Tag: Nick Clarke

Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner – the four candidates

Meet with the four candidates for Police Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire

Tuesday 12th April 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: In a month’s time, or just under a month actually, you will have the chance to have your say on how Cambridgeshire should be policed. It is the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Over the next few days you’re going to hear from each of Cambridgeshire’s four Police and Crime Commissioner candidates, talking about why they want the role and what their priorities for policing would be. Continue reading “Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner – the four candidates”

Dissent on devolution for East Anglia

17:21 Thursday 17th March 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

The East Anglia Devolution Agreement

CHRIS MANN: It’s been twenty four hours since the Chancellor George Osborne used the Budget to unveil devolution plans for East Anglia, handing more powers to Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. There would be in his plans a single authority for East Anglia with an elected Mayor. The Communities Secretary Greg Clark has been visiting Huntingdon today. He’s been telling the BBC exactly how devolution would work for the county.
GREG CLARK: So on transport, of course if you’re building new homes, one of the problems in the past is that the homes have gone up, but often the transport has not been in improved, so the roads have got more congested. So what the council leaders have negotiated in this deal is a big fund, nearly a billion pounds,of money to be put in the hands of locals, to make sure that when homes are built for example, or indeed when new commercial premises are built, there can be investment in the roads, in the railways, to make sure that the area continues to flow. But also for housing, we know right across the area when jobs are being created, people do need to live close by them. And they want to get a home of their own. There has been a housing shortage, so there’s money specifically again, over £175 million, to invest over the next few years in more homes here, with local people taking those decisions. So it’s a big big transfer, from rather than decisions made way down in London, have those decisions made locally.
CHRIS MANN: Cambridge City Council is the only authority out of twenty two that doesn’t support the plans. Labour’s Lewis Herbert is the Council’s Leader.
LEWIS HERBERT: The money on the table is about £1 million per council per year, and that really isn’t going to make any difference. Our infrastructure needs hundreds of millions of pounds just for Cambridge. We’ve only had three weeks to actually make our case to Government. Not enough money, nothing for housing. A bit like the Budget, there’ll be nothing for lower income and middle income people needing housing.
CHRIS MANN: But the Communities Secretary Mr Clark hopes the Council will change its mind.
BBC: Let me just ask you just about the practicalities of that deal. Three counties, with Peterborough as well. Is it really practical to take that forward, when you don’t have the likes of Cambridge City and the Local Enterprise Partnership on board? Because without Cambridge, how can that really be of any meaning?
GREG CLARK: Well it’s early days, and certainly I hope that when the City of Cambridge considers the amount of investment that is open to them and to their residents, as well as Cambridgeshire and the other counties, that they will see that actually there’s great benefits for everyone there. And of course when it comes to the City of Cambridge, a fantastic global success, but a lot of the challenges, you know, benefits of success that Cambridge has, the challenges that it gives on housing for example, on transport congestion, on skills, a lot of the solutions are not just within the city limits. They go into their neighbouring areas. So that’s what this deal does. It brings everyone together, so you’ve got better transport, rail and road across the area, places that are able to train people to take up those jobs. And crucially housing for people, young people who want a home of their own, and can put down the roots here, or stay here if they’ve lived here.
CHRIS MANN: Well let’s hear from a senior local Conservative, the Leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, Jason Ablewhite believes that had devolution happened twenty years ago, the A14 would have been upgraded by now.
JASON ABLEWHITE: Everybody locally knew that that local need was there. I think it’s always a battle going to Government to say look, you know, we need a big chunk of cash to do this. The whole point of devolution is that this will be about local decision making. And if I take Huntingdonshire for example, where we’ve got a lot of big brownfield sites, former military sites, which are very challenging in their geography and where they are, to deliver those we need infrastructure investment . If we’ve got that local power, if we’ve got local money that we can put into that, then that’s got to be a positive for the future. And it helps us with our plans. I think in ten years time I’d like to see East Anglia as an absolute powerhouse. We already know that economically it’s one of the largest economies in the UK. And in terms of GVA, between East Anglia, London and the South East, that is a big chunk of the UK PLC GVA every year. And I think a geography that’s wider, the governance is going to be an issue. I can see that because of the size, the sheer scale and size of it. But I would fundamentally love to see an Eastern Powerhouse.
CHRIS MANN: So we’ve heard from the Government proposing it. We have heard from there a council leader who accepts it. We’ve also heard from a council leader who doesn’t, Lewis Herbert for Labour. Let’s bring in, now that we have more details, Nick Clarke, former Conservative Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council, who last year defected to UKIP. Hello Nick.
NICK CLARKE: Good evening Chris.
CHRIS MANN: If you were still running the County Council of course you’d be involved in negotiating all this. Would you be in favour?
Continue reading “Dissent on devolution for East Anglia”

