27/02/2017

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:00:16. > :00:18.A very good evening from BBC London News, I am Riz Lateef.

:00:19. > :00:21.First tonight, a warning that a hard Brexit could severely damage

:00:22. > :00:23.the capital's ability to build thousands of affordable homes needed

:00:24. > :00:26.Figures from the Mayor's office show around

:00:27. > :00:29.one in four builders in London is from the European Union.

:00:30. > :00:34.Our political correspondent Karl Mercer has the story.

:00:35. > :00:36.Valentine and Georgian are a long way from home,

:00:37. > :00:41.From Romania, they've been here nearly four years,

:00:42. > :00:48.that's helping power the capital's construction industry.

:00:49. > :00:50.When people come here for the first time, they think London

:00:51. > :00:52.is something amazing, but it's not like that.

:00:53. > :00:57.When you come, you start to make something here, it's not easy.

:00:58. > :01:02.You need a lot of power to make something here.

:01:03. > :01:20.Because you need the money, for all this you come here.

:01:21. > :01:22.Today, City Hall has released figures that show these

:01:23. > :01:26.They say there are something like 350,000 construction

:01:27. > :01:33.Of those, some 95,000, or 27%, are from the European Union,

:01:34. > :01:34.a further 3% are from other European countries,

:01:35. > :01:38.14% from other coutnries around the world.

:01:39. > :01:42.Eastern Europeans are the absolute lifeblood

:01:43. > :01:46.of the construction industry, especially in London.

:01:47. > :01:50.Our experience is that there's a perfect storm coming -

:01:51. > :01:55.we want to deliver more homes, we want to supply more homes,

:01:56. > :02:02.but frankly without the construction workers and with

:02:03. > :02:05.imports becoming more expensive, you're heading into a perfect storm.

:02:06. > :02:07.The Mayor has sent ambitious targets for housebuilding,

:02:08. > :02:09.his team today warning that anything that puts workers off

:02:10. > :02:16.Without them, you would not be able to meet the target that you have set

:02:17. > :02:18.yourselves of building at least 90,000 affordable homes by 2020?

:02:19. > :02:21.We have very challenging targets to meet,

:02:22. > :02:24.and we know it's going to be a marathon, not a sprint.

:02:25. > :02:27.We know it's going to be hard to get there,

:02:28. > :02:29.and I think this really underscores the fact

:02:30. > :02:31.that a hard Brexit would make that job a lot harder.

:02:32. > :02:34.You won't be able to do it without them, will you?

:02:35. > :02:36.We need to make sure we avoid a hard Brexit,

:02:37. > :02:39.so that we have those highly valuable, EU nationals contributing

:02:40. > :02:41.towards our efforts to increase building in London.

:02:42. > :02:43.You're not going to answer yes or no, are you?

:02:44. > :02:46.I think we need to avoid a hard Brexit.

:02:47. > :02:48.MPs were also asking the same question

:02:49. > :02:50.of the Housing Minister in Parliament this afternoon.

:02:51. > :02:53.If there is a mass exodus, if you like, what will be the effect?

:02:54. > :02:55.I don't really want to speculate on that,

:02:56. > :02:58.because I don't think that's what's going to happen.

:02:59. > :03:00.The Government is very, very clear that our priority,

:03:01. > :03:03.as soon as we get the negotiation under way, is to secure

:03:04. > :03:06.the status of British citizens in the EU and EU citizens here.

:03:07. > :03:08.People like Valentine and Georgian, helping London's building industry

:03:09. > :03:16.while it works out how to train more British workers.

:03:17. > :03:22.Two Met Police officers are set to keep their jobs

:03:23. > :03:24.after they stopped off at a McDonald's before

:03:25. > :03:30.in how they dealt with the case in which a woman committed suicide.

:03:31. > :03:32.Jim Wheble joins us with the details.

:03:33. > :03:40.Tell us more about the emergency they were responding to.

