07/04/2012 BBC Weekend News

Tax returns of government ministers could be made public under plans

being considered by the Chancellor. George Osborne says he wants

greater financial transparency for those in high office. The race has

been stopped! There is a man swimming across between the boats.

High drama on the River Thames, as the Boat Race descends into chaos.

And teaching unions vote to step up industrial action, threatening

Good afternoon. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, says

he is considering publishing the personal tax returns of senior

ministers in the interests of greater transparency. The

Government is suggesting that the changes could be in place but the

next general election. Our political correspondent, Ben Wright,

reports. He sets our taxes, but how much texted he and his colleagues

pay? This year's Budget contained a controversial cut to the 50p top

rate of income tax. In the Commons, Labour goaded the front bench of

the government side to come clean about whether they might be better

off. Hands up if you will benefit from the income tax cut... In a

interview in the Daily Telegraph, George Osborne said that in the

George Osborne said that in the last tax year, he was not a 50p

I think it should be for very senior politicians, those who want

to run our country or be in charge of the nation's finances, I think

it is reasonable to ask them to put their tax affairs into the public

domain. It is the race to be the Mayor of London which has fired up

this argument. Was that a yes or no? I am happy to publish details

of everything I have learnt in the last four years - will you do the

same? Of course I will. Both candidates have now revealed their

earnings, after accusing each other of avoiding income tax. Politicians

have been reaching for transparency in an effort to increase trust in

their profession. Now, in an age of austerity, it is their tax affairs

which are under focus. Cabinet ministers earn �134,000 a year, but

what about any money they make from rental income or shares, what tax

do they pay on that? By the time of the next general election, senior

politicians may be able -- may be expected to show that they do in

private what they talk about in public. In America, Mitt Romney has

been under pressure to explain how much tax he pays. But not everybody

is convinced the Americans have got it right. We need to ask, what

makes for best conduct in public life and elections? We are in

danger of too much of the debate being about individuals, and not

enough being about what they're going to do with their public time

and in their public office. source close to Ed Miliband said

Labour would match any move on tax disclosure. George Osborne's

comments are designed in part to keep pressure on Ken Livingstone.

You can see a full list of candidates for London's mayoral

election on the BBC website. The 158th Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race

was suspended in dramatic fashion this afternoon after a swim and

moved into the path of the boats, narrowly avoiding getting hit. He

was arrested by police, and the race was restarted almost half-an-

hour later. The two boats clash, and Oxford lost an oar, allowing

Cambridge to take the victory. After so many years, this was the

most dramatic boat race. COMMENTATOR: What has happened?

Cambridge have stopped. There is a man's woman a cross between the

boats... A swimmer stopped the race, narrowly averting injury himself.

Police would not immediately confirm that he was a protester,

but he was arrested. It is a reminder in Olympic year of how

high-profile sport can be disrupted. The race was restarted, but it

quickly became chaotic. That is a big clash, and there's a broken oar.

The oar of Hanno Wienhausen was missing a blade. But the umpire

decided that the collision was the fault of the Oxford cox. Oxford's

attempts to catch up had their effect on Alex Woods, who was

carried from the boat, and taken to hospital. Oxford say he was

conscious. After all of this, the victory seem meaningless. Teaching

unions have voted to escalate industrial action in their dispute

with the Government over pay, pensions and working conditions. It

raises the possibility of strikes closing schools later in the year.

From Birmingham, Reeta Chakrabarti reports. A vicious assault on

teachers, that was the NASUWT's verdict on government policies,

prompting a vote to intensify industrial action. Teachers here

were ready to go on strike. I think it is regrettable but necessary,

given that every single day we are being very publicly, deliberately

vilified. Teachers do not want to take action, they want to teach.

But teachers will feel more pushed to take action in the future, yes.

chairs and angry about their pensions, into which they are

paying more, and have to work longer for, and they are opposed to

the spread of academies, publicly funded, independent schools which

they say will break up state education. There is no minister

here for the first time ever, but the Labour spokesman told teachers

they should be held in higher esteem, although he would not back

strike action. I am not in the business of supporting strike

action, I want schools to be open, I want children to be learning.

However, I recognise that teachers have some legitimate grievances and

an important contribution to make to the debate. I would appeal to

Michael Gove to listen to those concerns and sit down with the

NASUWT and with the other representatives of teachers.

Government says strikes benefit no- one, and the present pensions offer

is as good as it gets. Without compromise, today has brought the

possibility of strikes in the autumn closer. An avalanche has

struck a Pakistani military base in the Himalayas, burying more than

100 soldiers. The men are trapped in snow up to 80ft deep on a

glacier in the Kashmir region. Activists in Syria say more than 70

civilians have been killed today by security forces loyal to the

President. President Assad has pledged to withdraw heavy weapons

from built-up areas by next week, as part of the UN-brokered peace

plan. This report from Jim Muir. In Damascus, almost as though

everything were normal, the regime was holding a big rally to

celebrate the 65th anniversary of the ruling Baath Party. But in Homs,

not far to the north, a very different story. Several quarters

of the country's third biggest city were being heavily bombarded.

Activists say many died here, and even more further north, near Hama,

where they said shelling caused the real massacre. They put video

images on the Internet, but they are too gruesome for us to show.

Under the Kofi Annan peace plan, Syrian troops are meant to be

already withdrawing from towns and cities, a process which is to be

completed by Tuesday. The Americans said satellite images showed them

to be still in place. If the regime does call off its crackdown and

call out the military by Tuesday, rebel fighters from the Free Syrian

Army are supposed to follow suit, so that a comprehensive truce is in

place by Thursday. That would allow UN observers to deploy. But the

approaching deadline has led to an upsurge in violence, sending

thousands of refugees across the border into Turkey. Ankara has told

the UN it will need help if the Sport, and Celtic have clinched the

Scottish Premier League title in style, winning 6-0 at Kilmarnock.

Charlie Mulgrew got the first, with a header. Four more followed,

before Gary Hooper got the sixth, to claim the club's first title in

four years. It is the greatest moment in my professional life, it

does not get much better than this. I am so proud. It is hard to put it

into words at times, what you go through. But today was the epitome

of this team. England's cricketers have retain their status as the

number one Test team, following victory over Sri Lanka in the

second Test match. Graeme Swann took six wickets in the second