04/12/2017 London News

That's all from the BBC News at Six

, so it's goodbye from me -

Tonight on BBC London News:

The Mayor calls for a special

Brexit deal for the capital

to safeguard thousands of jobs.

If it's good enough in Northern

Ireland, bearing in mind this will

protect tens of thousands of jobs in

London, bearing in mind London is

crucial to the government's

well-being, economically and

otherwise, the Prime Minister should

give London the same deal as well.

He made the comments

during a trade visit to India.

We report from Mumbai.

We hear from the London Ambulance

Service as the emergency services

are recognised for their bravery

after this year's terror attacks.

The London Ambulance Service, the

police services, the members of the

public, all the Londoners who helped

us on that evening, was

unbelievable.

Social media giant Facebook

opens its biggest engineering

hub outside the US -

here in London creating

hundreds of jobs.

And the bear that's

delighted us for decades.

With a little help we take a look

round the new Winnie the Pooh

exhibition at the V&A.

A very good evening to you.

Welcome to the programme.

First tonight: should the capital be

given a special Brexit deal?

The Mayor Sadiq Khan thinks so.

Earlier during a visit to India

he said that London should be given

similar status to that

being proposed by the Prime Minister

for Northern Ireland.

Allowing the city to remain

in the single market and customs

Union after the UK leaves the EU.

But could it work?

And what would the implications

of such a deal be for London?

Our Brexit reporter,

Katharine Carpenter,

has been finding out.

It was the Romans who first built

the great Wall around the city to

protect its prosperity and trade.

Today, London's Mayor hinted at

partitioning off the capital once

more, with a special Brexit deal,

similar to the one being thrashed

out for Northern Ireland.

The

government has accepted a principal

today that part of the country

should have part of the single

market.

If it's good enough

for Northern Ireland,

bearing in mind this will protect

tens of thousands of jobs in London,

bearing in mind London is crucial

to the government's well-being

economically and otherwise,

the government should give us

the same deal as well.

His comments were welcomed by some

at this garage on Seven Sisters Rd.

Being in the single market means

goods, services and people can move

around freely. The owner here says

leaving means costs will go up.

I

believe it will be hard for us, it

Bobby Hassell. As a business runner,

we will be affected quite a lot if

we leave the single market. If we

stayed, it will be better.

But his

friend around the corner was one of

the 40% of Londoners who voted

leave. He says he will feel cheated

if the mayor has his way.

I don't

see how it will work. How can you

segregate London from the rest of

the country?

It's a view shared by

other pro-Brexit supporters, who

question the practicalities as well.

We decided in 2016, in a referendum

with a huge vote, to leave the

European Union. Secondly, it's

fraught with practical difficulties.

Where is the boundary going to be?

Who will be in, who will be out?

It's not workable.

This is an

opportunity for the mayor, who have

called many times form all devolved

powers to support London through

Brexit.

If it can be done for

Northern Ireland, which is part of

the United Kingdom, it makes it more

difficult for the government to say

it can be done for one part of the

United Kingdom, and not another,

remembering that London, Northern

Ireland and Scotland voted to stay

in the EU, while the UK as a whole

voted to leave.

The Prime Minister

has a lot more on her mind than

London, but the city has a lot on

its mind regarding the future, and

frustration is growing.

Well, the Mayor made his comments

during the start of his week-long

trade visit to India and Pakistan.

Also on the agenda,

the issue of student visas.

Speaking in Mumbai earlier,

Sadiq Khan blamed the Prime Minister

for making it difficult for Indian

nationals to come to

London to work and study.

Our Political Correspondent,

Karl Mercer, sent this report.

Of course the mayor wasn't staying

at this hotel, nor eating at this

restaurant, but tucked off a main

road into Mumbai, these two pay

testament to a city that thrives on

trade, deals and making money,

something that the mayor is keen to

tap into. So there is a mantra from

Sadiq Khan on this trip. Everywhere

he's been, he has said that London

is open, but apparently not as open

as he wants it to be.

London is open

for business.

His contradictions may

need a bit more practice.

The Mayor

of London, Sadiq Khan.

