you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: south yorkshire and parts of the east midlands brace for more rain. yellow warnings are in place meaning floodwater could cause a danger to life. the conservatives say they'll cut "immigration overall" to the uk after brexit if they win the election. and later in the programme, we'll be looking at these immigration claims more closely with reality check‘s chris morris. meanwhile, labour is promising to close the gender pay gap by 2030. the outgoing european council president, donald tusk is urging british voters to not give up on stopping brexit. brexit is the real end of

the british empire. and england play montenegro tonight needing just one point to take them to the euros next summer, but they'll have to do it without star player raheem sterling who was dropped after his bust—up with liverpool'sjoe gomez. good morning and welcome to the bbc news at 9. the army is preparing fresh defences for flood—stricken parts of south yorkshire as more heavy rain is forecast across the uk. forecasters are warning there could be a danger to life in the village of fishlake near doncaster where hundreds have been forced to leave their homes and businesses. a yellow weather warning for rain is now in force around sheffield, doncaster and nottingham, and will last until the early hours of friday morning. tim muffett reports.

the floodwaters are dispersing, but more heavy rain is expected here, so soldiers from the light dragoons cavalry regiment have been building barriers to try and protect fishlake. you've got sandbags here. yep. you have barriers as well. how does it work? for the barrier, there is basically the metal a—frame we put in place in place underneath, we put the lining on top and then we clip it down with the clips and then there is a big chain at the bottom to weigh it down to make sure the water doesn't go underneath. we are the english northern cavalry so we have people around the area from down the road in castleford, so it's their friends and family, so it's got that close to home feel. but for many it is too little, too late. it's not the first time we've been flooded, but it's the first time the village has been flooded but we've had this for the last five or six years but nobody listens. we are fighting a losing battle. it's devastating. my friends have lost

everything and it is awful. people just cannot get out. we are stuck here. my little boy cannot go to school. at st cuthbert‘s church, the donations kept coming. food, clothes and bedding all available to those who needed it. you feel a lump in your throat and you don't really want to take things because other people are suffering more than you are. what have you managed to get? mainly breakfast stuff, because the rented accommodation that we got last night and we don't have anything for the children and we need to start eating properly. jess has been busy checking in with her neighbours. are you all right, mary? they are doing another hot meal at the pub tonight, do you want me to bring you some? 47 years in this house, but i've been in the village near the church for 72 years. you've never seen anything like this? never anything like this. you are chucking stuff out and everything you pick up is wet through. do you feel let down?

we do feel let down. like i said, we started flooding on friday night and we didn't get sandbags delivered till half 11 on saturday night by the damage had been done. six days since the flooding starting and the biggest fear is that heavy rain will come again on fall saturated ground. our correspondent tim muffett is in fishlake, near doncaster this morning. with that further rain on the way, is it difficult for people to envisage how they will get on top of the situation? yes, good morning. yesterday i spent time with the army and they have been putting in flood barriers but many roads here are covered in water and the levels have dropped significantly but the rain which has been forecast has started to fall. phil holmes is from doncaster council and you are helping to coordinate the response

to the flood. have you done enough? have we done enough across the borough? we have been spread thin since thursday responding to various incidents. fishlake had horrendous rain from saturday night into sunday morning and we have been rushing with environment agency colleagues and partners to try to manage it and we relied very much on the emergency services to hold a situation safe in areas like fishlake while we have focused on other parts of the borough. so we've done a lot and we have had a lot of support from other colleagues including the army, as you mentioned and more support coming and we will be full on with supporting the whole of the borough, including fishlake over the weeks and months ahead. i've spoken to many residents in the last couple of days and the council comes in for a lot of criticism say you have not been on site and they have relied on other services to help them get through the day. do you feel in hindsight you should have done more?

in fishlake we have worked as a team across the whole catastrophe, really. the environment agency have given usa really. the environment agency have given us a clear steer that when there was a severe warning in fishlake there was a risk to life and we had liaison officers here but we we re and we had liaison officers here but we were mainly working with the emergency services who are the visible face for the people of fishlake and i understand how frustrating that has been for them. for us it's been about coordinating and supporting the rescue effort and now thank heavens the flood warning has been lifted and it's about being fully present and supporting the community and the surrender situation. rain forecast today and it's starting to fall now. what will you do today to help people? we are deploying resources in stainforth and fishlake. and we have a community hub in stainforth at the moment which is providing advice and information and you have seen all kinds of lorries and vehicles

driving past as we talk, sandbags and various support for the area. we are mindful of the rain tonight and we are working closely with the environment agency on the forecast. it's not as bad as we feared a day or two ago but we are proactively sandbagging and making things safe in the army have been amazing in that respect. there have been floods in 2007 in this area but people say this village has not been flooded for 100 years. why is it happening now? you're taking me out of my expertise with that. nationally i think there needs to be a lot of attention on areas that are flooded and it really caught us by surprise on saturday night and we rushed to respond and you can see the devastation that has been here and there needs to be a broader conversation about managing floods. at the moment we are focused on managing the recovery and this community and others across doncaster and many villages and towns affected, that is what the