Cambridge for Europe campaign underway

Supporters include Labour MP Daniel Zeichner, his predecessor Julian Huppert, and the Conservative peer Lord Balfe

17:21 Thursday 28th January 2016
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: A new cross-party organisation to campaign for the UK to stay in the EU will launch at this time just tomorrow. Cambridge for Europe argues the case for continued membership of the EU, in preparation for the referendum which is expected to be later this year, perhaps as early as June. Supporters include Labour MP Daniel Zeichner, his predecessor Julian Huppert, who is a LibDem, and the Conservative peer Lord Balfe, as well as the Chair of Cambridge LibDems, Mark Argent, who joins me now. Mark, hello to you.
MARK ARGENT: Nice to meet you.
CHRIS MANN: Tell us, why is it important to have this organisation campaigning?
MARK ARGENT: I think the UK’s future is very much to be at the heart of Europe, leading change there, rather than running away. That matters for our prosperity and our cultural survival, and also how we compete on the world stage, with countries like China and Brazil growing much bigger.
CHRIS MANN: And will you be making specific arguments for Cambridgeshire to stay in the EU, arguments that are relevant to this part of the world?
MARK ARGENT: I think the whole Cambridge region, so the city and the whole area around it, draws a huge amount from being in the European Union. And that’s partly about just general trade with the rest of the Single Market. It’s about investment in the universities, and research and business coming out of that.

So you’re going to go on a platform and say all those tens of thousands that are coming, moving around, those economic migrants, they can come here no problem?

CHRIS MANN: OK. Well I’m sure you’ll have many debates over the next months. We don’t yet know when the referendum will be, but your first one is right now ..
MARK ARGENT: Thank you.
CHRIS MANN: .. because we’re going to bring in somebody from UKIP, because UKIP will be leading the anti-Europe campaign in this part of the world. And a senior official with them is Nick Clarke, a former of course Conservative Leader of the County Council. Nick Clarke, hello.
NICK CLARKE: Good evening Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Will there be a Cambridge against Europe coalition announced too?
Continue reading “Cambridge for Europe campaign underway”

Climate Change Act under fire as steel industry contracts

09:23 Monday 19th October 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Somebody contacted the show this morning, it was Rob in Bretton in Peterborough, with a bit of a rant saying ‘It seems to me we can prop up banks, but we just let our steel works close.‘ And then UKIP’s Nick Clarke, former Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council claiming that climate change, the Climate Change Act has significantly raised household energy bills, and contributed to the demise of the steel industry, a second major player in which is to announce major job losses in the coming days we think.
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Tata Steel expected to announce 1,200 jobs going in Scunthorpe, just a week after nearly 2,000 jobs were declared at risk in Redcar. And Rob in Bretton, as I mentioned, called in. Unions are asking for the Government to step in and save the industry. Well, how simple is that? Let’s speak to Jonathan Aylen, who’s a steel expert from Manchester University. Jonathan, morning.
JONATHAN AYLEN: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: So we spent billions propping up our banking industry, yet we’re not going to spend billions it seems propping up more traditional jobs. Is it easy to do that anyway? Is it easy to step in if you’re a government?
JONATHAN AYLEN: Well I think Rob (from) Bretton’s got an excellent point. The banks acted completely irresponsibly and were bailed out seven years ago. They partly nationalised HBoS and RBS and Lloyds to guaranteed their solvency. And here you have two firms, SSI which is closed up on Teesside and now Tata Steel. Both have invested in their industries. They’ve both innovated, which is the kind of thing these modern manufacturing firms are expected to do. They train their workers. They export. And then their dilemma is completely ignored. So Rob (from) Bretton is dead right. There’s no justice.
PAUL STAINTON: One of the problems caused, it’s because the price of steel has dropped through the floor. Now UKIP’s Nick Clarke, a leading local politician, says a lot of this is to do with the Climate Change Act significantly raising bills.
Continue reading “Climate Change Act under fire as steel industry contracts”

