Browse content similar to 23/10/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello from the West. Another week and another apology from the North | :00:47. | :00:56. | |
Somerset MP Liam Fox. Disability campaigners say changes could force | :00:56. | :01:06. | |
:01:06. | :01:06. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1786 seconds | :01:06. | :30:52. | |
Hello. The former Defence Secretary admitted he made mistakes but could | :30:52. | :30:57. | |
other MPs be at risk because of their links with lobbyists? | :30:57. | :31:01. | |
The local disabled campaigners who fear cuts to their benefits will | :31:01. | :31:07. | |
mean they cannot afford to live. High levels of suicide, situations | :31:07. | :31:17. | |
:31:17. | :31:17. | ||
where people will find themselves Welcome. He pledged his loyalty to | :31:17. | :31:22. | |
north Somerset and Liam Fox will now have more time to serve his | :31:23. | :31:25. | |
constituents but his first appearance on the backbenches did | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
little to calm the controversy surrounding his departure coming | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
just hours of a pretty damning report into his actions as Defence | :31:34. | :31:41. | |
Secretary. What are the lessons? Dr Liam Fox. | :31:41. | :31:47. | |
For the first time in 18 years, he is just a backbencher. Liam Fox, | :31:47. | :31:54. | |
his voice charged with emotion, was not going quietly. Last week's | :31:54. | :32:01. | |
media frenzy was not unprecedented. I believe there was, from some | :32:01. | :32:05. | |
quarters, a personal vindictiveness and even hatred that should worry | :32:05. | :32:12. | |
all of us. But it was the revelations that forced an official | :32:12. | :32:16. | |
investigation and some chastening Commons. Report said there had been | :32:16. | :32:21. | |
an inappropriate blurring of lines and overall a failure of judgment | :32:21. | :32:24. | |
by the Secretary of State for Defence who had ignored warnings | :32:24. | :32:31. | |
from civil servants. One who has worked closely with him is south- | :32:31. | :32:36. | |
west will share MP and another former doctor involved in military | :32:36. | :32:42. | |
matters. I can tell you he valued this job enormously. He always | :32:42. | :32:48. | |
wanted to do it and was doing extremely well. Perhaps, he told me, | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
civil servants could have done more. It is a Minister's responsibility | :32:53. | :32:59. | |
and officials simply advise but one wonders also whether those warnings | :32:59. | :33:03. | |
were sounded loudly enough and a suspect we might hear more of that | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
in the weeks to come. At the root of his downfall was the big private | :33:08. | :33:12. | |
money paid so that Adam Werritty could accompany him around the | :33:12. | :33:17. | |
world. Was it cash for influence? David Cameron has spoken out about | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
that. There is a big issue we can no longer ignore - the next big | :33:23. | :33:29. | |
scandal waiting to happen. It is an issue that crosses party lines and | :33:29. | :33:35. | |
has treated our politics for too long. It exposes the far too cosy | :33:35. | :33:42. | |
relationship -- tainted our politics - between business and | :33:42. | :33:49. | |
money. The Coalition agreement to me to does to introduce a statutory | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
register of lobbyists introducing greater transparency. Remember the | :33:54. | :34:00. | |
man's defiance when the story first hit the headlines? I asked the | :34:00. | :34:05. | |
Cabinet secretary to see if there has been any breach. I have asked | :34:05. | :34:08. | |
the Permanent Secretary to look into any of these wild allegations | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
and I am very happy to stand by that. His seeming reluctance to | :34:13. | :34:18. | |
admit the truth made things worse. It is often the case that not | :34:18. | :34:23. | |
coming out with an answer straight away leads to more trouble and | :34:23. | :34:27. | |
relatively small things then become very damaging and it is a less than | :34:27. | :34:31. | |
those of us in politics need to learn and relearn and remind | :34:31. | :34:36. | |
ourselves of. It doesn't make the original offence any more or less | :34:36. | :34:41. | |
serious. At least there is one thing Liam Fox does not need to | :34:41. | :34:47. | |
worry about. In his constituency this week, I found no realistic | :34:47. | :34:53. | |
moves by local Tories to unseat him. The association is 100% supportive | :34:53. | :34:59. | |
of him and I think he has a lot of support around here. Most people, | :35:00. | :35:07. | |
after a couple of weeks, will support him as their local MP. | :35:07. | :35:14. | |
will be no small comfort as a Liam Fox gets used to more time at home. | :35:14. | :35:20. | |
Joining me today is the Conservative MP for Stroud, Neil | :35:20. | :35:28. | |
Carmichael and that local MP. Any sympathy with Dr Fox? I certainly | :35:28. | :35:33. | |
