:00:08. > :00:18.Hello, welcome to look East tonight. Why a little will have to go a long
:00:19. > :00:21.way. The men convicted of selling Turkey as halal lamb. The
:00:22. > :00:28.four-year-old boys stuck under ultraviolet light for 20 hours a
:00:29. > :00:31.day. I am with double Olympic Gold Medallist Max Whitlock who is
:00:32. > :00:39.gearing up for the world Championships later this year.
:00:40. > :00:42.Hello, first, the government says it'll invest millions of pounds
:00:43. > :00:46.to boost the economy in our region following yesterday's Budget.
:00:47. > :00:50.It's part of a ?392 million package for the so-called
:00:51. > :00:53.'Midlands Engine' - an attempt to improve connectivity,
:00:54. > :00:58.Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire will get
:00:59. > :01:01.?59 million of that over the next four years.
:01:02. > :01:05.It'll be spent on improving roads, creating jobs and developing skills.
:01:06. > :01:08.But many of our councils aren't happy, including
:01:09. > :01:10.Northamptonshire County Council, where Kate Bradbrook
:01:11. > :01:27.The council leader was joined from -- by others from across our region.
:01:28. > :01:31.They gave me their reaction to the government announcement. They said
:01:32. > :01:39.they were pleased but it was not enough money.
:01:40. > :01:41.The venue, Silverstone racing Circuit, the subject roads and
:01:42. > :01:44.As council and business leaders met to discuss
:01:45. > :01:49.improvements, the Chancellor Philip Hammond announced ?59 million in
:01:50. > :01:51.funding for Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Bucks as part of
:01:52. > :02:00.8 million will go towards completing the Northhampton, north-west relief
:02:01. > :02:05.The bid we needed was considerably more than 59
:02:06. > :02:11.I appreciate the situation the government is in, they can
:02:12. > :02:15.only give us a certain amount of money and the money announced today
:02:16. > :02:18.It will allow us to get on with the planning
:02:19. > :02:22.of the route but when it comes to actually constructing the northern
:02:23. > :02:26.ring road around Northampton, we will need multimillions to be put to
:02:27. > :02:39.The funding will set the wheels in motion for the M1 -
:02:40. > :02:44.A6 link road north of Luton which will receive ?22 million.
:02:45. > :02:47.The town will also benefit from a ?4 million
:02:48. > :02:50.If you look round the whole area, they have
:02:51. > :02:54.area around the cultural state -- quarter, the plan is to do up that
:02:55. > :03:07.entire area and make it a cultural quarter for the town.
:03:08. > :03:09.While some argue our share of the cash could
:03:10. > :03:12.be greater, others say it will make a big difference.
:03:13. > :03:15.This comes on top of ?206 million of investment into the
:03:16. > :03:19.A further 59 million will enable us to work on
:03:20. > :03:22.the infrastructure which is needed to benefit communities and it is of
:03:23. > :03:25.According to the Chancellor there will be more government investment
:03:26. > :03:32.This is not a one-off, this is part of a programme
:03:33. > :03:36.to galvanise this economy to allow it to achieve its full potential and
:03:37. > :03:42.make the greatest possible contribution to Britain's future.
:03:43. > :03:50.That is what council leaders here are hoping for.
:03:51. > :03:55.Our political reporter Tom Barton is with me now -
:03:56. > :03:57.Tom, it seems strange that this Midlands investment
:03:58. > :04:10.Absolutely, Britain is practically in London. Because of local
:04:11. > :04:15.enterprise partnerships, government funding for the Midlands and spread
:04:16. > :04:19.over a huge area. It goes as far north as Sheffield. Although we over
:04:20. > :04:25.to the Welsh border in the West and all the way to the Lincolnshire
:04:26. > :04:30.coast in the opposite direction. Just as from the previous Chancellor
:04:31. > :04:34.we heard about the northern powerhouse, it seems that Philip
:04:35. > :04:38.Hammond's priority is this Midlands engine. Those parts of a region
:04:39. > :04:44.which find themselves in that area could well find more money coming
:04:45. > :04:48.their way. But in a budget which has seen very little money for the rest
:04:49. > :04:53.of the East of England, other parts of our region could find themselves
:04:54. > :04:57.feeling a little short-changed tonight. Thank you very much. There
:04:58. > :05:00.is more in the budget later in the programme.
