:01:27. > :01:31.Stay whether his first Sunday politics in Yorkshire and
:01:31. > :01:41.Lincolnshire. We will be live in Rotherham ahead of the by-election
:01:41. > :01:41.
:01:41. > :39:05.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2244 seconds
:39:05. > :39:09.and they will have the latest on Hello and welcome. And you're
:39:09. > :39:13.watching the Sunday Politics for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire we are
:39:14. > :39:18.live in Rotherham today which the latest on the you -- on the UKIP
:39:18. > :39:22.foster care row. If we will also be meeting some of the candidates
:39:22. > :39:27.standing in the by-election. We will be finding out how they intend
:39:27. > :39:32.to try and get people of long-term benefits and back into work. Plus,
:39:32. > :39:38.of what lessons can be learned from the recent scandal involving the
:39:38. > :39:43.young girls being groomed by gangs. The by-election, of which takes
:39:43. > :39:49.place here on Thursday, has been triggered by the resignation of
:39:49. > :39:53.former Labour MP over his expenses. But it is a decision made by social
:39:53. > :40:00.workers here at Rotherham council that is now at dominating this
:40:00. > :40:07.campaign. Elected as a 1994 by-election,
:40:07. > :40:17.disgraced former MP Denis MacShane went on to win formwork elections.
:40:17. > :40:18.
:40:18. > :40:22.-- for work more elections. This was Labour's response. The chief
:40:22. > :40:26.executive of the local children's hospice, the candidate has no ties
:40:26. > :40:32.with an old Labour that returned MPs in Rotherham for almost 80
:40:32. > :40:36.years. Refusing to select a local councillor was also a clean break
:40:36. > :40:40.from a Labour dominated town all under fire. At the centre of
:40:40. > :40:46.allegations that social workers but families down by not tackling child
:40:46. > :40:50.grooming and sexual exploitation. But another town hall own goal has
:40:50. > :40:53.hit their headlines. Social workers have taken away three it eastern
:40:53. > :40:59.European children being fostered by a local couple for just because
:40:59. > :41:04.they happen to be members of UKIP. Surprisingly, that was all UKIP
:41:04. > :41:09.leader Nigel Farage wanted to talk about when he came to support his
:41:09. > :41:13.candidate. He called it a slower on the party, which does have at the -
:41:13. > :41:17.- key policy of controlling immigration, but so do all the
:41:17. > :41:23.other mainstream parties. Conservative and Lib Dem candidates
:41:23. > :41:27.had higher than to condemn the decisions. The general election in
:41:27. > :41:33.2010 became a distant second and third. You're council has covered
:41:33. > :41:39.up scandal after scandal. Other parties, particularly respect, it
:41:39. > :41:46.will not Labour's -- let Labour's problems slipped out of side. The
:41:46. > :41:52.last few days of the campaign are likely to be very lively indeed.
:41:52. > :41:58.We are joined live in Rotherham by John Healy, up a Labour MP, and
:41:58. > :42:02.Godfrey Bloom, the UKIP in E P for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
:42:02. > :42:06.Is there any way you can justify his decision to remove these three
:42:06. > :42:10.children from their foster family because they were members of UKIP?
:42:10. > :42:15.Membership of UKIP should not be a bar to any parents for string or
:42:15. > :42:20.adopting children. I think that is exactly why it the leader of the
:42:20. > :42:25.council was right to inquire -- require an immediate investigation.
