04/12/2011 The Politics Show South East


04/12/2011

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Financial prosperity or environmental ruin? As plans for a

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new airport in North Kent gather speed, we ask, is that the

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political will to make it happen? Clause, the households facing a

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2020 seconds

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Hello, welcome. Coming up, food or fuel? The tough choices facing a

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growing number of households in our region.

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Sometimes, you feel hungry and you wonder what you are existing four.

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After all of these years of working. The prospect of a Thames estuary

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airport takes off. And, can brighten's cream Council

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deliver on its election promises? It is official, we have just had

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one of the warmest autumns on record. How long will the mild

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weather last? Thousands of families will want it to last and right

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through the winter, with fuel bills a big worry. For 140,000 households

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here, officially in fuel poverty, but worry is a shop as a winter

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frost. For them, heating costs will burn up at least one 10th of their

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income. Some said they are forced to make a choice between keeping

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warm and having enough to eat. With no real prospect of falling bills

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in sight and the Government cutting the season will fuel allowances,

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people here could be facing a heart and harsh winter. What is being

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done to tackle the fuel poverty problem?

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By day, this man does voluntary work in this cafe in East Sussex.

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Helping provide hot meals for pensioners. By night, he goes home

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to a house he cannot afford to heat. It is difficult. We have to wear

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extra clothing, myself and my wife, we are both disabled, we are both

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of retirement age, obviously, and we have to wear extra jumpers, even

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indoors with the heating on. Every year, you have to turn it down more.

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It is very difficult. My wife spent nearly a month in hospital in

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January with pneumonia. Since that, she has constantly had colds and

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she still has breathing problems. I suffer with asthma. It is

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imperative that I keep warm. I have got to pay more just to exist. With

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the bills being so high, the only other weight they can be reduced is

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the amount of food that we have. Sometimes, you feel very hungry,

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and you wonder why you are existing. After all of these years of working.

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He is not alone in struggling. A household is in fuel poverty if it

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spends more than 10% of its income on fuel to heat the home to a

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reasonable level. Phil poverty is a rapidly increasing problem, with

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gas and electricity prices going up and up. Over the last year, the

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average household's annual energy bill has increased by �224, to

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nearly �3,000. In the South East, 140,000 households are in fuel

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poverty. Of those, the highest proportion is in rather, where over

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80% of the population struggle to pay their energy bills. The MP for

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the area is Craig Barker, also the minister in charge of fuel poverty.

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The next worst his Thanet, 16.2%. Followed by Shepway, 15.7%. But

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whilst the scale of the problem is growing, the government has decided

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this year's allowance will be less than last year, down by �50, to

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�200 for people over 60, and by �100, to �300, for the over 80s.

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Some say this will result in higher healthcare costs. The reductions

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are very short-sighted. Both of the amounts are going down, by a

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reasonably substantial amount. The effect will be that people have a

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choice, they either heat their homes or eat, or maybe not do both.

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In the long run, it will have an effect on people's Health, because

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there is a link between well-being and keeping warm in winter.

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Eventually, they will be a bill picked up by the NHS. It is not

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just pensioners two struggle. We met this woman, who has lived alone

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since her husband died of cancer. She has also got the disease.

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the heating, I am using a hot-water bottle. I cannot afford to put the

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heating on. I have had four different types of chemotherapy and

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two types of radiotherapy, but it keeps coming back. And not heating

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your house properly does not help? No. I suffer with hot flushes and

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everything, but even so, called his cold, it goes right through to your

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bones. There are schemes designed to help insulate people's homes,

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but there are also Kattegat, and they exclude lots of people, such

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as Andy helping if the house has very little or no installation, or

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a heating system that does not work. And less money is being made

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available for it than in previous years. Some people say the least

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the Government should do is reinstate the winter fuel allowance

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to last year's level. They should think again, there are many ways

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this could be funded. It is a modest cost. Those campaigns

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representing all the people and the community at large, they should

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press the Government to think again. This is something they could do a

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U-turn on? We have got to demand they do. There are 6 million people

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in England in fuel poverty, a large number of pensioners, and single

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people. The government should be trying to protect and support them.