focus is now. thank you very much and hopefully those things in place will make a real impact. thank you. as you can see, we have traffic coming through here so it is passa ble to coming through here so it is passable to get in and out of the village but you do tend to need a 4x4 or certain types of vehicles to do itand 4x4 or certain types of vehicles to do it and normality are some way off and people here are looking to the skies and hoping that the rain which is forecast is not as heavy as some had feared. thanks for bringing us up had feared. thanks for bringing us up to date, tim in fishlake. it's another busy day ahead in the general election campaign and already policies coming out from the conservatives and labour this morning. the conservatives have pledged to reduce overall immigration if they win the general election. but they haven't set any targets — after failing to meet previous promises to cut net migration to tens of thousands a year. and as nominations for people to stand in the election close this afternoon, nigel farage finds himself under pressure to pull out of certain seats to help the conservatives get

a majority in government. the labour party has announced a target for closing the gender pay gap in just over a decade. it says it will adopt policies to eliminate the difference in average hourly pay between men and woman by 2030. meanwhile, in a speech last night, the outgoing president of the european council donald tusk waded into the election debate, warning voters not to "give up" on stopping brexit. let's speak now to our assistant political editor, norman smith. norman, to immigration first of all, and no surprise that the conservatives are not putting any figures on this at the moment after those failed net migration targets but really this is about taking on the brexit party, this announcement, isn't it? we have got a new fact that we know that the tories will commit to cutting overall immigration but we are not much further forward and we don't know

the details of this new point —based system that they are talking about but we are pretty clear that they are not going to repeat this idea of having a specific target because, as you say, that was repeatedly missed under theresa may and david cameron, added to which, borisjohnson, pretty soon after taking over as leader announced he was dumping the idea, so a target is out the window but there is a pledge to reduce migration and at the same time it is clear that the tories want to try and stoke this is an issue during the election campaign because they believe labour is vulnerable over their apparent support for some form of freedom of movement and the issue of freedom of movement and the issue of immigration played very well for borisjohnson during of immigration played very well for boris johnson during the of immigration played very well for borisjohnson during the league campaign and the brexit referendum, so campaign and the brexit referendum, so this morning we had the home office minister brandon lewis confirming that the tories would commit to cutting migration. we want

to reduce net migration, and this is why we need a clear conservative majority and we will first of all leave the eu so we end free movement from the eu which prevents as being able to control immigration and that allows us to control immigration from the eu and we want to introduce a new points—based system which is fairand a new points—based system which is fair and equal to the entire world which gives us control, and once we have control, we can see immigration being reduced. norman, with the deadline for candidates nomination is looming, how much pressure is nigel farage under two remove candidates from more seats beyond those he has mentioned in order to try and help the conservatives? huge, huge pressure, notjust from tories, but from some of his closest, long—standing allies, the hardline brexiteers who are all fea rful hardline brexiteers who are all fearful that if he stands brexit party candidates in marginal seats he risks splitting the leave vote

and allowing remainers to take those constituencies, thereby, it is argued, potentiallyjeopardising brexit. nigel farage has done a series of flip—flops over the past few days, most significantly he has flip—flopped over his opposition to boris johnson's flip—flopped over his opposition to borisjohnson's deal flip—flopped over his opposition to boris johnson's deal and says flip—flopped over his opposition to borisjohnson's deal and says it is 0k borisjohnson's deal and says it is ok now that mrjohnson has committed not to extend the transition period beyond december 2020 and he has flip—flopped over standing down candidates but it seems he is not prepared to flip—flop one more time over pulling out altogether. have a listen to him. if we stood in just 40 constituencies we wouldn't, because of the expenditure rules be open to fight a campaign —— be able. but there are clearly seats in which we are the lead challenger and there are other seats in which they are the lead challenger to labour and we could have done a deal on that basis but the priority for the conservative party, they do not want

the brexit party to get seats in parliament and they would rather risk not winning the election then have a leave majority or leave alliance. meanwhile on the other side of the brexit divide the so—called remain alliance of as shaky and flimsy as ever with the liberal democrats confirming that they will not stand aside for some labour remain mps in key marginal such as in canterbury and they will not stand aside for the former tory minister who has advised doubtful tories that they should consider voting liberal democrat. at the same time, we have seen donald tusk, the outgoing president of the european council weighing in to the election debate, suggesting it's not too late for people here opposed to brexit to hold it if they manage to block borisjohnson from hold it if they manage to block boris johnson from securing hold it if they manage to block borisjohnson from securing a majority at the election.

after its departure, the uk will become an outsider, a second— rate player. one of my english friends is probably right when he says, with melancholy, that brexit is the real end of the british empire. one of the funny things during the campaign has been the way we have seen campaign has been the way we have seen foreign leaders actually getting involved. obviously donald tusk their and then the other day we had hillary killings in demand —— hillary clinton demanding the publishing of the russian intelligence and then donald trump suggesting that borisjohnson and nigel farage should get together. strange times, but it seems foreign leaders are no longer inhibited about wading into the campaign. norman, thank you very much. you can find out what each party is promising to do on the issues that matter to you, in our general

election policy guide. it's at bbc.co.uk/news or on the bbc news app. nhs waiting times in england have increased so much that it could take years to get them back on target, according to the british medical association. currently patients should be seen within four hours of arriving at a&e, and start cancer treatment in less than 62 days after an urgent gp referral. but analysis shows these targets haven't been met in more than three years. here's our health correspondent, dominic hughes. it is hard to believe that two years ago, frances reed was effectively crippled by arthritis. her constant pain was ended by a hip replacement operation. nhs targets meant she should only have waited 18 weeks for surgery. instead, her operation was delayed by six months. that really impacted on my health, my general health, my mobility. i was in a lot of pain and could barely get about.

