17/02/2013 Sunday Politics Yorkshire and Lincolnshire


17/02/2013

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Refined out of white Margaret Thatcher's home side is divided

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2129 seconds

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over whether it wants a statue of Here are the headlines: We look at

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whether the poorest households are being swept up in what one up

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charity claims is at toxic mix all benefit caps.

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And while Margaret Thatcher's home town is divided over whether it

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wants a statue of the Iron Lady. Our guests are Toby Perkins and

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Craig Whittaker. There is a whole raft of benefit

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changes and welfare cuts in the pipeline. Will the government faced

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a revolt in the future? I'd do not think so. It is

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important that the taxpayer is getting value for money. The right

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thing to do? The original Conservative minister responsible

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for the poll tax is talking about poll-tax Mark 2. People see that

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the changes are not fair. The most recent government statistic says

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200,000 more children will be put into poverty. We will talk

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specifically about council tax benefit because Sheffield has

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become the latest local authority to face a legal challenge over

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plans to increase council tax bills for some of the poorest households.

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It blames the government's demand for a 10 % reduction in the amount

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spent on council tax benefit. We have been finding out how people

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are affected. The finances of this former bus man

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are so precarious that an extra bill of �4 per week could break him.

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In this economic climate with energy bills going up my outgoings

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just match might income. That is vital. It is a permanent struggle.

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Last pay-day by the time I had paid the bills I had �2.50 left for two

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weeks. At �4 extra bill is for council tax bill. He has not had to

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pay that tax for a few years because his income is so lope and

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and he and hip injury means he cannot do manual work any more. The

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government has told local councils they must cut tax relief by 10 %.

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An estimated 600,000 people across the country will get council tax

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demands from April. That concerns this social research charity.

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we are seeing is that we're people have to pay more towards council

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tax the average amount is �12 per month. That might not sound like a

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lot of money to some people but when you combine that with other

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things such as the operating of tax credits to below the rate of

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inflation at these can begin to combine his two great at toxic mix

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for some individual households. a report to be published next month

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it is said that one in five councils will not pass on at the

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cuts. But big councils have so many on low incomes they cannot afford

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to do that. In South Yorkshire Sheffield would need an extra �5

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million per year to absorb the cuts. Their concern it is that this cat

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is aimed at those on the lowest incomes. Pensioners are exempt.

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They are 50 % of those who qualify. So the rest have to see a reduction

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of 22 %. Sheffield is passing that on in full. There are those that

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say that is not fear. It is very difficult. It is not an

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easy decision to make. We are taking �50 million out already this

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year. A further �5.5 million forced upon us by the government will mean

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more cuts to services across the city. The government says it has a

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two councils to work out how to impose the reductions. It adds that

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the government has provided transitional funding to help all

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councils develop schemes and maintain positive incentives to

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work. Back in Leeds this man hopes he might be one of those eligible

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for her transitional financial safety-net. Write me he fears the

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worst. I wrote to my MP. With the figures being given I would not

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have the money to pay them. That puts me at risk of losing my house.

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Is it right that everyone shares the pain of austerity? I think it

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is right that everyone makes a contribution. When you have very

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little in the first place you are less able to make that contribution.

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What we are seeing is people on benefits receiving reduction after

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reduction. 60 % of the people affected are people in work on the

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low income, not the idle scroungers that some would have us believe.

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The us is a gift to Labour. The poorest people are being asked to

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pay more. But us not forget this is a Labour-run council. They are

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imposing this all the people. Councils like my council had

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decided able use the transition fanned and look at different ways

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of putting the money back. We have private landlords to have empty

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properties that get a holiday on paying council tax. That will no

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longer exist. It is not just the poor as that are being hit.