:03:41. > :03:50.Well, this focuses on events around midnight in April 2000 and 15. The

:03:51. > :03:54.two police officers were in a patrol car, they had accepted a 999 call,

:03:55. > :03:59.the information they were given was that a young woman, who was

:04:00. > :04:03.psychotic, had sent a suicidal text message to a friend. She wasn't

:04:04. > :04:07.opening her door, she was said to be a danger to herself. But the

:04:08. > :04:11.officers drove away and went to McDonald's, had a cup of tea, did

:04:12. > :04:15.some paperwork relating to another incident, and then under 40 minutes

:04:16. > :04:23.later, they went to the young woman's house, they found dead, she

:04:24. > :04:27.had hanged herself. What was said at the hearing today? Well, the two

:04:28. > :04:31.officers admitted they had made poor decisions, but they said their

:04:32. > :04:35.actions had not added to gross misconduct, but misconduct. Both

:04:36. > :04:40.parties except that, even if they had got there sooner, they wouldn't

:04:41. > :04:44.have been able to save this woman. Tellingly, the panel also accepted

:04:45. > :04:51.their argument that they hadn't been properly trained. The officers said

:04:52. > :04:57.they had had up to 60 minutes to respond to a category two call, not

:04:58. > :05:01.a top priority call. As a result of this, the charge was struck out, and

:05:02. > :05:03.tomorrow they will find out what sanction they face. Jim, thank you

:05:04. > :05:04.very much. BBC London has discovered that

:05:05. > :05:07.a growing number of men from the capital are among

:05:08. > :05:09.the thousands marrying who are then outcast

:05:10. > :05:13.by their own community. In some cases,

:05:14. > :05:15.the motive is financial, as the groom is given a dowry

:05:16. > :05:18.by the bride's family. Chris Rogers has

:05:19. > :05:21.this special report. She's one of thousands of women

:05:22. > :05:26.who entered an arranged marriage in her homeland willingly

:05:27. > :05:29.with a British Indian. She hasn't seen him

:05:30. > :05:32.since their wedding night. She spent all her savings

:05:33. > :05:34.to get here in the hope of meeting him

:05:35. > :05:37.and to get a divorce. Ritu insists she did not feel

:05:38. > :05:40.pressured into the marriage, but the wedding took place

:05:41. > :05:43.just 48 hours after they had met. he assured her that he would arrange

:05:44. > :05:49.for her to join him. But the marriage broke down,

:05:50. > :05:51.and it never happened. Why he did this?

:05:52. > :05:56.What has he gained out of it? Not a day had come in my life

:05:57. > :05:59.where you would really feel that you want to end this now.

:06:00. > :06:06.Sorry. I've travelled from London to Punjab

:06:07. > :06:10.in the north of India. It's the same journey

:06:11. > :06:12.that every year hundreds of Indian British nationals

:06:13. > :06:18.make, looking for a wife. there are well over 15,000

:06:19. > :06:22.abandoned wives here. Many believe they were

:06:23. > :06:25.married for money. Despite the dowry being outlawed

:06:26. > :06:28.since 1961, families still offer tens of thousands of pounds

:06:29. > :06:33.to the groom before the wedding. After the wedding,

:06:34. > :06:38.then I arrive in London... He said, "I don't love you,

:06:39. > :06:48.I just like you." The cultural stigma of divorce

:06:49. > :06:51.in India can leave women Back in London, Ritu finally gets

:06:52. > :07:00.to meet her husband in private. It was really sad

:07:01. > :07:05.that he didn't even recognise me, he doesn't want to answer

:07:06. > :07:08.any of my questions. Unable to secure a divorce

:07:09. > :07:12.from their British husbands, many South Asian wives resign

:07:13. > :07:15.themselves to life as an outcast, while their husbands face

:07:16. > :07:19.no such cultural barriers. Now, when it comes

:07:20. > :07:25.to last night's Oscars - the big mix-up over

:07:26. > :07:27.the award for Best Picture But there was no mistaking

:07:28. > :07:31.who won the Oscar In fact, it's the seventh year

:07:32. > :07:35.in a row that a London-based company

:07:36. > :07:37.has scooped the award. The Jungle Book was almost entirely

:07:38. > :07:46.made up of visual special effects. This mixture of one tiny actor

