:00:51. > :00:55.Here: MPs call on the BBC to protect
:00:55. > :00:58.services as it looks to cut 2000 jobs.
:00:58. > :01:08.And is this nurse right to join public sector workers in strike
:01:08. > :01:08.
:01:08. > :34:47.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2018 seconds
:34:47. > :34:50.Hello, and a very warm welcome to your local part of the show. Coming
:34:50. > :34:54.This Cumbrian nurse will be among tens of thousands of people
:34:54. > :34:59.striking on Wednesday over their pension. But is industrial action
:34:59. > :35:02.really justified? First, it is clear that the BBC has
:35:02. > :35:06.to make cuts. A five-year freeze in the licence fee means the
:35:06. > :35:09.corporation needs to save 20% of its budget, and shed 2,000 jobs.
:35:09. > :35:13.Some of those cuts are planned for local stations like Radio Cumbria,
:35:13. > :35:16.BBC Tees and Newcastle. Local weather presentation and regional
:35:16. > :35:20.current affairs will also be hit. And that threat has pushed North
:35:20. > :35:25.East MPs into action. They have warned the BBC chairman that
:35:25. > :35:35.coverage could be reduced to a "bare minimum". But in an age of
:35:35. > :35:36.
:35:36. > :35:42.austerity, shouldn't the BBC share in the pain?
:35:42. > :35:47.Good morning, Peter. Breakfast on BBC Tees. Pick listening time and a
:35:47. > :35:51.programme where the audience plays a big part. We reflect their
:35:51. > :35:54.passions for living here, sometimes their frustrations, disappointments
:35:55. > :36:00.and successes. The relationship that we have with people who listen
:36:00. > :36:05.to BBC Tees is essential and hope Felipe is a very strong one.
:36:05. > :36:09.BBC says cuts should not affect the show, but afternoon, evening and
:36:09. > :36:14.some weekend programming will be shed regionally or across the whole
:36:14. > :36:18.of England for all local radio stations. We have got less money
:36:18. > :36:22.and what we are doing as a business is thinking, where shall we put the
:36:22. > :36:27.money so listeners do not suffer? Breakfast, mid-morning, drive-time
:36:27. > :36:31.and sport is where 86% of the audience spend their time. Where we
:36:31. > :36:34.have less money, if we can protect that side of the business, it is
:36:34. > :36:41.more important than spending money on off-peak times such as
:36:41. > :36:45.afternoons. That is certainly not the News Brian wants to hear. He
:36:46. > :36:55.has been tuning into BBC Tees for 40 years. Since his wife died, it
:36:55. > :36:58.has become a lifeline. He says the changes are unacceptable. It no
:36:58. > :37:05.longer became the local radio anymore, you were getting
:37:05. > :37:10.programmes from Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle. It loses its identity,
:37:10. > :37:14.so I think Teesside, North Yorkshire and Durham will be short-
:37:14. > :37:18.changed. The problem for stations like BBC Tees, Newcastle and
:37:18. > :37:23.Cumbria if it is not just about sharing programmes. They all stand
:37:23. > :37:27.to lose 20% of their budget under the cuts. For somewhere like teas,
:37:27. > :37:33.it means 10 jobs will have to get. There are some who believe if that
:37:33. > :37:37.goes ahead, a local radio stations will never sound the same again.
:37:37. > :37:41.Sharing programmes in the afternoon would save perhaps two jobs on the
:37:41. > :37:44.station that did not have its programme, but they are talking
:37:44. > :37:49.between 7 and 9 so where are the other jobs coming from? They have
:37:49. > :37:54.to come from the other programmes, so of course they will be affected.
:37:54. > :37:59.It is simple mathematics. And there are other cuts are causing concern.
:37:59. > :38:02.The region's Inside Out team has won awards for investigations into
:38:02. > :38:08.the likes of Southern Cross but faces a 40% cut in its budget,
:38:08. > :38:12.something that was raised in Parliament this week. It is really
:38:12. > :38:18.important that investigative journalism has the scale and the
:38:18. > :38:24.presence locally to be able to identify a issues of such
:38:24. > :38:27.significance to local people's lives such as Southern Cross.
