26/11/2015 BBC Wales Today

website and the latest weather forecasts.

The first sparks fly after the chancellor announced some control

As the Conservatives set out their plans, how do you feel

about politicians in Cardiff having an impact on your pay packet?

My only concern would be that it is a completely new power for them, so

I hope there are controls and measurements in place. It will help

local growth. As long as it comes this way. It will be the biggest

evolution of tax powers to the assembly. 24-hour is after the

spending review, I will be assessing the impact. -- 24-hour.

As the Prime Minister sets out the case for air strikes in Syria,

Hundreds left without water after contractors damage a pipe,

A coffee and a chat and a chance to speak Welsh. Latest research shows a

significant increase in the number of people who can use at the

language. And it's Wales at the Euros

in the seventies. A former player claims that

success has been forgotten. Just a day after the Chancellor

announced some control over income tax would be coming to Wales,

the Conservatives here say they'll reduce the rates

if they win the Assembly election. Their leader in Wales,

Andrew RT Davies, says cutting the amount of tax some people pay will

attract business and create jobs. Our Political Editor Nick

Servini is in the Senedd. They didn't waste any time,

did they? That is right. And the crucial

point, that George Osborne made yesterday is that the partial

control of income attacks could be devolved without the huge hurdle of

a referendum taking place. Today, the Welsh Government said they had

better things to do, namely deal with four years of cuts which they

say were dished out by the Tory Government at Westminster in the

spending review. Meanwhile, the Tories here have wasted no time and

have put together what they claim are is a tax-cutting agenda for the

assembly elections. George Osborne had only just left the Treasury

after his spending review at Westminster yesterday when the

Conservatives in Cardiff came out of the blocks earlier. Their idea is to

lower income tax rates to attract the kind of people to Wales who

would open up businesses and creates jobs. They said they would cut the

basic rate by a penny, from 20 to 90% which would cost around ?180

million a year. It means somebody earning ?25,000 would save around

?70 a year. They also said it would cut the higher rate from 40 to 35%.

Those earning 50,000 would save around ?400 a year. You need to

create a difference between Wales and the rest of the UK. We would

like to create that difference, 5p seems to be a sensible difference

between what Wales would raise and what England would raise and that

would often enough scope to save the businessmen and businesswomen that

Wales is open for business. -- tell them. We want to increase the pay

our every man and woman in this country army can do that by getting

more entrepreneurs to locate so Wales and income tax offer that

opportunity. The party as Notts and how it would fill a ?250 million

hole in public finances. But it is policies are like scrapp ing repeat

prescriptions scrapping the university tuition fee grant would

lead to scrapping the university tuition fee grant would lead to huge

of these policies, the point is that for the first time, we will have

parties going under a Tory Welsh Government. Whatever the merits of

these policies, the point is that for the first time, we will have

parties going Assembly talking about how to spend public money, but how

to raise it as not just talking about how to spend public money, but

how to raise it as question is, how do people feel about politicians in

Cardiff having a say on how much they earn in places like this, a

business park in Chepstow. Companies like this where around 30 people

were making specialist lifting equipment and where from the factory

floor to the office, attitudes change. I can see what they are

doing. I can roughly understand it. I have more than happy for them to

carry on. What about more responsibility? Yes, even over

income tax. What if you moved to England? It would need to go up

quite a bit. But it could happen, but it is more likely that they

would change the way they work. Elsewhere in the business, viewers

were mixed. Is a big thing to raise money, they would have to sell. They

would have to be more effort into doing that. Therefore spend more

wisely. Is a completely new power for them, so I hope there are some

controls and a measurement in place. Yesterday, George Osborne

said that plans to introduce a guaranteed minimum funding level or

a funding floor for the Assembly from Westminster for the lifetime of

this Parliament. The Welsh Government says that before it gives

his verdict on income tax powers, it wants more reassurance that the

funding for will be in place longer. This flow will become useful

in public spending starts to grow again, then it will become

essential. It is a good thing to have. The issue is that they have

made the commitment for the present parliaments, when we are in an

austerity period. And the commitment hasn't formally been extended beyond

that to the period when we will need it. There is a bit of work on the

timing to be done yet for these proposals to be agreeable to all.

