this is bbc news. i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 7pm — nhs under pressure — the number of people waiting more than 18 weeks for hospital treatment in england has doubled since 2012 — bbc research shows. passengers from country subjected to america's travel ban sees the chance to fly to the us as judges refused to fly to the us as judges refused to reverse the suspension of the controversial order. ministers pledge more affordable homes will be built in england — aimed at tackling the high cost of renting. also in the next hour — wales get off to a flying start in the six nations. they're top of the table after beating italy in rome — we'll have full details of this and today's other action in sportsday at 7.30pm. and in meet the author — jim naughtie talks to sophie kinsella about her new book. good evening and

welcome to bbc news. more and more people are having to wait several months for hospital treatment in england. new figures obtained by the bbc, show the number of patients still waiting after 18 weeks, has doubled in the past four years. health experts are warning that the total number of people waiting for treatment could soon reach 4 million. the royal college of surgeons says the delays are causing real suffering for many patients, while nhs england says it's doing all it can to speed up treatment times. in the first of a series of reports on the health of the nhs, here's our health editor hugh pym. for peter, it wasn'tjust inconvenient waiting six months for surgery, it made his life almost unbearable. even after a series of operations on his legs and stomach began last autumn, there were delays

when he was almost immobile. i was completely housebound, relying on friends forjust minor trips to the shops and i became quite reclusive as well. deeply frustrated and deeply upset with not being able to get out and do what i wanted to do. bbc research shows that long waits for operations have gone up a lot, since 2012, though they are measured differently around the uk. in england, the number waiting over 18 weeks was up 163%. in scotland, the figure was up 95%. in wales, those waiting over 26 weeks were up 74%. and in northern ireland, the number waiting over 13 weeks was up 95%. i don't know anybody who isn't extremely concerned about this because it is an indicator of the fact that we are unable to deliver the standard of care we would like to be delivering and also an indicator ofjust how much patients

waiting for their surgery are probably suffering. nhs waiting lists became a big political issue in the 1990s and tony blair's government focused on bringing them down. this continued under david cameron and the coalition. that improvement has reversed in the last few years. it is quite likely we will pass the 4 million mark, people waiting for admissions to hospitals for treatment, probably in the spring of this year. the department of health which covers england said the nhs was doing 5,000 more operations a day than in 2010 at the number who had to wait less than the 18—week target had also increased. hospitals say that with more emergency cases coming in and only a limited number of beds, something has to give. when the system is under pressure, it is often the patient expecting routine surgery who has to be put off. hospitals have been under relentless pressure on the emergency side and we need to free up the capacity to enable those planned

operations to continue. peter had his final operation last week and is out and about again but the long wait is something he would not wish on any other patient. joining us now from camberley in surrey is roy lilley, former chair of an nhs trust and now a health writer. thank you forjoining us. from these figures we have just been reporting, how can we safely... how safe you can we save the nhs is doing generally speaking? generally speaking i think it is doing very well. it is under enormous pressure. the difficulty is that while we get people in through the front door so to speak, we cannot get them out the back door. the nhs has difficulty working with its care partner, social care, so we have a lot of frail and elderly people occupying

health service beds and medical beds as they are called and we cannot people get home and of course when the medical beds are full, we have to find somewhere else for them so then they spill over into surgical beds and that is when people normally expect what we call an elective operation, knees and hips and so on, go for their operations and so on, go for their operations and we can't admit them and we have to say sorry, the beds are full. so the whole thing grinds to a halt. it is like one big sausage machine. if anything holds the system up, it grinds to a halt. how feasible would it be to try to create one system which looked after health and social ca re which looked after health and social care rather than being kept in different sections? certainly working with social care more closely is the way to make it work but the problem is, the local authorities have had their budgets cut by nearly 40% so social services have no money and the nhs has had

all but flat lined funding so neither has any money. the other difficulty is that a lot lot of social care is means tested and nhs services are free at the point of need. by putting this together, there is concern we might end up having to pay for health care. how much of the problems we are seeing in the nhs, particularly waiting times, is entirely down to money? because the government is obviously quite right in saying medical advances are very costly. yes, they are, no question. in terms of gdp, it is our gross domestic product, in the year 2000, we were putting 6.3 percent gdp into the nhs and next, 6.66 -- percent gdp into the nhs and next, 6.6 g -- dp, percent gdp into the nhs and next, 6.6 g —— dp, we are simply not putting enough money into the health service. the nhs is sustainable if

we wa nt service. the nhs is sustainable if we want to fund it properly but at the moment, we don't, it has has flat lined funding from 2010 to 2020. over that ten years, the nhs will have taken £50 billion out of its budget. it is simply not sustainable and the nhs cannot survive and neither can social care so survive and neither can social care so the politicians have to look at themselves and say, they willing to go to the public and say, we will have to put taxes up to give the nhs and social care breathing space. if you asked the public, my view is that the public would probably go along with it but the politicians have never asked that question. don't we need to have a whole—cell think about what the nhs is capable of in this day and age? particularly at this time with our population is ageing? we already do that with some of the expensive cancer drugs but by

