26/05/2014 BBC London News


26/05/2014

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 26/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

European elections. There is a first look at the papers on the news

:00:00.:00:12.

Good evening and welcome to the programme. Labour has doubled the

:00:13.:00:16.

number of MEPs it has in the capital, winning half of the

:00:17.:00:19.

region's eight seats in the European elections. Labour topped the poll,

:00:20.:00:22.

taking one seat from the Conservatives, leaving them with

:00:23.:00:25.

two. It was a bad night for the Liberal Democrats, they've been left

:00:26.:00:29.

with no London MEPs. And there was no change for UKIP and the Green

:00:30.:00:33.

Party, they kept one seat each. Our political correspondent, Karl Mercer

:00:34.:00:42.

reports. It was a long night at City Hall, as London waited to find out

:00:43.:00:47.

how the European votes had gone. Held up by a delayed count in Tower

:00:48.:00:52.

Hamlets, London's politicians and their supporters simply had to

:00:53.:00:56.

wait... And wait... And weight. Some more anxiously than others, until

:00:57.:01:00.

the results were finally announced at around 3am. I declare that the

:01:01.:01:05.

number of votes cast for each party and each individual candidate are as

:01:06.:01:09.

follows. It was bad news for the Liberal Democrats, battered in the

:01:10.:01:12.

local elections, the news on the European poll was no better. Their

:01:13.:01:17.

only MEP lost her seat after 15 years. I think it's a great shame

:01:18.:01:23.

that Europe's premier city does not have an MEP now from the

:01:24.:01:30.

pro`European party, the Liberal Democrats. The local elections were

:01:31.:01:34.

just as bad for the Lib Dems. There are now 18 councils in the capital

:01:35.:01:37.

that have no Lib Dem councillors, and half a dozen that have just one.

:01:38.:01:41.

And the party controls just one London town Hall, in Sutton. As a

:01:42.:01:47.

party, we have been here before. The first time I was elected, the party

:01:48.:01:50.

was up 3% in the national opinion polls. We are resilient and will

:01:51.:02:01.

build on what we've got my borough, the London Borough of Sutton, we

:02:02.:02:03.

have an overwhelming majority on the council, perhaps other boroughs can

:02:04.:02:05.

learn from what we've achieved. We can fight back. These results follow

:02:06.:02:10.

up a disastrous performance in the race to be London's mayor in 2012.

:02:11.:02:15.

Back then, the Lib Dem candidate, former policeman Brian paddock, got

:02:16.:02:19.

less than 5% in the vote and lost his deposit. They are difficult

:02:20.:02:23.

times for the party. It means not only are they in a week but `` weak

:02:24.:02:30.

position to affect the boroughs in Islington or Southwark, where they

:02:31.:02:33.

were powerful until recently, but they will have lost a great deal of

:02:34.:02:37.

their activist base. That in turn makes it hard to win general

:02:38.:02:41.

election seats next year, because councillors are closely related to

:02:42.:02:47.

having a decent activist base. Once again, the winners in London's poll

:02:48.:02:51.

were the Labour Party, following up on their strong showing in the

:02:52.:02:54.

borough elections. They won four seats, up from two last time. We are

:02:55.:03:00.

proud of the result. It is not an exceptional result in London, it's

:03:01.:03:03.

what we are about in the Labour Party and I'm proud of what we have

:03:04.:03:06.

achieved to date, as an internationalist, pro`European set

:03:07.:03:11.

of candidates. UKIP had hoped to build on the one MEP they had

:03:12.:03:15.

elected in 2009, but it wasn't to be, as London once again bucked the

:03:16.:03:20.

national trend. At their sole win on the night was incompetence mood.

:03:21.:03:23.

Government the one thing I hope is that non`averse to a full turn that

:03:24.:03:27.

Britain leads the European Union and within five years all of us are made

:03:28.:03:31.

redundant. The Conservatives lost one of their MEPs, down from three

:03:32.:03:36.

to two in London. Looking at the overall results, the year to go

:03:37.:03:41.

before the general election, we are neck and neck with Labour. Overall,

:03:42.:03:46.

it's a pretty good result. The Greens had been worried about their

:03:47.:03:49.

sole MEP, but with the UKIP threat not as great in London, she also

:03:50.:03:54.

held on for another five years. I generally thought tonight was be ``

:03:55.:04:01.

is going to be a close one. Thank you, London voters. A bit of

:04:02.:04:05.

something for everyone in London, with most claiming a victory of

:04:06.:04:09.

sorts. Apart from the Lib Dems. The Liberal Democrats did manage to

:04:10.:04:12.

retain their MEP in the South East region, which includes Surrey,

:04:13.:04:16.

Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. This was despite a strong showing from

:04:17.:04:20.

UKIP, where Nigel Farage was one of four MEPs elected. UKIP also did

:04:21.:04:23.

well in the eastern region, which includes Hertfordshire and Essex,

:04:24.:04:27.

winning three seats. The Greens will be disappointed as they just missed

:04:28.:04:31.

out on a seat here, even though they polled over 8% of the vote. One

:04:32.:04:35.

borough has still not declared its final result from last Thursday's

:04:36.:04:38.

local election. The count in Tower Hamlets was suspended at 3am this

:04:39.:04:41.

morning and won't start again until tomorrow. The delay's been caused

:04:42.:04:45.

because ballot papers for the Bromley South ward have to be

:04:46.:04:52.

recounted. The Thames Tunnel was once known as the eighth wonder of

:04:53.:04:55.

the world. In Victorian times, hundreds of thousands of Londoners

:04:56.:04:58.

flocked to see it, amazed at how they were able to walk beneath the

:04:59.:05:02.

river. These days it's no longer a tourist attraction, in fact the

:05:03.:05:05.

public rarely get to see it. Charlotte Franks reports. Welcome to

:05:06.:05:16.

the eighth wonder of the world. This is the first tunnel under a river

:05:17.:05:20.

anywhere in the world. This dark underground passage is the

:05:21.:05:24.

birthplace of the Tube system. It's the Thames Tunnel, which runs

:05:25.:05:29.

between Rotherhithe and Wapping. It was designed and engineered by Marc

:05:30.:05:33.

Brunel and his son, Isambard Brunel. It opened in 1843 with the screams

:05:34.:05:39.

of excitement and delight of 50,000 visitors. Built originally for horse

:05:40.:05:43.

and cart is, the great tunnel was to be an alternative to the already

:05:44.:05:47.

overcrowded River Thames. But access to the tunnel was too difficult for

:05:48.:05:52.

anything other than pedestrians, so it soon became more than just a

:05:53.:05:58.

means of getting from a to B. This is the world's first underwater

:05:59.:06:03.

banquet hall, the world's first underwater shopping arcade and the

:06:04.:06:08.

world's first and water programme. People caught on to the fact they

:06:09.:06:12.

could have a steady stream of customers and used the structure of

:06:13.:06:16.

the tunnel to their advantage. These archways were shops, selling

:06:17.:06:19.

hundreds of items to people walking north and south. What they bought

:06:20.:06:23.

were trophies. After all, you needed proof that you'd ventured beneath

:06:24.:06:28.

the River Thames. The tunnel was a great feat of engineering. No one

:06:29.:06:32.

believed it could be made. It was the first shield driven tunnel

:06:33.:06:35.

construction in the world, but the process was a risky one. Brunel came

:06:36.:06:40.

up with the idea of a tunnelling shield, but it had workers in little

:06:41.:06:45.

cells of about 21 feet 6'. They would do two`hour and have to come

:06:46.:06:49.

up because the air and gas was so much they were almost collapsing.

:06:50.:06:54.

The tunnel is now used London overground trains, carrying over 1

:06:55.:06:58.

million passengers every day. A structure that people once thought

:06:59.:07:00.

impossible has left a very important legacy. Intriguing stuff!

:07:01.:07:06.

A quick look at the weather. Tonight there's a chance of heavy showers

:07:07.:07:11.

before clear skies in the morning. Tomorrow will be mostly bright and

:07:12.:07:14.

dry, with a risk of showers in the afternoon. Top temperature of 18

:07:15.:07:18.

Celsius. That's it for tonight. We're back with the latest news,

:07:19.:07:21.

travel and weather every half hour from 6.30am tomorrow morning. For

:07:22.:07:23.

now, have a very good night. The month of May is often thought of

:07:24.:07:42.

as the transition from Spring into summer. It can have a variety of

:07:43.:07:47.

weather. We've seen just that in just one day. In fact, we had a

:07:48.:07:51.

window of sunshine, it was quite pleasant, but at the same time we

:07:52.:07:54.

had this speed of cloud and rain moving up from the channel to the

:07:55.:07:57.

North of England and sharp showers to the north and west. If you

:07:58.:08:02.

managed to dodge them and keep the sunshine, you have the warmth. Highs

:08:03.:08:11.

of 18 degrees. Underneath the cloud and rain, a disappointing 11

:08:12.:08:13.

degrees. Very cool for this time of year. We will continue to see the

:08:14.:08:16.

showers fading to the west, but temperatures are pretty uniform

:08:17.:08:17.

through the night.

:08:18.:08:19.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS