02/12/2012 Sunday Politics West Midlands

It in the Midlands, we are hot on the heels of the world's fastest

miler. Why Usain Bolt says the taxman is keeping him away from

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2131 seconds

Hello once again from the Midlands, I'm Patrick Burns. Joining us to

debate the big political talking points in our part of the country:

Mark Garnier, the Conservative MP for the Wyre Forest. He spent 30

years in financial services before going into politics. And Emma

Reynolds, the Labour MP for Wolverhampton North East. She's her

party's voice on Europe. For many of our local communities,

this past week had a grimly familiar feel about it: damage and

destruction visited on so many homes, because of flooding. When

you look at this helicopter footage, you get a real sense of the sheer

scale of the havoc wrought by days of relentless rain. Towns and

villages right across our region have been hit. Worst of all,

perhaps, some homeowners, who thought they were now safe thanks

to new flood defences, found themselves under water yet again

when the system failed. It is really upsetting about what

has happened here. I have worked with community, I do care about the

people. But what seems to have happened is that there seems to

have been either a mechanical or an electrical problem in that the Poms

did not cut in. In March and the frustration and

rage of those people, he did not feel they needed to take any action.

Mark, you have a feel for them? the beginning of the 2000 sq we saw

Bewdley being flooded quite a great deal. But if you have just had a

huge amount of money spent on flood defences which do not work, you

feel very angry. And the big issue is now insurance.

For the talks seem to be a log jam in terms of having cover for the

people in those sort of areas. Paterson said the talks are going

ahead, but it is an important issue. All of us are paying for the cost

of these floods. The Government needs to get a grip on the

insurance negotiation. I do not know why it is taking so long. In

the summer when it there were floods, we were told there would be

some kind of agreement with the Association of British Insurers, so

it is devastating for people who are seeing their homes being

flooded, especially in areas where there were supposed to have been

flood defences. I was surprised to discover that investment in fire

protection measures has been going down recently. So since 2010 it has

been cut by 30%, which seemed a good idea at the time of the

general election in a sunny month of May, but not now. Expect the

unexpected, but I certainly think this is something we need to look

at. If we are investing money in flood defences, we need to protect

people. It is a very important issue.

Coming up a little later in the programme: he trained in Birmingham,

but will he ever race in Birmingham?

Sport wants the Treasury to change its tax rules to encourage the

world's biggest stars, including Usain Bolt, to race, play, and

appear here at our major venues. Oh yes we can, and argue we will,

in a few minutes. The debate currently raging over

local hospital services has taken a new and unexpected turn. For the

first time, an NHS hospital could be taken over by you, the community.

Cannock Hospital in Staffordshire is losing money, and in danger of

closure. So the town's MP thinks the public could own it instead.

Here is our health correspondent, Michele Paduano.

Cannock Chase Hospital, a �34m asset or a �34m liability? This

weekend, the kitchen's closed, and only two of the nine wards are open.

The situation's so sensitive that the trust won't let us inside.

Fearing closure, the Conservative MP Aidan Burley has announced an

idea for the first public take over of a hospital. This would be for

its transferred to a community interest company, which would take

over its running. What the Secretary of State welcome these

proposals, which would be the first of their kind in the UK, and work

with us? A congratulate my honourable friend for his

campaigning on this issue, which represents a very interesting way

forward for community hospitals. We will wear -- watch carefully what

happens in Cannock. So is the Secretary of State

hinting that this is genuinely a Government-backed way of preserving

community hospitals, or is it political pie in the sky?

Labour, which runs the district council, fear the latter. Without

strong commitment from GPs who buy services from the hospital by

sending patients there for treatment, they say all is lost.

is �200 million a year to keep the open -- building open, never mind

staffing costs. In the 1980s Margaret Thatcher's Government

commissioned this hospital in a key Conservative marginal seat, now

Aidan Burley is using another Conservative idea, the big society,

to keep it open. There's already been one public

meeting, but this Tuesday the people of Cannock hope to hear what

the accountants think, and to have their say.

Big society or political party in the sky? An interesting idea. It

has a ring of the big society about it. The this has never been used

for hospitals before. I think Jeremy Hunt essentially is washing

his hands of this problem, when you see him responding to Aidan Burley.