and it also impacted on my recovery time afterwards because i was so unfit by the time i had my surgery. for years, the nhs in england has struggled to meet key targets. the 18—week target for planned operations was last met more than three years ago. it has been over four years since the 4—hour waiting target for a&e was hit and nearly three quarters of services are failing to treat cancer patients quickly enough. these pictures paint a worrying picture. there are 4.5 million people on hospital waiting lists, hospitals, even before the winter pressure, are already full. so there are doubts that these patients will get access to care as quickly as they need it. frances's operation gave her a new lease on life. but nhs england is considering changing waiting time targets, arguing they are outdated.

the royal college of surgeons and an arthritis charity have written to party leaders calling for them to reject the plans, arguing that otherwise patients like frances could face extra weeks of pain and stress. the latest nhs waiting times figures are expected at around half past 9, we'll bring you those when they're released. the headlines on bbc news. south yorkshire and parts of the east midlands brace for more rain. yellow warnings are in place meaning floodwater could cause a danger to life. the conservatives say they'll cut "immigration overall" to the uk after brexit if they win the election. meanwhile, labour is promising to close the gender pay gap by 2030. england prepare for a landmark game at wembley. they only need a point against montenegro to reach the

euros but they won't have raheem sterling who has been dropped. gareth southgate says they can manage without him. hannah cockroft set a new record as she retained the 800 metres title. britain also took silver. england test captainjoe root say he and chris silverwood have a two—year plan to win back the ashes in australia. joe root says the team will try to bat longer and be more patient with the ball. more on all of those stories just after half past. let's return to the election and the conservatives pledge to reduce overall immigration if they win the general election. our reality check correspondent chris morris is with me to look at these claims further. we talk about claims but we haven't got a lot of detail and cutting immigration overall doesn't tell us a lot. so what can you tell us about

the numbers behind migration into the numbers behind migration into the uk at the moment? it's interesting and it shows how difficult it will be to cut migration. there will be a big debate in this election about ending free movement from the european union but that is not the only picture. we have a graph to show you which basically says and shows you two lines, and one is the light blue line. that is net migration over the last nine years from the eu under free movement, which is going down sharply and then the purple line, net migration from the rest of the learner —— world which has been going up in recent years. where is the point the two lines cross? roughly the middle of 2016 when the eu referendum was and since the eu referendum the number of net arrivals from the eu has fallen sharply, so ending free movement on its own is not going to make a huge amount of difference to the overall immigration numbers. if we look at what the exact numbers are in the

last numbers we had, this is the year ending march 2019, net migration from eu countries, so the number of people who have arrived minus the number of people who have left, 59,000, but from the rest of the world the number is much, much higher. its 219000 and that number will not be affected in any way by ending free movement. the tories have jumped on a ending free movement. the tories havejumped on a labour party conference motion which says they wa nt to conference motion which says they want to maintain and extend free movement. the tories say this could mean hundreds of thousands more immigrants arriving in this country. but that seems to rely on the premise that labour means it will extend free movement to the whole of the rest of the world. i just re—read the conference motion and it doesn't say that. it is a bit ambiguous. there are questions for both parties at the moment on immigration, number one, what does extending free movement mean for labour and what will appear in the ma nifesto ? labour and what will appear in the manifesto? and the tories, if they say they are going to cut

immigration, buy when and by how much? when they say cutting immigration overall, are they talking purely about eu nationals or eu plus non—eu nationals. talking purely about eu nationals or eu plus non—eu nationalslj talking purely about eu nationals or eu plus non-eu nationals. i think they're talking about both but what they're talking about both but what the charts show is that ending free movement from the eu will not really make a dent in it and if you start bringing down numbers from the rest of the world there will be sectors of the world there will be sectors of business, agriculture, construction, the hospitality industry, the nhs, they will start saying, where do we get our staff from? we are talking about the numbers we know about, but what about illegal immigrants and there is some new research out today on the numbers of illegal immigrants. there is,, one organisation suggesting and it is an estimate, that between 800,001.2 million irregular and undocumented immigrants might be in the uk.

800,001.2 million? somewhere between that? they reckon that half of the illegal immigrants in the eu are in the uk are in germany, hardly surprising given that they are the two biggest economies. it's really difficult to count illegal immigrants. if you are an illegal agreement, you don't put your hand up agreement, you don't put your hand up and say count me, so nobody knows how many are here and it has to be an estimate, and if you're going to estimated you need very, very good statistics on how many regular migrants are in the country because we don't have things like identity cards. the numbers we havejust shown you are, if you like, estimates as well. so are there lots of illegally entered immigrants in the uk economy? of course, but there are in any economy and we have to ta ke are in any economy and we have to take those numbers with a pinch of salt. thank you very much, chris. and, throughout the election campaign we'll be putting your questions

