Browse content similar to 09/12/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Sunday Politics in the South... More money for motorways and high- | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
speed broadband. But will anything in the Autumn Statement gets the | :01:36. | :01:46. | |
:01:46. | :01:46. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2125 seconds | :01:46. | :37:11. | |
Welcome to Sunday Politics South. My name is Peter Henley. Coming up | :37:11. | :37:17. | |
in the next 20 minutes... It is 40 years in January since we joined | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
the Common Market, but Europe is as contentious with the region's | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
voters and politicians as it ever was. We will be hearing from some | :37:24. | :37:34. | |
:37:34. | :37:35. | ||
of our MEPs about where we go next. More on that later. I am joined by | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
the Conservative MP for Winchester and John Denham, Labour MP in | :37:40. | :37:44. | |
Southampton. The big story was the Autumn Statement and we had | :37:44. | :37:51. | |
handouts specific for this region like money to improve the M3 | :37:51. | :37:56. | |
motorway and super-fast broadband in Portsmouth and Oxford. The | :37:56. | :37:59. | |
Chancellor said it was enough to get the economy -- economy growing | :37:59. | :38:08. | |
again. In two years the economy is a small now as it was then and it | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
is going to shrink. We have borrowed more money than two years | :38:12. | :38:18. | |
ago. We have got less money to spend on public services. We have | :38:18. | :38:26. | |
had wasted years. What about the global economy? We have got global | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
factors but they are cutting too hard and too fast and everything | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
has grounds to lay hold. Countries like Germany, France and America | :38:34. | :38:38. | |
have had a higher grades weight because they have had a more | :38:38. | :38:48. | |
:38:48. | :38:50. | ||
balanced approach. -- growth wait - - rate. It has taken tough measures | :38:50. | :38:57. | |
and it has saved about �6.5 billion. What they have decided he did is in | :38:57. | :39:04. | |
debt �5 billion in schools, roads and infrastructure. It is a bit | :39:04. | :39:08. | |
which sometimes for the Labour Party to complain. It is like | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
coming to a party and trashing the place and knocking down the | :39:12. | :39:18. | |
Christmas tree and complaining it is not shipshape the next morning. | :39:18. | :39:26. | |
You have got cross -- you have got a situation where you promised to | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
clear it up. The economy had a cardiac arrest in 2009. It will | :39:31. | :39:37. | |
take time. We have not got any easy ways to pay down the deficit. | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
are no easy ways to deal with the consequences of the global banking | :39:41. | :39:46. | |
crisis. But you were confident 2.5 years ago that things would improve. | :39:46. | :39:51. | |
In other countries, it has done. You have taken the wrong decisions. | :39:51. | :39:56. | |
Some money is being put back into schools. But they cut the building | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
schools for the future programme. It was going to build schools | :40:00. | :40:05. | |
across the South. It would have been better to spend that money Ban | :40:05. | :40:09. | |
and have people working building them. Having money in the building | :40:09. | :40:12. | |
industry coming back into the economy and that we would have at | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
all taxes. It would have had the same effect with debt. Mistakes | :40:18. | :40:25. | |
like that have been damaging. if we talk about jobs, we are | :40:25. | :40:30. | |
creating 1.2 million jobs in the private sector. We have put a great | :40:30. | :40:36. | |
big sign up saying that Britain is open for business. We have got the | :40:36. | :40:44. | |
lowest corporation tax in DG 20. 21 %. 1.2 million jobs in the economy | :40:44. | :40:48. | |
since we took over. A good sign we are heading in the right direction. | :40:48. | :40:56. | |
It will take a long time. We can talk to the Chamber of Commerce. Do | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
you think things are moving and what about when it seemed to be | :41:01. | :41:09. | |
stalling? Acts are we still having to work out a new system? | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
debate as to where his problems started will be running for a long | :41:13. | :41:20. | |
time. From a business point of view, we had a situation where the debt | :41:20. | :41:27. | |