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labour councils playing politics? Not at all. In a general terms

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there are more likely to have a lot of people receiving benefits. We

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have to be clear about this. It is the government's responsibility to

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decide what the welfare policy is. They are saying they will not give

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enough to pay for the welfare but it is up to the council to decide

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whether up to dig into reserves to bail the government out. Local

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government councils are facing massive cuts already. In

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Chesterfield they are attempting to use the discretionary fund to

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alleviate some of that. But it is just impossible. So why is my

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council doing it differently to Sheffield? Each council has

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different numbers of people who are receiving benefits. That is why it

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is important that local councils are the ones that the side. This is

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at benefits issue. RUC in that local councils are not able to make

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these decisions? -- are you saying that local councils. Eric Pickles

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is saying to other council leaders that he will leave them with the

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problem. Sadly Sheffield is attacking the poor. Many people are

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being -- are talking about being hit by a double whammy. �150

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million has been put into a fund to help those that need it most. There

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are 2 million families in this country on waiting lists for

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housing. There is a real problem. In 1987 there were one million

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people on housing lists. There are now 2 million people. We also saw a

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reduction in social housing under Labour. It is a real problem. We

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have got one million spare bedrooms in the system. It seems a good way

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of freeing that up for people that need it. You are refusing to

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support the cap and welfare payments. Some people may ask whose

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side you're on. Many of the welfare reforms we have supported. We have

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not supported all them. We have supported some of them. It will not

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be available to foster carers for example. It will not be available

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for couples. That is not true. is not available for foster carers.

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It is also not available to couples who for health reasons cannot sleep

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in the same beds. All the way down the system where people say they

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want to downsize, of the council cannot move them, they still lose

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the money. Chesterfield Borough Council are saying that one-third

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of people affected will fall into arrears. This is a Labour trick of

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scaremongering. The government have given �155 million for those

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special cases. I have spoken again this week to my local council.

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There is no reason why people with special circumstances cannot stay

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in the homes they are in. We are going to move on now. We have the

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round-up. The former boss of Lincolnshire

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hospital trust broker contractual gagging order. Last July the Sunday

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politics revealed how he had been stopped by blowing the whistle on

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high patient better rates. A you have emergency care or you have

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care that can wait. We chose as a board that emergency care should

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take priority. Now the Health Secretary says he should not have

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been silenced. He is making serious allegations. We need to understand

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whether he is right and if so what needs to change. The horsemeat

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scandal will not go away. This week as that took contaminated beef

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product of the shelves. At Question Time Wakefield MP said the

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government is not doing enough. Ministers have been asleep on the

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job. This week, Craig Whittaker, your

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constituency became centre stage in the horsemeat scandal when asked

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what a house was raided. What do you make of that claim that you

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ministers have been asleep on the job? It is ridiculous. It is

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typical of what Labour is very good at doing - complaining about

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nothing. We are talking about ministers, not horsemeat. We have

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seen the results of 2,500 tests which actually says that one % was

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infected by horsemeat. This is scaremongering over health issues.

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We should not be scaremongering. We should be getting to the bottom of

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what is going on and sorting out the mess and put right what is

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clearly a fraudulent act by a large number of people. How do we restore

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confidence in the meat industry? You need to have a competent

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ministry. We have not got that at the moment. We have now discovered,

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three weeks after this first broke, but we are still exporting horse

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meat for human consumption. We have got no sense that the ministerial

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team has a grasp on this. The performance in Parliament this week

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was amongst the worst I have seen. There is no sense that the

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government has got a grip on this. I want to briefly mention the NHS

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boss in Lincolnshire who broke his gagging order. At he spoke out

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against the target culture when he was in charge. Now the NHS, we are

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told, is tried to get the money back. Should he be forced to pay

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the money back? Why are people gagging him? He should never have

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been gagged in the first place. People should have known about it.

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And what are we doing paying a public servant �500,000? It is a

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scandal. Could there be more scrabbles out there? We need to get

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to the bottom of this. The issue is understandable. It is to do with

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circumstances in which he left the hospital in Lincolnshire. The issue

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was around whether he was willing to meet the targets. Labour targets.

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NHS targets introduced by up a Labour government. Targets were put

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in. By and large they were a good thing. They brought down the

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waiting list. They made sure that patients were treated more quickly.

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Some hospital managers got round those targets in the wrong way. In

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those cases disciplinary action should follow. We are asking how we

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should honour our former prime ministers. Two of Our Most recent

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leaders were born in this region. Some would like to see a statue of

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Harold Wilson at Westminster. But plans to bid up a statue of

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Margaret Thatcher in her home town of Grantham have not been met with

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universal approval. Visitors to Grantham and attracted

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to the statue of Sir Isaac Newton. But there is no statute of Margaret

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Thatcher. That is something many local Tories believe should be

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addressed. We had people from America, France, Germany and Japan.

