:00:12. > :00:16.Good evening. The West Country has decided ` now we are just awaiting
:00:17. > :00:19.their verdicts. Polls closed half an hour ago in the local and Etropean
:00:20. > :00:23.elections. The council results are being counted tonight, and soon we
:00:24. > :00:29.will know who will run some of our biggest local authorities. Let's
:00:30. > :00:32.take a look at the battlegrounds. 96 seats are being contested in five
:00:33. > :00:37.councils ` that's Bristol, Swindon, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud.
:00:38. > :00:41.The significance has been clear from the high number of visits from the
:00:42. > :00:44.party leaders, who have a lot at stake in this important test of
:00:45. > :00:47.public opinion, ahead of thd General Election next year. Swindon is
:00:48. > :00:50.particularly interesting, bdcause it's a key target seat for Labour
:00:51. > :00:59.and the Conservatives. Paul Barltrop is at the count.
:01:00. > :01:06.good evening Paul. Evening David. This is a very important pl`ce
:01:07. > :01:10.indeed. Every council that has held elections today is important in the
:01:11. > :01:13.big contest, which is going to be next year, general election 201 .
:01:14. > :01:18.This place Swindon, they have two Conservative MPs at the momdnt, if
:01:19. > :01:23.Ed Miliband is going to become Prime Minister he needs to take the seats.
:01:24. > :01:26.The you look at Stroud that a key marginal Labour would hope to take.
:01:27. > :01:30.In Cheltenham, at the moment there is a Liberal Democrat MP and
:01:31. > :01:34.council, that is where the Tories in a two horse race would like to nudge
:01:35. > :01:38.ahead. So yes, these elections are very much a precursor, a drx`run for
:01:39. > :01:43.general election 2015. And Swindon in particular, because that is a
:01:44. > :01:49.bellwether seat, isn't it? Ht is, you look back in the historx book,
:01:50. > :01:51.30 years, the way this placd has gone as global economyions hs the
:01:52. > :01:54.same way the Prime Minister has gone, so it is very important and
:01:55. > :01:59.looking here tone, well, thdy have started counting the vote, they have
:02:00. > :02:03.lots of postal votes. Some of the ballot Bosco Ntagandas coming in.
:02:04. > :02:08.Have talked to some from thd parties it is so close, the Conserv`tives
:02:09. > :02:13.have a majority of one, so they need to hold on to everything th`t I have
:02:14. > :02:18.got here. The Conservatives having said that might make a gain. Labour
:02:19. > :02:22.are hoping to push them out of overall control. Let us turn to
:02:23. > :02:28.goester, our reporter for us there tonight. `` Gloucester. Our reporter
:02:29. > :02:31.is Steve Knibbs. This is ond of Labour's big targets in the general
:02:32. > :02:34.election next year. One of Labour's 100 seats they need to win to get Ed
:02:35. > :02:38.Miliband into Number Ten, all eyes will be on the city tonight. The
:02:39. > :02:41.current make up of the council is no overall control, although it is run
:02:42. > :02:45.by a small Conservative administration. So, obviously too
:02:46. > :02:52.early to say what is going to happen here, one the seats that cotld be at
:02:53. > :02:56.risk is that of the deputy leader of Gloucester City Council Jenny
:02:57. > :02:59.Dalamore. So locally that is Labour's number one target, if they
:03:00. > :03:03.make some gains it could ch`nge the administration of the counchl,
:03:04. > :03:07.possibly a Labour Liberal Ddmocrat coalition, but I think tonight, it
:03:08. > :03:11.seems unlikely that any party will gain overall control of Glotcester
:03:12. > :03:15.City Council. Counting has started in Bristol
:03:16. > :03:20.where it will any moment now. Chris is there for us now. What c`n you
:03:21. > :03:24.tell us Chris? Good evening from the city academy here in Easton, in
:03:25. > :03:28.terms of this area 24 wards across Bristol were up for grab, that a
:03:29. > :03:32.third of the total council seats. As the results come in, the thhngs to
:03:33. > :03:37.look for, turn out, since the city opted for an elected mayor ht has
:03:38. > :03:42.been on the declineful 27 pdople percent of people bothered to vote.
:03:43. > :03:45.The other thing to look forward to is the Labour Party. They h`ve been
:03:46. > :03:48.out of power for % a decade. Can they swell the number of kotbs
:03:49. > :03:51.mores? It a dry`run for the general election for them. Then the Liberal
:03:52. > :03:56.Democrats. They were in charge before the mayor came along. Can
:03:57. > :04:00.they hold on? We are hearing their leader could lose his seat. UKIP
:04:01. > :04:04.didn't make a breakthrough hn Bristol last time. Can they gain a
:04:05. > :04:08.councillor tonight? We expect the first results round about mhdnight.
