which is due to begin in around 20 minutes — continues. that is ed miliband, the shadow energy secretary. a number of the shadow ministers are giving speeches. just below where you can see the time, 10:30am, that is sir keir starmer�*s head. he is sitting watching all of these shadow ministers and there is another shot where you can see the deputy leader angela rayner also there along with the shadow chancellor rachel reeves and wes streeting, who speaks for help for the labour party. they are listening to that ed miliband speech at the moment. we expect sir keir starmer to begin his speech in about 20 minutes. there is a large banner with labour first step changes. 0ur political editor chris mason is in the audience watching and he said pretty much the entire set of has turned up for this and you can, as

you can see, they are the really the backdrop of the stage, sitting listening two of these speeches. chris makes the point is you can see that most of them are in conventional political gear. they have their smart clothes on, their suits and ties. except that is for sir keir starmer, who has lost his tie and jacket and he has rolled up his sleeves nearly to his elbows. chris our political editor says it is not hot in there. he says this is a deliberate look from sir keir focused he says on getting stuff done. we know there will be no new policies, it will be sir keir setting out six pledges as his pitch before what we know will be a general election probably this year. he is promising to deliver economic stability, that nhs waiting times,

create a new border security, and, set up a publicly owned firm called great british energy, crackdown on anti—social behaviour, and also recruit 6500 new teachers. as you can see there are a large number of people in there, watching these speeches. the conservatives have already said sir keir�*s speech amounts to a 16th relaunch. the deputy leader angela rayner has already spoken and said the event was to announce the first steps for a changed labour party, which she said was offering a radical and responsible plan for britain's future. she said m years of chaos and decline would lead many people feeling cynical, adding that tory decline was a choice by the governing party. that is what angela rayner has been saying. we will be back to here sir keir�*s speech but we already have a special live page “p we already have a special live page up and running on the bbc news

website and that has some of the highlights from the speeches already given along with analysis from our team of experts, including chris mason who is in essex. you can find that on the bbc website. 0ron the 0r on the bbc news app. we will be back live as soon as sir keir takes to the stage for this breakfast. but first — junior doctors in england have entered mediation talks with the government — aimed at ending their long—running dispute over pay and conditions. there have been no formal discussions between the parties since negotiations collapsed in december. 0ur health editor hugh pym reports. what do we want? fair pay! when do we want it? now! it's been a bitter and prolonged pay dispute with ten rounds of strikes by junior doctors. adding together all the walk—outs by health unions in england, more than 1.4 million hospital

appointments and operations were cancelled. there have been few signs before now of any possible resolution of the dispute between the government and junior doctors. but the fact that both sides are prepared to sit down for talks with an independent mediator suggests a willingness to consider compromise. the doctors union, the bma, called for a 35% pay rise phased in over a few years. ministers awarded an average ofjust under 9% for the last financial year and suggested anything higher would be unaffordable. the process will not involve the conciliation service acas and the outcome will not be binding on either side. but the bma, which still has a mandate to stage further walk—outs, said an independent mediator could help break the logjam. the health secretary, victoria atkins, said she was pleased that mediation would take place and it was a significant step forward which could see an end to strike action. last month, consultants in england agreed to a deal to end their pay

dispute with the government. in a separate dispute, the welsh government is in talks over pay with junior doctor representatives and in northern ireland a 48 hour strike byjunior doctors is planned next week. hugh pym, bbc news. we are awaiting that speech by the labour leader sir keir starmer in the next half hour or so. you can see it on the right—hand side of the screen. the shadow ministers talking, yvette cooper at the moment, the shadow home secretary, addressing the event, as soon as sir keir takes the stage we will cross back to hear what he has to say. residents across south devon are being told to boil tap water following an outbreak of sickness and diarrhoea. more than 20 cases have been confirmed by the health security agency. south west water said it is confident that boiled water is safe and issued the advice as a precaution. heidi davey reports. what a difference 2a hours can make, from supplies being safe to bottled

water being handed out. by lunchtime, there was anger. south west water confirmed advanced tests overnight had found traces of cryptosporidium in its supply chain, leaving residents like harriet furious that precautionary measures had not been put in place earlier. i have a seven—month—old daughter as well as a four—year—old boy who was actually very unwell last week. and they said to me, categorically, the water is safe, you should continue to use it as a normal. and we are less than 2a hours later, we have been notified that the water is not safe to drink. they are meant to be providing a safe service. we don't have the luxury of being able to pick or choose water services. they are the only option that we have, we have to use them. any other business would go completely bankrupt in this situation but they seem to be protected. they are messing with people's lives, their incomes, people have not been able to work because they have been ill or caring for others. but most of all, the impact on people's health.

