:00:00. > :00:08.That's all from us. Now time for the BBC News where you are.
:00:09. > :00:14.Tonight on BBC London News: It's the Labour Party who are the big winners
:00:15. > :00:22.in the capital, seizing control of five town halls.
:00:23. > :00:26.The reason we won here is because of the deep discontent in the country
:00:27. > :00:29.and the desire for change. Labour answer to that desire for change.
:00:30. > :00:36.Strong in Essex, but few inroads in London ` how the UKIP vote fared in
:00:37. > :00:41.and around the capital. I voted UKIP to see what they can do because I've
:00:42. > :00:46.been set up listening to their lies all the time. They say they will do
:00:47. > :00:49.something and they don't. UKIP doesn't really strike me.
:00:50. > :00:51.We'll ask what these results indicate for the upcoming general
:00:52. > :00:55.and mayoral elections. Also tonight: A last ditch pitch for
:00:56. > :00:59.Boris Island Airport ` the Mayor says it's a once in a lifetime
:01:00. > :01:01.opportunity not to be missed. And QPR's big money battle to make
:01:02. > :01:21.it back into the Premier League. Good evening to you and welcome to
:01:22. > :01:24.the programme. UKIP may be today's big winners
:01:25. > :01:27.nationally, but in London it's the Labour Party which has flourished.
:01:28. > :01:31.In fact, it's their best performance in the capital for more than 40
:01:32. > :01:35.years. Let's look at the latest results. Labour have taken Croydon,
:01:36. > :01:54.Redbridge, Merton and Hammersmith and Fulham and Harrow. Labour have
:01:55. > :01:57.already gained 124 seats, taking their total to 564. And if we look
:01:58. > :02:00.at how many councillors Labour now have in the capital, you can see
:02:01. > :02:03.that number's increased. The gains have been made at the expense of the
:02:04. > :02:08.Conservatives and Lib Dems. Tim Donovan is in Barnet tonight. Tim,
:02:09. > :02:13.what's the story there? We are about to get the very first declaration,
:02:14. > :02:19.so a little bit of time to go. Who knows what is going to happen? This
:02:20. > :02:22.is the no`frills efficiency Council, of course, but could the
:02:23. > :02:27.Conservatives be in trouble here after a future than in years where
:02:28. > :02:30.they have come under fire over privatisation and outsourcing plans?
:02:31. > :02:35.Could they crashed to earth this evening? If that happened it would
:02:36. > :02:39.be the icing on the cake for Labour after a really good set of results,
:02:40. > :02:44.as Karl Mercer reports. Some you win. Some you lose. Some
:02:45. > :02:52.will be in power. Some have just lost it. Elections are about
:02:53. > :02:56.winners. And losers. The people of Hammersmith Fulham tell you, hands
:02:57. > :02:59.off our political... It may have suffered elsewhere
:03:00. > :03:02.around the country, but Labour has had a good election here in the
:03:03. > :03:04.capital. It's biggest scalp of the night, in true blue Hammersmith. A
:03:05. > :03:11.model Conservative borough. Until today. I am genuinely humbled.
:03:12. > :03:15.People have told us they are voting for us who do not normally do so.
:03:16. > :03:19.Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, greens, they have voted for us and
:03:20. > :03:21.shown confidence in us. And I'm determined we do them proud.
:03:22. > :03:27.Croydon was another highlight for Labour, overturning a slim
:03:28. > :03:31.Conservative majority to win. This will show a lot of people that you
:03:32. > :03:34.cannot play with fire without getting burned. When they see what
:03:35. > :03:38.happens when you get a Labour council back again that messed it up
:03:39. > :03:42.so disastrously last time, they will look, when it comes to the general
:03:43. > :03:44.election next year, and re`elected Conservative government.
:03:45. > :03:47.There was history for Labour out east, the party leader back where he
:03:48. > :03:53.launched the election campaign to toast victory. I want to
:03:54. > :03:57.congratulate everyone in Redbridge who did this incredible job, winning
:03:58. > :04:01.majority control of the Council for the first time in history for
:04:02. > :04:05.Labour. And I want you to give the biggest round of applause for the
:04:06. > :04:08.new leader of Redbridge Council. There were victories too in Harrow
:04:09. > :04:12.and Merton, with Labour building on its gains in 2010, to put even more
:04:13. > :04:22.red on the capital's political map. Labour now back at levels not seen
:04:23. > :04:27.since 1971 in London. You have done something here which is very
:04:28. > :04:29.important, historic in fact, and has resonance not just in Surbiton or in
:04:30. > :04:34.Kingston upon Thames, but actually for this country. And what you have
:04:35. > :04:35.done this to win off the Liberal Democrats.
