11/03/2012 Sunday Politics Yorkshire and Lincolnshire


11/03/2012

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Coming up in half an hour: We'll have reaction to a poll

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revealing a majority of voters in four Yorkshire cities want to be

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1792 seconds

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Hello, good morning. You're watching the Sunday Politics for

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Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Today, we're asking, "Who wants to see a

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Yorkshire Mayor?" Four of our cities will decide in a

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May referendum whether they want a new directly-elected mayor and

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voters in Doncaster will decide whether they want to keep their

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elected mayor. According to poll commissioned by the Sunday Politics

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and BBC Look North, a majority of Yorkshire voters appear to support

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the idea. And it yesterday as the current

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elected mayor of Doncaster, the Conservative MP for Keith late and

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the Labour MP for Penniston and the stock spinach. Peter Davis,

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according to the poll, the majority of people in Doncaster want to keep

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the Neil Bell system. Do you think people will be surprised at that?

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Perhaps. I will not fall into the trap of saying that this is the

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referendum but has been one. It is an opinion poll and that is the

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fault that count. What is more interesting is that all five cities

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and towns have come to the same conclusion and clearly people are

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fed up with local government. Before you were an MP, used to be

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the leader of Bradford City Council. Would Bradford benefit from a

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directly elected mayor? I am sure there -- and Shura Bradford will

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have the opportunity to opera -- Boyce its opportunity at that time.

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I don't think for my constituency, they want to be with Bradford. I

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would encourage them to vote against it. Angela Smith, a few

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weeks ago on a steady programme, Your leader Ed Miliband said that

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he was supportive of elected mayors. Are you share his enthusiasm?

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see the pros and cons. For me, there is a real danger in the model

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what is that you will end up having a contest which is dominated by

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personalities and the profile of the candidates rather than what

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they stand for. So, it is important not to fall into that trap. As a

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party, there is a wide variety of views and a thing that is very

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healthy. We'll find out the detail of a poll in a moment. But first

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let's find out what people in Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield and

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Wakefield can expect if they decide to support proposals for directly-

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elected mayors in those cities. In the next few weeks, you were to

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be hearing a lot more about directly elected mayors and are not

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talking about this lot. Here we are, were all the decisions are made.

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Sheffield Town Hall, where the councils collected we get together

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and decide what is right for the city. Fairly soon, it just one

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person might be making those decisions. In our poll in Yorkshire,

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60% of people told us they had no idea they could choose a new system

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later on this year and 90% of them told us they had been given little

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or no information about the Essentially, this is the biggest

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change in her city councils are run in the generations. Some of the

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councillor sitting here, they will have no power and it will all rest

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of the person sitting in this chair. They will have the loudest voice

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and do exactly what they want. The might make the rest of the Ten Tors

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feel like not bothering turning up. -- the rest of the councillors.

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have of course there's a point of turning up. Been to turn up to have

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a debate to make sure that the mayor's ideas and suggestions are

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properly scrutinised and debated and that the views of the people in

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your work but are there. We should be choosing the best way of

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speaking up for the city and not just designing a city for the

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convenience of the existing councillors. The government clearly

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wants cities to have elected mayors, but it will require a change of

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thinking for the politicians and for the public. The meat and select

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the leader of their party. -- the - Delight at elect the mayor who can

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then ride roughshod over that party if they choose to. More importantly,

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they can ride roughshod over the political process. Will appal me

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suggest a broad support in some adversities, councillors remain

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unconvinced. And I personally think, to impose an we're on the the

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existing city structures is a misunderstanding of how city and

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local government works. The do not fancy the job in? E should never

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say never. By think the people of Wakefield or welcome to a view and

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to hear the curtains for and against. -- to hear the arguments

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for and against. If they decide they want a mayor, I will seek the

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nomination. Plenty of work to be done in the next couple of weeks.

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The main political parties will have to come down on one side or

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the other. We have done our poll, but the one that counts is in me.

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James Spence and is in the studio now and he can give us more detail

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on that poll. 2,500 people were told in the last two weeks of

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February across fights -- five towns and cities where all my years

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are being proposed. Support was highest in Doncaster. 59% said yes,

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35% said No. A result that raised some eyebrows among politicians and

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observers, given the bitter political battles in town over the

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last ten years. Leeds 40 to 57% in favour of mayors. In neighbouring

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Bradford, 54% gave a meal will thumbs-up, 36% and the Orrell

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thumbs-down. Far less support in Sheffield, were 14% said yes to a

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more -- and beer. Wakefield had lost support, at 47%. Not a

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resounding thumbs up, but an apparent broad support for the idea.

