Browse content similar to 25/11/2015. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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of wind. Back to you, Huw. Many thanks | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
Welcome to Wales Today. Tonight's headlines: | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
The Welsh Government could get control of ?3 billion | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
of your money every year, as the Chancellor announces | :00:09. | :00:10. | |
My right in front the Welsh Secretary and I also confirmed that | :00:11. | :00:24. | |
we will legislate so that the devolution of income tax can take | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
place without a referendum. I'm not surprised to see that | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
announcement. It will need the support of the assembly as well to | :00:32. | :00:35. | |
do that. We don't know what the timescale will be. | :00:36. | :00:41. | |
It has been called a landmark day and pays the way for a staff control | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
over some pay packets for the first time. | :00:45. | :00:44. | |
Almost a quarter of a million families in Wales get tax credits. | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
As the Chancellor drops plans to cut them, | :00:48. | :00:49. | |
we'll hear from a single mum of three about what it means for her. | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
That's brilliant news. It means that each week, I'll still get my money | :00:55. | :01:02. | |
to keep going until the end of the month. | :01:03. | :01:02. | |
Police try to identify a body found wrapped in plastic | :01:03. | :01:05. | |
outside a block of flats. A murder investigation's underway. | :01:06. | :01:08. | |
And, Gavin Williams collapsed and died after an army punishment | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
exercise - an inquest hears concerns were raised about mistreatment | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
The Chancellor, George Osborne, has outlined his spending plans | :01:17. | :01:38. | |
Amongst his commitments was giving the National Assembly control | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
over income tax - without the need for a referendum. | :01:43. | :01:44. | |
There was also a reversal on cuts to tax credits, which would | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
have affected almost a quarter of a million families in Wales. | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
Over the next half an hour, we'll have reaction from Westminster. | :01:52. | :01:54. | |
We'll be hearing what it means for businesses and | :01:55. | :01:56. | |
for public services - and we'll hear from people in Swansea | :01:57. | :02:00. | |
Bur first, let's join our Political Editor, Nick Servini, | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
On the subject of income tax, I have spoken to a number of AMs today, and | :02:06. | :02:19. | |
they all agree, it really changes the dynamic. The idea from the | :02:20. | :02:23. | |
Tories is, if you make assembly members responsible for raising as | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
well as spending money, it makes them more accountable, and | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
ultimately able to make better decisions. But the fear from some is | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
that it locks in Wales' economic deprivation, and the next time, | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
politicians here go to Westminster asked for money, the Treasury will | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
turn around and say, raise taxes and do it yourself. | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
Is Wales happy with Mr Osborne's plans? The Conservative Welsh | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
Secretary Stephen Crabb was happy as he headed in to see his boss in | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
Downing Street this morning. But it is the Labour Welsh | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
government, and until now, AMs have been responsible for spending our | :03:07. | :03:09. | |
money. Now, the UK Government says they can be in charge of raising | :03:10. | :03:13. | |
significant chunks as well. The Conservative idea is to make AMs | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
more accountable. My right honourable friend the Welsh | :03:18. | :03:20. | |
Secretary and I also confirmed that we will legislate so the devolution | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
of income tax can take place without a referendum. | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
The Welsh Black ran to reach almost ?15 billion by 2019-20, while the | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
capital spending will rise by over ?900 million over five years. | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
So how will it work? The assembly will have control of 10% of income | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
tax and the basic, hire and additional tax bands, and the | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
ability to vary them individually. This will raise around ?2 billion a | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
year. A 1p rise in the basic rate would generate or lose ?180 million. | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
Changes on the higher rates would have a smaller impact on the public | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
purse. You know where the Conservatives are | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
going with this. They want to make this place more accountable. They | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
