Browse content similar to Lord Heseltine - British deputy prime minster 1995-97. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Pakistani troops inside Indian territory on Tuesday. Pakistan | :00:03. | :00:08. | |
denies the incident even happened. A senior US State Department | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
official says it is in the interest of his country that Britain keeps a | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
strong voice in the EU. He also expressed concern of the prospect | :00:15. | :00:25. | |
of a referendum. He said they often turn countries inwards. | :00:25. | :00:35. | |
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Halfway through its parliamentary term, Britain's Conservative-led | :00:36. | :00:40. | |
coalition government has a growth problem. The economy is flat, | :00:40. | :00:45. | |
possibly heading for a triple dip recession. But how does a | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
government committed to fiscal austerity wrap things up? My guest | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
is Lord Heseltine, the former deputy prime minister, who was last | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
year commissioned to come up with a growth strategy on a range of | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
issues from economic management to Europe. Art today's tory leaders | :01:03. | :01:13. | |
:01:13. | :01:34. | ||
ready to heed this voice of Lord Heseltine, welcome to HARDtalk. | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
Nice to the back. You were very frank in a report on growth that | :01:39. | :01:43. | |
you wrote for prime minister David Cameron last year. You said the | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
government urgently needs to develop a strategy for growth and | :01:47. | :01:52. | |
wealth creation. Do you see signs that they had heeded your message? | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
The response from the Chancellor and the prime minister has been as | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
encouraging as I could expect. Not only have they welcomed it and said | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
nice things but they have also said that by the Budget time in spring, | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
they will do a full response. On the single biggest recommendation... | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
You did say it was urgent. That did not sound like an urgent response. | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
For the government to absorb BT9 recommendations and said they will | :02:21. | :02:27. | |
respond is pretty good. -- 89. They have gone further than that. They | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
said on the principal recommendation, which is that we | :02:30. | :02:33. | |
embrace the enthusiasms of Britain's provinces and get them | :02:33. | :02:39. | |
more involved in the process, they are going to move the timescale to | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
what I recommended and start financing it from April. I come | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
back to the point of urgency, given the state of the economy, which is | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
flatlining, it does not seem very urgent to take onboard your main | :02:52. | :02:56. | |
recommendation, to put a lot of body that was going to be sent -- | :02:56. | :02:59. | |
spent by central government in two cities and regions, but only begin | :02:59. | :03:05. | |
to make that happen by 2015. That doesn't seem terribly urgent. | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
as quick as you can do it. This is capital money and the availability | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
of that capital money will not free up in the economy until about 2015, | :03:16. | :03:21. | |
because it is now already committed in terms of contracts which have | :03:21. | :03:28. | |
been met and negotiated. There is not a short-term fix. The | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
introduction to this programme talks about Britain's lack of | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
growth. What is happening in the principal markets? China and India | :03:35. | :03:42. | |
are slowing. Slowing from double digits... They are slower than they | :03:42. | :03:48. | |
were. The opportunities are smaller. Europe is flat mining. America, -- | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
cliff edge. Anybody who says there is no opportunity is deceiving. We | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
have a world economic crisis. -- there is plenty of opportunity. | :03:57. | :04:01. | |
What this government is doing and what I have accepted they should do | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
is recognise there is no more money. We know that. We have to use what | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
we have got better. It is broadly capital investment. Most of the | :04:10. | :04:14. | |
available money is already committed. It does not start being | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
available until about 2015. But you have a plan and so you start | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
planning this year to how you use the money more effectively, when it | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
is available. If the economy is an ocean liner and it takes time to | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
turn into round and put it in a better direction, does that mean | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
that in the short from the people of this country should expect this | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
sort -- this sub-zero growth or even the possibility of a new | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
contract have to take place? Are you saying there is nothing the | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
government can do to avoid the triple dip? They can do a lot, | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
which they are doing, which is to address the fundamental problem of | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
too much debt. You need to pay down the debt and until people have done | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
that, they will not be an escalation of comfort. Surely they | :05:03. | :05:06. | |
have to Gillett -- get the balance right, of addressing the fiscal | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
problem and adopt a management of the economy that encourages growth. | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
