:35:30. > :35:34.We glowed on the political heat We go out on the political beat
:35:34. > :35:40.with some of the candidates for the new post of elected Police and
:35:40. > :35:45.Crime Commissioner. Our guest today are Philip Davies,
:35:45. > :35:52.the Conservative MP for Shipley, and Diana Johnson, the Labour MP
:35:52. > :35:56.for Hull North. For Yorkshire cities have rejected the idea of
:35:56. > :36:04.directly elected mayors. Is there much enthusiasm for elected Police
:36:04. > :36:12.and Crime Commissioners? A am not sure, will have to wait until the
:36:12. > :36:19.election and see what the turnout is. I abstain on the vote. There
:36:19. > :36:23.are not a lot of people complaining about our system of policing.
:36:23. > :36:27.Johnson, Labour were ritually against the idea. Now you're
:36:27. > :36:30.selecting candidates. You seem to have embraced the idea. Have you
:36:31. > :36:37.changed your chin. We always thought this was an idea that we
:36:37. > :36:41.did not support. Hundred million pounds for police commissioners, we
:36:41. > :36:47.do not think this is the best use of money. A no legislation has been
:36:47. > :36:51.passed but we are were we are, we will be putting up candidates. I
:36:51. > :36:57.think the turnout will be low. Elections are in November. Not a
:36:57. > :37:02.great time of year. Interesting. For many people, the
:37:02. > :37:11.idea of an elected head of the police force evokes memories of the
:37:11. > :37:15.Batman's Commissioner Gordon. We went to Sheffield, not to be
:37:15. > :37:21.confused with Gotham City. Even Batman has a boss, and the
:37:21. > :37:24.list of people competing to be South Yorkshire's commissioner is
:37:24. > :37:29.being drawn up. Commissioner Gordon will not be running it, but
:37:29. > :37:34.somebody has to and the fight for that job starts now.
:37:34. > :37:41.What for some his comic-book fantasy will soon become reality.
:37:41. > :37:45.Police commissioners are on the way. I am passionate about South
:37:45. > :37:51.Yorkshire and public safety. I have put myself forward on the basis of
:37:51. > :37:55.my history and career in terms of the police service. I would hope to
:37:55. > :38:04.approach this with an appeal that goes beyond politics. Listen to the
:38:04. > :38:07.public, represent them and reduce crime. South Yorkshire is one of
:38:07. > :38:12.seven police forces in our region. By the end of the year, we will
:38:12. > :38:15.have elected police commissioners. At the moment, they are run by
:38:15. > :38:22.police authorities, groups of councillors making decisions
:38:22. > :38:24.collectively. The commissioner will make the decisions himself. Labour
:38:24. > :38:27.think they will have their candidate sorted by the middle of
:38:27. > :38:32.June and there is not long for the other parties to get their acts
:38:32. > :38:40.together. The election is the start of November. The police
:38:40. > :38:45.commissioner will be in place by the 22nd of that month. Come
:38:45. > :38:48.November 22nd, you are going to have one person who will be
:38:48. > :38:53.responsible not just for the activities of the Police Authority,
:38:53. > :38:57.but also the other areas. Whoever does the job, you're not the chief
:38:58. > :39:07.constable. The skills you need and are quite different. There are
:39:08. > :39:08.
:39:08. > :39:12.strategic skills, setting priorities. The police authority in
:39:12. > :39:18.south Yorkshire has told us that their new commissioner will have to
:39:18. > :39:23.have a new chief executive. He will earn around �100,000 per year. So
:39:23. > :39:27.there will be extra people employed, done quite big salaries? There is a
:39:27. > :39:32.requirement that the chief executive that at -- and the
:39:32. > :39:39.treasure a separate posts. Currently, their combined in one
:39:39. > :39:44.person. Whether it increases the cost overall remains to be seen.
:39:44. > :39:48.This is a big change, but to many people know anything about it?
:39:48. > :39:58.not convinced it is well known. I have talked to people who I would
:39:58. > :40:02.
:40:02. > :40:07.have expected to know, and it is a complete revelation. They were
:40:07. > :40:10.adamant that they wanted to bring in police commissioners in 2012. By
:40:10. > :40:14.bringing an end in November, there is a risk that the turnout well
:40:14. > :40:23.below. I do not think there is anything like enough knowledge
:40:23. > :40:27.about this. The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats in South
:40:27. > :40:34.Yorkshire say they're in the process of picking their candidates.
:40:34. > :40:37.Wholly indifferent electorate, Batman? We will see in November.
:40:37. > :40:42.James Vincent on the Labour battle in South Yorkshire.
