Browse content similar to 21/04/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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together of the two parties who, we're told, could split the | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
right-of-centre vote. We'll find out soon enough, in the council | :36:09. | :36:12. | |
elections now just over a week away. Harriett Baldwin is the Conservative | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
MP for West Worcestershire and a Parliamentary aide at the Work and | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
Pensions Department. And Bill Etheridge will be UKIP's candidate | :36:19. | :36:26. | |
for Dudley North at the next general election. | :36:26. | :36:29. | |
The funeral of Margaret Thatcher felt like one last lingering look | :36:29. | :36:35. | |
back over the shoulder at a bygone age. Our part of the country was | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
very different before she came in. It still had a coal industry for one | :36:39. | :36:41. | |
thing. But for another, our dysfunctional motor industry was | :36:41. | :36:45. | |
being heavily subsidised by the taxpayer. Our region's | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
longest-serving Conservative MP gave us his reflections, after returning | :36:48. | :36:58. | |
:36:58. | :36:59. | ||
to Westminster from St Paul's. I saw the clapping and the cheering | :36:59. | :37:05. | |
from the crowds as the cortege went past, and I think in many ways apart | :37:05. | :37:11. | |
from the pomp and the ceremony, I think that many, many people | :37:11. | :37:15. | |
appreciated the fact that she was a great Prime Minister and that is why | :37:15. | :37:19. | |
they turned out in such great numbers. | :37:19. | :37:25. | |
Harriett, you were at the funeral as well. The public response generally | :37:25. | :37:32. | |
very supportive. The one thing that has gained traction is the �10 | :37:33. | :37:37. | |
million cost. Is that an awkward thought for you? -- gained | :37:37. | :37:45. | |
attraction. We have not seen the final figures yet, but the overtime | :37:45. | :37:53. | |
for those military personnel... time of austerity? We were | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
recognising a great lady and a Great Britain, and I think when somebody | :37:59. | :38:02. | |
has won three general elections it is right that we pay tribute to that | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
life of public service. UKIP have been cloaking themselves with the | :38:07. | :38:12. | |
mantle of Margaret Thatcher. At the last election it was I agree with | :38:12. | :38:19. | |
Nick, now it is I agree with Maggie. A lot of our members regard Lady | :38:19. | :38:29. | |
Thatcher is a great inspiration. She was from a humble background and | :38:29. | :38:33. | |
took on the establishment. But we are not cloaking ourselves as a | :38:33. | :38:40. | |
Thatcherite party. But a lot of us respected the lady. What would you | :38:40. | :38:46. | |
say to the critics that point out she presided over a period when the | :38:46. | :38:49. | |
industrial manufacturing base of this region virtually collapsed and | :38:49. | :38:57. | |
is still struggling to recover to this day. If you look at the | :38:57. | :39:00. | |
long-term decline of manufacturing as a share of economic activity, it | :39:00. | :39:06. | |
declined far more under Tony Blair. She was a Prime Minister in | :39:06. | :39:10. | |
turbulent times, and I remember them having lived round this area my | :39:10. | :39:15. | |
life. But it is not fair to say that Mrs Thatcher destroyed particular | :39:15. | :39:19. | |
industries. During her time in office, industries were failing and | :39:19. | :39:23. | |
she did the best she could with the policies she had to bring that | :39:23. | :39:33. | |
:39:33. | :39:36. | ||
round. She failed to regain the support of the city. If you look at | :39:36. | :39:41. | |
the strength now up the car industry and JCB, and the fact that more | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
mines were closed under the previous Labour Government before she came to | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
power than under Margaret Thatcher. This debate will go on. | :39:49. | :39:51. | |
Coming up, we'll be visiting one of the Midlands' top tourist | :39:52. | :39:54. | |
attractions, to navigate the likely twists and turns of next week's | :39:54. | :39:57. | |
council elections. With all those seats up for grabs, what kind of a | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
roller coaster ride are the parties in for? We'll be bringing you every | :40:01. | :40:04. | |
visual metaphor in the book. While avoiding cliches like the plague, of | :40:04. | :40:12. | |
course - a little later. So, as expected, Stafford Hospital | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
has gone into administration. It's a notable first for the NHS. But is it | :40:15. | :40:22. | |
also the beginning of the end for the hospital as we know it? A | :40:22. | :40:24. | |
hospital where hundreds more patients died than would have been | :40:24. | :40:28. | |
expected, during that three-year period to 2008. BBC Radio Stoke's | :40:28. | :40:34. | |
