:01:26. > :01:29.In the Midlands, a distinct local flavour from the Conservative party
:01:29. > :01:33.conference in Birmingham. Why our part of the country is so
:01:33. > :01:43.vital for the largest of those 'three parties of government'.
:01:43. > :01:43.
:01:43. > :37:14.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2131 seconds
:37:15. > :37:17.Hello once again from the Midlands. I'm Patrick Burns. As Conservatives
:37:18. > :37:20.arrive in Birmingham, many of them via the West Coast Mainline, let's
:37:20. > :37:23.talk first about that train crash on the franchise contest. We're
:37:23. > :37:26.joined by Jeremy Wright, Conservative MP for Kenilworth and
:37:26. > :37:28.Southam and now a Justice Minister, and Adrian Bailey, Labour MP for
:37:28. > :37:38.West Bromwich West, the chairman of the Commons Business Select
:37:38. > :37:40.
:37:40. > :37:47.Committee. Jeremy, it does take something to produce a U-turn on a
:37:47. > :37:51.railway line. Well, it's not a U- turn. There been some serious
:37:51. > :37:55.mistakes made and they should not have happened. But if you find
:37:55. > :38:00.yourself in that situation, you ought to own up, apologise and make
:38:00. > :38:04.sure it does not happen again. That is what the Transport Secretary is
:38:04. > :38:09.doing. And the politicians have handled it responsibly, haven't
:38:09. > :38:13.they? Really, this was a technical mistake by the civil servants.
:38:13. > :38:19.is what they have to find out. When things go right, the government
:38:19. > :38:24.claims the credit, when they go wrong, they blame the Civil Service.
:38:24. > :38:28.We need an independent inquiry to work out exactly what went wrong
:38:28. > :38:33.and where the balance of responsibility lies. I'm not
:38:33. > :38:37.satisfied that what the minister is doing at the moment, appointing
:38:37. > :38:43.someone from the Department of Transport, is going to deliver on
:38:43. > :38:46.the independence of that inquiry. Politicians of all persuasions Ken
:38:46. > :38:52.-- struggled to come to terms with this astonishing development. The
:38:52. > :38:58.one thing they could agree on was that this situation is one of
:38:58. > :39:01.supreme confusion. It was my expectation that the department
:39:01. > :39:11.would have given this the bowl first and most appropriate scrutiny.
:39:11. > :39:13.
:39:13. > :39:20.We now learn that is not the case and that is very disappointing.
:39:20. > :39:28.worrying thing is, if they make these mistakes, who is to say they
:39:28. > :39:31.get things right in future? Sir, Jeremy, how do you answer the point
:39:31. > :39:38.that this investigation needs to be sufficiently independent to rebuild
:39:38. > :39:42.confidence? Well, there will be two inquiries. The first will deal with
:39:42. > :39:47.what went on in the department. Although a non-executive directors
:39:47. > :39:51.of big department will be involved, independent people will be involved
:39:51. > :39:54.as well. The second report will look at whether or not there are
:39:54. > :40:00.lessons to be learnt for the wider franchising process. That will be
:40:00. > :40:05.conducted by somebody not associated with the department.
:40:05. > :40:11.Some in your party, Adrian, I talking about the renationalisation
:40:11. > :40:21.of rail. Are you one of them? all, can I just deal with the.
:40:21. > :40:30.
:40:30. > :40:33.Jeremy made? -- the point Jeremy made? The situation is that the
:40:33. > :40:42.government and the rail companies between them have created a
:40:42. > :40:46.situation where nothing should be rolled out.
:40:46. > :40:48.Coming up, we'll hear why there is so much at stake for the
:40:48. > :40:51.Conservatives in Birmingham this week, especially when you realise
:40:51. > :40:58.Ed Miliband has been to the city seven times in the last six months.
:40:58. > :41:01.Has he turned it into Labour's own home town?
:41:01. > :41:06.So no shortage of challenges awaiting David Cameron here in the
:41:06. > :41:08.Midlands. I questioned him about some of them as he prepared for a
:41:08. > :41:12.conference which he hopes will put his party's recent setbacks behind
:41:12. > :41:14.them, and put a dent into Labour's lead in the polls. Earlier this
:41:14. > :41:22.morning, I sampled the atmosphere, just round the corner at the
:41:23. > :41:28.convention centre, as the final preparations were put in place.
