:01:11. > :01:14.On the Sunday Politics in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, we investigate
:01:14. > :01:24.claims that millions of European money, which was due to be spent on
:01:24. > :01:24.
:01:24. > :33:21.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1916 seconds
:33:21. > :33:24.Hello, you're watching the Sunday Politics for Yorkshire,
:33:24. > :33:28.Lincolnshire and the North Midlands. Coming up today.
:33:28. > :33:33.We look at claims that millions of pounds worth of European money,
:33:33. > :33:37.which was due to be spent on Yorkshire, has gone to Scotland.
:33:37. > :33:47.And we ask whether it's time to amend the smoking ban to save the
:33:47. > :33:52.
:33:52. > :33:57.traditional working men's club. Our guests today are. A guest today are
:33:57. > :34:03.Flight Lieutenant Jason McCartney, Linda McAvan and Godfrey Bloom. Has
:34:03. > :34:08.it been a good or bad week for our region? It has been excellent week
:34:08. > :34:13.Yorkshire. Good news for the regional growth fund, getting �20
:34:13. > :34:19.billion in the infrastructure announcement, more money for pot
:34:19. > :34:26.holes, electrification and Huddersfield Town have signed three
:34:26. > :34:29.strikers. Linda McAvan? I don't agree with him at all, we have had
:34:29. > :34:36.the Chancellor delivering spending cuts that he said we would never
:34:36. > :34:45.have to make and a massive cut in the funding for our region. Good or
:34:45. > :34:49.bad week, Godfrey Bloom? In it has been a very bad year. We have youth
:34:49. > :34:52.employment. That doesn't look like any time soon that will start
:34:52. > :34:57.improving. I think it will not start improving because the
:34:57. > :35:00.mainstream parties know what to do. They're all at sea. So until we
:35:00. > :35:05.start addressing some of the economic problems that will not get
:35:05. > :35:08.any better, so a bad week. We're going to be discussing claims
:35:08. > :35:11.that EU regeneration money, earmarked for our part of the world,
:35:11. > :35:14.will now go elsewhere. Over the past few decades transport, job
:35:14. > :35:18.creation, training and education have been given an economic leg-up
:35:18. > :35:21.from Brussels. It was aimed at improving the economies of Europe's
:35:21. > :35:24.weaker regions. But now it's emerged that in some parts of
:35:24. > :35:27.Yorkshire, more than half that money will disappear and Labour
:35:27. > :35:36.claim the Government is diverting money to Scotland ahead of next
:35:36. > :35:40.year's referendum on independence. Welcome to the Think Carbon Centre.
:35:40. > :35:43.It's nice of you to come all the way from Spain to join us.
:35:43. > :35:48.�2,758,000 of European money has been spent on building the Think
:35:48. > :35:51.Low Carbon Centre here at Barnsley College. It's attracted so much
:35:51. > :35:56.interest from other EU member states that bus loads of them are
:35:56. > :35:59.trekking to South Yorkshire to have a look at it.
:35:59. > :36:04.The building here is demonstrating various ways of producing, or
:36:04. > :36:09.saving, energy. We can produce our own hot water. We can produce our
:36:09. > :36:12.own electricity. We recycle our own rainwater within the building. We
:36:12. > :36:16.use air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps to produce
:36:16. > :36:19.energy and heat for the building. These are basically systems,
:36:20. > :36:23.certainly with ground source heat pumps, where you put pipes in the
:36:23. > :36:26.ground and take energy out of the ground to produce energy for the
:36:26. > :36:29.building. But there was no way that Barnsley
:36:29. > :36:34.could have afforded to build this centre without that European cash.
