:39:49. > :39:54.Doncaster as a fortress in the town four Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and the
:39:54. > :40:02.North Midlands. It is election time again. They are under starter's
:40:02. > :40:10.orders in Doncaster as voters prepare to choose their next May. --
:40:10. > :40:13.Mayor. You the political number crunchers will be looking closely at
:40:13. > :40:23.Thursday's results in our part of the world. Len Tingle is here with a
:40:23. > :40:24.
:40:24. > :40:28.reminder of where this weeks battleground will be. County Hall in
:40:28. > :40:34.Northallerton, the council is largely blue. In 2009, Horden Brown
:40:34. > :40:40.was Prime Minister, Labour was not what in opinion polls and the
:40:40. > :40:45.Conservatives took full advantage. Let's take a look at what happened.
:40:45. > :40:50.The 72 seats, the Conservatives took 46 seats. The Liberal Democrats
:40:50. > :40:57.finished with just nine and labour just one seat. There were 14
:40:57. > :41:01.Independence as the second-largest group. Never having won a single
:41:01. > :41:07.council seat in any Yorkshire Council, UKIP is putting up 49
:41:07. > :41:13.candidates. The policies about immigration do have a knock-on
:41:13. > :41:21.effect with legal. It affects hospitals, housing, we are very
:41:21. > :41:28.short of housing. It will affect our schools. They will pick up some
:41:28. > :41:33.votes, there is no doubt about that. They have no history in local
:41:33. > :41:37.government and they appear to have very few local policies. When I did
:41:37. > :41:44.it interview a couple weeks ago with Nigel Farage, he kept talking about
:41:44. > :41:49.immigration in Europe which are to issues that have no relevance of
:41:49. > :41:54.local services in the county council. Labour has been noticing
:41:54. > :41:56.that national political polls are different from 2009. The current
:41:56. > :41:59.government is popularity is plummeting so Labour believes they
:41:59. > :42:07.can win back some of the seats at lost last time. The Liberal
:42:07. > :42:10.Democrats are putting on a brave face. For the first time, Labour are
:42:10. > :42:15.fielding a fool 72 candidates and we are the only party to do that.
:42:15. > :42:21.results we are getting from canvassing are much more positive
:42:21. > :42:24.this year than they have been in the last couple of years. But North
:42:24. > :42:31.Yorkshire is not the only county where the Tories make big gains. In
:42:31. > :42:38.Lincolnshire, the Conservatives took 62 of the 77 seats leaving the rest
:42:38. > :42:41.were just a handful. UKIP leader Nigel Farage has already been
:42:41. > :42:46.highlighting the growing number of Eastern European workers coming to
:42:46. > :42:55.the counties of the party fancies his chances. UKIP houses largest
:42:55. > :42:58.campaign ever. Is there room for anyone else? Shire counties have a
:42:58. > :43:06.tradition of independent counties and the Greens are also making a big
:43:06. > :43:09.effort. Each independent, and I think there are 32 is standing, are
:43:09. > :43:15.driven first and foremost by the desire to stand up and be counted
:43:15. > :43:18.for the local community. We have gone up from ten to 25 candidates
:43:18. > :43:22.and we are putting up much more effort where these candidates are
:43:22. > :43:29.standing. It is not something that eagle in North Lincolnshire have
:43:29. > :43:33.seen -- and not long -- North Yorkshire had seen before. We are
:43:33. > :43:38.finding that the three main parties are not what they want and they are
:43:38. > :43:42.turning to us and also to the independents. So it is back to the
:43:43. > :43:49.old argument, will be local or national arguments that give people
:43:49. > :43:59.the edge in these elections? guests today are Kris Hopkins, the
:43:59. > :43:59.