:38:27. > :38:32.families up and down the country are trying to manage their budgets
:38:32. > :38:37.as well, it is not the right time to substantially increase the BBC
:38:37. > :38:40.licence fee. What the BBC does have which no other media in this
:38:40. > :38:47.company has, and indeed very few companies around the world have,
:38:47. > :38:51.his certainty of funding until March 2017. That is certainly a
:38:51. > :38:54.luxury that commercial radio would kill for. They rely and adverts to
:38:54. > :38:59.pay for their programmes and depression in that market has hit
:38:59. > :39:04.many stations hard. But this station believes it has found ways
:39:04. > :39:08.to stay local and improve what it offers. I think we have how are now
:39:09. > :39:12.have, we have got a strategy that is clear, that is all about local,
:39:12. > :39:16.-- we have held our nerve. It would have been wrong to consolidate all
:39:16. > :39:22.go down the network grid because that is not what we're about, and
:39:22. > :39:26.it has enabled us to sustain and grow audiences. The BBC is also
:39:26. > :39:31.convinced it will still serve local audiences well even after the
:39:31. > :39:40.cutbacks. Some MPs and listeners beg to differ. But in the current
:39:40. > :39:43.can natural climate, is there really any choice? -- in the
:39:43. > :39:45.current economic climate. With me now to talk about that is
:39:45. > :39:48.the Conservative Euro MP for Yorkshire, Timothy Kirkhope, who
:39:48. > :39:50.has a keen interest in local broadcasting. Also with me,
:39:50. > :39:52.Labour's Joyce McCarty, the deputy leader of Newcastle Council whose
:39:52. > :39:54.cabinet this week discussed the BBC cuts.
:39:54. > :39:57.Timothy Kirkhope, the Government appears, if you listened to Ed
:39:57. > :40:01.Vaizey this week, to back the cuts. Is the BBC doing the right thing?
:40:01. > :40:06.It is not right to said the government are backing these cuts.
:40:06. > :40:10.P indicated the possibility of certain cuts in certain areas.
:40:10. > :40:14.There is currently a consultation going on in the BBC to which I know
:40:14. > :40:18.we have all contributed, I have contributed by her own views as to
:40:18. > :40:23.how the BBC might economise, might keep within its budget that it has
:40:23. > :40:30.now, and I am very much hoping that the regional and local side of the
:40:30. > :40:34.BBC's output will be as affected as little as possible. But Ed Vaizey
:40:34. > :40:40.went on to say, the director general has broadcasting at his
:40:40. > :40:46.heart. The kind of defended the BBC. I suspect ultimately isn't that
:40:46. > :40:50.because the licence fee freeze, the burdens based on the BBC, were put
:40:50. > :40:54.there by the government to. Don't they share the blame in the cuts?
:40:54. > :40:57.The alternative was to increase the licence fee for consumers in
:40:57. > :41:00.difficult economic situations at the moment, so I think it is quite
:41:00. > :41:04.right that the BBC should be required to examine its budget and
:41:04. > :41:08.should be able to come up with savings and economies, but I think
:41:09. > :41:14.it is a question of where does fall, and I and a lot of my colleagues,
:41:15. > :41:18.and I speak also as a Euro MP, I don't want to see, for instance,
:41:18. > :41:22.projected cuts in coverage of the European Parliament and wider world
:41:22. > :41:25.right issues, we have our own priorities, I'm sure my colleague
:41:25. > :41:29.has her priorities, I have mine, but local and regional television
:41:29. > :41:32.and radio seemed to be now to be more important than ever,
:41:32. > :41:36.particularly with the demise of local and regional coverage from
:41:36. > :41:41.ITV and the pressures now on the commercial radio broadcasters
:41:41. > :41:44.themselves. Joyce McCarty, I am sure you will not vastly disagree
:41:44. > :41:49.with that, but the BBC is where it is what the money it has got, but
:41:49. > :41:51.it is trying to protect the programmes that are most important,
:41:51. > :41:56.even news programmes like Look North are protected. Is that the
:41:56. > :42:00.right approach? It is party the right approach. I think we also
:42:00. > :42:04.should be doing our best to protect local radio because local radio has
:42:04. > :42:09.a major impact in this region and getting my colleagues and I have
:42:09. > :42:13.huge concerns about losing some aspects of that and as the report
:42:13. > :42:17.showed, the investigative journalism aspects. What the BBC
:42:17. > :42:22.says is, if you have got a limited amount of money, you invest in the
:42:22. > :42:24.programmes people listen to, breakfast, drive time mid-morning.
