:00:51. > :00:55.In the Midlands, a day of action on our own. Angers as a pensions
:00:55. > :01:05.adviser tells striking Unionists that they have a very good deal. We
:01:05. > :01:05.
:01:05. > :34:44.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2019 seconds
:34:44. > :34:48.after they Worcestershire town that How low from the Midlands. A little
:34:48. > :34:53.later we will visit the town in Worcestershire which doesn't
:34:53. > :35:00.particularly want to be lumped in with its heritage her neighbour.
:35:00. > :35:06.First, what made the bigger impact on the last week, the Chancellor's
:35:06. > :35:13.Autumn Statement, on the other hand it more austerity measures? As
:35:13. > :35:19.unions march across our towns over public sector pay we are here to
:35:19. > :35:25.answer those questions. Alongside me Margot James, the
:35:25. > :35:32.Conservative MP for Stourbridge, and Jack Dromey, the Labour MP for
:35:32. > :35:38.Birmingham, and former general secretary of the Unite union.
:35:38. > :35:44.Let's begin with our reporter he went out to the picket lines in
:35:44. > :35:49.Staffordshire. The union say it was the bigger
:35:49. > :35:54.strike for regeneration, the Prime Minister called it a damp squib.
:35:54. > :36:00.The action closed 5,000 schools in our region, disrupted bin
:36:00. > :36:06.collections, and disrupted burials. Thousands of people have taken part
:36:06. > :36:14.in demonstrations like this one in Stoke-on-Trent. We are here today,
:36:14. > :36:17.taking part in this... Many of us were inconvenience. We
:36:17. > :36:23.to have private pensions adviser, Richard Jacobs, to meet people on
:36:23. > :36:30.the picket line. The it is not to do the bankers. They have a
:36:30. > :36:37.fantastic pension, costing too much money. I'm a little bit angry about
:36:37. > :36:44.that. It is 4002 Niger pounds per year. That is not a golden pension
:36:44. > :36:54.at all. It is about �80 a week. have been in pensions for 40 years.
:36:54. > :36:56.
:36:56. > :37:03.I have a good pension. It is only eight -- �8,000 here. A teacher
:37:03. > :37:07.retiring now would have �18,000 a year. What we have just heard from
:37:07. > :37:11.Richard is that things are much worse than the private sector. The
:37:11. > :37:21.reality is that the government is telling us that these pensions are
:37:21. > :37:22.
:37:22. > :37:26.not affordable. There is an important point to be made here.
:37:26. > :37:31.The taxpayer is paying for this already. What will happen in the
:37:31. > :37:36.public sector is once people cannot afford to pay these increases, they
:37:36. > :37:42.will opt out of their pensions. I would like to know his views on
:37:42. > :37:49.that. There is a big problem with public sector pensions. We actually
:37:49. > :37:54.pay taxes. We are paying by our own pensions. The yard since continued
:37:54. > :37:59.-- the arguments continued. The unions are accusing the coalition
:37:59. > :38:08.of lying, and attacking their members. With opinion so divided,
:38:08. > :38:12.is there really any chance of a compromise? Students at
:38:12. > :38:17.Staffordshire University were hard at work covering the day's events.
:38:17. > :38:20.They said the strike was a game changer. The legacy of this strike
:38:20. > :38:25.is going to have serious repercussions for the relationship
:38:25. > :38:30.with the government. More seriously for the Labour Party he it is going
:38:30. > :38:34.to have repercussions for the relationship between the trade
:38:34. > :38:41.unions, and Ed Miliband. Because his failure to support the trade
:38:41. > :38:44.unions means they see themselves as isolated. It is going to be a very
:38:44. > :38:48.difficult year for both the government, the trade unions, and
:38:48. > :38:52.the Labour Party. Back on the picket line, that difficulty is
:38:52. > :38:57.evident, as they continue to debate what is fair when it comes to
:38:57. > :39:04.pensions. Then this, it is claimed by lots of
:39:04. > :39:11.people. It is an elusive concept. Margot James can you understand the
:39:11. > :39:21.frustration, the irritation that they felt on those big airlines? --
:39:21. > :39:21.
:39:21. > :39:28.picket lines. They are not on fantastic incomes. It is not to the
:39:28. > :39:32.gold-plated pension that has been put about by the myth machine?
:39:32. > :39:36.sure there are quite a lot of myths in circulation. One of the reasons
:39:36. > :39:45.that we have tried to protect the lower-paid workers is for that
:39:45. > :39:55.reason. We recognise that public servants are low-paid. It is not
:39:55. > :39:59.
