17/03/2016 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten: The Chancellor says he's standing firm -

despite growing criticism of yesterday's Budget.

The figures in the Mr Osborne's red box

have 'worrying' implications for the wider economy and the public

finances, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

The Chancellor is running out of room for manouevre.

Any further downgrades to the economic forecast

and to meet his own target he's going to have to announce some

serious tax rises or additional spending cuts.

But the Chancellor insists he's planning for the next generation,

and says he will balance the books as promised.

What I am saying in this budget is we have got to hold to the course

we have set out. We have got to take action on public

finances now so that we are stable and secure and we don't pay later.

But he's also facing criticism over plans to change benefit payments

We'll have more on that and we'll be looking in more detail at the state

The plight of thousands of migrants stranded at the border

between Greece and Macedonia as EU leaders search for a new agreement.

Ministers announce that schools in England will no longer be

Tackling the obesity crisis among children and young people -

experts say taxing fizzy drinks will not be enough.

And Paul Daniels the magician who entertained millions has died

A letter I had yesterday from a lady said, "you had a marriage that

After months of delay, the Mayor says the Night tube

And the dramatic rise in the number of cannabis factories

where criminals steal YOUR electricity to grow plants.

George Osborne says he will "stand firm" and "hold the course"

despite some bleak assessments of the impact of yesterday's Budget.

The figures he announced, based on a worsening

economic outlook, will result in a period

of falling wages and lower living standards,

according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies

which also warns that austerity will be extended into

He's also facing criticism from a growing number

of Conservative colleagues over plans to change benefit

Our Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg has more details.

The day after the Budget before - and new warnings about who wins,

Some claim disingenuous, too optimistic, and real cuts, hardly

something to elberate. We make sure in uncertain times we

are fit for the future, doing that by taking action on public finances

so we don't pay later and back working people by reducing taxes to

help us grow the economy. But reality arrived along with the

budgets on MPs' desk. Doubts on the numbers, warning on lower wages and

living standards, the Chancellor is said to have a 50/50 chance of

hitting the red book targets. I admire the five year plan, it is

always five years away. Every year, another five years on. Missing every

single target from 2010 and Fife years later in 2015.

In the Tory ranks, unhappiness with a rebellion brewing.

More than 600,000 people who may be affected by the PIPS, when the cases

are reviewed in future, the benefits calculated differently for some. She

is worried she may be losing out. People like me who used to work all

the time are now needing help from the system that they have paid it

into. An awful time. Some are ready to fight the change.

This change is wrong headed. It hits the wrong people. They are tinkering

around the edges that need to happen so you have a slightly fairer system

but the package offered up until now, still a consultation, goes too

far. The minister in charge admits many

thousands may lose out. More than half a million people may be

affected. Clearly is significant number of people could see a loss in

income? Some will but a lot will not see a change of significant number

in that sense. But the overall numbers going on to the PIP system

will increase, the amount of money going out to disability benefit will

increase. What do you say to this Parliament, who lose a right of

share of their income? The two things are not linked. This is not a

financial measure. It is providing a fair, sustainable benefit that

directs the support to those that have genuine ongoing extra costs.

Like any budget it is a test of the Chancellor's reputation. George

Osborne has bigger ambitions than being in charge of the Treasury

forever. Trying to impress his own MPs as well as the public. His team

insist he made the right big and bold decisions but the Budget has

not gone entirely to plan. Such a big occasion... Indeed,

Budgets always are. The events that change his, theirs and all of our

lives. As we mentioned, the Institute

for Fiscal Studies has produced a rather bleak assessment

of the Budget figures. It says there are 'worrying'

implications for the wider economy It also questioned whether Mr

Osborne will be able to meet his target of a ?10

billion budget surplus Our Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed

is here with his analysis. Day two, and a day of indepth

analysis of the Budget. That after those gloomy economic

forecasts we could be facing, according to the IFS,

lower wages and living standards. And hitting that politically

important budget surplus target is going to be very tricky

for the Chancellor. There are also likely to be more

public sector cuts ahead. I think that the most important

piece of news we got yesterday was that we are all going to be

worse off than we thought we were going to be over

the next few years. The OBR has downgraded its views

about productivity and wages That had a knock-on effect

for the Chancellor, who is now going to find it much harder

to meet his own fiscal targets. The IFS says if the Chancellor

is to achieve his fabled Budget surplus, he will need to find

a further ?10 billion of cuts to plan spending on public

services by 2021. Those cuts could fall most heavily

on non-protected departments, They may have to find a further 13%

in efficiency savings. The Chancellor did announce income

tax cuts, welcomed by many. He increased the personal allowance

and took 585,000 people out But according to one analysis,

the changes tend to be more helpful to the better off -

it will boost the incomes That figure for the poorest

20% of households? There was better news

for the Chancellor today, the Bank of England said current

wage increases are stronger, and that productivity

is actually rising that will come as welcome relief

for the Treasury after the bad news For this manufacturing firm,

Mr Osborne's pledge to support smaller businesses working better,

may have been good news. The Treasury made productivity

improvements, of course crucial for maintaining growth,

a central part of the Budget. When you put your efforts

into your staff, into the machinery, invested back into the company,

you are getting more work out there, widening the capabilities

and strengthening your capabilities and strengthening the reputation

of the company to go to. One final thought -

never underestimate Mr Osborne's ability to find a little extra

something behind the often As one government source pointed out

to me, yesterday's figures were so poor, things

before the next election Now live to Westminster to talk with

Laura. What do you make of the most controversial aspects of the Budget?

Well, Budgets sometimes turn into horror films, this is like an action

movie. But tonight the plot is thickening on several fronts. The

Government's been pleased to be able to say that EU leaders agreed to get

rid of what is known as the Tampon tax, a 5 Pennsylvania VAT on

sanitary products, looking at a heavy rebellion, probably a defeat

on that in Westminster next week but the EU leaders said that they can

get rid of it. Claiming that as a win over the rest of the EU. In

terms of things more trouble some, I think there is trouble brewing over

the changes to disability payments. Many Conservative MPs, including

those who organised the rebellion and defeat over the tax credits, are

very unhappy about the changes, worried about the impact on

thousands of people, potentially around the country, and worried too

about the political message it sends. The leadership is under

pressure to relent, there is certainly at minimum going to have

to be more explaining of that policy. But a new question on

defence spending: The small print of the Budget reveals that the Ministry

of Defence is spending ?800 million less than they had been forecast to

do in this financial year, that is a lot of cash in a department that is

pretty stretched. Labour tonight is demanding answers over that, writing

to the Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Fallon. Treasury

sources suggest it could be simple as an underspend but there is no

clarity on what has happened to the defence spending. Despite the

bleaker economic picture, the Budget all in all is far from a disaster

but, there is lots of unfinished business that could catch George

Osborne out in the weeks and the months to come.

Laura coonsberg, thank you very much.

In Brussels tonight, European Union leaders are meeting

on stopping the flow of migrants into Europe.

Since January last year, more than one million migrants

and refugees arrived in Greece by boat

Chancellor Merkel of Germany says she's 'cautiously optimistic' that

Thousands of people are currently stranded at the border

between Greece and Macedonia at Idomeni, where the crossing

point is closed and many have been trying

The resilience of youth, still able to laugh and smile

when this is where you live and play.

Imagine the irony of being trapped at a railway station

Where mothers cling to their children to stop them

Where thousands not so much live as barely exist.

Remember the name Idomeni, a border town that has become

a byword for the inaction of Europe and the shame of those huddled

too as they stand for hours every day begging for hand-outs.

Among them, this man, a Syrian refugee week thought had

crossed into Macedonia earlier this week.

He was one of 1500 who made a break for the border on Monday,

slogging through the mud and the rain,

carried aloft like some biblical figure.

This is how much they want to get further into Europe.

He was wheeled across a field and on into Macedonia.

But like all the others, he was rounded up and eventually

What is your message to Europe's leaders meeting now?

TRANSLATION: We want just a bit of humanity.

Look at how they are treating us here, there is no humanity left,

not in the Arab countries and not in the West.

We are being used as bargaining chips.

They are accepting us so they can make money off our backs.

If a deal is reached in Brussels, then everybody here could be

deported to Turkey, which wouldn't be just difficult

We met three families from Falluja, Ramadi and Aleppo, three cities

whose people know all about war and persecution.

One says he left home after the thugs of the Islamic State

Another says he was beaten just this week, but by the Macedonian police.

It's not the welcome they expected nor the protection they

What will you do if these borders stay closed and you are told

TRANSLATION: Well, I can't go back home, I don't have one.

We came here asking for European protection because they said

they will open the borders for Iraqis and Syrians.

Everyone here knows about the meeting in Brussels

and everyone is waiting for the outcome.

If they are not allowed through, some will go back,

But don't expect all of them to just disappear.

It's incredible to think that more than a million people have come this

European leaders have repeatedly met, debated the discussed

and argued about how to deal with this crisis.

Routes may well be closing down but what we should not forget

is that many of these people have run away from the prospect of death,

and they will do whatever it takes to get across that border.

This week's breakthrough failed but it won't be the last.

Thousands more landed on Greek shores this week and they will head

here, to this strange limbo land, putting even more pressure

Their dream of a new life may well have stalled,

Ian Pannell, BBC News, on the Greek Macedonian border.

