:00:08. > :00:11.Yes, we will cut income tax for the richest people in Britain, but
:00:11. > :00:16.don't look at that, look at what else we are doing, that seems to be
:00:16. > :00:21.the Government line tonight on the eve of the budget. So how does the
:00:21. > :00:26.country's most powerful heir to a Barnetcy make pleasing the rich
:00:26. > :00:30.look like benefiting the poor. In tomorrow's budget the personal
:00:30. > :00:34.tax threshold will be raised to over �9,000, and the rich will be
:00:34. > :00:38.hit by higher stamp duty. With slow growth and massive
:00:38. > :00:41.austerity ahead, can they do anything more than just tinger
:00:41. > :00:46.around the edges. Somewhere near Blackpool is a
:00:46. > :00:49.promise that by drilling down into Lancashire, we could dramatically
:00:49. > :00:53.cut energy bills, is the technique of fracking for natural gas one
:00:53. > :00:56.that we can really trust. We can assure people thatm so of the
:00:56. > :01:03.concerns you have regarding oil and gas drilling will not happen on our
:01:03. > :01:08.watch. # I won't let love
:01:08. > :01:12.# Disrupt or interrupt me He's famed as one of the finest
:01:12. > :01:18.rock by starrists, this being Newsnight, we asked Jack White who
:01:18. > :01:22.he votes for. He refuse to vote for President, I don't believe in the
:01:22. > :01:30.Electoral College, it is outdated from 200 years ago that doesn't
:01:30. > :01:33.make sense for modern times. One thing we definitely can be
:01:33. > :01:36.grateful for in tomorrow's budget, even if it does result in the
:01:36. > :01:40.Chancellor sticking his hands further into our pockets, we shan't
:01:40. > :01:44.have to listen to people telling us what he's going to say. Perhaps the
:01:44. > :01:47.most fatuous piece of news today was a poll showing that half of
:01:47. > :01:52.voters expect George Osborne to reward the rich. Well, perhaps he
:01:52. > :01:57.will. But the person from whom you will learn most this evening is
:01:57. > :02:01.Newsnight's political editor. You better deliver.
:02:01. > :02:07.So what we know this evening is that they will be increasing the
:02:07. > :02:11.personal tax allowance to �9,05, as said in the menu. This is important
:02:11. > :02:14.because it is money back in people's pockets. We had David Laws
:02:14. > :02:23.on the programme a month ago saying they want to go further and faster
:02:23. > :02:26.on this, they wanted to go to �8,100, up to �8,700, now it is the
:02:26. > :02:29.�9,200 figure. It is a tacit addition that people need money to
:02:29. > :02:32.spend money now, and the economy needs people to spend money. It is
:02:32. > :02:35.also the beginning of a shift we will see completed tomorrow, this
:02:35. > :02:39.one from income to wealth. They will come forward with
:02:39. > :02:43.announcements on a higher rate of stamp duty for those who have �2
:02:43. > :02:47.million houses. It won't be a pure mansion tax, but a form of it. Yes,
:02:47. > :02:51.they are also highly likely, in fact, definitely getting rid of the
:02:51. > :02:59.50p rate. But again that fits the John Stuart Mill thing of, we have
:02:59. > :03:03.made a film about this. Shifting from income to wealth, it is bit et
:03:03. > :03:08.a big shift. -- quite a big shift.
:03:08. > :03:11.It has been a very odd process? Sources point to Sweden where, in
:03:11. > :03:14.the UK we have this emphasis on the one event, the Chancellor's
:03:14. > :03:17.announcement, actually in other countries they do bits and bobs,
:03:17. > :03:20.and lots of people get to announce things. They say it makes for a
:03:20. > :03:24.better budget. I think as long as the coalition las we will have
:03:24. > :03:28.budgets like this, -- coalitions lasts, we will have budgets like
:03:28. > :03:32.this, and we won't have one of the old type for many years or never
:03:32. > :03:36.again. What is busy today? The look at 50p and why they feel they can
:03:36. > :03:40.scrap it. Tomorrow's events in the palace of
:03:40. > :03:45.Westminster, will have a feeling of austerity. But today's state
:03:45. > :03:48.occasion was far more convivial. 24 hours before one of the most
:03:48. > :03:54.anticipated budgets, today's chatter will have been of tax cuts,
:03:54. > :04:00.and not any old tax cut, the big one .Le These chaps probably earn
:04:00. > :04:02.too little for it to affect them, so do these two. And most of these
:04:02. > :04:07.distinguished crowd also. The centre piece of this year's budget
:04:07. > :04:11.looks like it will affect people a bit nearer to the Monarch's league.
:04:12. > :04:15.Which certainly means one former PM. Despite the almost unprecedented
:04:15. > :04:19.pre-briefing, the Prime Minister himself, was rather quiet today.
:04:19. > :04:23.REPORTER: Are you looking forward to the budget? Even the Prime
:04:23. > :04:28.Minister's own advisers, who once upon time, hated the idea of
:04:28. > :04:31.ditching the 50p rate, well, they are now on side with the
:04:31. > :04:34.Chancellor's push. What they will do is a series of measures that
:04:34. > :04:38.will show the rich will pay, more than under the 50p regime, so they
:04:38. > :04:43.are going ahead with it. And once upon a time, we didn't think that
:04:43. > :04:50.would be true. Scrapping the 50p rate of tax fares badly in opinion
:04:50. > :04:57.poll, today's Guardian ICM poll showed 67% of voters wanted to the
:04:57. > :05:04.rate. Even among Tory spers, numbers that want to people is 65%.
:05:04. > :05:08.YouGov found similar figures. But 48% wanted tax reduced in a future
:05:08. > :05:14.budget. The Government think the public will be won round showing
:05:14. > :05:18.how little the tax has raised. predicted �2.6 billion, they
:05:18. > :05:21.thought that prudent. In response to similar changes in the US you
:05:21. > :05:25.are closer to �1 billion, the outturn may be lower than that.