political reporter is Phil McCann. It's the country's most talked about | :40:34. | :40:39. | |
hospital and now it's in administration. In a first for the | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
National Health Service, watchdogs have sent in a team of managers to | :40:42. | :40:44. | |
turn it into a place that's clinically sound and financially | :40:44. | :40:54. | |
:40:54. | :40:55. | ||
viable. But they're not making any promises to local patients. I know | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
there are very strong feelings in the area, and our job as | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
administrators is to listen to that, talk to Commissioners of services, | :41:03. | :41:11. | |
to talk to other providers, and say what can we collectively do, can you | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
collectively do, to provide the services that the people in Stafford | :41:14. | :41:16. | |
want? But it's likely some services will | :41:16. | :41:22. | |
be relocated to bigger hospitals in neighbouring towns and cities. | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
People having to go so far, up to Stoke, to Walsall, to | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
Wolverhampton, just to get services that should be there on our | :41:31. | :41:37. | |
doorstep. I wander worry about babies being born in the ambulance. | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
Monitor says the hospital's administration is nothing to do with | :41:40. | :41:42. | |
the recent inquiry chaired by Robert Francis QC which highlighted | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
appalling neglect and incompetence. The inquiry was criticised this week | :41:45. | :41:52. | |
by one witness who gave evidence. tended to focus rather too much on | :41:52. | :41:58. | |
the local issues and professional issues, and not enough on the | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
broader political and organisational context, which in my view | :42:02. | :42:04. | |
contributed to the disaster that occurred there. | :42:04. | :42:06. | |
Despite Stafford Hospital's notoriety, it commands deep loyalty | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
among many in the town, and for them, the fightback has already | :42:09. | :42:15. | |
begun. And as we're in the middle of the | :42:15. | :42:18. | |
council election campaign period, we're also joined here today by the | :42:18. | :42:23. | |
West Midlands Liberal Democrat MEP, Phil Bennion. He lives in | :42:23. | :42:33. | |
:42:33. | :42:34. | ||
Staffordshire, where he farms just outside Tamworth. Do you see | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
yourself as a local man as part of the fight back for Stafford | :42:37. | :42:44. | |
Hospital? Absolutely. What has gone on there has been terrible, but it | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
does not change the need for hospital services in Stafford. What | :42:48. | :42:52. | |
has gone on in the past does not affect that future need, and what we | :42:52. | :42:57. | |
have to remember is that we took over a policy, and ownership policy | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
of hospitals from the previous Government, and there was no real | :43:01. | :43:08. | |
for thought as to what would happen if one hospital went bankrupt. | :43:08. | :43:14. | |
Obviously we see individual local MPs fighting for their hospitals in | :43:14. | :43:20. | |
their constituencies, but you were the wider West Midlands. I was | :43:20. | :43:23. | |
wondering if you could see the argument for some major services | :43:23. | :43:29. | |
from Stafford being redistributed to a wider if you like Federation of | :43:29. | :43:35. | |
hospitals to which people would commute. This depends on the expert | :43:35. | :43:43. | |
advice. In the past... You've raised the possibility. Things are always | :43:43. | :43:48. | |
changing. We have seen all over the West Midlands services move from one | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
place to another, and clinical decisions have to be made to make | :43:51. | :43:56. | |
sure you actually get the best and most efficient service that is | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
possible with the funds available. Harriett, there are certain echoes | :44:01. | :44:05. | |
between what we are seeing in Staffordshire and Worcestershire for | :44:05. | :44:09. | |
example, where there are big campaigns around Redditch and the | :44:09. | :44:19. | |
:44:19. | :44:20. | ||
settlement of services around that Co. Is there a wider argument where | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
individual MPs are all battling for the individual hospitals were a | :44:24. | :44:30. | |
wider Federation like the answer? Jeremy is doing a good job | :44:30. | :44:38. | |
representing Staffordshire, and in Worcestershire it is the role of the | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
MP to stand up for what the local population wants, and very often | :44:43. | :44:50. | |
that will not necessarily be what the commissions clinicians are | :44:50. | :44:54. | |
recommending, they are saying you need to go where there are best at | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