:04:36. > :04:39.If the Conservatives had suffered setbacks in some areas, they did at
:04:40. > :04:44.least have one reason to get the balloons out. Bursting the Lib Dems
:04:45. > :04:50.bubble in Kingston. The fact that one or two traditional Labour
:04:51. > :04:54.boroughs, represented for the most part by Labour MPs in the past at
:04:55. > :04:58.least, Hammersmith Fulham, for example, the fact that those seats
:04:59. > :05:02.have gone Labour in a year when Labour should have been romping home
:05:03. > :05:05.is perhaps not that surprising. But it is important to recognise that
:05:06. > :05:09.Labour have not made the progress they would expect. Do you want me to
:05:10. > :05:11.say something about the local elections?
:05:12. > :05:14.London's top Tory was putting a brave face on the results, denying
:05:15. > :05:20.he feels isolated as a Conservative mayor, surrounded by so many Labour
:05:21. > :05:24.town halls. No, because we have got loads of, I am the mayor of the
:05:25. > :05:29.whole city and we have loads of great Conservative councillors
:05:30. > :05:32.across London. Obviously, I work with all boroughs and am
:05:33. > :05:36.particularly delighted, as I said to you right at the beginning, to be
:05:37. > :05:38.working with Conservative Kingston on Thames for the first time since
:05:39. > :05:42.1982. Kingston again. A sore point for the
:05:43. > :05:48.the Lib Dems who now run just one town hall and lost councillors from
:05:49. > :05:52.across the capital. To be fair, we knew we would have a hard time. The
:05:53. > :05:56.question is, next year, do people continue to punish us, or do they
:05:57. > :06:00.remember that unemployment has gone down, jobs have gone up, growth has
:06:01. > :06:03.gone up and the economy is in a hugely healthier state?
:06:04. > :06:06.There were Lib Dem tears in Watford. But unlike in most parts of the
:06:07. > :06:09.capital, Dorothy Thornhill's were tears of joy. Re`elected for the
:06:10. > :06:15.fourth time as the town's mayor, bucking the national trend. The role
:06:16. > :06:19.gives clear, strong leadership, and people know, when they vote for a
:06:20. > :06:23.mayor, it is who runs the town, who is in And that of course, was what
:06:24. > :06:25.yesterday's elections were all about ` who is in charge of the town hall.
:06:26. > :06:39.Charge of the town hall. It is kind of these two to join us.
:06:40. > :06:42.These are nervous times. We have the Labour leader and the existing
:06:43. > :06:46.Conservative leader. When you came in this morning I understand you
:06:47. > :06:52.were feeling confident. You saw Hammersmith Fulham and then what
:06:53. > :06:55.did you think? Life is a roller`coaster. My mood has changed
:06:56. > :06:58.through the day and I'm looking forward to the first result. One
:06:59. > :07:03.thing that is clear is that democracy is alive and well. We had
:07:04. > :07:09.a 40% turnout, and people are interested. That seems a civil and
:07:10. > :07:14.grown`up gloss on this when you must be quite concerned about what you
:07:15. > :07:17.could hear in the next hour. All politicians worry, like actors,
:07:18. > :07:23.always worrying. We look forward to seeing the results. I am sure we
:07:24. > :07:28.will win some, we will lose some. We wait until the people have judged
:07:29. > :07:33.us. Allison, tell us that you think you are going to win. There are
:07:34. > :07:35.votes still to count and it would be disrespectful to the thousands of
:07:36. > :07:40.voters to judge it before we hear the results. On one technical
:07:41. > :07:43.thing, it has become complicated because of the death of one of the
:07:44. > :07:47.candidates, which has meant that actually this result will almost be
:07:48. > :07:52.provisional because you will need another election in a month. It is
:07:53. > :07:56.very unusual, if not unique. We had a death of a candidate in a ward
:07:57. > :08:00.where we have three Labour councillors, so the vote has been
:08:01. > :08:07.suspended and will be rerun at the end of June. As you say, the result
:08:08. > :08:11.tonight could be provisional. Could you take control realistically of
:08:12. > :08:14.this council? Are you going to win tonight? There is a possibility that
:08:15. > :08:20.that is the case but we should not be making any judgements. We really
:08:21. > :08:25.don't know how these results are going. They are going to be tight.