:43:59. > :44:06.Conservative MP for Keighley and Ilkley, Rosie Winterton and Godfrey
:44:06. > :44:14.Bloom. For the Liberal Democrats we have Edward McMillan-Scott, also an
:44:14. > :44:18.NEP for the Yorkshire and Humber region. You did very well in the
:44:18. > :44:24.elections in 2009, those heady days of opposition but surely you are
:44:24. > :44:31.basing yourself a heavy losses? were in opposition at the time and
:44:31. > :44:35.now we have to take these difficult decisions in government. We have a
:44:35. > :44:40.lot of hard-working councils who are interested in local issues, schools,
:44:40. > :44:50.getting your bins emptied, looking after all the people, the real
:44:50. > :44:51.
:44:51. > :44:59.issues. How important are these elections for Ed Miliband? The
:44:59. > :45:04.majority of workers -- people do not trust him as much as the current
:45:04. > :45:09.government. Instead of having a millionaires tax cut, we would put
:45:09. > :45:15.money into getting people back to work through restoring the tax
:45:15. > :45:19.credits. We will be saying that instead of having a rather curious
:45:19. > :45:25.Conservatory plan in order to lose the construction industry, we would
:45:25. > :45:29.be wanting to see a cut in VAT for one year in order to build 100,000
:45:29. > :45:34.affordable homes. These are the kind of choices that we are seeing the
:45:34. > :45:38.country needs to look at in these elections. Labour is one nation
:45:39. > :45:43.approach is to say that the division and unfairness that exists at the
:45:43. > :45:48.moment is a direct result of these coalition politics. Godfrey, what do
:45:48. > :45:52.you make of that comment of the Conservative group leader in
:45:52. > :45:55.Yorkshire? He says that you kept banging on about Europe and
:45:55. > :46:02.immigration but these are not the kind of issues you control and
:46:02. > :46:07.County Hall. That has not been my experience. Stephanie Todd did not
:46:07. > :46:13.talk about Europe at all there. This is about local issues and that is
:46:13. > :46:17.right. UKIP have a very good idea. We have a very eclectic mix of
:46:17. > :46:21.people, the picture, the baker, the candlestick maker. There is an awful
:46:21. > :46:28.lot of us with commercial experience which is sadly lacking in the town
:46:28. > :46:34.hall. So we're hoping to do quite well. Something else that is
:46:34. > :46:39.exciting is that we do not have a whipping. We do not have a whipping
:46:39. > :46:44.system. So we are not beholden to any sort of party dogma, we can do
:46:44. > :46:51.what is best for the local community. I think it is quite
:46:51. > :46:53.exciting. Edward McMillan-Scott, pretty dismal elections for the
:46:53. > :47:00.Liberal Democrats recently, what makes you think this will be
:47:00. > :47:04.different? I think there has been a different approach to the Lib Dem
:47:04. > :47:10.appeal than there was this time last year. Things are looking much
:47:10. > :47:14.better. We have some new policies, for example no libraries have closed
:47:14. > :47:18.in a Liberal led administration across the country. There are not
:47:18. > :47:24.many of those in Yorkshire. Thank heavens there are still enough and
:47:24. > :47:31.we will try to keep them there. It is a Tory led administration and
:47:31. > :47:35.needs to change. It is UKIP that the Tories fear. There is a real chance
:47:35. > :47:38.that UKIP will take some seats are few in some of these counties.
:47:38. > :47:44.don't think it will just be the Conservative Party who will be
:47:44. > :47:51.looking to see how effective that UKIP campaigners. They have become
:47:51. > :47:57.the party of protest. As Godfrey says, the advent wept, the arrant
:47:57. > :48:04.series about this. The other gimmicks party. -- they art of the
:48:04. > :48:10.gimmicks party. The Liberal Democrats were the protest party,
:48:10. > :48:20.they are now taking some responsibility in government.
:48:20. > :48:21.
:48:21. > :48:26.are a gimmick, Godfrey Bloom. of people have moved over from the
:48:26. > :48:29.Conservative Party because they want to do a better job and to be
:48:29. > :48:33.associated with a rather better organisation and this appalling
:48:33. > :48:36.coalition government we have at the moment. They are bringing a lot of
:48:36. > :48:41.expertise forward and I think that is something that has been sadly
:48:41. > :48:44.lacking in the traditional parties. One of the most hotly contested
:48:44. > :48:50.elections will be in Doncaster were ten candidates are vying to become
:48:50. > :48:54.the . The man who won as an English Democrat four years ago to the
:48:54. > :49:00.surprise of many, Peter Davis, is standing as an independent this
:49:00. > :49:03.time. Whoever gets the job will face a big challenge. Three years ago a
:49:03. > :49:08.government hit squad was sent to run the council and now there is a
:49:08. > :49:16.possibility that Doncaster lose control of its children's services
:49:16. > :49:24.department. James Vincent reports. They are counting the votes here at
:49:24. > :49:28.Doncaster racecourse. Insert your first past the post pun here. Of
:49:28. > :49:34.course it is not first past the post, it is the system that saw
:49:34. > :49:42.Peter Davies get elected for the English Democrats in 2009. They have
:49:42. > :49:48.had this system for 11 years now. But it is still a pity -- pretty
:49:48. > :49:52.grim time to be and local elections in Doncaster. All decisions are
:49:52. > :49:59.scrutinised and reported back to the government. What does this tell us
:49:59. > :50:05.about Doncaster? Doncaster has been recorded as a failing council and it
:50:05. > :50:09.does need changing. We're still in a mess and the government is
:50:09. > :50:14.threatening to take over services from us so for this reason, I feel
:50:14. > :50:19.it is time for change in Doncaster. We have got people in from outside
:50:19. > :50:26.who come in for a few months at a time, take fortunes in wages and
:50:26. > :50:30.achieve nothing. People need to see that the council is being run fairly
:50:30. > :50:33.and in a professional manner for the people, rather than for the people
:50:34. > :50:40.with interests who work in the council. This is something that
:50:40. > :50:45.matters sometimes been the case. projects have been finished, like
:50:45. > :50:49.the council buildings. It has been suggested that has forgotten about
:50:49. > :50:54.the bread-and-butter of keeping people safe. It is the first in the
:50:54. > :50:57.country to have a department taking away from it. The accusation from
:50:57. > :51:02.the government is that it is not looking after children well enough
:51:02. > :51:08.ill stop everybody is concerned about children's services. The fact
:51:08. > :51:14.is, things have progressed. Lord Carlile says it is better than 2009
:51:14. > :51:21.and we are working to make sure it gets better. Michael G is bringing
:51:21. > :51:28.in a fourth commissioner all about children's services. It is about us
:51:28. > :51:30.doing what we can for Doncaster. There should be direct
:51:30. > :51:37.responsibility for that department and people should be held
:51:37. > :51:43.responsible. But I'll still believe in this stab his confidence has been
:51:43. > :51:48.shot to pieces. Investment is required urgently. It is a job that
:51:48. > :51:52.seems to get cover every election. Whoever Doncaster backs will be
:51:52. > :51:56.saddled with the job of restoring the council's reputation.
