11/01/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten, more pressure on the private clinics responsible for

thousands of breast implants. The providers are told they have a duty

to replace defective PIP implants, but they say it's not their fault.

This is a massive problem created by the Government's agency and they

must accept moral responsibility. They must do something for patients.

Thousands of women are affected and they're warning the private

companies they won't give up. are going to lose a lot of money

over this, but rightly so, they've made a lot of money over it, so

they should also lose. We'll be asking where the ultimate

responsibility lies - with the clinics or the regulator? Also

tonight: EDF, one of Britain's biggest energy suppliers, cuts gas

prices by 5%. Others are urged to follow.

Westminster versus Holyrood - no sign of agreement on the date and

content of a referendum on independence. Scotland is always

willing to talk, but we won't be bullied, we won't be intimidated or

dictated to by a Tory Prime Minister in London. A series of

defeats for the Government in the Lords - on welfare changes for the

disabled, and long-term sick. And backing a winner - the new

debate on priorities for the Later in Sportsday on the BBC News

Channel, all the action from another exciting Carling Cup

semifinal. This time between Good evening. One of Britain's

leading providers of cosmetic surgery in the private sector is

refusing to pay for the replacement of defective breast implants. The

Harley Medical Group carried out surgery on nearly 14,000 women,

using PIP implants, which are now the focus of safety concerns across

Europe. The Government said the company had a moral responsibility

to take action. Our medical correspondent, Fergus Walsh,

reports. Who is responsible? That's the question at the heart of the

PIP scandal affecting around 40,000 British women. For the Government,

it is the clinics. But the firm which did more PIP implants than

any other says Government regulators should have picked up

problems sooner. You are saying the NHS, the Government, has a moral

responsibility to these women. Don't you have a moral

responsibility? We don't have the resource, we don't have the

hospitals, we don't have the GPs, we don't that that facility. We are

not geared up for that type of facility. The NHS is geared up for

that sort of facility, and, this is a massive problem created by the

Government's agency and they must accept moral responsibility and

they must do something for patients. The Harley Medical Group's

publicity talks of inspiring confidence in patients. Its refusal

to replace implants for free is hardly likely to do that. But the

company says it would go out of business if it picked up the tab.

Gemma Pepper has no sympathy. Her PIP implants were fitted by the

Harley Medical Group just days before they were banned. The fact

that they are blaming the Government is for me just a way out.

They are just trying to find something to grasp on to, because

obviously they are going to lose a lot of money over this, rightly so.

They've made a lot of money over this so they should also lose.

Almost all PIP implants were done privately. 8 clinics said they

would remove and replace implants for free. The rest have either

refused, not made their position clear or gone out of business. If

these live in Wales the NHS will remove and replace their implants.

But in theest are eh rest of the UK private patients will be offered

removal only under the NHS. Ministers say clin should do it.

The professional associations of surgeons have made it clear they

are recommending to their members they should assist with this

surgery if needed without surgical charge. So to that extent I cannot

see why it shouldn't be possible for private providers, including

the Harley Medical Group, who were amongst the largest of these

providers, to be able to achieve this on behalf of their patients.

Dutch health experts today followed French and German officials

recommending the removal of PIP implants as a precaution. But

Ministers here continue to insist that that isn't needed. Fergus is

with me now. You asked the central question: where does the

responsibility lie? What can you tell us tonight? Hufrpblgts w, all

implants have a -- well, Huw, all implants have a mark which says

they are fit for purpose. With PIP that was approved in Germany but

the protest post-product surveillance was done by the

medical watchdog,. The Harley Medical Group said it used a

licensed product and it is not their problem. Ministers will say

that's akin to saying when you buy a car and it goes wrong, blame the

Government. One thing we are like through see out of this is tighter

European regulation on medical devices. But that doesn't help the

women with PIP implants. The majority tonight still look like

they are not going to be able to get free freedom from clinics. They

have to decide do they pay the clinics for new implants, pay the

NHS to remove them, or sit tight, bearing in mind the review has yet

to find any problems with the unauthorised silicon gel that was

used. Thank you.

