17/06/2012 Sunday Politics West

By in the West, the doctor will not see you now - West Country doctors

are joining the national strike, but with GPs among the highest paid

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1615 seconds

in the world, will their patience In the West this week, would you be

happy to retire on �48,000 a year? We will be talking to West Country

doctors who say that is not enough, so they are going on strike.

Hundreds of non-emergency operations will be cancelled.

It has been a rocky week for the Coalition in Westminster, but we

are all friends here. Today we are joined by two cloddish and bodies,

the Lib Dem MP from Yeovil, David Laws, and the Conservative MP from

Kingswood, Chris Skidmore. He co- authored a group with fellow

Conservative MPs. One of the biggest issues that came

up this week was the church of England talking about gay marriage

and saying it could lead to a split from the state. Are you supporting

it, Chris? It is important to understand the church's concerns

and ensure that there is religious freedom, but personally I believe

in gay marriage. Is it a distraction? I think, when you look

at this argument, we had an act bringing in indication at the same

time it as the D-Day landings in 1944. -- education. The Government

can do two things at once. Other Coalition right to focus on this?

It is important to take this forward. It affects millions of

people's not -- millions of people, not just those in same-sex

relationships. I agree, this does not need to take up vast amounts of

time, and it is not something the Prime Minister is getting up and

spending hours on each day. It is being dealt with by his junior

minister. I suspect there will be a lot of support in parliament. It is

not de railing the Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister from the

big priority for the country, which is the economy.

The honeymoon is long forgotten, and a couple of years on from the

political marriage, tensions are more evident. We are talking about

the Coalition allies, who had a bit of an argument in Westminster. But

for activists in the West Country, that is no surprise, because

relationships between Conservatives and Lib Dems round here have rarely

been easy. Politics is never be a bed of roses.

There are always thorny issues - blooms fade In Every Rose Garden.

Conservatives and Lib Dems in Westminster and the West. Downing

Street two years ago, Taunton this week, and top of corporation.

were wanted to put aside party differences and work together in

the national interest. In Somerset, I am happy to work

with anybody who wants to work with this Conservative administration.

But someone has caused a rift between the partners - Business

Secretary Jeremy Hunt, whom Lib Dems would not support in

parliament. If you are let down -- do feel let down by a Deputy Prime

Minister? Nick Clegg was not consulted by the

Prime Minister on his decision not to refer Jeremy Hunt to the

independent adviser, and therefore he cannot condone that decision.

That is why we will be abstaining in the vault.

That sort of political discord is fairly standard in places like

Somerset. Why are they not convinced of their plans, or is it

that they are all wrong and you are right? The County Council chamber

always has the two parties attacking each other.

Cuts, such as to libraries and buses, are big issues. Especially

with an all-white election next spring.

A plan on going for the last three years I agree with, and obviously I

will be refreshing that plan. It is important that we get out into the

community and talk to residents and staff and engage with the more than

we have done in the past four stop if we had taken power three years

ago, we would have had to take -- we had would have had to do

something of his similar manner, but not as deep as the Conservative

administration are doing at the moment.

But at least the two parties can find common cause in who is

responsible for Somerset's financial blows - their colleagues

at Westminster. Our Government is cutting our grant substantially. We

have to find �22 million of saving in the next financial year. I walk

with -- our work with everyone who can come up with a solution. I hope

we can lobby together to ensure that the Government gives Somerset

be very fair deal. So, prickly issues for both parties.

Worried about what voters will do to them at the polls. Do they were

both saying that we need more money from central Government.

