Browse content similar to 29/01/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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And in the Midlands: we examine hour manufacturing industry is | :01:23. | :01:27. | |
shrinking fast. Figures show during the Labour years, the Midlands | :01:27. | :01:37. | |
:01:37. | :01:37. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2019 seconds | :01:37. | :35:17. | |
suffered more than anywhere else in Welcome to the Sunday Politics in | :35:17. | :35:21. | |
the Midlands with the me Patrick Burns. | :35:21. | :35:25. | |
The might of Midland's manufacturing. By wild approval but | :35:25. | :35:30. | |
my how we have come down in the world since then. | :35:30. | :35:37. | |
I guess this afternoon it Harriett Baldwin and Michael Cashman. | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
Chiming in with our opening headline, negative figures on | :35:42. | :35:48. | |
economic growth this year. Is there not a sense that looking at it from | :35:48. | :35:53. | |
both sides of the water that the euro-zone is getting a lot of the | :35:53. | :35:57. | |
blame for our ills? He it is getting the blame but if you look | :35:57. | :36:03. | |
back at the contraction in the economy, that occurred in the last | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
quarter of 2010 before the euro- zone problems reached their | :36:07. | :36:12. | |
pinnacle. What is interesting if the euro-zone is so important why | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
it isn't David Cameron getting behind it and coming up with a | :36:16. | :36:24. | |
really good and strategic plan for stability of the euro-zone? The use | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
of the veto indicated that Britain wants it both ways. It says we want | :36:28. | :36:33. | |
a strong euro but we want to protect ourselves in the long term | :36:33. | :36:39. | |
and what we need is stability and David Cameron does not understand | :36:39. | :36:46. | |
that. You are getting embroiled in the Scottish question of but why on | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
earth should your voters in West Worcestershire give a toss about | :36:50. | :36:56. | |
what is happening north of the border? Increasingly people asking | :36:56. | :36:59. | |
me why is it the case that when we have English legislation in | :36:59. | :37:05. | |
Westminster, Scottish MPs can vote on those issues and potentially one | :37:05. | :37:11. | |
day that might be critical. For the moment, we will leave the Scots to | :37:11. | :37:16. | |
their own devices because our top story. Nine months from now two | :37:16. | :37:20. | |
biggest cities could have their own elected mayors. The local | :37:20. | :37:23. | |
government minister Greg Clark came to the Midlands last week to | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
announce elections will be held in November subject to the outcome of | :37:27. | :37:32. | |
May's referendum in Birmingham and Coventry. | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
The two cities heading for the polls in May to decide whether they | :37:35. | :37:40. | |
want an elected mayor or not. This line-up is hoping they will say yes | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
and if they do, the government minister responsible said those | :37:45. | :37:48. | |
cities would get to elect their mess before the end of the year but | :37:49. | :37:54. | |
no word on what powers they would have. The needs of every city are | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
different. What Coventry once may be different from what Birmingham | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
once so we will not impose a model. We will say, we tell us what you | :38:03. | :38:07. | |
want and we will give you the power was you need to make your city a | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
success in the future. One a Birmingham's latest claims to | :38:12. | :38:15. | |
success a celebrity chef restaurant with views over a city that is led | :38:15. | :38:19. | |
by council leader and Cabinet. An elected mayor would replace the | :38:19. | :38:23. | |
system. There were plenty of potential power was on the menu for | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
any city that chooses to opt for an elected mayor. Birmingham could | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
then go on to decide that its men should have more of a say over | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
local transport policy or a over the economic strategy for the city. | :38:38. | :38:42. | |
The elected mayor could also choose to have powers over running local | :38:42. | :38:45. | |
schools. Critics say that is nothing that councillors cannot do | :38:45. | :38:49. | |
already and that the risks of installing an elected mayor are too | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
great. I think it would be a worse situation because it concentrates | :38:55. | :39:01. | |
powers in one individual and leads to corruption. If people say no in | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
May's worth when the, the Government's decision to hold in | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
election in November becomes irrelevant. | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
Harriet Baldwin, for a conservative Liberal Democrat coalition it would | :39:15. | :39:20. | |
not be a work of genius to produce what looks like a new generation of | :39:20. | :39:23. | |
powerful Labour figures the way things are going, Birmingham and | :39:23. | :39:30. | |