want to stop it just becoming a place that spends money, and they | :04:07. | :04:09. | |
think it will lead to better politics. Do you agree? | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
I don't disagree. I think we are accountable and elected. But can you | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
agree, for example, that community councils for example, should have an | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
element of fundraising, councils should be able to raise the money. | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
Westminster can, but the assembly can't. There are issues there. | :04:26. | :04:29. | |
People will look at what different parties are proposing and take their | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
decisions. Some taxes are already in the | :04:35. | :04:42. | |
process of being devolved, nominally stamp duty, but they are already | :04:43. | :04:45. | |
dwarfed in the receipt of income tax. The UK Government has also | :04:46. | :04:49. | |
introduced a new guarantee or funding floor which had make sure | :04:50. | :04:51. | |
public spending per head in Wales never falls below a certain level. | :04:52. | :04:54. | |
The Welsh government says this needs to be looked at in more detail | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
before arriving at any conclusion. We don't know exactly how and when | :05:00. | :05:02. | |
the partial control income tax will be devolved, but work is already | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
underway to develop a Welsh Treasury for some of the smaller taxes. But | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
there could be a more immediate impact, as some of the parties here | :05:13. | :05:19. | |
at the assembly make policies on income tax a big part of their | :05:20. | :05:24. | |
campaign for the elections. What income tax powers will do is | :05:25. | :05:28. | |
give the Welsh government to direct incentive to invest in job creation | :05:29. | :05:31. | |
and economic development, because now, they will be able to realise | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
the benefit of that. Our priority for any tax changes | :05:36. | :05:38. | |
would be to benefit those on low incomes, rather than to prioritise | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
those on high. In the here in our budget is, as a | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
result of the Spending Review, the Welsh government settlement will | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
increase by ?100 billion next year, but will be a reduction of nearly 4% | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
4% over the next four years. Elsewhere, there was also a boost to | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
the proposed city deal for infrastructure schemes in south-east | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
Wales, with a commitment from the Chancellor to support the project. | :06:03. | :06:04. | |
I think it is significant. Income tax is such a symbolic tax in | :06:05. | :06:17. | |
financial terms, and it really poses questions for all the main parties, | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
with a lot of politics around today from Labour's perspective. They say | :06:23. | :06:25. | |
it is a bit of a smoke screen for the cuts coming down the line in | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
terms of the budget settlement. There will also be called and | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
concerns within Labour that this is the thin end of the wedge, and | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
really harms the benefits of being part of the UK, which is the | :06:37. | :06:39. | |
redistribution of wealth of places like the south-east of England into | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
Wales. And also, from the Conservative perspective, there are | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
not that many, or there are plenty of Tories that will have real | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
concerns about giving partial control of salaries to Labour | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
finance minister, particularly when there is a Conservative at | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
Westminster. But if you want people to take note of this place as an | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
institution, this is probably the best way of doing it, because there | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
are few things in life people care more about than their pay packets. | :07:08. | :07:09. | |
Thank you for the update. The Chancellor also announced | :07:10. | :07:11. | |
a number of changes to the welfare system today which will affect | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
people right across the country. The biggest announcement was | :07:15. | :07:16. | |
his U-turn on tax credits where Mr Osborne stated | :07:17. | :07:19. | |
they would no longer be cut. Yesterday we went to Swansea to find | :07:20. | :07:21. | |
out how any changes could affect people living there and | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
we've been back there to find out how today's announcements | :07:25. | :07:27. | |
on tax credits, housing benefits and the | :07:28. | :07:29. | |
state pension have been received. Yesterday, we met 26-year-old Emily | :07:30. | :07:39. | |
from Swansea, a single mother of three young children. Emily has a | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
part-time job, but due to the low income, Shiels gets working in child | :07:44. | :07:47. | |
tax credits, as well as housing benefit. Today, she watched | :07:48. | :07:51. | |
anxiously as the Chancellor unveiled the government's spending plans. | :07:52. | :07:55. | |
