Browse content similar to 11/12/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Here... As fares increase for passengers, | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
what will the future shape of our railways be in the region? | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
And Newcastle is getting more powers and the chance to vote on an | :01:04. | :01:08. | |
elected mayor. But will he, or she, have the clout enjoyed by Boris | :01:08. | :01:18. | |
:01:18. | :01:18. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1810 seconds | :01:18. | :31:28. | |
Hello and a very warm welcome to this special "collector's edition" | :31:28. | :31:32. | |
of the programme. Coming up... The future of our railways in the | :31:33. | :31:37. | |
North. As fares go up, will passengers lose out? | :31:37. | :31:39. | |
First, Newcastle is being offered new powers and the Government | :31:40. | :31:44. | |
believes they can make it an engine for economic growth. Deputy Prime | :31:44. | :31:47. | |
Minister Nick Clegg announced the plans this week. He says they'll | :31:47. | :31:50. | |
give Newcastle greater control over its local transport, business rates | :31:50. | :31:53. | |
and planning - powers which won't be available to other cities like | :31:53. | :31:58. | |
Sunderland or Carlisle. The government also wants to see an | :31:58. | :32:01. | |
elected mayor take charge, with a referendum on the issue due next | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
Spring. So with the promise of more power, can we expect a Geordie | :32:05. | :32:08. | |
version of London mayor Boris Johnson? Mark Denten has been | :32:08. | :32:18. | |
:32:18. | :32:22. | ||
finding out. Christmas shopping in Newcastle. | :32:22. | :32:25. | |
This week, the Government has confirmed it is giving voters here | :32:26. | :32:29. | |
a little present - the chance to decide whether they want an elected | :32:29. | :32:37. | |
mare. Who should be? Alan Shearer. He is strong-minded. He will not | :32:37. | :32:47. | |
:32:47. | :32:48. | ||
give too much away! Sir John Hall. Why would that be? He has done all | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
right for the area. Peter Andre! He is kind and I think he would be | :32:53. | :32:58. | |
nice. But even if Peter Andre is preparing for his leadership bid | :32:58. | :33:02. | |
right now, it is not so much about who would get the job or how much | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
power they will have. Up till now, the signs have not been good, | :33:07. | :33:13. | |
because not all elected mares are equal. This is Stephen Lawrence, | :33:13. | :33:22. | |
mare of London. He already has a raft of powers -- Boris Johnson. He | :33:22. | :33:28. | |
can he has power see -- other mares can only dream of. He can do that | :33:28. | :33:33. | |
over an area covering 32 different London councils, rather than one | :33:33. | :33:39. | |
council. Unlike other elected mares, the police are accountable to him. | :33:39. | :33:43. | |
Crime is the key issue here. Even if voters elected Newcastle Meyer, | :33:44. | :33:49. | |
the winner would not have those powers to tackle crime. Wendy once | :33:49. | :33:55. | |
a mare with more clout. He should be able to help the police try and | :33:55. | :34:00. | |
cut the crime. But he has not got any authority to do that, what is | :34:00. | :34:07. | |
the point of having an? I will vote, but it will be a know. There is | :34:07. | :34:10. | |
small support here. This restaurant has suffered from the economic | :34:10. | :34:15. | |
squeeze but with the right parts, an elected official could help. | :34:15. | :34:20. | |
They need someone to come in and make this region less stagnant. The | :34:20. | :34:24. | |
elected mare should have control over strategic planning of the city | :34:24. | :34:28. | |
and control of the housing and economic policies. If it is a | :34:28. | :34:32. | |
coherent policy for Newcastle and the surrounding areas, it will lead | :34:32. | :34:38. | |
to huge economic development. Ministers say local people should | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
decide on the powers. Supporters of the idea already know what they | :34:41. | :34:48. | |
want. We are demanding and Papas equal to Boris Johnson. We're also | :34:48. | :34:51. | |
looking at some of the parts that may be available to the first | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
Minister in Scotland that are available to Boris Johnson. If we | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
do not get that, we are going to continue to see economic decline. | :35:00. | :35:04. | |
While a new round of elected mares may be Coalition policy, the | :35:04. | :35:09. | |
Liberal Democrat leader here is against the idea. There is a | :35:09. | :35:14. | |
fixation with personality politics. Personality over content. It would | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
cost more and it seems like a distraction at this time when we | :35:17. | :35:20. | |
all really have to concentrate on doing her best to provide good | :35:20. | :35:26. | |
