22/09/2014 BBC Wales Today

goodbye from me and on BBC One, we now join the BBC's news teams where

Is Welsh Labour's call for more powers for Wales out

First Minister Carwyn Jones sets out his vision for Britain to the

The future we promised to Scotland must be delivered. An equal share of

resources, a powerful parliament. They must be offered two wheels and

Northern Ireland as well, home rule all around.

If you're home's on the border and you live in Wales

but use hospitals in England, why constitutional tinkering could

Good news for low paid workers but what about employers?

Driving through some of our most beautiful forests may

soon be a thing of the past all because of larch disease.

And the fine weather means it has been a bumpy year for fruit and veg

but who is going to pick all of this? Farmers are warning that we

need to make harvesting a more attractive career option.

Rebuild the UK and give more powers to Wales, or face growing calls

That was the message from the First Minister to the Labour Party

Carwyn Jones told delegates that, four days after the Scottish

referendum, a conversation needs to take place now

David Cornock reports from Manchester.

Better Together on the conference fringe. Ed Miliband was among

friends at this reception but the week after that referendum, the

cross-party consensus on what happens next is breaking down.

Cameras were kicked out for his speech but he used it, behind closed

doors, to rally the troops and accuse David Cameron of trying to

set the nations against each other. England versus Wales, Wales versus

Scotland, according to the Labour Leader. Labour's answer to questions

about the UK's future is a constitutional convention put

forward by the First Minister. It would meet in one year is Ed

Miliband becomes Prime Minister. But what would it do? It would look like

the Ford government sitting down and working out a plan as to how it

would develop. You then set up a standing executive or committee to

move it forward. You talk to the public and listen to them and come

back with a suggestion for the Constitution and all for government

agree. It cannot all be done by Westminster. It cannot all be done

by separate discussions with all the nations. Critics say that if a

device to avoid awkward questions about devolution and who pays for

it. The Labour Leader defended a spending formula the First Minister

says leaves his budget of ?300 million, or 2%, short each year. The

party leaders have all said that the Barnett formula is oriented towards

need and serve us well. It is based on population, not meant. Labour say

that they could top up the formula for Wales despite spending cuts

elsewhere but will not say who. There are awkward questions at

Westminster. Why should Welsh MPs vote on spending issues in England

when it does not approve the other way around. David Cameron thinks the

answer could be to stop Welsh MPs voting on English issues. Labour

have 41 of Scottish MPs. Labour have 26 of the 40 seats in Wales. One

Welsh MP has just published a history of Parliament and sees broad

change ahead. There is a big issue about how you make sure that English

people have more of a say on what affects them, and I do not just mean

Westminster affects them, and I do not just mean

England or London telling the rest of England, I mean genuinely people

across the North East, North West and Midlands. Scotland's referendum

may have set the rest of the UK on a journey. The final destination,

where ever you love, remains as much of a mystery as the estimated time

of arrival. We will have more on that story

later on. We will return to that story in a

few moments. The family of a 19-year-old

motorcyclist from Anglesey who was killed in a collision with

a 4x4 car say they are Ben Calveley, from Llanerchymedd,

died on Sunday in the crash on the B5109 between Bodffordd

and Llynfaes. I am just waiting to find out what

story to go on to next. South Wales Fire Authority has voted

by secret ballot to close Stephen Griffin died with

his colleague Kevin Lane in 1996 fighting a house fire with

the crew from Blaina. Campaigners say closing

the station will put lives at risk, Cwmbran station

in Torfaen will also lose one of its In the 25 years that I have worked

in their Fire and Rescue Services, this is the most difficult today I

have had. We have responded to queries and questions from the

public and other stakeholders. We have got through all trust and

confidence in their modelling and statistics that we have used to come

to the judgement that we have but we have also overlaid that with

professional opinion. Not just by myself but the rest of the senior

management team that have got over 100 years operation experience.

There are concerns tonight that one of Wales' most scenic roads could be

The 7-mile-long Cwmcarn Forest Road will be closed to cars in November,

to allow tens of thousands of diseased larch trees to be felled.

Locals are worried that heavy machinery and trucks will damage

the road to such an extent that it won't ever be reopened.

Our environment correspondent reports.

