Browse content similar to 11/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Coming up in half an hour: We'll have reaction to a poll | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
revealing a majority of voters in four Yorkshire cities want to be | :01:32. | :01:42. | |
:01:42. | :01:42. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1792 seconds | :01:42. | :31:34. | |
Hello, good morning. You're watching the Sunday Politics for | :31:34. | :31:40. | |
Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Today, we're asking, "Who wants to see a | :31:40. | :31:46. | |
Yorkshire Mayor?" Four of our cities will decide in a | :31:46. | :31:48. | |
May referendum whether they want a new directly-elected mayor and | :31:48. | :31:51. | |
voters in Doncaster will decide whether they want to keep their | :31:51. | :31:56. | |
elected mayor. According to poll commissioned by the Sunday Politics | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
and BBC Look North, a majority of Yorkshire voters appear to support | :31:59. | :32:09. | |
:32:09. | :32:09. | ||
the idea. And it yesterday as the current | :32:09. | :32:14. | |
elected mayor of Doncaster, the Conservative MP for Keith late and | :32:14. | :32:19. | |
the Labour MP for Penniston and the stock spinach. Peter Davis, | :32:19. | :32:23. | |
according to the poll, the majority of people in Doncaster want to keep | :32:23. | :32:28. | |
the Neil Bell system. Do you think people will be surprised at that? | :32:28. | :32:34. | |
Perhaps. I will not fall into the trap of saying that this is the | :32:34. | :32:38. | |
referendum but has been one. It is an opinion poll and that is the | :32:38. | :32:41. | |
fault that count. What is more interesting is that all five cities | :32:41. | :32:45. | |
and towns have come to the same conclusion and clearly people are | :32:45. | :32:50. | |
fed up with local government. Before you were an MP, used to be | :32:50. | :32:53. | |
the leader of Bradford City Council. Would Bradford benefit from a | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
directly elected mayor? I am sure there -- and Shura Bradford will | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
have the opportunity to opera -- Boyce its opportunity at that time. | :33:03. | :33:11. | |
I don't think for my constituency, they want to be with Bradford. I | :33:11. | :33:15. | |
would encourage them to vote against it. Angela Smith, a few | :33:15. | :33:19. | |
weeks ago on a steady programme, Your leader Ed Miliband said that | :33:19. | :33:26. | |
he was supportive of elected mayors. Are you share his enthusiasm? | :33:26. | :33:32. | |
see the pros and cons. For me, there is a real danger in the model | :33:32. | :33:38. | |
what is that you will end up having a contest which is dominated by | :33:38. | :33:41. | |
personalities and the profile of the candidates rather than what | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
they stand for. So, it is important not to fall into that trap. As a | :33:46. | :33:50. | |
party, there is a wide variety of views and a thing that is very | :33:50. | :33:58. | |
healthy. We'll find out the detail of a poll in a moment. But first | :33:58. | :34:00. | |
let's find out what people in Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield and | :34:00. | :34:03. | |
Wakefield can expect if they decide to support proposals for directly- | :34:03. | :34:13. | |
:34:13. | :34:19. | ||
elected mayors in those cities. In the next few weeks, you were to | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
be hearing a lot more about directly elected mayors and are not | :34:22. | :34:27. | |
talking about this lot. Here we are, were all the decisions are made. | :34:27. | :34:30. | |
Sheffield Town Hall, where the councils collected we get together | :34:30. | :34:35. | |
and decide what is right for the city. Fairly soon, it just one | :34:35. | :34:39. | |
person might be making those decisions. In our poll in Yorkshire, | :34:39. | :34:44. | |
60% of people told us they had no idea they could choose a new system | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
later on this year and 90% of them told us they had been given little | :34:47. | :34:54. | |
or no information about the Essentially, this is the biggest | :34:54. | :34:59. | |
change in her city councils are run in the generations. Some of the | :34:59. | :35:03. | |
councillor sitting here, they will have no power and it will all rest | :35:03. | :35:06. | |
of the person sitting in this chair. They will have the loudest voice | :35:06. | :35:10. | |
