25/04/2017 Midlands Today

Here, on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

Labour appear to be facing a tough battle, to keep hold

of some of its traditional Midlands supporters.

With six weeks to the general election, some voters in one

Black Country community told us they were turning their backs

on the party, because of continuing concerns over immigration.

Ben Godfrey has been talking to people in Princes End,

who last year voted strongly in favour of Brexit.

Labour will outline their plans today for Brexit.

Trying to keep the single market and unilaterally guaranteeing

Princes End - if there is such a thing as a "Brexit

Sitting in the Labour stronghold of West Bromwich West.

Here almost two thirds of people voted to Leave the EU.

And last June, they couldn't hide their delight.

It's been the best day of my life today.

So the next test at the polls is galloping towards us.

It might be windswept and raining but

this is the best way to get around Tipton and Princes End today.

To find out what people are thinking about the general election.

First I met Robert Evans, who owns the Handyman shop

on the High Street - and found deep frustration.

I've been a Labour man all my life but this time around I will be

I think Theresa May is going to do better for this

This sort of area, people see a lot of

immigration coming into this sort of area.

It's such as the housing and that kind of thing.

New homes are being built in Princes End and

Last year almost one in ten people here were unemployed and

in the Mansell family home I found Mum Linda and daughter Stacey

Linda, a single mother of six on benefits, told me she's voted

Labour in the past but needs assurances the next Government

will do more to reduce childcare costs and help her back to work

It's like when you apply for a job and

you apply for it but there's never nothing there.

It's mainly them people who come over here take all

Is that not an attitude that some people might

They need to give people who have got low-income bit more money to

help them with the children, and that.

A Britain out of the EU has been realised -

here the opposite is also true, according to Saren Ali.

He runs a European food store and has seen his takings fall

He wants the next Government to act quickly to protect

It's not going to be easy for them and loads of

And then the businesses are going to go down.

There is loads of shops, loads of people is

These estates may be small, polling turnout relatively low -

but politicians ignore them at their peril.

Ben Godfrey, BBC Midlands Today, Princes End.

I'm joined by our reporter Nicola Beckford.

Labour have been outlining their approach to Brexit today.

Well, the key thing is that the shadow Brexit secretary said is that

the fact that the Labour government would immediately guarantee the

rights of EU citizens already living in the UK. He went on to say the EU

nationals would still be allowed to the UK if they had a guaranteed job

offer. He also went on to say this. will have to change as we exit

the EU, but we do not believe that immigration should be

the overarching priority. We do not believe that

leaving the EU means But as we heard in Ben's

package immigration It's likely to be an issue

that will come up again during the campaign over

the next six weeks. If you want more analysis do have a

look at our political editor's blog. A heavily pregnant woman

from Birmingham has appeared before magistrates, charged

with helping her husband buy a knife in a plot

to carry-out a terror attack. Madihah Taheer,who's 21

-years-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates

this morning. She's accused of providing

her bank details to her This allegedly enabled

him to buy a knife. They'll both appear

at the Old Bailey on Friday. More than a dozen churches have been

stripped of lead from their roofs, The trail of destruction means many

small parishes have been left with repair bills running to tens

of thousands of pounds. It's thought a recent rise

in the price of lead has led St Peter's Church has been

at the heart of the Worcestershire village of Inkberrow since the

13th century, but in the last few weeks it's twice been

targeted by lead thieves. From the top of the tower,

you can see the real When the lead is removed, the roof

is no longer secure, no longer Often, you don't find out the lead

has gone until we get rain. Around two and half tonnes of lead

were stolen in the two attacks, leaving St Peter's

with a bill of around ?20,000. We have extra cameras

and floodlighting on the We hope it's going

to be sufficient to It's a similar story

across Worcestershire at St Andrew's Although not as obvious,

nearly all the lead flashings around around one and a half tonnes

of metal, was stolen. The insurance will only pay

out a maximum of 7500. The estimate we've had

so far for replacement and There's massive

shortfall that we, as a It's not just these places,

I've heard of at least ten places. The effect is intelligible to these

small congregations. The effect to the morale of the

small congregation is his horrendous.

It's thought the sharp rise in the price

of lead is the reason for the recent spate of thefts.

Those churches targeted now have to try and raise

When was the last time you saw one of these?

The number of watervoles are in sharp decline,

so a project's under way to try and change that.

As many as 90% have been wiped out since its main predator,

the American Mink, was released into the wild in the 1950s.

But now work's under way to try and save them -

In North Warwickshire the watervole population like many

other places in the UK, has all but disappeared.

They're falling prey to the American Mink

and their plight made worse by human creations like this steel canal

embankment which can trap voles in the water.

But thanks to the work of volunteers the environment is being made safer.

The Warwickshire wildlife trust are creating what they describe as

Volmink tells along this stage of the canal.

-- what they describe as a role motels.

They allow the voles to climb out of the water and avoid the

There's already evidence the watervoles are making use

of the new facilities and similar projects previously

I thought ten years ago that I would witness the extinction

What happened is really nothing short of a

And there's more good news for the watervoles,

it seems the American mink itself is now subject to it's own predator,

There is anecdotal evidence that with the resurgence of otters after

banning pesticides in the 80s and 90s,

with otters coming back into

pretty much all watercourses in Warwickshire, they out, beat the

This is potentially because of this rise in to numbers.

The battle for the wilds has nearly cost Watervoles

their existence in the UK, but surveys have confirmed

they're on the increase in parts of Warwickshire,

and with the help of more volunteers t's hoped the motels can be

Kevin Reide, BBC Midlands Today, Warwickshire.

In tonight's football, Wolves were beaten 1-0

That result confirms Huddersfield's play-off place.

And in League One, Port Vale kept their hopes of survival alive

after winning 1-0 at Walsall with their first

Two of the region's sports stars have been honoured

The former Birmingham City Ladies captain and England international,

Karen Carney, was made an MBE, while the

Warwickshire showjumper Nick Skelton was made a CBE.

59-year-old Skelton, won an individual gold

at the Rio Olympics, he announced his

After a day of snow, hail and sun in places -

I'll leave you with the forecast from Shefali.

There was almost everything falling out of the sky today, but don't

take a look at our weather watchers pictures and you'll see

snow across Staffordshire to dark clouds in Birmingham

showers of hail and sleet, to sparlking sunshine the next

It looked like spring but felt like winter,

recover to nearer normal, but it still remains

Taking a look at the pressure a child, no pressure to the

north-east, hide the West, strolling in wins. Once the warm front slips

southwards on Thursday that is what will bring in the changes with the

warm air put him behind it. A closer look at night will tell you we have

a peppering of showers across the north-east, but otherwise it is dry

with cloudy conditions. Temperatures are dropping down to minus one

Celsius, giving us a touch of frost in the morning, the marriage. On the

Web go we have showers across the eastern half of the region. They

could be wintry in nation. The drive templated conditions are in the west

with as of 11 Celsius, and slightly lighter winds.

Good evening. Another cold night lies ahead after what was a chilly

day for swathes of the UK. This is the Highlands of