00:05:00.580um do you think you'll be voting yeah i'll be voting for well my mum and dad are voting for
00:05:05.540reform so i would i would assume i just vote for them like oh well have they given you any
00:05:10.260idea of why they're voting for reform just based on the fact that i don't really know really you
00:05:17.220know i really asked the question but you know i've just uh yeah yeah i've just i've just sort
00:05:23.300of like maybe an assumption i haven't really done any research into it like but um that's all really
00:05:30.180Well, that's all right. Well, thank you very much for your time. You take care and have a good day.
00:05:34.700So far, we've been asking around to see if anybody wanted to speak about the local by-election.
00:05:39.360And of course, accounting for people who are in the local area who aren't constituents in Makerfield.
00:05:44.960So far, the responses haven't been very positive. A lot of people just haven't been interested in talking about it.
00:05:50.440It seems the feeling that we're getting is that I would imagine the local area constituents and the town centre
00:05:57.800have been a bit swamped with people asking what their feelings are recently. So a lot of people
00:06:01.540are a bit fed up, a little bit bored of it, which is understandable, but you know, this is a big
00:06:06.960election. The media are pushing it as a big election, but it's just interesting taking a
00:06:11.760look around. Like I said, in the last discussion I had a few minutes ago, Wigan really is one of
00:06:18.460those kinds of places where it's got history to it. You can sense it in the architecture,
00:06:24.540but it's fallen into a bit of a state of disrepair where a lot of places are identikit, local big
00:06:31.760brands. You can see here at this crossroads, we've got Subway, Opticians, random foreign-owned brands
00:06:38.680and such. And when we were speaking at the Restore meeting, we were reminded by a friend of the
00:06:45.720channel who was there that, of course, Andy Burnham is mayor of Greater Manchester. Wigan
00:06:52.060falls under Greater Manchester. He reminded us of some of the failures within Andy Burnham's time
00:06:57.620as mayor, including the scrapped £100 million ULES scheme. Now, I lived near Manchester for a
00:07:04.740long time, and I remember when that was supposed to be going in. And it is one of those things
00:07:09.220where everybody was unhappy about it. I remember everybody in Manchester, everybody outside of
00:07:14.660Manchester were very unhappy about it. And you can still see that when you read some of the reports
00:07:19.240from focus group testing that people were being asked about Andy Burnham, what they liked about
00:07:24.680him, what they didn't like about him. Everybody agreed that a hundred million pounds down the
00:07:29.700drain for the sake of a scrapped ULES zone was one of, if not the biggest things that people
00:07:37.740were not happy about because they considered it to just be another tax for just trying to get into
00:07:43.800Manchester if you're a driver Labour in many ways or at least the part that Burnham represents
00:07:49.540seem to be a very anti-car pro-green pro 2030 net zero kind of party and if he were to get in
00:07:58.740and what people were worrying about that being if he gets into prime minister position from there
00:08:05.200is slightly worrying that he would ally himself with the Ed Milibands and the net zero types
00:08:10.420who would want to completely destroy the energy grid and completely destroy any sort of cheap
00:08:15.200energy that Britain is able to produce for itself and punish the population with taxes and extra
00:08:21.300things like the EULES zones. So that is interesting. But just for now, it seems that we've not had that
00:08:27.380much look. So we'll see how we get on as we carry on. Thank you very much. What are your names?
00:08:31.500I'm Natasha. Natasha and Anna. Anna. Very nice to meet both of you. So obviously there's been
00:08:38.000the local by-election called because Josh Simons has decided to step down from his position in
00:08:42.880Makerfield. What do you think of his decision to do that and all of the press it's generated
00:08:48.120around the local area? I have some concerns about how who's in place in that seat would then impact
00:08:56.140kind of our roles as artists whether you know whether the funding models would be the same
00:09:05.180what gets funded what doesn't might change you know um we we feel like heritage would still be
00:09:11.700a priority but and i think with the um with the change in obviously um andy's kind of like
00:09:18.340putting his hat into the ring isn't he to become leader of the party of the leader of the labour
00:09:22.260party um and i think that there probably was a particular moment at that time when obviously
00:09:27.640the local elections hadn't really gone very well for labour so i think though it's destabilized
00:09:32.760somewhat for like Greater Manchester potentially and for like Wigan on the one hand also like
00:09:37.820you have to sometimes strike politics moves so the fact that that vacancy has been made by Josh
00:09:44.860is not necessarily a bad thing it could actually be something really positive and I think that it's
00:09:48.600been interesting to see people having these conversations now and actually I think a lot
00:09:54.660of things like say for example reform policy has been quite exposed during this by-election more
00:10:00.160than it perhaps was during the council elections in what way do you mean i think that for example
00:10:04.660the things that have come out about rob kenyon and i think the fact that like nigel farage is
00:10:09.100like crypto money and stuff like that's been a lot more on the agenda and has spoken a lot more
00:10:12.820than it was in the local elections has actually been quite interesting to see i think potentially
00:10:16.940some form of a tidal shift against reform which i think is positive from my perspective from the
00:10:22.800from somebody who's in the culture and the arts and wants an inclusive environment to live in
00:10:26.680I don't like how it's divided us even more because um I think the only the only way forward
