:00:00. > :00:00.Arsenal in Europe. Natalie thank you very much again at the Emirates
:00:00. > :00:00.Stadium. Natalie Hello, good evening,
:00:00. > :00:00.I'm Tom Hepworth. What did go on behind closed
:00:00. > :00:10.doors at Surrey Council? Tonight the government's
:00:11. > :00:11.responded to a secret And the thugs who attacked a couple
:00:12. > :00:18.on a train who'd been Detectives say they were set
:00:19. > :00:32.upon just for being gay. The Government has repeated
:00:33. > :00:33.its message tonight that there was no special deal
:00:34. > :00:36.for Surrey County Council and that the authority will not
:00:37. > :00:41.receive any extra funding. It comes after we revealed a secret
:00:42. > :00:44.recording of Surrey's Conservative council leader David Hodge
:00:45. > :00:46.describing the negotiations he had with government ministers prior
:00:47. > :00:48.to calling off the referendum on a 15 percent
:00:49. > :00:56.council tax increase. Labour called it "a sweetheart deal"
:00:57. > :00:58.- Downing street claim But in a meeting with his own
:00:59. > :01:02.councillors Mr Hodge tells them he has written assurances
:01:03. > :01:04.and recordings of Our Political Editor Peter Henley
:01:05. > :01:17.has this exclusive report. Surrey Conservatives
:01:18. > :01:18.were in rebellious mood when they met to decide their budget
:01:19. > :01:22.last month, threatening to put up council tax by 15% to cover
:01:23. > :01:24.rising costs and cuts Then suddenly they found
:01:25. > :01:30.they did not need so much, leaked texts revealed
:01:31. > :01:32.that the leader David Hodge had been The Prime Minister denied this
:01:33. > :01:36.when the Labour leader ambushed her during Prime Minister's
:01:37. > :01:40.Questions. How much did the government offer
:01:41. > :01:44.Surrey to kill this off? I made clear to the right
:01:45. > :01:46.honourable gentleman, what has been made available
:01:47. > :01:49.to every council which is Now however BBC South has obtained
:01:50. > :01:56.a recording of the meeting at which the Surrey leader tried
:01:57. > :01:58.to assure his councillors that the government
:01:59. > :02:00.had heard their pleas. I want an assurance
:02:01. > :02:06.that they will not put what I'm Then he spells out their
:02:07. > :02:13.high-level contacts. A series of conversations took place
:02:14. > :02:15.with the Secretary of State for Local Government in his car
:02:16. > :02:18.outside Number 10 Downing Street, looking for assurances,
:02:19. > :02:19.looking for clarification, looking for help, basically of how
:02:20. > :02:28.we could stop a referendum. Finally he talks about the need
:02:29. > :02:31.to call this a gentleman's agreement although he says he has recordings
:02:32. > :02:36.and something in writing. What I call a gentleman's agreement,
:02:37. > :02:39.that the Conservative are not honoured, we will have
:02:40. > :02:43.to revisit this in nine months or a year's time and if we do,
:02:44. > :02:46.let me assure you, you will have to drag me kicking and screaming not
:02:47. > :02:54.to go for a referendum next year. He concludes saying if extra cash
:02:55. > :02:57.is not found for next year, "you will have to drag me kicking
:02:58. > :03:00.and screaming from calling A little earlier I asked Peter how
:03:01. > :03:19.Councillor David Hodge responded He is still hoping that the
:03:20. > :03:23.Chancellor will announce extra money for Syria and he says every leader
:03:24. > :03:27.if they are good at their job will always have these conversations to
:03:28. > :03:31.try and get a better deal. He talks about the word deal, it is the one
:03:32. > :03:35.thing he was telling his councillors that they must not tell people and I
:03:36. > :03:39.asked him if he was angry that this seemed to have been leaked and he
:03:40. > :03:41.said I am a politician, I do not get annoyed by Labour are very annoyed
:03:42. > :03:56.and they say that this proves that someone is not
:03:57. > :03:59.telling the truth. What we know is that David Hodge was clear that the
:04:00. > :04:01.deal was done and he said that to his group. We note that the
:04:02. > :04:04.Chancellor according to him was in on the deal and we know there is at
:04:05. > :04:06.least something in writing as a result of this transcript. In
:04:07. > :04:09.Surrey, the Liberal Democrat opposition are most concerned that
:04:10. > :04:12.they do not know the state of finances for the county. The leader
:04:13. > :04:19.of the council refers to a referendum next year and a council
:04:20. > :04:23.tax referendum has been debated in Surrey recently and there was huge
:04:24. > :04:28.opposition to a council tax referendum and a large increase in
:04:29. > :04:31.council tax of 15% and I am surprised and horrified that the
:04:32. > :04:37.leader of the council is still talking about this. And tonight we
:04:38. > :04:39.have heard from the Department for Communities and Local Government
:04:40. > :04:43.headed by Sajid Javid and they have slapped down David Hodge quite hard,
:04:44. > :04:47.to imply that there was a special deal for Surrey, they said, is
:04:48. > :04:51.simply untrue. We will find out if they are still getting their money
:04:52. > :04:56.or not. What is the chance that the Chancellor might announce extra
:04:57. > :04:58.funding for local government in the budget tomorrow? Local government
:04:59. > :05:00.are crying out for it for social care and I would be surprised if
:05:01. > :05:16.there was not money for some people and people
:05:17. > :05:19.will cry it is unfair but there will be money for schools, we are looking
:05:20. > :05:22.at that possibly coming to the south and for smoothing business rates as
:05:23. > :05:23.well. Some of that is about local authority finance and it is very
:05:24. > :05:24.much in the focus at the moment. A gay couple who were viciously
:05:25. > :05:28.attacked by a gang of men on a train from Reading say they're now afraid,
:05:29. > :05:31.to travel by rail. It happened on Valentine's Day, with
:05:32. > :05:33.horrified passengers calling police. Images have now been released
:05:34. > :05:36.of the men police want to speak to. They knocked these two teeth down
:05:37. > :05:41.here out and I had a lot of bruising and cuts all around my face
:05:42. > :05:44.and you had a lot of bruising around Phil and his boyfriend, Spinek,
:05:45. > :05:53.had fallen asleep on a train home after celebrating Valentine's Day
:05:54. > :05:56.in Reading when they were set One guy came up and said something
:05:57. > :06:04.nasty to us and I just said, leave I think they didn't
:06:05. > :06:16.like me lying on Spinek. I was laid over him and I think
:06:17. > :06:20.that is what caused the issue. Police have now released
:06:21. > :06:22.these images of four men they want to speak to in connection
:06:23. > :06:25.with the incident. They got off the train
:06:26. > :06:27.at Ealing Broadway moments At the moment I am just a bit scared
:06:28. > :06:34.to go out in the evening. I try to look where I am
:06:35. > :06:38.sitting and who is coming. So many things in the world,
:06:39. > :06:40.bad things happening, why people are picking on people
:06:41. > :06:43.because of their sexuality, I'm glad police have those images,
:06:44. > :06:46.because it makes people aware of what they look like in case
:06:47. > :06:57.they see them, contact the police. In the championship Reading
:06:58. > :07:01.held top of the table Our sports editor Tony Husband
:07:02. > :07:22.is there for us now, It was not a bad game but not a
:07:23. > :07:28.classic. It was goalless, Reading's biggest home crowd of the season.
