15/02/2017 North West Tonight

There are concerns tonight over the future of the Vauxhall car

The French firm which owns Peugeot is in advanced talks to buy Vauxhall

from General Motors and experts believe that

could put the factory's 2,000 jobs at risk.

Here's our Merseyside reporter Andy Gill.

They make Astras at Ellesmere Port, it's part of General Motors.

And it's in talk with the group that owns Peugeot and Citroen, a group

One possibility is Peugeot buying Vauxhall, but union officials here

told me today that the British government mustn't sit on the fence,

and must get involved to protect British jobs.

A call backed by the union nationally.

Anybody that's buying us needs to commit

themselves, and give guarantees for our member's

Most of the Astras made here are four exporter.

Made with components imported from Europe.

Raising questions about what a takeover could mean after Brexit.

One industry expert we spoke to today believes Ellesmere Port

could be vulnerable because of its

geographical isolation, compared to the rest

of mainland Europe, and

because if the takeover did go ahead Peugeot would have enough capacity

on mainland Europe to produce the number of low-cost cars it would

I want to make it very clear to Peugeot, if they do

become the owners of the Vauxhall and GM brands in Europe, that we

have a great operation here, we've got a very big car market,

and they would be foolish to forget about

that when the looking at their future plans.

In Ellesmere Port tonight some concern about the

I think it will just move abroad, maybe.

Peugeot and General Motors say a sale is not assured.

Andy Gill, BBC North West Tonight, Ellesmere Port.

Earlier I spoke to the motor industry expert

I asked him how serious the threat is to Ellesmere Port.

If it does happen then I have real fears

about the future of the plants in the UK.

Peugeot, Citroen, will look to cut costs.

It will be inevitable, I think, that they will be planned

the fact that plants in

the UK, including Ellesmere Port an efficient, it's easy

There is huge uncertainty over our trading relationship with Brexit.

I have real fears about the future in

Let's explore those two points you just made.

Why is it easier to fire workers in the UK

If a car company is looking to close plants, it's

easier to fire workers in the UK than elsewhere because we have very

flexible labour markets, which is good in creating jobs,

but also very efficient in destroying them as

That's something we are learning to live with at the moment.

I think one of the effects of Brexit is that

there is huge uncertainty over our future trading relationship with

Europe, whether we be in the single market or even in the customs union.

In those circumstances, if Peugeot was takeover General Motors,

that uncertainty would count against

plants in the UK, as to whether to keep production here.

One of the reasons that people said they wanted

Brexit in the first place was to take back control.

Could Ellesmere Port, as a site, as a skilled

workforce, not help to drive a renaissance in the British car

We've already seen a renaissance in the British car

industry in terms of assembly in recent years.

Since 2010, output has been up by something like 70%,

there's been a wave of investment in the industry.

In terms of actual production, and we've seen more

Going forward, what do we want to see to

And in addition I think we need a big effort

terms of industrial strategy to encourage more sourcing of

components from the UK to rebuild supply chains here.

Professor David Bailey, thank you very much indeed.

A Lancashire woman who's become the first

from Britain to go and fight against the so-called Islamic State

says she's not worried about the possibility

of being arrested when she returns home.

Kimberley Taylor, who's story we brought you on last week,

says her parents cried when she told them she was going to Syria.

Kimberly Taylor says she doesn't want to die,

What we see here is the greatest fascism of our time.

I feel like it's my responsibility to stand up to this.

On the front line in the fight against the so-called Islamic State,

she joined the Kurdish women's protection units, known

Having grown up in Darwin, and studied maths in Liverpool,

here she has learned how to use weapons.

She says her parents are scared for her, but also proud.

When I joined, and I told them that I'd joined, they cried.

And then I explained what is the YPJ.

What is our ideology and why we need to fight.

Why do I need to join and they understood.

And they said that if this is something I believe in,

Thought to be the first woman from the UK to reach Syria to join

the fight against IS the British government warns anyone who travels

to Iraq or Syria to fight for either side risks prosecution

I don't accept the government's opinion on this.

