this is bbc news, the headlines. thousands flee syria's third largest city as islamist—led rebels advance, nowjust five km away from homs. rare red alert weather warning, as storm darragh set to batter wales and south west england on saturday with wind speeds of more than 90 miles per hour. network rail says train services are now improving, after a fault with communication system caused delays across uk rail network. families of children operated on by a disgraced surgeon have labelled independent reports into their care as a "whitewash". hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. the prime minister has told the bbc he's not planning to increase taxes again before

the next election , but warned that "unforeseen" circumstances could change that. sir keir starmer said he knew some of his decisions had been unpopular, but he said voters could judge him on what he had delivered in five years�* time. he's been speaking to bbc breakfast�*s charlie stayt. when is it that people listening to you now, watching you on bbc breakfast, will be able to look at their lives and say "i'm feeling better off"? well, this is a commitment by the end of the term that will have happened, but i want it to happen more quickly. but i'm going to resist the temptation to pretend everything's going to be better by christmas, because we inherited a real mess. the economy is broken. the nhs is completely on its knees. um, our prisons are overcrowded, migration�*s through the roof. and i said in every speech i gave before the election, and every speech since, this change that we have to do — we have to do — is going to take time.

so by the end of the parliament, yes, we want to be measured by "are people feeling better off?" i want that to happen more quickly. one of the things that we've been driving at since we've been in government is getting good investment into our country — £63 billionjust a month ago — which will be measured in good, well—paid jobs in all parts of the country. and i'm plotting where in the country they are so that we can get those good, well—paid jobs, people can begin to feel better off. isn't the straight answer to that question about "when will people feel like things are better?" that you think it's going to get worse before it gets better, and that's something you don't want to say? is that the reality? no, no, it's not. if you take, for example... that would be honest, though, wouldn't it? if you take the waiting list, which is one of the milestones... sorry, i was asking about people's pockets. no, no, no... initially i was asking about people's pockets — about whether you think, as prime minister... i know you're talking about the end of term. is there a place in the middle of this where people are going to be worse off,

but you don't want to say so? no, that isn't what i expect to happen. people will be better off. and the milestone we set out is that that will be measured at the end of the parliament. but i want people to feel better off straight away, to feel better off in the sense of more money in their pocket, to feel better off because they've got a secure job that they know is guaranteed and will give them the money they need. we've given a pay rise to those on the lowest wages in the last budget, so 3 million people are already better off as a result of what we're doing. so already they will feel the difference. i want others to feel the difference as quickly as possible. and at the end of the parliament, i'm saying — as of my speech yesterday — judge me by whether you feel better off. i'll tell you for why. at that last election on the 4th ofjuly, as i went around the country, all our teams went around the country, the thing that came up on the doorstep probably more than anything else was people sensing that they were worse off after 14 years of

the last government. that's what we've got to turn around, and that's what we're determined we will turn around. why do you think you're so unpopular? you have an approval rating of —38. why do you think that is? firstly, i'll be judged at the end of the five—year term on whether we've delivered what we said we will deliver, and that's all that matters to me, that's what gets me up in the morning, it's why i came into politics — to bring about that change. second thing i'd say is this. we've inherited a real mess, and we've decided to take tough decisions to deal with it, to take it head—on — that £22 billion black hole in the economy. i wasn't prepared to pretend that it wasn't there, to walk past it, to make it feel good. so we took the tough decisions. and that is tough. but we did it early, and i think anybody watching who's run a business, run an organisation, will know — or even decorated their house — if there's a tough job to do, you know it's got to be done,

you're better off getting on and doing it because things will be better on once you've done it. can you say in the clearest possible terms, whetherfrom here on in, to the end of your term, there will be any tax rises? and i'm talking about to business... yep. ..to national insurance, or to people's tax. will there be any? so we took really tough decisions with the budget, and we did them early. and we stabilised the economy. and that was tough. and i don't want to in any way suggest that we're going to keep coming back for more, because that isn't the plan, that isn't... so no more tax rises. so... so we did the tough stuff in order to stabilise, because what individuals — and particularly businesses — have said to me is, "look, do the tough stuff, but then we need the degree of certainty, we need to know that things aren't going to materially change." so that's the approach we've taken. what i can't do is say to you there are no circumstances unforeseen in the future that wouldn't lead to any change at all.