But it appears that the heavy lifting has all been done. Nick,

what appetite is therefore these new powers? A huge appetite from the

opposition parties, certainly not from the Welsh Government. Not at

this stage anyway. Labour cannot see how these powers would be used in

reality. If they raise it for higher earners, for example, they get

accused of turning away, not encouraging the kinds of people that

Wales would need in terms of coming to start up businesses and creating

wealth. And if you lower the tax rate, then you are left with a hole

in public finances. Critics would say that is the point of introducing

tax raising powers, it introduces a degree of accountability and

decisions that have real consequences. The Labour position is

twofold. The First Minister is saying yes in principle, but once

more assurances in terms of protecting the Welsh public in the

future. But there is a harder line for others in labour, notably Owen

Smith, who is in the Shadow Cabinet. He makes the point that the

tax take in Wales is ?16 billion, but public spending in Wales is over

?30 billion. In other words, Wales can not stand on its own two feet

financially, and as a result, it is a dangerous game to try and pursue

its own path on something as huge as income tax. Nick, thank you.

The Prime Minister has clashed with Welsh MPs over whether Britain

should join air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria.

Plaid Cymru's parliamentary leader, Hywel Williams, told David Cameron

he should "examine his conscience" before committing Britain to

And tonight, the Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn has

written to his party's MPs to say he cannot support bombing.

Here's our parliamentary correspondent, David Cornock.

Nasser and Aseel Muthana, two brothers who left Cardiff for Syria

to fight for Islamic State, or Isil-Daesh as it is sometimes known.

Their MP fears that they and others like them could one day

We have to bring this back to the direct threat to

our own constituency, you will be well aware of the individuals for my

own constituency who were groomed to travel to fight for Isil-Daesh.

And are also believed to have posed a direct threat to the UK.

A reference to Reyaad Khan, the 21-year-old Cardiff man killed by

David Cameron authorised that air strike because he believed the Khan

Now the Prime Minister wants MPs to vote for attacks on Islamic State

But some will not be persuaded, for the fear

Will this not lead to more home-grown terrorism and isn't this

action likely to increase recruits to terrorists, to jihadis here

Isil have taken action against us already.

They were behind the murder of the people on the beach in Tunisia.

There were behind the plot in our country.

They butchered out friends and allies and our citizens in Paris.

But for many, the Paris attacks earlier this month, which killed 130

people, have brought the threat is closer to home.

One of my constituents said last weekend that if the attacks happened

in Paris, they could easily have happened here in North Wales.

And there is no doubt it is not going to just be in major cities

in this country that such attacks could happen.

Isil proposes a direct threat to the security of this country,

and we should therefore play our part in helping to defeat it.

The Liberal Democrats said military action would be legal but there were

But for many MPs, especially those who were here during the invasion of

Iraq 12 years ago, that war casts a huge shadow over the current debate.

Plaid Cymru MPs voted against that war, on a matter of integrity.

So I would ask the Prime Minister before it comes to this House again,

that he should examine his conscience.

David Cameron said he had examined his conscience and he believed

military action was 100% necessary for Britain's safety and security.

David, the Prime Minister's set out his case.

David Cameron has said he will not hold that vote unless he will not

hold that vote unless. And that depends on the Labour Party, they

have 231 MPs and as we heard earlier, Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour

leader, has written to his party's MPs to say he cannot support

military action in Syria. That puts the Labour leader at odds with a lot

of his MPs, MPs in Wales and across the UK and Labour will have to

decide on Monday whether to follow their lead lead or to actually allow

their MPs to vote according to their conscience. It Jeremy Corbyn said

that Labour MPs have to vote against the Government, against a military

air strikes, there will be severe splits within Labour, there will be

resignations from Labour's front bench. David, thank you.

A coroner will raise safety concerns with council officials

following the third death this year at a millpond in Pembroke.

Robert Mansfield drowned in July after going swimming on the night

At an inquest today, the coroner ruled his death was accidental.

Pembrokeshire council has already said it will carry out

improvements and will have 56 days to respond to the concerns.

Councillors in Pembrokeshire have voted to start a third public

consultation on controversial plans to reorganise secondary

Protests have been held against proposals to merge two secondary

schools, build a new Welsh-medium school, and close some sixth forms.

The council decided a second consultation into English Medium

provision would be abandoned due to the risk of a judicial review.

A fresh ballot for strikes will be held among Arriva Trains Wales

drivers in a long-running row over pay, terms and conditions.

A planned strike earlier this month was suspended to

But the union, Aslef, is accusing the company of "moving

An Arriva spokesperson says there's been a misunderstanding over

Far too many gas, electricity and water supplies are being

disrupted because contractors aren't making checks for pipes and cables.

