Browse content similar to 09/02/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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morning, folks, welcome to the Sunday Politics. Rising flood water, | :00:53. | :01:01. | |
a battered coastline, the winter storms forced the Government to take | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
control. Is it hanging the Environment Agency out to dry? | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
Embarrassment for the Government Environment Agency out to dry? | :01:09. | :01:12. | |
the Immigration Minister resigns after he discovered he was employing | :01:13. | :01:14. | |
a cleaner with no This would seem like a good | :01:15. | :03:01. | |
resignation, maybe unlike the Baroness Scotland one years ago on a | :03:02. | :03:04. | |
similar issue, but have we been told the full story? We wait to see that. | :03:05. | :03:12. | |
Labour have picked up saying he is an honourable man, that the reason | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
why he resigned is these very owners checks that landlords and employers | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
will have to perform on employees over their documentation. The most | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
interesting line is that, we do not require them to be experts or spot | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
anything other than an obvious forgery. The suggestion that there | :03:32. | :03:38. | |
is the document he was presented with originality, | :03:39. | :05:17. | |
is the document he was presented And if you three want to resign Do | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
not hate you are coming back next week. But we will do it with honour. | :05:21. | :05:28. | |
It has been a hellish week for residents of coastal areas with more | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
storms bringing more flooding and after Prince Charles visited the | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
Somerset Levels on Tuesday the Government has been keen to show it | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
has got a grip on the situation at last. | :05:40. | :05:47. | |
For last weekend's Sunday Politics I made the watery journey to the | :05:48. | :05:51. | |
village of Muchelney, cut off for a whole month. Now | :05:52. | :07:36. | |
village of Muchelney, cut off for a for flood prone areas of the | :07:37. | :07:40. | |
country? I am joined from Oxford by the editor of The Ecologist | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
magazine, Oliver Tickell, and by local MP Tessa Munt. Tessa, let me | :07:45. | :07:51. | |
come to you first. What do you now want the Government to do? I want it | :07:52. | :07:59. | |
to make sure it does exactly as it promises and delivers what every | :08:00. | :08:01. | |
farmer and landowner around here knows should have been done for | :08:02. | :08:07. | |
years. First, to solve the problems we have right now, but to make sure | :08:08. | :08:09. | |
there is money we have right now, but to make sure | :08:10. | :08:13. | |
carry on doing the maintenance that is necessary. | :08:14. | :08:14. | |
carry on doing the maintenance that Dredging is a part of it, but it is | :08:15. | :10:00. | |
a catchment wide solution. Dredging is only a small part of the solution | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
he says. Yes, of course it is. But look here. With the farmer is | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
locally, the landowners, they know this land will carry water for a few | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
weeks of the year, that is not a problem. But this water has to be | :10:19. | :10:23. | |
taken away and there is a very good system of drainage and it works | :10:24. | :10:29. | |
perfectly well. In my area there are serious problems because the | :10:30. | :10:32. | |
dredging has not taken place. There are lunatic regulations | :10:33. | :12:15. | |
dredging has not taken place. There seen it, but grass does not grow if | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
water is sitting on this land for weeks and weeks. What you have to | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
remember is a lot of the levels are managed very carefully and they are | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
conservation land and that means cattle are allowed to go out at | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
certain times of the year and in certain numbers. It is well managed. | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
Do you accept it should return to grassland? Grassland, fine, but you | :12:39. | :12:47. | |
cannot call land grassland in the flipping water is on it so long that | :12:48. | :12:52. | |
nothing grows. It is no good at doing that. You | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
nothing grows. It is no good at sure it is managed properly. | :12:56. | :14:35. | |
nothing grows. It is no good at been going to the drainage boards | :14:36. | :14:38. | |
and they pay the Environment Agency who are meant to be dredging and | :14:39. | :14:43. | |
that has not happened. We have to leave it there. We have run out of | :14:44. | :14:47. | |
time. Last week saw the Labour Party | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
adopts an historic change with its relationship with the unions. | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
Changes to the rules that propelled Ed Miliband to the top. Ed Miliband | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