:39:59. > :40:04.until they earn 20 per �1,000 here -- �21,000 here that those at --
:40:04. > :40:10.those effects come in. Shouldn't a baby putting pressure on the
:40:10. > :40:18.private sector -- shouldn't they be putting pressure on the private
:40:18. > :40:24.sector? We are asking people to work a little bit longer. Someone
:40:24. > :40:30.in the 60s is going to we living ten years longer. We have not
:40:30. > :40:34.caught up with that. We have no choice but to do that. That does
:40:34. > :40:38.not see me to unreasonable. We are living longer. People in the
:40:38. > :40:44.private sector are having to do that. A sensible negotiation is
:40:45. > :40:51.exactly what was happening with our government. An agreement on
:40:51. > :40:55.flexibility was reached. What is happening now is that the
:40:55. > :41:02.government is penalising public sector workers. It is not a viable
:41:02. > :41:06.in the long term. It is everything to do with their visit the suction
:41:06. > :41:16.-- the deficit reduction. A firefighter in my community is
:41:16. > :41:18.
:41:18. > :41:27.going to have to pay 20 by isn't -- �20,000 more to receive less. Or it
:41:27. > :41:31.is wrong, it is unfair. Are you embarrassed by Ed Miliband's buried
:41:32. > :41:40.unequivocal approach on this. He has failed to come out in support
:41:40. > :41:47.of the unions. He was very clear on Wednesday. He called for the
:41:47. > :41:51.government to start negotiating. There are mixed messages coming out.
:41:51. > :42:01.Francis Maude was coming up with warm words, then a George Osborne
:42:01. > :42:03.
:42:03. > :42:09.was declaring war. You have Michael Gove branding 2 million workers as
:42:09. > :42:16.tools of the trade unions. The government needs to focus on an
:42:16. > :42:23.agreement. Briefly, D feel the pain of responsible people, like
:42:23. > :42:31.ambience workers, police officers, being bad-mouthed by senior people?
:42:31. > :42:39.The issue is one of fairness. The average public sector worker would
:42:39. > :42:47.have to put one third of their salary in. They cannot go on like
:42:47. > :42:54.that. The tax payer cannot afford it. The average pension in local
:42:54. > :43:01.government is �3,000 a year for an overwhelmingly part-time female
:43:01. > :43:09.workforce. These are decent people who deserve security in retirement.
:43:09. > :43:14.These low-paid women, under �15,000 here, No change. Up to �21,000 a
:43:14. > :43:18.year, hardly any change. We are being careful to be as fair as
:43:18. > :43:24.possible. We have a lot to get through thank
:43:24. > :43:32.you very much. The Chancellor referred to our part
:43:32. > :43:37.of the country in a three separate sections of his statement. He
:43:37. > :43:44.talked about more variable speed limits on the M6. And a new bridge
:43:44. > :43:51.in Evesham. He turned a deaf ear to those at Birmingham Airport in a
:43:51. > :43:57.cut in taxes. The funding of a runway development is seen as a
:43:58. > :44:07.role model for our other major projects. Our correspondent gauges
:44:07. > :44:15.reaction. The IMF support our deficit reduction.
:44:15. > :44:24.An Autumn Statement, or was it more like a mini budget. -- a mini-
:44:24. > :44:31.budget? I can to affirm that allowances will try and encourage
:44:31. > :44:35.businesses in a Sheffield, the Black Country, the Midlands. This
:44:35. > :44:42.is a business park in Wolverhampton is an enterprise zone, and seemed
:44:42. > :44:52.to be the home a Jaguar and Rover - - and soon to be the home of Jaguar
:44:52. > :44:56.
:44:56. > :45:04.Land Rover. The plan to build new infrastructure seen to have been
:45:04. > :45:09.inspired by the new runway at Birmingham or poor -- airport.
:45:09. > :45:13.will mean 20 billion in pension fund money. The recession is
:45:13. > :45:22.continuing to grind many of us down, there was some better news on job
:45:22. > :45:29.fronts. They were encouraging more small businesses to take people on.
:45:29. > :45:35.In this Warwick Business Park, employers seemed underwhelmed.
:45:35. > :45:44.Would you employ young people to take a job? I don't upping that is
:45:44. > :45:49.a good idea -- I don't think that is a good idea. Escaping the
:45:49. > :45:55.recession is a top priority for the government. Opposition MPs still
:45:55. > :45:59.maintain the cuts are too deep. This is a reckless policy, that the
:45:59. > :46:03.government has stuck to. It is having a devastating impact on
:46:03. > :46:06.families around the country. Something needs to work, and having
:46:06. > :46:12.revise their spending plans, the government is hoping for it has
:46:12. > :46:21.done enough to get the UK, and the Midlands back on track.