:36:34. > :36:37.It footed about two-thirds of the overall cost. The project here at
:36:37. > :36:40.Barnsley College fits the criteria for the way regions with economies
:36:40. > :36:45.performing below the European average can bid for funding to help
:36:45. > :36:48.boost job and business prospects. Barnsley's is just one of 113
:36:48. > :36:54.different projects across Yorkshire and the Humber partly funded by
:36:54. > :37:00.European cash. Between 2007 and this year, we were allocated �855
:37:00. > :37:05.million. South Yorkshire alone, with one of the weakest economies,
:37:05. > :37:09.had �350 million. As there are now more member states,
:37:09. > :37:14.the region expected a lower figure over the next period to 2020. But
:37:14. > :37:19.not as low as the �636 million we actually got. South Yorkshire's
:37:19. > :37:22.allocation was slashed even more to just �154 million. Apparently
:37:22. > :37:25.Brussels' bureaucrats calculated we should have far more but our own
:37:25. > :37:31.government decided to send a big slice of our allocation somewhere
:37:31. > :37:33.else. They have set out to protect
:37:33. > :37:39.Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, with the European funding and to
:37:39. > :37:45.top them up, they've cut us in South Yorkshire and in Merseyside.
:37:45. > :37:48.Not just by the 5% that other areas are getting cut, by but 50%. This
:37:48. > :37:54.is money we need in South Yorkshire to boost our jobs, our businesses,
:37:54. > :37:57.to bring our economy back up, which is what the money there is for. Yet,
:37:57. > :38:00.they're taking it from us and giving it to the Welsh and the
:38:00. > :38:03.Scots. The issue is to be debated in
:38:03. > :38:06.Parliament tomorrow with Yorkshire MPs expected to be queuing up to
:38:06. > :38:16.ask if it's just coincidence that the money is heading to Scotland,
:38:16. > :38:18.
:38:18. > :38:22.just as the country gears up for Flight Lieutenant Jason McCartney
:38:22. > :38:28.is there any truth in this claim the government has given the EU
:38:28. > :38:32.money to Scotland? He it is not the EU's it is our money. We give these
:38:32. > :38:38.billions of pounds to them every year and I would rather miss out
:38:38. > :38:41.the EU altogether and police were good have a referendum under a
:38:41. > :38:47.Conservative government in 27 - pleased. I would rather these
:38:47. > :38:50.billions of pounds are delivered to the Yorkshire economy by the
:38:50. > :38:55.regional growth fund so that we don't have this nonsense that we
:38:55. > :38:58.are hearing about here. We know the government said that Scotland,
:38:58. > :39:02.Wales and Northern Ireland should lose more than five per cent of
:39:02. > :39:07.their funding. They have not said why. They've taken it from South
:39:07. > :39:10.Yorkshire,, so Jason can talk about this. Our region should have got
:39:11. > :39:14.more of this. I've not seen anybody in central government say you're
:39:14. > :39:17.getting less from Brussels but we are making it up from national
:39:17. > :39:23.government, we are losing half the money and that money was allocated
:39:23. > :39:28.to our region based on GDP. Scotland's GDP is 170 per cent of
:39:28. > :39:32.national average, South Yorkshire's 82 per cent. This is scandalous. We
:39:32. > :39:36.have been here before with the Tories because when I worked in the
:39:36. > :39:43.coalfield areas we got money from Col finding areas from Europe and
:39:43. > :39:47.the government pocketed the money. I would not have anything to do
:39:47. > :39:51.with it. I would not start from here. If you divide the amount that
:39:51. > :39:58.we sent to the European Union which is over 12 billion, with the number
:39:58. > :40:01.of regions that we have, a little bit crude, Yorkshire and North
:40:02. > :40:05.Lincolnshire cent as their share �1.1 billion the year to the
:40:05. > :40:08.European Union. What I would say, if there is a billion pounds to
:40:08. > :40:12.spare to give back to the people of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire
:40:12. > :40:17.and would like to half all business rates across the broad and let
:40:17. > :40:21.private enterprise grew the Connery and that is the way to do it.