was elected Labour leader in 20 0 by the electoral college system which | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
gives unions, party members and MPs one third of votes each. This would | :15:08. | :15:09. | |
be changed one third of votes each. This would | :15:10. | :15:14. | |
member, one vote system. A union member would have to become an | :15:15. | :15:16. | |
affiliated member of the party. member would have to become an | :15:17. | :16:57. | |
fantastic British businesses, we want them to make an active choice, | :16:58. | :17:05. | |
and we are also recognising that in this day and age not everybody wants | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
to become a member of a political party. We haven't got much time The | :17:09. | :17:20. | |
unions still have 50% of the vote at Labour conferences, there will be | :17:21. | :17:30. | |
the single most important vote, more member | :17:31. | :19:14. | |
the single most important vote, more your individual party members. In | :19:15. | :19:14. | |
one vital way, your purse strings, your individual party members. In | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
the unions will be more powerful than ever because at the moment they | :19:20. | :19:20. | |
have to hand over 8 million to than ever because at the moment they | :19:21. | :19:31. | |
fraction of that now. They will get to keep that money, but then come | :19:32. | :19:35. | |
the election you go to them and give them a lot of money -- and they will | :19:36. | :19:48. | |
have you then. They won't have us, as you put it! The idea that | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
individual trade union members don't have their own view, | :19:53. | :19:55. | |
individual trade union members don't voice, and just do what their | :19:56. | :19:56. | |
general voice, and just do what their | :19:57. | :21:33. | |
an important business person in the House of Lords, the former chief | :21:34. | :21:45. | |
executive of the ITV, Bill Grimsey. How many? You can only name one | :21:46. | :21:54. | |
Bill Grimsey, there is also John Mills. Anyone who is currently | :21:55. | :22:00. | |
chairman of the chief executive With the greatest respect, you are | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
talking about less than half the percent of business leaders in our | :22:05. | :22:06. | |
country, we have almost percent of business leaders in our | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
businesses, not all FTSE 100 businesses, not all FTSE 100 | :22:12. | :24:01. | |
it" . Another quote, that it borders on predatory taxation. They think | :24:02. | :24:08. | |
you are anti-business. I don't agree with them. One of the interesting | :24:09. | :24:14. | |
things about Sir Stuart's comments on the predatory taxation and I | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
think he was referring to the 5 p rate of tax is that he made some | :24:19. | :24:21. | |
comments arguing against the reduction of the top rate of tax | :24:22. | :24:28. | |
from 50p. He is saying something different now. Digby of course has | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
his own opinions, he has never been a member of the Labour Party. Let me | :24:33. | :24:35. | |
come onto this business of a member of the Labour Party. Let me | :24:36. | :26:18. | |
we didn't have those issues. Sure, though you cannot tell me how much | :26:19. | :26:24. | |
the 50p will raise. In the three years of operation we think it | :26:25. | :26:31. | |
raised ?10 billion. You think. That was based on extrapolation from the | :26:32. | :26:39. | |
British library. It is at least possible I would suggest, for the | :26:40. | :26:42. | |
sake of argument, that when you promise to take over half people's | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
income, which is what you will do if you get your way, the richest 1 | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
currently account you get your way, the richest 1 | :26:54. | :28:35. | |
to this? Across Europe, for example in Sweden they have higher tax rates | :28:36. | :28:42. | |
than us. Can you name one major economy? I couldn't pluck one out of | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
the air, I can see where you are coming from, I don't agree with it. | :28:48. | :28:53. | |
I think most people subscribe to the fact that those with wider shoulders | :28:54. | :28:56. | |
should carry the heavy a burden We fact that those with wider shoulders | :28:57. | :29:03. | |
have run out of time but thank you for being here. | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
Over the past week it seems that Nick Clegg has activated a new Lib | :29:08. | :29:09. | |
Dem strategy - 'Get Gove'. Nick Clegg has activated a new Lib | :29:10. | :29:12. | |
very public spat Nick Clegg has activated a new Lib | :29:13. | :30:57. | |
post 2015. One spat does not a divorce make but perhaps even more | :30:58. | :30:59. | |
significant has been Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander s | :31:00. | :31:02. | |
recent newspaper interview firmly spiking any room for George Osborne | :31:03. | :31:04. | |
to manoeuvre on lowering the highest income tax rate to 40p. All this | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
builds on the inclusion in Government at the reshuffle of | :31:09. | :31:11. | |
people like Norman Baker at the Home Office and Simon Hughes at Justice | :31:12. | :31:14. | |
people who are happier to publically express doubt on Conservative | :31:15. | :31:16. | |
policy, unlike say Jeremy Browne who was removed and who has made plain | :31:17. | :31:29. | |
