02/06/2013 Sunday Politics Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire, claims that not enough is being done to stop the

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2435 seconds

radicalisation of young people by Politics for Yorkshire and

Lincolnshire. Coming up today: We look at claims that not enough is

being done to stop the radicalisation of young people by

those who promote terrorism. Plus, we look at calls to

renationalise what remains of our coal industry. First, let's say

hello to our guests today. Hugh Bayley is the Labour MP for York

Central, and Stuart Andrew the Conservative MP for Pudsey. Plenty

to talk about in the aftermath of the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby.

Are we in danger in many areas of losing the battle, where many young

Muslim men are concerned, to those who preach hate? The overwhelming

majority of Muslims are decent people who believe in their faith

and play a positive part in our community. When you get people who

profess Islam as their faith who engage in terrorism, it is wrong to

see that as a reflection of Muslims or Muslim culture in Britain.

Government has set up a task force to tackle extremism. Is that an

admission that previous strategies have failed? Let us get this into

perspective. What was interesting was the figure that showed a higher

80% of Muslims classed themselves as proud of being British. I remember

being in London after the seven seven bombings -- wrote in

millennium Square after the bombings, with placards saying not

in my name. But we have to be targeted to make sure that we stop

young man, not just Muslim young men, other young men who feel

perhaps disenfranchised, of going to the extremes.

Following the London bombings in July 2005, the then Labour

Government set up the Prevent programme - which aimed to stop

young people being targeted by groups supporting terrorism. The

coalition Government then reviewed the Prevent scheme in 2011 and cut

the budget - claiming it had uncovered serious failings. But now

there are concerns that in many areas, there's little or no money

for projects which aim to spot those who are vulnerable to extremism.

Sharon Edwards reports from Lincolnshire.

This is about identifying those individuals who might be vulnerable

to extremism. A lesson on how to spot the signs that somebody is

being drawn to radicalism. Workshops like this being delivered to local

Government workers in Lincoln are part of the government's strategy to

stamp out extremism at the roots. Anybody working in the public sector

at the front line is in a good position to identify vulnerability.

It may be those individuals who are perhaps marginalised, perhaps they

are seeking an identity. Lincolnshire is way down the

Government 's pecking order when it comes to projects like Havant, which

has not had a single penny of funding in the last five years. But

critics say the focus must now be on the grassroots, in regions such as

this. Last week the Grimsby Islamic

cultural Centre was attacked twice in three days. Both incidents

followed the death of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich. The family of one

of those suspected of this house near Lincoln which has been searched

by police. This is Lincolnshire's secretary of the overseas Fellowship

of Nigerian Christians, which warned this week that its young men are

being targeted by extremists. What a Government can do is provide support

organisations in the community. They are not doing enough at the moment

is to help. Those views are echoed by Muslim leaders in the county.

Almost all Muslims have totally condemned what happened last week.

But I think there is always need, because this is an issue with

damaging more than based on community, so Muslim leaders, we

need to work more with the police and the authorities to make sure we

remove some misunderstanding about Islam. This week, Yvette Cooper told

a national newspaper that the coalition Government has drained the

prevent programme of funding. The Home Office told us that the

Government is to set up a task force to examine what needs to be done

across the country. Lincolnshire has never received central Government

funding. There are 25 priority areas in the country that do receive

Government funding, but Lincolnshire has not been part of that. It is

really about is making use of the resources we have at our disposal.

Both police and faith groups in Lincolnshire say they are working

hard to win the hearts and minds of those vulnerable to extremism.

Others ask how successful they can be, as long as Britain continues to

wage war against terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.

We have also been joined by a professor from the University of

York who is also an elder at York mosque where an interesting incident

took place last weekend. There was a protest by the English defence

league. Instead of sharing the protesters away, what people did was

invite them in 40. Why did you do that? We thought that three on a

Sunday afternoon with a custard cream is very English, and if we

present that to the EDL people they may say, that is English tradition.