Mountain biking is increasingly popular in the forest. New tracks

are open but the forest's main tarmac road will be closed for at

least 2 years in November. 150,000 trees will be cut down to try and

stop the spread of a disease. It affect trees but is not harmful to

people or animals. Filling will be difficult on these steep slopes and

bloggers will have to use the Main Road that is normally open to

visitors. The uncertainty is what seems to be driving local concern.

Walkers and cyclists will still be able to come here when the filling

starts but this seven Mile Rd will be closed for 2 years. There are

seven concerns -- several concerns. Will the road reopened? What is the

cost of repairing and strengthening the road afterwards? And will there

be accessed for car as if the vote reopened? At a meeting yesterday,

locals came to voice their fears. -- for cars if the road is reopened.

People are taken up there by car to enjoy the views of the valley,

people in their 80s and 90s, they cannot walk or cycle. We are

concerned about it being reopened, and that is the thing we want. We

want an answer to say that they will do all they can to reopen. The

disease was 1st spotted in 2010. Millions of pounds have been spent

to clear it from the Aven Valley. Being a public body we rely on

public sector funding. Our ambition is to reopen the drive. We would

love to. There is an opportunity that we might be able to open it and

do something slightly different. 30,000 cars use the road each year.

In 2013,, 250,000 visitors came to picnic, walk and cycle in the area.

It will perhaps affect the work of the valley but we are keen to

emphasise that the council is keeping everything open so that

people can still, and enjoy walking, cycling, the visitors centre. In

all, 400 acres of trees could be affected. The work is necessary to

stop the disease spreading throughout the countryside but

budgets are tight and no guarantees if this broad can be open to cars in

future. -- this Road. Well, one proposal made by Labour at

their conference is raising the national

minimum wage to ?8 an hour in That would have more impact in Wales

than other parts of the UK because, Our economics correspondent

Sarah Dickins has been looking Thank you. Nortel 's and restaurants

employ many people on the minimum wage. As 2 sectors like social care

and retail. -- Portales. With average wages in Wales lower than

many other parts of the UK, changes to wages particularly affect the

Welsh economy. Minimum wage will dash-mac minimum wage will rise next

year. In contrast, ?8 per hour is being proposed by Labour. During the

next Parliament, that is if it wins the general election. That would

increase wages for around 291,000 employees in Wales. That is one in

four of the workforce. Those people with higher wages would have more

money in their pockets and would hopefully spend more back within the

Welsh economy. There would be more money circulating. But there is

another side to this. It would also put up wage costs for employers.

Around 95,000 people work in the hospitality industry in Wales and

many of those will be on minimum wages, as will many in tourism.

There is an argument that large increases in pay can cause problems

for small businesses. I think they would look at hours,

opening hours, the strategy with regards to business. Can they afford

to take on any extra stuff? Can they afford to keep the staff they have?

I think that is one thing that we need to ensure as an industry that

we are taking into account. But we need to remember the proposal for ?8

per hour minimum wage is during the lifetime of the Parliament, five

years. It may seem like a big increase today for a quarter of the

people working in Wales and costly for their employers, but since the

national minimum wage owes up with inflation anyway, by 2020, it may

not seem as expensive or as generous after all.

Much more to come before seven o'clock.

Is this the man to take over at Cardiff City?

200 widows and hundreds of children left behind.

The 80th anniversary of the Gresford colliery disaster.

Senior Conservatives have spent the day at the Prime Minister's

country residence, Chequers, discussing those plans to change

David Cameron is adamant he wants to introduce plans that would see only

English MPs voting on English issues.

That's of particular concern to Welsh MPs who have constituencies

Here's our political reporter James Williams.

Welcome to border country. This village straddles the boundary

between Wales and England. It's politics already complicated by

devolution could become even more difficult. In the last days of the

Scottish independence campaign, the 3 main party leaders vowed to get

more powers to Edinburgh. Hours after the result, the Prime Minister

said it should go hand-in-hand with plans to make sure that only English

MPs vote on English issues. It would mean that MPs from the other nations

could not vote on issues devolved to their respective nations, such as

health and education. It could pose a particular problem for border MPs.

