30/06/2011 BBC News at Six

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers walk out in the

biggest strike for five years in protest at plans to reform their

pensions. Teachers and civil servants marched through cities up

and down the UK, amid warnings of more strike action to come. We are

here because we are very angry and because of what we see as an

assault on our pensions. thousands of children it was a

welcome day off school, but many parents were unimpressed. Everybody

in private industry is having to take cuts, so I believe it should

be the same for the public sector. Also on tonight's programme:

Troubled times at Lloyds, as 15,000 more job cuts are announced.

A vision of the trams that should be on Edinburgh's streets. Instead,

they're years behind schedule, way over budget and may even be

scrapped. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

are on their way to Canada, their first official trip overseas. They

land within the hour. And the favourite, Maria Sharapova,

wins a place in the Wimbledon final. She'll face the Czech, Petra

Good evening, welcome to the BBC News at Six.

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers have staged a one-

day strike in protest at the Government's plans to reform their

pensions. In England and Wales around 12,000 schools were either

shut or partially closed as teachers went out on strike. At

least 105,000 civil servants joined them, causing disruption to some

courts, ports, tax offices and Jobcentres, though the unions claim

the number who walked out was much higher. Here's our political editor,

Nick Robinson. Strike day. The one that saves their pensions or the

first in a bitter battle with the Government? For some this was a

protest against the cuts. For most, though, it was about their own

retirement. They say they shouldn't pay more to pay for bankers'

mistakes. Ministers say their pensions are simply unaffordable.

Here they come, public sector workers to be march. The question

though is whether they have the public with them or whether he

living in Downing Street does. It was in school where is the main

impact was felt. This one of around 12,000 which closed fully or

partially in England and Wales. One parent did play teacher for the day.

Just one problem - he was the Education Secretary. Not a word he

would use to describe those on strike today, like Gary, an English

teacher from Fulham. We were here because we're very angry because

what we see as an assault on our pensions. If I took you into any

office or any shop here, they would think your pension was incredibly

good, wasn't they? They certainly would and it is an idea that you

look after public sector workers because they were doing tough jobs

and it is a way of showing that value where sometimes the wages

don't necessarily match up. could you explain to an office

worker or in a shop or restaurants they should pay more tax so that

you don't have to pay more for your pensions? Pensions are a right for

people and be that we all demand better pensions. The strikers' case

sa is that proposed pension changes will cost the average teacher �74 a

month, make them work to 6 and give them a smaller pension. The

Government says pension pots are protected, that workers under

�15,000 a year will pay no more and all will get guaranteed payouts.

have to have reform that make sure that pensions are fair and afford

income future. The truth Su just need some extra cash and quickly to

help pay down the deficit. The cost of public service pensions have

risen dramatically. Over the last ten years costs have increased bay

third. It wasn't just teachers striking today. The Public and

Commercial Services Union said it was their biggest strike, but

Ministers claim many ignored the picket lines. Like this one in

Newcastle, or airports. understand the anger of workers who

feel they are being singled out by a reckless and provocative

Government. But I also believe this action is wrong. Negotiations are

ongoing. So it is a mistake to go on strike, because of the effect on

the people who rely upon those services. That condemnation from

the leader of the party the trade unions created infuriated one

teaching union. Very to say, and I'm ashamed to say this, the

response of the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has been a disgrace.

CHEERING The police were out in force today

blocking protesters from going off the agreed route and using stop and

search powers to avoid trouble. So far at least they've succeed. The

political trouble over pensions though may only just have begun.

This is the visible side of this dispute. What really counts is

what's happening away from the cameras. Negotiations about exactly

what the unions will accept and what Ministers insist theically can

afford. Well, the impact of the strike has

been felt right across the UK, particularly in England and Wales,

where millions of parents had to take time off work or make other

arrangement to look after children who couldn't go school. Our north

of England correspondent, Ed Thomas, spent the day in Stockton-on-Tees

to see how one community has been coping. 9.00am and it is all quiet

at Winston Primary. But over at the park it is a different story. The

strikes meant that parents of Stockton-on-Tees needed a Plan B.

Looking after the children today? Yes. You have got sympathy with the

teachers for this strike? Very some sympathy with the teachers'

predicament but I think they've dissident too early. They should be

in the same boat as everybody else. I've definitely got sympathy with

them. From what I've heard, they need to stand their ground.

sympathy was in short supply as 7- year-old Joshua's house. Today he

was schooled at home while mum Yvonne had an unpaid day off work.

That leaves my employer short staffed, so he's had to pull staff

from his other branch to cover me. That leaves them short staffed, so

it has upset them at work. Obviously, the children are missing

out on going to school. And here's the pharmacy where Yvonne works.

