23/05/2014 BBC London News

That's all from us. Now time for the BBC News where you are.

Tonight on BBC London News: It's the Labour Party who are the big winners

in the capital, seizing control of five town halls.

The reason we won here is because of the deep discontent in the country

and the desire for change. Labour answer to that desire for change.

Strong in Essex, but few inroads in London ` how the UKIP vote fared in

and around the capital. I voted UKIP to see what they can do because I've

been set up listening to their lies all the time. They say they will do

something and they don't. UKIP doesn't really strike me.

We'll ask what these results indicate for the upcoming general

and mayoral elections. Also tonight: A last ditch pitch for

Boris Island Airport ` the Mayor says it's a once in a lifetime

opportunity not to be missed. And QPR's big money battle to make

it back into the Premier League. Good evening to you and welcome to

the programme. UKIP may be today's big winners

nationally, but in London it's the Labour Party which has flourished.

In fact, it's their best performance in the capital for more than 40

years. Let's look at the latest results. Labour have taken Croydon,

Redbridge, Merton and Hammersmith and Fulham and Harrow. Labour have

already gained 124 seats, taking their total to 564. And if we look

at how many councillors Labour now have in the capital, you can see

that number's increased. The gains have been made at the expense of the

Conservatives and Lib Dems. Tim Donovan is in Barnet tonight. Tim,

what's the story there? We are about to get the very first declaration,

so a little bit of time to go. Who knows what is going to happen? This

is the no`frills efficiency Council, of course, but could the

Conservatives be in trouble here after a future than in years where

they have come under fire over privatisation and outsourcing plans?

Could they crashed to earth this evening? If that happened it would

be the icing on the cake for Labour after a really good set of results,

as Karl Mercer reports. Some you win. Some you lose. Some

will be in power. Some have just lost it. Elections are about

winners. And losers. The people of Hammersmith Fulham tell you, hands

off our political... It may have suffered elsewhere

around the country, but Labour has had a good election here in the

capital. It's biggest scalp of the night, in true blue Hammersmith. A

model Conservative borough. Until today. I am genuinely humbled.

People have told us they are voting for us who do not normally do so.

Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, greens, they have voted for us and

shown confidence in us. And I'm determined we do them proud.

Croydon was another highlight for Labour, overturning a slim

Conservative majority to win. This will show a lot of people that you

cannot play with fire without getting burned. When they see what

happens when you get a Labour council back again that messed it up

so disastrously last time, they will look, when it comes to the general

election next year, and re`elected Conservative government.

There was history for Labour out east, the party leader back where he

launched the election campaign to toast victory. I want to

congratulate everyone in Redbridge who did this incredible job, winning

majority control of the Council for the first time in history for

Labour. And I want you to give the biggest round of applause for the

new leader of Redbridge Council. There were victories too in Harrow

and Merton, with Labour building on its gains in 2010, to put even more

red on the capital's political map. Labour now back at levels not seen

since 1971 in London. You have done something here which is very

important, historic in fact, and has resonance not just in Surbiton or in

Kingston upon Thames, but actually for this country. And what you have

done this to win off the Liberal Democrats.

If the Conservatives had suffered setbacks in some areas, they did at

least have one reason to get the balloons out. Bursting the Lib Dems

bubble in Kingston. The fact that one or two traditional Labour

boroughs, represented for the most part by Labour MPs in the past at

least, Hammersmith Fulham, for example, the fact that those seats

have gone Labour in a year when Labour should have been romping home

is perhaps not that surprising. But it is important to recognise that

Labour have not made the progress they would expect. Do you want me to

say something about the local elections?

London's top Tory was putting a brave face on the results, denying

he feels isolated as a Conservative mayor, surrounded by so many Labour

town halls. No, because we have got loads of, I am the mayor of the

whole city and we have loads of great Conservative councillors

across London. Obviously, I work with all boroughs and am

particularly delighted, as I said to you right at the beginning, to be

working with Conservative Kingston on Thames for the first time since

1982. Kingston again. A sore point for the

the Lib Dems who now run just one town hall and lost councillors from

across the capital. To be fair, we knew we would have a hard time. The

question is, next year, do people continue to punish us, or do they

remember that unemployment has gone down, jobs have gone up, growth has

gone up and the economy is in a hugely healthier state?

