18/03/2012 Sunday Politics West

In the west: Bristol goes bus-lane- In the west: Bristol goes bus-lane-

tastic - as its multi-million pound showcase routes are officially

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1729 seconds

launched. But guess what? Fares The Bass beers are going up. Have

politicians got it seriously wrong when it comes to public transport?

That is coming up a little later but with me today are two West

Country MPs. We have the Conservative MP for Bradley Stoke.

He was an army reservist who served in Afghanistan and the Liberal

Democrat MP for Bristol West to his thinking of running for mayor.

Stephen, firstly you were the first openly gay Liberal Democrat MP. The

Government is consulting now on the marriage, presumably you are for

that. Absolutely. It is an issue of equality. It's a same-sex couple

want to have such a union they should be able to call it a civil

marriage. It should not be any less valued or recognised by society

than an opposite sex couple. At the moment you have several partnership

for gay couples and civil marriage for straight couples. It should be

the same for both. Why are people wanting to take on the Church over

this? I do not think they do want to take on the church. I agree as

bad as the quality of respect and treating marriages between same-sex

people and a man and a woman the same. It was outlawed in the

military for many years. Indeed, that is progress. OK, we will see

how the consultation goes. Now, a big leader for a big city was the

mantra this week as a campaign kicked off for an elected mayor for

Bristol. Anyone getting the job would not get top of the city.

Large parts of it live with in other council areas such as South

Gloucestershire which has attracted significant criticism. They were

preaching to the converted. Ministers from this Government and

the past speaking of the good points for an elected mayor. One

nagging doubt kept creeping up. have been a clear advocate of a

large region and I accept that that is not going to happen. Ideally we

would like a Metro mayor, beyond the boundaries of the city council

but all we have got on offer now is at a city near. From here you can

see the modern metropolis but it is not all Bristol. Over one quarter

of this are being area is not run by the city Council. The divisions

dead back to when these were green fields. The situation at the

airfield shows the bizarre nature of these boundaries. Airbus is one

of the biggest employers, most of the airport is under South

Gloucestershire and so the mayor would have little involvement in

what goes on here. It is not just in economic matters that the

political role would be restricted. These men freely acknowledge there

are other limitations. referendum in May is about having a

mayor for Bristol but in due course we might have a wider regional

Mayor who would be best placed to deal with transport and policing

issues which cross boundaries. mayor for Bristol would be a leader

not just for the city but for the whole area. Around the world Riaz

of cities are the focal point just for the boundaries of the central

city but of the whole region. -- Nears of cities. But that is not

what is on offer this time. I am joined by the director of the

Bristol Chamber of Commerce. What is the business take on this? Would

you be preparing to deal with a mayor or the system we have at the

moment? The people of Bristol could elect a person every format for

years whereby at the moment it is elected by a small group of

councillors. In the past few years we have had five changes of

leadership, there is so much instability in that. You have heard

the risk of having someone you disagree with as mayor just for

stability? That is true but I think the ability to elect a mayor or

deselect at some point in the future being down to the people is

much better than a small group. are you standing as a candidate?

Reveal yourself! I am not ready to make that decision yet. The most

important decision is whether we won't do have an elected mayor for

the city or not. I will vote Yes in the referendum. I think the

advantages of an elected mayor are not just uncertainty. We could fix

the local Government into four- yearly cycles which I think would

fix the uncertainty but having an ambassador for Bristol would be a

fantastic. You are quoted as saying you are more than 50% in favour of

having a mayor, is that an accurate quote? Yes, it is. It does not

sound like you are bursting to get into the job? It is simply because

I would be more emphatic of thinking it would make a big

difference to the city if I knew what powers would come with the

Mayor ship. The Government needs to be more open with the city about

what powers would be given to an elected mayor. I have always been

in favour of an elected mayor. A figurehead with a four-year mandate.

It is the big four are that we have highlighted today. The city of

Bristol is not what we all think it is to be. You represent Bradley

Stoke in south Gloucestershire yet really it is within Greater Bristol

saw how my D major deal with deep forks out in Bradley Stoke?

mayor of Bristol would not deal with the faults in Bradley Stoke.

That is a weakness? Not necessarily. The facts are that we have a local

Government area that is the city and Council of Bristol and you

elect a mayor to oversee that area. But if you want a transport system

you have all the different councils. Local councils work together at the

moment. I think for the purposes of clarity the city of Bristol does

need an elected mayor. Are you concerned about where the

boundaries of the city are? I have always been concerned. The west of

Bristol area is huge, it is one million souls. It is one of the

most celebrated cities in the country. It has such potential in

terms of its growth. There is so much going on, the universities,

big airport, baked sea port. But there is this fragmentation. -- Big

Sea port. A lot of the councillors are not keen on this. The Liberal

Democrat deputy leader has been seeing I do not think it is right

to try to bribe the electorate of Bristol into voting for or a

Government which seems to be the right system of governance. Let's

see what the people of Bristol think. We have to wait for the

result of the referendum. I think it is an odd statement to make.

