Browse content similar to 02/10/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the East Midlands: Now the President of the European | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
Commission has backed it, will we finally get a Robin Hood Tax? | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
The city council that has actually made money out of the banking | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
crisis. And how our local authorities are | :00:44. | :00:53. | |
:00:54. | :00:54. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2144 seconds | :00:54. | :36:38. | |
Hello, I'm Marie Ashby, and coming up here in the East Midlands: | :36:38. | :36:41. | |
We report on how local authorities are striving to create new jobs and | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
the challenges they face. How one of our city councils has | :36:45. | :36:48. | |
actually made money from the banking crisis, a cool �3 million, | :36:48. | :36:51. | |
in fact. And two teenage politicians give us | :36:51. | :36:54. | |
their verdict on Ed Miliband and the issues that directly affect | :36:54. | :37:04. | |
But first, an issue we've been following closely on the Politics | :37:04. | :37:09. | |
Show. The campaign for a Robin Hood Tax on the banks. Has its time | :37:09. | :37:11. | |
finally come, now the President of the European Commission, has backed | :37:11. | :37:21. | |
it? It is time for the financial sector to make a contribution back | :37:21. | :37:24. | |
to society. With me now, two of our Members of | :37:24. | :37:27. | |
the European Parliament, Glenis Willmott, who's the leader of the | :37:27. | :37:33. | |
Labour Group, and UKIP's Derek Clark. Thank you both for joining | :37:33. | :37:38. | |
So after all the talking, are we going to get this tax on money | :37:38. | :37:44. | |
market transactions? I hope so. There is a lot of discussion to | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
take place but at least we have made a start. How much could it | :37:48. | :37:52. | |
raise and how much could Britain get? It could raise billions of | :37:52. | :37:58. | |
pounds. This would be a tiny amount for the financial sector. People in | :37:58. | :38:02. | |
this country think this should go forward. They contributed to the | :38:02. | :38:08. | |
financial crisis and they should start contributing back. It would | :38:08. | :38:12. | |
be a lot of money back into the coffers of the Treasury. It really | :38:12. | :38:17. | |
has a head of steam now the EC has adopted the proposal? It may have, | :38:17. | :38:21. | |
and it is very popular in the European Parliament. But when it | :38:21. | :38:28. | |
came up in an amendment in June, it only had a small majority. The IMF | :38:28. | :38:34. | |
don't have a problem with it. Spain, France, a whole other list of | :38:35. | :38:41. | |
countries are supporting it? Some are not so keen, though. Do you | :38:41. | :38:47. | |
believe it's likely to happen now? Because the European Union is | :38:47. | :38:51. | |
moving towards what they call a post democratic society, where | :38:51. | :38:58. | |
people like Barroso, who is not under strain to do his job from | :38:58. | :39:03. | |
anybody in the EU, it is not the same thing as what the people want. | :39:03. | :39:08. | |
They reckon this tax will raise �50 billion a year. I don't doubt it. | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
But 40 billion will come from us, and that is mainly from the City of | :39:12. | :39:16. | |
London, our biggest earner. Surely the British government can still | :39:16. | :39:25. | |
veto it? They can still kill it off? Yes. And then it will not be a | :39:25. | :39:28. | |
plan to Britain. They would certainly have to have a system for | :39:28. | :39:34. | |
just the eurozone countries. But the general public wants this. They | :39:34. | :39:37. | |
know the banking system did not work and they should pay back some | :39:37. | :39:40. | |
of that now. They need to contribute to investment and growth | :39:40. | :39:45. | |
in jobs. For more money raised from the City, the more money will have | :39:45. | :39:50. | |
to invest. The British government opposes this at its peril. 65% of | :39:50. | :39:56. | |
Brits polled say they want it. but this is because of the bad name | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
banking has got over the last few years. First of all, the City of | :40:01. | :40:07. | |
London... But is it not their chance to do something right? | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
City of London next �36 billion pure profit on overseas trade. | :40:12. | :40:15. | |
Secondly, they put something like �59 billion into the Exchequer | :40:15. | :40:21. | |
every year. They are paying a lot of money. Whether it is enough or | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