Of course. Is the balance right at the moment? They are changing it. | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
Of course they would not have asked me to do the report if they thought | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
it was all right. But to be clear, we are not talking about the | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
creation of this government, we are talking at the least about the | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
inheritance of this government. But it is more serious than that. It is | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
about the way we manage this economy over decades. If we start | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
looking at the wheel inhibitors to group, not the simple headlines | :05:40. | :05:44. | |
that if false impressions, but the real inhibitors about changing | :05:44. | :05:50. | |
education standards, making skills available, you can't do that except | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
in the medium to long-term. This government has embarked on that | :05:54. | :05:59. | |
journey. In every recommendation I made, broadly, I am saying the | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
government go further and faster. What I am not saying he's changed | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
direction. I am interested in if you are self -- philosophical | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
underpinnings of your message. seemed to have a deep suspicion of | :06:10. | :06:16. | |
the ability of central government to understand and -- understand how | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
to stimulate the economy in all of its perversity, the different | :06:19. | :06:23. | |
regions and cities of the nation. You seem to suggest the only way to | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
do that is take a big chunk of money, up to nearly �50 billion, | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
and take that out of the hands of central government departments and | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
put it in the hands of councils, local business leaders, enterprise | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
partnerships and have then make the spending decisions. That is of | :06:42. | :06:46. | |
course how we made this country, if you think about where the greatness | :06:46. | :06:51. | |
of Britain came from. It came from local leaders, industrial leaders, | :06:51. | :07:01. | |
:07:01. | :07:01. | ||
the gears with their feet on the ground and local experience. Can I | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
explore the words you just use. They are the secret behind it all. | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
I am doing an exercise in Birmingham to look at the detail of | :07:10. | :07:18. | |
this particular option of going much more local. I have got the | :07:18. | :07:23. | |
chief executive of the John Lewis partnership and wheels of local | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
authorities. I have got the vice chancellor of one of the | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
universities. -- leaders. I have a senior accountant in the Midlands | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
and outside help from very experienced industrialists. That is | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
the local way of looking at the auction. You quite rightly referred | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
to central government. What could be the alternative to this local | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
team? It is an official in the Department of Housing, an official | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
in the Department of Transport, an official in the Department of | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
Agriculture. In other words, functional monopolies in Whitehall | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
of officials. Most of whom have never had experience of creating | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
wealth in the first place. That is the choice. It's a fascinating | :08:03. | :08:08. | |
choice. I can't help remembering, as you tell me about this, that you | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
have served as a national British politicians, working with Whitehall | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
in the civil service, for many decades. -- politician. He rose to | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
Deputy Prime Minister after many years in Conservative government. - | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
- you roos. It seems you think there is something fundamentally | :08:26. | :08:29. | |
dysfunctional about central government and its call role in | :08:29. | :08:36. | |
managing the economy. I agree with that. -- its core role. We are | :08:36. | :08:41. | |
grossly over-centralised. Unlike any other advanced economy in the | :08:41. | :08:45. | |
world. If you think about Germany, the Department of France, wherever | :08:45. | :08:50. | |
you look, the work of local economic strengths and build on | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
that. We take all of the decisions to London and impose solutions. Not | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
solutions for Birmingham or Manchester or Leeds but solutions | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
for the local roads and housing, for the local this and that. There | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
is no other economy thinking it can manage the centre as dynamic -- at | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
dynamically as building on the strengths of the local economies. | :09:11. | :09:17. | |
But maybe the difference is that in Germany, for example, there is a | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
much more well developed tradition of making key decisions at a | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
regional city and local level. Take one example of why perhaps Britain | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
is different. This government, the Conservative Party of David Cameron, | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
has tried to push the idea of spreading elective neighbours | :09:33. | :09:40. | |
around the country. Getting all of England's cities to have their own | :09:40. | :09:46. | |
ears. The idea was rejected by nearly all cities. -- Mails. Many | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