his views on Coalition. It is difficult for us to demonstrate that | :31:30. | :31:31. | |
his views on Coalition. It is we are more socialist than an Ed | :31:32. | :31:33. | |
Miliband we are more socialist than an Ed | :31:34. | :33:15. | |
Jenkin. Matthew, the Lib Dems are now picking fights with the Tories | :33:16. | :33:19. | |
on a range of issues, some of them trivial. Is this a Pirelli used to | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
Lib Dem withdrawal trivial. Is this a Pirelli used to | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
coalition? I do not know, I am not privy to Nick Clegg's in strategy. | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
Some of us have been independent for some time. I resigned over treatment | :33:36. | :33:37. | |
of the banks. some time. I resigned over treatment | :33:38. | :33:43. | |
sorted out. But what is significant is we have seen a string of attacks, | :33:44. | :33:47. | |
almost an enemy is we have seen a string of attacks, | :33:48. | :35:31. | |
despite what Nick Clegg originally said. It does not make much | :35:32. | :35:36. | |
difference. What makes a difference from the perspective of the | :35:37. | :35:40. | |
committee I chair is historically we have had single party Government | :35:41. | :35:44. | |
that have collective responsibility and clarity. The reason that is | :35:45. | :35:49. | |
important is because nothing gets done if everybody is at sixes and | :35:50. | :35:54. | |
sevens in the Government. Everything stops, there is paralysis as the row | :35:55. | :35:59. | |
goes on. Civil servants do not know who they are working for. If it | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
carries on getting fractures, there is a bigger argument to get out. If | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
it continues at this level of intensity of the enemy within | :36:12. | :37:49. | |
it continues at this level of representative of the failure of | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
Nick Clegg's strategy to rebuild a centrist Liberal party and he now | :37:54. | :37:57. | |
accepts the only way he can save as many seats as he can do is to get | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
the disillusioned left Lib Dem voters to come back to the fold? The | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
site is we have lost over half our vote at the last election and at the | :38:10. | :38:14. | |
moment there is no sign in the polls of it coming back and we are getting | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
very close to the next election. I welcome it if Nick Clegg is starting | :38:21. | :38:24. | |
to address that problem, but talking about the centre is not the answer. | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
to address that problem, but talking Most Liberal Democrat voters at the | :38:30. | :38:31. | |
to address that problem, but talking last election are radical, | :38:32. | :38:31. | |
progressive people last election are radical, | :38:32. | :40:08. | |
Welcome to Sunday Politics South ` my name's Peter Henley. On today's | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
show the rain keeps falling and the floods keep rising ` the Prime | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
Minister promised more money to help with the repairs this week, but are | :40:16. | :40:18. | |
we doing enough to prevent it happening in the first place? | :40:19. | :40:22. | |
More on that shortly. First let's meet the two politicians who'll be | :40:23. | :40:25. | |
with me to discuss that and other matters. Richard Benyon is the | :40:26. | :40:28. | |
Conservative MP for Newbury and Lord Jim Knight is a Labour peer and the | :40:29. | :40:36. | |
former MP for South Dorset. Jim, the Prime Minister's speech on | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
the union on Friday was well received, it seems, but what he is | :40:43. | :40:44. | |
saying is that people Scottish relatives and friends and | :40:45. | :40:50. | |
say, stay with us. more votes by dropping the voting | :40:51. | :42:30. | |
age to 16. The evidence is that younger voters just don't get this. | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
Mike the don't see the point of Scotland hiving itself off. And that | :42:37. | :42:44. | |
post Braveheart generation may swing it quite decisively pro union. | :42:45. | :42:48. | |
Rain, storms, flooding and more rain were back on the political agenda | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
this week. And in Prime Ministers Questions on Wednesday, stung by | :42:53. | :42:55. | |
accusations from Labour that the government had been slow to react to | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
the rising tide of problems, the Prime Minister was in take charge | :42:59. | :43:06. | |
mode. Whatever is required, whether it is | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
dredging work on the rivers or support for our emergency services, | :43:10. | :44:47. | |
dozens of homes and businesses in Newbury underwater. It was the five | :44:48. | :44:49. | |
time in seven years the town had been flooded, forcing the | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
Environment Agency interaction. In 2011 started work on a ?2 million | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
scheme to protect people and it was finished just in time for this most | :44:59. | :45:04. | |
wet winters. In these locations we are using a | :45:05. | :45:07. | |
