:00:09. > :00:13.Britain slips into recession again. We're back where we were four years
:00:13. > :00:21.ago. New figures show it's a double dip recession - triggering a new
:00:21. > :00:24.row over who's to blame. This is a recession made by him and the
:00:24. > :00:27.Chancellor in Downing Street. Whether it's cleaning up our
:00:27. > :00:32.financial system, whether it's dealing with our debts, I don't
:00:32. > :00:36.duck my responsibilities. What a pity he can't live up to his.
:00:36. > :00:40.We'll be asking where this leaves the argument about cuts and growth.
:00:40. > :00:45.Also tonight: Cabinet Minister Jeremy Hunt under pressure as a key
:00:45. > :00:47.adviser quits over the BSkyB takeover affair.
:00:47. > :00:53.At the Leveson Inquiry Rupert Murdoch claims that Gordon Brown
:00:53. > :00:56.declared war on his company. The inquest into the death of an
:00:56. > :01:03.MI6 officer - a former landlady says she once found Gareth Williams
:01:03. > :01:08.tied to his bed. It's been a day of heavy rain across the country.
:01:08. > :01:16.There have been flood warnings in the drought zone. But will all of
:01:16. > :01:21.this help fix our water shortage? I will be here with Sportsday later,
:01:21. > :01:31.including a look at tonight's Champions League semifinal and can
:01:31. > :01:39.
:01:39. > :01:45.Jose Mourinho set up a Chelsea Good evening, welcome to the BBC
:01:45. > :01:48.News at Six. Britain is back in recession. The latest figures
:01:48. > :01:53.showed the economy shrunk by 0.2% in the last three months and
:01:53. > :01:56.sparked a furious row in the Commons. The Labour leader, Ed
:01:56. > :01:59.Miliband, said this new period of recession was made in Downing
:01:59. > :02:04.Street. David Cameron acknowledged the figures were disappointing but
:02:04. > :02:09.said the Government would stick to its plans to reduce the deficit.
:02:09. > :02:13.Here's our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym.
:02:13. > :02:18.The cogs in the economic machine grind on but they could be going a
:02:18. > :02:22.lot faster. GDP is the term for everything the economy produces. If
:02:22. > :02:28.it falls for six months you get a recession. There was a drop at the
:02:28. > :02:31.end of last year, and now another one. 0.2% between January and March.
:02:31. > :02:35.It's hard for the economy to move forward when shoppers are still
:02:35. > :02:39.careful with their cash, squeezed by rapid rises in the cost of
:02:39. > :02:45.living. Everything is going up. Wages aren't going up. I have been
:02:45. > :02:50.on a freeze now for four years. I am struggling. Not really confident,
:02:50. > :02:54.no. I don't think things are going to change, not for two or three
:02:54. > :03:01.years I would say. All the little treats have got to go, holidays are
:03:01. > :03:04.going to become a thing of the past. The ASDA boss knows customers have
:03:04. > :03:08.tightened their belts and he doesn't expect a change any time
:03:08. > :03:13.soon. They're becoming more savvy in terms of how they're shopping.
:03:13. > :03:17.When they're filling up the car with fuel they put round values in
:03:17. > :03:22.like �5 or �10, because that's how much money they've got to spend on
:03:22. > :03:26.fuel that particular week. Who is to blame? The Prime Minister and
:03:27. > :03:31.Labour leader gave their views in the Commons. Typical of this
:03:31. > :03:36.arrogant Prime Minister who tries to blame everyone else. The reality
:03:36. > :03:41.is this is a recession made by him and the Chancellor in Downing
:03:41. > :03:46.Street. This is a tough and difficult situation that the
:03:46. > :03:50.economy is in. But the one thing we must not do is to abandon public
:03:50. > :03:55.spending and deficit reduction plans because the solution to a
:03:55. > :03:59.debt crisis cannot be more debt. The breakdown of the figures shows
:03:59. > :04:03.there was a 0.1% increase for service industries, including
:04:03. > :04:08.retail, but manufacturing output fell by 0.1%.
:04:08. > :04:12.Construction saw a big drop of 3% over the three-month period.