:41:28. > :41:32.Lights, camera, action. Actually, to be honest, there is a slightly
:41:32. > :41:36.Sunday-morning feel here, but gradually, the picture starts to
:41:36. > :41:42.emerge. The first thing that strikes you is the real emphasis on
:41:42. > :41:46.the great public services - health, education, welfare. Areas which
:41:46. > :41:50.Tory strategists increasingly feel cut more mustard with the
:41:51. > :41:58.electorate than other areas like, say, reform of the House of Lords
:41:58. > :42:04.or gay marriage. The overarching theme of this entire conference is
:42:05. > :42:06.that Britain can deliver. When the Conservatives first came year in
:42:06. > :42:16.2000 and date, they were entertaining serious hopes of
:42:16. > :42:19.
:42:19. > :42:29.winning the general election. -- in 2008. Tim Willcox years later, they
:42:29. > :42:29.
:42:29. > :42:37.were in a coalition. -- two years later. Tonight, we will have a
:42:37. > :42:44.Labour leader and a torrid -- Tory Cabinet Minister. Transport is a
:42:44. > :42:50.very big issue here. As the Prime Minister prepares for his party
:42:50. > :42:53.conference, I join him in Downing Street. We began, inevitably, with
:42:53. > :42:59.the U-turn on the West Coast Main Line franchise. I'm extremely sorry
:42:59. > :43:02.this has happened. I'm also very angry about it. We now need to sort
:43:02. > :43:08.this out and get the bottom of what went wrong and hold those
:43:08. > :43:12.responsible. It seems it was a technical error in the department.
:43:12. > :43:17.I am personally angry about this, because I asked the party secretary
:43:17. > :43:20.to look into this decision. But we did not uncover the technical
:43:20. > :43:24.failings in the department. There will now be a proper review to get
:43:24. > :43:28.that done, but in the meantime it is right to stop these franchises
:43:28. > :43:31.going ahead. Opponents of the high- speed rail project see this as a
:43:31. > :43:37.reason why the business case for that as well should also be
:43:37. > :43:44.evaluated. I think that is a totally separate case. High-speed
:43:44. > :43:48.rail does have a very strong economic case. Be case for linking
:43:48. > :43:52.London and Birmingham is extremely strong. Of course those opposed to
:43:52. > :43:55.the scheme will use anything they can to stop it from happening.
:43:55. > :44:00.There's even been speculation some of your senior Cabinet colleagues
:44:00. > :44:04.want to kill it off. Now, we are committed to it. It is an important
:44:04. > :44:09.piece of infrastructure. And it is just the beginning of a network
:44:09. > :44:13.that will link London to Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Scotland.
:44:13. > :44:18.we move on to the wider question of the economy? There is lots to
:44:18. > :44:26.celebrate in a part of the country. Parts of Birmingham, East should
:44:26. > :44:34.Derbyshire are creating jobs as fast as anywhere in the UK. -- East
:44:34. > :44:39.Staffordshire. But it is not even. And your policies do not seem to be
:44:39. > :44:43.addressing that. You are right to say there are some good news. We
:44:43. > :44:48.have created a million net jobs in the last two years. We are making
:44:48. > :44:53.more things, selling more things. Jaguar Land Rover is a classic
:44:53. > :44:56.example of that. The work programme specifically seeks out those people
:44:56. > :45:05.will have not just become unemployed recently, but people who
:45:05. > :45:09.have been an -- unemployed for years and decades. And we are
:45:09. > :45:12.paying companies to train those people and get them into work. We
:45:13. > :45:18.are spending thousands of pounds per person to get them into long-
:45:18. > :45:22.term work. This is a very important part of tackling deeply entrenched
:45:22. > :45:27.poverty in our society. We now know Andrew Mitchell not be coming to
:45:27. > :45:33.the conference in Birmingham, his home city. Why does he continue to
:45:33. > :45:38.enjoy your conference -- confidence? It is right it he
:45:38. > :45:44.apologist -- apologised for what he did. But I think we should leave it
:45:44. > :45:49.that. The police are not taking further action. We have a very
:45:49. > :45:54.strong presence in Birmingham. I will work with whoever is in power,
:45:54. > :46:00.that is what Prime Ministers should do. I had all of the Birmingham
:46:00. > :46:06.City fathers and every baby in my office to talk about how we did the
:46:06. > :46:09.right thing for Birmingham. The city deal we have done means there
:46:09. > :46:14.will be jobs, investment. The government is pouring investment
:46:14. > :46:20.into Birmingham, not least the upgrade of the station. David
:46:20. > :46:23.Cameron, who, incidentally, came here by car, not on the west coast