What will not

is the message she came to deliver

on student visas.

The British Prime

Minister, Theresa May, got it badly

wrong with her decision to close

this route a few years ago.

A rule

change five years ago meant that

these two students, who wanted to go

to London universities, had to stay

in Mumbai.

We wanted to come to

London and works of the economy and

see how it was. But they stopped it

because of the immigration issues,

or whatever, and we were not allowed

visas.

You can have the talent, work

there, not get benefits, but if

somebody from a developed country

gets the opportunity to do well, and

then come back to their own country.

It could be a win win for both.

I

think we need to be very careful we

are not doing stuff that actively

deters foreign students. At the

moment, as you said, the policy

seems to be putting some people off.

Five years ago, on his trip to India

as mayor, Boris Johnson tried to

stop those changes as well. If

Theresa May wouldn't listen to Boris

Johnson then, why would she listen

to what you are saying now?

The

reason why she should listen to us

now is that the fear is that we have

have been realised, it's not simply

that scaremongering that changes

around student visas will lead to

fewer students coming. That has

happened. If Theresa May wants to

make Brexit a success, if she wants

to make sure businesses continued to

flourish and strive, we need to have

access to talented people from

around the world, including India.

It's in her interests to change the

rules.

He wants students like these

to be able to stay after their

studies and work air. The numbers of

Indian students coming to the

capital has fallen 40% in the last

four years.

Historically and

culturally, we are connected to the

UK and especially London, which is

why I chose London to study.

London

is a great city with a variety of

cultures. I wanted to be exposed to

different things.

The general

impression is, for employability,

the UK are the best. And I don't

want to say this, but Brexit has

possibly something to do with it as

well.

The biggest factor in the

recent decreasing trend of students

coming to the UK less is the removal

of the student Visa.

In more sombre

mood, Sadiq Khan paid his respects

at a memorial to those who were

murdered here by terrorists nine

years ago, when they attacked the

luxury hotel where the mayor spent

his night.

In a statement, the government says:

"any post-study provisions must

strike a careful balance

between providing competitive

options for the brightest students

to remain in the UK to work.

Whilst maintaining safeguards

against widespread abuse".

A double murder investigation has

been launched after the bodies of

the Father and daughter were found

in Deptford. Their bodies were found

inside a house at new but lame.

Police were called following reports

of concerns for their well-being.

A pedestrian has died

after being struck by a marked

police car that was responding

to an emergency call,

the Metropolitan Police said.

The incident happened at around

6.45pm on December three

on Seven Sisters Road close

to the junction with

Elizabeth Road in Haringey,

north London, the force said.

I think the council have to put one

zebra crossing here because every

second minute, people are passing

here and it is very dangerous

for them.

There's a bus stop

and when people come

out from the bus stop,

they are quickly passing

and the road is very

busy and the cars is very fast

all the time.

In a year which has seen four

terrorist attacks on the capital -

there's been widespread praise

for the work of the

emergency services.

And today some were recognised

for their 'exceptional bravery',

along with Londoners who also

provided vital first aid

and much needed support.

Among them, a paramedic

from London Ambulance Service

who was one of the first

on the scene at the

London Bridge attack.

Chris Rogers has been

speaking to him.

June the 3rd, and what is now

a familiar sight in London,

a massive police response,

confusion and fear.

Get down, everyone, now!

It's just after 10pm.

A white van has driven

into pedestrians on London Bridge,

leaving bodies in its path.

Three terrorists emerge.

They stab anyone in their sight.

Eight people are killed.

48 others are left injured.

I got the call to London Bridge.

It was given as a road traffic

collision at the time.

I arrived and then got told

it was a major incident.

Andy Beasley and his team

are in a race against time to

save lives.

I took the handover from an advanced

paramedic on scene very

quickly.

And we then heard gunfire.

The terrorists are shot

by specialist armed police.

I then took cover,

as soon as the gunfire had

finished, I come back out

and my training just kicked in.

I was very, very nervous.

There's no way I'm

going to deny that.

But the training does kick

in and it was, to me, I

need to get as many

patients out of this

area, into hospital,

soon as I possibly could.

