08/02/2017 South Today

In tonight programme: can the Prime Minister tell the house whether or

not a special deal was done for Surrey? The exchange in the Commons

over Surrey County Council's decision to drop a referendum on the

15% increase in council tax. Was there a secret deal?

Protection for police but condemned by human rights organisations, to

more forces introduced a controversial spit food.

This is a barbaric form of treatment of the individuals

This is a barbaric form of treatment of the individuals

Is taking body worn cameras into the classroom in a step too far?

One man and his shed. Inside everything you can find everything

that the chap would need. But this is more than just the shed, it is a

movement to tackle loneliness. Surrey County Council's decision

to drop a referendum on a 15% increase in Council Tax has caused

a political rumpus at the heart At Prime Minister's Questions

the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, revealed texts that he said proved

there had been a secret deal between the council

and the Government. Our political editor, Peter Henley,

has been following the story. Peter, it can't be often that

a county council causes such a stir. Surrey has one of the highest

Council Tax levels in the country and some

of the tightest budget pressures. It has some of the most influential

MPs in Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt It also has a forthright

and determined conservative David Hodge, who seemed

victorious yesterday after threatening his own Government

with a referendum, but today caused huge embarrassment

for his Prime Minister. And all because of a simple mistake

we've probably all made. It was a classic political ambush.

That he had toured labour, Jeremy Corbyn, started with a question

about social care to the Prime Minister, venting his information

concerning texts. You will be contacting me to discuss a

memorandum of understanding. There were clues from the start that this

series leader had the wrong person. I understand you want to chat, he

says. Hi, David, I haven't specifically asked to speak to you.

I am advised that officials in my director of finance have been

working on a solution. Nick asks, what is it about? Sorry, I'm being

clueless ear. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury is looking at the

proposals, neither are you in the picture? The penny doesn't drop,

though. In the final text, David Hodge reverts to code, the numbers

you indicated the numbers understand our unacceptable for me to accept an

col off the referendum. How much did the government offers Surrey to kill

this off and is the same sweetheart deal on offer to every council

facing the social debt crisis created by her governments? I have

made clear to the right honourable gentleman what has been made

available to every council, which is the ability... It was a tough moment

for Theresa May and the Sam Cronin Surrey County Council per died a

statement denying any deal and saying the decision to call off the

referendum was there some tears alone. It hasn't stopped other

councils asking for the same deal they believe Seri was given.

Yesterday, you will recall, Surrey Conservatives seemed quite

pleased with the rabbit they pulled from the hat, although David Hodge

wasn't saying what guarantees they'd obtained, even when pressed

The leader has to make a decision, right?

And I am more confident now taking that decision

Because of central government assurances?

Faber are demanding every conversation the government has had

Among the councils asking for further talks on meeting

the growing costs of social care are other Conservative county

I think you will find that all councils are saying to the

government that the way of funding social care through the Council Tax

really isn't sustainable for much longer. There needs to be up the

outward and branch review. We have all been asking for that. David

Hodge was made CBE in the New years Honours. He was described as a Bozo

by one of the South's MPs. He chose the wrong time to send the wrong

text of the wrong name. By choosing the wrong name

from his phone's address book, he may just have cost his council,

and therefore the people of Surrey, a lot of good will, if not hard

cash within government. A 41-year-old man from Aldershot has

been arrested on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder after two

