:01:22. > :01:32.Here in the West - Labour were hammered in the local elections.
:01:32. > :01:32.
:01:32. > :36:04.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2072 seconds
:36:04. > :36:09.Will they be the comeback kids on Welcome to the Sunday Politics,
:36:09. > :36:15.here in the West Country. On the programme to date - Labour on the
:36:15. > :36:24.up. They were hammered four years ago in the label elections and they
:36:24. > :36:34.last beat Bristol Mail will -- and they lost the Bristol mayoral
:36:34. > :36:38.elections. We have with us for Labour kerry McCarthy and for the
:36:38. > :36:43.Conservatives Stephen Williams. Before we start, the funeral of
:36:43. > :36:50.Lady Thatcher - were you there? was not there and I have not seen
:36:50. > :36:54.any coverage. One thing I did do is to go and see her coffin in the
:36:54. > :37:04.chapel in Parliament. I think it was more the sense of occasion. It
:37:04. > :37:08.was not to pay tribute. Was she an inspiration to you? A lot of people
:37:08. > :37:14.think you should be inspired because she was a woman, but you
:37:14. > :37:19.should be inspired by people who do things you want to aspire to. In
:37:19. > :37:29.some ways I was ashamed she was a woman because I disagreed with what
:37:29. > :37:34.
:37:34. > :37:38.she was doing. The general thrust, her ideology, her attitude towards
:37:38. > :37:44.the working class people in this country and many other people as
:37:44. > :37:50.well, I don't see much there to admire. I think there are other
:37:50. > :37:55.female role models in politics that I would aspire to. Did British
:37:55. > :38:01.politics changed after the funeral of Lady Thatcher? I don't think her
:38:01. > :38:06.funeral has changed anything. She still casts a be a shadow over the
:38:06. > :38:12.modern Conservative Party. It is a problem for them. Even though she
:38:12. > :38:17.has died, her memory will last for a long time yet and will influence
:38:17. > :38:27.the Conservative Party, in particular the attitude towards the
:38:27. > :38:29.
:38:29. > :38:33.European Union. I have to say, I alone Thatcher -- I loathed
:38:33. > :38:39.Thatcher all the time she was Prime Minister. She actually inspired me
:38:39. > :38:45.to get into politics. And negative inspiration rather than a positive
:38:45. > :38:51.one. The local elections are round the corner. Last week we looked at
:38:51. > :39:00.the county councils. This week it is the turn of Bristol to come
:39:00. > :39:05.under the microscope of the Sunday Politics. All eyes are on Labour.
:39:05. > :39:13.A giant ballot box has gone on show in Bristol as the first postal
:39:13. > :39:18.voting papers start landing on doorsteps. They could be a decisive
:39:18. > :39:28.shift in political fortunes in Bristol. A third of the seats are
:39:28. > :39:28.
:39:28. > :39:34.up for grabs. Last time the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats
:39:34. > :39:39.won all of them, but it could change. Leading the charge for
:39:39. > :39:49.Labour, Ed Miliband came campaigning in the city. The do not
:39:49. > :39:49.
:39:49. > :39:53.be fatalistic. We can make a difference. He hopes success in
:39:53. > :39:58.Bristol will herald a wider revival where over successive elections
:39:58. > :40:04.they have fallen a long way. South of England is a place where
:40:04. > :40:09.we did very badly in 2009. But I have any message, a one nation
:40:09. > :40:16.message and it is relevant to all parts of the country. At regional
:40:16. > :40:19.headquarters, and energise team are working the phones to make sure the
:40:19. > :40:26.disenfranchised come out to vote. Ed Miliband was here last Saturday
:40:26. > :40:30.and that shows that Bristol is on Labour's radar nationally. It is a
:40:30. > :40:36.fantastic opportunity. So the party that overtook them in the council
:40:36. > :40:39.chamber are trying to keep politics at street level. We are in
:40:39. > :40:43.government and we have to make tough decisions, but when I talk to
:40:44. > :40:47.people on the doorstep, they recognise we were left with a
:40:47. > :40:53.financial mess and they don't necessarily blame us for that. I
:40:53. > :41:03.think another issue is people do realise that they don't change the
:41:03. > :41:08.
:41:08. > :41:18.government at these local elections. Brave words. I voted Liberal
:41:18. > :41:20.
:41:20. > :41:25.Democrats and Nick Clegg got in. No thanks. We won the seat in 2009.