Opposing Views on MPs’ Pay

09:21 Monday 8th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: On the subject of money and MPs’ pay, the TUC say everyone in the UK deserves a pay rise. That’s what’s going to be said at the TUC General Congress later on today. It follows that news that MPs might get up to £74,000 a year. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority recommended the increase, saying MPs do an important job, and shouldn’t be paid such a miserly amount. Well on the line is Nick Clarke, Chairman of Cambridgeshire Conservatives. Morning Nick.
NICK CLARKE: Morning Paul. How are you?
PAUL STAINTON: I’m alright. “A miserly amount”. £67,000.
NICK CLARKE: Well that depends on where you sit and what you’re getting paid, I’m guessing. That’s quite interesting. This is always a most difficult subject for politicians, whether it’s at the local level or nationally. Politicians don’t like this subject at all, because whatever is the outcome, they always get the blame. Now in this case it’s an independent study. And I think the media is missing one point here at the moment. It’s not actually a pay rise, because it’s a renegotiated terms, renegotiated package. My understanding is that the MPs are going to have to give up their golden goodbyes, the money they receive when they are no longer elected, which is clearly a silly thing to hand out anyway. And I also understand it’s going to affect their contributions to pensions, and they’re going to modernise a whole bunch of the expenses which none of us like anyway. And if we throw our minds back to the days of my hero Margaret Thatcher, it was about then that she also encouraged MPs not to take a pay rise. And of course over time the Nelson’s Eye was turned towards the allowances, and a scandal arouse because of it. I think the good news about this is that once we get through this concern about the headline figure, I think MP salaries are then going to be linked to average earnings, which I think is a very sensible way forward.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes, average earnings, which are a third of what MPs are earning. Is that fair? We’ve not had a pay rise Nick.
NICK CLARKE: No, and I don’t get paid anything at all these days, so I sympathise entirely. But at the end of the day I want the best people we can attract into politics to help run our affairs.
PAUL STAINTON: Does this guarantee it, paying them more money? Do we get better politicians?
NICK CLARKE: Well, some politicians are motivated by power, some are motivated by self-importance, some motivated by the rewards I’m guessing. It’s part of the package, and what we don’t want to be doing is paying a salary that doesn’t attract the best. And equally we have to be mindful that we must be paying sufficient that we don’t get involved in any of the old corruption scandals that used to affect our police forces so many years ago, when they weren’t paid enough. So it’s a difficult balance. I think the big bit about this though is linking .. once they can get past this .. linking MPs’ salaries then to some .. you know .. the average earnings rise is a very sensible way forward, and I just wish they would do it with local councils as well. because at least for the MPs it’s an independent authority that sets this.
PAUL STAINTON: Well they set up the independent authority, didn’t they? Let’s be fair.
NICK CLARKE: Yes which is very sensible.
PAUL STAINTON: As independent as possibly the word can be.
NICK CLARKE: Yes, but a lot more independent than MPs actually voting for their own pay rises, which is a complete nonsense, and causes even more political shenanigans, I have to say.
PAUL STAINTON: But you can understand why people have been listening to this this morning. At the TUC there’s going to be a speech later on today from Frances O’Grady, saying we all deserve a pay rise. Why can’t we all have one then? What’s good for the goose has got to be good for all us ganders, surely.
NICK CLARKE: Yes, I would totally agree with that, but as I say, this isn’t a pay rise per se. It’s a renegotiated package, isn’t it? And in business anywhere else, if someone was to come to you Paul and say oh, we’re going to take away some of your pension rights, and all your holidays and all the other good things you get, company car perhaps ..
PAUL STAINTON: I wish.
NICK CLARKE: I know. And in return we’re going to buy those benefits off you by raising a one-off payment increase, that’s quite normal in business, quite normal in negotiating employment rights. So I’m not shocked by that particularly. I think getting it tied then down to something sensible, so we haven’t got to go through this pain every two or three years, is the right way forward.
PAUL STAINTON: Rupert Read is with us as well. He hopes to be the Green candidate for Cambridge at the General Election. Rupert, morning.
RUPERT READ: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Ooh it’s a big earner now isn’t it? Seventy four grand. That must be enticing.
RUPERT READ: (LAUGHS) The point here from a Green point of view is that our MP, Caroline Lucas, has been a shining light of probity on this. Nick as a Conservative says, oh dear, this is a very difficult issue for politicians …
PAUL STAINTON: What do you mean, she’s been a shining light of probity? That’s a very nice sentence. well constructed, but what does it mean?
RUPERT READ: I was just about to explain, if you let me explain.
PAUL STAINTON: Go on.
Continue reading “Opposing Views on MPs’ Pay”