south west water told us today it was only notified of the issue within the last few days. the uk health security agency has confirmed a number of cases has risen to 22 with that number expected to keep going up. we are always sampling our water and monitoring the quality of the water to ensure that it meets the high levels of standards required in the uk. so we knew that the water leaving our treatment works met all the standards and requirements and there was no indication of cryptosporidium in the water. people are arriving from all over brixham to pick up free bottled water. this morning, it was only being issued to vulnerable residents and there was a huge lorry here dispatching it. this afternoon, another huge lorry has arrived with more supplies and that has now opened to everyone. we have not really understood what has been happening, because we were told at the weekend it was fine, now we're told it's not fine, so, it's not very clear. and the disruption for those residents looks set to continue as south west water works with other agencies to locate the source of the outbreak.

ijust want i just want to take you now to slovakia, to bratislava, where you canjust slovakia, to bratislava, where you can just see dow has just been a news conference by both the current president and the president—elect. this will of course comes after that attempted assassination on the prime minister yesterday. the comments have just come through on what they said in that news conference. the slovak president said there must come down the situation in society. she was standing next to the president—elect. she said she was going to invite all parliamentary party leaders for a joint meeting, while peter pellegrini, the president—elect, also called on parties to suspend or campaign, tone down the campaigns ahead of the elections for the european

parliament. the political leaders, both the current president and president—elect in slovakia asking for, after the slovak prime minister was shot yesterday. we have had an update on him this morning to say he is in a stable but serious condition after being shot on wednesday. the hospital director said he was currently in intensive care after five hours of surgery. we knew he was fighting for his life yesterday but the doctors now say he is in a serious condition and in intensive care after those five hours of surgery. a suspect has been detained after that shooting yesterday. the director of the hospital said his condition was still very truly serious and they were keeping him in intensive care as you can imagine. that is the latest on the aftermath

of that attempted assassination of the slovak prime minister yesterday. the president and president—elect just addressing that news conference in bratislava, the capital of slovakia. a reminder you can get more on that on the bbc news website and add. if you arejustjoining us in the next half an hour or so we are expecting circular stomach give are expecting circular stomach give a speech in essex, setting out his stall ahead of the general election. he will make six pledges as part of that. there are no new policies but this is him setting out his stall. there are six pledges that labour will have ahead of the general election forcibly consumer right—hand side of the screen that shadow ministers are one by one addressing the crowd that is there and we would be back as soon as sir keir takes to the stage to hear what he has to say. let's check on some other news.

when 74—year—old nelson shardey applied for a passport five years ago, he was shocked to be told by the home office that he had no right to be in the uk. mr shardey, who was born in ghana, has lived in the uk for more than 45 years, running his own newsagent�*s in merseyside for more than 30 of them. he's now been told he must pay thousands of pounds to be allowed to stay, and he won't get permanent residence for another decade. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford went to meet him. after living in britain for 47 years, retired newsagent nelson shardey finds himself in an expensive legal tussle with the home office, despite a lifetime of paying taxes and serving his local community. i cannot afford to pay any part of the money they are asking. does it feel fair? in my eye,

there is no fairness in this at all. it shouldn't be. there is no fairness at all. he came to britain to study in 1977. he's worked for mother's pride, kipling's cakes and bendix chocolates. he was given a bravery award for tackling a robber armed with a baseball bat. he has two british sons. but when nelson's mother died in ghana five years ago and with his son's help, he applied for a british passport, he discovered the home office thought he had no right to live in the uk. 0fficials asked him to start the expensive ten year process of applying for permission to live here permanently. i don't understand why this force at all. because i've put my life, my whole self into this country. ijust thought it was a joke.

his son, jacob, an expert in the human heart, told me the whole thing was ridiculous. but why would he need to go and start this ten year route when he's been here since 1977? he's been here longer than the people who have been alive who are running his case. nelson's lawyer, nicola burgess, is taking the home office to court, arguing that he should have been regarded as an exceptional case. in the meantime, he's having to pay thousands of pounds to access nhs care. he has to pay the immigration health | surcharge every two and a half years| and this is kind of a tax - that is levied against immigrants to access the nhs and this - is obviously on top of the taxes that nelson has paidl throughout his career and he is very worried about whether he's going to be able to afford that — nelson shardey is still hoping that the home office will back down and let him remain without paying more than £17,000 to stay where he's lived his whole adult life. daniel sandford, bbc news, wallasey.

