26/11/2015 BBC Wales Today

Don't forget a first look at the papers over on the BBC News

Welcome to Wales Today.

Tonight's headlines:

The Conservatives here say giving some powers over income tax to

the Assembly can ignite the Welsh economy - but how do you feel

about politicians in Cardiff having an impact on your pay packet?

And hundreds left without water after contractors damage a pipe,

but who's left picking up the bill?

Good evening.

Just a day after the Chancellor announced some control over income

tax would be coming to Wales, without the need for a referendum,

the Conservatives here say they'll reduce the rates

if they win the Assembly election.

Their leader in Wales, Andrew R T Davies, says cutting the

amount of tax some people pay will attract business and create jobs.

Our political editor, Nick Servini, has more.

George Osborne had only just left the Treasury after his Spending

Review at Westminster yesterday when the Conservatives in Cardiff

came out of the blocks early.

Their idea is to lower income tax rates to attract the kind

of people to Wales who would open up businesses and create jobs.

They say they'd cut the basic rate by a penny

from 20% to 19%, which would cost around ?180 million a year.

It means someone earning ?25,000 would save around ?70 a year.

They also say they would cut the higher rate from 40% to 35%.

Those earning ?50,000 would save around ?400.

You need to create a difference between Wales

and the rest of the United Kingdom.

We would like to create that difference.

5p seems to be a sensible difference between what Wales would raise

and what England would raise, and that would offer enough scope to

say to businessmen and women, Wales is open for business.

The party hasn't said how it would fill a ?250 million hole

in the public finances, but it says policies

like scrapping free prescriptions and scrapping the university tuition

fee grant would lead to huge savings under a Tory Welsh government.

Now, whatever the merits of these policies, the point is that for

the first time we're going to have parties going into the Assembly

election campaign not just talking about how to spend public money, but

how to raise it as well, with potential impacts on take-home pay.

Now, the question is, how do people feel about politicians

in Cardiff having a say on how much they earn in places like

this - a business park in Chepstow?

And companies like this one, where around 30 people work,

making specialist lifting equipment and where, from the factory floor to

the office, attitudes change.

I see what they're doing, I roughly understand what they're

doing, and I'm more than happy for them to carry on doing it.

And you're happy to give them more responsibility?

Oh, yes, definitely.

Even income tax?

Even income tax.

You're right on the border here.

Taxes go up, your staff move to England?

I would think it would need to go up quite a bit, but it could happen,

but more likely, I would say, is they change the way they vote.

There's a bit of work on the timing to be done yet

for these proposals to be agreeable to all, but it appears that the

heavy lifting has all been done.

The Prime Minister has clashed with Welsh MPs over whether Britain

should join air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria.

Plaid Cymru's parliamentary leader, Hywel Williams, told David Cameron

he should "examine his conscience" before committing Britain to

military action.

Labour MP for Newport West, Paul Flynn, warned that they could repeat

the mistakes of the war in Iraq.

A coroner will raise safety concerns with council officials

following the third death this year at a millpond in Pembroke.

Robert Mansfield drowned in July after going swimming on the night

of his 18th birthday.

At an inquest today, the coroner ruled his death was accidental.

Pembrokeshire Council has already said it will carry out

improvements and will have 56 days to respond to the concerns.

A fresh ballot for strikes will be held among Arriva Trains Wales

drivers in a long-running row over pay, terms and conditions.

A planned strike earlier this month was suspended to

allow talks to be held.

But the union, Aslef, is accusing the company of "moving

the goalposts" on a proposed deal.

An Arriva spokesperson says there's been a "misunderstanding"

over the company's offer.

Far too many gas, electricity and water supplies are being

disrupted because contractors aren't making checks for pipes and cables.

The warning comes from Welsh Water after hundreds of homes in Abercarn,

Crosskeys, and Ynysddu had their supplies disrupted

after a water pipe was fractured.

Paul Heaney reports.

Pumping water back into the mains so that customers can get

at least some water back out.