think he had to resign and I think there are a lot a lot - much awful | :35:33. | :35:38. | |
lot of questions to answer. His resignation should not draw a line | :35:38. | :35:46. | |
under them investigation. At the heart of it is the issue he may | :35:46. | :35:50. | |
have breached security by taking his friend on these trips but the | :35:50. | :35:55. | |
key thing is there were very wealthy people prepared to fund | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
these travels and people who had perhaps a vested interest in | :36:00. | :36:04. | |
foreign policy outcomes and interests in the defence industry. | :36:04. | :36:11. | |
We need to get to the bottom of that. It might be that his friend | :36:11. | :36:17. | |
had that sort of power? I suspect he personally did not have that | :36:17. | :36:24. | |
much influence. I don't really know what kind of influence he had but | :36:24. | :36:28. | |
the fact that people were prepared to fund this to the tune of | :36:28. | :36:35. | |
hundreds of thousands of pounds, we need to get to the bottom of that. | :36:35. | :36:38. | |
Do you agree with the Prime Minister that the relationship was | :36:38. | :36:44. | |
perhaps too cosy between MPs and business and cash? That has been | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
the case in the past. He has now resigned and everyone has | :36:50. | :36:54. | |
understood he accepts, perhaps belatedly, that he made mistakes | :36:54. | :36:59. | |
and the matter has been dealt with. George Young told parliament what | :36:59. | :37:04. | |
would happen next and that is quite comforting I think. More regulation | :37:04. | :37:08. | |
about the role of lobbyists? Certainly what we want is a proper | :37:08. | :37:17. | |
list or register, a statutory register. I have called for that in | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
Parliament and we need to be reminded that we need to get on | :37:21. | :37:27. | |
with this. Why? I we do not want this situation to happen again. | :37:27. | :37:31. | |
you think There others in your party doing it? I very much hope | :37:31. | :37:37. | |
not but the public needs to be assured we have a grip on this. | :37:37. | :37:44. | |
have recently been promoted. Are the lobbyists circling and get some | :37:44. | :37:52. | |
favours from you? Lobbying covers a huge range. I have always worked | :37:52. | :37:56. | |
closely with the organisations like Save the children, World Vision on | :37:56. | :38:00. | |
issues to do with child poverty. They are lobbyists in the sense | :38:00. | :38:05. | |
that they have a cause they want you to espouse but I don't think | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
anyone would say I shouldn't be associated with them. Then you get | :38:09. | :38:16. | |
commercial lobbyists or corporate affairs people. So why it is -- is | :38:16. | :38:19. | |
it OK to listen to for vested interests from a charity but not | :38:19. | :38:27. | |
others? Not all lobbying is bad. The key issue is transparency. | :38:27. | :38:33. | |
Recently I met with Gatwick Airport because they wanted me to lobby on | :38:33. | :38:39. | |
air passenger duty but a think the danger isn't so much about those | :38:39. | :38:44. | |
sort of meetings. A register of lobbyists would only go a certain | :38:44. | :38:50. | |
way towards covering that. The danger is the informal contacts | :38:50. | :38:53. | |
like dinners with chief executives and that will not be reported in | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
the register and that is where the real influence over government | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
policy happens. When they have been five Defence Secretary's in six | :39:03. | :39:06. | |
years, you would spend a lot of money lobbying one and then he is | :39:06. | :39:15. | |
off! Liam is the 7th since we went to Afghanistan, which is a bit too | :39:15. | :39:21. | |
frequent eight turnover. I hear the point about informal contacts. A | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
register is going to be difficult because we have to have definitions | :39:25. | :39:29. | |
and you have touched on that because they will be some people | :39:29. | :39:36. | |
who think themselves as a lobbyist but others will be less Clear. | :39:36. | :39:44. | |
Friends? Absolutely, so we have to think very carefully about that. | :39:44. | :39:50. | |
That's why political reform is necessary. It will be difficult but | :39:50. | :39:55. | |
we will be contacted all of the time as that is what is happen -- | :39:55. | :40:04. | |
happens when you are an MP. Michael Gove's private office being funded | :40:04. | :40:10. | |
by donors has been in the news this week. And trade union funding for | :40:10. | :40:16. | |
Labour? That is very public. Let us have a balanced discussion. We have | :40:16. | :40:26. | |
:40:26. | :40:27. | ||
Disabled people living here have told us they fear changes to their | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
benefits will force many below the poverty line leaving them unable to | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