:40:21. > :40:24.of this funding will be delivered through the local enterprise
:40:25. > :40:28.partnerships. The government is doing that and that can be
:40:28. > :40:34.delivered. I'm the only won here that is an MEP, what can you do for
:40:34. > :40:37.us fighting are caused a European Parliament. I've written the
:40:37. > :40:41.European Commissioner seeking an urgent meeting because the European
:40:41. > :40:44.Commission allocated its funding based on objective criteria. We
:40:44. > :40:48.have had the government admits it has done this to protect the
:40:48. > :40:50.devolved administrations and we know that the Scottish referendum
:40:50. > :40:58.we know government departments are trying to protect Scotland, what on
:40:58. > :41:02.earth is that? Do get a photon this, we get a vote on finance bills and
:41:02. > :41:11.UK parliaments? Were head of road on the methodology and how it will
:41:11. > :41:17.be allocated. How did you photon that cue mack how did you vote?
:41:17. > :41:26.are not there to make it work, we are vote - there to make it work.
:41:26. > :41:30.Our job up on you could... This is just mucking around the edges. Let
:41:30. > :41:35.the viewers decide what they want in Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.
:41:35. > :41:41.�1 billion a year go to the European Union, keeping it
:41:41. > :41:47.Yorkshire and give it back to people. Which has my opening answer.
:41:47. > :41:55.You want to give it to some bureaucrat at Leeds Town Hall!
:41:55. > :42:01.Local Enterprise Partnership. it in tax cuts. There's a feeling,
:42:01. > :42:06.Jason, the coalfields are getting a bum deal. The US near the beginning
:42:06. > :42:09.whether the week as good or bad, said it was excellent. We announced
:42:09. > :42:14.�600 million on a new round for the regional growth fund, companies in
:42:14. > :42:18.South Yorkshire, companies in my area are getting funding through
:42:18. > :42:23.that. I won the money that is going to the European Parliament, going
:42:23. > :42:26.to the EU, Godfry we agree a bit of this, through the local enterprise
:42:26. > :42:30.partnerships which have businessman on the border levelled delivering
:42:30. > :42:34.that funding to help sustainable jobs where we live and work here in
:42:34. > :42:37.Yorkshire. The Local Enterprise Partnership is outraged at what has
:42:37. > :42:41.happened and the chairs are business people have written to
:42:41. > :42:46.ministers saying we should not happen. They saw ministers, give an
:42:46. > :42:52.assurance it would not happen, it has. The local business Mini is out
:42:53. > :42:57.rage. We are seeing cuts, not the levels of capital expenditure we
:42:57. > :43:04.need to regenerate the economy. It is typical of the Tories, we been
:43:04. > :43:09.here before, being not interested in investing in regions like ours.
:43:09. > :43:14.When I speak to Martin... A I know all about economic regeneration and
:43:14. > :43:18.have watched what your party has done to our region. Government is
:43:18. > :43:22.the problem. I spoke at Chamber of Commerce in Hull and said what we
:43:22. > :43:27.do have, in regeneration grant from Europe or VAT on new business rate
:43:27. > :43:29.cut by half. The answer, hot and strong, they do not want
:43:29. > :43:34.bureaucracy, let business get on with it, get the monkey of
:43:34. > :43:39.government on their back. Let's stop giving all these billions to
:43:39. > :43:43.the EU, let's get it right in Yorkshire. Linda, it does not show
:43:43. > :43:49.what a mess this EU funding stuff is. Nobody understands the formula
:43:50. > :43:53.and it will get worse the more countries that join the EU? De is
:43:53. > :43:58.not all a mess and this has brought investment in our region. We get
:43:58. > :44:03.money back for farmers, I wonder what Jason says to the farmers in
:44:03. > :44:11.North Yorkshire who will get money back. It is real things, real
:44:11. > :44:16.projects. Most of which ghostly Eastern Europe. Most of it goes to
:44:16. > :44:23.Eastern Europe. Yorkshireman a. is not EU money, it is and what
:44:23. > :44:31.money. 3.5 million jobs depend on our EU membership. It is worth �250
:44:31. > :44:34.billion to Our economy. Let the people decide. We have got till
:44:34. > :44:38.2017 to talk about this. A change of topic.
