25/04/2012 BBC News at Six

Britain slips into recession again. We're back where we were four years

ago. New figures show it's a double dip recession - triggering a new

row over who's to blame. This is a recession made by him and the

Chancellor in Downing Street. Whether it's cleaning up our

financial system, whether it's dealing with our debts, I don't

duck my responsibilities. What a pity he can't live up to his.

We'll be asking where this leaves the argument about cuts and growth.

Also tonight: Cabinet Minister Jeremy Hunt under pressure as a key

adviser quits over the BSkyB takeover affair.

At the Leveson Inquiry Rupert Murdoch claims that Gordon Brown

declared war on his company. The inquest into the death of an

MI6 officer - a former landlady says she once found Gareth Williams

tied to his bed. It's been a day of heavy rain across the country.

There have been flood warnings in the drought zone. But will all of

this help fix our water shortage? I will be here with Sportsday later,

including a look at tonight's Champions League semifinal and can

Jose Mourinho set up a Chelsea Good evening, welcome to the BBC

News at Six. Britain is back in recession. The latest figures

showed the economy shrunk by 0.2% in the last three months and

sparked a furious row in the Commons. The Labour leader, Ed

Miliband, said this new period of recession was made in Downing

Street. David Cameron acknowledged the figures were disappointing but

said the Government would stick to its plans to reduce the deficit.

Here's our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym.

The cogs in the economic machine grind on but they could be going a

lot faster. GDP is the term for everything the economy produces. If

it falls for six months you get a recession. There was a drop at the

end of last year, and now another one. 0.2% between January and March.

It's hard for the economy to move forward when shoppers are still

careful with their cash, squeezed by rapid rises in the cost of

living. Everything is going up. Wages aren't going up. I have been

on a freeze now for four years. I am struggling. Not really confident,

no. I don't think things are going to change, not for two or three

years I would say. All the little treats have got to go, holidays are

going to become a thing of the past. The ASDA boss knows customers have

tightened their belts and he doesn't expect a change any time

soon. They're becoming more savvy in terms of how they're shopping.

When they're filling up the car with fuel they put round values in

like �5 or �10, because that's how much money they've got to spend on

fuel that particular week. Who is to blame? The Prime Minister and

Labour leader gave their views in the Commons. Typical of this

arrogant Prime Minister who tries to blame everyone else. The reality

is this is a recession made by him and the Chancellor in Downing

Street. This is a tough and difficult situation that the

economy is in. But the one thing we must not do is to abandon public

spending and deficit reduction plans because the solution to a

debt crisis cannot be more debt. The breakdown of the figures shows

there was a 0.1% increase for service industries, including

retail, but manufacturing output fell by 0.1%.

Construction saw a big drop of 3% over the three-month period.

To work out whether the economy is growing or not officials have to

gather data from a range of different industries, including

construction. There has been criticism of the way they measure

activity in this sector, with some claiming the figures are too

volatile and don't reflect what's really going on. The Bank of

England says the construction numbers are perplexing. Others

agree. This company, for example, it makes plastic pipes for building

projects. It says business is turning over, they're doing all

right. The boss told me they had adapted to a world of low growth.

We are in the environment we are in, I don't think we can't sit holding

our head in our hands worrying about being low growth because

that's the way it's going to be. That's the new norm.

So what's the man in charge of economic policy got to say? You

launched a growth strategy a year ago and now there's no growth. The

economy has gone backwards. I have never disguised the fact that

Britain faces a difficult economic situation. We have these debts. We

have this debt crisis. These debts were built up over many years. If I

had a magic wand I would wave and the British economy would spurt

into growth I would wave it, of course I would. He ignored our

warnings. He ignored our call for a plan for jobs and growth and

families and businesses are now paying that price. This is a

disgrace. Many commentators, including the

Budget watchdog the OBR, thought the UK would avoid a slip back into

recession. They'll now have to work out the implications.

Our economics editor Stephanie Flanders is here.

People watching this at home are going to be thinking, it feels like

we are going backwards. That's why the Government and business leaders

were hopes that we would avoid this sort of technical move back into

recession, that we wouldn't have two quarters in which the economy

shrank in a row. I don't think - it conjures up a double dip recession

conjures up images of a rollercoaster that we are into a

full-blown recession. Most would say the reality is what it was

yesterday, even though these figures are straoeusing on the

downside, which is the economy is bumping along the bottom, it's not

lurching downwards but it doesn't have very much forward momentum and

looking ahead, even if some of these numbers get revised, that

looks like being the picture for sometime. This is by many measures

the weakest recovery, the weakest period for the economy in more than

80 years. Thank you. The Culture Secretary,

Jeremy Hunt, has been defending his handling of News Corporation's bid

for BSkyB. In a statement to MPs, Mr Hunt said he followed due

process strictly. But this morning one of his key aides resigned. Adam

Smith admitted he'd gone too far in his contacts with the company.

