:00:22. > :00:27.The former Business Secretary, Sir Vince Cable, has suggested
:00:28. > :00:31.the government's decision to delay signing up to a new nuclear power
:00:32. > :00:33.station in Somerset is due to the Prime Minister's reluctance
:00:34. > :00:38.Sir Vince said Theresa May, during the coalition years,
:00:39. > :00:41.was unhappy with what he described as the "gung-ho" approach to Chinese
:00:42. > :00:43.investment adopted by the former Chancellor, George Osborne.
:00:44. > :00:53.Our political correspondent, Iain Watson, reports.
:00:54. > :00:59.The ground quite literally had been cleared. But politically, there is
:01:00. > :01:04.lots of work to be done before a new nuclear power station is built at
:01:05. > :01:09.Hinkley. The French company EDF may have moved heaven and earth to reach
:01:10. > :01:14.a relatively quick decision, but the precise reason for the prime
:01:15. > :01:18.ministerial is not known. Today, for the first time, someone who has sat
:01:19. > :01:22.round the Cabinet table with Theresa May give us is inside. When we were
:01:23. > :01:27.in government, Theresa May was clear she was unhappy about the rather
:01:28. > :01:32.gung ho approach to Chinese investment that we had. George
:01:33. > :01:37.Osborne in particular was promoting that. As I recall, she raised
:01:38. > :01:42.objections to Hinkley at that time. I think we have got the different
:01:43. > :01:45.Prime Minister with a different set of priorities. Projects of this kind
:01:46. > :01:50.will be looked at through a different filter. There could be
:01:51. > :01:54.other reasons as well. The ?18 billion price tag would make Hinkley
:01:55. > :01:58.the world's most expensive power station, and the guaranteed price we
:01:59. > :02:20.would pay for its electricity is twice the
:02:21. > :02:24.going rate. The previous occupant of number 11 Downing St was very keen
:02:25. > :02:27.at Hinkley went ahead, but as one government voice put it, do not and
:02:28. > :02:29.estimate the antipathy that Theresa May feels towards George Osborne.
:02:30. > :02:31.Her officials say she needs time to look over the details. The prime
:02:32. > :02:34.ministerial poise has opened up new questions about the viability of the
:02:35. > :02:36.project. It has been reopened to political scrutiny. The Labour
:02:37. > :02:38.leader welcomes the debate. The headline figures are disturbing on
:02:39. > :02:41.the price. The price of electricity that will be generated, the risk to
:02:42. > :02:44.the British taxpayer of the whole thing and the fact we're handing
:02:45. > :02:47.over large areas of our energy generation to the French and Chinese
:02:48. > :02:52.to control. We need serious discussions and we will be having
:02:53. > :02:56.them. Some business voices are now calling for a quick clarification
:02:57. > :03:00.that other major infrastructure projects such as HS2 will not be
:03:01. > :03:05.sidetracked and that airport expansion is on the radar of Number
:03:06. > :03:09.10. The government says the future of new nuclear capacity is not up in
:03:10. > :03:15.the air, but it is not clear that Hinkley will go ahead in the way
:03:16. > :03:18.that the previous administration imagined. Ian Watson, BBC News.
:03:19. > :03:21.At least 16 people are believed to have been killed after a hot
:03:22. > :03:23.air balloon caught fire and crashed in Texas.
:03:24. > :03:26.The balloon came down in a field near the city of Lockhart
:03:27. > :03:30.Emergency services are on the scene and have found wreckage lying
:03:31. > :03:34.Federal investigators are on their way to the accident.
:03:35. > :03:37.The Bank of England has insisted that major banks in the UK
:03:38. > :03:39.are resilient enough to withstand an economic downturn.
:03:40. > :03:42.It comes after the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays performed
:03:43. > :03:44.poorly in tests to find out how the biggest European banks would
:03:45. > :03:51.The so-called "stress tests" were run by the European
:03:52. > :03:57.Our business correspondent, Joe Lynam, has more.
:03:58. > :04:00.RBS was the bank that nearly destroyed the UK banking system.
:04:01. > :04:03.We had to bail it out, and even now, it, alongside Barclays,
:04:04. > :04:06.will be left with some of the lowest levels of financial reserves
:04:07. > :04:13.51 of the biggest lenders in Europe were tested to see
:04:14. > :04:17.whether they would survive a major economic shock.
:04:18. > :04:20.In the case of RBS, its cushion of capital fell
:04:21. > :04:25.by 7.5 percentage points, the third biggest fall of all banks.
:04:26. > :04:28.But RBS will not need to raise any additional money after the tests,
:04:29. > :04:33.Having shown their resilience in the face of a massive potential
:04:34. > :04:38.economic shock, officials at the Bank of England
:04:39. > :04:40.will doubtless have been relieved that no British banks
:04:41. > :04:47.The same, though, cannot be said for other countries.
:04:48. > :04:49.The stress tests only covered the largest banks.
:04:50. > :04:52.They excluded the small banks, and that is where a lot
:04:53. > :04:56.In Italy, possibly in Germany, and certainly
:04:57. > :05:00.Greece and Portugal were entirely excluded from the stress tests,
:05:01. > :05:12.The second is, there is a specific problem in Italy.
