:00:00. > :00:00.2,000 Vauxhall workers await their fate
:00:00. > :00:07.as the Luton plant could be taken over by French owners.
:00:08. > :00:09.Council tax is going up in Cambridgeshire
:00:10. > :00:25.so more can be spent on adult social care.
:00:26. > :00:30.2,000 workers at the Vauxhall car plant in Luton face uncertainty
:00:31. > :00:34.tonight as it could be taken over by the French company Peugeot.
:00:35. > :00:37.Staff have been here before, in 2009.
:00:38. > :00:42.Vauxhall's parent company General Motors considered selling
:00:43. > :00:47.But production of the Vivaro van remained in Luton.
:00:48. > :00:54.has long since rolled off the production line.
:00:55. > :00:59.At a van factory for a while on life support, on its knees,
:01:00. > :01:04.60,000 vans were built here last year.
:01:05. > :01:10.But after good times, once again, tonight,
:01:11. > :01:16.The problem is, Vivaro is a joint venture
:01:17. > :01:24.The potential new owners, PSA, own Peugeot and Citroen.
:01:25. > :01:28.The question is, could those French giants of the motor industry
:01:29. > :01:35.No, so long as the company's improving,
:01:36. > :01:37.I don't see what difference it makes.
:01:38. > :01:44.Union members at the factory telling us they only found out today.
:01:45. > :01:48.This has come out of the blue and it is a concern, but the most
:01:49. > :01:53.important thing and the biggest message is that we want an urgent
:01:54. > :01:57.meeting with General Motors and with Peugeot because one thing
:01:58. > :02:01.is clear, we've got no intentions of allowing our plants,
:02:02. > :02:07.both in Ellesmere Port and in Luton, to close as a result...
:02:08. > :02:11.or to be under threat of closure as a result of what's happening.
:02:12. > :02:15.Vauxhall and Opel's parent company GM already involved
:02:16. > :02:21.Now talk of further cooperation, including, the company say,
:02:22. > :02:25.a potential acquisition of Opel Vauxhall by PSA,
:02:26. > :02:29.adding there can be no assurance that an agreement will be reached.
:02:30. > :02:32.The van contract here lasts until 2025.
:02:33. > :02:40.Now, on Valentine's Day, a flirtation with a new partner.
:02:41. > :02:48.Mike's here now. How likely is this deal?
:02:49. > :02:53.The talks are still in their infancy so very difficult to say but what is
:02:54. > :02:57.significant is the working relationship that GM and Peugeot
:02:58. > :03:03.already have. They are already building a sports utility vehicle,
:03:04. > :03:09.they are making that in Spain, they are planning a larger version of
:03:10. > :03:16.that, that will be built in France. But if this deal goes ahead, it will
:03:17. > :03:23.create a car giant. Would this car giant take its jobs to France? That
:03:24. > :03:26.is what unions are worried about. The French government only
:03:27. > :03:31.significant jump of Peugeot and today they welcomed the potential
:03:32. > :03:36.takeover. The unions feel the French government will be backing French
:03:37. > :03:41.jobs rather than UK jobs and with new European bosses and post Brexit,
:03:42. > :03:42.if there are any job losses, that's wide plants like Luton look more
:03:43. > :03:45.vulnerable than on the continent. Cambridgeshire County Council
:03:46. > :03:49.has tonight voted to increase But that money is ring-fenced
:03:50. > :03:54.for adult social care. Elsewhere, it needs to make
:03:55. > :03:57.?29 million worth of savings. In a lengthy six-hour debate
:03:58. > :03:58.earlier, councillors wrangled over
:03:59. > :04:00.where the axe would fall. Hannah Olsen has been
:04:01. > :04:04.looking at the issues. Libraries are one of the so-called
:04:05. > :04:08.statutory services But Cambridgeshire County Council
:04:09. > :04:14.is proposing to cut ?325,000 from the money it spends on buying
:04:15. > :04:17.new books this year. One of the problems with cutting out
