20/01/2013 Sunday Politics Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

On the Sunday Politics in Leeds: We speak to the Yorkshire business

people who have different views on whether we should stay in or get

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2301 seconds

Good afternoon from the Sunday Politics in Leeds. Coming up: We

speak to the Yorkshire business people who have very different

views on whether we should stay in or get out of the EU. Our guest

today I'll Fabian Hamilton, the MP for Leeds North-East and Andrew

Percy, the MP for Brigg & Goole. When David Cameron does make his

delayed speech on Europe, what do you want to hear? It has been more

leaks than a sieve. We have got a good idea of what is going to be in

it. I want to hear confirmation that Britain has its place at the

heart of Europe, as we should be, not that we are iffy about it. He

has got to be absolutely clear. It is in Britain's interests, socially

and politically and economically, to continue to be part of Europe

and get more deeply involved in shaping the Europe of the future.

He has warned he could be heading for the exit. Andrew, you would

show him the door? Up I would happily see us leave the EU. It is

not our opinion that matters. I want to see the British public are

consulted. There were people born after the referendum and have never

had a say in Europe. Let them make that argument to the British public

if they think it is good and let them decide. First, let us hear the

views of some business people from Yorkshire. Are they happy with our

current role in that EU? Do they think we should renegotiate with

Brussels or do they believe we should get out altogether?

operate 80 vehicles based on international and domestic haulage

requirements. It could be important for us to deal with Europe. We

supply it transport services to them and deliver a lot of

containers that have originated in Europe. We deliver them all round

the north of England. I am happy to renegotiate our position, in the

sense we pay too much to be a member of this club perhaps. I do

not agree that we should be out of Europe altogether. The people that

say that are not fully aware of how much businesses in general in the

North of England are dependent on Europe. A my name is Dorothy Hess.

It is a property rental business that I run. We are better off out

of Europe. The employment laws make it so local business people feel as

though they are afraid to employ people. We are under bureaucracy.

We are being governed by people who are not elected. That is not

democracy to me. David Cameron said he believes he wants to be in

Europe. I would beg to differ. He has no idea what the people of this

country are feeling. It is only a year ago I was tearing my

Conservative card up because of a remark he made about a referendum

and it was not up for debate. That was the death of democracy. I used

to run a company in Hull. By now chair a Local Enterprise

Partnership. -- I now chair. The benefits of being in Europe about

way -- outweigh the negative points. I am negotiating for a possible

very large investment in Hull. That is by a splendid German company who

made turbines which would be part of the offshore wind farm

development in the North Sea. Huge potential investment for this area

and for the country in general. My guess is, if Britain was not a

member of the EU, they would not even be talking to us. They would

be working away doing it in Denmark or Germany or France. That is just

an example. The links with the European Union also important to

the National and the local economy. -- are so important. He says

companies like German companies would not invest in this country if

we were not in the EU. A I do not agree. We are hoping to get other

countries here -- other companies here for British turbines, paid by

for the British, to be put in the North Sea. This fails to recognise,

if we did leave the EU, there has to be a treaty on which we leave.

That would involve an agreement on free trade. Largely because we

import a lot from Europe than we export. We have been joined by Rita

Britton, who runs the Polly and her -- who runs that Pollyanna company.

How important is our membership of the EU to your business? Incredibly

important. I fly out to Paris tomorrow morning, weather

permitting, and most of my business is done in Euros. I deal with all

companies in Paris, they can be German, Japanese, French, American.

