:00:57. > :01:04.And what the Chancellor's Autumn Statement on Tuesday, we examined
:01:04. > :01:14.the state of the region's economy. And revealed just how much has been
:01:14. > :01:14.
:01:14. > :34:50.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2016 seconds
:34:51. > :34:55.Welcome to a special Politics Show in the north-west. Today, it is all
:34:55. > :35:00.about the economy. Is the government on the right track? Our
:35:00. > :35:04.panel of experts will decide. And still with the financial theme
:35:04. > :35:10.that - council cuts. We revealed just how much has been sliced off
:35:10. > :35:15.the north-west's budget in the past year.
:35:15. > :35:20.This week we are at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Today, it
:35:20. > :35:26.is a busy theatre. But 200 years ago, it was at a financial heart of
:35:26. > :35:32.the city's cotton industry. At one point, Mancunians boasted it was
:35:32. > :35:36.the largest trading floor in the world. That was in the 1870s, and
:35:36. > :35:40.then Britain was booming. But fast- forward to today, and it is a
:35:40. > :35:46.different story. 18 months of austerity and cuts. The coalition
:35:46. > :35:52.says it has to be done, but do people agree? The cost of living is
:35:52. > :35:56.too expensive at the end of the day for normal people. I am concerned
:35:56. > :36:00.about the number of young people unemployed and the fact that small
:36:00. > :36:03.businesses are not getting loans to start up. I am in recruitment and
:36:03. > :36:08.the way the market is going at the moment, they are a lot of people
:36:08. > :36:14.out there and not a lot of jobs. There is no support for businesses
:36:14. > :36:18.to develop and progress. I think David Cameron is doing a great job.
:36:18. > :36:24.As good as possible. It will get better, we just have to be patient
:36:24. > :36:27.and work hard. Well, with me to discuss whether
:36:27. > :36:31.the chancellor's got it right or not - Frank McKenna, the chairman
:36:31. > :36:33.of regional networking group Downtown in Business. Cathy Elliott,
:36:33. > :36:36.the chief executive of the Community Foundation for Lancashire
:36:36. > :36:39.and Liverpool, a charity which works to promote the big society
:36:39. > :36:41.and philanthropy. Steve Stott, the regional manager for public sector
:36:41. > :36:51.union Unison. And Councillor Michael Ranson, the leader of
:36:51. > :36:53.
:36:53. > :36:57.Ribble Valley Council. If I can start with you, Steve Stott, this
:36:57. > :37:00.autumn -- this autumn statement is not meant to include new policy
:37:01. > :37:06.announcements, but what would you like to hear from the Chancellor on
:37:06. > :37:10.Tuesday? An apology. An apology for the fact that these cuts are too
:37:10. > :37:14.deep, too fast, and they are affecting ordinary members of
:37:14. > :37:19.society in a significant way, which means that people are uncertain
:37:19. > :37:24.about their economic futures. Household incomes are plummeting
:37:24. > :37:29.and there is no guarantee about future jobs, growth and development.
:37:29. > :37:33.And now they are attacking our pensions. So we want to see an
:37:33. > :37:39.apology for those policy decisions and some changes in the way in
:37:40. > :37:44.which they tend to deal with the deficit. Frank McKenna? I think
:37:44. > :37:49.we're looking for signs that there will be more support for businesses,
:37:49. > :37:52.particularly small and medium-sized enterprises. There is no question
:37:52. > :38:02.the economy has stagnated since the summer. The eurozone crisis has
:38:02. > :38:02.
:38:02. > :38:09.said that as -- put us in another area of uncertainty. I think
:38:09. > :38:12.Cameron has to start looking at the tax regime and cutting bureaucracy
:38:12. > :38:18.and red tape. We year the government talking a lot about that
:38:18. > :38:22.but we haven't seen as much action as is necessary. As far as general
:38:22. > :38:28.cuts are concerned, I don't think they have much room for manoeuvre
:38:28. > :38:32.to be fair. The deficit has to be reduced. I would argue against the
:38:32. > :38:35.disproportionate nature in the way those cuts have been introduced. In
:38:35. > :38:39.the north-west, we have suffered far more than elsewhere in the
:38:40. > :38:43.country. But other than that, I don't think there is a case to be
:38:43. > :38:47.made that we should cut back in terms of looking at extra
:38:47. > :38:55.expenditure. I don't think we have that sort of security. Cathy
:38:55. > :38:59.Elliott? There has been some support for the voluntary sector in
:38:59. > :39:03.this time of transition. Infrastructure charities will hear
:39:03. > :39:07.about that in January, but not all charities will benefit, so it would
:39:07. > :39:11.be good to hear more about what support can be given. I appreciate
:39:11. > :39:16.it has to be a short time thing as we look towards sustainability. The
:39:16. > :39:20.other thing is, the government is asking for philanthropists to step
:39:20. > :39:26.up at this time. I think so more support for them would be helpful.