:04:18. > :04:25.the books for a year is that this can affect footfall,
:04:26. > :04:31.as they call it, in the libraries. That people will not come
:04:32. > :04:33.because the latest books are not there so they are deprived
:04:34. > :04:37.of the latest books and also it has got an impact that if people
:04:38. > :04:40.aren't coming to the library, then that's an excuse to say,
:04:41. > :04:42.libraries don't count, they don't matter any more,
:04:43. > :04:45.everybody's going online. More than a thousand people
:04:46. > :04:48.have signed a petition, but with less money coming
:04:49. > :04:50.from government, the council says
:04:51. > :04:53.they have to make difficult choices. All the easy cuts have been made
:04:54. > :04:56.across the county council now so we are looking at the more
:04:57. > :05:00.difficult things across-the-board and all of these things
:05:01. > :05:02.add up together to make the very challenging figures
:05:03. > :05:05.that we have to make. It is significant for the library
:05:06. > :05:09.and there's really no where else that we can go at the moment
:05:10. > :05:13.to make savings. It's not just libraries
:05:14. > :05:15.in Cambridgeshire Our council must save
:05:16. > :05:19.?29 million this year. Of course, one way of putting
:05:20. > :05:22.more money into the pot is to ask us to pay
:05:23. > :05:25.more council tax. But the political parties
:05:26. > :05:27.on the council have different views The Conservatives want our council
:05:28. > :05:33.tax bills to go up by 2% with the money ring-fenced
:05:34. > :05:37.for adult social care. The Lib Dems are proposing
:05:38. > :05:39.a 4% rise, believing councils can be
:05:40. > :05:46.leaner and more efficient. the maximum that's allowed
:05:47. > :05:51.without a referendum. It may be Valentine's Day
:05:52. > :05:55.but with no party holding a majority, there won't be
:05:56. > :05:58.any love lost in deciding Given the choice,
:05:59. > :06:02.would you pay more? I probably would be happy to pay
:06:03. > :06:05.a bit more if services were better but I don't think everybody
:06:06. > :06:08.would be like that because not everybody is in the same
:06:09. > :06:11.fortunate position as I am. I would pay a bit more money
:06:12. > :06:15.if it keeps services running, yes. If they can quantify
:06:16. > :06:18.what they are giving us that was more and they could show
:06:19. > :06:21.us, perhaps we would pay more. In the end it was the Conservative
:06:22. > :06:25.proposal that won the day but even with a 2% rise
:06:26. > :06:28.the council admits it's going to be difficult to
:06:29. > :06:34.balance the books in coming years. A jury's heard that the medical
:06:35. > :06:37.condition suffered by the man accused of murdering author
:06:38. > :06:39.Helen Bailey would not stop him
:06:40. > :06:42.carrying out physical activities. Ian Stewart denies killing
:06:43. > :06:45.the Hertfordshire author by drugging her and placing her body
:06:46. > :06:49.in a cesspit under the garage Two neighbours also told the court
:06:50. > :06:53.that they believe they saw Helen Bailey
:06:54. > :06:56.after she went missing but their descriptions
:06:57. > :06:58.of the author did not match. Cambridge is still on track
:06:59. > :07:02.to become Britain's capital of life sciences,
:07:03. > :07:04.bringing thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment
:07:05. > :07:07.to the region. That's the view of those developing
:07:08. > :07:11.the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, where pharmaceutical giant
:07:12. > :07:13.Astra Zeneca and the new Papworth Hospital
:07:14. > :07:16.will be based. A sure sign of a booming economy -
:07:17. > :07:23.cranes filling the sky. is at the heart of Cambridge's
:07:24. > :07:30.bio-medical campus. it's already rapidly growing
:07:31. > :07:37.on the Adenbrook's site. There are 431 life