:04:12. > :04:15.To work out whether the economy is growing or not officials have to
:04:15. > :04:19.gather data from a range of different industries, including
:04:19. > :04:23.construction. There has been criticism of the way they measure
:04:23. > :04:27.activity in this sector, with some claiming the figures are too
:04:27. > :04:30.volatile and don't reflect what's really going on. The Bank of
:04:30. > :04:36.England says the construction numbers are perplexing. Others
:04:36. > :04:39.agree. This company, for example, it makes plastic pipes for building
:04:39. > :04:42.projects. It says business is turning over, they're doing all
:04:42. > :04:47.right. The boss told me they had adapted to a world of low growth.
:04:47. > :04:50.We are in the environment we are in, I don't think we can't sit holding
:04:50. > :04:53.our head in our hands worrying about being low growth because
:04:53. > :04:57.that's the way it's going to be. That's the new norm.
:04:57. > :05:01.So what's the man in charge of economic policy got to say? You
:05:01. > :05:05.launched a growth strategy a year ago and now there's no growth. The
:05:05. > :05:08.economy has gone backwards. I have never disguised the fact that
:05:08. > :05:13.Britain faces a difficult economic situation. We have these debts. We
:05:13. > :05:17.have this debt crisis. These debts were built up over many years. If I
:05:17. > :05:20.had a magic wand I would wave and the British economy would spurt
:05:20. > :05:24.into growth I would wave it, of course I would. He ignored our
:05:24. > :05:27.warnings. He ignored our call for a plan for jobs and growth and
:05:27. > :05:32.families and businesses are now paying that price. This is a
:05:32. > :05:39.disgrace. Many commentators, including the
:05:39. > :05:42.Budget watchdog the OBR, thought the UK would avoid a slip back into
:05:42. > :05:46.recession. They'll now have to work out the implications.
:05:46. > :05:49.Our economics editor Stephanie Flanders is here.
:05:50. > :05:53.People watching this at home are going to be thinking, it feels like
:05:53. > :05:58.we are going backwards. That's why the Government and business leaders
:05:58. > :06:02.were hopes that we would avoid this sort of technical move back into
:06:02. > :06:08.recession, that we wouldn't have two quarters in which the economy
:06:08. > :06:14.shrank in a row. I don't think - it conjures up a double dip recession
:06:14. > :06:17.conjures up images of a rollercoaster that we are into a
:06:17. > :06:20.full-blown recession. Most would say the reality is what it was
:06:20. > :06:23.yesterday, even though these figures are straoeusing on the
:06:23. > :06:27.downside, which is the economy is bumping along the bottom, it's not
:06:27. > :06:31.lurching downwards but it doesn't have very much forward momentum and
:06:31. > :06:35.looking ahead, even if some of these numbers get revised, that
:06:36. > :06:39.looks like being the picture for sometime. This is by many measures
:06:39. > :06:46.the weakest recovery, the weakest period for the economy in more than
:06:46. > :06:49.80 years. Thank you. The Culture Secretary,
:06:49. > :06:52.Jeremy Hunt, has been defending his handling of News Corporation's bid
:06:52. > :06:55.for BSkyB. In a statement to MPs, Mr Hunt said he followed due
:06:55. > :06:59.process strictly. But this morning one of his key aides resigned. Adam
:06:59. > :07:01.Smith admitted he'd gone too far in his contacts with the company.