With tax credits no longer facing the chop, it means Amelie will still | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
get around ?200 a week in working in child tax credits. | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
This is also good news for the 238,000 families in Wales who also | :08:07. | :08:10. | |
received tax credits. That is brilliant news. It means | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
that each week, I will still get my money to keep going until the end of | :08:15. | :08:19. | |
the month. The worrying thing is then, where are the other cuts | :08:20. | :08:23. | |
coming from? Is my housing benefit still all right? It was confirmed | :08:24. | :08:27. | |
today that child tax credits will be limited to two children for any new | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
claimants from 2017. Across the bay in Port Talbot, there | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
were concerns about changes to housing benefit. These flats are | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
accommodation for vulnerable 16 to 25-year-olds. They are a step | :08:40. | :08:43. | |
towards independent living fund to a local charity who provide support | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
for those who live here are concerned about the impact of a | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
housing tenants. The impact on our young people | :08:52. | :08:56. | |
moving on is with average rents for a one-bedroom flat being around ?70 | :08:57. | :09:01. | |
a week, and the local housing allowance being around ?50 a week, | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
that means there is going to be a ?20 a week shortfall that they will | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
have to find from their already limited budgets that they have to | :09:10. | :09:11. | |
live on. Of course, there was something | :09:12. | :09:14. | |
today's Spending Review for everyone, so what about the older | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
generation? At this Bowls club, every millimetre makes the | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
difference. But what about the extra ?3.35 a week state pension that has | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
been promised? How much to that matter to this lot? | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
The cost of care homes is really way beyond inflation, and I don't think | :09:34. | :09:42. | |
that he is going to satisfy many pensioners with a ?3.55 rise. | :09:43. | :09:48. | |
Any increase in income is good. It remains to be seen then which method | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
he takes them to get it back off you. For now, we have an idea how | :09:55. | :09:59. | |
this Spending Review will affect our purses and wallets, but of course, | :10:00. | :10:02. | |
we must take a closer look between the lines to see how these changes | :10:03. | :10:04. | |
play out in the long term. Our economics correspondent | :10:05. | :10:05. | |
Sarah Dickins Is it good news for people in tax | :10:06. | :10:14. | |
credits? Well, for many thousands of families who had been worried about | :10:15. | :10:17. | |
tax credits, obviously, today is good news. | :10:18. | :10:20. | |
They will be pleased that they will not have the money they have to | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
spend each week squeezed, but we really have to remember this is a | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
delay. They will not be called Working Tax Credits, but this | :10:28. | :10:30. | |
element will go into the Universal Credit which is being rolled out for | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
new claimants across Wales and the UK at the moment, and that will be | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
fully rolled out at some point in 2016, though it has been delayed | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
before. So there will still be cuts to welfare. George Osborne made it | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
clear very many times in his speech that those welfare cuts, ?12 | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
billion, are still happening, he is just doing it differently. So it is | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
a delay for those families. Income tax. Will be changes help the | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
economy? Scotland has had the chance to | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
varying tax for many years, and has not used it, probably for political | :11:01. | :11:05. | |
reasons. Here in Wales, we have only 4000 people who are paying the | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
highest rate of tax, which is 45%. Most people pay basic tax, and when | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
you are looking in that area, if they put up tax by 1p in the pound, | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
that would only generate ?180 million from 2012 figures. Really, | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
at the moment, I think it is unlikely that any political party | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
would put up with that pain for that small benefit, relatively. | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
Looking to the future, will there be held for a city deal here? | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
He mentioned that and said he supported the idea, but the Treasury | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
needs more details from the ten local authorities in Wales before | :11:41. | :11:43. | |
they will give ?500 million, which is what they have been asked for. | :11:44. | :11:48. | |
