hello, i'm nuala mcgovern. this is outside source. four weeks until the uk's general election and the nhs is showing major signs of strain. hospital waiting times in england hit their worst levels on record. with health among the issues voters care most about it's become a campaign issue. the worst performance ever in our a&e department. and so many patients will be languishing on trolleys. elsewhere in the campaign, the conservatives say they'll seek to "control" immigration if they win the election but stop short of promising a cut in numbers coming to the uk. after floods in venice, italy's government declares a state of emergency. there are fears important landmarks have been damaged. and the danger isn't over yet and there have been big steps

forward in the fight against ebola. we'll bring you up to date. welcome to the programme. here in the uk, the national health service is rarely out of the news, and it's always an election issue. all the major parties say they support it, and polls showjust how important it is for voters. today official data on its performance was released directly into that campaign. accident and emergency units in england have recorded their worst performance since current records began back in 200a. targets for cancer operations and routine surgery were also missed. here's the opposition

labour pa rty‘s reaction. i mean, they are absolutely appalling, aren't they? i mean, the worst performance ever in our a&e departments. i mean, so many patients will be languishing on trolleys waiting longer and longer and longer for treatment and care. these are the figures he was referring to. accident and emergency waiting times. the nhs has a target to treat or admit 95% of people within four hours. these blue bars show all the months since 2011 when that target was met. the grey bars show all the months the target was missed. there hasn't been much blue lately. it's a similar story when we talk about routine care. 92% of hospital treatments are supposed to start within 18 weeks.

that target hasn't been met since 2016. here's our health editor hugh pym. it's normally fairly stable in the nhs before winter arrives. and look what's happened. this is the worst ever figure since modern records began in 2004 and considerably down on october last year. one of the reasons the nhs is missing targets is a lack of staff. in england, nearly 100,000 jobs remain unfilled. that includes around 40,000 nursing positions. borisjohnson has acknowledged there is a problem. this is basically caused by the huge demand that there is on the nhs. and that's why now in the last three months we have done the biggest investment in the nhs in modern times. well, that's a pretty big claim. and it's true if you don't adjust for inflation. but this graph gives us a better idea ofjust how much the government is investing. it shows the "average annual spending increase" on the nhs.

the overall average is around 4%. you see this dotted line that goes through here. under the last labour government, it went up to above 6%. but during the david cameron and theresa may conservative years, that figure went down to below 2%. they would argue that reduction was needed as a result of the financial crisis. now, borisjohnson is promising to increase that rate of spending, but it's still below average, and it's short of labour's proposal, which is marked by this extra bit on top here. here's their health spokesman again. this is a big amount of investment for nhs, more than the tories are putting in, and i think it will mean we can turn our nhs around and give patients the quality care they deserve. so, what do those proposals mean in actual pounds? the current annual budget is £121 billion or $155 billion us.

the conservatives are promising to increase that to £1119 billion. labour says it would increase the nhs budget to £155 billion. the liberal democrats haven't released their health spending policy yet, but they are calling for a new levy to help fund it. here's the lib dem's chuka umunna. we need to put more money into the nhs and that is why we are committed to putting a penny on the pound on the income tax and hypothecating and using that specifically for the health service and over the next five years, that would see around £35 billion extra going into our nhs. helen catt is in westminster. good to have you with us. we are talking about all these billions of pounds being promised. but have either party really put forward how they plan to fund them? well we wait to see. the parties have not written 01’ to see. the parties have not written or published their manifestos which is when we get the real nitty—gritty

detail about exactly what they plan to spend where and crucially where they plan to fund that. the liberal democrats have said they would put a penny on the pound in income tax for example that specifically ring fenced for health care. we will wait to see from labour and the conservatives the real details. large amounts there, 20 billion for over five years, 26 large amounts there, 20 billion for overfive years, 26 billion large amounts there, 20 billion for over five years, 26 billion years over five years, 26 billion years over five years from labour. thanks helen. we have more issues that we wa nt to helen. we have more issues that we want to get into. stay with us. another big issue on the campaign issue —— trail today was immigration. that's because there's been some confusion over the conservatives policy. the home secretary put out this press release saying... but she wouldn't repeat that claim later when asked about it on camera. here's a clip of that. reporter: i will ask you again, do you want immigration to go up or down? well, we will be controlling immigration...