:42:24. > :42:28.The afternoon programmes are less important. If they have to make
:42:28. > :42:33.cuts, that is where they should make them? I guess we would have
:42:34. > :42:38.some sympathy with that because it has to be based on audience figures,
:42:38. > :42:43.but I think the key concern for us would be the loss of local jobs as
:42:43. > :42:48.well and there are a number of jobs going in Newcastle based on these
:42:48. > :42:53.proposals and clearly that race is concerned. In a way, what you said
:42:53. > :42:57.was almost certain the BBC an impossible task. You want to
:42:57. > :43:03.protect local services, one to protect world news. Other Net
:43:03. > :43:08.website radios 2, 5 Live, taking similar hits to local radio. The
:43:08. > :43:12.Conservatives wanted a smaller BBC, you can't man about it? I don't
:43:12. > :43:16.think the Conservatives wanted a smaller BBC. I think a lot of
:43:16. > :43:20.Conservatives do. I am not talking for all Conservatives, we value the
:43:20. > :43:24.BBC, but we want it to economise in the same way as everybody else is
:43:24. > :43:28.having to at the moment. What I would say if it is interesting
:43:28. > :43:34.talking about having syndicated material during parts of the day
:43:34. > :43:39.for different radio stations. I must admit I am nervous about that
:43:39. > :43:44.one if it takes the character of the radio station away. I remember
:43:44. > :43:49.when BBC Radio Durham came in. The first radio station the BBC set-up,
:43:49. > :43:52.no longer there now, but the key point of the BBC radio stations has
:43:52. > :43:57.been a character and localism of what they do and I hope the BBC
:43:57. > :44:00.will consider that when they come to their decision. Joyce, you run a
:44:00. > :44:05.council which has had to go through this process and I am sure he will
:44:05. > :44:10.say the council is not a worse council. I am sure the BBC can do
:44:10. > :44:14.the same? They have to consider all of the options and that big in the
:44:14. > :44:20.consultation, when we respond to that, we will do as much as that to
:44:20. > :44:24.protect local radio -- we will do as much as we can. We like to hear
:44:24. > :44:28.from local residents in phone-in programmes, opportunities for us to
:44:28. > :44:32.listen directly to residents which are important and indeed the Inside
:44:32. > :44:37.Out programme, the investigative work around races and in Sunderland,
:44:37. > :44:45.the Southern Cross issues, they are important -- around or races and in
:44:45. > :44:48.Sunderland. Thank you Deri much.
:44:48. > :44:51.-- thank you very much. And there is more on the BBC cuts
:44:51. > :44:54.on my blog. The address in on the screen now.
:44:54. > :44:57.There is little doubt what next week's big story will be. It is the
:44:57. > :45:00.strike action being planned by around 2 million public sector
:45:00. > :45:03.workers on Wednesday. The level of disruption is likely to be high.
:45:03. > :45:06.Many schools have already announced they are closing. The Tyne and Wear
:45:06. > :45:09.Metro will be suspended, while most council services will also be
:45:09. > :45:11.affected. In a moment, I will be asking my guests whether such
:45:11. > :45:14.action is justified. But first our Cumbria reporter Emily Unia has
:45:14. > :45:18.been talking to two people about their pensions, the issue right at
:45:18. > :45:22.the heart of this dispute. Next Wednesday, Liz Walsh will not
:45:22. > :45:26.be going to work. She will be on the picket line like thousands of
:45:26. > :45:30.public sector workers across Cumbria and the north-east. She has
:45:30. > :45:34.been a nurse for 20 years, attracted back to the NHS from the
:45:34. > :45:38.private sector by better pay and prospects. But government proposals
:45:38. > :45:45.to change public sector pensions will leave her significantly worse
:45:45. > :45:48.off. I feel very angry that something that was agreed, to me a
:45:48. > :45:54.contract, it stands in law, that ministers feel they can just take
:45:54. > :45:57.that away from the and change that, and I feel sad that things that I
