18/09/2011 The Politics Show North West

In the north-west: As the region's pupils begin a new

school year, we get their teachers' verdict on the new pupil premium.

And I'm at the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham, asking

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2154 seconds

whether the national party can Hello, I'm Annabel Tiffin. Welcome

to the Politics Show in the north- west. This week it's all about the

Lib Dems. Well, our political editor Arif Ansari is in Birmingham

at the Liberal Democrat Conference. With me is newly-promoted,

Professor Andrew Russell from Manchester University, a seasoned

Liberal Democrat observer. There is a buzz here in Birmingham. That

excitement and that novelty factor of being in government has somewhat

worn off. The Lib Dems are facing to the facts they have problems,

not least of course because of those local election results in the

north-west region where so many councillors lost their seat. The

question here is, how do they recover? Councillor Keith Whitmore

is Manchester City Council's longer serving Lib Dem councillor and he

says the party needs to sharpen up its message. We have to get that

distinct identity across. We have to get back campaigning edge, get

back in local communities. And working hard there, getting the

message across. That is what we are not doing. We have to have better

communication, we have to have our ministers in regular touch with

members, saying these are the issues that will be coming up,

these are the campaigning points you have to pinpoint from those

issues. I have been speaking to party activists to find out how

they are feeding at the grass roots. We are with the Liberal Democrats

in Rochdale where Cyril Smith used to be MP, the spiritual home of

liberalism -- liberalism. I will find out what activists think about

coalition politics and being in government. It was difficult for us.

We were the subject of a protest vote after 12 months in government,

when people didn't know where it was going. Were you surprised by a

backlash? Yes. I thought people would realise we had inherited the

problem from the last Labour government and it wasn't going to

be fixed within 12 months. fears here that it will be just as

difficult at the next local elections and there will be further

losses? The Whitaker kicking. This time again it will be equally hard.

-- we took a kicking. Has the party made mistakes? Yes, there have been

mistakes, especially over the tuition fees issue. It looks good,

we went against it. Sadly we went against it. Difficult to win trust

back. It is hard to get the trust that, yes. I think, we can do it as

long as we keep trumpeting the message about what we have brought

to government. We have problems in the economy with unemployment and

young people. I don't see enough action inputting measures forward

to do with those pressing issues. What other successes you feel you

have had in government? -- what are the successors. We have done well

getting rid of ID cards. The health situation, certainly. We have to

remember how bad the proposals could have been had we not been

there to Ranger the Conservatives in. -- to rein them in.

television debates, Nick was so strong. And came across so well. We

seem to have lost him. Every time there is a good policy announcement,

out comes David Cameron. When there is a negative, they wheel out Nick

Clegg. The councillors are getting their kicking. I spoke to the party

president earlier, Tim Farron. I asked him whether he agrees that

the party's communications need to improve. I do, to a large degree.

If you go to coalition with another party your identity will be blurred

because people think, we thought you were against those guys, why

are you with them? That his coalition politics. I haven't

changed my views a bit but I find myself in coalition with people I

have fought against all my life. But you have to behave like a

grown-up. There is not much you can do about the arithmetic. We have to

deal with it. We have to make sure we are distinctive in the coalition.

What the members are saying in the north-west and across the country

is, is something agree with. We have to be clear about what we are

doing, what we are for, why we are different from the tourist, and

what the difference film-making -- different from the Tories. If it

wasn't for us the banks would be not being reformed. It feels like a

simplistic message. The Conservatives are not very nice,

but the week Lib Dems can sort them out. But is very kind. That is what

you are saying. We are in an awful situation. Last year we had the

choice between the catastrophic and a horrible and we chose the

horrible because otherwise the economy would have been in a mess

and we would have have later -- worse levels of unemployment.

you think the Conservative Party is horrible? No, I think of the

decisions are horrible but the cuts would be awful without the cuts. --

the situation would be awful without the cuts. People will not

listen to negative messages. Most people by, yes, we are in a whole

and we have to get out. But what difference Surrey making to getting

out of it as quick as possible and making sure it is done fairly?

