16/11/2012 BBC News at Ten

The new Police and Crime Commissioners are elected, but

apathy is the clear winner. Empty ballot boxes across England

and Wales - less than 15% cast their vote. I haven't seen

information. How can I vote for something I don't know about?

didn't understand what it was about so I didn't vote.

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is a high profile casualty

- he fails to take control of police in Humberside. Andy Sawford

is duly elected... A better night for Labour in the

by-elections, though - as they take Corby from the Conservatives.

We'll be assessing why so few people cast their vote and what it

means for the new police commissioners.

Also tonight: Hamas rockets are fired at Tel Aviv

again - Jerusalem is targeted by missiles for the first time in

decades. Tonight, Israel's air attacks continue on Gaza - the UN

calls it a dangerous escalation of violence.

Doncaster Council admits it still has weaknesses in its child

protection services three years after two boys were tortured and

abused. And a Christian man, demoted after

posting opposition to gay marriage on Facebook, successfully sues his

In sport, England have some catching up to do in India, chasing

a first-innings total of 522. They Good evening.

It's being seen as the most radical shake-up of the police service in

modern times - tonight, there are 41 new Police and Crime

Commissioners in Wales and England, excluding London. But less than 15%

cast their ballot and one polling station in South Wales had no

voters at all. The Electoral Commission has launched an inquiry,

saying the the low turnout was "a concern for everyone who cares

about democracy". The Government says the commissioners will still

have a mandate to hire and fire chief constables. Our home editor,

This ballot box completely empty may come to symbolise the first

ever Police and Crime Commissioner elections in England and Wales. The

lowest peacetime turnout in British electoral history left staff at

some counts twiddling their thumbs. Parts of the country, almost 90% of

those eligible to vote did not. Angus Macpherson. Conservative

Angus Macpherson claims his place as the first of the new

commissioners to be elected. But the winner in Wiltshire saw less

than 5.5% of registered voters pick him as their first choice for the

job. A review of what went wrong is to be conducted by the Electoral

Commission. They are unfamiliar elections at an unfamiliar time of

year so we said from the start that it would be important to engage

with voters. We do need to conduct a thorough review and look at the

evidence. The idea is to make police more accountable, each of

the 41 police force areas in England and Wales outside London

now has a commissioner, pay between �65,000 and �100,000 a year to set

the police budget and a hire and fire the Chief Constable. Locals

say this polling station in Newport saw precisely zero voters to turn

up yesterday. I haven't seen any information so how can I vote for

something I don't know about? didn't understand what the election

was about so I didn't vote. If I had flyers through the door, maybe

I would have taken notice. Her son say there was not enough

information. The fact for the elections took place in November

was also blamed, but 10 times the normal number of spoiled ballot

papers suggest some voters were worried about the police becoming

politicised. Elected PCCs were the centrepiece of the Conservative

Party's police reforms at the last election and they insisted the

policy be included in the coalition agreement. The almost emphatic

indifference of the public to the idea key is an embarrassment,

particularly for the Home Secretary, who must now defence spending an

estimated �100 million on the project while demanding cuts at a

police budgets. Are you saying this was money went -- well-spent?

Police and Crime Commissioner #colourcyan are important because

they will make a difference to people and policing. Across the

country, I expect them to work with the police to cut crime. They chose

to spend �100 million on these elections rather than spend it on

3,000 police officers instead. That bad for policing, bad for democracy

and bad for the taxpayer. Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott

failed in his bid to become the Police Commissioner in Humberside,

losing out to Conservative Matthew Graves. I have to show to those

people that didn't feel they were able to take part in this election

that they missed an opportunity. I need to be that visible, active,

loud voice on behalf of the community. PCCs are here for at

least four years and supporters stayed once they see how they make

police more accountable, nobody will want rid of them, but with

such how low turnout there will be questions about just how democratic

this is. As well as the ballots for new

police commissioners, there have also been three parliamentary by-

elections. Labour won the most significant - overturning a

Conservative majority to take the seat of Corby in Northamptonshire.