:05:25. > :05:28.Even if the economics take their of themselves, is the political
:05:28. > :05:33.message of scrapping it a sensible one. I'm concerned about that, I'm
:05:33. > :05:36.concerned because the 50p tax rate sends out an important message. The
:05:36. > :05:40.message is, literally, we are all in this together, higher earners
:05:40. > :05:43.have to pay their share. The only way to go down well, I believe,
:05:43. > :05:47.with my constituents, is if two things take place. One the message
:05:47. > :05:52.is clearly conveyed, that higher earners are taking their share. I
:05:52. > :05:56.would use as an example of that, take ago I way child benefit from
:05:56. > :05:59.the top 15% of earners. That is a difficult thing for tax-payers to
:05:59. > :06:04.have to endure. The second thing is, we have to be absolutely
:06:04. > :06:09.LCH.Clearnet, the reason to take away the 50p tax rate, is to
:06:09. > :06:13.stimulate growth. If they are not clear about that, stories worried
:06:13. > :06:20.that they will have taunts from the Labour Party that they are in
:06:20. > :06:24.league with the superrich. Labour are not against the 50p rate
:06:25. > :06:27.cut, so it gives breathing room for the Chancellor. People are worried
:06:27. > :06:31.by high petrol and energy prices, they want action from the
:06:31. > :06:35.Government to help middle and lower income families. All we hear from
:06:35. > :06:39.Osborne is the budget will cut taxes for people earning above
:06:40. > :06:43.�150,000. People will say, that's out-of-touch, we want a budget for
:06:43. > :06:47.jobs and families which is fair, that is what we need from the
:06:47. > :06:51.budget. So tomorrow the megawealthy look set to be introduced to a new
:06:51. > :06:55.regime of tax breaks ended and allowances curtailed. The idea is
:06:55. > :06:59.they pay as much tax under the new system as the old. Two weeks ago
:06:59. > :07:02.Nick Clegg called that a tycoon tax, now people in this building are
:07:02. > :07:06.reluctant to give it that name in the budget tomorrow. The Tories
:07:06. > :07:10.feel they should get as much credit for this as the Lib Dems want to
:07:10. > :07:12.get. Whoever is the true author of this fresh crackdown on the
:07:12. > :07:16.superrich, Nick Clegg has some exacting members of his own party
:07:16. > :07:21.to please. If the 50p rate of tax on the top
:07:21. > :07:25.earners is going to go, then we need a policy which will be good
:07:25. > :07:28.for the people at the bottom end of the scale. We want to see the
:07:28. > :07:30.income tax threshold raised to �10,000. Nick Clegg set out his
:07:30. > :07:34.stall on that, he made it clear that is what the Liberal Democrats
:07:35. > :07:40.are asking for. That is what we have to get tomorrow.
:07:40. > :07:43.The Chancellor has been studying how Conservatives cut taxes in the
:07:43. > :07:46.80s, they did their tax cuts in the early periods, immediately after
:07:46. > :07:51.elections, and plenty of time before the next. If he's going to
:07:51. > :07:56.do it at all, he's got to do it now. All this happens amid the
:07:56. > :08:00.encirleling gloom to which we have now become rather accustomed, there
:08:00. > :08:04.was better news today, inflation has fallen, we are massively in
:08:04. > :08:14.debt as a nation, the economy is hardly growing, and unemployment is
:08:14. > :08:20.
:08:20. > :08:24.higher than for 17 years. He talks big, and never brings it on?
:08:24. > :08:30.have seen the set of leaks going on over the last few days. This is
:08:30. > :08:32.detail. The budget, I'm told, by sources, tonight, that it will be
:08:32. > :08:35.fiscally neutral, the important thing there, is for the markets,
:08:35. > :08:40.for the people who lend us the money, it means that the overall
:08:40. > :08:44.plan to get the deficit down is not changing. What is changing is the
:08:44. > :08:48.mix of tax and spending cuts. What they are doing here is they are
:08:48. > :08:56.reducing the tax. It will be a net tax cutting budget, I'm told, they
:08:56. > :09:02.will replace it with spending cuts. You will be stunned to know, ...For
:09:02. > :09:05.Those who don't inhabit the dismal science, what does fiscally neutral
:09:05. > :09:09.mean? It means they won't borrow more or less than they said they
:09:09. > :09:13.would. The course of setting the deficit right is as it was. But you
:09:13. > :09:18.will be stunned to know that nobody is briefing us as to what is to be
:09:18. > :09:22.cut, to pay for this. The danger with relying on extra cuts, the
:09:22. > :09:28.smart money is on more welfare cuts, actually. Is that you have still
:09:28. > :09:32.got to do them. 5% of these cuts lie ahead, and what the market --
:09:32. > :09:37.85% of these cuts lie ahead. What the markets are worried about, is
:09:37. > :09:40.if they do most of that by cutting, how will they do it. Is this good
:09:40. > :09:45.for persuading people they want to lend us money? It is a little worry
:09:45. > :09:48.for them. Last week, I think it was FITCH, the ratings agencies, put
:09:48. > :09:53.Britain on negative watch, worrying about getting pushed off the
:09:53. > :09:59.deficit reduction target. You have seen today in parliament the end,
:09:59. > :10:05.what looks like the end, a huge row between the parties over the NHS,
:10:05. > :10:08.the NHS, in technical terms, isn't being cut. Yet it has caused 18
:10:08. > :10:11.months of political pain. The cuts lie ahead, and for the last three
:10:11. > :10:17.years of the cuts programme, we don't know what will be cut. The
:10:17. > :10:25.NHS after the next election, tech clo and easily could be cut. The
:10:25. > :10:31.politic -- technically could easily be put. The bend and ratings agency
:10:31. > :10:35.guise worry about the scale of the cuts, and tomorrow if there is more
:10:35. > :10:38.cuts, which we are not briefed about, as well as the people who
:10:38. > :10:42.oppose cuts will be worried, the markets will not be particularly
:10:42. > :10:46.ecstatic, I don't think. Thank you very much. Most of the
:10:46. > :10:56.headlines are so far about what George Osborne may do to help or
:10:56. > :10:57.
:10:57. > :11:00.Hurd the rich. The former City Minister, Lord Myners, who now
:11:00. > :11:05.chairs Sevian Capital, and Kate Robertson, the marketing executive,
:11:05. > :11:09.they are not short of a bob or two or an opinion or two. At a time
:11:09. > :11:15.when the nation is short of cash, what is gained by cutting taxes for
:11:15. > :11:20.the rich? The gain to the country is the signal to business worldwide,
:11:20. > :11:23.that Britain is open for business. At the moment really, nothing else
:11:24. > :11:27.is more important, no other signal is more important.
:11:27. > :11:32.So you know loads of people who are not invest anything this country,
:11:32. > :11:37.because the rate of tax is 5p higher than it will be apparently
:11:37. > :11:40.after tomorrow? I certainly know some, I don't know if it is loads
:11:40. > :11:44.proportionally, it is enough to be making a difference. It certainly
:11:44. > :11:48.makes enough difference to my clients and to me in business.
:11:48. > :11:54.at the deterred? We are deterred, it is not just that tax rate itself.
:11:54. > :11:57.But by the fact that we are not showing confidence in the country
:11:57. > :12:01.and the economy. The other thing that is said about
:12:01. > :12:04.this tax is it doesn't bring in any money, which is rather at variance
:12:04. > :12:09.of it deterring people, if it doesn't bring in any money it is
:12:09. > :12:14.crazy to keep it? We haven't enough evidence yet, Jeremy. The
:12:14. > :12:17.Chancellor said he was going to commission a review of the impact,
:12:17. > :12:20.unfortunately he has done it through HMRC, rather than the
:12:20. > :12:25.Office of Budget Responsibility. It is not really an independent review.
:12:25. > :12:29.There is only one year of data. But there is a contradiction here, that
:12:29. > :12:34.the rich are saying we don't have any incentive to work hard because
:12:34. > :12:36.of the high rate of taxation, therefore it is not raising
:12:36. > :12:40.additional tax. They are getting around it through clever tax
:12:40. > :12:44.management. They can't have it both ways.
:12:44. > :12:46.So you will pledge, you are not in a position to make a pledge, do you
:12:46. > :12:49.think the Labour Party should pledge they will restore the 50p
:12:49. > :12:52.rate if indeed it is reduced tomorrow? I think the Labour Party
:12:52. > :12:59.will make their decisions on what they will put in their manifesto,
:12:59. > :13:02.when we get to 2015. But you think it will do nothing to
:13:02. > :13:06.distract from their claim of economic confidence to promise to
:13:06. > :13:10.do so? It is not a priority to reduce the tax on the superrich.
:13:10. > :13:14.There are far more pressing needs. Alistair Darling said when it was
:13:14. > :13:18.mooted he thought it was a temporary measure? The fiscal
:13:18. > :13:24.stance we take for the manifesto in 2015 will be determined at that
:13:24. > :13:32.time, it will be foolish to anticipate it, James, I mean Jeremy,
:13:32. > :13:36.sorry. That is twice, that's all right! What about the other thing,
:13:36. > :13:40.that will will be an increase on stamp duetyo for more expensive
:13:40. > :13:44.houses. Its not quite the Lib Dem mansion tax, but something along
:13:44. > :13:47.those lines, will that deter people from coming to this country? That
:13:47. > :13:50.is not the issue. The issue isn't whether it will deter them from
:13:50. > :13:55.coming to this country. The real issue is businesses in this country
:13:55. > :14:02.are sitting on piles and piles of cash, don't really have the
:14:02. > :14:04.confidence to invest, therefore, we are not able to create jobs. As
:14:04. > :14:07.soon as you are looking at an economy and saying businesses are
:14:07. > :14:10.not confident and we are not sure where this is going, then you have
:14:10. > :14:15.the situation we are in at the moment. We are only growing at
:14:15. > :14:18.about 1%. We should be at about 3%. Is there anything that the
:14:18. > :14:24.Chancellor could say tomorrow, which would be likely to change
:14:24. > :14:29.that? I think a first sign at cutting tax, at cutting the top
:14:29. > :14:34.rate is a start. It is a sign of confidence, Jeremy, it is nothing
:14:34. > :14:38.else it is that. If you are saying is there anything else he could be
:14:38. > :14:42.doing, absolutely. Paul raised the point about raising the �10,000
:14:42. > :14:45.threshold, raising the 40p threshold, lowering corporation tax
:14:45. > :14:51.to 20%, for me, all of those would stimulate business, they would
:14:51. > :14:54.stimulate my businesses, all of my clients' businesses, it would be
:14:54. > :14:58.brilliant. Don't you worry about how devisive it is going to be?
:14:58. > :15:02.Even most Conservative voters are against reducing the top rate of
:15:02. > :15:08.tax? It is devisive depending on the headline that, with the
:15:08. > :15:13.greatest of respect, you yourself, and the media, put it on it. Is the
:15:13. > :15:17.headline "tax cut for the rich" or "Britain open for business". How do
:15:17. > :15:21.you want it to play? Growth will only come from business. Jobs will
:15:21. > :15:25.come from business and not from the state sector. Forget about it, that
:15:25. > :15:30.is not going to happen. How much room for manoeuvre do you think he
:15:30. > :15:36.has tomorrow? Not a great deal. A broadly physicaly neutral stance is
:15:36. > :15:43.probably right, but he's -- fis fiscally neutral stance is probably
:15:43. > :15:45.right. We need a budget for the millions not the millionaires. We
:15:46. > :15:50.need to get the economy growing and create employment. The nation will
:15:50. > :15:54.say what are the priorities when you are cutting tax for the top 1%,
:15:54. > :15:58.and yet you can't do anything to help those who are at the most risk
:15:58. > :16:04.in the economy, the poor and those on low incomes. And that, I think,
:16:04. > :16:07.is the issue of justice, that this budget, if it is correctly leaked,
:16:07. > :16:11.doesn't appear to be able to address satisfactorily. Who knows
:16:11. > :16:17.if it is correctly leaked, it may be spun. That is what politicians
:16:17. > :16:21.and Governments generally. Do we will find out tomorrow.
:16:21. > :16:25.There is no justice without jobs, Lord Myners, there have to be more
:16:25. > :16:28.jobs. That is what I'm saying. First, second, third and last, when
:16:28. > :16:33.you say setting the priorities, and it is justice, and looking after
:16:33. > :16:37.the poorest. How? And with what? With what money? If there aren't,
:16:37. > :16:42.if there isn't stimulus for business and more jobs, forget
:16:42. > :16:46.about it, it cannot happen. We are not Russia or China, it won't work.
:16:46. > :16:49.Last year, Kate, the Chancellor said he would put fuel in the tank
:16:49. > :16:52.of economic recovery, it would be a march of the makers, that is proven
:16:53. > :16:57.to be nonsense, the economy has barely grown over the last 12
:16:57. > :17:02.months. Unemployment is rising, we now have over one million young
:17:02. > :17:05.people unemployed. We have just seen the national minimum wage held
:17:05. > :17:10.static for young people. I don't disagree with you here. That is
:17:10. > :17:14.where the effort needs to come. is not growing enough, that is true.
:17:14. > :17:17.Has he put fuel in the tank, not really, but the tax cuts aren't
:17:17. > :17:22.coming at the moment. We are talking about tax cuts not anything
:17:22. > :17:25.else. We better talk when we resume this and we know what we are
:17:25. > :17:30.talking about, rather than speculating. A new approach! Thank
:17:30. > :17:33.you, after 11.00 we will look at what the budget is do to help
:17:33. > :17:36.Britain' recovery, and what briefings the papers have had with
:17:36. > :17:40.a journalist and economist. The world is running out of energy,
:17:40. > :17:45.what brilliant news that there is a way of extracting vast quantities
:17:45. > :17:48.of natural gas from the earth, which might bridge the looming gap.
:17:48. > :17:52.Last year two earthquakes hit Blackpool, little ones, of course,
:17:52. > :17:56.but these were different, they were not natural phenomena, they were
:17:56. > :18:00.caused by efforts to extract methane gas from the ground, in a
:18:00. > :18:03.process known as fracking. No big deal, say the energy companies, who
:18:03. > :18:07.think fracking is hugely promising. It is huge in the states, but
:18:07. > :18:17.environmentalists hate it, and it is banned in France. Any day now
:18:17. > :18:17.
:18:17. > :18:21.the Government is expected to allow it to resume here. Do we want it.
:18:21. > :18:25.It was extremely unlikely there would be no earth tremors, there
:18:25. > :18:32.have already been two. earthquakes in two months won't
:18:32. > :18:35.stop gas drilling for good. Last year, Blackpool was hit by two
:18:35. > :18:41.small earthquakes. The tremors didn't amount to much,
:18:41. > :18:45.but these were no natural phenomena. By trying to extract methane gas
:18:45. > :18:51.from beneath the earth's surface, engineers had triggered a seismic
:18:51. > :18:58.response. The technique is known as fracking.
:18:58. > :19:02.Over 800 wells were planned Forsyths here on the Fylde tennis
:19:02. > :19:06.la, operations were called to -- peninsula, operations were called
:19:06. > :19:10.to a halt and the Government called for a review. The decision on
:19:10. > :19:15.whether they can start up again is gettinged any day now. But
:19:15. > :19:19.Newsnight -- expected any day now. But Newsnight has discovered
:19:19. > :19:22.regulation is not keeping pace with the industry. An industrial process
:19:22. > :19:27.that caused earthquakes clearly isn't great, even if it is only
:19:27. > :19:31.small, local tremors. And these quakes have focused opposition,
:19:31. > :19:37.raising a host of other questions about the impact of National
:19:37. > :19:40.Infrastructure Plan on this coastal lant scape of the Lancashire pen --
:19:40. > :19:45.landscape of the Lancashire peninsula.
:19:45. > :19:50.So what is fracking? Or to give it its proper name, hide drollic
:19:50. > :19:55.fracturing. -- hydrolic fracturing. From a
:19:55. > :20:00.plait pad, a mobile rig drills down 7,000 feet to reach the gas.
:20:00. > :20:04.Precision drilling follows a gentle curve, so the end of the well has a
:20:04. > :20:09.horizontal view of the rock, and maximum access to the trapped gas.
:20:09. > :20:12.The well is lined with alternative layers of metal tubing a cement
:20:12. > :20:17.casing, and then completed with controlled explosions that open up
:20:17. > :20:21.fractures in the surrounding rock. Then comes the fracking. Millions
:20:21. > :20:26.of gallons of water, at high pressure, are pumped into the well,
:20:26. > :20:32.along with sand and chemicals, which prop open the fractures and
:20:32. > :20:37.help the gas to escape for easily. It it is this process that
:20:37. > :20:42.inadvertantly caused the earthquakes. Mike Hill is a
:20:42. > :20:45.technical adviser to Fylde borough council, he's a technical expert
:20:46. > :20:49.that used to work in the industry. He is not against it but wants to
:20:50. > :20:52.make sure it is done properly. you have a seismic event,
:20:52. > :20:56.relatively small, you might feel shakes in the house, my concern
:20:56. > :21:02.isn't houses or buildings, it is more the cement around the borehole.
:21:02. > :21:06.If that gets cracked, that is when you can get contamation, and
:21:06. > :21:12.pollutants migrating away and moving away from the borehole, we
:21:12. > :21:18.must prevent that at all costs. He is concerned after America's
:21:18. > :21:22.experience with fracking. Internet videos showed flaming taps as gas
:21:22. > :21:26.escaped into drinking water. Some companies denied that such leaks
:21:26. > :21:31.were happening. But America's second largest natural gas company,
:21:31. > :21:35.Chesnot peek energy, admitted to Newsnight, that it had found
:21:35. > :21:40.evidence of gas leaks and had changed procedures. In some cases
:21:40. > :21:46.it looks as the cement was drying, the high pressure shallow methane
:21:46. > :21:51.kept it from drying properly, and allow channelling to develop on the
:21:51. > :21:55.outside of the casing which could allow methane to move up and get
:21:55. > :22:04.into fresh water. We found regulators trying to catch up and
:22:04. > :22:09.impose rules after serious problems had already occurred.
:22:09. > :22:14.I'm Mark Miller, the CEO. The main players in UK Shell Gas
:22:14. > :22:17.Exploration, have tried to make the case for fracking. We are drilling
:22:17. > :22:22.a new exploration well to 9,000 feet near Blackpool. They insist
:22:22. > :22:26.they are a responsible company. We employ all state-of-the-art
:22:26. > :22:31.equipment. Even down to the actual operation of it. His point is, that
:22:31. > :22:34.it will all be done safely. We can assure people that some of the
:22:34. > :22:39.concerns that we have regarding oil and gas drilling, will not happen
:22:39. > :22:43.on our watch, and will not happen with wells we drill in this area.
:22:43. > :22:49.Blackpool is a folkal point now, it sits on one of the UK's most
:22:49. > :22:55.promising sites, the Boland Shale, but Lancashire is not the only
:22:55. > :22:59.place with shale gas resources, there are shale basins from
:22:59. > :23:04.Blackpool to scar bore roing row, from the Midland valley in Scotland,
:23:04. > :23:08.and southern England. Estimates vary on how much gas it
:23:09. > :23:16.might be possible to extract, the British Geological Survey reckons
:23:16. > :23:22.on the equivalent of 18 months gas needs. Qaud drill la says it
:23:22. > :23:28.calculates there krb -- Cuadrilla says it calculates many years
:23:28. > :23:32.supply worth billions of pounds. To get an overview of just how big
:23:32. > :23:39.an impact fracking could have on the landscape, it helps to get a
:23:39. > :23:46.bird's eye view. This part of Lancashire is heavily
:23:46. > :23:50.populated, with Blackpool on the coast and Preston further inland.