:07:38. > :07:40.science companies. They are working on medical devices
:07:41. > :07:43.or working on drugs, both here and around us
:07:44. > :07:46.in a ten-mile radius. So, it's already pretty big but
:07:47. > :07:50.it's already growing pretty fast. So last year, for example,
:07:51. > :07:53.the life sciences industry in and around Cambridge
:07:54. > :07:56.grew by one-third. It'll grow by more
:07:57. > :08:00.in the next year we record that. So it's already an
:08:01. > :08:03.accelerating environment. The question is just
:08:04. > :08:07.how far can we take it? The development area here is huge,
:08:08. > :08:09.the buildings are going up on a 70-acre site but there
:08:10. > :08:12.is another area yet to be developed, the size of up
:08:13. > :08:18.to 14 Wembley stadiums. One of the new buildings
:08:19. > :08:20.under construction is the new
:08:21. > :08:22.state-of-the-art facility for an already world-leading
:08:23. > :08:27.heart and lung hospital. Patients are getting older
:08:28. > :08:30.and they need all the facilities around that is on this campus,
:08:31. > :08:34.but also, more importantly, perhaps, is the fact
:08:35. > :08:37.that we are in the middle of this huge development where there
:08:38. > :08:41.are fantastic opportunities So alongside that building,
:08:42. > :08:45.there is going to be a heart, lung and research
:08:46. > :08:46.education institute which will be built
:08:47. > :08:49.as soon as we get the funds. But as the country prepares
:08:50. > :08:52.to leave the EU, is there a fear that it might put
:08:53. > :08:55.a halt to the growth? Are companies ringing up
:08:56. > :08:57.and saying, we were thinking of coming
:08:58. > :09:00.and now we are not? The answer to that is no,
:09:01. > :09:03.we are not getting that. The answer is no, people
:09:04. > :09:07.are still making enquiries. So, I guess we are optimists
:09:08. > :09:11.in this business anyway, but we are optimists on the basis
:09:12. > :09:14.of the evidence here and I think we'll remain optimistic
:09:15. > :09:17.that we'll continue to be attractive With AstraZeneca and
:09:18. > :09:21.Papworth Hospital it's hoped they'll attract more big
:09:22. > :09:30.names from the world of science. and almost all our teams
:09:31. > :09:35.in action tonight. In League One, MK Dons were held
:09:36. > :09:38.to a goalless draw away at Bury. Northampton won 2-1
:09:39. > :09:42.at home against Swindon. And in League Two, Luton
:09:43. > :09:47.beat Hartlepool 3-0. A 2-1 win for Stevenage
:09:48. > :09:50.against Cheltenham. And Cambridge drew
:09:51. > :09:54.1-1 at Yeovil Town. The forecast this week
:09:55. > :10:02.is going to be much milder, but we have just cleared
:10:03. > :10:09.the earlier rain. As we go through the night
:10:10. > :10:11.it could turn misty in places but temperatures are expected
:10:12. > :10:14.to stay well above freezing We start the day
:10:15. > :10:18.on a relatively mild note. We have got this weather system
:10:19. > :10:22.coming in from the south-west. Uncertainty about the track
:10:23. > :10:24.of it but for most of us A little bit misty to start
:10:25. > :10:29.with but brighter spells developing. As we go through the day
:10:30. > :10:32.it will cloud over and eventually this rain
:10:33. > :10:34.will start to move through. Temperatures into double
:10:35. > :10:37.figures quite comfortably The wind increasing from the south
:10:38. > :10:42.but as this wind moves through, it could be heavy and have
:10:43. > :10:46.the odd rumble of thunder. The national weather is coming up
:10:47. > :10:48.but here is the outlook. It stays mild for
:10:49. > :10:51.the rest of the week. High pressure brings some fine
:10:52. > :11:04.weather on Thursday and Friday fog around to watch out for. Jon
:11:05. > :11:08.Hammond with the national forecast now.
:11:09. > :11:09.Good evening. There is some rain in the forecast but