:41:25. > :41:34.There is a tendency for things to become a referendum on the
:41:34. > :41:38.coalition. But this election is about local councillors. It is 10
:41:38. > :41:48.years since Labour lost their grip on Bristol. Within two weeks, they
:41:48. > :41:54.could once more be the biggest party on the council.
:41:54. > :42:00.Will that happen again? I am unwilling to make a prediction.
:42:00. > :42:05.There are five wards up for grabs in my constituency, so let's see
:42:05. > :42:10.what happens. We have a mayor who it is an independent, so why
:42:10. > :42:16.bother? A lot of power is now concentrated in the mayor, but if
:42:16. > :42:26.you look at some of the negotiations and you turns that had
:42:26. > :42:27.
:42:27. > :42:31.been made, there were forced -- they were forced upon him. I think
:42:31. > :42:35.we have demonstrated that we have been an effective opposition in the
:42:35. > :42:45.last five months or so and it is important there is that
:42:45. > :42:46.
:42:46. > :42:48.representation there. We don't wanted to be a one-man dictatorship.
:42:48. > :42:58.What are the Liberal Democrats stand-in for in the local
:42:58. > :42:58.
:42:58. > :43:02.elections? I used to get a bit fed up when I was a councillor and I
:43:02. > :43:06.was first selected to Avon and Bristol council 20 years ago when
:43:06. > :43:10.the media said this is yet another referendum on national politics, I
:43:10. > :43:15.think that is now even less relevant because we have been mayor
:43:15. > :43:19.who runs the city. What people will be electing on 2nd May is the
:43:19. > :43:24.person they think he will be the best local champion for their part
:43:24. > :43:30.of the city. Who they think knows their community, knows the issues
:43:30. > :43:34.for this course, what goes on in the high streets and can make
:43:34. > :43:36.representations to the mayor. They are looking for someone who
:43:36. > :43:41.understands their community and their national policies should
:43:41. > :43:51.feature it even less in this selection. But to talk about some
:43:51. > :43:57.of the Labour policies. They want to fight the bedroom tax, increase
:43:57. > :44:04.minimum wage. How would that be paid for? The living wage would be
:44:04. > :44:09.employers meeting the cost. Politics is always a question of
:44:09. > :44:13.priorities, so you would look at the budget and how you could make
:44:13. > :44:18.savings and Bunt things like that. The important thing is if we want
:44:18. > :44:28.to get the economy moving, public sector workers are a key part of
:44:28. > :44:28.
:44:28. > :44:37.that. No-one denies that, but if it meant increasing salaries by �1.20
:44:37. > :44:40.a day, it is a substantial bill. He will pay for it? In it is a matter
:44:40. > :44:49.for the council has to decide. Personally I don't because I am the
:44:49. > :44:53.MP. When Marvin Reyes ran for Bristol mayor, he did to a lot of
:44:53. > :45:01.research around the funding, but we would be in a different position
:45:01. > :45:05.now that the budget has been introduced. We have to see what
:45:05. > :45:15.situation we inherit before we figured out how we do that. But it
:45:15. > :45:19.is a question of priorities. Your priority at the time of cuts is to
:45:19. > :45:23.give the staff a pay increase? is important. The council had been
:45:23. > :45:29.making people redundant and then hiring consultants because they
:45:29. > :45:36.realise they do need them to do that job and some of them are being
:45:36. > :45:40.paid three figure amounts per out what to do that. The country cannot
:45:40. > :45:44.go on spending and spending without bringing money in. I think most
:45:44. > :45:51.people in Bristol and the West Country in general would find it
:45:51. > :45:57.extraordinary that the Labour Party's priority is to give staff
:45:57. > :46:07.on the council a pay rise. We are talking about the lowest paid staff.
:46:07. > :46:08.
:46:08. > :46:16.There are a lot of people who are paid a bar of the national average.
:46:16. > :46:26.-- far above the national average. We have supported pay we straight
:46:26. > :46:30.