There were Lib Dem tears in Watford. But unlike in most parts of the

capital, Dorothy Thornhill's were tears of joy. Re`elected for the

fourth time as the town's mayor, bucking the national trend. The role

gives clear, strong leadership, and people know, when they vote for a

mayor, it is who runs the town, who is in And that of course, was what

yesterday's elections were all about ` who is in charge of the town hall.

Charge of the town hall. It is kind of these two to join us.

These are nervous times. We have the Labour leader and the existing

Conservative leader. When you came in this morning I understand you

were feeling confident. You saw Hammersmith Fulham and then what

did you think? Life is a roller`coaster. My mood has changed

through the day and I'm looking forward to the first result. One

thing that is clear is that democracy is alive and well. We had

a 40% turnout, and people are interested. That seems a civil and

grown`up gloss on this when you must be quite concerned about what you

could hear in the next hour. All politicians worry, like actors,

always worrying. We look forward to seeing the results. I am sure we

will win some, we will lose some. We wait until the people have judged

us. Allison, tell us that you think you are going to win. There are

votes still to count and it would be disrespectful to the thousands of

voters to judge it before we hear the results. On one technical

thing, it has become complicated because of the death of one of the

candidates, which has meant that actually this result will almost be

provisional because you will need another election in a month. It is

very unusual, if not unique. We had a death of a candidate in a ward

where we have three Labour councillors, so the vote has been

suspended and will be rerun at the end of June. As you say, the result

tonight could be provisional. Could you take control realistically of

this council? Are you going to win tonight? There is a possibility that

that is the case but we should not be making any judgements. We really

don't know how these results are going. They are going to be tight.

Why are you in this position, Richard? Is it because of the

national position of the party, getting more unpopular, or because

local policies are unpopular? I will not agree to the latter. I think we

have done a great job. It is a consecrated situation, with the rise

of UKIP, the meltdown in the Lib Dem vote, a consecrated situation. We

will see what happens, but I am quite confident. If you think your

model and what you have tried to do here has not proved that unpopular

in the long run, in effect you are saying you are not being punished

for that. What is it then? Is it that the government is unpopular? I

do know if the government is unpopular but it is accommodated

election around the country. The European election is undoubtedly

hurting us. Who would have thought UKIP would be an interference in it

council election. No particular evidence of them damaging new, or

the Tories in Hammersmith Fulham. Who knows? They have candidates in

some wards, and it is taking some votes from us, and perhaps from

disappearing, and that is a problem disappearing, and that is a problem

for all of us as well. Allison, everyone has been saying all day

long that it has been a good result for Labour in London but this is a

long way from Ed Miliband designing the curtains for Number Ten. We made

Labour gains across the country and in London in seats we will need to

win a Labour majority next year. Hammersmith Fulham has been a

tremendous result. All boroughs are different and we are looking forward

to the results tonight. Interesting comment about UKIP because they have

clearly, irrespective of the number standing locally, they have keyed

into the sense of frustration local people have. That has certainly been

expressed in Barnet. Thank you both very much, and good luck.

So what about UKIP? They performed strongly around the country,

especially in Essex, where they forced town halls in Thurrock

Basildon Brentwood, Castle Point and Southend in to no overall control.

It's in London may fail to make headway. UKIP was my leader had this

assessment. The real reason we are not as strong in London is political

parties rely very heavily on voluntary structure. Our voluntary

structure in London is behind the rest of the country, 12 to 18 months

behind the rest of the country. There is no reason why in many parts

of London we can't do better next year.

