25/11/2012 Sunday Politics Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

Stay whether his first Sunday politics in Yorkshire and

Lincolnshire. We will be live in Rotherham ahead of the by-election

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2244 seconds

and they will have the latest on Hello and welcome. And you're

watching the Sunday Politics for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire we are

live in Rotherham today which the latest on the you -- on the UKIP

foster care row. If we will also be meeting some of the candidates

standing in the by-election. We will be finding out how they intend

to try and get people of long-term benefits and back into work. Plus,

of what lessons can be learned from the recent scandal involving the

young girls being groomed by gangs. The by-election, of which takes

place here on Thursday, has been triggered by the resignation of

former Labour MP over his expenses. But it is a decision made by social

workers here at Rotherham council that is now at dominating this

campaign. Elected as a 1994 by-election,

disgraced former MP Denis MacShane went on to win formwork elections.

-- for work more elections. This was Labour's response. The chief

executive of the local children's hospice, the candidate has no ties

with an old Labour that returned MPs in Rotherham for almost 80

years. Refusing to select a local councillor was also a clean break

from a Labour dominated town all under fire. At the centre of

allegations that social workers but families down by not tackling child

grooming and sexual exploitation. But another town hall own goal has

hit their headlines. Social workers have taken away three it eastern

European children being fostered by a local couple for just because

they happen to be members of UKIP. Surprisingly, that was all UKIP

leader Nigel Farage wanted to talk about when he came to support his

candidate. He called it a slower on the party, which does have at the -

- key policy of controlling immigration, but so do all the

other mainstream parties. Conservative and Lib Dem candidates

had higher than to condemn the decisions. The general election in

2010 became a distant second and third. You're council has covered

up scandal after scandal. Other parties, particularly respect, it

will not Labour's -- let Labour's problems slipped out of side. The

last few days of the campaign are likely to be very lively indeed.

We are joined live in Rotherham by John Healy, up a Labour MP, and

Godfrey Bloom, the UKIP in E P for Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Is there any way you can justify his decision to remove these three

children from their foster family because they were members of UKIP?

Membership of UKIP should not be a bar to any parents for string or

adopting children. I think that is exactly why it the leader of the

council was right to inquire -- require an immediate investigation.

In the end, what time was concerned about and what everyone should

remember is the welfare of three very vulnerable children and what

is in their best interests. wriggling, you work the most senior

a let it UKIP politician in Yorkshire. What you make of this

round? I had been talking to people in Rotherham and I think the point

was made very eloquently by someone I spoke to said, do not -- to the

not deserve better than this? And I think that the people of Rotherham

do. And the thing that worries me about this is the enormous power

that some of the social welfare people have. There does not seem to

be any backstop. They can take children away from families, they

can install them and to foster families, they can take them away,

and these are very vulnerable young people who are not getting a very

fair deal. Of course, the Sunday Telegraph has been saying for many

years that these people have far too much power. I think we need a

new system. The director of children's services went on the

television and radio yesterday and said that the decision was made

because of UKIP's opposition to multiculturalism. That is exactly

why we need an immediate investigation. The decisions were

taken by frontline social workers. We have had one side of the story

from the family. That is what the leader is right to request the full

back. If there are lessons to be learned they will be based on the

facts and we will be able to see that after tomorrow. Wellhead here

role? I think it will be does -- I think it will be disgraceful if

they do not. I've got my capacity for being discussed it was

exhausted. We are here fighting a by-election because of fraud and

corruption and here we have intellectual corruption. Heads must

roll. Otherwise people will lose confidence. So when the director of

children's services says UKIP's opposition to multiculturalism was

the decision factor here, what you make of that? It is ridiculous.

They were put into a loving family who are part of the indigenous

population and the children were not. Isn't that multiculturalism?

They have taken them away because they are not of the same background.

That is a kitchen. What impact do you think this will have on the by-

election campaign Kurds are being fought here? Do you except that now

big -- now Labour are vulnerable. would say to God through gloom, do

not jump to conclusions. Wait and see that all facts and then we will

be in a better position. -- I would say to Godfrey bloom. People

recognise this is a question for the council to clear up. People

recognise that they are collecting an MP and this is a question for

the council. Elect our Labour candidate, they like the fact that

she is new to politics but not me to Rotherham and I have to say, we

had 100 helpers out yesterday, we had the same today as she is

getting a lot of support. Is that the old loony left wheezing its

idea? No, this is about a decision taken up by social workers in the

case of three very vulnerable children and questions that had

been raised, rightly, about his decision need to be immediately

investigated, are being investigated, and we will see the

full facts when the report emerges tomorrow. Was this fleet with four

or five days before the by-election in order to create maximum impact

for your party? -- was this leaked? I did not believe it. I thought it

was some sort of joke. You're leader last night said he knew

about it on Tuesday. Obviously he did but I did not until Friday. The

point is that, it doesn't matter whether it is Rotherham or

Doncaster Beverley, I think when you have a political party which is

running at around and has been running that time for generations

with almost no political opposition, of whether it is Labour or

Conservative, there does not seem to be any hand on the teller. Then

you get this sort of problems. think we're only talking about this

because we are concerned about the position of these children. We are

talking about it now in terms of UKIP because there is a by-election

coming up. On Thursday, people will vote for their new MP for essential

Rotherham. All the indication that I'm getting is that people remain

behind Labour. They believe in Labour. They know that this

Government is doing the wrong thing for Rotherham and the country and

it has to be confronted. Thank you very much.