to all of the main parties. this morning at half past eleven, we'll be joined by kirsty blackman from the scottish national party. so if you have anything you want to ask, please do get in touch, using the contact details on screen, and we'll put those questions to her. please remember to leave your name and where your from. so in exactly four weeks, 50,000 polling stations around the uk will open for people to cast their vote to decide who will be our next prime minister. the december election date means festive plans for some venues have had to be put on hold, with pantomimes, school nativity plays and christmas events being rescheduled or cancelled. our reporterjon kay has been to meet some of those affected. singing four weeks to go. this school in morecambe will be a polling station so their nativity has to be rearranged. singing for the 600 pupils,

it will mean a day off. but for parents, it will mean extra child care. cheering people have got bills to pay, rent to pay, mortgages to pay. if they're not pulling in the pennies, it has a massive impact on what food they can put on the table and nobody can afford to lose money, really, before christmas. so many times we've had to do it over the past, like, three or four years with all these different elections. there's a community church hall down there. why can't they use that for the elections? it's mad anywayjust generally at that time of year. for the head teacher, it means an extra sack full of stress. the children are off for a day, then they're back friday and then they've only got another week before they're off and they are getting tired at that stage, it's an 8—week half term, this one, so we're trying to make it as general and as routine as possible. we head north from morecambe to ca rlisle. this is the hall where they always count the votes and declare the winner on election night. all shout: oh, no, it isn't!

not this time. the venue's already booked. a pantomime replacing politics. so, this is the council chamber. the man in charge has had to move the count here. it will be the first time for a general election. in council officers against the uk, it's a race against time to organise a surprise christmas election. here, they've cancelled staff holidays so they can book 75 polling stations, and new flood—proof ballot boxes — a reminder of what a winter vote might mean. we're used to tough winters in cumbria, so i think we'll be fine. how do you keep those polling stations operating if it's a cold, freezing day? for example, we're providing some grit at each of the polling stations just in case paths get icy and so on, we can take care of those. across the uk, there will be 50,000 polling stations next month, like this hall in the lancashire village of foulridge. the tables are all

round here, are they? it's chockablock. trouble is janice had booked it for the pensioners' christmas lunch on the 12th of december. all the tickets printed and sold. so, when you heard that that thursday was election day and that this place was needed as a polling station... oh, i freaked out. it was terrible. because that is tradition for the village — every year we've had it on the thursday two weeks before christmas. i even e—mailed the borough council to say, "can't you have it somewhere else?" i thought you were going to say you nearly e—mailed the prime minister! i wish i had've done. but good news. it's the biggie. with the raffle prizes all wrapped, janice has managed to rebook lunch. please, it's wednesday the 11th, not thursday the 12th — wednesday the 11th. i've told you now.

ido i do hope everybody manages to have their christmas lunches and that their christmas lunches and that their plans are not ruined entirely. tactical voting could play a significant part in next month's general election. on monday, the brexit party leader nigel farage announced his candidates would not run in seats won by the tories in 2017. while anti—brexit parties, the liberal democrats, plaid cymru and the green party have formed a pact agreeing not to stand against each other in some seats to try and boost the remain vote. let's speak now to gina miller, the businesswoman and campaigner who has twice led legal challenges against the government over brexit and won. she has set up remain united, an anti—brexit tactical voting website. good to see you this morning on that website went live on sunday, and you are constantly updating this with the data. how, in simple terms, is it working? it's such a volatile election and that is being reflected

in what we are finding and we launched it on sunday having looked up launched it on sunday having looked up passed polling records, voter intentions, picking up algorithms that are out there and seeing what people want to do. there's lots of people want to do. there's lots of people who are undecided and you can profile them by sex, gender, education and religion and get a good picture so it's very multilayered. since sunday we have updated it twice, once because of the brexit party effect when we had the brexit party effect when we had the announcement on monday and that did really change the marginal seats. they went down from 65 to 51, so seats. they went down from 65 to 51, so it made a difference and then overnight we updated it again because voter intention is changing. a lot of people are interested in tactical voting. researchers say that over 50% of people across the remain and leave the spectrum, if you like, are interested in tactical voting. is that a big jump from the last election? in 20171 launched voting. is that a big jump from the last election? in 2017i launched the most successful tactical voting campaign and theresa may were

sitting on quite a big majority, everybody thought, and we managed to get 6.5 million people to tactically vote which played a part in denting the majority, so it's doing the same thing again, but we are finding that many more people are interested in tactical voting now, but the other thing, to be transparent, because we have to be, is that that is more people on the leave side, so it's much more of a struggle this time. a higher percentage will have to really go for tactical voting to make a difference and correct the deficit in the first past the post system. which brings me to the next discussion point. do you think, as things stand, but on broadly the leave side of the argument, the parties are doing a betterjob at tactical voting or encouraging people to vote tactically? or making the decisions for themselves as we saw with nigel farage withdrawing the party candidates from seats the conservatives won in 2017? there

have been accusations on the remains side that they are being to purist and they need to just get on with it and they need to just get on with it and recognise that some of the candidates would need to step aside in orderfor the remaining candidates to have a chance. on the leave side in 2017 ukip stood down 215 candidates in the vote collapsed and that was different to here because the brexit party vote is not collapsing even though they have stood down candidates. and there's only two parties on that side, where is on our side there are many more parties, like the snp and in wales, so parties, like the snp and in wales, so the problem with our side is that the biggest party, the labour party, is not part of the remain alliance and in the first past the post system it makes a huge difference and i'm afraid it's not about tribalism or deflection, if the goal is to dent the tory party majority then all of the remain parties, including labour need to be part of the alliance.