:39:26. > :39:31.As a Community Foundation at work, we are organising an endowment
:39:31. > :39:38.scheme, but so more support would be great. And finally, Michael
:39:38. > :39:46.Ranson? The government has to help small businesses, because that is
:39:46. > :39:52.where the growth it will come from. We look to see improvement of
:39:52. > :39:56.infrastructure, but we are in a very difficult decision -- position,
:39:56. > :40:01.and we have been struggling with the eurozone crisis now for a few
:40:01. > :40:05.months. I think we have to look at it and say, if the Chancellor had
:40:05. > :40:11.not done what he did 12 months ago, we would have been in the position
:40:11. > :40:15.of Spain, Portugal, France. There is very little room for manoeuvre
:40:15. > :40:22.in that respect. And it will not get an awful lot easier, but it is
:40:22. > :40:27.something we have to continue with. I will stop before the moment
:40:27. > :40:32.because, obviously, it has been 18 months of austerity and cuts in the
:40:32. > :40:42.north-west. We thought we would add up exactly what council has done
:40:42. > :40:44.
:40:44. > :40:50.what. Our political editor has the Official figures show that in the
:40:50. > :40:59.north-west, the number of people in local government has reduced from
:40:59. > :41:02.222,000 to 204,000. That is a cut of 18,000 full-time jobs, or about
:41:02. > :41:09.8% of the work force. Meanwhile, some councils have changed
:41:09. > :41:18.conditions of employment. For example, one has stopped extra
:41:18. > :41:22.payments for and sociable hours. -- four hours which are not sociable.
:41:22. > :41:32.Many of our staff been less than �17,000 a year and they are facing
:41:32. > :41:38.a thousand found -- a �1,000 pay cut. We find ourselves in a very
:41:38. > :41:44.difficult financial situation throughout the UK and it is
:41:44. > :41:51.important we reflect that. course, it is not just jobs, but
:41:51. > :41:57.services as well. Here are some examples. Bolton council stopped
:41:57. > :42:04.providing free bags the dog to. Borough Council's reduced opening
:42:04. > :42:09.hours for its Docks Museum. And herein Lancashire, they are
:42:09. > :42:16.proposing to close four out of 19 household recycling centres,
:42:17. > :42:26.including this one in Colne. I was surprised, in this day and age,
:42:27. > :42:28.
:42:28. > :42:31.when a cycling is so important for them environment. -- recycling.
:42:31. > :42:35.asked each council how much money they have lost from annual budget.
:42:35. > :42:45.The total came into at three- quarters of a billion. In cash
:42:45. > :42:46.
:42:46. > :42:49.terms, the biggest loser is Manchester City Council which has
:42:49. > :42:53.lost 25% of its budget. There is a sort of feeling in government that
:42:53. > :42:57.you can reduce the amount of expenditure by simply being more
:42:57. > :43:00.efficient. But there comes a point where, actually, efficiency gains
:43:00. > :43:05.don't give the the level of reduction they are looking for. So
:43:05. > :43:09.you're talking about actually reshaping it into a different kind
:43:09. > :43:13.of service. And unlike everything here, those jobs, budgets and
:43:13. > :43:19.services are unlikely to be recycled. They are probably gone
:43:19. > :43:25.for good. We move now to Preston, to Lancashire County Council where
:43:25. > :43:29.I'm joined by the Conservative leader. Councillor, we have seen
:43:29. > :43:32.are the fact you are closing four recital in centres. Do you accept
:43:32. > :43:42.that because of the cuts there are services which you would like to
:43:42. > :43:47.keep but which have to go? That is inevitable. Back-office cuts take
:43:47. > :43:54.up less than 10% of our budget. If we have to lose 25%, it is
:43:54. > :43:57.inevitable we will luck -- look at frontline services. We are closing
:43:57. > :44:01.four recycling centres so we can protect services to the more
:44:01. > :44:06.vulnerable people in Lancashire. And have you been able to do that?
:44:07. > :44:11.Well, yes, we have. We are in a good place and we are in a position
:44:11. > :44:14.where we can invest more in services for vulnerable people. For
:44:14. > :44:19.example, as you know, we have done a three-year budget and we are
:44:19. > :44:24.ahead on some of the savings. have got rid of about �80 million
:44:24. > :44:30.so far, is that right? Yes, we had to do that as part of this year's
:44:30. > :44:35.budget. But we are ahead on next year's predicted figures. So we
:44:35. > :44:45.have been able to invest more in respite services for kill children,
:44:45. > :44:48.