Coventry, elsewhere. Is this a miscalculation? This government is | :39:30. | :39:35. | |
committed to handing more power to local communities. The localism Act | :39:35. | :39:39. | |
will give a lot more power across that this whole country but for big | :39:39. | :39:45. | |
cities like Birmingham, Coventry, city's famous, we did not be great | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
if they had a powerful elected spokesperson who could be readily | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
identified with that city the way Boris is with the London. Is there | :39:55. | :40:01. | |
not an implicit acceptance in your answer that the way things are | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
going in big cities, there is a strong likelihood of Labour figures | :40:05. | :40:13. | |
emerging? I hope we get Boris re- elected in London in May and there | :40:13. | :40:16. | |
is a competitive range of candidates for other cities around | :40:16. | :40:20. | |
the country. They may be independents, political parties and | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
I think I will be campaigning strongly for the conservative male | :40:26. | :40:32. | |
candidates. Are you celebrating the possibility of a new crop of Labour | :40:32. | :40:37. | |
figures in big cities? I do not want a Boris figured that takes | :40:37. | :40:42. | |
police numbers down and take police of the street but puts up the price | :40:42. | :40:47. | |
of transport. What I want is someone that can represent a city | :40:47. | :40:54. | |
as brilliant and diverse as Birmingham, but if we look at | :40:54. | :41:00. | |
Birmingham in the first instance, I have to say I do not accept John | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
Hemmings and view that if you get the balance right and to have a | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
Cabinet and a mayor, and you have accountability and responsibility. | :41:08. | :41:13. | |
I have to go on record and say that my name was thrown into the hat by | :41:13. | :41:19. | |
a newspaper that I would be a candidate. Absolutely not. I have | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
one job and that is enough. What do you make of this idea that each | :41:23. | :41:28. | |
city will have the scope to determine what powers would be | :41:28. | :41:35. | |
accrued by the mayor? Localism in action, we are forcing cities to | :41:35. | :41:40. | |
have referendums whereas, the Babel party said, you decide whether you | :41:40. | :41:47. | |
want to trigger a referendum. Will the public decide whether they want | :41:47. | :41:52. | |
a where and -- a mayor and a manager or will they decide they | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
have won something akin to London? Who will make that decision? | :41:57. | :42:05. | |
Michael has made this point that the referendum is enforced. I think | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
that it is a referendum, people are being asked the question and the | :42:09. | :42:14. | |
cities are going to the polls any weight in May, so why not ask this | :42:14. | :42:21. | |
additional question at the same time. It did not go world in Stoke. | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
They got rid of their elected mayor at the first opportunity. In Stoke | :42:25. | :42:33. | |
you had high expectations and they opted for the man and a manager and | :42:33. | :42:36. | |
then you get a conflict between councillors who think they should | :42:36. | :42:41. | |
have the control and the male office. Conflict in local | :42:41. | :42:46. | |
government delivers nothing except disappointment. What will be the | :42:46. | :42:51. | |
role of councillors if the you have this powerful figure in the centre? | :42:51. | :42:56. | |
Then there would be leader of the council so it would fit in with the | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
existing structures. But what if the council is not the same | :43:01. | :43:07. | |
political make-up as the mayor? How can he lead that council? We will | :43:07. | :43:11. | |
have plenty of opportunity to discuss that but now the sobering | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
thought that our part of the country has suffered a bigger slump | :43:15. | :43:21. | |
in manufacturing than anywhere else in the UK or. Now a senior Labour | :43:21. | :43:24. | |
MP has admitted to this programme that his government did not do | :43:24. | :43:34. | |
:43:34. | :43:57. | ||
A new dawn for the UK as the 1997 general election seats Labour into | :43:57. | :44:07. | |
power but it was not a new dawn for every one. Things did not get | :44:07. | :44:11. | |
better for many of the region's small manufacturing businesses. At | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
this firm, the last decade has been a struggle. 0 real roller-coaster | :44:16. | :44:22. | |
ride. If we were seeing good years in the outset around 2000, 2001. We | :44:22. | :44:27. | |
have seen a gradual decline and some of the major companies that we | :44:27. | :44:32. | |
used to supply, they have gone. Coventry has had its fair share of | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
big factory closures. This is the sight of the old Peugeot factory. | :44:37. | :44:41. | |
It is part of the reason that there has been a big decline in | :44:41. | :44:47. | |
manufacturing output over the last 13 years, down 23 %, the biggest | :44:47. | :44:52. | |
for any way in the country. Be used to be so different. This footage | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
shows a while this it to the Jaguar car plant, but this is what it | :44:57. | :45:04. | |