It would not work. The whole of my constituency depends on the Health

Service in Shropshire for their treatment. We do not a district

general hospital. The idea of us not being involved in the organisation

of services on the other side of the border is ridiculous and would not

work. Moving across the border is a part of daily life here. Even the

golf club's situated in both countries. Living on the Welsh

border, we can go to the orthopaedic be because petrol in Shropshire,

which people do from all over Wales. There is no reason why we couldn't

use and any department in a Welsh hospital. I hope it stays everyone

voting for the country, rather than the individual country, four other

words united country rather than the individual countries. Discussions

were also being held this afternoon at the Prime Minister's country

residence. Over a steak pie lunch, Conservative backbench MPs said they

wanted the prime ministers to go further on English devolution. 1 of

the two Welsh Conservative MPs at the summit said the issue of

significantly stronger powers four-wheeled was also on the table.

There is a lot of sympathy with any government that the work that has

been done by Lord Strathclyde in the Scottish contest. It goes much

further than anything the Labour Party has proposed. There was a

willingness to look at the possibilities of this being

implemented in a Welsh context. That could mean Phil income tax powers

for Cardiff Bay, as well as some control over VAT and welfare issues,

such as housing benefit. As the dust begins to settle, it is clear there

is still many issues to navigate on the political shape of the country.

Has significant are the MPs comments? Pretty significant. The

Strathclyde commission was set up by the Scottish Conservatives to look

at what they would devolved Scotland in the event of a no-mac Ford, and

they offered on the devolution of Phil income tax powers, some VAT

powers and some welfare powers on issues such as housing benefit. If

we considered that that cause a lot further than the Wales Bill going

through at the moment, which would devolved some of the income tax

powers, subject to referendum, and some powers on financial issues such

as stamp duty, this is going a lot further. So if this is what the

coalition is considering, it would be very significant increased

financial powers for Wales. Talk through what happens next. The

committee on devolution that the UK government has set up will meet on

Wednesday for the 1st time. It will be chaired by the leader of the

House of Commons, William Hague. And in discussions with the Welsh

Secretary, they say that Wales will be at the forefront and the heart of

this devolution committee and any proposals about devolution to the

different parts of the United Kingdom. We also understand from

Stephen Crabb that he has written a letter to the Welsh party leaders in

the Commons to ask him to join him at a summit to be held when the

little and returns dash-mac when the house of commons returns in a month

to discuss what we sold it in any further devolution package.

Many of us have been enjoying the unseasonable amount of sunshine

Many have been able to get ahead with harvesting,

and say the quality and quantity of crops this year has been good.

But there are concerns that in future the industry could

suffer, unless it can convince more people to get picking.

And you need it when picking tomatoes on an industrial scale.

Roughly a third of summer fruit and vegetable pickers used to come

from outside the EU, as part of the Seasonal Agricultural

But that's now come to an end and farmers are worried.

Our horticultural members within the NFU are arguing that there ought

to be a seasonal workers mark two, something along the lines of

Australia, or something along the lines of what we used to have in the

UK, to make certain that have those pool of people. The scheme closed

after working restrictions on Eastern European countries were

Once inside the EU, many workers are looking

On this organic vegetable farm near Tenby,

they're small enough to be able to do the work themselves for now.

But it would help them grow if picking was better promoted.

I think it does have a bad reputation but we need to

realise that we don't want to be bringing in all this food.

We need to be growing it locally but that is always going to involve

The fine weather has meant this season's crop has been

It's not just farmers who've had a good yield this year,

if you're a forager there's been plenty to catch your eye, too.

Just a few miles away at the National Trust's Colby

Woodland Gardens, the harvest is all around, and they

Hazelnuts are obvious and easy and blackberries, too, but there's a few

Getting to recognise which ones are going to have a nut.

But we do have also loads and loads of elderberries

which are really easy to pick, really good for bulking up

the blackberries, if you haven't got as many of those as you want.

Weather for money or for pleasure - this summer has been ripe

into tomorrow night's Capital One Cup match against

After Tony Pulis distanced him self from the role, Russell Slade

from League One side Leyton Orient has emerged as the new favourite to

While we have been on a, Cardiff City say they have refused to speak

to him. Well, the bookies have slashed

the odds on Russell Slade moving to South Wales after he revealed that

Cardiff had been in touch. The 53-year-old,

who led Leyton Orient to the match at Scunthorpe under a bit of

pressure, with his team languishing A 2-1 victory certainly helped

released the pressure valve, but there's now uncertainty about

his job for a different reason. It is nice to be linked with such a

huge club as Cardiff City. I was very proud that they have seen the

hard work that we have done at this 3rd book club are for -- from afar.

