20/06/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at ten: David Cameron attacks wealthy

individuals avoiding millions in tax. The comedian Jimmy Carr, and

others, are said to be using complex offshore schemes. He says

he pays what he has to - the Prime Minister disagrees. Think of all

those people who work hard and pay their taxes and out of that income,

save up to go and see Jimmy Carr. He's taking that money and stuffing

it into something where he doesn't have to pay tax. That is not fair.

We'll be asking where this could lead in terms of Government action.

Also tonight: On the eve of industrial action by

doctors, ministers urge a last- minute rethink. The strike is

pointless. It will achieve nothing. We will implement this pension deal,

which is a fair and sustainable deal for NHS workers.

Unemployment falls again amid warnings that the spending cuts

could last up to a decade. Greece has a new coalition

government broadly committed to the austerity programme.

And England's footballers bask in In sport, another bad day for Andy

Murray. Wimbledon is days away and he is yet to find his form on the

Good evening. Tax avoidance schemes used by

wealthy individuals including the comedian Jimmy Carr are morally

wrong according to the Prime Minister. The complex schemes,

which are not unlawful, are used to shelter millions of pounds. Mr Carr

is reported to have said that he pays what he has to and not a penny

more. The Prime Minister's intervention is now likely to shine

the spotlight on others, as James We are all very excited backstage.

We get to meet the royals later on. He has performed for Her Majesty,

but it is he paying enough to her Revenue and Customs. Jimmy Carr is

a wealthy comedian, but he uses an unusual or score -- offshore scheme

and the prime minister is not amused. So are these schemes where

people are parking huge amounts of money offshore and taking loans

back to minimise their tax rates are not morally acceptable. Think

of all those people who work hard and pay their taxes and out of that

post-tax income saved up to go and see Jimmy Carr. He is taking that

money and stuffing it into something where he doesn't have to

pay tax. That is not fair. Jimmy Carr has in the past got a few

laughs by mocking tax avoidance, in this case by a bank. Why don't you

apply for the Barclays 1% tax scam? They have put scheme on the

They have put scheme on the leaflet! But according to the Times,

Jimmy Carr himself transfers millions of pounds into Jersey-

based scheme known as K2. He gets the vast majority of the money back

as a loan and because of that, he as a loan and because of that, he

doesn't have to pay income tax on it and it is totally legal. He

reportedly told an audience he is paying what he has to do not a

penny more. But tonight, as he arrived home, he and usually have

little to say. There have also been claims that the singer Gary Barlow,

who was given an OBE for organising the Jubilee Concert, has invested

in a similar scheme along with some other Take that members, a scheme

that invests in the music industry, but also minimise his tax. Mr

Cameron said he would also look at that, but others are squire. It is

not morally wrong. You don't have a duty to pay more tax than you are

obliged to. It is effectively to make a gift to the government. I'm

simply donating money to the government. There's no moral

obligation to do that. The danger for David Cameron is Conservative

supporters such as Top Shop boss Sir Philip Green have also faced

allegations of tax avoidance, as has the former Tory treasurer Lord

Ashcroft. Someone might ask where you draw the line. By not in favour

of tax avoidance, obviously, but it is not for politicians to lecture

people about Mora -- morality. If the wrong thing is happening,

change the law to prevent that tax avoidance. In his Budget, George

Osborne launched a crackdown on a regressive tax avoidance which he

said was morally repugnant. But the Revenue and Customs is looking at

the specific schemes used by Jimmy Carr and others. For now, Jimmy

Carr will carry on cracking jokes, but he may soon have to pay a

little more tax. Let us talk more about the prime

minister's intervention. What could it lead to? It is incredibly

unusual for a prime minister to get involved in a personal case like

this, but the Prime Minister read about it on his wipeout in Mexico

and was clearly moved enough to want to intervene. The government

is already trying to crackdown on tax avoidance, there are plans for

a general anti-avoidance rule. I think the Prime Minister was happy

to use Jimmy Carr's case as an example, to make the argument for

that. The Prime Minister was also very happy to make common cause.

Many voters are feeling the pinch and up paying ever increasing taxes,

they might look awry at a wealthy comedian avoiding so much tax, but

there are a lot of risks in this. Many governments promised to cut

down on tax avoidance, very few achieve it. There's a risky raises

expectations. There's also the question about where you draw the

line between acceptable tax avoidance and aggressive tax

avoidance that is clearly not acceptable in the Prime Minister's

eyes, but most importantly, David Cameron has effectively declared

open season on all Conservative supporters and members who avoid

tax. They will now be the subject of legitimate journalistic inquiry

and so the risk for the Prime Minister is that he will gain some

good headlines by criticising tax- avoidance, but he might just regret

that down the line if it means endless stories about people who

are related to him, supporters of him, who are also avoiding tax

through legal means. Thank you. Within hours, many NHS doctors will

start their first industrial action for almost 40 years. They're

protesting against planned changes to their pensions. Ministers have

urged them to call off the action, saying it's pointless. Doctors say

they will treat anyone requiring emergency or urgent care, but the

Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, says thousands of patients will be