:42:25. > :42:29.In the end, what time was concerned about and what everyone should
:42:29. > :42:34.remember is the welfare of three very vulnerable children and what
:42:34. > :42:37.is in their best interests. wriggling, you work the most senior
:42:38. > :42:41.a let it UKIP politician in Yorkshire. What you make of this
:42:41. > :42:48.round? I had been talking to people in Rotherham and I think the point
:42:48. > :42:52.was made very eloquently by someone I spoke to said, do not -- to the
:42:52. > :42:56.not deserve better than this? And I think that the people of Rotherham
:42:56. > :43:01.do. And the thing that worries me about this is the enormous power
:43:01. > :43:05.that some of the social welfare people have. There does not seem to
:43:05. > :43:09.be any backstop. They can take children away from families, they
:43:09. > :43:13.can install them and to foster families, they can take them away,
:43:13. > :43:20.and these are very vulnerable young people who are not getting a very
:43:20. > :43:24.fair deal. Of course, the Sunday Telegraph has been saying for many
:43:24. > :43:29.years that these people have far too much power. I think we need a
:43:29. > :43:33.new system. The director of children's services went on the
:43:33. > :43:39.television and radio yesterday and said that the decision was made
:43:39. > :43:43.because of UKIP's opposition to multiculturalism. That is exactly
:43:43. > :43:48.why we need an immediate investigation. The decisions were
:43:48. > :43:52.taken by frontline social workers. We have had one side of the story
:43:52. > :43:55.from the family. That is what the leader is right to request the full
:43:55. > :43:59.back. If there are lessons to be learned they will be based on the
:43:59. > :44:05.facts and we will be able to see that after tomorrow. Wellhead here
:44:05. > :44:09.role? I think it will be does -- I think it will be disgraceful if
:44:09. > :44:13.they do not. I've got my capacity for being discussed it was
:44:13. > :44:18.exhausted. We are here fighting a by-election because of fraud and
:44:18. > :44:24.corruption and here we have intellectual corruption. Heads must
:44:24. > :44:29.roll. Otherwise people will lose confidence. So when the director of
:44:29. > :44:36.children's services says UKIP's opposition to multiculturalism was
:44:36. > :44:41.the decision factor here, what you make of that? It is ridiculous.
:44:41. > :44:45.They were put into a loving family who are part of the indigenous
:44:45. > :44:49.population and the children were not. Isn't that multiculturalism?
:44:49. > :44:54.They have taken them away because they are not of the same background.
:44:54. > :44:58.That is a kitchen. What impact do you think this will have on the by-
:44:58. > :45:03.election campaign Kurds are being fought here? Do you except that now
:45:03. > :45:11.big -- now Labour are vulnerable. would say to God through gloom, do
:45:11. > :45:17.not jump to conclusions. Wait and see that all facts and then we will
:45:17. > :45:24.be in a better position. -- I would say to Godfrey bloom. People
:45:24. > :45:27.recognise this is a question for the council to clear up. People
:45:27. > :45:31.recognise that they are collecting an MP and this is a question for
:45:31. > :45:37.the council. Elect our Labour candidate, they like the fact that
:45:37. > :45:41.she is new to politics but not me to Rotherham and I have to say, we
:45:41. > :45:45.had 100 helpers out yesterday, we had the same today as she is
:45:45. > :45:51.getting a lot of support. Is that the old loony left wheezing its
:45:51. > :45:55.idea? No, this is about a decision taken up by social workers in the
:45:55. > :46:00.case of three very vulnerable children and questions that had
:46:00. > :46:03.been raised, rightly, about his decision need to be immediately
:46:03. > :46:11.investigated, are being investigated, and we will see the
:46:11. > :46:15.full facts when the report emerges tomorrow. Was this fleet with four
:46:15. > :46:22.or five days before the by-election in order to create maximum impact
:46:22. > :46:26.for your party? -- was this leaked? I did not believe it. I thought it
:46:26. > :46:31.was some sort of joke. You're leader last night said he knew
:46:31. > :46:36.about it on Tuesday. Obviously he did but I did not until Friday. The
:46:36. > :46:40.point is that, it doesn't matter whether it is Rotherham or
:46:40. > :46:44.Doncaster Beverley, I think when you have a political party which is
:46:44. > :46:49.running at around and has been running that time for generations
:46:49. > :46:53.with almost no political opposition, of whether it is Labour or
:46:53. > :47:00.Conservative, there does not seem to be any hand on the teller. Then
:47:00. > :47:04.you get this sort of problems. think we're only talking about this
:47:04. > :47:11.because we are concerned about the position of these children. We are
:47:11. > :47:15.talking about it now in terms of UKIP because there is a by-election
:47:15. > :47:23.coming up. On Thursday, people will vote for their new MP for essential
:47:23. > :47:27.Rotherham. All the indication that I'm getting is that people remain
:47:27. > :47:30.behind Labour. They believe in Labour. They know that this
:47:30. > :47:40.Government is doing the wrong thing for Rotherham and the country and
:47:40. > :47:40.
:47:40. > :47:43.it has to be confronted. Thank you very much.
:47:43. > :47:48.Let us return to the by-election and some of the other issues that
:47:48. > :47:53.are being discussed on the campaign trail. Before the scandal broke, we
:47:53. > :47:57.spoke to some of the candidates hoping to become Rotherham's new MP.
