06/11/2011 The Politics Show South


06/11/2011

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Investec, an Englishman's home is his castle, at least until

:00:44.:00:48.

squatters moved in. Now there are moves to make squatting a criminal

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offence. And well the �113 million announced this week from the

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:01:03.:01:03.

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2219 seconds

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Regional Growth Fund deliver badly- Hello and welcome to the part of

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the show especially for us here in the South. My name's Peter Henley.

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On today's show: Are MPs really getting younger?

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Daniel Clark, member for the Isle of Wight. They are not, that was

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the Youth Parliament debating in the House of Commons this week.

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Also coming up, will the money the Government handed out from the

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Regional Growth Fund this week really do what it says on the tin

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and stimulate growth? First, occupations have been in the

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news, whether it is the tent city outside St Paul's or the of shoes

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that have been set up in Brighton and Bournemouth. -- the offshoots.

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And squatting looks set to be made a criminal offence. I will be

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talking to Mike Weatherley, who has campaigned for that change, and

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former Labour candidate Sarah Evans, who also happens to be a former

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squatter. But what about current squatters? Earlier in the week, I

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went to meet some in Britain. In Brighton, it has become part of

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the protest lifestyle. Squatting gets you somewhere cheap to live

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and it is also a statement about a society that allows properties like

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this to stand empty. 27-year-old Annie lived here until they were

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forcibly evicted. Look at it now, it is just ridiculous. It would

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house adequately the amount of rough sleepers I know personally.

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It moved to a derelict bed-and- breakfast and claims the neighbours

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were pleased to see them taken over. You can see the dilapidation on the

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frames here that we cannot reach. But we made what we had of it. The

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same applies to inside the building. The new Bill would only make

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squatting a criminal offence in domestic properties. There are

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fears commercial ones like this could come under even more pressure.

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But this group said they were more concerned about the principles of

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criminalisation. You have a lot of people sharing rooms. Are you

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worried there might be more people trying to squat? Buildings that

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have been left empty that no one wants, no one is doing anything

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about, they have no planning on them, we stay in them and we live

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in them because they would just be going to waste. But someone does

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own this. And you living in it is preventing it being turned into

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something else. They do not necessarily own this building. The

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owner of this building has actually passed away, so no one actually

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knows who owns it. And the general public might not know that much

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about squatters and when they hear you could go on holiday, come back

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and your house is squatted, it is a scary thought. Have you ever come

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across that? It has never happened in our circles, we would never

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squat someone's home. It is illegal already. We do not want to put

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people out of their homes. We believe housing should be a right,

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not a privilege. Forcing people out of their homes is against what we

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believe in. Let us take that point up with Mike

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Weatherley. Already, there are powers to stop people going into

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various places and that can be used by the police, who say they don't

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need this new one. No, the police told me they'd do needed. I was

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speaking to an inspector in Brighton and Hove, and they never

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prosecuted anyone to do the squatting in 18 years. It is

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illegal to enter a building but it is not a criminal offence. They get

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moved on, because damaged, they just move into another property.

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This is going to force a lot of vulnerable people out onto the

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streets? Squatters and homeless people are two separate things. I

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was for the homeless charity today and they are in favour of the

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squatting laws, because it is giving the homeless people a rough

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deal. Squatters are lifestyle squatters, by and large, they are

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trying to get something for nothing. That is certainly what we saw in

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that film, they were making a point about a principle and getting cheap

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accommodation. If someone steals your car, they get punished. If the

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still your house, at the moment, they do not. If everyone has the

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right to have a roof over their head. The Metropolitan -- the

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Metropolitan Police, the Law Society, they have all said,

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squatting in someone's house or a house that someone wants to move

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back into is a criminal offence, and the Met have said the laws are

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broadly all right. And if they are used properly, and I think this is

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where the problem arises, if they are used properly, it is easy to

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get people that a squat in someone's home out. But perhaps it

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is more a case of actually having enough resources for the police to

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actually action the law. Right. Mike Weatherley, we have had, the

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fact that people on the property and it is not a criminal offence

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for many hundreds of years, why change it now? It is on their

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criminal offence if when you get back home, you ask the squatters to

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leave and they do not. But they should not be in that property to

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start with. This whole reason why you have squatters rights comes

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about because we had some rogue landlords. But the landlord could

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not break the door down to throw people out when they had a right to

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be there. But squatters do not have a legitimate right to be there,

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they our lifestyle squatters, making a statement. I have to

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totally disagree. Shelter carried out an independent piece of

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research, and 78% of homeless people who had spotted at actually

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sought to get a roof over their head in a different way, they had

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approached the council, they had approached hostels, and had been

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turned away. Because we have a dire shortage of council housing. We

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have 5 million people on council waiting lists. We have 40,000

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homeless people, probably more, because there is a whole load of so

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faster for us that do not even register on the statistics. -- sofa

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surfers. We should put the empty properties back into use, we have

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incentives for bad landlords who are just holding on to it for the

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wrong reasons. But just because our enemy's enemy, shouldn't make it a

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friend to squatters. It is these lifestyle squatters we need to stop.

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We need to put the empty properties back into life, we need more

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homeless hostels, and I speak to a lot of charities that would support

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the moves about the squatters criminalisation, providing there is

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extra measures for the homeless, which the Government has announced.

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But most of the squatters are not the homeless people we are talking

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about. Sarah Evans, surely you would like to see some of these

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empty properties, some of the second homes, being used to house

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people. I think so. What we need to have in place is the ability for

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councils to compulsory purchase empty properties. My experience of

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squatting was living in a house, two rows of derelict houses, that

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is what happens. These houses are derelict in the majority of cases.

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And I had water running through the ceiling, holes in the walls and

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floor, no glass in the windows. Mice jumping out everywhere.

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you don't improve its? But I have no choice at the time. I managed to

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borrow some money in getting to a privately rented house. But then,

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that got repossessed. Once again, I had to move back again. At the time,

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I had just come out of college and had a huge debt, but the majority

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of people that are forced into squatty have mental health issues,

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drug and alcohol issues, they might have come out of an abusive

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relationship. Mike, this is what the independent study has shown.

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Even the Law Society and the Metropolitan Police have agreed

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that there is no evidence to support the need for Clause 26. And

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you are criminalising people, you are criminalising very vulnerable

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people. I find it unacceptable we should be saying that people should

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squat in these derelict buildings. They are dangerous, they should not

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be squatting there. Even if there was a link between on this is an

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squatting, we should not allow people to squat in those type of

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buildings. The second point you make about improving the properties,

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I have thrown the gone there down to all the sporting organisations

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in the country to show me one property they have been in -- they

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have improved and not one has been forthcoming. Sarah Evans, Mike

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Weatherley, thank you very much. More on this on Inside Out tomorrow

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night which follows the story of join decade, he had to go to court

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to evict a group of squatters from her mother's home in Berkshire. --

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joined the caber, who had to go to court.

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With at 100 members of the Youth Parliament were taking out --

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taking part in their annual debate in the House of Commons. Who knows

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what future Chancellor or Prime Minister might have been sizing up

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the green benches. Because politicians really do seem to be

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getting younger. We will create, the home on a democracy in which we

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believe. That welfare state is being ripped apart by a vicious and

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right-wing Tory lead Government. William Hague is a perfect example

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of teenagers with strong opinions on political matters, prepared to

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stand up and be heard. The Youth Parliament was designed to

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encourage 11-18-year-olds to do exactly that when it was

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established 12 years ago. Over 600 representatives are elected each

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year to campaign and influence decision-makers on issues which

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matter most to young people. On both regional and national levels.

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Why are you so interested in politics? Because I feel,

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especially locally, my MPs do not actually engage very well with the

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young people. When I talk to people in my area, they say, are they

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actually doing anything for us? When you are involved in the UK

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Youth Parliament, you have a real opportunity to change things, meet

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with decision-makers and try and influence the world and actual

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society we live in. I'd like to think you can come from somewhere

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small and effect something that is really big, affect the whole of the

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UK. -- affect. The average age of a councillor or a young MP is 40, or

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50s and 60s, so it does not seem to connect with the younger generation.

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Just because you are not old enough to vote doesn't mean you cannot

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make a difference. Members meet regularly with MPs and local

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councillors, organising events to make speeches and run campaigns.

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Public transport is an issue in my constituency. Over the summer, I

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have met with various different transport providers, managers, and

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discuss the issue. I am actually trying to compose at Transport

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report which looks and identifies the problems in my constituency and

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trying to think of practical solutions. I would like to create

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discounts for young people, you have the NUS card when you are 16-

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18, but you do not have any sort of card for a discount when you are

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under 16. And yet, you are not allowed to work until you have an

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even harder economic time. Over 60,000 people aged 11 to 18 took

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part in this year's ballot at the Youth Parliament. That is ten times

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the number who participated year before. But is the Government

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listening? If David Cameron was sitting here, what would you like

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to say? I would like him to talk to the young people more. I feel that

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young people are ignored in this country. Under previous governments

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as well. There is high youth unemployment, there is very little

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jobs around for people. And so, they need some sort of support to

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give them a helping hand in life. He needs to realise that making

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cuts is not going to help the economic growth. It is going to

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dampen it and make it worse. Make it even harder for people to boost

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the economy. In a society, you should look to increase social

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mobility and inspire young people, who are in their teens, so they

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want to achieve something in life and in education. With the removal

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of the cap on university fees, it is completely discouraging a lot of

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people who wanted to go to university. Order, order! The UK