Interestingly, in the last two hours, we have had this major report | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
into rail development in the next few years, and that says the | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
electrification of the Cardiff will happen by 2019-20, but it will be | :11:57. | :12:02. | |
delayed for Swansea until possibly 2024. Political reaction is only | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
just coming in now, but Peter Black for the Liberal Democrats has | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
already said that is very bad news for the Swansea economy, and the big | :12:11. | :12:13. | |
question is, what that would mean for the city regions' favourite | :12:14. | :12:19. | |
plan, the Metro, because that goes west of Cardiff thank you. | :12:20. | :12:21. | |
There were some major changes for Welsh businesses | :12:22. | :12:23. | |
Our correspondent Brian Meechan is in Barry for us tonight. Brian. | :12:24. | :12:31. | |
One of the big stories tonight for businesses and workers is this new | :12:32. | :12:39. | |
apprenticeship levy that has been set at 0.5% for the big employers | :12:40. | :12:43. | |
across the whole of the UK. When the Chancellor first said he would have | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
this apprenticeship levy, the Welsh government was furious, because it | :12:48. | :12:49. | |
had already been putting plans in place to have its own set of | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
apprenticeship schemes, because apprenticeships and traineeships are | :12:55. | :12:57. | |
devolved in Wales, and there had been no consultation. Let's talk to | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
one business affected by this. Dave Walters from Harris Pine. You aren't | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
engineering company down here near Cowbridge. How worried are you about | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
the of this levy? We significantly investing our people, and we a | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
significant pool of apprentices here in the workplace. | :13:20. | :13:21. | |
That will not stop is investing in and training the people we have, but | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
it will be at significant cost, and we do now will benefit from that | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
cost, because as you say, the powers devolved Wales, and we might have to | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
possibly pay into the scheme twice without knowing how we will | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
benefit. It has not been made clear in the discussions how will operate. | :13:37. | :13:40. | |
It was a surprise to everyone when this levy was announced? | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
Absolutely. As you say, the central government has stolen a march a | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
little bit on the Welsh government, and wherever you are from, you still | :13:50. | :13:52. | |
have to pay in, irrespective of whether you have apprentices or not. | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
But we don't now how in Wales we will benefit. That is significant to | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
us, and the potential cost. Tell me what else you thought about | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
the Spending Review today. It is interesting, because that only | :14:06. | :14:08. | |
gives you one side of the equation. Lots of spending initiatives were | :14:09. | :14:11. | |
announced today. They have scrapped the abolition of tax credits, and it | :14:12. | :14:14. | |
is hard to see how that will balance the books without knowing the other | :14:15. | :14:18. | |
side of the equation. There were some interesting introductions of | :14:19. | :14:21. | |
spend on capital, roads and at the structure, which is good for us, | :14:22. | :14:25. | |
because we have significant freight travelling around the UK and out of | :14:26. | :14:26. | |
it. Thank you very much. Some of the | :14:27. | :14:32. | |
news tonight, the big energy intensive industries have been | :14:33. | :14:35. | |
lobbying for a number of years for support from the UK Government to | :14:36. | :14:39. | |
get rid of some of these Green taxes they have to pay. That was announced | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
today, but it must be said, while it has been welcomed by the industry, | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
companies like Tata steel are in a difficult position, because it is | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
not just about creating a level playing field any more, but about | :14:53. | :14:55. | |
taking on the Chinese steel issue. So they will also be hit by this | :14:56. | :14:59. | |
apprenticeship levy, another problem for them. | :15:00. | :15:00. | |
Thank you. Meanwhile, the Chancellor's | :15:01. | :15:01. | |
spending review also sees a 26% cut in the funding S4C receives | :15:02. | :15:03. | |
from the UK Government. This will be reduced from ?6.7 | :15:04. | :15:05. | |
million to ?5 million by 2019-20. S4C receives around | :15:06. | :15:11. | |
8% of its funding from the Department for | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
Culture, Media and Sport. Let's get the reaction now | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
from Westminster. Our Parliamentary Correspondent | :15:20. | :15:21. | |
David Cornock is there. David. | :15:22. | :15:30. | |
Good evening from Westminster, where MPs are still die Justin Rose | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
figures the Chancellor came up with today. The Welsh government now | :15:35. | :15:37. | |