:47:57. > :48:01.The economy dominates the agenda here. Rotherham has unemployment
:48:01. > :48:10.much higher than the national average. Many people here are a
:48:10. > :48:16.long-term benefits. I worked 30 years underground. I
:48:16. > :48:19.used to be a magistrate I am retired now. I have problems with
:48:19. > :48:24.my it right leg and I have lung problems that was given to me from
:48:24. > :48:29.the mine industry. This Government do not care what kind of problems I
:48:29. > :48:34.had got. Then they turn round you and say, what we are going to stop
:48:34. > :48:38.your benefits. Which they did to me. I waited 12 months before I could
:48:38. > :48:43.go to a tribunal for a judge and a doctor to say, they should have
:48:43. > :48:50.never stopped a benefits in the first place. There are no jobs in
:48:50. > :48:58.Rotherham. They look like losing at the last remaining mine in this
:48:58. > :49:02.area. This will lose a 500 men and women's jobs. There are 500 people
:49:02. > :49:07.there who will be out looking for work or even trying to seek some
:49:08. > :49:12.type of benefit from the Government. There are 750 jobs to be lost at
:49:12. > :49:17.the local hospital. At these to the people who were going to be lost in
:49:17. > :49:22.the mining industry, how many more people can we take into this area.
:49:22. > :49:29.There are jobs. But not jobs that could feed a family. The Government
:49:29. > :49:33.has got to get bigger and better at what it is doing. Simon Wilson, of
:49:33. > :49:37.what you say to people like him. These are towns like Rotherham had
:49:37. > :49:41.been abandoned by the coalition Government. I have been doing
:49:41. > :49:46.business in Rotherham for about 25 years and I have seen the decline
:49:46. > :49:55.you over that time. Companies that I used to come and sell to that
:49:55. > :50:01.employed lots of people, they have disappeared. However, those old
:50:01. > :50:05.industries have gone and as if on has said, the call and this deal
:50:05. > :50:10.has disappeared and we have to do it -- have to replace those. We
:50:10. > :50:16.have started to do that I things like the advanced manufacturing
:50:16. > :50:20.park. We have to do more of that. I firmly believe that the
:50:20. > :50:26.Conservative Party are the people who can do that. We are the ones
:50:26. > :50:31.who were seen the economy growing. We are on track... But Simon, it
:50:31. > :50:35.your predictions were that it was going to be on for 0.6 %. The
:50:35. > :50:39.country is flat lining under the Conservatives. We are growing the
:50:39. > :50:44.country. We are forecasting that we will have the best roads in Europe
:50:44. > :50:48.by 2014. We have to do more of it. We have to devolve more decision-
:50:48. > :50:54.making powers for to the regions so that they can have more control of
:50:54. > :50:58.their own destiny. There is concern of up -- that it is concern is
:50:58. > :51:02.unemployment. What is the point of creating thousands of jobs if you
:51:02. > :51:06.were going to bring half the Third World in to take them? Your point
:51:06. > :51:12.is that we have got people sitting at home in -- on benefits and we
:51:12. > :51:18.have got immigrants taking them? Yes. You have got to make people
:51:18. > :51:22.realise that they have to take the jobs. A people you referred to, so
:51:22. > :51:26.disparagingly, there are large numbers coming from a rack,
:51:26. > :51:29.Afghanistan, places where Labour and the Tories, where they have
:51:29. > :51:34.spent money on bombs and bullets bombing other countries and people
:51:34. > :51:39.are coming over here as a result of these warmongering tactics. You
:51:39. > :51:45.talk about Lord Heseltine, it was Lord Heseltine and his lot under
:51:45. > :51:50.Thatcher that it aside to the call and steel industries and destroyed
:51:50. > :51:56.entire communities. I have been talking to the ex-miners over here
:51:56. > :52:00.and it has happened here as well. The coalition does not care and
:52:01. > :52:05.Labour has done nothing for the miners. I am meeting with the
:52:05. > :52:08.miners' Committee for Justice tomorrow and we are campaigning to
:52:08. > :52:16.bring justice back for these people is communities have been laid to
:52:16. > :52:21.waste. This is all very well but you're not getting to the point of
:52:21. > :52:25.what is going to be done about it. The fact of the matter is that an
:52:25. > :52:30.open door immigration policy does not work. That is not something
:52:30. > :52:34.against anyone, it just doesn't work. It puts strains on facilities
:52:34. > :52:39.and the put strains on the welfare facilities. This gentleman has had
:52:39. > :52:43.his welfare payments removed. If you come over into this country you
