Browse content similar to 07/10/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the West - David Cameron and the Police. Hundreds of thousands of us | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
are due to vote for new Commissioners in just a few weeks' | :01:27. | :01:30. | |
time. Can the Prime Minister convince you that it's worth the | :01:30. | :01:40. | |
:01:40. | :01:40. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2132 seconds | :01:40. | :37:13. | |
Hello, we will soon be voting for new police and crime commissioners, | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
but what are we supposed to be voting for? I will ask the Prime | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
Minister if his big idea is what bothering with. I got into Downing | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
Street without upsetting the officers on the gate, they were | :37:26. | :37:31. | |
charming! Helping us with our inquiries today, Charlotte Leslie, | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
a Conservative from Bristol, and Tessa Munt, at the Liberal | :37:36. | :37:40. | |
Democrats. Anything you may say, it may be taken down in writing and | :37:40. | :37:45. | |
used against you, but I hope you will be brave and confess! What | :37:45. | :37:50. | |
about this idea of police commissioners? I am very for that | :37:50. | :37:58. | |
idea and more so as the campaign goes on. So many people ask why the | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
police are not doing more about anti-social behaviour, etc? People | :38:02. | :38:06. | |
now have someone who is accountable for the priorities of the police | :38:06. | :38:13. | |
and that is really good. We should not have politicised police | :38:13. | :38:18. | |
management. So I am not in favour. Having said that, I am completely | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
in favour of the Liberal Democrats -- in favour of the Liberal- | :38:23. | :38:30. | |
Democrat candidate in this area. We were obliged to put one up. Our man | :38:30. | :38:40. | |
cut all the funding -- Mr Maddock cut the funding for PCSOs and if we | :38:40. | :38:45. | |
had him in control, but we would have to challenge that stomach | :38:45. | :38:50. | |
there is not going to be much money floating around and Mr Madoc is | :38:50. | :38:58. | |
superb and has a lot of experience of my knitting for budget. -- | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
managing. He has wasted money closing | :39:01. | :39:04. | |
libraries and spent three-quarters of a million pounds setting them up | :39:04. | :39:12. | |
again, he is out of control! A we will talk more later on, and | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
other candidates are available! They are on the website. | :39:17. | :39:21. | |
The exercise of voting for police commissioners will cost �75 million | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
across the country, so is it worth it? We have turned detective. | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
On the streets of the West, no sign of election fever. Almost no-one | :39:31. | :39:41. | |
:39:41. | :39:41. | ||
seems to know. Please Commissioner, no! I know it is soon, but I do not | :39:41. | :39:48. | |
know when. I do not know! No idea. And never heard of it. I attitudes | :39:48. | :39:53. | |
may be linked to events, crime has been falling for nearly two decades | :39:53. | :39:57. | |
but a lot of public money is being spent so we can have a direct say | :39:57. | :40:02. | |
in how police forces are run. Election officers are grappling | :40:02. | :40:06. | |
with holding complicated votes using a different ballot paper that | :40:06. | :40:10. | |
people may not understand. So more expense. The Electoral Commission | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
is running gaffer's. He will explain how to fill in the ballot | :40:14. | :40:22. | |
paper. The money spent on this is just for starters. To run campaigns | :40:22. | :40:27. | |
across entire police force areas will cost parties a lot. In Avon | :40:27. | :40:33. | |
and Somerset, each candidate can spend more than �220,000. It has | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
brought protests from independents, who feel they are being priced out | :40:38. | :40:43. | |
of the process. The cost deters even the Liberal Democrats, who are | :40:43. | :40:46. | |
less enthusiastic about Commissioners than their coalition | :40:46. | :40:50. | |
partners, especially the Home Secretary. They will be highly | :40:50. | :40:55. | |
visible, chosen directly by the people and accountable by the | :40:55. | :40:59. | |
people -- to the people. This experiment take shape on November | :40:59. | :41:04. | |
15th, regardless of whether people vote or even care! | :41:04. | :41:07. | |
The expense is one of the issues I brought up with the Prime Minister. | :41:07. | :41:13. | |
I met him at Number Ten. Prime Minister, why are we spending | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