but does that mean it goes down? well, we will be able to control immigration numbers through the points—based system. a little later the prime minister came out and tried to clear things up. he's all for high—skilled migration under a points system. that may mean that in some sectors, immigration comes down and frankly, that's great because i think there's been a lot of pressure on the system caused by that. but i do not want and i want to repeat my point. i do not want a country that is going to be closed to the wider world. we are an open and thriving economy. so, that's the prime minister and the home secretary, the two people with the most responsibility for immigration policy, refusing to put a number on immigration if they win the election. but it's notjust the conservatives who are reluctant to set a target. here's our political editor laura kuenssberg. she has been tweeting aboutjeremy corbyn, the leader of the labour

opposition and she says... let's hear part of that interview. would you be happy if it went up or would you rather see it go down? i want people to be able to be reunited with their families, and i want finish people to work across europe as they are at the present time. —— iwant —— i want british people. and i think putting arbitrary figures on it as successive governments have done simply doesn't work. 0ur reality check team has been taking a look at some of the current immigration figures and the possible effect brexit could have on those. here's chris morris. so the future of the free movement of people from the eu to the uk will bea of people from the eu to the uk will be a big election issue. but it may not have as big an impact on the overall immigration debate as you might think. that's because if you look at the latest immigration figures for net migration, taking in account all people who arrive minus all the people who then leave again, the figures coming from the eu in

the figures coming from the eu in the year to march 2019 59,000 arrivals. but the net migration the rest of the world, nothing to do with the free movement of people, is 219,000. much higher. ending free movement from the eu only affects a relatively small amount of the net arrivals in the uk now. so, overall immigration policy is going to have to deal with much more thanjust free movement. many parties in the selection want to keep free movement. labour says it wants to extend it, we are not entirely sure what that means. the tories are insistent it must come to an end. but that in itself is not an immigration policy. parties have got to decide what to do about the vacancies in the british economy and how to deal with migration from the rest of the world as well. let's bring back and helen catt who is in westminster for us. what you bring back and helen catt who is in westminsterfor us. what you make it that howling this reluctance to put a figure on immigration? before they used to be bandied about quite

liberally? it's striking that they are keen not to put a figure. they describe targets as being arbitrary. that could be because the conservatives have been burned by this before and every election since 2010 they've included a pledge in their manifesto to bring immigration down below 100,000 a year and that target has never been met. priti patel of the home secretary said missing targets like that erodes public confidence. this time around we are seeing much less focus of this idea on bring it down immigration and putting a number on it. but more of a focus on what sort of immigration they want to change about, the conservatives are keen to have this idea of taking control of immigration and shifting it towards filling skills in the economy. also something jeremy corbyn was talking about. he will be releasing the full details of labour's immigration policy when the put together their ma nifesto policy when the put together their manifesto in a few days' time and it

will be a bit clear for some there was discussion about labour's party conference in september passing a motion talking about extending freedom of movement. there's a suggestion that might not make it into the manifesto. we will have to wait and see what will come out of that infirm terms and firm policy. helen, very briefly a lot of people are going to be calling this the brexit election. do you think it is shaping up to be that? it is, you can't ignore the context of brexit on the selection. whether that means people are going to be voting straight down remain or leave wives, dashed lines, that will be less clear—cut. but into feeding some of the traditional election issues making clear arguments we have heard before going back to the nhs about a while ago, it meets the context of brexit is bringing the idea of what happens in future trade deals with the nhs, in terms of staffing and free movement with immigration. bringing a different dynamic to the

usual arguments we would hear on the campaign trail. helen katrin s from westminster. i want to join this story now. —— helen cattjoining us from westminster. italy has declared state of emergency in venice, where tidal flooding on tuesday left much of the city underwater and at least two people dead. the state of emergency will allow the government to provide funds to the people and businesses affected. let's take a look at the damage around different parts of the city. dramatic pictures around the city. let's begin in st mark's square. as you can see the flood water still hasn't subsided, but tourists have not let that get in the way of seeing the city. they have not let that stop them seeing the city. sony people taking pictures of these dramatic scenes. let's move on to the prime minister. and here's the italian prime minister giuseppe conte visiting saint mark's basilica to inspect the damage. water seeped into the crypt of the church, and it's feared there may have been structural damage to the columns. and other buildings. he took a tour