:05:13. > :05:15.We know Monte Dei Paschi, the oldest bank in the world,
:05:16. > :05:17.under the stress tests, its capital would disappear
:05:18. > :05:22.And that bank would have simply run out of money in the event
:05:23. > :05:28.It had to agree to a last-minute refinancing worth ?4.2 billion late
:05:29. > :05:32.last night, in order to reassure investors and governments.
:05:33. > :05:36.Italy, it appears, is now in the same position that the UK
:05:37. > :05:44.Their debts were simply too big and they need a bail out or bail
:05:45. > :05:46.in to ensure Europe avoids another financial crisis.
:05:47. > :05:48.Britain would not be immune from that.
:05:49. > :05:52.Pregnant women are being advised to postpone
:05:53. > :05:54.non-essential travel to Florida because of concerns
:05:55. > :05:57.about the Zika virus, which causes birth defects.
:05:58. > :05:59.Public Health England issued the warning after it was
:06:00. > :06:02.confirmed four people had caught the virus
:06:03. > :06:07.It's the first reported cluster of such cases on the US mainland
:06:08. > :06:09.where those infected hadn't travelled abroad.
:06:10. > :06:18.Not for nothing is it known as the Sunshine State.
:06:19. > :06:20.Miami's beaches are a magnet for British tourists.
:06:21. > :06:24.More than a million visit every year.
:06:25. > :06:28.Now, pregnant women are being urged to reconsider their travel plans.
:06:29. > :06:31.All because of mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, which
:06:32. > :06:36.has been linked to severe brain defects in newborns.
:06:37. > :06:42.Florida has become the first state in the US to confirm
:06:43. > :06:46.cases of Zika transmitted by local mosquitoes.
:06:47. > :06:48.Previous cases here have been confined to people
:06:49. > :06:52.Now that Florida has become the first state to have a local
:06:53. > :06:54.transmission, likely through mosquitoes, we will continue
:06:55. > :06:57.to put every resource available to fight the spread of
:06:58. > :07:04.Experts describe the risk to British holiday-makers
:07:05. > :07:07.as moderate but urge women who are about to have children
:07:08. > :07:11.They have not advised not to go because this is a very
:07:12. > :07:17.We are talking about Florida and not the rest of the USA.
:07:18. > :07:20.They are going to have to speak to their travel health adviser, GP,
:07:21. > :07:24.The World Health Organisation has described
:07:25. > :07:30.the virus as a global public health emergency.
:07:31. > :07:32.Officials here are not expecting a widespread outbreak of
:07:33. > :07:39.the disease but they are gearing up to combat small clusters of cases.
:07:40. > :07:42.The Zika virus has affected Brazil, where the
:07:43. > :07:49.Olympics gets under way in just six days'time.
:07:50. > :07:51.Top stars, including golfer Rory McIlroy, are staying away
:07:52. > :07:59.None of the four cases in Florida have been admitted to hospital.
:08:00. > :08:01.With no vaccine or drug treatment, there
:08:02. > :08:05.is still so much the experts do not know and the emphasis at this stage
:08:06. > :08:08.There's been a dramatic reduction in the use
:08:09. > :08:10.of plastic bags in England since people have been
:08:11. > :08:15.Figures from retailers show that just over half a billion bags
:08:16. > :08:17.were bought in the first six months after
:08:18. > :08:19.a five pence charge was introduced, a drop of over 80%.
:08:20. > :08:30.Scenes like this may be becoming a thing of the past.
:08:31. > :08:33.Today, shoppers are more likely to bring a bag from home,
:08:34. > :08:39.Since the 5p charge was introduced in England last October,
:08:40. > :08:41.the latest data from the government shows that plastic bag
:08:42. > :08:49.Having to pay for these bags has made a big early impact.
:08:50. > :08:52.In 2014, more than 7.5 billion bags were used in England,
:08:53. > :08:55.but in the six months since the charge was brought in,
:08:56. > :08:59.just over half a billion bags have been taken home by shoppers.
:09:00. > :09:02.Five pence is so little, it makes no difference at all.
:09:03. > :09:05.The ten pence one is a proper one, the five pence one
:09:06. > :09:09.I still forget that we have to pay 5p for them.
:09:10. > :09:18.And they say, that is 5p, and it is like, OK.
:09:19. > :09:21.I never tended to waste the bags but I think for the people that do
:09:22. > :09:26.There is less of them flying about in the street at the moment.
:09:27. > :09:29.England follows the trend seen around the rest of the UK.
:09:30. > :09:33.Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland all introduced the five pence levy
:09:34. > :09:36.earlier and saw reductions of up to 80% in single use
:09:37. > :09:40.Campaigners say this could have a big impact
:09:41. > :09:46.on the environment, especially the ocean.
:09:47. > :09:48.It is estimated that about 8 million tonnes of plastic end
:09:49. > :09:52.We are hoping that we will see less and less plastic bags
:09:53. > :09:57.Every year we survey our beaches and last year we found over 5,000
:09:58. > :10:04.We are hoping that with the charges in place now in all the countries
:10:05. > :10:07.in the UK, we will see a decrease in the number of bags
:10:08. > :10:12.When people do buy plastic bags, some money goes to charity,
:10:13. > :10:15.and it is estimated that nearly ?30 million has been raised so far.
:10:16. > :10:17.The government will now continue to track this,
:10:18. > :10:27.to see if plastic bag use continues to fall.
:10:28. > :10:30.We are back with the late news at a 10:15.