09/03/2014 BBC Wales Today

Good evening. Wales is being hit hard by steeper council tax rises

than other parts of the UK, according to the Welsh

Conservatives. But the Welsh government insists the bills remain

lower here than in England and have called on councils to be reasonable.

Budgets are under pressure and there are clubs all-round, except for

council tax... Council taxpayers will pay ?42 per year more on

average from April. That is because local authorities have set an

average tax rise of 4.2%. Compare that with England with the average

rise is 0.6%. By the end of February, 231 councils

in England had already signed up to the tax freeze in England, the

Scottish Government have announced its seventh year of tax freezes, yet

Wales is being clobbered again. The Welsh government says we still pay

less. In Wales are banned D is less than

in England, about ?230. We do have a lower level of council tax than

England. Council leaders say they face an extremely difficult set of

circumstances thanks to cuts in Westminster and a Welsh government

decision to protect funding for the NHS.

All councils will increase their tax rate by at least 3%. Four of them

will rise by 5%. As the maximum Welsh government has previously

allowed. I have said if any of them are

reasonable and will use my capping powers.

Lesley Griffiths also wants councils to be transparent when setting

senior officers' a. The public is ready to be interested in big

salaries, she says. It seems every penny going in and out of county

halls is under scrutiny. And over the next few days BBC Wales

will be looking at the impact of tighter budgets on council tax bills

and services, starting in Breakfast tomorrow at 6:30am.

A Campaigner against plans to downgrade A services at Prince

Philip Hospital in Llanell has welcomed a judicial review into the

proposals. Heart patient Tony Flatley went to the High Court.

Health board managers have insisted an overhaul of services is

necessary. If I suffer another heart failure

they will take me an ambulance 45 minutes away. That is 75% of the

Golden are gone, 75% of my chance of living disappeared because they want

to save money. Rugby, and Wales' hopes of a third

successive Six Nations are over after England secured the Triple

Crown with a 29 points to 18 win at Twickenham.

The sunlight shining and hopes were high among both sets of fans ahead

of what was their teams' 125th meeting. In front of a rocking

Twickenham England's first try. Leigh Halfpenny capped Wales in

touch, matching Owen Farrell kick for kick. A poor Welsh line-out and

was eventually punished. In the second half, Leigh Halfpenny's but

went into the break only five points behind. The second half was much the

same as the first, but Wales could not but meaningful combinations

together to threaten the England line. A record equalling 104th Wales

cap for Jenkins was ended with a trip to the Senden as Farrell kept

the scoreboard ticking over towards England's when. Leigh Halfpenny's

last-ditch tackle stopped the last England try, but in doing so he

dislocated his shoulder, ending his season.

We have pretty inconsistent. Times we have played well and times we

haven't. We haven't been as accurate and as good as accurate and us )

will of, that is disappointing. No championship celebrations in

Cardiff this year. Pride but little else will be at stake in Scotland

next weekend. The weather now - here's Georgina

Burnett. I hope you made the most of any

sunshine today as it will be greater moral. Have cloud starting tonight

and even spots of drizzle in the far north as temperatures down to six or

seven Celsius. Amati start tomorrow, and lots of low cloud around. --

Amati start tomorrow. And different data today. High pressures and

control for the week so we do have a settled weekend.

control for the week so we do have We're back with bulletins in

Breakfast - that's We're back with bulletins in

Breakfast - It is early in the year to hit 20

Celsius. Don't get used to it just yet, but some spots in south-east of

England got there. Gravesend the top spot, but with cloud in Scotland and

Northern Ireland, the temperatures were held down