was just so massive. Frankly it had to be reduced. And confidence was | :41:27. | :41:32. | |
restored starting down that road. But are we getting back quickly | :41:32. | :41:39. | |
enough? It reflected the reality that getting out of this mess will | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
take longer than thought. We can blame everybody else but we have | :41:44. | :41:48. | |
got world problems. The Chinese economy is slowing down. We know | :41:48. | :41:55. | |
about the Eurozone. This country has got the will power to get out | :41:55. | :41:59. | |
of this mess. The Autumn Statement restored some confidence in | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
business. Their path Some Things We wish had been included that have | :42:04. | :42:14. | |
:42:14. | :42:15. | ||
not been. -- there are some things we wish had been included. The | :42:15. | :42:20. | |
banks are struggling to lend money for reasons we all understand. That | :42:20. | :42:26. | |
is one problem. We have got a commitment to review the assessment | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
regulations. I think these regulations were designed to | :42:31. | :42:34. | |
protect and they have actually hindered. They have slowed down | :42:34. | :42:38. | |
development. The promise of regulation and getting rid of red | :42:38. | :42:45. | |
tape, we have had that before and that must be delivered. Some of | :42:45. | :42:50. | |
them are almost political points. You are talking about red tape | :42:50. | :42:56. | |
strangling business. But can we afford to make these changes at a | :42:56. | :43:01. | |
time when it you just want investment and growth? Getting rid | :43:01. | :43:03. | |
of regional development agencies and local enterprise partnerships, | :43:03. | :43:07. | |
we have got a period of getting used to new systems. Is that | :43:07. | :43:12. | |
slowing things down? I think that is one of the best things this | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
government did. We have got local enterprise partnerships in this | :43:16. | :43:18. | |
constituency which are quite different but there are making real | :43:19. | :43:28. | |
:43:29. | :43:37. | ||
changes. -- Bay are. -- they are. In the regional growth fund, we had | :43:37. | :43:43. | |
some money for the M3 motorway. But not a single bit of work has | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
started on the 18 major road schemes announced. Money is not | :43:48. | :43:57. | |
:43:58. | :44:01. | ||
getting through. And that is frustrating. I think that this is a | :44:01. | :44:08. | |
bottom up way of doing it. I have to admit to being a little bit | :44:08. | :44:11. | |
confused when I first came in as to whether or not the Government would | :44:11. | :44:17. | |
back them and what they would be about. But I have been really | :44:17. | :44:25. | |
impressed. I was impressed with the approach being taken. I am guessing | :44:25. | :44:28. | |
almost �400,000 spent on junction 9 of the M3 motorway because it has | :44:28. | :44:33. | |
been placed as a priority. These are projects that are needed and | :44:33. | :44:38. | |
will get underway shortly and will be welcome. The problem is that you | :44:38. | :44:44. | |
could have gone too localised development agencies. We have had | :44:44. | :44:47. | |
to 0.5 years in which nothing has happened in some areas and they | :44:47. | :44:57. | |
:44:57. | :44:58. | ||
have not had resources. -- 2.5. It is a long way off. We have got the | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
road at the bottom of the docks in Southampton. I have not seen any | :45:02. | :45:09. | |
work in sight. Everything is taking too long. We want to see investment. | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
A lot of talk has been about investment and energy policy but | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
people will not invest because they do not know what the policies will | :45:18. | :45:26. | |
be. The potential is up in the air. We need long-term certainty on some | :45:26. | :45:31. | |
big projects and enough demand in the economy and then unless we get | :45:31. | :45:35. | |
that I think we will be stuttering. Many people watching can expect | :45:35. | :45:42. | |
living standards to fall again every year for the next five years. | :45:42. | :45:49. | |
Can I ask Jimmy about the Autumn Statement? One of the things that | :45:49. | :45:55. | |
slows down infrastructure projects is the enormous application process. | :45:55. | :46:01. | |
And the amount of assessment. I think it is a real problem. And as | :46:01. | :46:07. | |
far as the ideas were concerned, change is fundamental. The idea of | :46:07. | :46:14. | |
bureaucracy controls, these ideas are business lead and controlled. | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
We have mentioned business people in the region. We have got top | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