Here's our political editor Nick Robinson on another setback for the

Government. Is he the Culture Secretary or the

Minister for Murdoch, protecting the public interest or working for

their interest? I am going to be making a very, very determined

effort to show that I behaved with total integrity and conducted this

process scrupulously fairly. Today, Jeremy Hunt gave his answer, but

before he did, just before noon, when the Prime Minister was to face

questions, came a resignation. Not the Minister, but his political

advisor, Adam Smith, driven out of the department after he said he had

given the impression that his boss had too close a relationship with

the Murdoch empire. That didn't silence Labour calls for the

Minister to quit. While his Culture Secretary remains in place, while

he refuses to come clean on his and the Chancellor's meetings with

Rupert Murdoch, the shadow of sleaze will hang over this

Government. It's a pattern with this Prime Minister, Andy Coulson,

Rebekah Brooks, and now the Culture Secretary. When is he going to

realise it's time to stop putting his cronies before the interests of

the country? An anxious Minister looked on as the Prime Minister

insisted it was for the Leveson Inquiry to investigate and no one

should prejudge it. He called for an independent judicial inquiry.

That is the inquiry I have set up. Whether it's the proper regulation

of the press, whether it is cleaning up our financial system,

whether it's dealing with our debts, I don't duck my responsibilities.

What a pity he can't live up to his. All this was provoked by evidence

produced when James Murdoch was questioned on oath at the inquiry

yesterday. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. What is at

issue is what is the truth about the attempted multibillion pound

takeover of BSkyB and the Culture Secretary's relations with James

Murdoch. E-mails now released reveal Mr

Murdoch was told by his advisor he managed to get some info, although

absolutely illegal about what Jeremy Hunt would say to parliament

the next day. Another claimed that the Minister

believed we would get there at the and he shared our objectives.

Today, the Culture Secretary was forced to come to the Commons to

insist he had done nothing wrong. Transcripts of conversations and

text published yesterday between my special advisor Adam Smith and a

news corporation representative have been alleged to indicate there

was a back channel through which News Corporation were able to

influence my decisions. This is categorically not the case. But he

said his advisor had gone too far to inform and reassure News Corp.

The volume and tone of those communications were clearly not

appropriate in a quasi-judicial process. Not everyone was impressed.

When posh boys are in trouble, they sack the servants. The man who had

to give a verdict on BSkyB's bid for a bigger stake in ITV says

Ministers have to behave like judges. It's very clear I could not

be providing information to either side, let alone apparently to one

side. You really have to act scrupulously fairly and importantly,

you have to be seen to be acting fairly. Not very long ago

politicians were desperate to get close to the Murdoches. Now Jeremy

Hunt is wishing he kept his distance.

Rupert Murdoch has told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics that

Gordon Brown declared war on his company after the Sun newspaper

switched its support to the Conservatives. But the former prime

minister say Mr Murdoch's account was wholly wrong. Nick Witchell was

at the inquiry as the media mogul answered questions about his

relationship with a string of Prime Ministers. His report contains some

flash photography. His views have mattered to people

in power for decades. But today as Rupert Murdoch arrived at the Royal

Courts of Justice with his wife and son, political leaders, past and

present, may just have felt a touch uncertain about what this witness

would disclose. The witness today is Mr Rupert Murdoch. I swear by

almighty God, that the evidence I shall give... Mr Murdoch said he

welcomed the inquiry, there were myths to put to rest and abuses to

address. Is it your perception or understanding that abuses go

further than the issue of phone hacking? Oh, they go further.

will come back to that in due course. They went first to the

early 19 0s when -- 1980s when Mr Murdoch was trying to buy Times

newspaper. He wanted the support of Margaret Thatcher. Counsel asked if

he presented himself to her as the man with the will to crush the

trade unions. I didn't have the will to crush the unions. I might

have had the desire. But that took several years. But had he asked

Prime Minister Thatcher to support his bid for the Times? No, he said.

I never asked a Prime Minister for anything. 1997 brought a change of

Government, to Tony Blair and New Labour. Their approach to media

ownership is said to have been relaxed. Mr Murdoch had supported

Tony Blair's election. I in ten years of his power there, never

asked Mr Blair for anything. Nor indeed did I receive any favours.