It's the first time the party's captured a Westminster seat from

the Tories in a by-election since 1997. This report from our deputy

political editor, James Landale, They say Corby is a weather vane

seat that tells us which way the wind is blowing. Today it was

Labour's sails that caught the breeze. The road to Downing Street

runs through Corby. constituency that has always been

in government hands fell to the opposition with a whopping 7,000

plus majority. No wonder he came to celebrate the first seat Labour had

won from the Tories in a by- election for 15 years. This

constituency has sent a very clear message to today. It has sent a

message that it is putting its trust in a one-nation Labour Party

and middle-England is turning away from David Cameron and the

Conservatives. That wasn't all four top Labour also held on to save

seats into other by-elections, in Manchester and Cardiff. But look at

their faces, few Tories expected to hold Corby after their MP walked

out, but defeat still hurt. They were happier with their success in

the police commissioner elections in Wales and parts of northern

England. Q listen carefully to what people are saying, but when I look

at the country and see that Labour haven't won in Bristol, can't win

in Swindon or the middle of Wales, it is a very mixed picture and

shows there's no enthusiasm for the alternative. Her for Conservatives

say this is a classic mid-term result, voters giving the

government of the day a good kicking, but the lesson from Corby

is that the Tories are vulnerable when squeezed by Labour from the

left and UKIP from the right. UKIP came a strong third in Corby,

picked up votes in police elections, votes they claimed showed people's

frustration with the largest parties. Third place and our best-

ever score in a British by-election so we are very, very pleased with

what has happened in Corby and across the country. We are beating

Philip Dems across the UK. For the Lib Dems, little joy. They lost

their deposit in Corby and elsewhere across the country they

made little progress. We are at a mid-term point in this government.

There's a lot of difficult news at the moment, people generally are

often quite disenchanted with politics at this point. I think

that has been reflected in the low turnout. If there's one other story

of the day it is that independent candidates did well. One becoming

the first elected Mayor of Bristol and another 11 elected police

commissioners as voters turned away from political parties. But in

Corby Andy's Northamptonshire, many parties -- many voters turned away

from the Tories'. A warning shot perhaps from middle-England across

the government's bows. Here's a look at the overall

Here's a look at the overall results. In the elections for

Police and Crime commissioners in England and Wales, 40 out 41 areas

have been declared. The Conservatives have 15 commissioners,

Labour 13, and independent candidates 12. -- 11. The Liberal

Democrats none. In the three parliamentary by-elections, Labour

gained Corby from the Conservatives and held onto the seats of

Manchester Central and Cardiff Manchester Central and Cardiff

South & Penarth. Our political editor, Nick Robinson, is in

Downing Street for us now. What sort of day was this for

democracy? It is a day of firsts. The day of records and they are not

good. The lowest turnout in a national election, the lowest

turnout in a by-election outside of wartime, the first time anybody can

remember that a whole polling station had not a single vote cast.

Bad, therefore, for democracy, you might say. But some say, and some

in Downing Street say, hold on a second. After all, they say, there

are now democratically elected leaders, commissioners, who have

some say over local policing. The test for democracy may not be the

turnout, but whether those new commissioners to improve policing.

In other words, whether people who did not vote today end up saying we

wish we had, we will next time, if we don't want these posts scrapped.

It is possible we will look back at this as a bad day. It is also

possible that his is the beginning of a local experiment that catches

on. When you look at the votes for the police commissioners and you

also bear in mind for by-election results, what does that tell you

about politics and the political significance? People like me have

stood on this street and try to tell you that they know what this

election in little Salsbury means for he was going to be in Downing

Street. You can never read across in quite that way. There are some

big things you know. This is not a popular government. The Lib Dems in

particular found themselves beaten by UKIP in a by-election, beaten in

the total number of votes in those police elections. The Tories said

there was some good news, this is not the sort of result they wanted,

even though they will smile at John Prescott's plight. The key is, and

we am watching history, is whether this is like the 1980s in which

governments bounce-back from mid- term problems, or like the 1970s,

where governments last four or five years and then at argon and

replaced. If it is, it is Ed Miliband you will see on their

doorstep in a few years' time. -- that doorstep.

