26/05/2014 BBC Points West

Good evening. The Liberal Ddmocrats look at the papers on the news

Good evening. The Liberal Ddmocrats say they're now focussing on the

general election after a disastrous night in the European electhons

across the West. They were pushed into fifth place and lost their only

Euro MP, Sir Graham Watson. The Conservatives also lost a sdat,

while Labour and the Greens had cause to celebrate.

For 20 years, Liberal Democrat Graham Watson has been going to

Brussels on behalf of the South West. Not any more. Liberal

Democrats, 160,376. That was fifth place. A bitter blow for thd party

in their symbolic heartland. I believe that the loss of thd seat

for the Lib Dems and Conservatives reflects the fact we have bden in

government through a diffictlt and long recession trying to get the

economy right. I have no dotbt we will be back. It was a bittdr,

bitter, bitter night for us. To lose somebody of the quality and calibre

of Graham Watson, who has bden an outstanding servant to our region,

and for Liberal democracy, hs a bitter blow indeed. The coalition

partners also lost ground, slipping from three MEPs to two, but their

share of the vote did hold tp. The smiles were broadest on UKIP faces,

who topped the poll in many areas across the region. Five years ago we

got about four first places and this time we got at least 24`30. That

gives us a marvellous platform to go forward. Labour made a return to

Brussels, taking back the sdat they'd lost in 2009. We need to make

sure the European Union works for the people of the south west, and

that is what I regard as my primary task as an MEP for the region. To

bring jobs and investment into the region over the coming five years.

And the Greens also had cause to raise a glass, picking up their

first ever seat in the South West. This afternoon, the party ldader

swept into Stroud to congratulate their newest MEP. Here in the South

West I think there was a re`l mood for change and a preparedness to

look round for different kinds of answers. We are offering re`l

political change, different ways of doing things and politics. The South

West was a little bit more open and prepared to consider that. @s they

sift through the finer detahls, all the major parties will be able to

draw some positives. All except the Lib Dems, that is.

A 28`year`old man has appeared at Taunton Deane Magistrates' Court

charged with the abduction of a child from Somerset. Davinddr Singh,

of Churchdown in Gloucestershire, was arrested in Swindon on Saturday

night. He's been remanded in custody and is due to appear at Taunton

Crown Court on the 9th of Jtne. Investigations are continuing into a

fatal car crash on one of Swindon's busiest roads. Paul Winters, 33

died after the collision yesterday morning on Thamesdown Drive. Another

man, believed to be his father, is in hospital with serious injuries.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerots

driving. One has been bailed and the other released without charge.

A man in Bristol's been left with serious injuries after being

assaulted in the city centrd. It happened near the war memorhal on

Colston Avenue at about half past four this morning. Police s`y

they're keen to hear from anyone who may have witnessed the incident

What possesses a person to throw themselves down a steep hill after a

bouncing cheese is anyone's guess but once again today thousands

turned out in Gloucestershire for the annual cheese rolling. Real

cheese was back on the Coopdr's Hill menu after it was banned last year

for health and safety reasons. One person suffered a suspected broken

leg but no other serious injuries were reported.

They came from all over the West and all over the world, all for this. To

watch a cheese get thrown down a very steep hill, chased by ` bunch

of fearless, some would say reckless, runners. So what's it like

taking part? Take a look at this. Coming down, you are, like, in a

50`man washing machine. You have a plan to go down and you just end up

rolling. I think, if you look at the floor now, it's quite flat, but up

there, the floor is that co`rse that you're thinking, I can put ly feet

down. I can put my feet down. And you end up just sliding on xour bum.

It's the best way to do it, I think. Would you do it again? Yes.

Definitely. We did say it w`s our last but... On a day like today

where you've had some rain, the ground's quite soft, it's good. It's

all right. You can land and sort of like bounce and everything. It's

when you've had a lot of sun on the ground and it's totally dry, that's

when it's really dangerous. But in conditions like that, it's great.

But it's still a pretty crazy thing to do, isn't it? Oh, yeah, ht's a

crazy thing to do, but that's Gloucester! We're crazy people! Mad

dogs and Englishmen! Nobody else would do it. Last year, loc`l cheese

makers were warned not to stpply the race for health and safety reasons

so a plastic substitute was used instead. But this year, thanks in

part to some Dutch Gouda, the real deal was back on. So another year

celebrating a great British tradition, one that looks sdt to

continue for generations to come. A team from North Somerset has

finished the first of seven marathons it aims to complete in

seven days for seven local charities. Jason Smith from

Weston`super`Mare, and five of his friends, set off from the Grand Pier

this morning. They headed up through Somerset and crossed Bristol mid

afternoon. The team's been training for nine months, shedding three

stone along the way. All thd runs will be local and all the money

raised go to local charities. We're back tomorrow but now let s

get the weather. Something of mixed fortunes through

the course of tomorrow. There will be some showers around, gendrally

fairly light, but occasionally you may catch some heavy ones. The

brightest weather generally speaking will be towards the south`wdst.

Always a fair amount of clotd. Through the course of tonight, as

well as showery rain, temperatures between about eight and ten Celsius

which sets us up into tomorrow morning with quite a lot of cloud

around. Some showery outbre`ks of rain coming and going. Some brighter

spells between those. The bdst of those should come down towards the

south`west. So that continuds through the rest of the day with

showers beginning to fade as we head into the evening. Temperatures

should be safely up in the lid teens, 14 or 15. A few spots getting

higher than that. A similar picture through the rest of this wedk.

Unsettled, showers about, btt brighter spells as well. More of

those as we get towards next weekend. Stay with us for the

national The month of May is often thought of

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

showers fading to the west, but temperatures are pretty uniform

through the night. We pick up more persistent rain spilling in off the

North Sea. This could cause one or two problems through tomorrow and

into Wednesday. There's a level of uncertainty as to where that will be

sitting, potentially across North Norfolk, East Midlands and eastern

England. Weather warnings have been issued due to the intensity of the

rainfall. A lot of surface water and spray and maybe the potential for

some localised flooding. A cool north-easterly breeze as well, so a

rather