combination of walls, herding, natural embankments to weave our way | :45:08. | :45:14. | |
through the Oregon context. The key is accepting that the river | :45:15. | :45:17. | |
will flood in capturing the run`off before it reaches the more built`up | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
areas of the town. Houses behind us and being | :45:23. | :45:26. | |
protected. We are cutting that water off. What we would say is floodwater | :45:27. | :45:29. | |
travelling into these businesses to dig into their pockets | :45:30. | :47:10. | |
will not be easy. I can understand that people might | :47:11. | :47:16. | |
balk, but if it is a case of a or flood... We do need to get this | :47:17. | :47:21. | |
partnership idea going so that people do realise the only way we | :47:22. | :47:24. | |
can solve flooding is by everyone putting in together. | :47:25. | :47:30. | |
There is more flood risk than funding. We are working closer with | :47:31. | :47:36. | |
community 's and councils and other emergency responders these days, | :47:37. | :47:39. | |
also in terms of generating the business case as well as the | :47:40. | :47:45. | |
financial, so that we can invest in flood defences in the | :47:46. | :47:45. | |
other communities are being protected by effective schemes | :47:46. | :49:29. | |
because of the wider system of funding. | :49:30. | :49:32. | |
A lot of others will be waiting. Balancing these priorities, you were | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
at Defra, these are long`term things. Sometimes when we haven't | :49:38. | :49:45. | |
got the water everyone says it is like pushing things up hill to get | :49:46. | :49:47. | |
this done. We are seeing this problem more | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
frequently. The climate is changing and we are seeing more extremes. | :49:53. | :49:58. | |
Richard was talking about drought and the river drying up, in the | :49:59. | :50:03. | |
lifetime of his ministerial career he had both extremes that he had to | :50:04. | :50:05. | |
wrestle with, so we do need to What Michael Pitt said was it was | :50:06. | :51:46. | |
too centralised and local authorities should be the lead on | :51:47. | :51:51. | |
assessing flood risk running plans and working with local organisations | :51:52. | :51:54. | |
and emergency services and the Environment Agency when flooding | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
occurs. That's one of the things that's happened, better some areas | :51:59. | :52:02. | |
than others. I spent time in Somerset last year and am quite well | :52:03. | :52:08. | |
up on that issue. A large area sits below sea level. We should not be | :52:09. | :52:11. | |
talking about flooding elsewhere in the United Kingdom in the context of | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
what goes on in Somerset. Should we be more worried about | :52:18. | :52:24. | |
agricultural land? 98% is protected, it is a link to present that will be | :52:25. | :52:26. | |
affected. Should we be their door. Very often they have is | :52:27. | :54:06. | |
sandbags. You mentioned agricultural land. | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
There is an interesting debate now about the extent to which we | :54:13. | :54:16. | |
incentivise farmers against the sort of ponds and trees that we see in | :54:17. | :54:19. | |
the Newbury develop and on their land so that the water has somewhere | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
to go and some are to be stored rather than rushing quickly off the | :54:25. | :54:27. | |
land into the rivers and the rivers flooding the urban areas. I think | :54:28. | :54:30. | |
that's a really good debate to be had. | :54:31. | :54:33. | |
Thank you. Bus services are often a lifeline | :54:34. | :54:36. | |
for many, especially in rural areas. But a growing number are no longer | :54:37. | :54:40. | |
economically viable for the bus companies, which is why councils | :54:41. | :54:43. | |
often provide subsidies to keep them running. Except with council budgets | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
being pinched, those subsidies are increasingly coming under pressure. | :54:48. | :54:48. | |
According to a According to a recent survey by the | :54:49. | :54:49. | |
Campaign for Better Transport, unitary council cuts the bus | :54:50. | :56:27. | |
subsidy, it doesn't make it big saving from the council's budget. | :56:28. | :56:32. | |
The council is spending big money on things like home care for adults, | :56:33. | :56:37. | |
education. Bosses are a small thing, but they had a big impact if you cut | :56:38. | :56:42. | |
them. A particular service goes and | :56:43. | :56:46. | |
someone relies on it. I saw someone talking about this isolation and the | :56:47. | :56:51. | |
number of people who leave the house less than once a week, and of the | :56:52. | :56:55. | |
bus service goes they have no option, have the? | :56:56. | :56:59. | |
One of the things that has made a difference to those people is the | :57:00. | :57:01. | |
introduction of the concessionary cavil scheme from 2008 | :57:02. | :58:45. | |
prioritise those. Southampton is a Labour authority, | :58:46. | :58:54. | |
Reading, another Labour priority. Surely this should be readily later | :58:55. | :58:57. | |
rather than just letting everyone for their own ways. | :58:58. | :59:05. | |
Services used to be centrally controlled and they're now run by | :59:06. | :59:11. | |
local authorities. I think they should be accountable to their local | :59:12. | :59:13. | |
people for how these things are spent. We are trying to be localised | :59:14. | :59:21. | |