knows it will have a little less spending power over the next four | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
years, but it will have some protection, in that the government | :15:42. | :15:44. | |
is introducing a spending formula that will actually guarantee that | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
public spending in Wales, in devolved areas, will remain 15% | :15:50. | :15:56. | |
higher than in England in similar areas. The Shadow Welsh Secretary | :15:57. | :15:59. | |
told me that that was what Labour had called for. | :16:00. | :16:05. | |
Wales is like some of the less well off regions of England, like the | :16:06. | :16:10. | |
Northeast, for example, in terms of demographics, population, need, and | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
so forth. And so it is absolutely essential that we do have what is | :16:15. | :16:19. | |
called a funding floor, but the real problem is that when spending is | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
very low, that will make very little difference, and actual money that | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
matters is money we actually get for Wales. | :16:30. | :16:32. | |
From the Shadow Welsh Secretary to the Secretary of State for Wales | :16:33. | :16:34. | |
himself. Stephen Crabb, let's start of spending guarantee. The point was | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
made there that when spending is going down, it is meaningless. It is | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
academic, because spending in Wales relative to England will not fall. | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
This is an meaningless at all. A lot of people have spent years saying | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
there is a problem the way the Barnett Formula operates for Wales | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
and how it allocates funds to Wales. Labour Party's Andy Burnham said | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
when he was Chief Secretary he knew there was a problem but could not do | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
anything about it. We have taken a historic step of saying, yes, this | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
is a problem, and will fix it. That is why the Chancellor announced the | :17:08. | :17:10. | |
date we will always guarantee in this spending review period that | :17:11. | :17:14. | |
Wales will get 115% of the equivalent spending in England, a | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
big step forward for Wales. Let's look at what he said about | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
income tax, and the decision to scrap the referendum in Wales there | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
has to be held, or had to be held, before there would be income tax | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
powers devolved to Wales. The people of Scotland were asked that | :17:33. | :17:35. | |
question. Why aren't the people of Wales going to be asked it? | :17:36. | :17:39. | |
The people of Scotland were asked that question almost 20 years ago, | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
and in recent months and years, the whole debate about devolution has | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
moved en massively, not just for Scotland, Northern Ireland and | :17:48. | :17:49. | |
Wales, but also the English cities and regions, and so it is a real | :17:50. | :17:52. | |
danger that Wales is at risk of being caught in the slow lane of | :17:53. | :17:59. | |
devolution. We believe as a government that in the 21st-century, | :18:00. | :18:02. | |
to harness all the opportunities for economic growth and rebalance the | :18:03. | :18:05. | |
economy away from London and the south-east, you must devolve real | :18:06. | :18:07. | |
powers downwards, which is why we've taken this decision. Let's allow the | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
Welsh government to get on and use these fundraising powers. | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
When will it happen? When the Welsh government, and Welsh Labour in | :18:19. | :18:20. | |
particular, come to a place where they say, yes, we're willing to be a | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
responsible, accountable Welsh government. | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
At the moment, they exist as a big spending department with less | :18:29. | :18:29. | |
responsibility for raising money than your local parish council. That | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
is an absurdity in the age when the Welsh Assembly says it wants to be a | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
parliament. So we are addressing that, asking the government to step | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
up, be responsible and accountable, and use these levers as an example | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
to grow the Welsh economy. -- an opportunity to grow the economy. We | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
languish at the bottom of the UK's economic league table. I don't want | :18:51. | :18:53. | |
that to continue. Will you use those levers to cut | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
income tax rates? Whatever levers we can use to get | :18:57. | :19:00. | |
more entrepreneurs, business people and to Wales, that must be a good | :19:01. | :19:04. | |
thing, to create jobs. At the moment, we are stuck at the bottom, | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
and we must change that. Thank you very much indeed. From a | :19:08. | :19:11. | |
cold Westminster, back to you in the warm in Cardiff. | :19:12. | :19:12. | |
Thank you. And you can find more information | :19:13. | :19:13. | |
