:00:53. > :00:58.Here in the north we ask the Chancellor why the economy is still
:00:58. > :01:03.grim up north. How coastal flood defences could put up some council
:01:03. > :01:13.tax bills by 20%. And what happens when a capitalist met these
:01:13. > :01:13.
:01:13. > :35:11.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2038 seconds
:35:11. > :35:18.Coastal flood defences could put up Lincolnshire's cans of tax bills by
:35:18. > :35:26.20%. And find out what happens when one of Yorkshire's most famous
:35:26. > :35:31.entrepreneurs joined the big tent and the anti-capitalist protesters.
:35:31. > :35:36.First, the Chancellor has defended the Government's handling of the
:35:36. > :35:40.struggling northern economy. George Osborne has spoken to the show in
:35:40. > :35:43.Yorkshire in Lincolnshire following a week in which he announced a
:35:43. > :35:48.multi-billion-pound infrastructure programme aimed at improving our
:35:49. > :35:56.transport links. We will hear from him in a moment, but first Len
:35:57. > :36:01.Tingle has been looking at some of the key developments. It is 30
:36:01. > :36:07.years since the Queen made his famous journey. It gives me great
:36:07. > :36:11.pleasure to declare the Humber Bridge opened. Not just a bridge,
:36:11. > :36:17.but a dead, �90 million at the time and three decades of the highest
:36:17. > :36:24.tolls in Britain are hardly denting the interest. On Monday last week,
:36:24. > :36:28.that debt had risen to �330 million. Let me start by placing squarely
:36:28. > :36:33.before the House of Commons and the British public the economic
:36:33. > :36:37.situation facing our country... After the Chancellor's statement on
:36:37. > :36:41.Tuesday it had been written off and the tolls are to hearth. That was
:36:41. > :36:48.just part of a stream of announcements aimed at getting the
:36:49. > :36:52.economy moving and growing. More train stations and major
:36:52. > :36:55.improvements to rail links with Manchester. Growth is important
:36:55. > :37:00.across the country and this is a great scheme for driving growth in
:37:00. > :37:05.the north. We need to make sure that the Trans Pennine it lying is
:37:05. > :37:11.committed to fully so we can start growing our economy. The big
:37:11. > :37:16.question now, is it enough to get the regions economy back on track?
:37:16. > :37:19.I spoke to the Chancellor at the Humber Bridge and I put to him the
:37:19. > :37:25.point that major transport projects are all well and good, but in order
:37:25. > :37:29.to avoid another recession, many are calling for action now. We need
:37:29. > :37:33.action now, which is why we want to get the tolls on the Humber Bridge
:37:33. > :37:37.doubt and the enterprise zones starting in the next few months and
:37:37. > :37:41.we have plans for the future like the big road schemes, the Trans
:37:41. > :37:45.Pennine Express Bromley's to Manchester. These are all going
:37:45. > :37:51.ahead as well. We have to learn a lesson as a country, which is we
:37:51. > :37:56.cannot rely any more on the success of the City of London. That is the
:37:56. > :37:59.mistake that was made over the last decade and this new Government is
:37:59. > :38:03.determined to learn the lessons of what went wrong and get the whole
:38:03. > :38:07.of the rest of the country growing. Should people in Yorkshire and
:38:08. > :38:10.Lincolnshire be prepared for another recession? We have got the
:38:10. > :38:15.situation in the euro-zone which is very serious and damaging for
:38:15. > :38:19.Britain. We are looking at businesses here in Yorkshire and
:38:19. > :38:23.Lincolnshire that export to Europe, but I think we have taken action in
:38:23. > :38:27.Britain to take us through the storm. We cannot be immune from
:38:27. > :38:37.what goes on in Europe, but we have taken our own action to deal with
:38:37. > :38:39.
:38:39. > :38:43.our big debt. Our guest today are John Trickett and Craig Whitaker.