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The real Paul is in me. Two other results for you now and there was

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at least apparently a greater willingness to turn up to vote in

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this referendum. 71% said they would and that is twice the normal

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turnout. 65% of those polled thought that any mayor should be

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paid under �50,000. Some interesting talking points

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there. Angela Smith, when you look at the average for Yorkshire, 53%

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Agassi's 37% in favour of elected mayors. A clear majority in your

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home city of Sheffield. Does that help you make up your mind?

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other really interesting statistic in those polls which is the one

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that indicates that over 90% of those polled did not or had not

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received any information about delighted Mailer model and the

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forthcoming referendum. I think that is quite worrying. I would

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congratulate the BBC on this because what you're doing, with

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this poor and this programme, and which you have been doing on radio,

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is actually helping to raise awareness of the issues involved

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and that can all would be good for democracy and it is very important

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that we deal with this. We must have rigorous debate between now

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and me if people are going to make their minds up on the issues and

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the rights and wrongs of the model, rather than on any other ground.

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Bradford, you district, 54% support this idea de accept there is a real

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public appetite for many years, whether they know enough about it

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or not? The whole referendum is a distraction from what are my people

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really want, what is not to be governed by Bradford. What I want

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to do is achieve an old fort here so that we can call another

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referendum, but coming out of Bradford Council. I like the idiot

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Shipley constituency and Dick Heatley and Auckley constituency to

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set up their own counsel. -- council. There is no saving here,

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just greater cost associated with it. The battles between the

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existing council base and elected mayor is not good for politics.

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we need more politicians? We need you. People clearly know about

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their local council and they are fed up with that. They have hordes

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of the councillors, three parties to be cannot tell the difference

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between, paying for the councillors, paying for a whole lot of political

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correctness in the policies and there is no concept of value for

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money. What the electorate see is that electing one man to do the job,

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they see that is pure democracy as a way through this. They can hold

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their electoral -- elected mayor to account, would the cannot get the

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Labour Party or that Tory party of Robert Democrats to do so. I have

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to say that all the evidence suggests that people know more not

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the name of the elected mayor than the do it all up the leader of the

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local council. Last May, in Sheffield, those people who took an

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interest in Sheffield knew they had a choice between the leader of

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Labour in Sheffield and the leader of the Lib Dems at the time. They

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made their choice. I think their advantages and disadvantages. I do

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not think that the idea of the strong leadership of the council in

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one person is necessarily the night and the other system, the system

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that most cities have at the moment. I think we have to be careful here

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in what the male role role is all about. It offers us a but -- it

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offers advantages, but that is that necessarily one of them. They do

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not -- the to know what they already have and they do not like

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it. Local council is held in very low regard. Good it was not an

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opinion poll on the local councils, I think that is the point. One of

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the advantages of the existing system is getting representations

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in two localities. -- into. It is difficult to reflect the needs of

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you're communities if you'll have one person sat at the centre of it.

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There is an issue of identity. Briefly, we heard from Andrew

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Carter in Leeds, a Conservative council who is appalled -- who is

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opposed amirs but has not ruled out the prospect of him standing. Do

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you think people are opposed to this idea, it they should not

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stand? At the end of the day, it is a game that we have. The evidence

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is there some 2% of the populace do not even know there is a poll

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coming up at the moment. That is where we have to goal. We have to

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engage at the public, explain what is right and what is wrong with it.

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A Sheffield chooses a male role model, it is critical that Labour

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puts forward a grid stronger candidate to is capable -- a good,

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strong candidate who is capable of exercising those powers in a way

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that is right for Sheffield and takes Sheffield Ford as it did.

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We'll deal with that as it comes forward.

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Doncaster was one of the trailblazing towns which voted for

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the introduction of the first wave of elected mayors a decade ago. And

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it's fair to say that opinion there is still divided over the merits of

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the mayoral system. Here's Len Tingle.

