:01:45. > :01:49.In the Midlands: why farmers want to eat even more Eastern Europeans
:01:49. > :01:59.to work on the land. Will the Government allow more migrants in
:01:59. > :01:59.
:01:59. > :28:56.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1617 seconds
:28:57. > :29:00.to do the jobs Brits can't do or do Hello. After a week in which
:29:00. > :29:04.relations between the coalition partners appear to have reached a
:29:04. > :29:14.new low, we are joined by a Conservative government whip and by
:29:14. > :29:17.
:29:17. > :29:21.the chair of the Liberal Democrat MPs. Let's begin with your party's
:29:21. > :29:29.decision to break ranks with your coalition partners in that both
:29:29. > :29:35.last week on Jeremy Hunt. John Whittingdale says there will be
:29:35. > :29:42.repercussions from this, so you may live to regret that. I do not think
:29:42. > :29:48.so. 99 % of the time we work very well and very professionally with
:29:48. > :29:53.together. This was a attempt to make mischief on the Labour Party's
:29:53. > :30:01.behalf. But you abstained so you encouraged them Mr F. They are the
:30:01. > :30:06.ones who put this motion forward, but I want to emphasise, we are a
:30:06. > :30:10.coalition government so sometimes we have to break for things that
:30:10. > :30:17.are not necessarily our favourite thing and sometimes the Tories do
:30:17. > :30:22.that for us. Philip, this that fall within the bounds of a fair play?
:30:22. > :30:27.This was an opportunistic attempt by Labour to cause trouble and I do
:30:27. > :30:31.not think it will cause as much as they might have hoped. It was
:30:31. > :30:36.disappointing the Lib Dems decided to abstain but I do not think it
:30:36. > :30:42.will have lasting ramifications. About John Whittingdale talking
:30:42. > :30:49.about Tory unhappiness on Lords reform, is there a sense of what
:30:49. > :30:55.goes around comes around? I think in any coalition there is give and
:30:55. > :30:59.take, but on individual issues. As we get closer to the end of this
:30:59. > :31:05.Parliament, it is likely the party members will want to differentiate
:31:05. > :31:10.their positions on more things. thought for both of you on that. Is
:31:10. > :31:16.this in a way the Lib Dems putting a marker down with potential Labour
:31:16. > :31:20.partners with a view to the next election? Not at all. I just think
:31:20. > :31:24.that was a point of principle with us. It was not in the coalition
:31:24. > :31:29.agreement and that is why on this occasion we decided to abstain. He
:31:29. > :31:33.did not affect the result but it was a point that we wish to make.
:31:33. > :31:37.Do you think there is a concerning Tory party circles that the Lib
:31:37. > :31:42.Dems could be preparing something with Labour? I do not think so. We
:31:42. > :31:46.are working well together within the coalition. Coming up: the
:31:46. > :31:52.Worcestershire farmer he wants the government to allow more eastern
:31:52. > :31:57.European to come here to earn their corn. By the coachload, Romanian
:31:57. > :32:02.and Bulgarian pickers are but where are the Brits? Just too picky
:32:02. > :32:10.perhaps? First David Cameron's flagship localism agenda took a
:32:10. > :32:15.direct hit this week. From a parish council. There in the real world
:32:15. > :32:20.while MPs inhabit that parallel universe called Westminster, they
:32:20. > :32:25.say. The localism Act aims to make politics more open but one Parish
:32:25. > :32:31.Clerk says his refusal to sign up to new accountability rules could
:32:31. > :32:36.make him a criminal. For 40 years, they have been the
:32:36. > :32:39.guardians of community life from public footpath to village greens,
:32:39. > :32:45.the heartbeat of many communities but today life on a parish council
:32:45. > :32:49.is no better -- bed of roses. One grip this new codes of conduct are
:32:49. > :32:53.a step too far and could result in resignations, but what is there to
:32:53. > :32:57.hide? These are voluntary people who are doing good for the
:32:57. > :33:01.community. They are not in it for an ego trip or two and lots of
:33:01. > :33:05.money. The new legislation is designed to make local government
:33:05. > :33:09.more open giving power back to the people. But here they are comparing
:33:09. > :33:14.request to publish details of councillors financial affairs were
:33:14. > :33:18.something out of Germany's Third Reich. To opponents, all this seems
:33:18. > :33:22.like a contradiction of the Prime Minister's vision of a Big Society.