affected, as Branwen Jeffreys The NHS is on the eve of industrial

action by doctors. Routine operations, hospital or GP

appointments could be affected. At his surgery in Manchester, they are

warning patients only urgent cases will be seen tomorrow. They are so

angry about their pensions, son check-up clinics have been

cancelled. We are not booking routine afternoon appointments in

advance. But again, I would emphasise that anyone who is unwell

on the day will be seen. We are absolutely clear that we do not

want to cause patients any harm. But there may be limited sympathy

from a public whose pensions and spending are already being squeezed.

The doctors industrial action is happening at a time of austerity in

the economy at large and in the public sector. There's a pay freeze

in place in the NHS and many lower- paid staff are also seeing their

future pensions cut. I would apologise to the public that we've

got to this situation. I think the public have to ask why do Oscars

feel that for the first time in nearly 40 years they are prepared

to take this sort of action. It has not been something they've done

not been something they've done lightly. So how do the changes

look? At the moment the doctor earning �120,000 a year can expect

to retire at 60 on a pension of �48,000 a year with a tax-free lump

sum of �140,000. From 2015, junior doctors will have to work longer,

retiring at 68 on an annual pension retiring at 68 on an annual pension

of �68,000 and they will pay extra contributions during their career.

The Health Secretary told me the public already put billions into a

scheme he says is one of the most generous in the country. Phi you

innocent saying to doctors that this deal is as good as it gets and

they have to take it on leave it? The deal is the best available. We

gave the trade unions and opportunity to influence several of

the aspects of the scheme. We know and other trade unions in the NHS

know we should go ahead with implementing the scheme and the BMA

industrial action will not been for want that. On the brink of this

dispute, there is little sign of resolution. Tomorrow it is patients

who will be the first to find out what the impact will be.

Unemployment has fallen for the third month in succession, to just

over 2.6 million. The private sector has helped ease the pressure,

creating more jobs in the past three months than were lost in the

public sector. But there's been another rise in part-time workers

as people struggle to find full- time jobs. Our chief economics

correspondent, Hugh Pym, has been At a time of generally gloomy

economic news, there was something bit brighter today. Low

unemployment, which may have come as a surprise to some. At this

Graduate recruitment Fair in Birmingham, there were some

positive development. The director of the UK-based domestic appliance

business told me sales were growing, helped by despots -- exports and

they needed new staff. We have opportunities in design and

engineering and other areas, whether it is logistics or

marketing, to feel that growth. We have doubled the number we have in

the last two years and we are looking to increase that in the

looking to increase that in the future. We have plenty of vacancies.

The full extent of job creation can be seen in the latest employment

figures. In the first three months of the year, private sector

employment rose by 205,000. Fat employment rose by 205,000. Fat

easily outstripped cuts of 39,000 in the public sector. But there are

some other jobs fair, like Will, who have not found a full-time

doping yet, a year after graduating. I feel as a graduate we are one of

thousands of unemployed graduates and I hate having to go round

telling people my occupation is unemployed. People think you can't

be bothered to that is really hard to take because I can. Recent

developments in the jobs market are quite puzzling. Unemployment has

fallen even though the UK is in recession. It could be that the

latest figures reflect decisions and activity at the end of last

and activity at the end of last year. In other words, unemployment

is a lagging indicator. And if you look at the narrower measure of

unemployment, those claiming jobseeker's allowance, it rose by

just over 8,000 in May. Despite falling for a couple of months

before that, it is now slightly before that, it is now slightly

higher than it was last October. In other words, no improvement. It is

very odd that economic growth is doing badly -- fairly badly, but

economic growth is doing well. It may be that we get a rude awakening

and the labour market will disappoint. Maybe of the doom and

gloom has been overstated and we will see economic growth

accelerated. So the future is uncertain, the Bank of England

thinks so. Its policy makers considered cutting interest rates

at their recent meeting and pumping up new money to boost the economy.

They are worried the climate could get worse.

Greece has a new government - a coalition led by the centre-right

New Democracy party. The new prime minister, Antonis Samaras, said his

duty was to pull Greece back from the brink of bankruptcy and to

offer hope to the Greek people. His coalition is expected to urge

creditors to ease the terms of the country's bail out. From Athens,

our correspondent Chris Morris reports. His report contains some

Three days after an election watched around the world, an

Orthodox blessing as Antonis Samaras takes office as prime

minister of Greece. He will lead a coalition government and the rest

of Europe will be praying that it can bring some sense of stability.

