Browse content similar to 18/09/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It's conference season. Nick Clegg has had a year he might like to | :00:11. | :00:21. | |
:00:21. | :00:33. | ||
And here in the north, as crisis hits Europe, we meet their | :00:33. | :00:37. | |
campaigners demanding a referendum on a break with Brussels. | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
And a former chocolate boss tells us why family businesses should be | :00:41. | :00:51. | |
:00:51. | :00:51. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2127 seconds | :00:51. | :36:19. | |
Welcome to end-use series of the Politics Show in Yorkshire and | :36:19. | :36:25. | |
Lincolnshire. Coming up today... As the euro-zone crisis grows, we | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
meet the campaigners to say it is time for a referendum on whether we | :36:29. | :36:35. | |
should break away from Brussels. It's Mr Cameron expand the | :36:35. | :36:36. | |
politicians need to ask what we think. | :36:36. | :36:41. | |
It is time we were asked. And the former chocolate boss tells | :36:42. | :36:45. | |
us why the Liberal Democrats should make family businesses the focus of | :36:46. | :36:52. | |
their economic policy. This is what I what the government to do. To | :36:52. | :37:00. | |
create the environment, which is very supportive to family business. | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
With the financial crisis in the euro-zone dominating the news | :37:03. | :37:10. | |
agenda, is now the right time to reassess our membership of the EU? | :37:10. | :37:13. | |
Thousands of people across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have | :37:13. | :37:17. | |
signed online petitions calling for a referendum on whether we should | :37:17. | :37:22. | |
leave the EU. But political opinion remains divided over whether we | :37:22. | :37:32. | |
would be better off out. For as European leaders fight to save the | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
single currency, a very different battle is being waged by those who | :37:37. | :37:44. | |
believe our political future lies outside the EU. | :37:44. | :37:49. | |
Grimsby housewife Gill White leads a group of campaigners who say it | :37:49. | :37:53. | |
is time for a referendum on whether we stay in or get out of the | :37:53. | :37:59. | |
European Union -- Josephine White. It makes so many of by-laws these | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
days. That itself is not democratic. We are being governed by people who | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
are not accountable to us, and that any is anti-democratic. The EU is | :38:09. | :38:16. | |
created to be anti- DEC of -- democratic. And I have -- I think | :38:16. | :38:20. | |
we have a right up in a sale how we are governed. | :38:20. | :38:27. | |
They last time we had a referendum on our membership was back in 1975. | :38:27. | :38:32. | |
That means that no one under the age of 54 or has ever been asked | :38:32. | :38:38. | |
directly whether they want to be part of the EU. Do you think there | :38:38. | :38:43. | |
should be a referendum? Yes, we pay a lot into it and get very little | :38:43. | :38:49. | |
out of it. Except red tape. I would vote to stay in it, I think it is | :38:49. | :38:52. | |
essential we stay in a wider market, we need more contacts to grow and | :38:52. | :38:58. | |
business, grow the country. If we stay as the UK on its own, that is | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
backward thinking. Throughout history, British people have done | :39:01. | :39:05. | |
things their own way quite successfully. As soon as we start | :39:05. | :39:09. | |
getting involved with other conflicts, that is when the | :39:09. | :39:18. | |
problems start to rise. With many blaming Brussels for the decline of | :39:18. | :39:22. | |
the fishing industry, Grimsby has long been regarded as one of the | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
most Euro-sceptic towns in the country. But one any he believes | :39:27. | :39:30. | |
those who want to leave the EU should be careful what they wish | :39:30. | :39:36. | |
for. In and out of the single currency zone, we are still very | :39:36. | :39:41. | |
much affected by what happens economically in Europe. There is | :39:41. | :39:44. | |
nothing to say that our own economy will not be in dire straits. And we | :39:45. | :39:49. | |
might actually be looking for help from Europe. We need Europe as much | :39:49. | :39:53. | |
as you it needs us. The relationship is very close, and we | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
cannot escape that. It looks as though the EU are going to... It | :40:00. | :40:03. | |