we mentioned yesterday, an example of one seat, canterbury, the lib dem candidate tim walker, took the personal decision to stand down to allow a remain supporting labour party candidate a good run at that seat but that's an individual decision. in one constituency. presumably you are saying this needs to be happening at a much higher level, at a party level for this remain alliance to work? it has to be ata remain alliance to work? it has to be at a much bigger level because the remain alliance of mps, those mps who came together, our data and i know other data shows it's only going to impact in about three or four seats so it's down to tactical voting and i think it's a very principled stand of tim walker to ta ke principled stand of tim walker to take that but that was his individual decision as you say. i note there are reasons why you have a certain level of candidates impact on the money you can spend in an election but there has to be a realisation that the labour party has to be part of this alliance and those people who are afraid it means it's going to be a labour party

majority government can i tell you our statistics art that is for the birds, because it will be, it may well be a coalition government but there isn't going to become it's not going to be a choice between one majority government nor another, we are going into coalition territory on the remain side if we are successful in tactical voting. gina miller, thank you. in a moment, we will get the weather but first, let'sjoin will get the weather but first, let's join chloe to find out what's coming up in victoria derbyshire. good morning, the first half of this year the uk sent 18,000 tonnes of plastic waste to indonesia, huge amounts are dumped and burned and we found highly toxic levels of dangerous chemicals from burning plastic are making it into the food chain. the results of our research is one of the most shocking results that we have ever had. especially in indonesia, we never had this kind of result before. we will look at what we, our local councils and the government can be doing, join us at

10am. let's check out the weather. here's carol. good morning to you. for all those people in areas already affected by flooding, very important to listen to what you've got to say today, i think. thank you and good morning, good morning everyone. we have rain and u nfortu nately everyone. we have rain and unfortunately that rain is crossing areas where there is already flooding. you can see how it moves in across south—west england, wales, the midlands, crossing nottinghamshire, derbyshire, lincolnshire and eventually gets into south yorkshire. there are some hell snow embedded in this at the moment, some of us have seen a little bit at lower levels but increasingly, the level will go back into the hills. behind it, it brightens up, some showers, ahead of it, a cold start, the risk of ice and also some frost, we see some sunshine but there will be some showers coming in on the brisk wind and some of those will be wintry on the hills of scotland. talking brisk winds, coming from the north

north—east today, temperatures lower than we expect at this stage in november it's going to feel cold forever you are. through this evening and overnight we have the rain across northern england, wales and into the south—west, increasingly it will be fragmenting. lots of cloud for the rest of england, some showers, not as cold here is the nightjust gone, from northern ireland and scotland under clear skies it will be cold, widespread frost again and once again, looking at the risk of ice on untreated surfaces. tomorrow we start on a cloudy note, some showers from the word go in the north and west, or coming into the south—east through the course of the day, brighter skies north—west scotland and the north—west of northern ireland but temperatures disappointing. hello, this is bbc news with annita mcveigh. the headlines... south yorkshire and parts of the east midlands brace for more rain. yellow warnings are in place meaning floodwater could cause a danger to life. the village of fishlake has been cut

off by the floods with hundreds of people being forced to evacuate. the conservatives say they'll cut "immigration overall" to the uk after brexit if they win the election but haven't set any targets. meanwhile, labour is promising to close the gender pay gap by 2030. it says it'll adopt policies to eliminate the difference in average hourly pay between men and women injust over a decade. the outgoing european council president, donald tusk is urging british voters to not give up on stopping brexit. brexit is the real end of the british empire. and coming up...venice's mayor says the city is "on it's knees" after the highest floodwaters in fifty years. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people

are watching, reading and sharing. let's start with venice — much of the historic italian city remains underwater after the highest tide in 50 years ripped through it, beaching gondolas, trashing hotels and leaving tourists to wade through the rising water. the mayor of venice says the city is "on its knees". many of the morning papers carry dramatic photos of those floods in venice. the guardian shows the famous st mark's square, which bore the brunt of the flooding — it's seen here, submerged under more than a metre of water. and the times has a double page spread, showing what it calls "a tale of two floods" — south yorkshire, where many people are bracing for more flooding; and venice, where people are seen wading through thigh—high floodwaters. francesco da mosto is a historian and broadcaster from venice. he told dan walker on bbc breakfast about the effect the flooding has had on the city. this flood, this morning we wake up

another time with sirens, it's very sad to be here on television for this other terrible event that happened, i remember when i was five yea rs old happened, i remember when i was five years old and there was the big flood of 1966. nothing has changed apart from having the sirens that tell us the water is coming. i remember when i was working on public works from 94—96, i had to stop working on that thing, public works, because they were cheating, they were making fake things and in fa ct, they were making fake things and in fact, after a 25 years, the situation is still the same, nothing has changed. it's sad that we have to say that we cannot trust the government any more and i know that all over the world, we are having problems with the heating, more tornadoes, but we had the chance