:08:26. > :08:28.Why are you in this position, Richard? Is it because of the
:08:29. > :08:35.national position of the party, getting more unpopular, or because
:08:36. > :08:39.local policies are unpopular? I will not agree to the latter. I think we
:08:40. > :08:43.have done a great job. It is a consecrated situation, with the rise
:08:44. > :08:48.of UKIP, the meltdown in the Lib Dem vote, a consecrated situation. We
:08:49. > :08:52.will see what happens, but I am quite confident. If you think your
:08:53. > :08:58.model and what you have tried to do here has not proved that unpopular
:08:59. > :09:02.in the long run, in effect you are saying you are not being punished
:09:03. > :09:06.for that. What is it then? Is it that the government is unpopular? I
:09:07. > :09:10.do know if the government is unpopular but it is accommodated
:09:11. > :09:13.election around the country. The European election is undoubtedly
:09:14. > :09:19.hurting us. Who would have thought UKIP would be an interference in it
:09:20. > :09:23.council election. No particular evidence of them damaging new, or
:09:24. > :09:27.the Tories in Hammersmith Fulham. Who knows? They have candidates in
:09:28. > :09:32.some wards, and it is taking some votes from us, and perhaps from
:09:33. > :09:36.disappearing, and that is a problem disappearing, and that is a problem
:09:37. > :09:39.for all of us as well. Allison, everyone has been saying all day
:09:40. > :09:45.long that it has been a good result for Labour in London but this is a
:09:46. > :09:51.long way from Ed Miliband designing the curtains for Number Ten. We made
:09:52. > :09:55.Labour gains across the country and in London in seats we will need to
:09:56. > :09:58.win a Labour majority next year. Hammersmith Fulham has been a
:09:59. > :10:03.tremendous result. All boroughs are different and we are looking forward
:10:04. > :10:06.to the results tonight. Interesting comment about UKIP because they have
:10:07. > :10:11.clearly, irrespective of the number standing locally, they have keyed
:10:12. > :10:15.into the sense of frustration local people have. That has certainly been
:10:16. > :10:26.expressed in Barnet. Thank you both very much, and good luck.
:10:27. > :10:29.So what about UKIP? They performed strongly around the country,
:10:30. > :10:33.especially in Essex, where they forced town halls in Thurrock
:10:34. > :10:37.Basildon Brentwood, Castle Point and Southend in to no overall control.
:10:38. > :10:42.It's in London may fail to make headway. UKIP was my leader had this
:10:43. > :10:48.assessment. The real reason we are not as strong in London is political
:10:49. > :10:52.parties rely very heavily on voluntary structure. Our voluntary
:10:53. > :10:55.structure in London is behind the rest of the country, 12 to 18 months
:10:56. > :10:59.behind the rest of the country. There is no reason why in many parts
:11:00. > :11:07.of London we can't do better next year.
:11:08. > :11:12.We asked Nick Beake to find out from voters why UKIP didn't appeal to
:11:13. > :11:16.Londoners as it had elsewhere. Whitechapel market, Tower Hamlets, a
:11:17. > :11:21.diverse borough in a multicultural metropolis. Not rich pickings from
:11:22. > :11:28.Nigel Farage. Did you vote for UKIP? No. Did you think about it? No. I
:11:29. > :11:34.wouldn't dream of voting for them. There have been comments, hate
:11:35. > :11:37.comments and stuff like that. In London, nearly one fifth of the
:11:38. > :11:42.workplace was born abroad, a city which failed to embrace UKIP
:11:43. > :11:45.yesterday in the way other British towns and cities did. Today, a
:11:46. > :11:50.senior UKIP figure admitted her party had not done as well in London
:11:51. > :11:54.because it was a cultured, educated and young place. She said there were
:11:55. > :11:57.elements of the metropolitan elite living here, who failed to
:11:58. > :12:02.understand the heartache and pain felt in other parts of the country.
