:00:00. > :00:00.That's all from us. A first look at the papers on the news channel. Now
:00:00. > :00:13.we Good evening. I'm Jenny Kirk.
:00:14. > :00:17.First, the man who dived into a lake to look for a missing teenager, but
:00:18. > :00:20.ended up drowning. At an inquest today, Ryan Pettengell's girlfriend
:00:21. > :00:24.revealed that she had urged him not to go into the water at Bawsey Pits
:00:25. > :00:29.near King's Lynn, but he did, not knowing that the boy's body had
:00:30. > :00:32.already been found. The jury returned a verdict of accidental
:00:33. > :00:35.death. Ryan Pettengell's mother, sister and
:00:36. > :00:41.brother`in`law arriving at today's inquest. He'd drowned. On the same
:00:42. > :00:45.day, at the same pitts as the teenager he was looking for, not
:00:46. > :00:48.knowing when he jumped in the water, the 16`year`old's body had already
:00:49. > :00:51.been found. PC Ryan Williams told the inquest he was there when Ryan
:00:52. > :00:54.Pettengell drowned. He couldn't help because he wasn't a competent
:00:55. > :00:57.swimmer. Before he died, he'd asked Mr Pettengell if he'd seen a
:00:58. > :01:00.16`year`old. His girlfriend Lauren Cole said she could see something on
:01:01. > :01:07.the island she'd just swam to. Despite breaking his wrist weeks
:01:08. > :01:13.before, he said he'd swim over. She told him, don't bother because you
:01:14. > :01:18.won't make it. He got halfway across when he asked for a stick. She said
:01:19. > :01:22.she did, but it wouldn't float. She went back to Ireland to get a no
:01:23. > :01:28.mistake, and when she turned around all she could see was at the bubbles
:01:29. > :01:31.on the surface. Shortly after the double drownings, these photos were
:01:32. > :01:34.released to show the dangers under the surface. This is diver Alan
:01:35. > :01:37.Nichols moments after finding the 16`year`old's body. Ryan
:01:38. > :01:40.Pettengell's best friend was there when he drowned. He said he was a
:01:41. > :01:46.good swimmer, but thought at the time he was joking around.
:01:47. > :01:51.Unfortunately he wasn't. As soon as he did not come up I realised he
:01:52. > :01:56.wasn't there, and it was something serious. Before the family left the
:01:57. > :01:59.inquest, Ryan Pettengell's mother told the coroner they should also
:02:00. > :02:02.point out the dangers under the surface. She said it would give
:02:03. > :02:08.those who want to swim something else to think about.
:02:09. > :02:10.A reward of ?2,000 is being offered by Crimestoppers for help in
:02:11. > :02:14.catching the people who robbed an 89`year`old woman at her bungalow in
:02:15. > :02:18.Lakenheath last week. Connie Hallford was hit and knocked to the
:02:19. > :02:22.floor, when three masked men burst into her home.
:02:23. > :02:25.An MP from Suffolk has been telling the Commons today that National
:02:26. > :02:30.Insurance should be re`named and ultimately abolished, because it's
:02:31. > :02:34.not an insurance, it's a tax. Ben Gummer, the MP for Ipswich, thinks
:02:35. > :02:41.it should be called the Earnings Tax.