Lewis Herbert Under Fire for Cambridge Bin Strike Backlog

07:20 Friday 18th July 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: So the mercury is rising, believe me. The sun cream, you’ll need it for later on. And the rubbish bins are still out as well in Cambridge, eight days over last week’s strike over pay and pensions. And the last of the 8,000 uncollected bins in Cambridge we’re told will finally be cleared away today. But the hot weather coupled with rotting refuse has prompted several people to make unfavourable comparisons with the bad old days of the 1970’s and the Winter of Discontent. Former County Council Leader Nick Clarke tweeting yesterday “Labour-run council in trouble already in Cambridge. Bins not being emptied because of strikes. Labour union strikes” And the city’s MP Julian Huppert calling it “a poor start to Labour’s stewardship of Cambridge City Council.” Well Lewis Herbert is the Leader of Cambridge City Council. Lewis, morning.
LEWIS HERBERT: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Is it your fault?
Continue reading “Lewis Herbert Under Fire for Cambridge Bin Strike Backlog”

Mark Lloyd on Government by Committee at Cambridgeshire County Council

08:07 Tuesday 13th May 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Let’s get into the committee system that Cambridgeshire County Council are adopting today. They voted to abandon the local government cabinet model in May last year. Later this morning roles within the new system will be allocated. It’s proven to be a controversial decision, inciting Leader Martin Curtis to hand in his resignation. This is an edited excerpt from Martin Curtis’s blog, which has been voiced by one of our journalists.
VOICEOVER: “As I stand down as Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council I thought I would end my term of office with a series of articles which highlight where I think Cambridgeshire is on a service by service basis, and explain the concerns about why the change of direction forced on the Council is not good for you the Cambridgeshire resident. My view has always been that the decision to implement committees as the response to moving to no overall control was wrong. The decision to move to committees was made at the first full Council meeting after May’s election, with 39 out of 69 councillors newly elected. More than half of the Council had no experience of working in a county council. In those circumstances, nobody could convince a reasonable person that it was a well thought out decision, but it was one that practically ties us to a committee system for five years. So if it doesn’t work, the decision made in haste without any depth of thought leaves you the council tax payer stuck with a failing system for the next five years.”
PAUL STAINTON: That’s Martin Curtis’ words voiced up by one of our journalists. Not a big fan it’s safe to assume. He describes it as a decision made in haste without any depth of thought, and he claims it’s a system no longer supported by the majority of the Council. However we heard earlier from Catherine Staite the Director of University of Birmingham’s Institute of Local Government Studies. She says there are pros and cons to each system, and the success of the Council will depend on how councillors work with officers.
(TAPE)
CATHERINE STAITE: A lot of backbenchers have got frustrated in the cabinet and scrutiny system, feeling that they as local members don’t have the amount of say that they would like to have, and therefore they feel that by spreading the power across committees, that would give more people opportunities. I think that does work to a certain extent, but I think a local authority the size of Cambridgeshire is an enormous business. It requires strategic leadership, and there’s a risk that if you spread the power out too widely, it would take too long to make a decision.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: That’s Catherine. Well joining me in the studio now is Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council Mark Lloyd. Mark, morning.
MARK LLOYD: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Nice to see you. Is this true democracy at work now, or are we going to be in some sort of state of paralysis as is the fear?
Continue reading “Mark Lloyd on Government by Committee at Cambridgeshire County Council”

BBC Cambs Bigger Breakfast Political Review 2013

07:19 Tuesday 24th December 2013
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: Before we launch ourselves into 2014, we thought it was time to take a little look back through the Bigger Breakfast telescope on our year in Cambridgeshire. We start with the political scene and our reporter Dotty McLeod. It’s been a busy year Dotty. Where shall we begin, do you think?
DOTTY MCLEOD: Well we begin Paul back in May, with one of the biggest stories in Cambridgeshire, which has been the change in the politics of the county itself. Elections to the County Council happened back on 2nd May, and by early evening the next day things had changed. The Council was leaderless, hung, and 20% purple, with the UK Independence Party holding a total of 12 seats. Pete Reeve, the then leader of the UKIP group in Cambridgeshire, said the other main parties needed to take them seriously.
Continue reading “BBC Cambs Bigger Breakfast Political Review 2013”