and do exactly what they want. The might make the rest of the Ten Tors | :35:10. | :35:16. | |
feel like not bothering turning up. -- the rest of the councillors. | :35:16. | :35:19. | |
have of course there's a point of turning up. Been to turn up to have | :35:19. | :35:23. | |
a debate to make sure that the mayor's ideas and suggestions are | :35:23. | :35:28. | |
properly scrutinised and debated and that the views of the people in | :35:28. | :35:31. | |
your work but are there. We should be choosing the best way of | :35:31. | :35:36. | |
speaking up for the city and not just designing a city for the | :35:36. | :35:40. | |
convenience of the existing councillors. The government clearly | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
wants cities to have elected mayors, but it will require a change of | :35:44. | :35:54. | |
:35:54. | :35:54. | ||
thinking for the politicians and for the public. The meat and select | :35:54. | :36:04. | |
:36:04. | :36:10. | ||
the leader of their party. -- the - Delight at elect the mayor who can | :36:10. | :36:15. | |
then ride roughshod over that party if they choose to. More importantly, | :36:15. | :36:20. | |
they can ride roughshod over the political process. Will appal me | :36:20. | :36:25. | |
suggest a broad support in some adversities, councillors remain | :36:25. | :36:30. | |
unconvinced. And I personally think, to impose an we're on the the | :36:30. | :36:37. | |
existing city structures is a misunderstanding of how city and | :36:37. | :36:41. | |
local government works. The do not fancy the job in? E should never | :36:41. | :36:46. | |
say never. By think the people of Wakefield or welcome to a view and | :36:46. | :36:53. | |
to hear the curtains for and against. -- to hear the arguments | :36:53. | :37:01. | |
for and against. If they decide they want a mayor, I will seek the | :37:01. | :37:08. | |
nomination. Plenty of work to be done in the next couple of weeks. | :37:08. | :37:11. | |
The main political parties will have to come down on one side or | :37:11. | :37:19. | |
the other. We have done our poll, but the one that counts is in me. | :37:19. | :37:23. | |
James Spence and is in the studio now and he can give us more detail | :37:23. | :37:28. | |
on that poll. 2,500 people were told in the last two weeks of | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
February across fights -- five towns and cities where all my years | :37:31. | :37:36. | |
are being proposed. Support was highest in Doncaster. 59% said yes, | :37:37. | :37:42. | |
35% said No. A result that raised some eyebrows among politicians and | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
observers, given the bitter political battles in town over the | :37:47. | :37:56. | |
last ten years. Leeds 40 to 57% in favour of mayors. In neighbouring | :37:56. | :38:02. | |
Bradford, 54% gave a meal will thumbs-up, 36% and the Orrell | :38:02. | :38:07. | |
thumbs-down. Far less support in Sheffield, were 14% said yes to a | :38:07. | :38:17. | |
:38:17. | :38:18. | ||
more -- and beer. Wakefield had lost support, at 47%. Not a | :38:18. | :38:21. | |
resounding thumbs up, but an apparent broad support for the idea. | :38:22. | :38:26. | |
The real Paul is in me. Two other results for you now and there was | :38:26. | :38:30. | |
at least apparently a greater willingness to turn up to vote in | :38:30. | :38:36. | |
this referendum. 71% said they would and that is twice the normal | :38:36. | :38:44. | |
turnout. 65% of those polled thought that any mayor should be | :38:44. | :38:49. | |
paid under �50,000. Some interesting talking points | :38:49. | :38:55. | |
there. Angela Smith, when you look at the average for Yorkshire, 53% | :38:55. | :39:00. | |
Agassi's 37% in favour of elected mayors. A clear majority in your | :39:00. | :39:04. | |
home city of Sheffield. Does that help you make up your mind? | :39:04. | :39:07. | |
other really interesting statistic in those polls which is the one | :39:07. | :39:14. | |
that indicates that over 90% of those polled did not or had not | :39:14. | :39:18. | |
received any information about delighted Mailer model and the | :39:18. | :39:25. | |
forthcoming referendum. I think that is quite worrying. I would | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
congratulate the BBC on this because what you're doing, with | :39:30. | :39:34. | |
this poor and this programme, and which you have been doing on radio, | :39:34. | :39:38. | |
is actually helping to raise awareness of the issues involved | :39:39. | :39:41. | |