:38:43. > :38:48.The Chancellor has put his money where his mouth is and has invested
:38:48. > :38:53.hundreds of millions of pounds. Is it enough? Some of the projects are
:38:53. > :38:56.very good and we have been fighting for them for a long time. But they
:38:57. > :39:00.are not going to come into action for some time and in the meantime,
:39:00. > :39:06.there are tens and thousands of young people in Yorkshire without
:39:06. > :39:11.work. I simply do not believe it will address their needs. He is
:39:11. > :39:15.offering jam tomorrow, we need help today. We need up-to-date, but it
:39:15. > :39:21.was MacMillan who said when he was asked what his biggest fear was and
:39:21. > :39:26.he said events, dear boy, events. What we see coming out of Europe is
:39:26. > :39:31.those events are unfolding on a daily basis. This is not a normal
:39:31. > :39:36.recession and they are very tough times. The thing as George Osborne
:39:36. > :39:41.has announced this week are a big step forward from where we were a
:39:41. > :39:47.year ago. Where he was at the Humber bridge near Hull, there are
:39:47. > :39:52.people in that city weather are 80 jobseeker's chasing every single
:39:52. > :39:56.vacancy. A similar ratio in other towns and cities across Yorkshire
:39:56. > :40:00.and Lincolnshire. As we sit here three weeks to Christmas, the
:40:00. > :40:05.economic outlook is grim for a lot of people. It is the worst we have
:40:06. > :40:10.ever seen, in my life type anyway. The talk is it is worse than the
:40:10. > :40:14.1930s because we do not know what is around the corner. There are a
:40:14. > :40:18.lot of people saying the economic Outlook George gave earlier in the
:40:18. > :40:24.week is a positive statement. If things go belly up in Europe, it
:40:24. > :40:28.will be far worse. Interestingly was talking about not aligning our
:40:28. > :40:33.economy with the City of London. I suspect he is having a go at Gordon
:40:33. > :40:38.Brown. I come from Yorkshire and I have always lived here and the
:40:38. > :40:43.North has always suffered. Whenever we have had a recession, it has
:40:43. > :40:47.always been worse. The fact is, the Government has throttled off the
:40:47. > :40:52.recovery and so we are not prepared if the euro-zone does go belly up
:40:52. > :40:57.as I fear it might. We are already in a weak position facing a
:40:57. > :41:01.potential calamity. That is the wrong place for us to be. We need a
:41:02. > :41:07.strategy for growth and jobs now. Thousands of public sector workers
:41:07. > :41:12.took part in the strikes last Wednesday. David Cameron says they
:41:12. > :41:17.were a damp squib. What is your view? Nobody wants rights,
:41:17. > :41:22.including the strikers, but they felt as if something had gone wrong.
:41:22. > :41:26.The Government was taking 3% of their wages to help the deficit. It
:41:26. > :41:31.is not write a dinner lady, a part- time worker with children to feed,
:41:31. > :41:36.it should be paying 3% more tax than somebody in the private sector.
:41:36. > :41:42.It should be equitable for everybody. You could see that in
:41:42. > :41:46.their faces. I could sympathise with how they felt. It is no wonder
:41:46. > :41:52.the general public have no faith in politicians. What John has just
:41:52. > :41:58.said is just plain not true. If you are a dinner lady, the lowest paid,
:41:58. > :42:02.there are 750,000 people in our country in the public sector that
:42:02. > :42:08.earned �15,000 a year, they will not pay one penny more into their
:42:08. > :42:13.pension pot at all. There is a further 1 million who earn up to
:42:13. > :42:17.�21,000 he will pay that 3%. To say it is a dinner lady and people on
:42:17. > :42:22.the lowest sector of the public service that are going to suffer is
:42:22. > :42:29.not true. Yes, they have to work longer, but as a result of working
:42:29. > :42:33.longer, you will get a better pension at the end of it. Were the
:42:33. > :42:37.strikes a success? Most people went to work, the buses and the trains
:42:37. > :42:41.were running because they are all privatised now. They talked about
:42:41. > :42:47.it being another general strike, but it did not have that impact,
:42:47. > :42:51.did it? It was never going to be a general strike. It was maybe up to
:42:51. > :42:56.two million people saying, this is not right. I am going to work
:42:56. > :43:00.longer, pay more and have a worse pension. I thought it was a
:43:00. > :43:03.civilised action, the people made their point and the Government has
:43:03. > :43:07.listen to it. The Government and the unions have to start
:43:07. > :43:11.negotiating properly. As part of the national infrastructure plan
:43:11. > :43:16.the Government says it wants to reduce the risk of flooding in our
:43:16. > :43:19.towns and cities. However, changes to the way coastal flood defences
:43:19. > :43:27.are funded has led to claims that council tax payers in Lincolnshire
:43:27. > :43:32.could be paying up to 20% more on their bills.
