:00:00. > :00:07.on the BBC News Channel, and I'll be back with
:00:08. > :00:11.Good evening. The Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council says he's
:00:12. > :00:14.confident that problems with vote`rigging are history. Stephen
:00:15. > :00:16.Hughes was speaking after the Electoral Commission identified
:00:17. > :00:21.Birmingham, Coventry and Walsall as problem areas. The Commission wants
:00:22. > :00:24.to make voters bring photo ID with them to polling stations to
:00:25. > :00:29.eliminate fraud. BBC WM's political reporter, Kathryn Stanczyszyn, has
:00:30. > :00:32.the details. At the 2004 local elections in
:00:33. > :00:38.Birmingham, a vote`rigging scandal rocked the political world and made
:00:39. > :00:41.headline news. Boxes of evidence, a demonstration and an historic
:00:42. > :00:46.occasion ` the first electoral court to be held in Britain in 30 years.
:00:47. > :00:49.Labour councillors representing two separate Birmingham wards were
:00:50. > :00:54.involved in a postal vote fraud a judge said would disgrace a banana
:00:55. > :00:59.republic. It led to political mudslinging and public protests. Raj
:01:00. > :01:03.Rattu is a community activist in Aston, one of the wards where the
:01:04. > :01:06.election had to be re`run. Here in Birmingham, we want free and fair
:01:07. > :01:09.elections. We want people to vote according to who they want, not
:01:10. > :01:12.because they are being forced or coerced into voting in a particular
:01:13. > :01:15.manner. The Electoral Commission says it wants every individual to
:01:16. > :01:19.register to vote themselves, rather than one person in the household
:01:20. > :01:23.doing it. It is something that is already being brought in from June.
:01:24. > :01:27.It also wants every voter to have ID at the polling station ` something
:01:28. > :01:30.like a passport or driving licence. And it is bringing in a stricter
:01:31. > :01:35.code of conduct for candidates, saying they must not handle ballot
:01:36. > :01:38.papers. Birmingham City Council says it has already brought in tighter
:01:39. > :01:42.controls. The Electoral Commission comes and looks at what we're doing
:01:43. > :01:47.in order to learn how to improve things. We have certainly turned it
:01:48. > :01:50.around. Speaking on Sunday Politics in the Midlands, the Electoral
:01:51. > :01:55.Commission says voter ID is crucial in places like Birmingham. The time
:01:56. > :01:58.has come to change the system, which was originally invented in the 19th
:01:59. > :02:03.century when fewer than half of the adult population were even allowed
:02:04. > :02:07.to vote. In those days, you relied on people to recognise imposters.
:02:08. > :02:11.Nowadays, that's much harder. People are surprised you don't have to
:02:12. > :02:21.provide ID. Electoral fraud has not gone away. Police say they
:02:22. > :02:24.investigated 21 cases in 2012. One of The Birmingham Six is
:02:25. > :02:27.launching an online petition this week calling for a new public
:02:28. > :02:30.inquiry into the 1974 pub bombings. Paddy Hill spent sixteen years in
:02:31. > :02:35.prison after being wrongfully convicted of involvement in the
:02:36. > :02:38.attacks, which killed 21 people. He's also supporting a campaign led
:02:39. > :02:41.by the family of Maxine Hambleton, who died in the bombings, to get
:02:42. > :02:45.West Midlands Police to reopen the case.
:02:46. > :02:49.The Environment Agency has warned that another storm is due to hit the
:02:50. > :02:52.Midlands on Tuesday, with up to an inch of rain. Today, two amphibious
:02:53. > :02:57.vehicles were sent to Somerset by a Staffordshire company to help people
:02:58. > :02:59.trapped by the floods. The re`conditioned military equipment
:03:00. > :03:02.can carry people and supplies. They've previously been used in
:03:03. > :03:05.disasters all over the world. They can climb fallen trees,
:03:06. > :03:11.stricken trees, up to my chest height. They will be able to just
:03:12. > :03:15.climb over an obstacle. You can't do that with a tractor and trailer.