and that can all would be good for democracy and it is very important | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
that we deal with this. We must have rigorous debate between now | :39:45. | :39:48. | |
and me if people are going to make their minds up on the issues and | :39:48. | :39:55. | |
the rights and wrongs of the model, rather than on any other ground. | :39:55. | :40:03. | |
Bradford, you district, 54% support this idea de accept there is a real | :40:03. | :40:06. | |
public appetite for many years, whether they know enough about it | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
or not? The whole referendum is a distraction from what are my people | :40:11. | :40:15. | |
really want, what is not to be governed by Bradford. What I want | :40:16. | :40:19. | |
to do is achieve an old fort here so that we can call another | :40:19. | :40:24. | |
referendum, but coming out of Bradford Council. I like the idiot | :40:24. | :40:29. | |
Shipley constituency and Dick Heatley and Auckley constituency to | :40:29. | :40:39. | |
:40:39. | :40:44. | ||
set up their own counsel. -- council. There is no saving here, | :40:44. | :40:52. | |
just greater cost associated with it. The battles between the | :40:52. | :40:59. | |
existing council base and elected mayor is not good for politics. | :41:00. | :41:07. | |
we need more politicians? We need you. People clearly know about | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
their local council and they are fed up with that. They have hordes | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
of the councillors, three parties to be cannot tell the difference | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
between, paying for the councillors, paying for a whole lot of political | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
correctness in the policies and there is no concept of value for | :41:22. | :41:32. | |
:41:32. | :41:34. | ||
money. What the electorate see is that electing one man to do the job, | :41:34. | :41:38. | |
they see that is pure democracy as a way through this. They can hold | :41:38. | :41:43. | |
their electoral -- elected mayor to account, would the cannot get the | :41:43. | :41:49. | |
Labour Party or that Tory party of Robert Democrats to do so. I have | :41:49. | :41:54. | |
to say that all the evidence suggests that people know more not | :41:54. | :41:58. | |
the name of the elected mayor than the do it all up the leader of the | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
local council. Last May, in Sheffield, those people who took an | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
interest in Sheffield knew they had a choice between the leader of | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
Labour in Sheffield and the leader of the Lib Dems at the time. They | :42:09. | :42:17. | |
made their choice. I think their advantages and disadvantages. I do | :42:17. | :42:22. | |
not think that the idea of the strong leadership of the council in | :42:22. | :42:25. | |
one person is necessarily the night and the other system, the system | :42:25. | :42:31. | |
that most cities have at the moment. I think we have to be careful here | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
in what the male role role is all about. It offers us a but -- it | :42:36. | :42:46. | |
offers advantages, but that is that necessarily one of them. They do | :42:46. | :42:50. | |
not -- the to know what they already have and they do not like | :42:50. | :42:55. | |
it. Local council is held in very low regard. Good it was not an | :42:55. | :42:59. | |
opinion poll on the local councils, I think that is the point. One of | :42:59. | :43:03. | |
the advantages of the existing system is getting representations | :43:03. | :43:12. | |
in two localities. -- into. It is difficult to reflect the needs of | :43:12. | :43:16. | |
you're communities if you'll have one person sat at the centre of it. | :43:16. | :43:26. | |
:43:26. | :43:29. | ||
There is an issue of identity. Briefly, we heard from Andrew | :43:29. | :43:32. | |
Carter in Leeds, a Conservative council who is appalled -- who is | :43:32. | :43:36. | |
opposed amirs but has not ruled out the prospect of him standing. Do | :43:37. | :43:40. | |
you think people are opposed to this idea, it they should not | :43:40. | :43:50. | |
:43:50. | :43:52. | ||
stand? At the end of the day, it is a game that we have. The evidence | :43:52. | :43:55. | |
is there some 2% of the populace do not even know there is a poll | :43:55. | :43:58. | |
coming up at the moment. That is where we have to goal. We have to | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