:07:29. > :07:32.They saw drama in the first minute when Lewis Grabban and headed just
:07:33. > :07:34.wide and then drama right at the finale when Gareth McCleary hit the
:07:35. > :07:38.woodwork with virtually the last woodwork with virtually the last
:07:39. > :07:45.kick of the game, in between that, Newcastle showed why they are top of
:07:46. > :07:48.the league, they had a number of chances, but I think jab stamp will
:07:49. > :07:53.be pleased with the result. A big win tonight for a Brighton after two
:07:54. > :08:00.successive defeats, they needed three points, they got them at
:08:01. > :08:04.Rotherham. A boost to Albion's automatic promotion hopes but it
:08:05. > :08:07.could have been more. Two players were denied in the first half but
:08:08. > :08:14.after the break, the ball was driven past Lewis Price to make it 1-0 and
:08:15. > :08:22.then an excellent strike made it two with ten minutes remaining. Vital
:08:23. > :08:26.points for the seagulls. A look at the Championship table shows the
:08:27. > :08:29.Brighton have close the gap on Newcastle, Huddersfield won this
:08:30. > :08:33.evening keeping up the pressure and leaf strewn with Fulham and Reading
:08:34. > :08:39.have a 7-point buffer down to seventh place. Good news from League
:08:40. > :08:44.2, Portsmouth are finally into the top three and the automatic
:08:45. > :08:49.promotion places. They won at Crawley. After a battle against
:08:50. > :08:53.crew-macro, Portsmouth looked every inch the promotion candidates this
:08:54. > :08:58.evening. They had to be patient to break the deadlock which came in the
:08:59. > :09:03.second half after all and Dora's penalty was saved, Burgess headed in
:09:04. > :09:05.the corner. The seem to be only one winner from the corner and there
:09:06. > :09:07.that made the game safe with a strike from the edge of the box 19
:09:08. > :09:20.minutes from the end. That could be a really significant
:09:21. > :09:24.night in the League 2 promotion race, a victory for Portsmouth and
:09:25. > :09:26.we will have goals and reaction from all these matches in tomorrow night
:09:27. > :09:32.'s programme. Back to you. That's all from the South Today
:09:33. > :09:34.news team this evening. We're back tomorrow with bulletins
:09:35. > :09:36.in BBC Breakfast and there's more Here is our regional
:09:37. > :09:53.weather forecast... It is looking like it could be a wet
:09:54. > :09:56.Wednesday. It is and that wet weather is with us already working
:09:57. > :10:01.its way in from the worst continuing on its journey east overnight
:10:02. > :10:06.tonight. Some drizzle but heavier pulses as it works its way right
:10:07. > :10:11.across our patch. Temperature wise, lows of six or seven, but those
:10:12. > :10:14.temperatures will begin to climb as we head towards dawn so by the time
:10:15. > :10:16.we wake up first thing on weapons to morning, perhaps nine or 10 degrees
:10:17. > :10:58.to get the day started. Albeit wet and one at times, we will see
:10:59. > :11:01.breaks in the wet weather, it will tend to come and go through the
:11:02. > :11:02.course of the day, nor other parts of the region faring best, possibly
:11:03. > :11:03.a glimmer or two of rain on Saturday. The national
:11:04. > :11:13.picture now from Nick Miller. It looks like next week high
:11:14. > :11:17.pressure will become a player again in our weather, settling things down
:11:18. > :11:21.for some of us for a time but until then it is low-pressure, rain moving
:11:22. > :11:26.across the UK overnight but not wet all the time. Many of us at a fine
:11:27. > :11:30.day today, this was at you from West Yorkshire and Yorkshire and northern
:11:31. > :11:34.England and Northern Ireland will farewell tomorrow, after this
:11:35. > :11:38.frontal system has pushed on through the UK with rain. But as it does, it
:11:39. > :11:41.introduces milder air so for the rest of the week we will have
:11:42. > :11:45.temperatures widely into double figures. Back to the here and now
:11:46. > :11:47.and that rain which has been like an