The Israeli-Palestinan conflict has intensified today - rockets were

fired on Jerusalem by Hamas militants for the first time and

attacks continued on Tel Aviv for a second day. Israel responded by

calling up thousands more reserve troops and continuing its

bombardment of Gaza. We have reports from both sides of the

escalating conflict. In a moment, Wyre Davies in the Gaza Strip,

where there were more civilian casualties today. First, Katya

Adler reports from Tel Aviv on the impact of the latest Hamas rocket

Today in Tel Aviv in the heart of Israel, sirens screamed again for

people to take cover from rocket fire. The last 24 hours have come

as quite a shock here. Even for the millionth Israelis living close to

Gaza who say fear is part of their daily lives, mortar and rocket fire

has increased dramatically. One young couple ventured out of the

shekel at the shelter this morning to see rocket damage to their house

until a warning of another tax and then running again. Sirens or so it

interrupted mourners at a funeral at one of three Israelis killed

yesterday. Premature babies at a regional hospital were moved

elsewhere. Israelis are feeling nervous, Tel Aviv is known for

wealthy inhabitants, classy cafes and restaurants. Fouls -- those

outside often mock people here for living in a bubble. If so, rockets

from Gaza have now burst it. It is usually not close to you and now it

is in the centre of Israel. It was very scary. Tel Aviv's seafront,

emblematic of this, Israel's cultural and commercial capital.

The handful of rockets that reached this far landed in the sea, the

others caused hardly any damage, but the fact that Gaza militants

are still able to fire me June range rockets and that got this far

into his role for the first time despite Israel's mighty military

saying it pounding weapons sites in Gaza has had a huge psychological

impact. Just as we left to Le Viv, sirens wailed in Jerusalem, the

first time in decades. Israel is sending troops into Gaza and

calling up thousands of reservist soldiers. The feeling here is that

Gaza's main hospital. Every hearth and there were, Cas duties from the

latest Israeli airstrike are rushed in. Some are beyond help. All of

those that we saw of civilians. If this was to develop into a full-

scale war, they would be overwhelmed. I am exhausted. I

can't stand. At the same hospital earlier in the day, Egypt's Prime

Minister, trying to broker a ceasefire and also expressing his

first support for Hamas. Israel's operation it in Gaza was a disaster.

We as Egyptians will not remain silent. In the last 24 hours,

Israel says it has launched more than three air strikes, some in

residential areas. I have been crying, too much. By bombing this

government building in the heart of Gaza City, Israel says it is

attacking what it says is Hamas's terrorist infrastructure, but look

how close this is to schools and homes or stop the potential for

civilian casualties is very high. If Israel totally undermines

Hamas's authority in Gaza, what will come in its place? Tonight

Israel continues to pound Gaza. The faint hope of if ceasefire ends

with fears of an all-out war. Our Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen

is here. It is clearly now much more than

the latest round between Hamas and Israel. This is becoming a serious

international crisis. The Egyptians have been increasing their

rhetorical and political support and criticising Israel, and Turkey

has waded in. Behind the scenes, they may be pushing for a ceasefire

but I think that will give Hamas competence to carry on. The Middle

East is less stable than at any time since the 1950s, and this is

against the changed strategic picture caused by the Arab

uprisings of the last couple of years, which has pushed the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict out of the headlines but in that time, it

has been sharpening sell an outbreak like this was always going

to happen, and calls for the de- escalation by the United States and

the UN are being ignored. Hamas claimed to pull off a spectacular,

by targeting what it hoped would be is really buildings in Jerusalem,

and the Israelis now authorising the call up of 75,000 military

reservists, pointing towards a grant operation which will mean

more killing and an international crisis.

A council that failed to stop two boys in care from torturing and

sexually assaulting two other youngsters three years ago is still

failing to protect children. An investigation by Ofsted found that

all Doncaster's child protection services had been inadequate.

Although there is improvement, the council has admitted that features

of that systematic failure remain today.

The story of Edlington could have been prevented. Three years ago,

two boys were beaten and tortured in these woods. Their abusers, also

young boys, but they had been known to social services who missed

chance after chance to stop the attack. Today, the same council,

Doncaster, has been told its Children's Services are still

inadequate and children are still at risk. We spoke to the family of

one of the Edlington victims. We cannot identify them. I feel like

Those failures were set out in an Ofsted report. It says when it

comes to children, families, carers and management, at every level,

Doncaster is failing. Are vulnerable children safe? Can

you protect them? We are working with children. We have improved.

There are still deficiencies in the service and that is absolutely

clear. Are you the man to do this? Yes. The fees in Doncaster were

known about three years ago -- no failures. A serious case review was

published into what went wrong. The government's fear was that lessons

were not being learned. Today's Ofsted report shows that those

fears were correct. Now the government wants change, not just

in Doncaster but across England. It wants more children to be taken

into care more quickly, more support for social workers, changes

to a system the Education Secretary says it's a failing. We are asking

tough questions and taking the necessary steps to prevent

thousands of children growing up in squalor, enduring neglect,

witnessing violence in their lives, been exposed to racial, physical

and sexual abuse during the years which should be their happiest.

