12/02/2012 Sunday Politics West Midlands

In the Midlands: tracking down at the true impact of the hunting ban.

It was 2000 and fauna became illegal, hammy people have broken

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1717 seconds

the law since then? -- how many 2004 who is going to be the cunning

fox here, Martin Horwood is the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham.

You were environment spokesman for your party. Over the past few days,

we have heard that the tariffs for people putting solar equipment on

their houses is going to be reduced by half. The Conservatives are

arguing for big cuts. That is nonsense. The tariffs were

being reduced anyway. The cost of the solar panels was reducing. What

the government are committed to doing is having a system which is

more sensitive for the price of the solar panel, so you don't have the

sudden drops, of whatever degree, and we have a system that is more

sensitive for the actual cost. are a former committee secretary,

George Osborne said we must tackle this anti- business culture feeling.

Surely Cardow both ways? understand that we need to bring

private investment into the country. It is only going to be private

investors that are going to get us out of this mess. We need to

declare on that. We need to be tough on the banks, but also fair.

I don't think we should be getting too far involved in trying to tell

people how to run their companies. That has sharpened things up a bit.

Our top story: the crisis in the High Street. Some of the biggest a

vacancy rates are in a stoker and Walhampton. They are sharing a big

regeneration fund. Is that enough to restore the fortunes?

The government's shops the guru, Mary Portas, on a recent visit to

Birmingham. There is very little she doesn't know about running

shops on the High Street. She has tried to find ways of reinventing

them. I am looking at issues that are facing retailers. It is not an

easy task. In this region, the worsted -- the worst affected is in

the Black Country. The figures are: the alternative is to go for

something of a higher brim. It is forcing some retailers to go

online instead. People are finding the on line, because they are

looking for something specific. I may as well not be on the High

Street. My outgoings, purely for keeping this shop going, are very

high. For those that remain, the recession has been tough. Many

shops are going out of business, independent shops are hardest hit.

We're getting some good deals with suppliers, we need to latch on to

that. With retail sales falling last month, the crisis in the High

Street is not getting better. At least, there is now a recognition

that something is to be done to to affect their survival.

Councils in the Midlands say they are definitely bidding for that

funding. Karen, Redditch is a suitable case for treatment, it is

a drop in the bucket. Just �80,000 for each of these places, just a

lick of paint? I see it as a starting point. We need to get to

the end of this game. There are a lot of councils that are bidding

forehead. If it was just a drop in the ocean, they would not bother

bidding. We need to make sure that the regenerate the town.

minister says it is a golden tickets, come off its! There is a

major problem, and this is a cosmetic gimmick. It is a major

problem. People will always go to out-of-town shops, they will always

use the internet. We need to regenerate our high street. It

needs to be a more community culture, cafes, if people coming

into the town and doing things they want to do. That is not happening

at the moment. We are seeing a place without RMT shops. That needs

to change, we need to regenerated. -- a place with boarded up shops.

There are so much money been withdrawn from the economy, there

is no spending power left. People are spending. It is the pattern of

spending. One of the things that Mary Portas pointed out, is that

councils have the powers already to support local businesses, but they

are not always doing it. For the impression of Conservatives being

pro-business, it is the Conservative council that is

damaging businesses in Cheltenham by putting up parking. There are

out-of-town developments which could damage the High Street.

thing the government could do is reversed the hike on VAT. That was

a particularly difficult one for your party to stomach? We are not

great fans of VAT. We prefer income tax. Not many retailers would say

that VAT is the crucial issue. The coalition has spent a lot of effort

sorting out the mess from the last government. Your coalition partner

is not still very happy about VAT, and the effects that it dampens

demand? We all knew, when we came into power, that there was a

serious problem. We have to address that. -- we had to address that. If

we have had to make some difficult decisions. There are issues about

parking, parking cars, his will be difficult to make it an attractive

proposition? It is there to be done. In Redditch, we are seeing the

council tried to make the High Street attractive, we need to get

investors in, if to make it a community place. Thank you very

much. Let's move on. The Sunday Politics investigation has revealed

that only one prosecution has been made under the Hunting Act since it

has been brought into force four years ago. This was a Freedom of

Information request. Warwickshire's Boxing Day hunt, the

biggest date in the hunting calendar. It might not look like

anything has changed, but these pounds are following a pre- laid a

trail, rather than closing in on a fox. Seven years ago, the Hunting

Act made it illegal to hunt wild animals using dogs. This was their

MP pave the way with his private member's bill. Parliament was

invaded by protesters, but eventually it became law. I have

certified the hunting Bill. At the time there were serious fears that

the ban would cause lasting damage to the country economy. Reports

have shown that hunting is more popular now than when the ban was

introduced. About 45,000 people hunt in the UK, that is up by

around topper cent. -- 12%. If hunting is more popular, why bother

with the boat? We want to get back to how we were before. I'm

confident that when the time is right they will do it. MPs will see

that this law is a complete waste of time. They will repeal it.

have been more than 180 convictions under the Hunting Act since 2005.