building this barrier to save venice and they say every two years, we will finish it in another two years. it's too much. yesterday the prime minister came here, the minister of public works he came here. the mayor of venice said we are doing something but what are they doing? the mayor last yearjust something but what are they doing? the mayor last year just wanted to be another channel inside the lagoon to put more cruise ships. all the people i was working with they went to prison, 50 people, can you |magine? to prison, 50 people, can you imagine? this is not the way, we have to start to be serious and to think about we can save this place. we are not thinking aboutjust making money. let's turn to brexit now, because there's been plenty of reaction to the warning by the outgoing president of the european council, donald tusk, that leaving the eu would leave the uk a "second—rate player". in a speech, he also urged british voters not to "give up" on stopping brexit. well that story is one of the most read on the bbc news website — and donald tusk is also a top trend

on twitter in the uk, with more than 5,000 tweets in the past 12 hours. the most popular responses on twitter have been from leave and remain accounts alike, such as this one from a user named "brexit shambles", which applauds mr tusk‘s message. and the opposite view, unsurprisingly, taken by the brexit party mep martin daubney, who writes: "until the bitter end, donald tusk maintains his contempt for british democracy. the sooner we leave the eu the better!" well, let's stay with politics — and you may have noticed that our reporterjoe tidy, is not with us for the morning briefing today — but he's still very much following how digital and social media platforms are being used during the election campaign. one video he's spotted going viral is a rant by a farmer in bishop auckland, who spoke to us here on the bbc news channel on tuesday. the video is one of the biggest of the election so far, with views across various twitter pages totalling at least 4 million. let's take a look at it now.

it's like a turkey, voting for christmas, isn't it? the epitome of what the human race can do. the fear we might be better outside the euro, there is no solid basis for it, i've yet to see anybody put a solid argument for leaving europe. we are far better working together. as a common community than we are at split up. on the night of the referendum we went to bed as great britain and we woke up as little britain and we woke up as little britain and we woke up as little britain and that's a tragedy. and all the things they put forward, none of them are as good as staying in europe, all the alternatives they put forward, none of them are. you've got to trade with your local neighbours. donald trump is wishing to take over the health service. borisjohnson will go to to take over the health service. boris johnson will go to negotiate with donald as a little boy, pat him on the head. borisjohnson has

stuffed dup, he went over there, gave empty promises on the day after he sold them. in terms of it's the irish problem, he can solve it, he promised 350 million a day, he knew it was a lie, he lied to the british public and he is perpetrating this light now. he should be sent to jail. turning away from politics. now, it's become a bit of a christmas tradition for retailers spending big money on festive adverts. thejohn lewis advert — a joint effort with supermarket waitrose — has been released this morning. this year, the star of the advert is edgar the dragon, who gets a bit too excited about christmas. rebecca waring, from the video advertising technology company unruly, has been talking to sean farrington on bbc breakfast about the amount of money that's being spent on these ads — and where exactly the money is being spent. most people are going for online and tvjoint approach. most people are going for online and tv joint approach. something most people are going for online and tvjoint approach. something like thejohn tvjoint approach. something like

the john lewis tvjoint approach. something like thejohn lewis advert and in fact a lot of those adverts that we have seen are quite epic, they are quite cinematic, almost like mini movies. do they still hit hard, we've had them for so long now, are you still going to get the reaction even though they look blockbuster? yes, you do, i think one of the things about online, on a practical note, a lot of people are watching these videos on their phone with the sound off and the music is an absolutely huge part of a lot of these ads and you've already seen people complaining about some of the arts, saying the songs are too catchy, i need to get the songs out of my head already, being able to convey emotionjust through already, being able to convey emotion just through visuals is incredibly important. so really expressive acting, close—ups, a lot of those sad she will have noticed have a soundtrack but they don't need subtitles to be understood, you can understand what it's trying to convey without words. this story is also trending widely today. the hashtag #excitableedgar — a reference, of course, to the dragon in thejohn lewis advert — has been tweeted more than 5,000 times this morning... while the hashtag #johnlewischristmasadvert is also

trending — twitter user lisa says it's the first advert from the retailer, to make her cry, since their "bear and the hare" advert back in 2013. let's look at what you are reading and watching on the bbc news app, number one on the most read. a snow weather warning in parts of mid and south wales. at two, motorola reviving the flip phone. did you have one of those? it was released originally 15 years ago, described asa originally 15 years ago, described as a game changer then. motorola going a little bit retro without re—versioning of the flip phone. and the most watched. really interesting. it's asking the question could invisible bar codes revolutionise recycling? we all do it and indeed even at recycling plants, sometimes people struggle to

recognise whether something can be recycled or not but the idea is these bar codes are implanted in packaging. you can then scan them and discover whether it can be recycled and if so, which meant it needs to go in and so on. big hopes this could really improve recycling rates. that's it for today's morning briefing. in the last few minutes, the latest figures on nhs waiting times have been released. they are the worst ever accident and emergency figures in england since modern data collection began. accident and emergency units in england recording the worst performance against that for our target for seeing patients since 2004. 83.6% target for seeing patients since 2004. 83. 6% of target for seeing patients since 2004. 83.6% of patients treated or assessed within accident and emergency within four hours in october, a sharp drop in september,