this money alerting Police Commissioner -- Police Commission | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
has come up when police forces in the West are cutting PCs on the | :41:22. | :41:28. | |
beat? A green league proper police accountability. -- we need. You | :41:28. | :41:34. | |
walk down a village or street and ask people who will is on the | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
police authority on what powers they have and they will not be able | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
to tell you. In the future, at elected police commissioners will | :41:40. | :41:46. | |
be seen by the public as their voice. Who wants them? I won at | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
them and I think the public will welcome them when they see when | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
they want to push the police to do more on domestic burglary and | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
challenge issues in the community, they have someone to talk to. | :41:58. | :42:03. | |
how can they do that when officers are being cut? The present had of | :42:03. | :42:08. | |
officers on the front line is going up. Difficult financial decisions | :42:08. | :42:13. | |
are being made in a climate when crime is falling, and public | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
confidence and law and order is going up. These are difficult | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
decisions, but we saw this week with the news saw this -- serve as | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
launch of one organisation providing helicopters for the | :42:24. | :42:26. | |
crease services and the country, you can save money and providing | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
better service. Bid chief Constable of Gloucestershire resigned earlier | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
this year and said his force was on the edge of the cliff -- the chief | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
constable. A do not accept that. The percentage of officers on the | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
front line is up, public confidence in law and order is up, crime is | :42:45. | :42:50. | |
down, and the police are doing an excellent job. They are not alone | :42:50. | :42:58. | |
in taking difficult decisions. Cuts across the board have been made, | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
except for the National Health Service. In the police, they have | :43:01. | :43:07. | |
done very well! This new police commissioners will impose the Cup. | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
-- the new. They are therefore accountability so when people are | :43:10. | :43:14. | |
not satisfied on when they want greater action on transport crime, | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
they want to bring to the attention of the police took a public order, | :43:18. | :43:24. | |
in future they will have one person they are accountable to. But still | :43:24. | :43:30. | |
has narrowly voted to have an elected Mayor -- Bristol. The sea | :43:30. | :43:35. | |
in principle, they will have one person they come praise -- it is | :43:35. | :43:41. | |
the same principle. It will be great for Bristol. | :43:41. | :43:44. | |
What will you give Bristol in return? | :43:44. | :43:50. | |
To say to the new Mayor of Bristol, what is it Bristol most wants? What | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
changes can you make to attract Bristol -- business to the city? | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
What power can we devolve to you to do that? It is much easier with one | :44:01. | :44:09. | |
person. And she will deliver? course. And this is the year it you | :44:09. | :44:15. | |
tried to tax static caravans and pastries, you do not get working | :44:15. | :44:21. | |
people, do you, that is what true opponents say? We have taken the 2 | :44:21. | :44:25. | |
million lowest-paid people in this country out of income tax. When you | :44:25. | :44:31. | |
are dealing with a budget deficit bigger than Greece, you have to | :44:31. | :44:35. | |
take difficult decisions. Sum you can follow through with. And some | :44:35. | :44:41. | |
we have taken and have had to make changes, you do that in government. | :44:41. | :44:47. | |
But we are in government in a difficult time and I think people | :44:47. | :44:53. | |
understand that and understand you do not get everything right. | :44:53. | :45:00. | |
The Prime Minister. A lot to talk about. Very robust defence of these | :45:00. | :45:03. | |
police and crime commissioners. What do you reckon the turnout in | :45:03. | :45:08. | |
your pot of the world will be? would not want to put money on that | :45:08. | :45:14. | |
-- I would not. I imagine quite low because just the recognition of the | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
fact there is a date in the diary this is going to happen is low. I | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