:43:32. > :43:39.They call it the breadbasket of the country. The Lincolnshire Fens, one
:43:39. > :43:43.of the most fertile areas of farmland in the UK. Lincolnshire is
:43:43. > :43:48.responsible for 10% of this country's food production and that
:43:48. > :43:53.includes a third of our vegetables and enough or wheat to make 250
:43:53. > :43:59.million loaves of bread every year. It is one of this country's most
:43:59. > :44:04.valuable resources, but now it is facing a new threat. The Fens and
:44:04. > :44:09.the North Sea exist side by side, kept apart by effective defences,
:44:09. > :44:14.like this man made of mud bank, but sea levels are rising and so is the
:44:14. > :44:21.cost of protecting the coast. Hence, a new dilemma. The Government is
:44:21. > :44:26.suggesting a change in the policy for funding flood defences, which
:44:26. > :44:30.would require local beneficiaries to pay. The local contribution
:44:30. > :44:35.would be raised by the local councils, which means we would have
:44:35. > :44:40.to put the council tax up. I guess we could be looking at anything up
:44:40. > :44:48.to 20% of a council tax rise of all those people who live in coastal
:44:48. > :44:54.areas. Three miles of sea wall were swept away. Lincolnshire has
:44:54. > :45:01.already paid a heavy price for a breach in its sea defences. In 1953,
:45:01. > :45:08.a huge tidal wave swept two miles inland, killing 43 people. Around
:45:08. > :45:12.200,000 acres of farmland was destroyed. It is not only councils
:45:12. > :45:17.that could be asked to contribute, so could individual businesses
:45:17. > :45:23.including farmers. If there is a breach in the sea defences anywhere
:45:23. > :45:28.along the Lincolnshire coast, there is a risk that up to 40% of the
:45:28. > :45:33.agricultural land in Lincolnshire could be flooded. Coastal flooding
:45:33. > :45:40.involves sea water and salt sterilises the land. It will take
:45:40. > :45:45.several years, perhaps a decade, to recover from sea water intrusion
:45:45. > :45:49.that affects agricultural land. This family has farmed near Boston
:45:49. > :45:52.for generations will stop the family built this sea wall along
:45:52. > :45:56.with other neighbouring farmers and maintain them to this day. But
:45:56. > :46:02.while some farmers are worried about the impact of this new policy,
:46:02. > :46:07.he is not. I feel the current policy would be a positive
:46:07. > :46:11.opportunity for us to receive some Government funding and the
:46:11. > :46:15.Government has made the coast a priority and there will be some
:46:15. > :46:22.Government funding and a local people able to top that up to get
:46:22. > :46:26.more defences built than would have been under the old system.
:46:26. > :46:30.Government says local contributions will mean better flood defences,
:46:30. > :46:36.but authorities in Lincolnshire say the national purse must continue to
:46:36. > :46:41.be used to protect the land that feeds us all.
:46:41. > :46:47.Let's chat with our guests. Craig Whitaker, the farming industry in
:46:47. > :46:51.Lincolnshire is where two billion pounds a year, yet coastal defences
:46:51. > :46:56.cost �8.5 million. Can you understand why some see this as a
:46:56. > :47:03.false economy? I can, but I could also see to maintain their current
:47:03. > :47:10.flood defences, we need to increase our spent by 9%. The Environment
:47:10. > :47:19.Agency has had a 10% cut, so they do not marry up a top. I think the
:47:19. > :47:22.Government's responsibility is to protect household. This is a
:47:22. > :47:28.consultation that has gone out to people to ask them for their views
:47:28. > :47:33.on a variety of options. One of the options is to have more local
:47:33. > :47:41.people having an input. As we heard, potentially that could make you get
:47:41. > :47:45.better, local defences because people can do it. Changes to the
:47:45. > :47:50.way coastal defences are funded means because of much funding from
:47:50. > :47:56.councils, the money goes further. That is a good thing. It is not
:47:56. > :48:01.going to happen. They have cut and cut and cut. When they were in
:48:01. > :48:07.opposition they said they would cut -- cut ways, but not frontline
:48:07. > :48:11.services. If you live in my area, if the flood defences are not going
:48:11. > :48:15.to be built, you cannot insure your property, and your mortgage is in
:48:15. > :48:18.trouble and you will not be able to sell it. This could have
:48:18. > :48:24.devastating implications for many tens of thousands of households in
:48:24. > :48:29.our region. Something has to be done to put the money back. Many
:48:29. > :48:34.people cannot get insurance. This is about the Government getting the
:48:35. > :48:40.best bang for the buck. The areas that are highly populated would be
:48:40. > :48:44.looked after her. The problem is when we start talking about the
:48:44. > :48:48.Fens and rural areas that do not have as much population.