police officers were seriously assaulted

during a call out last night. They had been called to a domestic

incident in Pegasus Avenue They were both taken

to Frimley Park Hospital. One was later taken

to St George's Hospital in London, where he's continuing

to receive specialist treatment. Two of the South's police forces

are to equip all frontline officers They can be placed on offenders

to prevent them spitting But their use has been condemned

by human rights organisations and rejected by some

other police forces. Here's our Home Affairs

Correspondent, Emma Vardy. A third of police forces

across the UK have used spit guards. Now, for the first time,

officers from Hampshire and Thames Valley will all carry

them on duty. We've seen instances where officers

have had blood spat at them. Not only is it a disgusting and vile

thing to do, but actually, it's a risk of infection,

so we have looked at We've had national advice that says

we should look to issue a spit guard Over the past ten months,

officers from the two forces have reported being spat out more

than 400 times. I speak to officers who have had

to go through medical processes to make sure that they've not

contracted any diseases. But there is disagreement over

whether they should be allowed. The Met Police had been consulting

on whether to introduce spit guards, but a pilot last year was cancelled

after London Mayor Sadiq Khan voiced concerns and Kent Police

decided against their use after considering the impact

on a person having a spit Well, because the person spitting,

you don't know what they've I don't think they should still be

used at all, to be honest. No, I think there are probably

better ways of doing it It could make them

more violent, perhaps. Is it not their fault

for spitting at police? It depends on your standing

point of the police. Is there a danger of putting

a hood over someone's head could potentially

antagonise them more? What we have seen is that officers

will understand the situation, will closely monitor the situation

and at the point at which they stop spitting,

the spit guard will be removed. There can be a fall-out for police

if they are deemed to have been Last year, the Independent Police

Complaints Commission found there was a case to answer

against Surrey Police when a spit guard was used on an 11-year-old

girl with a condition They had her under each arm

and she had a spit hood over her head, and leg and ankle

restraints on and her Now London is trialling them in just

a small number of custody suites, but along with other forces such

as Dorset, won't routinely be giving Health don't use spit guards,

Prison Service don't use spit guards, Europe and Northern Ireland

don't use spit guards. As soon as you start restraining

people around the head, accidents happen and people can get

seriously injured Police say suspects will be told why

a spit guard is being used and that when their behaviour changes,

it will be removed. How likely are we to see even more

forces, roll these out? Although some areas still reluctant

to use them, actually it is expected eventually more forces in future

will go down this route, not least because officers

themselves are calling for it. But human rights groups

are strongly against this. We spoke to Tim Loughton MP, from

the Home Affairs Select Committee, and a human rights lawyer,

who is calling on the Government I'm afraid, due to the severe risks

of this barbaric treatment of individuals who are subjected

to the spit hood, that, I'm afraid, The Government need

to explore alternatives. Mr Donahue has used the word

'barbaric' twice and tried to imply that there are loads of people

who are dying all around the world because of the use

of these spit masks. It is a proportionate

and balanced measure for people who won't come quietly,

who won't behave in a civilised way and would put the health

of our police officers doing their job at risk,

and that is unacceptable. I think this is a perfectly good

measure that is being brought in and if people don't want it used

against them, all they have to do is behave like human beings and not

spit at police officers. It's difficult for Chief Constables

because they do not want to be accused of police brutality and yet

every day they'll send frontline officers into situations to face

some very nasty people. Now it's likely we are

going to see the use A man and a woman have been charged

with assaulting a police officer during a protest outside a caf

and arts centre in Portsmouth. The cafe's owner -

48 year old Mark Lewis - was also charged with possession

of drugs and the use The locks were changed

on the council-owned building in Victoria Park yesterday

because Mr Lewis's A children's nursery owner

in Hampshire who was jailed in 2015 for tax and national insurance fraud

has been told to repay Michael Scott ran two branches

of Pixies Day Nursery He was jailed for five-and-a-half

years for keeping the contributions He's been ordered to pay back

?921,000 or face a further six-and-a-half years in prison

and still owe the money. Fresh talks aimed at ending

the long-running strikes on Southern Railway will be

held next week. The RMT union, which represents

conductors, has held 25 strike The drivers' union, ASLEF,

has done a deal with the company to operate more services

without a second member Drivers are currently voting

whether to accept it. The RMT called the deal

a shocking betrayal, but will now meet the company

at the conciliation Later, we're in Bermuda meeting

the team behind Sir Ben Ainslie's Teachers are using body-worn cameras

in the classroom in a trial aimed An expert from Portsmouth University

will evaluate the experiment, which is currently taking place

at two secondary schools The cameras are similar to those now

worn by many police officers It is several here since body-worn

cameras were pioneered by police in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