There has only been one prosecution, he when Warwickshire, back in 2006.

It was not for fox hunting, it was for hare-coursing. Campaigners

insist that the law is working. are very happy with the law. If you

look at the number of convictions, it proves that it is working. We

continue to campaign, and work with police forces to provide

enforcement, add to help capture evidence. -- and to help capture.

The coalition are promised a fee -- the coalition has promised a free

vote on the act, but does the coalition won this to be an issue

when the country is facing a serious crisis. The rusty

prioritise something that is not a top priority -- for us to

prioritise something., that is wrong. Is very serious political

will to pursue this? -- is there. Joining us his Jim Barrington, he

is a former director of the League Against Cruel Sports. He has now

changed his mind, and his looking towards re legalising hunting.

I have kept my eye on animal welfare, and it is fairly simple

that this act is not doing anything to help animal-welfare. Judges,

police, even Tony Blair, if you look at it it is a rubbish piece of

legislation. They should be repealed. You're looking at more

effective legislation. What would that be? Every law should start

with a principle. The principle should be stopping suffering to any

mammal, but you cannot leap and say, let ban hunting, and everything

will be fine. -- let's ban hunting. You are an animal welfare experts,

but many people say it is just crawl. -- it is very cruel.

You oppose hunting. Have you changed your mind? Not out off. The

idea that Parliament would reopen that divisive debate when we had

more important things to talk about. The law is an ass. Opponents of the

hunting ban said this would have an apocalyptic affect on the

countryside, all about social activity would disappear, and this

would cause unemployment and ravage the ruler -- the rural economy.

That is nonsense. Where you stand on this? I would. I take the view

that Jim takes. People out there in the country would be horrified if

before the bad Breen that at the moment. -- if we thought about

bring that back at the moment. There are many more important

things on the cards. 80% of people in the public reportedly support

the Bill. Someone who has written into our

says that it needs its loopholes in -- loopholes works on. Someone else

said it was a bad law, and should be taken off the statute. It is

culturally divisive, and unenforceable. What we make of

that? The they had decade to get this right. They still got it wrong.

Millions of pounds was spent getting is on the statute, millions

more have been spent in the courts, and not one penny has been spent to

see what the effect is on animal welfare. If you are genuinely

opposed to hunting and cruelty, you should be prepared to see what

result this law has done. I'm all for spending money on research. But

we don't normally abandon laws that we can't get to work absolutely

perfectly. Many laws have taken a decade to get right, if battle, if

that doesn't mean you should just give up and repeal them. That is

the argument we are hearing. Conservative Party would give a

free vote. We are not even two ears into the parliament. At the end of

the day, as we have said earlier, there are far more pressing matters.

Do you expect a go at any time soon? No. -- de you expect a boat

any time soon. A I don't think it is a priority. We are struggling to

get more important part of the agreement through. We have a log

jam of legislation out there. don't think any of our constituents

would be wanting that. What you think would be the effect of a free

vote? It is very tight. It is a simple fact. Now is not the time to

do it. This issue will not go away, there are people who feel that this

debate, the scientific evidence, and their own opinions has been

brushed aside. Let's go back to principles, let had a law that

protects animals. Thank you very much. Time for our headlong gallop

into the political minefield. Just over 60 seconds.

It may have been be me on the weather front, but the long-term

outlook for Birmingham Airport is bright. Justine Greening has backed

expansion, which could take passengers away from London. In the

time that it might take them to pop on the Piccadilly line, they might

be able to head on high-speed away to Birmingham -- high-speed rail to

Birmingham. Not any museum has had a makeover by London 2012. --

Nottingham easier. The Chief Constable of Midlands police has

admitted that some frontline staff are being used to cover office jobs

on a temporary basis. At a homeless charity in Birmingham has warned

that changes to housing benefits could push some people out of their

homes. Four men from Stoke had been given a lengthy jail terms for

plotting terror attacks. Those young men radicalised in this

country, meantime, Abu Qatada remains in Long Lartin prison. Not

for much longer, apparently. This is an area of huge concern for the

public, and yet politicians, collectively, seemed to be able to

do nothing. -- see me to be able to do nothing. We are trying to do

something. I firmly believe that we should be supporting this gentleman.

We should be put him back on a plane. I'm not sure about the port

in people. Maybe it is better to keep them in this country and keep

an eye on them. The reason we did the poor to some countries, and why

the European Court has made the rolling, is because some countries

practise torture. -- has made a ruling. We should not be colluding

in legal systems that use torture. Also in the round-up, Birmingham

Airport, it is a huge part of the aviation strategy. I am hoping, I

push for the airport at every opportunity, I used it very often,

I'm a big fan of high-speed rail, it is going to be just as quick to

get to Birmingham. Good news for Birmingham. Better here than London.

We need to stop the air habit. interesting debate between the