public services are in a time of dwindling resources. This week, the | :35:26. | :35:29. | |
Deputy Prime Minister announced extra powers for Newcastle, | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
including more control over business rates. To be have to vote | :35:33. | :35:40. | |
Yes for a male first? There is no link for our offerer of new powers | :35:40. | :35:44. | |
to the cities and a vote for Aurora a mare or not. Where the have these | :35:44. | :35:52. | |
new paths are not, you can vote for him there. There's plenty of time | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
to digest the idea until May. Well with me now is the Labour MP | :35:56. | :35:59. | |
for Tynemouth, Alan Campbell and in our Leeds studio, the Conservative | :35:59. | :36:07. | |
MP for Outer York, Julian Sturdy. Julian, if Nick Clegg says | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
Newcastle was going to get these powers even if it doesn't vote for | :36:10. | :36:17. | |
a mare, why bother with the mare? support this policy. It is very | :36:18. | :36:20. | |
important and it is part of an agenda be want to see rolled out | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
across the country. All similarly, it will be down to the people of | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
Newcastle to decide. That is very important. There is no evidence for | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
a public clamour for a mare in Newcastle or any of the cities. | :36:32. | :36:36. | |
People could have conditions -- petitioned for years but they did | :36:36. | :36:41. | |
not. If that is the case, there will be a negative vote. Elected | :36:41. | :36:46. | |
mares have worked well across the region already. It is important | :36:46. | :36:50. | |
that the mandate is there. The idea supported and it is part of the | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
localism agenda, but it is down to the local people to decide. That is | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
fair enough, isn't it? It was a labourer idea and it could benefit | :37:01. | :37:05. | |
to Newcastle. I am a fan of the May oral system but not always a fan of | :37:05. | :37:12. | |
the people who win the mayoral elections. It does give visibility | :37:12. | :37:17. | |
to a high-profile politician. It is up to the people of Newcastle or | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
any other area or whether or not they want to go down that route. | :37:20. | :37:26. | |
Isn't it more about the poll worse than the individual? The debate | :37:26. | :37:32. | |
thankfully now it is about the parlous and the powers Boris | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
Johnson has in London and the powers the mare of North Tyneside | :37:35. | :37:39. | |
has. There is a considerable difference. You can't seriously | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
think you could give the mare of North Tyneside Para for the police | :37:43. | :37:49. | |
- but would work. Even parts of the transporter are her problematic | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
when it is a small council area in a big transport terrier. A city | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
like Newcastle and, we were saying very similar things about the kind | :37:59. | :38:04. | |
of powers that we wanted to see divorce two cities. You have hit on | :38:04. | :38:09. | |
a real bone of contention, which is the fact that Boris Johnson is the | :38:09. | :38:13. | |
chair of the Met Police Authority. He is also in charge of the | :38:13. | :38:16. | |
Transport for London. He can do something about anti-social | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
behaviour on buses or the underground. Whereas on the very | :38:20. | :38:24. | |
same day as Newcastle might be getting an elected mare next | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
November, we will be electing police commissioners if they choose | :38:28. | :38:32. | |
to do that. There is a confusion at the heart of Government policy. | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
Some of the par so very unclear. That is a difficult sell to people. | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
I think Nick Clegg's a month and yesterday was very good for us. We | :38:43. | :38:51. | |
have to make sure we bridge this really important divides -- divide. | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
We have to do all we can as a Government under Coalition | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
Government to do that. By giving these new powers to eight new | :38:59. | :39:05. | |
cities, it has to be a good thing. We will see how it rolls out and | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
whether more powers will follow him more cities. My city of York is not | :39:09. | :39:16. | |
one of those eight, but it could be. Isn't that the question? Isn't this | :39:16. | :39:19. | |