We will accept your tradition. Rather than shouting at each other

from a distance, they will say, we will listen to each other and we

will try to understand any grievances. She had other mosques do

the same? -- wrote should other mosques do the same? In the last ten

years since nine macro, the pressure has been so much that people have

not known how to react. I hope we will encourage more people to do a

similar act. So why do you think a minority of young Muslim men

particularly fall prey to this kind of radicalisation? I suppose the

misunderstanding, and I think if we can learn anything from the last ten

or 15 years, we need people to talk to each other, and any wrong

ideology ought to be challenged. I am making a plea to the Home

Secretary, to stop anybody coming to universities and putting their

ideology. -- wrote on the contrary, we need to challenge them and make

them see that it is so shallow and wrong. Should we be silencing the

preachers of hate? We have got to act, because there are some people

preaching words that are not acceptable. We do not want

honourable young people being subject to that. I think the

reaction is the mosque have taken are a great idea. I think greater

integration will solve this problem. When we have people engaged in

society and communities mixing better, we have a much better

understanding of each other's point of view. We will solve these

problems in a much better way. we heard that after the attacks in

2001 and 2005. Why do we still have a problem with a lack of

understanding of each other's cultures? A lot of good work has

been done. Countless times I have sat on the floor in a mosque and

discussed the issues and grievances often to do with foreign policy

which are on the minds of Muslims, and the way to resolve these issues

is to talk about them. If Muslims who want a change in foreign

policy, they need to talk to their MP. The mosque in York has a good

track record of dialogue with the community. Every year, this was not

just a one off, they are holding an open meeting with the public. So a

lot of really good work is being done. Does that mean that there are

no extremists still? Know, but we ought to recognise that by doing

this kind of prevent work, it is part of the strategy to deal with

extremism, are very important part. Doesn't Government foreign policy

still have a lot to answer for? not going to defend actions taken by

the previous Government, but I will say that there are areas where

things are, David Cameron has done amazing work like a conference on

the future of Somalia. So we can improve the lives of Muslims in

other parts of the world as well as look at some of the mistakes that

may have been made. The foreign policy is an issue, but I'm a member

marching with about 3 million others during the preparation to attack

Iraq. -- wrote I remember. We marched through the streets of

London pleading with the Prime Minister of the time not to go to

war and take our country into war and kill innocent people. He made

that mistake, but we have at least exercised our democratic right to

march and say to our politicians, don't do it. We have a problem with

the prevent project, it was not intelligent in my opinion because it

set people against each other. It was almost as if, as people in

society to spy on others. That is not the way to do it. Can I also

make another plea, perhaps to the Minister of education, and say,

would you please listen to the head teachers and the teaching unions,

and Winston Churchill is not just a British and intelligent and

fantastic man, he is a world figure and we are proud of him. If he had

not stood up to Hitler and his like, what would the world have been? But

how about Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi, or that Imam of the mosque

in Paris who forged over 150 certificates to fellow Jews, saying

they are Muslims. We need to teach our young people, right at a young

age, that we all live together on this planet, we have all got to live

together. -- row work together. -- work together. I think you can

always improve programmes. I am not going to get into a political

argument about cutting the money. I am pleased to say the Government is

looking once again into what you could do with public education

programmes, and you need to listen most of all to what Muslims are

saying because they are, day in, day out, talking about these issues in

the mosque and trying to win back lost souls from the extremists.

Once upon a time, the mighty coal industry employed thousands in our

part of the world. Now, you can count the number of working pits on

one hand. The company which emerged from the privatisation programme in

the 1990s - UK Coal - runs just one deep mine in Yorkshire at

Kellingley. Now, in an ironic twist, there are calls for the Government

to re-nationalise what remains of our coal industry. Here's Len

Storm clouds are gathering over one of Yorkshire 's last deep coal

mines, despite record output and a full order book. But its operator is

on the brink of economic disaster. Is there any chance at all but we

could see the whole lot closed down? Yes, there is a real danger. Here we

are, 40% of coal coming from Kellingley. We do play an important

part. The reason for this crisis lies over 100 miles south at this

mill near Coventry. 12 weeks ago a devastating underground fire shut it

down for ever. It was the biggest and most profitable of the last

three pits operated by UK Coal. leaves the future of Kellingley and

the company 's only other working pit in Nottinghamshire in jeopardy.

But with the once mighty coal industry reduced to so few deep

mines, does it matter? Just down the road lies the answer. Three of

your's biggest power stations are in Yorkshire, still largely dependent

on burning coal. The steam from the cooling towers shows how busy they

are. Every working day this week, 40% of all the electricity used in

the country was generated by coal-fired power stations. But not

all is using British Coal. Eight out of every ten times is important. But

that still leaves a fair chunk, a strategically important part of our

electricity supply, depending on British coal.