:44:38. > :44:41.It's six years since the smoking ban was introduced. Some claim it
:44:41. > :44:44.has led to the closure of many traditional working men's clubs,
:44:44. > :44:47.especially in the North. Now there are attempts to try to reintroduce
:44:47. > :44:56.dedicated smoking rooms in private clubs, if a majority of members
:44:56. > :45:03.This is the enduring image of the traditional working men's club.
:45:03. > :45:05.People enjoying a pint, and a smoke. Of course, those days are gone, as
:45:06. > :45:09.with all licensed premises, drinkers here at Beverley
:45:09. > :45:16.Conservative Club in East Yorkshire must head outside if they want to
:45:16. > :45:19.light up. I believe that there should be smoking areas.
:45:19. > :45:22.Somewhere comfortable, that people that smoke can go and just sit and
:45:22. > :45:27.have a cigarette, away from everybody else and not bothering
:45:27. > :45:30.everybody else. I think there should be a room
:45:30. > :45:36.where smokers could go because otherwise they are pushed outside
:45:36. > :45:42.and it's not social, is it? The number of working men's clubs
:45:42. > :45:47.has fallen from 4,000 in the 1970s to less than 2,000 today. Latest
:45:47. > :45:51.estimates suggest that four clubs a week are closing. Staff at this
:45:51. > :45:54.club in Leeds say they've felt the effect of the smoking ban.
:45:54. > :45:57.Gradually since 2007 when the smoking ban actually came into
:45:57. > :46:01.force, there's been a decline in the amount of members coming into
:46:01. > :46:08.the club and from opening six nights a week, the concert room has
:46:08. > :46:12.now dwindled down to two nights a week. And, the club is not
:46:12. > :46:15.functioning as it used to do. Some industry campaigners claim
:46:15. > :46:17.that introducing dedicating smoking rooms is the only thing that will
:46:18. > :46:24.prevent many clubs with dwindling memberships from closing their
:46:24. > :46:27.doors forever. Even if one room within a club
:46:27. > :46:29.could be sectioned as a smoking room. Providing it's well
:46:29. > :46:35.ventilated, providing it's restricted to one place, these
:46:35. > :46:38.places have lots and lots of space. It would be not too much of a
:46:38. > :46:41.stretch of the imagination to designate one, or maybe two rooms,
:46:41. > :46:47.within this building, as smoking only to try to reverse that decline
:46:47. > :46:50.in trade that we are seeing today. A bill to allow smoking in clubs,
:46:51. > :46:56.if a majority of members support the move, has been proposed by a
:46:56. > :47:00.group of right wing Tory MPs. But any change in the law would be
:47:00. > :47:04.fiercely resisted by many health professionals.
:47:04. > :47:07.More than 80% of people on a YouGov survey in Yorkshire and the Humber
:47:07. > :47:12.said that they supported the smoke- free legislation. It was brought in
:47:12. > :47:15.to protect workers, to protect staff. It has been very successful
:47:15. > :47:19.in that. We have seen reductions in heart attacks and respiratory
:47:19. > :47:25.disease after the introduction of the legislation. We very much feel
:47:25. > :47:29.this would be a backward step. The government currently has no
:47:29. > :47:39.plans to look again at the smoking ban in England but that won't stop
:47:39. > :47:41.
:47:41. > :47:45.some from being nostalgic for a Godfrey Bloom, why do want to go
:47:45. > :47:49.back to breathing other people's smoke? Clearly we don't, what
:47:49. > :47:53.people suggesting and is perfectly logical to say we can have a room
:47:53. > :47:57.where you can smoke and one way you do not smoke as they do in Germany
:47:57. > :48:02.and Holland and Denmark. Perfectly straightforward and perfectly easy.
