:00:00. > :00:07.Here, on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.
:00:08. > :00:11.Labour appear to be facing a tough battle, to keep hold
:00:12. > :00:15.of some of its traditional Midlands supporters.
:00:16. > :00:18.With six weeks to the general election, some voters in one
:00:19. > :00:20.Black Country community told us they were turning their backs
:00:21. > :00:23.on the party, because of continuing concerns over immigration.
:00:24. > :00:25.Ben Godfrey has been talking to people in Princes End,
:00:26. > :00:30.who last year voted strongly in favour of Brexit.
:00:31. > :00:34.Labour will outline their plans today for Brexit.
:00:35. > :00:35.Trying to keep the single market and unilaterally guaranteeing
:00:36. > :00:43.Princes End - if there is such a thing as a "Brexit
:00:44. > :00:52.Sitting in the Labour stronghold of West Bromwich West.
:00:53. > :00:54.Here almost two thirds of people voted to Leave the EU.
:00:55. > :00:57.And last June, they couldn't hide their delight.
:00:58. > :01:04.It's been the best day of my life today.
:01:05. > :01:07.So the next test at the polls is galloping towards us.
:01:08. > :01:11.It might be windswept and raining but
:01:12. > :01:14.this is the best way to get around Tipton and Princes End today.
:01:15. > :01:19.To find out what people are thinking about the general election.
:01:20. > :01:21.First I met Robert Evans, who owns the Handyman shop
:01:22. > :01:23.on the High Street - and found deep frustration.
:01:24. > :01:27.I've been a Labour man all my life but this time around I will be
:01:28. > :01:31.I think Theresa May is going to do better for this
:01:32. > :01:34.This sort of area, people see a lot of
:01:35. > :01:37.immigration coming into this sort of area.
:01:38. > :01:39.It's such as the housing and that kind of thing.
:01:40. > :01:42.New homes are being built in Princes End and
:01:43. > :01:53.Last year almost one in ten people here were unemployed and
:01:54. > :01:56.in the Mansell family home I found Mum Linda and daughter Stacey
:01:57. > :02:00.Linda, a single mother of six on benefits, told me she's voted
:02:01. > :02:02.Labour in the past but needs assurances the next Government
:02:03. > :02:07.will do more to reduce childcare costs and help her back to work
:02:08. > :02:12.It's like when you apply for a job and
:02:13. > :02:14.you apply for it but there's never nothing there.
:02:15. > :02:16.It's mainly them people who come over here take all
:02:17. > :02:21.Is that not an attitude that some people might
:02:22. > :02:30.They need to give people who have got low-income bit more money to
:02:31. > :02:31.help them with the children, and that.
:02:32. > :02:40.A Britain out of the EU has been realised -
:02:41. > :02:42.here the opposite is also true, according to Saren Ali.
:02:43. > :02:45.He runs a European food store and has seen his takings fall
:02:46. > :02:49.He wants the next Government to act quickly to protect
:02:50. > :02:53.It's not going to be easy for them and loads of
:02:54. > :02:57.And then the businesses are going to go down.
:02:58. > :03:01.There is loads of shops, loads of people is
:03:02. > :03:07.These estates may be small, polling turnout relatively low -
:03:08. > :03:09.but politicians ignore them at their peril.
:03:10. > :03:14.Ben Godfrey, BBC Midlands Today, Princes End.
:03:15. > :03:16.I'm joined by our reporter Nicola Beckford.
:03:17. > :03:19.Labour have been outlining their approach to Brexit today.
:03:20. > :03:32.Well, the key thing is that the shadow Brexit secretary said is that
:03:33. > :03:35.the fact that the Labour government would immediately guarantee the
:03:36. > :03:40.rights of EU citizens already living in the UK. He went on to say the EU
:03:41. > :03:43.nationals would still be allowed to the UK if they had a guaranteed job
:03:44. > :03:48.offer. He also went on to say this. will have to change as we exit
:03:49. > :03:54.the EU, but we do not believe that immigration should be
:03:55. > :03:56.the overarching priority. We do not believe that
:03:57. > :03:58.leaving the EU means But as we heard in Ben's
:03:59. > :04:06.package immigration It's likely to be an issue
:04:07. > :04:16.that will come up again during the campaign over
:04:17. > :04:21.the next six weeks. If you want more analysis do have a
:04:22. > :04:27.look at our political editor's blog. A heavily pregnant woman
:04:28. > :04:29.from Birmingham has appeared before magistrates, charged
:04:30. > :04:32.with helping her husband buy a knife in a plot
:04:33. > :04:35.to carry-out a terror attack. Madihah Taheer,who's 21
:04:36. > :04:40.-years-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates
:04:41. > :04:41.this morning. She's accused of providing
:04:42. > :04:43.her bank details to her This allegedly enabled
:04:44. > :04:48.him to buy a knife. They'll both appear
:04:49. > :04:50.at the Old Bailey on Friday. More than a dozen churches have been
:04:51. > :04:53.stripped of lead from their roofs, The trail of destruction means many
:04:54. > :04:57.small parishes have been left with repair bills running to tens
:04:58. > :05:00.of thousands of pounds. It's thought a recent rise
:05:01. > :05:03.in the price of lead has led St Peter's Church has been
:05:04. > :05:15.at the heart of the Worcestershire village of Inkberrow since the
:05:16. > :05:17.13th century, but in the last few weeks it's twice been
:05:18. > :05:19.targeted by lead thieves. From the top of the tower,
:05:20. > :05:22.you can see the real When the lead is removed, the roof
:05:23. > :05:26.is no longer secure, no longer Often, you don't find out the lead
:05:27. > :05:34.has gone until we get rain. Around two and half tonnes of lead
:05:35. > :05:40.were stolen in the two attacks, leaving St Peter's
:05:41. > :05:45.with a bill of around ?20,000. We have extra cameras
:05:46. > :05:49.and floodlighting on the We hope it's going
:05:50. > :05:59.to be sufficient to It's a similar story
:06:00. > :06:02.across Worcestershire at St Andrew's Although not as obvious,
:06:03. > :06:08.nearly all the lead flashings around around one and a half tonnes
:06:09. > :06:12.of metal, was stolen. The insurance will only pay
:06:13. > :06:15.out a maximum of 7500. The estimate we've had
:06:16. > :06:21.so far for replacement and There's massive
:06:22. > :06:25.shortfall that we, as a It's not just these places,
:06:26. > :06:33.I've heard of at least ten places. The effect is intelligible to these
:06:34. > :06:53.small congregations. The effect to the morale of the
:06:54. > :06:53.small congregation is his horrendous.