The energy company, EDF, has announced a 5% cut in its gas

prices from next month, passing on savings from a fall in wholesale

costs. It's the first time they've lowered their prices for almost two

years and it follows a big increase last November, when gas bills rose

by more than 15%. The move will put pressure on other energy suppliers,

as John Moylan reports. Our energy bills have never been higher, but

could prices final I will be about to move lower? That's what many

industry watchers are predicting, following EDF's decision to cut gas

tariffs for around 1.4 million of its customers. Sadly for pensioner

David Hood he isn't one of them. He scriched to EDF in the surges

moving to a fixed tariff. While he escaped November's rise he is

unlikely to benefit from this at all. I just have a feeling that if

you are capped you are capped. We are locked into that price until

September of this year. I don't think I will get the 5% reduction.

The reduction will take effect next month but the 5 % cut only applies

to gas. There has been no change on electricity. What's more, it

follows a 15% rise in gas tariffs by the company back in November.

But the move will save a typical customer around �38 on their annual

dual fuel bill. We were the last company to increase prices last

year and we are the first to cut- price this is year. For the second

year in a row we are the cheapest energy supply across the country.

Last winter several companies increased prices. Bills shot up

again in the autumn. The main consumer group claims they've risen

by around 21% in the last 15 months. Those higher prices have also been

a factor which has kept inflation stubbornly high. But the mild

winter that we are all experiencing has added to the downward pressure

on the whole sail cost of energy. The price that the big companies

have to pay for gas and electricity. And that has led to speculation

that a round of price cuts could be on the way. The whole sail energy

prices have been dropping for about a year. We haven't seen the energy

companies respond. They constantly say market fundamentals what

determines the cost of our bills. When that cost goes down our energy

bills should reflect it. Today the Government backed the call for

lower bills and tonight there is speculation that British Gas may be

the next to mover. A murder inquiry has been launched

after the bodies of a married couple were discovered at a house

at Handsworth Wood, in Birmingham. It's believed that Avtar Kolar and

his wife, Carole, were assaulted. Their bodies were discovered by one

of their sons, who is a serving police officer.

An 18 year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder

following a fire in Lancashire in which four members of the same

family died. Reece Smith, who was 19, his four-year-old twin sisters

Holly and Ella, and their two-year- old brother, Jordan, died in the

fire, which is thought to have started in a wardrobe in the house

in Freckleton. The teenager being held is not a member of the family.

Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, says he is willing to

discuss the details and timing of a referendum on independence with the

British Government, but says he won't be bullied. He says he still

favours the autumn of 2014 for the vote. He spoke as David Cameron and

Ed Miliband joined forces to make the case for maintaining the union

and for an earlier referendum date. Our Scotland correspondent, Lorna

Gordon, reports. Tying the knot, the McAvoys from Middlesbrough.

They crossed into Scotland to get married in Gretna, famous for its

weddings and its border location. It's a happy union for this couple,

but what they and their guests make of that other union, between the

countries of Scotland and England? Scotland is Scotland and England is

England. If Scotland wanted independence, fair enough. I think

it is going to open up a can of worms. Once apart we've got the

euro, who will have the right to vote? There are many ties binding

Scotland and England together, not least jobs and friendships and

family. Often through marriage. Many areas and responsibilities

which would need to be disen tangled and divided up if the union

between two countries were to end. At Prime Minister's Questions,

David Cameron issued this warning. There have been too many in the SNP

who are happy to talk about the process, they don't want to talk

about the substance. I sometimes feel when I listen to them it is

not a referendum they want, it is a "neverendum"! In a rare sign of

agreement the leaders of the two main parties at Westminster joined

to fight the future of the United Kingdom. We on this side of the

House believes the United Kingdom benefits the people of Scotland and

the people of the rest of the United Kingdom in equal measure. We

are stronger together and weaker apart. So what if Scotland chose to

go it alone? The SNP wants to end nuclear weapons based on the Clyde.

They also argue it is Scotland's oil. Would the rest of the UK

accept this? The country would have to take on its share of the

national debt if it became independent. And Downing Street

today warned that Scotland may be forced to join the euro if it left

the union. The Government in Edinburgh is in favour of joining

the euro but say only at a time beneficial to the Scottish economy

and they will decide when ta time will be. As to the referendum,

Scotland's First Minister insists it is up to the Scottish people to

decide. It is our future, after all, that we are deciding. Scotland's

always willing to talk, but we won't be bullied, we won't be

intimidated or dictated to by a Tory Prime Minister in London.

Salmond that said the referendum on independence will happen in autumn

2014 there. Could well be legal battles over the form that

referendum will take. It is still a long road ahead.