:51:56. > :52:00.People have long memories in Doncaster, they remember the
:52:00. > :52:07.problems caused under tedious Labour administrations. Why should they
:52:07. > :52:14.trust you again? What we have in Peter Davies is someone who sat in
:52:14. > :52:19.this studio and said, I was a conservative for 22 years and I
:52:19. > :52:22.still believe in their policies. So he has not been standing up for
:52:22. > :52:27.Doncaster. He has been focusing on things like cutting down trees on
:52:27. > :52:31.the racecourse, attempting to shut the libraries. He has not been
:52:31. > :52:36.thinking about it proper vision for Doncaster and he hasn't been doing
:52:36. > :52:41.things of like sorting out children's services. If you contrast
:52:41. > :52:47.that with Ros Jones, who is talking about bringing apprentices and,
:52:47. > :52:52.stimulating affordable housing, as a real vision. It is about leadership
:52:52. > :52:57.and Peter Davies has not shown that leadership. He has been a popular
:52:57. > :53:03.figurehead for the town, hasn't he? I don't think he has. When you look
:53:03. > :53:08.at what he has focused on, cutting trees down on the racecourse, not
:53:08. > :53:12.sorting out children's services, somebody who has said, I am a
:53:12. > :53:20.conservative at heart and is therefore not able to take on the
:53:20. > :53:24.conservative coalition government. He has been seeing, this is why
:53:24. > :53:29.Doncaster has been badly hit by the cuts. He is not been a near guarding
:53:29. > :53:39.with the government because basically he agrees with the
:53:39. > :53:43.Conservative approach. How would you rate the Lib Dems chances? I hope
:53:43. > :53:48.John Browne does it a lot better than you are making out. He will not
:53:48. > :53:55.have spent �20 million on council headquarters because it is clear
:53:55. > :53:59.going around canvassing, people recognise that in a Lib Dem, you
:53:59. > :54:03.have somebody who will do things between elections and not just send
:54:03. > :54:09.you a leaflet about going to talk to you. It has been refreshing to see
:54:09. > :54:13.the responses from people. People are concerned about their local
:54:13. > :54:17.services and in Doncaster they have a real choice, in fact they have
:54:17. > :54:22.more than one choice on the ballot paper. Stick to John Brown and you
:54:22. > :54:27.will be picking the right man. is no UKIP candidate, who are you
:54:28. > :54:31.backing? No particular candidate on this occasion because we felt we
:54:31. > :54:37.didn't have the right person and we feel this was an aborted job for the
:54:37. > :54:41.right person. We know there is nothing wrong with the people so
:54:41. > :54:47.something must be going wrong with the system. The problem is endemic,
:54:47. > :54:53.when you have a town that has had a built-in majority for a decade after
:54:53. > :55:01.decade, you get incompetence and corruption. There are plenty of
:55:01. > :55:08.conservative towns where this is more sophisticated. But that has
:55:08. > :55:14.been run by Peter Davies for the last four years. You haven't cleaned
:55:15. > :55:18.up the mess he left since the war. He has been criticised by the audit
:55:18. > :55:26.commission for not focusing enough on children's services. This is my
:55:26. > :55:29.point. He has slightly peculiar eccentric policies that focus on
:55:29. > :55:37.certain issues but not dealing with the leadership that Doncaster
:55:37. > :55:41.needs. We need to get jobs and investment. Children's services in
:55:41. > :55:47.Rotherham is an absolute disaster and that is another Labour barony.
:55:47. > :55:55.We need to get away from this we are a label thing in local government.
:55:55. > :56:04.Eagles should say, I believe in this and this is what I will do. It is
:56:04. > :56:08.endemic. You put in your manifesto in the UKIP that you stand on. For
:56:08. > :56:14.example, I noticed in one of your recent manifesto is that we need to
:56:14. > :56:19.build more prisons. Labour in Doncaster but for an airport to be
:56:19. > :56:22.built, not a prison. It is these kind of things that you will be
:56:22. > :56:32.judged on. If you talk about removing the European investment
:56:32. > :56:34.
:56:34. > :56:38.from somewhere like Doncaster, that... �50 million we give to the
:56:38. > :56:43.European Union. There would be plenty of money if we do send all
:56:43. > :56:50.that money to the European Union. Businesses would be horrified by the
:56:50. > :56:56.approach that you take because it would mean higher and employment in
:56:56. > :57:00.Doncaster, less opportunity for jobs. Let me bring in Kris Hopkins
:57:00. > :57:04.because we forget that had voters supported the plans in a
:57:04. > :57:14.referendum, we would be having me all elections in Leeds and
:57:14. > :57:20.
:57:20. > :57:28.Sheffield. The US we were having elections for a Mayor written Mark?
:57:29. > :57:33.-- if we were having. Godfrey is living in cloud cuckoo land if he
:57:33. > :57:39.thinks he can put 30 or 40 people into a council unequipped. You end
:57:39. > :57:47.up with chaos. Labour has a reputation in Doncaster, the
:57:47. > :57:49.independents also do. This failed leadership has led to vulnerable
:57:49. > :57:54.children not having support. The people of Doncaster deserve better
:57:54. > :58:04.than what they have been given. will get more of their week 's
:58:04. > :58:04.
