18/04/2017 Look East (West)

In Look East tonight: As voters prepare for a June general election,

it's Cambridge that could be a key battle ground in this region.

A billion for a breakfast cereal ? Northamptonshire-based Weetabix

is sold by its Chinese owners to an American company.

Join me later for a full weather forecast.

As the country looks set to head for the ballot boxes again in a June

general election, called today by Theresa May, we ask what it

This is the current political make-up.

Out of 27 constituencies here, we have 24 Conservative

MPs and three Labour - two in Luton and one in Cambridge.

And it's in Cambridge where we could see a big upset.

Daniel Zeichner won for Labour with a majority of just 599 votes -

snatching the seat from the Liberal Democrats.

This the moment Labour took Cambridge back from Julian Huppert

Now fewer than two years later he'll have to fight

His party today welcomed the general election announcement,

but he won here with the smallest majority in the region,

I think in Cambridge we had fantastic results for Labour

in the local council elections last year.

I'm sure Julian and I will have a constructive

This will be the best of three between Julian and myself and I'm

I think the majority of people in Cambridge would far rather

have a Labour government than a Conservative

government and that's what this election is about.

A city fast approaching mayoral elections now

I think it's brilliant, because I think it will give

Theresa May the opportunity now to perhaps form a strong government

It's about getting a majority for someone who needs it to do Brexit.

I'm a bit surprised, yes, but I think she

But it is with strong conviction that I say it's necessary to secure

the strong and stable leadership the country needs to see us

An election to bring stability after Brexit,

In a region that overwhelmingly voted to leave, Cambridge,

a city that decidedly wanted to stay.

Its former MP and his party campaigned to remain.

Could that win votes in a general election?

I think people in Cambridge who are very pro-European,

both because of financial reasons, the trade advantage, but also

at a gut level we feel European, and I think they also know

that the Brexit that the Tories are leading us through with Labour

simply cheering them on, voting for it, is not

The problem is that in parliament there are 500 MPs

who voted to remain, only 150 who voted to leave.

Parliament needs to catch up with the public and this general

election should deal with that issue.

Daniel Zeichner was loudly pro-Europe.

Now he's going to have to do it for a second time.

Here at the Labour Party offices in Cambridge I think it's fair

to say nobody expected the Prime Minister to announce

A big surprise and now a rapid response needed

With that slim majority people won't be complacent here.

This is a big target for the Liberal Democrats.

They'll want to win it back from Labour,

Over the next seven weeks you can expect some pretty

Of course while we may have to wait until June for the general election,

there are just two weeks to go before Cambridgeshire

The region is one of six in the country to gain extra powers

under the Government's "devolution plan".

The new mayor will control an ?800 million deal to fund local

transport and housing projects over the next 30 years.

Seven candidates are vying for the position.

If you're not used to change, the past 12 months will have

been a roller-coaster adventure to remember.

A new prime minister, a new world order -

Seven men and women are vying to become Cambridgeshire's first

directly elected mayor, and according to the government's

latest ad campaign, that means local power for local people on housing,

That's why on four May, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

The new mayor will be responsible for directly delivering hundreds

of new apprenticeships through grants for local employers,

arming the next generation of school leavers with practical skills.

Here at the West Anglia Training Association,

apprentices are already working on one of the biggest road projects

The new mayor will be responsible for delivering ?170 million

of new housing and in one of the fastest growing areas in

Here at Alconbury Weald, up to 5000 new homes are being built.

Whoever is elected will have the power to remove existing

barriers to free up more brown field sites for development,

like this airfield in Huntingdon, easing the pressures

on the availability of social housing in places like Cambridge.

By far the biggest pot of money available to the new mayor will be

an annual budget of ?20 million to boost economic growth.

Money that could be spent on upgrading busy junctions

like this one, where the A14 meets the A142 in Newmarket.

Keeping traffic moving is seen as a way of improving the health

The new mayor is also likely to invest heavily in

He or she will be voted into office in May,

but by June, could the country have a new prime minister?

Campaigning for the mayoral and general election

All parties involved hoping for a smooth path ahead.

Our political reporter Mousumi Bakshi joins me now.

We normally have one set of midterm elections,

we now have the prospect of three in this region.

Indeed, spare a thought for the people of Cambridgeshire,

who have three choices to make at the ballot box over four weeks.

For as well as mayoral elections, there are county council

elections in Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and yes,

Now the headlines today are of course about the general

election, but the local elections matter as it's the councils

who are responsible for schools, planning, social care, libraries.

If any those matter to you, you'll want to vote.

So how will today's news affect those elections?

Well, crucially, they'll give us an accurate snapshot

You'll remember pollsters got a drubbing for failing

This time we'll have an actual result to see how the main

To see whether there's a Labour or Lib Dem upswing.

The elections will also give the main parties a chance

to recalibrate their campaigns ahead of June, if local results

And there'll be a series of reports on the mayoral candidates

And on Thursday you'll be able to hear from the candidates

themselves in a special programme - A Mayor for Cambridgeshire

and Peterborough - BBC One at 10:45pm.

In other news - it's been confirmed that the cereal manufacturer

Weetabix is to be sold by its Chinese owners

The deal with Price Holdings could be worth more than ?1 billion.

Tom Percival has been looking at what it means for the staff

3 billion biscuits a year exported to more than 90 countries

by a company with 2000 staff and all its wheat comes from farms

So how will the sale of Weetabix to US firm,

Post Holdings, for ?1.4 billion, affect all that?

As long as our business remains successful,

we will continue to make, market and sell our brands

We'll also continue to source our wheat from within 50

The relationship with our farmers is incredibly important

from a quality point of view, from a provenance point of view,

and just from an ease of access, so we will continue to support our

local farmers, continue to source wheat from within 50 miles.

They've been an incredible part of our past success

and they'll remain critical to our future success.

Weetabix has been in Northamptonshire since 1932.

The unions that represent staff both here in Burton Latimer and also

in Corby say they want urgent meetings with the management

and with the new owners to ensure jobs are protected.

Weetabix invested ?30 million in its factories

A boost to production and the possibility of new jobs too.

But eating habits are changing and that means the battle

for breakfast will continue now and in new owners.

Rail operators have been criticised for a lack of trains running

to the new Cambridge North Station due to open next month.

It'll have no direct trains from Stansted or Peterborough

Campaigners argue there's been a "lack of vision".

That's all from us here in Cambridge tonight.

Quite a settled week of weather this week,

with some sunshine during the day, but it's going to get

Tonight particularly, with clear skies across a lot of the region,

Cold enough for a frost across many parts of the region.

Some of us may record temperatures below freezing as we get to dawn.

High pressure staying across the British Isles,

After that chilly start some good spells of sunshine

There will be areas of cloud that come and go through the day.

There will be certain points during the afternoon where it

Not quite such a noticeable cool breeze through tomorrow.

Temperatures could be up a little on where they got to today at 11-12.

It stays dry during the day, a bit cloudy later.

Milder temperatures on the way for Thursday.

It will be noticeably cooler by the weekend.