25/03/2012 Sunday Politics West Midlands

And in the Midlands: Too old to work but too young to

retire. As the state pension age keeps

going up and up and up, the challenges of longer careers facing

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1838 seconds

Good afternoon. Hello again from the Midlands. I'm Patrick Burns.

And joining me today. Laurence Robertson is the Conservative MP

for Tewkesbury. He's a former engineer and factory owner. And Ian

Austin is the Labour MP for Dudley North. He was a special advisor the

Chancellor for six of Gordon Brown's ten years at the Treasury.

At least you've got something to show for it. My bike? You are

talking... 30 seconds, 502 metres. I don't want to boast but I was

delighted! Feel free to boast. You go out on roads as well. Several

times a week. And part of a cycling club. By race bikes a bit, not very

well, but I love cycling. It's a great way to get around and it is a

great pastime. While on the subject of athleticism, you're on a

marathon man as well. You are going back a few years there. Any plans

for another marathon? I've done six. My last one was 1994 in New York.

That was tremendous. I do a bit of jogging but that is all. My

Marathon days are long gone. He got a thing about endurance events.

This five-year parliament in cahoots with Liberal Democrats. Do

you have the staying power as a man on the right of your power to stick

it out? I certainly have. I've got the staying power to last for five

years and hopefully longer than that as a Member of Parliament. We

are where we are. The electorate didn't give a clear signal to

anybody. The good of the country has to come first.

Coming up a little later: Never mind the granny tax. Could many of

us be great-grandparents before we can retire? Rethinking the ever-

lengthening careers of our ageing workforce.

But before that, our top story this week: the Budget. Higher personal

allowances to help lower earners. Easier borrowing for small firms.

And a battle royal over simplified planning rules to boost our

competitiveness. Or to give the developers a field-day. It had all

been heavily-leaked. Apart from the one explosive detail, with which

the granny tax budget may be forever associated, that cap on

pensioners' top-up tax allowances. And fuel duty will go up, as

planned, by 3p a litre. Not quite a Budget to remember,

unless you're a Warwickshire coach from hoping for help paying your

fuel bills. Here at Johnson's Coaches, they reckon they'll spend

�2 million on diesel this year, 20% more than they did last year.

are going to be put in �250,000 worth of more fuel into of vehicles

to do the same mileage this year. And in nearby Henley in Arden the

views weren't much different. disgusting. Everything is going up.

Astronomical. So what did other small businesses think of the

budget? This Warwick photocopier firm was also looking for help

after public spending cuts have meant fewer contracts. Here, some

encouraging signs. The thing I'm most enthusiastic about his the

government promising that they will reduce red tape. But will less

bureaucracy really help the fitness of the economy? At this gym their

more interested in tax cuts giving people more disposable income.

allowances are going up. People will feel they have more money to

spend which will be good for places like this. But despite the

optimisms, this week there's also been a reminding of just how

fragile things still are. With new research suggesting insolvencies in

some parts of the Black Country are amongst the highest in the UK.

Sometimes you cannot get credit because they are risk-averse.

Ultimately it's hoped that the Budget and measures to encourage

more bank lending will help keep the wheels of industry moving. We

are also joined today by Andy Street, the managing director of

the John Lewis chain of department stores. But also the chairman of

the Local Enterprise Partnership but covers the West Midlands. We

have to mention that because we see all lorries going up and down the

country. This is something... a biggish if all businesses and we

recognise this. The next person to join our borders the managing

director of National Express so why am sure he will be ferocious on the

subject. In the longer term, what we have to do is deal with the

transport infrastructure in the region to take people off road so

that we've got a public -- better public transport system. On Budget

day, the Treasury went out of the way to trumpet the �74 million

growing places fund which they say is going to help around the West

Midlands. This sort of money is a drop in the ocean in comparison

above the sort of sums we were talking about previously. It is and

I'm not going to say that is the difference that we are going to

make. Let me explain what that money is for. That is all about

kick-starting projects that are ready and have stalled. Let's not

be ungrateful for that. It is useful for projects on the ground.