:07:01. > :07:07.Here's our political editor Nick Robinson on another setback for the
:07:07. > :07:11.Government. Is he the Culture Secretary or the
:07:11. > :07:16.Minister for Murdoch, protecting the public interest or working for
:07:16. > :07:21.their interest? I am going to be making a very, very determined
:07:21. > :07:25.effort to show that I behaved with total integrity and conducted this
:07:25. > :07:28.process scrupulously fairly. Today, Jeremy Hunt gave his answer, but
:07:28. > :07:33.before he did, just before noon, when the Prime Minister was to face
:07:33. > :07:37.questions, came a resignation. Not the Minister, but his political
:07:37. > :07:41.advisor, Adam Smith, driven out of the department after he said he had
:07:41. > :07:45.given the impression that his boss had too close a relationship with
:07:45. > :07:49.the Murdoch empire. That didn't silence Labour calls for the
:07:50. > :07:54.Minister to quit. While his Culture Secretary remains in place, while
:07:54. > :07:56.he refuses to come clean on his and the Chancellor's meetings with
:07:56. > :08:02.Rupert Murdoch, the shadow of sleaze will hang over this
:08:02. > :08:05.Government. It's a pattern with this Prime Minister, Andy Coulson,
:08:05. > :08:09.Rebekah Brooks, and now the Culture Secretary. When is he going to
:08:09. > :08:13.realise it's time to stop putting his cronies before the interests of
:08:13. > :08:17.the country? An anxious Minister looked on as the Prime Minister
:08:17. > :08:21.insisted it was for the Leveson Inquiry to investigate and no one
:08:21. > :08:26.should prejudge it. He called for an independent judicial inquiry.
:08:26. > :08:29.That is the inquiry I have set up. Whether it's the proper regulation
:08:29. > :08:33.of the press, whether it is cleaning up our financial system,
:08:33. > :08:38.whether it's dealing with our debts, I don't duck my responsibilities.
:08:38. > :08:41.What a pity he can't live up to his. All this was provoked by evidence
:08:41. > :08:46.produced when James Murdoch was questioned on oath at the inquiry
:08:46. > :08:50.yesterday. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. What is at
:08:50. > :08:54.issue is what is the truth about the attempted multibillion pound
:08:54. > :08:58.takeover of BSkyB and the Culture Secretary's relations with James
:08:58. > :09:02.Murdoch. E-mails now released reveal Mr
:09:02. > :09:05.Murdoch was told by his advisor he managed to get some info, although
:09:05. > :09:08.absolutely illegal about what Jeremy Hunt would say to parliament
:09:08. > :09:14.the next day. Another claimed that the Minister
:09:14. > :09:18.believed we would get there at the and he shared our objectives.
:09:18. > :09:24.Today, the Culture Secretary was forced to come to the Commons to
:09:24. > :09:28.insist he had done nothing wrong. Transcripts of conversations and
:09:28. > :09:33.text published yesterday between my special advisor Adam Smith and a
:09:33. > :09:38.news corporation representative have been alleged to indicate there
:09:38. > :09:42.was a back channel through which News Corporation were able to
:09:42. > :09:49.influence my decisions. This is categorically not the case. But he
:09:49. > :09:53.said his advisor had gone too far to inform and reassure News Corp.
:09:53. > :09:58.The volume and tone of those communications were clearly not
:09:58. > :10:04.appropriate in a quasi-judicial process. Not everyone was impressed.
:10:04. > :10:09.When posh boys are in trouble, they sack the servants. The man who had
:10:09. > :10:13.to give a verdict on BSkyB's bid for a bigger stake in ITV says
:10:13. > :10:18.Ministers have to behave like judges. It's very clear I could not
:10:18. > :10:22.be providing information to either side, let alone apparently to one
:10:22. > :10:26.side. You really have to act scrupulously fairly and importantly,
:10:26. > :10:29.you have to be seen to be acting fairly. Not very long ago
:10:29. > :10:39.politicians were desperate to get close to the Murdoches. Now Jeremy
:10:39. > :10:41.
:10:41. > :10:43.Hunt is wishing he kept his distance.
:10:43. > :10:46.Rupert Murdoch has told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics that
:10:46. > :10:52.Gordon Brown declared war on his company after the Sun newspaper
:10:52. > :10:55.switched its support to the Conservatives. But the former prime
:10:55. > :10:57.minister say Mr Murdoch's account was wholly wrong. Nick Witchell was
:10:57. > :11:00.at the inquiry as the media mogul answered questions about his
:11:00. > :11:06.relationship with a string of Prime Ministers. His report contains some
:11:06. > :11:11.flash photography. His views have mattered to people
:11:11. > :11:17.in power for decades. But today as Rupert Murdoch arrived at the Royal
:11:17. > :11:21.Courts of Justice with his wife and son, political leaders, past and
:11:21. > :11:27.present, may just have felt a touch uncertain about what this witness
:11:27. > :11:31.would disclose. The witness today is Mr Rupert Murdoch. I swear by
:11:31. > :11:36.almighty God, that the evidence I shall give... Mr Murdoch said he
:11:36. > :11:40.welcomed the inquiry, there were myths to put to rest and abuses to
:11:40. > :11:44.address. Is it your perception or understanding that abuses go
:11:44. > :11:49.further than the issue of phone hacking? Oh, they go further.