:46:30. > :46:35.across the public sector, but it is people at the lowest end, who
:46:35. > :46:40.suffer the most. Let us talk about Ed Miliband and the advice he has
:46:41. > :46:45.been getting from Tony Blair. Where do you stand on that? Is it wise to
:46:45. > :46:50.move to the left and shore up your existing support? Or if he is going
:46:50. > :46:55.to win, does he have to move towards the middle ground or the
:46:55. > :47:01.right? I think Labour occupied the centre left ground and have done
:47:01. > :47:10.for a while. Going back to Margaret Thatcher's times, Labour was not
:47:10. > :47:15.seen as representing the aspirational working class. We are
:47:15. > :47:20.caricatured as representing people on benefits. Where we were with New
:47:20. > :47:26.Labour was about representing people who wanted to get on in life,
:47:26. > :47:33.by a property and things like that. I think Ed Miliband needs to occupy
:47:33. > :47:38.background, but also, we cannot forget those who feel left out.
:47:38. > :47:43.that white Ed Miliband is busy apologising about immigration?
:47:43. > :47:47.don't think he is. People accept that beat Eastern European
:47:47. > :47:57.immigration could have been managed at a slower rate and it did have an
:47:57. > :48:01.
:48:01. > :48:06.impact on jobs. That is not the same as the turf occupied by UKIP.
:48:06. > :48:16.Where would be a satisfactory place for the Lib Dems in this election?
:48:16. > :48:17.
:48:17. > :48:24.We have different contests around the region. What about Bristol
:48:24. > :48:30.though? Well, a liberal Independent came first and he is doing a good
:48:30. > :48:34.job. He is a good mayor and I support him and we worked together
:48:34. > :48:38.for the best of Bristol and that is what we want. People want their
:48:38. > :48:48.councillors to do that. I hope people will focus on local issues
:48:48. > :48:55.
:48:56. > :48:59.rather than be coalition. Thank you for that. It's not just Labour and
:48:59. > :49:05.the coalition fighting it out. There are some independents who
:49:05. > :49:10.could make headway in these elections.
:49:10. > :49:17.They started off as the magnificent seven. Now there are eight of them.
:49:17. > :49:22.These men and women are independent candidates vying to become
:49:22. > :49:29.councillors in Bristol. Their aim is clear - to unseat party
:49:29. > :49:35.politicians taking advantage of the none of the above feeling of some
:49:35. > :49:38.of the voters. They feel they can emulate the success of the
:49:38. > :49:42.Independent men and the Police and Crime Commissioner. What we are
:49:42. > :49:47.trying to do his ground-breaking. It is something new and fresh for
:49:47. > :49:53.Bristol and is reflected in how people feel. Everyone is nervous
:49:53. > :49:57.and intimidated to a degree, but everyone is positive. The is no
:49:57. > :50:03.doubt many people are disenchanted with conventional party politics.
:50:03. > :50:08.It is a difficult one to call. For some people it will be a protest
:50:08. > :50:18.vote. They have had enough of the main parties. This time you might
:50:18. > :50:19.
:50:19. > :50:25.be UKIP. That is why the Green Party are hopeful of success. They
:50:25. > :50:28.are standing candidates in all 22 seats up for election. A lot of
:50:28. > :50:33.people are looking for alternatives. It is clear this government is
:50:33. > :50:37.heading in the wrong direction, economically and environmentally.
:50:37. > :50:44.People are looking around and saying, we need something different.
:50:44. > :50:51.That is creating some real opportunities for us. The trade
:50:51. > :51:01.unionists are standing in 14 areas and UKIP are standing in six. There
:51:01. > :51:03.
:51:03. > :51:09.are also the other is independent members.
:51:09. > :51:13.Let us welcome at our other guests. We have representatives from the
:51:13. > :51:19.Green Party and the Independent Bristol campaign. Birtles took
:51:19. > :51:29.about green policy first. You want reliable transport and better
:51:29. > :51:30.
:51:30. > :51:40.health care. How would you generate the money to pay for that? Here or
:51:40. > :51:42.
:51:42. > :51:46.nationally? And talking about here. We need to invest more in the High
:51:46. > :51:53.Street and medium-sized businesses. When you say we need to, what you
:51:53. > :51:57.mean? I mean us as a council. Local Green councillors will work with
:51:57. > :52:07.people in their wards and the mayor as well. Where is that money coming
:52:07. > :52:14.from? It is not clear. The money is already there. There are policies
:52:14. > :52:24.we can influence and basically stop the invasion of big supermarkets
:52:24. > :52:26.
:52:26. > :52:32.and multinationals. What would the Independents do? Are we moving to
:52:32. > :52:35.an era where the main political parties are not relevant? Earlier
:52:35. > :52:41.you were talking about the significant change of the power of
:52:41. > :52:49.the mayor, and it is true. The roar of the councillor will and is
:52:49. > :52:55.changing. It began when the Cabinet were given more power were.