:46:23. > :46:30.main line, completing the last of my interviews with the four main
:46:30. > :46:35.party leaders. I thought he spoke with some
:46:35. > :46:39.passion about the Work Programme and the Investment in every single
:46:39. > :46:44.unemployed person, and his determination to root out long-term
:46:44. > :46:49.poverty. Well, it is one thing to talk with passion about it, it is
:46:49. > :46:53.another thing to do something. From the perspective of Black Country
:46:54. > :47:00.business, yes, countries -- companies like Jaguar and Rover are
:47:00. > :47:05.doing very well and there is huge potential there. But the problems I
:47:05. > :47:09.am getting from Black Country business is that after two-and-a-
:47:09. > :47:12.half years, they still cannot access the loans they need from the
:47:12. > :47:18.banks to maximise the business opportunities that are represented
:47:18. > :47:22.by that. And there is still a gap in skills. The government talks the
:47:22. > :47:25.talk about apprenticeships, but too many are in the retailing sector
:47:25. > :47:31.when we want young people with engineering qualifications in those
:47:31. > :47:34.local businesses. Jeremy Wright. Well, in relation to loan
:47:34. > :47:38.guarantees, the government is doing a great deal to make that money
:47:38. > :47:42.available. But Adrian talks about skills. They are also hugely
:47:42. > :47:47.important. We want to see more apprenticeships based in the
:47:47. > :47:53.workplace, not just the classroom. WHO, the record of success of this
:47:53. > :47:58.government has been remarkable. We have 177,000 more apprenticeships
:47:58. > :48:04.beginning then Adrian's government managed. That is a 66% increase. So
:48:04. > :48:08.yes, we need more skills, but that is what we're doing. Companies like
:48:08. > :48:16.Jaguar benefit from that, but also a smaller manufacturing governed
:48:16. > :48:22.the -- companies. You represent a Warwickshire constituency. High-
:48:22. > :48:26.speed rail is very controversial there. But the government is in
:48:26. > :48:31.full support, it is the tricky bind the UK. Well, we have discussed
:48:31. > :48:35.this before. I have my doubts about the scheme. There is a good case
:48:35. > :48:42.for high-speed rail and this is an extensive network that we are
:48:42. > :48:45.planned. It is not just between UK cities, but with European high-
:48:45. > :48:49.speed networks as well. But we need to make sure the details of the
:48:49. > :48:56.business case a right and I don't think we are they get. A final word
:48:56. > :49:03.on this, a drink - do you think this multi-party coalition could be
:49:03. > :49:09.getting flaky on the scheme? Obviously there is a separate
:49:09. > :49:13.business case which underpins the franchise process. First of all, we
:49:13. > :49:23.meet a full and forensic inquiry into the van tries business to see
:49:23. > :49:26.
:49:26. > :49:28.how that will affect high-speed rail. -- the franchise business.
:49:28. > :49:31.The Conservative conference has come to Birmingham for three of
:49:31. > :49:34.last five years. The Midlands is a political battlefield, where
:49:34. > :49:37.general elections are won and lost, Prime Ministers, made and broken.
:49:37. > :49:40.Is that why the Labour leader Ed Miliband has been to Birmingham
:49:40. > :49:42.seven times in the last six months? The Tories intend to start
:49:42. > :49:46.recapturing lost ground this week. Our political reporter explains why
:49:46. > :49:49.voters in our part of the country matter so much.
:49:49. > :49:51.At conference in Birmingham this week, the Conservatives are about
:49:51. > :49:55.winning hearts and minds. Since Worcester woman won it for
:49:55. > :49:58.Tony Blair in 1997, the region has played a pivotal role in deciding
:49:58. > :50:01.who gets the keys to Number 10. Something not lost on the current
:50:01. > :50:09.Labour leader, who has been popping up in the second city with
:50:09. > :50:13.surprising regularity. I am applauding what has happened in
:50:13. > :50:17.Birmingham. We took control of the council and is is doing a great job
:50:17. > :50:24.showing they can make a practical difference. Of course, the West
:50:24. > :50:27.Midlands is a key battleground area. Incredibly important, and currently
:50:27. > :50:34.awash with blue for the Tory party conference. I took a barge trip
:50:34. > :50:41.past the conference venue with a local political expert. This is the
:50:41. > :50:46.deciding reading in any general election. You will see both the
:50:46. > :50:50.major parties fighting really hard here. Ed Miliband is obviously
:50:50. > :50:55.keenly aware of that. He has visited the region so many times.