:11:49. > :11:55.will come back to that in due course. They went first to the
:11:55. > :11:58.early 19 0s when -- 1980s when Mr Murdoch was trying to buy Times
:11:58. > :12:02.newspaper. He wanted the support of Margaret Thatcher. Counsel asked if
:12:02. > :12:05.he presented himself to her as the man with the will to crush the
:12:05. > :12:12.trade unions. I didn't have the will to crush the unions. I might
:12:12. > :12:16.have had the desire. But that took several years. But had he asked
:12:16. > :12:22.Prime Minister Thatcher to support his bid for the Times? No, he said.
:12:22. > :12:26.I never asked a Prime Minister for anything. 1997 brought a change of
:12:26. > :12:31.Government, to Tony Blair and New Labour. Their approach to media
:12:31. > :12:36.ownership is said to have been relaxed. Mr Murdoch had supported
:12:36. > :12:41.Tony Blair's election. I in ten years of his power there, never
:12:41. > :12:46.asked Mr Blair for anything. Nor indeed did I receive any favours.
:12:46. > :12:51.From Blair to Brown. Rupert Murdoch said he had got on well with Gordon
:12:51. > :12:54.Brown personally, but then in September 2009 the Murdoch Sun
:12:54. > :13:04.withdrew its support from Labour. Mr Murdoch described a telephone
:13:04. > :13:09.call he had received from Gordon Brown. He said well, your company
:13:09. > :13:14.has declared war on my Government. And we have no alternative, but to
:13:14. > :13:22.make war on your company. I said I am sorry about that, Gordon. Thank
:13:22. > :13:31.you for calling. End of subject. How could Mr Brown have declared
:13:31. > :13:41.war on your company? I don't know. I don't think he was in a state of
:13:41. > :13:44.
:13:44. > :13:47.As for David Cameron, Mr Murdoch recalled how when he was opposition
:13:47. > :13:52.leader he had flown out to meet him on the Murdoch's yacht in the
:13:52. > :14:02.Mediterranean. Why, he was asked, did politicians go to such trouble
:14:02. > :14:03.
:14:03. > :14:11.to see him? Politicians go out of their way to impress people in the
:14:11. > :14:16.press. One other politician who has crossed Mr Murdoch's path, Alex
:14:16. > :14:21.Salmond of the SNP. I don't know Mr Salmond well. He is an amusing guy
:14:21. > :14:25.and I enjoy his company. The point Mr Murdoch was most at pains to
:14:25. > :14:30.stress was that he had never traded endorsement from his newspapers,
:14:30. > :14:34.particularly the Sun, in return for some commercial favour. But one
:14:34. > :14:38.thing Mr Murdoch did accept, on the big political issues he did make
:14:38. > :14:43.his views known through his newspapers. I am a curious person
:14:43. > :14:48.who is interested in the great issues of the day. I am not good at
:14:48. > :14:58.holding my tongue. Mr Murdoch gave evidence for nearly four hours and
:14:58. > :14:59.
:14:59. > :15:04.will resume his testimony tomorrow. Our top story tonight: New figures
:15:04. > :15:08.released today show Britain is in recession again. Coming up: MI6
:15:08. > :15:18.officers begin giving evidence at the inquest into their colleague
:15:18. > :15:22.
:15:22. > :15:30.Are there any companies who aren't facing financial crisis? And
:15:30. > :15:34.identity theft is on the up. Now, how can you have a drought on
:15:34. > :15:37.the one hand and flood warnings on the other, both at the same time?
