The year is 2014 and private compounds are appearing in every british city as the rich shield themselves from poverty and crime. (Drama) Blair: that is a society which is in my view heading towards total fracture and I don’t want to be in it. (Drama) Ten years from now the gap between the rich and the poor has widened to a degree not seen n Britain since the second world war – and it’s getting wider. (montage: craig/pat breakfast: chase: wine tasting) Hutton: it’s almost an apartheid of rich and poor ADEBOWALE A divided society isn’t just a problem for the poor, its a problem for the rich as well One man is determined to change all that. PM : I want you to join me in fighting for fairness. But he has powerful enemies. PATRICK: I’ll make sure gates and barriers appear in every corner of the country This is the story of what could happen next. Car explodes [ EXT 6 : EXT. REGENT’S COURT. DAY (Drama) NARRATOR V/O: This is Regent’s Court - a gated community in one of London's most polarised boroughs. Guards, fences and cameras keep the residents happy - and the locals out. 14: REGENT’S COURT - SHOW FLAT (Drama) SONIA: Safety and Security. That's what people need. And that's what they get here at regents court… (Drama) ... A safe haven in an unsafe world. (Drama) SONIA : ( indulgently ) Ah - my favourite feature. [ (Drama) SONIA: The panic button is linked up to our 24 hour CCTV centre .... run by our team of highly trained security staff. (Drama) And don't forget : Gated homes are fabulous investments. They hold their value ... (Drama) ... much better than old - fashioned properties. (Drama) ( agitated ) Um ... Would you excuse me for a moment. (Drama) Have a look at this. (Drama) ( rushing towards door ) Make yourselves comfortable ! I'll be back in five. SETHA LOWE: AUTHOR, BEHIND THE GATES LOWE: Author: Behind the Gates It’s exploding all over the world, we have gated communities accelerating doubling tripling in the United States what sixteen million now. We have gated communities everywhere almost in the world at this point in time//there’s now a thousand gated communities in the UK at the last count, and I’m talking about seven million households living in the united states, but they are also gated communities in the Phillipines, in China, in Bulgaria, throughout East Europe, in the middle east there are large numbers of gated commnities, its certainly a global phenomena, (Drama) COUPLE WATCH PROMO VIDEO: At Regents court you’re in control …. Louis Armstrong: Chief Executive: Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Gated communities in inner cities have proved really useful tools for bringing back to life derelict no go areas of cities. Its been a way of using old schools and hospitals and factories and buildings that perhaps have been redundant, where it was unsafe to live, and where no one really wanted to be Julie Hicklin: Gated Community Resident Well it was about ten years ago and it was my first purchase and erm, sort of living at home with the comforts and security of home life, and with my parents, I wanted somewhere that felt secure, erm, so that was one of the main benefits of living within a gated community that I knew, that once I was inside those gates, that I’d feel safented to be … it is like living on your own planet, its your own oasis within a, an area that perhaps isn’t so pleasant, erm, everything is on site, apart from he security aspect there are supermarkets, gyms, erm, swimming pools there’s a bar restaurant, so there is a community within the community SCENE 17 : INT. (Drama) SONIA: What's happened ? DANNY: Violation of perimeter security at the East Gate. SONIA: Not again. Is it serious ? (Drama) DANNY: Red Watch is mobile. He is undertaking a visual inspection of the incident and will action an appropriate response. SONIA: Meaning ?! DANNY: Barry’s gone to have a look, Sonia. He'll sort it out. (Drama) Next door to Regent’s Court is Wickam Edge, one of East Londons most troubled council estates. LOUIS ARMSTRONG: CHIEF EXECUTIVE: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED SURVEYORS: The disadvantages of gated communities are that those inside feel cut off from the people outside, … There’s a perception that there are rich pickings for those who are criminals, and there’s a feeling that this is dividing society and not being at all helpful to breeding an integrated community. (Drama) IAN BLAIR: DEPUTY COMMISIONER - METROPOLITAN POLICE If one group retires behind their moat, a bit like they’re afraid of the black death … they can let the black death happen outside the castle, er doesn’t concern them,. Well, that is a society which is in my view heading towards total fracture and I don’t want to be in it. (Drama) By 2014, Gated Communities are one of the fastest growing businesses in Britain. With 15% of the population of our cities living in them, they are the most visible sign of an increasingly unequal society. PAUL GREGG: CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, LSE Inequality in Britain went through an unprecedented explosion in 1980’s and the early 1990’s.. it was the most rapid increase in inequality in any developed nation and there is no recent historical period in Britain where we’ve seen such a dramatic change in inequality SCENE 7 : INT. PATRICK'S MANSION. DINING ROOM. DAY (Drama) PAUL GREGG: CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, LSE The top managers, top directors, top professionals are continuing to see rising living standards well above the rest of the population and there seems to be no reason to think that that is going to ease – the prospects are for a small slice of the most affluent pulling further and further away from the rest of the population. Dr DR DEANNE DR DR DEANNE JULIUS: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Over time, the whole population has gotten wealthier, so its not