:33:22. > :33:26.Instead of encouraging communities, the fear here is a government
:33:26. > :33:32.wolves will result in fewer people wanting to have a say in potteries
:33:32. > :33:35.politics. A lot of people would be worried about standing in the first
:33:35. > :33:39.place and there is the possibility that people would consider
:33:39. > :33:42.resigning. In a statement, the Department for communities and
:33:42. > :33:48.local government told us the reforms were part of a drive to
:33:48. > :33:52.give the public greater openness about government at all levels. Not
:33:52. > :33:55.convinced, members of Whitbourne Parish Council have written to
:33:55. > :33:58.their Conservative MP for help saying they would rather go to
:33:58. > :34:03.prison than take part in bureaucratic games. Bureaucracy
:34:03. > :34:09.they say will deter others from getting involved and they question
:34:09. > :34:16.if the Government's new localism is more top-down and bottom up.
:34:16. > :34:21.Big Society or more like Big Brother? Philip, this is surely no
:34:21. > :34:26.way to encourage people to get involved in local government? You
:34:26. > :34:30.will put more people off. That report was using intemperate
:34:30. > :34:36.language to describe the localism Act proposals as something akin to
:34:36. > :34:42.what happened in Germany. I am afraid they miss understand what is
:34:42. > :34:46.happening. The standards, what we are dealing is changing at the
:34:46. > :34:49.requirements for local councillors to sign up to register their
:34:49. > :34:56.interest. We are reducing the scale of what they have to sign up to,
:34:56. > :35:00.making it less onus, making it easier for people to participate in
:35:00. > :35:04.local government. It is true we will give them the opportunity to
:35:04. > :35:09.have more responsibility, so we will look to encourage more people
:35:09. > :35:12.to get involved in local government but the idea that people are being
:35:12. > :35:18.subject to greater bureaucratic constraint for this proposal is
:35:18. > :35:23.wrong. Nevertheless, it does feel like an extra layer of red tape is
:35:23. > :35:32.being brought in to an area which has been rather informal and of the
:35:33. > :35:36.community. Maybe but people who represent people in a local area do
:35:36. > :35:42.have a responsibility to be transparent. There may be conflicts
:35:42. > :35:47.of interest, all we are seeking to do is make sure that there is that
:35:47. > :35:52.transparency there, that nobody can go forward and make decisions which
:35:52. > :35:58.could be a conflict with their own interests. Those comments were
:35:58. > :36:03.outrageous acts Mac we have talked to a parish councillor who says the
:36:03. > :36:07.consultation has been inadequate and there is a lot of confusion.
:36:07. > :36:14.think it may be the case that there has been a short interval between
:36:14. > :36:18.the regulations being published and coming into effect. But what is
:36:18. > :36:23.happening is under the old regime, it was a lot more subjective, the
:36:23. > :36:28.Test. One of the things you would have to declare is something which
:36:28. > :36:35.a member of the public might regard as giving rise to a conflict of
:36:35. > :36:39.interest. It is much -- becoming much more tightly defined. There is
:36:39. > :36:45.no great evidence of rampant corruption in parish councils, what
:36:45. > :36:50.is the need for this? The evidence may not be there but the perception
:36:50. > :36:54.may be there. I think it is very important that people in a local
:36:54. > :36:58.area can trust those people who represent them.
:36:58. > :37:02.Let's move on to our main talking point. A warning of possible
:37:02. > :37:06.through shortages if we do not allow more eastern European workers
:37:06. > :37:11.into a region which grows most of Britain's asparagus and a third of
:37:11. > :37:19.its blackcurrants, but with unemployment here at 9%, should it
:37:19. > :37:25.be British workers for British jobs?
:37:25. > :37:29.Hard-working, reliable and flexible. Just some of the qualities the
:37:29. > :37:39.owner of this farm the tributes to his army of Bulgarian and Romanian
:37:39. > :37:43.workers. Along with 21,000 others across the UK, these labourers are
:37:43. > :37:47.able to work up to six months in low-skilled farming jobs thanks to
:37:47. > :37:50.the seasonal agricultural worker scheme. It is a quota system
:37:50. > :37:54.designed to control the flow of immigrants from countries joining
:37:54. > :38:00.the EU while at the same time giving farmers access to winning
:38:00. > :38:09.the Labour. The money I make here in one week, I make in a month back
:38:09. > :38:14.home. In an hour, I learn what will take all day in Bulgaria. Out of
:38:14. > :38:19.140 workers here, only seven are British. The question is why?
:38:19. > :38:24.benefits system here does not encourage people to go out and work,
:38:24. > :38:30.whereas there is not such a benefit system in Romania and Bulgaria.