:05:01. > :05:03.Two men from Peterborough have been found guilty of conspiring to commit
:05:04. > :05:05.fraud by telling businesses they were selling them halal lamb
:05:06. > :05:09.Mahmudur Rohman and Kamal Rahman imported
:05:10. > :05:14.They sold it to dozens of customers for almost double the price,
:05:15. > :05:17.making a profit of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
:05:18. > :05:24.These two men today found guilty of committing fraud on an industrial
:05:25. > :05:38.They pocketed up to half a million pounds.
:05:39. > :05:41.It was in a flat above this parade of shops that they ran their
:05:42. > :05:45.Throughout 2013 until the end of October 2014, he bought
:05:46. > :05:46.hundreds of tonnes of Turkey then resold
:05:47. > :05:47.it to outlets across the
:05:48. > :05:53.Not only was it not lamb, it was also not halal.
:05:54. > :05:54.So eating it was deeply offensive for
:05:55. > :06:10.For people, they felt angry, they know, it is not my fault.
:06:11. > :06:12.We supply to restaurants, they are still with us but they even
:06:13. > :06:18.The company imported the turkey from Germany.
:06:19. > :06:22.As it was vacuum packed it was not easy to tell the difference,
:06:23. > :06:28.especially as the company used fake certificates to con customers into
:06:29. > :06:40.believing it was a certified halal meat business when it was not.
:06:41. > :06:42.This scam only came to light after extra
:06:43. > :06:43.checks were carried out following
:06:44. > :06:52.A courier was sampled and to everyone's amazement
:06:53. > :06:56.the analyst said it was nothing but Turkey.
:06:57. > :06:59.The reaction was to check again, it cannot be turkey but it
:07:00. > :07:03.It started from there and a referral to the dude food Trading
:07:04. > :07:15.-- the Synod Trading Standards team. The investigation then was started.
:07:16. > :07:19.This butcher shop sells both halal and non-halal meat
:07:20. > :07:21.and says this case highlights the importance of knowing where your
:07:22. > :07:24.We are very strict on traceability here.
:07:25. > :07:28.We know exactly where the meat comes from.
:07:29. > :07:35.All our beef is traceable back to the farm.
:07:36. > :07:38.The Halal meat is all traceable back to the source.
:07:39. > :07:40.In total, 116,000 kg of Turkey was falsely sold.
:07:41. > :07:43.Today the judge told the men their crime was a serious
:07:44. > :07:46.They will be sentenced at Leicester Crown Court later this
:07:47. > :07:50.Cereal farmers in our region say they have been badly hit
:07:51. > :07:52.after a major grain merchant went into administration.
:07:53. > :07:57.Cambridgeshire Wellgrain stopped trading at the end of last month.
:07:58. > :07:58.Many farmers are still owed thousands of pounds.
:07:59. > :08:01.And have no idea if they'll get any of it back.
:08:02. > :08:11.The clean-up operation after a storm doors continues at this
:08:12. > :08:18.Cambridgeshire farm but another band of bad news is blowing in. -- storm
:08:19. > :08:23.tourists. Cambridgeshire well Green has seemingly out of the blue gone
:08:24. > :08:27.into administration. The biggest problem is that there has been
:08:28. > :08:34.nothing spoken about until last Friday. From the 22nd of February
:08:35. > :08:41.until Friday, just born where nothing was said. It was just
:08:42. > :08:46.rumours. The company's list of creditors stands at around 300, only
:08:47. > :08:52.two are secured and should get their money back. Most are farmers who
:08:53. > :08:57.could lose thousands of pounds. At Christmas has grain store was full
:08:58. > :09:03.of wheat, it all went to well-being, some of it has been paid for but the
:09:04. > :09:08.last two loads which went on 21st of February are unlikely to bring any
:09:09. > :09:12.return. It is not like the flooding weather was pure physical impact
:09:13. > :09:17.where insurance could be a lot of farmers to help them and alleviate
:09:18. > :09:23.the problems, here that is insurance available. We'll have to bear the
:09:24. > :09:27.brunt of this. It will be significant, members were expecting
:09:28. > :09:31.that income to come into their business to help cash flow at a time
:09:32. > :09:37.when cash flows are tight, that money was going to be important. Not
:09:38. > :09:42.knowing when it will arrive is clearly destabilising. No one seems
:09:43. > :09:46.to know what went wrong but today was quiet at the HQ. The
:09:47. > :09:48.administrators say they are exploring whether the business has
:09:49. > :09:52.The NFU has a helpline to offer advice if you've been affected.