true that the poor have gotten poorer, and the rich have gotten richer, I - and its very important to remember that when thinking about inequality. We’ve all gotten richer, but the richer people have gotten richer a little faster than the poorer people have. CRAIG : Good Morning. CRAIG: Mr Ferguson is in a meeting. I will ... Yes. Goodbye. PATRICK: Who was that. CRAIG : Your ... wife. PAUL GREGG: CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, LSE: historically for// hundreds of years//living standards, within this country have improved, and they’ve improved for all parts of society. // What’s been happening in the last 20 years, is unnatural, in the sense that, it’s an atypical period where the very affluent have been gaining a disproportionate share of the increased living standards of, of, that’s, that British society has, has enjoyed. SCENE 9. EXT: GROSVENOR ESTATE. DAY WILL HUTTON: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE WORK FOUNDATION: our society is very divided its not just the traditional inequalities of income and wealth … there’s inequalities of opportunity in our society, there’s spatial inequalities, where we live, how we go to work, … and it’s becoming a very polarised society, almost an apartheid of rich and poor. (Drama) MEL: Take that off ! CAMERON: ( oblivious ) Whose is it ? MEL: I’ve got absolutely no idea but please can you just take it off? CAMERON: Can I have it ? MEL: No but you can come here. CAMERON: They're rubbish. MEL: Mmmm, yeah – you’re right ( Laughs ) MEL: Now go away WILL HUTTON: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE WORK FOUNDATION, a generation ago to have a car, to have a television, would have seen as being moderately wealthy, today we regard that as actually a basic part of …subsistence …But//if aren’t able to realise your capabilities, your capacities and potential as an individual, as a human being, you know that you’re impoverished. SCENE 11 : EXT. GROSVENOR ESTATE. DAY (Drama) MO ROBERTS: FOURTH WORLD ANTI-POVERTY MOVEMENT I don’t think people in poverty have different dreams and aspirations to everybody else // almost every parents who’s been through poverty I’ve ever spoken to said, I don’t want my kids to suffer the same as I do, I want them to have a better life, I want my grandchildren to never know what we’ve been through. Sadly, sometimes I’m talking to the third generation of a family who has been through that MEL: Did you pack your goggles ? CAMERON: Oh no. I forgot them. MEL: Cameron - I told you to look after them ! CAMERON: I know ... Hang on. Here they are ! . LORD ADAWALE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TURNING POINT: when you have people living in poverty you also have poor health, you have high crime, you have poor education. You have a divided society which is moving backwards and not forwards, it doesn’t just affect the poor, that’s the issue, it affects everybody so a divided society isn’t just a problem for the poor, its a problem for the rich as well, and its a problem for everyone in between, erm, and I think that makes it the imperitive actually in my view, the sole imperitive or any organisation that calls itself a government. EXT: AIRPORT: PLANE LANDS 39 : INT. ANDREW'S CAR. DAY NARRATOR V/O : In 2014, a Labour leader is in Number Ten . he swept to power two years earlier but now he’s facing is first crisis. CAPTION: ANDREW KIRK Kirk is on the road promoting his Welfare Bill , which has split his labour/lib-dem coalition. ANDREW: Any news ? LAURENCE: Another poll in The Guardian. Over a hundred and) twenty backbenchers say they’ll vote against the Bill. ANDREW: Oh great. LAURENCE: Obviously, all the ministers and PPS’s are on side. ANDREW: Glad to hear it. How about the rest. LAURENCE: Twitchy. You know what the Woodentops are like. ANDREW: Yeah ... Well - let’s explain things a bit more, hmm ? Remind them what this is all about. What was that ... What was it ... Yeah ... Did you read that Liverpool study ... the one about comparative levels of child poverty across Europe ? LAURENCE: I ... ah ... missed that one andrew. ANDREW: Seems we’re making progress. But could do better. LAURENCE: I’ll check it out. ANDREW: Find some killer facts and figures. And send them out to the awkward squad. D’you want to come over for PMQs ? The way things are going it could be your last chance ... RADIO VOICE OVER : If he loses the Welfare Bill vote – and many at Westminster think that’s a real possibilityl – rebels will table a vote of no confidence in their embattled leader. His fight against poverty might well spell the end of his premiership. WS of city So why is Andrew Kirk’s Welfare bill so controversial? He’s already raised the top level of taxation to 50% and introduced a 4% local income tax. In the New Bill, he plans to cut child benefit and introduce means tested payments to the poorest families. LORD ADAWALE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TURNING POINT: its the purpose of government I think to create a society where inequality is minimised//the most effective way of doing that is tax, the unspoken word, the thing that people don’t want to talk about particularly at election time but its about how we redistribute wealth. DR DEANNE JULIUS: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: I think you have to remember that this country already has a tax system that taxes more from the wealthy and less from the poor. Er, for example the top 1%, the richer 1% of people in this country they actually earn 10%, almost 10% of income but they pay 22% of taxes, so they’re paying double their share, as it were already of, of taxes, LORD ADAWALE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TURNING POINT It’s actually about creating services on the basis that if the poor can use them, and if the work for the poor, then they sure as hell going to work really well