From Blair to Brown. Rupert Murdoch said he had got on well with Gordon

Brown personally, but then in September 2009 the Murdoch Sun

withdrew its support from Labour. Mr Murdoch described a telephone

call he had received from Gordon Brown. He said well, your company

has declared war on my Government. And we have no alternative, but to

make war on your company. I said I am sorry about that, Gordon. Thank

you for calling. End of subject. How could Mr Brown have declared

war on your company? I don't know. I don't think he was in a state of

As for David Cameron, Mr Murdoch recalled how when he was opposition

leader he had flown out to meet him on the Murdoch's yacht in the

Mediterranean. Why, he was asked, did politicians go to such trouble

to see him? Politicians go out of their way to impress people in the

press. One other politician who has crossed Mr Murdoch's path, Alex

Salmond of the SNP. I don't know Mr Salmond well. He is an amusing guy

and I enjoy his company. The point Mr Murdoch was most at pains to

stress was that he had never traded endorsement from his newspapers,

particularly the Sun, in return for some commercial favour. But one

thing Mr Murdoch did accept, on the big political issues he did make

his views known through his newspapers. I am a curious person

who is interested in the great issues of the day. I am not good at

holding my tongue. Mr Murdoch gave evidence for nearly four hours and

will resume his testimony tomorrow. Our top story tonight: New figures

released today show Britain is in recession again. Coming up: MI6

officers begin giving evidence at the inquest into their colleague

Are there any companies who aren't facing financial crisis? And

identity theft is on the up. Now, how can you have a drought on

the one hand and flood warnings on the other, both at the same time?

With a month's worth of rain forecast for the next few days,

that is exactly what is happening in some parts of England. The water

companies say the answer is simple - it is just not enough, as Jeremy

Cooke has been finding out in Northamptonshire. Yes, a rainy day

in England. Normally, hardly the stuff of headline news, but this

wet spell comes after an exceptionally dry a two-year period

which has left much of England in drought. The question is whether

all this water is enough to make a difference.

A filthy, phaal, soaking day in the drought zone. Across much of the

country, hours of persistent torrential rain. In parts of the

south-west, officially in drought since last week, there are now

flood warnings. The voice on the telephone says get out, and take

your children and your pets with you and get to higher ground! They

thought I was in danger of flooding. So broad rivers threatened to burst

their banks. This was among those causing serious concern. But for

farmers struggling to raise their crops in drought conditions, it is

all good news. But most, like Andrew Brown, are not celebrating

yet. One wet spell will not solve the long-term chronic water

shortage. Beans and which will be fined. We are more concerned about

the root crops, potatoes and so on which needed irrigating in the

Solar Time. There are still shortages of water. Here at this

reservoir, it has been checking it down. But supplies here are still

25% lower than they should be at this time of year. The drought and

the hosepipe ban are still a reality. We have just had the

driest 18 months in a century. That is serious and it means that just a

few weeks weeks -- white weeks will not change the situation. We need

many more weeks like this to get back to where we want to be for

this time of year. Today's rain is falling on dry, hard ground, and

much of it is evaporating or flowing away in a mild temperatures.

Normally, aquifers recharge over the winter months, because

temperatures are cooler. There is less evaporation, so that water

gets to replenish the supply as much better. For some, this rain

has been good news. For others, especially those on the road, it

has been a miserable day. The rain continues to pour down

here. Let me give you an idea of the scale of the problem. This is a

typical reservoir, well below the level it should be at this time of

year. The people who work here tell me they would normally see the

level right up above my head at this time of year. It might take

weeks, perhaps months of rain like this to rectify the situation.

Scotland Yard has called on the Portuguese authorities to reopen

the search for Madeleine McCann. The Metropolitan Police have

reviewed the case of the three- year-old girl, who disappeared in

2007. They have also released a computer-generated image of how

Madeleine might look now, at the age of nine.

The UK Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a solicitor who was

told to retire by a law firm just after his 65th birthday. The

Government scrapped the default retirement age of 65 last year. But

today's landmark ruling opens the way for employers to put in place

policies which would allow them to retire older workers if done fairly

and correctly. The inquest into the death of an

MI6 officer found dead inside a padlocked sports bag has heard from

a former landlady. In a written statement, she told the inquest

that she had once found Gareth Williams tied to his bed.

Gareth Williams, the intelligence officer whose body was found in a

bag, a man described as a private person. He spent ten years in this

house in Cheltenham while working at GCHQ. Today, his former landlady

described hearing him cry for help at 1:30am one morning. She and her

husband found him alone in his underwear, panicking and

embarrassed, with his wrists tied to the bedstead. My husband said,

What the bloody hell are you doing? He said, I just want to see if I

could get three. In August 2010, police found Williams' body in the

bath tub of his flat. He was curled up inside the bag in a foetal

position, with the keys underneath him. But the bag was locked on the

outside, with police believing someone else was involved. Today

the inquest also heard from the police officer in charge of

liaising with the intelligence agencies. He said his inquiries had

found no evidence that Gareth Williams' death was linked to his

work. This afternoon, former colleagues from MI6 and GCHQ gave

their evidence. His line manager said that in hindsight, he would

have done more to try and establish why Gareth Williams Mr week of

meetings and appointments before police were finally contacted. They

gave their evidence behind a screen to protect their identity. Lawyers

for his family also question why spies had not signed standard

witness statements and whether computer material had been secured

before police took possession. More evidence from former colleagues in

GCHQ and MI6 is expected tomorrow as the inquest continues.