:04:09. > :04:14.Thank you. In other news. A Royal Marine from
:04:15. > :04:17.Taunton found guilty of murdering an injured Afghan fighter has lost an
:04:18. > :04:20.appeal against his conviction. Alexander Blackman was jaildd for
:04:21. > :04:23.ten years after shooting thd man in the chest at close range. Today the
:04:24. > :04:26.Court Martial Appeal Court reduced his minimum term to eight ydars
:04:27. > :04:29.saying the former marine's combat stress had not sufficiently been
:04:30. > :04:33.taken into account. The death was filmed by a camera on a fellow
:04:34. > :04:38.marine's helmet. A 13`year`old girl has gone missing in Froome. Phoebe
:04:39. > :04:43.Lock was last seen at her home .00 last night. She has links whth
:04:44. > :04:49.Bridgwater and family in thd Bath area, police say they are growing
:04:50. > :04:52.concerned for her welfare. A bride`to`be from Bristol has found
:04:53. > :04:55.a stem cell donor for her fhance after launching a successful social
:04:56. > :04:59.media campaign which could save his life. Kate Roberton had just 60 days
:05:00. > :05:06.to find a match for Mike Br`ndon, who found out he had cancer in
:05:07. > :05:09.March. Sarah`Jane Bungay reports. 60 days to find a match. Mike
:05:10. > :05:12.Brandon and his fiancee Katd Robertson were told that after his
:05:13. > :05:18.current course of chemother`py he desperately needed a transplant The
:05:19. > :05:22.Shake4Mike appeal was Kate's answer. All of our friends quite liked doing
:05:23. > :05:25.shaky faces and take silly pictures of each other. Within the fhrst
:05:26. > :05:34.48`hours of the campaign behng launched, we had 2,136 people
:05:35. > :05:38.register to be a donor. Mikd's best chance of a match was anothdr man
:05:39. > :05:41.under the age of 30. Here hhs friends were encouraging people to
:05:42. > :05:44.sign up at a Premier League football game. Word of the campaign spread
:05:45. > :05:49.fast. Soon people were shakhng their faces and sharing the message. Less
:05:50. > :05:52.than a month since it began, a donor has now been found. In the Bristol
:05:53. > :05:56.area alone the increase in potential donors has been dramatic. In a
:05:57. > :05:59.normal week in May the Anthony Nolan Trust would expect around 165 people
:06:00. > :06:03.to join the register of potdntial donors. This year that jumpdd to
:06:04. > :06:10.4,120 ` an increase the charity directly relates to Kate's campaign.
:06:11. > :06:14.We've been really, really encouraged by the number of people who've come
:06:15. > :06:17.forward from the Bristol arda, and also around the whole country. We've
:06:18. > :06:21.had more than 7,000 applications for people to join the register within
:06:22. > :06:24.the first week of this camp`ign and we're just so delighted now that
:06:25. > :06:31.Mike has his opportunity for a transplant. Shake4Mike has provided
:06:32. > :06:35.many amusing pictures ` a tonic for the patient himself who has laughed
:06:36. > :06:37.out loud at many of them. Btt more importantly, Kate's campaign has
:06:38. > :06:48.found the person who could potentially save the life of her
:06:49. > :06:52.future husband. Local electhon coverage here and on your local BBC
:06:53. > :06:58.Radio stations through the night but now the weather. The radar has been
:06:59. > :07:01.showing further showers movhng northwards understanding we will
:07:02. > :07:06.continue with more showers, temperatures will be somewhdre round
:07:07. > :07:09.ten or 11 Celsius, tomorrow we can expect further showers from the word
:07:10. > :07:13.go, particularly in western and northern district, they will tend to
:07:14. > :07:16.become more confine. Generally speaking the further east you are it
:07:17. > :07:22.will brighten up. Still one were to showers in the afternoon but many
:07:23. > :07:27.areas enjoying a bit of dry weather before more showers from thd east.
:07:28. > :07:30.Temperatures tomorrow, about 14 to 16. There will be a number of
:07:31. > :07:38.showers on Saturday, less through the bank holiday weekend, hdre
:07:39. > :07:50.afternoon. Feeling cool. I leave you with
:07:51. > :07:50.afternoon. Feeling cool. I leave you through the bank holiday weekend.
:07:51. > :07:57.Hello again. The atmosphere through the bank holiday weekend.
:07:58. > :08:05.torrential downpours and an area of thunderstorms worked northwards
:08:06. > :08:11.across many thunderstorms worked northwards
:08:12. > :08:11.is going out of things now. More showers spiralling in around an area
:08:12. > :08:11.of low pressure. Many places showers spiralling in around an area
:08:12. > :08:11.see further rain at times showers spiralling in around an area
:08:12. > :08:24.tonight. The rain showers spiralling in around an area
:08:25. > :08:25.Ireland, fairly patchy hair. A chill in
:08:26. > :08:30.air here, potential for snow across the tops of the Grampians. A cold
:08:31. > :08:30.day here the tops of the Grampians. A cold
:08:31. > :08:31.take a closer look at 8am tomorrow morning, into