The changes they have had to make here have cost them money. Every

disruption and every financial loss is a worry. Obviously as far as the

business is concerned, you can't in fact absorb it all the time. It

depends how long it is going to go on. What about the thousands of

parents who can't afford to take time off work? Here like elsewhere

in the country many of them have turned to places like this -

creches, daycare centres, after- school clubs, anywhere to help them

look after their children. Usually this is a breakfast and after-

school club only, but today 11- year-olds played with 3-year-olds.

It is all after some desperate phone calls from parents.

parent this morning said, "I don't know what I would do if you weren't

here. I have no family. Where sells there for me to go and I cannot

take time off work." So what happens next when it comes to time

off will be down to the unions and the Government.

Ministers insist public sector pensions must change to stay

affordable. They say greater life expectancy means that people will

have to work longer to fund their retirement. But how do the numbers

actually stack up? Our chief economics correspondent, Hugh Pym,

has been having a closer look. The debate about paying for pensions

has centred on whether they are affordable. An independent

Commission headed by the former Labour Minister, Lord Hutton,

recommended radical reform. That's what the Government's adopted. But

the Hutton report shows that public sector costs as a share of GDP are

set to fall. Right now they are nearly 2%. They are likely to come

down, although the report has a range of possible outcomes. Does

that mean they are affordable? point about public sector pensions

their cost over time is not actually rising as a proportion of

national income. In part because we've had public sector pensions

for such a long time, in part because of some of the reforms that

the last Government put in place. The real issue is that they are

significantly more generous than the pensions that workers in the

private sector get. They do cost a large amount of money. In the short

term Ministers point out the taxpayer cost is going up. Payouts

to public sector pensioners this financial year will be nearly �6

billion, taking account of contributions by current staff Four

years they will rise to more than �8 billion, even allowing for

contribution increases planned by the Government. There are key

questions being asked about fairness. Why should taxpayers fund

pensions for the public sector than are more secure than for other

workers? But is it right to drag public sector provision down in a

so-called race to the bottom? There's widening gap between the

sectors when it comes to pensions. In the private sector just 34% of

workers are in an occupational scheme, but in the public sector

the figure is 84%. Private sector pension provision is nat qat at

present. That's not a reason to water down public sector pension

provision, but the reality for public and private sector workers

is they are all going to have to get used to spending a bit less,

saving a bit more and retiring a bit later. The arguments over

what's fair and sustainable are complex. If you want to know more

about these issues, look at our website - bbc.co.uk/news.

Our industry correspondent, John Moylan, is at TUC headquarters in

central London. There is some dispute about how many people went

on strike today. Can you gauge now what impact this one-day strike

had? Interestingly public service unions will be meeting here

tomorrow at the TUC headquarters. They'll be asking the same question.

We know schools were ris erupted, we think 11 ,000 schools were

closed. The Government says 105,000 people walked out of Government

posts. The union says the number was double that. The Government

insists tonight that essential services were maintained. The

bottom line is that today was always about a shot across the

boughs for the Government, the ang there were millions of public

sector workers feel. The big question is whether this will be

turned into concessions from Government when both sides meet to

talk about pension reform next week. A man who murdered his neighbour,

before mutilating her body nine years ago, has been told he will

spend the rest of his life in prison. Danilo Restivo, who's

Italian, beat Heather Barnett with a hammer at her home in Bournemouth

in 2002. As he passed sentence, the judge said the murder was so

serious that no minimum term would be appropriate.

Emergency laws will be brought forward to overturn a legal ruling

about police bail. Senior police officers have expressed deep

concern about restrictions over holding suspects on bail for more

than four days. The Policing Minister, Nick Herbert, said the

emergency legislation was needed because there wasn't enough time to

wait for a Supreme Court appeal. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation

has moved a step closer to taking full control of BSkyB. The

Government has provisionally accepted plans to spin off Sky News

as a separate company. The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, agreed the

controversial proposals. But he's given opponents one week to raise

any objections to the deal. 15,000 more jobs are to go at

Lloyds. The latest cuts mean that by 2014 the banking group will have

shed a total of 45,000 jobs. It's also announced plans to pull out of

half the countries in which it operates. Our business editor,

Robert Peston, has the details. Huge numbers, why have they had to

do this? Well, Sophie, branches like the Lloyds branch behind me

may not be closing. But this 45,000 jobs that Lloyds is shedding, it is

without precedent for a going concern, at least in my experience.