and spoke to the people to see just some of the damage that has been done. let me turn now to a map of some of the areas particularly that have been affected. this is another view inside st mark's basilicia. and the waterjust like the river outside it. and there is the palace which is such a famous landmark and you can see there the water making its way up through the columns as well. and there's more detail about the landmarks that have been affected on the bbc website. you might want to take a look. the floods were caused by a combination of high spring tides and a storm surge driven by strong winds. but some, the city's mayor among them, have blamed climate change for making the situation worse. matt mcgrath explains. jenny hill is in venice. she sent us these details.

they rang the flood sirens again today although in truth very few people need warning that very high tides tonight and tomorrow could send floodwater dilution back into the city. the people who run businesses here looking after the ancient monuments have been trying to clear up damage which is estimated runs into the hundreds of millions of euros. and adding to the venetians as well as i think is the suggestion that perhaps this could have been prevented. a majorflood defence scheme has been delayed for yea rs by defence scheme has been delayed for years by corruption, scandals, overspend... thanks jenny. as we've just heard from jenny, in recent years authorities have attempted to come up with a barrier system to prevent flooding. it's called mose. construction began in 2003, but its completion has been delayed and delayed. marcello rossi is an italian journalist who covers climate change and the environment.

it's been 16 years in the making and it already costs around 6 billion euros and this time, euros weren't used because they were not ready. and earlier this month, we scheduled a trial run of one of the barriers... but the operational issues cancel that. following what happened and what is still happening in venice, both local politicians and giuseppe conte gave assurances that the project will be completed by 2021 in two years time. but the project has been delayed many times over the past few years. so, some people claimed that it is much more likely in 2022 but the reality is no one knows when the project will be completed. i'm curious for your

thoughts on this. when i was reading about this particular construction, some feel that it would not even if it were functioning properly unable to deal with the floods that they've had this week for example. is that how you understand it? well, again, no one knows because the barrier was completed only 78 gates, tidal gates, the barrier were put in place just a few months ago. the barrier asa just a few months ago. the barrier as a whole was never raised. no one knows whether the barrier is going to work as designed and there is also a bit of mystery of what kind of design parameters were used in the planning stage. and because as you surely know, 20 years ago when the project was first conceived,

projections for when the seat would rise were dramatically lower than they are today. thanks very much to marcello rossi. stay with us on 0utside source. still to come. google plans banking that met but they fear that they were gathering too much information. the met office is warning up to five centimetres of rain could fall in some parts of england and wales this evening. the flooding began almost a week ago with more than 800 homes affected since then. judith moritz has spent the day in south yorkshire. the cavalry has arrived in fishlake bearing not arms but sandbags, the light dragoons going door—to—door shoring this village up against the threat of more flooding. these soldiers have been working flat out.

emergency crews have come here from all over the country, equipment bought from as far away as cornwall. they're pumping a tonne of water per second from the village into the river don, trying to keep ahead of the weather. the rain started again this afternoon, waterfalling on water. it's not thought that levels will rise as high as the weekend, but no—one here will relax until the rain stops. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story. with the uk's general election just four weeks away — the national health service in england shows major signs of strain with the worst hospital waiting times, on record. let's go back to the uk election and look at screenshots of political

tweets being shared on facebook, whatsapp and instagram. for example, the singer lily allen has 1.3 million followers on instagram — she's posted screenshots of labour tweets to give them a higher profile. cardiff university has compiled a list of the most shared tweets of the campaign as of last week. it was dominated byjeremy corbyn. he accounts for 13 of the top 1a. i've been speaking to marianna spring from bbc trending. the interesting thing about this is tweets are quick and clear away us breading a message in a form of a picture rather than typing it out on facebook. the kind of content that does well in social media given that oui’ does well in social media given that our habits have changed and we have become much more inclined to refrain things we can ingest quickly. instagram with instagram stories if you post a tweet with bullet points and emoji and a quick way of explaining what one party pots our policy is for example, then you can click on that through someone's instagram story and look at the next