think there is a problem. I think he has got something in that people

will be voting for a change without being absolutely sure what that

change will be. What do you mean by that? The Government is clear that

we want local Government to be reinvigorated in England. It has

been emasculated by the last Government and the previous Tory

Government. We want cities to be local drivers. We have the localism

Act. In our last few seconds, if you stood and should you be elected,

would you resign as an MP? No. That is one of the issues that need to

be clarified. It is quite normal in other parts of the world for the

city's Mayor to also be a Member of Parliament. In Bordeaux, Bristol's

twin city the mayor is also the city MP and the foreign minister of

France, he has they jobs. -- he has three jobs. In the last few months

Bristol has spent millions of pounds on new bus routes. Cars are

being squeezed off the roads and now companies who provide staff

with a car parking space could be charged. We have come along way

since these days. In the 60s our roads were less congested and fuel

costs much less. This week the starting flag was raised for and

you either of buses in the Bristol area. The Government gave more than

�40 million for the new showcase bus routes to try to persuade

commuters to leave their cars at home. Next month the cost of

filling them up will rise as the Government cuts the fuel rebate bus

companies get. The cost will be passed on to passengers. We are

seeing a fuel cuts rise of 27 %, we have to be able to recover some of

that through the prices we charge. We inherited a difficult economic

situation from the previous administration but we gave 18

months' notice of the fuel rebate being reduced. That was a very long

period. At the time the bus operators said the notice time was

sufficient. They can only hope that commuters will not be put off by

the prices. Meanwhile, pressure mounts on the Chancellor ahead of

next week's budget to lower the tax on petrol. Let's stop bus lanes.

The taxpayer has paid for these routes and we are spending millions

hiding parts of it off into bus lanes and giving the bus companies

a virtual monopoly of them went the bus companies have to put their

prices up. Bus lanes do make a big difference to moving people

efficiently around the city. We have had lots of bus measures put

in place over the last 20 years here which has improved the quality,

speed and reliability of bus travel. Subsidising the bus companies by

giving them part of our roads than seeing other road users cannot have

them, but then you do not subsidise the cost of the ticket? Surely it

people are stuck in traffic and see a bus or whizzing past on the bus

lane they are going to be incentivise to get the bus next

time. Everybody says they want better public transport and a real

alternative. That is great in an ideal world but tickets are usually

cheap in places like France. Fears here are high. If I had a tax

contribution for every time someone has said to me why can we not have

European standards in British cities, well, they do tax people

more in many of these countries. It is afraid of. From a business point

of view, charging firms that they provide staff with somewhere to put

their cars, is that something you would favour? It is not. We want

the city council to look at all the alternatives. We know they are

looking at a supplementary business rate but we feel there has to be a

way of spreading that rowed much further. -- spreading that load.

What They are trying to do is close a funding gap. Beer is something

like �20 million of a shortfall which has to be made up. -- there

is something like. The central part is the ever increasing cost of fuel.

Should the Government be addressing that? You have to put it in the

context of our economic situation overall. My understanding is that

every penny we take-off the litre of fuel has to come somewhere.

is pretty tough if you are filling up your family car and it costs

�100. Which I do. We can only artificially hold down the price of

fuel for so long in order to please the boaters. In Our lifetime the

price of petrol has only gone in one direction and only will call in

one direction. Throughout the country how much of it is tax?

vast majority. The underlying price is going up and up. What effect is

this having on business? It is interesting. People seem to be

voting with their feet. We have seen the biggest rise on the

southern beech line for commuters. People are deciding that they

cannot afford to run their cars any more so they will take the next

alternative which Israel. It is a further squeeze on people's pockets,

isn't it? -- the alternative which is real. They can walk or ride or

whatever. -- rail. In celebration of the Cheltenham Festival let's

take a canter through our politics in 60 seconds. The North Somerset

MP Liam Fox has been ordered to pay �3,000 and apologise for breaking

parliamentary rules. The amount of food wasted by supermarkets is

scandalous according to the SNP who has are urged shops to donate

surplus food to charity. So much surplus food goes to waste that

people would be duly grateful to get their hands on it. And this man

who wants to lawfully end his life with the help of doctors will have

his case heard in court. Life is hell for him and it is not going to

get any better. The defunct Cotswold Water Park who's boss was

jailed for fraud has an investigation and it is unlikely

there will be any intervention in the plans to close libraries. That

Was the Week That Was in just 60 seconds. The week ahead will be

interesting politically because it is the Budget. What should the

Chancellor do? He has a really tough job at the moment. He will

have to continue to play down the deficit and have financial

stability while raising the situation with jobs. Help for small

businesses as well. What is the Liberal Democrat peer? Taxing that

1%? I am glad we endorse that. We have to raise more people out of

income tax altogether and have a tax cut for the vast majority. That

is what the Liberal Democrats have brought to the budget negotiations.

As for people at the top end, the 50 p rate, it would not be our

priority now to drop that great. We want to see more work done on

taxing wealth more effectively in this country. A mansion tax, a

tycoon tax. It is always someone else paying tax that people want, I

guess. The 50 pence rate, will that they or disappear? Well, I think at

the moment it is a tough balancing act. I do not know at this stage.

We will have to wait and see. about any of the other issues? Can

he possibly kick-start the economy doing something now that he has not

done before? I would like to see more help given to small businesses.

What we have done on corporation tax as far as reducing 2% at the

moment, perhaps more measures like that. We shall see before much