Local election debate - BCfm Politics Show part 2 - Is The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) @WofEnglandLEP as open and accountable as it should be? Its board is selected by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Institute of Directors (IoD), Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), and Business West â business has the loudest voice spending hundreds of millions of public money but meetings are held in secret - they should be accountable; sell off of Weston-Super-Mare Winter Gardens for a £1 to Weston college with help from a grant from the LEP but this what arguably should have been multi million pound asset transfer takes the Winter Gardens out of local authority control; article in the Bristol Post which fails to mention the criticism from Westons Civic Society nor the facts that the sell-off was carried out with no consultation and £15m granted by the LEP to one of the LEPs partners, Weston college. Should be more representatives from community and social and voluntary sector. Has immigration squeezed or supported local resources? Ed Milibands comments today about David Camerons Libya failings being partly responsible for tens of thousands of desperate migrants coming across the Mediterranean; similarity to forced migration in late 1800s from Ireland and Scotland to the United States. Tony Blairs 2003 Iraq war and dodgy dossier also helped create chaos in the region; Is Bristol a City of Sanctuary for asylum seekers? Is migrant labour undercutting wages? Living wage vs the minimum wage; long term foreign policy - complexity dealing with different countries; diplomats; more social housing. Food security - clip of Derek Mead, North Somerset Farmer, explaining how Britain should be more food self-sufficient, and price cutting in super markets: fishing; local suppliers; people have visited food banks a million times this year. Bristol City Council spends around £370m of our money a year: some towards Metrobus £200m and Arena £110m; Michael Frost complains that the eviction of tree protesters at Stapleton Allotments should have happened much earlier and this would have saved the council money in the long term. He was informed of this by a UKIP colleague here in Bristol who he declines to name but has professional expertise in evictions. Jobs; Colston Hall; parking; scrutiny of funding.
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