feel strongly no information is being sent out to people and the | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
way that would normally happens. were be difficult for people to | :45:28. | :45:34. | |
vote on party lines -- it will be. They all want the same, roughly, so | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
how do people choose? He it will be difficult and the information has | :45:39. | :45:45. | |
not been supplied -- it will be difficult. This is the first one | :45:45. | :45:49. | |
and it will be en grande and our political experience. Every time | :45:50. | :45:54. | |
there is the first time election it will be difficult. But it will be | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
interesting as people begin to realise in a few years' time that | :45:58. | :46:01. | |
they are collecting the person who drives the priorities for the | :46:01. | :46:06. | |
police force. Up Prime Minister's run which was interesting. I | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
challenge him about the falling number of officers and he said the | :46:10. | :46:15. | |
proportion of officers on the front line is higher, and that is true, | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
but there are fewer, that is the truth. It is interesting speaking | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
to the police, they want better communication gadgetry. The | :46:25. | :46:29. | |
replication of information they have to do when they rests on his | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
extraordinary. Why do police not have technology that can make a | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
difference? Particularly when time is tight. Police commissioners can | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
be good at pushing forward that kind of thing. A week to talk about | :46:41. | :46:47. | |
whether your leader is out of touch with ordinary people -- we talked | :46:47. | :46:52. | |
about. He had to do you turns on a caravan Tax, for example. It does | :46:52. | :46:59. | |
he gets it? Completely. If you do not listen to people when they say | :46:59. | :47:04. | |
you are wrong, people say you are out of touch. If you change things, | :47:04. | :47:09. | |
people say, you should not have changed things. There were | :47:09. | :47:14. | |
anomalies on the pastry tax, he does get it. But it is a really | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
difficult task. They arrive at a lot of people -- there are a lot of | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
people who could have told the Chancellor and David Cameron those | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
were bad ideas before they were put forward. We should listen before we | :47:27. | :47:32. | |
speak and think about things beforehand, then we do not get into | :47:32. | :47:38. | |
such a mess by putting forward these proposals. It would not have | :47:38. | :47:45. | |
been very difficult to ask people in Yorkshire for example what would | :47:45. | :47:50. | |
happen if you applied VAT to static caravans. We had to explain it at | :47:50. | :48:00. | |
the Treasury. We went to the Treasury, who listened. He was | :48:00. | :48:08. | |
ignored! I do not know! Dave it can rent is keen on saying that we have | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
taken 2 million ordinary people out of tax -- David Cameron. That was | :48:13. | :48:20. | |
front page of the manifesto, but let's see if we go further. Our | :48:20. | :48:25. | |
policy for our party has a target of 12 million. | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
It is one of the biggest white elephants and the West, the | :48:29. | :48:32. | |
regional fire control centre in Taunton has not taken his single | :48:32. | :48:40. | |
999 call, and yet it is costing us all �100,000 a month. Now, in a bid | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
to recoup some of the wasted money, the government is going to rent out | :48:45. | :48:51. | |
the building. In an emergency, every second | :48:51. | :48:54. | |
counts. The quicker your call is answered, the quicker help will | :48:54. | :49:02. | |
arrive. Mack your call is answered by a local person in your area. -- | :49:02. | :49:08. | |
your calls. Currently, there are five control centres across the | :49:08. | :49:12. | |
West, like this one, but the last government promised to change | :49:12. | :49:21. | |
things by merging the centres into one centres. -- one that centre. No | :49:21. | :49:27. | |
longer will calls be diverted between centres, but a pledge to | :49:27. | :49:31. | |
create a super control centre in Taunton, with state of the art | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
computer systems are making things quicker and cheaper. It was under | :49:36. | :49:39. | |
Labour in 2004 that the fire control project was first set up to | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
improve efficiency and technology within the fire service, and to | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