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What advice would people give to the government? Lots of people need

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your help. It is not just people my age. There are lots of youngsters

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as well. I would urge them to think about this again. Bring it back to

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what it was, because lots of people are suffering this year.

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government has made several U-turns in the last 18 months. Many people

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are arguing that if anything it is worth reversing, the decision to

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reduce this allowance is it. What should the government refocusing

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on? They have decided to invest billions in improving transport

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infrastructure? --. But could a fraction of the money be given to

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This situation is inescapably awful. What can you do about it? I agree,

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that was a moving piece. When people talk about choosing between

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fuel and food, it is enormously difficult. All the people will

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attract sympathy. One area I would like to do something in is what we

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are doing in terms of renewables. Every single energy company has to

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put an extra amount on the bill, and it can easily be �100 a year

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for a household, which goes to subsidising renewable energy and

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building wind turbines and infrastructure, even though that

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has to be backed up with gas supply as well. Why not start off with the

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basics? The winter fuel allowance. For the last three years, it has

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been higher than this Government have said it. You have reduced it

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by �50 for the over-sixties and by �100 for the over 80s. In Medway,

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13,000 households in fuel poverty. Nationally, Nick Watt of the

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population. Why did you drop the allowance? It is not fair to say

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that the coalition government have cut the winter fuel allowance in

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that way. Last year, the outgoing Labour government brought in for

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one year... They have had a higher winter fuel allowance for the last

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three years. It might have gone at headlines, but it was for three

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years it has been at the higher rate. You could have chosen to

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stick with that. Those amounts were something that, even in the Labour

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Party's spending pounds -- plans, they were going to do that.

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Exchequer had a 200 million pound windfall as a result of the extra

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VAT on higher gas and a letter to the bills. Nine reputable

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organisations campaigned for the Chancellor to channel that back to

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vulnerable people. He did not do that. He gave �250 million to big

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business. That is the wrong priority at a time like this.

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we need to do in order to help people struggling to pay the fuel

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bills is the orientate our help. Instead of making two the energy

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company's -- instead of making the energy companies more wealthy, it

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should help people insulate their homes. That has a bigger impact in

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terms of reducing bills and allowing people to heat their homes

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and not have as bad problems as some of these people you saw in

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your clip. But it will also reduce carbon emissions by much more than

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many of these real projects. you had �200 million. The last

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round of spending provides people with insulation and people with

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energy efficient boilers. The last round was �1 billion. This is too

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rigid and �10 billion. -- �210 billion. We do not have this money.

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That means we are borrowing to 222 billion of around 222.2 billion. We

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are borrowing 9% of whatever we earned. If it was to continue, the

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markets would not lend the money they do to the British government

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at 2%, and we would pay something like Italy, 7% a year. One idea,

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you can means-test the winter fuel allowance. Why do you give it to

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somebody like Helen Mirren, a well paid actress? She does not wanted.

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If you means tested it, you could give more money to people that need

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it, and you would not have to pay it to wealthy pensioners. I would

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encourage Helen Mirren and others to put that money back into the pot

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or to support charities who are helping people. But the government

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will not means tested? You means- test child benefit. The order that

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against it, the more it is done, the less incentive there is to save.

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I had people coming in... You think pensioners have money to save?

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you means test every benefit for pensioners, people have no

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incentive to save and a do not put away money during their working

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life. I would like to help bring down the fuel bills, help

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pensioners to insulate their houses properly, and in terms of

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supporting that, but also taking action on climate change to the

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extent that there is an issue with admissions, -- emissions, the money

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should be used, rather than subsidising renewable energy, by

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putting it into home insulation, by helping people with energy

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efficiency measures, so that pensioners such as some of those

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are your clip are able to afford to heat their homes.