:23:50. > :23:56.What makes people anxious, here in the UK, is that drilling sites are
:23:56. > :24:01.so close to where people live. However much Cuadrilla vows to keep
:24:01. > :24:05.its operation safe, people worry that other companies may not be as
:24:05. > :24:09.conscientious. Christine Dickinson runs a caravan
:24:09. > :24:14.site, close to where they might drill, and just down the road from
:24:14. > :24:17.the local bird sanctuary. No, we don't want it, on here, on our
:24:17. > :24:21.doorstep. Where it could contaminate the water, where the
:24:21. > :24:29.birds are, it could contaminate our spring water. I have got a spring
:24:29. > :24:33.here. We don't want to take that risk.
:24:33. > :24:37.We approached Cuadrilla where former head of BP, Lord Brown is a
:24:37. > :24:41.director, for an interview through their PR consultants in London. We
:24:41. > :24:45.wanted to ask them about their practices, regulation and local
:24:45. > :24:48.concerns, but they declined. In response to our questions they said,
:24:48. > :24:52.Cuadrilla believes that the tough and comprehensive regulatory regime,
:24:53. > :24:56.that is now in place, would ensure the UK can benefit from shale gas,
:24:56. > :25:01.safely and securely. They said they have an on going
:25:01. > :25:05.dialogue with local residents and believe shale gas could have a
:25:05. > :25:09.transformative effect on the local and national economy.
:25:09. > :25:17.But just how tough and comprehensive is the regulatory
:25:17. > :25:22.regime that Cuadrilla refers to. Mike Hill took us to the site near
:25:22. > :25:25.Blackpool, it is the only one in the UK that has been partially
:25:25. > :25:28.fracked. Cuadrilla agreed to stop work after the earthquakes while
:25:28. > :25:31.the Government review took place. That was months ago, but the
:25:31. > :25:35.leftover fracking fluid is still here, because Cuadrilla has no
:25:35. > :25:39.permit to move it. The water they are storing is radioactive, because
:25:39. > :25:42.it has picked up natural radiation from underground. It is only a low
:25:42. > :25:49.level, but above that allowed by the Environment Agency.
:25:49. > :25:55.When you frack a well, you put about two millions of water down it,
:25:55. > :25:58.one million flows away with the fracking chemicals, into the
:25:59. > :26:07.formations and we don't know where it goes, the other comes back up
:26:07. > :26:14.the well, half a million gallons per well, so up to 800 million
:26:14. > :26:20.gallons of water that needs to be disposed of with up to nine-times
:26:20. > :26:23.the radioactive levels. The Health and Safety Executive regulate this
:26:23. > :26:28.industry. How many times have you come down, I asked them, how many
:26:28. > :26:32.times have you inspected, when Cuadrilla say they are doing X, Y
:26:32. > :26:37.and Z, how much times have you checked? The answer, none, not once
:26:37. > :26:42.in two years has the HSE visited any of the wls in Lancashire to
:26:42. > :26:45.test, or verify for themselves. sounds as if your concern over
:26:45. > :26:50.regulation is left to the industry itself, rather than pro-active
:26:51. > :26:56.regulation? It is entirely left to the industry itself. We asked the
:26:56. > :27:02.Environment Agency, what plans it has to deal with the flow-back
:27:02. > :27:08.fluid stored in Blackpool, and how it wants to regulate in the future.
:27:08. > :27:13.And how they appear to be relying on assurances from Cuadrilla.
:27:13. > :27:23.They say the company will have to seek a permit to dispose the fluids.
:27:23. > :27:38.
:27:38. > :27:43.If the industry rides out local opposition, here in Lancashire, and
:27:43. > :27:47.finds it really can extract as much as it hopes, and safely, the impact
:27:47. > :27:53.of shale gas in the UK could be dramatic.
:27:53. > :27:57.It is already bringing down gas prices in the US.
:27:57. > :28:02.This poses a dilemma for the Government. Turning to gas for a
:28:02. > :28:07.few more years pushes visions of a carbon-free energy supply further
:28:07. > :28:11.into the future. But it could help to solve fuel poverty and boost the
:28:11. > :28:19.economy, as it ponders this potential new source of home-grown
:28:19. > :28:25.energy, that promise may prove too tempting to resist.
:28:25. > :28:30.Two people whose positions on fracking are hopelessly irrock
:28:30. > :28:36.consieming, Al Green, a shale gas Evangelist. And the only Green
:28:36. > :28:40.member of parliament. What would the exploitation of gas,
:28:40. > :28:44.only available through fracking do to the price of gas? I estimate it
:28:44. > :28:49.would drop it by at least half by 2020. So we will be paying half
:28:49. > :28:53.what we now pay for gas? That's correct. With the results in effect
:28:53. > :28:59.on industry, and of course on electricity prices. Do you have any
:28:59. > :29:05.evidence to support that claim? Certainly we are talking about
:29:05. > :29:10.supply and demand here. They said there there was 150bcm, that is an
:29:10. > :29:15.outdated figure that the British Geological Survey is changing. This
:29:15. > :29:20.is not one North Sea, this is several North Seas worth of natural
:29:20. > :29:26.gas. It is transforming world energy markets. And it will do the
:29:26. > :29:30.same in Lancashire. So you don't dispute that, that if there is.
:29:30. > :29:36.do. I dispute the issue of the cost saving that Nick has just put
:29:36. > :29:39.forward. If you lock at someone like Deutsche Bank says, they are
:29:39. > :29:42.hard-headed economists, they say in the UK context, the chances are
:29:42. > :29:46.that shale gas won't reduce the price of gas significantly at all.
:29:46. > :29:51.Because we are far more densely populated than the US. At the US
:29:51. > :29:54.they are the only place exploiting shale gas. It has cut gas prices?
:29:55. > :29:59.It has, what Deutsche Bank says it is unlikely to do that to any
:29:59. > :30:03.extent through the UK, we are far more densely populate and it will
:30:03. > :30:08.take far longer to get agreement to go ahead with mining. Why not take
:30:08. > :30:12.the commercial risk? I want some facts on the table. Let's lock at
:30:12. > :30:16.dech bank about the cost, and the pollution side of it as well, my
:30:16. > :30:22.worry is when Nick says there is several North Seas worth of gas,
:30:22. > :30:29.the truth is, even if we were to exploit 20% of the licensed area in
:30:29. > :30:36.Lancashire, we would use up to 15% of our CO2 budget to 2050. If we
:30:36. > :30:42.are serious about reducing climate figures we can't afford to extra
:30:42. > :30:48.Kate that amount of gas. When you see -- Extricate that amount of gas.