and... But you don't add up the benefits | :59:22. | :59:21. | |
that other people get. will be reduced. In Gosport, they | :59:22. | :01:04. | |
are getting bigger, with 73% residents overweight. The council | :01:05. | :01:11. | |
says it is on the case, encouraging GPs to refer people to fitness | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
training. They don't know what they should | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
eat, didn't you how to cook if you give them the money. | :01:19. | :01:20. | |
Portsmouth has a surplus of ministers. Vince Cable visiting the | :01:21. | :01:27. | |
city this week after declaring himself the real Minister for | :01:28. | :01:32. | |
Portsmouth. I have overall response ability. | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
Good news for badgers. Rather than reducing their numbers by culling, | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
rock guitarist Brian May as a plan for vaccination using volunteers, | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
starting out of a century he is establishing in Dorset. | :01:49. | :03:24. | |
starting out of a century he is overheating? All questions over the | :03:25. | :03:30. | |
weekend. Let's look at the politics of the flooding. Let me show you a | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
clip from Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, earlier on | :03:38. | :03:44. | |
the BBC this morning. We perhaps relied too much on the Environment | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
Agency's advice. I apologise. I apologise unreservedly and I am | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
really sorry we took the advice of what we thought we were doing was | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
the best. The Environment Agency is being hung | :04:00. | :04:02. | |
the best. The Environment Agency is Government and the Government has | :04:03. | :04:03. | |
taken over Government and the Government has | :04:04. | :05:43. | |
in autumn and then the water runs off the topsoil. You see the | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
pictures of the flooding, it is all topsoil flooding through those | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
towns. What you have got to have in the uplands is some land that can | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
absorb that water and there are really big questions about the way | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
we carry out farming. Chris Smith was meant to appear on the Andrew | :06:03. | :06:05. | |
Marr show this morning, but pulled back at the last minute. There must | :06:06. | :06:10. | |
be doubts as to whether he can survive to the summer. Where is the | :06:11. | :06:14. | |
chief executive of the Environment Agency? I agree with Nick that Chris | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
Smith has been Agency? I agree with Nick that Chris | :06:19. | :06:22. | |
situation. David Cameron went Agency? I agree with Nick that Chris | :06:23. | :06:24. | |
Somerset Levels on Friday for Agency? I agree with Nick that Chris | :06:25. | :06:24. | |
half an hour, Agency? I agree with Nick that Chris | :06:25. | :08:03. | |
in an eye operation, suggested a plan to fix this, they will find a | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
lot of what they want or need to do will be in contravention of European | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
directives. The Wythenshawe by-election. There is no question | :08:13. | :08:21. | |
Labour is going to win, probably incredibly convincingly, one poll | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
showing 60% plus of the vote. It would be surprising if Labour was in | :08:27. | :08:32. | |
any threat up there. The issue is, does UKIP beat the Tories and if so, | :08:33. | :08:38. | |
by how much? The latest poll was showing it in second place as nip | :08:39. | :08:40. | |
and tuck, but the feeling honourable gentleman. Order, the | :08:41. | :10:25. | |
Government Chief Whip has absolutely no business whatsoever shouting from | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
a sedentary position. Order, the honourable gentleman will remain in | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
the chamber. If we could tackle this problem. I say to the honourable | :10:36. | :10:43. | |
member for Bridgwater, be quiet if you cannot be quiet, get out, it is | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
rude, stupid and pompous and it needs to stop. Michael Gove. Order. | :10:48. | :10:58. | |
You really... Order. needs to stop. Michael Gove. Order. | :10:59. | :12:44. | |
tabloids. Something is clearly up. I think it is a real shame. I think | :12:45. | :12:51. | |
many of us when he was elected did not think he would make a great | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
speaker and there are people like Douglas Carswell and Tory rebels who | :12:56. | :13:00. | |
have said he is a fantastic speaker. He has given the Commons room to | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
breathe and he has called on ministers to be held to account when | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
they do not want to be. What do you think? He is seen as anti-government | :13:10. | :13:14. | |
and he is pro-backbencher and that is what people do not like. People | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
like Douglas Carswell are actually very strongly in support of him We | :13:22. | :13:24. | |
carry | :13:25. | :15:06. |