:07:47. > :07:49.and a cast of computer-generated animals was a recipe

:07:50. > :07:54.for Oscars success. Something like 50% of

:07:55. > :07:59.the shots were full CG. around 80% of the image

:08:00. > :08:05.at all times is digital. It took the efforts of 800 artists

:08:06. > :08:10.based here in London. Even for this team,

:08:11. > :08:12.it was a big ask. We're used to not noticing

:08:13. > :08:16.the visual effects in a film, and that's when you know you've

:08:17. > :08:19.done your job well. Obviously, in this case,

:08:20. > :08:22.it's the main point, A brilliant win for the people

:08:23. > :08:27.who did Jungle Book. they conjured up this

:08:28. > :08:31.amazing Indian jungle. I mean, it is so lifelike -

:08:32. > :08:36.next-level visual effects, I think. Special visual effects is a category

:08:37. > :08:40.London companies have dominated. In 2012, MPC won its first

:08:41. > :08:44.Oscar for Life Of Pi. Framestore followed

:08:45. > :08:48.that up with Gravity. Double Negative won two years

:08:49. > :08:50.running for Interstellar Now MPC has won again

:08:51. > :08:56.for The Jungle Book. It's a surrealistic experience, I

:08:57. > :08:58.have to say. When I woke up the morning and saw

:08:59. > :09:02.the Oscar sitting there in my house, but it's sort of sunk in a

:09:03. > :09:08.little more, if that makes sense. MPC is now working on

:09:09. > :09:10.a new version of The Lion King. Who'd bet against them winning again

:09:11. > :09:13.in a few years' time? But let's find out how the weather's

:09:14. > :09:31.shaping up with Wendy. No, a bit of shower dodging today,

:09:32. > :09:36.and there will be more of that, but the plus side of having showers and

:09:37. > :09:39.then some sunshine is that it looks very pretty. We had lots of lovely

:09:40. > :09:44.rainbows throughout London today, the Weather Watchers out in force,

:09:45. > :09:48.looking for pots of cold, one in Canary Wharf, who knew?! As we go

:09:49. > :09:53.through the week, that familiar mix of sunshine spells, some white

:09:54. > :09:56.weather, at first quite chilly, because the temperature at the

:09:57. > :10:07.moment is falling under clearing skies. Temperatures close to if not

:10:08. > :10:11.at freezing, so watch out for eyes and a foot first thing tomorrow

:10:12. > :10:16.morning. But for most of us, it will be a dry enough commute with some

:10:17. > :10:21.spells of sunshine, breezy from the outset, but don't be fooled, later

:10:22. > :10:26.on you might get caught in a shower, and they may have a wintry element

:10:27. > :10:30.as well, temperatures resolutely in single figures. As we go through the

:10:31. > :10:35.week, it will calm down a little bit at times, Wednesday mostly dry, a

:10:36. > :10:38.lot of cloud around, rain coming through after dark, then a brief

:10:39. > :10:42.ridge of high pressure on Thursday, perhaps with some sunshine, the

:10:43. > :10:47.breezy as day of the week, then more rain on Friday. This is the bigger

:10:48. > :10:50.outlook for the weekend, low pressure after low pressure after

:10:51. > :10:53.low pressure, another behind me, and as you can tell that means unsettled

:10:54. > :11:01.over the weekend. John Hammond has the weather for the

:11:02. > :11:14.rest of the country. According to one man-made

:11:15. > :11:19.definition, spring begins in a couple of days, but in reality

:11:20. > :11:26.weather does it own thing at its own pace. This was taken in Midlothian,

:11:27. > :11:30.a funny old day, some lovely rainbows, downpours, burst of

:11:31. > :11:35.sunshine, and out of the breeze it felt a little bit springlike. At the

:11:36. > :11:39.moment we have clusters of cloud crossing the country, generating

:11:40. > :11:43.wintry showers, clearer gaps in between allowing sunshine by day,

:11:44. > :11:44.but overnight that means dropping temperatures, already a frost in

:11:45. > :11:45.some