But think outside the box, the NHS has to move with the times and this

is a bit of constructive thinking, isn't it? A I have family members

in Cannock who are very worried about losing their hospital.

would be lobbying the Secretary of State for the Government to stand

behind the hospital. This is a proven way for making sure that a

hospital stays open. Rather than coming out with a pie-in-the-sky

its scheme that does not seem viable. Mark, in Worcestershire you

have several hospitals with debt worries hanging over them. Is this

an interesting new contribution to the debate? A I think we should be

looking at every opportunity. The NHS is 60 years old, and we have

seen interesting developments. The key to this is the Clinical

Commissioning Groups. They are the ones that decide whether patients -

- where the patients are going to be treated. If the local community

becomes a landlord, but this ECG does not use it, you still have the

problems of the landlord. It would still be an NHS hospital, it would

still have NHS professionals -- professionals? We on shifting the

DEC and all the risk from the NHS to the public and the good people

of Cannock. I am not sure that the good people of Cannock will want to

take on that kind of risk. It is for the Government to come up with

a solution, rather than asking people in Cannock to shoulder that

kind of burden. A another interpretation is that hospital

issues can be politically lethal, as you know from the constituency

you represent in Kidderminster. It could be a way off Aidan Burley

getting on the right side of a lethal issue. I think the important

thing is that we got all bearing this risk anyway. We own in the NHS

and or all taxpayers. It is our Mac NHS. How we make sure that it is

robust in his be essential thing. The Government needs to sort out a

solution rather than asking for it to go into the hands of the people

of Cannock. It is be a pie-in-the- sky solution, and I do not think it

will work. For the moment, thank you again.

Now, sport. Or sport and politics, more like. Because there are

growing demands for the taxman to go easy on overseas stars. We have

international-standard athletics, golf and tennis venues right here

in our part of the country. But what chance do we have of seeing

the true global superstars? Tax rules were waived for the Olympics,

but not for the closer-to-home events that are the mainstays of

the sporting calendar. BBC Radio WM's political reporter Elizabeth

This is Birmingham's Alexander Stadium - the home of UK Athletics

and, just weeks after the Olympic Games, the venue that played host

to gold medallists Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford, but not the

world's most famous athlete, Usain Bolt.

Bolt's going to do it again! Watch the clock - 19.32. Gold all the

way! After training here in the run-up

to the Games, the Olympic champion's made no secret of his

affection for Birmingham. But that wasn't enough to get him racing

here. The reason? Tax. When are we likely to see you in

Britain again? Maybe only when the tax laws change?

Exactly. As soon as the law changes, I'll be here all the time. I love

coming here because I have so many Jamaican fans here, and it's

wonderful. I'd like to say a big-up to Birmingham, the university.

That's where we train, we get everything possible - indoor

facilities, gym work and everything. So for me, it's an honour. Thank

you guys for everything you've done for me, thank you.

But this isn't about just one man or even one sport. Here at the

Belfry, which has twice held the Ryder Cup, the world of golf is

Unlike many other countries the UK Treasury taxes international sports

stars on their global earnings - even if they make just one

appearance here. Tax experts say they're not

surprised some top performers choose to stay away. If you are a

boxer or a sprinter, you might pass disobeyed -- participate in ten

events per year, in which case the Inland Revenue would want tax on

10% of your endorsement income. A new �12 million international

tennis centre is currently under construction here at the Priory

Club in Edgbaston. But what chance of it hosting the biggest names?

Earlier this year men's world number 4 Rafa Nadal said it

actually cost him money to play in the UK.

In the past, this man's organised numerous high profile sporting

events - including international indoor athletics meets at the

National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. You want the best, because the best

brings tickets, and tickets means income. If those people do not

participate, by definition it is not a top-quality sporting event.

It is his secondary event. If it is not a top-quality sporting event,

the amounts of money and sponsorship you can sell, the

corporate hospitality, will be reduced.

In a statement to this programme, the taxman told us it taxes sports

stars "in a similar way to the US and New Zealand", and that it tends

to collect more tax because of its "stronger avoidance legislation".

Sports governing bodies are continuing to lobby the government

so that summers like the one we've just had aren't once in a lifetime.

He is going to win the gold! The champion becomes a legend!

Memories of the Olympic summer. We are also joined here today by

Katharine Merry, a former world No. 1 in the 400 metres. She won the

bronze medal in the Sydney Olympics, behind Cathy Freeman, and now she

is my television and radio broadcaster and presenter and

commentator. You grew up outside rugby. Do you remember as a

teenager international stars coming to this country and inspiring the

ambition you obviously had to get to the top? Definitely. I started

running at an age of ten years old, and was totally enthralled by

watching the big names in Los Angeles in 1984, and seeing it,

lowest... It in this country? and finding out I could go to watch

them. It was hugely inspiring for me and other people. So how do you

see the effect of the tax changes that have been brought in since

then? Rafa Nadal says it costs him money to perform in this country.

Everybody loves their job, but they will not do it for free. In my

sport of track and field, we have not had the Usain Bolt compete in

the UK for three years, because it would cost him to compete here. He

is taxed twice, and the second time it will cost him nearly a million

pounds here to compete. So fewer sports stars are coming. For you as

a broadcaster, the impact of these events in terms of TV and radio

when these people stay away? It is huge. We have one meeting here, the

diamond lead meeting in Birmingham. Everybody asks, will Usain Bolt be

running? No, he is not, then I will not come. Jessica Ennis and Mo

Farah are doing OK, but that is the effect when the big stars stay away.