The Lib Dem leader and the Conservative leader. Don't they get

it? Have you not told them there is a recession on? They want Somerset

to have a fair deal, and they are right that in the past in areas

like education, the allocation across the country has not been

fair. Something that the commission is going to look at. Everybody's

pleads his special case, sometimes with good reason, and if you look

at the allocation of something like education funding across the

country, it is not national unfair. We want to sort that out, but to do

that without creating bigger losers across the country. We can work

together on things like that, but we are not in condition at a local

Government level, and where we disagree, there should be robust

opposition as well as party in Government. There are lots of

things -- a lot of things the Conservative -- the Conservatives

have done and we do not agree with. I agreed with David. I joined the

Lib Dems and Conservatives in calling for a fairer deal. We have

missed out in the south-west quite drastically. If you are in national

Government, you have budgets you have to sort out. As soon as it

comes locally, you say, we are not getting... There is a pot of money

that has shrunk, and for too long a time but pop was artificially

inflated by a large amount of borrowing that is no longer

sustainable. I think, just to add, in terms of what we do locally, the

Conservative Party and the Lib Dem party have been able to come into

Coalition nationally and locally because we share that common belief

in local communities rather than the big state at Westminster.

Lib Dem was saying there that we do pretty much what the Conservatives

do, we are just not so nasty about it. How do you feel about that?

do not feel I am nasty. I went into politics determined to ensure...

Sometimes he will do is in -- disagree, but you get more done

when you combine your efforts across party. If you look at some

of the choices that the Conservatives in Somerset have been

making, and compare them with other councils in the south-west and

across the country, most of those other councils have not been making

the same choices, to decimate the youth service, two at one stage

removed the support from young carers under the age of 18... Those

things are wrong, and it is quite right that we should sort them out.

When he was sorting out the Coalition agreement, and you were

behind some of the policy, had the country been growing again, we

would not have quite these problems. Is there any part of the financial

plan that is actually working? If you look at the deficit we

inherited from Labour. If you look at the gap between spending and

taxation, it was projected to be �163 billion under Labour two years

ago. It has come down by a quarter in just 2 macro years. But of

course, with the mess we have in the eurozone, there is a lot to do

in order to make sure that growth comes through.

Hospitals across the West are preparing to cancel routine

operations and outpatients appointments ahead of its planned

day of strike action next Thursday. Also patients needing urgent or

emergency treatment will be seen. It is only -- it is all the changes

to their pensions. By the last time doctors took

industrial action was almost 40 years ago. Much has changed since

then, but still the training to become a doctor takes many years,

and they say their pay and pensions reflect their unique and demanding

role. But now, like many other public sector employees, their

pensions are changing. They have to pay higher contributions - up to

14% of their salary. Those qualifying now will work until they

are 60 it and receive less when they stop working. More than half

of the doctors in the BMA voted in the strike ballot, and a clear

majority were in favour of action, but many local doctors we spoke to

fit it could backfire on them. unsightly ashamed to think that we

would strike. I did not vote for it. You can see why doctors are angry

and voted to strike, but I think at the end of the day in the current

environment, we are not going to gain any sort of public support.

The Government say doctors cannot be exempt from pension changes.

junior doctor starting out in the NHS could look forward when they

retired to be pension equivalent to �68,000 a year. There are people

all over the country will say that is an excellent pension. Local

hospitals have started to contact patients about rescheduling

procedures. The BMA say the Government have been unwilling to

negotiate, and unless that changes, strike action was go ahead.

Joining me now is Dr up -- a doctor from Bristol, and in medical

student just starting out on her career.

GPs in this country are the second best paid in the world. Twice as

much as the French, and is it because you are worth it? I think

we are, but what we are asking for is it level playing field with a

senior civil servants. If you have a pension system, but should be a

similar deduction from each profession. We are not asking that

doctors' pay less, we are arguing that senior civil servants should

be paying more. So you would not go on strike if other people employed

by the state had to pay the same contribution? Yes. We are looking

for a level playing field. It is this unfairness which is bringing

about our action. We are all going to be in our places of work, but

patients will be seen, and anyone urgent will be seen. I we do not

support a strike. Do you know any, you are in your

third year, have you got any friends who are not Medix, with a

pension deal like the one that you will get? -- who are not doctors.

