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00:00 The Conservative candidate is adamant that he would shelve the rebuild when he was elected. Would you?
00:06 What a load of rubbish. We've committed to the rebuild of Kettering General Hospital.
00:11 I know how important it is. Obviously, I've been to Kettering General Hospital when family members of mine have been poorly to see them.
00:19 So I know how important it is to the local area and we are absolutely committed to getting on and delivering the hospital that we need here in Kettering.
00:27 It's these claims that your government has suggested could be paused, that were a Stephen Opposition. Can you cut it?
00:32 The work started and we will continue that work and we will see it through to ensure that it's completed.
00:38 Boris Johnson made that commitment more than five years ago. That project is still not complete, similar to so many other hospital building programmes and other broken promises.
00:47 We are determined to deliver the hospital that people here in Kettering need and Rosie, our candidate here, is also committed to that.
00:55 Moving on to potholes. The roads around here are dreadful. You've probably hit a few potholes. Can you promise our readers that you'll fix this problem?
01:04 Yes, still for most people, travelling by car is the easiest, the quickest way to get around.
01:12 But I know it is increasing costs for motorists because of the damage that is caused by potholes.
01:21 We will be setting out more details on these things but reducing the costs for motorists, including car insurance, but also ensuring our roads are in a fit state is really important.
01:30 I think there are now more potholes in England than there are craters on the moon. That is a really poor record of this Conservative government.
01:39 You probably remember Kettering being quite busy. Mark, at some point you came here in London. Like most international challenges, there were a lot of shocks. How are you going to improve Kettering?
01:47 It's true. At the end of the week, when we'd stay with Grandma and Grandad, we'd come into town and spend our pocket money in the shops here.
01:55 And also go to the market. I remember my Grandma always liked to bargain and we'd go round the market with her. So happy memories of doing that.
02:02 When Rosie tells me that the High Street has struggled, the town centre has struggled in recent years, that is very sad.
02:09 We've made a number of commitments. First of all to reform the business rates system, which is stacked against our high street businesses and small businesses.
02:17 To make sure that they've got a level playing field with some of the big online giants, for example.
02:21 It's why we've said that we'll make sure that town centres and high streets have banking facilities.
02:26 Because access to cash for small businesses and for customers is really crucial.
02:31 And the fact that so many banks have left town has been a real challenge. We've committed to bringing 350 banking hubs.
02:38 And also, and again this is something that people say to me time and time again, that they often worry about going out, especially after dark, because of antisocial behaviour.
02:47 And that's why we've said that we would ensure that every offence of shoplifting is investigated.
02:54 That the police turn up, we'd invest in 13,000 new police and community support officers to tackle crime, particularly on our high streets and town centres.
03:04 So that people feel safe and confident. And also crucially that shop workers feel safe and confident.
03:09 Because often shop workers have to bear the brunt of shoplifting and intimidation in stores.
03:16 And I know that's true for Morrisons where we are today, and also in small independent retailers.
03:22 And so we have said that abuse of shop workers should be a specific offence.
03:27 And we will take it seriously and crack down on that crime and antisocial behaviour that flights too many communities.
03:33 The answer is yes. It seems people are becoming more and more captive to the warehouse.
03:37 People have had to buy supernumerals and stuff down there.
03:40 Now there's a big fundraiser for a place called Expo Engine Park, which is really controversial.
03:45 But if you're on the side of the warehouse, are you on the side of the resident teams?
03:48 If you don't want that, you're going to have to do something.
03:51 We should have a brownfields first approach to development, rather than riding roughshod over the greenbelt.
03:58 And we want local people to have a say on developments in their area.
04:01 Thank you.