:15:37. > :15:40.With a month's worth of rain forecast for the next few days,
:15:40. > :15:43.that is exactly what is happening in some parts of England. The water
:15:43. > :15:53.companies say the answer is simple - it is just not enough, as Jeremy
:15:53. > :15:57.Cooke has been finding out in Northamptonshire. Yes, a rainy day
:15:58. > :16:01.in England. Normally, hardly the stuff of headline news, but this
:16:01. > :16:06.wet spell comes after an exceptionally dry a two-year period
:16:06. > :16:11.which has left much of England in drought. The question is whether
:16:11. > :16:19.all this water is enough to make a difference.
:16:19. > :16:24.A filthy, phaal, soaking day in the drought zone. Across much of the
:16:24. > :16:27.country, hours of persistent torrential rain. In parts of the
:16:27. > :16:33.south-west, officially in drought since last week, there are now
:16:33. > :16:36.flood warnings. The voice on the telephone says get out, and take
:16:36. > :16:40.your children and your pets with you and get to higher ground! They
:16:40. > :16:47.thought I was in danger of flooding. So broad rivers threatened to burst
:16:47. > :16:51.their banks. This was among those causing serious concern. But for
:16:51. > :16:55.farmers struggling to raise their crops in drought conditions, it is
:16:55. > :17:01.all good news. But most, like Andrew Brown, are not celebrating
:17:01. > :17:06.yet. One wet spell will not solve the long-term chronic water
:17:06. > :17:11.shortage. Beans and which will be fined. We are more concerned about
:17:11. > :17:18.the root crops, potatoes and so on which needed irrigating in the
:17:18. > :17:22.Solar Time. There are still shortages of water. Here at this
:17:22. > :17:27.reservoir, it has been checking it down. But supplies here are still
:17:27. > :17:32.25% lower than they should be at this time of year. The drought and
:17:32. > :17:37.the hosepipe ban are still a reality. We have just had the
:17:37. > :17:41.driest 18 months in a century. That is serious and it means that just a
:17:41. > :17:45.few weeks weeks -- white weeks will not change the situation. We need
:17:45. > :17:49.many more weeks like this to get back to where we want to be for
:17:49. > :17:56.this time of year. Today's rain is falling on dry, hard ground, and
:17:56. > :18:00.much of it is evaporating or flowing away in a mild temperatures.
:18:00. > :18:05.Normally, aquifers recharge over the winter months, because
:18:05. > :18:10.temperatures are cooler. There is less evaporation, so that water
:18:10. > :18:13.gets to replenish the supply as much better. For some, this rain
:18:13. > :18:18.has been good news. For others, especially those on the road, it
:18:18. > :18:22.has been a miserable day. The rain continues to pour down
:18:22. > :18:26.here. Let me give you an idea of the scale of the problem. This is a
:18:26. > :18:30.typical reservoir, well below the level it should be at this time of
:18:30. > :18:34.year. The people who work here tell me they would normally see the
:18:34. > :18:39.level right up above my head at this time of year. It might take
:18:39. > :18:41.weeks, perhaps months of rain like this to rectify the situation.
:18:41. > :18:43.Scotland Yard has called on the Portuguese authorities to reopen
:18:43. > :18:46.the search for Madeleine McCann. The Metropolitan Police have
:18:46. > :18:50.reviewed the case of the three- year-old girl, who disappeared in
:18:50. > :18:55.2007. They have also released a computer-generated image of how
:18:55. > :18:58.Madeleine might look now, at the age of nine.
:18:58. > :19:02.The UK Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a solicitor who was
:19:02. > :19:06.told to retire by a law firm just after his 65th birthday. The
:19:06. > :19:09.Government scrapped the default retirement age of 65 last year. But
:19:09. > :19:12.today's landmark ruling opens the way for employers to put in place
:19:12. > :19:18.policies which would allow them to retire older workers if done fairly
:19:18. > :19:21.and correctly. The inquest into the death of an
:19:21. > :19:26.MI6 officer found dead inside a padlocked sports bag has heard from
:19:26. > :19:36.a former landlady. In a written statement, she told the inquest
:19:36. > :19:37.
:19:37. > :19:40.that she had once found Gareth Williams tied to his bed.