thing. it's important now that when we consume content, there's a lot of passive consumption when it comes to the news. we will often absorb the news integrate it with all sorts of other things on our social media platforms. instagram you might see your friend platforms. instagram you might see yourfriend on platforms. instagram you might see your friend on holiday platforms. instagram you might see yourfriend on holiday and platforms. instagram you might see your friend on holiday and you platforms. instagram you might see yourfriend on holiday and you might also see a screenshot of a tweet from jeremy corbyn. it needs to be content from jeremy corbyn. it needs to be co nte nt you from jeremy corbyn. it needs to be content you are able to absorb quickly and move onto the next thing and that's the technique that some politicians are going for in the uk. and i am sure they comb through it and see what resonates in particular. anything surprise you?” think it surprises me on a platform like instagram where aesthetically pleasing posts to the best and well produced films and things i bet that something quite ugly, but they are simple and effective. that's what they're realising. in order to cut through the noise, you have two options be simple and effective or be quirky and bizarre and catch people pots our attention with some of the vias we seen over the past

weeks. do you think this is an election that could be won or lost on social media? definitely. ithink social media is one of the main ways parties will be reaching out to voters. but i think it's important that the digital election is not something separate. it is integrated into this bigger picture. what is being done on the ground on door stepping will be combined with what is being done instagram, twitter, facebook and other factors will come into play. it's important that we look at this as an integrated and important part of the election. thanks very much to marianna spring. let's stay with technology. google is launching personal banking teaming up with citigroup to offer current accounts next year through its google pay app. it has a potentialy vast customer base. some 1.4 billion people use gmail and millions use its digital payment service google pay each month. but, the plan has raised fears about silicon valley gathering too much personal information about us. vivienne nunis has been following the story in new york.

good to have you back with us. why do you think google is moving into this area right now? first and foremost google sees this as another possible revenue stream making money from that huge user base you talked about. it is also a way of keeping users inside its ecosystem. all these big tech firms like to keep users on their platforms offering us various platforms and services so we keep looking at their site rather than having to look at another site 01’ than having to look at another site orapp than having to look at another site or app having to make a financial transaction for example. staying on their site, google cooked —— school can charge for advertising revenue and make more money. that's interesting. a lot of people will be watching that story and there is more details on our website as well. vivienne nunis speaking to us from new york. let's turn 110w now to some good news to important updates on the fight against ebola to bring you. first of all — the first vaccine against the disease has been approved by the world health 0rganization. it's made by drug company merck

and gives almost 100% protection against ebola. and a second ebola vaccine, from johnson &johnson is to be trialled, also in the drc tulip mazumdar has been talking to some of the scientists involved. for more than 40 years of bullet has been one of the worlds most deadly and terrifying diseases. medics have and terrifying diseases. medics have a very basic tools like 0rangina victims and keeping them well hydrated to help save lives. but today for the first time there is an internationally approved vaccine that provides almost 100% protection against a boa. default by the american pharmaceutical company merck, is been given already to around a quarter of million people in the drc. now it can be stockpiled by governments and rolled out to countries that are most at risk of outbreaks. it's wonderful news. finally after 40 years, we've got some tools that can prevent people from becoming infected. this

professor is part of the team that discovered it below and investigated the first outbreak back in 1976.. happy moment for everybody who has been involved in a boa from the beginning because we finally have something to offer and i think now, we have to think how we are going to use these vaccines making sure that people have access to the facade —— involved in a bola. another major milestone in the fight against ebola is taking place in the drc this week. a large scale trial of a second vaccine manufactured by johnson &johnson. second vaccine manufactured by johnson & johnson. 50,000 second vaccine manufactured by johnson &johnson. 50,000 people from one —year—old will be offered thejob into areas. they from one —year—old will be offered the job into areas. they will need two doses two months apart. this outbreak has been fuelled by conflict and bite distrust of health workers. the medical charity msf has carried out weeks of education campaigns ahead of the roll—out. certainly in an ebola outbreak when you're introducing a drug or vaccine