:09:53. > :10:08.Last October we brought you the story of Mica and Rav.
:10:09. > :10:10.A homeless couple in their 20s sleeping rough
:10:11. > :10:15.Five months on they've now been given a place to stay
:10:16. > :10:21.Mike Cartwright went back to see them in their new home.
:10:22. > :10:23.Nowhere to go, a young couple who have slipped through
:10:24. > :10:27.The car is their home in the cold months of winter.
:10:28. > :10:29.They have been living, eating and sleeping there.
:10:30. > :10:32.Wheels now swapped for walls, a warm flat and a roof
:10:33. > :10:42.for these young people, now have a temporary home.
:10:43. > :10:44.It is just living like normal people should be
:10:45. > :10:46.living in our own space, free to come and go,
:10:47. > :10:54.not have to worry about going back to a car.
:10:55. > :10:58.Don't have to worry about a cup of tea, bed and bath and things.
:10:59. > :11:00.It really makes you appreciate the smallest things, like food and
:11:01. > :11:04.It takes every little aspect of life into account.
:11:05. > :11:07.Referred here by the Council, benefits help pay their rent.
:11:08. > :11:14.The address means they can possibly apply for jobs.
:11:15. > :11:19.Our job is to get them from dependent to
:11:20. > :11:23.independent so they can stay here for two years
:11:24. > :11:25.but after that we are moving them all into more
:11:26. > :11:30.To do that, you have to learn the skills,
:11:31. > :11:35.how to budget, how to pay your rent, electricity, council tax,
:11:36. > :11:41.I can see people and they say you are looking so much better, so
:11:42. > :11:47.Not being dragged down by a situation like that, it
:11:48. > :11:56.When we were living living in the car, it was soul destroying.
:11:57. > :11:59.In a few months we have been here, she has had quite
:12:00. > :12:01.a few interviews and she had a temporary job.
:12:02. > :12:06.I have just passed a course to start in construction so I
:12:07. > :12:10.am just waiting for a call-back to start working.
:12:11. > :12:14.We can save up for a place and move on from there.
:12:15. > :12:24.On the region's streets, other youngsters are
:12:25. > :12:26.sleeping rough but now they have a safe place
:12:27. > :12:34.An official report into the crash of an airship in Bedfordshire
:12:35. > :12:36.last summer says it was caused by the giant Airlander
:12:37. > :12:38.climbing too high - after its moorings snagged
:12:39. > :12:48.Nobody was injured in the crash landing at Cardington in August.
:12:49. > :12:51.Airlander's owners say it is now fit to return to the skies,
:12:52. > :13:07.Time to hand you over to Stewart and Susie for the rest of look East.
