Browse content similar to 20/01/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
And in the Midlands, could your council tax be going up? We reveal | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
the ten councils considering an increase, even though the | :01:20. | :01:30. | |
:01:30. | :01:30. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2302 seconds | :01:30. | :39:53. | |
Government say they have a 'moral Hello once again from the Midlands. | :39:53. | :39:56. | |
I'm Patrick Burns. Our guests today tell a story of marginal | :39:56. | :40:02. | |
constituencies, past and present. Birmingham Northfield used to be a | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
Tory marginal. But the Labour MP Richard Burden has made it all his | :40:06. | :40:09. | |
own for more than 20 years. Karen Lumley is the Conservative MP for | :40:10. | :40:19. | |
:40:20. | :40:20. | ||
that perennial weather vain seat, Redditch. | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
First it was Comet. Then dress up - - then Jessops. Next HMV. And now | :40:25. | :40:28. | |
Blockbuster. All four chain stores have gone into administration | :40:28. | :40:31. | |
during the past couple of months, with the loss of more than 10,000 | :40:31. | :40:34. | |
jobs. So what's the effect on a town like Burton-on-Trent in | :40:34. | :40:38. | |
Staffordshire? Until recently, it had all of those high street names. | :40:38. | :40:40. | |
Now, business leaders there are left to reflect on radically- | :40:40. | :40:50. | |
changing customer habits. Clearly, the move to buying online is | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
massive, and while people might going to restore to touch and feel | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
the product, they will then searched online and find somewhere | :40:58. | :41:04. | |
they can save 10%. So it is almost like a shop window but the purchase | :41:04. | :41:10. | |
is done somewhere else. In Redditch, you have a shopping centre which | :41:10. | :41:19. | |
has not been immune to this March of online retail. Know, we've lost | :41:20. | :41:28. | |
Blockbuster, Jessops and HMV. your government have done more? | :41:28. | :41:33. | |
Businesses are complaining about really high VAT and business rates. | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
We're trying to help business and to be competitive in the UK and the | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
global economy. But friends are moving towards online shopping. We | :41:43. | :41:53. | |
:41:53. | :41:56. | ||
need to revitalise our high streets. -- trends are moving. Are these | :41:56. | :41:59. | |
businesses paying the price for having failed to update their | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
business models? Well, there is no doubt there is a big change in | :42:04. | :42:08. | |
people's shopping habits. Before Christmas, I went to the sorting | :42:08. | :42:16. | |
office. A few years ago, it would be cards, now it is all parcels. | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
But also, people don't buy if they don't feel confident about their | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
futures, their jobs, if they feel insecure. That is why I think | :42:25. | :42:30. | |
companies should be doing far more to get confidence back. What, for | :42:30. | :42:38. | |
example? Well, a temporary VAT cut could help. They need to be much | :42:38. | :42:46. | |
more active at implementing the Mary Porter's review. The action is | :42:46. | :42:56. | |
:42:56. | :42:58. | ||
an air. -- isn't there. Most of the business is doing OK have a | :42:58. | :43:05. | |
presence on the High Street and online as well. We have to study | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
new scheme in Redditch where police shops are going to be funded partly | :43:09. | :43:19. | |
:43:19. | :43:20. | ||
by the government. I think this is the right way to do it. | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
Coming up a little later: the Government says local authorities | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
have a moral duty not to increase council tax. But more and more | :43:26. | :43:29. | |
Midlands councils are planning to do just that. It is costing them | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
more to grit the roads, for a start. During the first snowfalls of | :43:32. | :43:35. | |
winter, we go behind the scenes with one of the services they | :43:35. | :43:38. | |
couldn't afford to get rid of. A find out which local councils are | :43:38. | :43:44. | |
considering the tax rise later. What is it about our new police and | :43:44. | :43:50. | |
crime commissioners? Every day, another drama. Just two months in, | :43:50. | :43:54. | |
and one of ours has seen off a vote of no confidence. Another is facing | :43:54. | :43:57. | |
flag -- facing criticism over his choice of chief constable, while a | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
third demonstrated a business as usual approach by watching early | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
morning drug rates -- drug raids. Cath Mackie has been following this | :44:03. | :44:13. | |
:44:13. | :44:15. | ||
epic. With me in the studio is the recently elected police and crime | :44:15. | :44:19. | |
commissioners. Side by side and toughing it out. | :44:19. | :44:21. | |
West Mercia's police and crime commissioner and the election agent | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