:12:03. > :12:05.If they have educated people, surely they have a better understanding of
:12:06. > :12:13.what it is like the rest of the country? I find statements like that
:12:14. > :12:18.from UKIP is a little insulting. It says to me they are looking for
:12:19. > :12:24.excuses. But jump on the district line and head east, and you find
:12:25. > :12:30.support the UKIP grows a little. Sir Robin Wales held on to the mayoralty
:12:31. > :12:34.in new, but UKIP came third. We don't get enough support in these
:12:35. > :12:40.areas. I didn't quite understand about them so I didn't vote for
:12:41. > :12:47.them, no. I wasn't sure. Of their policies? Yes. I think you either
:12:48. > :12:56.side with them, or you do not. It is not something that is middle ground.
:12:57. > :13:02.Labour. Why not UKIP? Racism. It is only when you had to zone six that
:13:03. > :13:06.you detect a change. Haver ring is the whitest and furthest east London
:13:07. > :13:10.borough. Support for UKIP appears to be creeping up towards that of their
:13:11. > :13:18.Essex neighbours. Are you a first`time UKIP voter? Yes, normally
:13:19. > :13:22.Conservative. I'm not a racist. I have coloured neighbours, fantastic
:13:23. > :13:25.neighbours. I'm not a racist or nothing like that but it's just
:13:26. > :13:30.getting overbearing. Everything you go to, the housing. I have
:13:31. > :13:34.grandchildren growing up and what chance do they have? Some of these
:13:35. > :13:39.views may seem dated to younger, more diverse parts of London, but
:13:40. > :13:44.they reflect a rise in support for UKIP. But this is very much a city
:13:45. > :13:49.which bucked the national trend. With us now, Professor Tony Travers
:13:50. > :13:59.from the London School of Economics. Let's start with UKIP. Strong in
:14:00. > :14:03.Essex, in London not so much. Nigel Farage puts it down to fledgling
:14:04. > :14:08.voluntary structure in London, and that it is only a matter of time
:14:09. > :14:13.before they make headway. Do you agree? I doubt it. I think the other
:14:14. > :14:18.comment made earlier today by a UKIP stall wort was that London was
:14:19. > :14:22.perhaps, as you heard in that film, that somehow it was too many people
:14:23. > :14:26.from too many different backgrounds, to diverse, too many highly educated
:14:27. > :14:31.people and all of these things. Those things do explain, I think,
:14:32. > :14:36.some of what is different here for UKIP. In London, not in all of it,
:14:37. > :14:43.because we will still see what happens in results to come, but
:14:44. > :14:48.there is no question that the way that UKIP has grown its vote is in
:14:49. > :14:54.areas where the population tends to be older, with fewer migrants, and
:14:55. > :14:59.other qualifications. That kind of thing is less the case in London. Do
:15:00. > :15:05.you subscribe to the theory that it is a protest vote? Not only a
:15:06. > :15:08.protest vote. It is not a short`term protest vote. This is a vote of
:15:09. > :15:11.people who often feel cut off from politics, think the main parties
:15:12. > :15:17.look the same, and as a result they are going to protest vote, but not
:15:18. > :15:20.just a short`term protest vote. What about the Labour gains in London,
:15:21. > :15:26.one of the best results in terms of the control of councils since the
:15:27. > :15:30.1970s. What do you put that down to? I think that Labour here has been
:15:31. > :15:33.able to take advantage of a small swing from the Conservatives to
:15:34. > :15:38.Labour, since these elections were last fought in 2010. More than
:15:39. > :15:43.that, I think that over time London is changing, and that with a more
:15:44. > :15:49.diverse population, more young people, for various reasons some
:15:50. > :15:54.moving in from other parts of the country, it is giving a voter
:15:55. > :15:59.profile which is more favourable. London is tipping slightly to Labour
:16:00. > :16:03.over time. Looking at the Lib Dems, they have lost Kingston, but they
:16:04. > :16:09.have lost a lot of councillors in key areas. A lot of head
:16:10. > :16:12.scratching, I imagine, head of the general election. For the Lib Dems
:16:13. > :16:16.it has been a bad result, no question about that. They were
:16:17. > :16:22.expecting to do badly and they have done. In fact, although they have
:16:23. > :16:28.held Sutton, in the end they are going to find it harder to win
:16:29. > :16:32.general election seats with their activists, fewer councillors and
:16:33. > :16:35.fewer people to fight elections. But they are quite good at holding on to
:16:36. > :16:40.MPs where they have them in place, so it may not be quite as bad next
:16:41. > :16:43.year. We heard Boris Johnson putting a brave face on it, saying the
:16:44. > :16:49.Conservatives are not worried about this. Is he right to be bullish? The
:16:50. > :16:53.Conservatives will look at the whole election across the country,
:16:54. > :16:57.including London, and be a bit more confident than they feared. Labour,
:16:58. > :17:01.apart from London, will feel that somehow they need to do a bit better
:17:02. > :17:10.by this time next year. They need to do as well across the country as
:17:11. > :17:17.they have in London. You can find out about your council
:17:18. > :17:24.on our website. Still to come: I'll be with you
:17:25. > :17:27.later in the programme with a look ahead to the bank holiday weekend
:17:28. > :17:32.weather which, at the moment, is looking rather mixed.