because if you just look at covid and...and the ukraine situation, everybody knows there are things that we can't see now. but i can tell you, our intention was to do the tough stuff in that budget and not to keep coming back — to stabilise so businesses can know, well, look, you know, it's tough but fair, but at least we know now with certainty, and we can plan. that's the mindset that we brought to the budget. prime minister, thank you. thank you. a rare red warning for wind, which warns of significant disruption and a "danger to life", has been issued by the met office for parts of wales and south west england on saturday as storm darragh hits the uk. i'm joined by weather presenter chris fawkes. these are rare these red warnings, just tell us more about what they are saying? ness are the very top level warnings that the met office issue, they don't issue them very often, the last one was

for a storm that brought damaging winds to northern areas of england and scotland. it caused some fatalities, this storm system dara, we can see this moving in, it is this area of cloud heading to the uk, it is a strengthening area of low pressure that is working in, and it is a system that will bring multiple hazards to the uk, with flooding rain, hill snow for scotland but the main focus for the time being, is on this top level red weather warning that is in force across parts of southern and western wales, it comes into force during the early hours of tonight, and we are talking about gusts in excess of 90mph. so, that is a danger to life, we are likely to see structure damage, that is some roofs getting blown off buildings, tiles being thrown across streets, that is why you don't want to be out in this kind of thing, there will be widespread disruption, trees will get blown down so it is serious, as

well as the red warning, we also have an amber weather warnings in force across northern ireland, south—west parts of scotland, other parts of wales and western areas of england too, the winds for these areas are not that far behind, we are talking 70 or 80mph, again those winds strengths will blow down trees so you are looking at the same impact in terms of transport disruption and probably power cuts as well.— cuts as well. this might be an obvious question _ cuts as well. this might be an obvious question to _ cuts as well. this might be an obvious question to ask, - cuts as well. this might be an obvious question to ask, but, | obvious question to ask, but, in these situations, is the best advice to just stay indoors? best advice to 'ust stay indoors?_ best advice to 'ust stay indoors? , ., , , indoors? yes, absolutely, i wouldn't — indoors? yes, absolutely, i wouldn't be _ indoors? yes, absolutely, i wouldn't be venturing - indoors? yes, absolutely, i wouldn't be venturing out l indoors? yes, absolutely, i. wouldn't be venturing out with 90 odd miles per hour winds, you don't want a tree disrupting your life, really, thatis disrupting your life, really, that is not a good thing, it is notjust that is not a good thing, it is not just the winds that are cause for concern, actually the winds will be widespread, even away from those area, if inland gusts could be 40—60 bringing branches down, disruption, we have got some very very heavy rain to come as well. that could cause flooding problems with particularly concerns across parts of wales and if

that weren't enough, the rain is going to turn to snow across the hills of northern scotland, 10-20 the hills of northern scotland, 10—20 centimetres blizzards drifting we are talking ability routes like the a883 may get closed so it will impacts will notjust be concentrated in the west, they will be widespread. the other question that people will want to know, is how intense will this be, how long will it go on for? the intense will this be, how long will it go on for?— will it go on for? the peak wind speeds, _ will it go on for? the peak wind speeds, the - will it go on for? the peak wind speeds, the 90mph| will it go on for? the peak- wind speeds, the 90mph gusts will hang round for several hours, you don't tend to get winds that strong lasting that long, but if you look at like the red warning, it comes into force in early hours of the morning, lasts through to 9am, so that is the kind of main hazards zone, outside of that, you know, the winds will still be strong enough to bring down tree branches and that is the case for the whole of saturday, and even across parts of south—east england, the ferries