will be a completely different constructs. Our relationship is | :40:03. | :40:08. | |
bound to change because of that. As David Cameron and the politicians | :40:08. | :40:13. | |
need to ask what we think. It is time we were asked. As simple as | :40:13. | :40:20. | |
that. The Prime Minister has rejected calls for an EU referendum. | :40:20. | :40:25. | |
But a petition signed by more than 100,000 people supporting a public | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
vote was recently handed in to Downing Street, and campaigners say | :40:29. | :40:35. | |
they will be keeping up the pressure on the government. Our | :40:35. | :40:40. | |
guest today in the studio are both MEPs. Diana Wallis you saw briefly | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
in that report, and Godfrey Bloom from UKIP. Diana Wallis, is it time | :40:45. | :40:50. | |
to have a referendum to decide if we want to be in or out? What is | :40:50. | :40:54. | |
triggering at the moment all the chat about a referendum is an | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
economic and financial crisis, and I think that is what people want to | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
see us dealing with, the crisis, not about who governs to, and how | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
do we do it and all the rest of it. Endless talks about constitutions | :41:08. | :41:12. | |
and treaties. They want to see results and they want to see us | :41:12. | :41:15. | |
dealing with the particular problems. Should we in the longer | :41:15. | :41:19. | |
term have a discussion about our relationship with Europe, if that | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
is what people want, fine. But let's bear in mind that this | :41:24. | :41:28. | |
government, the current governed -- the current government has provided | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
the possibility that if the way in which it is constructed is to | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
change significantly at some point... But we had those promises | :41:37. | :41:45. | |
over Lisbon. No, it has been put into law. And there would be a | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
referendum trigger a. So let's talk about it when it is necessary to | :41:48. | :41:52. | |
talk about it. But I guess that most of the people out in the | :41:52. | :41:56. | |
street now would rather politicians were talking and getting results | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
about dealing with our economies across Europe together. Do you | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
believe that is the view of people on the street? No, she does not go | :42:05. | :42:10. | |
down the street I go down! It is not just in this crisis, I have | :42:10. | :42:13. | |
been on this shows since 2004 saying people have never been | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
offered a vote on this. I voted for it in 1975 because I was told it | :42:18. | :42:25. | |
was a free-trade area. There is no reason we cannot enjoy a free trade | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
like scores of other countries do it outside the European Union. | :42:29. | :42:33. | |
Nobody voted for political union, which is what we have got. And I | :42:33. | :42:37. | |
have been claiming for years that this would all end in tears, and I | :42:37. | :42:47. | |
:42:47. | :42:47. | ||
have been right. History will decide, got three! Diana, no one up | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
under the age of 54 has ever been consulted as to whether they want | :42:51. | :42:56. | |
to be part of the European Union. It was a common market in 1975, not | :42:56. | :43:02. | |
full political union. I'll agree with the concept of a referendum, | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
and probably in contrast to some members of my own parties. I | :43:06. | :43:10. | |
actually believe that we should at some point have that discussions. | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
But there has to be a reason to have that discussions. Do you | :43:15. | :43:18. | |
support a referendum at some stage? I support it when there is a reason | :43:18. | :43:22. | |
for having it. At the moment, there is no trigger, there is nothing | :43:22. | :43:27. | |
that is about to change. Is there is something that is about to | :43:27. | :43:30. | |
change, that says to me, that is the point to have the discussion | :43:31. | :43:34. | |
with people, if Ann Hall relationship with Europe will | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
change. But at the moment, when there are so many other things to | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