:52:43. > :52:49.can go straight onto the welfare state. Without having to prove
:52:49. > :52:53.anything. That sort of thing has to be addressed. It has to change. And
:52:53. > :52:57.it will not change. The coalition cannot possibly stop his
:52:57. > :53:01.immigration policy. Next year we will have hundreds of thousands of
:53:01. > :53:05.Bulgarians and Romanians coming into this country. That puts
:53:05. > :53:10.pressure on employment. We have to address the problems. It is here
:53:10. > :53:18.and it is now, let us sorted out. What are people saying to you on
:53:18. > :53:22.the streets? Having been as Citizens Advice Bureau manager and
:53:22. > :53:27.having spent much time before that doing legal aid, it is an area I
:53:27. > :53:30.know very well. I certainly want to help improve the life chances of
:53:30. > :53:36.people in Rotherham and I think the best way to do that is to spend
:53:36. > :53:43.time with them getting to know them. Why has he got no welfare when he
:53:43. > :53:50.has worked for his country all his life? It is because of a firm from
:53:50. > :53:53.the French... But us not forget that this was the brainchild of
:53:53. > :53:58.Labour and Labour pick them up a hundred million pounds contract. We
:53:58. > :54:03.have just heard from this miner who has been told he is fit enough to
:54:03. > :54:08.go to work by people from the Labour invented the tea or S.
:54:08. > :54:16.Labour have allowed people to have a lifestyle choice. A few do not to
:54:16. > :54:22.work under Labour, you do not have to. Under power, or Labour allowed
:54:22. > :54:27.the benefits bill to spiral. So many people stuck on benefits.
:54:27. > :54:32.got this in as a capability measure. If people are Bumble, disabled,
:54:32. > :54:36.medically ill, then the need to support them. That is an event. We
:54:36. > :54:40.are trying to get people back into work and that is the most important
:54:40. > :54:45.thing. Under the Tories, that is not happening. The welfare bill is
:54:45. > :54:49.going up. Paul we would do his strong support people to get back
:54:49. > :54:54.into work. People who are working but on low incomes, they are having
:54:54. > :54:57.their tax credits cut so it is making it more and more difficult
:54:57. > :55:02.for hard-working people to make a living. One of the most disturbing
:55:02. > :55:07.new stories to come at us Rotherham in recent times has been the
:55:07. > :55:11.revelation that criminal gangs had been targeting young girls and
:55:11. > :55:16.cases of so-called sexual grinning. Let us hear from one father who
:55:16. > :55:20.wants to remain anonymous. daughter was groomed and sexually
:55:20. > :55:25.exploited in Rotherham. After going to the police for help, no one
:55:25. > :55:29.seemed interested. We rocked -- we wrote to the Home Secretary and had
:55:29. > :55:33.letters from the police say no stone would be left unturned. Our
:55:33. > :55:36.MP tried to get a meeting with the police. The local politicians at
:55:37. > :55:42.the time should really hang their heads in shame because they knew
:55:42. > :55:47.exactly what was going on here and have known for a number of years.
:55:47. > :55:50.Social services and police have let my daughter down and other children.
:55:50. > :55:54.The perpetrators who committed these acts on various girls are
:55:55. > :55:58.still walking the streets of Rotherham and are free to carry on
:55:58. > :56:02.doing what they were doing, even though this was brought to the
:56:02. > :56:08.attention of the police and social services and local politicians at
:56:08. > :56:14.the time. Also, who is policing the police? The police had not stepped
:56:14. > :56:18.up to the plate. We feel that there was no help available. There was no
:56:18. > :56:21.help out there when this was happening to us as a family. We
:56:21. > :56:25.feel that someone needs to answer the question of what happened in
:56:25. > :56:30.our case and the other cases of four other children. For their
:56:30. > :56:33.parts, Rotherham council and South Yorkshire police say they are
:56:33. > :56:40.continuing to develop their strategies and some successful
:56:40. > :56:43.prosecutions have taken place. Jane Collins, what you say to that other
:56:43. > :56:48.way that has heard from their? He basically believes the authorities
:56:49. > :56:54.have not taken as Dr's claims seriously. My heart goes out to
:56:54. > :56:58.them. He made a very poignant comment. He said, who is policing
:56:58. > :57:04.the police? I want to know, are we going to have a cover-up of the
:57:04. > :57:08.cover-up. We have had a cover-up in this town for ten years. Six years