The warning comes from Welsh Water after hundreds of homes in Abercarn,

Cross Keys and Ynysddu had their supplies disrupted

Pumping water back into the mains so that customers can get at least some

water back out. The supply problems were caused by contractors, they

fractured these high-pressure pipes yesterday in Cross Keys. It is

frustrating, far too many utilities, not just water mains, but

electricity cables and gas mains, get damaged by contractors before

they put a spade in the ground, all they have to do is contact us and we

will come out and help them trace it. In this case, that did not

happen. The contractors were bowled a gay flood wall at the time, but

instead caused this flood of their own. The cricket pitch looked more

like a lake yesterday. A Laguna. I haven't been able to shower, wash my

hair, do any washing... Thankfully, I do have a lot of bottled water, so

I could make tea. Further up the valley, bottles were handed out to

keep people going, many were frustrated though, with the delays

in reconnecting their supply, including this holiday accommodation

business who noticed a problem yesterday afternoon. We noticed

roundabout 3pm that we have lost our water pressure. We were concerned.

With the log cabin, you become concerned about what you will do.

Welsh Water said it had to turn off the supply of water here to repair

the damage safely and it is now taking time to make its way back

through the system. Is the law of gravity. Further appeal, the worse

you are affected. All this has cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, a

big bill for a contractor that hit the pipe in the first place. -- for

the contractor. Disappointment,

but Wales had made it to the Euros But a claim

the team's achievement has been lost And the unsettled weather is set to

continue into the weekend with strong to Gale

force winds on Saturday. Lord Hall appeared alongside the

head of BBC Wales into the future of the BBC. What was said at the

committee, Hugh? It was a broad discussion about the BBC coinciding

with the review of the BBC's Charter which is under way at the moment

which will set the role and remit for the next decade. It was the way

that Wales is portrayed on programmes produced in Wales and

showed across the UK which came under particular scrutiny. Lord Hall

was appearing alongside the director of BBC Wales and he was challenged

about what the BBC was doing to improve the portrayal of Wales. He

said it was an issue affecting Scotland and other nations and

regions of the UK, but one which had a wide-ranging review of the process

of commissioning these programmes would seek to address. Looe-macro

when I have been in the English regions, exactly the same issues

come up. When I have been in parts

of the English regions, exactly Because exactly as you are, because

you are suing kind of the BBC, you are saying this is something that

should matter to you and it does. But also, I'm grateful for the

appreciation that we have done an awful lot in spend terms and people

terms, this is now the issue for us. S4C found that their budgets will be

cut by 26% by 2020. It's a cut of about of the next five years. Now,

S4C tells beaten now they are still working out what impact that cuts

will have, I mean, the majority of its Budget comes from the BBC

licence fee, around ?75 million, but any change to S4C Budget is

culturally significant. There has been some furious political

reactions that, not least from some Conservative backbench MPs and one

said to know that his Government's decision to cut the Budget of S4C

shows the Welsh language is not important enough to be protected.

Looking forward though I have had concerns in the industry that the

BBC could face pressure to increase his contribution to HE SPEAKS IN

WELSH. In the light of this cut by the UK Government. One senior

industry source told me the BBC said it must not be the bank of last

resort for S4C. Fewer than half of all Welsh

speakers consider themselves to be fluent, according to a survey

of how the language is used. But researchers for the

Welsh Government and Welsh Language Commissioner also say

there's been a significant increase in the number who speak SOME Welsh,

compared to a decade ago. Our political reporter Bethan Lewis

has more. A chance for a coffee and a chat and

so for a chat. This group Welsh learners in Swansea may not speak

the language all the time in their daily lives, but these coughing

monitors provide a welcome opportunity to practice their

language skills. -- these people in Cardiff. It is a chance to socialise

and learn. Some was a conversation with me they assume I'm

English-speaking only and do not try news the language. I don't know how

you get around that. This survey focuses on how, when and where the

language is used rather than the overall numbers of Welsh speakers.

It shows patterns of -- shows patterns of Welsh speaking God

changing, of those who speak it, less than half say they are fluent,

much lower than the percentage in a similar survey a decade ago. The

actual numbers have stayed pretty constant. And over the same period,

the research suggests an extra 130,000 people can speak Welsh, but

not fluently. We have also seen another number of interesting

patterns, for example, young people are far more likely to learn Welsh

at school than maybe older Welsh speakers. So I think that is

something we can build on in terms of the future. If you and the

capital to do some Christmas shopping, you are likely to hear

more Welsh spoken now that you would have ten years ago. As well as a big

jump in the number of people who can speak some Welsh, Cardiff as also

seen an increase of around 7000 in the number of fluent Welsh speakers.

But in the heartlands, in Anglesey and other regions, there has been a

different pattern. Here, there has been a drop in the number of fluent

speakers. It is still the language of many communities, but in this

cafe there is concern it is not heard as often outside the school

gates. My daughter specifically came to live in this part of Wales so

that her son could learn to speak Welsh. He is a fluent Welsh speaker.