:38:30. > :38:33.Many of these individuals are highly qualified. It is not seen as
:38:33. > :38:38.a poor job to come and harvest crops in the fields because they
:38:38. > :38:43.are earning good money. It is a similar picture the miles up the
:38:43. > :38:47.road in this nursery where they harvest 150 million tomatoes every
:38:47. > :38:52.year. Hard-working they may be but there are 11,000 people in
:38:52. > :38:55.Worcestershire unemployed and 170,000 across the West Midlands.
:38:55. > :39:00.It has led one MP to call for these jobs are to be given to British
:39:00. > :39:07.workers. There are far more young people looking for work that we
:39:07. > :39:12.would like to see and I think these are solid jobs, a pal why -- what
:39:12. > :39:18.they pay well and I would like to see that staying in the UK. Why do
:39:18. > :39:24.farmers have to rely on foreigners? We went to a JobCentre to find out.
:39:24. > :39:30.Why should the likes of me work for a minimum wage when I am a skilled
:39:30. > :39:39.man? To many if moan about getting -- not getting a job. You apply for
:39:39. > :39:43.a job and it is so hard to get. 18 months' time, the government is
:39:43. > :39:46.lifting employment restrictions on the Romanian and Bulgarians,
:39:46. > :39:51.meaning they are free to apply for any job they wish. Leading
:39:51. > :39:56.employers like these less able to cherry-pick the best employees from
:39:57. > :40:01.Europe. We are also joined by a lecturer in
:40:02. > :40:06.industrial relations at the University of Birmingham. She is
:40:06. > :40:12.conducting a research project into fruit pickers in the Vale of
:40:12. > :40:16.Evesham. In your opinion, a wide is it, what is the explanation for so
:40:16. > :40:22.few British workers out on the fields? In part it is because they
:40:23. > :40:28.do not have the skills. You're having very talented people
:40:28. > :40:32.returning year after year to the farms and this is the other problem,
:40:32. > :40:37.that you are looking for a short period to employ period. The
:40:37. > :40:42.employment conditions are very good for workers but it is the Eastern
:40:42. > :40:46.European workers who are keener to come here. I have also heard it is
:40:46. > :40:51.the benefits system here which does not encourage people to go off
:40:51. > :41:01.benefits in order to take a temporary post. You do have this
:41:01. > :41:01.
:41:01. > :41:07.problem that it is seasonal, but you have the Peaks and the need to
:41:07. > :41:12.pick those fruits on time for the supply chain in terms of matching
:41:12. > :41:16.the supply needs of supermarkets who are very exacting. You have the
:41:16. > :41:21.peaks and troughs in terms of demand so it is going to be casual,
:41:21. > :41:25.temporary and you cannot come off benefits for short periods of time.
:41:25. > :41:30.You are saying the stereotype is unfair which suggests British
:41:30. > :41:34.workers have lost the ability to get up in the morning? I do not
:41:34. > :41:40.think it is bare but when you may only have worked for two days a
:41:40. > :41:45.week and if the supermarket puts on probation, there is no flexibility
:41:45. > :41:49.in the system for workers in that regard. Philip, you are a farmer
:41:49. > :41:57.yourself. Tell us about your experience of employing workers
:41:57. > :42:01.from Eastern Europe. Our farm has a potato enterprise but we have a 6-8
:42:01. > :42:06.week picking season in the autumn and it is the case that we seek to
:42:06. > :42:15.recruit local people and normally we have succeeded in recruiting
:42:15. > :42:19.about half of the team in the UK. But we have had teams from the
:42:19. > :42:23.Czech Republic come back repeatedly to ensure we have the capacity for
:42:23. > :42:28.this very limited season. difficulty which that Pharma is
:42:28. > :42:36.worrying about in the report is we could have a food shortage if we do
:42:36. > :42:42.not have a new scheme, or changes to the benefits system to free up
:42:42. > :42:47.this system. It from not be Macedonia because Croatia is the
:42:47. > :42:51.next country in succession but when the current scheme comes to the and,
:42:51. > :42:58.Romania and Bulgaria will be more freely accessible to come and work
:42:58. > :43:02.here to do whatever jobs they like. These are good points and what we
:43:02. > :43:10.are dealing as a government is bringing in a system where work
:43:10. > :43:15.will pay. It will never be cheaper or better to be sitting at home on
:43:15. > :43:18.benefits. It is called Universal credit, it is coming in surely, I
:43:18. > :43:23.am very excited about it and I am sure it or motivate a lot of
:43:23. > :43:29.British workers to take these kinds of jobs. They are hard work but
:43:29. > :43:35.people are willing to give it a go. On that, a couple of comments from
:43:35. > :43:41.my blog. One says, I do not understand what is up with young
:43:41. > :43:46.people. I worked on farms 20 years ago. It is a fair day's pay.