for the rest of us, DR DEANNE JULIUS: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS I think most people are pretty savvy and they realise that for them to pay more of their income out in tax does not equate to having better public services provided to them //Now in the private sector, //if your company doesn’t provide good services your customers will go elsewhere// So the fact that there’s no competitive pressure on (the managers or the people who work in PUBLIC SERVICES) //means that there is no natural way that their quality of service is going to improve. TAX OFFICE. NARRATOR V/O: Andrew Kirk faces an impossible dilemma. Voters want better public services but not higher taxes. The middle classes feel they’re footing the bill - and seeing none of the benefits in health, education or policing. A boycott of tax returns is hitting the government where it hurts. CLERK 1 : That's my tenth Andrew Kirk today. How many have you had ? CLERK 2 : ( proudly ) Seven so far. Plus three Mickey Mouses – erm, Mice ..and ( dreamy ) a Kylie Minogue. CLERK 1: Oh yeah. I remember her. Vaguely. The resistence to Kirk’s increase in the top rate of tax is widespread, but actually it affects only a very small proportion of wage earners. ROBERT CHOTE: INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES its interesting that you start paying the upper rate of income tax at around 35 thousand pounds a year of earnings, er, now in fact that only affects about 7% of adults in the country and only about 11% of those who are in - earning enough to pay any income tax at all, so the idea that the higher rate of income tax affects vast swaiths of the middle classes isn’t justified. But it’s interesting that politicians therefore still care so much about the idea that you might be scaring people in to the view that the higher rate of tax may be going up. INT: REGENTS COURT: SECURITY ROOM (SCENE 17 ) Andrew Kirk has another problem. The newspapers are on a bandwagon - neighbourhood tensions and crime are hitting the headlines. At Regent’s Court, the pressure is on Danny to keep the riff raff out. DANNY: OK. Seeing as it's you ... SONIA: No slacking, Danny. You know the rules. DANNY: I was monitoring the front gate. SONIA: Of course you were. One more lapse of concentration and you’re out. SETHA LOWE: AUTHOR, BEHIND THE GATES LOWE: AUTHOR: BEHIND THE GATES People are looking for safety and security and some place nice to live .. course the irony is is that when you’re talking to residents who live in this community, they’ll say oh I feel so safe and secure, I feel so much better, erm, my kids can play on the street and then they go on to talk about how its a false sense of security, and how they’re so worried about it are the guards going to let other people in, or who are the guards. And what about the construction workers and what about the guy who’s delivering the flowers, (Drama) SETHA LOWE: AUTHOR, BEHIND THE GATES one thing they all have in common is the majority over 70 as high as maybe 80% of everyone who moves, says that their fearful of crime or fearful of others so we would assume that this is a fairly fearful er some might say even paranoid population of people.. I call it a landscape of fear (SAME CHUNK) SCENE 25 : INT. REGENT’S COURT - HEALTH CLUB. DAY MEL: Nearly there. GILL: Yes, I know. I know ... I can barely hear you. I’ll have to call you later ... Bye. I'm sorry Melanie. I don't know how you can stand it. Living over there. MEL: Oh Iyou get used to it after a while. You know ... stepping over the dead bodies, syringes. GILL: Very funny, Melanie. MEL: In fact, we like the music so much we get it pumped into our flats. And the playground. GILL: Really. Oh thank god for that… MEL: you know what you need to spend a bit more time on the corner rapping and chilling with the yardies GILL shut up Melanie MEL How about this one? GILL Not very subtle MEL No but it’s very you. GILL You think MEL Mmmm GILL Alright ANDREW KIRK ENTERS TV STUDIO FOR INTERVEW PM ENTERS ROOM FOR INTERVIEW NARRATOR V/O: In his increasingly polarised Britain, Andrew Kirk is trying to ease the tensions by helping the lowest paid with his controversial Welfare Bill. (Drama( The roots of his policies were planted nearly two decades before, during Tony Blair’s government PAUL GREGG: CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, LSE The current Labour government, has made, .. raising the incomes of the poorest families with children’s a, a key priority.. and the, .. benefit increases to those who are working poor, and, … those who are workless… have been dramatic by historical standards. We’ve seen the biggest increase in, in, in spending on families with children, er, er, of, of any, any post-war government. But Blair and Browns attack on poverty couldn’t narrow the inequality gap as the rich got richer much faster than everybody else. (Drama) NARRATOR V/O: Like many people on the Grosvenor estate Mel gets by on a patchwork of part time jobs and home working. After she’s paid her 20% tax, she’s left with little more than she would get on benefits. MO ROBERTS: FOURTH WORLD ANTI-POVERTY MOVEMENT: The welfare system fails people because it shelves them, it pigeon holes them …there’s a lot more coercion to accept jobs and courses and things now than there ever was before, and when your choice is taken away from you, and you don’t feel invested in, how can you feel part of something ..you have no choice and you have no future and you can be doing this job for ever, that’s when people kick against the system, that’s when they feel abandoned. Andrew Kirk has decided to tackle the problem head on. He’s pushing through a bill that ploughs much of the extra revenue from his tax rise into helping the poor. PETER When did you become interested in political suicide ? ANDREW: Come on Peter. Let’s not get too carried away. This is an