he made his deputy. In the Radio Shropshire hot seat, answering | :44:24. | :44:26. | |
listeners questions, and fiercely proud of their political | :44:26. | :44:34. | |
independence. I will fight and they won't be me. I'm an honest person, | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
I'm straight and honest. I don't like some of the things I've seen | :44:38. | :44:43. | |
over the years go on in politics. There are some good people in | :44:43. | :44:48. | |
politics, don't get me wrong, but there are some people that will | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
stop at nothing to achieve what they want. So is this just a clash | :44:52. | :44:55. | |
of cultures? The role of a police commissioner was created by a | :44:55. | :44:57. | |
government frustrated at public services run by obscure committees | :44:57. | :45:03. | |
operating behind closed doors. The government also want to elected | :45:04. | :45:06. | |
police commissioners to be high profile, but these surely aren't | :45:06. | :45:11. | |
the sort of headlines ministers had in mind so soon after the elections. | :45:11. | :45:13. | |
Police and crime commissioners set the force's budget and decide | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
crime-fighting strategies. But they don't decide day-to-day operations. | :45:16. | :45:18. | |
However, that didn't stop the commissioner for Staffordshire | :45:18. | :45:28. | |
seeing some early morning drug raids for himself. One of the | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
fascinating things in my role, in six weeks, I think, now, is the | :45:34. | :45:38. | |
incredible opportunities there are to get much better outcomes for | :45:38. | :45:42. | |
communities if we just start working together. And they also get | :45:42. | :45:45. | |
to hire and fire chief constables. But that isn't going smoothly in | :45:45. | :45:47. | |
Gloucestershire, where the county's new chief, Suzette Davenport, is | :45:47. | :45:49. | |
the subject of an independent investigation into a Staffordshire | :45:49. | :45:57. | |
murder inquiry seven years ago. But she's not letting that distract her. | :45:57. | :46:00. | |
Clearly, we've got a new governance with the commissioner. I'm excited | :46:00. | :46:06. | |
to work with them to get the best levels of protection for the public. | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
You might have been hard pressed to name your commissioner during the | :46:09. | :46:12. | |
election campaign - after all, in some places just one in ten | :46:12. | :46:15. | |
bothered to vote. But two months on, one way or another, they're | :46:15. | :46:22. | |
certainly starting to make an impression. Now, Karen, you've got | :46:22. | :46:27. | |
a meeting coming up with your commissioner in the next few weeks. | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
He accuses party politicians of sour grapes, is there an element of | :46:31. | :46:35. | |
that? Are you resent all of the independent Police Commissioner | :46:35. | :46:42. | |
coming in? No, he won an election, I'm happy to work with them. When I | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
became a Member of Parliament, did I. My friend to be my deputy? No, I | :46:46. | :46:56. | |
:46:56. | :46:56. | ||
didn't. That is one question I will be asking him. -- did I appoint my | :46:57. | :47:04. | |
friend? He should have appointed the best person from the top. | :47:04. | :47:11. | |
you have confidence in him? electorate elected him as they | :47:11. | :47:16. | |
elected me. I will be making sure that his priorities are right for | :47:16. | :47:20. | |
Redditch. There is talk of closing police stations in West messier. I | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
want to make sure that Redditch is not one of the police stations he | :47:24. | :47:34. | |
:47:34. | :47:36. | ||
will be looking at closing. -- West Mercia. At least, Richard, the | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
government can say they have created this high-profile job, | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
cutting out the worst of committee government, if I can put it that | :47:43. | :47:49. | |
way, and raising the profile. think it is trying to ask a | :47:49. | :47:53. | |
question nobody is raising. People want police on the streets, they | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
want crime coming down, and they want to feel safe. Now they have | :47:58. | :48:03. | |
someone they can see to hold to account for exactly those things. | :48:03. | :48:06. | |
Well, I have to say, the Commissioner for the West Midlands | :48:06. | :48:11. | |
is doing a great job. But you don't really want to start by creating | :48:11. | :48:15. | |
new positions and this kind of thing. Much better to do something | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
about the cuts that are being made, which is taking 2000 out from the | :48:20. | :48:26. | |
West Midlands. So a credit to those who were doing a good job, but we | :48:26. | :48:30. | |
have to say to the government that they need to get their priorities | :48:30. | :48:38. | |
right. And, Karen, they are coming in at a really tough time. The | :48:38. | :48:41. | |
police cuts cannot entirely be blamed on these figures on the | :48:41. | :48:48. | |
ground. No, it was in our manifesto that we would have commissioners. | :48:48. | :48:51. | |
