we'll bring you the latest from the key battleground states. hello. welcome to the programme. we will start with the latest from spain. we have had an update in the last hour or so on the number of people killed. the latest number is 140 according to news agencies there. our madrid correspondent bridging that number, that is an increase from round 100 or so, was the previous number, these are the live picture, we will show you a couple of live feeds, you can see the his advice jackets there, people clearing away as we speak. that is the clean—up operation, unfortunately the bad weather not over, there is more rain and potential flooding there prekick it —— predicted. this is another live feed we have coming into the building here as the bbc, in london. you can see people

sweeping and clearing up. more than a thousand emergency workers have been deployed to valencia, another affected regions as well. let us look at some of the previous flood pictures we have. some residents have accused the regional civil protection agency of not being prepared enough, saying it only issues the highest emergency alert on tuesday evening, but the flooding has caused widespread damage. take a look a these pictures, this is the european space agency satellite image before the flooding, you see the dry land there, round that lagoon, now, take a look at this. this, you can see, image taken on wednesday, you can just see the extreme flooding there, that illustrates the scale of what has happened. now on a visit to the region spanish prime minister pedro sanchez said authorities were using all resources at their disposal to rebuild infrastructure andry store

basic service, let us get a full round—up from our reporter steve knibbs. this flooding is one of the worst natural disasters in recent spanish history. emergency teams are working around the clock to try to find the missing and rescuer others trapped by the flood water. some places are only accessible from the air, residents winched into helicopters to escape the devastation. hundreds of soldiers have also been deployed to help in the rescue effort. working in difficult and dangerous conditions. the prime minister pedro sanchez warned today the crisis is farfrom over and he urged people to stay safe. please, do not go out, stay home, follow the alerts from the emergency services, follow all the requirements, all the recommendations, because at the moment the most important thing is to save as many lives as possible. in valencia, the floods caused havoc never seen here before. washing away cars that were left piles up on the streets as the waters receded.

the aftermath, broken roads, homes and businesses covered in mud and silt. some areas, more than a year's worth of rain fell in a few hours. never before in history has there been so much rain. cannot even imagine the amount of rain that fell here yesterday. it is a catastrophe. the floods we had in 1982 when i was ten years - old were a joke compared to what happened - here yesterday. the streets here are now a dumping ground, for cars, furniture and belongings destroyed by the floods. translation: yesterday this was full of people - and today it is still empty, utter desolation. with time everything will go back to normal just like the river. this is something that came to us and it is

a ruin for the town. meanwhile, spain has declared three days of national mourning as it comes to terms with the aftermath of this deadly force of nature. steve knibbs, bbc news. restore basic service, let us get a full round—up from our reporter steve knibbs. let us look at the map, we have been focussing on the valencia region, these are the main areas impacted so far, some areas impacted so far, some areas inaccessible, rescuers trying to clear away vehicles so they can't get to every region yet. 0ur madrid correspondent is standing by. bring us up—to—date with the latest. well, lewis we expected that death toll to increase today, and that has indeed been the case sadly and we expected that because there were so many people still missing, today, we have heard a number of reports

of more bodies being found as the rescue teams continue their work, going through those areas which are most affected, in one town in valencia, eight people, bodies of eight people were found trapped inside a garage, it appears they all took refuge in that garage as the floodwaters were rising and were unable to escape. we have heard a number of reports like that and that would explain why the death toll has continued to increase. but the military is now involved, in helping with that search and rescue, which continues, on the one hand they are looking for any possible survivors and failing that, the bodies of more victims, but they are also helping people trying to get back in to their homes, in many cases the homes are still full of water or the water is still quite high. in other cases, the water has run out, but, people's homes are, need to be cleared out, they have had to remove furniture

and so on. the rail system in silence cambria is still in chaos. there are many links which are down, more than 100 roads are still closed as well, and tens of thousands of people remain without electricity today, in the valencia region. guy, as we have been talking, the afp news agency has said 158 people now killed. they are citing sources of rescue we are, we haven't independent pendly verified that but that has just come from afp so it was 90 odd overnight, 100 and now 140 and now 158. 0utlining the extraordinary damage done here. there will be anger as well, guy, about the warning system, just talk us through what did happen in terms of people being given some kind of warning here.

people being given some kind of warning here-— people being given some kind of warning here. well, on tuesday, when the storms _ warning here. well, on tuesday, when the storms began, - when the storms began, the eastern spain and south—east spain, the national meteorological agency on tuesday morning issued a red alert, warning people that there were, or there was a weather event approaching, they should take care, but that was the meteorological agency and people don't necessarily consultant it, and it wasn't until later that evening, that the regional government of valencia then issued an alert directly to the phones of people in valencia, telling them they should for example not go out in their car, they shouldn't be out in the streets, that they should take every precaution over the coming hours, because of what was expected to be approaching in terms of the weather. so, there have been a lot of questions asked as to why there was that gap between the agencies, warning and the local government warning, and wider questions as well, as to