We asked Nick Beake to find out from voters why UKIP didn't appeal to

Londoners as it had elsewhere. Whitechapel market, Tower Hamlets, a

diverse borough in a multicultural metropolis. Not rich pickings from

Nigel Farage. Did you vote for UKIP? No. Did you think about it? No. I

wouldn't dream of voting for them. There have been comments, hate

comments and stuff like that. In London, nearly one fifth of the

workplace was born abroad, a city which failed to embrace UKIP

yesterday in the way other British towns and cities did. Today, a

senior UKIP figure admitted her party had not done as well in London

because it was a cultured, educated and young place. She said there were

elements of the metropolitan elite living here, who failed to

understand the heartache and pain felt in other parts of the country.

If they have educated people, surely they have a better understanding of

what it is like the rest of the country? I find statements like that

from UKIP is a little insulting. It says to me they are looking for

excuses. But jump on the district line and head east, and you find

support the UKIP grows a little. Sir Robin Wales held on to the mayoralty

in new, but UKIP came third. We don't get enough support in these

areas. I didn't quite understand about them so I didn't vote for

them, no. I wasn't sure. Of their policies? Yes. I think you either

side with them, or you do not. It is not something that is middle ground.

Labour. Why not UKIP? Racism. It is only when you had to zone six that

you detect a change. Haver ring is the whitest and furthest east London

borough. Support for UKIP appears to be creeping up towards that of their

Essex neighbours. Are you a first`time UKIP voter? Yes, normally

Conservative. I'm not a racist. I have coloured neighbours, fantastic

neighbours. I'm not a racist or nothing like that but it's just

getting overbearing. Everything you go to, the housing. I have

grandchildren growing up and what chance do they have? Some of these

views may seem dated to younger, more diverse parts of London, but

they reflect a rise in support for UKIP. But this is very much a city

which bucked the national trend. With us now, Professor Tony Travers

from the London School of Economics. Let's start with UKIP. Strong in

Essex, in London not so much. Nigel Farage puts it down to fledgling

voluntary structure in London, and that it is only a matter of time

before they make headway. Do you agree? I doubt it. I think the other

comment made earlier today by a UKIP stall wort was that London was

perhaps, as you heard in that film, that somehow it was too many people

from too many different backgrounds, to diverse, too many highly educated

people and all of these things. Those things do explain, I think,

some of what is different here for UKIP. In London, not in all of it,

because we will still see what happens in results to come, but

there is no question that the way that UKIP has grown its vote is in

areas where the population tends to be older, with fewer migrants, and

other qualifications. That kind of thing is less the case in London. Do

you subscribe to the theory that it is a protest vote? Not only a

protest vote. It is not a short`term protest vote. This is a vote of

people who often feel cut off from politics, think the main parties

look the same, and as a result they are going to protest vote, but not

just a short`term protest vote. What about the Labour gains in London,

one of the best results in terms of the control of councils since the

1970s. What do you put that down to? I think that Labour here has been

able to take advantage of a small swing from the Conservatives to

Labour, since these elections were last fought in 2010. More than

that, I think that over time London is changing, and that with a more

diverse population, more young people, for various reasons some

moving in from other parts of the country, it is giving a voter

profile which is more favourable. London is tipping slightly to Labour

over time. Looking at the Lib Dems, they have lost Kingston, but they

have lost a lot of councillors in key areas. A lot of head

scratching, I imagine, head of the general election. For the Lib Dems

it has been a bad result, no question about that. They were

expecting to do badly and they have done. In fact, although they have

held Sutton, in the end they are going to find it harder to win

general election seats with their activists, fewer councillors and

fewer people to fight elections. But they are quite good at holding on to

MPs where they have them in place, so it may not be quite as bad next

year. We heard Boris Johnson putting a brave face on it, saying the

Conservatives are not worried about this. Is he right to be bullish? The

Conservatives will look at the whole election across the country,

including London, and be a bit more confident than they feared. Labour,

apart from London, will feel that somehow they need to do a bit better

by this time next year. They need to do as well across the country as

they have in London. You can find out about your council

on our website. Still to come: I'll be with you

later in the programme with a look ahead to the bank holiday weekend

weather which, at the moment, is looking rather mixed.