and large, the nhs can cope if it is paid properly to do the job. if you look at the care of the elderly, in terms of their cost in hospital, it is very small. usually a few drugs and an overnight stay, the problem is we cannot get them home. the real difficulty is, social care, everyone thought chancellor hammond would have made more money available to social services to ease the problem. he did not and i have to say eve ryo ne he did not and i have to say everyone was surprised. we have then had the communities secretary sajid javid fiddling around with the precept, the amount of money local government can raise for itself to look after social care, instead of having three years of 2% uplift, we 110w having three years of 2% uplift, we now have two years of 3% uplift. it seems to be politicians are in denial and we really have to simply get back to saying, let's fund the nhs properly. when the nhs was funded on about the european average, eight or 9% of the gdp, it

was doing very well and waiting times came down. since 2010, when the coalition government cut public expenditure because it was trying to control the economy after the banking crisis, it had three options, it could cut expenditure, it could erase taxes —— raise taxes or borrow more money and it had a go at all of those. fundamentally the damage was caused in 2010 and we have to get back to some sensible funding levels. how would you answer the claim from some quarters that there is a political intention to see the nhs be degraded so it is unfit for purpose and then you strengthen the argument for privatisation? that is the kind of machiavellian argument we are hearing now. my view is would be if you are trying to sell the nhs off, you are trying to sell the nhs off, you would fatten it up rather than emasculate it. we have seen

companies tried to come in and run the nhs. an example in hinting brooke hospital where a company came in and they ran up £5 million worth of debt and paid a £2 million penalty to get out saying it cost them 7 million. we have seen big companies like sako for example move away from clinicalfacing... companies like sako for example move away from clinical facing... patient facing services. the private sector will have to make a margin. they make a profit and we understand that but there are no margins to be made in the nhs, it is running on the smell of money and fresh air. i don't think anybody seriously in the private sector will think about coming on and taking no services on because if the nhs can't make ends meet, the private sector couldn't do it having to make a surplus. thank you for speaking to us. and over the coming days we'll be running a series of reports looking at the state of the nhs and the issues it faces. victoria derbyshire will be debating

the state of the health service tomorrow. they will be joined by health experts and politicians. a federal appeals court has delivered another blow to president trump's travel ban, against people entering america from seven mainly muslim countries. the court gave the government until the end of tomorrow to respond. the court decided not to reinstate the policy, after it's suspension by a federal court. from washington richard lister reports. at the american airports, business as usual, the travel ban has been lifted and those with visas can come again. those previously barred by president trump are heading to the us while they can. we're really excited and and finally we have been cleared to enter the united states.

donald trump may be relaxing in florida this weekend but he is furious at this challenge to his presidency and forced to abide by the court's ruling but fighting to take back control of his agenda. we face a dangerous enemy, inspiring people to come into this country and people who are already in this country frankly and the president is determined to use the authority he has under the constitution and the law. doesn't the judge has the authority to do what he did as well? he certainly does and that is why the administration is complying with that order. this executive order, donald trump says, is legal and he can bar entrance to foreigners in the name of national security. a federal court overturned the ban on friday and the judge said it was unconstitutional because it damaged businesses and colleges. the president's first attempt to get the ban restored has failed and he had argued his presidential authority was being undermined. a full appeal is due this week but it could end up

at the supreme court. the vetting order was not vetted. there is a difference between being bold and being rash. when you put out an order that you have not worked with businesses or your professionals in the security order when you have done it, i don't think it is a surprise there will be court challenges. despite the noisy protest outside president trump's florida home, the polls suggest these voices are in the minority and more americans support the travel ban. when he returns to the white house this week, the president will be determined to press on with his signature policy but he is finding out the hard way there are checks and balances to his authority. the courts are even now defining the limits of his presidential power. dr kelli ward is a former state senator from arizona.