whether spain has an adequate warning system for this kind of natural disaster. whether it is you know, wild fires or floods or whatever it is. so i think a lot of questions like that, are starting to be asked. find lot of questions like that, are starting to be asked. and guy, 'ust starting to be asked. and guy, just lastly. _ starting to be asked. and guy, just lastly. talk— starting to be asked. and guy, just lastly, talk us _ starting to be asked. and guy, just lastly, talk us about - starting to be asked. and guy, just lastly, talk us about when | just lastly, talk us about when is up next, what is the weather doing, rain forecast for the rest of the day and into the weekend. rest of the day and into the weekend-— rest of the day and into the weekend. ~ . weekend. well, the weather situation looks _ weekend. well, the weather situation looks fluid, - weekend. well, the weatherl situation looks fluid, because we have had a number of warnings from the meteorological agency, for example we had a a severe warning about whether in the north of the valencia region today, this morning and there were concerns o —— concerns we could see similar scenes to what we have seen in valencia, other parts of valencia, that worry seems to have dispalateed but there is rev —— dissipated, but there is rev —— dissipated, but there is heavy rain in other parts of southern spain, spreading towardsance lucia and

north east spain in catalonia there are alerts up there as well. think people are wondering if the authorities are being extra cautious about this because of what has happened, but there are those alerts, in some other areas, of spain, because of the expected weather. guy, thank you very much for talking us through the latest there, across spain. just to remind you we had that news through from the afp news agency saying the latest number they have, according to rescuers of people killed is now 158. so that number of people known to have been killed increasing throughout the morning and the afternoon there, and of course many will remain missing, as rescue effort continue. we will have the latest from spain a little later. we are going to take a loge

look at the budget. the international monetary fund has welcomed the measures announced by the chancellor in the first labour government budget in 14 years, she told the bbc she hopes the budget which includes tax rises we are going to take a loge look at the budget. the international monetary fund has welcomed the measures announced by the chancellor in the first labour government budget in 14 years, she told the bbc she hopes the budget which includes tax rises of £40 billion, will "wipe the slate clean" and put public finances on a firm trajectory, a number of international aid charities criticised british government cutting billions in overseas aid, including bill gates, he said the uk withdrawing from its overseas aid role leaves us all at greater risk. the treasury announced government would spend {13.3 billion on overseas development, assistance which is 2 billion less than last year. chancellor said she will restore economic stability and invest more in schools, national health service and housings, admitting increasing taxes is likely to hit workers, in the form of lower pay rises.

here is our political correspondent iain watson. kier starmer and rachel reeves have been on something of a politicaljourney — they promised limited tax rises before the general election, but announced substantial tax increases just a few months later. the bulk of this, £25 billion, coming from businesses in the form of higher national insurance contributions. while employees national insurance remains unchanged, this morning the chancellor admitted working people would pay a price. i said that it will have consequences. it will mean that businesses will have to absorb some of this through profits. it is likely to mean wage increases might be slightly less than they otherwise would have been. but overall, the office for budget responsibility forecast that household income will increase in this parliament. i was able to announce £22.6 billion of additional money for day—to—day spending in the health service... the prime minister and chancellor had travelled to the west midlands to meet

nhs staff and to highlight their cash injection for the health service. kier starmer insisted higher taxes would provide better services. yes, difficult decisions, but we have taken difficult decisions now and i think everyone, many people, would agree health, education and housing and issues like that are the really important things for our country to be driving towards. the chancellor has said she does not want to do another budget like this again. the red box packed full of difficult decisions. some of the independent experts have pored over the contents and think that further tax rises might be necessary. she is looking at significant. increases in spending this year and next but then the rate of increase really falls - sharply to the extent that it - might well mean cuts in budgets for unprotected departments over the next few years. - in reality, pretty unlikely - to happen, probably be topped up in the next year's - spending review and it could have a knock—on effect -

on higher taxes thereafter. the political divisions between the main parties seem even clearer now than they did at the last election. some measures suggest the budget is right on the inside as well as the outside, vat on private school fees, more tax on private jet flights, for example. this weekend the conservatives choose the new leader and rachel reeves appears to have succeeded in uniting the remaining candidates. they both hate her budget. rachel reeves is a compulsive liar. she said in the election she was not going to raise taxes. she hasjust raised in by more than any other chancellor in 30 years. she said she would not increase borrowing. she has massively hiked borrowing. they do not understand what it is like to employ people. they do not understand what it means. one of the fundamental differences between conservatives and labour. labour say the big picture

is the promise of change will become tangible through more investment in public services, but the budget does not in itself boost economic growth in this parliament and the chancellor may have to make more difficult decisions. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. rachel reeves insisted again that the £22 billion black hole was left to her by the previous conservative government and forced some of those difficult choices on tax in the budget. meanwhile the conservatives claim that the office for budget responsibility, the official spending watchdog has failed to back up that figure. so what is the reality, joining me is ben chu from bbc verify. so talk us through this £22 billion figure.— billion figure. so, the obr review into _ billion figure. so, the obr review into this _ billion figure. so, the obr review into this very - billion figure. so, the obr i review into this very question was published yesterday alongside the budget and it is true as the conservatives say it doesn't endorse in black—and—white that £22 billion figure which has been