30/07/2016 BBC Weekend News

The former Business Secretary, Sir Vince Cable, has suggested

the government's decision to delay signing up to a new nuclear power

station in Somerset is due to the Prime Minister's reluctance

Sir Vince said Theresa May, during the coalition years,

was unhappy with what he described as the "gung-ho" approach to Chinese

investment adopted by the former Chancellor, George Osborne.

Our political correspondent, Iain Watson, reports.

The ground quite literally had been cleared. But politically, there is

lots of work to be done before a new nuclear power station is built at

Hinkley. The French company EDF may have moved heaven and earth to reach

a relatively quick decision, but the precise reason for the prime

ministerial is not known. Today, for the first time, someone who has sat

round the Cabinet table with Theresa May give us is inside. When we were

in government, Theresa May was clear she was unhappy about the rather

gung ho approach to Chinese investment that we had. George

Osborne in particular was promoting that. As I recall, she raised

objections to Hinkley at that time. I think we have got the different

Prime Minister with a different set of priorities. Projects of this kind

will be looked at through a different filter. There could be

other reasons as well. The ?18 billion price tag would make Hinkley

the world's most expensive power station, and the guaranteed price we

would pay for its electricity is twice the

going rate. The previous occupant of number 11 Downing St was very keen

at Hinkley went ahead, but as one government voice put it, do not and

estimate the antipathy that Theresa May feels towards George Osborne.

Her officials say she needs time to look over the details. The prime

ministerial poise has opened up new questions about the viability of the

project. It has been reopened to political scrutiny. The Labour

leader welcomes the debate. The headline figures are disturbing on

the price. The price of electricity that will be generated, the risk to

the British taxpayer of the whole thing and the fact we're handing

over large areas of our energy generation to the French and Chinese

to control. We need serious discussions and we will be having

them. Some business voices are now calling for a quick clarification

that other major infrastructure projects such as HS2 will not be

sidetracked and that airport expansion is on the radar of Number

10. The government says the future of new nuclear capacity is not up in

the air, but it is not clear that Hinkley will go ahead in the way

that the previous administration imagined. Ian Watson, BBC News.

At least 16 people are believed to have been killed after a hot

air balloon caught fire and crashed in Texas.

The balloon came down in a field near the city of Lockhart

Emergency services are on the scene and have found wreckage lying

Federal investigators are on their way to the accident.

The Bank of England has insisted that major banks in the UK

are resilient enough to withstand an economic downturn.

It comes after the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays performed

poorly in tests to find out how the biggest European banks would

The so-called "stress tests" were run by the European

Our business correspondent, Joe Lynam, has more.

RBS was the bank that nearly destroyed the UK banking system.

We had to bail it out, and even now, it, alongside Barclays,

will be left with some of the lowest levels of financial reserves

51 of the biggest lenders in Europe were tested to see

whether they would survive a major economic shock.

In the case of RBS, its cushion of capital fell

by 7.5 percentage points, the third biggest fall of all banks.

But RBS will not need to raise any additional money after the tests,

Having shown their resilience in the face of a massive potential

economic shock, officials at the Bank of England

will doubtless have been relieved that no British banks

The same, though, cannot be said for other countries.

The stress tests only covered the largest banks.

They excluded the small banks, and that is where a lot

In Italy, possibly in Germany, and certainly

Greece and Portugal were entirely excluded from the stress tests,

The second is, there is a specific problem in Italy.

We know Monte Dei Paschi, the oldest bank in the world,

under the stress tests, its capital would disappear

And that bank would have simply run out of money in the event

It had to agree to a last-minute refinancing worth ?4.2 billion late

last night, in order to reassure investors and governments.

Italy, it appears, is now in the same position that the UK

Their debts were simply too big and they need a bail out or bail

in to ensure Europe avoids another financial crisis.

Britain would not be immune from that.

Pregnant women are being advised to postpone

non-essential travel to Florida because of concerns

about the Zika virus, which causes birth defects.

Public Health England issued the warning after it was

confirmed four people had caught the virus

It's the first reported cluster of such cases on the US mainland

where those infected hadn't travelled abroad.

Not for nothing is it known as the Sunshine State.

Miami's beaches are a magnet for British tourists.

More than a million visit every year.

Now, pregnant women are being urged to reconsider their travel plans.

All because of mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, which

has been linked to severe brain defects in newborns.

Florida has become the first state in the US to confirm

cases of Zika transmitted by local mosquitoes.

Previous cases here have been confined to people

Now that Florida has become the first state to have a local

transmission, likely through mosquitoes, we will continue

to put every resource available to fight the spread of

Experts describe the risk to British holiday-makers

as moderate but urge women who are about to have children

They have not advised not to go because this is a very

We are talking about Florida and not the rest of the USA.

They are going to have to speak to their travel health adviser, GP,

The World Health Organisation has described

the virus as a global public health emergency.

Officials here are not expecting a widespread outbreak of

the disease but they are gearing up to combat small clusters of cases.

The Zika virus has affected Brazil, where the

Olympics gets under way in just six days'time.

Top stars, including golfer Rory McIlroy, are staying away

None of the four cases in Florida have been admitted to hospital.

With no vaccine or drug treatment, there

is still so much the experts do not know and the emphasis at this stage

There's been a dramatic reduction in the use

of plastic bags in England since people have been

Figures from retailers show that just over half a billion bags

were bought in the first six months after

a five pence charge was introduced, a drop of over 80%.

Scenes like this may be becoming a thing of the past.

Today, shoppers are more likely to bring a bag from home,

Since the 5p charge was introduced in England last October,

the latest data from the government shows that plastic bag

Having to pay for these bags has made a big early impact.

In 2014, more than 7.5 billion bags were used in England,

but in the six months since the charge was brought in,

just over half a billion bags have been taken home by shoppers.

Five pence is so little, it makes no difference at all.

The ten pence one is a proper one, the five pence one

I still forget that we have to pay 5p for them.

And they say, that is 5p, and it is like, OK.

I never tended to waste the bags but I think for the people that do

There is less of them flying about in the street at the moment.

England follows the trend seen around the rest of the UK.

Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland all introduced the five pence levy

earlier and saw reductions of up to 80% in single use

Campaigners say this could have a big impact

on the environment, especially the ocean.

It is estimated that about 8 million tonnes of plastic end

We are hoping that we will see less and less plastic bags

Every year we survey our beaches and last year we found over 5,000

We are hoping that with the charges in place now in all the countries

in the UK, we will see a decrease in the number of bags

When people do buy plastic bags, some money goes to charity,

and it is estimated that nearly ?30 million has been raised so far.

The government will now continue to track this,

to see if plastic bag use continues to fall.

We are back with the late news at a 10:15.