:58:04. > :58:12.political news now. Louise Martin has a round-up in 60 seconds.
:58:12. > :58:15.The Battle of Fulford took place in 1066. The site where the English and
:58:15. > :58:20.Danes fought with axes and swords is now heading for another
:58:20. > :58:27.confrontation. York City council has he acted for a development. Could
:58:27. > :58:34.the homes destroyed our heritage? And more history has been
:58:34. > :58:37.challenged. Farmworkers pay has been set by the board for 60 years but
:58:37. > :58:41.the government says it wants farmers to negotiate with his workers from
:58:41. > :58:51.nylon and the board will be abolished. Wheatfield MP Mary
:58:51. > :58:52.
:58:52. > :58:56.Creagh, MP disagrees. Even Mrs Thatcher did not abolish it. It has
:58:56. > :59:06.been revealed George Galloway has had a private chat with it at -- Ed
:59:06. > :59:15.Miliband. On Twitter, Miller band said Ed Miliband has the backbone of
:59:15. > :59:21.an amoeba. What on earth was Ed Miliband doing
:59:21. > :59:29.meeting George Galloway? It was a bone boundary changes -- it was
:59:29. > :59:35.about boundary changes. What the conservative and Lib Dem government
:59:35. > :59:40.were proposing initially was, in a sense, gerrymandering the next
:59:40. > :59:43.election. What we did, we said that we wanted to reverse that change and
:59:43. > :59:50.leave the boundary changes as they were and that is what Ed Miliband
:59:50. > :00:00.was meeting George Galloway about. He is not any secret pact to join
:00:00. > :00:03.
:00:03. > :00:10.the Conservative Party? No.Godfrey Bloom, the Battle of Fulford, should
:00:10. > :00:13.housing be built on the site? course not, it is eight is grace. I
:00:13. > :00:20.do not understand the new way forward of trying to build on
:00:20. > :00:24.greenfield sites all the time. We need to conserve our greenbelt and
:00:24. > :00:30.conserve our wonderful heritage. I think it is an act of appalling
:00:30. > :00:34.vandalism to suggest we should build on it. Would you like to defend the
:00:34. > :00:43.coalition government planning policies? I think it is a bad
:00:43. > :00:50.decision by York. This was the sight of a battle. English Heritage must
:00:51. > :00:54.define it as a battle site because this will stop it from happening.
:00:54. > :00:59.The coalition government planning policies, I am not happy about some
:00:59. > :01:03.elements of them to be honest. I have always been very much in favour
:01:03. > :01:08.of conservation. I think there are risks in the rather free for all
:01:08. > :01:11.approach at the are being reviewed. The idea that you can extend your
:01:11. > :01:19.house without consulting your neighbours, I believe that is gone
:01:19. > :01:26.now. I am surprised that you would be at all in favour of the abolition
:01:26. > :01:28.of the agricultural wages bill. -- the agricultural wages board. There
:01:28. > :01:33.are thousands of workers in North Yorkshire who will be affected by
:01:33. > :01:42.this and the Conservative and Lib Dem MPs who voted for it to be
:01:42. > :01:46.abolished, that is exactly the kind of unfair... Added abolished the
:01:46. > :01:54.common agricultural policy. Is it going to drive down wages and bring
:01:54. > :01:59.more foreign workers into the countryside? The reality is, a
:01:59. > :02:09.Labour lead counsel in York is going to concrete over a great piece of
:02:09. > :02:14.cheese heritage. -- British heritage. We need to protect the
:02:14. > :02:19.greenbelt and I will be campaigning in that direction. Here is a famous
:02:19. > :02:25.battle site. As far as the agricultural wages, Labour put in a
:02:25. > :02:32.minimum wage which we support. will have to leave it there for this