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I would like them to follow a to this trail through the town,

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perhaps going pasture old school, ending up in the town centre, and

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hopefully they would be a statue to recognise her achievements. The us

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is the statue that is up for grabs. This statue was decapitated by a

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protester while on display. It is currently in storage. There were

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widespread reports the statue had been offered to grab the museum.

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Those reports were later quashed. The museum manager was suspended

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for making what was described as erroneous claims. One Labour

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councillor and believes the statue could be a target for vandals.

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is bound to cause strong feelings amongst those who were affected by

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her policies and who still harbour very strong resentments. We could

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not guarantee that the statue would not become a focal point for

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attacks. What do you make a people who say the statue could be

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vandalised? The you have got take that risk. If the statue was

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situated in a prominent place we have enough CCTV to look after it.

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It would be safe. The big problem is transporting the statue from

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London to grab them. That would not be cheap. Then there is the

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question of whether taxpayers actually want a statue of the

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former prime minister. You have to admire the lady for being the first

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female prime minister. But she is not my favourite person. I don't

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think we should make too much of a fuss of her now. She was a strong

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woman prime minister. I would like to see a statue of her. It will

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attract a lot of unsavoury attention. A lot of people will

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blame her for the loss of manufacturing jobs and all that

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sort of thing. Meanwhile there are calls for a memorial dedicated to

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another former prime minister. This week marked 50 years since Harold

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Wilson became leader of the Labour Party. From now on the pound abroad

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is worth 14 % less in terms of other currencies. In 1999 Tony

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Blair revealed this statue of his predecessor. Now Huddersfield's MP

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is calling for a statue to be erected at Westminster. He was a

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successful Labour leader. He won a lot of elections. He was prime

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minister for eight years, during which she introduced a great deal

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of social change. -- he introduced. It has not clear whether Margaret

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Thatcher wants to see a statue of herself in Grantham. Her public

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appearances have become increasingly rare. But once again

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there is discussion over their legacy of the Iron Lady.

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Would you like to see a statue of Margaret Thatcher? They will have

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an easier task of getting a statue in Grantham and I would have of

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getting a statue of Bernard Ingham. There is a statue of Harold Wilson.

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That is magnificent. It is a fine example. Being next door to

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Huddersfield I feel quite proud that we have a statue of Harold

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Wilson. We are talking about Harold Wilson in a minute. We have had a

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financial crisis and a Labour government. A recession under a

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Coalition. Why does Margaret Thatcher still arouse strong views?

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She was such a strong figure. People in this region sought the

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mining industry disappear. All the destruction that occurred in our

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community to stop she is a divisive figure. Many right-wing Tories

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still do not particularly like going on about Margaret Thatcher

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yet she was the most successful leader you have had for many years.

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And she was Britain's first female prime minister. It is important.

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Are you a Thatcherite? I am not. How will history judge Harold

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Wilson? It will judge him as someone who was successful. It will

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judge him as a social reformer who made tremendous progress in terms

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of some of the social issues. Many people will also reflect that he

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kept us out of the Vietnam war. Harold Wilson once four elections

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for Labour. Is he still well regarded in the party? I think he

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is. There is some pride about him. At the same time the Labour Party

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have always taken a critical view of the Tories leaders and has been

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more generous to those who lost elections. You booed Tony Blair at

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conference. We did not. It is time to move on. Tony Blair was a winner.

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Harold Wilson was a winner. Interesting parallels. The Pope has

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resigned. That is what Harold Wilson did in 1976. He feared the

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onset of mental health problems. is always a lesson for a leader.

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Maybe some other leaders might reflect that they should take a

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step to go while people are still demanding more. We are not very

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good at this in this country. In America the name that places after

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leaders. We do not have that same respect. It is just politicians in

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general. We have at different outlook in this country. I am not

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sure either leader would do as well nowadays. Harold Wilson said one

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