looks like today. An exhibit at Coventry's transport museum | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
charting the rise and fall of the city's automotive industry. A good | :45:08. | :45:11. | |
place to find out from experts why the decline in manufacturing has | :45:11. | :45:18. | |
been worse here. What we saw were Stirling 20 % overvalued, that | :45:18. | :45:24. | |
affected our export base. Transport really struggled because of that | :45:24. | :45:32. | |
and it meant we saw a run-down in closure of Peugeot. Service | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
industries have been beginning. Adviser Garry used to work in a | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
double-glazing factory. It is a lot less physical but a lot more | :45:41. | :45:45. | |
enjoyable. I am in a much bigger company now with a lot more people | :45:45. | :45:50. | |
here. It all begs the question - did the Labour government do enough | :45:50. | :45:55. | |
to protect manufacturing jobs? did not. We have to do more and we | :45:55. | :46:01. | |
have a different approach for the future. This is a key point. | :46:01. | :46:05. | |
Manufacturing companies need access to finance and we have to persuade | :46:05. | :46:10. | |
young people that manufacturing has a bright future. Despite the | :46:10. | :46:14. | |
recession, employment levels in manufacturing are rising again. It | :46:14. | :46:24. | |
:46:24. | :46:27. | ||
is good news for a government that is keen to rebalance the economy. | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
Also with us it is the head of strategy at one of the world's | :46:31. | :46:41. | |
:46:41. | :46:41. | ||
leading financial firms, Howard Wheldon. We know you are a | :46:41. | :46:46. | |
Midlander through and through. When you look at the industrial scene | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
here, who do you blame for it? There are a lot of factors. I do | :46:51. | :46:56. | |
not think any one single person, party, government is to blame. | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
Their rough factors we must take into consideration. You look that | :47:00. | :47:08. | |
currencies, cost competitiveness, we have never had a proper | :47:08. | :47:12. | |
industrial strategy, not through labour, not through Conservative | :47:12. | :47:16. | |
government. That needs to be addressed and we allowed vocational | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
training, education in terms of engineering and manufacturing to | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
sink to a note which was unacceptable. We have to go to the | :47:24. | :47:31. | |
bottom and start again. A couple of comments that have arisen. They | :47:31. | :47:38. | |
blame the city. Over the last 30 years, at the behest of the city of | :47:38. | :47:45. | |
London, short-termism UK industry has shipped manufacturing jobs to | :47:45. | :47:50. | |
China. An over-reliance on London and on finances has slewed | :47:50. | :47:53. | |
Investment said everything seems London focus. I completely agree | :47:53. | :47:59. | |
with the major sentiments expressed. The city does take a lot of | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
responsibility. Short-termism which began in the late 1970s and groove | :48:04. | :48:10. | |
as the city of London got ever stronger and while our competitors, | :48:10. | :48:15. | |
Germany and France, did not take that sort of attitude. They are | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
taking it now but they did not take it back then. The city does bear a | :48:20. | :48:26. | |
responsibility. We have to think long-term, long-term investment and | :48:26. | :48:31. | |
research and development. The key to any manufacturing success is | :48:31. | :48:34. | |
research and development. We have to escape -- persuade government to | :48:34. | :48:40. | |
put bought in. What would you say it is the challenge of leadership | :48:40. | :48:47. | |
for our political leaders? challenge is not to say, do what to | :48:47. | :48:54. | |
say but what they express their view. Labour had not done enough. | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
do not agree. It is so easy to say be did not do enough. All | :48:58. | :49:07. | |
governments do what they can. Many factors are outside of our control. | :49:07. | :49:13. | |
Instead we saw outsourcing in the ceramics industry. It is not | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
interested in conditions or other things. Are you saying the ceramics | :49:17. | :49:22. | |
industry did not raise their game to face that competition? We did | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
not have the skills base and that goes back to the 1970s recession | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
and the following recessions. We did not invest in the skills that | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
made us the most attractive place to make it. The ball in terms of | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
being in government is in your court now and to talk about | :49:40. | :49:44. | |
enterprise zones, apprenticeships, but in the scale of events we are | :49:44. | :49:48. | |
talking about it does not seem enough? This is a government that | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
wants to see a country that makes think again. We are beginning to | :49:52. | :49:57. | |
see that employment in the West Midlands is beginning to bottom out | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
and increase. It seems very thin that we are turning the corner at | :50:02. | :50:07. | |