:40:42. > :40:47.I am interesting mix there. In your patch, N Humberside, you have got
:40:47. > :40:51.Lord Prescott and a former police chief, Keith Hunter, hoping to
:40:51. > :40:55.become police commissioner. You go with someone who has political
:40:55. > :40:59.experience or practical, Police Experience? Were you looking, we
:40:59. > :41:03.have a good choice there. It will be down to Labour Party members to
:41:03. > :41:07.decide which one of those candidates they want to support. I
:41:07. > :41:13.look forward to campaigning with either of them in the election.
:41:13. > :41:18.Who's your money on? They both have great backgrounds, a lot of
:41:18. > :41:22.experience. It is not just Hull, it is about the whole of the
:41:22. > :41:27.Humberside area. It will be interesting to see how they do
:41:27. > :41:31.across the area. I don't know at the moment. Philip Davies, we heard
:41:31. > :41:34.that they are talking in her bringing in a chief executive on
:41:34. > :41:41.�100,000 per year as well as the police commissioner. Is there a
:41:41. > :41:47.danger we could beat creating a whole new layer of bureaucracy and?
:41:47. > :41:51.I am concerned about that. I would not want to see and necessary dose
:41:51. > :41:59.created that would be better spent on wider police resources, or CCTV
:41:59. > :42:03.cameras. I would not want to see a whole new bureaucracy been prepared
:42:03. > :42:07.in the name of democracy. Labour seem to have stolen a march on the
:42:07. > :42:13.other parties, whether they're in favour or not. Is there a dearth of
:42:13. > :42:18.Conservative talent? Why are there no Tory candidates? Not at all. We
:42:18. > :42:21.are taking our time a bit more. There are some people who
:42:21. > :42:24.desperately want to be the police commissioner in South Yorkshire and
:42:24. > :42:28.have had a look at the political map and said that the best route to
:42:28. > :42:31.that is being the Labour Party candidate, rather than the
:42:31. > :42:35.Conservative Party candidate! He would not need to be a leading
:42:36. > :42:40.electoral expert to realise that the Labour Party's candidate will
:42:40. > :42:45.start as favourite in South Yorkshire. He would not be
:42:45. > :42:49.expecting a shock when for the Tories then? It will be up to the
:42:49. > :42:54.electorate to decide. He talked about the turnout in last week's
:42:54. > :42:58.local elections, it was below 20% in some areas, how will you
:42:58. > :43:02.encourage people to vote for you candidates? We will have to do our
:43:02. > :43:07.best. I do not think there is an enormous appetite out there for
:43:07. > :43:10.more elected politicians. November is a month in the middle of winter
:43:10. > :43:15.where it is cold and dark curly, it will be hard to persuade people to
:43:15. > :43:20.go out. I am hoping for a very warm November, that we can get people
:43:20. > :43:25.out and will come down to postal votes as well. Would you like to
:43:25. > :43:32.throw your hat into the ring? You fancy the job? No, I will stick
:43:32. > :43:36.representing the people of Shipley. I am very happy in Hull North.
:43:36. > :43:40.would have a tougher approach than some of the candidates, that is for
:43:40. > :43:49.sure! Let's catch up with some of the
:43:49. > :43:53.week's political news. MPs want closer checks on school
:43:53. > :43:59.spending. The Public Accounts Committee referred to a report on
:43:59. > :44:06.this programme which highlighted concerns about academies in
:44:06. > :44:11.Lincolnshire. The Priory Federation may have been a rogue head behaving
:44:11. > :44:14.badly, but it demonstrated a lack of people being able to identify
:44:14. > :44:18.that abuse of public money in the system.
:44:18. > :44:23.That was the scene in York as many public sector workers took part in
:44:23. > :44:27.a national strike over pensions. While in Bradford the new Labour
:44:27. > :44:34.leader David Green will hold talks with the Green Party about forming
:44:34. > :44:41.an alliance, where there are one seat short of an overall majority.
:44:41. > :44:45.Holder City could -- Hull City Council has given the green light
:44:45. > :44:50.to Siemens for a huge turbine factory. It could create a hundreds
:44:50. > :44:55.of new jobs in the offshore wind power industry.
:44:55. > :44:59.We heard about the development there in Hull. Evidence of green
:44:59. > :45:02.shoots in green energy? I am delighted that that planning
:45:03. > :45:08.permission has gone through. It has been a long time in getting to this
:45:08. > :45:13.point. It means that hopefully, Siemens will be coming to the city.