deal with, when people are frightened and worried about their | :43:42. | :43:47. | |
financial and economic future, about having jobs, now is not the | :43:47. | :43:50. | |
time to have some esoteric conversation about treaties and | :43:50. | :43:55. | |
constitutions and how we put Europe together. Let's provide the answer | :43:55. | :44:01. | |
in terms of what affects people's daily lives. Godfrey Bloom, are you | :44:01. | :44:04. | |
confident you could win a referendum? He would be up against | :44:04. | :44:08. | |
the bulk of the main three political parties and many | :44:08. | :44:12. | |
political -- business organisations. How confident are you the British | :44:12. | :44:17. | |
public would vote against the EU? He must not make the mistake that | :44:17. | :44:20. | |
the main political parties represent the people. They do not. | :44:20. | :44:24. | |
The people on the street are fed up with political parties and | :44:24. | :44:27. | |
bureaucrats, and they are fed up with big business to does indeed | :44:27. | :44:34. | |
lobby for it. We spent �45 million and I would argue the first thing | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
we need to do, we are one trillion pounds in debt and are going down | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
the tubes, we should stop sending out �45 million a day, and we | :44:42. | :44:46. | |
should have a referendum on whether we want to be in or out. It is long | :44:46. | :44:52. | |
overdue. Stay with us, the party conference season is underway. This | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
weekend, it is the Liberal Democrats'' turn in the spotlight. | :44:56. | :45:01. | |
Meanwhile, UKIP have already had their conference and UKIP activists | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
were in buoyant mood following the party's second place in the | :45:06. | :45:09. | |
Barnsley Central by-election, which prompted the Nigel Farage to claim | :45:09. | :45:14. | |
that UKIP was on the way to becoming the third party of British | :45:14. | :45:18. | |
politics. That statement did not go down too well at the Green Party's | :45:18. | :45:26. | |
recent conference in Sheffield. UKIP reckons it has pushed the | :45:26. | :45:31. | |
Liberal Democrats a side. What is your reaction? We have very little | :45:31. | :45:37. | |
evidence of UKIP, certainly in Leeds, as at present at all. They | :45:37. | :45:41. | |
did well in the Barnsley by- election, but in terms of local | :45:41. | :45:47. | |
elections, there is little evidence of their impact. We got 18,000 | :45:47. | :45:51. | |
votes across the Hull City, higher than we have ever done before. And | :45:51. | :45:55. | |
we feel that we are making progress, and the point is that even though | :45:55. | :46:01. | |
we have a few councillors, we do make an impression on the council. | :46:01. | :46:04. | |
If you have it supports at grassroots levels, where you have | :46:04. | :46:08. | |
active local parties, councillors are elected, the Green Party is | :46:08. | :46:14. | |
ahead of UKIP. My reaction to them - have caused, it would be great if | :46:14. | :46:18. | |
they steered an election. There was one UKIP candidate in our | :46:18. | :46:22. | |
constituency and we beat them. It is a theoretical vote for many | :46:22. | :46:26. | |
people. If they are not on the ground you cannot vote for them. | :46:26. | :46:33. | |
They are not a serious political parties. Some views from the Green | :46:33. | :46:36. | |
Party conference in Sheffield. Godfrey Bloom, De Nigel Farage jump | :46:36. | :46:42. | |
the gun when he said that? There has been no evidence of that since | :46:42. | :46:46. | |
the by-election. There was a government poll that said we had | :46:46. | :46:50. | |
overtaken the Liberal Democrats. And only last Thursday, we fought a | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
by-election in Essex and got more votes in that constituency than all | :46:55. | :47:00. | |
the other political parties other than Conservatives. But none of | :47:00. | :47:04. | |
this is actually the point. The point is that when we had a | :47:04. | :47:11. | |
straightforward vote on what people care about, that is, do we want to | :47:11. | :47:15. | |
be a self-governing nation? People turned out, and we beat the Liberal | :47:15. | :47:19. | |
Democrats and the Labour Party. And I can tell you that the next | :47:19. | :47:25. | |
elections, we will beat everyone, including the Conservatives. Diana | :47:25. | :47:34. | |
Wallis, do you worry about to Mac party politics, the Tories and | :47:34. | :47:41. | |
Labour. So no, I do not see that at all. I am going to a party | :47:41. | :47:44. | |
conference next week, where my party is now part of the government | :47:44. | :47:51. | |