afford to live and work. The Government's Welfare Reform Bill | :40:35. | :40:41. | |
will be voted on in the coming weeks and it proposes a 20% cut to | :40:41. | :40:45. | |
the disability living allowance. Disability groups say they are the | :40:45. | :40:50. | |
forgotten poor and the changes must be stopped. | :40:50. | :40:58. | |
Meet Magritte young. Four years ago her life changed for ever. My right | :40:58. | :41:04. | |
I began to lose sight. In hospital, my right eye was OK but my left eye | :41:04. | :41:10. | |
was practically gone. A white stick his head new companion. She has to | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
wear a badge because of her visibility and now has extra costs | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
for things she took for granted before paid for through her | :41:18. | :41:24. | |
disability living allowance. I am unable to do my hair. I also need | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
my nails cutting. I cannot do things like that. She says she | :41:29. | :41:35. | |
cannot afford to lose with any less money. I feel so frightened and | :41:35. | :41:41. | |
scared that I go to bed thinking about the allowance and how my life | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
has been affected and how it might be affected from now on. Could you | :41:45. | :41:52. | |
cope without the money? No, I really couldn't. For many disabled | :41:52. | :41:57. | |
people, simply getting to a shopping High Street involves | :41:57. | :42:02. | |
getting a taxi or bus so the dilemma for politicians is how to | :42:02. | :42:07. | |
cut 20% of the budget whilst protecting the most vulnerable. | :42:07. | :42:12. | |
Iain Duncan Smith has said he wants to clamp down on those cheating the | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
benefits system and to make it cheaper and fairer. DLA is a | :42:16. | :42:24. | |
lifeline for many but it isn't just a lifeline. It isn't working | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
effectively enough in its current form. So it will be cut by 20% and | :42:30. | :42:35. | |
simplified to only to tears of our wards. Disabled people's needs will | :42:35. | :42:39. | |
be reassessed as their circumstances change. The living | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
allowance is meant to be a contribution towards the extra | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
costs of disability. They are not scroungers, they are in genuine | :42:46. | :42:53. | |
need. The level of fraud of this benefit is under 1%. That is | :42:53. | :42:56. | |
according to the governments themselves. There is a lot of | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
misrepresentation of that issue in the press but the reality is, all | :43:01. | :43:06. | |
the people who receive the benefit, it needed. Those who will lose out | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
will be in genuine hardship as a result. With a reduction in money, | :43:10. | :43:17. | |
disabled groups like this one Fiat those with severe physical | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
impairments will get more than those with less obvious needs. | :43:22. | :43:28. | |
Hoop around the table gets disability living allowance? All of | :43:28. | :43:37. | |
year. Andy all get the highest rates? I get the Middle rate. | :43:37. | :43:44. | |
someone took your money away, how would you manage to live? David | :43:44. | :43:48. | |
Cameron said, when he had a daughter with cerebral palsy like | :43:48. | :43:58. | |
:43:58. | :43:58. | ||
me, he said that people with this at -- disabilities, why can't they | :43:58. | :44:06. | |
have more money and he has gone back on his word. You are cutting a | :44:06. | :44:11. | |
bit of money to say it 20% but the impact on a person is 50% of their | :44:11. | :44:16. | |
income. In two or three years will we be at crisis point with people | :44:17. | :44:23. | |
unable to pay bills, been isolated and lonely. We are talking about | :44:23. | :44:27. | |
going into big institutions. government had promised those who | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
are disabled and genuinely in need will not suffer but their promises | :44:31. | :44:37. | |
have not reassured all. I would like to think we would not see | :44:37. | :44:43. | |
anything but in reality, I think we will see, and I hate to say this, | :44:43. | :44:50. | |
higher levels of suicide, people in real neglect, effectively the | :44:50. | :44:55. | |
emergency End of social care will suddenly burgeoned. There will be | :44:55. | :44:59. | |
more hospital admissions because lots of things which have enabled | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
people to keep going, keep a job and their health, those things | :45:02. | :45:07. | |
we'll go. There will be a cumulative negative impact on the | :45:07. | :45:13. | |
emergency End of health and social care. | :45:13. | :45:19. | |
Still with me are art to MPs. It is obvious looking at the internet and | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