Those who are wealthy pay the most and those who are likely to

struggle at the bottom are the ones we help the most. That is what the

Lib Dems are doing. Is the message getting through? You had that

position on tuition fees. You went against it. Not you personally, but

the party. You have been delivering cuts would have heard people. And

people do not like it. That is the difficulty. Whoever was in power,

we have to make decisions like that. And they will Blaine the party in

power. -- blame. Lots of Conservatives like the ideas of

cuts and Lib Dems do not, maybe, without being too simplistic. But

we have the situation we have got. Do you regret the cuts to local

government? I regret we had to make the cuts. Were they deeper than

they needed to be? I don't think so. I wish I could say yes. There were

real problem was 14 years ago when Labour deregulated the banks. That

was the time to be angry. It left us billions of pounds in the red,

leaving whichever party in government looking -- making stinky

decisions that hit ordinary people. I actually regret that. I didn't

get involved to deal with those things but here I am and I would

rather I was doing it, and doing it Furley Foster of clearly lots of

-- people do not feel it is fair. People wonder if it will happen

again. If you don't respect the threat you will go down because of

it. How do you turn it round? making sure we have done the things

that we have been doing since May. Stopping the NHS being privatised.

Enjoying the poor have got a tax cut and not the rich. Breen and

Investment packets to make sure we keep people in work. -- bringing in.

Without us, how much worse would things be? Normally you get did

least got if you vote Lib Dem. -- you get nothing of what you hoped

for. This time we have made a huge difference. We have had to take

things we do not like, that his coalition, I am afraid. Tim Farron,

who is in the main hall behind me practising his keynote speech. I

know that because we were kicked out of there and stopped filming. I

guess at the moment I am feeling pretty lucky I am here and able to

Tim Farron being open, saying the Lib Dems had a horrible decision to

make it in the catastrophic and a horrible. He was quick to elaborate

that he was talking about the cuts. I think that out lies the essential

problem that they are having to, they are party who are playing by

other party's agendas. Either they go along with Labour or

Conservative plans. They are trying to react to the agenda set by other

parties. We hear from Nick Clegg and Tim Farron they want to make

themselves more distinctive. Are the managing? If you look at the

coalition agreement, there is a Lib Dem policy in that agreement. The

problem is they tend to be lower profile than the big concessions we

know about. And the ones that the Dems were punished four. The

problem is, how do they find a distinctive voice in coalition when

the tenancy is that as the minor party they get the blame and no

credit for things going right. said he thought the Lib Dems have

made things better. It would have been worse if they were not in

coalition. It is a different marketing cell to make. For a party

to say, these people are so unreasonable that if it was not for

us they would be really horrible. But is a difficult message to get

across to the public. People will naturally ask, if your partner's

are so horrible, why are you in power with them? That is a really

difficult thing to say. Thank you. Well we'll stop it there for a

moment - let's have a look now at an initiative the Liberal Democrats

did push through during those the co-alition agreements - the Pupil

Premium. For every pupil who qualifies for free school meals,

the school gets an extra �430 a year. The idea is to give a boost

to schools in poorer areas. But how effective has it been? Elaine

Dunkley has been to Burnley to find out.

This is St Leonards Church of England primary school. Outstanding

in its Ofsted report despite having a high number of pupils from

disadvantaged backgrounds. This is just the sort of school the Liberal

Democrates had in mind when introducing the pupil premium. The

party is hailing it as a success, but head teacher Mrs Bradley says

we must try harder. To be honest, I have not seen a difference. It

hasn't been noticeable. We have had cuts in our budget. Particularly

with the capital funding which has been an 80% cut. We have an old

building, constant repairs reading going. We haven't got the funding.

And they have been cuts in other areas of the Budget. �430 per pupil

really hasn't had that impact that we have noticeably seeing and we

cannot say it has made a different to attainment. Balancing school

funds can be challenging. Teaching assistants and after school clubs

can cost thousands, and not all parents entitled to free school

meals claim it, which means the school misses out on funding. The

North West has the highest number of pupils eligible for the premium

outside of London. Across the region 192,000 people receive

funding of �82 million. There is more money on the way. The benefit

is that the money is being given to the schools, not to the County

Council. The schools can spend it on what they think the young people

in their schools need. Extra teachers, 1-1 tuition. Anything

they think the young people will need to get them to a level of

education that will take them on to college, university or

apprenticeships in local companies. The pupil premium was introduced in

April. The National Union of Teachers says in real terms funding

has been cut. The money isn't extra. We cannot see what it is doing at

the moment. As far as we can tell, it is not working, certainly in the

way they thought it would do. It is a PR stunt. Ways of closing the gap

between rich and poor has divided many but some academics believe

bringing together different backgrounds is the answer. One of

the more successful strategies has been the twinning of key to success

schools, those struggling, with more salubrious setting the schools.