important piece of legislation ... something that I have campaigned for long and hard over many years ... PRESENTER: But if you lose next week’s vote ... ANDREW: Now let’s not be premature ... Let’s wait and see what happens. PETER: then you may have to resign. Why put your job on the line for such a minor piece of legislation? ANDREW And as long as I lead this party, I will do my utmost to make Britain a fairer society. That is my goal. My vision. SCENE 28 : CELEBDAQ (Drama) But some people get away with paying almost no tax at all. sc29 : EXT. PATRICK'S MANSION - GARDEN. DAY [ PATRICK RIDING HORSE] CELEBDAQ PRESENTER V/O: And tonight we're taking a closer look at Patrick Ferguson. Just how big is his wad ? And should you be investing in him Is it one of the biggest in Britain ? WILL HUTTON: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE WORK FOUNDATION: It’s not that the taxation system favours the super rich as such, its that the super rich can take advantage of globalisation, and .. all the wheezes and dodges that globalisation provides..So they can take their money in off shore tax havens.., they can.. take ..payments in income as capital gain…where they can if they choose, hide their income. SONIA COMES OUT OF REGENT’S COURT BUILDING SONIA – Hi Patrick – is this a good time to talk? SCENE 30 : EXT. PATRICK'S MANSION - GARDEN. DAY (Drama) PATRICK: Sonia .... No, it's not a good time actually. But what can I do for you. SONIA: It’s that car again. And it’s even louder PATRICK: What d'you want me to do about it Sonia ? You're the Operations Manager. (Drama) SONIA: We have to sort this out Patrick. Some of the residents want to reduce their servie charges... PATRICK: ( to second caller ) Hang on, love. ( to Sonia ) What ? What ? Look ... service charges are service charges – OK? There’s no refund for loud music or a bit of litter. I'm losing ... I said, I’m losing enough money as it is. For the hundredth time Sonia ... sort it out. 'Bye. (Drama) ( sweetly ) Hello ! Sonia’s residents have an ever growing list of complaints about a small group of local teenagers. NORMAN NORMAN BRENNAN: DIRECTOR, VICTIMS OF CRIME: DIRECTOR, VICTIMS OF CRIME NORMAN NORMAN BRENNAN: DIRECTOR, VICTIMS OF CRIME: DIRECTOR, VICTIMS OF CRIME NORMAN BRENNAN: DIRECTOR, VICTIMS OF CRIMEAnti social behavior takes all sorts of forms its er, anything er from threatening abusive or offensive behavior and language er, its also graffiti on public buildings and on peoples own homes. Erm, its playing football, its being loud, its letting off fire works, and the main thing is when youngster are out about, and I’m talking about as young as eight nine and ten, out, anywhere up until midnight … and that is what society is sick and tired of. EXT. STREET NARRATOR V/O : By 2014 anti social behaviour orders - designed to prohibit individuals from certain acts or from entering certain areas- have escalated to record levels since they were created in 1999. NORMAN BRENNAN: DIRECTOR, VICTIMS OF CRIME : the sad reality is, is that many pubs clubs and street corners are places where people that commit crime meet, believe it or not, and //… If they think that that type of behaviour is acceptable now, what sort of behaviour is going to be acceptable by their children and then the next two generations on. I truly fear for the future. But in 2014, the people’s fear of crime and actual crime statistics are way out of step. LORD ADAWALE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TURNING POINT: I think some of the media responses, to crime and and the crime statistics fuel fear, not just fear of crime but fear of individuals, fear of black people, black men for instance who are far more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators of crime.// we’ve developed a debate in the media which has become irresponsible actually and quite dangerous EXT: REGENTS COURT DANNY: Alright Mel. What's the rush ? MEL: ( smiling ) Someone couldn't get out of bed this morning. DANNY: I know how he feels. I've been up half the night, dealing with all kinds of aggravation. What's got into those kids over there ? MEL: Relax Danny. They're only having a laugh. DANNY: Yeah - well this lot aren't laughing. They're going mental. MEL: Maybe they'd stop causing trouble if your lot weren't so heavy handed. DANNY: Be fair, Mel. We've got a job to do. MEL: Well ... take it easy, huh ? Some of us have got to live round here SCENE 35 : ARCHIVE (Archive) NARRATOR V/O: It was never meant to be this way. After the war council houses were hailed as “homes for heroes”, an integral part of a wider community supported by the welfare state. Archive sync The 60’s saw a huge growth of estates like Grosvenor, but the housing boom of the 1980’s changed everything. By the beginning of the 21st century, Britain’s cities were polarised between rich and poor. WILL HUTTON: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE WORK FOUNDATION I could take you on a drive in central London for example… on which every street I took, no house on it cost less than a million pounds. That has become a kind of form of spacial eugenics erm, that you have to be born to certain kind of families, have certain kinds of DNA to live in parts increasingly, of our favoured suburbs in our favoured cities, and that’s another way in which the middle class are actively causing inequality. LORD ADAWALE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TURNING POINT Poverty is very expensive, it costs us a fortune. In America there are clear studies that show that for every dollar you spend preventing poverty, you save seven on the consequences. SCENE 39 : INT. HOTEL ROOM There are just five days to go until the crucial Commons vote on Andrew Kirk’s Welfare Bill. He’s convinced that investing in the poor will eventually ease Britain’s worsening social divisions - and silence his critics. ANDREW: How’s