not is another matter. But people do not realise that the current | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
taxes and charges on the City of London raise about �59 billion | :40:29. | :40:34. | |
every year. Are you concerned a London will be particularly | :40:34. | :40:40. | |
penalised by this? Of course. They will have to find �40 billion extra, | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
which is totally unfair. And it will put us added disadvantage with | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
other financial centres. No. This is about tax we can use ourselves | :40:51. | :40:56. | |
in order to invest in the future of our children. European Commission | :40:56. | :40:58. | |
President Barroso says it's the banks' chance to make a | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
contribution back to society. Why should British banks and financial | :41:01. | :41:03. | |
institutions have to pay the biggest price? It is on whatever | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
financial transactions they make, so if we make more money here in | :41:07. | :41:12. | |
Britain, they pay more. That is a good thing, surely? It is not just | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
banks, it is financial institutions as a whole. And they will up sticks | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
and go elsewhere. If where will they go? If the whole of Europe | :41:22. | :41:26. | |
support it, where can they go? There are countries like Singapore, | :41:26. | :41:34. | |
Hong Kong, Switzerland, the US. All sorts of financial institutions can | :41:34. | :41:41. | |
make their transactions elsewhere. We also have the infrastructure of | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
the internet and so on. There's a lot of people with these skills all | :41:45. | :41:50. | |
over the world. Not everybody is afraid of this. Sweden tried it and | :41:50. | :41:56. | |
said it did not work? Yes, but that was a different system. It was | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
about where tax will be raised and claimed. That is not how Sweden did | :42:01. | :42:05. | |
it. But we know the banks or to be making a contribution and they are | :42:05. | :42:13. | |
not. And it is an insignificant sum of money. Nor 0.1% on transactions. | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
It is negligible. You started talking about opportunities for | :42:18. | :42:24. | |
jobs in this area. Even the EU Commission, with an impact | :42:24. | :42:29. | |
assessment, have reckoned this will cost 2% of GDP. It will slow that | :42:29. | :42:36. | |
down by 2% across Europe. That will hit. That will hit the small and | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
medium enterprises hardest, because it always does. If he looked at the | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
figures, the way it has been presented, it is actually not 0.5% | :42:46. | :42:52. | |
of GDP. But we have a long way to go. There is a lot of talking to do | :42:52. | :42:56. | |
and we will make sure Britain's interests are met. European Finance | :42:56. | :42:58. | |
Ministers meet next week, and in November the most powerful | :42:58. | :43:06. | |
countries convene for the G20. Is this the right time to be bringing | :43:06. | :43:12. | |
this Paul Wood? Absolutely. George Osborne should be fighting for a | :43:12. | :43:22. | |
:43:22. | :43:24. | ||
Glenis Willmott and Derek Clark, thank you. | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
Now, I'm sure our local authorities would like to get their hands on | :43:27. | :43:31. | |
the proceeds of a Robin Hood Tax. Amid mounting unemployment, not | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
least among their own staff, we've been looking at what they're doing | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
to try to create jobs. Jane Dodge reports. | :43:37. | :43:40. | |
"On Yer Bike" was Norman Tebbit's message to the unemployed back in | :43:40. | :43:43. | |
1981. And that's just what Liam Hudson has done, with help from | :43:43. | :43:47. | |
another Conservative administration closer to home. His moped's on hire | :43:47. | :43:51. | |
from Derbyshire County Council, part of its Wheels To Work scheme. | :43:51. | :43:54. | |
And he found his new job as a trainee butcher while at the | :43:54. | :43:57. | |
Worksop Work Club, one of three set up by Nottinghamshire County | :43:57. | :44:07. | |
:44:07. | :44:08. | ||
Council. It means everything because without having a job, I | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
would not be able to support my partner and child. I would be on | :44:13. | :44:16. | |
jobseeker's allowance, not being able to afford anything or pay my | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
bills. Unemployment in the East Midlands is continuing to rise. | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