make the country better prepared for a national emergencies and | :49:47. | :49:52. | |
major incidents. The plan for Tom Turner was that 999 cause would be | :49:52. | :49:57. | |
handled from Wiltshire through to Cornwall -- at for Taunton. The | :49:57. | :50:02. | |
unions always hated the idea. made it clear to the government | :50:02. | :50:07. | |
these proposals could not and would not work -- we made it clear. The | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
idea to close seven control rooms across the South words -- South | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
West and replace it with one facility was madness. We made it | :50:16. | :50:20. | |
clear to government these plans would not work in that form. To | :50:20. | :50:25. | |
replace highly professional emergency control operators with | :50:25. | :50:29. | |
microchips was deeply flawed from the outset! And Noel emergency call | :50:29. | :50:34. | |
has been answered here -- no emergency call. The project was | :50:34. | :50:38. | |
mothballed by the coalition and 2010. They lay the blame with | :50:38. | :50:47. | |
Labour politicians, including the fire minister at the time. It now | :50:47. | :50:53. | |
costs of the �6,000 in electricity, nearly �29,000 in maintenance, over | :50:53. | :51:00. | |
�100,000 in rent every single month. Total cost to the tax payer, �1.6 | :51:00. | :51:04. | |
million each year. Bit were told from the start it would not work | :51:04. | :51:08. | |
but they pushed ahead regardless -- they were told. Hundreds of | :51:08. | :51:12. | |
millions of pounds has been squandered. The first Labour | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
government gave us this building, the coalition government had failed | :51:16. | :51:20. | |
to capitalise for use it. Taxpayers' money has been wasted | :51:20. | :51:26. | |
and no-one has been held to account. Built as a private finance | :51:26. | :51:30. | |
initiative, police will not run out until 27th so it is up for rent as | :51:30. | :51:40. | |
:51:40. | :51:41. | ||
a solution, yours at just far hundred and �50,000 a year. -- | :51:41. | :51:45. | |
�450,000. But the unions say the government has failed to learn from | :51:45. | :51:49. | |
this costly mistake. To joining the debate is former | :51:49. | :51:58. | |
Labour MP David Drew. How does the Labour government think this is a | :51:58. | :52:03. | |
good idea? It was a shambles from the start and as Tam McFarlane | :52:03. | :52:09. | |
explains, they were told and they were warned and they ignored it. | :52:09. | :52:16. | |
has been one of the worst plans of New Labour. But why? Chief fire | :52:16. | :52:21. | |
officers and firefighters were saying they but successive | :52:21. | :52:26. | |
ministers did not listen, why? it was the vanity of John Prescott | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
among others who felt they knew best and it fitted the regional | :52:30. | :52:34. | |
agenda. We felt strongly in Gloucestershire, because we had an | :52:34. | :52:40. | |
excellent fire centre, and they just tried to drive it through. But | :52:40. | :52:45. | |
it was destined to fail from the word go and I was pleased to work | :52:45. | :52:48. | |
with a group to undermine it and make sure it did not work, because | :52:48. | :52:53. | |
it was the wrong approach. Sadly, the legacy still exists with the | :52:54. | :53:01. | |
costs. Worthies of a private -- worthies of a private finance | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
initiatives mistakes? -- work these. It was the only game in town | :53:06. | :53:10. | |
because we had the restraint of public sector borrowing | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
requirements, so this was seen as a smart way to borrow against future | :53:14. | :53:20. | |
requirements, but it has not worked. A even in the good times, the | :53:20. | :53:24. | |
Labour had Max doubt on their credit card and finding new way of | :53:24. | :53:34. | |
:53:34. | :53:37. | ||
finding credit? -- maxed out. was about getting the credit going, | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
hospitals were in need of refurbishment, etc. But the deals | :53:41. | :53:48. | |
that were done were so bad and so costly and the people doing them, | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
as we have seen with the West Coast line this week, when not skills in | :53:51. | :53:58. | |
negotiating the price. I am just saying that people under taking | :53:58. | :54:03. | |
negotiating were not good at what they were doing. Is there any | :54:03. | :54:11. | |
defence of this? And would not want to defend it in the slightest -- I | :54:11. | :54:18. | |
would not. I think PFI it is an appalling way to go -- is an | :54:18. | :54:23. | |
appalling way to go. Coalition is a way to get us out of this hideous | :54:23. | :54:29. | |
mess and that is a good example of how we got to that stage. Berry �70 | :54:29. | :54:34. | |
billion worth of borrowed money through PFI which we know already, | :54:34. | :54:42. | |