:48:02. > :48:05.What we have to get back to, what really important is, what kind of
:48:05. > :48:09.society do we want to live in? Hours driving through Leeds quite
:48:09. > :48:15.late in February the other day, early in the year and there were
:48:15. > :48:19.old age pensioners having a cigarette in the freezing cold. Do
:48:19. > :48:22.feel if you want have a smoke, and you are Committee and club one
:48:22. > :48:27.should have a smoke that is your decision would you think these
:48:27. > :48:31.decisions should be made for you by Linda McAvan, whoever she may be a
:48:31. > :48:36.most people have not heard of her. Should she make those decisions or
:48:36. > :48:42.the committee of your working men's clubs, do we want to work our own
:48:42. > :48:45.lives? You want to do with that point, Linda McAvan? If the club's
:48:45. > :48:50.committee decide it is in their best interest, what is wrong with
:48:50. > :48:54.that? It is not me deciding on smoking, it is the government in
:48:54. > :48:57.London. Secondly, we saw the evidence there. People support the
:48:57. > :49:02.smoking ban. People do not want to go back to times when they go out
:49:02. > :49:06.for a drink and come home smelling of other people's cigarettes. It as
:49:06. > :49:10.a huge public support. I used to work in an office with a smoker and
:49:10. > :49:14.I could not do anything about it. People will not accept to go back
:49:14. > :49:17.and turn the clock back on why would we want to do that we have
:49:17. > :49:22.seen the evidence in terms of public health and the effect on
:49:22. > :49:28.children, for example, 17,000 children each year in hospital from
:49:28. > :49:34.secondary smoking. That is part of an alternative Queen's Speech and
:49:34. > :49:41.they also want to have a dedicated Margaret Thatcher Bank Holiday, D U
:49:42. > :49:46.support than? It is compulsory to support Huddersfield Town and I'm
:49:46. > :49:50.doing a local pub campaign. 30 to have replied. Only four of those 32
:49:50. > :49:54.have mentioned the smoking ban as having an effect on the profits.
:49:54. > :49:59.Only one has put it as a prime reason for any loss in the profits.
:49:59. > :50:04.Representing the suburbs off Huddersfield, I my fault of Roy
:50:04. > :50:10.Castle who died off and lung cancer, if we are going to allow smoking
:50:10. > :50:17.inside the building, we need to be very mindful. You do not supported
:50:17. > :50:27.even in private members' clubs cue mack? I would support any private
:50:27. > :50:29.
:50:29. > :50:35.libertarian. I am a genuine libertarian but not all you Kip
:50:35. > :50:39.people are. What are we talking about smoking? Or a yes or no do
:50:39. > :50:49.sport equal marriage? I believe nobody should get married in church,
:50:49. > :50:54.if you want to let is nothing to do with the state. Libertarianism.
:50:54. > :50:57.have a scoop here! It is a libertarian. If you a Catholic
:50:57. > :51:01.teacher and the Catholic School a new been told by your department of
:51:01. > :51:07.education in a say gay marriage is normal straight or whatever you
:51:07. > :51:14.want. We are talking about members of the Church. There's nothing
:51:14. > :51:22.libertarian about a gay marriage. change in policy. I am against gay
:51:22. > :51:31.marriage. You had deviated, 180 degrees. Deal with those. You
:51:31. > :51:34.cannot argue with their health statistics. We have 20 per cent of
:51:34. > :51:38.people smoke and that has been the same for 30 years. It has not made
:51:38. > :51:43.the slightest bit of difference but none of that is the point. If you
:51:43. > :51:50.are in your own club, issue before the committee to say, not Jason or
:51:50. > :51:57.Linda McAvan, it has than all to do with politicians. A who cleans it
:51:57. > :52:02.up. Who works there? What happens, Linda McAvan Indies working-class
:52:02. > :52:07.people cannot go to their clubs because there are not enough
:52:07. > :52:12.punters? I know there are problems in working men's clubs and many
:52:12. > :52:16.predate the smoking ban because of a changing society. I still think
:52:16. > :52:20.that somebody has to clean a club for stop somebody has to work
:52:21. > :52:25.behind the bar. We know the effects of passive smoking. Yes, I think we
:52:25. > :52:28.should retain the ban and should not turn the clock back.