In the midst of the horror,

something wonderful happened.

I don't feel a hero at all,

I'll be quite honest with you.

I feel like I was just doing my job.

There's a lot of people behind us.

You know, it is a big, big team,

the London Ambulance Service,

the police services,

and the members of the

public, all the Londoners that

helped us on that evening was

unbelievable.

You know, without any

of them, this wouldn't have

happened.

The control room staff,

the people on the road, everybody,

everyone just mucked in,

one big team and we just made it.

Four terror attacks

in London this year

took 14 lives and

dozens were injured.

Among the 200 people honoured

by the Met Police for their

bravery are medics like Andy and

police officers but also a butcher

and his wife, a bouncer and an imam.

It's been a terrible year.

There's no other way

to describe it and so

many people have lost their lives

and other people have had their

lives turned upside down.

As we are commending

police colleagues and

members of the public this

afternoon, we will be thinking about

them but I think we will also be

very proud and we will be

recognising that actually,

London came together right

at the time of those attacks

and ordinary Londoners

showed extraordinary courage.

London carries on,

facing the daily threat

of terror.

United in grief and fear but also

bravery and vigilance.

Chris Rogers, BBC London News.

Also at that ceremony, commended for

his bravery during the London Bridge

attack, was this PC from the London

transport police. Take us back to

that Saturday evening in June. You

were on duty as normal, and then

what?

I was just about to finish my

shift, but I had the call, so I

attended with my colleague from East

London. When we got to the scene, it

was carnage. Lots of injured people.

Our job was just to help as many

people as we could.

What was going

on around you? Did you have time to

even think?

You just switched off,

moved from one person to do next.

There was just lots of people who

needed help, so we tried to get to

as many as we could.

We know that

people in your position often say,

look, this is part of the job, what

you train for. But can anything

prepare you for what you saw that

day?

No. It was quite an extreme

day. But it is part of the job to

deal with people who are injured

regularly, it was just a lot of

people at once.

At the time, you

were not aware of the scale of the

attack?

Not at all.

So what was

going through your mind?

We didn't

really understand until we got

there. When we got there, we

realised, but then, you almost turn

off your emotions and go straight

into helping people, trying to save

people's lives, and do the best you

can with the resources you have.

Can

I ask if you ever fear for your own

life?

My wife probably does. I'm

quite good at just turning off from

it and getting on with the job. When

you get home, you just think about

things afterwards.

Obviously, that

day, you were just doing your job,

as you say. When you look back, in

those quiet, reflective moments,

what do you think then?

You think

about the families who have lost

relatives, and you think about the

people you've managed to help. You

are happy you did the best you could

on the day. Today, we all got

awarded, so it was quite nice.

How

did it feel being there today? You

are amongst other people who are

some of the few people who have

experienced what you experienced?

It

was nice to be together. There were

other forces there, the Metropolitan

Police and the City of London, and

people from the fire service and

ambulance service as well, and

members of the public. It was good

to get together with people you

don't see. It was lovely.

Four

terror attacks already this year in

London. Does it make you look at

your job differently at all?

No, it

makes me want to do it more, to make

sure I can be there when people need

me.

Thank you. A wonderful note to

end on. Thank you so much.

Extraordinary bravery in the midst

of such horror. Stay with us.

Bumping down the stairs with

Christopher Robin. How you can walk

into the world of Winnie the Pooh.

We start the week on a cloudy and

increasingly mild note, but enjoy it

while it lasts, because it will turn

colder by the end of the week.

Google, Bloomberg and Apple

have all announced plans

to grow their business bases

here in the capital.

Now, the tech giant, Facebook,

has opened it's biggest engineering

hub outside the US -

in London - creating

hundreds of new jobs.

So what does it mean

for the capital as we look ahead

to a post-Brexit world?

Here's Tarah Welsh.

It's one of the fastest-growing

companies in the world and has

39 million users in the UK.

That means more than half of us

have a Facebook account.

No wonder it's got something to sing

about at its new offices in central

London, entertainers,

dancers and even the Chancellor

came along to celebrate,

reassured that even in uncertain

times, such a big company

wants to expand here.

