27/11/2011 The Politics Show West

In the West: It will be the biggest picket line in decades. We hear

from workers who say going on strike next week is their only

option. And the local hunt campaigners who say they've given

up hope of winning a free vote in parliament. All that coming up

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2032 seconds

School's out for one day as teachers take industrial action but

how will be parents cope? People in the West fight back against public-

sector cuts. And the smell defeat. The campaigners who say they have

given up hope of getting the controversial hunting Act repealed

this Parliament. It's expected to be the biggest strike in decades.

It's reckoned this Wednesday more than two million public sector

workers will take action over proposed changes to their pensions.

Politically it's uncomfortable for the coalition and for Labour. But

that hasn't dented the determination of members of two

dozen unions, some of whom have never before been on strike.

Primary school football in the Forest of Dean. On Wednesday they

will be having a day off, so will their head teacher. It is a day of

industrial action, probably. wants his teachers -- pagans to

know why he is taking this step. His union have never been on strike

before. It is a last resort action. We do not want to take any action.

We want schools to be open. We understand it will be an

inconvenience to parents but we are doing it for the sake of the

profession. This is another person who has never been on strike but

the proposed changes would hit her hard. When we signed up to the

pension scheme we were told our benefits at the end of it would be

based on a were final salary. We have a grievance over that. It is

like a contract signing up to a pension scheme. This is what you

are going to get. You pay more, you work longer and then they are not

going to give you as much. We seem to have plenty of Spears to get

that circulated. The best will be their biggest ever Pickett. It

follows on from the summer strike involving four unions. They do not

want to alienate the public. A after the strike in June it showed

that the more the public were aware of the issues the more they sided

with the workers. While nobody wants their lives disrupted,

schools being closed, there is a sense of injustice that people now

Shia. Once again they will try to make the protests family friendly.

Members of this union feel that the public sector has really taken a

battering. We should not need to go out to demonstrate to the

Government that we will not accept these pension reforms. It is not

fear. We have had a two you pay freeze, we are about to enter the

third year, we have had no cost-of- living increase so it is difficult.

The pensions issue is just so complex but some finance experts

have little sympathy. I do not know what they are on strike for. They

get a better pension than anybody else. Even the proposed changes

still give them a fantastic deal. They do not have to worry about

stock markets. They just have to do their time and they get a very good

pension at the end of it. What these people find harder to

understand his Labour's opposition but that does not stop their

determination. With us today is the Conservative MP for North Wiltshire,

James Gray and the former Labour MP for South Swindon, Anne Snelgrove.

We saw their very angry people who have never been on strike before,

have we misjudged this? We also saw experts to seeing you do not know

what they are angry about. -- saying public-sector pensions are

among the most generous in the world will drop the offer on the

table is extremely generous and beer. A do not know why these

people are disrupting other people's lives. They are angry

because a deal was struck and that has now been thrown out. We have

made a very generous offer and are waiting to hear back. They are

seeing that has now changed? know. The people who have joined in

the last 10 years are getting exactly what they signed up for. We

are all living a great deal longer. There was an extremely difficult

deal with the trade unions on pensions what was hard to do. That

has been thrown out by this Government which has picked 3% on

the pensions to pay for the deficit. It seems pretty rudderless as far

as Labour is concerned, saying do not go on strike. Striking as a

last resort. It is a failure of this Government. Nobody is in

favour of strikes. The only person who seems to be in favour of the

strike is David Cameron who said he was very happy about it in the

Telegraph the other day. That is extremely sad that the Prime

Minister is playing politics with people's pensions. If that is

untrue! It is a Labour initiative in the first place? Frankly what we

would like to see is the removal of that 3% surcharge on people's

pensions. It is not fear to change pensions, particularly women's

pensions, to make women were longer and pay more when they had no

notice of this. Will you be any the wiser when you see very angry

people taking to the streets on Wednesday? I think it is

disgraceful that these people are taking into their own hands such

destruction. For what purpose? In order to get more a pension than

the private sector? I think it is a great shame that the Government is

causing this kind of action. If we can avoid strikes on Wednesday that

would be brilliant. Thank you. David Cameron has been warned he

risks losing thousands of female voters in the West Country because

of the coalition's economic policies. According to the Bristol

Fawcett Society, who campaigned for gender equality, 70% of the public

sector cuts are hitting women. And figures published by the Office of

National Statistics this week show the gender pay gap in some areas is

growing, bucking the national trend. Our reporter has more. Music With

Mummy. And the little ones love it. But the clue is in the name, only

one daddy has made the group. It's often the mum's left to juggle work

and childcare. Even at this young age there are noticeable

differences between boys and girls. And, according to the campaigners

in the West, the pay gap between the sexes is already bigger than

most other areas. It has been well- documented over many years. It is a

sad fact that it has never gone away. It leaves women, particularly

mothers, very vulnerable if they are not supported by their partners.

Since the coalition government was formed, they've taken the biggest

public sector spending squeeze since the second world war.

According to some 20 charities who have worked on the Bristol Fawcett

Society report, 70% of these cuts will affect women here in the West.