Life to Downing Street and Nick Robinson, who is there for us. How

significant do you think that united front we saw today is?

significant for this reason. Up until now there's been lots of talk

of the need for the unionist parties to get together but they

haven't done it. We saw that unlikely alliance today between

David Cameron and Ed Miliband. Though he didn't speak about it,

Nick Clegg is part of that alliance too. In other words, the three big

UK parties are standing as one, saying there should be a referendum

on independence, it should be sooner rather than later, but

crucially there should only be a simple yes or no vote on

independence. What was striking today is that beneath the rhetoric

here in Westminster and in Edinburgh, the war of words, if you

like, there are signs of the possibilities of a deal emerging. I

spoke to a senior Government source today who made it clear that

despite all the fuss about the date of the referendum, now Alex Salmond

has talked about it being in autumn 2014, they are pretty relaxed about

giving him that, provided this - they get simply that one vote. A

yes-no vote on independence. Why? Because the fear of the unionist

parties is this. It is that Mr Salmond knows he might lose a

referendum on independence, so he wants a fall-back position, a sense

of Scotland with many more powers but keeping the symbols of the UK.

The Queen and the pound and the armed forces, and that he would

then claim credit for that. The irony of all this is that Labour

and the Liberal Democrats are in fact looking at, exploring the idea

of giving many more powers to the Scottish Parliament. But there is

one thing they are certain about. They will not give Alex Salmond,

they will not give the Scottish National Party the credit for that.

They want a referendum on independence. They want to defeat

it and they want it over and done Wales could see the biggest

reshaping of the political map since the Second World War under

proposals from the Boundary Commission. The planned J'Accuse

would affect every Welsh constituency -- the planned changes

would affect every Welsh constituency and reduce the number

of Westminster MPs by a quarter. The plans are a response -- in

response to new requirements on the size of Westminster constituencies.

The Iranian authorities have accused foreign powers of plotting

a bomb attack which killed a nuclear scientist in Tehran today.

It is the fourth attack in two years on scientists linked to

Iran's controversial nuclear programme. The killing comes at a

time of rising tension between Western countries and Iran.

This is how the careers of Iran's nuclear scientists sometimes end.

This morning, Professor Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan did not even make it

out of his car. TRANSLATION: It was about seven in

the morning. I was taking a taxi to work when I heard the blast. I told

the driver to speed up. Later someone told me that someone had

attached a bomb to a car which had caused the explosion. Professor

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan was a supervisor at a uranium enrichment

facility in central Iran. No one has claimed his killing. But in a

covert campaign, no one does. Israel's Military chiefs suggested

yesterday that Iran could expect an natural events in 2012. This may be

the first. One of Iran's main suspects says it had nothing to do

with the attack. I want to categorically deny any United

States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran. This

morning's attack is the latest in a series of unclaimed bombings and

explosions in Iran. Two years ago, a physics professor in Tehran was

killed as he left for work. In November 2010, motorcyclists bombed

two prominent nuclear scientists in the capital. And two months ago, a

large explosion killed 17 soldiers at a missile base outside Tehran.

But Iran says it will not be put off. It was a point it made during

missile tests earlier this month. It has worries, it hides them

behind displays of power. The more Iran moves in the direction of

being able to develop weapons in the future, the closer we will get

a more coercive actions. Iran's government can survive attacks on

these, its nuclear scientists. But its nuclear activities are also

provoking sanctions against the country's valuable oil exports. For

Iran's leaders, that is a much more serious threat.

Coming up: in the director's chair - why the Prime Minister wants

public money to back cinema success. Mitt Romney, the former governor of

Massachusetts, has reinforced his position as the Republican

frontrunner likely to face Barack Obama in November's presidential

election. He achieved a comfortable win in a pall of Republicans in New

Hampshire, his second victory in the party's primaries. But success

has brought intense scrutiny. The focus is now firmly on Mitt

Romney. There is a way to go yeah, but this victory is a big step

towards becoming the Republicans' choice to take on Barack Obama.

Thank you, New Hampshire. Tonight, we made history! But making history

could be hard for him. He is a Mormon, which worries evangelical

Christians, and many Conservatives think he is not one of them. Now

his role in the '80s as boss of an investment company is under attack.

It is claimed he made millions while sacking thousands of workers.