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Controversial plans to build a new airport in Kent came a step closer

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when the Chancellor said the Government was looking at all the

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options to improve aviation capacity in the South East. Two

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proposals for an estuary airport have been put forward, won by Boris

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Johnson, one by Lord Foster, whose design would accommodate up to 150

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million passengers a year. Those in favour say it would revitalise the

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region's economy and bring much- needed jobs, while opponents argue

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it would be expensive and an environmental disaster. I wonder

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who you think is right. Let's listen to the arguments. We found

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it very hard to uncover a political figure in Kent who is unequivocally

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in favour of a massive new airport for North Kent. Argue that man?

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definitely. All three political parties have joined up and started

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to be against something to we have not even considered. The people

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have not been asked what they think. The three leaders of the political

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parties have decided that they are against this proposition. You may

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oust the word rubbish. I am very good at lip-reading. You are not

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still banging on about a third runway at Heathrow? The do not

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listen to the Autumn Statement? had a U-turn on winter fuel

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allowance and promising they would keep it, now we have a U-turn on

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the promised they would not be an estuary airport. I never heard that

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promise. It was made in the run-up to the general election. David

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Cameron has been repeatedly questioned at PMQs. Let's be clear.

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He was asked at PMQs last year whether there were any plans, and

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he said there are no plans. That is not the same as a promise never to

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build. The promises were made clearly. As soon as the coalition

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said they would not have expansion at Heathrow or at Stansted or at

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Gatwick, it meant that they then became a probe -- possibility of a

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free-for-all to start bidding for other places, because everybody

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knows that we have to meet the requirements of business, of us as

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individuals who want to go on holiday, for leisure purposes, to

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meet their aviation requirements. What is your idea? You know the

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third runway is off the agenda. What is your idea? We have the

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position at -- we had the position to have the third runway, but now,

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I suggest that the leaders in Kent and Medway and Essex should look to

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what the capacity is at the existing provision. Southend,

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Manston, look at Gatwick, the new owners of Gatwick have said they

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have spare capacity for something up to 200,000 passengers per year,

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without a new runway. And in addition, you have the equation

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that, after 2019, they could be an additional runway at Gatwick.

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piecemeal expansion is his best idea. Maud Foster has a plan for a

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massive airport and railway station. -- Maud Foster. It has a �50

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billion price tag. Where is the money going to come from? I am sure

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the government can raise the money. At the same time, we need

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regeneration. A big project like this would give a local people jobs,

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and after the airport has been built, we would have jobs forever.

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It is a great idea. Boris Johnson is right in looking at all the

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possibilities. I do not know why people are anti- Boris. He has a

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brilliant idea, they have got to support this. Interestingly, my

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experience is that public opinion has shifted. In 2003, the idea of

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the airport was rejected, people were happy. I spoke to a woman this

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week, a young mother, she does not want her community to be bulldozed,

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but even she says she can see the economic arguments that her

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children need to live in a country that has a vision for jobs and for

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growth. Absolutely. The argument was knocked out in great detail

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when there was the idea about this airport, and it still holds true.

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It is wrong to say it has never been considered. It was considered

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very thoroughly, along with 200 other sites, for meeting the

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expansion. But we are in a different economic world now.

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but the figures that are there in the Foster proposal talk about 150

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million passengers per annum, 300,000 people arriving by train

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every day. I saw figures like that and projections like that in all

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the detailed work that was done for the proposal in 2003, and the

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infrastructure will not be there. My record speaks for itself in

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terms of getting investment and looking for jobs for the Medway

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towns over the last 13-15 years. Actually, you would not have that

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ability to be able to expand and meet those requirements, because

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you would be gridlocked within the network, because the investment

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would just not happen to the decree that would be required.

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mentioned Boris Johnson. The politics of this is interesting.

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The MP for Sheppey and Sittingbourne said to me this week

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that the Chancellor is making positive noises about a new airport

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in North Kent to boost Boris Johnson's mayoral re-election

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campaign next year. It will never really happen. Why not? He will be

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re-elected comfortably. Also, when the localisation of business rates

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comes into force, all of the local councils will be want to have an

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airport in their backyard. You wait and see. Essex will benefit from

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this at the end of it, not Kent. do not even the tiniest bit excited

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that the biggest infrastructure projects in this could be for

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decades could happen here? -- biggest project in decades? We need

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a system that is that the purpose, but this is �50 billion, estimated

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today. If you speak to the aviation industry, this money is not going

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to come for a hub airport of this size and this magnitude. I want to

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see jobs in the Medway, but let's get them from other ways.