Some unions say government cuts are making it harder for social workers

but councils have to get it right. If they don't, children could be

failed and young lives devastated. The UK is just days away from

officially recognising the new united Syrian opposition, the

Foreign Secretary has indicated after meeting its leaders today in

London. The coalition, formed last weekend, brings together most of

the dissident groups opposed to President Assad's regime, including

the rebel Free Syrian Army and the previously dominant Syrian National

Council. James Robbins reports. Air rage -- this activist video

shows the bombs are falling over Syria. Its latest evidence, which

opposition rebels are convinced they can win. Fighters of the Free

Syrian Army insist they are taking ground from President Assad, but

opposition leaders have been gravely hampered by deep divisions,

until now. Which is what makes these pictures are significant.

William Hague welcoming the new opposition coalition to discuss

ways Britain can strengthen their hand. But first the government

needed assurances from the opposition leader. I welcome the

commitment he has made to reach out to all opposition groups and

communities in Syria, to respect human rights, to finalise their

clear plan for political transition in Syria and of course, to

demonstrate that the coalition can be a credible political alternative

to the Assad regime. In the battle for Syria, what are the likely next

steps? The new opposition coalition needs crucial international

recognition. France jumped first, Britain close behind. That means

more governments could be on in the rebels, but an EU arms embargo will

have to be lifted first. The aim is to tip the balance against Assad.

The signals from William Hague could hardly have been clearer. He

seemed to be itching to announce formal repetition of the new

opposition coalition, as in effect Syria's government in waiting if

Assad can be brought down. National coalition represents 90%

of the Syrian opposition forces on the ground. We are in dialogue with

other opposition forces that have not entered the coalition. I think

Britain recognises the wide recognition it has. But the crisis

in Syria worsens by the day. These refugees are we skimmed moving home

again, partly because of a winter without shelter, partly because of

trusting the opposition rebels to grow stronger.

A Christian man who was demoted and had his pay cut for posting his

opposition to gay marriage on Facebook has successfully sued his

employers. The High Court in London ruled that Trafford Housing Trust

had breached its contract with Adrian Smith, as June Kelly reports.

Or social networking sites, or what his public and what is private?

When Adrian Smith went on Facebook and shared his thoughts on gay

marriage and the Church, it was intended only for his friends. He

described it as an equality too far Today, the courts ruled that his

employees were wrong to demote him for this. It was the Christian

Institute who supported Adrian Smith, and he spoke for him.

Something has poisoned the atmosphere for Britain where an

honest man like me can be punished for making perfectly polite remarks

about the importance of marriage. Adrian Smith's employees are

Trafford Housing Trust. After nearly 20 years with them, he was

demoted from manager to rent collector and his salary was cut by

40%. In a statement apologising, Once again, the law is being tested

in relation to social networking and. Websites like Facebook and

Twitter are becoming an integral part of the modern legal landscape.

Amongst those on Adrian Smith's side, gay rights campaigner, Peter

Tatchell. Free-speech should only be limited in the most extreme

circumstances, such as when a person insides violence against

other human beings. That is not what Adrian Smith it. He made his

opinions clear in a calm and reasonable manner. There has been

no response from Adrian Smith's employees as to whether he can have

his old job back. -- employers. Cricket, and England have suffered

another punishing day in the first Test against India. The home side

set a huge total of 521 for 8 before they declared, and England's

luck didn't change when their batsmen took to the crease. Joe

Wilson reports. Friday morning and England needed

acceleration, wickets quick, but things go at their own pace here.

You cannot always remove something that does not want to be mood.

India basic the batted until they got bored. We wondered if Yuvraj

Singh would ever play cricket again. In his first Test match since

recovering from cancer, he made 74. Cheteshwar Pujara, only 24,

completed a double century. Graeme Swann was the only English bowler

India's bowling tactic was obvious, trial by spin. Nick Compton lasted

15 minutes. Ravi Ashwin was enjoying himself. Jimmy Anderson

was sent to occupy the crease and out and next over to Pragyan Ojha.

England robustly denied they have as been problem. England's

meticulous preparation undone in minutes. A huge job now for England

to try to stay in contention. One thing you could say is it is a

great opportunity for Kevin Pietersen to prove that he is fully