:44:48. > :44:54.for example. -- for Sick children. These are one-off savings. Yes, so
:44:54. > :44:57.we must invest them in one of issues, rather than on going.
:44:57. > :45:01.think you are there any council in the north-west that implemented a
:45:01. > :45:06.three-year budget. Has it worked out? Yes, it meant we could make
:45:06. > :45:10.the reductions in a considered way, without having to panic and make
:45:10. > :45:14.last minute measures. It also meant we made the savings for the three
:45:14. > :45:17.years. Some are not yet implemented but we know what they will be, so
:45:17. > :45:23.that gives certainty for the people of Lancashire who receive our
:45:23. > :45:27.services. And for our staff as well, so they are not looking over their
:45:27. > :45:36.collective shoulder wondering what is going to happen next. Thank you,
:45:36. > :45:40.councillor. Cathy Elliott, you work with the
:45:40. > :45:45.third sector. Council cuts have hit this sector quite badly, haven't
:45:45. > :45:48.they? They have. The voluntary sector at the moment is looking at
:45:48. > :45:53.the effect of that and we are behind every other sector, because
:45:53. > :45:56.we are waiting to see what happens. Donations are down and funding from
:45:56. > :46:00.public services is down as well. So they are charities which will close
:46:01. > :46:05.down and have done already or will do in the future. But what the
:46:05. > :46:14.sector is doing at the moment is reorganising itself, working a lot
:46:14. > :46:20.more in collaboration, considering mergers. The council, the CBS have
:46:20. > :46:25.come together with members of the community to continue to put the
:46:25. > :46:28.sector in the needs of the community as well. I imagine when
:46:28. > :46:34.you hear it charities are having to merge to keep themselves going,
:46:34. > :46:42.does it make your heart sink? course there is a place in society
:46:42. > :46:47.for the third sector. But again we have to get to the point that, in a
:46:47. > :46:51.modern society, public services are crucial. Well, it your members are
:46:51. > :46:55.going on strike, and some would say that will cause more damage to the
:46:55. > :46:59.economy. Our members are really going on strike because this
:46:59. > :47:03.government has decided that people should work longer, pay more and
:47:03. > :47:09.get less in terms of pension provision going forward. That is a
:47:09. > :47:13.legitimate concern that people have, and they have decided to vote for
:47:13. > :47:18.industrial action as a way of showing to this government, and to
:47:18. > :47:23.our communities at large, the importance of the work that our
:47:23. > :47:27.members do, the necessity of that work, and that we cannot allow the
:47:27. > :47:35.situation to deteriorate any further. There are lots of ways in
:47:35. > :47:39.which existing pension schemes are financially sound. This is not
:47:39. > :47:45.about making those pensions seem sound a, it is about paying back on
:47:45. > :47:50.the deficit. The deficit, which I repeat, has not been caused by
:47:50. > :47:53.union members or public sector employees. From the private sector
:47:53. > :47:56.perspective, there may be more sympathy with the public sector if
:47:56. > :48:00.they were looking at different issues. I think pensions is the
:48:00. > :48:04.wrong issue to go on. What should they be looking at? Well, I think
:48:04. > :48:08.if you were to say that Manchester, Liverpool and other parts of the
:48:08. > :48:12.north-west have undertaken cuts that are far over and above what
:48:12. > :48:17.other parts of the country had seen, and think you would get private
:48:17. > :48:24.sector support. We would never want to see industrial action, but the
:48:24. > :48:27.idea... But this isn't just pensions. Pensions is the headline
:48:27. > :48:30.issue. And I have to say, if you look at what has happened to
:48:30. > :48:35.private sector pensions during the same period, they have been
:48:35. > :48:40.absolutely decimated. Similarly, if you are looking at a population
:48:40. > :48:46.which is ageing year on year, none of us, thankfully, are living at
:48:46. > :48:53.last, so inevitably there will be an impact on how we can pay those
:48:53. > :48:55.pensions. Let me bring in Michael, because you are leader of the
:48:55. > :49:00.Ribble Valley council and you have not had to make any redundancies
:49:00. > :49:10.and you have managed to freeze council tax. Howard you done that?
:49:10. > :49:10.
:49:11. > :49:16.First of all, I hate the word "cuts". It is restructuring. Local
:49:16. > :49:24.government is in a major need of restructuring. It had gotten quite
:49:24. > :49:29.a bloated in the past 10 years. You can look at the amount of people
:49:29. > :49:34.that they can let go, and in fact the services have not been badly
:49:35. > :49:38.affected. One local council, they had six directors paid over
:49:38. > :49:42.�120,000 a year. They have got rid of four of them and I don't think
:49:42. > :49:47.they have noticed! So when I say restructuring, I really do mean we
:49:47. > :49:51.have to look at what everybody is doing. As far as Ribble Valley is
:49:51. > :49:55.concerned, we looked at this before the last election and decided that,
:49:55. > :50:00.whatever would happen, whichever government was in power, we would
:50:00. > :50:10.have to reduce our costs. So you would say you were more prepared
:50:10. > :50:12.