Latest figures show the number went up by 11,000 between May and July. | :44:24. | :44:26. | |
And it's young people who're finding it particularly hard to get | :44:26. | :44:30. | |
a job. Unemployment amongst 18 to 24-year-olds in the East Midlands | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
has gone up by 17% in the last year. Job Fairs are a regular event these | :44:35. | :44:38. | |
days. Nottinghamshire County Council has organised this one in | :44:39. | :44:48. | |
Worksop. Now, after six months, it is beginning to get depressing, | :44:48. | :44:54. | |
seeing the news and everything. The prospect of getting a job are | :44:54. | :45:00. | |
receding. Agencies and colleges are offering people voluntary work. | :45:00. | :45:06. | |
Ways to find jobs and do see thes. Training to look for work but not | :45:06. | :45:10. | |
actually specific jobs in there, so I was quite disappointed. A Jobs | :45:10. | :45:13. | |
Fair with no employers? Teething problems, according to | :45:13. | :45:16. | |
Nottinghamshire County Council. It's keen to point to the success | :45:16. | :45:20. | |
of its work clubs. Another one opens in Newark next week. These | :45:20. | :45:22. | |
are self-help groups for the unemployed with back-up from | :45:22. | :45:26. | |
volunteers. So far, ten of those involved have found jobs. A modest | :45:26. | :45:29. | |
number compared to the 4,000 redundancies the council has made | :45:29. | :45:39. | |
:45:39. | :45:39. | ||
in the last two years. There have not been 4,000 people been made | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
unemployed. They have gone and started up businesses themselves | :45:43. | :45:49. | |
and have done very well, actually. If you get stuck in and go and try | :45:49. | :45:52. | |
and create some sort of a business and get involved, you have got more | :45:52. | :45:56. | |
chance of succeeding, instead of sitting back. Liam Dougan managed | :45:56. | :45:59. | |
to find work at a specialist costume shop in Nottingham through | :45:59. | :46:02. | |
the now defunct Future Jobs Fund. He appeared on the programme last | :46:02. | :46:05. | |
year. Since then, he's been promoted. The Government scrapped | :46:06. | :46:08. | |
the scheme because it said it wasn't providing permanent jobs. | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
Labour-run Nottingham City Council has resurrected it, splitting the | :46:11. | :46:16. | |
cost with employers. It hopes to create 240 new jobs. But that's | :46:16. | :46:26. | |
:46:26. | :46:26. | ||
still less than the number of posts cut by the council in the last year. | :46:26. | :46:31. | |
We're trying to stem the tide. But better to try that, because the | :46:31. | :46:37. | |
tide is coming from elsewhere. Better to do that than do nothing | :46:37. | :46:40. | |
at all. The new car park at Nottingham Train Station has | :46:41. | :46:43. | |
provided new jobs in construction. The redevelopment of Broadmarsh and | :46:43. | :46:46. | |
Victoria shopping centres and the extension of the tram are expected | :46:46. | :46:50. | |
to create another 6,000. The council wants 70% of them to go to | :46:50. | :46:52. | |
local people but admit there's no contractural obligation on | :46:52. | :47:02. | |
employers. We are dealing with firms who have got a track record | :47:02. | :47:06. | |
of working with local people and taking them on, and we don't expect | :47:06. | :47:10. | |
to be any different from what they have done in the past. In contrast, | :47:10. | :47:14. | |
Derby has lost more than 3,000 jobs in the last year, half of them at | :47:14. | :47:16. | |
the trainmaker Bombardier. The Conservative-run City Council is | :47:17. | :47:19. | |
fighting back, one of the few local authorities currently putting big | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
money into job creation. It claims its �10 million regeneration scheme | :47:23. | :47:32. | |
is the biggest such investment at the moment by any council in the UK. | :47:32. | :47:37. | |
We are very keen to increase what we call the degraded A | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
accommodation in the City, which will increase the number of what we | :47:42. | :47:47. | |
call suits on the street, which we see as a clear deficit in our | :47:47. | :47:51. | |
economy. That will be a catalyst to others in the pipeline which have | :47:51. | :47:56. | |
been delayed by the recession. There are now nearly 200,000 people | :47:56. | :47:59. | |
looking for work in the East Midlands. With cuts to their | :47:59. | :48:01. | |
budgets, local authorities are increasingly relying on the private | :48:01. | :48:05. | |
sector to provide new jobs. But with the economy still far from | :48:05. | :48:07. | |
stable, employers are likely to remain cautious about new | :48:07. | :48:11. | |