coming up to 10:1i5am. we are expecting keir starmer�*s speech in essex shortly setting out his stall ahead of the general election pulls up ahead of the general election pulls up you can see him there in the audience along with the shadow. they are listening to the speeches that have been going on full stop there is a video playing at the moment and we are expecting sir keir to take to the stage shortly. joining me to listen to what sir keir has to say is our political correspondent damian grammaticas. we are not expecting anything new from the speech but there are going to be six pledges, answer? speech but there are going to be six pledges. answer?— speech but there are going to be six pledges, answer? pledges is one way of describing — pledges, answer? pledges is one way of describing them. _ pledges, answer? pledges is one way of describing them. they _ pledges, answer? pledges is one way of describing them. they are - pledges, answer? pledges is one way of describing them. they are steps i of describing them. they are steps that sir keir starmer is going to highlight. he calls six steps for change. these are the things that labour want to say they will focus on if it were to win the next election. these are not new pledges, these are things labour has said

already. but what it is trying to do is narrow the focus of what it is eyeing out, to have some things that people can have in their minds. the content of it is not new so much. what we are seeing is a new focus on the presentation, on this and honing in on what they want the message to be, and also the style of campaign we are going to see. a lot of this is built around circular stammering his self. the focus on him as the central figure. his self. the focus on him as the centralfigure. prominently on his self. the focus on him as the central figure. prominently on the material going out, postersjunky material going out, posters junky campaigns material going out, postersjunky campaigns around the country. leaflets going through people's doors leading out these six things and if i take you through them very briefly, economic stability, labour wants to say that will be at the heart of everything it will take at the foundations for what it would seek to deliver. cutting edges

waiting times, and that they say they will be a pledge of 40,000 extra nhs appointments per week. that would come on evenings and two cans. there would also be a new border security command, that is there up on tackling illegal immigration, on the migrant boat crossings across the channel, focus on breaking smuggling gangs. great british energy, setting up a british owned company to provide clean energy, that is another of the pledges. i. energy, that is another of the led . es. ., energy, that is another of the ledues. ., , , ,, , pledges. i. you because sir keir is cominu pledges. i. you because sir keir is coming up — pledges. i. you because sir keir is coming up to _ pledges. i. you because sir keir is coming up to the _ pledges. i. you because sir keir is coming up to the stage _ pledges. i. you because sir keir is coming up to the stage now- pledges. i. you because sir keir is coming up to the stage now in - pledges. i. you because sir keir is i coming up to the stage now in essex. let's listen to what the labour leader has to say to the audience ahead of the general election. thank ou. you.

applause thank you very much indeed. now, i don't know about you but i have found those stories, whether on the videos were here in person, incredibly powerful, incredibly moving. each of them about change. nathanial, i don't know how you do it, i don't know how you are able to hold yourself together with that poise and dignity, and to cling on to that hope for other people. it is inspirational for to that hope for other people. it is inspirationalfor all to that hope for other people. it is inspirational for all of us, it is really fantastic. thank you for coming. applause and what nathanial didn't tell you is that just a few weeks and what nathanial didn't tell you is thatjust a few weeks ago he ran

the marathon playing a trombone. he is a music teacher. applause rob, thank you for your story, your contribution about housing and the importance of the home, that basic security, the base camp from which people can build their lives. it makes such a difference. it certainly did for me. and yours is a story about change, to change from one political party, to another political party is a very big thing to do. it is about change. we have changed the labour party, to put it backin changed the labour party, to put it back in the service of working people. and what we seek humbly is the opportunity to change our country and put it back in the service of working people.

but i'm not going to give you gimmicks. there is no quick fix to the mass that the tories have made of this country. but this is a change labour party with a plan to take us forward. and i have ambition for this country. and like all ambition that starts with first steps. first steps towards higher growth, and nhs back on its feet, secure borders, cheaper bills, safer streets and opportunities for your children.

because we have all had enough. the whole country has had enough of 14 years of failure, spinning round and round, going in circles. chaos and division, feeding chaos and division. and that has a cost. a human cost. willis a fire man who lives in milton keynes and i had coffee with him not so long ago. he has a dream, and aspiration if you like, it is not unusual, it is not unreasonable, he wants to own his own house, his own roof over his head. he is notjust a fireman, he has two additionaljobs. but he still can't afford it because of the damage that has been done and that this government. he is at his wits end. he said to me, what else can i do, i can't afford it because of what the government has done. he is paying the price. he is not the only

one. alder hey hospital is a children's hospital in liverpool. it is brilliant. some of you will perhaps have been there and heard about it. it is fantastic. i went to that hospital. it is designed by children by the way, the way they have set out the words, it is fantastic. the water went on to was where they do heart operations for 0-2 where they do heart operations for 0—2 year old children. this is incredible. just to go into that ward and see tiny children, babies, having heart operations. incredible courage for these tiny beings. a brilliant nhs team, working with them, absolutely brilliant team, doing operations that you want i wouldn't think were possible. i found that really humbling. i found

it uplifting, affirming even. a real reminder of what we can do at our best. but i came away from that hospital also feeling really angry. when i found out that the single biggest cause of children going into that hospitalfor biggest cause of children going into that hospital for operations between the ages of six and ten is to have the ages of six and ten is to have the rotten teeth taken out. literally more children going to that hospitalfor literally more children going to that hospital for operations to have their teeth taken out because they are decaying than any other operation. they are paying a very heavy price for what this government has done. that nhs team, that brilliant team having to spend their time and expertise taking rotten teeth out. something that could have been prevented. there are so many other examples. we have heard in this morning but they are across the country. they tell the bigger story, a deeper story. a story about a loss