Back in the 1940s there was a similar but much faster issue for

our country even more dependent on coal. Private mining companies could

not afford to modernise the pits, so the Government stepped in.

As a nationalised industry, through decades of bitter industrial action,

competition from oil, gas and nuclear energy sources, it ran for

the next 48 years. But by the time it was sold off, it was down to less

than two dozen pits, eight of them in Yorkshire, and that decline has

continued under private ownership. So is the only and so now

renationalisation? There is going to be no renationalisation here. The

cull is owned by the Government, and we are licensed to operate it, but

beyond that there is no nationalisation. But private

companies could not make a profit running the East Coast train

services, so for the past four years they have been in public ownership.

It is on a similar basis to the east Coast Main line, which is a failed

franchise. Who will carry on running UK Coal? There is no reason to say

we cannot do the same. I have been involved in being a go-between, and

I know that the Government has been talking to UK Coal closely way back

to when the mill fire started. On a daily basis there has been

interaction between the company and the Government. I am hopeful that a

compromise can be found. It is crucial that we keep coal mining

here in the UK. The Department of energy has confirmed it is in

serious discussions, with an announcement expected soon. There

seems to be a growing head of steam for UK Coal to be renationalised.

It could be the only way to save what is left of the coal industry,

couldn't it? I don't think it is the only way. Nigel has been marvellous

in making sure that Government are completely aware of the importance

of those local jobs here in Yorkshire, and they are looking at a

way forward. The Government have been in daily contact with UK Coal

to find a solution. These problems have not happened overnight, they

have been over a number of years. There is also the large pension pot

liability. So it is not necessarily the case that we are going to have

to just nationalise, there may be another compromise agreement.

Coal apparently has a pension deficit of �500 million. If it is

renationalised, it will be at a price to the taxpayer, would it?

There is an irony that Conservative ministers, who are known mostly for

privatisation, are now talking about renationalisation. But we have to

maintain the coal industry. It is rather like when the banks failed

under the Labour Government. If the Labour Government had not run up a

deficit and rescued Lloyds TSB and Halifax, millions of British people

would have lost their life savings and gone out of business. So the

Government needs to make sure that we retain this strategically

important asset. Whether it is long-term private ownership is not

the issue, if it is short-term intervention, I believe the

Government should intervene. But it would be the extreme irony, a

conservative led Government renationalisation in the industry.

It is easy to look at examples of this where there have been

difficulties, but there have been huge successes. British Telecom

transformed the telecommunications industry through privatisation, and

there are many other examples to demonstrate. But what is important

here is not having that ideological argument now, let what we can do to

secure these jobs. That is a very successful pit here in Yorkshire,

and furthermore we are going to hopefully see with carbon capture

that there is a future for the coal industry in this country.

Now, our round-up in 60 seconds. Is the �32 billion cost of high

speed rail worth it? Wakefield Council 's leader has been joined by

Bradford's saying the money could be better spent. What we seem to have

is a one touch approach to getting infrastructure to wear these jobs

already are. When is a spare bedroom not a spare bedroom? Needs council

is now relabelling them as non-specific areas, so tenants will

not lose housing benefit payments. The Conservative group leader is not

happy. That means you reduce the amount of income you get.

And Newark Conservative MP, Patrick Mercer, has resigned from the party

he says to avoid any embarrassment. The BBC's Panorama is expected to

accuse him of breaking house of commons rules.

A number of Labour councils are trying to redefine spare bedrooms.

This is Labour councils sticking two fingers up at the Government, isn't

it? The law says if a room is lower than eight x 8', it doesn't count a

bedroom. I have a ludicrous case of foster mother who is fostering three

children three has died -- she has one border in one bedroom, and to in

the other bedroom, but she still has to pay the bedroom taxed on the

third bedroom because foster carers under this scheme are only allowed

to be exempt for one bedroom. If she has to stop fostering, it would cost

the Government something like �1400 a week to put these children in a

care home. She gets �60 a week as a foster carer. Can you blame Leeds

City Council sticking up for its tenants? I get people coming into my

constituency surgeries who are overcrowded, and they have got more

children in one bedroom, and that is not acceptable. Something like

250,000 people are in that position. So that needs tackling two, plus we