:46:21. > :46:27.You can go to my blog for more on George Osborne's plan to cut
:46:27. > :46:33.traffic. There has been a lot of talk about
:46:33. > :46:37.gloom in the statement. Does enterprise zones, and
:46:37. > :46:46.infrastructure projects, a lot of that can be seen to be straight out
:46:46. > :46:51.of the Labour textbook. You have to look at the fact. The government
:46:51. > :46:58.cut a lot of investment in new homes. House building has collapsed.
:46:58. > :47:04.It has gone down 99%. That came between the gap between the
:47:04. > :47:08.previous government and this one. It is this government's cards. We
:47:08. > :47:14.have a budget that was a monumental admission of failure. Unemployment
:47:14. > :47:19.is rising, boring is rising, and living standards are falling. The
:47:19. > :47:24.consequences will be felt a to rout the Midlands. There will be 100,000
:47:24. > :47:28.more children in child poverty, unemployment will reach 3 million.
:47:28. > :47:38.Young people are out of work. Those policies are hurting, they are not
:47:38. > :47:38.
:47:38. > :47:47.working. The government is saying, full steam ahead. We heard in that
:47:47. > :47:51.report that it was devastating, it was not having an effect. She has a
:47:51. > :47:56.very high rate to unemployment in her constituency. I know how hard
:47:56. > :47:59.it is, there is a lot of unemployment in my constituency. I
:47:59. > :48:08.can be absolutely certain, that if there was not for our policies, it
:48:08. > :48:14.would be even harder. If we had stuck to Labour's proposals, the
:48:14. > :48:18.country would be even more in debt. It could only be worse by following
:48:18. > :48:22.their approach. The other problem about this Budget is that the
:48:23. > :48:27.impact falls upon the poorest in society, and for the great majority
:48:27. > :48:35.it is going to be seven years of austerity. They raised an
:48:35. > :48:45.alternative, why not repeat the bank is bonus tax, �200 billion.
:48:45. > :48:50.
:48:50. > :48:58.Build a more affordable homes. This was a Bollington budget. I refute
:48:58. > :49:02.that. We are trying to put young people back to work. I saw that
:49:02. > :49:06.clip, I did not agree with him. Most young people want to work,
:49:06. > :49:11.there are some who don't. I see no reason why he should be concerned,
:49:11. > :49:18.most people want to work. We are giving an incentive to employers to
:49:18. > :49:24.take young people on. They are looking poor work. -- they are
:49:24. > :49:28.looking to work. What to make about the idea of making public sector
:49:28. > :49:32.pay more responsive to regional variations in the private sector
:49:32. > :49:39.around the country? Is this a way of getting a good deal of the tax
:49:39. > :49:41.payer, or driving down public sector pay? I used to be a
:49:41. > :49:46.negotiator for public servants. What this will mean is that the
:49:46. > :49:56.people of the West Midlands will lose out to those found in the
:49:56. > :49:58.
:49:58. > :50:07.south-east. It is more than that, what they are proposing, is to have
:50:07. > :50:12.privatisations, you could have pay cut, sick pay cut, it is a dark day.
:50:12. > :50:17.We are looking at what is affordable. We are borrowing too
:50:17. > :50:23.much in this country. We have a eurozone crisis. There is a threat
:50:23. > :50:27.of another recession. We have to cut our cloth accordingly. We
:50:27. > :50:37.cannot go on spending so much more than we are collecting in tax
:50:37. > :50:41.
:50:41. > :50:46.revenues. Thank you very much for the moment.
:50:46. > :50:56.Pay attention, this is a question. Are you absolutely sure you know
:50:56. > :51:01.where you live? Is Newcastle under Lyme in stone. Could Malvern really
:51:01. > :51:04.be said to be along with Herefordshire. These are the
:51:04. > :51:07.questions that the Boundary Commission have been asking in the
:51:07. > :51:17.last three months. They are redrawing our constituency
:51:17. > :51:21.boundaries to cut the number MPs by five. We have been investigating an
:51:21. > :51:25.interesting recommendation. Formed from some of the oldest
:51:25. > :51:29.rocks in England, the glorious now than hills, they act as a natural
:51:29. > :51:39.boundary between Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
:51:39. > :51:43.Look at what is on the horizon. With apologies to Elgar, and Julie
:51:43. > :51:51.Andrews, these hills are not allied with the Sound of Music, the
:51:51. > :52:01.discord. There are plans to renew a man made a boundary. -- a new man-
:52:01. > :52:03.