If you want to try and visualise that number of jobs, it's the

number of people that will fill Liverpool as Anfield stadium to the

brim. It's a small town in terms of the number of people. Why is Lloyds

doing? It is because it feels hate to rebuild its finances, its

profitability following the problems it has had since the

credit crunch. I spoke to the new chief executive, Antonio Horta-

Osario. He told me Lloyds, our biggest retail bank, simply won't

be able to support the British economy's recovery unless and until

its own finances are fixed. And there is another thing. We as

taxpayers own 41% of Lloyds. So the rise in its share price today of

almost 10% is good news for taxpayers. But we have invested

more than �20 billion in saving this bank. Even after today's share

price rise, the value of our stake is still almost �7 billion less

than what we paid for that stake, so there is lots more work to do

until we as taxpayers get our money Our top story: Hundreds of

thousands of public sector workers have gone on strike in protests

against plans to reform pensions. Coming up, a mother-in-law to be

whose blunt advice for her son's bride-to-be has made her an

40 years old, and is the end of the Now, it is �200 million over budget

and years behind schedule. Tonight, city councillors in Edinburgh will

try to decide what to do about the long-running and controversial

plans to put trams back on the streets. One option is to scrap it

The traffic congestion at the heart of Scotland's capital is supposed

to have eased by now. A continental style tramline should have already

been running here, taking some cars and buses off the roads. But this

stretch of track has been laid so badly that it needs ripped up and

replaced. And that is just the start of a long line of problems.

Think Millennium Dome. Think Channel Tunnel. Think about the

saga of the building of the new Scottish parliament. In fact, the

Edinburgh trams are now so massively overdue and over budget

that the whole project has been nicknamed Holyrood on wheels. And

whatever Edinburgh's politicians decide tonight, there is no way

they can turn to get the budget back on track. Before tramline from

Edinburgh airport to the waterfront was supposed to cost no more than

�545 million. Now a shorter route, stopping at the city centre, has an

estimated cost of up to �773 million. Even if construction is

cancelled, up to �740 million will still be needed to pay off

contractors. It's a disgrace, really, isn't it? All of that money

down the drain. They should just stop and not waste any more money,

don't waste any more time and close the street. The council leader

claims contractual wrangles and unforseen the Engineering problems

for busting the budget, and overrun she has described as a small glitch.

I did indeed describe it as a glitch, a glitch in the long term.

�200 million, we don't know precisely what the figure is. Let's

assume it was that figure. It's not unusual in projects of this size.

public inquiry will eventually be held. But councillors must first

decide whether or not continuing with construction would be to pour

good money after bad. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

are due to touch down in Canada within the hour for their first

overseas tour as a married couple. During their nine-day stay they

will lay a wreath at the National War Memorial and take part in a

cooking class and rodeo. After that, they fly to California for a three-

day visit. Nicholas Witchell is in the Canadian capital, Ottawa.

William and Catherine, heading off on their first overseas visit

together. An important test for both of them, but particularly for

Kate. This could be will be intense, what she wears, how she looks. It

will all be picked over in unique detail. Does it matter? Well, to

the extent that William and Kate had no central to the monarchy and

the image it presents, it does. Waiting for them on the streets of

Canada's capital, tearing all day tomorrow. It's a country which,

broadly speaking, remains loyal to the Crown and committed to the

monarchy. Canada seems rather flattered that the couple have

chosen the country for their first international visit together. It

works for Canada and, of course, it works for the couple as well.

Canada is a country where they are assured of a warm welcome. Not

perhaps on the hysterical scale of William's last visit 13 years ago,

when he and his brother came for a holiday and where William was

mobbed by screaming girls. But make no mistake, the William and Kate

show 2011 has many admirers. Hours before the arrival, some were

already getting into place to create a couple who, one day, as

things stand, will be the King and Queen of Canada as well. I think

Canadians have a love affair with the monarchy, and I think they will

be no different. We would love to have them as king and queen. Is a

new generation commit something I can relate to, being closer to

their age. The visit will begin in traditional fashion at the War

Memorial, where William will lay a wreath and Catherine a Posy. After

that, they will travel across this huge country, a chance to embrace

the heritage and give Canadians a new perspective on royalty.

The Russian Maria Sharapova is through to her second Wimbledon

final. She beat German wild card Sabine Lisicki and will face the

8th seed, Petr King Viv Cover. -- Patrick Piggott Cover.

Compared to the established galaxy of stars in the men's game, in the

women's game we have had to cope with some relatively new names,

especially since the Williams sisters and the top three seeds

have gone out. The Wimbledon crowds are a

knowledgeable bunch. That may be some things are too obscure. Like

who is contesting the women's semi- finals? Anna Kournikova? No.