Schools would no longer be legally required to have parents

as governors but there would be a greater obligation

Failing schools would also be given a longer period without official

inspections to encourage successful head teachers

Our education editor Branwen Jeffreys has the details.

Schools across England are facing a massive shake-up.

Teachers will have to prove their classroom skills to qualify.

And all schools will become academies within years.

Rebecca Jones is a parent governor at this primary

Under these plans, elected parent governors will go when it

Parents give immediate feedback if there is an issue.

And if you don't have the parent governors there, I don't think

the parents would feel able to approach the school about issues.

Which one of these pictures to you think is going back

Like most primary schools, it is still run by the council.

But that will have to change within the next six years.

Samantha Offord is the headteacher here.

She resisted pressure to become an academy before.

But what about other government plans?

Headteachers who move to a struggling school will get more

time - at least two years, to turn things around before

At the moment I feel sometimes that headteachers are a bit

You make one mistake or you have only been in a school for one year,

So what difference will it make to their education?

These changes, taken together, are meant to give headteachers

and schools much more freedom to shape what they teach.

It will also create huge chains of schools competing with each

The question is, who holds them to account?

Steve Lancashire is the chief executive two primary school chains.

He says they use the freedom of being an academy

They are held to account, he says, through their results.

All of our schoolchildren will go to a capital city in a foreign

country to make sure they experience a different culture.

For us it is really about what is distinctive

about what we can provide as a group of schools,

rather than individual schools, and as an academy rather

The Education Secretary told me she wants parents to have a bigger

say, so why get rid of elected parent governors?

We want governors to be there because of the skills they bring.

I think there are much more effective ways for parents to be

involved rather than just having a couple of parents

We want to set up a parent portal so that parents know

what is going on and a better complaints mechanism.

Schools will still have to try to impress parents,

but there is no guarantee there be a graceful transition

The magician Paul Daniels, for many years one of the most

popular entertainers on television, has died at the age of 77.

He announced last month that he'd been diagnosed

His wife, Debbie McGee, told the BBC that they'd lived

a "fairytale life" together, as Robert Hall reports.

If the ball's in my left hand, it's in my left hand,

if it's not in my hand, it's under the cup.

He was fast, funny, and very skilful.

He took old-fashioned magic and refashioned it

That made him a fixture in the Saturday night schedules.

Paul Daniels had started in northern clubs...

You're not supposed to go one, two...

Audiences weren't always appreciative but he devised

a catchphrase to deal with his hecklers.

Paul Daniels became one of Britain's most popular

In the late 1970s he fell in love with his glamorous assistant.

Debbie McGee, 20 years his junior, became his wife, which led

What first, Debbie, attracted you to the millionaire Paul Daniels?

I really got the giggles because when I first worked

Our life has been full of laughter and that's what it's

I had a letter yesterday from a lady who had met us and she said,

"The thing is, Debbie, you had a marriage that

Paul Daniels was not to everyone's taste but his versatility helped

Everyone I know had a Paul Daniels magic kit.

Having looked back on all the magic he did on YouTube, he will always be

one of the greatest magicians of our time.

In his autobiography, the magician claimed he had slept

with hundreds of women, admitting he could not be sure

Paul Daniels was busy long after his peak-time shows ended.

He could be chippy and sometimes outspoken but there was no

doubting his popularity or his talent.

The magician and television personality Paul Daniels,

In South Africa, President Zuma is facing calls to resign

over his links with a wealthy family and claims that he's allowed

the Guptas to influence political decisions.

One of the president's party colleagues has warned that

South Africa is in danger of turning into a "mafia state"

and the country's former president, FW De Klerk, says that democracy

Our World Editor, John Simpson, is in Cape Town and

This country, which has been a beacon to the world,

now seems in growing trouble, economic, political, even racial.

In Parliament today, the attack centred on the genial yet

tough figure of President Zuma, over alleged corruption.

There is no minister who is here who was ever appointed

Mr President, you and your family are getting richer

while South Africans are getting poorer and losing wealth.

He is accused of allowing the Guptas, Indian brothers who only

came to South Africa a year before apartheid ended,

to dictate cabinet appointments for their financial gain.

Some Zuma family members work for the Guptas.

President Zuma, we have said and we have continued to argue

the case, is unfit in effect to hold of office, he is unfit to lead South

The last white president, FW De Klerk, is celebrating

He is usually guarded in his criticisms but not now.

Fact is, there is too much corruption.

Fact is, there is too much favouritism and a black

A top Zuma loyalist says she is disheartened

We must intensify our efforts to take fast action and decisions

on any of our members who are found to be engaged in bad practices.

Any person who would fall foul of established norms and public

conduct should, of course, appeared before that commission.

Corruption is not the only serious problems this country faces.

Much worse, the ideal of the nonracial rainbow nation,

admired right across the world, is being threatened before our eyes.

