:00:12. > :00:16.Good evening. Wales is being hit hard by steeper council tax rises
:00:17. > :00:19.than other parts of the UK, according to the Welsh
:00:20. > :00:23.Conservatives. But the Welsh government insists the bills remain
:00:24. > :00:32.lower here than in England and have called on councils to be reasonable.
:00:33. > :00:36.Budgets are under pressure and there are clubs all-round, except for
:00:37. > :00:45.council tax... Council taxpayers will pay ?42 per year more on
:00:46. > :00:49.average from April. That is because local authorities have set an
:00:50. > :00:54.average tax rise of 4.2%. Compare that with England with the average
:00:55. > :01:00.rise is 0.6%. By the end of February, 231 councils
:01:01. > :01:06.in England had already signed up to the tax freeze in England, the
:01:07. > :01:12.Scottish Government have announced its seventh year of tax freezes, yet
:01:13. > :01:14.Wales is being clobbered again. The Welsh government says we still pay
:01:15. > :01:23.less. In Wales are banned D is less than
:01:24. > :01:26.in England, about ?230. We do have a lower level of council tax than
:01:27. > :01:30.England. Council leaders say they face an extremely difficult set of
:01:31. > :01:33.circumstances thanks to cuts in Westminster and a Welsh government
:01:34. > :01:36.decision to protect funding for the NHS.
:01:37. > :01:44.All councils will increase their tax rate by at least 3%. Four of them
:01:45. > :01:46.will rise by 5%. As the maximum Welsh government has previously
:01:47. > :01:51.allowed. I have said if any of them are
:01:52. > :01:54.reasonable and will use my capping powers.
:01:55. > :02:00.Lesley Griffiths also wants councils to be transparent when setting
:02:01. > :02:04.senior officers' a. The public is ready to be interested in big
:02:05. > :02:09.salaries, she says. It seems every penny going in and out of county
:02:10. > :02:13.halls is under scrutiny. And over the next few days BBC Wales
:02:14. > :02:16.will be looking at the impact of tighter budgets on council tax bills
:02:17. > :02:18.and services, starting in Breakfast tomorrow at 6:30am.
:02:19. > :02:21.A Campaigner against plans to downgrade A services at Prince
:02:22. > :02:26.Philip Hospital in Llanell has welcomed a judicial review into the
:02:27. > :02:29.proposals. Heart patient Tony Flatley went to the High Court.
:02:30. > :02:35.Health board managers have insisted an overhaul of services is
:02:36. > :02:40.necessary. If I suffer another heart failure
:02:41. > :02:48.they will take me an ambulance 45 minutes away. That is 75% of the
:02:49. > :02:50.Golden are gone, 75% of my chance of living disappeared because they want
:02:51. > :02:53.to save money. Rugby, and Wales' hopes of a third
:02:54. > :02:57.successive Six Nations are over after England secured the Triple
:02:58. > :03:04.Crown with a 29 points to 18 win at Twickenham.
:03:05. > :03:09.The sunlight shining and hopes were high among both sets of fans ahead
:03:10. > :03:18.of what was their teams' 125th meeting. In front of a rocking
:03:19. > :03:21.Twickenham England's first try. Leigh Halfpenny capped Wales in
:03:22. > :03:29.touch, matching Owen Farrell kick for kick. A poor Welsh line-out and
:03:30. > :03:34.was eventually punished. In the second half, Leigh Halfpenny's but
:03:35. > :03:41.went into the break only five points behind. The second half was much the
:03:42. > :03:44.same as the first, but Wales could not but meaningful combinations
:03:45. > :03:51.together to threaten the England line. A record equalling 104th Wales
:03:52. > :03:56.cap for Jenkins was ended with a trip to the Senden as Farrell kept
:03:57. > :04:02.the scoreboard ticking over towards England's when. Leigh Halfpenny's
:04:03. > :04:05.last-ditch tackle stopped the last England try, but in doing so he
:04:06. > :04:11.dislocated his shoulder, ending his season.
:04:12. > :04:16.We have pretty inconsistent. Times we have played well and times we
:04:17. > :04:21.haven't. We haven't been as accurate and as good as accurate and us )
:04:22. > :04:24.will of, that is disappointing. No championship celebrations in
:04:25. > :04:26.Cardiff this year. Pride but little else will be at stake in Scotland
:04:27. > :04:32.next weekend. The weather now - here's Georgina
:04:33. > :04:35.Burnett. I hope you made the most of any
:04:36. > :04:39.sunshine today as it will be greater moral. Have cloud starting tonight
:04:40. > :04:43.and even spots of drizzle in the far north as temperatures down to six or
:04:44. > :04:52.seven Celsius. Amati start tomorrow, and lots of low cloud around. --
:04:53. > :04:57.Amati start tomorrow. And different data today. High pressures and
:04:58. > :04:59.control for the week so we do have a settled weekend.
:05:00. > :05:00.control for the week so we do have We're back with bulletins in
:05:01. > :05:01.Breakfast - that's We're back with bulletins in
:05:02. > :05:12.Breakfast - It is early in the year to hit 20
:05:13. > :05:19.Celsius. Don't get used to it just yet, but some spots in south-east of
:05:20. > :05:22.England got there. Gravesend the top spot, but with cloud in Scotland and
:05:23. > :05:23.Northern Ireland, the temperatures were held down