An advert made for a Republican rivals, complete with doom-laden

score and gloomy skies, accuses him of buying up ailing firms and

stripping their assets. thousands of Americans, the

suffering was clear when Mitt Romney came to town. He told his

rivals to lay off and not copy the Democrats. President Obama wants to

put free-enterprise on trial. In the last few days, we have seen

some desperate Republicans joined forces with him. This is such a

mistake for our party. President Obama's Democrats have jumped on

the bandwagon. Then you add claims to show Mitt Romney's true colours.

I like being able to fire people. Part of Mitt Romney's appeal in New

Hampshire was selling himself as a hard-headed businessman who knows

how to create wealth and jobs. Now his rivals want to turn that on its

head and suggest that he is so rich that he is insensitive, out of

touch with the needs of ordinary Americans. So do these workers

fixing power lines in New Hampshire think he behaved badly? I am not a

big fan. Throwing people out of jobs to make a buck, he could have

turned the company around and kept everyone working. That is free-

enterprise capitalism. To save 90 jobs in a company that has 100

people in it, you might lose 10 jobs. That is the way it is. A few

signs are all that is left of this contest. Mitt Romney and his rivals

have moved on to the next state to vote, South Carolina. After a

relatively chilled campaign here, things are hotting up.

A French journalist has been killed covering the anti-government

demonstrations in Syria. He has been named as Gilles Jacquier, a

television reporter for the state- owned channel France 2. Reports

from the city of Homs say he died when the building he was in was hit

by a shell. The French foreign minister said it was an "odious

act". The government has suffered a

series of defeats in the House of Lords tonight over its

controversial welfare reforms. Peers rejected plans to cut the

Employment Support Allowance for people who cannot work because of

illness or disability. Let's get more from our deputy political

editor James Landale. What happened here? I think the Government learnt

how hard it will be to cut the welfare bill. It was defeated three

times in the House of Lords over Employment Support Allowance. It is

what used to be called incapacity benefit, for people who have paid

national insurance, but cannot work because of illness or disability.

Peers voted to allow people to claim this for a bit longer. They

also voted to protect cancer sufferers and young disabled people

from the cuts. If these defeats are not overturned in the House of

Commons, the Government could face a bill of �2 billion over the next

five years. That is money they will have to find from somewhere else.

It is part of a wider context to do with getting the deficit down?

coalition is about nothing if not cutting the deficit. Cutting the

welfare bill is a huge part of that. The Liberal Democrat leadership

might be signed up to that, but we have learnt that a sizable number

of Lib Dem peers are reluctant to wield the axe. In one of the votes

tonight, more than half of the Lib Dem peers failed to support the

Government. The broader picture is that more disruptive nights like

this for the Government, and they might get round to what they have

always promised to do, which is reform of this place.

The British film industry should ensure that public money is

channelled into projects that are mainstream and commercially

promising. That was David Cameron's view as he visited Pinewood Studios

in Buckinghamshire today. A government review due next week is

expected to make the same point, but industry figures warned that it

is difficult to predict the next box office hit.

British films have been on a good run recently. There has been Oscar

success, as well as money rolling in at the box office. A diet of a

report on our movie business due to be published on Monday, the

Government thinks the industry could do better. This afternoon,

the Prime Minister visited Pinewood Studios, where he let it be known

that he hoped there would be a rebalancing of how lottery money is

used to support film. Less art house, and more blockbuster. From

the earliest days of cinema, successive governments have tried

to create a British film industry. In the 1920s, an act was passed

introducing the idea of a quota system guaranteeing that British

films be shown. That did not work, nor have any subsequent ideas. The

scene is still dominated by the Americans. The latest government

idea is to back people, not projects. Prove yourself at the

box-office, and the daughter funding is open. They want to see

four King's Speech size tramps a year, not one. The writer of the

Oscar-winning film got that park and the TV series Downton Abbey has

some sympathy with the idea. I have been critical of the idea that all

public money should go into minority, obscure films. I think it

is in the interests of the industry and the public that we start making

more films people want to see. is very blue, and very unusual, but

this film has been watched and admired around the world. It raises

the issue - how do you know what is going to be popular? How do you

predict success from something that is based on words on a piece of

paper and lists of names of actors and participants? You cannot

evaluator until it is finished. That has defeated all the

accountants in Hollywood, that problem. In terms of Hollywood, it

has led to a very stale period in their film making. Avant-garde

film-makers will continue to be supported, but the government wants

to see a profound change of emphasis towards the mainstream,