Recently, a university rugby match, a largely white affair,

was interrupted by radical black demonstrators.

Among the young in particular, the nonracial idea could be fading.

Right from the top, politicians are worried.

I went to a township outside Cape Town to meet one

of the so-called born frees, born, that is, after apartheid.

From this pretty humble background, Portia is going to the prestigious

Stellenbosch University - a real ANC achievement, that.

But she thinks the old rainbow nation is dead and that

Yes, he wasn't demanding enough, there wasn't enough loyalty

To black people, to the black people who are struggling.

He should have been tougher on the whites?

It shocks her mother who still reveres Mandela,

Now, though, all people seem to hear about is government corruption

South Africa is in post-Mandela territory now.

Health professionals have welcomed the new tax on sugary drinks

announced by George Osborne in his Budget yesterday,

but they've warned that it will not be a solution for the obesity

crisis, especially among children and young people,

which remains one of the biggest public health challenges.

Our correspondent Jeremy Cooke has this report.

It is a global epidemic, fuelled by fast food,

Modern-day snack food is not love, it's a killer.

One in three of our ten-year-olds is now obese or overweight,

Katie is 15, loves singing and drama and going to the movies.

Her battle against weight has been a lifelong challenge.

14-year-old Becky likes R music and Justin Bieber.

She too is working hard to shed the pounds.

When it comes to calories, for both girls, the problem has been

It was like a pot of Pringles, an iced coffee, a croissant.

Chocolate cereal and I then would have in my lunch

I would have, like, chicken nuggets or just something

And then your mum would give you your supper?

Yeah, and I would have lunch and I would have breakfast.

Why didn't you, as a mum, simply feed her less food?

We hid bread in places like the laundry basket

Now Katie is fighting back, has found the strength to lose two

stone and is determined to lose more.

I'm around 16 right now and so, like, obviously I will see

when I get to where I want to be but roughly like ten stone

Katie is on the right road, using exercise and diet.

For others, though, the challenge is still daunting.

Four out of five obese children will become obese adults.

Overweight young people look relatively healthy,

they get up and about, they move around, they do things

But when they are in their 40s and 50s, you find that

Becky is doing well, going to the gym, choosing healthy food.

But being overweight can also bring psychological problems and for her,

the bullying started at primary school.

I would feel like I was always being talked about so I would walk

round a corner and there would be a group of people.

Even if I didn't know them and they were laughing,

I would think they were laughing at me.

It's hard to see your child sort of feel that way.

I don't think there's anything quite as heartbreaking

than when your child tells you that they hate themselves

and they don't want to look at themselves in the mirror.

Health professionals have welcomed news of the sugar tax but say

it is only a first step towards tackling the childhood

Some football news now and Liverpool are through to the quarterfinals

of the Europa League after drawing 1-1 this evening

with Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Philip Coutinho scored the visitors' only goal -

the result means they win the tie on aggregate.

Tottenham are out after losing to the German side Borussia

The broadcaster Cliff Michelmore, whose long and distinguished career

spanned five decades, has died at the age of 96.

He joined the BBC after the Second World War

and demonstrated a remarkable range on radio and television,

from current affairs to light entertainment.

The BBC's director-general, Lord Hall, said Cliff Michelmore had

"recast the role of the television presenter at the BBC"

Tonight we are going to meet, among others, a smoking dog called

Butch and a horse racing butcher called Bacon.

He was the face of BBC television in the 1960s,

presenter of Tonight, the first daily current affairs show.

Typical of Tonight, an interview with a young David Bowie

Well, I think we are all fairly tolerant, but for the last two years

we have had comments like darling and, can I carry your handbag.

You are five minutes late, I thought you were all listening

Like Cliff, Tonight was both frivolous and serious.

I remember sitting down with my grandad and watching Tonight

His humour, the way he looked at issues, you also had

a calypso in all of this, it was really, really such

Now it probably seems more commonplace but back then it wasn't.

That was hugely down to his character and what he did.

He was a remarkable, outstanding broadcaster

In 1966, Cliff Michelmore reported from Aberfan,

the Welsh mining village devastated by a landslide.

I hope that I shall never ever see anything like it again.

We are expecting about 150 results to be trickling in one

He also anchored three BBC general election programmes and fronted

the BBC's coverage of the Apollo missions, including the heart

stopping return of the damaged Apollo 13.

We are now coming to the moment, the last moments of Apollo 13 as it

The best thing we can do now is just to listen and hope.

He was a survivor of a television golden age, the man whose nightly

The next Tonight will be tomorrow night.

The broadcaster Cliff Michelmore, who's died at the age of 96.

Tonight, a Labour MP calls for an enquiry into bullying within her

party and we will grill the schools minister on the government's grand

scheme for education laid out today. Join me now on BBC