of trust, of hope, of confidence evenin of trust, of hope, of confidence even in our ability to take our country forward. and if we are serious about rebuilding our country, and taking our country forward, we have to rebuild that hope and trust and confidence. and you cannot do that with gimmicks, with short—term decisions, sticking plasters, thatjust or put on a problem but don't fix a problem, it only gets bigger. and that is why during the course of last year i set out my missions for an incoming labour government. the big change that we need to make to our country to take it forward, to improve it. to make it a better place. long—term ambitions, credible plans, fixing the fundamentals, and giving an incoming government are driving

sense of purpose about the change we want to bring about. this is going to be hard. sticking plasters is easy, itjust doesn't work. but i have never shied away from tough decisions. i ran a public service. we changed it and reformed it. lots of people said you couldn't and shouldn't do it but we had to press on. we have changed the labour party and put it back in the service of working people. country first, party second. thank you. todayis today is an important date, because all ambitions, today is an important date, because allambitions, particularly today is an important date, because all ambitions, particularly our ambition to change a country for your better, have to start with

first steps. these are our first steps. they enable us if you like to look the public in the eye and say this is our done payment and change. these are the first shoots of the change that you deserve to see. first steps that are ready to go, fully costed and fully funded. step one, economic stability. this is the very foundation of economic growth. tough spending rules, yes, to keep inflation, taxes and mortgage is low. because if you lose control of the economy, it is working people who will pay the price. liz truss lost control of the economy. and working people paid the price. just about a week after her mini budget, i was in wolverhampton with a young

couple, who had a three—year—old child. and they wanted a second child, to build theirfamily. so they had identified a new home to bite. they got a mortgage, a provisional mortgage that they could afford. they were excited about the future they were going to build. liz truss crashed the economy. their mortgage literally went through the roof and they couldn't afford it. i had to cancel the plans. no more new homes or no more moving on. stuck. but they also made a much more profound decision. they decided that they couldn't afford a second child. they are going to live with that decision for the rest of their lives. i am decision for the rest of their lives. iam not decision for the rest of their lives. i am not prepared to allow an incoming labour government ever to do that kind of damage to working

people. and this isn't just and this isn'tjust about and this isn't just about the and this isn'tjust about the past because rishi sunak has not learned the lessons. he says he will abolish national insurance. that is a £46 billion unfunded tax cut, £46 billion. that is why i could hardly believe i am saying this, stability is change. that is why it has to be our first step. the second step is cutting nhs waiting times. it is impossible to overstate the seriousness of this problem. nearly 8 million operations and appointments needed, 8 million. that means everyone in this room, everybody watching or listening

probably is on a waiting list or knows someone who was on a waiting list. that is the worst it has ever been. and we see at the whole time. i see it every time i am out. on sunday, i was travelling from london to manchester. i confess, i was on my way to watch arsenal beat man united away at old trafford. can you believe it, rachel? we pulled into knutsford service station and i got out and walked in to get a copy. and a woman recognised me and she called me over and she said to me and she showed me, she has an ingrowing islet, red row, swollen and causing her a huge amount of pain and discomfort. she said to me, i have

been waiting 18 months for an appointment, for the operation, and i havejust been appointment, for the operation, and i have just been told i appointment, for the operation, and i havejust been told i have appointment, for the operation, and i have just been told i have to wait another 12 months. she virtually pleaded with me to win the election and do something about it. that's not unusual, there are so many versions of this story, knees or hips or whatever the operation may be. that is the price that so many people are buying and that is why we have to do with it. 40,000 operations and appointments every single week, paid for by cracking down on tax avoiders and the non—dom tax status. applause step three, a new border security command. because the government has lost control of our borders. this

year alone, 8000 people have made that perilous journey across the channels in a small boat.- that perilous journey across the channels in a small boat. let's be clear, channels in a small boat. let's be clear. nobody _ channels in a small boat. let's be clear, nobody should _ channels in a small boat. let's be clear, nobody should be - channels in a small boat. let's be clear, nobody should be making l channels in a small boat. let's be i clear, nobody should be making that journey. nobody. and it is a test, it is a test of governance, of would—be governments, as to how we respond. and there are choices in that response. you could choose a gimmick that won't fix it or a serious ban that will get to the heart of it. and the government has chosen the gimmick, the rwanda scheme. it cost a fortune, an absolute fortune. to deport less than 1% of those arriving by small boats. that means, of course, that 99 plus will not be removed under the scheme. and if you don't think that criminal gangs are saying that

to the people