especially when you talk about something being experimental or new, there is a lot of questions. there can bea there is a lot of questions. there can be a lot of confusion or mistrust. that's normal, and one of the things that we have been very clear on from the beginning is that we need to work very closely with the communities that we vaccinate. as well as the two vaccines, to experimental treatments are also being used in the drc when new cases of ebola have dropped in recent weeks. the world has never had so many tools with which to fight this virus. it is hoped that they will help end this outbreak and prevent future epidemics. tulip mazumdar, bbc news. some good news for the ebola vaccine. brexit cast will be coming up vaccine. brexit cast will be coming up in vaccine. brexit cast will be coming upina vaccine. brexit cast will be coming up in a few minutes. you might know it as up in a few minutes. you might know itasa up in a few minutes. you might know it as a podcast. it is also a television programme. stay with us. we have seen donald tusk same british voters should not give up on stopping brexit. no doubt they will be talking about that as well. stay

with us. —— donald tusk saying british voters. hello. let's have a look at the big picture on the weather front not just here in the uk but across europe and really across western parts of europe it is cold and u nsettled. parts of europe it is cold and unsettled. this big low pressure has parked itself across the uk. france has been bringing cold weather into parts of spain, portugal. the other side of europe is a different story. you look at the jet stream bringing cold airfrom you look at the jet stream bringing cold air from the north and then it turns round comes through the south and moves northward across this part of the confident here where it is actually been relatively warm so, the balkans, central parts of europe expressing warmer weather whereas much of western europe low—pressure is in charge here meaning the weather will continue to be very

changeable. 0utbrea ks of weather will continue to be very changeable. outbreaks of rain, heavy rain. let's compare the east and the west of the mediterranean. you can see temperatures mostly in the 20s, 16 in bucharest. 16 in budapest which is above the average. and then in the central and italy, venice, more rain and snow across the alps. so across northern parts of spain. look at these temperatures, five, six, 9 degrees in london there. compare that to 12 in warsaw where it should be cold at this time of year and it should be cold at this time of yearand a it should be cold at this time of year and a northern parts of scandinavia there around minus six celsius. here is a saturdays weather forecast. that low—pressure is stock over western parts of the continent here continues to bring that chilly grey dark autumn weather. more heavy rain on saturday there across parts of the central mediterranean. some major cities over the next few days. paris states chilly around 7 degrees similarto

paris states chilly around 7 degrees similar to the paris states chilly around 7 degrees similarto the uk paris states chilly around 7 degrees similar to the uk and in venice i chance of further rain showers as we go through into next week facade —— a chance. the same whether bringing cold and unsettled weather is bringing cold air into north—western parts of accra —— africa. moving into parts of algeria, northern morocco as well and we have mountains here. normally we see it snow across these parts of the world but take a look at the amounts of snow falling across this part of the world in the last few days or so. these are scenes from north—west africa, not what you would normally expect to see. this dip in the jet strea m expect to see. this dip in the jet stream here is actually preceded by a sort of bump in thejet stream here is actually preceded by a sort of bump in the jet stream across the atlantic and then another dip across north america and this dip across north america and this dip is also bringing cold—weather to parts of canada and also the united states. the north—east of the united states, you can see florida there. back here in the uk, that dip in the

jet stream will keep on bringing us that cold unsettled weather. now on bbc news — chris, laura, adam and katya are here with brexitcast the first week of the election campaign which means of course laura is in the back of the van in the car park, again. on the outskirts of edinburgh if he had been talking to labour leaderjeremy corbyn. do you know it today is the one-year anniversary of? was happening on the 14th of november 2018? wasn't one of the meaningful votes? the 14th of november 2018? wasn't one of the meaningfulvotes? the signing 14th of november 2018? wasn't one of the meaningful votes? the signing of brexit withdrawal agreement? something to do with theresa may getting a deal with the eu. of the

eight hour long cabinet meeting when they signed off on the withdrawal agreement inside like this.” they signed off on the withdrawal agreement inside like this. i know there will be difficult days ahead, this is a decision which will come under intense scrutiny and that is entirely as it should be an entirely understandable. but the choice was that this deal, which enables us to ta ke that this deal, which enables us to take back control and to build a brighter future take back control and to build a brighterfuture for our take back control and to build a brighter future for our country are going back to square one with more division, more uncertainty as a failure to deliver on the referendum. happy birthday to the initial withdrawal agreement.