:13:08. > :13:16.Appleby back at 1030. And the four-year-old
:13:17. > :13:20.with a rare condition, who has to spend 20 hours a day
:13:21. > :13:30.under UV lights. The Chancellor delivered his budget
:13:31. > :13:33.yesterday and I think it's fair In fact, the head teacher
:13:34. > :13:37.of his old secondary school in Essex Carole Herman says Philip Hammond
:13:38. > :13:43.is neglecting the type of school She says schools face an 8% real
:13:44. > :13:50.terms cut in their funding and she has made redundancies
:13:51. > :14:04.already because of We talk to our students about having
:14:05. > :14:08.aspirations, supporting those, you also can start here and become
:14:09. > :14:11.Chancellor of the Exchequer, but sadly Philip Hammond has not
:14:12. > :14:13.remembered that schools need funding in order to do the accident things
:14:14. > :14:14.they do. There was extra money for education
:14:15. > :14:16.announced in the budget, but much of it is earmarked
:14:17. > :14:18.for new schools. Many of those are expected
:14:19. > :14:20.to become grammars. Norwich is one of the places
:14:21. > :14:23.being tipped for a grammar school. Dame Rachel de Souza is the head
:14:24. > :14:36.of the Inspiration Trust chain You have been said to be reported to
:14:37. > :14:40.be interested in setting up a grammar in Norwich. It is critical
:14:41. > :14:46.we do not fall out looking at new ideas that could help our students
:14:47. > :14:49.in Norwich, in this region do better, so we will explore it and
:14:50. > :14:58.encourage everyone to explore it also. We were one of the first into
:14:59. > :15:02.the free School movements and three, four years on, our sixth form
:15:03. > :15:07.College is sending students to Cambridge, Oxford. Do you think
:15:08. > :15:13.grammar schools are the answer to social mobility? The answer is a
:15:14. > :15:17.great academic and well rounded education and every child should be
:15:18. > :15:22.entitled to that, but there are different ways we can deliver that
:15:23. > :15:29.and I think if grammar schools, if it is setup properly, it could be an
:15:30. > :15:34.answer to speeding up improvements. We need to. Look at the results, we
:15:35. > :15:39.are improving in this region but not quickly enough. What about the kids
:15:40. > :15:44.that do not end up going to a grammar school? We're not going back
:15:45. > :15:51.20 years. All the information we have are about the old system where
:15:52. > :15:56.people either went to grammars or secondary moderns. That is not
:15:57. > :16:00.coming back at all. If this legislation is passed, you are
:16:01. > :16:07.talking about a small number of grammar schools and like any policy,
:16:08. > :16:14.it means thinking about how could it benefit Norwich's Norfolk's
:16:15. > :16:17.children. You already run a chain of academies. Shouldn't the money be
:16:18. > :16:23.going to the schools that currently exist rather than building new ones?
:16:24. > :16:28.There is a huge need for new school places. Is there enough money going
:16:29. > :16:37.to the schools they run at the moment? If you look at the last 40
:16:38. > :16:43.years, spending in education has doubled. Yes, it is getting tighter
:16:44. > :16:50.now but that is what inspiration trusts, our 13 schools work together
:16:51. > :16:54.to make efficiencies. We made ?600,000 efficiencies on the back of
:16:55. > :16:58.their spending. We can work really hard to make sure all that money
:16:59. > :17:04.goes to the front line and we do better. It is great education, great
:17:05. > :17:08.teachers, while train teachers, fantastic subject knowledge that
:17:09. > :17:14.will help our children achieve. How we do it is a different question. It
:17:15. > :17:16.sounds like this is a debate will go on and we will talk to you again.
:17:17. > :17:17.Thank you. the big story from the budget is
:17:18. > :17:21.the increase in National Insurance who's been self-employed
:17:22. > :17:26.for about 20 years. and says he's been let
:17:27. > :17:40.down by the Chancellor. It is the cost. It will go. I will
:17:41. > :17:43.have to pass that cost on to my customers and at this time, people
:17:44. > :17:49.don't want to pay more if they do not need to. It is an added cost as
:17:50. > :17:55.a business to me personally. What did you think when you heard about
:17:56. > :18:00.the changes? Cheated, annoyed. Basically you vote for someone, you
:18:01. > :18:06.get told something a year or so down the line, they change their mind,
:18:07. > :18:09.they lie to you. We have all been cheated. Thousands, millions of
:18:10. > :18:18.self-employed people. This will affect a lot of people. Millions of
:18:19. > :18:24.people like myself, we go out, we work hard and we work hard for what
:18:25. > :18:29.we have got so why are we being penalised? If I had Theresa May in
:18:30. > :18:31.front of me now, I would ask, why me? Why is it us?
:18:32. > :18:34.and today, one of our Conservative MPs described the proposed
:18:35. > :18:37.to hard-working white van men and women.
:18:38. > :18:39.He said he will try to get it stopped.