i think over to the continent, they are likely to be disrupted due to the strong winds, so the impact is a triple whammy, the damaging gusts, the flooding rain and the hill snow across parts of scotland. it is going to be aroom to with widespread impacts for the uk. you to be aroom to with widespread impacts for the uk.— impacts for the uk. you have written about _ impacts for the uk. you have written about this _ impacts for the uk. you have written about this on - impacts for the uk. you have written about this on the - impacts for the uk. you have j written about this on the bbc website haven't you.- written about this on the bbc website haven't you. yes, that has been _ website haven't you. yes, that has been updated _ website haven't you. yes, that has been updated now. - website haven't you. yes, that has been updated now. take l website haven't you. yes, that has been updated now. take a j has been updated now. take a look at chris's _ has been updated now. take a look at chris's piece _ has been updated now. take a look at chris's piece online - has been updated now. take a look at chris's piece online as| look at chris's piece online as well if you want more on all of that. let's get more now on the major disruption along the uk's rail network, which is causing delays across at least nine train lines this morning. let's speak to travel journalist simon calder, who is at paddington station in london. good to talk to you simon. quite an extensive disruption, we are seeing nine different train lines many connecting to major airports. train lines many connecting to major airports-_ major airports. yes i am have come in _ major airports. yes i am have come in from _ major airports. yes i am have come in from heathrow - major airports. yes i am have l come in from heathrow airport on the elizabeth line, which is one of the lines that was

affected earlier, that train was absolutely on time, but talking to some passengers and staff travelling tout heathrow earlier this morning they found they had trains cancelled or delayed for a long time because of communication problems, and here at london paddington, the hub for the west of england and south wales, we have got lots of delayed trains, the train from westen supermare came in late, delays from swansea via cardiff and on a day like this when people are making long distance journeys it is a real worry. distance “ourneys it is a real wor . , ., distance “ourneys it is a real wor . ,, ., ., ., worry. simon... i was going to say simon _ worry. simon... i was going to say simon we _ worry. simon... i was going to say simon we know— worry. simon... i was going to say simon we know more - worry. simon... i was going to| say simon we know more about the cause of this now, don't we? , ., the cause of this now, don't we? , . ,, , the cause of this now, don't we? , . _ , we? there is a system called gsmr which _ we? there is a system called gsmr which stands - we? there is a system called gsmr which stands for - we? there is a system called l gsmr which stands for general system for mobile communications for the railway,

and it normally works very well indeed. you will be aware that of course, railways have lots of course, railways have lots of cuttings, tunnels and you have to have a dedicated system so signallers can talk to drivers and so on, that didn't work this morning, i have a statement from network rail, they say that when the system, when things began this morning, people couldn't actually log in. the back up manual system is being used instead, causing a few minutes of delay at the start of the day. now, that is reassuring but if you look at for instance trains on the line from london waterloo to salisbury and to exeter, they have had a lot of problems, the very first train from salisbury was cancelled this morning and we are hearing of problems on south—east line, on the main thameslink line which runs north—south through the

capital. most of the problems restricted to south—east england but of course, that is where most of the commuters are, so a dismal friday rush hourfor a number of are, so a dismal friday rush hour for a number of people, probably into the thousands, maybe the tens of thousands, but things should be better by lunchtime. but things should be better by lunchtime-— but things should be better by lunchtime. �* ,, ., , . lunchtime. and simon, since we have ou lunchtime. and simon, since we have you there, _ lunchtime. and simon, since we have you there, we _ lunchtime. and simon, since we have you there, we are - lunchtime. and simon, since we have you there, we are talking l have you there, we are talking about this red weather warning, for the uk, or parts of the uk this weekend. it is likely to have an impact on the travel network isn't it? it have an impact on the travel network isn't it?— network isn't it? it certainly is and once _ network isn't it? it certainly is and once again _ network isn't it? it certainly is and once again it - network isn't it? it certainly is and once again it will- is and once again it will probably be the biggest disruption in terms of the number of passengers affected will be probably on the railways, but, whenever there is lively weather of course the uk has the two busiest single runway and two runway airports in the world, gatwick and heathrow and i will be hoping and watching tojudge, make sure there are no