down from 89.1% in october of last year. hugh pym are health editor saying these are the worst ever accident and emergency waiting time targets since modern data collection began in 2004. and we hope to go to sport injust a moment, first began in 2004. and we hope to go to sport in just a moment, first of all let'sjoin sport in just a moment, first of all let's join boris sport in just a moment, first of all let'sjoin borisjohnson sport in just a moment, first of all let's join boris johnson on sport in just a moment, first of all let'sjoin borisjohnson on his election bus. alex forsyth our political correspondent there, tell us political correspondent there, tell us about what the prime minister is doing today. the prime minister is in the south—west today continuing the election campaign, busy day, three stops, the conservative party message is all about immigration today. the promise we have heard from them under a conservative government immigration would come down, albeit to an unspecified level without an awful lot of detail about how beyond the fact they would of course want to leave the eu pretty quickly and put an end to free movement. that's where the party

once to take the discussion this morning. as you were saying, the nhs figures coming out, i think undoubtedly that may come up on the campaign trail is a question for the prime minister, the nhs always a huge election topic, yesterday we had some discussions about the labour party nhs plans, the amount of funding it was putting in, the conservatives arguing they would better fund it so conservatives arguing they would betterfund it so i think conservatives arguing they would better fund it so i think it is almost inevitable b will get further discussion on that today given those figures have just broken. discussion on that today given those figures havejust broken. the prime minister ‘s message as it always has been, if you vote for him he will try and sort brexit out so we can solve the other issues as well but the labour party vastly critical of the labour party vastly critical of the funding the previous conservative government has put into the nhs at this point so i think it's likely to become a flash point as his campaign trail continues in the south—west today. as his campaign trail continues in the south-west today. alex, thank you for that update from the campaign trail. alex forsyth. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre,

here's sally nugent. thank you for your patience, sally, big game for england tonight. good morning. england play the one thousandth match in their history against montengro this evening, knowing they only need a point to reach the finals of the european championships. at the moment england have 568 wins but they'll be expected to add another to that total at wembley. scotland, have beaten them more than any other nation, 41 times. and no—one in the current squad is anywhere near peter shilton's whopping 125 caps. in fact the nearest to him, raheem sterling, won't be adding to his 55 caps as he's been dropped because of a row with joe gomez which has dominated the build—up to the match. dropping sterling's been one of the most controversial decisions of gareth southgate's time in charge. i think i have to always look at what's the right thing for the team to perform, now and in the future,

and ultimately that will be what's right for the country. so of course my decisions are the only ones that get tested by the game, and the outcomes of the game, and what happens over the next months and years. let's have a look at some of this morning's back pages and the issue that has dominated build—up to tonight's game continues to dominate. damaged is the headline on the back the daily mail — referring to gareth southgate's revelation that his relationship with raheem sterling is damaged. strop and go is what the mirror has gone with. southgate admitting though that sterling will return against kosovo. the telegraph also confirms that whilst showing a great picture of rafa nadal following his comeback against daniil medvedev ben stokes insists his two incredible performances for england this summer —

do not give him any sort of ‘redemption' for what happened outside a bristol nightclub in 2017. stokes was fined £30,000 and was given an eight match ban after being involved in a street fight — although the cricketer was cleared of affray. this summer, stokes produced match winning performance to help england win the world cup and the 3rd ashes test but he says what happened two years ago — never influenced his mindset on the field of play. from my point of view, i don't see it like that at all, i see it as me going out, doing as good as i can to help my team win games. i don't see it as redemption, there is nothing else towards it, i'm not doing it it's not, proving you wrong type thing? no, never. meanwhile, england test captain joe root says he and new coach chris silverwood have a two year plan to win back the ashes in australia. root says the team will be

changing their approach and will try to bat longer and be more patient with the ball in an attempt to regain the urn. there's been more success for great britain's hannah cockcroft at the world para athletics championships this morning. she's won her second gold of championships in dubai coming first in the t34 800m and winning in a record time ofjust over one minute and 57 seconds. this is what i needed, i needed to come here and remind myself what i love doing and why i love doing it, i'm not afraid to say i love it because i love to win and it's really done that, it motivated me. the girls are still not as far away asi the girls are still not as far away as i would like them to be. there will be more coverage of the atp tour finals across the bbc today. from 2 o'clock this afternoon there will be live coverage on bbc two of the match between dominic thiem and matteo berrettini. coverage of novak djokovic's clash with roger federer is over on bbc radio 5 live sports extra,

there will also be reaction from the o2 in sportsday at 6:30 along with all the build—up to england's match against montenegro from wembley. now things haven't really gone to plan so far for the great britain rugby league team on their tour of the southern hemisphere, with three defeats from three matches. well, they have had an interesting build—up to their game with papua new guinea on saturday — on a local school visit the players have had to help push a bus out that had got stuck on the school field. and if there is ever a team that you need to help you do that, it is the great britain rugby league team! that's all the sport for now. sally, thank you. steven speilberg, orson welles and jeff wayne have all had their go at making the sci—fi classic "the war of the worlds". this sunday, a new three part version, set in edwardian england, lands on bbc1, staring rafe spall and eleanor tomlinson.