-- of this it is good idea, why not a liar all councils to have these | :39:19. | :39:29. | |
:39:29. | :39:31. | ||
kind of powers? That might well,. Why not now? We have to look at | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
this as positive. If these are the first 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
cities, it might be rolled out further. Let's see how it pans out | :39:39. | :39:49. | |
:39:49. | :39:49. | ||
for the first eight cities. This is about local people taking control | :39:49. | :39:54. | |
of their areas. There are limited powers, though. They will not have | :39:54. | :39:58. | |
powers over policing. As you rightly say, we're not talking | :39:58. | :40:04. | |
about the same parts that have been rolled out in London. This is a | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
slightly watered-down version of what is happening in London. But | :40:07. | :40:14. | |
this has got to be seen as a good measure for our cities. We're going | :40:14. | :40:18. | |
to have more devolved power, which I support. That is part of the | :40:18. | :40:24. | |
local has an agenda. But ultimately, it is up to the people in Newcastle | :40:24. | :40:30. | |
and the local people and each individual area to decide. We do | :40:30. | :40:34. | |
except that this is the first the tenth for decades to really hand | :40:34. | :40:40. | |
serious power back to councils? it is not. We introduced mares, for | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
example. We also introduced single pot fondling and total place | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
funding. There is a continuing that is taking place here. But let's not | :40:51. | :40:58. | |
be under any illusions. Bears are still facing enormous difficulties. | :40:58. | :41:01. | |
You can devolve the power of the localisation of is the straight, | :41:01. | :41:04. | |
but you cannot hide from the fact that North Tyneside will lose �90 | :41:05. | :41:09. | |
million by that going ahead. Only if they don't correct the system. | :41:09. | :41:13. | |
They will only corrected for the first 12 months. What is happening | :41:13. | :41:17. | |
here is not just the devolution of power, but the devolution of who | :41:17. | :41:22. | |
makes the bad news. Thank you. Now, travelling by train is going | :41:22. | :41:25. | |
to be more expensive in the new year. Despite some extra cash | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
offered up by the Chancellor, the planned rise in fares will still be | :41:28. | :41:31. | |
around six per cent on many tickets. And there could be even bigger and | :41:31. | :41:34. | |
more controversial changes to come. Ministers plan to set out the | :41:34. | :41:37. | |
direction of travel for our railways in the new year. Unions | :41:37. | :41:40. | |
fear it will amount to cuts to services and staff. But others hope | :41:40. | :41:43. | |
communities will get a greater say over their local rail services. | :41:43. | :41:53. | |
:41:53. | :42:02. | ||
Fergus Hewison reports. Relics from the region's pride past | :42:02. | :42:07. | |
as a pioneer of rail travel. But if the future of the railway is | :42:07. | :42:11. | |
worrying some people. Who should fund them and to should ensure that | :42:11. | :42:15. | |
they run with the best interests of the travelling public in mind? | :42:15. | :42:19. | |
Central Station, Newcastle. What is on the West list for passengers | :42:19. | :42:26. | |
here? It should be cheaper. Better quality. Better food. And a better | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
ride. I have been to Glasgow quite recently and everything was | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
excellent. It was more or less on time. There is an issue about | :42:36. | :42:42. | |
pricing. It is very expensive. I think privatisation of rail travel | :42:42. | :42:47. | |
has been a general disaster. changes could be on the cards for | :42:47. | :42:52. | |
railways, including use for fares. There are due to increase by 6% for | :42:52. | :42:58. | |
regulated fares in January next year. They were due to go up by 8% | :42:58. | :43:02. | |
until George Osborne capped this Fry's aim his autumn statement last | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
month. Government proposals are also due out in the early part of | :43:07. | :43:10. | |
next year. There are likely to incorporate recommendations made in | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
the review of the rail system earlier this year. These included | :43:15. | :43:23. | |
giving local transport bodies and councils more power over rely | :43:23. | :43:26. | |
funding and high fares are set. Controversially, the review also | :43:26. | :43:30. | |
said that the running cost of our railways could be 30% less than | :43:30. | :43:33. | |
they are now, partly by closing ticket offices and reducing the | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
number of staff on trains. Mike Parker used to run the Tyne and | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
Wear Metro system. He thinks handing some powers to local bodies | :43:42. | :43:46. | |
