20/11/2017 London News

Merkel's government runs aground

both Mac and why paper chase was

forced to apologise to

Good evening from BBC London News.

For the first time, the extent

of modern-day slavery

here in the capital

has been revealed.

The charity which compiled

the report says it's

rising year on year,

and highlights the boroughs

where the problem is at its worst.

We hear the plight of one woman

who was beaten daily.

Our political correspondent

Karl Mercer has the story.

It's a very real issue

for the Government, and it's a very

real issue for all of us.

It's a very real issue for Mama,

too - brought to London

for what she thought

was a cook's job working

for an overseas ambassador.

She ended up a modern-day slave.

Good afternoon, everybody.

My name is Mama.

I come from Morocco...

Now being helped by a specialist

charity, she endured months

of beatings and bad

treatment, made to work

extremely long hours.

She is far from an isolated case.

Last year, the charity Hestia helped

more than 600 victims

across the capital -

that's a 30% increase

on the previous year.

And already this year,

they've seen 822 people.

The worst three boroughs

were Croydon, with 61 cases,

Southwark with 54

and Newham with 46.

It was very moving, especially

the account from Mama,

the victim of human trafficking.

And it's so important that we always

remember that behind

the statistics are people.

This is a very important report

and it has shone a light on what's

happening in London,

to men and women in London

who have been trafficked.

Stand clear!

Raids like these ones launched

last month in London

and across the country do help,

but dealing with the

victims can be tough.

One young Albanian woman who had

been trafficked to the capital

and used as a sex worker was taken

in by the charity at one

of their safe houses.

When she first arrived here,

she actually thought

that she had come into a brothel.

And when I thought about it,

I thought, oh, my goodness,

it was five other women in that

house and there was a madam.

I was the madam.

And when there was a knock

on the door, her thought was,

that's it, now that I've been her3e

a little while, the men

that's it, now that I've been

here a little while, the men

are going to start conming in.

Because that's how it started.

City Hall has now set up

a team to look at modern

slavery with charities,

councils and the police.

It wants to stop the trade

in the first place, but also to help

rescue those being used

as modern-day slaves in the capital.

Victoria Hollins has

got more on this.

How much is this particularly a

London problem?

What the charity has

done is to break the idea of

modern-day slavery into three areas.

The first is domestic, the second is

those put into forced labour and the

third is those put into the sex

industry. It seems that London and

the rest of the country has two

different stories. In the rest of

the country it is predominantly men

put into forced labour in very bad

working conditions. In London 80% of

those who are trafficked are women

and most of them are going into the

sex industry. They've also looked at

where these people tend to becoming

from. Two countries make up more

than 50% of those trafficked,

Albania and Nigeria. It is also

interesting to look at why the

numbers seem to be going up so

significantly. Is it because it will

feel more comfortable saying that

they are victims? There has been a

lot of discussion about this. Or is

it that actually there are more

people affected and this is becoming

a bigger problem? We do not yet know

the answer to that question.

It's the first tangible sign

of Brexit - employees at two

European agencies who currently

have their headquarters

in Canary Wharf today found

out they'll be moving

to Amsterdam and Paris.

Some small businesses have told

BBC London they'll ALSO

consider moving as a result.

EU ministers have been voting

on which two cities will host

the European Medicines Agency

and the European Banking Authority

when the UK leaves the EU.

Our Brexit reporter

Katharine Carpenter has the details.

This is the European

Medicines Agency.

Around 900 people work here.

And over in the upper

floors of that skyscraper

is the European Banking Authority,

which employs around 200 more.

Ever since we voted to leave

the European Union, we've known

they have to leave London.

And today, the workers

here and their families will find

out where they might be living next.

EU cities have been competing

to offer them a new home.

And now, we know Amsterdam has won

the prize of the EMA's

well-paid workforce,

its 36,000 visitors each

year and the 30,000

or so hotel rooms it books.

Having a regulator creates this

sort of "halo effect",

because lots of American

and Japanese businesses set

shop in London precisely

because they want their staff to be

close to the regulator

so that they can help shape

its decisions and get their products

under their noses.

And so, lots of companies have said,

once the regulator moves,

they're going to have to think

about maybe sending some

staff to follow it.