I think it is incredibly important we stay in Europe. I heard a

Conservative peer the other day on the radio say he wanted his country

back. Whose country does he want that? The one I was born in two? I

have a six-year-old grandson who is not a genius and he speaks four

languages. He is part of the European culture. Why not let the

British people have a say? Let me finish. You are telling us what the

British people want. Let them have a say. Be well-mannered, like a

good European. I am not a European. I would take to task the fact you

say we import more than we export. Why do we have people like the man

with his lorries saying how important... Let me finish. You are

a politician. Let him respond to your point. Appoint mac is

important. She wants to maintain access and free trade. -- her a

point is important. There are countries outside of the EU which

have free trade with Europe. We want to maintain that. Europe's

percentage of world trade is falling year-on-year. Should we be

going back to a trading relationship which we had with the

Common Market? No. We are part of Europe. Our future is within Europe,

not just with a trading -- not just as a trading partner. My father was

in World War II. He was passionate about European Union and it being

the only way we would ensure not to have a war. Our father had a

different view. But that is not relevant. I do not understand why

people are set -- why people are frightened of this. Why not let the

people have a say? Instead we get patronised. The people cannot have

a referendum because the elite of this country have decided the

European Union is where we should be. Would you have votes on

everything else? People of vote for political parties... When you came

to office in 1997, I am assume -- I assume you allowed the Scottish

people to have a say on how they voted their. That is completely

different. Please can I say something? This is a big fear with

me. If we come out of Europe, trade will fall, investors will fail --

fall away. I am seeing the pound's fall against the euro. What would

happen... Let me finish. What would happen is you might as well build a

big wall around London. London would be fine. But the rest of us

would not. The rest of us would struggle. Let us make these

arguments to the British public. I want to trust the people. We are

hearing the people do not have the right to say anything. Let them

have a referendum. Why what Labour commit to a referendum? There is no

need to have a referendum. We are part of Europe. We need to reform

Europe and the central to it. Our destiny in the future is within

Europe. If you want to get out of Europe, vote for UKIP. What about

the red tape and employment law that has made it harder for them to

run their businesses? A we need to be at the head of that table

guiding and getting rid of... have enough bureaucracy a foreign

country to control. -- in our own country we need to be controlling

the situation and getting rid of the wrecked -- grid of the red tape.

The argument about reform has been made for years. We never get the

reform. Remember when Tony Blair gave away the rebate? It did not

happen. I do not have a problem with renegotiation which gives us

power was back. The reality is, there is no appetite for that on

the Continent. This reform agenda never happens. We are coming to the

point where the British people, and that is why listen to, have decided

they have had enough and they want to have a say about the way their

country is governed. Why not trust the people? Look at investors in

Japan. We are part of the EU. By one to have a debate. You're not

prepared to allow that debate to take place. -- I want to have a

that debate. Do you think the people of Barnsley would want to

have their say? We have to be very careful about referendums because

we have two political men here who cannot agree on which way we should

be going. I think... I agree, we have elected a government to make

the decisions. The Norway have 4 million people. I think we have

elected a government, I do not like that, I can vote for a different

government. You would not allow an election of police and crime

commissioners? No. It is that time of the year when cash-strapped

families are most likely to turn to loan sharks who charge exorbitant

rates in many cases. Across Yorkshire, there are a number of

charities set up to avoid people getting bogged down in debt. Many

of these organisations are now asking for help from the Government

because they themselves cannot borrow from the banks. Refurnish,

based in this industrial park, is a highly unusual business. You employ

a 38 people? That is a big workforce. It is. We do a lot of

things. People assemble furniture, we have drivers who collect

unwanted furniture. What has been put to get their here is a brand-

new and sold by top of the range high street shops but was rejected

and returned by a customer because slight damage already part was

missing when the box was opened. the past, the retailer founded too

expensive to fix so it went straight to landfill. Now, they are

donating it here and it will be sold off to people who could not

have afforded its original price. The demand for this sort of cut-

price new furniture has not just grown, it has exploded as in comes

have been squeezed. There are about 200 companies around the country

doing this sort of thing. It is thought there is plenty of scope

for more of them. The problem is getting the finance to set them up.

The banks just do not want to know. That is because they are legally

social enterprises. They charity status and profits per back into

the business. To expand, they have to look for alternative funding.

am Matt Smith and I work for Key Fund. We provide loans to social

enterprise services. We want to work with them and a requirement of

funding is they have been turned down by the bank. At the moment, it

is very easy to get to that refusal from a bank. Refurnish's link-up

with Key Fund has allowed them to open extra show rooms in Yorkshire.