investment. Nottinghamshire County Council have | :48:11. | :48:14. | |
now told us that they expect to make 2,500 people redundant, not | :48:14. | :48:24. | |
:48:24. | :48:30. | ||
I've been joined by two teenagers with very different political views | :48:30. | :48:34. | |
on what we should be doing to help young people through the current | :48:34. | :48:37. | |
crisis. Robyn Von Burg was a delegate at the Labour Conference, | :48:37. | :48:39. | |
representing Bosworth, while Luc Chignell is chairman of the | :48:39. | :48:42. | |
Conservative's youth division in Nottinghamshire. They're both 17. | :48:42. | :48:45. | |
First, though, Robyn, the politicians and the pundits have | :48:45. | :48:47. | |
all been delivering their verdict on Ed Miliband's performance this | :48:47. | :48:52. | |
week. Did he cut the mustard? think Ed Miliband has certainly | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
done a fantastic job for his first conference. He has inspired a lot | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
of people at conference and the atmosphere since his speech has | :49:01. | :49:05. | |
been very inspiring for all of us, to propel the party forward towards | :49:05. | :49:14. | |
the next general election. Is that your view? I don't know what the | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
atmosphere was because I was not there, but he just seems to lack | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
something and I think that is picked upon by a few people, | :49:22. | :49:26. | |
certainly from some of the reactions I heard on Twitter. | :49:26. | :49:30. | |
People said they were considering Labour but because of him, he did | :49:30. | :49:34. | |
not inspire them. For me, he does not seem to have a particular | :49:34. | :49:38. | |
vision. He seems quite an opportunistic person who picks up | :49:38. | :49:43. | |
on what Redican at the time. Robyn's convinced Ed Miliband has | :49:43. | :49:53. | |
:49:53. | :49:54. | ||
what it takes to be Prime Minister. I think a lot of young people will | :49:54. | :50:00. | |
be affected by the Government's cuts. Do you think he really would | :50:01. | :50:06. | |
create a fairer society? I really do. I think he has created an | :50:06. | :50:11. | |
alternative option for young people across the nation. I'm sure a lot | :50:11. | :50:14. | |
of young people will like the sound of a Robin Hood Tax on the banks. | :50:14. | :50:19. | |
Are you one of them? I don't oppose the principle behind it but I think | :50:19. | :50:23. | |
it is very important it is not something people rush into. Because | :50:23. | :50:27. | |
it does require the support of other major economies outside of | :50:27. | :50:33. | |
the EU. Places in Asia. Hong Kong was particularly a bigger economy, | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
as is the US. It does need international support because we | :50:37. | :50:42. | |
are talking about such big figures here. We do need to make sure it's | :50:42. | :50:47. | |
in place and not something that is rushed into. I have to say, I do | :50:47. | :50:52. | |
agree. The idea is a fantastic opportunity for a lot of people in | :50:52. | :50:56. | |
a lot of countries to have that support, especially in social | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
welfare as well as things like hospitals and schools. So why do | :51:00. | :51:03. | |
think it is a good idea and it would be good for people to have | :51:03. | :51:08. | |
those opportunities. -- so I do think. You've just seen Jane's film | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
on councils' efforts to create jobs. What more do you think the | :51:12. | :51:16. | |
coalition should be doing to stimulate employment? I think the | :51:16. | :51:19. | |
scrapping of the youth unemployment scheme has affected a lot of young | :51:19. | :51:23. | |
people in trying to find jobs. The introduction of tuition fees and | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
the rise in them has been a slight problem, due to the fact that you | :51:27. | :51:32. | |
only start paying back the money you owe when you have got a job of | :51:32. | :51:38. | |
�21,000 or over, but the problem is, trying to find that job. So a lot | :51:38. | :51:43. | |
of people, especially in my area, are finding it hard to get a job. | :51:43. | :51:46. | |
There's been a 17% increase in the number of young people who are | :51:46. | :51:50. | |
unemployed in the East Midlands in the past year. Do you believe the | :51:50. | :51:55. | |
Government really has the interests of your generation at heart? | :51:55. | :51:58. | |
think dealing with the first thing in terms of scrapping, it was not a | :51:58. | :52:03. | |
total removal of it. It was a codification of all the different | :52:03. | :52:07. | |
organisations and agencies out there, bringing them into the work | :52:07. | :52:11. | |