The American business tycoon, Donald Trump, has said he was

"lured" into building a billion dollar golf resort in Aberdeenshire,

having been assured that a proposed wind farm would not go ahead.

Speaking to a committee of MSPs in Edinburgh, he said he was opposed

to the plans for an offshore development and warned that

Scotland's policy on wind power could destroy its tourism industry.

It's one of the political trends of the age, voters becoming

disillusioned with mainstream politics, and smaller parties

gaining in popularity. But with local elections on the way, the

question is whether that popularity will translate into votes and seats.

Our political correspondent has this report on those smaller

parties contesting the English local elections.

The odds are stacked against them, but in parts of England, these

smaller parties could come from outside to rob them mainstream

rivals of some key seats. When Respect's leader George Galloway

pulled off his unexpected by- election victory, he said it was

the Bradford Spring, and a prize against the political establishment.

Ambitious rhetoric, but his party has fielded just 15 candidates in

May. But the greens are contesting 965 seats, and hope they can make

games with a campaign that goes beyond environmental issues. When

the Greens explain that not only are we standing for environmental

policies that they are known well for, but also standing up against

the regime of vicious cuts that are being visited on people through

national government and down via local government, that is also

resonant. On the doorstep, they are talking about local issues, but

campaigners for the smaller parties will be hoping to capitalise on the

wider national mood of voters who are fed up with the three main

parties. Undoubtedly, there is a wider trend whereby the British

public are willing to vote for smaller parties in a way that for

most of the post-war period, they were reluctant to do. But despite

the patriotic cupcakes designed to sweeten their appeal, the British

National Party have modest hopes at this election. They have 35

candidates and their leader says this is a rebuilding phase after an

internal power struggle. The English Democrats hope to increase

their tally of five seats. They have broadened their message,

campaigning for tax cuts and more directly elected mayors as well as

an English parliament. UKIP's leader Nigel Farage is buoyed by

one recent opinion poll putting his party ahead of the Liberal

Democrats and hoping his key theme of standing up to Europe will

appeal across the board. Everyone thinks that all the UKIP boaters

are disaffected Tories. There are many reasons to be disaffected with

the Tory party, but our vote actually comes from across the

board. Despite more popular support, the voting system means the smaller

parties will cause few big upsets on May 3rd.

Well, after today's news on the recession and the pressure on the

Culture Secretary, let's get a final word with our political

editor, Nick Robinson. Either one of those would be bad enough, but

it adds up to another tough day for the Government. This was the day

things got serious for David Cameron. A double-dip recession, a

fight to save a minister's career. At stake, the government's

reputation for competence and integrity. For most people, the

economic news is what matters much more. Squeezed as never before,

many voters will now ask themselves, was it worth it? And the opposition,

which has struggled for so long to turn the debate away from how to

tackle the deficit into a debate about how to get the economy going

again, may start to get their way. But inside Number 10, be in no

doubt - the real effort overnight and today was to try and save the

Culture Secretary's career. They did so by sacrificing his adviser.

Although that has got Mr Hunt through today, there are many MPs

who say they do not believe he acted with the impartiality of a

judge while his adviser acted as a cheerleader for the Murdochs. There

is an old saying - when things are bad in politics, Things Can Only

Get Better. It is wrong, they just Now the weather. It has been a

bleak day, but one wet day does not make up for a dry 18 months. This

picture was taken on the south coast at Worthing earlier today.

Here are some examples of how much rain has fallen. Some places have

had an inch and a half. It is a wet and windy night across large parts

of the country. The most persistent rain has been across England and

Wales, but the rain is now pushing across Northern Ireland and into

southern Scotland. Vicious showers further south. They will gradually

ease overnight, and it will be a bit milder than last night. But

there is more wet weather to come. A blustery day again across

northern Scotland. Particularly soggy across north-east Scotland

and eastern England. The showers will whizz across the south-east

quickly because of strong winds. In central areas, the winds will be

light, meanie the downpours will be long-lived. Some places will get a

real soaking tomorrow, particularly across the Wales and the Midlands.

It will stay very wet across eastern parts of Scotland. More

rain to come here during Thursday night and into Friday. There will

be outbreaks of rain also across North Wales. Either side of that,

there will be some sunny spells, but more showers. We might start

the weekend dry, but it looks as though there will be more wet and