06/03/2017 North West Tonight

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

A motor industry expert is warning that Brexit makes the Ellesmere Port

car factory more vulnerable to closure by the French company

which today bought the Vauxhall brand.

He says the plant could be at risk because three-quarters

of the components it uses are imported from Europe.

I spoke to our reporter Ian Haslam from outside

In the very worrying times for those workers.

And not just those 2000 that work here,

there are also many more people involved in the supply chain

so this factory is vital to the local economy.

Unions say securing the long-term future of jobs depends

on the British Government getting involved.

They also point out that British cars sell well if they're made

in Britain and want the new owners, PSA to remember that.

The French outfit, which also makes Citreon and Peugeot,

says the future of all its factories, a total of 24

across Europe, depends on how the workforce performs.

Our Merseyside reporter Andy Gill has this report.

The plant's new owners PSA say Ellesmere Port will continue

when a new version is due on the market.

The main union says the plant would have to prove itself

as the best place to build the update,

And a main concern is that the government here plays

a part to secure jobs in the long term.

Both the French and German governments have helped enormously

with this coming together, and we ask the UK Government

Manufacturing is the lifeblood of any economy and the automotive

sector is the heart of that manufacturing sector.

The union says this is a productive plant.

On the other hand, there's a perception that it's easier

to sack British workers than European ones.

The highly skilled, well-paid jobs here are vital

for the economy and employment, not just in Ellesmere Port

but in other parts of Cheshire and Wirrell too.

And thousands of more jobs are in the supply chain,

which depend on the factory being here.

Most of the cars made here are exported.

They're made mainly with parts imported from Europe.

And one expert says that could be a problem after Brexit.

If the components have to be imported, especially if the pound

depreciates further, this is not a very attractive

If we can build a British component supply base, then I think,

and other plants would look much more positive.

Concerns today too in Ellesmere Port town.

It's a bit worrying, isn't it, that we don't know

I know a few people that work there, families, you know what I mean?

There's not many big factories around here any more.

PSA say the future of all its plants is in the workers' hands

Andy Gill, BBC North West Tonight, Ellesmere Port.

As we heard in Andy's report, some experts say Brexit could result

in Ellesmere Port's closure, but the boss of the new owners,

the PSA group, says Brexit might make it more likely a British plant

That's because if tariffs were imposed on cars coming

into this country from Europe, keeping a factory here

Still though much to decide, and the future for workers here

Well, tonight Ellesmere Port's MP met with the Government's

Business Secretary Greg Clarke to ask him for reassurances

A little earlier, I spoke to the Labour MP, Justin Madders,

and asked him what came out of the meeting.

Well, I want them to sit down with PSA as soon as possible,

as much as they can say what their plans are and really then

work together with PSA, with the unions,

with management at Ellesmere Port to come up with a package

that makes sure that the future is secure.

Would you like to see some sort of package,

some sort of deal done at Vauxhall as was done as Nissan?

Well, no one quite knows for sure what the deal was with Nissan but

the end result was that the future of the plant was secure,

and that's what I'm interested in, it's what I'm hoping

Clearly, with Brexit on the horizon, all eyes are on the Government

and how they deal with these kinds of challenges,

so there really is an onus on them to show

that Britain is still open for business and keep the plant going.

Mr Madders, thank you very much indeed.

Merseyside Police have confirmed that a man charged with the murder

of a two-year-old boy is also accused of neglecting

The boy who died was found unresponsive by paramedics

called to Woodville Road in Birkenhead last week.

His twin sister and another child have been taken into care.

28-eight-year-old Craig Smith was today remanded in custody to

appear before Liverpool Crown Court in a fortnight's time.

A woman charged with allowing a child to suffer harm

Two brothers who ran a dirty and dangerous care home in Liverpool

Amjad and Amer Latif were in charge of the Mossley Manor Care home,

where a court heard vulnerable elderly people lived in squalor.