Really excited about the fact

we are going to be looking for more

people to be coming here.

We hope a lot of those people

will be UK grown people

because London in particular

is a fantastic tech hub.

The company is hiring another

800 people in London

so by the end of next year,

there will be 2300 people working

here, making this their biggest

engineering base outside the US.

It's also opening a centre to help

start-ups but some say this

expansion has knock-on effects

for the industry.

The innovation to London's ecosystem

isn't necessarily served

by massive companies.

In fact, what actually happens

is that very large companies

like Facebook and Google tend more

often to have an effect on start-ups

because they can no longer afford

to pay the vast salaries that these

large, large companies can afford.

The perks of working here can be

found around every corner.

Free meals, treats and sugar

by the bus-load comes with the job.

But this is a company that has

been here for ten years

and up until recently,

routed UK sale through Ireland,

meaning in 2014, it paid

just over £4,000 in tax.

Many people were outraged

about the tax setup of Facebook.

What would you say to them now?

Yeah, well, we make sure

that we comply with all of the tax

laws within all of the areas

that we operate.

You might have seen that last year,

we moved our revenues

that we receive from our large scale

clients in the UK into our UK office

and that is now recognised

and taxed at the right level

of corporations for profitability.

Our focus here is about making

sure we continue to grow

and continue to invest.

While so many of us use it,

it is likely to grow,

this giant that no one had ever

heard of just 15 years ago.

Tarah Welsh, BBC London News.

Now - despite lying

in the relegation zone,

Crystal Palace have today announced

ambitious plans to redevelop

their stadium in a project that

will cost up to £100 million.

Sara Orchard has been

at Selhurst Park all day.

So, good news for

fans in what's been

a difficult season so far?

Yes, some respite for the Eagles

fans after that difficult start to

the season and also, the crowd

trouble that marred their match away

at Brighton last week. Confirmation

they won't be leaving the site which

had been mooted for a few years.

They will be redeveloping Selhurst

Park, particularly the main stand

behind me, which will be increased

to a five story structure,

increasing the hospitality and

corporate areas. They will also be

looking to increase the size of the

pitch to bring it up to

international standards. That means

should England ever hosted European

Championship for a World Cup in the

future, they will be able to put

their name on the table as a

possible host venue. Crucially, all

of this will go ahead while the club

continues to play Lear. Today, the

Palace chairman concerned he wanted

to welcome all local resident in the

Selhurst Park area to come to the

club and look and discuss the plans.

Residents can come any time and look

at what is going on but we will have

a series of open days for them to

come and have a look at the plans

and understand what it will look

like from the outside, the transport

study and impact statements we have

done, all the things to make sure we

can make them as comfortable as

possible with what is going. I think

it's sensible. You can get ahead of

yourself and bite off more than you

can chew but we want this to build

optimism. If we get relegated this

year or next, we still to do it. It

is very important to the future of

the football club.

Have Crystal Palace said how quickly

they would like the building to

start?

Of course, nothing can happen unless

they get planning approval. Today

the club said they would be

submitting a planning application to

Croydon Council at the end of

January 2018 and the council

released a statement today, saying

it was supportive of Palace's

ambitions for Selhurst Park and

discussions with the club remain at

an early stage and they look forward

to receiving more detailed

information about the proposals. If

everything was given the green

light, the earliest they would

expect building to start would be

the end of 2018 and the build is

expected to take about two years.

Back to the studio.

They are the stories of a bear that

have endured for nearly a century.

Now the words and drawings have

leapt from the page of the Winnie

the Pooh books into a new exhibition

at the V&A.

And young children are very

welcome - as Wendy Hurrell

has been finding out.

The screech owl...

When Winnie went Disney

in the 60s, he became

probably the most famous

bear in the world.

But it was from humble

pencil-sketched

beginnings that he came.

There's a lot of Pooh

memorabilia out there.

In fact, the exhibition begins

with a whole load of, you

know, masses of different

kind of versions.

Winnie the Pooh in Russian.

There's some extraordinary

dates on it.

And then what we wanted to do

was almost cleanse the palate

and take everyone back to the books,

back to the original drawings and

the words.

