:00:00. > :00:13.Dan, thank you. That's all from us. Now,
:00:14. > :00:18.Good evening. The mayor of Tower Hamlets, accused of diverting public
:00:19. > :00:21.grants for electoral gain, has hit back at the BBC claiming the
:00:22. > :00:26.allegations are driven by racism and Islamophobia. Last night's Panorama
:00:27. > :00:28.found that Lutfur Rahman, the Bangladeshi mayor of Tower Hamlets,
:00:29. > :00:37.has more than doubled funding for Bengali and Somali`run charities and
:00:38. > :00:40.cut funding for other organisations. Mr Rahman categorically denies that
:00:41. > :00:45.this was done in return for support in a forthcoming election. Alex
:00:46. > :00:48.Bushill reports. It is a borough whose politics has long been mired
:00:49. > :00:53.in controversy and today its mayor and the BBC exchanged allegations of
:00:54. > :00:59.cronyism and racism. I shall work for you and each and every member of
:01:00. > :01:01.Tower Hamlets. Lutfur Rahman is the independent mayor who stands accused
:01:02. > :01:04.by Panorama of favouring Bengali and Somali charities with council
:01:05. > :01:13.funding, rising by 140% from ?1.5 million to ?3.6 million. While other
:01:14. > :01:20.organisations saw their's drop by 25%. Not so say one of the biggest
:01:21. > :01:24.beneficiaries, Saint Peter's Bengali Association. It runs this lunch club
:01:25. > :01:28.and its manager told us they've been favoured by councils of all
:01:29. > :01:32.political persuasions. Not just this mayor. Before him, Labour was here.
:01:33. > :01:37.They fund us. Before them, the Lib Dems were here. They fund us. I
:01:38. > :01:42.think it's racist what they are saying because he's Bangladeshi.
:01:43. > :01:46.They think he only gives only to the Bangladeshi. What about the white
:01:47. > :01:50.organisations? He gives to everyone. This charity worker has lived in the
:01:51. > :01:52.borough for over 30 years. He worries if he speaks out his
:01:53. > :01:56.organisation will have its funding cut further. And told me the process
:01:57. > :01:59.of applying is now unaccountable and confusing. There was no comment from
:02:00. > :02:01.Tower Hamlets Town Hall today. The mayor refusing to be interviewed.
:02:02. > :02:04.Instead he released a statement saying the picture painted by
:02:05. > :02:09.Panorama bore no resemblance to any auditor inspection which has been
:02:10. > :02:11.carried out. He said actually, far from favouring the Bengal or Somali
:02:12. > :02:15.community, they receive less than half the amount of grants that they
:02:16. > :02:20.should as a proportion of the overall population of the borough.
:02:21. > :02:22.He went on to accuse the BBC of Islamaphobia and campaigning on
:02:23. > :02:29.behalf of his opponents in next month's local and mayoral elections.
:02:30. > :02:32.Last night the BBC apologised unreservedly after a list of secret
:02:33. > :02:34.sources from the documentary were leaked to him by one of the
:02:35. > :02:39.researchers. Nonetheless, the programme makers defended their
:02:40. > :02:45.journalism. We have checked our figures on a number of occasions and
:02:46. > :02:48.we are satisfied they are robust. And, in the course of time, they
:02:49. > :02:51.will be presented to the Department of Communities of local government
:02:52. > :02:56.and no doubt the Secretary of State's own experts will decide
:02:57. > :03:00.whether they are right or wrong. Tonight, the local MP and Labour
:03:01. > :03:03.politician weighed in as well. I think it's irresponsible for the
:03:04. > :03:08.mayor of Tower Hamlets to go around making accusations of racism. He's
:03:09. > :03:12.done it to the Labour Party. He's done it now to the BBC. He's going
:03:13. > :03:16.to run out of people that he doesn't consider racist. The Government has
:03:17. > :03:19.said it will look at Panorama's claims and confirmed it could send
:03:20. > :03:27.inspectors into the borough to investigate. Thousands of people
:03:28. > :03:29.whose homes were flooded over the winter will have access to
:03:30. > :03:32.Government funding from today to help protect their properties.