have them now, many of the different police districts, but | :09:50. | :09:53. | |
only after an election process which was pitiful, with a turnout | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
on average of 15%. There is not a tradition in this country of making | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
key decisions at local levels. agree. That is half the problem | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
because over decades, over probably about a century, we have sucked the | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
decision-making out of the local communities and told them what to | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
do. Now, all over this country, people are saying, what does London | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
want us to do? Can we get permission for this? Will they | :10:20. | :10:29. | |
finance that? That is installed a fine psychology. We began by | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
talking about the urgency to inject a stimulus into the car economy. | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
You are talking about systemic changes in the way we run ourselves | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
as an economy, which will take decades to unfold. Here we are, | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
still sitting with an immediate economic challenge. Isn't that the | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
reason why central government needs to do the pump-priming of the | :10:49. | :10:53. | |
economy now, which you seem to be avoiding? There is the phrase, | :10:53. | :10:57. | |
there is no money left. That was the outgoing Chief Secretary in the | :10:57. | :11:02. | |
last administration. There is no money left. All the posturing of | :11:02. | :11:06. | |
politician saying do a bit more here, spend more there, it will not | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
happen. There is no spare money. The only option is to use existing | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
money more effectively. We have talked about regionalism. There is | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
another way in which your ideas run up against counter trend inside | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
your own party. You want new powers for these local enterprise | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
partnerships. Some would call goes quasi non-governmental | :11:28. | :11:31. | |
organisations which the current Cameron government has pledged to | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
put on the bonfire. They want to get rid of that. They created these | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
people. What they are these basically the strength of them is | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
the local authority, maybe a combination of local authorities. | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
But the big resource is within the local authorities. The difference | :11:49. | :11:54. | |
is that this government was brought -- has brought in the private | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
sector as partners. Renewed talk about accountability, there are two. | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
No crime can come from the left without the local authority, which | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
is democratically accountable, being a partner. A decision can be | :12:07. | :12:10. | |
taken without the central government, democratically | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
accountable, approving it. A final thought. You have always said if | :12:15. | :12:21. | |
you believe in regulation, just of wise and well developed regulation, | :12:21. | :12:25. | |
coming from the state. There are many in your own party who think | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
the fundamental problem right now for the British economy is that it | :12:29. | :12:34. | |
is over-regulated and the push must be to cut suedes of government red- | :12:34. | :12:40. | |
tape, to deregulate and that is the only way of getting this economy | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
moving. -- cut swathes. You mean unravel civilised society? Because | :12:45. | :12:48. | |
regulation does. If you believe in the jungle, you don't have | :12:48. | :12:53. | |
regulations. Survival of the fittest. What democracy has done is | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
actually to create a civilised based on which they -- there are | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
entitlements and responsibilities and certainties. Some of it may be | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
over down but the idea that you will strip away the fundamental | :13:06. | :13:09. | |
underpinning of a civilised society and create a new jungle is | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
preposterous and I don't know any politician who believes it. Many | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
use the rhetoric. Until you ask them to show the detail... | :13:19. | :13:25. | |
Sometimes they are right at the margin or fringe. A practical | :13:25. | :13:30. | |
example. That is the state intervening to make people put a | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
helmet on when they are on a motorbike. You will have to explain | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
that. The thing you where to stop yourself getting killed when you | :13:36. | :13:42. | |
fall off your motorbike. That is state regulation. A helmet? They | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
are called Steve Rhodes. Argue seriously telling me that that was | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
the wrong thing to do and secondly if it was the right thing to do, | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
can you say how many people are employed and -- in making them for | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
people on motorbikes? That is wealth-creation. Let's talk about a | :13:59. | :14:03. | |
different aspect of the relationship between government, | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
society and the economy. In the last few days, but of the political | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
oxygen in this country has been sucked up in a debate about | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
benefits. The Cameron government has passed legislation which will | :14:14. | :14:19. | |
put a cap, an unprecedented attack, on benefit rises. They will not | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