Women are losing their jobs more in the public sector. 63 % of council

workers in Bristol are women and they have just announced 350 jobs

are to go. If I want to go voluntary I cannot pay for my child

care. Women are being paid less for doing the same things. Why, when

women can do exactly the same as men. And I am struggling to keep my

house warm, I have two children, won his only aged two. I have very

little in the way of Christmas presents this year. David Cameron

promised to make Parliament less combated if. -- combative. But for

our Bristol Labour MPs it is too little, too late. If you go and

speak to women in my constituency they will tell you that life is

harder and they are being hit from all sides. They are the people who

did not cause this crisis but are being made to pay for it. Here in

the West just two of our Conservative MPs are women. Say

that Childs says Cameron needs to get more women elected to show that

he cares. I think that is very important to have more female MPs.

Structurally Government has to change. With over three years left

until the next election he has time to persuade these mums it is safe

to vote for him. Still with us are the Conservative MP for North

Wiltshire, James Gray and the former Labour MP for South Swindon,

Anne Snelgrove. I do not know why they are seeing women are hit

harder. It is nice to see that 63 % of women working in local

Government -- 63 % of people working in local Government are

women. A not very long ago it was the other way around. Half of the

people I represent our women and I think I'd do a good job of

representing them. I am sure you do a terribly good job but I have to

cut in. Let me come to you in a second, it seems that you do not

understand the problems when they are presented in front of you. The

problem is that women are losing jobs, more work in the public

sector than men so therefore when there are job losses more of them

are out. They also have benefits problems and the do not have the

public services. I am not sure that any of those assertions are correct.

James, you need to get out more! at least I won an election! It is

about child care, child care services are being cut back, Sure

Start, they see their children's life chances being affected by the

removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance. The you

would make cuts to and one of the big issues are that we have not

heard what these cuts would be? These cuts are bigger and passive.

It is a real revenge on the public sector which women rely on, not

just because the work in the public sector but they are the front line

with their family. It is women who see the inflation going up and

prices of gas and electricity going up. Another thing you might

understand is the disparity between p 10 men and women. For example, in

Filton and Bradley Stoke, the average gross wage for a man in

2010/11 was �31,045 compared to just �15,300 for a woman. It is

against the law to have differences in pay. It is about the type of

jobs they can take. There is is about women in the public sector. I

see it on the doorstep. I work with women. I do voluntary work with

women who are long-term unemployed. I cannot tell you how difficult

they are finding it. Is there a danger this could be a woman's

issue and everybody is suffering from it, men and families also.

it is women who are feeling the pinch now it is families who are

feeling the pinch tomorrow. We are all the same, male, female, a white,

black. You are not in it together if you are a multi-millionaire in

the Cabinet. Thank you both very much indeed. As the new deer-

hunting season got under way this month hunters have admitted to the

BBC that they see no immediate chance of the controversial Hunting

Act being repealed. It was brought in six years ago and the

Conservatives have always promised to get rid of it. But we have

learned that both the hunters and pro-hunt politicians are keen to

push the debate into the long grass for fear of losing a vote.

Meanwhile there's fresh criticism from animal rights organisations

that the police aren't doing enough to enforce the law as it stands.

They banned hunting with hounds in 2005. This is the Devon and

Somerset Staghounds and 2011. To an outsider it may seem that in six

years nothing has changed. These hunters will tell you the are

working perfectly within the exemptions of the new law, for

instance, working with two hounds rather than a pack. But those who

spend their working lives travelling around monitoring hunts

say that since 2005 there have been many breaches of the Hunting Act

across the region. They keep producing video footage to prove

their point. These pictures of the Quantock Staghounds in 2006 bid

lead to a prosecution. But that is rare. Officially every police force

will tell you they enforce every law. Privately senior officers will

say they have better things to do. And figures we've obtained would

seem to support that stance. Avon and Somerset Police have brought

just three prosecutions under the Hunting Act, Wiltshire two and

Gloucestershire none. We have our suspicions and the national

wildlife crime unit for instance have pointed out there have been

many, many complaints about the legal hunting in this area yet we

do not see very much police activity. You would like to see

more. Politically the hunts have certainly gone cold on pushing for

a repeal of the Hunting Act. Something the Conservatives have

always promised, and which the Prime Minister reiterated in a

recent interview with us. Well the boss may be confident but his

backbenchers aren't so sure a vote is now a good thing. My own view

has always been that the hunting ban does not work. It is a matter

for the House of Commons to decide whether to bring this forward.

backbenchers believe you have not brought it for a because you

believe you will lose? If you have got a law which is an ass you have

bought it or do something with the law. We have not got parliamentary

time to do that at the moment. The economy, social care, the NHS and

everything else is higher up the agenda than hunting. Privately

there's also a feeling amongst hunters that right now it's a fight

they will not win. They have learned much. There is a feeling

that the hunters have learned much from the recent failure of the

Liberal Democrats to achieve their Holy Grail, getting AV. When it was

put to a vote, they lost. The hunt know they'll probably only get one

chance of a repeal of the Hunting Act. They know too that if they

push that now, they'll probably lose. We have not got a Tory

Government in, it is a coalition Cameron so I think the vote is

likely to be wrong for us. Do you think one day you will get a boat

macro and one day it will be repealed or do you believe it is a

lost cause now? If I did not believe we would get an appeal I

probably would not be standing here today. One thing seems certain, it

won't be happening anytime soon. James Gray, you are a hunting man,

will you let it go without a fight? At the fact of the matter is that

the law is so bad that hunting today is better than it has ever

been before. It is a really thriving sport within the law. We