:50:55. > :50:59.But how has the party actually doing here? Obviously we had a good
:50:59. > :51:04.performance by Labour in the May local government elections where
:51:04. > :51:09.there was a surge of 12%. The issue for West Midlands boaters will be
:51:09. > :51:19.jobs, jobs and jobs. The unemployment rates have gone up
:51:19. > :51:21.
:51:21. > :51:27.must faster -- much faster than in the rest of the UK here. -- West
:51:27. > :51:30.Midlands voters. Labour currently have a lead in the
:51:30. > :51:34.polls of between 8 and 12%, and the Conservatives know they have to
:51:34. > :51:36.make a big push here in this region if they're to win at the next
:51:36. > :51:39.general election. MP and former pollster Nadim Zahawi
:51:39. > :51:46.says to do that the Conservatives must convince people they're on
:51:46. > :51:52.their side. We are the party fighting to make sure we balance
:51:52. > :51:56.the books. We still have a massive debt burden. It is enormous and we
:51:56. > :51:58.are having to deal with it whilst doing all right things like
:51:58. > :52:06.investing in infrastructure and business and making sure that
:52:06. > :52:12.health, wealth -- welfare and education on run properly.
:52:12. > :52:15.Acclaimed from conference banners, it is the theme of the week. We'll
:52:15. > :52:17.have to wait to see whether Midlands voters are convinced the
:52:17. > :52:20.Conservatives can deliver at the next general election.
:52:21. > :52:23.And we are also joined here today by Nick Seddon, deputy director of
:52:23. > :52:27.the centre-right think tank Reform, which has links to, but is
:52:27. > :52:30.independent of, the Conservative Party. Nick grew up in Birmingham
:52:31. > :52:39.and went to King Edwards Camp Hill School in Kings Heath. He is back
:52:39. > :52:45.in his home town for the conference. Welcome back. We talk about this
:52:45. > :52:48.region as an electrical battlefield. From a reforms point of view, how
:52:48. > :52:52.other battles are drawn? What are the terms of engagement it you
:52:52. > :52:57.think are significant? The big picture is that the challenge is
:52:57. > :53:02.enormous for any party that is in government now or in the next term.
:53:02. > :53:04.Ed Miliband will have to deal with an enormous deficit reduction
:53:04. > :53:11.challenge, or what ever happens. When you start from that point of
:53:11. > :53:16.view, the public is most interest - - interested in the quality of
:53:16. > :53:21.their schools, hospitals and jobs. How the experience their own
:53:21. > :53:25.lifestyle. That is clearly going to be the emphasis of this party
:53:25. > :53:30.conference, but when you look at the polls, Labour is well ahead on
:53:31. > :53:34.the public services. There is a letter in today's newspaper from
:53:34. > :53:39.140 Top doctors, including David Nicol of the Queen Elizabeth
:53:39. > :53:42.Hospital in Birmingham, calling on the government to stop cuts in
:53:42. > :53:46.accident and emergency services. Healthcare is the most difficult of
:53:46. > :53:50.all services. Birmingham has one of the best hospitals in the country
:53:50. > :53:54.and therefore the world. How can you make it in issue which
:53:54. > :54:00.obviously is not just a gift for the Labour Party? We have just
:54:00. > :54:04.published a report by one of Tony Blair's advises on healthcare. He
:54:05. > :54:08.said we would have to address the failure of lots of our hospitals.
:54:08. > :54:12.That means not flinching from the fact that in many cases they are
:54:12. > :54:15.financially unsustainable and the quality is not high enough. But
:54:15. > :54:20.there are lots of fantastic hospitals in the country that could
:54:20. > :54:23.take over the running of some of those services. But we will have to
:54:23. > :54:26.rethink healthcare. Whichever party is in power or will have to rethink
:54:27. > :54:36.healthcare and it is a tricky area because there is so much fear
:54:36. > :54:42.involved. Ageing, had you respond to that? -- Adrian, how do you
:54:42. > :54:46.respond to that? Ed Miliband made it clear at the party conference
:54:46. > :54:50.there we would stop the top-down organisation of the health service
:54:50. > :54:55.that has taken place. It has no public support and has diverted
:54:55. > :55:00.money away from frontline services. Obviously, in it two years time, we
:55:00. > :55:05.do not know what the state of public finances will be, but we
:55:05. > :55:09.will be examining closely just the viability of all of services. There
:55:09. > :55:14.may be hard decisions to make, but the fact remains that we will make
:55:14. > :55:18.them in the context of protecting front line services and on a fair
:55:18. > :55:24.basis for everybody involved. very difficult position due to
:55:24. > :55:30.defend, Jeremy. Well, I disagree. Firstly, Labour was also involved
:55:30. > :55:34.in top-down reorganisations of the NHS. In relation to what he said,
:55:34. > :55:38.we are going to be delivering more authority to doctors and nurses,
:55:38. > :55:42.not less. That is the purpose of these reforms. I think people in
:55:42. > :55:46.the West Midlands and elsewhere believe that is a sensible thing to
:55:46. > :55:50.do. Decisions about healthcare should be taken by medical
:55:50. > :55:55.professionals, not bureaucrats. That is what our reforms will are
:55:55. > :56:02.cheap. The key word appears to be delivery, thinking about jobs and
:56:02. > :56:06.the wider agenda, delivery seems to be the challenge for all parties.