Let us return to the by-election and some of the other issues that

are being discussed on the campaign trail. Before the scandal broke, we

spoke to some of the candidates hoping to become Rotherham's new MP.

The economy dominates the agenda here. Rotherham has unemployment

much higher than the national average. Many people here are a

long-term benefits. I worked 30 years underground. I

used to be a magistrate I am retired now. I have problems with

my it right leg and I have lung problems that was given to me from

the mine industry. This Government do not care what kind of problems I

had got. Then they turn round you and say, what we are going to stop

your benefits. Which they did to me. I waited 12 months before I could

go to a tribunal for a judge and a doctor to say, they should have

never stopped a benefits in the first place. There are no jobs in

Rotherham. They look like losing at the last remaining mine in this

area. This will lose a 500 men and women's jobs. There are 500 people

there who will be out looking for work or even trying to seek some

type of benefit from the Government. There are 750 jobs to be lost at

the local hospital. At these to the people who were going to be lost in

the mining industry, how many more people can we take into this area.

There are jobs. But not jobs that could feed a family. The Government

has got to get bigger and better at what it is doing. Simon Wilson, of

what you say to people like him. These are towns like Rotherham had

been abandoned by the coalition Government. I have been doing

business in Rotherham for about 25 years and I have seen the decline

you over that time. Companies that I used to come and sell to that

employed lots of people, they have disappeared. However, those old

industries have gone and as if on has said, the call and this deal

has disappeared and we have to do it -- have to replace those. We

have started to do that I things like the advanced manufacturing

park. We have to do more of that. I firmly believe that the

Conservative Party are the people who can do that. We are the ones

who were seen the economy growing. We are on track... But Simon, it

your predictions were that it was going to be on for 0.6 %. The

country is flat lining under the Conservatives. We are growing the

country. We are forecasting that we will have the best roads in Europe

by 2014. We have to do more of it. We have to devolve more decision-

making powers for to the regions so that they can have more control of

their own destiny. There is concern of up -- that it is concern is

unemployment. What is the point of creating thousands of jobs if you

were going to bring half the Third World in to take them? Your point

is that we have got people sitting at home in -- on benefits and we

have got immigrants taking them? Yes. You have got to make people

realise that they have to take the jobs. A people you referred to, so

disparagingly, there are large numbers coming from a rack,

Afghanistan, places where Labour and the Tories, where they have

spent money on bombs and bullets bombing other countries and people

are coming over here as a result of these warmongering tactics. You

talk about Lord Heseltine, it was Lord Heseltine and his lot under

Thatcher that it aside to the call and steel industries and destroyed

entire communities. I have been talking to the ex-miners over here

and it has happened here as well. The coalition does not care and

Labour has done nothing for the miners. I am meeting with the

miners' Committee for Justice tomorrow and we are campaigning to

bring justice back for these people is communities have been laid to

waste. This is all very well but you're not getting to the point of

what is going to be done about it. The fact of the matter is that an

open door immigration policy does not work. That is not something

against anyone, it just doesn't work. It puts strains on facilities

and the put strains on the welfare facilities. This gentleman has had

his welfare payments removed. If you come over into this country you

can go straight onto the welfare state. Without having to prove

anything. That sort of thing has to be addressed. It has to change. And

it will not change. The coalition cannot possibly stop his

immigration policy. Next year we will have hundreds of thousands of

Bulgarians and Romanians coming into this country. That puts

pressure on employment. We have to address the problems. It is here

and it is now, let us sorted out. What are people saying to you on

the streets? Having been as Citizens Advice Bureau manager and

having spent much time before that doing legal aid, it is an area I

know very well. I certainly want to help improve the life chances of

people in Rotherham and I think the best way to do that is to spend

time with them getting to know them. Why has he got no welfare when he

has worked for his country all his life? It is because of a firm from

the French... But us not forget that this was the brainchild of

Labour and Labour pick them up a hundred million pounds contract. We

have just heard from this miner who has been told he is fit enough to

go to work by people from the Labour invented the tea or S.

