17/05/2014 South East Today

That's it for now. We're back with the late news at 10. 15pm. Now it's

Good evening. The UKIP Leader and time for the news

Good evening. The UKIP Leader and South East MEP Nigel Farage has

defended comments he made yesterday, in which he said people had a right

to be concerned if Romanians moved in next door to them. He was

criticised for the comments whilst taking part in a BBC local radio

debate. Nigel Farage arrived in Dover amid

fresh accusations of racism, provoked by an early appearance on

radio in which he was asked about the difference between German and

Romanian migrants. During the debate he was criticised for those

comments.. If a group of men moved in next door, whereever they came

from. You would have a concern, and if you lived in London you would be

worried, is this part of the criminal trafficking operation which

we know is now happening in London on a large scale, taking advantage

of people who find themselves living in a country that frankly isn't

civilised and with whom we should not be in a political union? The

subject of immigration took up much of the debate. The Conservative MEP

Daniel Hannon said he wanted to stop EU migrants claiming benefits. We

can't have a system where 60 million British people are filling the pot

and 500 million EU nationals can draw it out. How long should it be

before people should claim benefits after coming to the country? Three

or four years. It is ridiculous, because you will have people who

will then be on the streets and driven into crime if you have not

that safety net which is what the benefit system, and I know about it.

It's designed as a safety net to help. And the sooner you intervene

the sooner people are back to work. Of the five candidates taking part,

four are seasoned MEPs seeking re`election. The scapegoat of

migration is being carried out all the time. It is not because there

are too many migrants. It is a housing crisis. They all so

discussed fracking, fishing and airport expansion in the South East,

but with five days until the polling ceremony the controversial issue of

immigration was at the forefront. And you can hear that debate

tomorrow on BBC Radio Kent, BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey.

Meanwhile, the Labour leader has been in Crawley campaigning for his

party in next week's local and European elections. Ed Miliband

walked around the town centre and spoke to local traders. Labour's

hoping to regain control of the Borough Council there next week.

Speaking at a rally, Mr Miliband promised to build more homes in the

South East. It's a massive issue here in

Crawley. It's a massive issue right across the region. It is Labour

saying we are going to build more homes and make sure they are

affordable. All part of tackling what I think is the biggest issue

our country is facing, which is the cost of living crisis and the fact

that so many people feel they can't get on in Britain anymore. And a

reminder there's in`depth coverage of all the main parties' campaigns,

plus information about all the other parties standing for election on our

website ` bbc.co.uk/news. A Kent man has drowned after

swimming out to sea to rescue one of his sons while on a family holiday

in Jamaica. 49`year`old Tony Wilkinson was caught in a strong

current in Calabash Bay on Jamaica's south coast on Thursday. Despite

efforts to help he couldn't make it back to the shore.

The new leader of Thanet District Council has confirmed she will be

holding talks this weekend with the owner of Manston Airport. Staff left

the airport for the last time on Thursday. Councillor Iris Johnston

says Ann Gloag has promised to speak to her about the airport's future.

Let's get the weather forecast now with Georgina. Good evening.

Let's get the weather forecast now with Georgina. Good Well, if it

wasn't sunny enough for you today hopefully tomorrow will please you

better. Tonight we have a warm night to come. It'll be largely dry as

well. Some clouds around but we should have some clear spells too.

Not much of a breeze to talk about and temperatures not dropping below

double figures for most of us with lows of ten or 11 degrees Celsius.

Tomorrow we should wake up to more sunshine, more in the way with some

spots with wall`to`wall sunshine. There is still some cloud as well

with temperatures reaching 21 or 22 degrees Celsius, although cooler

along the south coast. It'll only get to about 18 Celsius but tomorrow

is much sunnier than today. It all goes downhill somewhat as we head

into the beginning of next week, so Monday is slightly unsettled. There

is an outside chance you could have a shower here or there. There will

certainly be more in the way of cloud, and as you can see it is

steadily becoming more unsettled as we go through the week and the winds

start to pick up too, so do enjoy the sunshine tomorrow if you get the

chance. That it is from us. Have a good

night. Good evening. Who needs an expensive

holiday? Today at 24 degrees, Suffolk was warmer than Ibiza and

Crete. There was lots of warm sunshine to be found across England

and Wales. Of course, that hasn't been the story everywhere. Cooler

and cloudier and much wetter weather across Scotland and Northern

Ireland. More rain for western Scotland and the Northern Isles

tonight. Rain spreading further into Northern Ireland too. Some of it

will be heavy at times. Elsewhere, a dry night and warm. Lows of 13 or 14

degrees. More rain to come, though, for both the North West of Scotland

and Northern Ireland on Sunday. Hopefully, it will ease off a little

across western Scotland later in