of this country. And look where it has got G! Yes, it is tough, nobody | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
said that being in coalition was easy. And we see that with Liberal | :47:55. | :48:00. | |
parties across Europe, it is not an easy option. Sometimes you have to | :48:00. | :48:05. | |
take a hard option, but if you look at our party across the country, we | :48:05. | :48:10. | |
have hundreds of local councillors. You have fewer councillors since | :48:10. | :48:17. | |
last May! Yes, but still a great deal more than Godfrey Bloom's | :48:17. | :48:20. | |
party. So I think the idea that we are suddenly being so past, the | :48:20. | :48:27. | |
reality, if you look at where my party is and what it is doing, is | :48:27. | :48:32. | |
quite different. Godfrey Bloom, why has UKIP failed to make a | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
breakthrough at domestic level? You a polled well in the last two | :48:36. | :48:40. | |
European elections. But in local elections, he made very little | :48:40. | :48:45. | |
impact. We do not really have an infrastructure to fight local | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
elections, I am the first to admit it. We do not have the books on the | :48:49. | :48:54. | |
ground. What we have is our hearts of the people. You need feed on the | :48:54. | :48:58. | |
ground to fight local elections. I think you will find that when the | :48:58. | :49:05. | |
big one comes in 2014, the question actually is, who governs Britain, | :49:05. | :49:09. | |
shall we cells govern again, I will bet you �20 that I am right, as I | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
have always been right on this programme about election results. I | :49:13. | :49:19. | |
bet we will be top. You were very fond of yourself! Diana Wallis, | :49:19. | :49:22. | |
what does Nick Clegg have to do this week to convince the British | :49:22. | :49:24. | |
public that the Liberal Democrats are a serious electoral force | :49:25. | :49:31. | |
again? I think she has to be himself. And he has to remember | :49:31. | :49:36. | |
what he achieved during the election. He has tremendous | :49:36. | :49:43. | |
personality, he is a good leader of our party. I think many of us go, | :49:43. | :49:47. | |
we can all talk about polls, there was one the Guardian suppressed | :49:47. | :49:50. | |
last week that had the Liberal Democrats on 17 %. I would Take | :49:50. | :49:57. | |
That. The economy will be a big talking point. And one party member | :49:57. | :50:01. | |
has some advice for the Business Secretary, Vince Cable. One of the | :50:01. | :50:07. | |
most famous names in chocolate, Peter Thornton, believes that | :50:07. | :50:11. | |
family businesses could hold the key to avoiding another recession. | :50:11. | :50:16. | |
He claims they should receive more help from government. | :50:16. | :50:21. | |
Exactly 100 years ago, Joseph Thornton started making and selling | :50:21. | :50:24. | |
sweets from this shop in Sheffield. Peter Thornton should know all | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
about that. He is just that's grandson, and spent most of his | :50:28. | :50:33. | |
working life in the family business. He was its chairman during the | :50:33. | :50:37. | |
1980s. He things the Government is ignoring the opportunities provided | :50:37. | :50:45. | |
by strong, locally based family businesses. I am a liberal Democrat | :50:45. | :50:49. | |
support for a. Find I am delighted that they are in government. But | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
one thing I am disappointed about is that there has been nothing said | :50:53. | :50:59. | |
by them about family businesses. There has been no offer of further | :51:00. | :51:04. | |
support for improvement in the status or recognition of the family | :51:04. | :51:07. | |
business sector. And this is what I want the government to do, to put, | :51:08. | :51:13. | |
to create the environment which is very supportive to family business. | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
According to Peter Thornton, retail is a good indicator of how far | :51:17. | :51:21. | |
local family businesses have been squeezed by a combination of market | :51:21. | :51:28. | |
forces and government lethargy. He says Sheffield is a prime example. | :51:29. | :51:32. | |
This was filled with independent stores. We had a wonderful | :51:32. | :51:36. | |
department store on the shoulder, - - corner, and over here we had a | :51:36. | :51:41. | |
coffee shop. And all these companies were working for the | :51:41. | :51:46. | |
community, providing what this community needed and developing | :51:46. | :51:49. | |
that terrific spirit of co- operation between employers and the | :51:49. | :51:55. | |