it looking? LAURENCE: The whips think you're still about thirty short. ANDREW: Morrison’s useless. He’s got to bring them round. Fast. LAURENCE: Well ... when you've got to choose between saving your seat and saving your leader ... self - interest wins every time. ANDREW: When did our side start thinking like Tories ? LAURENCE: The moment we won power. It happens. ANDREW: Not to me. Not to me. LAURENCE: Some of the Old Guard think your … principles are getting in the way. ANDREW: Really. In the way of what ... ? Their share options ? LAURENCE: They think you’re getting sidetracked. ANDREW: Side tracked ? They need to think about the bigger picture. If we back down on this, then what are we for ? LAURENCE: We’re doing our best, Andrew. But I’m not sure we can pull this one off. ANDREW: We can’t lose, Laurence. RADIO V/O: I think it’s fair to say the vultures are circling over Andrew Kirk ... But let’s not write him off just yet. LORD ADAWALE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TURNING POINT I think what we need to make and what I need to make, what people need to make, is a business case to society, not to the CBI or to but a business case to society, that simply states that if we don’t spend the money on preventing poverty, and are managing it out, managing it out of the system, then we’ll spend far more on the consequences. Patrick: What do you think of Andrew Kirk? Honestly. 2nd: Well, he’s good Patrick: You think he’s good? 2nd: Well, he’s lost the plot lately, I’ll admit Patrick: Yeah! 2nd: Politics is a difficult game, isn’t it? Patrick: Is it? 2nd: It’s the delicate balance between pragmatism and principle. Red Butler: Politics is the art of the possible, whereas taxation, that’s the art of the impossible. Patrick: Yeah, alright, alright! SCENE 40 : INT. CONFERENCE HALL. DAY NARRATOR V/O: Fighting for his political life, Kirk is about to use a meeting of party activists to push his controversial message. LAURENCE: don’t ask any questions about the welfare bill Laurence introduces Andrew to activists …that went well SPEECH STARTS ANDREW: I know there's been a lot of talk - in the press, in the country - about my future. And the future of my Welfare Bill. Let me tell you. I won’t back down from what I believe in. The Welfare Bill is an essential part of our programme. And for as long as I am Prime Minister, I will continue to fight for what I believe in. A society based on fairness. A society ... where everyone has access to decent public services. A society which helps the many, not the few. SCENE 42 : ARCHIVE NARRATOR V/O: Over the years, governments have struggled with the quagmire of taxation. In the 1970s, Labour’s top tax rate of 83 % was a catastrophe. MAY 97 NEW LABOUR LORD ADAWALE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TURNING POINTY CELEBRATIONS DR DEANNE JULIUS: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: over time the productive classes in the country did begin to leave, er people who are chief executives of companies have plenty of other opportunities of places they can work, er very skilled technical people, scientists left the universities here and over a time that erodes the whole productive future of the country. Things got so bad I by the late 70s that there was a political revolt of a sort, er and Mrs Thatcher who was indeed an extreme politician by the standards of this country was elected because things had just gotten so unsustainably bad. Narrator: In 2004 taxation ios the battle ground once more. The conservatives argue that lower taxes will stimulate the economy and that there is now a clear choice between controlled public spending and raising taxes Tony Blair and Gordon Brown came to power promising no increases in Direct Taxation. But money for services had to come from somewhere - Indirect taxes rose ...As did Council Tax. ARCHIVE Narrator: But money for sevices had to come from somewhere, indirect taxes rose as did council taxes PAUL GREGG: CENTRE FOR ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE, LSE: the Council Tax is an incredibly … unprogressive tax,… , the proportion of income paid in that tax, by the poorest sections of society, is almost the same as the richer sections of society ..it is reasonably certain that there will be moves to reform the funding of local taxation in a way that makes it more progressive. Andrew Kirk has found a controversial way to replace council tax, a local income tax. ROBERT CHOTE: INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES: the liberal democrats have been the main advocates of local income tax in the UK for some time now…Council tax raises about twenty billion pounds. Now you could basically raise the same amount of money, through a local income tax, basically charging an extra 4% of people’s incomes, and that would just come out of your pay packet in the same way that a normal income tax does, and then that money could be given back to the local authorities and they could then spend it on local services. ANDREW KIRK With your help I want to create a Britain where poverty is a distant memory and that’s why I want you to join me in fighting for fairness. TAX OFFICE. DAY 29 But Local income tax is being fiercely resisted. Clerk 1: Here’s a good one, occupation jedi knight .. Twenty galactic credits Middle class voters with more than one wage earner in the household are paying much more in local income tax than they used to in council tax. ROBERT CHOTE: INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES: you’ll find that er, the shift to, from a council tax to a local income tax clearly the people who will suffer will be those who have relatively large incomes in comparison to their housing wealth, so if you do have a household with a large number of wage earners living in one house, they’re going to be worse off. FINAL TAX OFFICE SCENE .. Holds up serrated