:52:55. > :53:00.Championing the water is becoming the key thing. We now need people
:53:00. > :53:07.whose policies are for their own ward and not a party policy. I
:53:07. > :53:17.don't understand living wage and the bedroom tax been brought into
:53:17. > :53:17.
:53:17. > :53:27.local politics. -- being brought into local politics. Are you saying
:53:27. > :53:28.
:53:28. > :53:33.you want to make these guys redundant? I am not. For a start,
:53:33. > :53:40.all candidates feature on the same election paper. I don't know what
:53:40. > :53:49.each of them stand for. Furthermore, bed from tax is important. I have
:53:49. > :53:55.written to the mayor to intervene in a particularly case. I don't
:53:55. > :54:00.want to get into bed and tax, but on the question of independence, at
:54:00. > :54:10.least if you vote for one of these two, you know what you're getting?
:54:10. > :54:13.
:54:13. > :54:23.Do you?! You can get anyone standing for -- standing as an
:54:23. > :54:31.
:54:31. > :54:39.independent. They are not mad. They are willing to stand by a high
:54:39. > :54:49.moors and integrity. With independence, you don't have to toe
:54:49. > :54:51.
:54:51. > :54:56.the party line there. We strongly agree with you on that, that the
:54:56. > :55:01.party whipping system is destroying modern politics. A repeat the
:55:01. > :55:04.question - do we move back to the period before the war went it was
:55:04. > :55:14.good citizens standing for the benefit of the community and
:55:14. > :55:16.
:55:16. > :55:24.therefore, what is your role? does need to be a separation of
:55:24. > :55:30.politics at local level and Westminster level. It used to annoy
:55:30. > :55:36.me when people asked about national issues when I wasn't representing
:55:36. > :55:39.that. There needs to be a clear division and so people would be
:55:39. > :55:49.able to vote for their local champions who can represent them in
:55:49. > :55:57.
:55:57. > :56:02.the best way. Do you agree? sounds as if the line at Steven has
:56:02. > :56:07.been given is to be associate himself from the independent
:56:07. > :56:13.candidates. In America you have the federal election for the President.
:56:13. > :56:16.You have the senator, the congressman, the governor. People
:56:16. > :56:25.vote differently and they know what the powers have. In this country,
:56:25. > :56:31.we seem to clump everything together. But the parties are not
:56:31. > :56:37.popular. They have never been held in such low esteem. On that note I
:56:37. > :56:45.will have to thank you very much for coming. It is time now for a
:56:45. > :56:49.work regular look back through the week in 60 seconds.
:56:49. > :56:55.Ministers are being urged to consider a dramatic tax cut for the
:56:55. > :57:03.richest in society. The top rate of tax on incomes over �150,000 was
:57:03. > :57:08.Cup by the government from 50 to 45 %. I think it should go further and
:57:08. > :57:13.we should look to getting the high rate of tax down to 40% and perhaps
:57:13. > :57:21.to that magic figure of 37 %. number of people out of work in the
:57:21. > :57:24.West has fallen every work except Swindon. And an alleyway in swing
:57:24. > :57:30.though that is too narrow for even the smallest of cars to drive down
:57:30. > :57:37.has been painted with double yellow lines. Apparently contract as are
:57:37. > :57:43.to blame. And patients at three GP surgeries are having to travel to
:57:43. > :57:47.Wales for treatment because the surgery is part of a group of
:57:47. > :57:54.surgeries registered in Wales. They will have to change doctors if they
:57:54. > :58:00.want to receive treatment in Bristol. Let us talk quickly about
:58:00. > :58:04.the top rate of tax. If it could be absolutely certain that 37 % would
:58:04. > :58:12.get you more income than having a top rate of 45 or 50 %, would you
:58:12. > :58:20.go for it? You wouldn't? I wouldn't. If I could prove to you that was
:58:20. > :58:28.the case, or would you go for it? don't think you could prove it.
:58:28. > :58:31.agree. It is a false hypothetical. I was in the chamber when Jacob
:58:31. > :58:38.Rees-Mogg made his speech and he is very eloquent, but I don't agree
:58:38. > :58:42.with him at all. He seems to think he can give the rich a tax cut, the
:58:42. > :58:47.money will trickle down and everyone will benefit. I don't pick