22/02/2014 Midlands Today

on the BBC News channel, with all the very latest on the dramatic

Good afternoon. Over 1,000 people have taken part in a march and rally

in Birmingham calling on the Government to end its policy of

culling badgers. ?36 million was spent last year on pilot schemes

designed to reduce cases of bovine TB, as Carole Foster reports.

Organisers admitted the turnout wasn't as large as they expected but

the determination was obvious. It has no economic justification and it

has no animal welfare justification at all. Julie Buxton from Birmingham

had never even seen a badger before the cull began but she was driven to

get involved and organised today's march. The Government's own

backbenchers are saying, stop this cull, science is wrong. The

Government should be listening. 2,000 badgers were shot in the

autumn cull, just over half the number planned.The Government say

it's following scientific advice tackling a problem which has cost

the country millions of pounds a year but campaigners say support for

the cull is dwindling. I think there's a lot of problems of

extending it and a lot of problems keeping it going in the areas it is

currently being done in, and public opinion and hostility is growing

rapidly and MPs realise that as well. Campaigners say the killings

were badly organised and unnecessary. They are planning more

of these protests across the country to persuade the government to never

carry out culling again but to use that the nation instead. `` to use

vaccinations. Farmers say 28,000 cattle were slaughtered because of

bovine TB last year. Now the Government is under increasing

pressure to prove it's made the right decision about how to tackle

to problem. Religious leaders and Islamic meat

producers from across the country have been meeting in Warwickshire

today to agree on clearer guidelines about when chickens can be sold as

halal. They want to make sure that birds which have been slaughtered by

machines cannot be labelled as religiously acceptable. The

abattoirs can step up to the mark. They have proven that an shown that.

They can be very competitive. They just have to re`kit hire Muslims

slaughter is and then we can export for halal and sell halal. We already

in the situation where we are importing halal from as far away as

Thailand and we don't want that to happen.

Walsall Council has announced plans to freeze council tax bills next

year despite needing to make savings of ?21 million. The proposals are

due to be discussed next week. They include a commitment to keep all

existing library, leisure and children's centres open.

Speedway will continue to take place at the Brandon Stadium near Coventry

despite it being unexpectedly sold. The Coventry Bees will be able to

race there for the next three years regardless of the new owners but

it's been announced that tonight's greyhound meeting will be the last

to be held there. Let's catch up with the sports

results now, starting with Premiership football. Stoke lost at

The Britannia 1`0 to Manchester City. West Bromwich Albion were at

home to Fulham, the match ending 1`1, with a late goal from the

Baggies securing a vital point in the relegation battle.

In the Championship, Birmingham City won 2`1 away at Blackpool.

While in League One, Wolves won 3`0 away at Brentford and are now joint

top of the League. Shrewsbury won away at Notts Count, the score there

3`2. While Port Vale lost 3`1 at home to

Crewe. Coventry lost 3`1 away to Tranmere.

And Walsall lost 2`1 against Crawley.

In League Two it was a win for Cheltenham, beating Newport 1`0.

Moving onto the Conference, and it finished Dartford two, Hereford

zero. While Kidderminster drew 2`2 at home against Braintree. Nuneaton

lost heavily at home against tabletoppers Luton, the score there

5`0, while Tamworth drew 1`1 with Welling.

And there were a couple of local rugby fixtures today, both in the

Aviva Premiership. Gloucester beat Harlequins 25`20 but Worcester were

beaten by Sale, losing 24`12. Let's catch up with the weather now,

here's Kaye Forster with the forecast.

Good evening. It was nice to see some sunshine today but

unfortunately there isn't that much of that on offer tomorrow. We pick

up much more cloud and wind, and another windy day for us tomorrow.

The winds will blow in some patchy rain tonight but not particularly

problematic. The temperatures will be held up by that, so quite mild. A

damp start for us tomorrow morning with spotty rain around first thing.

The rain will be migrating northwards and westwards through the

day, so southern areas and eastern areas could have a dry afternoon,

and it will be particularly mild with highs of 11 or 12. A visit from

us for now. Good night. Hello. For some places today I am

sure it felt that spring