Boris Johnson is doing a great job, things are going well for him. I | :48:51. | :48:56. | |
think we have to give these people time to settle into the job. | :48:56. | :49:00. | |
Everyone is struggling and we have to make some difficult choices. | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
They are there to look after our interests and they are elected to | :49:04. | :49:14. | |
:49:14. | :49:15. | ||
run a police surfers. -- service. Do you support the commission has | :49:15. | :49:18. | |
out and about on the drug raids? There is supposed to be a | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
distinction between operational demand. I think that is a grey area | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
about where that division is. This is where this system may come | :49:28. | :49:31. | |
unstuck. But if the commissioners are there, it is right they should | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
be out there. I was impressed the other day - I was speaking at | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
something in the centre of Birmingham, and Bob Jones just | :49:39. | :49:45. | |
turned up, just to see what was going on in the community. Karen, | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
politically controversial, but I suppose these are political figures | :49:49. | :49:52. | |
and it kinda goes with the territory, doesn't it? Well, I go | :49:52. | :49:56. | |
out with my police officers on a Friday night. It is important that | :49:56. | :50:02. | |
we are seen to be out there listening. Thank you. | :50:02. | :50:05. | |
The number of Midlands councils considering putting a council tax | :50:05. | :50:08. | |
is set to hit double figures. They say the cash they are offered from | :50:08. | :50:11. | |
the Government if they keep the tax frozen doesn't meet the rising | :50:11. | :50:14. | |
costs of providing services. So we're better, at a time like this, | :50:14. | :50:17. | |
for our Coventry and Warwickshire political reporter to spend a day | :50:17. | :50:27. | |
:50:27. | :50:29. | ||
than at a council gritting depot? - It's been one of those weeks when | :50:30. | :50:32. | |
you realise that fewer council services could be more important | :50:32. | :50:35. | |
than gritting. And while staff help keep traffic on the move, behind | :50:35. | :50:38. | |
the scenes it's also the time of year for counsellors across the | :50:38. | :50:41. | |
region to look at the books and get their finances in order. Last year, | :50:42. | :50:44. | |
three councils in the Midlands rejected the cash handout from the | :50:44. | :50:47. | |
government and decided to raise council tax, but this time around | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
it could be as many as 10. North Warwickshire is one of those | :50:52. | :50:57. | |
looking at a rise. Birmingham has asked residents to consider a rise | :50:57. | :51:00. | |
of 1.64%. While Lichfield is looking at putting tax up by 2%. | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
It's one of four Tory-led authorities prepared to defy the | :51:03. | :51:06. | |
government. In Dudley there's even talk of a referendum to raise the | :51:06. | :51:10. | |
tax further still. So why is the cash handout from Whitehall not | :51:10. | :51:13. | |
enough to prevent attacks -- to prevent tax going up in so many of | :51:14. | :51:23. | |
our council areas? Decision-makers in Coventry tell me they have no | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
choice. Basically, we can no longer afford to take grants which are | :51:28. | :51:32. | |
only guaranteed for a year or two. What it means is we have to make | :51:33. | :51:37. | |
cuts further down the line. Eric Pickles says you have a moral | :51:37. | :51:42. | |
obligation to hard-working families. I find that rich coming from any of | :51:42. | :51:46. | |
the government ministers who talk about moral obligations when they | :51:46. | :51:51. | |
are hitting the poorest in society and when they are hitting | :51:51. | :51:57. | |
disproportionately places like Coventry. So what about these hard | :51:57. | :52:04. | |
working families that the secretary of state is talking about? It just | :52:04. | :52:08. | |
seems to be take, take, take. A higher earners don't seem to be | :52:08. | :52:12. | |
paying any price. I think that's quite reasonable in the current | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
climate. The council has a lot of money to find. If it's something | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
that is shared between everyone who lives here, I don't see a problem. | :52:22. | :52:26. | |
I think they could have frozen it and kept at the same for now. | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
Because everything is so expensive that the minute. Adding more to | :52:30. | :52:35. | |
that is going to make it hard for households. Nearly 100 miles away | :52:35. | :52:38. | |
from the City of Coventry is the village of Westminster. The | :52:38. | :52:40. | |
government insists councils should take Whitehall cash, freeze the tax, | :52:40. | :52:47. | |
and help family budgets. There is a lot of scope for councils to be | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
reducing the jobs. Nobody is saying it isn't easy time for local | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
priorities at the moment, but they should be prioritising reducing | :52:55. | :52:59. | |
council tax, looking at how they can provide services at a lower | :52:59. | :53:08. | |