doing that service. So there is a tension between not wanting to | :44:58. | :45:02. | |
travel too far to have your baby, and not wanting to travel too far if | :45:02. | :45:06. | |
you are in an accident, and at the same time getting a specialised | :45:06. | :45:12. | |
services. Bill, you have your own experience having been a governor of | :45:12. | :45:18. | |
trust in. Yes, I resigned over the parking charges which were going | :45:18. | :45:28. | |
:45:28. | :45:28. | ||
straight to the provider's pocket. We are sorry what we have reaped. -- | :45:28. | :45:35. | |
macro -- reaping what we sow. PFI deals were a way of providing these | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
things of the balance books. Now you have tens of millions of pounds of | :45:40. | :45:45. | |
taxpayers money being wasted because it is going into the profits of | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
private monopolies. But look at the situation a few years back, no | :45:49. | :45:54. | |
hospital building pretty much since the start of the NHS and many of | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
hospitals were Victorian. UKIP believes we should renegotiate these | :45:58. | :46:03. | |
deals. The PFI providers are private monopolies. They are modelling the | :46:03. | :46:11. | |
taxpayer. This is serious at a time when the NHS is stretched beyond | :46:11. | :46:20. | |
words. What is the answer if the taxpayer is being mugged? We want | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
clinically viable hospitals that people can have confidence in. | :46:25. | :46:32. | |
have to have that commitment to the NHS budget, and make sure that the | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
clinicians are in charge of making the decisions. And we have to | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
recognise that there is a growing population in the West Midlands, we | :46:39. | :46:44. | |
have got to have those facilities for a future generation, but where | :46:44. | :46:47. | |
there is money that can be negotiated with the PFI providers, | :46:47. | :46:53. | |
that the Treasury is doing so. it the case that some PFI's are | :46:53. | :47:00. | |
better than others? It is like having a mortgage where the lawns | :47:00. | :47:06. | |
get known and the windows cleaned and the carpets vacuumed as well? | :47:06. | :47:13. | |
Some of these PFI's are very poor. Who would think about planning a 30 | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
year health service, but you do not know what the situation is going to | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
be in 30 years. This is the problem, that this money is being paid out | :47:22. | :47:26. | |
year after year, even when this infrastructure becomes quite low in | :47:26. | :47:30. | |
the tooth. With over 300 seats to be contested | :47:30. | :47:33. | |
in five council elections, polling day a week on Thursday is a | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
genuinely big deal. The build-up is well and truly under way. The Prime | :47:37. | :47:40. | |
Minister was here on the campaign trail on Friday at Nuneaton and | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
Dordon in Warwickshire, where the Conservatives have a fight on their | :47:43. | :47:49. | |
hands to retain overall control. Voters will be electing entirely new | :47:49. | :47:51. | |
county councils in Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and | :47:51. | :48:00. | |
Worcestershire, as well as in the unitary authority of Shropshire. The | :48:00. | :48:03. | |
results will show which way the wind is blowing, with European elections | :48:03. | :48:09. | |
next year and the general election the year after that. BBC WM's | :48:09. | :48:11. | |
political reporter Elizabeth Glinka has been to one of our biggest | :48:11. | :48:21. | |
:48:21. | :48:25. | ||
tourist attractions, to take a spin on the Wheel of Fortune. These local | :48:25. | :48:26. | |
elections were last contested four years ago. | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
Back in 2009 the political wheel turned and the Conservatives swept | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
all before them. Here in Staffordshire, after nearly three | :48:32. | :48:40. | |
decades in control, Labour lost. Today, they feel the wheel turning | :48:40. | :48:50. | |
again. It was awful in 2009, but it is swings and roundabouts. The swing | :48:50. | :48:59. | |
is coming back our way, or across the West Midlands. | :48:59. | :49:02. | |
For the Liberal Democrats, the question is are they in freefall or | :49:02. | :49:04. | |
can they bounce back? In Staffordshire and Worcestershire the | :49:04. | :49:07. | |
party's fielding fewer candidates than UKIP and fewer than the Greens | :49:07. | :49:13. | |
in Worcestershire and Warwickshire. We don't just put everybody up, we | :49:13. | :49:16. | |
have good strong candidates in places where we have a good chance | :49:16. | :49:21. | |
of winning. Look at what has been happening in by-elections around the | :49:21. | :49:26. | |
country, we have been winning more than any other party. | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
For the Conservatives who control all five of our shire counties, the | :49:29. | :49:39. | |