:17:33. > :17:37.The Mayor's urging the commission set up to look at aviation capacity
:17:38. > :17:41.in the South East not to rule out an Estuary airport. Boris Johnson says
:17:42. > :17:43.it's a once`in`a`lifetime opportunity which would benefit the
:17:44. > :17:47.economy and create nearly half a million jobs. The Airports
:17:48. > :17:50.Commission, which is weighing up runway options at Heathrow or
:17:51. > :17:54.Gatwick, will make a decision on whether to include an Estuary option
:17:55. > :17:59.by the end of the year. Here's our transport correspondent Tom Edwards.
:18:00. > :18:03.From the top of the Shard, you can see just how busy London's air space
:18:04. > :18:12.is. That can mean noise from pollution. `` noise and pollution.
:18:13. > :18:14.And a third runway at Heathrow would mean more flights across the
:18:15. > :18:18.capital. At City Hall nearby, they think the solution is to move the
:18:19. > :18:28.main airport to the east into the Thames Estuary. I think a lot of
:18:29. > :18:31.people are recognising it would be an utter disaster to expand Heathrow
:18:32. > :18:33.and put another runway there. And expand the number of Londoners who
:18:34. > :18:36.already have excess airport noise from 750,000 to one million people.
:18:37. > :18:40.The Airports Commission will decide if to include the Estuary airport by
:18:41. > :18:43.the end of the year. Its backers, like the Mayor, are trying to prove
:18:44. > :18:49.its credentials. The short list so far includes runways at Heathrow and
:18:50. > :18:55.Gatwick. And the process itself is leaving many concerned. Business is
:18:56. > :18:58.very frustrated. We're a world city and as a country we are reliant on
:18:59. > :19:00.international air links. Our competitors, like Amsterdam and
:19:01. > :19:03.Paris, are investing in theirs and we're not. This has bedevilled
:19:04. > :19:06.governments for 50 years now. We just want to see a solution. So
:19:07. > :19:18.we're clearly behind Howard Davies and the Airports Commission. We want
:19:19. > :19:22.him to put forward some recommendations and we want the
:19:23. > :19:25.politicians to then implement them. The Mayor says the Estuary is the
:19:26. > :19:28.best option and would benefit the economy by ?7 million. `` ?7
:19:29. > :19:31.billion. Even if it isn't short listed, he says he'll still campaign
:19:32. > :19:34.for it. It would, though, mean closing Heathrow to be redeveloped.
:19:35. > :19:39.That airport and its lobby groups say it would be a huge mistake.
:19:40. > :19:42.Heathrow is a fantastic airport. It supports 114,000 jobs directly and a
:19:43. > :19:45.further 250,000 across the region. Moving it away from where it's
:19:46. > :19:48.required in west London, where the business and market is, as well as
:19:49. > :19:51.the employees, we think would be terrible. The final recommendations
:19:52. > :19:54.from the Airports Commission will be made in 2015. There's no guarantee,
:19:55. > :20:01.though, it will be acted on by the politicians.