businessmen are leading these projects. More than anything else, | :46:24. | :46:28. | |
people want a bit of certainty and confidence in government. A we are | :46:28. | :46:33. | |
not going to keep changing tack about borrowing more money. A we | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
have had nothing but uncertainty into 0.5 years and have not make | :46:37. | :46:47. | |
progress. -- in 2.5 years. Now, the three recent parliamentary by | :46:47. | :46:49. | |
elections were the most successful ever for the UK Independence Party, | :46:49. | :46:53. | |
soundly beating the Lib Dems - and in two of them coming second ahead | :46:53. | :46:56. | |
of the Conservatives. Cue talk of electoral pacts and rumours that | :46:56. | :46:59. | |
some Conservative Mps have been keen to come to some arrangement - | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
which is what I started off asking party leader Nigel Farage when I | :47:02. | :47:05. | |
caught up with him in Brussels this week. The by-election has done us | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
no harm in terms of standing but it has held at branch level. A lot of | :47:10. | :47:12. | |
Conservative Associations would like some kind of arrangement | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
because particularly in the South of England it is thriving. We are | :47:16. | :47:22. | |
taking votes in the north as well as Conservative votes. A lot of | :47:22. | :47:28. | |
people are desperate for a deal otherwise they are afraid that our | :47:28. | :47:33. | |
strength means they will lose seats. And if we had by election and we | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
have got possibilities, what would your prick the? Would it be | :47:37. | :47:46. | |
different from the North? -- your approach be? I am not worried about | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
standing down other candidates. I am pushing ahead with the UKIP | :47:52. | :47:57. | |
brand. Would Conservative opposition be stronger with a deal? | :47:57. | :48:02. | |
We have not had a by-election in the South for a long time and we | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
have not had a by-election since UKIP were regarded as a party that | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
could do well not just in Europe but domestically. We have got a | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
chance of a couple of seats in Hampshire and we might get a by- | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
election next year. If these elections happen we will be there. | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
And will you be the candidate? not know. We have got a lot of | :48:24. | :48:32. | |
speculation but I think it unlikely. Why? I am a national leader of UKIP. | :48:32. | :48:35. | |
I want to take his party through to local elections next year which we | :48:35. | :48:41. | |
are taking seriously. We have got European elections in 2014. I have | :48:41. | :48:48. | |
got a lot to do at the moment. possibility of being UKIP's first | :48:48. | :48:54. | |
MP, that is not something that you would turn down, is it? I would | :48:54. | :48:57. | |
give it serious thought but we do not know if we are going to get a | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
by-election but if we do I will consider it. A would you not be | :49:01. | :49:07. | |
letting down your own party? If I stood in a by-election and was | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
successful, it would be very difficult during that period to | :49:11. | :49:18. | |
lead the party effectively cost up and certainly here, there would be | :49:18. | :49:25. | |
--. And certainly here are a lot of people would be asking questions. | :49:25. | :49:31. | |
think UKIP have taken a lot of protest votes. They are picking up | :49:31. | :49:37. | |
some of that. We have got issues about Europe. But the mainstream | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
position I represent is that we are better off in a Europe but I will | :49:42. | :49:49. | |
not take everything Brussels is throwing at us. It is a threat for | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
Conservatives in the South of England? It is always a correct and | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
it is a threat to the Labour Party in the north. I do not think he is | :49:59. | :50:04. | |
a one-man band and he is entitled to his view. It is not easy to vote | :50:04. | :50:08. | |
against your government and I did that for the first time in my first | :50:08. | :50:13. | |
year on the subject of Europe. That was about asking the people of this | :50:13. | :50:18. | |
country about our relationship with the European Union. When the | :50:18. | :50:22. | |
project began 40 years ago I was not quite warm. But I was two years | :50:22. | :50:31. | |
old but lost a we asked a question about Europe. -- quite warm. -- | :50:31. | :50:41. | |
:50:41. | :50:42. | ||
quite alive. You are both taking UKIP seriously. We should develop | :50:42. | :50:52. | |
:50:52. | :50:54. | ||
that idea. Can you remember where Well, to refresh your memory, you | :50:54. | :50:57. | |
had just become a member of the Common Market - you had entered | :50:57. | :51:01. | |
Europe. Hard to believe it has been 40 years - and maybe today it is | :51:01. | :51:11. | |
:51:11. | :51:14. | ||
harder than ever to imagine it Not the most spectacular firework | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
display to greet the brave new dawn of Britain in Europe. But it was | :51:19. | :51:24. | |
1973 and not everybody was a fan of Prime Minister Ted Heath, who got | :51:24. | :51:28. | |
us in the club in the first place. That ambivalence in the | :51:28. | :51:33. | |
relationship has been a defining feature in 40 years. So much so we | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
have got an in or out referendum. Sound familiar? Back in 1975. | :51:39. | :51:43. | |
Margaret Thatcher campaigned to stay in and senior Labour figures | :51:43. | :51:50. | |
campaigns to get out. The campaign started in 1957 without ask. Six | :51:50. | :51:57. | |
founding members. That was nine when we joined in 1973. 12 by 1986 | :51:57. | :52:04. | |
and then expanded in 2004, went any Eastern European countries join. | :52:04. | :52:09. | |
Today, 27 countries and almost 500 million citizens. And what a | :52:09. | :52:14. | |
difference 40 years makes. This is the European Parliament's visitor | :52:14. | :52:21. | |
centre in Brussels. A chance for the parliament to explain to the | :52:21. | :52:26. | |
voters what it is doing. A mere 20 million euros to you. They have | :52:26. | :52:31. | |
elected members for the past 30 years. But plenty of people would | :52:31. | :52:35. | |
struggle to name their MEP or tell you what they are doing or even | :52:35. | :52:42. | |
what Europe has ever done for us. The political union has got to be | :52:42. | :52:46. | |
the one that has been the biggest benefit. Europe has not had any | :52:46. | :52:51. | |
major conflict. Countries had been at war with each other. If we look | :52:51. | :52:57. | |
at the protection measures in terms of environmental protection, the | :52:57. | :53:04. | |
air quality directed, clean water, alongside the food and consumer | :53:04. | :53:08. | |
protection, these are all European achievements. This is what Europe | :53:08. | :53:13. | |
is good at. These are the original buildings in Luxembourg. Much of it | :53:13. | :53:17. | |
has moved to Brussels where the council of ministers meet with the | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
European Commission and members of the European Parliament. But they | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
also have to go to Strasbourg in France and that is more | :53:25. | :53:30. | |
controversial. What else it has been, the European Union has been | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
good to architects. This parliament building in Strasbourg is 13 years | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
old and cost 470 million euros. It is used for just 48 days of the | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
year. The cost of the European project is one of the days doing -- | :53:45. | :53:51. | |
things that has annoyed critics in the past 40 years. We have got too | :53:51. | :53:57. | |
much of Europe interfering in Britain. We must find our feet in | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
our own circumstances with our relationships right across the | :54:00. | :54:08. | |
world. Britain is unlike any other European country. We are a club or | :54:08. | :54:16. | |
country. We are a global power with a global language. We can make | :54:16. | :54:19. | |
connections with 200 billion people. Not 500 million people. We are a | :54:19. | :54:25. | |
different sort of country. We have a different future. The European | :54:25. | :54:28. | |
Parliament represents the second biggest electorate in the world | :54:28. | :54:32. | |
after India. But with turnout falling in every election, how | :54:32. | :54:39. | |
democratic is it? I have got more enthusiasm for the European idea | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
but I recognise this is something that will develop. It will develop | :54:43. | :54:49. | |
as we work with partners. Well, not quite. Scepticism has risen | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
steadily and is higher than ever. We have got such an unbalanced | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
debate on this side of the European Union about the role of UKIP. Many | :54:59. | :55:02. | |
people would think that the European Union is an intellectual | :55:02. | :55:07. | |
