04/06/2014 BBC News at Six

Pensions, childcare and plastic bags - the Government

sets out its agenda in its final year before the general election.

There are 11 new bills - including plans to allow voters to

sack misbehaving MPs, and a reform of how we save for retirement.

My government's pension reforms will also allow for innovation

in the private pensions market, to give greater control to employees.

We'll test the Coalition's claim that it's a packed agenda

from a radical government. Also tonight:

The row between Cabinet heavyweights Michael Gove and Theresa May about

how to tackle Islamic extremism. The Taliban releases video showing

the moment it freed US soldier Bowe Bergdahl,

after five years in captivity. Britain's biggest supermarket

suffers its worst sales for 20 years, in the face of stiff

competition from discount rivals. Thousands gather in Hong Kong to

remember the Tiananmen Square massacre, 25 years ago today.

Tonight on BBC London: A man dies

and 13 people are injured after a car crashes into a bus in Clapton.

While in central London, there are more injuries as a tour

boat ploughs into Tower Bridge. In the last Queen's Speech before

the general election, the coalition government has set out its plans for

its final year in power. Her Majesty announced just 11 new bills.

Pensions took centre stage, with changes to annuity schemes. A

child-care subsidy of up to ?2000 a year will replace the existing

employer funded scheme and a 5p charge will be introduced for

supermarket plastic bags in England. David Cameron and Nick Clegg said

the programme shows the coalition is still taking bold steps to improve

people's lives but the Labour leader Ed Miliband said it fails to match

the scale of the problems that Britain faces. Our deputy political

editor James Landale reports. If you've got new wheels like this,

you wouldn't want to take it for a spin. Today the Queen travelled to

Westminster in a new carriage for a new session of Parliament. The

Diamond Jubilee State coach, an embodiment of British history made

up of fragments of HMS Victory, a musket from Waterloo and even Isaac

Newton's pageantry. Inside, the tradition was anything but new. MPs

briefly barred the Queen's messenger then greeted him with the now

familiar heckle from Labour's Dennis Skinner. Coalition's last stand! It

certainly isn't the Queen's last stand. This is the 60th time she's

opened Parliament and the only side that one day she might stop was the

presence, now for a second year, the Prince of Wales behind her in the

procession. But today was all about who might seize the political crown

in the next election. The author of the Queen's Speech on the left

doesn't want to be succeeded by the young pretender on his right. David

Cameron gave Her Majesty a view of electoral slogans to proclaim. My

Government's legislative programme will continue to deliver on its

long-term plan to build a strong -- stronger economy and a fairer

society. It was a short list of legislation for a short

parliamentary session but fundamental changes to pension stood

out. Legislation will be brought forward to give those who have saved

discretion over the use of their retirement funds. With many voters

distrustful of politicians, there will be a new way of getting rid of

MPs if they're guilty of serious wrongdoing. But some critics the it

won't go far enough. My ministers will introduce legislation on the

recall of members of Parliament. There was also a small business bill

setting up targets to reduce red tape and help firms get credit from

banks. And Infrastructure Bill to make fracking for gas easier and to

boost house-building by selling off public land. And there will be a 5p

charge for plastic bags used in large shops in England through

October. The Queen also announced there will be tax cuts for childcare

worth up to ?2000. Care that might perhaps be needed for one of her

page boys, who fainted. A brief shudder as helpers rushed to help

the unfortunate youth, the Royal eyes lifted momentarily as the bill

was carried out, and she and the three remaining pages carried on. --

the boy was carried out. There were no bills on Europe or immigration,

nor any new rules on cigarette packaging. The Labour leader said he

had been looking for more. An immigration bill to stop workers

being undercut, a consumer bill to freeze energy bills, house-building

bill and an NHS bill to make it easier to see your GP and to stop

privatisation. To make that happen, we need a different government, a

Labour government. No, said the Prime Minister, the country needs

more of his government. Our long-term economic plan is working

but there is much, much more to do. This Queen's Speech sets out the

next steps in seeing through this vital plan to secure our future but

it will take the rest of this Parliament and the next to finish

the task of turning our country around. After a messy few weeks, the

Lib Dems were keen not to be swept under the carpet. Our fingerprints

can be seen all over this Queen's Speech on measures like free

childcare, free school meals, cutting income tax for working

people. Others, though, thought it wasn't radical enough. This

government has run out of steam, run out of any kind of ambition and,

frankly, it's a thin Queen's Speech. The coalition's aim today was to try

to counter that accusation, to try to show that it is united and busy.

But its opponents say it's still left Parliament with two little to

do. Good evening.

Plans for sweeping changes to pensions were at the heart of the

Queen's Speech. The government has abolished the requirement for people

to buy an annuity, and wants workers to contribute to collective pension

Our business correspondent Simon Jack has the story.

As expected, the speech included plans to introduce a new type

of pension scheme already popular in some European countries.

Old-style final salary pensions are dying out, so what most workers now

do is pay into personal "one-member" schemes, if you like, known as

defined contribution pensions, each with its own administration costs

which nibble away every year at your pension savings.

Under this new plan, employees would pay into one big scheme where those

costs would be shared - and some estimate that all those small cost

savings could add up over time to 30% more income in retirement,

although that income can fluctuate. If there's a crisis car it does mean

that pensions sometimes need to go down. They've gone down by 2% in

Holland, for example following the crisis. But in general, they can

keep steady and rise with inflation and, of course, they give a better

pay out if we're ordering this together and sharing the risk.

although that income can fluctuate. However, another proposal to allow

people to take out all their money when they retire, and do whatever

they want with it, means that the new communal pot could suddenly

shrink as people leave this scheme - making it very hard to manage.

For this to work, lots of companies would have to club

together to do it. Remember, many are still getting to

grips with the Government's last big pensions idea -

automatic enrolment - so may be reluctant to try another new idea.

Well, as the Government was preparing for the Queen's Speech,

two of its most senior Cabinet members became embroiled in

a bitter row about how to tackle claims of Islamic extremism.

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, and the Education Secretary,

Michael Gove, have each accused the other of failing to deal with

the issue - although today they insisted they are working together.

Our political editor Nick Robinson has more.

How do you combat the extremism that leads people born here, schools

here, living here, to carry out terrorist attacks on their fellow

citizens? That question of how to combat the extremism that can lead

to violence has caused a split at the top of government but we know

Home Secretary Theresa May and the Education Secretary Michael Gove.

Behind the scenes, he's used meetings to criticise her approach,

to say that not enough is being done to combat the conditions that can

lead to violence. In the words of one of his allies, he wants people

to drain the swamp instead of waiting for the crocodiles to reach

the boat. For now the row centres on Birmingham and allegations of a plot

by extremist Muslims to take over schools here, the so-called Trojan

horse plot, which may lead next week to the sacking of the boards which

ran five schools in the city. Yesterday the previously private

views of Michael Gove and Theresa May emerged in public. The Education

Secretary had lunch at the Times on Monday and told them:

In reply, the Home Secretary wrote him a letter, asking: :