would work if money channelled to rail firms through them. It is who | :43:47. | :43:49. | |
determines what the services are going to be and who will monitor | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
the performance. Passenger transport executives are no very | :43:53. | :43:58. | |
good position to monitor bus services, local railway services | :43:58. | :44:02. | |
that they procurer. But to much of the entire northern franchise, | :44:02. | :44:09. | |
there are no very good position to do that. But proposals like this | :44:09. | :44:13. | |
alarm railway unions. The McInulty report identified key problems | :44:13. | :44:17. | |
about the lack of integration and the transport network SVRs. But it | :44:17. | :44:21. | |
then comes up with the wrong prescription to resolve that. It | :44:21. | :44:24. | |
says we should have more fragmentation, more splits and more | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
fragmentation of the industry. That is nonsense. You cannot actually | :44:29. | :44:31. | |
come up with the right diagnosis and then give the wrong | :44:31. | :44:36. | |
prescription. Railway operators say they have no plans to close to good | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
offices and are waiting to see what the Government will save. | :44:40. | :44:43. | |
Supporters of greater local control think that this could mean we get a | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
greater slice of the nation's transport budget. We have always | :44:46. | :44:54. | |
been aware that we do not get quite a fair a cut of that national | :44:54. | :45:04. | |
investment package as we should do. For example, London gets more than | :45:04. | :45:09. | |
double what we get. That is something that could be addressed | :45:09. | :45:16. | |
in any localisation of decision- making on transport. It is expected | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
the Government's proposals will appear in the New Year and everyone | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
seems to have something on the wish-list already. | :45:22. | :45:30. | |
Well, let's talk about the future of the railways now with me guests. | :45:30. | :45:34. | |
They spotted a problem with that and they have put money into it. | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
is a very small limitation. 6% is an enormous amount of money in the | :45:39. | :45:47. | |
year and it is going to rise. This was a system that we inherited in | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
the botched privatisation, in which private companies ran section of | :45:51. | :45:54. | |
the railway are without any way of making sure that they provided | :45:55. | :45:58. | |
value for money. And the two things that happened there was that the | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
taxpayer be done money through subsidy, which is unsustainable. Or | :46:02. | :46:07. | |
secondly, that fares went up. That is unsustainable. The Government | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
has to come forward with the right paper in referring to what McNulty | :46:12. | :46:15. | |
has said and tell us what it is going to do about it. What you | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
think the Government should be doing about this? I can't imagine | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
their pay rises will fill people with festive cheer? I agree about | :46:25. | :46:32. | |
the right paper. As a member of the Transport Select Committee, and all | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
parties will welcome that when it comes forward. Obviously, no one | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
wants to see fares go up. It is difficult. But it was going to go | :46:40. | :46:46. | |
up by 3% plus inflation. Now it is going up by 1% plus inflation. All | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
the indicators are that inflation will fall over the next year. | :46:51. | :46:57. | |
will not help passengers in January when they face 6% rises. I agree. | :46:57. | :47:05. | |
Nobody likes to see fares go up. I think our rail services are in | :47:05. | :47:10. | |
really good heart. They have been prioritised by the Government and | :47:10. | :47:13. | |
sue the Department of Transport. They're getting investment in | :47:13. | :47:18. | |
infrastructure within the transport. There has been a number of | :47:18. | :47:20. | |
announcements within the Chancellor's Budget statement. That | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
is good news. On a number of announcements for the North. We | :47:25. | :47:29. | |
have not had a fair deal and transport in the North. | :47:29. | :47:33. | |
Government is doing all these things. He had 13 years the sort | :47:33. | :47:37. | |
this out? In the autumn Statement, they announced money for the metro | :47:37. | :47:41. | |
system which we had put him and they had already taken out once. I | :47:41. | :47:46. | |