Where are you supporting this action? I have realised just how

unfair this is in the pension scheme at the moment. We have a

deal that is fair and affordable and sustainable, and what is

frightening, particularly for those entering into the profession, is

that we are now faced with �70,000 of debt because tuition fees have

been tripled, and we are looking... If you are a consultant earning

�120,000 a year, so be �1,000 is not much. It is its huge debt, and

it might frighten students are we. We have politicians here. Canute

convince them not to go on strike? A find it extraordinary that the

idea put -- being put forward is that GPs are going on strike simply

to increase the pension contributions by the public sector

workers. I would point out that the public sector pensions are being

reformed across the board for every single group of public sector

workers. Including members of parliament whose pension

contributions are might be going up by a couple of %, and have doubled

over the period of time since I became an MP. All public sector

pensions have to be reformed so the art sustainable and affordable, and

when we talk about so far -- friend has, it is not just between public

sector workers, it is between the public sector and the private work

-- private sector. We have massively better pensions than the

vast majority. Has he got the diagnosis right? It will be those

people but that knee operations and hip operation so will find their

operations cancelled. Even though it is not a complete strike, it

will mean a lot of distress for those patients who ultimately pay

at all our wages and pay for the NHS. A lot of money has gone into

it, but if we are going to keep on increasing pensions, I want to make

sure... A lot has been talked about increasing pensions, but we are

looking for equality. But you are going on strike not because you are

unhappy with your pensions, but because you want other public

sector workers to pay more? But is not by an -- what I understand.

think it is fair in this climate that the others should be paying

more. It is not just doctors, it is the BMA. It is a union. Ken Clarke

said it was a union of the worst sort back in 1992, and a lot of

other doctors do not want to get involved with it. If you look at

the evidence, in mid- January we surveyed our members, and eight out

of ten rejected the Government's reforms. But why did so few

respond... They did not actually, it was in huge numbers. When you

are on the wards and you see the patients, most of them will be a

lot poorer than you. Canute look them in the eye and say, I am not

getting a good deal? But it is not fair... Life is not fair.

average contribution from the employees and the employer, the

taxpayer, to our pensions, is around 30% of pay. In the private

sector is this something between nothing and 10%. Are you worried

about alienating patients? When you say the word strike, it is not his

strike. You are talking of... your receptionist will not say, I

am sorry, the doctor is on strike? If the patient says it cannot wait

until tomorrow, it cannot wait. There are a lot of things which

will still be held up and Deniz put in place because he will on the be

seen people who are emergencies. But every week, we have the weekend.

It is held up then. We have to leave it there. Thank you for

coming in today. Time now for a spin through the

political week. A villagers of Stanton Wick are

preparing to do battle over proposals to turn this land into a

pan a travellers' site. The council say they need to provide permanent

sites for travellers, but villagers claim it would ruin their village.

A High Court battle will decide if North Somerset council acted

illegally by cutting its youth services by 70%. These campaigners

are awaiting the judge's ruling. A 60-year-old man from Gloucester

who sent threatening e-mails to the Conservative MP Louise Mensch was

given his six-month suspended sentence. He was also served with a

restraining order. Campaigners against a new stadium

in Bristol have agreed to drop a High Court challenge against

brittle City Council. Half of this land has been protected. -- Bristol

City Council. It is still to be decided whether Bristol City

football ground can build their new stadium here.

That Was the Week in just one minute. Let us pick up on the man

with the suspended prison sentence. It has opened up a can of worms.

The business of Government -- is in the business of Government to get

involved? Sadly, I think it is. I hate to say -- I hate to see what

Government interference, but we have the Leveson Inquiry going on

about standards in the press and the broadcast media, so we cannot

take the Pulborough tit attacks on people seriously if we only by --

unwarranted attacks on people seriously if we only applied them

to newspapers. We have a new board of communication were sometimes

people can be attacked Totley unfairly.