:52:28. > :52:36.Now let's get some more of the week's political news now. Louise
:52:36. > :52:39.Martin has our round-up in 60 For decades the main A63 to Hull
:52:39. > :52:44.docks and the city centre has been known more for congestion than
:52:44. > :52:50.convenience. That's about to change as it was one of the long list of
:52:50. > :52:53.road improvements announced in the Spending Review. The A63 in Hull.
:52:53. > :52:56.And, more spending on flood relief, according to the government. All
:52:56. > :53:01.its spending plans add up to �100 million. Labour's David Blunkett
:53:01. > :53:05.clearly didn't believe the sums. The statement is an insult to the
:53:05. > :53:08.intelligence of the British people. An agreements been struck with the
:53:08. > :53:11.insurance industry to guarantee affordable cover in flood relief
:53:11. > :53:15.areas, announced just one working day before an existing deal ran out.
:53:15. > :53:20.That's exactly what most people had been wanting to hear for a very
:53:20. > :53:24.long time. And MPs gave the nod to the high-
:53:24. > :53:29.speed rail plan linking Yorkshire with London but it was revealed the
:53:29. > :53:39.estimated costs are still rising, now over �40 billion. They won't go
:53:39. > :53:41.
:53:41. > :53:47.any higher says the government. We On the infrastructure announcements,
:53:47. > :53:53.some question about whether these are genuine new projects. Been a
:53:53. > :53:56.big supporter of investment in railways. The Northern club
:53:56. > :54:01.electrification of the chance Pennine routes as well, we know how
:54:01. > :54:05.busy the M62 and M one R. We have already seen all the roadworks
:54:05. > :54:08.going there to widen it. That is really important and Connectivity
:54:08. > :54:13.with the Leeds-Bradford airport. Why does everyone have to go to
:54:13. > :54:16.London if they want to fly. Is it all new money? It is over a period
:54:17. > :54:20.of time. There was lots of new money there. There was some we
:54:20. > :54:24.Nelson of existing schemes but the schemes take a long time. We took
:54:24. > :54:27.about high-speed rail, that is over 20 years for the young year, it is
:54:27. > :54:31.less they spent on CrossRail in London and I'm pleased the North
:54:31. > :54:36.are going to get their fair share of transport infrastructure
:54:36. > :54:39.spending. Linda McAvan do commend the government. The biggest
:54:40. > :54:44.infrastructure spending, that is positive? I think David Blunkett is
:54:44. > :54:48.right, we are renouncing bold project. Any investment is welcome.
:54:48. > :54:53.His government that was going to repeat new schools and anyone has
:54:53. > :54:59.been started. Under Labour, we built many new schools, with a lot
:54:59. > :55:02.of investment. The IMF - the IMF is telling us to bring forward capital
:55:02. > :55:05.investment programmes, the government is not doing now.
:55:05. > :55:10.Without investing in future will not create jobs are not create
:55:10. > :55:13.growth. That is why they have to make more cuts. We should also down
:55:13. > :55:18.and look up what is in the best interest of the country make the
:55:18. > :55:24.right decisions. Is it about time invested more in infrastructure?
:55:24. > :55:27.Know, the government doesn't get it we are a trillion pounds in debt,
:55:27. > :55:30.we have left our children and grandchildren a trillion pounds in
:55:30. > :55:38.debt with the baggage that goes with it. What are we talking about
:55:38. > :55:43.that? You bail them out. I would have sent them to jail. What week
:55:43. > :55:46.as saying here we a trillion pounds in debt was a come a day talking
:55:46. > :55:52.about 40 billion and rising so businessmen can get home early in
:55:52. > :55:58.time for tea. Jason, is the coalition in say? It is a major
:55:58. > :56:01.investment in our transport in for Chepstow. It will break down the
:56:01. > :56:07.North-South divide, it will create thousands of jobs, it is over 20