cancellations, but, iam sure there are no cancellations, but, i am afraid where ever you are travelling, today and through the weekend, hope for the best but be prepared for delays and disruption.— prepared for delays and disruption. prepared for delays and disrution. ,, ., ., .«r disruption. simon, good to talk to ou, disruption. simon, good to talk to you. joinings _ disruption. simon, good to talk to you, joinings us _ disruption. simon, good to talk to you, joinings us from - to you, joinings us from paddington today. families of children who were operated on by the disgraced surgeon yaserjabbar say that independent reports into their care are a whitewash and a final insult. great ormond street hospital ordered individual reports into each of mrjabbar�*s 723 patients after he stepped down last year, following a damning report by the royal college of surgeons. the hospital says commissioning the reviews is in line with nhs guidelines — but only a few have been completed so far, and several of those have not satisfied the families. chloe hayward reports. bunty was referred to yasirjabbar for leg lengthening surgery. in may 2020, after a series of failed operations, her lower left leg was amputated. none of her operations

worked and none of them were of any benefit to her whatsoever — they've admitted this. now when the leg lengthening didn't work, he shortened her leg by about eight inches. so this was when ella's legs were at their worst. claire's daughter, ella, has a rare bone condition, which led to a referral for a series of operations to realign her knees as she grew up. the first operation worked, but then she switched to mrjabbar. this is how mr jabbar's surgery had left her. she went from walking for miles to, "mummy, i can't walk round the supermarket." and it was at that point we had to make the choice to get a wheelchair for her, because she just, she just refused to walk through pain. concerns about jabbar�*s practice led to a damning report from the royal college of surgeons, and he left his post at great ormond street hospital. the hospital says it is deeply sorry to the patients they have let down, and that patient safety is our core purpose. in response to the rcs

report, gosh commissioned independent reviews for all of jabbar�*s 723 patients. so far, around 10% of families have had their personal reports back, but several are unhappy. this report is not worth the paper it's written on, because it hides the truth. it states that she only had six procedures, when i can count ten. it's just a smokescreen to cover up what really went on. our review itself, i feel missed out a lot of important information about ella's personaljourney. they missed out a condition that she's got in the hip wasn't even _ detailed in the report. they also missed out discussing one of the surgeries that had been done in betweenjabbar's and the successful one. there was a couple of things that we really just couldn't find any clarity in, because it felt like it wasn't ella's report. both bunty and ella were referred for psychological support prior to this year, but ella's report said she suffered no psychological harm.

i find that very, very hard to digest, because i know other consultants that we've seen have told me that if you met with ella, you would not come to that conclusion. unfortunately, we were never given the opportunity to meet with the independent reviewer, so we weren't ever able to put that across to him. a gosh spokesperson says: it adds that: many parents have joined an online group to discuss their concerns. of the 12 families that i've been in contact

with who have had their report, i haven't seen anyone who's been very positive about the situation. most have been quite unhappy that there was information that they haven't felt was addressed, or it was missing details, and that, you know, they, they felt like they wanted a bit more of a, a response from gosh as to the results. us from paddington today. chloe hayward, bbc news. our health editor hugh pym joined me in the studio to bring us up to date on the report. right back to 2022, great ormond street, one of the most famous children's hospitals globally, and concerns began to emerge. so the hospital commissioned a report by the royal college of surgeons to look into what had been happening in the paediatric orthopaedic department, where yaserjabbar, the surgeon, worked. they completed their report