discussion but it is not. It is very practical. We are part of a | :55:07. | :55:13. | |
big economy. We do 60 % of trade with members. Thousands of | :55:13. | :55:17. | |
companies do business in the European Union. About 3.5 million | :55:17. | :55:21. | |
people benefit in terms of jobs because they are involved in the | :55:21. | :55:26. | |
European Union. It started as a common market and it is still the | :55:26. | :55:29. | |
economic impact that is looming largest for friends and foes in | :55:29. | :55:39. | |
:55:39. | :55:41. | ||
Europe alike. It really has not get away. Where are things going? | :55:41. | :55:46. | |
look back to the European project after the war, who could doubt that | :55:46. | :55:50. | |
was a good thing and that it brought peace in Europe? It was | :55:50. | :55:57. | |
supposed to bring that forever more. When I look at Greece when Angela | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
Merkel visited and all of the Troubles in Europe, it was | :56:01. | :56:06. | |
thoroughly predictable. I wonder if people see these original ideals | :56:06. | :56:12. | |
and see them falling apart. I am sceptical but I am not wide-eyed | :56:12. | :56:17. | |
and mad about it. It is time we asked people again. Anybody under | :56:17. | :56:24. | |
the age of 55 has not had a chance. When I am told that I am a little | :56:24. | :56:29. | |
Englander, I could not reject that more. I am not that all a little | :56:29. | :56:35. | |
European. Brazil has got a bigger economy than us. We should be | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
global. We are a trading nation and we should at bigger ambitions than | :56:40. | :56:48. | |
Europe. He is a younger generation and missed the original decision. | :56:48. | :56:51. | |
But big things that happened in your lifetime. When the Iron | :56:51. | :56:56. | |
Curtain came down, it was not all the as Poland would become a | :56:56. | :56:59. | |
democracy that we could trade with and we did not go to war with and | :56:59. | :57:03. | |
it did not become corrupt. It is that vision of bringing Europe | :57:03. | :57:09. | |
together. We have got economic difficulties. The Eurozone has been | :57:09. | :57:19. | |
disastrous compared to what the bounders fought -- founders thought. | :57:19. | :57:22. | |
We would be better to be engaged actively in putting right the | :57:22. | :57:25. | |
things that have gone wrong in Europe instead of saying we should | :57:25. | :57:31. | |
be outside. We are running out of time but thank you. And we will | :57:31. | :57:34. | |
have another report on our 40th European birthday in next week's | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
programme - looking at the single market. Now our regular round-up of | :57:37. | :57:47. | |
:57:47. | :57:49. | ||
the political week in the South in They are printing money in Sussex. | :57:49. | :57:52. | |
These will be cashed in after Christmas to give local shops a | :57:52. | :57:57. | |
boost. Perhaps they are thinking about all of the cards they have | :57:57. | :58:01. | |
got it right. The Prime Minister had a stumbling start to Prime | :58:01. | :58:07. | |
Minister's Questions. In a disused to duties in my house... Under fire | :58:07. | :58:13. | |
on defence issues. The future of shipbuilding in Portsmouth is | :58:13. | :58:18. | |
proving controversial. Vince Cable was sent south but offered little | :58:18. | :58:24. | |
reassurance. We do not have the ability to build ships and if that | :58:24. | :58:31. | |
is right we are staff. -- in trouble. We have not yet come to a | :58:31. | :58:37. | |
decision. Campaigners are saying that this would be worth �30 | :58:37. | :58:41. | |
million to the local economy. But if you would prefer something | :58:41. | :58:45. | |
warmer, Gatwick bosses want your business. They have said that they | :58:45. | :58:52. | |
rail links are ripe for expansion. We had started talking about | :58:52. | :58:55. | |
infrastructure in the Autumn Statement. In some ways, broadband | :58:55. | :59:01. | |
is more important than the roads, isn't it? Portsmouth is very | :59:01. | :59:06. | |
pleased. Winchester is pretty well connected but some rural areas in | :59:06. | :59:09. | |
my constituency, certainly up in the North have got that coverage | :59:09. | :59:15. | |
and we must do much better on that. We are a couple of years behind the | :59:15. | :59:18. | |
broadband programme that was in place at the last election. The | :59:18. | :59:21. | |
Government came in and changed it and it hasn't happened. They are | :59:21. | :59:29. | |
struggling to catch up. You changed the programme that he already had | :59:29. | :59:35. | |
in place quite unnecessarily. has cost time and held back growth. | :59:35. | :59:40. | |
Too many things like that have happened. And on the video games | :59:40. | :59:44. | |
decision as well. It all comes back to Europe in the end. That is where | :59:44. | :59:47. |