25/05/2014 North West Tonight

finish one ahead of Shane Lowry of Ireland. And that is all the sport.

There's more Good evening. Counting has started

for the North West's European Election. Voters went to the ballot

box on Thursday to choose eight Euro MPs. There are counts at councils

across the region tonight, coordinated from Manchester Town

Hall. Our political editor Arif Ansari is there.

This is the count for voters in Manchester. 11 political parties on

the ballot paper, plenty of choice. And these elections are taking place

in about 40 councils across the north`west. As the results come in,

they will go up on that scoreboard over there and Manchester town hall

will be the place where those numbers are totalled up and divided.

There are eight Euro MPs in the region. And what will happen to

political parties? Labour at the moment have two but expect to go up

to three. The Conservatives on three are braced to lose one, to go down

to two. On a bad day, it could be even worse. What about UKIP? They

won one here five years ago. They are probably going to go on to two

tonight. That is what they are aiming for. And then the eighth

seat, the big story here last time was when Nick Griffin won it for the

BNP. He is expected to lose. Will the Lib Dems hold on or could the

Greens take it? Plenty of questions here and we will find out in the

next few hours. Meanwhile, Southport's Lib Dem MP

John Pugh is questioning Nick Clegg's leadership of the party

after dismal local election results saw them lose more than 250 local

councillors. Misty Pugh suggested a dozen of his Commons colleagues had

expressed doubts about the Deputy Prime Minister saying, "While the

Captain goes down with the ship, there's no need for the ship to go

down with the captain." But Cheadle's Lib Dem MP Mark Hunter

told Sunday Politics that it would be foolish to change leaders now.

There is clearly a problem about engagement, which we have

acknowledged. We have to work harder at getting that message across and

finding other ways in which we might be able to do it. But I do not think

the idea of changing leaders 12 months out from the general

election... The idea that with one single bound we can be free of all

these problems and a new leader will magically transform our fortune is

for the birds. One of the the region's biggest

animal charities has launched a campaign to help prevent dogs

overheating in cars. The Dogs Trust says there's been an annual rise in

the number of dogs dying in the North West, with many owners unaware

of the danger they're putting their pets in. Ian Haslam reports.

It is simple, poignant and it could be a life`saver. The message could

not be clearer. This is something that is on the increase. People do

forget that dogs can die in hot cars. It can only take 20 minutes

for a dog to actually die in a hot car. Here at the charity's North

West base, many of the staff have seen the problem first`hand. Some of

the examples are actually on Southport beach. People have left

their dogs in the car while they have gone shopping. They have had to

be rescued. I actually saw a dog in the boot of a car panting very

heavily and the owners were totally unaware. Unfortunately, there have

also been many examples of dogs overheating on car journeys in the

region. The advice is to keep your car as cool as possible, get things

like these sunblinds for the windows and stop regularly so the dog can

drink water. They need to really think about what they are doing when

they leave the dog in the car. Basically do not do it. Please do

not do it. The Dog's Trust have put out similar messages to this in the

past. They are hoping this one will prove a turning point.

Liverpool's first Rock and Roll Marathon and Half Marathon's been

taking place today. The 7,500 runners were greeted with live music

and entertainment at almost every mile. The event, which was spread

across the city, started and finished at the iconic waterfront.

Really nice out in the park. A good day up there and then coming along

the Mersey towards the end was perfect. Seeing kids all lined up.

People supporting their rain and their family. It feels great to have

loads of scousers cheering us on. It was brilliant fun. Lovely weather.

Lovely city to run around. Absolutely amazing. I am getting

married next Saturday and my bride`to`be is about an hour behind

me. She cannot catch me! In Super League, Ben Currie's brace

helped Warrington to a convincing 36`4 win at Wakefield. But Widnes

lost 34`22 at Castleford. Cricket now. The first day of

Lancashire's County Championship match against Yorkshire at

Headingley has been badly affected by rain. Lancashire are batting

first and are 86 for one. The weather now, with Mel Coles.

Good evening. Showers have been the order of the day and are putting in

an appearance tomorrow, too. But we should get to see some dry, bright

spells as well. Back to this evening, the showers continuing.

Some are still quite heavy although they will fade as the night goes on.

A few clear spells may be allowing for some mist and fog to develop.

Temperatures dropping. Tomorrow, for most places, getting off to a dry

start with some brightness through the morning and into the early part

of the afternoon. Showers return as we go through into the afternoon.

Some could be potentially heavy and thundery. Tuesday looks like being a

showery day but a little bit later on there will be the risk of some

rain moving in. See you later. Goodbye.

Good evening. Some of us had a pretty good soaking. It downpours

around with thunder and lightning. It wasn't so bad everywhere. The

satellite picture across the Midlands, East Anglia and the south

coast, the Isle of Wight. A beautiful end to the day. You can

see further west and north and that is