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The Green party in Brighton published its annual budget this

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week, the first ever set by a green local authority in the UK. They

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have come under fire for its controversial decision to raise

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council tax by 3.5% next year, instead of accepting a government

:54:44.:54:53.

sponsored freeze. Their manifesto pledge was to protect the most

:54:53.:54:57.

vulnerable, you have had a close look at their first budget, have

:54:57.:55:02.

they done that? The devil is in the detail with the council budget. At

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their press conference, they were keen to stress they have protected

:55:05.:55:09.

services for the vulnerable, so we think about old people, children,

:55:09.:55:14.

homeless people, people with HIV, they wanted to stress their

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protected those people, but if we look at the headline numbers, they

:55:17.:55:22.

have got to save �10 million from adult services over the next 10

:55:23.:55:25.

years and �5 million from children services. They conceded there would

:55:26.:55:31.

be some level of service reduction. But what they will also say it is,

:55:31.:55:35.

look where we have made the savings. Highways, street sweeping, street

:55:35.:55:39.

lighting. If you look at the percentage of the budget cut they

:55:39.:55:44.

have made, tourism, 15% of the total budget has been reduced from

:55:44.:55:49.

last year to next year. If we look at children's and adult services,

:55:49.:55:54.

it is much smaller, 2.5 to 5%. They have gone for the more visible

:55:54.:55:58.

services. They have chosen some ideological budgeting over what

:55:58.:56:08.
:56:08.:56:09.

might have been politically sensitive ones. Yes, we looked at

:56:09.:56:12.

the council tax increase, they said, if they were being politically

:56:13.:56:17.

sensible, they would invest that increase into all the things they

:56:17.:56:21.

are cutting, the shriek sweeping, the street lighting, the visible

:56:21.:56:25.

things that people get to see. Come election time, it will be

:56:25.:56:30.

interesting to see if they are penalised. It will be interesting

:56:30.:56:36.

to see if they have been naive. The Labour group claimed they could

:56:36.:56:39.

have actually protected vulnerable people more by being more

:56:39.:56:43.

imaginative. What do they mean? There is always a political storm

:56:43.:56:48.

when a budget is published, but Labour and the Conservatives,

:56:48.:56:52.

especially Labour, they have been scathing about their proposed

:56:52.:56:56.

council tax increase. What they say is, this rise was not necessary,

:56:56.:57:01.

they could have found his money from making difficult political

:57:01.:57:04.

decisions and then something to which looks at intelligent

:57:04.:57:08.

commissioning. This is local government speak for looking at a

:57:08.:57:13.

service, looking at how it can be delivered more efficient, could it

:57:13.:57:17.

be played its sector, followed receptor, community sector, and

:57:17.:57:22.

handing out that service. The Labour Party say they are opposed

:57:22.:57:25.

to privatisation and have been dragging their heels on this model,

:57:25.:57:32.

which the council was going hell- for-leather for previously. They

:57:32.:57:36.

have asked all the other political parties, interested groups, people

:57:36.:57:40.

living in the area, to have their say, they are consulting on at the

:57:40.:57:45.

moment. Yes, but I am intrigued about how much room for manoeuvre

:57:45.:57:50.

there is. They want people to get in touch by the internet. But when

:57:50.:57:53.

it comes down to balancing the books, will they be able to take

:57:53.:57:57.

those things into account? Pick out one thing that smacks of a green

:57:57.:58:02.

budget. Something that says it cannot have been any other party.

:58:02.:58:05.

am going to look up parking. They will increase business parking

:58:05.:58:12.

permits. 50% increase on business parking permits, up from �175 to

:58:12.:58:17.

�400. The other parties say it is because they are anti-car. They say

:58:17.:58:23.

they are bringing their prices in line with other authorities. Some

:58:23.:58:28.

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