The Mayor's urging the commission set up to look at aviation capacity

in the South East not to rule out an Estuary airport. Boris Johnson says

it's a once`in`a`lifetime opportunity which would benefit the

economy and create nearly half a million jobs. The Airports

Commission, which is weighing up runway options at Heathrow or

Gatwick, will make a decision on whether to include an Estuary option

by the end of the year. Here's our transport correspondent Tom Edwards.

From the top of the Shard, you can see just how busy London's air space

is. That can mean noise from pollution. `` noise and pollution.

And a third runway at Heathrow would mean more flights across the

capital. At City Hall nearby, they think the solution is to move the

main airport to the east into the Thames Estuary. I think a lot of

people are recognising it would be an utter disaster to expand Heathrow

and put another runway there. And expand the number of Londoners who

already have excess airport noise from 750,000 to one million people.

The Airports Commission will decide if to include the Estuary airport by

the end of the year. Its backers, like the Mayor, are trying to prove

its credentials. The short list so far includes runways at Heathrow and

Gatwick. And the process itself is leaving many concerned. Business is

very frustrated. We're a world city and as a country we are reliant on

international air links. Our competitors, like Amsterdam and

Paris, are investing in theirs and we're not. This has bedevilled

governments for 50 years now. We just want to see a solution. So

we're clearly behind Howard Davies and the Airports Commission. We want

him to put forward some recommendations and we want the

politicians to then implement them. The Mayor says the Estuary is the

best option and would benefit the economy by ?7 million. `` ?7

billion. Even if it isn't short listed, he says he'll still campaign

for it. It would, though, mean closing Heathrow to be redeveloped.

That airport and its lobby groups say it would be a huge mistake.

Heathrow is a fantastic airport. It supports 114,000 jobs directly and a

further 250,000 across the region. Moving it away from where it's

required in west London, where the business and market is, as well as

the employees, we think would be terrible. The final recommendations

from the Airports Commission will be made in 2015. There's no guarantee,

though, it will be acted on by the politicians.

A housing association which put up the price of its homes by as much as

?150,000 without warning has said buyers will be able to go ahead with

sales at the original prices. We reported yesterday that around 30

people who were due to move in to the shared`ownership flats in

Streatham at the end of the month recently received a letter telling

the price was rising by up to 56%. Wandle apologised, but today said

the sales will go ahead at the reserved prices.

To sport ` and tomorrow will be a nervous day for Queens Park Rangers

fans. The club play Derby in the Championship play`off final. And the

stakes are high ` victory would bring a return to the Premier

League, worth around an estimated ?80 million to the club. Chris Slegg

reports. When QPR last celebrated promotion,

they did so as champions. This time, it will have to be via the

play`offs. No matter, says manager Harry Redknapp. If Rangers go up,

the season has been a success. That was the aim that we were trying to

do from the start of the season and it's been a long season, a hard

season. You know, at one stage, we looked like doing it and now we've

got a tough game with Derby who finished just above us in the

league. Promotion has extra significance for a club seeking to

leave its 18,000 capacity Loftus Road Stadium and head for a new home

on the Old Oak Common site, just north of Wormwood Scrubs. They want

to build a new 40,000 seat stadium here. It's thought that will cost

them ?200 million and that the club wants to be in place by 2018. Of

course, to help those dreams become reality, they need to get back to

the Premier League as as soon as possible. That's for the future. For

now, the team has its focus firmly on Wembley. I think this is the

biggest game I will have played in and hopefully, if we get through it,

it will be the biggest achievement. I'm thinking about it every day and

hopefully, we can go ahead and do it. Many people would say that this

is a Premier League squad and if QPR don't go up, you've underachieved.

Is that a fair assessment? I think we would be the first ones to admit

that. But we're trying not to think about that. Hopefully, we're fully

focused and fully together and committed to the job that we've got

in front of us. Beating Derby will be worth ?80 million. Wembley

victory and a return to the Premier League will no doubt feel priceless.

And on Sunday at Wembley, Leyton Orient play Rotherham in the League

One play`off final. Victory for Russell Slade's team would see them

promoted to the Championship ` a level they haven't played at since

1982. In rugby, Saracens have been boosted

following the news that their captain Steve Borthwick is fit to

lead out the team in their first Heineken Cup Final tomorrow in

Cardiff. The side face Jonny Wilkinson's French club Toulon, who

are defending the title. If the London club win, they will be first

English side to lift the trophy since Wasps in 2007. It is a bit of

a siege in entirety. You go there, get the job done and get out. You

don't want to let the atmosphere of the day, which can be amazing, drain

you. You want to focus on the game, not everything around it. The

atmosphere will play a huge part on the pitch but we don't want it to

play a huge part before. Time for the bank holiday weather.

It was never going to be entirely straightforward. A little bit of

everything thrown into the mix for this weekend. There will be some

showers around, especially tomorrow, but there will be some sunshine and

in the sunshine it should be quite warm. Worth keeping up`to`date with

the forecast as we look further ahead towards bank holiday Monday

because there is a bit more uncertainty. This is the satellite

picture. You can see quite a lot of cloud to the west, perhaps more than

we hoped for, which will bring in some showery rain. This evening,

plenty of sunshine to come with heavy showers pulling away to the

North, perhaps just one or two macrolide ones in the next couple of

hours at the skies to clear ` but only briefly. By the end of the

night, heavy, thundery rain surges up towards the continent. A soggy

start to Saturday and the weekend. First thing, some quite heavy rain

and a lot of cloud. You might think it perks up for the afternoon but if

the sun comes out, that will push up temperatures, which could push up

some more locally heavy thundery showers. If you get caught in a

shower, you will know about it. If you are heading to the final day at

Chelsea, something to bear in mind. There is a risk of getting caught in

the odd downpour. More showers through Saturday evening into the

small hours of Sunday but then Sunday is probably our most

guaranteed dry day of the bank holiday weekend. There should be a

lot of sunshine around and, in the sunshine, it should feel pleasantly

warm. Highs of 19 or 20. Onto the all`important bank holiday. Here is

why we are uncertain about what is happening ` there is an area of low

pressure nearby on the close continent. At the moment, it looks

like it might throw some heavy showers our way for bank holiday

Monday, so keep that in the back of your mind. Hopefully quite a bit of

fine weather but there could be some downpours to finish off the long

weekend. Back now to the local elections at a

final thought from our political editor Tim Donovan, who is in

Barnet. Where will the biggest celebrations be? I think there will

be quite a few among Labour people but if you ask me, I'd say

Hammersmith and Fulham. 2006, the morning after the election, David

Cameron, then the shadow leader, went to Hammersmith presenting this

model counsel. They won again in 2010, cutting costs, cutting council

tax year after year. They went into a shared cost`cutting arrangement

with fellow stalwarts, Tory Kensington and Chelsea and

Westminster, and it looked like that was going to be that and yet,

somehow, Labour have turned that around and subverted it. It's quite

fascinating and may have a profound affect on how that area, a wider

part of central London, looks. Thanks very much.

A week at one today's main news: UKIP and Labour have made the

biggest gains in the local elections in England. Some results are still

coming in. So far Labour has gained 282 councillors and UKIP has gained

155 councillors. UKIP leader Nigel Farage said it meant they would be

serious players at next year's general election.

The Conservatives lost 194 seats, many in areas where it UKIP did

well. David Cameron says he understands voters' frustrations and

will work harder on issues including welfare reform and frustration. The

Liberal Democrats lost 281 seats. In London, results are still coming

in but Labour has so far made significant gains. It's won control

of five councils, including palaces and Fulham and counsel. The Lib Dems

lost Kingston to the Conservatives. I'll have the latest for you during

the ten o'clock news or you can keep up`to`date on our website. Have a

lovely evening.