:45:57. > :46:01.had planned for my retirement are not likely to happen, and I am sad
:46:01. > :46:07.that I have got to keep on working when physically I may no longer be
:46:07. > :46:12.up to the job. Liz Burns �34,000 a year. Government changes means she
:46:12. > :46:18.needs to pay �1,000 more each year into her pension scheme and will
:46:18. > :46:21.also have to work longer, retiring at 66 instead of 60. This is an
:46:22. > :46:24.agreement that was made that they are trying to turn around, and
:46:24. > :46:29.instead of a strapping our standards we should all be working
:46:29. > :46:35.together to increase the standards for the people who work in the
:46:35. > :46:38.private sector -- in the public sector. Strike action is the last
:46:38. > :46:42.port of call, and investigations are ongoing and we hope they will
:46:42. > :46:46.be successful but we feel we have been backed into a corner by the
:46:46. > :46:51.ministers and this is the only way of getting our voices heard. But,
:46:51. > :46:56.for many, refusing to work for a day is not an option. Emma Barnes
:46:56. > :47:01.runs a cake-making company from her home in Carlisle. It seems a little
:47:01. > :47:08.unfair that they have that power to hold us to ransom and strike and
:47:08. > :47:12.cause a disruption when there is nothing more that we can do. It
:47:12. > :47:16.affects me on a personal level because my children will now be off
:47:16. > :47:23.school, that means a day off work for me. I don't know whether I
:47:23. > :47:27.would have a bit more sympathy if it wasn't affecting in that way. It
:47:27. > :47:30.is a difficult situation. I can appreciate what they are striking
:47:30. > :47:35.for but I am not sure whether the strikes are going to have the
:47:35. > :47:39.effect that they are hoping. As a self-employed worker, Emir should
:47:39. > :47:44.be planning for the future, saving money each month into a private
:47:44. > :47:50.pension. She isn't. My personal circumstances don't allow me to put
:47:50. > :47:54.anything away. I was on a really good salary, recession hit, it was
:47:54. > :47:59.cut drastically, and then I had to look for a job, which was half the
:47:59. > :48:03.salary I was on before. I have still got the same financial
:48:03. > :48:07.commitments that everybody else has, I have set up working from home, I
:48:07. > :48:13.barely make a salary from the products that I sell because people
:48:13. > :48:18.are just not able to spend that amount of money, but, as I say, I
:48:18. > :48:23.cannot hold anybody to ransom. We just have to get on with it and
:48:23. > :48:28.hope that the economy picks up. there is no sign of that happening
:48:28. > :48:33.any time soon. The pensions issue divides opinion, and so will next
:48:33. > :48:40.week's strikes. But with more than 20 union set to walk out, it will
:48:40. > :48:43.be hard to avoid the destruction. - - disruption.
:48:43. > :48:47.Thousands of council workers your employee will be on strike next
:48:47. > :48:51.Wednesday. Do you support their cause? That is a difficult question.
:48:51. > :48:55.The leadership of the city council will not condone industrial action
:48:55. > :48:59.because we want to be responsible employers, but we also have
:48:59. > :49:03.sympathy with the issues that the staff of the city council are
:49:03. > :49:07.raised in. Do you think they are wrong to go on strike? It is their
:49:07. > :49:11.right as workers, the rules allowed them to take industrial action.
:49:11. > :49:16.They have been offered an improved deal, are they wrong to go on
:49:16. > :49:20.strike? They have been offered pensions that are still better than
:49:20. > :49:24.many peoples and the private sector. The public sector-private sector
:49:24. > :49:29.issue is tricky, because we should not be saying public sector workers
:49:29. > :49:36.get, as the government have called them, gold-plated pensions. The
:49:36. > :49:40.average pension for most workers is 3,500 to �4,000, that is not gold
:49:40. > :49:43.plated. Some people in the private sector will get more than that.