To be honest, I don't accept very much from the government at all.

Nobody believes in the government anymore.

Nobody believes in the political system of Britain anymore.

So, when the British government wants to tell me

that I'm a terrorist, or I shouldn't come

For now Kimberly Taylor says she has no plans to come home.

The Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has called on Ukip

It follows his claim to have lost close friends

in the Hillsborough disaster, which he has now corrected.

His press officer offered to resign saying it had been her error,

An experienced TT-racer was killed after his front tyre burst

during practice for one of the races last June.

An Inquest heard Paul Shoesmith from Cheshire died

He lost control of his motorbike at more than 160mph.

The Coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure.

Figures out today show there's a record number of women

An extra 60,000 women joined the workforce

in the past year, taking the total to

Unemployment in the region went down by seven thousand in the last

quarter to 180,000, that's 5% of the region's workforce.

A million pounds from the National Lottery is being used

Chat Moss, which formed after the last Ice Age,

has lost much of its peat, damaging wildlife and plants.

It's one of Salford's biggest brown field sites,

and that's the way it's going to stay.

We actually have carnivorous plants that grow and live on this site.

Peat was cut here at Little Woolden Moss,

part of Chat Moss for decades, millions of tonnes

What's left is being restored as a haven for wildlife including

a butterfly that took its name from the moss.

The Manchester Argos, it was first discovered here in this area.

We want to bring it back onto sites like this and get the habitat back.

It's been in the ownership of the wildlife trust since 2012.

They say peat bogs trap billions of tonnes of carbon which helps

It's a different kind of nature reserve.

It's the first time they've seen the horizon and blue skies.

The million-pound cheque's from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Today, the Government dispatched the Environment Minister to see

This is a sand and gravel from back in the ice age.

You can see it's in amongst the buttresses from the tree.

One of the things I'm interested to find out is

Perhaps we can learn lessons and use that in other parts of the country.

Considering it took 10,000 years to evolve, restoring

Little Woolden Moss to its former glory will not be a quick job.

Mark Edwardson, BBC North West Tonight, Irlam.

Football, Manchester City Women have signed the World Player

The United States midfielder is joining the English Champions

A World Cup winner, Lloyd has scored 96 goals

From the facilities, coaching staff, players,

It is a unique opportunity and I'm just

kind of closed up and worked everything out.

And I'm just super excited to get going with this

Let's have a look at the weather with Dianne.

good evening. World temperatures. Nine, 10 degrees. Couple of spells

of sunshine every now and again. This kind of picture will be

replicated over the next couple of days. The mild areas are courtesy of

the wind direction. South-westerly and then Westley. And it was the Wii

game. It is not going to feel cold at all. That is true tonight.

Because we have got that milder air around, temperatures are generally

in the towns and cities at six or 7 degrees. Not feeling too bad. A

mixed bag tomorrow, up early you may see a glimpse of sunshine. Any cloud

Will Rowlands. The cloud will bring one or two like showers in. They

will die away. Looking at the map, you will see more. Not wall-to-wall

sunshine. Not an amazing picture. A glimpse of sunshine will be very

welcome. The next little area of rain will work its way in. Wherever

you are, the numbers are good. Between eight and 10 degrees. I will

leave you with the outcome over the next few days. The numbers are good.

Lots of cloud cover. the weekend. Wouldn't promise you

two dry days but you never know, here is Nick with the national

picture. Hello. We put that cold weekend well

behind us now. Temperatures edging upwards and our weather watchers are

seeing plenty of signs of spring. Spending more time looking down than

looking up at the skies, we see these early blooms. They are set to

continue as we are set to stay mild for several more days to come.

Average daytime temperature this time of year around eight, but

getting into double figures all the way through the weekend. The start

of next week into the mid-teens potentially, very mild indeed. It

was 14 in Lincolnshire today. A lot of heavy rain to end the day. That

clearing from Yorkshire to the North Sea. A few showers in the west and

the odd one may continue into the night. Many becoming dry, just