:00:48. > :00:51.Will East Sussex miss out on an Olympic business contract? We
:00:51. > :00:56.examined the ways in which parts of the cities have fought hardest to
:00:56. > :01:06.make money out of London 2012. And there is your high street
:01:06. > :01:06.
:01:06. > :40:31.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2365 seconds
:40:31. > :40:37.resemble a ghost town? Should the Hello and welcome to the Politics
:40:37. > :40:40.Show and the South East. Coming up: will the South East miss out on
:40:40. > :40:44.Olympic business contracts. We look at what parts of the cities that
:40:44. > :40:47.have fought hardest to win contracts for 2012.
:40:47. > :40:50.The sure high street look like a ghost town. We asked that the
:40:50. > :40:56.Government could do more to save independent shops.
:40:56. > :40:59.And a relaxing summer break? Not likely. We look at what her MPs
:40:59. > :41:03.will be doing as they prepare for their party conferences in the Hon
:41:03. > :41:08.Tom. Is the city's going to miss out on
:41:08. > :41:12.business contracts for the Olympics? Thames and so addicted to
:41:12. > :41:15.Ten Tors had been fighting hard to stick your millions of Pounds of
:41:15. > :41:20.deals for local companies. East Sussex seems to be left on the
:41:20. > :41:25.sideline. So as the county council failed local buses and it is -- is
:41:25. > :41:33.it too late to change tack? And a moment, I'll be speaking to the
:41:33. > :41:38.leader of the council, but first Primary school children enjoying
:41:38. > :41:42.the sports facilities during the King et des at Tonbridge School in
:41:42. > :41:47.Kent this week. One of the aims is to get children in Bolton sport in
:41:47. > :41:51.the lead-up to the Olympics. Do you think people see something in the
:41:51. > :41:57.Olympics that makes them want to do it themselves. Yes. I am really
:41:57. > :42:02.excited. I want to play more sports when the Olympics come. Are you
:42:02. > :42:06.glad the Olympics is going to happen in this country? Yes. A one
:42:06. > :42:11.up the main benefits of the UK getting the Olympics is supposed to
:42:11. > :42:14.be the creation of a lasting legacy. But will there be a legacy here in
:42:14. > :42:20.the cities to? Across the region, different countries have very
:42:20. > :42:23.different approaches to 2012. Whilst East Sussex County Council
:42:23. > :42:26.seems to be sitting on the sidelines when it comes to the
:42:27. > :42:31.Olympics, Kent County Council is very much in the race. They had
:42:31. > :42:36.decided to throw everything at it. It is vitally important that Kent
:42:36. > :42:40.is part of the Olympics. We identified this before London had
:42:40. > :42:44.won the bad. We were up and running within seconds sending messages
:42:45. > :42:52.worldwide, saying come to Kent for tourism, come to get for pre-Games
:42:52. > :43:00.training camps. A much will tend to get through this? We believe they
:43:00. > :43:04.are due a win full of millions of pounds. That is absolutely huge.
:43:04. > :43:07.This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. More than 140 Genk
:43:07. > :43:12.businesses have now won contracts associated with the Games. We
:43:12. > :43:17.believe that is worth tens of millions of pounds. It is hosting
:43:17. > :43:21.one event. At Brands Hatch will be used for the road cycling. So far
:43:21. > :43:27.they have outpaced six Olympic teams to train in Kent in the lead-
:43:27. > :43:30.up. It is one of the most successful stations in the UK.
:43:30. > :43:34.Tonbridge Gill is one of the locations. We're thrilled that we
:43:34. > :43:40.have the us Julian Field and Trek team and that is about 100 people
:43:40. > :43:45.in total. Almost as many support as there are athletes. We have to judo
:43:45. > :43:49.teams from Eastern Europe, from Belarus and Ukraine. The county
:43:49. > :43:53.council have been hugely supportive and her success in attracting three
:43:53. > :43:58.countries already had to be the one or two more in the pipeline, is
:43:58. > :44:03.very much into the county council's involvement as well. Well these
:44:03. > :44:06.Kent children are getting to grips with rock climbing, in Surrey, the
:44:06. > :44:14.county has also done well in attracting foreign teams to train
:44:14. > :44:18.in the could she. -- the county. Kent and Sussex seems to beat --
:44:18. > :44:25.seemed to be making as much money is the can for the Olympics.
:44:25. > :44:32.However, in East Sussex, any help to boost the economy would help.
:44:32. > :44:40.But East Sussex is a little slow off the mark.