What can you see on that? Has there been an approach? I believe they

have but I am been an approach? I believe they

bit of clarity right now. Until a decision is made,

the caretaker partnership of including tomorrow night's League

Cup match against Bournemouth. The Wales defender only rejoined

the club as player-coach a couple of weeks

ago, while Young is highly-rated after 11 years as a player,

and then a development coach. They did their own cause no harm

after leading Cardiff to They came close to winning it, too,

after goals from Gunnarson They are a good team and good at

the home side grabbed a share of They are a good team and good at

what they do. Credit to us, we have stayed in the game and taken a

point. Meanwhile,

there's a local derby in the Conference, too, as Wrexham travel

just across the border to Chester. Wrexham could move up to fourth

if they win. Wales captain Sam Warburton has

become the first Welsh player to The 25-year-old was the only player

to take up a central contract while the governing body and the

four rugby regions were in dispute. The contract means the

Welsh Rugby Union pay 60% of his at least five other Wales-based

Internationals a similar deal. Welsh Golfer Jamie Donaldson is

meeting up with his European team-mates at Gleneagles today,

ahead of the Ryder Cup. The 38-year-old finished fourth

in the Wales Open yesterday and said he is delighted with

his form going into the tournament. He'll be the first Welshman

since Phillip Price helped beat the Americans in 2002,

to play in the European side. Just a reminder, we're looking for

this year's Sporting Unsung Hero. Do you know someone who

deserves recognition for helping won the award for his tireless

effort helping young people get back So do know someone who coaches,

ferries players around, or is just there doing

the jobs nobody else does? All the details on

the website bbc.co.uk/sportwales. Nominations close on the 20th

of October. A memorial service has been held to

mark the 80th anniversary of the Gresford Colliery explosion

and fire, which killed 266 people. 800 children were left fatherless

by the tragedy, one of the worst Relatives of those who died have

been paying tribute It was just after 2am on 22nd

September 1934 when a massive The most terrible colliery disaster

this country has suffered... Only 11 bodies were recovered

of the 266 men and boys who died. William, my father. My great

uncles. My great uncleus. It's still unclear what caused

the explosion but there's no doubt about the effect it had on

generations of people in the area. Ruby McBurney was just three

when her father died, but it was a tragedy shared

by 800 other children. The children never talked about it

because we had not been spoken to at home. I have got a little photograph

of my mother with ours, sitting around the table, being told about

what had happened. But that didn't mean anything to us then, only when

we look at it now. Today, the descendants of Gresford's

victims gathered Many have their own stories

of those who died. A lot of the men actually worked a

double shift on that night shift. They were working on the day after

so that they could go to the big derby in those days and they drew a

lot of crowds. Such was the scale of

the tragedy that even those who were spared felt they'd lost everything,

as miner Tom Taylor told his nephew My school friends, my football

friends, my Army friends, all my friends have gone. I said, "one

where?" "I don't know, uncle Tom." "They are still down that it." A bit

stronger than that! I said, "you were very fortunate." ", I have been

very lonely." Let's see what the weather has

in store. Thank you. We had a fairly quiet

weather today for the last day of summer. For the first day of Alton

we do have some rain to look forward to. To Nate is fairly quiet and it

will be rather chilly. Much of the cloud fading away and temperatures

dropping pretty quickly. Getting down to about three Celsius in the

heart of Wales. A touch of grass frost possible. These are the

temperatures in towns and cities. 8-12dC. We do have a cold weather

front approaching from parts of the north-west, bringing with it a bit

of rain. Behind that, we have got high pressure building in time for

weekend. Through tomorrow morning it is a chilly start. The mist and fog

will lift a pretty quickly and the crowds come in from the West. -- the

clouds come. Gradually spreading. The further south and east you are

you can look forward to something a bit drier and brighter with highs of

18 Celsius. The wind remaining light and that rain band will clear with

showers falling behind. It should be a mild night compared with tonight.

Through Wednesday, it is a Charolais start but an improving picture. By

the time we go into the afternoon, we can look forward to something

drier and brighter. -- a rainy start. Thursday, again, if a day of

sunny spells and showers. This time, Westerly winds. The

temperatures will start to recover. Hopefully by the time we get to the

weekend we can look forward to something a bit drier.

I'll have an update for you here at 8pm,

and again after the BBC News at Ten.

From all of us on the programme, good evening.