rising? Why are the exams not

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increasing with that. He it may be that the GCSE system needs looking

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at. Maybe there is a need for review because I have had very

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bright pupils who have cracked or even the higher-level papers in

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year 10. They maybe need for further review. Actually, if

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children are going to stay in education until 18, do we need an

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exam at 16? We need to think about this much more carefully rather

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than it being O-levels at 16. would like change? Change is always

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needed. The unions and everybody else. There are plenty of head

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teachers coming back on that GCSEs. I think this is up for debate and

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there is quite a lot of people making a lot of comment now, but it

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is up for debate. I am sure that Michael go for have does it explain

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himself again rather than blunder through with a plan. I don't think

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he is able to do that. There is fierce opposition even from the

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headmaster's Conference at private schools. They do not want to see

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CSC comeback. Why do you think it has been leaked? Do you think it

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was a on a poster the ideas that make them? Quite often the

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Department for Education release things via the usual channel like

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giving a leaked to the Daily Mail. It is kind of what they do. Nick

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Clegg is caught on the hop. So it was aimed in some ways...

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Absolutely. I hope that it has got a suitable response and it is

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clearly dead now will and won't go anywhere. He is it dead? I hope it

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is not. There is no reason to believe this is a deliberate leak

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on behalf of the government. Nobody denied it. There is no mileage for

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people in the government to have disagreements with coalition and

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colleagues. Now there will be healthy debate and that is a good

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thing. Peter was saying that there have been real improvements, that

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is right. There have been improvements in pupils' attainment,

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but I don't think anybody doubts that on top of that, there has been

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great inflation. Part of that is to do with competition between exam

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boards going after market share so there is that incentive overtime to

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make the syllabus that little bit easier. We need to bring back world

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class qualifications that 15 and 16. Isn't that elitist? What about

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exams most people are sitting? Exams most people are sitting are

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at 15 and 16 in English and maths and core subject. In Singapore,

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four fifths of the children are doing O-levels in the same way than

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they were done here. In a similar way to what used to happen. I think

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we should aspire for all young people to reach that level, but as

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Peter was saying, in future we will have anticipation at age 18. It is

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possible to do a more core skills type qualification at 16 and then

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still be able to do higher qualifications, particularly things

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like maths, at 16 to 18 and beyond. I think one of the great problems

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with this is bringing back a two- tier system which says to large

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numbers of children that you're not good enough even to do O-levels. It

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goes along with the Government's removal of a large number of

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vocational qualifications. Employers come to me to say what a

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real problem that is causing, getting rid of qualifications for

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people to move into work just because the Secretary of State

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seems to be obsessed with going back to create some sort of 1930s

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style school they were everybody does Latin from the age of seven.

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That is probably where Michael would like to get us to. He wants

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to raise standards. No, he wants to take us backwards to an age which

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served most people in this country very badly. Actually having a

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single set of qualifications that everybody sits at 16 was a big step

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forward with GCSE. It stop the two- tier part. Some children being

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academic and some not. It is a step backwards to get rid of that.

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absolutely not the case that the government is de emphasising

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Vocational qualification if you look at the growth in

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apprenticeship. You are cutting things. It is the equivalent is

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which are misleading. On the two- tier thing, let's not kid ourselves,

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the to tears never went away. First of all, the 40% of kids that are

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not reaching the expected standard and secondly, within each

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individual GCSE subject, there are literally to tears. There is a

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foundation level and a higher level. If you do have the foundation level

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you can only get a grade C. That is very similar. You are teaching the

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science subjects? It is the point to which you make that decision.

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The previous exam paper had three tears. You do mock exams in year 11

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and at that time you decide right near the end way you are going, in

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consultation with parents and children, which is their best

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option. There is no point in putting them in for a paper where

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they will sit and clearly not be able to succeed and the lowest

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grade you can get is a D. Nothing below that so it is a D or avail.

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At least the difference is, Damian, the decision is made as you enter

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the peoples for the exam in year 11. It depends on the subject.

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course, but we should not be choosing at the end of Key Stage 3

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which track they are going on. Thank you.

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Bikers in the South have been fighting to stop new EU laws that

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they say will take away their freedom to customise motorcycles.

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The European Parliament is going to vote on new anti-tampering laws

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which could make bikes greener, and regulate them more strictly. Many

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in the biking community say it won't make bikes any safer and want

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Brussels to think again. Emma Vardy hopped on the pillion to find out

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The people that prefer to Wales to four, owning a bike is much more

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than a method of transport. Something you can enjoy the journey

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on. Many bike owners make small modifications to their vehicles.

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Come to a popular bikers meeting cafe and almost everyone you see

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here has been tweaked in some way by its owner.. But that's something

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bikers are worried they may no longer be allowed to do in future.

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If the proposed EU legislation comes into effect, restrictions

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will be placed on some of the ways riders can modify bikes. For owners,

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that's something that goes right to the heart of biking culture. I have

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put on a more efficient exorcist them. I have also changed the air

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filter in here. If these changes go through, there are few things I am

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your bike which will become illegal. If they go through, I will not be

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able to do anything like this. It makes me angry. I want to be able

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to modify my bike so that it suits my needs and does what I want.