:49:39. | :49:39. | ||
battle to hold their ground is on. Conservatives across the West | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
Midlands have done really well in difficult times, delivering | :49:43. | :49:48. | |
services, freezing council tax or reducing it, and have a record to be | :49:48. | :49:52. | |
proud of. Local members have done things that the electorate can judge | :49:52. | :49:54. | |
them on at the ballot box. With more candidates than ever | :49:54. | :49:58. | |
before and riding high in the polls, the biggest threat to the Tory seats | :49:58. | :50:01. | |
could be the buccaneers of the UK Independence Party, out to persuade | :50:01. | :50:07. | |
disaffected Conservatives to jump ship. People are entitled to vote | :50:07. | :50:13. | |
how they like, and if we are taking votes from the Conservative party it | :50:13. | :50:16. | |
is because the electorate are disenchanted with them. But we are | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
also taking votes across the board. And with a full slate of candidates | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
standing in Warwickshire, the Greens reckon they're the force to be | :50:22. | :50:29. | |
reckoned with. The Green party in the West Midlands have been growing | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
steadily. We have increasing numbers of counsellors, and where we have | :50:34. | :50:42. | |
had people elected, the electorate are liking what we are doing. | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
the runners and riders jockeying for position, there are no less than two | :50:46. | :50:55. | |
weeks for voters to decide which horse they are going to back. No | :50:56. | :51:01. | |
such thing as a racing certainty of course. Harriett, if the polls are | :51:01. | :51:05. | |
right the signs are that you are haemorrhaging supported UKIP, in | :51:05. | :51:12. | |
effect they are spooking your party. This is a local election, so we are | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
looking at who is best to run Worcester County Council. | :51:16. | :51:21. | |
Worcestershire County Council has done a fantastic job, keeping | :51:21. | :51:25. | |
council tax frozen, they have delivered in terms of prioritising | :51:25. | :51:29. | |
care for the most vulnerable, for our roads, for flood defences, and | :51:29. | :51:33. | |
that is what people care about. And those are the issues that should | :51:34. | :51:38. | |
settle elections, and yet you are fighting and existentialists fight, | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
you are fielding fewer candidates than UKIP in Staffordshire and fewer | :51:42. | :51:50. | |
than the Greens in Warwickshire and Worcestershire. We are fielding less | :51:50. | :51:53. | |
candidates than last time, I think there has been a strategic decision | :51:53. | :51:57. | |
to concentrate our efforts. In the past we have held a lot of store by | :51:57. | :52:03. | |
putting out a full slate, and... UKIP have got you on the run. | :52:03. | :52:10. | |
I don't think so. They are drawing support from all three parties, and | :52:10. | :52:16. | |
when I went to Eastleigh it was quite clear there they were drawing | :52:17. | :52:21. | |
support from Labour as well. But here in the West Midlands we have | :52:21. | :52:24. | |
one for by-elections in Shropshire, and here we are concentrating on | :52:24. | :52:28. | |
those areas where we are strongest, usually it is those candidates in | :52:28. | :52:33. | |
the strong wards that have to actually do the organisation in the | :52:33. | :52:37. | |
weaker areas, and what they are telling me is that I am staying | :52:37. | :52:41. | |
where I am, I will fight hard and hold my seat. That is exactly what | :52:41. | :52:50. | |
we are doing. Liberal Democrat party that has great powers. Local issues | :52:50. | :52:53. | |
of the sort that Harriett enumerator, surely other sorts of | :52:53. | :52:58. | |
issues with which local elections are more associated rather than the | :52:58. | :53:04. | |
broadbrush draft you can present to us? We don't have a broadbrush, we | :53:04. | :53:09. | |
have a local manifesto. I have been campaigning across the county's, and | :53:09. | :53:14. | |
I think it is fair to say that we have just got the Conservative vote | :53:14. | :53:23. | |
was coming to us, -- Conservative voters, we are affecting people who | :53:23. | :53:28. | |
have previously voted for all three parties. But would you accept that | :53:28. | :53:35. | |
there is a real challenge to translate those poll ratings into | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
hard and fast votes, given of course that you are coming off a very high | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
base here last time round, the last time those seats were fought. It is | :53:45. | :53:48. | |
going to be hard to give the sense of momentum the poll rating should | :53:48. | :53:56. | |
indicate. Second place is not good enough, we are going to make -- have | :53:56. | :54:01. | |
got to make breakthroughs. A vote for UKIP might let Labour back in, | :54:01. | :54:04. | |
and we do not want to get Labour back in control, because look what | :54:04. | :54:10. | |