00:10:35.520is unity um and as a community Wigan is more divided than it's ever been um and that shows
00:10:42.140how so divided um I think that um there are uh people who are very willing to embrace everyone
00:10:51.420around them and um get on with being um kind of neighbors without necessarily having to agree
00:10:59.260um and then there are people who are kind of you know putting their foot in the ground and
00:11:04.160you know and saying no that's not what we want so um i think there's that kind of division whenever
00:11:12.420there's a kind of like kind of like a political moment like this then then obviously like
00:11:17.100divisions become like more on the surface um but I do think there has been some form of a title
00:11:21.780shift just recently I think that there has been sort of like slightly more I feel like on social
00:11:26.880media as well there's been a little bit more conversation around kind of like what reform
00:11:31.380is actually about perhaps like doesn't represent what Wigan really is you know like so this is
00:11:36.220this is something we've seen from some people saying that uh even some women who we've been
00:11:40.460told by other canvassers for some of the other parties uh some of the other parties including
00:11:44.580like the greens and restore for instance saying that uh reform voters who were women who were
00:11:49.920thinking of voting for restore had been put off by the comments of robert kenyon that had been
00:11:55.020coming out is that something that you've noticed amongst other women and other people that you
00:11:58.760interact with that it's been really off-putting i have noticed that quite well i mean like the0.91
00:12:03.180women that like you know like i kind of like speak to like would probably find that kind of policy0.97
00:12:08.760the general policies from reform to like not be very appealing but i think there has been a real
00:12:14.180sense that like that's probably not somebody that people would trust with their with their vote when
00:12:19.100they've got like daughters and mothers at home and they don't really want people who kind of like
00:12:22.860outwardly say they're a sexist even if they only said it like two years ago or they only said it
00:12:26.300however many however long he claims he didn't say it but yeah i think that there has been a sense of
00:12:32.300like that isn't really what wigan stands for and i don't think yeah that's definitely true so uh last
00:12:37.600question regarding andy burnham obviously he's been mayor of greater manchester which includes
00:12:42.020Wigan for what nine years now since about 2017 was it um in that time how would you say that
00:12:47.400Wigan and Greater Manchester has changed has it improved is there anything that you'd like to see
00:12:52.220done differently any concerns regarding Burnham anything that you're hoping for obviously you said
00:12:56.940you're artists so anything specific there would be great as well do you want to speak first um yeah
00:13:02.440so um there's been a lot of changes on a kind of small scale level to people's lives like the
00:13:10.980two pound bus tickets and things like that they'll just make everything a bit more equitable a bit
00:13:16.620more accessible so we can get around the whole borough um access art venues and um it makes
00:13:25.180working in the arts a little bit easier it makes it easier to go and support other people um that's
00:13:31.640been a really massive thing I think and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority um supports a lot
00:13:37.480of arts organizations and cultural groups and community groups grassroots organizations that
00:13:42.320are helping people for example i work with an organization that helps people who are isolated
00:13:47.220so socially isolated that might be through dementia or it might be through care responsibilities it's
00:13:52.460a real broad range but that's that group has been funded for a few a few years to to allow them to
00:13:58.080kind of create and to meet each other and to make friends and and have better health health outcomes
00:14:02.540um and that's been like a greater manchester um funded event thing and greater manchester arts
00:14:09.720is just doing great work at the minute and really like listening to people on the ground level um
00:14:16.560you know what what is needed what infrastructure is missing um to really help artists thrive
00:14:23.280all right well thank you both very very much for your time i hope you have a good day it just looks
00:14:28.840lovely. You know, you know, there's history there. Things have happened there. People have lived
00:14:34.700there. It was built for a purpose beyond just making money. What is this? Wigan Hall. I mean,
00:14:41.460that's just beautiful. That's gorgeous. So even in the modern UK, you still get little gems of
00:14:49.260old England dotted around the place. And it just reminds you what it is that we're doing all of
00:14:54.580this for looks like we've got a convert yeah so do you mind what won him over then um he was very
00:15:04.140concerned about housing in the local area um and specifically that it's going to people who are
00:15:08.680non-locals um he's seen crime rise and a simple uh simple display of our policies and he was on
00:15:14.940board and he said he was 19 years old as well so the youth are on board oh yeah yeah yeah big time
00:15:20.120especially the the yeah yeah we've seen it around here a lot with the youth uh yeah completely on
00:15:24.320mod great further oh good work there mate thanks so tragically we didn't manage to get any of it
00:15:29.160on camera because it went a little bit too quick but we did just encounter a group of young men
00:15:34.100who were coming around from the church getting away from what they were describing as a bunch
00:15:37.640of crackheads we did double check and it does appear that there are a few in the churchyard
00:15:41.840sadly and we asked them if they'd be interested in talking about the local by-election because
00:15:46.180they were all locals and the thing that they had to say was that one they were voting reform
00:15:51.820and two, that they wanted to let everybody know, F Labour, we hate Andy Burnham.