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Parliament will consider the first motion of the day. So for one day a

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year, the Youth Parliament takes over and it is serious business. To

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debate and decide on which issued they should concentrate their

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campaigning on for the coming year. I think that public transport is a

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way of becoming more green and also, getting young people off the dole,

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especially people in rural areas. Especially as we have a 20 year

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high for youth unemployment. They live very at home there. We have a

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real MP in the studio. This year the Government announced the lucky

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winners in the second round of bids for the Regional Growth Fund. It is

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designed to safeguard or create jobs. In the first round in April,

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we got just one bid accepted. This time, we have got nine for the

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south-east. We have been promised �113 million of the �1.4 billion

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fund. To put that into context, the North East had 50 bids accepted. So,

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is our �130 million and nearly 1,000 jobs the Government said they

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will support a reasonable allocation? Willett really

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encourage the sort of growth the economy needs? -- will it really

:52:50.:53:00.
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encourage. We have got George Hollingbury, the Conservative MP.

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This particular fund allocation, are we getting very well organised?

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I like to think we the Goody area in the South East. But you would

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expect me to say that! But it does seem to be about this this

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involvement, is that helping? are an elected board, we have eight

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business leaders and some very influential this this is on that

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board. We have five from local authorities and one from higher

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education. We have a good board working solidly, all singing from

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the same hymn sheet. We submitted six Dave's and we were successful

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with almost two-thirds of them. -- six bids. Surely, Regional Growth

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Fund rebalancing the economy is not giving more money in grants to the

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south, however much Duggan would like to have it? There are parts of

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the South that are also suffering from a reduction in Government

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spending and are slightly less able to generate growth. It is quite

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right that some of the growth should come down here. I think the

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Solent Local Enterprise Partnership has done a fantastic job. They know

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exactly where the money needs to go, supported by local authorities who

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have been working to push the Partnership for South Hampshire.

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They knew exactly what they wanted and the top business to drive it.

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It has been very successful. It is the replacement for the retail

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development agency, which used to look at the whole of the South East

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on a broad level. -- of regional development agency. Those who shout

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loudest are going to get the most money. If you stop and think for a

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moment, we had bureaucrats sitting there in an unelected position,

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pushing things around on a board. What we have now is real, viable

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projects, pushed by people who are actually going to run them and make

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a difference local. It is not just a matter of pursue money towards

:54:57.:55:01.

something, we have people driving them to do things with. What about

:55:01.:55:05.

the Isle of Wight? Dipper to no good for tourism, and did not get

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the money, presumably because they were not part of such a forward-

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thinking l e p as yours. For a start, the Isle of Wight is very

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much part of the Solent LEP. We need to look at that, as to why

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they were unsuccessful. We submitted six days. Surely, the

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Isle of Wight is as deserving if not more so than -- as other parts

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of the South East? Well, I would disagree about Southampton and

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Portsmouth booming, there are lots of areas of deprivation in both

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places. We have to congratulate ourselves on the facts we were

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fortunate to get some of these bid is agreed. I am disappointed we did

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not get the ones for the Isle of Wight. And the headquarters for

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your organisation is in Portsmouth city council offices. There is

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surely a Portsmouth by us there. Not really, the biggest funding is

:56:02.:56:07.

coming to Southampton. Good answer! What about the people who are not

:56:07.:56:14.

part of an MEP? What about Thames Valley, Berkshire, Oxford City? --

:56:14.:56:23.

l e p. There is a confluence here are genuine deprivation. There are

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parts of Portsmouth and Southampton that are generally deprived and we

:56:25.:56:28.

need to bring some money in. Coupled with a fantastic structure

:56:28.:56:33.

that has been in place for a long time. It has worked particularly

:56:33.:56:37.

well on this occasion. I would say to you, I suspect there is more

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reason to have the spending down here on the south coast and South

:56:41.:56:44.

Central and there is in some of the other areas. It is not about

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deserving cases like the Isle of Wight, say, it is about getting

:56:48.:56:54.

growth, isn't it? If it means companies are already doing well,

:56:54.:56:58.

that is where the money should go. We need to be careful what we say.

:56:58.:57:03.

We had deprivation in Southampton and Portsmouth, severe deprivation

:57:03.:57:10.

in some quarters. Some real problems. Not withstanding all of

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that, we must understand the South East is the engine of the UK

:57:13.:57:18.

economy. I don't think it is good enough for Government to say, there

:57:18.:57:22.

is a North-South divide. We are delighted to have been so

:57:22.:57:28.

successful. The very last thing, the original purpose of this fund

:57:28.:57:32.

was to, say those areas that were particularly hit by a reduction in

:57:32.:57:39.

Government spending. That element has to be considered. It is

:57:39.:57:44.

investing in success, that is the idea. Thank you very much.

:57:44.:57:49.

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