the moment. It has been declining for a long time. It declined in the | :50:07. | :50:13. | |
era where a government in the boom times was able to sit back and see | :50:13. | :50:17. | |
the tax revenues coming in and not think about the need to rebalance | :50:17. | :50:24. | |
the economy. We invested in this region, we invested in youth skills. | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
We went from 68,000 apprenticeships in the year to nearly 300,000 and | :50:28. | :50:34. | |
that is what I mean, people kept saying, we cannot make it here | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
because it is higher productivity, manufacturing has changed. In the | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
old days you could pile of Labour in there but the skills that are | :50:41. | :50:47. | |
needed now are very different. totally agree we have to invest in | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
skills. We will not be able to complete wed the labour is cheaper. | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
We have to focus on high and manufacturing and there were signs | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
that with the relocation of things like Jaguar and Land Rover that | :51:01. | :51:06. | |
that is beginning to happen. celebrate the Jaguar and Land Rover | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
and the engine plant but the key challenge for the supply chain that | :51:09. | :51:13. | |
we talk about a lot is to cornerback share of the market | :51:13. | :51:20. | |
rather than see the components... We have become very good and Gen | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
Iraq -- Jaguar make a lot of its components here in the UK but too | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
many companies are bringing in the components in from overseas and | :51:29. | :51:37. | |
literally blowing the cars together. One example of that is the maker of | :51:37. | :51:41. | |
the London taxis. The components are coming in from overseas, that | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
is the sort of thing we have to try and reverse, so we need to put more | :51:46. | :51:52. | |
energy into the supply base. quick yes no answer from each a | :51:52. | :51:56. | |
view, is there enough of the manufacturing industry left to turn | :51:56. | :52:06. | |
:52:06. | :52:06. | ||
it around? Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you for coming and the dressing and | :52:06. | :52:10. | |
import -- important part of the issue. | :52:10. | :52:16. | |
In just 60 seconds, a political round-up. Shayne O'Connor begins | :52:16. | :52:26. | |
:52:26. | :52:26. | ||
his summing up with the sign of the On the breadline and going hungry | :52:26. | :52:31. | |
in Coventry, charity worker say one in five are living in poverty and | :52:31. | :52:34. | |
it will get worse if welfare reforms go through. | :52:34. | :52:37. | |
How many council workers does it take to mend a pothole? A small | :52:37. | :52:43. | |
army took to Staffordshire's roads as part of a �20 million programme | :52:43. | :52:47. | |
using money saved from closing back offices. We are doing it because | :52:47. | :52:53. | |
the public wanted. They want their roads back to a decent condition. | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
First did was Help For Heroes now it is Help For Heroes families. And | :52:58. | :53:01. | |
eight in bed centre is planned for Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth | :53:01. | :53:04. | |
Hospital so relatives of injured soldiers can spend more time with | :53:04. | :53:09. | |
their loved ones. Overseas aid a hit record levels at | :53:09. | :53:13. | |
Birmingham's Islamic charity after famine was declared in Somalia for | :53:13. | :53:18. | |
stop and financial pressures are being blamed for cuts in five | :53:18. | :53:21. | |
kidney dialysis centres but the firm running them has been accused | :53:21. | :53:28. | |
of putting profit before care. We know that the University | :53:28. | :53:32. | |
Hospital in Birmingham is in talks on that day Ellis's issue so maybe | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
there will be some further development on it. This will feel | :53:36. | :53:42. | |
like an NHS cut to those patients. A budgets have gone up in the NHS | :53:42. | :53:46. | |
this year but there were still more who need to use the services. In my | :53:46. | :53:50. | |
neck of the woods in Worcestershire, they are beginning to think about | :53:50. | :53:55. | |
how they can best structure care so it is delivered efficiency and in a | :53:55. | :54:01. | |
way that is focusing on the quality for patients. A small army of | :54:01. | :54:05. | |
people mending the pot holes in Staffordshire. This is a textbook | :54:05. | :54:09. | |
example of the government getting those efficiency savings out of the | :54:09. | :54:15. | |
back office and making use of it. Brilliant and I want to see more. | :54:15. | :54:20. | |
When it gets to elections, you are Overton voted in or out whether | :54:20. | :54:26. | |
bins are emptied, whether a pot holes are dealt with. The more we | :54:26. | :54:31. | |
deliver locally the more politics can X and I think all of the main | :54:31. | :54:36. | |
parties would want that and love that and we would see a reduction | :54:36. | :54:42. | |
in extremis that have been sadly elected to represent our -- us in | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
the European Parliament. A quick word from each, what are you all | :54:46. | :54:53. | |
getting up to in Europe next week? I hope I will be talking about a | :54:53. | :54:58. |