Having said that, he says Welsh is for school. Looe-macro in school,

they are obviously speaking Welsh to as teachers when they are speaking

to them. Out of school, I never ever speak Welsh. The increase in the

number of people who speak some Welsh is encouraging, says the First

Minister. The the biggest challenges for those promoting the language is

making sure those who can speak it also use it.

Tomos Dafydd is here now with all the sport.

We start with rugby. They signed a new deal with Northampton Saints.

There was speculation he could have left Northampton at the end of the

season when his contract was due to expire. North, who has won 55 caps

for Wales, joined from another team in 2013. Northampton are not

disclosing the length of his contract. Football, and Helen

Ward's hat-trick helped Wales's women beat Kazakhstan 4-mill in the

first of Euro 2017 qualifying campaign. Natasha Harding had a

Wales in front of five minutes after the break before substitute Helen

Ward scored twice in two minutes before scoring the third in the

closing stages. Wales are now third in their group. To the men's site,

next summer, Wales will be starting the European Championship campaign

in France, often described as Waless' first major final since

1958. But the national side had played

at the quarter final stages of the euros in 1976, but it wasn't

considered as a major tournament. Now,

one former player says the team's been disrespected and disregarded

and has become the forgotten team 1976,

the hottest summer for 200 years. Water shortages and sharing a bath

with a friend became the norm. Bryan Ferry was topping

the charts and for Wales, it was their biggest match

since the 1958 World Cup finals. Leighton James was part

of that team which reached But back then, only four

qualified for the main event. The players still, to this day,

feel underappreciated. We've been disregarded,

disrespected, even. A lot of us do feel like that

about the Welsh football public, because '58 has been banded

around the last time we qualified for a tournament, and people think

nothing has happened in between. So if you said to Joe public today,

name the top three or four Welsh teams who have achieved,

that wouldn't get in. They finished top

of their qualifying group, and Wales faced Yugoslavia

in a two-legged quarterfinal. It was the Cold War and German

referee refused to start the game, complaining there was no East

German flag flying in the stadium. His decisions riled the Welsh crowd

and the game ended in violence. One Yugoslavian player got involved,

too. I think they can say that apart

from the 1958 World Cup, those two games against Yugoslavia

in the quarterfinal of the European Championships were the biggest

in history of Welsh football. Yes,

we've qualified for the group again in the European Championships, but

we were 26 out of 30 countries rated for that tournament in '76, and we

reached the quarterfinals and we Leighton James says he's happy

for the current crop of players, but would also like recognition

for the side of '76. The side which achieved so much,

but is now largely forgotten. Lets get a full check on the weather

forecast. It has been a fairly mild today,

temperatures reached a high of 30 Celsius, and the average for the

time of year is around 9.6 Celsius, so we are doing OK. A lovely sunset

to night, this picture was sent in by Mike. It is a mild night to come

and is rather cloudy with some drizzle. A cloudy night, overnight.

Mist and fog into early hours of tomorrow. And the temperature is not

dropping too much tonight, at its lowest, 10 Celsius. Winds light, but

the breeze will pick up in the early hours of tomorrow. The weather front

is a cold fronts bringing wet and windy conditions with it as a going

to tomorrow morning. First thing tomorrow, we do have some strong

winds, some patchy rain at first, that arrives into Pembrokeshire and

by mid-morning spreads across much of the country as we go into the

afternoon, but pushing through quickly, thanks to the wind.

Temperatures store mild, 11-12 Celsius. Tomorrow night, once that

front players, it will be a chilly night, temperatures dropping a

little. Chilly into the early hours of Saturday, those temperatures down

to around two Celsius. And then we go into Saturday, a chilly start at

our morning, noticed the squeeze on the isobars, we have strong winds,

gale force winds possible, especially for exposed areas and a

weather front thinking more rain. First thing Saturday, the rain are

not as heavy, but as the day goes on, it will intensify. Strong winds

to go with it, not very nice into the afternoon, temperatures 7-10

Celsius, and the rain of all clear as we go into Saturday night. Then

on Sunday, the rain has cleared, but becoming milder. We hang on to the

strong winds, some patchy rain further west and the best of any

Brighton is further east. At the start of next week, it remains

unsettled. Still mild, but we do have more wind and rain heading our

way. The minute news again from the BBC. The Prime Minister says Britain

cannot afford to stand aside from the fight against Islamic State and

has urged MPs to back air strikes on Syria. To night, Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn has written to his party's MPs to say he cannot support

bombing. We'll have a quick update at 8pm

and more after the BBC News at Ten. For now, from all of us on

the programme, have a good evening.