contrast, just their communities. in contrast, just look at what is happening in london with city can. more interested in virtue signalling can actually deliver on. failing on crime, failing on housing and his transport policy is to tax motorists off the road and rename trend lines, for goodness' sake! and whilst auntie anne pam to chart the residents are planning an extra council tax, city can saddle says constituents with £400 in extra bills. itjust goes to show, what you get with labour? they tax you more and deliver less. applause. and it is the same across our consoles, too. just look at what is happening here. nottingham council effectively bankrupt after having a fire sale of assets they

still can't balance the books, in contrast to the incredibly well—run nottinghamshire county council. another labour run something they run it into the ground. in birmingham they have effectively bankrupted the largest local bankru pted the largest local authority bankrupted the largest local authority in europe. they have saddled their constituents with a 21% council tax rise. 21% council 2i% council tax rise. 21% council tax rise! what a ticket for that, hundreds ofjob losses, services slashed, street lights being turned or switched off, making the streets less safe, and they are not even going to collect rubbish as much as they used to and they are going to charge you to take the rats away. that is what you get. in spite of all of that, they still appointed and equality and diversity inclusions are on a 6—figure salary. itjust goes to show labour because my priorities are not the priorities of the british people, my friends.

applause.. we - applause. . we have - applause..| we have also applause.. - we have also got applause.. — we have also got incredibly important police and crime commissioner elections on the 2nd of may and these rules are important. there are a big part of the reason we brought crime down by half since 2010 and, always remember this, if you're living under a labour police and crime commissioner you are 40% more likely to be a victim of crime thanif more likely to be a victim of crime than if you are living under a tory one because we all know you're safer with the conservatives. applause. we have a great opportunity to elect fantastic conservatives to deliver for their local community in may, but we also have an opportunity to send the message to keir starmer because he is arrogantly taking the british

people for granted, assuming he can just roll into number ten without saying what he would do because we all know he can't tell you what he would do differently because he doesn't have a plan. so this may we have that opportunity. we must vote, we must be able to say you can't take the british people for granted. what we won't let them do to your area, we won't let them do that to the country what they have done to birmingham, that is what we conservatives are going to stop and thatis conservatives are going to stop and that is why we will campaign for a fantastic conservative future, a fantastic conservative future, a fantastic mayor like ben bradlee, let's get out there, let's go and smash it! applause. ~ , applause. the prime minister in derb shire applause. the prime minister in derbyshire they _ applause. the prime minister in derbyshire they are _ applause. the prime minister in

derbyshire they are kicking - applause. the prime minister in derbyshire they are kicking off. applause. the prime minister in | derbyshire they are kicking off the tory �*s local election campaign, the local elections taking place on england on england on the 2nd of may. let's speak to our political correspondent. i, picture, good to see you. the prime minister sounding veryjovial, very brilliant there. what do you make of this message, taking this opportunity to give the labour party a kicking?— labour party a kicking? privately, there is probably _ labour party a kicking? privately, there is probably a _ labour party a kicking? privately, there is probably a sense - labour party a kicking? privately, there is probably a sense of- there is probably a sense of trepidation from the prime minister because the last time all of these council seats were contested in 2021 the conservatives to pretty well. the opinion polls now suggest that they will do very badly in the 2nd of may. he is doing the utmost care to talk up the prospects of the conservatives. pete has chosen derbyshire because it is one of three quite totemic mayoral contests. nottinghamshire and derbyshire will elect its first

mayor. the other two contests, the west midlands and the tees valley, those two areas also have conservative mayors at the moment and there is a feeling that labour, if they're going to do well at the general election, might well have to show they're going to take those mayoral seats. show they're going to take those mayoralseats. he show they're going to take those mayoral seats. he has also chosen the specific area of amber valley, which is one of those constituencies when we get to the general election that will determine who will end up in power. it was held by labour up until 2010 when it was taken by the conservatives and quite a healthy tory majority there. they don't choose these locations by accidents. interesting to hear some of the campaign messages from the prime minister, pointing out that nottingham city council has effectively declared itself bankrupt, it is labour run. he

contrasted that with the conservative run nottinghamshire county council, saying that there and it is investing in services rather than cutting them. the converse argument or that is one that labour will make, is that this is a result of result of years of underfunding from central government and we will hear plenty more of that when we get to the general election. the prime minister was asked after that addressed by broadcasters if he was running scared, why hasn't he called the general election on the 2nd of may, he said, no, i'm out —— iam outand 2nd of may, he said, no, i'm out —— i am out and about campaigning. when it comes to it it might be a typical day for the conservatives, we will have to wait and see.— day for the conservatives, we will have to wait and see. what do you make of the _ have to wait and see. what do you make of the fact _ have to wait and see. what do you make of the fact that _ have to wait and see. what do you make of the fact that the - have to wait and see. what do you make of the fact that the prime i make of the fact that the prime minister was there? given he has had yet another difficult week and there has been more speculation around his leadership? has been more speculation around his leadershi - ? ., , has been more speculation around his leadershi? ., , , , has been more speculation around his leadershi? ., , , ., , has been more speculation around his leadershi? , , ., , ., leadership? there has, yes. lots of crumbles leadership? there has, yes. lots of grumbles in — leadership? there has, yes. lots of grumbles in the _ leadership? there has, yes. lots of grumbles in the tory _ leadership? there has, yes. lots of grumbles in the tory party - leadership? there has, yes. lots of grumbles in the tory party and - leadership? there has, yes. lots of grumbles in the tory party and thati grumbles in the tory party and that is quite frankly because they are