If the politicians were in sports shoes, what would you say to them?

Is it is ridiculous, I just think it is an easy way to make a lot of

money for the Government. Tax for that appearance, tax on that bonus,

but �12 million but Usain Bolt Burns, he will not part with that

sort of money. More work, should you use your influence to open the

Culture and Sports Department's mind on this? I started to have a

look at this, and there is surprisingly little you can get

hold of. I have written to the chairman of the Treasury sub-

committee to see if he would add this to a our agenda. But we cannot,

I believe, these are or sports rock stars, and they will attract a lot

of money with people coming to watch them, and we should

understand the problem. Wimbledon... The roles were waived

for the Olympics, but it Middle ranking events like some of the

indoor athletics events, that is important to our region, but the

big stars can go to mainland Europe, can't they? A we want to attract

Usain Bolt and Rafa Nadal, but they also should pay their way. They

should pay a fair amount of tax. This is the party that likes taxi

millionairess! Every body should pay their tax share, nobody should

get away with paying nothing. We need a better understanding of this,

the question is, it is it proportionate? If it is costing

money to come here, but is clearly Vorm, but you would have to look at

how much out of their income or what they get to come here they are

actually being taxed? Of could it be that the UK tax authorities are

better at pursuing avoidance of tax back to tax havens? If we lobbying

effective at collecting the tax is -- if we are being effective a

collecting the tax is... Actually, how does it compare with

international film stars, how do they pay tax? We need to look at it

to see if this is wrong because it it -- it is sport and not something

else. These are sports stars, but the public sympathy may not go very

far? And nobody is disputing they should not pay tax, it is the

amount they pay and how they pay it. You should not have to pay tax on

your global income once you have paid tax on an appearance fee.

Usain Bolt runs ten times, he has to pay 10% of his global earnings.

Bat has nothing to do with the British Government. -- that has

nothing to do with the British Government. Home grown talent for

this year's Sports Personality of the Year - you could say that in

such a wide variety of sports we have such a range of home-grown

talent that we should not be obsessed about bringing these

international superstars? everybody wants to see the biggest

names in a big international competition. In my sport we are

blessed at the moment, everybody wants to see Jessica Ennis and Mo

Farah. But in the world of golf, they are continually having

competitions where they need the big names to come to the Priory and

to come to the Belfry. The bottom line is that you should not be

taxed in my opinion it twice, when it is not necessary and I do not

think it is fair. We have reached the finishing tape

on this one! Now our regular round-up of the

political week in the Midlands in 60 seconds, with BBC Radio Stoke's

Breakfast presenter Stuart George: 405 metres. No, not the next race

for today's guest Katharine Merry, but the length of the extended

Birmingham airport runway. It'll allow direct flights to the Far

East and the US west coast. Would the Tories win more election

seats if they do a deal over Europe with UKIP? One Midlands MP thinks

If UKIP don't stand against us at the next election, we would give a

firm undertaking to have an in-out referendum after that election.

It was the home of the Bard's wife, and its owners say they won't sell

land to developers wanting to build 800 homes.

Anne Hathaway's cottage is centre stage in another chapter of

Shakespearean drama. And a tale of two Labour councils.

In Dudley they're planning a referendum to raise council tax

above the government cap. While in Stoke-on-Trent,

Whitehall's being blamed for cuts leading to another 200 job losses.

A succession of Labour councils lining up to get their retaliation

in first before the Government sets out the spending levels for next

year. It seems to me that the moral of this report from Dudley and

stock is a vote Labour for higher council tax? Is truth is that what

has happened here is that of course the Government needs to concentrate

on bringing down the deficit, but it has done so we in a totally

unfair way. Councils like my own, where people are seeing the biggest

cuts to local Government spending - in my own constituency, 30% cut. In

Stoke, �130 per person is being cut. The Government are hitting the

poorest, hardest. More work, you are hitting the most

vulnerable? We have all ward which is the seventh most deprived wards,

and we are holding it at the flat tax rate? But hundreds of millions

of pounds in savings, you cannot do it just... It goes deeper than that.

He if you have shared services, in the south of Worcestershire and

they have driven quite useful shared services. Clearly at the end

of the day if you have a service that is very expensive, you will

want to reduce that service because people are not using it enough.

What chance a deal between the Tories and UKIP? A I hope not!

could be damaging to your side of the argument. A I think the Tories

would be mad to go down that path. My thanks to Mark Garnier, Emma

Reynolds and of course to Usain Bolt. Next Sunday, we'll examine