:20:02. > :20:04.A housing association which put up the price of its homes by as much as
:20:05. > :20:09.?150,000 without warning has said buyers will be able to go ahead with
:20:10. > :20:12.sales at the original prices. We reported yesterday that around 30
:20:13. > :20:15.people who were due to move in to the shared`ownership flats in
:20:16. > :20:21.Streatham at the end of the month recently received a letter telling
:20:22. > :20:24.the price was rising by up to 56%. Wandle apologised, but today said
:20:25. > :20:35.the sales will go ahead at the reserved prices.
:20:36. > :20:38.To sport ` and tomorrow will be a nervous day for Queens Park Rangers
:20:39. > :20:41.fans. The club play Derby in the Championship play`off final. And the
:20:42. > :20:43.stakes are high ` victory would bring a return to the Premier
:20:44. > :20:45.League, worth around an estimated ?80 million to the club. Chris Slegg
:20:46. > :20:49.reports. When QPR last celebrated promotion,
:20:50. > :20:53.they did so as champions. This time, it will have to be via the
:20:54. > :20:58.play`offs. No matter, says manager Harry Redknapp. If Rangers go up,
:20:59. > :21:02.the season has been a success. That was the aim that we were trying to
:21:03. > :21:06.do from the start of the season and it's been a long season, a hard
:21:07. > :21:09.season. You know, at one stage, we looked like doing it and now we've
:21:10. > :21:12.got a tough game with Derby who finished just above us in the
:21:13. > :21:15.league. Promotion has extra significance for a club seeking to
:21:16. > :21:19.leave its 18,000 capacity Loftus Road Stadium and head for a new home
:21:20. > :21:25.on the Old Oak Common site, just north of Wormwood Scrubs. They want
:21:26. > :21:33.to build a new 40,000 seat stadium here. It's thought that will cost
:21:34. > :21:37.them ?200 million and that the club wants to be in place by 2018. Of
:21:38. > :21:40.course, to help those dreams become reality, they need to get back to
:21:41. > :21:45.the Premier League as as soon as possible. That's for the future. For
:21:46. > :21:51.now, the team has its focus firmly on Wembley. I think this is the
:21:52. > :21:57.biggest game I will have played in and hopefully, if we get through it,
:21:58. > :22:00.it will be the biggest achievement. I'm thinking about it every day and
:22:01. > :22:06.hopefully, we can go ahead and do it. Many people would say that this
:22:07. > :22:10.is a Premier League squad and if QPR don't go up, you've underachieved.
:22:11. > :22:14.Is that a fair assessment? I think we would be the first ones to admit
:22:15. > :22:16.that. But we're trying not to think about that. Hopefully, we're fully
:22:17. > :22:21.focused and fully together and committed to the job that we've got
:22:22. > :22:28.in front of us. Beating Derby will be worth ?80 million. Wembley
:22:29. > :22:35.victory and a return to the Premier League will no doubt feel priceless.
:22:36. > :22:40.And on Sunday at Wembley, Leyton Orient play Rotherham in the League
:22:41. > :22:43.One play`off final. Victory for Russell Slade's team would see them
:22:44. > :22:56.promoted to the Championship ` a level they haven't played at since
:22:57. > :22:59.1982. In rugby, Saracens have been boosted
:23:00. > :23:02.following the news that their captain Steve Borthwick is fit to
:23:03. > :23:04.lead out the team in their first Heineken Cup Final tomorrow in
:23:05. > :23:07.Cardiff. The side face Jonny Wilkinson's French club Toulon, who
:23:08. > :23:10.are defending the title. If the London club win, they will be first
:23:11. > :23:17.English side to lift the trophy since Wasps in 2007. It is a bit of
:23:18. > :23:25.a siege in entirety. You go there, get the job done and get out. You
:23:26. > :23:30.don't want to let the atmosphere of the day, which can be amazing, drain
:23:31. > :23:33.you. You want to focus on the game, not everything around it. The
:23:34. > :23:35.atmosphere will play a huge part on the pitch but we don't want it to
:23:36. > :23:46.play a huge part before. Time for the bank holiday weather.