:48:48. > :48:52.interesting debate. He is a businessman who became known for
:48:52. > :48:58.making his own TV adverts in the 80s and by his own admission he
:48:58. > :49:04.describes himself as a dyed-in-the- wool Tory. What happens when we
:49:04. > :49:08.took Yorkshire's carpet king, Mike Smith, to meet the anti-capitalist
:49:08. > :49:18.protesters who have been occupying part of Leeds city centre. Sean
:49:18. > :49:23.Stowell found out. Mike Smith leaves his world and
:49:23. > :49:27.enters another a very short distance away. His conservative
:49:27. > :49:34.political identity has never wavered, but some are not quite so
:49:34. > :49:43.sure about his actual identity. that Rod Stewart? I just bought
:49:43. > :49:48.10,000 yards of fabulous carpets. Some high-speed political profiling.
:49:48. > :49:51.Mike Smith is eight magnate and a man of property and says he has
:49:51. > :49:56.pulled himself up by the bootstraps and cannot understand why others
:49:56. > :50:02.cannot do the same. Helen is a working mother of three and has
:50:02. > :50:06.been at the camp on and off for 19 days. Her concerns are global. Our
:50:06. > :50:11.politicians failing because of the overwhelming power of the big
:50:11. > :50:15.corporations? Can she convince Mike? The reason the majority of
:50:15. > :50:21.people have come is that the economic crisis is so deep. They do
:50:21. > :50:26.not feel they are being represented by their politicians. They do not
:50:26. > :50:31.know where to find that boys. The movement generally is about normal
:50:31. > :50:36.folks speaking up for what they believe in. There are a lot of
:50:36. > :50:40.people who are sympathetic to your cause. Without the capitalism they
:50:40. > :50:44.would not be tax paid on any benefits. Does anybody ever think
:50:44. > :50:52.about that? It is one of the things we have been speaking about every
:50:52. > :50:57.night. But this process is becoming less anti-capitalist and more
:50:57. > :51:02.against corporate greed. I started without any money in a back-to-back
:51:02. > :51:07.house with an outside toilet as my mother was a single mother. I think
:51:07. > :51:12.some people lack the drive to go out and get a job. The politicians
:51:12. > :51:17.are puppets of the corporation's anyway. The movement is trying to
:51:17. > :51:21.say that politics will not fix this. After his introduction, he attends
:51:21. > :51:26.the General Assembly when key issues are discussed. The rules are
:51:26. > :51:32.strict. You put your hand up if you want to speak, something might is
:51:32. > :51:36.not used to. You shake your hands to indicate agreement. In relation
:51:36. > :51:42.to the size of the protest, you are taking on the Government and the
:51:42. > :51:48.banks. For the size of the protest it is a small gathering and it does
:51:48. > :51:54.not seem to be the right way to do it. I would make more use of the
:51:54. > :51:59.internet and the press if I could. Just before leaving, Helen shows
:51:59. > :52:05.Mike around what has been home for 21 days. You could do with a nice
:52:05. > :52:10.carpet. I have got bright red. Whether he is on the road to
:52:10. > :52:18.Damascus, or the road back to Leeds, that is up for discussion? He is
:52:18. > :52:22.here now. Not one Stuart, but Mike Smith. Did they convince you?
:52:22. > :52:28.really. The protest is a bit futile. When you think it is as city
:52:28. > :52:35.weather are 600,000 people and a dog and a guitar are in the camp, I
:52:35. > :52:39.was surprised by some of the people. A lot of them were very nice people.
:52:39. > :52:44.There was the person he was there for the sake of protesting who did
:52:44. > :52:48.not know what he was protesting about, but overall I was quite
:52:48. > :52:52.impressed with them. I hate to say that, but I was impressed with
:52:52. > :52:57.their loyalty to the cause, even though some of them did not know
:52:57. > :53:02.what the cause was. Helene in charge of the protest seemed to be
:53:02. > :53:07.organising everything. I'm sure her heart isn't the right place, but it
:53:07. > :53:13.is a bit futile. 17 people in the middle of lease, what is that going
:53:13. > :53:21.to do? Can you shake your hands if you agree with Mike like they did
:53:21. > :53:26.in the tense? I do not agree. you sympathise? They are on to
:53:26. > :53:31.something. Something has gone wrong in our country. It has gone wrong
:53:31. > :53:35.partly with people at the very top. That is the message they are making.
:53:35. > :53:41.These bankers had taken us into serious problems and might do so
:53:41. > :53:45.again shortly. Yet they still get billions of pounds of bonuses and
:53:45. > :53:50.they are not paying tax properly. I am sympathetic, they are making
:53:50. > :53:54.interesting points and we should listen to them. That is a fair
:53:54. > :53:59.point. Look at where you are and all the businesses that have closed
:53:59. > :54:05.down. Don't the banks and corporate fat cats have a case to answer?