:52:03. > :52:08.made boundaries. In efforts to make our parliamentary boundaries more
:52:08. > :52:15.democratic. They are planning to split boundaries here. We have
:52:15. > :52:19.concerns about our sense of identity. Not only would it
:52:19. > :52:29.disenfranchise the Botha, I think it would lose that sense of
:52:29. > :52:31.
:52:32. > :52:39.community. We would have to deal with two district councils. For the
:52:39. > :52:46.SNP, it was see her constituency disappear. -- this MP. I have
:52:46. > :52:49.written to the Independent barry constituency or -- the Independent
:52:49. > :52:57.Boundary Commission are saying that our constituency would like to
:52:57. > :53:01.remain there were houses -- remain how it is. The government wants all
:53:01. > :53:05.constituencies to remain roughly the same size. In practice that
:53:05. > :53:15.means the West Midlands and Gloucestershire will lose five
:53:15. > :53:22.
:53:22. > :53:27.constituencies. From 63 to 58. When the commissioner's roadshow turned
:53:27. > :53:33.up in the West Midlands, there was a protest. The Boundary Commission
:53:33. > :53:37.have got this wrong. They have split a historic town into four
:53:37. > :53:44.different parts. In his defence, the Boundary Commission is doing
:53:44. > :53:50.the job they were told by an Act of Parliament. Previously the
:53:50. > :53:55.commission would have been able to give a much greater weight to
:53:55. > :54:02.existing local identity. They cannot do that, they have to
:54:02. > :54:05.deliver the numbers. What happens when you start mixing things up?
:54:05. > :54:13.The apple is the symbol of Herefordshire, while for
:54:13. > :54:22.Worcestershire it is the pear. We could end up with a fresh fruit
:54:22. > :54:25.salad, or a dog's breakfast. think it is disgusting. I do not
:54:25. > :54:35.see the point in any of this messing about whatsoever. It is
:54:35. > :54:40.probably better. You will have more punch? I would have thought. Just
:54:40. > :54:49.this week, and in harmonious row was reported between the Tories and
:54:49. > :54:58.Labour between the boundary of lead-free. -- Ledbury. Whatever the
:54:59. > :55:04.boundaries, they will be used for the first time in the 2015 election.
:55:04. > :55:14.Margot James, if you look at the constituencies in your area,
:55:14. > :55:17.
:55:18. > :55:27.Stalbridge, and Lyme Regis, you along with two other MPs are
:55:27. > :55:36.chasing two seat between a three. agree. We suggest that they respect
:55:36. > :55:46.communities. Of will have to see what they decide. You would it gain
:55:46. > :55:47.
:55:47. > :55:54.a bit of Caroline Spelman's area. How is that going down with you?
:55:54. > :55:57.Like a lead balloon. Sutton was coming to Erdington. Both
:55:57. > :56:07.communities are unanimous in their opposition. He does not make any
:56:07. > :56:10.
:56:10. > :56:20.sense. -- it does not make. There are 100 more members in the House
:56:20. > :56:21.
:56:21. > :56:25.of Lords. Does it harm the Tories less than other parties? Jack does
:56:25. > :56:33.ignore the fact that it takes more votes to elect a Conservative
:56:33. > :56:40.government than a Labour government. That cannot be fair. A more even a
:56:40. > :56:50.constituency base is more fair. commission are hell-bent on getting
:56:50. > :56:51.
:56:51. > :56:58.that numerical number right. That Malvern example, the part of the
:56:58. > :57:03.community, they are 32 miles from Evesham. What do they do with that?
:57:03. > :57:10.They have only just reported. There will be a consultation. When they
:57:10. > :57:16.come back to look at it. They will iron out some of those numbers. It
:57:16. > :57:23.does not seem to make sense, that one in Worcestershire. I'm sure
:57:23. > :57:27.they will listen, and trying get things better than they were.
:57:27. > :57:37.have Labour MPs sitting on, in effect a rotten boroughs, they have
:57:37. > :57:39.
:57:39. > :57:44.to be something done? -- there has to be something done. Yes. We need
:57:44. > :57:49.to get more people registered. We need to get people registered to
:57:49. > :57:56.vote. What we should not be doing is going down the path of their
:57:56. > :58:04.party political motivated a exercise -- go down the path of a
:58:04. > :58:14.party political, motivated exercise. I'm going to challenge might go to
:58:14. > :58:15.
:58:15. > :58:22.a very brief response. -- Margot. It cannot be right can it.