:30:48. > :30:51.When you see people setting fire toe their taps it is difficult.
:30:51. > :30:55.is emotional. How is it emotional, you want to have a wash and there
:30:55. > :31:02.is a fire, of course it is emotional! That has no connection
:31:02. > :31:05.to fracking at all. Are you certain about that? Beyond a shadow of a
:31:05. > :31:10.doubt. It is impossible that was caused by fracking? That is correct,
:31:10. > :31:14.it has been proved many, many times. Or asserted many times? Even proven.
:31:14. > :31:21.For example, if anybody would just go to Google News, and do a search
:31:21. > :31:26.for water on fire, you will see, in Google News, north American
:31:26. > :31:30.newspapers going back to the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, with taps on fire.
:31:30. > :31:33.don't think we should get too diverted by that particular image,
:31:33. > :31:37.it was shocking but there are plenty of other shocking images
:31:37. > :31:41.around shale gas. Partly around the links to water contamination,
:31:41. > :31:45.through the chemicals that are being used. But also the fact that
:31:45. > :31:51.the first dash for gas we had was not a bad thing, it replaced coal.
:31:51. > :31:54.This new dash for gas is likely to replace energy efficiency. That is
:31:54. > :31:59.the real tragedy. That is a political point of view, you think
:31:59. > :32:05.that all fossil fuel energy should eventually be replaced by energy
:32:05. > :32:09.from renewable sources? Eventually. If we accept we need gas as
:32:09. > :32:13.transitional fuel, don't use shale gas, it is more carbon intensive
:32:13. > :32:16.than other gas. The would you accept it if you were satisfied it
:32:16. > :32:20.was properly regulated, the exploitation and the regulations
:32:20. > :32:23.and the way it works? It would be better than it is at the moment. I
:32:23. > :32:29.still don't think it is the right way forward, for the reason I have
:32:29. > :32:33.said, it is far more carbon intensive, contributing more to CO2
:32:33. > :32:37.levels. Here in the world we are in the middle of an economic crisis?
:32:37. > :32:41.We are saying this gas will be more expensive, potentially, than
:32:41. > :32:45.conventional gas, and we are saying it is more carbon intensive. It is
:32:45. > :32:48.a no-brainer. If they want to take the commercial risk, who are you to
:32:48. > :32:53.stop them? It is not just a commercial risk, it is an
:32:54. > :32:58.environmental risk, and locking us into a fossil fuel structure in our
:32:58. > :33:02.energy supplies, at exactly the time we want to move on from that.
:33:02. > :33:05.That is an ideolgical point? It is how to reach the climate change
:33:05. > :33:10.objectives, agreed by the Government. We have the Climate
:33:10. > :33:13.Change Act, saying we have to reduce our CO2 emissions by 2050,
:33:13. > :33:17.we don't do that going down the Shell route. Let's park that and
:33:17. > :33:21.the question of commercial risk. If an energy company decides it wants
:33:21. > :33:24.to try to exploit this resource, is there any way, in your judgment, it
:33:24. > :33:29.can be proper low and safely regulated? I think the jury is out
:33:29. > :33:33.on that. Not east because, if we are serious about making this a
:33:33. > :33:41.significant percentage of our energy supply. We might need 3,000
:33:41. > :33:47.we wills, just to produce 10 -- wells, just to produce 10,000
:33:47. > :33:52.thousands of gas supplies. This can create a huge amount of wealth for
:33:52. > :33:56.the nation, which will be taxed, in this nation, and not exported to
:33:56. > :33:59.the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, or to fund the Royal Family of
:33:59. > :34:05.Qatar. There will be plenty of money to
:34:05. > :34:10.pay for teachers, nurses, doctors, and HSE inspectors and regulators.
:34:10. > :34:17.This is the best news for the economy, and for the environment.
:34:17. > :34:22.Because a true dismal sign has been energy.
:34:22. > :34:27.He might have become a priest, instead a rock star. The story of
:34:27. > :34:32.Jack White, considered one of the world's most influential guitarists,
:34:32. > :34:36.has a Picaresque quality. The man who did or didn't marry the man who
:34:36. > :34:43.wasn't his sister, and later got divorced from someone he married in
:34:43. > :34:48.a ceremony in a canoe, keep up. He is ranked number 70 in the Rolling
:34:48. > :34:58.Stone list of greatist by starrists of all time. He has been speaking
:34:58. > :35:01.
:35:01. > :35:06.exclusively to US. They were the are they aren't they rock combo,
:35:06. > :35:14.Jack White and his wife, Meg, or was she his sister, either I would
:35:14. > :35:21.White Stripes were a big noise, but now the band has folded.
:35:21. > :35:23.Hello. Welcome to London. Do you have the money in a suitcase.
:35:23. > :35:28.Always. As you know, when the stars talk,
:35:28. > :35:33.they talk to Newsnight, quite often, and Jack White is dropping in the
:35:33. > :35:37.former County Hall in London, to discuss a new solo album,
:35:37. > :35:42.Blunderbuss. I always loved the word, as a child there was a street
:35:42. > :35:49.near my house, I lived near a fort and they were all military streets,
:35:49. > :35:59.I loved the word "Dragoon", I thought they misPresident Yeltsin
:35:59. > :35:59.
:35:59. > :36:05."dragon", it is the piss -- Do you keep other words in there,
:36:05. > :36:10.or is that not your tip? American as I am I don't have any
:36:10. > :36:15.firearms. You are weapons-free at this time? Hands free!
:36:15. > :36:20.# I want love to walk up and bite # Grab a hold of me and fight me
:36:21. > :36:24.# Leave my dying on the ground Rock'n'roll wasn't White's only
:36:24. > :36:29.career option, he also considered the priesthood. I was accepted at a
:36:29. > :36:36.semry when I was younger, but I didn't go. I changed my mind at the
:36:36. > :36:40.last second. You could have been Al Greene, and he has done well. What
:36:40. > :36:44.happened then, you suddenly thought, I can't go through with this?