programme, which has been one of the major things that is being | :52:11. | :52:16. | |
pushed forward. So whilst maybe the specific programme was scrapped, | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
they have put the resources back into the work programme, which is | :52:20. | :52:23. | |
supporting people who are unemployed. Don't know if you want | :52:23. | :52:29. | |
to wait for tuition fees later it or talk about that now? No, talk | :52:29. | :52:35. | |
about it now. Certainly, the way you mentioned it, being over | :52:35. | :52:39. | |
�21,000 before you pay it back, that is quite a common sense, fair | :52:39. | :52:44. | |
thing to do, because people go to university, or most do, hoping to | :52:44. | :52:47. | |
get a steady job the other side which will mean they are able to | :52:47. | :52:52. | |
pay back what they have got, and if, for whatever reason, that does not | :52:52. | :52:56. | |
work out, there is a safety net, which means if you are not earning | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
more than 21,000 you are not forced into paying it back with all that | :53:01. | :53:06. | |
pressure. That is what was lacking in the previous system. And it is a | :53:06. | :53:09. | |
huge concern for people like yourselves, who are desperate to go | :53:09. | :53:17. | |
to university. You are obviously very interested in politics. Are | :53:17. | :53:22. | |
there many others out there like you? Actually, my three best | :53:22. | :53:26. | |
friends support the Conservatives. But I think we do have quite | :53:26. | :53:32. | |
healthy political discussions but it is just more me on my own. | :53:32. | :53:37. | |
politics is not a dirty word? more looking at current affairs and | :53:37. | :53:43. | |
the news, perhaps, as the thing that young people are interested in. | :53:43. | :53:48. | |
As far as politics goes, we have got thousands of members in the | :53:48. | :53:51. | |
Conservative future and people that have said we are not just | :53:51. | :53:54. | |
interested in current affairs but in politics. I think politics is | :53:54. | :53:59. | |
more of a vehicle to bring forward your ideas. Thank you both of you | :53:59. | :54:09. | |
:54:09. | :54:10. | ||
for your ideas today. The Robin Hood Tax has featured | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
prominently in this week's show. But would you believe, | :54:14. | :54:17. | |
Leicestershire County Council has actually made money out of the | :54:17. | :54:20. | |
banking crisis! It all springs from the time when the banks needed | :54:20. | :54:23. | |
bailing out. And the council seized an opportunity. Our political | :54:23. | :54:28. | |
editor, John Hess, joins me now. How've they done it, John? Well, we | :54:28. | :54:36. | |
could all do with some extra cash, couldn't we! They lent �5 million | :54:36. | :54:40. | |
each to the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Bank at the height of | :54:40. | :54:44. | |
the banking crisis. In turn, because of interest, they managed | :54:44. | :54:48. | |
to and getting on for �3 million that Leicestershire says has gone | :54:48. | :54:52. | |
to cushion some of the central government spending cuts. You | :54:52. | :54:57. | |
contrast that with the Nottingham City Council. It put millions of | :54:57. | :55:02. | |
pounds into three Icelandic banks. They thought they were onto a | :55:02. | :55:05. | |
winner until the bank collapse in 2008. Have they taken any political | :55:05. | :55:09. | |
flak for lending that money to RBS and Barclays, bearing in mind the | :55:09. | :55:13. | |
banking crisis was at its height then? The thing to remember is that | :55:13. | :55:18. | |
a number of our big local authorities do use their cash | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
reserves to loan to banks. And they use that interest to provide local | :55:22. | :55:28. | |
services. Certainly, that tax payers allowance say that councils | :55:28. | :55:35. | |
must be wary of potentially risky investments. -- the tax payers | :55:35. | :55:40. | |
allowance. They say their investments were shrewd, unlike | :55:40. | :55:49. | |
many local authorities, as they did not touch the Icelandic banks. | :55:49. | :55:56. | |
how much are they in deficit on that investment now? They owe �46 | :55:56. | :55:59. | |
million and a thought that was a shrewd investment until they went | :55:59. | :56:06. | |
belly-up. The leadership played down the impact that this bank | :56:06. | :56:10. | |
collapse would have on budgets and local services, but so far, the | :56:10. | :56:16. | |
city has only received just under �10 million back. Still a long way | :56:16. | :56:22. | |
to go and one to keep an eye on? Definitely, and it still has not | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
been quite result because it is all locked up in legal proceedings in | :56:26. | :56:29. |