It says banks are reluctant to provide finance for its target

market, the low-paid, those on benefits and pensioners, so many of

those are turning to the new loan companies. This week, concerned MPs

questioned a senior executive of Wonga.com. The banks have not made

an adequate system for short-term loans for customers. If they did

that, we would not be needed. are happy to compete with banks.

That is not good enough say the social enterprises. Many are trying

to bypass expensive lenders by linking up with community based

providers of cheaper personal loans. The funding available for all this

work is severely limited. Unless the banks start lending more, the

poorest could well be pushed into further hardship. If social

enterprises cannot borrow, this is the breakdown of "big society"?

is a problem. -- it is a problem. It was to get money flowing. Thanks

to a change in the law, the money from bank accounts has been

channelled into that, along with money from banks themselves. --

dormant bank accounts. We need a lot more. We were promised hundreds

of millions of pounds. We are hearing these complaints that the

banks are not lending. It is staggering that the taxpayer owned

most of these two big banks and we cannot get them to lend to social

enterprises or the public. It is time for us to re-examine their

leader idea of using the Post Office. -- re examine a Labour idea.

They day loans have been in the news this week. -- pay-day loans.

These companies are charging 4,000 % APR. Should the government

regulator? A I would urge people to look into credit unions. The

problem with acting too quickly as we end up in the position, the last

thing we want, where we take a day's hike cost Credit and there is

no lending to these people and they end up in hands of illegal loan

sharks. There are debates in Parliament about this all time. It

is not just as simple as saying, take them at the market. But could

drive people into the hands of people who collect the money with

the baseball bat. Greg it unions are the future. -- credit unions.

We have lost building societies. They have become banks and we know

what happens to them. Now the 60 minute -- 62nd round up. -- 62nd

round up. Celebrations this week as the root of the Tour de France

through Yorkshire is announced. people of Yorkshire are excited,

enthusiastic and pride. We will the Government chip in to help our

local councils pay the stating costs? Horsemeat in beefburgers.

Mary Creagh wants to know why. People will be upset and horrified

that this has happened. This part of England has had a large influx

of immigrants. Worries about a possible new wave of immigration

from Romania and Bulgaria were raised when the BBC's question time

came from London. I think it is irresponsible, wrong, and stupid.

The question was, can public services cope? A I think we should

be mindful of pressures put on public services. Real worries.

About what could happen when the Romanians are about to live and

work in this country. Are they ballot? They do have some validity.

-- father worries valid? We should consider further protection against

exploitation of people coming across. I do not think they should

allow was to get into a sense of panic about this. The real problem

is we do not have living wages paid to people who were doing manual

work. That allows people coming in from Romania and Bulgaria to

depress those wages. Many people fear the Romanians will work for

cheaper wages than the Eastern European migrants we have at the

moment. In has caused a huge problem in my constituency. We have

had a big influx. They are working hard but it has put pressure on

public services. Whether we stay in the EU or not, something has to be

done about this. Something needs to be done about people entering the

country, seeking work and entering the benefits system. It is causing

resentment. The was a report recently that said it was unlikely

we will get Romanians in the numbers we had Polish people

because of the historic links between Poland and the UK. Some are

men on bikes are coming for France. The Tour de France organisers, they

have missed out there will on the route. It is an outrage. They have

missed out the Humber Bridge as well. They are coming to Yorkshire,

that is going to be fantastic. It will be a lot of money in. At 80%

of Yorkshire people are within an hour of where it is coming. We may

not get the riders, but we will get the tourists taking a right turn

and coming to East Yorkshire. are coming to my constituency.

delighted. I will not be a good to keep up with them. You might need

what Lance on Strong has! -- Lance Armstrong. Should the government

help with the cost? When we had the debate in Westminster, the Sports

Minister said there up routes to government funding that could be

opened potentially. The region is going to benefit to the tune of

tens of millions of pounds. It will be �6 million well spent. There

Government did offer money to Scotland to help support Aidan ruff

in Edinburgh had won this. They did not so we want this. -- to help

support Aidan ruff if Edinburgh had won this. -- Edinburgh. We just

need to guarantee the weather. we hold Nick Clegg to account for