These days don't use is widespread. Analysis by Portsmouth University to

find that the cameras led to the big drop in crimes and assaults on

officers. Now they are being tried out by teachers in the trial

involving two schools. They are expected to maintain order in the

classroom and are not getting the chance to teach. It tends to detract

and they tend to spend their time controlling the class. They wanted

something that wouldn't drop bad. The cameras are being worn by all

teachers at the school is involved. They were switched on during an

incident. Everybody is aware that the camera is on. Unlike policing,

the camera evidence or footage does not have to be used for a

disciplinary process. You might be able to do other things with it. You

can't show the parents that behaviour. There were mixed views

amongst the people of Portsmouth today. It could be a good

opportunity or idea to get the student under control. It is

worrying that teachers have to do that and feel they can't talk to the

parent about the problems. It takes the trust of the teachers I think. I

have a camera on my car. It is the same principle. There is no arguing

that something has happened. A survey of teachers said that just

over a third would be willing to wear our body camera. The Department

for Education says it is a matter for schools to decide. Could you

envisage a time when every teacher wears a camera? Yes, every teacher

and every pupil has a camera! That is open and overt and everybody

feels protected. I think that is where we are heading, it will just

become normalised. Tom Ellis from the University

of Portsmouth ending that report. Well, Briony joins

us from Portsmouth. What are teaching unions

saying about this? The NASUWT says it's a proposal

fraught with difficulty. The association of teachers

and lecturers says it doesn't support the use of surveillance

saying, "If schools have good behaviour policies

they should not have to resort If schools do want to introduce

cameras are they within Yes, but there are rules -

the Information Commissioner's Office says they must consider

if it's "...proportionate, necessary and addresses

a pressing need not addressed We recommend that schools undertake

a privacy impact assessment to demonstrate that these

criteria are met". The three-month trial

is still only in its early weeks, so we'll have to wait some time

for the evaluation Plans to construct a ?1.4 billion

road tunnel past Stonehenge are being criticised

by three conservation organisations. A public consultation on the plans

is running until 5th March, with a single preferred route

being decided this summer. The National Trust, English Heritage

and Historic England say they are concerned that the tunnel's

western portal is too near to Neolithic and

Bronze Age burial mounds. The position of the western portal

is so close to one of the really important barrow cemeteries

in the World Heritage Site, that's a key part of its

outstanding universal value. In the current proposals,

it sits very close to The daughter of an Isle of Wight

woman who was being prevented from leaving Dubai for urgent cancer

treatment has been told she can now Luisa Williams has advanced kidney

cancer, but had her passport confiscated in a legal row

over her charity work. It's reported Vice President

and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed ordered a court

to allow Luisa to leave the country. She'll travel on to South

Africa for treatment. Now, all the sport. Shall we get

some football first of all? Southampton are in the process

of finalising the paperwork on the signing of Uruguayan defender

Martin Caceres. The 29-year-old, who's had serious

injuries in the past, is a free agent after being released

by Juventus in the summer. As he's currently without a club,

Saints are allowed to sign him Caceres will help fill the void left

by the departed Jose Fonte Bournemouth chairman Jeff Mostyn

says he has full faith in the club's players to halt their slide down

the Premier League table. The Cherries have slipped

to within six points of the bottom three,

despite hitting an all-time high But in an exclusive interview

with BBC South, Mostyn is firm in his belief that the Cherries have

enough quality to be OK. You have to bear in mind that this

very same team were being lavished with praise just prior to the

Arsenal game, so what has changed? What has changed is we have had

few bad performances, but the very few bad performances, but the very

players that got busier I am convinced can take us on. -- that

Much more from that interview with Jeff Mostyn on tomorrow

night's South Today, and on the BBC Sport website.

With just over 100 days to go until racing begins

in the 2017 America's Cup, the waters off the island of Bermuda

are a hive of activity as the competing teams

This week, Portsmouth-based Land Rover BAR formally unveiled the boat

which will carry the hopes of the nation this summer.

Our sports editor, Tony Husband, has been in Bermuda behind

the scenes with a team adjusting to life 3,500 miles from home.

For Simon, this is a regular part of his job, ferrying passengers out to

Bermuda's great sound. Simon and his family have swapped Lymington in

Hampshire for Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda. I have been with them

two years now and seen it grow from a little tent inside Hampton to a

great big ears here in Bermuda with 100 odd people helping and working

towards this one goal we have all got. It is all good. Around half of

the America's Cup team have left their main base in Portsmouth and

annoy here at the Royal Naval dockyard, the temporary hub that was

officially opened on Monday. Back on sided with the launch of the boat in

which Britain will aim to win the America's Cup for the first time. I

hope this is the only false start of the campaign. Pivotal day for the

team. To launch our race boat, Rita, gap that in the water, is a

combination of 25,000 man-hours in terms of design, engineering and our

boat builders done a fantastic, incredible job to get this boat in

water. Temp one have been training on the water here since November.

The arrivals are all around them, so it certainly raises the stakes.

There is a lot of spying, basically. We are in a good place. We are

developing our bode well, but that doesn't mean that we knew at all. We

can learn a lot by the other techniques that other boats boats

sail with, and the components they have on their boats. Our one will

have a crew of six, led by Sir Ben Ainslie, but also Giles Coke,

current Olympic medallist. She is 15 metres long and has high-tech

hydrofoils that will see the broad hydrofoils that will see the broad

hour. It is the most amazing hour. It is the most amazing

feeling. Having another boat next to you is when you get some

perspective, when you have two boots next to you going close to 50 knots,

it is an amazing feeling, when you are throwing in the manoeuvres,

trying to keep the boat out of the water all the time, there is no

a decidedly British feel, but this a decidedly British feel, but this

Portsmouth -based team, the reminders of home are all around.