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Another worry is that if regulations are impose too quickly

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it will be costly for businesses to adapt. The argument in favour is

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that it would make bikes more safe and environmentally friendly, but

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the Motorcycle Action Group, MAG, has been campaigning against plans.

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In November, British bikers joined several 1000 others to a protest in

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Brussels. They are really using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The

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problem is not what riders do with their bikes, the number of

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accidents caused by modifications is tiny compared to the number of

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accidents where other road-users do not look out for bite properly.

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Their message it seems is being heard. The European Parliament made

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some amendments. Manufacturers, meanwhile, are not just looking at

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regulations on the European level, but globally. Some of the proposals

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are welcome. We are hoping they will bring a level playing field in

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Europe, but one of the problems is that an international level. These

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are not global regulations. feeling here is that it will affect

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the one thing that is so dear to many bike owners. Freedom out on

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the road and freedom to be what you want to be. To be a very sensible

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person in a suit all week and then come the weekend, on with their

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leather and the crash helmet and growing old disgracefully. Which I

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am doing! There will be a vote later this year, until then, many

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bikers say they will keep up the pressure on MPs asking them to

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resist changes. They are voting in principle, the problem is, the

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technical data will be decided afterwards by unelected and

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unaccountable people in Brussels who are going to actually write the

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fine print after it has been made. Joining me now from our Oxford

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studio is the Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder. What is the

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legislation designed to achieve? want to make bike Safe, we want to

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make Co2 emissions reduced and we need to make sure that bicycles

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that are made and sold across Europe are the same in terms of

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safety and conformity across Europe so that you could not buy a cheaper

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one in one country and bring it to another country where it is not

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safe. That is the thinking behind it, but I think we have ended up

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with the commission coming forward with a badly thought-out research.

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And legislation. That is why we are working hard to amend the

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legislation and make it fairer for every one and to preserve the

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freedoms as you heard in the peace. That is it, have the commissioners

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not realise that bikers like the idea of freedom. They all modify

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their bikes. Do they understand that? Absolutely. I think so. They

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have come forward with very heavy regulations and I want to thank the

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Motorcycle Action Group for getting in touch with me and alerting May.

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I am not a mechanic and they have taken me through some of the things

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that they can do that will fall foul of this legislation. The

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parliament and MPs who are directly elected and the council, the member

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state governments, all working together in what we call a

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tripartite. So it is the commission who write it, the council, we have

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had a whole series of meetings and are improving it. I hope that by

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the time we have had those meetings and have come up with something

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sensible and workable. That will be towards the end of this year?

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we expect of a tin September or October. A I have written us the

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series of questions about the research they have done. It appears

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they have bought this and without research. I have not had an answer

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yet so I will be chasing them., the opposite point of view to you?

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Car drivers stick to the rules, why should there be this opt-out for

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bikers just because they have a desire for freedom? It is a tension

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between what is safe and what is feasible. And what is fun for a

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biker. Most people do not amend their cars. I remember in my youth,

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people used to extend minnies. They would cut them in half and put a

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piece in the middle. That became illegal because it meant you had a

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car that was clearly unsafe. Sometimes we have to have

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legislation that ensures that when people tinkle with machines, they

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will not make them unsafe. The regulations that came in were too

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much and on something as, I hate to say simplistic, as a motorcycle,

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they are much more easily adapted. You can change the size of the

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wheels. They did take me through it, I struggled a bit with the

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mechanics, but that can change the whole nature of that bicycle. So we

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need to come up with something sensible, but something that

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maintain safety. That is why we need to work together and that is

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why am so grateful to the Motorcycle Action Group because I

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am there to represent them. Thank you very much. There is going to be

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a big mass protest driving up the M3 later.

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Now our regular round-up of the political week in the South in 60

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seconds. UNISON's conference started with a

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stunt. Breaking the public sector pay freeze, get it? Oxfordshire has

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the largest owner farm in Britain and it is being sold to the

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community. Greg Barker said people made just �250 to grab a share.

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think community is going to be at the heart of the green revolution.

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I want to see old friends again. She got an emotional welcome at her

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old college. It is such an honour to be able to see her today.

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love that we have this connection to her and she is trying so hard

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for our country. The Dalai Lama met former Gurkhas and the government

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released extra cash for Nepalese people.

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The government refused to review the doctors' pension argument.

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One person who did get treated was Mike Hancock Sir Gerald has stood

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in for him because of his heart problems. T think he will be back?

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Michael always want to serve the people of Portsmouth. He if he

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didn't, would you step in? I would be very interested and there is no

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vacancy and Mike is a great MP he works incredibly hard. I wish him

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well. Damien, the pay freeze at the UNISON conference, you seem to be

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getting somewhere with public sector pensions. Reform is needed

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because people are living longer so most people actually realise that

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and they want to get on with it. Pensions have to be fair and people

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want to know what they get is there, but what is being taken forward is

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in fact there. Thank you both for coming here and thank you Gerald

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for stepping in at the That's the Sunday Politics in the

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South, thanks to my guests Gerald Vernon-Jackson and Damian Hinds.

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