:19:41. > :19:46.Gareth Williams, the intelligence officer whose body was found in a
:19:46. > :19:50.bag, a man described as a private person. He spent ten years in this
:19:50. > :19:55.house in Cheltenham while working at GCHQ. Today, his former landlady
:19:55. > :19:58.described hearing him cry for help at 1:30am one morning. She and her
:19:58. > :20:02.husband found him alone in his underwear, panicking and
:20:02. > :20:07.embarrassed, with his wrists tied to the bedstead. My husband said,
:20:07. > :20:14.What the bloody hell are you doing? He said, I just want to see if I
:20:14. > :20:18.could get three. In August 2010, police found Williams' body in the
:20:18. > :20:22.bath tub of his flat. He was curled up inside the bag in a foetal
:20:22. > :20:26.position, with the keys underneath him. But the bag was locked on the
:20:26. > :20:30.outside, with police believing someone else was involved. Today
:20:30. > :20:33.the inquest also heard from the police officer in charge of
:20:33. > :20:37.liaising with the intelligence agencies. He said his inquiries had
:20:37. > :20:42.found no evidence that Gareth Williams' death was linked to his
:20:42. > :20:46.work. This afternoon, former colleagues from MI6 and GCHQ gave
:20:46. > :20:50.their evidence. His line manager said that in hindsight, he would
:20:50. > :20:54.have done more to try and establish why Gareth Williams Mr week of
:20:54. > :20:58.meetings and appointments before police were finally contacted. They
:20:58. > :21:02.gave their evidence behind a screen to protect their identity. Lawyers
:21:02. > :21:05.for his family also question why spies had not signed standard
:21:05. > :21:10.witness statements and whether computer material had been secured
:21:10. > :21:20.before police took possession. More evidence from former colleagues in
:21:20. > :21:21.
:21:21. > :21:23.GCHQ and MI6 is expected tomorrow as the inquest continues.
:21:23. > :21:26.The American business tycoon, Donald Trump, has said he was
:21:26. > :21:29."lured" into building a billion dollar golf resort in Aberdeenshire,
:21:29. > :21:32.having been assured that a proposed wind farm would not go ahead.
:21:32. > :21:35.Speaking to a committee of MSPs in Edinburgh, he said he was opposed
:21:35. > :21:42.to the plans for an offshore development and warned that
:21:42. > :21:45.Scotland's policy on wind power could destroy its tourism industry.
:21:45. > :21:47.It's one of the political trends of the age, voters becoming
:21:47. > :21:49.disillusioned with mainstream politics, and smaller parties
:21:49. > :21:52.gaining in popularity. But with local elections on the way, the
:21:52. > :21:54.question is whether that popularity will translate into votes and seats.
:21:54. > :22:01.Our political correspondent has this report on those smaller
:22:01. > :22:05.parties contesting the English local elections.
:22:05. > :22:08.The odds are stacked against them, but in parts of England, these
:22:08. > :22:13.smaller parties could come from outside to rob them mainstream
:22:13. > :22:17.rivals of some key seats. When Respect's leader George Galloway
:22:17. > :22:21.pulled off his unexpected by- election victory, he said it was
:22:21. > :22:27.the Bradford Spring, and a prize against the political establishment.
:22:27. > :22:35.Ambitious rhetoric, but his party has fielded just 15 candidates in
:22:35. > :22:39.May. But the greens are contesting 965 seats, and hope they can make
:22:39. > :22:43.games with a campaign that goes beyond environmental issues. When
:22:43. > :22:46.the Greens explain that not only are we standing for environmental
:22:46. > :22:50.policies that they are known well for, but also standing up against
:22:50. > :22:53.the regime of vicious cuts that are being visited on people through
:22:53. > :22:59.national government and down via local government, that is also
:22:59. > :23:02.resonant. On the doorstep, they are talking about local issues, but
:23:02. > :23:05.campaigners for the smaller parties will be hoping to capitalise on the
:23:05. > :23:09.wider national mood of voters who are fed up with the three main
:23:09. > :23:13.parties. Undoubtedly, there is a wider trend whereby the British
:23:13. > :23:17.public are willing to vote for smaller parties in a way that for
:23:17. > :23:21.most of the post-war period, they were reluctant to do. But despite
:23:21. > :23:28.the patriotic cupcakes designed to sweeten their appeal, the British
:23:28. > :23:31.National Party have modest hopes at this election. They have 35
:23:31. > :23:35.candidates and their leader says this is a rebuilding phase after an
:23:35. > :23:40.internal power struggle. The English Democrats hope to increase
:23:40. > :23:46.their tally of five seats. They have broadened their message,
:23:46. > :23:51.campaigning for tax cuts and more directly elected mayors as well as
:23:51. > :23:56.an English parliament. UKIP's leader Nigel Farage is buoyed by
:23:56. > :23:59.one recent opinion poll putting his party ahead of the Liberal
:23:59. > :24:04.Democrats and hoping his key theme of standing up to Europe will
:24:04. > :24:08.appeal across the board. Everyone thinks that all the UKIP boaters
:24:08. > :24:11.are disaffected Tories. There are many reasons to be disaffected with
:24:11. > :24:16.the Tory party, but our vote actually comes from across the
:24:16. > :24:20.board. Despite more popular support, the voting system means the smaller
:24:21. > :24:23.parties will cause few big upsets on May 3rd.