Sharapova and... Abinger Road do? Azarenka is playing... Another lady,

who I am sure is a fantastic tennis player. Victoria Azarenka was

indeed playing the 8th seed, Petra Kvitova. Copyists say it is fresh.

In deep deciding set, covered Cover -- Kvitova pulled away. The other

semi-final had Maria Sharapova against the unseeded Sabine Lisicki.

Lisicki sped to a 3-0 lead. The German opponent was swept aside in

straight sets. All of which centre court action allowed the men's

semi-finalists to have a relaxed day before their finals tomorrow.

Andy Murray ended his quarter-final wincing from a strain. He seems to

be moving easily enough now. Today may be the chance for a gentle

workout and stretch. Tomorrow, Andy Murray, the self confessed boxing

fan, will be nothing short of a full blooded about. Rafael Nadal

was displaying his talent today, by foot and rocket, and by just being

a hump of Spanish be. I love you! Rare brilliance, tough to beat.

It's been a strange thing, Andy Murray's progress to the semi-

finals. We haven't had the angst, the drama, the wild over-excitement

of recent British Wimbledon runs. That might be to his benefit. But

that will all change tomorrow. It Your relationships with your in-

laws are not always easy. But when one bride to be visited her

fiance's parents in Devon, the visit turned into something of a

public disaster. Her future mother- in-law centre a few rays e-mail

complaining about her staggering bad mother once -- bad manners and

a lack of grace. The 29 year-old was so shocked that she sent it to

friends and know it is an intimate sensation. I'm going to give you

some really easy tips on how to look after... A bit of gardening

advice from nursery owner Carolyn born. But it is her lessons in

etiquette that have made her name. A few weeks ago, her stepson

Freddie took his fiancee, Heidi Withers, back to the family home in

Devon. Afterwards, she received an e-mail from her prospective mother-

in-law, apparently criticising her table manners and attacking brash

celebrity behaviour. In the message, It seems the e-mail that Carolyn

Bourne sent from here to her daughter-in-law to be was meant to

be private. But somehow it was forwarded on to other people, who

then sent it on to more people, and then it went viral. It has now been

seen by millions of people all over the world. They were keeping a very

polite silence today. But neighbours said that lessons had

been learned. To put it in an e- mail, it puts it in the public

domain. It is not a very clever thing to do. Today, internet users

have described Carolyn Bourne as the mother-in-law from hell and

defender of the nation's manners. The wedding takes place in the

More on our main story, today's strike by teachers in England and

Wales. Civil servants right across the UK. Nick Robinson is in Downing

Street with his assessment. Is this the start of more things to come?

Well, there is no doubt that there are many other unions taking

consideration of action, even the doctors union said they might

consider industrial action, although not outright strikes, for

the first time since 1975. In Downing Street, they are hoping

that the unions have noticed that it didn't seem to be that 750,000

people turned out, the chaos in the airports didn't happen, the unions

looked divided at times and the Labour Party leadership were clear

that they were opposed. In a sense, you have people shake it up.

Ministers and union leaders tried to see just how tough the other

side are. Both sides know that it would be about the noise of the

streets, it will be a rather boring set of negotiations about rather

boring and details charts and figures about contributions and

benefits. That is how it will be Let's look at the latest weather.

What do you have in store? Fine weather to start July. That

doesn't necessarily mean sunny. Most places are looking al-Ahmar

and bright. This photo was taken this afternoon, close to Hemel

Hampstead. The cloud will melt away, and it will turn brighter. One or

two heavy showers, even the odd clap of thunder. It settles down

into a dry night, eight here and chilly 1. A cool start to July. A

bit more cloud in western Scotland and Northern Ireland. Plenty of

spots of rain possible. We will see that how developing, particularly

in eastern England. One or two showers are likely. For the

majority it will be a drive day, but more cloud in the afternoon.

Still dry and fine for the majority. One or two showers in north-east

England and perhaps the borders of Scotland. For Western Scotland it

will be a predominantly gloomy day, with a little bit of light rain

possible. The same fund Northern Ireland, lots of cloud. Many places

will stay dry. Temperatures are up to 15 or 16 degrees. Good spells of

sunshine early on across Wales. As we go through the middle part of

the day, expect a fair bit of cloud. Still sunny intervals, lifting the

temperatures a degree or so higher. 18 or 19 in Cardiff, the same for

south-east England. Dry and bright for the majority. They do one or

two showers in East Anglia. I'm pretty confident that Wimbledon

will be dry for the big Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal match. Not

spectacularly sunny over the weekend. The same goes right across

the country, looking dry, but don't expect blue-sky is everywhere and

don't expect the heat of last A reminder of the main news:

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers have gone on strike