:45:13. > :45:17.This is against the backdrop of other job losses, the caravan Tax
:45:17. > :45:22.which could result in 6000 jobs going in East Yorkshire. We want
:45:22. > :45:26.this to be about additional jobs, not replacing jobs that have been
:45:26. > :45:33.lost in private sector companies. That is still the worrying bit, for
:45:33. > :45:37.me. Philip Davies, you are one of more than 100 Tory MPs who wrote to
:45:37. > :45:41.the Prime Minister demanding a cut in the subsidies given to wind
:45:41. > :45:48.energy. If green energy creates jobs, that is a good thing, isn't
:45:48. > :45:50.it? Yes, but it is incredibly expensive and inefficient and at a
:45:51. > :45:56.considerable amount to people's energy bills. The people are
:45:56. > :46:02.struggling to pay their bills do not want to pay extra to go on some
:46:02. > :46:07.politically correct, green bandwagon. I'd much prefer these
:46:07. > :46:13.wretched carbines being in that as part of the world and been a blot
:46:13. > :46:19.on the landscape in my constituency. I would be all for them if they
:46:19. > :46:22.were in Hull. They will not be in Hull, they will be in the North Sea.
:46:23. > :46:27.You're supposed to be the greenest government ever, and commitment to
:46:27. > :46:32.renewable energy and wind turbines. I am interested in my constituents.
:46:32. > :46:36.They are struggling to pay their energy bills, and people talk about
:46:36. > :46:40.being green as if it is some kind of wonderful thing, what they do
:46:40. > :46:50.not say is, renewable energy target is adding 25% on to people's energy
:46:50. > :46:51.
:46:51. > :46:59.bills. When people realise that, they might be less keen. So the
:46:59. > :47:02.Government is moving away from being the greenest government ever?
:47:02. > :47:07.I do not represent the Government - - I would not speak to represent
:47:07. > :47:13.the government. Obviously not! I thought you a Conservative Member
:47:13. > :47:17.of Parliament? We want the Government to get the economy right.
:47:17. > :47:25.We need to get a dead town and have a sustainable economy for the
:47:25. > :47:33.future. The Queen's Speech did not have a lot of bills in it. -- we
:47:33. > :47:35.want to get hour national debt down. Is it the economy? Yes, and I think
:47:35. > :47:39.the worrying thing about the Queen's Speech was that there was
:47:39. > :47:43.nothing in there to bring growth into the economy. It seems to be
:47:43. > :47:47.the only bill that the Government says will help the economy is about
:47:47. > :47:52.making it easier to sack people. I'm not sure that is the best
:47:52. > :47:57.policy to put forward if you're concerned about growing the economy.
:47:57. > :48:01.The Queen's Speech was about what new laws the Government is going to
:48:01. > :48:05.introduce. So the House of Lords reform is the biggest issue...
:48:05. > :48:09.do not legislate your way into sorting out the economy. That is
:48:09. > :48:13.how we got into the mess in the first place. Let's not get bogged
:48:13. > :48:18.down in her support reform. The voters of the future have been
:48:18. > :48:21.putting politicians from all sides through their paces. Pupils from a
:48:21. > :48:27.school in Leeds won a competition to host a version of the BBC's
:48:27. > :48:30.Question Time. BBC research shows that less than a third of young
:48:30. > :48:38.people plan to board at the next election. We watched the debate.
:48:38. > :48:43.It took 12 hours to transform the school hall into Leeds -- in Leeds.
:48:44. > :48:49.A panel of politicians and an audience. What you got was a poet -
:48:49. > :48:52.- a very familiar BBC programme. The junior version.
:48:52. > :48:58.Welcome to the first of three special programmes in which pupils
:48:58. > :49:02.and politicians debate the stories that are making the headlines.
:49:02. > :49:07.Cardinal Heenan School in Leeds is one of their annual winners of the
:49:07. > :49:12.BBC's Question Time competition. The questions to prominent MPs are
:49:12. > :49:22.said and asked by the teenagers themselves. A question pleas by
:49:22. > :49:23.
:49:23. > :49:30.Sophie. Is it not an invasion of privacy for the police to monitor
:49:30. > :49:36.my Internet use. He beggars belief, you know. If the secret service
:49:36. > :49:39.expect -- suspect that I am planning a terrorist attack...
:49:39. > :49:47.They're going to do it again, using other schools in different parts of
:49:47. > :49:51.the country. The Hansard Society, set up in 1944 to promote
:49:51. > :49:56.parliamentary democracy, says that his recent research shows that only
:49:56. > :49:59.27% of under 24 as well bought at the next election. The Government's
:49:59. > :50:04.own electoral commission warned just before the government
:50:05. > :50:10.elections the 56% of under 20 force Auntie been registered to vote.