form. Nice though, in a way … CONFERENCE NARRATOR V/O: The residents of Regent’s Court already pay for their own health care, schools and security. So why should they support a local income tax? Andrew Kirk has definitely got a fight on his hands. ANDREW: how did it go? LAURENCE: as a rule Andrew … INT: SECURITY ROOM (Drama) SCENE 50 : CELEBDAQ PRESENTER V/O: come with me into the bar as we put a price on fame in the Celebdaq 100. The person to watch this week is property prince Patrick Ferguson - the spiritual love child of Donald Trump and Margaret Thatcher. Patrick silences any doubts about his manhood by decking a drug dealer outside Regent’s Court, his Kubla Khan complex in North London. Patrick thinks crime is out of control .... the country's going to the dogs. INT. PATRICK'S MANSION - DINING ROOM. DAY (Drama) NARRATOR V/O: For nearly ten years now, Patrick has been one of Britain's wealthiest property developers but he’s starting to lose money on his inner city developments like Regent’s Court - and he blames Andrew Kirk. CRAIG: Hello Sonia. ….Yes ….. Oh ….. And when was that exactly ? PATRICK: What's happened now? CRAIG: A car's been stolen from Regent's Court. A Jaguar apparently. SCENE 51 : INT. PATRICK'S MANSION - DINING ROOM. DAY (Drama) NARRATOR V/O: 41 year old Patrick Ferguson owns the Penthouse Flat at Regent's Court. He is one of Britain's wealthiest property developers. Patrick's property portfolio has lost ten per cent of its value in recent months - and he blames Andrew Mitchell. CRAIG: Hello Sonia. (Drama) Yes. Oh. And when was that exactly ? PATRICK: What's happened now. CRAIG: A car's been stolen from Regent's Court. A Jaguar apparently. (Drama) PATRICK: what colour is it? …well that’ll be my car then won’t it sonia? SONIA: Your car ? ) Yes. It is a little unfortunate. What ? I can't hear ... PATRICK: ( exasperated ) Have you called the police ? He said what ? ... Look ... let me speak to him. SONIA: Danny ... (Drama) DANNY: ( terrified ) Hello Sir. Yes indeed. I contacted the police and received an extremely negative ... No Sir. I'm afraid communication protocols with the police have broken down somewhat ... Well, they’re not very optimistic ... ( Patrick's really mad now ... ) That's right, Mr Ferguson. Yes. I promise it'll never happen again. (Drama) He's cool. INT. CCTV FOOTAGE . DAY / SYNC 30 (Drama) In 2014 private security guards are taking a bigger role in policing the neighbourhood and the police aren’t happy about it. SIR IAN BLAIR: DEPUTY COMMISIONER - METROPOLITAN POLICE: We, we, we work with private security doing what private security does best, and private security does best is the guarding of factories …or retail or goods in transit, or everything else that’s fixed and is a commodity for price. (Drama) What we’re concerned about here, is we do not want private security to move towards a situation in which they become quasi police, er and in which they are not actually dealing with a commodity for the individual who’s paying, but actually dealing with the overall tranquility of a society, it’s a very different piece. (Drama) SIR IAN BLAIR: DEPUTY COMMISIONER - METROPOLITAN POLICE: the key question is what is the ten year, fifteen year, twenty year view. I know that these big companies provide the quasi policing role sometimes armed, across lots of parts of Europe, lots of parts of South Africa, lots of parts of South America, er various bits of United States and I do not want to see that happening here in the UK. (Drama) SIR IAN BLAIR: DEPUTY COMMISIONER - METROPOLITAN POLICE: If things work out right, the police, the police will be even more er, pervasive and visible and accessible than they’ve ever been. They will be er, part of the, of the basic logistics of a modern society. You need to have a visible publicly paid police presence in order that society functions properly. SCENE 59 : EXT. WASTELAND. DAY (Drama) SCENE 64 : INT. REGENT’S COURT - SHOW FLAT. DAY (Drama) SONIA: Everyone's had enough, Patrick. We've got to do something ... SCENE 65 : EXT. PATRICK'S MANSION - POOL. DAY (Drama) PATRICK: OK. Fine. If that's what they want, then let's do it. (Drama) SCENE 66 : EXT. REGENT’S COURT. NIGHT NARRATOR V/O: The residents of Regent’s Court have come up with a dramatic - and potentially explosive - solution to their problems. One that will put them in direct conflict with their neighbours - and with the government of Andrew Kirk. (Drama) ANDREW : We are one society - or we are no society. I want a just society ... a fair society. A society where the rich help the poor. Where friendship has replaced fear. An EQUAL society ... These are my beliefs. My unshakeable principles. And as we enter this difficult time, I trust - and hope - that you share them too. SCENE 67 : EXT. REGENT’S COURT. DAY / SYNC 32 (Drama) ANDREW : We are one society - or we are no society. I want a just society ... a fair society. A society where the rich help the poor. Where friendship has replaced fear. An EQUAL society ... These are my beliefs. My unshakeable principles. And as we enter these difficult few days, I trust - and hope - that you, my parliamentary colleagues, share them too. 68 : EXT. REGENT’S COURT - BARRIER. DAY MEL: What's this ? DANNY: What's it look like. MEL: It looks ridiculous. Can we get through ... Please ? DANNY: You can't, Mel. Not anymore. It's Residents Only now. MEL: That's outrageous. DANNY: Yeah - well so's nicking people's cars and making their lives a misery. MEL: Thanks for returning the favour. DANNY: Mel. Come on. For me. My head's on the block here. Go round the block. It’s not far. MEL: Cameron will be late for school if I go that way. DANNY: Not my problem. MEL: Unbelievable. Louis ARMSTRONG: CHIEF EXECUTIVE: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED SURVEYORS: When you close off a road, that’s an extended version of a gated community, but