engage at the public, explain what is right and what is wrong with it. | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
A Sheffield chooses a male role model, it is critical that Labour | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
puts forward a grid stronger candidate to is capable -- a good, | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
strong candidate who is capable of exercising those powers in a way | :44:16. | :44:21. | |
that is right for Sheffield and takes Sheffield Ford as it did. | :44:21. | :44:23. | |
We'll deal with that as it comes forward. | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
Doncaster was one of the trailblazing towns which voted for | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
the introduction of the first wave of elected mayors a decade ago. And | :44:29. | :44:32. | |
it's fair to say that opinion there is still divided over the merits of | :44:32. | :44:41. | |
the mayoral system. Here's Len Tingle. | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
1987 and Doncaster's council and racecourse was at centre of events | :44:46. | :44:50. | |
that led to some of the town's darkest days. For decades, local | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
councillors had been cleaned and dined here for free. A complaint to | :44:55. | :44:57. | |
authorities started an investigation that uncovered much | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
more than that. Over the next five years, two former council leaders, | :45:01. | :45:06. | |
two former mayors, a planning chairman, Local private developer | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
and well over a dozen other councillors were convicted of | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
corruption. Charges ranged from catch -- cash bribes to fridge and | :45:14. | :45:23. | |
expensive claims. Some receded jail time, and by that stage confidence | :45:23. | :45:32. | |
in Ten Tors and councils had completely gone. -- counsellors. | :45:32. | :45:37. | |
That is wide Doncaster became one of the first places in England do | :45:37. | :45:43. | |
have a directly elected executive mayor. Into Martin Winter. In 2002, | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
endorsed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, he stood and won the first | :45:48. | :45:53. | |
election to be full-time salaried executive and Mayer. Elected in | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
2005, he soon fell out with his own party. He was expelled and had | :45:57. | :46:01. | |
umpteen a vote of no confidence against him, but he could do would | :46:01. | :46:07. | |
be removed as executive mayor. In 2009, which -- voters shunned | :46:07. | :46:15. | |
Labour's choice of candidate and it shows a new mayor from at the | :46:15. | :46:20. | |
English are Democrat. I have a fairly radical agenda. That radical | :46:20. | :46:30. | |
Labour as well. He struggled to pick a candidate -- cabinet, and | :46:30. | :46:33. | |
the store's central government investigate their quality of | :46:33. | :46:37. | |
governors and intervene by putting advisers in place. This makes a yet | :46:37. | :46:44. | |
another clash, when Labour councillors -- councillors voted to | :46:44. | :46:49. | |
save lives that he had decided to close. Two-thirds of people had to | :46:49. | :46:54. | |
pass the amendment for it to be part of the Budget. We had the that, | :46:54. | :46:59. | |
overwhelmingly and that council chamber. It becomes part of the | :46:59. | :47:02. | |
Budget, but under the meal will system, then you can just ignore | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
that. He does not have to implement it. That is totally undemocratic, | :47:07. | :47:13. | |
in my book. Rob long along under both mares has been the threat of | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
an official petition, successful gathering support to trigger what | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
would it be a referendum to switch back to a conventional council. But | :47:22. | :47:25. | |
has the tide turned to? Our poll suggests that of those who had an | :47:25. | :47:33. | |
opinion, 59% will vote to keep the post. That makes it too close to | :47:33. | :47:36. | |
call. What the state your colleagues are | :47:36. | :47:39. | |
say that any oral system is undemocratic? For example, this | :47:39. | :47:45. | |
week, the majority of Ten Tors bought the to open up to libraries | :47:45. | :47:53. | |
and you overruled them. Let us go back. 2001, Doncaster voted for me | :47:53. | :48:00. | |