00:15:57.980I'm paraphrasing there, but that's basically what we got from them.
00:16:01.340So that's an interesting perspective of some of the younger lads around town.
00:16:05.900Hello, could you introduce yourself, please?
00:16:07.560Yes, so Ed Gemmell. I'm the leader of the Climate Party nationally,
00:16:10.400and I'm standing as a candidate in the make-a-field by-election.
00:16:13.260Fantastic. What are the Climate Party about?
00:16:16.180We're a single-issue party, well, dual-issue, so climate and nature,
00:16:19.620But we're very much focused. The way we're looking at climate is it's the biggest opportunity on the
00:16:23.380planet. It's a fantastic commercial opportunity. Britain should be doing it harder, faster and
00:16:28.260better than anybody else so that we make money out of it. And it's made in Britain and not made0.99
00:16:32.740in China. And which climate policies are these that we can make money from? I think the first
00:16:37.780thing is just it's a general economic policy. At the moment, in terms of economies around the world,
00:16:43.220the clean energy and the clean industries are growing at something like 15% a year for the
00:16:47.380last decade, London Stock Exchange figures, which is almost the same as AI and deep tech.
00:16:52.100They're growing at almost the same speed. Together, they're going to be about a quarter
00:16:54.980of the entire world economy, 25% roughly in 2030. We need to be at the front of doing all this stuff.
00:17:01.860And the way we do that, we bring forward our net zero target to 2030 or something very soon after.
00:17:07.460We invest and innovate our way there rather than the idea of degrowth, which is very much sort of
00:17:12.260sort of Green Party idea, or this idea of reform, restore, and the Conservatives, which is dump the
00:17:18.160net zero targets because they are saying they are de-industrializing the UK, which is an absolute
00:17:23.840total and utter lie. What's happened is in the 50 or so years up to 2008, which is when the Climate
00:17:30.940Change Act came in, manufacturing as a percentage of our economy dropped off by 25 to 30%. Since the
00:17:38.640Climate Change Act came in. Manufacturing has only dropped off just under 1%. But at the same
00:17:43.900time, Britain's net zero economy has been growing at 10% a year. So CBI figures. So at the moment,
00:17:51.000net zero is what is stopping us from deindustrialising. And it's starting to have an
00:17:55.820uptick for us as well. Well, many people would show some scepticism at the idea that net zero
00:18:01.380climate policies would be able to take over the energy infrastructure and provide clean and cheap
00:18:06.960energy for people, which is why they say we need to go back into the North Sea oils and fracking
00:18:12.700and fossil fuels as well. What would you say to alleviate people's fears that by going for a net
00:18:17.520zero clean energy policy, that we wouldn't be further indebting ourselves? Before we say that
00:18:22.440though, let's just say that net zero is not only energy. You know, net zero is everything. So
00:18:26.260transport, buildings, infrastructure, finance, all of it. So let's talk about that as a general
00:18:32.360thing, but focusing purely on energy. Right now in the UK, the first thing we should be doing,
00:18:36.900which we have ignored for 30 years, is tidal power. We're surrounded by 7,000 miles of coastline.
00:18:41.700We have the largest tidal power resource in the world. If we were doing it at full scale,
00:18:46.120we'd have up to 20 gigawatts. To explain where we are at the moment, we're using about 30 gigawatts
00:18:50.840of power at the moment in electricity. At peak, it could be doing 60 to 70% of our power needs,
00:18:55.720and there's a baseload. A, we should be doing that. B, when we look at fossil fuels in the North
00:19:01.160Sea at the moment, the most ridiculous thing we should be doing is doubling down on doing more
00:19:04.920fossil fuels in the North Sea. A, we have a tax regime, which gives back all of the money that
00:19:10.580is invested in setting up a new oil rig in the North Sea. We give that back in tax rebates. So
00:19:15.120we, the taxpayer, pay for BP and Shell to make the money. B, when they clean up at the end,
00:19:20.120we get a full tax rebate for everything when they clean up. So we, the taxpayer, again,
00:19:25.280pay for everything for Shell and BP. And while they're doing it, we give up to 60% tax rebates
00:19:31.080on certain aspects of it. Then, if they make any money, 80% of their shareholders are abroad
00:19:36.320and all the money goes abroad. So again, Britain loses out. It's absolutely ridiculous. But in
00:19:41.900addition to that, by doubling down on the old stuff of the past, we don't do the stuff of the
00:19:46.680future. And right now, there is an opportunity to grow the British economy probably by about
00:19:51.300a trillion by getting ahead of the game of everybody else over the next 20 years. That's
00:19:56.10020 billion pounds a week. Think of the 350 million on a battle bus in the EU Brexit debate.
