25/11/2015 BBC Wales Today


25/11/2015

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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

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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,

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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the benefit of that. Our priority for any tax changes

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would be to benefit those on low incomes, rather than to prioritise

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those on high. In the here in our budget is, as a

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result of the Spending Review, the Welsh government settlement will

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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,

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with a lot of politics around today from Labour's perspective. They say

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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

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concerns within Labour that this is the thin end of the wedge, and

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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

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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

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finance minister, particularly when there is a Conservative at

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Westminster. But if you want people to take note of this place as an

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institution, this is probably the best way of doing it, because there

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are few things in life people care more about than their pay packets.

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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

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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

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we've been back there to find out how today's announcements

:07:25.:07:27.

on tax credits, housing benefits and the

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state pension have been received. Yesterday, we met 26-year-old Emily

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from Swansea, a single mother of three young children. Emily has a

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part-time job, but due to the low income, Shiels gets working in child

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tax credits, as well as housing benefit. Today, she watched

:07:48.:07:51.

anxiously as the Chancellor unveiled the government's spending plans.

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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.

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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

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that each week, I will still get my money to keep going until the end of

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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

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were concerns about changes to housing benefit. These flats are

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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

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for those who live here are concerned about the impact of a

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housing tenants. The impact on our young people

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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,

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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

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been promised? How much to that matter to this lot?

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The cost of care homes is really way beyond inflation, and I don't think

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that he is going to satisfy many pensioners with a ?3.55 rise.

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Any increase in income is good. It remains to be seen then which method

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he takes them to get it back off you. For now, we have an idea how

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this Spending Review will affect our purses and wallets, but of course,

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we must take a closer look between the lines to see how these changes

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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

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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

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delay. They will not be called Working Tax Credits, but this

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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There were some major changes for Welsh businesses

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Our correspondent Brian Meechan is in Barry for us tonight. Brian.

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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

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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

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engineering company down here near Cowbridge. How worried are you about

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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

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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?

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Absolutely. As you say, the central government has stolen a march a

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little bit on the Welsh government, and wherever you are from, you still

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have to pay in, irrespective of whether you have apprentices or not.

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But we don't now how in Wales we will benefit. That is significant to

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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

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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,

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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

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apprenticeship levy, another problem for them.

:15:00.:15:00.

Thank you. Meanwhile, the Chancellor's

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spending review also sees a 26% cut in the funding S4C receives

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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.

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