people working in the company. the 1980s, Thorntons ceased to be a | :51:55. | :51:59. | |
family business. It launched on the stock market, grew rapidly and | :51:59. | :52:04. | |
built this factory in North Derbyshire. A few years later, BBC | :52:04. | :52:07. | |
cameras went to see what sort of differences it make to the way the | :52:07. | :52:14. | |
company had to be run as a public company. The city and financial | :52:14. | :52:17. | |
institutions want to make sure they are getting their money's worth. | :52:17. | :52:22. | |
For that reason, this firm is more or scrutinise Bennett has been | :52:22. | :52:27. | |
before. For many family firms, that is too much to digest. It was | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
certainly too much for Peter. He had already left Thorntons by then. | :52:32. | :52:37. | |
He now runs a consultancy advising other UK family businesses. These | :52:37. | :52:42. | |
things can be achieved through cultural, through banking and | :52:42. | :52:47. | |
through government recognition and assistance. It is time now that we | :52:47. | :52:51. | |
created an economy in this country which is more like the German | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
economy, where family business is respected and is helped. That way, | :52:56. | :53:00. | |
we can achieve much more than we are doing. For the benefit of our | :53:00. | :53:06. | |
people, and our economy. Sheffield, like most of the rest of the | :53:06. | :53:09. | |
country, is now dominated by national or international | :53:09. | :53:14. | |
conglomerates, or relatively faceless financial institutions. | :53:14. | :53:19. | |
But if government can give more support to encourage the growth of | :53:19. | :53:26. | |
business, would that give us a far better at economic horizon? It is | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
an interesting talking point this. The German stock exchange has its | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
own index for family businesses. Why is our record in this country | :53:34. | :53:38. | |
so poor of nurturing family businesses? I think our whole | :53:38. | :53:42. | |
commercial sector has been constructed in a different way. But | :53:42. | :53:47. | |
what is correct out of that piece is that we need to do far more for | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
smaller businesses, and for entrepreneurship in general. And I | :53:52. | :53:56. | |
do think that actually, there are parts of the puzzle already been | :53:56. | :54:05. | |
put in place. I think Vince Cable has been a tremendous advocate for | :54:05. | :54:11. | |
trying to help enterprise. I think that is part of the picture. Also | :54:11. | :54:15. | |
in terms of young entrepreneurs, there seems to have been some | :54:15. | :54:19. | |
success in upping the number of apprenticeships and other | :54:19. | :54:24. | |
possibilities taken up, even in this region. So some things are | :54:24. | :54:28. | |
being done. I think it is an interesting piece, concentrating | :54:28. | :54:32. | |
particularly on this aspect of family business. Interesting, as | :54:32. | :54:37. | |
you say, it is a model that comes from Germany, something we can take | :54:37. | :54:41. | |
from discussion with our European colleagues. And see if there is | :54:41. | :54:46. | |
something positive we can do. Godfrey Bloom, used to work in the | :54:46. | :54:50. | |
city. Do you regret the fact that so many family businesses had been | :54:50. | :54:56. | |
taken over by corporate giants? it is a sad thing. I also started | :54:56. | :55:01. | |
my own small business in 1992 which I sold a few years ago. So unlike | :55:01. | :55:05. | |
most politicians, I have experience in this. And I can assure you that | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
they do not want help from government, they want to get rid of | :55:08. | :55:13. | |
a hindrance. Government, town halls and bureaucrats are part of the | :55:14. | :55:18. | |
problem, not the solution. What small business people I say -- say | :55:18. | :55:24. | |
to meet, they say, please, let us run our business. Get out of our | :55:24. | :55:27. | |
face. Get the man from the town hall out of my space and | :55:27. | :55:31. | |
politicians out of my face. Westminster cannot do anything | :55:31. | :55:38. | |
about it, most of the legislation comes from Brussels. Briefly, red | :55:38. | :55:45. | |
tape, bureaucracy... We need some regulation. We are trying to do our | :55:45. | :55:49. | |
best to make sure that the regulation that is very smart. And | :55:49. | :55:54. | |
fit for purpose. And we are trying to cut it down. Thank you both very | :55:54. | :55:59. | |
much for your time. You can keep up-to-date with the latest | :55:59. | :56:04. |