its not necessarily a good idea. There’s a current example in Liverpool which is going to be essential to try to bring back in to use a part of a city that has been difficult to re-colonise and regenerate, so these need to be kept to a minimum, there are clear issues about excluding members of the public from a complete street, but in some cases, exceptionally, they may be a worthwhile tool to, to get regeneration going Boys try to get through gate SIR IAN BLAIR: DEPUTY COMMISIONER - METROPOLITAN POLICE: IF people’s access to the queen’s highway is suddenly ended…my concern then, becomes who is it that is excluded and what’s the impact of that exclusion on people’s self belief in, in their citizenship and their rights to be free in our democratic society. Will Hutton: Chief Executive, The Work Foundation I think the trend is already very marked, it is not just gated communitoes, new build communities with a wall around them. It is actually the way a lot of local authorities are creating pedestrian zones, pedestrians streets, one way systems, no goes, closing off rat runs in order to, usually under tremendous pressure from middle class residents in order to ensure that area, becomes effectively gated although it is not walled. (Drama) SIR IAN BLAIR: DEPUTY COMMISIONER - METROPOLITAN POLICE If people’s access to the queen’s highway as it were, is suddenly ended, then my concern then is, who is it who is excluded, and what’s the impact of that exclusion on people’s belief in their citizenship and their right to be free in our democratic society. NARRATOR V/O: On a slow news day, the road block soon attracts media attention. JEREMY VINE V/O: Strange goings on … Yet ANOTHER barricade has gone up in the capital. More trouble for Andrew Mitchell ... BLACK RADIO DJ: How about that ? Yeah, roadblocks and ID checks, apparently. Did I miss something – or has there been a coup overnight ? Weird or what … NORMAN BRENNAN: DIRECTOR, VICTIMS OF CRIME I certainly understand why more and more people live within gated communities when violent crime and the fear of crime is out of control. If you’ve got the money er to protect your property, er you will spend as much as you can to do so…..If you want my overall view I would like to see the police being the gated community, the police are being the reassurance in a community, SIR IAN BLAIR: DEPUTY COMMISIONER - METROPOLITAN POLICE: people’s requirement for safety, er is going to increase er immeasurably, I mean there’s always been an almost un, er stoppable demand for policing security, but because of the pressures at both ends, at the top end around terrorism, and the lower end around anti social behaviour, we are going to find ourselves stretched, and stretched and stretched. Now to some extent, you know that can be ameliorated by funding, er, but to some extent it may not be. (Drama – conversation with Patrick and Sonia) TV REPORTER: Surely the residents have a right to protect themselves though ? MEL: Of course they do. But lots of other people live round here too. And they’re all really upset - they’re really mad - about the barrier. TV REPORTER: There’s been a lot of crime in the area ... MEL: Yeah - there’s been some tension recently. But nothing serious. This is such an over - reaction. They’re treating us like criminals. SCENE 71 : EXT. PATRICK'S MANSION - POOL. DAY (Drama) PATRICK ( into phone ) NARRATOR V/O: The publicity gives Patrick a chance to indulge in his favourite hobby - attacking the government of Andrew Kirk. PATRICK: OK. Sure. Ready when you are ..you know ordinary people are paying billions of pounds in taxes every year – and what do they get for their money ? Yes .. well I’m sure Andrew Kirk wouldn’t be in such a mess if he pursued some more sensible policies. There’s too much waste, too much Nannying. The fact is, our PM cares more about his own precious principles than he does about the real world. SCENE 74 : EXT. REGENT’S COURT - BARRIER. DAY / SYNC 35 PATRICK V/O .. And if he was doing his job properly, then we wouldn’t have had to put the barriers up, would we ? (Drama) YOUNG MAN RADIO V/O : Good on them. It’s fantastic. I wish we had gates to keep people out. YOUNG WOMAN RADIO V/O : I cannot believe the last caller. We've got to stop this - otherwise our cities will turn into ghettoes of rich and poor. ELDERLY WOMAN RADIO V/O: I think it's wonderful. It's high time someone made a stand against all this crime ... MIDDLE AGED MAN RADIO V/O: It's mad. There are hundreds of these gated places all over the country now ... and no one's doing anything about them. (Drama) .. this barrier’s got to come down … …talk to Patrick ferguson – he’s your gaff.. NORMAN BRENNAN: DIRECTOR, VICTIMS OF CRIME When you’ve got a society that don’t report crime any more, they don’t see a police officer on the beat, which is why they don’t report the crime. They don’t feel reassured by a police presence, then what they will do is they will start looking to taking the law in to their own hands SCENE 76 : INT. REGENT’S COURT - SECURITY CONTROL. NIGHT / SYNC 36 (Drama) SONIA: I’m sorry? We have a mini riot outside and you’re telling me its none of your business? Tell me… what do the police do exactly? No… That’s impossible. There’s no way these barriers are coming down. I think you’d better… Yes well… [ (Drama) SETHA LOWE: AUTHOR, BEHIND THE GATES LOW: I think gated communities .. taps in to deep seated fear of others, deep seated fear of crime by others, ..and the gating is the way for the middle class to say, okay, you didn’t solve it, you didn’t make the world safe enough for me, I’m going to go and make it safe for myself. Narrator: As a society we have a choice. Governments can try to narrow the gap between rich and poor, but they’ll anger those whose taxed must pay for it. In 2004, all the main parties have chosen instead to slow down the rise in government