:44:40. > :44:42.With me is their Deputy Leader of East Sussex County Council. You
:44:42. > :44:46.heard Kent County Council saying that they had secured tens of
:44:46. > :44:51.millions of pounds of business contracts. It sounds like Surrey
:44:51. > :44:56.have stolen a march on them. Do you think that you have made a mistake
:44:56. > :45:00.not fighting harder for business contracts? We made a conscious
:45:01. > :45:05.decision very early on to consult with their burrows and districts to
:45:05. > :45:14.see what opportunities there were four East Sussex. We decided that
:45:14. > :45:20.we would work through education and sport to see what we could achieve.
:45:20. > :45:23.We have some awards for projects in East Sussex. Clearly, we hope that
:45:23. > :45:29.that along with all the other efforts that we have made will
:45:29. > :45:35.attract people into East Sussex. And I am sure that our businesses
:45:35. > :45:42.will benefit. We have but then the analysis that Kent and Surrey have.
:45:42. > :45:47.But of our fingers crossed approach, isn't it? We had a statement from
:45:47. > :45:52.the county council that spoke of a financial challenges, additional
:45:52. > :45:57.capacities and diverting resources. It all seemed complicated. Booted
:45:57. > :46:02.into simple language. Why did you not want to stump up? We have
:46:02. > :46:05.agreed that everything has to be linked to a long-term economic
:46:05. > :46:09.regeneration and clearly the analysis was done and we saw no
:46:09. > :46:14.benefits in that for going to bed against the likes of Kent and
:46:14. > :46:19.Surrey. They are much bigger at a authorities with much bigger
:46:19. > :46:25.resources and in fairness, much better geographically placed.
:46:25. > :46:31.Possibly for tourism, but the business contracts could be one by
:46:31. > :46:34.anyone. You businesses should have had more support. The support has
:46:34. > :46:38.been through the economic regeneration team. The
:46:38. > :46:41.consultations have gone on. What has happened in the other counties
:46:41. > :46:46.is that they had been more proactive in putting together at
:46:46. > :46:53.their results. I am not sure that we are without success, I think we
:46:53. > :47:01.have not collated hour results. have not appointed an Olympics
:47:01. > :47:05.court maker. -- co-ordinator. Hard to compete with your neighbours
:47:06. > :47:11.when you do not have one person whose focus is is to generate
:47:12. > :47:14.Olympic business. We are people within sport and education and the
:47:14. > :47:20.economic development team that take that role, but we have not
:47:20. > :47:24.appointed one person. You have not lost anything yet. It is a low-risk
:47:24. > :47:29.strategy. There will not be the trend of rewards that we're seeing
:47:29. > :47:32.him that Surrey. You could still change tack, would you? We are
:47:32. > :47:36.continue to work with any opportunities that will present
:47:36. > :47:41.themselves. We are re-evaluating on a daily basis any opportunities
:47:41. > :47:45.that come on, but they must fit with long-term economic
:47:45. > :47:54.regeneration in or area. But if you can do what Surrey are doing, that
:47:54. > :47:58.must be a good investment. If I felt that was the way, we would
:47:58. > :48:02.have taken that stance early on. contacted the Olympic organising
:48:02. > :48:07.Committee today and they have come from to us that about half of the
:48:07. > :48:17.total Olympic contracts are still up for grabs. There is still --
:48:17. > :48:17.
:48:17. > :48:22.there is still time, isn't there? Absolutely. I went at any
:48:22. > :48:25.opportunity to urge businesses to take these opportunities. There is
:48:25. > :48:32.a rule that the contents of can play, and there is a further role
:48:32. > :48:36.for businesses themselves. If you go to any high street in any
:48:36. > :48:42.town in the South East, you'll find the empty shops, boarded-up windows
:48:42. > :48:45.or to let signs. According to the retailers Association, a region has
:48:45. > :48:53.seen its second highest increase in the number of vacant shops in the
:48:53. > :49:00.country. Thorntons, the chocolate people are in trouble and pink high
:49:00. > :49:10.street names like wharfs are at distant memory. -- big high-street
:49:10. > :49:12.names like Walworth's. What exactly do you want the Government to do?
:49:12. > :49:21.There are three things that we would like them to seriously
:49:21. > :49:24.consider. The first thing is to look at the holiday that the
:49:24. > :49:28.employers national insurance contribution can get. The system is
:49:28. > :49:36.up in the North of England and we would like to see it extended down
:49:36. > :49:46.into the South East. Somebody employing a person on a salary of
:49:46. > :49:48.