But there are no guarantees. He came out to face the cameras

knowing that a tough road lies ahead. Mr Samaras has just been

sworn in as Prime Minister and he wants the eurozone to give his new

government a little bit of leeway, a bit of breathing space, otherwise

he fears that support for SYRIZA, the main opposition party which

campaigned against the bail out agreement, will grow and grow. And

he promised to try to restore a sense of hope at home. TRANSLATION:

I'm asking the Greek people to show patriotism, solidarity and trust

and with God's help we will do whatever we can to get grease out

of this crisis. And in another part of Athens, a reminder that this

isn't just about numbers. Real people are trapped by the eurozone

crisis. Here, farmers from Crete are handing out 27 tonnes of free

food to people on low incomes. There are a lot of people in my

country who are in need. We will try to help. This is a country in

its 5th year of recession and still deep in debt. So what does Mr

Samaras expect from the rest of Samaras expect from the rest of

Europe? Crease may ask for two more years to meet its fiscal targets.

That could mean billions of Euros in extra funding. The government

may want to reverse a big cut in the minimum wage imposed this year.

And it is seeking faster delivery And it is seeking faster delivery

of EU investment funds to create jobs and growth. But in Berlin and

other capitals, there's limited enthusiasm for giving too much to a

country which for years spent more Macro Angela Merkel said she had

congratulate Mr Samaras, but she has already made it clear that she

doesn't see huge room for manoeuvre when it comes to changing the terms

of the bail out. They were dancing in front of the parliament in

Athens tonight, proof that Greeks still know how to enjoy life. But

no one knows how long the new government will last. There are

more tough times ahead. Crisis The programme of spending cuts to

tackle Britain's deficit could last as long as ten years. That's the

warning delivered by Sir Jeremy Heywood in a speech this evening.

He spoke on the day David Cameron revealed plans to promote house

building to promote growth. He said there would be no borrowing and

spending spree. Our political editor Nick Robinson followed the

Prime Minister on a visit to Mexico City.... Mucho generosa...

future may speak Spanish and it may be here in Mexico. Today David

Cameron tried to drum up a share of this country's growing trade for

British businesses. How the Prime Minister must envy that, when

Britain has an economy which seems stuck going nowhere. The Business

Secretary talked of us being in a slump like the 1930s. Do you fear

he is right? I wouldn't put it like that. But we are facing in Europe a

difficult set of circumstances that is harming our growth and our

prospects. It's going to take time to fix. There was some good news at

the G20, but frankly, Britain needs to roll up its sleeves, do

everything we can to get our economy moving. The Government's

been talking for months about using Britain's low long-term interest

rates to underwrite building more homes. Are you in effect saying

that the British Government is contemplating building their way

out of this crisis? Let's be clear about what we can't do and what we

can. What we can't do is go on some spending and borrowing spree. You

can't borrow your way out of debt. What we can do is use the fact that

because of our credibility, we have record low interest rates, what we

can do is make sure we pass those low interest rates onto businesses,

onto home owners, make sure we go ahead with the infrastructure to

help our economy and get houses built in Britain again. David

Cameron is sounding just a little more optimistic about the eurozone

sorting itself out. Are you confident, after your talks, that

the EU will now bail out not just Greece, but the big economies like

Spain and Italy, who need to be bailed out if this eurozone crisis

is to end? I'm confident that they know how serious the situation is

and they know that if they don't use all the instruments, all the

institutions of the eurozone to stand behind their currency, they

will face real problems. It's sometimes frustrating that they

have to get so close to the brink before they take the steps

necessary. David Cameron is confronting the likelihood that

even though the global economic situation didn't get worse this

week, it may not get better for a very long time and this as news

comes from home that his Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, has

predicted that spending cuts could last not just seven or eight more

years, but maybe ten. Coming up on tonight's programme: High hopes at

England's Euro 2012 camp. But the goal that wasn't raises new

questions about the use of goal- line technology.

A major United Nations conference featuring more than 100 world

leaders has opened in Brazil to chart a new more sustainable course

of development. It's 20 years since Rio hosted the Earth Summit and the

UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-Moon today warned that time was running

out for the planet and complained that progress in the past two

decades had been far too slow. Our science editor David Shukman looks

at the challenges ahead. Scientists are warning that we're pushing the

planet beyond its natural limits, that economic growth is exacting a

cost on the environment, that can't go on without jeopardising the

chances of future generations. The talks in Rio this week, 20 years

after the famous Earth Summit, are about charting a new, more

sustainable course and the event began with an appeal from a

teenager. You have 72 hours to decide the fate of your children,

my children, my children's children. APPLAUSE

A key theme of the summit is that the natural world isn't just nice

to look at, people actually depend on it. A rainforest like this helps

create rain and the water supply goes to farms and cities and

generates electricity. Lose the forest and you risk all that.