00:20:02.980That's 20 billion pounds a week we could be putting on the British economy. It would change
00:20:07.520all of our lives. We'd fill the potholes. We'd have our defence ramped up. We would be building
00:20:12.820everything we need. The health service would have enough money. If people are worried about
00:20:16.280immigration, we would have the right border controls doing whatever we as the public want
00:20:19.740to do. But it would be in place. Whereas at the moment, there is nothing in place. We don't have
00:20:24.280money. We have to steal from Peter to pay Paul. It doesn't work.
00:20:27.560So these kinds of policies for people who would be thinking of voting for restore or for reform,
00:20:32.360some of the more hard aligned immigration parties, you're saying that these kinds of policies that
00:20:37.160you're putting forward will actually shore up our ability to protect our borders and
00:20:40.840have a greater democratic control over immigration and other national security issues.
00:20:45.320We can't have democratic control without money, because whatever restore and reform want to do
00:20:49.800at the moment is going to cost money. And we have a declining economy. So at the moment,
00:20:54.040if we take their more extreme policies and we invest time in it. And it's not saying I agree
00:20:57.560with these policies, by the way, it's just about the cost of them. If we actually do that, it's
00:21:01.560going to cost us money. And that means cancelling 10,000 NHS appointments, cancelling a load of
00:21:06.440operations, stop giving money for social services and children's services to councils, because we
00:21:12.040now have to pay for this. We don't have the money. So since 2008, our economy has bubbled on at under
00:21:17.2401.1% GDP growth and in productivity growth, which is the real thing you need, either productivity
00:21:25.200per head, in other words, amount of money we make per head or amount of money we make per hour,
00:21:28.780we've been declining. So we don't have the money to do it. And it is nuts for them to repose it.
00:21:35.220At the same time, suggesting we're going to throw more money away in the North Sea,
00:21:38.740which is the worst thing we can be doing. Right now, renewables are wildly cheaper.
00:21:43.040the only reason we're not doubling down on our renewables well enough at the moment is because
00:21:47.780through a scheme called contracts for difference at the moment the government's making a big upside
00:21:52.720out of the renewables because it's going above the contracts for difference price and we as a
00:21:56.640country are making money so we aren't at the moment doing enough and the government's making
00:22:01.420good money out of it and what would you do for local concerns of people within the maker field
00:22:05.660constituency and area fine first thing is i'm not kidding anybody in maker field that we're trying
00:22:10.000to stand because I'm going to get elected. I'm not. We're standing to put climate onto the agenda.
00:22:14.380But being specific about Makerfield, Makerfield has a fabulous industrial heritage. You know,
00:22:19.300it's a coal mining town. It has steel, it has hinge making, or it had, and it needs to have
00:22:23.940a fabulous industrial future. And the way to have an industrial future is to do what everybody else
00:22:29.260wants. And at the moment, the two biggest growth areas in the world are net zero and sustainability,
00:22:35.240AI and tech. And if we want the jobs in Makerfield, those are the areas we should be
00:22:39.220concentrating in. And where we can get ahead is in the sustainability and net zero ones.
00:22:44.180We are in a position where Britain could lead. And if it did, then industrial heartlands like
00:22:48.820Makerfield would see a growth of industry again, and the jobs and the money would come.
00:22:52.840Well, any final message you'd like to give to constituents and viewers?
00:22:57.060We're not out there to get the votes from people we're not going to win. What we're out there is
00:23:01.660saying, you have got to talk to Andy Burnham and the reform candidate and any other candidate
00:23:06.180thinks they should have your vote and say, what are you doing about climate? We just had the
00:23:10.480hottest temperatures in May by two degrees only a week ago. We smashed the temperatures. We're
00:23:15.480going to have hot temperatures this summer and we're going to smash the records again next year
00:23:18.820if we don't do it this year. That's number one. And then you've got to say to them,
00:23:22.560what are you guys doing to grow the economy? Where's your vision? How are you going to lead
00:23:26.740the country? Because none of them have a vision on where to go. And the most obvious thing we
00:23:31.260should be doing is doubling down where the world's making money and none of them are on top of it.
00:23:35.580So please, to the constituents, to the voters, point at these guys and say to them, I want to hear what about your industrial vision and what about dealing with climate change?
00:23:45.620Well, thank you very much for your time, Ed. It's been a pleasure speaking to you.
00:23:48.680Interesting perspective on these that I've not heard before.