:36:44. > :36:47.crunched some numbers, and the pay didn't look very good, so. Watching
:36:47. > :36:53.the US election process from a distance, it seems as though
:36:53. > :36:57.religion is a really big factor this time, does that strike you?
:36:57. > :37:03.I'm not too political a guy, I do know America is quite addicted to
:37:03. > :37:07.fear. They will take through religion if they need to, or go and
:37:07. > :37:11.pay for it at the box-office to watch a movie or whatever it is.
:37:11. > :37:17.Fear is a big addiction in America. Of course people are going to
:37:17. > :37:23.exploit that through religious means. What about the little matter
:37:23. > :37:28.of the American presidential campaign. Who has the guitarist's
:37:28. > :37:32.vote? I refuse to vote for a President, I don't believe in the
:37:32. > :37:37.Electoral College, I think it is an outdated mode from 200 years ago
:37:37. > :37:40.that doesn't make any sense for modern times. We just saw that in
:37:40. > :37:43.recent elections with George Bush, that he did not win by the popular
:37:43. > :37:46.vote. I think the popular vote should elect the President, the
:37:46. > :37:50.more votes you get, think you should be the President of the
:37:50. > :37:56.United States. It seems quite a divided society as well. No, I
:37:56. > :37:59.think there is, it has always been simplified, two-party system, in
:37:59. > :38:08.any country, it is kind of ridiculously simplified, there is
:38:08. > :38:12.not only two sides of the story. Some bad news, Jack White confirmed
:38:12. > :38:17.there will be no more from him and Meg as the White Stripes, but were
:38:17. > :38:22.they or weren't they an item. and I had really no idea what
:38:22. > :38:31.people wanted from a male and female on stage, we didn't really
:38:31. > :38:38.know what part of the deal was. you were happy to keep it fairly
:38:38. > :38:44.opaque, you weren't going to be Sonny and Cher? It was a feeling
:38:44. > :38:51.that what we wanted to represent was feminity and mass kallinity,
:38:51. > :38:57.telling both sides of the story that was being performed. Finally
:38:57. > :39:02.an insight into how we Brits are going down in White's home land.
:39:02. > :39:11.This mean British celebrity vibe has gone on for the past few years,
:39:11. > :39:18.with the Simon Cowells. Mean as in? Judgmental and harsh, vicious and
:39:18. > :39:23.nasty was the chef. Ramsey? Gordon Ramsey, and Simon Cowell, in
:39:23. > :39:26.America it comes off as Ricky Gervais. That is how we are seen
:39:26. > :39:32.now. Nasty British celebrities. are not like that? You guys are
:39:32. > :39:36.great. I love you guys. That is very sincere, thank you!
:39:36. > :39:40.Back to the budget now, by this time tomorrow we shall have
:39:40. > :39:44.discovered whether we really are all in this together, or some are
:39:44. > :39:49.more in it than others, as a nation among other nations, Britain, of
:39:49. > :39:54.course, isn't it in it alone, time to root Paul Mason out of the
:39:54. > :40:00.basement again. He was going to come here with a wonderfully
:40:00. > :40:03.elaborate, semi-high-tech tablet to display graphics showing our
:40:03. > :40:10.international performance, but it doesn't work. Tell us about it?
:40:10. > :40:14.This is not British technology. OK, the British economy is going quite
:40:14. > :40:18.sluggish low. That is the background to the budget we have --
:40:18. > :40:24.sluggishly, that is the background to the budget we have now. We had a
:40:24. > :40:28.0.2% shrinkage in the last few year, it is locking like 0.8% growth
:40:28. > :40:31.overall -- looking like 0.8% growth overall this year. The question
:40:31. > :40:35.George Osborne has to address in tomorrow's budget, the question
:40:35. > :40:42.that hangs over beyond politic, left and right both know this, is
:40:42. > :40:46.that cutting tax for a hedge fund manager to bring him back to London,
:40:46. > :40:50.and cutting tax for his cleaner, the two headlines, does not a
:40:50. > :40:54.growth strategy make. You have to come up with convincing turn around
:40:54. > :41:03.in some of the key figures. Now, what are those figures? One is the
:41:03. > :41:06.level of GDP. The level of UK GDP has fallen during, in analog, I
:41:06. > :41:11.could use my hand instead of the tablet machine. It has fallen and
:41:11. > :41:15.stayed tag nant, it is not coming back in the same -- stagnant, and
:41:15. > :41:17.not coming back in the same way as other countries. America is
:41:17. > :41:21.recovering, Britain is not recovering anything like as fast.
:41:22. > :41:28.The second set of metrics we have to look at is on industrial
:41:28. > :41:32.production, industrial production is a geeky term. But America is
:41:32. > :41:36.recovering, we are not. Despite this we have classy numbers out of
:41:36. > :41:41.the car industry, we are exporting cars like crazy. It doesn't look
:41:41. > :41:43.like that alone can turn Britain around. The final thing is
:41:44. > :41:50.unemployment. We have managed to get away without the worst of the
:41:50. > :41:55.unemployment that America has. America has, and the Euroland, have
:41:55. > :41:59.had some very horrible unemployment figures. Ours are still rising,
:41:59. > :42:02.while their's are falling. This is the challenge Osborne has to hit
:42:02. > :42:07.tomorrow, he has to at this time it with a convincing story, that goes
:42:07. > :42:11.beyond, as I say, the individual tweaks. Even the people briefing
:42:11. > :42:15.tonight, this story about tax cut, are careful from the Treasury to
:42:15. > :42:20.say it is at the edges, the story remains the same. Six years of very
:42:20. > :42:23.hard graft, physically. Thank you very much.
:42:23. > :42:28.-- fiscally. Thank you very much, clearly we are
:42:28. > :42:34.lagging behind, what can George Osborne do to help. The economist
:42:34. > :42:36.Megan Greene and Sam Fleming are here to share their ideas. Is he
:42:36. > :42:40.likely to produce anything unexpected, something more
:42:40. > :42:44.optimistic to say about the economy than the old merchant of gloom
:42:44. > :42:47.here? It is critical he does produce a convincing narrative. I
:42:47. > :42:56.agree with that. There will be certainly things that he has held
:42:56. > :43:02.back. There always are. This has been a heavily breech -- briefed
:43:02. > :43:08.budget as everyone saying. His room for manoeuvre is prodigious, he
:43:08. > :43:14.needs to show the fiscal projective. He has put emphasis on maintaining
:43:14. > :43:18.the credibility of the markets. And unfortunately for himself, he has
:43:19. > :43:24.given huge status to the triple-A rating, which he has to show he
:43:24. > :43:27.wants to maintain. This fiscally neutral budget, in terms of
:43:27. > :43:32.increasing and reducing borrowing, will be one of the underlying
:43:32. > :43:35.messages of the budget tomorrow. He's not short on vanity, like most
:43:35. > :43:40.Chancellor of the Exchequers, can anything he does make much
:43:40. > :43:44.difference? This is the thing, I think the Government has very
:43:44. > :43:50.little room for manoeuvre, this rebalancing story is a slow burner.