The reason we're seeing this ministerial spat between the

Education Secretary and the Home Secretary is because of ministerial

incompetence. In 2010 a senior Birmingham head teacher went to the

Department for Education and raised serious issues about radical

hardliners allegedly seeking to infiltrate and take over schools,

change the curriculum, and ministers did nothing. Michael Gove left

Downing Street this morning under instructions to make nice with his

Cabinet colleague. "We're just going to sort it out, " Theresa May could

be heard telling Labour's Yvette Cooper on her way to hear the

Queen's Speech. Mr Gove seemed to have other pressing business. He

once wrote a book warning that what he called appeasement was provoking

fundamentalist terror. Today he got the surprise backing of a former

Labour minister. Michael Gove is talking about the need to work with

people in communities on a long-term basis before they get to the point

of perhaps becoming violent, and I absolutely support that. There are

few more serious problems than the threat of terrorism. This, then, is

much more than Whitehall spat. It's a profound disagreement about how to

our streets safe. Nick is at Westminster tonight. A

huge day, obviously, for the government, but could this row

overshadowed that? Well, it is already in many ways overshadowing

it because in the last couple of minutes, I'd had a call from Downing

Street to say that the Prime Minister has ordered the facts to be

put before him about the background to this dispute and what happened in

this dispute. When I asked the Downing Street spokesman whether

this could lead to consequences either for the ministers involved or

their advisers, I was told, "that's all they race to tell you for the

minute". It is a serious row and it is deeply frustrating to ministers

that two of their own simply can't agree in public when the very

purpose of this Queen's Speech was to show how the two sides of the

coalition could agree, could find things to do, were not merely

counting down the days until the next election. David Cameron thought

it was job done on that. Ed Miliband, of course, insisted that

it was not, that there were simply not the answers to the problems

people and raised in the elections last week. But as you say, the row

way be remembered longer than the speech. Nick, thank you for now. You

can find out much more detail about everything that was in the Queen's

Speech today on the BBC News website.

A baby has died from blood poisoning believed to be

caused by a contaminated drip in a neonatal intensive care unit.

A further 14 premature babies in six hospitals across the south

of England are being treated for the same kind of infection.

I'm joined by our health correspondent Branwen Jeffreys.

What do we know about this? These babies all developed the same type

of blood poisoning caused by a bacteria called Bacillus arrears. It

is commonly found in dirt or dust and was traced back to the same

batches of a nutritional supplement that they were being given through a

liquid drip in the premature unit. 160 units were delivered to

hospitals across London and the south-east but have all now gone

past their use by date so the regulators say that they have

investigated and are happy. There is no further contamination, so nobody

who has a baby tonight in a neonatal unit should be worried if they're

being given a nutritional supplement. Thank you.

correspondent Branwen Jeffreys. The Taliban have released

a video showing the moment when they freed the US soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

The footage shows Sergeant Bergdahl wearing Afghan clothing

and being searched, before he boards a helicopter.

He was returned to the Americans in exchange for five Taliban

fighters they were holding. The prisoner swap has caused

controversy in the US. Our North America editor

Mark Mardell reports. Inside this truck on the remote

Afghan-Pakistan border, a man who has been held captive for five

years. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl blinked repeatedly, perhaps an used

to sunlight, perhaps close to tears, almost certainly overwhelmed by the

prospect of freedom. He is told, " don't come back to Afghanistan. Next

time you will be killed," something reinforced in English on this 17

minute home video. They spot the helicopter. US forces asked them to

light flare but they reply they have a white flag and then jubilant

chanting from the mujahedin. Sergeant Bergdahl appears

understandably tense, waiting, nearly daring to take plans but his

rescuers. US special forces have been trying to kill their opponents

and on this day, a quick briefing, a quick handshake, and then a pat-down

to check he is unarmed are not carrying a bomb. The commentary says

the US soldiers were very nervous and in a hurry. Bergdahl gets

another search before he is allowed helicopter. Then finally off to

freedom but some claimed the president has handed the enemy a

propaganda coup. The Taliban are using this victory narrative that

they have now to strengthen their recruiting, to strengthen their

position, because now they're looking at a major military

offensive this summer to try and dent the confidence of the Afghan

forces with a goal to try to kick over Afghanistan in 2017. The

release of this rather bloating video by American enemies will only

add to the storm surrounding the swap but the president seems

unrepentant, arguing that this is the way wars end.

Mark Mardell reports. Our top story this evening:

Pensions, childcare and plastic bags - the Queen lays

out the Government's final agenda before the general election.

And still to come - remembering the part these

aeroplanes played in D-Day. Later on BBC London:

As Heathrow's Terminal 2 opens up for business, passengers get

a taste of the high life with food from a Michelin-star chef.

And don't try this home - stuntmen see London from the rooftops

in their look-a-like Boris Bikes. Security has been tight in Beijing

today to prevent any commemoration of the Tiananmen Square massacre,

exactly 25 years ago. China has never released

a death toll for the crackdown, but at least several hundred people

died when troops cleared the square after weeks of protests

about political reform. Our China correspondent Damian

Grammaticas reports now on how those protests shaped the China of today.