Interestingly those schools working together increased attainment

levels. There wasn't just a transfer of the advantage to the

less advantaged schools, it seemed to work the other way as well.

these times of austerity, many teachers are having to think

outside the box. At St Leonards they grow food for the children in

allotments and use recycled goods as much as possible. With budgets

squeezed, it's a steep learning curve. We didn't come into this to

be businesses. We are teachers. We are part of a trust. It is very

scary on your own. We have to work together. The Liberal Democrats say

the pupil premium is adding value but there is concern amongst head

teachers that the figures just don't add up.

Another issue I suppose the Lib Dems would say they have had

success on is the Health and Social Care Bill. Some would say they

haven't made enough change has. Everything is tempered with real

world development. We heard Tim Barron so they were stopping

privatisation. -- Tim Farron. The question is whether it is complete

enough for the supporters to feel they have got something concrete.

Reacting to other parties' agendas all the time is not giving the Lib

Dems much credit. Well, let's go back to Arif in Birmingham to

discuss that issue further. I'm here with with Southport MP John

Pugh, who's chair of the Backbench Liberal Democrat Committee on

health. When you look at the way the health reforms have been

watered down, are you happy? I have never been happy with their reforms.

That being said the legislation has been improved but it remains work-

in-progress. There is plenty of work at the House of Lords to do.

It was always accepted the Government would move more

amendments in the Lords and the Government do not have the majority

in the Lords. What don't you like? Fundamentally unclear is whether a

government is driven by ideology on this or sensible pragmatism about

what will work best in the Health Service. If we move to a situation

where the Government will be a producer of health care rather than

a provider of health care, and some readings in tiny to think that,

then the legislation will be unsatisfactory. -- some readings

incline you to think that. But it is more choice, some say, you can

choose where you go for treatment of some I have no difficulty with

GPs making sensible decisions. we don't want is a diverse market

where what comes out is unpredictable and doesn't look like

integrated Kurth. If you look at the Labour government's reforms,

Tony Blair was accused of not moving fast enough. But you are

putting the brakes on. What Andrew Lansley is doing is continuing what

Tony Blair did. But there was quite a bit wrong with that. Thank you

for your time. That is it from Birmingham. Back to the studio.

Now, North West MEP Chris Davies has been a long term campaigner in

favour of the legalisation of cannabis, even once, memorably

getting arrested as a protest. Well, he's raising the issue again at

this conference. He wants people to be able to buy drugs legally from

approved premises, including police stations and Tescos. Well, earlier

I spoke to Chris Davies and asked him. I asked if this was really a

key issue during these times. drugs trade is one of the most

important issues we could deal with. It affects communities across

Britain and of course the criminals who are making billions out of the

existing legislation and a failure to ensure we are able to deal with

it, they go laughing all the way to the bank. It must be dealt with and

it is important politicians start dealing with it rationally. They

should not be frightened to say the unthinkable and to say what might

actually work for. How much support you getting from your party? The

Lib Dems did support it. Nick Clegg supported it in 2002 and the

official line is much more water down, that they go on the official

medical advice. The motion we have today will get carried quite

overwhelmingly. It calls for a panel to review the whole drugs

industry, if you like, both what we do about decriminalisation of soft

drugs, making sure we crack down on the harder ones. It looks at the

way we deal with criminals, above all. Or fail to deal with them.

is one thing saying decriminalise drugs, but where exactly are you

saying people should be able to get them from? If you want to get the

illegal drugs, the most addictive illegal drugs out of the hands of

the goals, you have to provide a government regulated alternative --

of the criminals. It could be from a police station. You have to break

the link between drug addiction and the criminals who make money out of

it. Thank you very much. That's it for today. We're back next week in