scared. the poll suggests that labour are on course for a thumping majority. there are those who are apparently starting to talk about replacing the prime minister. that is not necessarily a widespread view, most tories think it would be madness to replace the prime minister having already changed elite are a couple of times in recent years. it is true to say for rishi sunak that the 2nd of may is a potential moment of peril. if they do take a hammering there are 107 local authorities in england up for election this time. you have 37 police and crime commissioner elections across england and wales and those i! elections across england and wales and those 11 metro mayoral contests. it is a big electoral test, real votes going into ballot boxes. if the results on the 2nd of may are reflective of the opinion polls, rishi sunak may be in a lot supporter and he may face more calls

to change direction or face calls for him to step aside. at this stage thatis for him to step aside. at this stage that is not the prevailing view within the conservative party. how reflective or election results when it cames comes to transferring those to a general election? we shouldn't read too much into them, perhaps. there are local issues at play when we talk about what council do, it is about repairing potholes, keeping libraries open, caring for the most vulnerable in society. people will be voting along political lines just as much as they are looking at the national parties at the turnout in local elections tends to be much lower. did you give us a much better reflection of what the opinion polls tell us because they are real votes in real ballot boxes. a lot of voters will be looking at what is happening in westminster and that could inform their votes, too. the fact that he has turned up in a

bellwether seat for the general election suggest that the prime minister also has one eye on the general election and when it might come later in the year. speculation is rife that it might be in october after the chancellor suggested that looks like the most likely date for it, but you never quite know. were they to take a complete hammering on they to take a complete hammering on the local elections, the prime minister might be bounced into calling an election earlier than he had hoped. a student from a uk university owes more than £230,000 in student loan debts, more than five times the average. a freedom of information request by the bbc has revealed that another student has accrued nearly £55,000 in interest alone.

is the cost of going to university too much? are students leaving burdened with unmanageable debt? new figures acquired by the bbc from a freedom of information request show one person who had done multiple degrees, had a student debt of £230,000. another has accumulated interest alone of £55,000. on average, a student in england will leave university with a debt of around £45,000. the figures are lower in wales and northern ireland. in scotland, tuition fees are paid by the scottish government. dr luke amos has a debt of £103,000. the amount of money that i will end up paying over the 30 year period that the loan is outstanding for, will be, i think, in the sum of five times how much i actually borrowed from the government. and considering that three years earlier, i would have paid a third less in student loan in tuition fees, you know, itjust becomes a bit of a joke that sort of generation after generation, theyjust make things worse.

dev gakhar owes just over 80,000. the worst thing is, is the interest, because i know over the course of my career, the interest is going to keep going up. and i think eventually i did a little calculation and it works out to be about 250 k that i was supposed to end up paying back, and that number kind of scares me even more. students leaving university today will pay 9% of their income once they earn £27,000. the balance is cancelled after 30 years. it's not debt in the traditional sense, so it won't affect your credit score. you won't have bailiffs coming to your door. it does in many ways operate more like a tax. the department for education in england said no new graduate will pay back more than they originally borrowed when inflation is taken into account. but the national union of students said the figures were eyewatering, and it was time for a fully funded system free at the point of use. graham satchell, bbc news.

heavy rainfall last winter led to heavy flooding in parts of the uk, making it the eighth wettest on record. some rivers in england are still too full, making life difficult for animals such as otters to survive. they are the unlikely victims of flooding. but even otters can have too much water. in the sodden landscapes of lincolnshire, where rivers have been flooded for months, the otter population has been hit hard. they are really, really strong swimmers. however, when a river is in flood and the current is really, really strong, they will struggle. especially mums with cubs, they'll really struggle in the strong currents. and often what will happen is a cub won't be able to swim properly in the strong currents, and they'll become separated from their mother. hello, reggie. hello, kiddo. those that are rescued from the floodwaters often end up here, at a specialist rehab centre in devon,

where plentiful supplies of fresh fish and bottled milk can help them to recover. record numbers of cubs have been admitted here in recent months, but there are concerns about the overall impact of flooding on the uk's otter population. there's one thing that's in their favour, is they are very good at adapting. whether they can adapt quick enough to cope with flash floods and things like that, i think they'll struggle, and that's why, you know, obviously they're a highly protected species, and it wouldn't take a lot to actually wipe out a complete population in a certain area.

live from london, this is bbc news. gaza's orphans — the united nations says there are thousands. we bring you the story of alma, the only member of her family to survive the rubble. a further push for a gaza ceasefire deal — america's top diplomat, antony blinken, meets israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. police launch an investigation into tory party donor frank hester, who's embroiled in a race row. red, white, or multicoloured — does the colour of the cross of st george matter? nike thinks not — we report on the controversy.

hello, i'm geeta guru—murthy. welcome to bbc news now. amidst the horror of events in israel and gaza, it's hard to watch the unfolding pain. today we bring you the searing story of one young girl. this is 12—year—old alma, whose parents were killed along with four of her siblings. more than 13,000 children have been killed in gaza since israel's bombardment there began five months ago, according to the united nations childrens' agency, unicef, a death toll it describes as "staggering." the assault on gaza was sparked by the hamas attacks on israel on october 7th, which killed around 1,200 israelis — most of them civilians. since then, many children in gaza have lost their entire families in israeli attacks. the overall death toll in gaza now stands at more than