But far more importantly than that, what we have to do is look at the

underlying competitiveness of the economy. Can do business department

help address those broader questions? I think a good example

of how this is working at the moment, and we had an announcement

from Vince Cable last Friday which was about... It was conceived of

life or organisations across the country, has been taken national

and is about giving money to potential supply chain companies,

particularly the automotive industry. That is exactly the sort

of help for business that I've heard you pleading for for some

time now. This government is this enforced I welcome anything that is

going to get the economy moving and will create jobs in the West

Midlands but the truth about this Budget when you look at it, the

Government's own figures don't show growth, they have not increased

their growth forecasts. There are forecasting 0.8 % for this year and

last year they forecast 2.5 %. Growth has stalled. Growth is

moving ahead in places like America and Germany. Your policies are

contributing to that stalling of growth. No, I think the growth

figures are more optimistic, especially as we go for the next

two or three years but the government is focusing on helping

businesses. We've had a little bit about how they are helping. Why are

there so many insolvencies in the Black Country? Because of the

situation we are facing. Look at Greece, Spain, Ireland. The cut

their terrible problems. We are not going into recession. The important

thing is we have the sustained recovery. It got to welcome looking

at... Personal allowances are going to take those with low incomes at

of tax. You must welcome that. course. It's a good thing. If

people are paying less tax, that's a good thing. Lower-income families

are paying more... Middle income families are losing tax credits. We

are seeing tax cuts for those earning �1 million per year. This

cannot be the right time for that. The budget set the scene for a

battle royal over this national planning policy framework which is

designed to improve competitiveness but is it a developer's Charter?

Would it be a free for all? I don't believe so. We are still waiting to

see the detail. It will be published on Tuesday but our belief

is that it will have listened to the requirements of business to

make a positive response to planning applications the norm. But

then there are safeguards to protect green belt and town centres.

What do you say to those, particularly in rural areas who

were worried about the green belt? One of my main motivations of

coming into politics was to protect the countryside and the green belt

so why wouldn't support anything that I felt threatened it. This is

about simplification. The planning rules at the moment are

unbelievably complicated. I don't know how many volumes there are of

them. This is about simplifying it. There may be certain things which

do need adjusting as Figure 1 but the important thing is to simplify

the whole process. The other thing is to scrap the regional spacial

strategy where a regional approach to his -- to planning was taken and

that was deeply unpopular. A final word on that from you. We have to

simplify the planning system but we need an urgent plan for growth to

get the economy moving. My thanks to all for being with us today.

Hang onto your supermarket trolleys, Tesco are looking at raising their

staff retirement age from 65 to 67. And they won't be alone. By October

2020, the state pension age will be 66. By 2046, it will be 68. We are

living and working longer. So Cath Mackie has been finding out how we

need to rethink the way we cope with extended careers and later

retirement. Representing Russia, it's the

Buranova Grannies. And for the UK, the 75-year-old crooner Engelbert

Humperdinck. Well, we are all having to work longer and these

Eurovision hopefuls clock up almost 500 years between them. Over in

Wasall at the ironmonger manufacturer Kirkpatrick older

staff show they too still have much to offer. I'm a 62. By have three

years to go. I look after myself. I'm 71 and I enjoy my job, that is

why I come to work. Around 90 people work here. Older people tend

to be more reliable in terms of turning up for work and they have

experience of the job. If they have started when they were 20 years old,

they have got 20 years' experience. Our image of older people is

evolving. When I was a kid anyone over 60 seemed to look like this.

Now they can look like this. So is it time to rethink retirement? But

more importantly, can we afford not to? When the state pension was

introduced in 1909, there were around 22 working people for every

retiree. By 2020 it's predicted that will have fallen to just 3.5

working people to every person of state pension age. People who half

a lifetime in business have got a lot to offer and almost a

responsibility to try to put back particularly in supporting the

younger generation. His company specialises in helping people of

any age make the most of what they have to offer. But our employers

ready to face the challenges of an ageing workforce? I don't think

they got to grips with this yet but I think it is a timebomb that will

hit them because soon... In 2020, 36 % of the workforce is going to

be over 50! Some employers will employ people my age because they

understand how we work. A lot of the new, up and you coming young

lads who are opening up firms, they have never had any real dealings

with guys my age and what he can achieve. Age UK claim that many

older workers experienced age discrimination. Retirement experts

say we are facing a social revolution and mustard up. And as

for Eurovision, sorry, Hump, but my money's on the babushkas. There is

hope for us all! I am pleased to say that since she completed that

report, Tony Levey has found a job at a local school. Well done. Maybe

you will encourage thousands of others who have not been quite so

successful yet. Looking at that film, you get a picture of a

society that is shockingly and prepared for this. During your time

in government, Gordon Brown's raid on the pension funds didn't help.