spending. The risk is that the divide between the rich and poor, between public and private, becomes wider and permanent. SCENE 78 : INT. PATRICK'S MANSION - DRAWING ROOM. NIGHT (Drama) SETHA LOWE: AUTHOR, BEHIND THE GATES LOW: Well I don’t see any stopping of it. I mean I think 9 11 …has very much created a politics of fear ….it has to do with er, survelliance in all public spaces, gating in all public spaces, now guards with dogs everywhere you go,... I think that the culture of fear is going to justify er a total change in the forms of democratic practice, of who can be on the street, of who can be anywhere and I think gated communities will, is only one symptom of the much larger phenomena, of the politics of fear and the kind of privatised world that it will create. EXT. BARRIER (Drama) EXT. ARCHIVE; CITYSCAPE: MORNING ANNOUNCER V/O: between extensive coverage of Andrew Kirk's political troubles, several papers mention the group of rich North London residents, led by property developer Patrick Ferguson, who are so afraid of rising crime that they’ve sealed off their road. INT: HOTEL BATHROOM; MORNING (Drama) To The Observer it’s a paranoid remake of ‘Passport To Pimlico’. The Mail on Sunday is more sympathetic. "The people of Regent’s Court" it writes, "have laid down the gauntlet to the government. They are sick of Andrew Mitchell's middle class vendetta – and who can blame them ?" ANDREW: OK ... I'm coming. (Drama) SCENE 82 : EXT. CONFERENCE CENTRE. DAY (Drama) REPORTER: Prime Minister. Are you going to win this week’s vote ? ANDREW: This is not a time for sound bites. Politics is a tough game. And I’m not in the habit of losing. REPORTER : But if you do lose ... will you resign ? (Drama) ANDREW: I can always rely on you to jump the gun, Martin. But you know I don’t answer hypothetical questions. I will not be swayed from my programme. The majority of my party – and the British people – are with me. REPORTER (OOV): How about this latest barrier in London. Do you think it’s a good idea ? (Drama) ANDREW: These barriers are the work of selfish, self – interested minority. There’s no place for such things in modern Britain. Thank you. (Drama) SCENE 84 : INT. HOTEL SUITE - BEDROOM. DAY (Drama) LAURENCE: The opposition are going to love this. ANDREW: Maybe we can use it too. LAURENCE: ( incredulous ) Hardly. ANDREW: Think about it. ( gesturing at TV screen ) This is what we’re fighting against. Can we slip something into the speech ? You know, some line about this barrier .. Yeah. Freedom of movement ... No one should put barriers in peoples’ way ... And some kind of dig at Patrick Whatshisface LAURENCE: I hate to say this Andrew. But our internal polls show the public like what he’s saying. You’ll look weak. At the mercy of events. Attacking the middle classes….again. (Drama) ANDREW: The Mail wants decisive leadership. So let’s give it to them. (Drama) Sometimes it's good to remember what you're fighting for, Laurence. See what you can do, hmm ? (drama) SCENE 85 : EXT. REGENT’S COURT - BARRIER. DAY (Drama) MEL: This is a public road. You've got no right to do this. SONIA: Melanie ... We have every right to protect our residents. To gurarantee their safety and security. MEL: What about the rest of us ? Don't we have rights too ? SONIA: The rights of my residents ... have priority. MEL: Says who ? Patrick Ferguson ? (Drama) What’s wrong Sonia. Tell us. Afraid of losing your monthly bonus ? (Drama) ANDREW: ( speech ) So long as I lead this party, I will fight for fairness. I will not be swayed by those who raise barriers against us, who seek to divide our cities. Let us not forget - in the middle of our petty, party squabbles - who our real enemy is ... and unite for what we believe in ! SCENE 89 : EXT. REGENT’S COURT - BARRIER. DAY (Drama) DANNY: ( awkward ) Fancy a short cut ? (Drama) MEL: Nah ... I’ll take the scenic route, thanks. I’ve got used to it. (Drama) DANNY: Look Mel ... I’m sorry about all this. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow. MEL: Great. So that’s alright then. (Drama) SCENE 90: EXT. PATRICK'S MANSION - BRIDGE. DAY / SYNC 41 (Drama) PRESENTER V/O: And another bumper week for Patrick Ferguson. Paddy had a tantrum when the PM tore down the gates of his posh playpen – but it’s done wonders for his share price. Patrick’s now trading at 1,286p – that’s a whopping 73 per cent increase on last week … And with old bedfellow Katie Smart back on the scene, we could see Patrick rise again next week. WILL HUTTON: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE WORK FOUNDATION I don’t like living in an unfair society, and I don’t think anyone else likes living in an unfair society. You’re not going to eliminate inequality, no one is talking about that. You are talking about this conception of fair inequality, or if you like equity, where.. you can put in place … strong enough processes to make ordinary men and women feel that society works more or less for them Dr DEANNE JULIUS: ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS: As a political issue, I think what one needs to aim at is equality of opportunity and an income structure, a wage structure, that reflects differences in ability in qualifications, in experience in effort, that’s what’s fair. But that kind of system doesn’t result in equal incomes. LORD ADAWALE: CHIEF EXECUTIVE, TURNING POINT we can’t just continue with a post war idea of society when in fact its, you know 21st century, we have a whole new set of challenges, and I think governments need to re-think erm, where, where we are going er, from, from the poor up. (Drama) ANDREW MITCHELL'S WELFARE BILL WAS PASSED BY THREE VOTES. DANNY IN CONTROL ROOM THE GATED COMMUNITY (CONTROLS) BILL WILL BE PRESENTED TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS IN FEBRUARY 2015. SCRIPT 10: 04.02.04 FINAL DRAFT 06.01.03 36 35 SCRIPT 10 04:02:04