cost a higher value. Back at the gritting the pot, the work never | :53:08. | :53:18. | |
:53:18. | :53:21. | ||
stops. And there's more about this on my | :53:21. | :53:24. | |
latest block post. And as if to underline the pressures on local | :53:24. | :53:26. | |
authorities, Worcestershire County Council have announced the loss of | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
a further 650 jobs, bringing the number to go over the next five | :53:30. | :53:33. | |
years to 1,500. Also joining us now, Mick Temple, professor of politics | :53:33. | :53:43. | |
:53:43. | :53:43. | ||
at Staffordshire University. Mick, help us to make some sense of this. | :53:43. | :53:47. | |
On the one hand, we had the government saying councillors have | :53:47. | :53:53. | |
a moral duty to keep the tax frozen. On the other, local authorities | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
have an equal opportunity to put them up to defend important | :53:56. | :54:03. | |
services. The it is the eternal conundrum of party politics. Give | :54:03. | :54:07. | |
two opposing parties different set of circumstances, and their one | :54:07. | :54:12. | |
will always have the moral high ground. Eric Pickles is using this | :54:12. | :54:17. | |
been, the rhetoric. Hard-working families, more obligation. It is an | :54:17. | :54:21. | |
attempt to claim that moral high ground. It overlooks the fact that | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
those hard-working families may also have children who need after- | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
school care and elderly parents. That is an attempt to spin the | :54:28. | :54:36. | |
blame. Eric Pickles also says there is some way to go yet in terms of | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
council waste and smarter work. He wants them to raise their game | :54:40. | :54:45. | |
rather than complain to the government. There is no doubt that | :54:45. | :54:50. | |
it is easy for accusations to be thrown at local authorities. Where | :54:50. | :54:55. | |
I live, Stoke-on-Trent, a 20-year- old council building is being | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
demolished in order to move to in other new council building. Clearly, | :54:59. | :55:05. | |
residents can see examples of council waste all the time. But at | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
the same time, it is disingenuous, it overlooks the fact that we live | :55:09. | :55:16. | |
in a highly centralised system, and government grants are being cut. | :55:16. | :55:22. | |
What is the politically savvy thing for them to do? Should they try to | :55:22. | :55:26. | |
do what the government is asking? Well, most of them decided last | :55:26. | :55:31. | |
time to take the freeze. This time at most of them well as well, but | :55:32. | :55:36. | |
they are in trouble if they do and in trouble if they don't. Because | :55:36. | :55:40. | |
it is short-term and they will still have to make cuts. 1% seems | :55:40. | :55:45. | |
to be the going rate for people on benefits and in public services. | :55:45. | :55:51. | |
Should and local authorities play the same again? I think the big | :55:51. | :56:01. | |
picture is the money being taken out of the local authority's budget. | :56:01. | :56:06. | |
Local councils have got a real problem here. I have to say, I | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
think Eric Pickles is behaving a bit like a white wall and shot, | :56:10. | :56:14. | |
offering a pay-day known to local authorities. He is saying, have | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
some money now, to freeze the tax, but I'll take the money away in a | :56:18. | :56:22. | |
couple of years and you will be less even worse off. It is | :56:22. | :56:27. | |
disgraceful. In effect, Labour authorities fear that if they don't | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
take this money and face the consequences, they will end up | :56:30. | :56:36. | |
bankrupt. What we are saying to local authorities is, we will give | :56:36. | :56:40. | |
you a grant to freeze your council tax. That is your choice, when not | :56:40. | :56:46. | |
saying you have to take it. If you take that Grant, then we will try | :56:46. | :56:49. | |
to but hard-working families - times are tough here, I understand | :56:50. | :56:56. | |
that - but we're in a difficult financial situation. You see | :56:56. | :57:01. | |
Redditch council spending thousands of money doing up a bandstand - is | :57:01. | :57:07. | |
that a good use of money? People in Birmingham as saying that the cuts | :57:07. | :57:13. | |
of urban authorities like Birmingham and Coventry are twice | :57:13. | :57:17. | |
as heavy per head of population. And it is a population that relies | :57:17. | :57:21. | |
more heavily on those services compared with more rural, affluent | :57:21. | :57:27. | |
areas. Worcestershire County Council is the third worst council | :57:27. | :57:34. | |
but the third best authority in the country. How does that work? | :57:34. | :57:37. | |
Birmingham is one of the most deprived areas in the country and | :57:37. | :57:42. | |
it is being cut to the tune of �149 fare every single Birmingham | :57:42. | :57:48. | |
resident. If it was cut by the average across the country it would | :57:48. | :57:52. | |
be �79. There is something wrong with the way the government is | :57:52. | :57:54. | |
looking at this and I just don't think they're looking at the | :57:54. | :57:57. | |