Labour have allowed people to have a lifestyle choice. A few do not to

work under Labour, you do not have to. Under power, or Labour allowed

the benefits bill to spiral. So many people stuck on benefits.

got this in as a capability measure. If people are Bumble, disabled,

medically ill, then the need to support them. That is an event. We

are trying to get people back into work and that is the most important

thing. Under the Tories, that is not happening. The welfare bill is

going up. Paul we would do his strong support people to get back

into work. People who are working but on low incomes, they are having

their tax credits cut so it is making it more and more difficult

for hard-working people to make a living. One of the most disturbing

new stories to come at us Rotherham in recent times has been the

revelation that criminal gangs had been targeting young girls and

cases of so-called sexual grinning. Let us hear from one father who

wants to remain anonymous. daughter was groomed and sexually

exploited in Rotherham. After going to the police for help, no one

seemed interested. We rocked -- we wrote to the Home Secretary and had

letters from the police say no stone would be left unturned. Our

MP tried to get a meeting with the police. The local politicians at

the time should really hang their heads in shame because they knew

exactly what was going on here and have known for a number of years.

Social services and police have let my daughter down and other children.

The perpetrators who committed these acts on various girls are

still walking the streets of Rotherham and are free to carry on

doing what they were doing, even though this was brought to the

attention of the police and social services and local politicians at

the time. Also, who is policing the police? The police had not stepped

up to the plate. We feel that there was no help available. There was no

help out there when this was happening to us as a family. We

feel that someone needs to answer the question of what happened in

our case and the other cases of four other children. For their

parts, Rotherham council and South Yorkshire police say they are

continuing to develop their strategies and some successful

prosecutions have taken place. Jane Collins, what you say to that other

way that has heard from their? He basically believes the authorities

have not taken as Dr's claims seriously. My heart goes out to

them. He made a very poignant comment. He said, who is policing

the police? I want to know, are we going to have a cover-up of the

cover-up. We have had a cover-up in this town for ten years. Six years

ago I knew this was happening and I was holding meetings in pubs. That

was the only way I could do it. The council, social services, the

police did not want to know. I thought that the children needed to

be protected and I held meetings in pubs explaining the warning signs

and what was happening. It has gone on for more than a decade. They

covered it up. They have covered it up. One of the first things I did

before I came here was to speak to some experts in child grooming to

find out all the details about the problem in Rotherham and the

concern is across the Community a lot of Muslims are outraged because

this say it is as though it everyone thought we knew it was

happening and we did not. We called for an inquiry and the Deputy

Leader of the Labour council called me Islam a full-back. He said you

are playing the politics of race. I am a parent and like that father, I

do not want any child exposing these -- exposed to these filthy

gangs, whoever they are, and why has this council been silent for so

long?! Because we didn't want to risk the Asian vote? Because they

did not want to risk the Asian vote. Muslims are all individual and the

real scandal here is that these on the ball girls have been let down

from -- these 1 double girls had been let down by that CPS, by the

parents, by the council and of course these gangs should be

dragged through the courts. If he is right and says that they are

still out on the street, I would like to know what is happening.

people that were involved in this, not all of them were arrested. They

found a girl with a group of Asian men and they never arrested any of

them. I think if you earn Bolton at any way at all, you should be

brought to justice. A lot just got away with it. I be if you are

involved at all. Racial sensitivities, political

correctness, have been said that they hampered the authorities in

these investigations. Do you believe that? I feel very

uncomfortable with people making political mileage out of this. I

would like dear everyone save what we're going to do for the victims.

These crimes are completely destroying our children and

families. That is why I am up it -- backing Yvette Cooper who wants an

overarching inquiry. We're not doing anything for the victims so

we need to be supporting the victims. The majority of

paedophiles are white men. Do you think this is worth making

political capital out of? I think we should all pledged that if we

are successful in being elected, we will make contact with Keith and

find out what he has to say and ask for it to be sorted out.

victims have to be front and centre. The primary duty of any local

authority or MP is to look for the victims and give more support to

them. I welcome the Government's report but I think, as a former

victim of sexual abuse, that vast - - that this is a very powerful

issue and has to be addressed with passion and has to be done now and

I do not think another cover-up is the answer and I think there has

been a cover-up. Whoever is elected as the next MP for Rotherham has to

have the courage to take on local authority and take into account.

took the 15 years ago and they did not want to know. The English

Democrats are also hoping to do well in this election. They came

second to Labour in last week's PCC elections here.

We are standing up for all people England who are being abandoned by

the main parties. The reason why turnout is dropping so dramatically

is because people have recognised that the main parties do not care

about them. We actually do care about England and the people of

England and so we're going to make a change to that.

I and there are four other candidates to mention. Clint

Bristow is representing the EDL. Simon Copley is an independent.

Paul Dickson is also an independent. Ralph Dyson is of the trade