It's a ropy inheritance. That's not true because those changes were

offset by corporation tax cuts. Everybody agrees people will have

to work longer but how do we manage that? And how do we afforded?

government has a crude way of looking at this. The government has

put in the retirement age up but you have to look at the sort of

jobs people are doing. At 71 year- old woman was doing back-breaking

work which is a different job to one like mine or somebody working

in an office. You've worked in industry see you know how people's

careers can evolve and their attitudes change over time. They do.

This has been a ticking timebomb for many years. To be honest, no

government has done anything about it. We have not all of a sudden

started to live longer. This has been coming for many years.

Governments of all persuasions have failed to tackle this. We cannot

put it off any longer. We are also starting work later. We used to

start work at 14. People's often don't start work until 22 which is

how we end up with the figures. is a challenge for all of us. But

be raised with the way, and that has arisen as a result of my block

this week. The reason in a number of the factory workers took up the

offer of state-owned pensions is because most people realise what a,

they are. If it is not the Government changing the goalposts,

it's the possibility the employee will raid for funds. Pensions are

worthless! What do you say to that? We've all got to make proper

provision for our retirement. The other interesting thing I picked up

on was the age profile of the workforce. You see lots of people

in the 50s and coming up to retirement and there is a challenge

about how we are encouraging people to think about careers in

manufacturing. There are good, strong solid careers in these areas.

On the evidence so far, most debar not making the sort of provision

Ian is talking about. -- Most people are not making. Older people

are reliable, turn up for work every day and so on. There is a

blockage of career opportunities for younger people. I don't think

so. Better off older people put more money back into the economy. I

don't agree that by retiring people you boost the economy, you don't.

The fundamental for you guys is that it is for the electorate

decide who you -- when you retire! We haven't got a job for life. We

are right there all the time tried in people's trust. People know that

changes have to be made and we you put that to them. I'm sure they

will respond in the right way. Now to our regular round-up of the

political week in the Midlands in just 60 seconds.

14-year-old Matthew Clarke from Shropshire was one of 800 Olympic

torch bearers announced for the Midlands this week. It's hoped the

relay will generate millions for tourism. Gypsies living in Meriden

went to the High Court to try and overturn a ruling they're on their

site illegally. The embattled Cannock MP Aiden Burley introduced

a bill to get heavier motorised wheelchairs allowed onto pavements,

so disabled children can use the latest technology. The Road Traffic

Act categorises technologically advanced wheelchairs as cars which

can only be driven legally by over 17 to hold a driving licence.

is the shared space scheme in Coventry where traffic lights have

been removed to improve the flow of cars. But campaigners in Leek want

a public enquiry before they agree to having one too. And

controversial plans for a �22 million wind farm near the

Stiperstones are under now review. Two of the landowners have pulled

out of the scheme. Sustainable energy, it's the sort

of thing everybody signs up to in principle but in practice, not in

my backyard! We've got to decide which sort of energy you want. Wind

farms are intermittent. They don't produce energy when the wind is not

blowing. Whether they are worth an investment, I'm not sure. There are

better systems than wind farms. They are supposedly... Are you

going cool on the environment? think they were surprised that the

initial take-up of that scheme but I think solar power has a big

future. The sun is there and provides a lot of energy. We can

use it from more than we do. We are nowhere where we need to be.

cycle which is good for the environment. What more can

politicians do to give a lead? think we have to seize this. The

low carbon economy is going to create many well-paid jobs over the

next few decades and if we make the right decisions now, we can make

sure we bring those jobs to areas like mine and the Black Country

that are crying out for well-paid, high-skill jobs for the future. I'm

excited about this. The company in my constituency produces Barings

That's all from us. My thanks to Laurence Robertson and Ian Austin.