:18:40. > :18:43.Our political correspondent Andrew Sinclair is outside a van
:18:44. > :18:58.He is Steven McParland, the MP for the village and he has formed when
:18:59. > :19:04.it comes to getting the government to change its mind over unpopular
:19:05. > :19:07.budget decisions. He is one of a small number of Tory MPs to say they
:19:08. > :19:12.cannot support what was announced yesterday. They need to drop this,
:19:13. > :19:19.it will not have the support from people like myself. They aren't
:19:20. > :19:23.panels are the backbone of this economy, they are opening those
:19:24. > :19:29.small businesses, employing apprentices. We have to get behind
:19:30. > :19:37.them. At the moment, he is in the minority. Most Conservative MPs are
:19:38. > :19:41.saying this is a fairness issue. Self-employed people access the same
:19:42. > :19:52.services as employees so why should they pay less tax? It is a tax rise
:19:53. > :19:55.but the self-employed now see they must pay the same contributions and
:19:56. > :19:57.that is reasonable. There's been an outcry
:19:58. > :19:58.in the papers today, but how much opposition
:19:59. > :20:06.is there really? The government says 60% of
:20:07. > :20:12.self-employed people will not be affected by this and those who are
:20:13. > :20:18.only pay an extra 60p a week and more. I took part in a phone in this
:20:19. > :20:22.morning and we were contacted by several self-employed people who
:20:23. > :20:26.said this is not a big deal, we do not mind paying extra so the
:20:27. > :20:29.government will be hoping that is what happens but this row is not
:20:30. > :20:34.just about self-employed people, there is the perception that the
:20:35. > :20:36.government has broken a manifesto promise.
:20:37. > :20:38.If you know any four-year-old boys, you will know it's very
:20:39. > :20:41.hard to keep them still, so imagine if your four-year-old had
:20:42. > :20:44.to stay in an area the size of a single bed for 20
:20:45. > :20:48.That's what life's like for Ishmail Ali from Luton.
:20:49. > :20:51.He's one of only 100 people across the world who has a liver
:20:52. > :20:54.disease called lifetime jaundice and he needs to stay
:20:55. > :20:59.under ultra-violet lights to manage his condition.
:21:00. > :21:04.Four-year-old Ishmail has spent almost his entire life like this.
:21:05. > :21:09.A rare liver condition called Crigler-Najjar means he eats,
:21:10. > :21:17.phototherapy lights for a minimum of 20 hours a day.
:21:18. > :21:19.Because he's missing an enzyme in his liver to
:21:20. > :21:24.break down what we call jaundice, he hasn't got that at all, so
:21:25. > :21:28.unfortunately because it builds up, it's like a toxin in the blood and
:21:29. > :21:32.as a toxin, if it goes to the brain, first thing they've said is it
:21:33. > :21:36.will go past the ears etc, he will become deaf,
:21:37. > :21:40.he will get some sort of brain damage, maybe permanent.
:21:41. > :21:44.He has to be cooped up in his medical phototherapy bed.
:21:45. > :21:46.He absolutely hates it, especially
:21:47. > :21:50.sister, so he just wants to run around like a normal four-year-old
:21:51. > :21:54.boy and just run around the house and play around with her, but it is
:21:55. > :22:03.The family have a carer that comes for six hours a
:22:04. > :22:07.week, but they're hoping to raise money through a crowdfunding page
:22:08. > :22:12.Our little sister, the seven-year-old, she's
:22:13. > :22:15.not getting any quality of life either because she says, you know,
:22:16. > :22:18.we're basically spending all the time with him, in and out of
:22:19. > :22:23.hospital, so we don't ever get to play with her so if
:22:24. > :22:27.someone can be with him, we can at least get a bit of a break,
:22:28. > :22:29.a little bit of a rest and then be able to
:22:30. > :22:31.concentrate on caring for him even more.
:22:32. > :22:37.It is very likely that Ishmail will spend the rest of his life
:22:38. > :22:44.Frustrating for an energetic and cheeky little boy, but his family
:22:45. > :22:48.say they will do everything they can to make sure he has the best quality
:22:49. > :23:00.The double Olympic gold medallist Max Whitlock is taking a six-month
:23:01. > :23:03.break from competition to get ready for the World Gymnastics
:23:04. > :23:07.The 24-year-old will continue to train full-time
:23:08. > :23:10.at the South Essex Club in Basildon, but says he needs time away
:23:11. > :23:12.from competing to practice new, more difficult routines.