:06:54. > :06:55.It's thought the sharp rise in the price
:06:56. > :06:58.of lead is the reason for the recent spate of thefts.
:06:59. > :07:00.Those churches targeted now have to try and raise
:07:01. > :07:06.When was the last time you saw one of these?
:07:07. > :07:09.The number of watervoles are in sharp decline,
:07:10. > :07:15.so a project's under way to try and change that.
:07:16. > :07:18.As many as 90% have been wiped out since its main predator,
:07:19. > :07:21.the American Mink, was released into the wild in the 1950s.
:07:22. > :07:25.But now work's under way to try and save them -
:07:26. > :07:29.In North Warwickshire the watervole population like many
:07:30. > :07:31.other places in the UK, has all but disappeared.
:07:32. > :07:32.They're falling prey to the American Mink
:07:33. > :07:35.and their plight made worse by human creations like this steel canal
:07:36. > :07:38.embankment which can trap voles in the water.
:07:39. > :07:40.But thanks to the work of volunteers the environment is being made safer.
:07:41. > :07:43.The Warwickshire wildlife trust are creating what they describe as
:07:44. > :07:52.Volmink tells along this stage of the canal.
:07:53. > :07:55.-- what they describe as a role motels.
:07:56. > :07:58.They allow the voles to climb out of the water and avoid the
:07:59. > :08:01.There's already evidence the watervoles are making use
:08:02. > :08:03.of the new facilities and similar projects previously
:08:04. > :08:07.I thought ten years ago that I would witness the extinction
:08:08. > :08:10.What happened is really nothing short of a
:08:11. > :08:17.And there's more good news for the watervoles,
:08:18. > :08:20.it seems the American mink itself is now subject to it's own predator,
:08:21. > :08:26.There is anecdotal evidence that with the resurgence of otters after
:08:27. > :08:30.banning pesticides in the 80s and 90s,
:08:31. > :08:31.with otters coming back into
:08:32. > :08:34.pretty much all watercourses in Warwickshire, they out, beat the
:08:35. > :08:46.This is potentially because of this rise in to numbers.
:08:47. > :08:48.The battle for the wilds has nearly cost Watervoles
:08:49. > :08:50.their existence in the UK, but surveys have confirmed
:08:51. > :08:52.they're on the increase in parts of Warwickshire,
:08:53. > :08:55.and with the help of more volunteers t's hoped the motels can be
:08:56. > :09:02.Kevin Reide, BBC Midlands Today, Warwickshire.
:09:03. > :09:04.In tonight's football, Wolves were beaten 1-0
:09:05. > :09:09.That result confirms Huddersfield's play-off place.
:09:10. > :09:14.And in League One, Port Vale kept their hopes of survival alive
:09:15. > :09:16.after winning 1-0 at Walsall with their first
:09:17. > :09:24.Two of the region's sports stars have been honoured
:09:25. > :09:27.The former Birmingham City Ladies captain and England international,
:09:28. > :09:29.Karen Carney, was made an MBE, while the
:09:30. > :09:31.Warwickshire showjumper Nick Skelton was made a CBE.
:09:32. > :09:32.59-year-old Skelton, won an individual gold
:09:33. > :09:39.at the Rio Olympics, he announced his
:09:40. > :09:44.After a day of snow, hail and sun in places -
:09:45. > :09:46.I'll leave you with the forecast from Shefali.
:09:47. > :09:50.There was almost everything falling out of the sky today, but don't
:09:51. > :09:54.take a look at our weather watchers pictures and you'll see
:09:55. > :09:59.snow across Staffordshire to dark clouds in Birmingham
:10:00. > :10:02.showers of hail and sleet, to sparlking sunshine the next
:10:03. > :10:14.It looked like spring but felt like winter,
:10:15. > :10:18.recover to nearer normal, but it still remains
:10:19. > :10:26.Taking a look at the pressure a child, no pressure to the
:10:27. > :10:33.north-east, hide the West, strolling in wins. Once the warm front slips
:10:34. > :10:37.southwards on Thursday that is what will bring in the changes with the
:10:38. > :10:40.warm air put him behind it. A closer look at night will tell you we have
:10:41. > :10:45.a peppering of showers across the north-east, but otherwise it is dry
:10:46. > :10:49.with cloudy conditions. Temperatures are dropping down to minus one
:10:50. > :10:54.Celsius, giving us a touch of frost in the morning, the marriage. On the
:10:55. > :10:59.Web go we have showers across the eastern half of the region. They
:11:00. > :11:03.could be wintry in nation. The drive templated conditions are in the west
:11:04. > :11:09.with as of 11 Celsius, and slightly lighter winds.
:11:10. > :11:16.Good evening. Another cold night lies ahead after what was a chilly
:11:17. > :11:17.day for swathes of the UK. This is the Highlands of