:02:42. > :02:46.First introduced 100 years ago, National Insurance was expanded by
:02:47. > :02:50.the Labour Government of the 1940s. But Ipswich MP Ben Gummer believes
:02:51. > :02:55.it's now outdated and misunderstood. The stamp, he says, is no longer an
:02:56. > :03:02.insurance but a tax in all but name, and should now be merged with income
:03:03. > :03:06.tax. What I propose is a twofold reform. There is a simple name
:03:07. > :03:12.change, which would cost nothing, and secondly the merger of the
:03:13. > :03:16.National Insurance fund into general government funds. In the Commons
:03:17. > :03:19.today, Mr Gummer introduced a Bill, which would see National Insurance
:03:20. > :03:26.renamed Earnings Tax. A move he says toward transparency. If they were
:03:27. > :03:30.merged in the future, there should be special rates for pensioners. We
:03:31. > :03:33.are not proposing person up taxes or cutting them, but merely changing
:03:34. > :03:38.the name and making things simple for people. National Insurance is
:03:39. > :03:42.paid by all workers from 16 to retirement. You pay 12% on earnings
:03:43. > :03:46.between ?149 and ?797 a week. Above that you pay an extra 2%. Mr Gummer
:03:47. > :03:50.says merging the taxes would bring clarity and cost savings. But
:03:51. > :03:55.critics say it's a staging post towards dismantling the welfare
:03:56. > :04:05.state. If there's no National Insurance, then how long before
:04:06. > :04:09.there's no State Pension? Let us be straight. National Insurance is a
:04:10. > :04:11.tax. Mr Gummer previously campaigned successfully for itemised tax
:04:12. > :04:15.statements. They start this year. And with the Treasury apparently in
:04:16. > :04:21.favour of this latest idea, the days of National Insurance could well be
:04:22. > :04:23.numbered. Well, earlier I spoke to Dia
:04:24. > :04:27.Charavarty from the Taxpayers Alliance, which supports the plan,
:04:28. > :04:37.and asked whether this was a nail in the coffin for the welfare state.
:04:38. > :04:42.National Insurance is an income tax. It should be called as such.
:04:43. > :04:46.Because it is called National Insurance a lot of people believe
:04:47. > :04:51.that it goes to a separate part, which then pays for the welfare
:04:52. > :04:58.system. That has not been the case for a very long time, yet the name
:04:59. > :05:03.has remained. This is changing the name and being honest about it. It
:05:04. > :05:10.is for people to know how much they are paying into the government's
:05:11. > :05:15.pocket. Will pensioners had to pay more? Pensioners are worried they
:05:16. > :05:21.will be taxed. If it is lumped together they will pay more. It
:05:22. > :05:24.changes nothing with pensioners. And they're not paying National
:05:25. > :05:30.Insurance tax, they wouldn't be paying Earnings Tax. It is simply
:05:31. > :05:36.calling National Insurance Earnings Tax. Why change the name at all? Do
:05:37. > :05:41.you think when people pay someone they should know what they are
:05:42. > :05:47.paying it to? It makes a system more transparent. People know they are
:05:48. > :05:52.income tax. It is simply a tax on what they are earning, and that is
:05:53. > :05:58.what it should be called. What difference will this make to
:05:59. > :06:09.people's lives? People will know how much money they are paying in tax.
:06:10. > :06:12.Don't see what is with that. `` I don't.
:06:13. > :06:15.A couple of football results to tell you about tonight for two of our
:06:16. > :06:18.Essex teams. In League One, Colchester lost 1`0 at home to
:06:19. > :06:20.Sheffield. And in League Two, Southend lost 2`1 to
:06:21. > :06:23.bottom`of`the`table Northampton. All this week on Look East we're
:06:24. > :06:26.looking at how people here were affected by World War One. And
:06:27. > :06:29.tomorrow we're focussing on Lowestoft, which was shelled by
:06:30. > :06:32.German boats. You can see all our stories online at: bbc.co.uk/ww1,
:06:33. > :06:35.and your BBC local radio station has more stories at 8.15am every
:06:36. > :06:45.morning. That's all from me for tonight. Let's get the weather with
:06:46. > :06:49.Alex. The rest of the night looks dry but chilly. Temperatures could
:06:50. > :06:54.drop low enough for ground frosts in places. We are expecting lows for
:06:55. > :06:59.Celsius and a light wind. It is a chilly start tomorrow, but plenty of
:07:00. > :07:05.sunshine through the morning. There will be a bit patchy cloud in the
:07:06. > :07:09.afternoon and it might bring an isolated shower. Temperatures climb
:07:10. > :07:15.into double figures, perhaps 10 Celsius. There will be allowed south
:07:16. > :07:18.westerly winds, but it will freshen in the afternoon and evening. That
:07:19. > :07:27.is a sign of the next weather front which will bring in on Thursday. I
:07:28. > :07:30.will leave you with our outlook. Thursday is looking a little showery
:07:31. > :07:36.and a little cooler as well. be rain, clearing into sunshine and
:07:37. > :07:37.showers, Buster once. Then it is more difficult. Susan Powell is here
:07:38. > :07:46.to explain more international focus. Take a glimpse out of the window and
:07:47. > :07:48.the chances they will be starry skies