they did to the country. That is the kind of negative campaigning the | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
Conservative party put out all the time. I would love to have a | :54:14. | :54:18. | |
discussion where they discuss the issues rather than this Labour | :54:18. | :54:26. | |
bogeyman. My point is made, don't vote Labour and don't vote UKIP | :54:26. | :54:31. | |
because you will let Labour back in. The liberal Democrats traditionally | :54:31. | :54:38. | |
have been a bit of the party of protest, until now, because you are | :54:38. | :54:43. | |
part of the establishment. We are, and suddenly we think that is why | :54:43. | :54:48. | |
our poll ratings did drop certainly the second and third years of the | :54:48. | :54:51. | |
Government, but over the last six months we have seen our poll ratings | :54:51. | :54:56. | |
rise again. We are also finding that we are winning by-elections and I | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
have been around a lot of our county candidates who are fighting target | :55:01. | :55:06. | |
seats, and they are doing very, very well. Final prediction, how is the | :55:06. | :55:11. | |
map of local Government going to look at the end of this process? | :55:11. | :55:14. | |
will make serious games and establish a foothold for future | :55:14. | :55:19. | |
elections. The protest vote is very split and I am hoping we can keep | :55:19. | :55:26. | |
control of our councils. I think we will gain conceits from the | :55:26. | :55:30. | |
Conservatives, I think UKIP will get more than before, and I think Labour | :55:30. | :55:37. | |
will make minor gains. Now here's BBC Radio Shropshire's | :55:37. | :55:39. | |
Breakfast presenter Eric Smith, with our regular round-up of the | :55:39. | :55:48. | |
political week in the Midlands, in 60 seconds. | :55:48. | :55:51. | |
The Walsall Manor Hospital's says it's successfully cut death rates. | :55:51. | :55:53. | |
Treatment for pneumonia's been overhauled, and two hourly checks | :55:53. | :55:58. | |
are done on every patient. Staffordshire digger maker JCB has | :55:58. | :56:01. | |
turned in the best financial results in its 67-year history. Business in | :56:01. | :56:11. | |
:56:11. | :56:12. | ||
Africa doubled last year. We have positioned JCB globally. We have | :56:13. | :56:17. | |
distribution all around the world, and where there is growth, we go and | :56:17. | :56:19. | |
we are successful. And a boost to tourism? Four | :56:19. | :56:21. | |
Birmingham organisations have been nominated for a Royal Philharmonic | :56:21. | :56:24. | |
Society Music Award. The Arts Council says every pound spent on | :56:24. | :56:27. | |
culture generates four for the local economy. | :56:27. | :56:30. | |
A new police cadet scheme's been launched in Staffordshire. It was | :56:30. | :56:34. | |
one of the Crime Commissioner's manifesto pledges. | :56:34. | :56:37. | |
And unemployment's rising. Latest figures show an extra 6,000 people | :56:37. | :56:41. | |
are out of work. That brings the total to 252,000, meaning the | :56:41. | :56:51. | |
:56:51. | :56:57. | ||
region's jobless rate now stands at That is the third highest regional | :56:57. | :57:04. | |
unemployment rate anywhere in England. Let us talk again to | :57:04. | :57:10. | |
Harriett, that is negative news. Don't put a negative spin on it, | :57:10. | :57:14. | |
highlight the positive which is that there are more people in work in the | :57:14. | :57:18. | |
West Midlands band there have ever been in history. Yes, we are | :57:18. | :57:22. | |
beginning to bring down those areas of economic inactivity, so there is | :57:22. | :57:26. | |
a lower level than ever before. People are coming off long-term | :57:26. | :57:31. | |
sickness, short-term sickness, more people are working for longer past | :57:31. | :57:35. | |
their retirement age, but actually the number of people in jobs is | :57:35. | :57:38. | |
really growing and we have got some strong industry, so let us talk | :57:38. | :57:44. | |
about that strength. You recently lost your job yourself, how | :57:44. | :57:50. | |
reassured are you buy what you have just heard? I don't deny any of the | :57:50. | :57:54. | |
figures, I look at it from a more personal point of view, from someone | :57:54. | :57:59. | |
who is out of work and lives among people who asked drug dealing and | :57:59. | :58:06. | |
suffering. The point is, there are hard times here, what we need is a | :58:06. | :58:10. | |
more radical approach towards getting business moving, which means | :58:10. | :58:12. | |
changes to the tax system, simplification and lower taxes | :58:12. | :58:18. | |
overall. Is the crux of the problem that we have concentrations in | :58:18. | :58:21. | |
particular areas of high unemployment which are very | :58:21. | :58:26. | |
resistant to policies. The last year we have seen faster job growth in | :58:26. | :58:28. | |
the private sector than in any year for decades. | :58:28. | :58:31. | |
My thanks to Harriett Baldwin and Bill Etheridge. Next week, in our | :58:31. | :58:33. | |
final programme before local election day, we'll be joined for | :58:33. | :58:36. | |
the Conservatives by Gavin Williamson, and for Labour by Gisela | :58:36. | :58:40. | |
Stuart. And we'll have a report on how the route for High Speed Rail is | :58:40. | :58:42. |