The home was closed down in 2015, and today the brothers

As you may've heard in the national news, a Cumbrian zoo where nearly

500 animals died in less than four years has been refused

David Gill, the owner of South Lakes Safari Zoo,

now has 28 days to decide whether to appeal against

In 2013, zookeeper Sarah McClay was mauled to death by a tiger.

Her former boyfriend says action to shut down

Nothing that's come out today has come as a shock to me or anybody

else that had a decent knowledge of the goings on there.

It's just a shame it's taken so long to occur.

to be banned from the region's cities are intensifying.

Liverpool wants to stop diesels coming into its city centre by 2025.

Manchester's looking at restrictions on older diesels,

Each year, particles from diesel engines are responsible for 3500

Here's our environment correspondent Judy Hobson.

Monday morning in Greater Manchester.

Well, the high pressure will stay with us for the next few days,

which means conditions won't change at all...

Today you can even see it sitting across the city.

So here we are monitoring oxides of nitrogen,

a team monitors the city's air pollution levels.

an invisible gas which can irritate our lungs.

There are a number of thresholds allowed per year, but beyond that,

then we are failing air quality at that location.

Does it exceed those levels very often?

The latest Government data shows Greater Manchester has been

in breach of its legal limits for nitrogen dioxide

But what about levels of particulate matter?

Vehicles, especially diesels, also emit millions of tiny particles.

They're so small we can breath them in, and they're associated

I'm in Whitworth Park in Manchester, and this is a monitor

which measures the tiny particles in the air.

If I hold this tube up to my mouth, it should measure what I'm breathing

There are no safe amounts of particulate matter,

but here in the park, the levels were relatively low.

Just a few metres away is Oxford Road,

one of the busiest routes in the city.

Immediately, the levels become dangerously high.

The tiny particles I'm now breathing in could be having a serious

But the monitor proves by walking a few metres away from the road,

this can dramatically reduce your exposure to air pollution.

The Government has been taken to the High Court over its failure

to reduce emissions, and it has until next month

But experts say they'll need to have bold policies if cities

like Manchester have any chance of reaching their clean air targets.

It was a beautiful started the week. And that will continue over the next

12 or 24 hours. Some fine weather in the forecasters we have to do is be.

If we look at the weather for the week ahead, today was great,

tomorrow follows in a broadly similar pattern. Actually, fairly

mild conditions and largely dry days. Beautiful weather Watchers

pictures catching lots of sunshine across north-west. Perhaps not quite

as much tomorrow. The difference in the overnight period is that we will

start as he showers. This not a bad time for them to come in. They have

started to spread into many places and they will continue over the next

couple of hours but they will leave us towards the early hours. Some

breaks from time to time, temperatures generally three and

four, maybe five along the coast. Really you could hit zero but that

is an exception rather than the rule. Into tomorrow, spells of

sunshine. Not quite as brilliant as today but still a reasonable sort of

day. From a shame on worse, sunshine getting a little more week but

towards the tail end of the day, we have to wait for the rain which

means most daylight hours are sitting pretty. Temperatures eight

and 9 degrees once again on Tuesday night. This is a more significant

area of brain you can see working its way through. Keeping

temperatures up. Very wet on the weekends as we don't really want

that rain. On Wednesday, still in that nice, fine pattern. Every now

and then the sun will come out and FA review with the outlook for the

next couple days, yes, there is an awful lot of weather around.

cool, it will be windy at times as well and still rather unsettled with

some blustery showers around. That's the London forecast and now for the

National forecast, over to Nick Miller.

North-west France and Plymouth were miles apart weather-wise. This

southern flank in north-west France there was a wind gusts of 120 mph

which we just dodged. That area of low pressure continues to move

quickly south-eastwards so that by tomorrow it is in Italy on its

southern flank, stormy in Sardinia and around it strong winds blowing

through south-east France. We've got a little bump in the ice bars with

lighter winds, a brief ridge of high pressure, things briefly settled

going into tomorrow, overnight there are some showers around moving

through western Scotland and north-west England and the Midlands,

clearing Wales, one or two in the east, the