Tonight, in Hong Kong, where people still have freedoms denied elsewhere

in China, they gathered in their tens of thousands.

25 years on, remembering Tiananmen, the hundreds massacred calling

for political change. But in the rest of China - nothing.

A mother who lost her son in the massacre can't even leave her flat.

For weeks, the police have been blocking her visitors.

To evade the censorship, the Tiananmen parents secretly

filmed this footage and smuggled it out.

And in the square, watchful security is everywhere.

Armed patrols circle ostentatiously. While the memories have long been

eraised from the flag stones, and nothing now shows where

the army gunned down hundreds of unarmed students,

the massacre's legacy has indelibly shaped modern China.

To ensure there is no repeat, China's leaders have done two

things. They've unleashed the economy, to make people richer, but

stymied any serious prospect of political change.

China today has the world's biggest state security apparatus to snuff

out any hint of opposition. Even the wife of China's jailed

Nobel Peace Prize winner, who took part in Tiananmen,

is kept under house arrest. This one of the few glimpses we have had of

her, dissent ruthlessly silenced. TRANSLATION: This is what happens in

a totalitarian system, China is like this. When a bad decision is made,

nobody can correct it. After speaking to us,

he too was detained. China's leaders insist that people

like a journalism student shot through the back

were rioters, case closed. But not for his father.

So the sense of injustice lingers, bitter and harsh,

the seeds of today's China. Damian Grammaticas, BBC News,

Beijing. British and Portuguese police

have spent a third day searching scrubland in the resort

of Praia da Luz where Madeleine McCann disappeared seven years ago.

They put up tents over a hole in the ground,

and forensic officers have been examining the scene.

Officials say the search could now continue beyond the weekend.

The search team looking for the British tourist Gareth Huntley

in Malaysia have found a body. The 34-year-old has not been seen

since he began a trek to a on Tioman Island eight days ago.

The body was found in a pond near the conservation project

where he was working. A terrorism trial could be heard

entirely in secret for the first time in an English court.

The High Court has been hearing that the press and public will be barred

from attending and the defendants' names kept secret on grounds

of national security. Our home affairs correspondent June

Kelly is outside the High Court. So what can you tell us

about this case? Well, this is very interesting,

because normally we stand outside these chords and report details of

cases. In this case, we are very limited, because the plan is to hold

the whole of the case in secret. These two men, we do not know their

names, are facing terrorism charges. Those charges include

possessing bomb-making instructions, and they are due to go on trial

later this month. The only reason we can report any of this for the first

time is because the media are challenging this secret justice

plan. Today a barrister told the Appeal Court judges that this raises

questions about the principles of open justice. Prosecutors say it is

an exceptional case, and the judges will make a decision about whether

this trial should go ahead in secret in the coming days. June, thank.

about this case? Britain's biggest supermarket chain,

Tesco, has reported its worst results in 20 years.

Sales over the past three months were down nearly 4%,

the third consecutive quarterly fall.

Its chief executive, Philip Clarke, says the supermarket will struggle

for the rest of the year, as our business editor,

Kamal Ahmed, reports. Navigating the changing

world of supermarket shopping is proving a tricky business for Tesco,

which announced its worst result in 20 years today. Philip Clarke, the

chief executive, insists he has a plan to turn the business around.

It's quite a change from its years of dominance. The times of their

great success arguably overlapped with self-imposed weakness

from major competitors, so the likes of Sainsbury's

and Morrisons, for example. It is very difficult for

all of them to win at the same time, so Tesco now has self-imposed

problems, and its competitors are making progress against that

backdrop. Tesco was still a huge business, accounting for nearly 30%

of the UK market. In just one city, Southampton, it has 40 stores.

No-one is suggesting the wheels are coming off the juggernaut just yet,

but customers on the south coast now have other options. I think they

need to make the stores smaller, you know, have nicer things as

well, not just the cheap range. I like Tesco, I would not say it has

affected me much. I think it is a good brand, it is not family

values. Senior Tesco figures are told me the focus on everything from

online deliveries to restaurants will help change the company's

fortunes. Tesco's problem, its critics say, is that it has not

given its millions of customers a good enough reason to visit its

shops. That has left it stuck in a rather an appetising retail

sandwich. From above, it's losing out to Waitrose, which operates at

the premium end of the market. Sales here up 6%. From below, discounters

like Aldi are taking Tesco customers. Sales here are up 35%.

People after the crash have become much more discerning, their incomes

are under pressure, and so they are looking more carefully to buy

things. They want both luxury and they will buy cheap discounted goods

if they think they are of sufficient quality. Philip Clarke has said that

Tesco could struggle for the rest of the year, and cutting prices means

less money being spent at the tills. Tesco's share price was down again

today, but Mr Clarke has asked for patience from investors as he works

to turn the business around. Kamal Ahmed, BBC News.

This week sees the 70th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces

landed on the coast of France. A key role was played by

a fleet of Dakota aircraft which flew thousands of

paratroopers into Normandy. Today, eight remaining aeroplanes

took to the sky again to mark the occasion.

Duncan Kennedy was onboard. It's a sight not seen

across southern England for seven decades, a formation

of Dakotas heading to France to mark the D-Day anniversary.

Flying over Portsmouth, it was the plane the Allied

Commander Eisenhower called the aircraft that helped win the war.

We flew with them as they crossed the Channel, noisy, vibrating,

but, as always, reliable, just as they were on D-Day.

83-year-old Dick Harrington was among those on board,

with others in their wartime paratroop uniforms. They are paying

homage to the brother he lost in World War II. We are where we are

because of them. It's that simple. 70 years ago, 900 of these Dakotas

made the mission, carrying 25,000 paratroopers. Today it's a sunny,

peaceful day. Then they were flying into battle. Each plane carries the

special invasion markings... Many were brought down by flak,

but enough got through to overwhelm the Germans.

Dakota veterans say they owe their lives to it.

They could come in low, they could take big loads,

and they seemed to be able to fly in the most difficult

situations, in little mountain valleys and places like that.

Oh, I love the Dakota. This afternoon, the Dakotas

arrived over Normandy, thousands turning out to witness

witness the aircraft that helped bring liberation. Very special, very

emotive, and hopefully it honours the people of 70 years ago. The

Dak, as it was known, may not have had the glamour of the Spitfire,

but they delivered - men, kit and victory.

Duncan Kennedy, BBC News, in Normandy.

Time for a look at the weather prospects, Matt Taylor has joined

me. I am not sure I would want to be up

in a plane across the UK today, a few have seen the sunshine, but for

many a thoroughly wet day, and still raining heavily in many areas at the

moment. Thunderstorms through Hampshire pushing northwards, and is

bulk of rain through this evening and overnight will push across

southern counties. Persistent rain in Scotland, patchy rain through the

night, things turning drier towards South Wales in the south-west of

England later on, some fresh conditions to take us into Thursday

morning. Brighter weather to start the day will chase away the grey

skies in East Anglia, the south-east, Midlands, and perhaps

northern England by the afternoon. A brighter day, a warm day, only one

or two showers. Lots of cloud in Scotland, may be as much as an inn

job rain in the next 24 hours. The rain will be floating with us again,

but many of us will have a dry and bright evening. Into Friday, low

cloud across the north-east of the country, most of us having a dry

day, the best sunshine in the east, in the west some heavy or thundery

showers developing to lead us into a complicated setup for the start of

the weekend. This weather front will be the dividing line between humid

air pushing out from the near continent towards us, and fresh air

trying to work in from the Atlantic. That weather front is where we could

see some pretty nasty thunderstorms. This far ahead it is a bit uncertain

who will see the worst of the wet weather. The general story is a zone

of locally torrential rain pushing northwards and eastwards during the

day, maybe into the mid-20s to begin with, turning fresher and brighter

later. Exactly where the wettest spots will be is open to question. I

will have more for you through the next few nights.

Just a reminder of the main news tonight: Pensions, childcare,

plastic bags, the Queen has been laying out the Government's agenda

in advance of the general election. That is all from the BBC News At

Six,