the facts, the truth insights, the facts, the truth about how our country is being governed. because what happens in downing street matters down your street. tune in to state of the nation every monday to thursday , 8 to 9:00 only on gb thursday, 8 to 9:00 only on gb news, the people's channel, britain's news channel . britain's news channel. >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:00 on monday, the 25th of november. >> i'm tom harwood and i'm miriam cates now. storm babet leaves a trail of destruction with hundreds of weather warnings still in place. at least five deaths have been reported since the storm hit, and a major incident has been declared in south wales. >> later today, the confederation of british industry are holding their inaugural conference. the chancellor, rachel reeves, will tell business leaders she stands by her tax rises and points to what she describes as pro—growth

policies from her government. >> sir keir starmer has convened a summit in downing street with police chiefs, transport bosses and industry leaders to co—ordinate action to crack down on violence against women and girls , including making the girls, including making the spiking of drinks into a new criminal offence . criminal offence. >> and the prime minister has reacted to an online petition signed now by more than 2 million people, calling for a fresh general election. we'll reveal what he had to say and this hour, as he braces for a humiliating commons debate . humiliating commons debate. well, on that petition, it's one of the fastest growing that has ever befallen the petitions. parliament.uk website. and we're going to be speaking to the man who started that petition a little bit later this hour.

>> i wonder if he's very surprised at how rapidly it's taken off because of course, this is just a petition that can call for a debate in parliament, which is just in westminster hall. it's not something that the government normally takes much notice of, but so i'm quite surprised keir starmer has actually commented. >> yes, i think it's because it's been so quick to sort of rise and shows a level of discontent, even though of course, the numbers involved aren't enough to sort of overturn a general election by any means. it shows that there's some discontent out there. >> well, in a way, it's not really surprising because labour do have this enormous majority on paper, but they received only about 1 in 5 of adult votes, so they were never popular to start with. so in a way, it's not i'm not saying it's good, but it's not saying it's good, but it's not really surprising that they are unpopular this soon after the general election. but a long time to go four and a half years till the next one. >> absolutely. and people might be more distracted by the weather because, quite frankly, weather because, quite frankly, we have seen a lot of flooding a huge amount of disruption across

the country. we've been covering that this hour to, of course, adam cherry, our reporter, is in pontypridd, and he will be showing us some some of the pretty, pretty violent disruption that has taken place and 200 weather warnings still in place. >> so it's not over yet. i think some discussion about whether those warnings came early enough, but of course you can't always predict the weather in britain. sometimes it takes an extraordinary turn. >> but of course, on all of the stories that we're covering today, do send your comments. visit us at gbnews.com/yoursay. all to come after your very latest news headlines . latest news headlines. >> tom, thank you and good afternoon. the top stories storm bert is bringing further widespread disruption with pubuc widespread disruption with public transport affected after devastating flooding over the weekend . great western railway weekend. great western railway says it suspended services on all key routes due to flooding and fallen trees . there are and fallen trees. there are still hundreds of flood alerts in place and a major incident

declared in south wales. hundreds of homes were left underwater, roads were turned into rivers and winds of up to 82mph were recorded across parts of the uk. a new yellow warning has been issued in scotland. the met office warns of heavy rain in northern parts, with the warning to last until midnight tonight. over 300 flights have been cancelled so far, and it's only the second storm of the season now. bar staff will be trained to deal with incidents of drink spiking under government plans to tackle violence against women and girls. number 10 announced that workers in the night time economy will be instructed on how to spot and prevent cases , how to spot and prevent cases, as well as help collect evidence under a new pilot programme to be rolled out from december. the plan is for up to 10,000 bar staff across the country to be trained by spring next year. further details have been discussed at a meeting in downing street between the prime minister and chief constable, transport bosses and industry executives. sir keir starmer has reiterated plans for spiking to

become a specific offence, with hopesit become a specific offence, with hopes it will give people the confidence to come forward. he told broadcasters this morning that the number of reported incidents is way below the number of cases . london's number of cases. london's metropolitan police said reports of spiking increased by 13% last year. of spiking increased by 13% last year . in of spiking increased by 13% last year. in other of spiking increased by 13% last year . in other news, of spiking increased by 13% last year. in other news, in a message to the government , the message to the government, the confederation of british industry chief says ministers must work closely with businesses in future after the shock of the budget tax hikes. the cbi's annual conference is taking place today as businesses unite to warn labour their tax rises will stunt growth . ray rises will stunt growth. ray newton—smith added that firms were caught off guard by the hike in national insurance contributions in the chancellor's budget. shadow work and pensions secretary helen whately told gb news working people are worse off due to labour's political choices . labour's political choices. >> they choose chose to put up pubuc >> they choose chose to put up public sector pay, put up the

pay public sector pay, put up the pay deals with the unions above inflation without requiring any productivity reforms. that was a choice they made. they are choosing to throw money into a british energy company. they are choosing to do those things, to spend money, and that's why they have put up taxes. so they shouldn't blame us for the political choices that they are making. they talked about growth in the run up to the election, but actually they're doing the opposite . and i say i'm talking opposite. and i say i'm talking to businesses who are absolutely distraught . how to businesses who are absolutely distraught. how are to businesses who are absolutely distraught . how are they going distraught. how are they going to survive five years of a government behaving like this? is it this government is incompetent or is it that they hate business? >> a manhunt has been launched after an eight year old girl and after an eight year old girl and a man were seriously injured in a man were seriously injured in a shooting in west london yesterday. a witness has said that a man was shooting directly into a car. the metropolitan police says the child, who is now in a stable condition , and a now in a stable condition, and a 34 year old man who was also injured, were taken to hospital after being shot in southern row. ladbroke grove, just after 530 yesterday afternoon. a 32

year old woman was also taken to hospital as a precaution, but was not hurt . hospital as a precaution, but was not hurt. mps in favour of legalising assisted dying in the uk say that the bill has enough support to pass in the commons. the telegraph reports that a cross—party group backing the bill, put forward by labour mp kim leadbeater, believes it will passif kim leadbeater, believes it will pass if all mps who've gathered who've pledged their support attend that vote. it comes as justice secretary shabana mahmood made a strongly worded intervention in the debate, saying the state should never offer death as a service. prime minister sir keir starmer has declined to say whether he will back the bill, arguing that he doesn't want to pressure mps . doesn't want to pressure mps. elsewhere, the father of a former british soldier has expressed his complete shock to hear that his son has been captured in a video circulating online. a man dressed in military clothing identifies himself as 22 year old james scott rhys anderson and says he formerly served in the british army while dressed in that

combat clothing. he speaks with an english accent while appearing to have his hands tied. russian state news agency tass quotes a military source saying that what they call a uk mercenary had been taken prisoner in the kursk area of russia , part of which ukraine russia, part of which ukraine has held since launching an offensive in august . and some offensive in august. and some sad news that barbara taylor bradford, the best selling novelist who wrote a woman of substance, has died at the age of 91. the leeds born author, who sold more than 90 million books, died peacefully at her home yesterday after a short illness and she was surrounded by loved ones to the very end. taylor bradford , who was often taylor bradford, who was often labelled the grand dame of blockbusters, hit the big time when a woman of substance was published in 1979, making her an overnight success. she was often labelled that grand dame of blockbusters as a blockbuster book selling more than 91 1509 00:08:54,296 --> 00:0