reality of what goes on in communities. | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
But do you not accept that there is a way to go for some authorities in | :58:02. | :58:10. | |
terms of smarter working? Of course there are things that they can do. | :58:10. | :58:15. | |
Some are already being done, they could do more. But it is really | :58:15. | :58:18. | |
living with your head in the clouds if you think that somehow sharing | :58:18. | :58:22. | |
back offices will put right the financial gap that is opening up. | :58:22. | :58:28. | |
It is threatening the services people near. -- that people need. | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
We'd been in government for two and a half years and we are facing | :58:32. | :58:35. | |
tough choices. I find it really quite rich that we had 13 years | :58:35. | :58:39. | |
before that of a Labour government that has done nothing to address | :58:39. | :58:49. | |
:58:49. | :58:51. | ||
these balances. We are trying our best to get ourselves back on track. | :58:51. | :58:55. | |
How do you see this whole thing playing out with the electorate, | :58:55. | :59:00. | |
both in local elections and the general election in 2015? Well, it | :59:00. | :59:05. | |
is clear that local people do not understand the council taxes. They | :59:05. | :59:09. | |
don't know who is to blame the cuts in services, they tend to blame | :59:09. | :59:14. | |
local government. But when they vote in 2015, they will not be | :59:14. | :59:17. | |
voting on the record of local government, they will be voting on | :59:17. | :59:22. | |
the record of the coalition. That is the sad truth about local | :59:22. | :59:30. | |
democracy in this country. How all the debate itself play out? I think | :59:30. | :59:38. | |
the Labour Party appeared -- probably has a higher ground on | :59:38. | :59:43. | |
some of these policies now. Now our regular round-up of the | :59:43. | :59:46. | |
political week in the Midlands in 60 seconds. Here's our Shropshire | :59:46. | :59:53. | |
Another week, another boom at Jaguar Land Rover. This time, 800 | :59:53. | :59:59. | |
more jobs for the Solihull factory after record global sales. | :59:59. | :00:02. | |
A split in the Labour ranks was revealed in a debate about Midlands | :00:02. | :00:06. | |
manufacturing. Three Black Country MPs rigged each other over where | :00:06. | :00:16. | |
:00:16. | :00:16. | ||
the industrial revolution was born. He needs a history lesson on this. | :00:16. | :00:24. | |
The revolution was triggered by the production of iron in sufficient | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
quantities which happened first in my constituency. | :00:26. | :00:29. | |
Embarrassing. That's the admission from the boss of London Midland | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
after 1,000 trains were cancelled because of a driver shortage. | :00:31. | :00:35. | |
Financially bust and clinically unsustainable. The latest verdict | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
on Stafford and cannot hospitals after a watchdog report. | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
And help for people over 50 to set up their own business. It's thanks | :00:41. | :00:51. | |
:00:51. | :00:57. | ||
to a new scheme in Birmingham run Lots of very capable people out | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
there in the fifties, on their? But do you think there they have they | :01:01. | :01:06. | |
get up and go that is required to set up a business on their own? | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
someone over the edge it -- over the age of 50, this is a bit close | :01:10. | :01:15. | |
to home. But there are 25,000 people over 50 unemployed in this | :01:15. | :01:20. | |
area. They have a lot to offer. That is why we are saying they | :01:20. | :01:25. | |
should be paid jobs guarantee for the long-term unemployed. It may be | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
a challenge for people. At this age, do they really have the skills | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
required? That is why you need to have the wraparound support. Do you | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
think that the government should do more to help people who may feel | :01:37. | :01:47. | |
:01:47. | :01:48. | ||
the alternative is the scrappy? Well, I set out my own business. -- | :01:48. | :01:55. | |
the scrapheap? I urge anyone who wants to run their own small | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
business to get out there and go for it. Is there evidence that | :02:00. | :02:04. | |
people can do that? But of course. I see people coming to me all the | :02:04. | :02:10. | |
time wanting to set up their businesses. We must leave it there. | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
Thanks to my guests of the day, Richard Burden and Karen Lumley. | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
And for the latest on what's happening in the Birmingham and | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
Black Country areas, including the snowfall - and here's the latest | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
live shot outside our building - I suggest you lock on to our brand- | :02:22. | :02:25. | |
new BBC local page. It has news, sport, travel and, of course, that | :02:25. | :02:35. | |
all-important weather information, updated throughout the day. And | :02:35. | :02:38. |