:03:16. > :03:20.They also have a very light footprint over sodden ground, so
:03:21. > :03:23.farmers don't need to be worried. Thousands of people gathered in
:03:24. > :03:26.Birmingham today to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Visitors were
:03:27. > :03:30.greeted with performances from traditional lion dancers and
:03:31. > :03:35.musicians. The event was organised to welcome in the Year of the Horse.
:03:36. > :03:37.Lindsay Doyle reports. The lion, the symbol of protection,
:03:38. > :03:42.and traditional stalwart of festivals of celebration. Chinese
:03:43. > :03:47.New Year in Birmingham, heralding in the Year of the Horse. The crowd is
:03:48. > :03:51.tremendous today, and I welcome everybody to come in and celebrate
:03:52. > :03:54.Chinese New Year with the Chinese community, and may I take the
:03:55. > :03:56.opportunity to wish everyone gongxi facai. Birmingham boasts the
:03:57. > :04:01.second`largest Chinese population in Britain, and a campaign has begun to
:04:02. > :04:05.raise ?1 million to build an arch. Other major cities such as Liverpool
:04:06. > :04:08.and London have an arch. The proposed Birmingham arch would act
:04:09. > :04:12.as the focal point for the entrance to Chinatown. They used to say that
:04:13. > :04:16.Manchester had the best Chinese quarter, but Birmingham does. I
:04:17. > :04:20.think when we get the arch, and I think there will be an arch here,
:04:21. > :04:23.that will help complement what is a very successful Chinese quarter in
:04:24. > :04:26.Birmingham. It is thought more than 20,000 people have joined in today's
:04:27. > :04:30.festivities. We're loving it already. Yes. The smell of the food
:04:31. > :04:37.` amazing. Everybody's coming together, eating Chinese food. I'm
:04:38. > :04:41.amazed how busy it is. The stalls and everything add a bit extra to it
:04:42. > :04:45.as well. In Chinese mythology, the Year of the Horse is the year where
:04:46. > :04:49.people stick to their principles, a year when businesses can turn their
:04:50. > :04:53.fortunes around for the better. The next major event in the Chinese
:04:54. > :05:02.calendar will be in June, as part of the campaign to raise money for the
:05:03. > :05:06.arch. Very nice. One football result to bring you,
:05:07. > :05:08.and in the Premier League, a 1`1 one draw for West Bromwich Albion
:05:09. > :05:11.entertaining Liverpool. More bad weather to come this week.
:05:12. > :05:13.Sara Blizzard has the Midlands forecast.
:05:14. > :05:20.Good evening. We do have a few light showers with us for the early part
:05:21. > :05:23.of this evening. It will be a mainly cloudy night. The wind is starting
:05:24. > :05:26.to ease as well, so we should not see a frost developing at all. The
:05:27. > :05:29.minimum temperature out towards Coventry and Warwickshire will be
:05:30. > :05:32.four Celsius. There is also rain quite close by. That comes through
:05:33. > :05:36.tomorrow. The occasional shower ahead of that band of rain. It
:05:37. > :05:40.starts coming in from the west as we head into the afternoon. The wind is
:05:41. > :05:43.also going to strengthen as well, so very wet and windy conditions for
:05:44. > :05:47.Monday. Tuesday too, this deep area of low pressure starting to develop.
:05:48. > :05:49.That will affect the weather through Tuesday into Wednesday. Gale`force
:05:50. > :05:54.winds are likely, and obviously the opportunity for further flooding.
:05:55. > :05:56.Just time to tell you ` Countryfile, at 7:00pm, comes from
:05:57. > :06:07.Worcestershire. The national forecast is next. Bye`bye.
:06:08. > :06:12.Good evening. Most of us have had a fine Sunday with some sunshine, but
:06:13. > :06:14.there is more wet and windy weather on the