:24:24. > :24:26.Well, after today's news on the recession and the pressure on the
:24:26. > :24:32.Culture Secretary, let's get a final word with our political
:24:32. > :24:36.editor, Nick Robinson. Either one of those would be bad enough, but
:24:36. > :24:40.it adds up to another tough day for the Government. This was the day
:24:40. > :24:47.things got serious for David Cameron. A double-dip recession, a
:24:47. > :24:51.fight to save a minister's career. At stake, the government's
:24:51. > :24:55.reputation for competence and integrity. For most people, the
:24:55. > :25:00.economic news is what matters much more. Squeezed as never before,
:25:00. > :25:03.many voters will now ask themselves, was it worth it? And the opposition,
:25:03. > :25:07.which has struggled for so long to turn the debate away from how to
:25:07. > :25:12.tackle the deficit into a debate about how to get the economy going
:25:12. > :25:16.again, may start to get their way. But inside Number 10, be in no
:25:16. > :25:21.doubt - the real effort overnight and today was to try and save the
:25:21. > :25:25.Culture Secretary's career. They did so by sacrificing his adviser.
:25:25. > :25:30.Although that has got Mr Hunt through today, there are many MPs
:25:30. > :25:34.who say they do not believe he acted with the impartiality of a
:25:34. > :25:39.judge while his adviser acted as a cheerleader for the Murdochs. There
:25:39. > :25:49.is an old saying - when things are bad in politics, Things Can Only
:25:49. > :25:49.
:25:49. > :25:54.Get Better. It is wrong, they just Now the weather. It has been a
:25:54. > :25:59.bleak day, but one wet day does not make up for a dry 18 months. This
:25:59. > :26:06.picture was taken on the south coast at Worthing earlier today.
:26:06. > :26:12.Here are some examples of how much rain has fallen. Some places have
:26:12. > :26:15.had an inch and a half. It is a wet and windy night across large parts
:26:15. > :26:20.of the country. The most persistent rain has been across England and
:26:20. > :26:25.Wales, but the rain is now pushing across Northern Ireland and into
:26:25. > :26:33.southern Scotland. Vicious showers further south. They will gradually
:26:33. > :26:36.ease overnight, and it will be a bit milder than last night. But
:26:36. > :26:41.there is more wet weather to come. A blustery day again across
:26:41. > :26:45.northern Scotland. Particularly soggy across north-east Scotland
:26:45. > :26:51.and eastern England. The showers will whizz across the south-east
:26:51. > :26:55.quickly because of strong winds. In central areas, the winds will be
:26:55. > :27:05.light, meanie the downpours will be long-lived. Some places will get a
:27:05. > :27:07.
:27:07. > :27:10.real soaking tomorrow, particularly across the Wales and the Midlands.
:27:10. > :27:15.It will stay very wet across eastern parts of Scotland. More
:27:15. > :27:20.rain to come here during Thursday night and into Friday. There will
:27:20. > :27:24.be outbreaks of rain also across North Wales. Either side of that,
:27:24. > :27:28.there will be some sunny spells, but more showers. We might start
:27:28. > :27:32.the weekend dry, but it looks as though there will be more wet and