on George Osborne's Spending Review and what it means for you | :19:14. | :19:16. | |
on the BBC News website. Police are continuing to investigate | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
the murder of a man, whose body was found wrapped in plastic, | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
in the grounds of a block of flats. An investigation was launched | :19:26. | :19:28. | |
yesterday, after human remains were found behind flats in the village | :19:29. | :19:30. | |
of Beddau, near Pontypridd. A police cordon remains | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
in place today at the Trem-Y-Cwm House flats in Beddau, | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
as the murder enquiry continues. Police were called here at | :19:41. | :19:45. | |
around one o'clock yesterday afternoon, after human remains were | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
found within the grounds. They say a man's body was found | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
above ground outside the flats, People living here have been | :19:54. | :19:56. | |
shocked by the discovery. I came home from work last night on | :19:57. | :20:10. | |
the bus, and I saw all the police and everything. I just thought it | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
was a normal traffic accident, but I just can't believe it, because it is | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
really, really quiet around here. It is lovely, you know? All the old age | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
pensioners live here. You rarely see anything. | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
It is a shot in the area. It is a quiet area, not too much going on. | :20:29. | :20:31. | |
But yes, quite a shock. It is usually very quiet. Lots of | :20:32. | :20:36. | |
schools out. Shocking news, yes, shocking. | :20:37. | :20:39. | |
A floodlight was set up last night as scenes | :20:40. | :20:41. | |
of crime officers continued their forensic search into the night. | :20:42. | :20:43. | |
House to house enquiries were also carried out, | :20:44. | :20:45. | |
Detectives are asking the public for help. They're appealing | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
for anyone to get in touch, who has concerns for the welfare | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
of a male friend, relative or neighbour, who they've not seen or | :20:54. | :20:56. | |
Forensic examinations are continuing on the body, | :20:57. | :21:03. | |
and a post-mortem examination is being carried out today. | :21:04. | :21:07. | |
Police say a priority is to identify the person | :21:08. | :21:09. | |
They want to speak to anyone who may have information which could | :21:10. | :21:16. | |
Ambulances in Wales have met their target | :21:17. | :21:23. | |
for responding to the most life-threatening emergencies | :21:24. | :21:26. | |
after changes to the way calls are classed. | :21:27. | :21:28. | |
Nearly 69% of "code red" calls were responded to within eight minutes | :21:29. | :21:32. | |
last month, exceeding the 65% target which has been repeatedly missed. | :21:33. | :21:38. | |
Around 5% of all 999 calls were subject to the target last month, | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
compared to 40% before the year-long trial began. | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
Plans to ban people from sleeping rough in Newport city centre | :21:49. | :21:51. | |
City councillors voted to bring in a special order to tackle | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
But a restriction on rough sleeping was dropped, | :21:56. | :21:59. | |
and a blanket ban on begging was amended. | :22:00. | :22:01. | |
Campaigners have welcomed the rethink. | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
An 18-year-old man from Llanelli, who became the fifth person to be | :22:06. | :22:12. | |
arrested in connection with an alleged data theft from TalkTalk, | :22:13. | :22:14. | |
The man was arrested on suspicion of blackmail. | :22:15. | :22:17. | |
The telecoms company website was hit by a hacking attack last month. | :22:18. | :22:20. | |
Police have arrested and bailed four others, as part | :22:21. | :22:22. | |
This includes teenagers from Northern Ireland, London and | :22:23. | :22:31. | |
Norwich. An inquest has heard how | :22:32. | :22:33. | |
concerns were raised about "mistreatment" before | :22:34. | :22:35. | |
the death of a soldier in 2006. 22-year-old Gavin Williams, | :22:36. | :22:37. | |
from Henoged near Caerphilly, collapsed after being ordered to | :22:38. | :22:39. | |
carry out intensive exercise known as "beasting" as punishment for | :22:40. | :22:41. | |
disobedience and drunken incidents. Paul Heaney reports from | :22:42. | :22:44. | |
Salisbury Coroner's Court. When three men were cleared of | :22:45. | :22:59. | |
manslaughter charges in relation to Gavin's death more than seven years | :23:00. | :23:02. | |
ago, they always maintained that those higher up in the Army knew the | :23:03. | :23:07. | |
kind of physical punishment, so-called beasting, that were | :23:08. | :23:10. | |
sometimes used to establish discipline. We heard from the | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
Sergeant Major, the regimental Sergeant Major, in charge when Gavin | :23:15. | :23:19. | |
died today. He repeatedly denied knowing anything about beasting at | :23:20. | :23:22. | |
the time, and was at a loss to explain why some of his sergeants | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
were still relying on it. We also heard from another officer, who said | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
he had raised concerns about mistreatment of two of his soldiers | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
a month before Gavin died. The Sergeant that handed out that kind | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