:50:10. > :50:16.I am not surprised. Politicians do some things to interest the youth,
:50:16. > :50:20.but they are more focused on the older generations. We can feel a
:50:20. > :50:25.bit lost and that they're not being catered for. Before this, I didn't
:50:25. > :50:30.think I had as much of an interest as I do now. I thought it was
:50:30. > :50:34.something I could get involved in, but I didn't have any opportunities.
:50:34. > :50:42.It is important, and it is important that it is a wet cast as
:50:42. > :50:51.well. He should be using all sorts of technology to reach all schools.
:50:51. > :50:56.-- aware a cast. Politicians have a long way to go to energise the -- a
:50:56. > :51:02.webcast. You don't get this after Newsnight!
:51:02. > :51:08.Say it with flowers, Kirsty! We have been joined by Emma Chadwick
:51:08. > :51:14.and Henry Theakston. You were there and Friday, what was the best
:51:14. > :51:19.question the panel were asked by? De we asked a question about Barack
:51:19. > :51:23.Obama coming out in support about the marriage. This provoked a big
:51:23. > :51:28.response from the panel on the audience. Or was the general
:51:28. > :51:32.consensus? The general Quins -- the general consensus were in support
:51:32. > :51:36.of it. There were few that came out against it and put forward some
:51:36. > :51:42.compelling points. We hear all the time that young people are not
:51:42. > :51:47.interested in politics. Is that through? It is a myth. You only
:51:47. > :51:54.have to ask a young person what they think about public transpire
:51:54. > :51:58.or university -- public transport or university fees. The research
:51:58. > :52:03.suggests that only 27% of young people intend to vote at the next
:52:03. > :52:07.opportunity. Headier address that? That is our fault, not their fault.
:52:07. > :52:11.The onus is on us to inspire them to go out and vote. When I was
:52:11. > :52:15.growing up and getting interested in politics in the 1980s, it was a
:52:15. > :52:21.battle of ideas because that parties were so far apart. You knew
:52:21. > :52:27.which side of the political fence you're on. As parties have
:52:27. > :52:30.concerned -- concentrated more on focus groups, people who are
:52:30. > :52:34.younger and had an interest in politics, when he had Tony Blair on
:52:34. > :52:38.the right of the Labour Party and David Cameron on the left of the
:52:38. > :52:41.Conservative Party, it is difficult to know what party to vote for, we
:52:41. > :52:46.should get back to the battle of ideas. We should have the
:52:46. > :52:51.confidence to argue in what we believe in. That might inspire
:52:51. > :52:58.younger people to say, I want to be a part of that. Which side of the
:52:58. > :53:01.fence have to buy your own back in the Eighties? Very much the
:53:01. > :53:06.Margaret Thatcher side! How would you get more people into the
:53:06. > :53:10.polling booths, Diana Johnson? is important that we engage with
:53:10. > :53:15.them on issues they are concerned about. Often, young people have
:53:15. > :53:18.very strong views about green energy and environment. I would
:53:18. > :53:22.bring in voting at 16. If you're going to teach citizenship in
:53:22. > :53:27.schools up to 16, then give young people the opportunity to cast
:53:27. > :53:31.their vote. That's what I would do. There are many other issues were
:53:31. > :53:34.young people have passionate views and it is about capturing that and
:53:34. > :53:38.engaging with them and making political parties more interesting
:53:38. > :53:42.to young people, because we're not very good as political parties at
:53:42. > :53:47.making young people welcome. Philip Davies is not convinced the young
:53:47. > :53:53.people should voted 16. New campaign for that, Emma. Why is it
:53:53. > :53:58.a good idea? We're given was have a responsibility as an adult. Begin
:53:58. > :54:02.engage in sexual relationships, get married, or sign up to the armed
:54:02. > :54:06.forces. Unfortunately, we don't have the societies that rewards
:54:06. > :54:13.them with the right of being an adult. I do nothing that is fair in
:54:13. > :54:19.anyone's book. He were not convinced? We have just heard that
:54:19. > :54:24.hardly anyone votes at 18. We can start off getting end -- we can
:54:24. > :54:34.start off by getting 18 euros to vote. We have to have an age
:54:34. > :54:35.
:54:35. > :54:40.somewhere. -- 18 years old. smoking is harmful behaviour,
:54:40. > :54:45.boating at 16 is a positive. At 16 years old, most people who are in
:54:45. > :54:51.education will be in some sort of formal structure where people can
:54:51. > :54:54.be introduced into elliptical -- a political journey. We can start
:54:54. > :55:00.having lessons about political education. People can think, yes,
:55:00. > :55:04.this is important and I want to get involved. How would you get some of
:55:04. > :55:09.your friends at school interested in politics? It has to be done