:23:47. > :23:49.It was never going to be entirely straightforward. A little bit of
:23:50. > :23:53.everything thrown into the mix for this weekend. There will be some
:23:54. > :23:57.showers around, especially tomorrow, but there will be some sunshine and
:23:58. > :24:01.in the sunshine it should be quite warm. Worth keeping up`to`date with
:24:02. > :24:03.the forecast as we look further ahead towards bank holiday Monday
:24:04. > :24:08.because there is a bit more uncertainty. This is the satellite
:24:09. > :24:11.picture. You can see quite a lot of cloud to the west, perhaps more than
:24:12. > :24:16.we hoped for, which will bring in some showery rain. This evening,
:24:17. > :24:20.plenty of sunshine to come with heavy showers pulling away to the
:24:21. > :24:24.North, perhaps just one or two macrolide ones in the next couple of
:24:25. > :24:28.hours at the skies to clear ` but only briefly. By the end of the
:24:29. > :24:35.night, heavy, thundery rain surges up towards the continent. A soggy
:24:36. > :24:39.start to Saturday and the weekend. First thing, some quite heavy rain
:24:40. > :24:43.and a lot of cloud. You might think it perks up for the afternoon but if
:24:44. > :24:46.the sun comes out, that will push up temperatures, which could push up
:24:47. > :24:52.some more locally heavy thundery showers. If you get caught in a
:24:53. > :24:56.shower, you will know about it. If you are heading to the final day at
:24:57. > :25:01.Chelsea, something to bear in mind. There is a risk of getting caught in
:25:02. > :25:05.the odd downpour. More showers through Saturday evening into the
:25:06. > :25:08.small hours of Sunday but then Sunday is probably our most
:25:09. > :25:12.guaranteed dry day of the bank holiday weekend. There should be a
:25:13. > :25:20.lot of sunshine around and, in the sunshine, it should feel pleasantly
:25:21. > :25:23.warm. Highs of 19 or 20. Onto the all`important bank holiday. Here is
:25:24. > :25:26.why we are uncertain about what is happening ` there is an area of low
:25:27. > :25:30.pressure nearby on the close continent. At the moment, it looks
:25:31. > :25:34.like it might throw some heavy showers our way for bank holiday
:25:35. > :25:37.Monday, so keep that in the back of your mind. Hopefully quite a bit of
:25:38. > :25:38.fine weather but there could be some downpours to finish off the long
:25:39. > :25:47.weekend. Back now to the local elections at a
:25:48. > :25:50.final thought from our political editor Tim Donovan, who is in
:25:51. > :25:57.Barnet. Where will the biggest celebrations be? I think there will
:25:58. > :26:01.be quite a few among Labour people but if you ask me, I'd say
:26:02. > :26:07.Hammersmith and Fulham. 2006, the morning after the election, David
:26:08. > :26:12.Cameron, then the shadow leader, went to Hammersmith presenting this
:26:13. > :26:17.model counsel. They won again in 2010, cutting costs, cutting council
:26:18. > :26:23.tax year after year. They went into a shared cost`cutting arrangement
:26:24. > :26:25.with fellow stalwarts, Tory Kensington and Chelsea and
:26:26. > :26:28.Westminster, and it looked like that was going to be that and yet,
:26:29. > :26:33.somehow, Labour have turned that around and subverted it. It's quite
:26:34. > :26:39.fascinating and may have a profound affect on how that area, a wider
:26:40. > :26:45.part of central London, looks. Thanks very much.
:26:46. > :26:48.A week at one today's main news: UKIP and Labour have made the
:26:49. > :26:54.biggest gains in the local elections in England. Some results are still
:26:55. > :26:59.coming in. So far Labour has gained 282 councillors and UKIP has gained
:27:00. > :27:03.155 councillors. UKIP leader Nigel Farage said it meant they would be
:27:04. > :27:07.serious players at next year's general election.
:27:08. > :27:11.The Conservatives lost 194 seats, many in areas where it UKIP did
:27:12. > :27:16.well. David Cameron says he understands voters' frustrations and
:27:17. > :27:21.will work harder on issues including welfare reform and frustration. The
:27:22. > :27:24.Liberal Democrats lost 281 seats. In London, results are still coming
:27:25. > :27:30.in but Labour has so far made significant gains. It's won control
:27:31. > :27:35.of five councils, including palaces and Fulham and counsel. The Lib Dems
:27:36. > :27:41.lost Kingston to the Conservatives. I'll have the latest for you during
:27:42. > :27:43.the ten o'clock news or you can keep up`to`date on our website. Have a
:27:44. > :27:45.lovely evening.