:54:05. > :54:09.am not sure. They are paying tax properly, maybe it is not enough,
:54:09. > :54:14.but they are paying it for the rules and regulations we live in
:54:14. > :54:19.today. If you think they should pay more, and it should go to public
:54:19. > :54:24.services, that is a separate issue. If you want more money out of them,
:54:24. > :54:28.you have got to change the structure and the tax laws. I
:54:28. > :54:33.understand the protesters to a certain degree, that social
:54:33. > :54:37.services are being cut. One said, the banks have taken all this money,
:54:37. > :54:41.we have bailed them out to the tunes of billions and yet they are
:54:41. > :54:46.still taking billions and they are cutting theirs? You cannot argue
:54:46. > :54:50.with that. It is right. How can you say to somebody in the street on
:54:50. > :54:54.housing benefit or somebody with a learning disability that it is
:54:54. > :54:58.right. They see the banks are getting all this money, we have
:54:58. > :55:02.bailed them out to the tune of billions, and the people in the
:55:02. > :55:06.street are saying we are involved in war has it that are costing
:55:06. > :55:11.millions a day and yet you are cutting services. Nobody with a
:55:11. > :55:15.conscience could argue with that. But 17 people in the middle of a
:55:15. > :55:19.city on a cold night where 600,000 people live, that is not the right
:55:20. > :55:25.way to do it. Many people would argue the bankers are getting off
:55:25. > :55:30.quite lightly. The Chancellor increased the levy last week, but
:55:30. > :55:33.people will say it is not enough. People will always said that, but
:55:33. > :55:40.when you represent a constituency that has a large proportion of
:55:40. > :55:47.people who work for a back it is difficult. We have the third most
:55:47. > :55:51.vulnerable area and economy in the UK. It is a balancing act. We
:55:51. > :55:55.learnt as a country millions and billions of pounds a year from
:55:55. > :56:00.those services that the banks provide. We have got to be careful
:56:00. > :56:05.we do not cut off our nose to spite our phase and it is a balancing act.
:56:05. > :56:10.I am not saying the Chancellor has got it right. I speak to a lot of
:56:10. > :56:14.businesses who say they are lending -- banks to say they are lending,
:56:14. > :56:17.but they are put in conditions on Ed Balls stock for you think as a
:56:17. > :56:21.nation we have lost the entrepreneurial spirit. There are
:56:21. > :56:26.people like yourself you are willing to pull themselves up by
:56:26. > :56:32.their bootstraps. It is now very easy to live without
:56:32. > :56:36.working. They were professional protesters. One guy had said he had
:56:36. > :56:42.been to a protest in Edinburgh and here and there. He is not going to
:56:42. > :56:48.start a little business. It is easy to live without actually working.
:56:48. > :56:53.That stifles entrepreneurialism in this country without a doubt.
:56:53. > :56:57.we too soft with people getting benefits? If people are out of work
:56:57. > :57:02.and they are not working, that is wrong and they should be working,
:57:02. > :57:07.providing there are jobs. I think more about the small businessmen in
:57:07. > :57:12.my patch. The banks are squeezing the small businesses and they are
:57:12. > :57:17.not paying the full duties society and that is wrong. Let's have a
:57:17. > :57:23.look at another highlight from the week. It is not often a political
:57:23. > :57:27.journalist gets a mention in the House of Commons, but -- but this
:57:27. > :57:34.week our own Len Tingle who films his own material these days, he got
:57:34. > :57:41.a mention for himself and his wife Angela thanks to Julian Smith, the
:57:41. > :57:45.MP for Skipton and Ripon. Tingle, who followed me for a day
:57:45. > :57:50.last year persuaded his wife to come with him for a day out in the
:57:50. > :57:55.Dales. She ended up carrying all of his bags and being the cameraman
:57:55. > :58:01.for the evening. I think that shows just how hard local journalists are
:58:01. > :58:05.working day in, day out. They are available for weddings, bar
:58:05. > :58:10.mitzvahs and any corporate events. Have you ever been to the House of
:58:10. > :58:13.Commons? Yes, I have been to the house of Lords for lunch. But when
:58:13. > :58:20.you get there there is hardly anybody there in the House of
:58:20. > :58:24.Commons. How come all the seats are empty? Where are you all? We are of
:58:24. > :58:29.running the country, we do not sit around debating every day. A lot