wouldn't think the Government is doing very much for the North. High | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
speed to is not coming to Newcastle. We are going to be left high and | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
dry by that of we're not careful. I think the Government has a | :47:55. | :47:59. | |
difficult task here, but it should not go down the route of thinking | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
that fare rises other way forward, nor would passengers want to see a | :48:04. | :48:08. | |
cut in frontline staff under do not want there to get Thomases close. | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
600 taken of the closing is unacceptable. What you're saying | :48:12. | :48:18. | |
cost a lot of money. Because of the mess you Government left, there is | :48:18. | :48:23. | |
not a much money. The Government is right to look at how to save money. | :48:23. | :48:26. | |
McNulty said there are savings to be made of the industry works | :48:26. | :48:29. | |
better and there are better incentives the number system that | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
existed as a result of privatisation. McNulty also said | :48:34. | :48:39. | |
abandon the inflation cap on fares. That is unacceptable, as is pouring | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
in taxpayer's money year after year. The problem is that private | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
companies have not had to look for value for money. They're going to | :48:47. | :48:51. | |
have to find that and that should not mean higher fares. It should | :48:51. | :48:57. | |
not mean cutting ticket offices. That is the concern here, that the | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
Government is about cost cutting. That this is going to be taking | :49:01. | :49:04. | |
staff of trains, cutting ticket offices and making a poorer service | :49:04. | :49:11. | |
for people. That is not what the paper should deliver. It is going | :49:11. | :49:15. | |
to deliver a more efficient service. That has to happen. We have to | :49:15. | :49:19. | |
deliver that in a way that is fair to passengers, delivers the right | :49:19. | :49:24. | |
kind of system but we need and we have to have a better connected | :49:24. | :49:28. | |
systems. The connectivity within our transport is an issue. We have | :49:28. | :49:32. | |
to make sure that is delivered and that the North plays a key role | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
than that. But there is real good news for the North. We're getting | :49:37. | :49:43. | |
improvements and the Trans Pennine Express. It will be a great boost | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
to the northern region. I am pushing for it to go from Leeds to | :49:47. | :49:53. | |
York. It is great news. We have improvements on the East coast main | :49:53. | :49:57. | |
line, and Ford. There is real good news. Ultimately, which will have | :49:57. | :50:03. | |
to look at this paper closely. Should renationalise? I think it | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
might be popular but where would you get the money from? | :50:07. | :50:10. | |
Now, hankies at the ready, but today is the very last Politics | :50:10. | :50:13. | |
Show ever. It was eight years ago in this very studio that my | :50:13. | :50:21. | |
colleague Mary Askew launched the show in suitably dramatic fashion. | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
Stay with us to find out if this should be banned. It is just a toy, | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
but our police officers are definitely not amused. | :50:29. | :50:33. | |
Well, with Mary safely locked away on firearms offences, it was up to | :50:33. | :50:36. | |
yours truly to take on the job. The producer couldn't afford to buy me | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
a tie, but at least we spared no expense - and I mean no expense - | :50:40. | :50:44. | |
on the set. I wonder happened to those trendy TVs? Or my good looks | :50:44. | :50:46. | |
for that matter? Well, all good things come to an | :50:46. | :50:50. | |
end. But don't despair. We'll all be back in the new year with a | :50:50. | :50:52. | |
brand new show called Sunday Politics. I'll still be asking | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
politicians the difficult questions - I might even get the odd answer - | :50:55. | :50:59. | |
but there'll be a new look and more stories from across the region. | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
And you know what? I might even wear a tie! Worth watching just for | :51:02. | :51:04. | |
that. For now though, we're off on our | :51:04. | :51:07. | |
seasonal break. But if you're into seasonal break. But if you're into | :51:07. | :51:07. | |
seasonal break. But if you're into Twitter, I'll be tweeting like a | :51:07. | :51:10. | |
robin throughout the festive period. And there's always my blog at | :51:10. | :51:15. | |
bbc.co.uk/richardmoss - what better gift for your loved one? | :51:15. | :51:18. |