of physical punishment, he said, was the same one that ordered Gavin to | :23:41. | :23:43. | |
do the beasting that led to his collapse. Gavin died in hospital | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
from heart failure, and ecstasy was found in his blood. But his family | :23:49. | :23:51. | |
have always maintained that bullying and humiliation was part of the | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
story of how he died. That came out in court today, and although one | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
officer admitted it was something he had seen once before, another denied | :24:01. | :24:03. | |
knowing anything of the sort at the time. The inquest continues. | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
Back to our top story tonight. The Chancellor George Osborne has | :24:09. | :24:13. | |
outlined his spending plans for the next five years. Amongst his | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
commitments was giving the National Assembly control over income tax | :24:19. | :24:20. | |
without the need for a referendum. He also reversed his plans to cut | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
tax credits. Our political editor is in the Senedd. A final thought. | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
Could the announcements today change things significantly in Cardiff | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
Bay? In the short term across Wales, I think look no further than | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
that decision on tax credits. Over 200,000 families will see an | :24:41. | :24:43. | |
immediate impact over the course of the next few months because of that. | :24:44. | :24:48. | |
In the medium to longer term, that decision on income tax and evolving | :24:49. | :24:53. | |
it is significant. It tries to deal with this anomaly that this | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
institution spends ?15 billion, but has very limited powers when it | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
comes to raising revenue. The hurdles keep on being removed for | :25:03. | :25:06. | |
these powers to come down the track. The big hurdle, of course, was a | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
referendum. I have to say, there was no appetite from the parties to hold | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
that referendum. Carwyn Jones in the chamber said they did not think he | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
could win it. There were many who agreed. That tells you in a way | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
about the attitude of the public, and the job that AMs now have if | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
they get these powers to build confidence in such an important part | :25:30. | :25:31. | |
of public life. Thank you, Nick. | :25:32. | :25:33. | |
Sue's here - a real mixed bag at the moment? | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
Tomorrow's bright and blustery with a few scattered showers. | :25:38. | :25:40. | |
Tonight, any showers will clear, generally turning drier overnight. | :25:41. | :25:42. | |
Some cloud around, blustery, but not too cold at 7-9C. | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
So, bright and breezy to start Thursday. | :25:49. | :25:51. | |
The best of any sunny spells in the east, but cloud will thicken. | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
Patchy rain pushing in to the north and west later. | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
The winds veer more south-westerly introducing milder air, | :26:00. | :26:02. | |
so temperatures back in double figures at 11C in | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
Staying largely cloudy tomorrow night. | :26:07. | :26:11. | |
Some patchy mist and drizzle, and very mild | :26:12. | :26:13. | |
But with that milder Atlantic influence, it's also very | :26:14. | :26:21. | |
changeable, with another front arriving from the west on Friday. | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
Friday might start dry in the east, but with more rain pushing in across | :26:26. | :26:28. | |
the Irish sea, south-westerly winds picking up by the afternoon too, | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
Very wet and windy by Friday afternoon. | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
Behind that cold front, drier and colder for a time | :26:39. | :26:41. | |
Remaining windy, with a risk of wintry showers on high ground. | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
So again, Saturday might starts dry in | :26:48. | :26:50. | |
the east, but further rain arriving from the west through Saturday, | :26:51. | :26:54. | |
and feeling colder in those strong to gale force south-westerly winds. | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
That same waving weather front could bring thicker cloud | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
and some rain again early Sunday, but once that clears, | :27:03. | :27:06. | |
turning drier through Sunday, brighter but feeling chillier. | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
So, very mixed weather this week - changeable, briefly returning to | :27:11. | :27:13. | |
But remaining unsettled into next week, with heavy rain | :27:14. | :27:20. | |
Finally, today's picture is from Derren Jones. | :27:21. | :27:25. | |
in Llanberis, with clouds approaching. | :27:26. | :27:39. | |
I'll have a quick update for you at 8 and a full round-up | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
after the BBC news at ten. That's Wales Today. | :27:43. | :27:44. | |
From everyone on the programme, good evening. | :27:45. | :27:46. | |
ends with a riot! ..with a riot, yeah. | :27:47. | :27:52. |