in 2023, in the autumn, handed it over to the trust, and it only started being sent out to families of the young patients a month or so ago. and that report concluded that he'd carried out surgery which was incorrect, unsuitable, and had resulted in life—altering conditions, including in at least one case, amputation. and the report said there were serious concerns about the working culture. now, families felt that that report had been redacted and therefore wasn't particularly useful for them. then you've got this separate process of independent reviews of each of these 723 cases, an outside expert, a surgeon from another employer coming in to do these individual case reviews. now, only 60 have been completed so far. and bbc news' chloe haywood, my colleague, has spoken

to four of the families and there's been indirect contact and feedback from about a dozen more. and they are very, very unhappy, because they feel these case reviews are not complete. they're only based on medical records, they say no interviews were carried out by the reviewer, and this has resulted in at least one family saying, "there's a whitewash here, there's a cover up, it's an insult". and therefore they really feel this process of independent reviewing is not working for them. now, great ormond street have said they're deeply sorry about what happened, and that they want every patient and family who comes to the hospital to feel safe and cared for. and they say that the independent review process is in line with nhs england guidelines. you mentioned there something about the working culture that came out in one of those reports, are there concerns more widely? well, i think this does raise questions about the environment sometimes.

the royal college of surgeons said there was a toxic environment in the paediatric orthopaedic area of great ormond street. it raises questions about the power of surgeons and maybe not being kept in in check, not being collegiate, a lack of a collaborative approach. he did practice at other hospitals and they're carrying out their own reviews, including private hospitals in london. and i think this will continue to be a question which is unanswered, to what extent was he challenged, and to what extent were the management actually made aware of what was going on? it's certainly known that that there were concerns passed on. i think, to generalise on whether it's a problem throughout the whole health service is probably not possible, but i think there are certain question marks about how in hospitals this sort of thing plays out. there are warnings that the nhs in england is under more pressure going into winter than ever before.

a sharp rise in cases of flu and norovirus are seemingly to blame. our correspondent steve knibbs has more? the nhs under strain in the winter isn't unusual, but this year the pressure is hitting harder and earlier than before, and there are now warnings of a potential quad—demic. the first nhs figures for the winter show that the average number of patients taking up beds in hospitals in england last week with flu were almost 1,100 — that's four times higher than this time last year. 751 beds were occupied with patients with norovirus—like symptoms. more than 140 children were in hospital with a respiratory condition — rsv. and nearly 1,400 beds had covid patients in them — which is lower than last year. and, out of a total of100,000 beds, 95,000 are already occupied. staff at one hospital in nottinghamshire say they're already experiencing extreme pressure on services.

there's a 92—year—old gentleman who's been in ed now for 2h hours waiting for a medicine bed. now, that's almost unheard of here. with increasing admissions across the uk, the national medical director for the nhs, professor sir stephen powis, warned that the next few months will be difficult. with cases of flu — and norovirus, in particular — rising sharply, there are concerns that the extra pressure caused by the huge number of patients will lead to many hospitals declaring critical incidents. the nhs says that one of the ways the public can help is that for those who are eligible for vaccinations, to get theirjabs as soon as possible. 27 million people have already had jabs for flu, rsv and covid, but there are many that haven't. applause. this all comes the day after the prime minister said one of his six long—term priorities for government was hitting the 18—week target for non—urgent hospital care. but, as it stands, pressure on the service is mounting earlier than ever before. steve knibbs, bbc news.