:03:33. > :03:37.Homeowners can get up to ?5,000 as part of the scheme on top of any
:03:38. > :03:43.money they get from insurers. Alice Bhandhukravi reports. Maggie Hill
:03:44. > :03:46.has her work cut out. Since her home in Old Windsor was flooded, the
:03:47. > :03:52.entire ground floor has had to be stripped and she has had to move
:03:53. > :03:57.out. This was the kitchen. You can see everything is gone. Cupboards,
:03:58. > :04:00.walls, all the units. And that's likely to be expensive, so she will
:04:01. > :04:04.be taking up the Government offer of a grant. I can't say it wouldn't
:04:05. > :04:09.help, but I don't know how far it will go. It's an enormously
:04:10. > :04:12.expensive operation. The whole place had to be gutted on the ground
:04:13. > :04:18.floor. And the plasterboard taken off in rooms it affected. The
:04:19. > :04:23.remnants of the flooding here are as visible as much outdoors as in, from
:04:24. > :04:27.sandbags to sodden lawns. Leonard and June, whose floor had to be
:04:28. > :04:31.replaced, will also be hoping for some financial help. We haven't
:04:32. > :04:37.fully realised how much we need because we haven't finished. So any
:04:38. > :04:43.help is likely to be good for you? Yeah. The carpet was ?1,000. The
:04:44. > :04:46.Abbots, like other homeowners and businesses, will have to apply for
:04:47. > :04:51.the repair and renew grant through their local council. There is a very
:04:52. > :04:54.simple online application form that they fill in and they present to us
:04:55. > :04:57.what their plan is for a resilience or resistance measure and then we
:04:58. > :05:03.processed that application and then we recover the money from the
:05:04. > :05:06.government. We've already had 13 applications as of an hour ago for
:05:07. > :05:12.something which only went live today. So no shortage of applicants
:05:13. > :05:15.in this borough. Maggie is getting a little help from their friends, and
:05:16. > :05:20.hopefully, a little bit of cash from her council. I am nervous but I have
:05:21. > :05:27.to look forward and hope that things get better soon. Maggie Hill in Old
:05:28. > :05:39.Windsor there. Let's cross to Tarah Welsh, who's in Marlow tonight. Just
:05:40. > :05:44.clarify the details of this scheme? Many areas including this one were
:05:45. > :05:48.affected by those winter floods, but these grants are more about
:05:49. > :05:52.prevention rather than cure. So they will pay for things like flood
:05:53. > :05:55.reducing measures, and that could mean installing a barrier in your
:05:56. > :06:02.driveway or moving your sockets to a higher, safer level. People can
:06:03. > :06:06.claim back for work already done, so who is eligible? Any homeowner or
:06:07. > :06:09.business that was flooded between the 1st of December and yesterday.
:06:10. > :06:14.The government as people don't have to keep that ?5,000 for themselves,
:06:15. > :06:17.communities can invest in something for the entire area. Ultimately,
:06:18. > :06:21.local authorities will administer that money hopefully being some
:06:22. > :06:29.comfort to those affected by the floods. Thank you. More on that
:06:30. > :06:31.story on the BBC News website. It's a very goodnight from me. I'll hand
:06:32. > :06:41.you over to Wendy for the weather. All the warmth has been brought by
:06:42. > :06:45.southeasterly wind but the pollution has as well and tomorrow, across the
:06:46. > :06:50.Home Counties and London, the read it you can see on the map are
:06:51. > :06:53.showing the high pollution levels. Come Thursday, subtle change in the
:06:54. > :06:58.wind direction becomes less of a problem. As we go through the rest
:06:59. > :07:03.of this evening and overnight, there will be some cloud around. One or
:07:04. > :07:07.two showers, but for most of the night, it will be dry with clear
:07:08. > :07:11.skies and the warmth continues into the night as many places settle in
:07:12. > :07:14.double figures. We start tomorrow with some sunshine. It will turn
:07:15. > :07:20.progressively more hazy as we go through the day. The wind will be
:07:21. > :07:22.liked. It will feel warm again thanks to the southeasterly
:07:23. > :07:30.direction. Temperatures will get into the mid to high teens once
:07:31. > :07:32.again. London, 21`22. 102 showers in the afternoon. The outlook, rather
:07:33. > :07:43.cloudy with some rain on Thursday. Good evening. Before we get to the
:07:44. > :07:46.weather details, little bit about the pollution which we have been
:07:47. > :07:52.talking about in the weather reports over the last couple of days. The
:07:53. > :07:53.pollution levels actually during the course of Wednesday, tomorrow,