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1987 and Doncaster's council and racecourse was at centre of events

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that led to some of the town's darkest days. For decades, local

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councillors had been cleaned and dined here for free. A complaint to

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authorities started an investigation that uncovered much

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more than that. Over the next five years, two former council leaders,

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two former mayors, a planning chairman, Local private developer

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and well over a dozen other councillors were convicted of

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corruption. Charges ranged from catch -- cash bribes to fridge and

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expensive claims. Some receded jail time, and by that stage confidence

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in Ten Tors and councils had completely gone. -- counsellors.

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That is wide Doncaster became one of the first places in England do

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have a directly elected executive mayor. Into Martin Winter. In 2002,

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endorsed by Prime Minister Tony Blair, he stood and won the first

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election to be full-time salaried executive and Mayer. Elected in

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2005, he soon fell out with his own party. He was expelled and had

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umpteen a vote of no confidence against him, but he could do would

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be removed as executive mayor. In 2009, which -- voters shunned

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Labour's choice of candidate and it shows a new mayor from at the

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English are Democrat. I have a fairly radical agenda. That radical

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Labour as well. He struggled to pick a candidate -- cabinet, and

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the store's central government investigate their quality of

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governors and intervene by putting advisers in place. This makes a yet

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another clash, when Labour councillors -- councillors voted to

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save lives that he had decided to close. Two-thirds of people had to

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pass the amendment for it to be part of the Budget. We had the that,

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overwhelmingly and that council chamber. It becomes part of the

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Budget, but under the meal will system, then you can just ignore

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that. He does not have to implement it. That is totally undemocratic,

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in my book. Rob long along under both mares has been the threat of

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an official petition, successful gathering support to trigger what

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would it be a referendum to switch back to a conventional council. But

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has the tide turned to? Our poll suggests that of those who had an

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opinion, 59% will vote to keep the post. That makes it too close to

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call. What the state your colleagues are

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say that any oral system is undemocratic? For example, this

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week, the majority of Ten Tors bought the to open up to libraries

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and you overruled them. Let us go back. 2001, Doncaster voted for me

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oral system. In 2001, Martin Winter was elected, correctly. In 2005,

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elected again. 2009, I was elected. This is what the Doncaster people

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wanted. Sandra Holland finished third in that meal will election,

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she seems to have forgotten that. In May of this year, it may be that

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Doncaster changes its mind. Until then, the mayor of Doncaster is the

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person at Doncaster people want to rule Doncaster. Democracy is

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working. The Labour Party are whingeing because they have lost an

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election. It is rather strange that in Lewisham, in Leicester, in

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Liverpool, in Hackney, the Labour mayors are fine, but in Doncaster,

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they are not, because Labour lost an election. I am afraid this is

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very poor politics on the part of the Doncaster Labour Party. And let

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me also say that Ed Miliband is supporting me oral government in

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Doncaster. He absolutely has, and in the end it is for the people of

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Doncaster to make a judgment. As Sheffield MP, it is not my business

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to pass judgment on Doncaster. The point I would make is this. The

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reason why that Labour councillors in Doncaster are unhappy is because

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they wanted to keep those two libraries open, which they

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considered to be a very important for a very -- for local communities.

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That is all I will say on that. One of the potential problems with the

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meal role model is that its structure realises the

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relationships. We honour that relationships are critical to

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getting things done. We have councils on one side and then we're

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on the other, there is always the potential for conflict and

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entrenched attitudes which big business difficult. One of my point

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in all this is that that is crucial that would ever system is chosen,

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we have the people in there, the right people at winning elections,

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because these people have to be able to do business with other

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people and to make things work and to build consensus. That is the key

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point. You need consensus. I do not know where you have been coming

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from. Labour had been fighting amongst themselves for the last 20

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years in Doncaster Council and they are still doing that. Let us not

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talk about consensus about Labour Party in Doncaster. A I was not

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making a judgment. Why do people really interested in his service

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delivered. Despite all the notoriety and the drama associated

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with Doncaster's politics, and they have voted for another system, to

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only have 59% of the populace is not exactly a ringing endorsement

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of an electoral system. If you are sadder what is huge battle going on,

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tried to get things deliver it is very difficult. What I am concerned

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about is that local people elected as Ten Tors will be in conflict, in

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my constituency with a Bradford dominated Mayer and that is why I

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think it is wrong and I want people to vote against the referendum

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abetting we have a referendum to resolve that issue. What are the

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odds on Doncaster voting to retain the Meir? I that is a loaded

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question posed have given you poll, I'll take some credence from that.

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I suppose it is one that to two at the back right. I think 500 people

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