:49:43. > :49:48.What the Government's issue should be is to help people in the private
:49:48. > :49:52.sector to improve their pensions. The nurse we saw in the film does
:49:52. > :49:56.not want to strike but feels she has a commitment, a contract on her
:49:56. > :50:03.pension, that the government is Rene Dean Mumm. I don't think that
:50:03. > :50:06.is true, -- that the government is backing out on. Having listened to
:50:06. > :50:10.the recommendations of a considerable number of people
:50:10. > :50:15.including trades unions representatives... People will not
:50:15. > :50:18.take a situation lying down to pay �1,000 extra a year and were it
:50:18. > :50:24.gets to six years when they cannot plan for it. The truth is we are
:50:24. > :50:32.all missing longer and will have to work longer because of bad -- we
:50:32. > :50:35.are all living longer. We would be very envious of the public sector
:50:35. > :50:39.situation, I am concerned we will have a dispute which is going to
:50:39. > :50:44.cost the economy, we cannot afford it at the moment, another half a
:50:44. > :50:49.billion pounds for one day. Only a quarter of the member of the unions
:50:49. > :50:52.who bothered to turn out in ballot in favour of having a strike, and
:50:52. > :50:57.the people of this country should be very concerned about that. We
:50:57. > :51:04.simply cannot afford it. But in the middle of negotiations we are going
:51:04. > :51:08.to have this incredibly disruptive strike. That is not right. We saw
:51:08. > :51:11.Emma, she might be justifiably furious about this, she was quite
:51:11. > :51:17.calm, but it will cause disruption to people who have to keep their
:51:17. > :51:22.children off school. We accept that, but it is the right of the workers
:51:22. > :51:28.to take that action, and the workers tell us they are soaked
:51:28. > :51:31.frustrated about negotiations that there is nothing new on the table,
:51:31. > :51:35.the negotiations we are hearing this week is that nothing more will
:51:35. > :51:40.be offered. That does not sound like continuing Nick associations,
:51:40. > :51:44.it sounds like we are not negotiation and of -- not
:51:44. > :51:48.negotiating enough. We have predicted people within 10 years of
:51:48. > :51:54.retirement, people in lower pay, the people we should be most
:51:54. > :51:57.concerned about, the lower paid workers will not have a
:51:57. > :52:00.deterioration, they will have an improvement in their pension. The
:52:00. > :52:03.things that have come out should be more than enough to make the union
:52:03. > :52:07.leaders think again, they should think again and there should not be
:52:07. > :52:11.a strong. Is it fair that people like Emma, in the film, when they
:52:11. > :52:17.pay taxes will be effectively subsidising people who have
:52:17. > :52:23.perfected the God Pensions when she has not got a pension herself?
:52:23. > :52:28.who have effectively got pensions. We are doing a lot of support
:52:28. > :52:33.people in am a's position to get a pension. It costs �100,000 to
:52:33. > :52:36.secure a pension of around three and a half �1,000. And it costs
:52:36. > :52:42.Emma Moore to get her pension because in terms of age people now
:52:42. > :52:46.live longer. The government's focus seems to be on undermining public
:52:46. > :52:50.sector pensions. Should and the focus be helping people like Emma
:52:50. > :52:55.get their own pensions? government is responsible for
:52:55. > :52:58.public sector pensions, not for private sector pensions.
:52:58. > :53:01.Individuals are, small business people are. The Government should
:53:01. > :53:04.help those people who have to get their own pensions but they have a
:53:04. > :53:09.duty to look at the nature of pensions for the people for whom
:53:09. > :53:13.they are responsible. What is being done for someone like Emma? We have
:53:13. > :53:17.to look at the tax system to see if we can help people who invest in
:53:17. > :53:22.their own pensions. The situation is clear, she cannot afford it.
:53:22. > :53:25.Everybody is having a problem. The economy has been in difficulty for
:53:25. > :53:30.a while, we want to get it going again, that is the main priority,
:53:30. > :53:34.and it will help them and everybody else. But the public sector is the
:53:34. > :53:36.direct responsibility of government and the government cannot afford to
:53:36. > :53:42.give in to the sorts of demands which the unions are demanding at
:53:42. > :53:47.the moment. Joyce, Ed Miliband has been warm about this, saying they
:53:47. > :53:53.should be striking in the middle of negotiations. -- they should not be
:53:53. > :53:58.striking. Should and Labour be supporting this? We are taking a
:53:58. > :54:00.motion to city council in November in support of the discussions to
:54:00. > :54:05.encourage the government to continue those discussions and work
:54:05. > :54:13.with trade unions to ensure this issue is sorted. We have to leave
:54:13. > :54:16.in there. Thank you very much. And if you would like to have your
:54:16. > :54:20.say about the industrial action, my colleague Mark Denten will be
:54:20. > :54:23.getting views in Durham next week. All you need to do is turn up at
:54:23. > :54:26.Market Place from 10am on Wednesday morning, that is the day of the
:54:26. > :54:29.strikes, and you can put your question face-to-face to the trade
:54:29. > :54:33.unions and the politicians who will be in the hot seat. You never know,
:54:33. > :54:35.they might even answer them. Watch Look North that night to see what
:54:35. > :54:38.happens. Before that, of course, it is the
:54:38. > :54:41.Chancellor's autumn statement on Tuesday. You can follow it all in a