rise with inflation in three years and will be capped at 1%. | :14:24. | :14:28. | |
Unprecedented in 70 years. There are many, obviously the Labour | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
Party, but many in the NGOs sector who work with the poorest people in | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
this country who say it is an assault on decency, on basic | :14:37. | :14:47. | |
:14:47. | :14:48. | ||
British values, and deeply divisive. That is what pressure groups say, | :14:48. | :14:53. | |
they will believe it. I am saying that people with limited income at | :14:53. | :14:58. | |
work should actually be taxed at a higher level than is necessary in | :14:58. | :15:08. | |
:15:08. | :15:09. | ||
order to advance the benefits of those on benefits. I must be | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
allowed to finish the sentence. Are you saying that those people on the | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
lowest income should pay more tax in order that the benefits could | :15:18. | :15:24. | |
rise faster than incomes are rising? That is the judgement | :15:24. | :15:31. | |
behind the question you are asking me. Are you saying that this | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
particular initiative, which hits the poorest in the country hardest, | :15:35. | :15:41. | |
it hits the working poor very hard, is that the right way to respond to | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
what is a fiscal crisis. Is that fair? Whatever you do people will | :15:46. | :15:53. | |
say it is not fair. Personally, I will tell you, take away my winter | :15:53. | :16:02. | |
fuel allowance, any sort of benefits through the tax system. | :16:02. | :16:07. | |
The politics of it are difficult. I think they should do it. That would | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
be another example of fairness. I would be the first to support it. | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
The fact of the matter is, you are left with this question, there is | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
no money. You have got to make tough decisions. In recent years | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
benefits have been rising faster than incomes. This government | :16:27. | :16:33. | |
measure addresses that issue. Not attractive politically. Just look | :16:33. | :16:40. | |
at some of the statistics. 7 million working families will be | :16:40. | :16:46. | |
more than �100 worse off every year. That is for the poor working | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
families of this country. Going back to the debate about the | :16:51. | :16:56. | |
balance between austerity and growth, particularly in the regions | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
where most of the poor live. The cities and towns to have talked | :17:01. | :17:05. | |
about, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool. Does it fit with your | :17:05. | :17:11. | |
vision of how to get growth growing? The idea of getting debt | :17:11. | :17:17. | |
under control fits absolutely. If we do not, interest rates will rise. | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
The very people you are talking out will be priced out of jobs. There | :17:22. | :17:32. | |
is a balance in all of these things. Do you personally think been... To | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
help the richest people in this country, at the same time as | :17:36. | :17:44. | |
hitting the ball with his benefits policy. With your long experience | :17:44. | :17:54. | |
:17:54. | :17:58. | ||
in politics, does it make sense to you? You have raised another issue | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
and I welcome find it. I thought we had reached a broad feeling that | :18:03. | :18:08. | |
40% tax was about right. It is quite a lot of money but it seems | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
fair enough. Just before the last election the Labour Party thought, | :18:13. | :18:19. | |
we will get it up to 50p. Hopefully the Tories will object to it and we | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
will pay them in a corner as the friends of the rich. The rich are | :18:24. | :18:30. | |
the ones who manage the investments and create the jobs. That is swept | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
aside by the politics. Of course the Labour Party did it quite | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
deliberately. They know it does not produce much money but it has a | :18:39. | :18:47. | |
disincentive affect. They put the government into a corner. I believe | :18:47. | :18:53. | |
that was a very sad thing to do. I thought we had reached a degree of, | :18:53. | :19:01. | |
you know, compromise about this whole... A final thought on this. | :19:01. | :19:08. | |
You know that in the 1980s and perhaps in the 90s, there was a way | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
in which a perception developed that the Tories were relatively | :19:14. | :19:22. | |
economic efficiency managers, but they were the nasty party. Do you | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
believe there is a danger of the Tories once again being perceived | :19:26. | :19:35. | |
as the nasty party? I think that is something they will be preoccupied | :19:35. | :19:41. | |
by. Rightly so. Do I think it will be sustainable? No, I do not. The | :19:42. | :19:48. | |
judgement will be made in 2015 in the election. In 2015 Cameron will | :19:48. | :19:54. | |
win and he will win on three arguments. We have begun to grip | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
the economic balances and to get stability. We have tackled a | :19:59. | :20:03. | |
century of problem in the education field. Thirdly, we have begun to | :20:03. | :20:11. | |
tackle this problem of too many people dependent on the state. | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
cannot look too far ahead now. Long before 2015 there are other key | :20:16. | :20:25. | |
decisions. I want to get to Europe. It was one of the 80 | :20:25. | :20:30. | |
recommendations you came up with for David Cameron, he must engage a | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
stable policy for Europe. Nobody could argue that right now British | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
policy in Europe is stable or predictable. He is about to make a | :20:39. | :20:46. | |
big speech on Europe. He has given the signal that he wants to discuss | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
repatriating powers, renegotiating the fundamental relationship | :20:49. | :20:55. | |
between Britain and the European Union. Do you think he is making a | :20:55. | :21:04. | |