The supply problems were caused by contractors.

They fractured these high-pressure pipes yesterday in Crosskeys.

It is frustrating.

Far too many utilities, not just water mains,

but electricity cables, gas mains, get damaged by contractors.

Before they put a spade in the ground, all they have to do

is contact us, we'll come out and help them trace it.

In this case, that didn't happen, I'm afraid.

The contractors were building a flood wall at the time, but instead

caused this flood of their own.

The cricket pitch down in Waunfawr Park looked more

like a lake, a lagoon.

I haven't been able to have a shower, wash my hair.

Haven't been able to do any washing.

Thankfully I do have a lot of bottled water anyway so I could

make tea, and also my dog is having a water bottle, and my cat is.

Further up the valley in Wattsville, bottles were handed out to keep

people going.

Many were frustrated in the delays in reconnecting their

supply, including this holiday accommodation business who noticed

a problem yesterday afternoon.

We noticed around about, I suppose, three o'clock that we lost

our water pressure.

We were concerned and with the holiday log cabin, really concerned

about what we were going to do.

Welsh Water said it had to turn off the supply of water here to

repair the damage safely and it's now taking time for it to make

its way back through the system.

The law of gravity, I'm afraid, that the further up the hill people

are, the worst they've been affected during this incident.

All this has cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

A big bill for the contractor that hit the pipe in the first place.

Fewer than half of all Welsh speakers consider themselves to be

fluent according to a survey of how the language is used.

But researchers for the Welsh Government and

Welsh Language Commissioner also say there's been a significant increase

in the number who speak some Welsh compared to a decade ago.

Rugby, and Wales wing George North has signed a new deal with English

Premiership club Northampton Saints.

There had been speculation the 23-year-old could leave Northampton

at the end of the season, when his contract was due to expire.

Northampton aren't disclosing the length of the deal.

Football, and Helen Ward's hat-trick helped Wales' women beat Kazakhstan

4-0 in Haverfordwest - their first win of their Euro 2017

qualifying campaign.

Natasha Harding headed Wales in front five minutes after the break.

Then substitute Helen Ward scored twice in two minutes before scoring

her third in the closing stages.

Wales are now third in their group.

Time to find out what the weather has in store

for us over the next few days.

Here's Behnaz with your forecast.

A fairly quiet night ahead, but all change tomorrow.

We do have wet and windy conditions heading our way.

Tonight, we have some drizzly rain gradually clearing south-east.

Behind it, quite a bit of low-level cloud, mist and fog, but a fairly

mild night with temperatures ranging from eight to about 11 Celsius.

Tomorrow, we do have a cold weather front bringing some heavy

rain with strong winds as well.

First thing tomorrow morning, it's a mild start.

We do have some drizzly rain at first, especially further west.

Strong winds picking up as we go through the morning and into the

afternoon and then rain approaching by lunchtime into the west.

For the rest of the British Isles, we do have the rain across Scotland

and Northern Ireland in the morning, gradually spreading south and east.

Highs of eight to about 13 Celsius.

In Wales tomorrow afternoon, a soggy afternoon.

Strong winds with some heavy pulses of rain, but the good news is

the wind will help the rain to push through pretty quickly

and it's a fairly mild afternoon.

Temperatures of 12 to about 13 Celsius.

We do have a cold weather front clearing.

Behind it, much colder air into tomorrow night.

A chilly night to come and a few showers.

Temperatures getting down to about two Celsius.

Saturday, a chilly start to our weekend.

We've got some drizzly rain at first, more persistent rain to

come as we go through the morning and into the afternoon.

Strong to gale-force winds, especially for coastal areas.

Temperatures of eight to about 10 Celsius.

And then we go into Sunday.

Some patchy rain, but also some drier weather,

slowly becoming milder, and the winds will ease through the day.

Ten to 12 Celsius.

Again looking unsettled for the start of next week.

We're back with updates in Breakfast from around 6.25am tomorrow.

But that's Wales Today.

From all of us here, goodnight.