:23:13. > :23:21.He's been speaking exclusively to our sports reporter Tom Williams.
:23:22. > :23:33.He is already on top of the world. At just 24, Britain's greatest ever
:23:34. > :23:38.gymnast. Good. Really nice. But there is always room for
:23:39. > :23:43.improvement. After winning double gold, Max Whitlock needs time away
:23:44. > :23:48.to get better. My target is to go on for another eight years, definitely
:23:49. > :23:52.four years, everything is striving towards Tokyo but eight years is my
:23:53. > :23:57.dream to stay in the sport. I need to take care of my body now to do
:23:58. > :24:02.that and I do want to go into competitions with the routines I had
:24:03. > :24:09.last year. I want to be new and improved. To achieve that he says he
:24:10. > :24:14.needs to work smarter. He will still train full-time but behind closed
:24:15. > :24:19.doors, devising exciting new routines, here's hoping one daring
:24:20. > :24:26.move will be named after him. Is there a lot more to come from you? I
:24:27. > :24:30.hope so. With the new skills I am preparing. I cannot stand still and
:24:31. > :24:36.sit there and be happy with those results. People underneath me will
:24:37. > :24:41.start to try and chase me. Max became Britain's first ever Olympic
:24:42. > :24:45.gymnastics champion at last summer's games and winning gold on Pall Mall
:24:46. > :24:50.and the floor. He will miss the World Cup event in London plus the
:24:51. > :24:56.British and European Championships. He has come from such a high in Rio
:24:57. > :25:01.so number one, level out, make sure his head is back in the game. We
:25:02. > :25:06.don't want to just go and participate and get back to the
:25:07. > :25:11.grind. We want to try to raise the level. He has become one of British
:25:12. > :25:18.sport most famous faces. Last month he was at Buckingham Palace. What is
:25:19. > :25:24.it like being referred to as Max Whitlock and be? Very weird but very
:25:25. > :25:28.nice as war. To go there and be awarded by the Queen, I was so
:25:29. > :25:32.nervous but that was truly an amazing day. He has six months to
:25:33. > :25:33.perfect his new routine before the pressure is back on performing in
:25:34. > :25:44.front of the world. Such a good bloke. Some weather.
:25:45. > :25:49.Spring was in the air today. Some beautiful sunshine across the
:25:50. > :25:53.region. Temperatures hit 16 degrees. But we have clear skies across the
:25:54. > :25:56.region at the moment, that will translate into quite a chilly
:25:57. > :26:02.evening and temperatures will drop away further than they did last
:26:03. > :26:06.night. Lows of around two or three Celsius. By the end of the night,
:26:07. > :26:11.more cloud coming in from the West so temperatures should recover.
:26:12. > :26:15.Still a fresh start tomorrow. The pressure pattern shows high pressure
:26:16. > :26:25.still holding on. This weather system coming the west but for us in
:26:26. > :26:27.the East, it should not spoil things too much. Some good spells of
:26:28. > :26:32.sunshine for the morning. The sunshine will turn hazy and in
:26:33. > :26:36.Western counties, it will cloud over for the afternoon. But not before
:26:37. > :26:43.temperatures have got to around ten or 11 degrees. It is possible
:26:44. > :26:48.temperatures could be higher. The wind coming from a southerly
:26:49. > :26:53.direction and today we had that chilly north-westerly, so not a bad
:26:54. > :26:57.day of work but as the cloud increases, perhaps the few spots of
:26:58. > :27:03.light rain. And looking beyond for the weekend, it is looking a little
:27:04. > :27:10.unsettled. At Len Tingle weather systems coming our way so we could
:27:11. > :27:15.expect Saturday to be the better date in terms of dryness. Maybe
:27:16. > :27:21.cloudy at times but some sunshine around. Sunday will be uncertain.
:27:22. > :27:26.That weather system moving in and it will bring rain and make things feel
:27:27. > :27:30.a little bit cooler. The outlook- cooling down to start next week and
:27:31. > :27:36.some fairly settled weather on the way for the beginning of next week.
:27:37. > :27:38.That is all from us. Have a very good evening. Good night.