:57:08. > :57:12.ago I knew this was happening and I was holding meetings in pubs. That
:57:12. > :57:16.was the only way I could do it. The council, social services, the
:57:16. > :57:21.police did not want to know. I thought that the children needed to
:57:21. > :57:27.be protected and I held meetings in pubs explaining the warning signs
:57:27. > :57:32.and what was happening. It has gone on for more than a decade. They
:57:32. > :57:36.covered it up. They have covered it up. One of the first things I did
:57:36. > :57:43.before I came here was to speak to some experts in child grooming to
:57:43. > :57:48.find out all the details about the problem in Rotherham and the
:57:48. > :57:51.concern is across the Community a lot of Muslims are outraged because
:57:51. > :57:57.this say it is as though it everyone thought we knew it was
:57:57. > :58:02.happening and we did not. We called for an inquiry and the Deputy
:58:02. > :58:07.Leader of the Labour council called me Islam a full-back. He said you
:58:07. > :58:14.are playing the politics of race. I am a parent and like that father, I
:58:14. > :58:18.do not want any child exposing these -- exposed to these filthy
:58:18. > :58:24.gangs, whoever they are, and why has this council been silent for so
:58:24. > :58:30.long?! Because we didn't want to risk the Asian vote? Because they
:58:30. > :58:36.did not want to risk the Asian vote. Muslims are all individual and the
:58:36. > :58:41.real scandal here is that these on the ball girls have been let down
:58:41. > :58:45.from -- these 1 double girls had been let down by that CPS, by the
:58:45. > :58:50.parents, by the council and of course these gangs should be
:58:50. > :58:54.dragged through the courts. If he is right and says that they are
:58:54. > :58:58.still out on the street, I would like to know what is happening.
:58:58. > :59:02.people that were involved in this, not all of them were arrested. They
:59:02. > :59:08.found a girl with a group of Asian men and they never arrested any of
:59:08. > :59:15.them. I think if you earn Bolton at any way at all, you should be
:59:15. > :59:21.brought to justice. A lot just got away with it. I be if you are
:59:21. > :59:25.involved at all. Racial sensitivities, political
:59:25. > :59:30.correctness, have been said that they hampered the authorities in
:59:30. > :59:34.these investigations. Do you believe that? I feel very
:59:34. > :59:37.uncomfortable with people making political mileage out of this. I
:59:37. > :59:40.would like dear everyone save what we're going to do for the victims.
:59:40. > :59:48.These crimes are completely destroying our children and
:59:48. > :59:52.families. That is why I am up it -- backing Yvette Cooper who wants an
:59:52. > :59:58.overarching inquiry. We're not doing anything for the victims so
:59:58. > :00:01.we need to be supporting the victims. The majority of
:00:01. > :00:06.paedophiles are white men. Do you think this is worth making
:00:06. > :00:11.political capital out of? I think we should all pledged that if we
:00:11. > :00:20.are successful in being elected, we will make contact with Keith and
:00:20. > :00:25.find out what he has to say and ask for it to be sorted out.
:00:25. > :00:29.victims have to be front and centre. The primary duty of any local
:00:29. > :00:34.authority or MP is to look for the victims and give more support to
:00:35. > :00:39.them. I welcome the Government's report but I think, as a former
:00:39. > :00:43.victim of sexual abuse, that vast - - that this is a very powerful
:00:43. > :00:47.issue and has to be addressed with passion and has to be done now and
:00:47. > :00:52.I do not think another cover-up is the answer and I think there has
:00:52. > :00:57.been a cover-up. Whoever is elected as the next MP for Rotherham has to
:00:57. > :01:05.have the courage to take on local authority and take into account.
:01:05. > :01:09.took the 15 years ago and they did not want to know. The English
:01:09. > :01:16.Democrats are also hoping to do well in this election. They came
:01:16. > :01:20.second to Labour in last week's PCC elections here.
:01:20. > :01:24.We are standing up for all people England who are being abandoned by
:01:24. > :01:27.the main parties. The reason why turnout is dropping so dramatically
:01:27. > :01:31.is because people have recognised that the main parties do not care
:01:31. > :01:36.about them. We actually do care about England and the people of
:01:36. > :01:40.England and so we're going to make a change to that.
:01:40. > :01:46.I and there are four other candidates to mention. Clint
:01:46. > :01:50.Bristow is representing the EDL. Simon Copley is an independent.
:01:50. > :01:54.Paul Dickson is also an independent. Ralph Dyson is of the trade