she supports temporary travel ban donald trump has tried to put in place. how unedifying is this as a beginning to a presidency?” how unedifying is this as a beginning to a presidency? i think president trump is doing everything in his power to make sure the united states, our sovereignty and security as well as... is held to the utmost importance. i think it is actually a good start. he is doing the things he campaigned on and the things that brought the american people together to put him in office as our president. but he is already adults with thejudiciary, president. but he is already adults with the judiciary, criticising individual judges. with the judiciary, criticising individualjudges. he is said to have used an executive order in an unconstitutional way. how can you be complimentary about any of those things? i think president trump is well within his rights as the

president. it is both constitutional and by statutory law, allowed, that the president can act on issues of immigration when that is in the interest of national security. those criticisms i think are unfounded. but clearly that is not the case, he cannot do those things, his executive order has been overturned and the travel ban has been lifted temporarily. it could go to the supreme court where even conservative judges act on what the constitution says and what president trump is doing is said to be discriminatory on religious grounds. there is no religious discrimination, no muslim band. this isa discrimination, no muslim band. this is a temporary stay for people coming into our country. no one has the right to come into the united states. that right does not exist in our constitution or anywhere. it is up our constitution or anywhere. it is up to our elected officials to make

sure that we keep america safe. he is acting within the law to make sure america is kept safe. we are starting to have trouble hearing you but let's persevere with one more question, there is a problem with the sound, thank you for sticking with us. you say it is not a ban on muslims but the seven countries tied up muslims but the seven countries tied up in this band are mainly muslim and christian from those countries have been told it would probably be 0kforyou, have been told it would probably be ok for you, how could you say it is not an action against islam? there are over 30 other countries that have mainly muslim inhabitants and if there is truly a muslim band in place, it would affect every muslim in the world. this only affects people where we do not know yet... inaudible

people who want to come to this country. i'm sure... inaudible thank you for talking to us. our apologies to how that sound broke up towards the end. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10.30pm and 11.30pm this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are robert fox, who's defence editor at the london evening standard, and the former conservative employment minister, esther mcvey. the headlines on bbc news — the number of people waiting more than the nhs target of 18 weeks for hospital treatment in england has more than doubled over four years. passengers from country subjected to america's travel bans are seizing the chance to fly to the us after

judges refused to reverse a suspension of the controversial order. the conservatives have signalled a shift away from the encouraging home ownership for all, one of the party's guiding principles since margaret thatcher's time in office. let's stay with that story. the conservative party may no longer be encouraging home ownership for all. a guiding principle for more than 30 years, the housing minister, gavin barwell, now says buying a home is no longer affordable for some, there should be a new emphasis on renting. labour argues more council houses are needed, to deal with what it says is a ‘housing crisis'. here's our political correspondent iain watson. mrs thatcher defended the council sales policy. mrs thatcher expected that would be her legacy when she gave tenants the right to buy their council homes in the 80s. but the current conservative prime minister faces a different challenge with house prices soaring in some parts of britain. home ownership remains a dream for many families so many houses

have been constructed to help those who have to rent. we need to build more homes for rent because that will bring the price down over time but secondly we need to try to change the way the market works and bring some new people in that will offer longer tenancies and give people more security in their home. and we need to end some of the upfront costs people have to pay. home ownership in england has declined from its peak in 2003. seven out of ten households owned their own home then. fewer than two thirds now. the number of private rented accommodation has almost doubled. before the financial crash, developers were falling over themselves to grab this piece of prime north london real estate to build homes for people to buy. now, this rather swish development behind me has been built exclusively for people to rent. these new homes are likely to be popular with young professionals who cannot afford a big deposit to get onto the housing ladder. some flats costing £450 a week

so they don't come cheap. we have seen the lowest level of new affordable housing bowled in for 2h years. building in for 2h years. what we have heard from government today in truth is feeble and incentives for private landlords simply won't help. 0ne infourfamilies bringing up kids in private accommodation and they need more guarantee and security. government ministers say they haven't abandoned the vision of a property—owning democracy but with more people now renting, policies have to accommodate the new reality. i can speak now to rico wojtulewicz from the house builders' association. he's in our brighton studio. what do you make of these measures, would they be reluctance from house—builders if it meant people we re house—builders if it meant people were less likely to buy them for private ownership?” were less likely to buy them for private ownership? i wouldn't

necessarily say so. i think this is a focused that is desperately needed in the housing industry because we talk a lot about home ownership. a lot of homes are being built because they are not being enabled and that is the same for rental properties. if you enable more people to build these homes, they will be able to actually rent them. we understand this problem acutely because we build for community land trust, cooperative housing, for rental homes, self build and custom—built, for the whole market. just explain before we go further what sme means. it isa before we go further what sme means. it is a small or medium enterprise and generally, local and national builders. they might build two homes a year, up to 250 possible homes a year. under the 800 mark.