traditional wisdom says you need something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue for your wedding. but what jack reeves really wanted for his big day was a new accent. jack has cerebral palsy and uses a communication device with a robotic voice, but wanted a dudley accent to read his vows. our reporter rachael lewis has the story. robotic voice: i am really excited about l getting my new voice. ever since jack was a child, he's dreamed of sounding like those around him. the 22—year—old student was born with cerebral palsy, and has always spoken through a device with a robotic voice. robotic voice: i want to sound more like my family, _ and we live in birmingham. i am getting married, and i want to be able| to say my vows in my own voice. jack and his fiancee beth are getting married injuly 2026. after a joint appeal from bbc wm and west midlands ambulance service,

jack was inundated with people offering him their voice. and how did you choose which voice to have? i chose a voice with a dudley accent, as that is where - my fiancee is from. i also liked the timing of the voice. - i wanted to make the right choice. i it is going to be my voice for the rest of my life. i jack's anonymous donor was chosen, and has now recorded around 1,500 phrases to make up his vocabulary. today he's hearing his new voice for the first time. 0k. ready? the big moment. are you ready? go for it. dudley-accented voice plays. he gasps. are we ready to show mum and dad? hello, jack. you all right? dudley accent: i love you, mum and dad. . aww!

i love you too, jack. super happy. super proud. i had my little — . shed my little tear. emotional. and super thankful to the guy that's, like, i donated his voice forjack. like...what a thing - to be able to have done. but there's one other thing jack wants to do before his wedding. i want you to take me to an aston villa game now, please, dad. i want to show off my new brummie voice. fair enough — 0k, jack. now it's time for a look at the weather with elizabeth rizzini. hello there. well, it was wet and windy on thursday, and the weather is about to turn even worse still, as we head into the weekend with our next named storm, storm darragh barrelling in from the west. damaging gusts of wind, that's what we're most

concerned about, but also the risk of flooding, especially in the northwest, and there will be some snowfall over the higher ground of scotland. but friday, a fairly quiet day of weather, the calm before the storm, particularly for the eastern half of the uk. a cold start to the morning, compared to how mild it was on thursday. the sunshine lasting longest in the east. high cloud pushing eastwards and turning very wet, very windy by the end of the afternoon across northern ireland and for these western coasts too. temperatures staying in single figures, so a lot cooler than on thursday. but here comes the storm on friday night into saturday. deep area of low pressure. tight squeeze on the isobars. first down towards the irish sea coast and then the strength of the wind transfers to north sea facing coasts on saturday afternoon. there are plenty of weather warnings in force, but this is the most serious, an amber warning for damaging gusts of wind, gusts exceeding 70—80 miles an hour, perhaps, with some irish sea coasts within these areas. we're likely to see coastal overtopping, transport disruption and even trees down. so this is the small hours then of saturday. blizzard—like conditions over the higher ground of scotland, even perhaps some snow to lower levels and across the pennines and the cumbrian fells.

the rain will be relentless in the north west, but it's mostly the strength of the winds we're concerned about. this is how we're starting off the day on saturday. now, if you've got travel plans, or indeed pre—christmas plans, perhaps, then do keep checking the forecast. it will be very windy, even inland across england and wales. we're expecting gusts of 50—60 miles an hour. the winds easing a little through the afternoon for irish sea coasts, but picking up for north sea facing coasts, coastal overtopping expected across parts of norfolk. and these will be the day's temperatures. not that you'll notice the temperature too much. it will feel highly unpleasant outside and there'll be a lot of added wind chill, too. now the area of low pressure pulls away as we head into sunday. high pressure builds in behind, but there's a brisk northerly wind, and it certainly is going to feel cold, and there'll be a lot of added wind chill too. windiest towards the eastern half of the uk. plenty more showers piling down on that wind, and temperatures for most will stay in single figures into the start of next week. bye bye.

live from london. this is bbc news. thousands flee syria's third largest city as islamist—led rebels advance, nowjust 5km away from homs. calls from the leader of his own party to step aside — pressure on south korea's president grows, after he declared martial law this week. a rare red alert weather warning, as storm darragh sets to batter wales and south west england on saturday with wind speeds of more than 90 miles per hour. network rail says train services are now improving — after a fault with communication system caused delays across uk rail network. in france, president macron vows to name a nearby minister within days after michel barnier was ousted in a no confidence vote. —— a new prime

minister.