The idea is that any health and care

worker in the world can

use this technology...

It's a dilemma facing this small

business in Waterloo.

It's developed a secure messaging

service for health workers.

Having the EMA close by has been

important for growth.

There's a lot of complex regulation,

a lot of hoops you've

got to jump through.

If we're losing all the people

who know about these regulations,

that's a disaster for us.

Is it enough of a disaster that

you would consider moving

to wherever the EMA moves?

Yeah.

We'll probably still

have a London-base office

but I could easily see us creating

a European office to be moving

with them and stay close

to the regulators and the key people

that we need to work with.

There are hopes that the UK might be

able to come up with a more

streamlined approach to regulation.

Others say London's pulling

power is a place to work

Others say London's pulling

power as a place to work

is still stronger than its rivals.

London remains a global city

with a fantastic opportunity,

money that can invest

in life sciences.

So, I think we can still continue

to attract talent to work

with our fantastic science,

our great scientists,

our great institutes.

It's just made it a little bit

harder, losing the agency today.

Of course, Canary Wharf is made up

of so much more than these

two European agencies.

But losing them will

have an impact here.

And that loss may be felt more

widely across the capital, too.

This is phase one of the HS2 high

speed rail line linking

Euston to Birmingham.

And it was here in Harefield

that the Green Party co-leader

visited protestors who have set up

a makeshift camp in the path

of the proposed route.

Jonathan Bartley said he was fully

supportive of their campaign.

Here's our political

editor, Tim Donovan.

On a muddy verge directly on the

route of the proposed new train

line, a small camp has been set up.

It could be here some time.

Sarah has been here longest,

and has already made her mark.

One night, she slept

beneath a digger.

Last week, she climbed

up this crane.

More fencing and more security have

now been put in place.

The high-speed rail route

has the legal backing

of an act of Parliament,

but Sarah says the works have

already breached EU law on habitats.

About 500 trees have been cut,

all different ages, including

some very, very old trees,

and no attempt has been

made to protect any of the wildlife.

Well, that's clearly

against the habitats directive.

It's clearly illegal.

Our wonderful view of

what we're trying to save!

Kitchenaria...!

Today, she had a visit

from the Green Party's leader,

and gave him a tour.

This is our office.

This tent donated by

the fishing tackle shop...

And he offered his strong support.

The only means of stopping

this massive destruction

is for local people

to take direct action.

And absolutely it's right

they should do it, and absolutely

right that we should support it.

It may only take an hour

and a quarter to get from London

to Birmingham on the existing track

now, but those who back a high speed

rail route through this landscape

say it will greatly increase

connectivity to Leeds,

Manchester and beyond,

and bring huge economic benefits

to the whole country.

Realistically, you won't claim

you can stop this route, will you?

Is it about slowing it, delaying it?

I think we should be

optimistic about what we can

achieve, and I would

like to see this project stopped,

absolutely, and scrapped.

Today, a spokesman for HS2 said

he understood the strong

feelings in the area,

but everything was being done

to limit the impact on woodland,

wildlife and local communities.

Tim Donovan, BBC London News.

I'll wish you a very good night,

and leave you with Alina Jenkins,

who can tell us what the weather's

up to this week.

who can tell us what the weather's

up to this week.

A bit of a seesaw going on with the

weather at the moment. One minute it

is cold and then it is mild and

barely the end of the week, it will

be colder again. Through the rest of

the night there will be the odd spot

of patchy light rain but it will not

amount to much. It will be a mild

night, temperature is not much lower

than ten or 11. May the odd spot of

rain but for most will be a dry and

rather cloudy day tomorrow. Quite

breezy at times, particularly over

higher ground. As we go into

Wednesday, again we're greeted with

a lot of cloud but it looks like it

should break up a little bit more

readily to give some spells of

sunshine. For much of Wednesday it

will be dry and mild. But the winds

will be strengthening. You can see

the squeeze in the isobars, and we

have a frontal system pushing

south-eastwards on Wednesday night

into Thursday. Behind it, on

Thursday morning, some spells of

sunshine, but again quite a strong

wind, especially over higher ground.

Still just about in the milder air

but as we get into Friday it looks

like some colder air starts to dig

in. As the rain starts to clear over

the weekend, it will turn colder