00:00So Lee, congratulations, just made leader of the new Cornwall Council regime, if you like.
00:06What are your plans? I mean, what are the Lib Dem policies going ahead for Cornwall?
00:10So obviously we stood on a platform of change and we absolutely want to develop more affordable homes for local people.
00:17That's one of our priorities. Getting back to basics, you know, we've had an administration that has not done that,
00:22has looked into the vanity projects, bloated the debt by over £400 million.
00:26We're looking to reduce that debt, work collaboratively with our partners to ensure that we can get the investment for the right places to make Cornwall grow.
00:35And how about going forward and working with reform?
00:38Because we saw at the meeting today that they abstained from the vote for the leadership.
00:43Going to work with them, do you think? Is it going to work?
00:46I meant what I said. I want to work collaboratively across the chamber.
00:50We've all got an opportunity to work together now and they've got a choice.
00:53If they want to work with us, I'm open to working with them.
00:56The ball was in their court on that.
00:58But I'm not ruling out working with anyone because we've got to do this for Cornwall.
01:03And you spoke about it just now, but some of those big issues going ahead, housing, like you say, the big vanity projects,
01:09the time when we're financially on a bit of a precipice.
01:13It's going to be a tall order for you as leader for the next four years, isn't it?
01:16I'm under no illusions how difficult the job is going to be, but that's why I'm here in this chamber in the first place.
01:21I put myself forward because I wanted to make a difference to my home, to the place that I love, that I've never wanted to leave.
01:27And that is the job at hand now, is to make Cornwall better for the next generations.
01:30And yes, there will be hurdles in the way, but I'm prepared to meet that challenge.
01:33And you're a good old Cornish boy, aren't you, from Bobman?
01:35I am indeed, yeah.
01:36So how long have you been a councillor now?
01:38I've been a councillor for eight years, since 2017, yeah.
01:41So what made you decide to go down that way?
01:45Annoyance, more than anything.
01:46I think you spend your life letting people represent your views, and things happen locally in Cornwall,
01:52things happen nationally that I wasn't impressed with, and I realised that I wasn't actually crossed with the people that were representing the opposition view.
01:59I was crossed with the people that were meant to stand up for me.
02:01And I thought, well, if you're not going to stand up for my views, I'm going to have to stand up for them myself.
02:05And that started my journey, and it's got me here today.