a year, up to 250 possible homes a year. underthe 800 mark. if a year, up to 250 possible homes a year. under the 800 mark. if you allow those people to build, you get the right types of homes in the right areas and that brings me nicely onto when we will have an increase of supply of these types of rented homes, and we would do if you enable more people to build in the right places because smes only build where they can buy land that they can build on and rent in the local community and that is vital. two things, how are rental properties that you might build different to those that you would sell to the homeowner? interestingly, many of our members have moved to home ownership or part by, part rent scheme because people want it. typically, local builders will build homes people need and people can afford. the question of affordability is interesting in

itself because what is affordable? whether your home is affordable over your lifetime. we have a different measurement test for old homes in energy efficiency. we have to look at the wide aspect of what is affordable. as you mentioned earlier, regionally, that is imperative because many regions up north don't struggle with the affordability challenge that regions down south do. because the homes built are both affordable to buy and generally affordable to rent. there isa generally affordable to rent. there is a competitive market. you talked about these small and medium enterprises needing to be enabled to build homes, what do you mean? 0ther conditions not right? do you have the right trades men for the job? having the right trades men has been a concern but if you look at the way any business works, if you have business, you can employed skilled

workforce and the conservatives, we don't believe they are doing a very good job supporting local and regional house—builders which means housing association struggle because they cannot build on the smaller sites. there's a big concentration on the larger sites and those large sites while they do produce a lot of homes, they do it over a staged process. as these discussions show last week, they don't introduce the best business models and they don't necessarily mean making profit. we have some members who will only build key worker housing or only build key worker housing or only build retirement housing because thatis build retirement housing because that is their marketplace. unless you enable those people to build on the small sites in the smaller regions, it is notjust about cities, one of our members in coventry struggles to build any more homes because they are not in the central city district. you need to look at the wider aspect as well as affordable. for example, commuter

towns in the south and south east especially, high price because they are commuter towns for london and they should be commuter towns for they should be commuter towns for the region and therefore house prices will come down as supply is increased. it is a much wider and broader discussion. it certainly is. saturday morning papers i think, there was an argument that... a suggestion that builders were not going to... they were going to have their planning permission taken away if they didn't get on with it and use that permission to build. what would your response to that be? we represent is small and medium builders, the local guys. it is not going to be an issue for us because we are desperate to get planning permission through and if you consider, speaking to a few members this week, one of our members spent three years trying to get planning permission for 16 homes and it has cost tha n permission for 16 homes and it has cost than £70,000 with an extra bill on top, this isjust

cost than £70,000 with an extra bill on top, this is just to achieve planning permission. when you consider those numbers, the risk to just go for one project for a local and regional house—builder is huge. so therefore, they will always build out their projects and at the moment, because of the skills crisis, it is because of the concentration on large projects. if you deliver more smaller projects, within the existing community affecting the green belt very much, then actually, they can plan a job ahead and take apprentices on. they are still doing that but this is a wide issue and it is notjust about small and medium house—builders, wide issue and it is notjust about smalland medium house—builders, it is about your housing associations and cooperative and community land trusts, self build and custom—built which are vital. if you allow more smes to be part of the process, the rest of the market is enabled. concentrating too much on volume of house—building as we have seen in the last decade, especially in london, is problematic, notjust for supply but the type of supply. if we

simply look at the london house—building figures, it is very much now from houses to flats. 15 yea rs much now from houses to flats. 15 years ago, that was 45% houses. much now from houses to flats. 15 years ago, that was 45% housesm is complicated and we have had a good stab at it. thank you for joining us. the leader of france's far—right national front party, marine le pen, has promised to eradicate terrorism and to abandon the euro, if she wins the country's presidential election. launching her campaign she said france was under threat from islamic fundamentalism, and globalisation. lucy williamson, reports from lyon. she hugs kittens, shares memories of pregnancy and has dropped her controversial surname from the party brand. this is marine, a new softer image for france's ha rdline nationalist—in—chief, but the message is broadly the same. translation: we do not want to live

under the yoke or threat of islamic fundamentalism. they are trying to impose the full veil, prayer in the streets, the submission of women, a ban on skirts, banned from work. her election promises to pull france out of the euro, cut immigration and give french people priority in housing and jobs, have won her enough support to win the first round of the presidential contest, polls say. her problem lies in winning the second. this time she is not the only new face on the block. france is suddenly facing the prospect of a presidential run—off without either of its main established parties. the leaders of both left and right trailing in the polls, voters could end up choosing between two political outsiders.

0ne fiercely nationalist, the other with a liberal pro—europe vision for france. emmmanuel macron drew twice as many people to his own election rally this weekend, not bad for a man waging his first—ever election campaign. if marine le pen is targeting the losers of globalisation, mr macron is pushing its benefits hard, only to be expected from a former banker perhaps. translation: 78 days to go, our time has come and our will is moving forward. this election offers new faces but also new political divisions and new kinds of voters for marine le pen. this is a day we suffer from uncontrolled immigration, islamic aggression, insecurity, unemployment and for us, marine le pen is the answer. the front national is running

in the name of the people, it says, and in this election, there are many candidates from many different parties claiming to do just the same. after days of street protests in romania, the government there has withdrawn a controversial decree that would have reduced some penalties for corruption. we can show you live pictures from the capital. in bucharest, thousands are celebrating the government's decision. many say that the u—turn is not enough and they are calling for the resignation of the government.