terrible, even hysterical mistake? -- historical. Something Lady | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
Thatcher said which I would remind the Prime Minister of, never go | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
into a room before working out how to get out of it. That is the | :21:12. | :21:19. | |
problem. I have every sympathy with the Prime Minister. I lived through | :21:19. | :21:27. | |
John Major's regime. He is under great pressure. Great political | :21:27. | :21:33. | |
pressure. He has propaganda sheets in the name of national newspapers | :21:33. | :21:41. | |
are producing the most appalling misrepresentation. He is the | :21:41. | :21:47. | |
political leader. I have great sympathy for his position. The real | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
world is that for 1,000 years there has never been a moment when alpha | :21:52. | :22:02. | |
:22:02. | :22:02. | ||
interest, self- interest, have not been interwoven with Europe. It is | :22:02. | :22:08. | |
clear that a strong, maybe even majority of Tory MPs, once an in- | :22:08. | :22:18. | |
out referendum. The idea of a Britain outside the EU holds no | :22:18. | :22:26. | |
fear. Should they? We are gaining what we can from the facts of | :22:27. | :22:36. | |
modern life. Not even modern life. It has been there for as long as I | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
have had any knowledge of history. The idea that the Europeans are | :22:41. | :22:46. | |
going to abandon their deepest convictions to suit us, is, how may | :22:46. | :22:56. | |
:22:56. | :23:04. | ||
I put it? A -- a bit of a punt. is not going to work if there are | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
27-28 categories of EU membership. Many in Europe believe that if | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
David Cameron pushers for a new relationship he will end up facing | :23:13. | :23:20. | |
the exit doors. The thing I find interesting about Ireland, the | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
Euro-sceptics were telling us they were going to have to abandon the | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
euro. The newspapers are now about how much money they have been able | :23:30. | :23:35. | |
to raise because they have addressed national problems. Today | :23:35. | :23:39. | |
people know the euro is going to survive. Do you believe Cameron may | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
be the British leader who ends up taking Britain out of the European | :23:43. | :23:50. | |
Union? I do not think we are going to leave the EU. It would be an | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
extraordinary abdication of British self interest if we were to believe. | :23:55. | :24:01. | |
In the mid-term of the Parliament there is growing unease which you | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
see in Scotland, France, Holland and Germany. People are frustrated | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
by what is happening. This is being exploited by people who ought to | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
know better into trying to suggest this is a membership of Europe. | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
Some of those people are Tories. Do you feel desperately isolated in | :24:22. | :24:30. | |
Europe own party? I think if you get down to it, the majority of the | :24:30. | :24:37. | |
Europe. Do you really think so? That is not what we hear. It is not | :24:37. | :24:44. | |
the sound you hear. It is the question of the silent majority. I | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
think the Prime Minister represents that majority. We have to end there. | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
Lord Heseltine, famous for being on HARDtalk. Thank you are very much | :24:55. | :25:05. | |
:25:05. | :25:28. | ||
We are just over one week into the New Year, no wintry weather as of | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
yet. That is going to change. Some fog patches forming overnight. | :25:34. | :25:36. | |
Particularly across the Midlands and areas of the West Country. | :25:36. | :25:43. | |
Things will turn quite murky overnight. Light rain over the | :25:43. | :25:48. | |
south-west of the British Isles. It is going to be a grey start to the | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
morning, maybe not 50 Shades of Grey, but a couple. Some thick | :25:51. | :25:56. | |
cloud heading into the north and east of Scotland. Into England you | :25:56. | :26:03. | |
can see most areas begin with grey skies. If we have clearer weather, | :26:03. | :26:10. | |
there will be pockets of frost around here and there. Into the | :26:10. | :26:14. | |
Midlands and West Country, it is a murky start with fog around. | :26:15. | :26:19. | |
Visibility below 100 metres, making for some difficult driving | :26:19. | :26:22. | |
conditions. Rain edging into Cornwall, a few spots of rain | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
falling in Devon and Somerset. East Anglia and the south-east, a dry | :26:25. | :26:34. | |
start to the morning. It is going to be grey and quite cold as well. | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
For the rest of Thursday, parts of the Midlands will see some fog | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
lingering. We see the thicker cloud bring outbreaks of rain eastwards | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
into southern parts of Wales and into Somerset, Devon and Dorset | :26:46. | :26:53. | |
towards the end of the day. Sunshine in short supply. Friday, | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
we have this weather front affecting eastern areas of Scotland | :26:56. | :26:59. | |
and England. That is where the thickest cloud is expected. | :26:59. | :27:07. | |
Temperatures around 4-5 degrees. It is going to be a cool day. A little | :27:07. | :27:09. | |
bit of sunshine around. With the best of the sunshine, temperatures | :27:10. | :27:17. | |
up 6-7 degrees. Mild weather hanging on into the south-west. | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
Things are set to change this weekend. Low pressure works in off | :27:20. | :27:28. | |
the Atlantic. Snow for a time on the edge of it. Saturday night we | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
tap into the cold air from the near continent. That will bring a risk | :27:32. | :27:34. | |
of snow to southern counties of England. Not just over hills, at | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
lower levels as well. This weekend it is going to turn colder. The | :27:39. | :27:45. |