:56:06. > :56:11.We looked at three countries, New Zealand, Canada and -- Canada and
:56:11. > :56:15.Sweden, that delivered deficit- reduction in the 1990 is. And one
:56:15. > :56:21.of their things they had in common was consistency. Because that
:56:21. > :56:25.breeds certainty for investors and voters. And when you had certainty,
:56:25. > :56:32.that returns confidence to the government. A big challenge for the
:56:32. > :56:38.government will have to be building confidence through not necessarily
:56:38. > :56:42.doing stuff, but being seen to do the same things consistency --
:56:42. > :56:49.consistently and well. politicians like to be seen to do
:56:49. > :56:54.things. The Prime Minister promised no top down reorganisation.
:56:54. > :56:59.think you have made that point. take his point about consistency. I
:56:59. > :57:01.think the big issue about the economy, what we're doing is
:57:01. > :57:07.maintaining a consistent message on deficit reduction which keeps
:57:07. > :57:11.interest rates low which benefits everybody with a mortgage. We have
:57:11. > :57:14.ended there. Thank you for coming in today.
:57:14. > :57:16.Now our regular round-up of the political week in the Midlands in
:57:16. > :57:23.60 seconds. Here's BBC Radio Stoke's political reporter Phil
:57:23. > :57:26.McCann. You've heard of supersize burgers
:57:26. > :57:29.and fries, now it is the supersize school. Unions have criticised this
:57:29. > :57:35.primary in Birmingham which has almost 900 pupils because of a big
:57:35. > :57:38.leap in the birth rate. Turning Birmingham and the back --
:57:38. > :57:41.and the Black Country green. Volunteers are needed to help make
:57:41. > :57:44.urban areas better for wildlife. It is part of a government nature
:57:44. > :57:47.project. Here is a face we won't see in
:57:47. > :57:50.Birmingham this week. Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell will
:57:50. > :57:55.stay away from the Tory Conference. He will keep a low profile after
:57:55. > :57:59.his confrontation with Downing Street police.
:57:59. > :58:02.Come and get at it. The message from the Business Secretary on a
:58:02. > :58:12.visit to the Midlands encouraging small firms to apply for government
:58:12. > :58:15.cash. It is difficult for companies to get bank finance of this time.
:58:15. > :58:25.And astonishing figures from the region's car industry suppliers.
:58:25. > :58:28.
:58:28. > :58:33.They say order books are at a 40- year high. Adrian Bailey, the
:58:33. > :58:41.automotive industry is going great guns. At some point, Labour is
:58:41. > :58:43.going to have to change its tune on the economy, is it not? All the
:58:43. > :58:47.experience of local companies applying to the regional growth
:58:47. > :58:52.funds is that if they are lucky enough to get it, they have to wait
:58:52. > :58:58.a year or so to get any money. We need quick action if we are
:58:58. > :59:01.actually to capitalise on the impotence given by Jaguar and Rover.
:59:01. > :59:09.We would all like to see more money get through quicker, but the proper
:59:09. > :59:16.processes have to be followed. Adrian and I agree that Jaguar is a
:59:16. > :59:20.very positive story for the Midlands. New jobs are going to be
:59:20. > :59:25.created and this is good news not just a Jaguar, but also for an
:59:25. > :59:31.extensive supply chain as well. This is what we want to see more of
:59:31. > :59:34.in the West Midlands. The good day and on some good news!
:59:34. > :59:37.That is where we have to end it today.
:59:37. > :59:39.My thanks to Jeremy Wright and Adrian Bailey. I'll be reporting
:59:39. > :59:49.live from the Conservative party conference for Midlands Today here
:59:49. > :59:54.
:59:54. > :59:56.on BBC One, and for your BBC local radio station. And, no doubt