be estimates for paying back of 300 billion -- and there is. I think | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
you make sure you know exactly what you are doing before you borrow | :54:46. | :54:51. | |
money. This is pay-day loans for government and it is disgraceful! | :54:51. | :54:55. | |
If you did not have this, schools would not have been built and | :54:55. | :55:02. | |
hospitals. Firstly, it is about a Labour government who were out of | :55:02. | :55:06. | |
touch. Speak to any firefighter and they say the local knowledge was | :55:07. | :55:11. | |
crucial in getting the vehicle to way you wanted and you cannot | :55:11. | :55:15. | |
replicate that with a computer chip. And the public sector is | :55:15. | :55:19. | |
historically really bad at negotiating the private sector, so | :55:19. | :55:23. | |
you have private contractors running riot. Juice sort that out, | :55:23. | :55:29. | |
we need to look at how we negotiate those contracts -- to sort that out. | :55:29. | :55:33. | |
When you are in government, you seem to get this arrogance about | :55:33. | :55:40. | |
going ahead with a project everyone is advising you not to do, whether | :55:40. | :55:47. | |
it is Police Commissioner has all this. -- all this. Civil servants | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
are individually good people working hard, it is the system to | :55:52. | :55:56. | |
blame and not the individuals and the individuals do not often have | :55:56. | :56:01. | |
access to real world knowledge that you need to make good decisions. | :56:01. | :56:07. | |
And the way the system works, the - - we now have the luxury of a five- | :56:07. | :56:14. | |
year term, nobody can change the system. We have to rush ahead and | :56:14. | :56:18. | |
take a look back at the political week. Which only have 60 seconds | :56:19. | :56:28. | |
:56:29. | :56:30. | ||
for it. -- we only have. A to the Labour conference. | :56:30. | :56:35. | |
8 David Letterman style welcome for the man who wants to be Mayor of | :56:35. | :56:40. | |
Bristol. Bristol is a fantastic city and if I can tempt you to | :56:40. | :56:43. | |
bring a future Labour Party conference here, you can taste it | :56:43. | :56:48. | |
for yourself! And Miliband mentioned he is a comprehensive boy | :56:49. | :56:54. | |
-- Ed Miliband. Up two a state school boys hoping for big things | :56:54. | :56:59. | |
in Bristol on November 15th. And T is going to be a great match of | :56:59. | :57:05. | |
Bristol! -- he is going to be. These vehicles are used at Heathrow | :57:05. | :57:10. | |
and could be coming to Bristol. Where is the driver to? And out in | :57:11. | :57:15. | |
a fresh batch of the countryside, the badger caught is proving to be | :57:16. | :57:25. | |
anything but black and white. -- cull. Three councils have said they | :57:25. | :57:29. | |
will not allow them to be shot on their land! | :57:29. | :57:34. | |
At conference, Ed Miliband said he was a conference -- a comprehensive | :57:34. | :57:43. | |
boy, he told us about 45 times! a bit of class does not go a miss! | :57:43. | :57:49. | |
-- a bit. A bit of class war is good. It is an issue but it will be | :57:49. | :57:53. | |
among other things, it is about competence of government and about | :57:53. | :58:01. | |
a lot of the issues this week. is the posh boy image of David | :58:01. | :58:07. | |
Cameron and his cabinet of millionaires, that will come up. | :58:08. | :58:12. | |
Miliband said, we are one nation as long as she went to a school like | :58:12. | :58:16. | |
me and my Cabinet. People want to see competence and do not want to | :58:16. | :58:21. | |
be dragged into an old class for which seems opportunistic and does | :58:21. | :58:28. | |
not do politics any good. I went to Badminton. Mack it is interesting | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
and offers scholarships to people who do not have a lot of money but | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
want to do sport, it is a good model of giving people access to an | :58:36. | :58:42. | |
amazing sports facilities if they have talent. Is that something you | :58:42. | :58:47. | |
will throw at your opponents? can hurl insults at ideas but you | :58:47. | :58:53. | |
want to keep it less personal -- you can. A good it is going to | :58:53. | :58:59. | |
stick with Mr Cameron, -- but it is. The fact that Ed Miliband went on | :58:59. | :59:05. | |
about it. It is an issue because we should be moving towards a | :59:05. | :59:11. | |
classless society but class is ever more important. Is he an ordinary | :59:11. | :59:17. | |
comprehensive boy? I do not think he had any special tuition and is | :59:17. | :59:27. | |
:59:27. | :59:27. | ||
much the better for it. He lived in a rather nice part of London! | :59:27. | :59:31. | |
you talk about class, you talk about education and under Labour, | :59:31. | :59:36. | |
the gap between private and state school education widened, so that | :59:36. | :59:45. | |
is what matters. That is it! But do not go away because Andrew has more | :59:45. | :59:52. |