:50:12. > :50:17.than other councils? I think we had about 20 or 25 people who left and
:50:17. > :50:23.we never replace their jobs. Because we knew that it was
:50:23. > :50:26.unsustainable. Steve, can other councils do what they did here?
:50:26. > :50:30.councils are having to look at the way in which they operate. All
:50:30. > :50:35.councils about responsibility. The trade unions are working with those
:50:35. > :50:45.councils to ensure services are provided and the cuts that ochre
:50:45. > :50:45.
:50:45. > :50:50.are ameliorated as much as possible. -- the cuts that happen. But it is
:50:50. > :50:52.the work force that has to pay for this mess. We say that there are
:50:52. > :50:57.alternatives, and some of the alternatives that are being put
:50:57. > :51:01.about now are quite sensible. For instance, looking at the way in
:51:01. > :51:05.which the VAT increase last year has had an absolutely detrimental
:51:05. > :51:12.effect on small businesses - we should look at that and maybe a
:51:12. > :51:16.review that and reduce it. Let me bring in Frank McKenna. Vat, are
:51:16. > :51:22.you worried there could be another increase in that? I don't think
:51:22. > :51:28.there will be another increase. The problem with the changing VAT on a
:51:28. > :51:34.temporary basis is it often causes more businesses more hassle than it
:51:34. > :51:38.is worth. Small businesses want finance the most. Banks have
:51:38. > :51:42.stopped lending. They all say they are open for business, but the
:51:42. > :51:45.reality is different. The Chancellor has to come up with some
:51:45. > :51:49.practical help for businesses in terms of finance. The other thing
:51:49. > :51:55.is red tape and bureaucracy. You know, around issues such as
:51:55. > :52:05.employment law and tax. Eight m r I a more aggressive now in terms of
:52:05. > :52:09.
:52:09. > :52:13.chasing small businesses and they have ever been. -- HMRI. I think
:52:13. > :52:18.councils such a big -- such as Liverpool have been terribly
:52:18. > :52:23.creative in how they have handled all these cuts. They are working
:52:23. > :52:28.with the unions and with the private sector in those cities to
:52:28. > :52:32.actually continue the economy moving forward. But, as I say, what
:52:32. > :52:37.we all want is the is compromised negotiation. And I am afraid strike
:52:37. > :52:42.action does not help in that regard. I understand and appreciate it is a
:52:42. > :52:47.last resort. I don't think we're there yet. Cathy, let me bring you
:52:47. > :52:57.in their. What we're trying to do is making sure the needs of the
:52:57. > :53:00.community is met. -- are met. What we always want to do in the
:53:00. > :53:06.voluntary sector is benefit the people in the community. It is
:53:06. > :53:11.about thinking of new ways in which we can work together. OK, thank you
:53:11. > :53:14.for joining us. Now with a look at this week's
:53:14. > :53:17.events, here's Gill Dummigan. The Employment Minister was in
:53:18. > :53:21.Liverpool this week talking tough on benefits. Chris Grayling says
:53:21. > :53:28.he'll do more to help the unemployed to find a job, but they
:53:28. > :53:33.have to do more to help themselves. We want to help you get back into
:53:33. > :53:37.work, but if you don't accept that help, you can't expect to keep
:53:37. > :53:40.claiming benefits. In the week that the High Pay
:53:40. > :53:43.Commission found some executive pay packets increasing by 4,000 percent
:53:44. > :53:46.in the past 30 years, one North West MP is calling for it to be
:53:46. > :53:49.given more clout. Manchester Central MP Tony Lloyd wants a
:53:49. > :53:56.permanent commission with added powers. He says the current pay gap
:53:56. > :54:03.is bad for the morale of the whole country. This kind of pay gap is
:54:03. > :54:06.very socially divisive. That is not good for any of us.
:54:06. > :54:09.And, after months of wrangling, it has been confirmed the Liverpool
:54:09. > :54:12.Coastguard station will close in 2015. It is part of a re-
:54:12. > :54:17.organisation of the service, which will see the closure of eight
:54:17. > :54:20.stations. However, a rescue team is being kept on Merseyside.
:54:20. > :54:22.That is just about it for this week. Just to mention that we can
:54:22. > :54:25.officially call ourselves the award-winning North West Politics