:43:50. > :43:56.What Britain needs to do is reduce its dependance on domestic demand
:43:56. > :44:00.and financial services and slowly try to shift it towards export
:44:00. > :44:04.orientated executors, that will take time. There is little to
:44:04. > :44:07.announce tomorrow. That will take a generation? There is little to
:44:07. > :44:10.announce to shock everyone in a good way that Britain has a new
:44:10. > :44:14.fast growth strategy. We are looking at these numbers, or not
:44:14. > :44:20.locking at the numbers, we would have been locking at the numbers.
:44:20. > :44:24.If it had worked! As a terrible problem, if Euroland and the US are
:44:24. > :44:28.beginning to grow more strongly this is the best news we have had
:44:28. > :44:32.this year. Why are Euroland and the US growing faster than we are?
:44:32. > :44:35.First of all, Euroland is Germany, that is driving that, we are not
:44:35. > :44:40.talking about Italy or Greece, we are talking about Germany. They
:44:40. > :44:43.still make things? It is in an economic sweet spot, they spend ten
:44:43. > :44:48.years cutting costs and making themselves more competitive as an
:44:48. > :44:52.economy. It is a long turn around, that is what Britain faces. It
:44:52. > :44:56.can't be done jofr night. Germany is testament to that, if they are
:44:56. > :45:00.seeing a real recovery, that is good news, that is one of the
:45:00. > :45:06.massive export markets too, the states. I don't think the eurozone
:45:06. > :45:10.won't grow more than the UK this yo, that will probably contract and
:45:10. > :45:14.stagnate. Germany sure as hell will? That isks imbalances within
:45:14. > :45:19.the eurozone. Germany is having to come up with an entirely new growth
:45:19. > :45:23.strategy. It is doing exactly the opposite of the new and foster
:45:23. > :45:27.domestic demand. Germany has been in a sweet spot in part because it
:45:27. > :45:36.is doing better with competitiveness. The vast majority
:45:36. > :45:40.of German experts go not just to the eurozone but to the BRIC.
:45:40. > :45:45.Brazil, Russia, India and China? Yes, and they are not interested in
:45:45. > :45:50.the UK's financial services, most of the UK's exports are going to
:45:50. > :45:53.the eurozone, that won't provide much demand any time soon. What
:45:53. > :45:57.about the ernest protestations we hear about cutting the 50p rate of
:45:57. > :46:02.tax for the richest people in society is some how going to effect
:46:02. > :46:05.economic transformation in this country? It won't effect an
:46:05. > :46:10.economic transformation and it is being oversold in that respect. It
:46:10. > :46:14.is about politic. There is a role in Government to provide signal,
:46:14. > :46:18.there are many different signals you can send, one of the important
:46:18. > :46:21.signals is we are open for business as an economy. The 50p rate has
:46:21. > :46:26.this extraordinary state tuts, when you speak to business people --
:46:26. > :46:30.status, when you speak to business people, they bring up the 50p rate,
:46:30. > :46:35.the first thing you mention. If you were George Osborne cutting
:46:35. > :46:39.corporation tax at 23%, with the 50p rate sitting over through r you,
:46:39. > :46:43.it is a real problem sitting across from the table to the
:46:43. > :46:49.multinationals and explaining the attractions of Britain. It is an
:46:49. > :46:53.issue about politics and signals, I think it is signalling in in a bad
:46:53. > :46:57.way. The Government have said we are in bad way and deleverageing
:46:57. > :47:01.everything, and now cutting taxes for the wealthiests, it is a bad
:47:01. > :47:03.signal, undermining the solidarity the Government has been trying to
:47:03. > :47:09.convey. Some of tomorrow morning's front
:47:09. > :47:19.pages now, the Times, they are all basic clo going with various leaks
:47:19. > :47:39.
:47:39. > :47:44.and nudges and wink -- basically That is all for Newsnight, the race
:47:44. > :47:49.has hoted up to avoid having to host the Eurovision Song Contest in
:47:49. > :47:59.2014, that is the penalty for winning this year. Britain may have
:47:59. > :48:00.
:48:00. > :48:10.entered the 75-year-old Englebert Humperdink, there is a rapper going
:48:10. > :48:14.
:48:14. > :48:16.in talking about the structural # With contributions from the
:48:17. > :48:26.institution # To find solution for pollution
:48:27. > :48:46.
:48:46. > :48:49.Good evening, a chill in the air for some of you tonight. Another
:48:49. > :48:54.mild day tomorrow, the best of the brightness will be across eastern
:48:54. > :48:58.areas, a wet and windy start to north western Scotland. Most stay
:48:58. > :49:00.dry. Sunny spells across many parts. That said, a little bit more cloud
:49:00. > :49:04.for northern England and the Midlands, compared with this
:49:04. > :49:09.afternoon. We won't quite get to the 17 degrees, some parts of
:49:09. > :49:13.Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. By contrast, southern areas sunnier.
:49:13. > :49:17.Temperatures here 15-16 degrees, likely in a few spots. That low
:49:17. > :49:21.cloud first thing in the morning will lift and break, seeing the
:49:21. > :49:25.sunny spells coming through. Wales, sunshine in the south compared with
:49:25. > :49:28.today. A bit more cloud further north, remaining cloudy across
:49:29. > :49:33.Northern Ireland, even here it will be one or two brighter breaks, just
:49:33. > :49:38.possible in the north. North West Scotland, wet and windy start,
:49:38. > :49:42.turning dry later, many western areas cloudy. To the east highs
:49:42. > :49:46.possible, sunny spells, into Thursday we swap the fortunes round.
:49:46. > :49:50.North western areas will fare better. Manchester and Belfast
:49:50. > :49:54.becoming brighter. South-easterly winds will develop. London 17
:49:54. > :49:57.degrees, Birmingham 15, across other parts of eastern England in
:49:57. > :50:02.particular will see mist and low cloud to begin the day. Burning