:43:47. > :43:51.Another says, he has been applying for work for over a year. There are
:43:51. > :43:57.people who want to work. Stop bashing British unemployed and help
:43:57. > :44:02.them get into these jobs. I am very positive about the apprenticeship
:44:02. > :44:06.schemes introduced. This is a great opportunity if you can have the
:44:06. > :44:11.opportunity to train. It is not an unskilled occupation working on
:44:11. > :44:16.farms. Some of the standards, planting and halve this, their
:44:16. > :44:21.skills to be learned. The queue are flexible and you have an apprentice
:44:21. > :44:26.scheme you can learn to develop in that industry. Is there a
:44:26. > :44:30.suggestion that maybe there is an exploitative relationship so far as
:44:30. > :44:35.the farmers and these eastern European workers are concerned?
:44:35. > :44:38.see no evidence of that. That does not apply to the long-standing
:44:38. > :44:44.relationships that most farmers have with the organisations that
:44:44. > :44:50.bring in workers from overseas. I think it does come down to the
:44:50. > :44:57.short duration of the role and the challenge for individuals coming
:44:57. > :45:01.off benefits and going into a short job. The introduction of universal
:45:01. > :45:05.credits should make it easier for British people to take these jobs.
:45:05. > :45:12.But Pharma Watkins once a new seasonal working scheme, will he
:45:12. > :45:21.get one? I do not know. He says we will pay a price with food
:45:21. > :45:28.shortages. Romania is the 7th, will be the 7th largest fully-fledged EU
:45:28. > :45:32.member in terms of population, so at the moment we are restricted to
:45:32. > :45:36.some 20,000 Romanian and Bulgarian succumbing to this country. One
:45:36. > :45:45.cities Open, it will be an opportunity for more to come here
:45:45. > :45:50.and do that work. Where do you see this going, Pamela? Certainly the
:45:50. > :45:55.pharmacy in this bail to depend on them and need them. What I would
:45:55. > :45:58.like to see from the research is that there needs to be better
:45:58. > :46:04.training, flexibility and bring in the local workforce and that will
:46:04. > :46:13.be really important. Now for our round-up of this political week in
:46:14. > :46:17.the Midlands in just 60 seconds. 10,000 people have now signed a
:46:17. > :46:22.petition to keep a landmark roundabout in Leek. It is due to go
:46:22. > :46:26.as part of changes to town-centre traffic plans but despite protests,
:46:26. > :46:30.the county council insists the roundabout is no place for a U-turn.
:46:30. > :46:35.Job prospects on the up according to the latest survey. Confidence
:46:35. > :46:40.has been boosted largely thanks to our growing car industry. Over the
:46:40. > :46:44.next few months we are looking to recruit even more, somewhere in the
:46:44. > :46:48.region of 20 % extra. Worcestershire looked set to lose
:46:48. > :46:53.one of its accident and emergency departments. Bosses be to save �50
:46:53. > :46:58.million. Work has begun on a new tram system
:46:58. > :47:01.for Birmingham city centre. The transport minister to control of
:47:01. > :47:06.the �127 million project. And some street lies in Shropshire
:47:06. > :47:10.are going off in the middle of the night to save money. 10 Midlands
:47:10. > :47:15.councils are living -- looking at similar measures or looking at
:47:15. > :47:19.cheaper technology to put their finances as well as their roads in
:47:20. > :47:24.the black. Welcome to the age of austerity.
:47:24. > :47:30.The lights are going out in Shropshire, Philip. Is this a new
:47:30. > :47:37.dark Ages? We have had a pilot in my constituency since last October
:47:37. > :47:44.and the evidence has been that crime has come down. The lights go
:47:44. > :47:49.off from midnight until 5:30am. There are not that many people out
:47:49. > :47:53.at that time. This is a wise and sensible move. It is being done in
:47:53. > :47:59.conjunction with the police and it is being rolled out across
:47:59. > :48:03.Shropshire from this month onwards. You are going over in Solihull to
:48:03. > :48:06.these new low-energy lighting systems. I am delighted we are
:48:06. > :48:13.doing that. It is good for tax payers and good for the planet as
:48:13. > :48:18.well. In the long term, you do not see the end of the wedge here
:48:18. > :48:22.getting darker all the time? why should it? We have a lot of
:48:22. > :48:28.ability in this country to use the energy we have got in a more
:48:29. > :48:35.effective way. Thank you both for being with us today. My thanks to