talking to disabled people that there is a lot of genuine fear | :45:23. | :45:30. | |
about this. Are they right to be frightened? No, they are not. As | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
Iain Duncan Smith said, lots of people to benefit from delay and | :45:35. | :45:43. | |
the transition to the new rate, the personal independence allowance, | :45:43. | :45:47. | |
will get support if they need it and some will get more support and | :45:47. | :45:53. | |
that is a point to get across. the budget is being cut by 20% or | :45:53. | :46:03. | |
:46:03. | :46:06. | ||
�2 billion? Yes, so there will be losers, when they? Some people have | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
not been assessed for a very long time. It is important to get a fix | :46:11. | :46:17. | |
on who needs it and he doesn't. did it happen that, over an eight- | :46:17. | :46:22. | |
year period, the number of recipients increased by over a | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
million? I think there was a recognition that people with | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
disabilities need additional financial help and that is what the | :46:32. | :46:34. | |
disability living allowance is about. The fact that there was | :46:34. | :46:40. | |
take-up of that is good. As the report said, the fraud rates on | :46:40. | :46:46. | |
this are not 0.5%. So if the government is cutting the payments, | :46:46. | :46:52. | |
they have to be losers, as you say. Will there be some people who were | :46:52. | :46:56. | |
getting this payment and entitled to it and then they find they will | :46:56. | :47:01. | |
have to make ends meet without it? That is with all the other cost-of- | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
living rises going through the roof. Everyone will have to be reassessed | :47:07. | :47:15. | |
from 2013. That might be quite frightening for a disabled or sick | :47:15. | :47:20. | |
person but, on the other hand, if they are getting �6,000 a year tax- | :47:20. | :47:24. | |
free, the taxpayer is entitled to say if that person is entitled to | :47:24. | :47:32. | |
it? There are two issues with that. It is difficult to assess some | :47:32. | :47:35. | |
people on a short-term basis because, if you are blind, you will | :47:35. | :47:40. | |
be blind until the end of your life in all likelihood. There is a | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
question as to where the need to carry out assessments on everybody. | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
But there is real concern about the way assessments are carried out at | :47:48. | :47:53. | |
the moment for work capability and whether disabled people can go to | :47:53. | :47:58. | |
work. That is working badly and there are some horror stories about | :47:58. | :48:02. | |
some people being assessed as fit to work when they are terminally | :48:02. | :48:05. | |
ill. We need to make sure the assessments are working properly | :48:05. | :48:15. | |
and are not penalising people. many people will go back into work | :48:15. | :48:25. | |
and are there the jobs around? Gerrard jobs around. I note the | :48:25. | :48:29. | |
circumstances... We have had disappointing unemployment figures | :48:29. | :48:33. | |
but if people who want to work can work they should be allowed to so | :48:33. | :48:37. | |
we want to remove the false ceiling to remove people going into work. | :48:37. | :48:44. | |
But the assessments have received consultations to make sure the | :48:44. | :48:48. | |
assessments are fair and that they consider all aspects and that the | :48:48. | :48:53. | |
person feels comfortable about them. The consultation has just finished | :48:54. | :49:01. | |
and the new process for the new rates will be more reasonable and | :49:01. | :49:08. | |
that is right. If someone is assessed and they feel aggrieved.... | :49:08. | :49:14. | |
I assessing 2.5 million people will cost a lot of money, won't it? Yes, | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
but they will not all happen at once and people don't need to feel | :49:18. | :49:23. | |
worried because the package is all about being considerate and | :49:23. | :49:27. | |
incorporating all the aspects of a person's lifestyle and conditions. | :49:27. | :49:33. | |
Thank you both very much indeed. Finally, David Cameron has said he | :49:33. | :49:37. | |
wants more women in top jobs and this week there was good news for | :49:37. | :49:42. | |
one of the West's rising stars. Claire Perry, the Conservative MP | :49:42. | :49:49. | |
for Devizes has been promoted to be the Parliamentary Private Secretary | :49:49. | :49:53. | |
to the new Defence Secretary. A step up for the MP who was only | :49:53. | :49:59. | |
elected in 2010. There are lots of people who are | :49:59. | :50:02. | |
never permanent secretaries and go on to great things but it is a nice | :50:02. | :50:09. | |
step. I'm very happy to do the job. Even the 10,500 troops to live in | :50:09. | :50:13. | |
the constituency and their families it is great to think I can serve | :50:13. | :50:16. | |
them even better by being involved in the MoD. | :50:16. | :50:21. |