:49:48. > :49:55.25,000 could save around 2.5 �1,000 per annum. -- �2,500. Anything else
:49:55. > :50:01.you might be trouble could business relief for small businesses.
:50:01. > :50:06.third one is the big one, and that is to put a bit more impetus behind
:50:06. > :50:10.the consideration that the government currently have of fixing
:50:10. > :50:17.thresholds for local authorities to pass on business rates to central
:50:17. > :50:22.government. Once the threshold has fixed, the additional business
:50:22. > :50:29.rates that local authorities can generate should be capped by the
:50:29. > :50:32.local authorities themselves. -- kept by the local authority. Should
:50:33. > :50:39.the government intervene when retailers up against it? Would you
:50:39. > :50:44.go for any of those suggestions? Some of those ideas are practical.
:50:44. > :50:49.It is the role of government to not run or managing in a detailed or
:50:49. > :50:58.make a managing way but to create the sort of environment that can
:50:58. > :51:01.see retail, particularly small retailers, thrive. As with this are
:51:01. > :51:04.traits, there are some good news. The government has little to
:51:04. > :51:08.repatriate some of the business rates so that local authorities
:51:08. > :51:15.will have much greater control over how that money is spent. At the
:51:15. > :51:19.moment, business rates go straight up to light all and then typically
:51:19. > :51:24.in the experience of the South East, are redistributed to other regions
:51:24. > :51:27.of the country and so we want to bring that system to an end. For
:51:27. > :51:35.towns are do very well, like Maidstone and Crawley and others
:51:35. > :51:45.across the South East, that could be a real opportunity. With regards
:51:45. > :51:46.
:51:46. > :51:54.to the business rates holiday, sorry, at their National Insurance
:51:54. > :51:58.all day, there is a case for saying that that could be extended further.
:51:58. > :52:02.There are things that the Government could do. Finally, there
:52:02. > :52:08.is a major piece of legislation going through which will give
:52:08. > :52:12.significant powers to local authorities over planning and over
:52:12. > :52:17.how they develop their town centres and their whole communities in the
:52:17. > :52:20.future. By implementing that piece of legislation, the local
:52:20. > :52:25.authorities have much greater control over doing the things that
:52:25. > :52:30.will help the local businesses. is partly your responsibility to
:52:31. > :52:34.help the shops. What is the picture in Maidstone? We have a successful
:52:35. > :52:41.town. We're the biggest retail centre in Kent. We have a good
:52:41. > :52:46.story to tell them there. We have 50% of the businesses on nationals
:52:46. > :52:50.and 50% of them are independent. The nationals, you can go to any
:52:50. > :52:54.High Street and find them. It is the independence that make the
:52:54. > :52:58.difference to a town. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to
:52:58. > :53:03.redirect the customers that come into Maidstone in to the slightly
:53:03. > :53:08.off-pitch at is which is where it was small independents are. What is
:53:08. > :53:14.the picture and Crawley? Things are cautiously getting better in terms
:53:14. > :53:22.of the local economy. Do you have boarded-up shops? There are empty
:53:22. > :53:27.shop units. The Citizens Advice Bureau are taken over one unit and
:53:27. > :53:31.we're using the unit in a community sense. There are a boarded-up shops,
:53:31. > :53:38.but this picture is improving and unemployment is going down now. It
:53:38. > :53:43.is a cautious recovery, but we're not out of the woods yet. If the
:53:43. > :53:49.restructuring of its economy means that we have to lead away from a
:53:49. > :53:55.consumption led economy and let shops that are viable fail, that
:53:55. > :53:59.his national market forces isn't it? Absolutely right. Of course we
:53:59. > :54:05.have vacancies in our town. We're running at 10.5% against the
:54:05. > :54:12.national average of 14.5%. Our picture is reasonably good. We have
:54:12. > :54:15.to accept the high streets are changing. We had different
:54:15. > :54:20.retailers there and constantly am being told that we have far too
:54:20. > :54:25.many coffee shops and charity shops and phone shops. But they are all
:54:25. > :54:29.making good money. Bank lending is a significant point here. UK's for
:54:29. > :54:35.biggest banks have signed up to project Merlin, which promises to
:54:35. > :54:42.lend more money to small businesses in 2011. Can the Government make
:54:42. > :54:49.sure that that happens. Are the teeth really there to make sure
:54:49. > :54:55.that that works? That project is very important. I think we'll see
:54:55. > :54:59.big investors going into smaller investments -- businesses. The
:54:59. > :55:03.government is determined that will banks will lend in a responsible
:55:03. > :55:07.and sustainable ways so that we have a sustained growth but we do
:55:07. > :55:10.it had the irresponsible lending that got us into the financial
:55:10. > :55:16.crisis that we are now recovering from. On the subject of lending,
:55:16. > :55:23.does that satisfy you? Is it happening? If you talk to the small
:55:23. > :55:29.businesses, anecdotally it is not happening. The words are good, but
:55:29. > :55:34.is it happening on the high street? Thank you for joining us. Summer is
:55:34. > :55:37.here and it is almost end of the parliamentary session. Cuts and a
:55:37. > :55:41.deficit have dominated the political landscape and Val local
:55:41. > :55:46.election when you were giving you a first has to react to the coalition
:55:46. > :55:49.government policies through up a few surprises in the South East.