our entertainment correspondent colin paterson met them on set and was given a lesson in how to stare at aliens. three, two, one...action! no—one would've believed in the early years of the 21st century there would be an alien invasion on the beach in merseyside. the tripod falls... on location for the new bbc series the war of the worlds. do you think it could be from mars? something can erupt from mars and end up in surrey? as soon as i walked onto the set, i thought, this is as big as any movie i've done. it's huge. robert carlyle plays the astronomer ogilvy. his first war of the worlds experience — jeff wayne's double album. we used to play it, and that tune is in my head. that's my earliest memories of war of the worlds — and richard burton's voiceover. the cameras on a lunch break. i can't work like this,

i really can't. is it...a shooting star? that's right, a shooting star. why have i got these glasses on? they're not real! i like them. this adds instant character. i look scientific. # the chances of anything coming from mars are a million to one... rafe spall plays george, who has just left his wife and now has to flee aliens. something has arrived in england. when the aliens appear, is it tennis balls and socks and they'll all get stuck in later? there's lots of this sort of acting. ready? yeah. no, no, that's too much. too much. because you have to remember that the audience are going to be seeing it, so you don't need to sell it for them. 0k, 0k. so this is an... i've just done the jurassic park film and it turns out that seeing a dinosaur is pretty similar to seeing a tripod martian.

this is all you have to do. yep. 0k. yeah, yeah, yeah. i could feel it off you. i didn't see it, but i could see the truth pumping off you. it's opening! next, the beach in the rain to see one of eleanor tomlinson's big scenes. she plays amy, a character not in the original book. and it is an interesting idea, taking a well—known story and putting a female lead into it. is this going to become more common? i hope so, i hope so. i think we're seeing more female leads coming to the forefront, which is fantastic for actresses like myself. you know, i think it's important that we see more for roles for women, more female directors, more female writers. it's a time for change, it's a time for that to start happening. somebody‘s got some clearing up to do. you ready to run into that sea? can't wait, yeah. make sure you get it on camera. yeah, absolutely.

well, she wanted us to get it on camera, and we did. just time for the day's final big explosion. just before the weather, let's take another look at the latest figures on nhs waiting times — it shows the worst ever a & e figures in england since modern data collection began in 2004. the government target is a maximum 4—hour wait for those in a&e from arrival to admission, transfer or discharge. but today's figures show only 83.6 per cent of patients were treated or assessed in a and e within four hours in october. that's a sharp drop on september and down from 89.1 per cent in october last year.

and we've just received for more detail on those figures. this is another key target, routine operations. the number of patients waiting for routine operations in england was 4.42 million in september, the highest everfigure. more than 672,000 waiting more than 18 weeks. the highest number since 2008. some historic figures there. for the nhs and for politicians. —— some stark figures. i'll be back at 11am. now it's time for the weather, here's lucy. thank you and good morning. some heavy rainfall this morning, some of us have also seen snow, that's thanks to this weather front rotating around this area of low pressure. we have got further to come. but first of all, let's look at the photos sent in by our weather

watchers, snow on the ground in gloucestershire. very wet start to the day here in essex. you can see very large puddles on the road. we ta ke very large puddles on the road. we take a look at the picture from earlier, you see the rain gradually rotating, edging into south—west england, in the east, gradually pushing its way north. we are going to continue to see that as we move through this afternoon, the rain is heavy and persistent at times, for parts of wales, the midlands as well, feeding into south—west england and gradually pushing its way north and east, moving into some areas that have seen flooding recently. we've also got some project spells feeding into the south—east quarter, some sharp showers possible, ahead of the rain there are some sunny spells to be had and some sharp showers but feeling cool across the board. the showers in the north—east could be wintry. we got a brisk north north—easterly breeze helping to keep things feeling cool. we hold on to the weather front, gradually

edging further north and east, stretching through wales but it will tend to fade away. still a bit wintry of higher ground but with more cloud across the south, doesn't look like it will turn quite as cool although we could still see a touch of ground frost to start the day in northern areas. here's how it's looking tomorrow. fair amount of cloud across england and wales. some showery outbreaks of rain, heavier and more persistent in the east later. good deal of sunny spells across the northern half of the uk, some showers in the east, again feeling cool, highs of 10 degrees in that cool wind. staying cold as we move through into the weekend. a fairamount of move through into the weekend. a fair amount of cloud to come and outbreaks of rain, but it isn't expected to be quite as heavy as what we see today. plenty of cloud across the board as we move through saturday, the bright spell here and there. the cloud of thick enough for some spells of rain and drizzle and again, feeling fairly cool. for sunday, we are looking at a similar picture, fair amount of cloud around, again, some outbreaks of

rain, but could be a little bit heavier, following a cell snow in the north. again we are looking at another cold day to come on sunday, highs of only eight or 9 degrees. goodbye.

hello, it's thursday, it's 10 o'clock, i'm chloe tilley. a&e departments in england have recorded their worst ever performance against the four—hour waiting time target since modern data collection began 15 years ago. those figures have been released in the last few minutes. we'll get all the details. when you recycle plastic in this country, has it occured to you it might end up getting burned in indonesia? in today's exclusive report, we hear how western plastic is poisoning the local food supply there, one experiment showed dioxins in eggs at rates more than 70 times european safety standards. the results of our research is one of the most shocking results we have ever