So, Sir Ben's boat is on the water, but when they here to the great

sound they will get an idea of the kind of catch up that the start-up

team Land Rover BAR face. Established likes of that boat are

strongly fancied to do well in this year's qualifiers, but there is so

much optimism at Brown Land Rover BAR and they really do feel that

this time Britain could bring the home.

Another piece tomorrow night about how Bermuda itself is gearing up to

host the race. The garden shed has long

provided a refuge for men. Now it's given its name to a scheme

to bring men together and help those of a certain age get over

the hurdle of retirement. The idea of so-called men's

sheds began in Australia, but here in the South,

they're going from The latest group is just setting up

near Overton in Hampshire. Our reporter Joe Campbell knows

a thing or two about sheds. It is the original man cave. Inside

of course you will find everything a chap could ever need, tools for the

garden, the family bikes, charcoal for the barbecue. It is a bloke

thing. And, of course, string. Every man needs strings. Opened the door

on some sheds and you may find something a little bit different.

But whatever the contents, the shed has long been an male refuge from

suffering with depression and it is suffering with depression and it is

great for me to get out of the house rather than sitting at home

brooding. John is one of half a dozen attendees. Based at this

sports pavilion and brings together people like him who for one reason

or another or aperture nearing the end of their working lives. Men can

find it harder than women to shift off -- switch off. Philip Nash is

the group's honorary woman. She attends sometimes with her husband,

Nick, train Cabinet maker. It gets them out and they don't just sit in

a chair and read the paper and said there all day. I think a lot of it

is because they have been working all the life they don't have

anything else better to do. Organisers say few would come here

cases. Instead, people like Dave, cases. Instead, people like Dave,

who spent a working lifetime preparing vintage Spitfires, is

working with the others here to do up the building for themselves. You

work with people for years and suddenly you're at home. You have a

wife to talk to when she is around, and obviously grandchildren and the

like at weekends, but the rest of the time you are stuck indoors doing

what you can. You can decorate forever. Getting this particular

shed fixed up will keep them busy for some time yet, but then, isn't

that the whole point of it? That has got you in the mood for a

shared, hasn't it? We could all come round!

Onto the weather. That captures this morning went from nine Celsius down

five Celsius. That is because the easterly wind is

setting in. It will be cold tomorrow.

We did have some very interesting clouds in Poole Harbour yesterday.

They are extremely rare. They occur when two different layers of the

inner atmosphere are moving at different speeds. They are named

after two meteorologists who studied turbulent airflow. As we head to the

course of tonight we are expecting quite a lot of cloud and patchy

frost in places, particularly when we do have clear skies. Some showers

as well, but mainly dry during the early hours. Temperatures falling

away to a roundabout freezing. One or two Celsius in our towns and

cities. The showers will roll in from the east on the increasing

easterly breeze and a goodtime winter wheat. Tomorrow evening when

the time start, mainly falling as rain tomorrow with temperatures of

three to six Celsius. A popular cold day with the brisk easterly wind.

Through the course of tomorrow night is when we will be more likely to

see sleet or snow showers. There will not amount to much.

Temperatures will drop away to freezing or just below in the

countryside tomorrow night. It could be a frost bursting on Friday

morning. On Friday we could see some bright or sunny spells and still

that with the cold easterly winds coming of Eastern Europe. Through

the course of Friday there will be some snow showers. More likely on

Friday night when it turns colder. Here is the outlook for the rest of

some brighter spells around for some brighter spells around for

Friday and Saturday, but that is when the really cold wind starts to

begin. Three degrees on the thermometer, but feeling a lot more

like freezing. A lot of cloud around for the next few days have been hold

onto the cold easterly airflow. On Sunday the error will be less cold,

switching to a southerly airflow. Still temperatures really struggle

across-the-board over the next few days and into the weekend. If you

would like to become a weather watcher, give yourself a nickname,

sign up online and upload your photos and tell us what the weather

is like where you are. That is it from us this evening.

Tomorrow it is Ben Ainslie, Bermuda, Bournemouth, and will be hearing

from Jeff Boston tomorrow. Back-up 10:30pm tonight, no we are News for

you. Good night.