:55:49. > :55:58.There was increasing vote for the Tories. What happens over the
:55:58. > :56:03.summer break? The summer recess, an opportunity for parties to reframe
:56:03. > :56:06.the messages to decide what they want to tell us at the party
:56:06. > :56:13.conference. What will the Conservatives to over the summer.
:56:13. > :56:18.There was a time when MPs of all parties with school to Barbados on
:56:18. > :56:23.their holidays. The Conservatives had a fantastic year last year and
:56:23. > :56:27.it did brilliantly in the local elections. The cuts that the
:56:27. > :56:32.implemented which they say they have had to implement will start to
:56:32. > :56:35.bite. Defects and public services are going to start to be felt. They
:56:35. > :56:40.have to remember that the other cities is their strong ground,
:56:40. > :56:44.their home territory, 25% of the city's economy work in the public
:56:44. > :56:48.sector and those cuts are going to bite. The need a message to explain
:56:48. > :56:53.why they are necessary, how they will develop growth again and to
:56:53. > :56:57.give people something to look forward to. A message of hope?
:56:57. > :57:02.think the Conservatives need a message of hope that this plausible.
:57:02. > :57:05.That becomes harder to deliver if the signals are not good. The
:57:06. > :57:09.Conservatives need to know how they will present them as if things do
:57:09. > :57:14.not look as good as they were hoping to a year ago. Let us turn
:57:14. > :57:22.to Labour. Have they made any process a -- progress in the South
:57:22. > :57:30.East? What the Labour have to do to penetrate the South East? Labour
:57:30. > :57:34.has to recognise just how serious their problems are. The need to win
:57:35. > :57:39.seats if they are going to form a government again. It is about the
:57:39. > :57:49.old question that Labour has never been able to resolve. Are the old
:57:49. > :57:49.
:57:49. > :57:57.Labour or new Labour? Were to be need to do to attract voters in the
:57:57. > :58:01.South East? They are Blairite. Tony Blair won the vote in the South
:58:01. > :58:04.East and the need to return to the aspirational message which
:58:04. > :58:11.understands the public sector as well as the private sector, which
:58:11. > :58:16.is not wedded in old fashioned views on trade unionism and the
:58:16. > :58:24.manufacturing. They lost it under Gordon Brown and does not seem to
:58:24. > :58:32.have recovered it under David Miliband. What will you expect you
:58:33. > :58:35.hear from the Liberal Democrat? Desperate and plaintive cries that
:58:36. > :58:40.they are different from the Conservatives. They want to be
:58:40. > :58:44.treated as an independent party and taken seriously. They have an
:58:44. > :58:48.extraordinarily different message to convey and the sparkle to world.
:58:48. > :58:58.They are associated so close with the Conservative Party. They are in
:58:58. > :59:08.coalition and they are finding it harder to market separate territory.
:59:08. > :59:13.
:59:13. > :59:20.-- mark out. There is one party that has a hope. That is due kept.
:59:20. > :59:26.-- UKIP. If they can sort out their internal problems, they could begin
:59:26. > :59:35.to grow again here in the south. What are at their problems?
:59:35. > :59:39.local cities MEPs that are at loggerheads. They are at each
:59:39. > :59:49.other's throats at the moment. They will have to sort out that internal
:59:49. > :59:55.argument and order to make process -- progress. To politicians enjoy
:59:55. > :00:01.the summer recess? They used to. I suspect these days the note the
:00:01. > :00:08.need to be seen to be working. -- denote that they need to be seen to