oral system. In 2001, Martin Winter was elected, correctly. In 2005, | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
elected again. 2009, I was elected. This is what the Doncaster people | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
wanted. Sandra Holland finished third in that meal will election, | :48:10. | :48:15. | |
she seems to have forgotten that. In May of this year, it may be that | :48:15. | :48:20. | |
Doncaster changes its mind. Until then, the mayor of Doncaster is the | :48:20. | :48:24. | |
person at Doncaster people want to rule Doncaster. Democracy is | :48:24. | :48:27. | |
working. The Labour Party are whingeing because they have lost an | :48:27. | :48:31. | |
election. It is rather strange that in Lewisham, in Leicester, in | :48:31. | :48:36. | |
Liverpool, in Hackney, the Labour mayors are fine, but in Doncaster, | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
they are not, because Labour lost an election. I am afraid this is | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
very poor politics on the part of the Doncaster Labour Party. And let | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
me also say that Ed Miliband is supporting me oral government in | :48:49. | :48:55. | |
Doncaster. He absolutely has, and in the end it is for the people of | :48:55. | :48:58. | |
Doncaster to make a judgment. As Sheffield MP, it is not my business | :48:58. | :49:03. | |
to pass judgment on Doncaster. The point I would make is this. The | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
reason why that Labour councillors in Doncaster are unhappy is because | :49:08. | :49:11. | |
they wanted to keep those two libraries open, which they | :49:11. | :49:15. | |
considered to be a very important for a very -- for local communities. | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
That is all I will say on that. One of the potential problems with the | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
meal role model is that its structure realises the | :49:22. | :49:24. | |
relationships. We honour that relationships are critical to | :49:24. | :49:30. | |
getting things done. We have councils on one side and then we're | :49:30. | :49:33. | |
on the other, there is always the potential for conflict and | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
entrenched attitudes which big business difficult. One of my point | :49:37. | :49:41. | |
in all this is that that is crucial that would ever system is chosen, | :49:41. | :49:45. | |
we have the people in there, the right people at winning elections, | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
because these people have to be able to do business with other | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
people and to make things work and to build consensus. That is the key | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
point. You need consensus. I do not know where you have been coming | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
from. Labour had been fighting amongst themselves for the last 20 | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
years in Doncaster Council and they are still doing that. Let us not | :50:06. | :50:11. | |
talk about consensus about Labour Party in Doncaster. A I was not | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
making a judgment. Why do people really interested in his service | :50:16. | :50:19. | |
delivered. Despite all the notoriety and the drama associated | :50:19. | :50:25. | |
with Doncaster's politics, and they have voted for another system, to | :50:25. | :50:28. | |
only have 59% of the populace is not exactly a ringing endorsement | :50:28. | :50:35. | |
of an electoral system. If you are sadder what is huge battle going on, | :50:35. | :50:42. | |
tried to get things deliver it is very difficult. What I am concerned | :50:42. | :50:46. | |
about is that local people elected as Ten Tors will be in conflict, in | :50:46. | :50:51. | |
my constituency with a Bradford dominated Mayer and that is why I | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
think it is wrong and I want people to vote against the referendum | :50:56. | :51:02. | |
abetting we have a referendum to resolve that issue. What are the | :51:02. | :51:06. | |
odds on Doncaster voting to retain the Meir? I that is a loaded | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
question posed have given you poll, I'll take some credence from that. | :51:09. | :51:15. | |
I suppose it is one that to two at the back right. I think 500 people | :51:15. | :51:23. |