Well, the words were AA Milne's

with a bit of help from mum.

The Milne family lived in Chelsea

and for Christopher Robin's

first birthday, his mother, Daphne,

went to Harrods and bought him a

teddy bear.

It was she that brought that bear

to life with her stories.

And they are still being read more

than 90 years on, tales passed down

through the generations.

Bump, bump, bump,

on the back of his head!

Behind Christopher Robin.

This is the first V&A

exhibition aimed at

younger families.

It is as much for the ones

who haven't grown up...

Do you want to bump down

the stairs with me like this?

Ready?

Bump, bump, bump!

..as for the little ones.

After you've been through this space

you then look at the original

drawings and the books and see

them with a new light.

Having walked inside the books,

maybe you will see them

in a slightly different way.

The illustrations were by another

Londoner, EH Shepard.

He was a friend of

Milne's and spent time

with the family in Ashdown Forest,

30 miles from London in Sussex.

There were some sketches

taken of trees that

inspired the homes

of Piglet and Owl.

These are actual trees?

They were actual trees

and one of them was

Christopher's favourite tree.

He could actually

walk up the branch.

From the branches come twigs and fir

cones because no one brought up

on Winnie can resist a quick game

of pooh-sticks on a

bridge over a stream.

Though this one must have seen

the one where Roo goes swimming.

Pooh's house will be

open from Saturday.

And the media won't be

there to spoil your fun.

Come on, you go through the door.

Wendy Hurrell, BBC London News.

Let's see what the weather's

up to and Lucy Martin

Let's see what the weather's

up to and Lucy Martin

is here to tell us.

December already!

Yes but we will see slightly milder

temperatures in the first few days

of the week then it will feel a lot

more like December towards the end

of the week, a fair amount of cloud

around today, this photo sent in

earlier from South Kensington and we

start off on a fairly cloudy note

with temperatures rising above

average by the time we get to

Thursday, we could see 14 degrees

before temperatures come back down,

turning colder and brighter towards

the end of the week, back down into

single figures. We have got high

pressure in charge to start the week

which will keep things fairly

settled before this area of low

pressure suite in from the west,

bringing a spell of wet and windy

weather and when that passes

through, we will see the turn to

colder conditions. It has been

mostly cloudy day. Loud edging

eastwards. The best of any

brightness the further east you are.

As we go through the evening and

overnight, it will stay fairly

cloudy and where we see breaks in

the cloud, temperatures will drop

away and perhaps a few patches of

and fog with overnight lows of

around five or 6 degrees. Tomorrow

starts off fairly cloudy. We will

see any patches of mist and fog

lifting fairly quickly through the

morning and it will be similar to

today but perhaps a bit more

brightness than we have seen today,

temperatures a maximum of 11. As we

move into Wednesday, we see the wind

spinning around two or

south-westerly direction. It will be

largely cloudy and it could be thick

enough to produce a few spots of

light rain and drizzle, temperatures

again fairly mild, the average for

the time of year is nine but we

could see 12 on Wednesday. Later on

Wednesday we start to see the cold

front pushing eastwards. It will

bring a spell of wet and windy

weather so we start the day on

Thursday with outbreaks of rain and

temperatures will be quite mild,

this is where we could see 14 before

it clears Southeast, brighter

conditions into the afternoon but

turning colder and that is how we

will stay as we move into Friday,

temperatures back into single

figures but more brightness and the

chance of one or two wintry showers.

I suppose it had to.

The headlines.

The headlines.

Britain and the European Union have

failed to now to reach agreement to

move on to the second phase of

negotiations on Brexit. The Irish

border remains one of the main

difficulties. There's been a big

increase in the last four years in

the number of children and

pensioners living in poverty

according to the Joseph Rowntree

Foundation. And members of the

emergency services and Londoners who

showed exceptional bravery during

this year's terror attacks have been

honoured at a ceremony at the

Guildhall.

More on the day's stories

on our website - and of course it's

that time of the year

for Christmas lights,

so head to our Facebook page

to share your pictures.

I'll be back later

with our late news.

Have a lovely evening.