Getting a meaningful agreement on this is proving difficult. So

what's set to be agreed here by the leaders at this Rio+20 Summit this

week? First, a plan for so-called sustainable development goals,

though these haven't bb defined. A promise to protect the oceans, but

again there's little specific. And a commitment to measure well being,

beyond the usual economic numbers of GDP.

Today the Deputy Prime Minister. David Cameron and Barack Obama are

among the leaders not here. The negotiations have watered

everything down. When you're dealing with over 190 countries

around the negotiating table, you've got a problem, which is to

get everyone to agree, you end up diluting things so that everybody

agrees an the end result is more insip ID than you'd like.

Expectations had been high that this summit might forge a new

relationship with the planet. Instead of acting together the

countries have fought over who should take responsibility. And the

result - all the talk of saving the planet will be followed by more

talk. The Burmese opposition leader Aung

San Suu Kyi has received an honorary degree from Oxford

University, 19 years after the award was made. She received the

doctorate on her second day of her visit to the UK.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, has set out plans to deal with

excessive pay in the boardroom. He wants to force companies to hold

shareholder votes every three years on the remuneration of senior

executives. But Labour accused him of diluting the proposal by

abandoning plans for annual votes. Robert Peston has the details.

Money, rewards for bosses of FTSE 100 companies rising six times

faster than most people's pay. The owners, shareholders have been

protesting with big votes against executive pay at William Hill,

Aviva, Barclays and WPP among others. So the Business Secretary

is giving investors more power to force restraint. Today, I can

therefore announce a far-reaching package of reforms that will

strengthen the hands of shareholders to challenge excessive

pay. The executive pay reforms include a binding vote at least

every three years on how and how much top executives are paid. No

golden goodbyes to failed boss that's haven't been approved by

shareholders and the publication every year of a single figure

combining all elements of boss rewards. That would have shown pay

of �11.3 million for David Brennan, who recently quit of chief

executive of Astra Zena. �11.6 million for Sir Martin Sorrell of

WPP. And �21 million for Barclays Bob Diamond. Vince Cable should

have had an annual shareholder vote. He could have done a few other

things, like put an employee on the remuneration committee on -- of the

board. It's been ten years since investors in the City were first

given a formal say on pay. Now since then, bosses rewards have

gone through the room, quadrupling in the past year. When I talked to

those in boardrooms who set the pay, they say they completely understand

public anger about all this, but they also say they have to pay the

going rate. Bosses will try to show restraint, says the President of

the business lobby group of CBI who is also a boardroom eminence.

will help focus the minds of those that do pay themselves too much

that there's a social responsibility here, which

Government are focused upon and business must enact. As for the

investors who've been revolting in their so-called shareholder spring,

have they now got a taste of humiliating top company executives?

I don't think you can expect a shareholder spring every year.

These companies we're talking about, they're major providers of growth

and jobs for the British economy and we want them to be able to get

on with that and get on with what they do well. Theened of big bucks

in the boardroom? No chance. Maybe the start of rewards more closely

linked to wealth creation for the millions who own British companies

in their pension savings. England's footballers returned to

their Polish base today to prepare for the quarter finals of Euro 2012

after beating Ukraine last night. The match included that

controversial decision not to award a goal to Ukraine. FIFA's President

said today that goal-line technology was now a necessity. Our

sports editor, David Bond, reports. England united for the first time

in years, the country's footballers seem to be pulling in the same

direction. Victory over Ukraine might have been a bit fortunate,

but these players are now daring to dream. Happy to still be here,

England's players were in a generous mood as they returned to

their Krakow base today. Wayne Rooney summed up the spirit in the

camp, writing on his Facebook page, he said "It feels great to be part

of the tournament at last and delighted to get a goal. I can't

ever remember feeling happier to score for England, so proud to be

part of this team." For the Football Association, it's

vindication of their approach after things went so badly wrong at the

World Cup in South Africa. There's a lot of positive feed back coming

from the players. That's the most important thing. It comes from

within. We've hopefully learned from previous turnaments and taken

some of the good bits and added new parts to that. England's unexpected

success has been put down, in part, to their decision to base

themselves here in Krakow, a move which has helped the team shed

their untouchable tag. Their progress to the quarter finals can

also be explained by a healthy dose of luck.

Television replays showed this goal from Marko Devic crossed the line

before John Terry's clearance. Unlike the 2010 World Cup this time

England were on the right end of a goal-line controversy. Sepp Blatter

might be a late convert, even he now supports the need for change.

He said on Twitter "After last night's match, goal line technology

is no longer an alternative, but a any."

Up to now, UEFA have opposed that. But today they admitted they'd got

it wrong. The ball crossed the line. That was unfortunately a human

mistake made by a human being. Ukraine's misfortune won't have

gone unnoticed at Italy's training camp. These players present England