Reduction. 100 flood warnings in place across england tonight as the met office warns that up to five more centimetres of rain could fall. Articial speech ever since i got this voice it was amazing. And the little boy whos been given a new voice thanks to advances in technology. And coming up on sportsday late in the hour on bbc news. England prepare for their ioooth game, the match at wembley against montenegro scould also see them qualify for the euros. Against montenegro should also see them qualify for the euros. Good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. Accident and Emergency Departments in england have recorded their worst performance since current records began in 200a. One in six patients waited longer than the four hour target in october and the target for starting Cancer Treatment was missed for the 46th month in a row. The total number of people waiting for routine operations is now nearly 4. 5 million. The labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the figures as disgraceful, and blamed the problems on a lack of staff and funding. But the Prime Minister said they were a result of the huge demand, being placed on the National Health service. Heres our Health Editor hugh pym. That was when i thought, right, ok, something is not right. Donald who was 84 died after sliding off a hospital trolley. Hed been waiting six hours in a e. 8. 15 up until the time he died, nobody came to see him, no pain relief was offered. His daughter, who is a former nurse, said he might still be alive if calls for help had been acted on. Said he might still be alive if calls for help had been acted onli can appreciate how busy nurses are, how busy a e can get. However, come ten oclock, 10. 301i how busy a e can get. However, come ten oclock, 10. 30 was speaking to nurses and a doctor saying that my dad needs to be seen and i wasnt listened to, i was very angry. The hospital said it offered sincere sympathies to donalds family and was investigating the matter thoroughly. The nhs is under intense pressure as patient numbers rise year by year. In october 2014 there we re year by year. In october 2014 there were just year by year. In october 2014 there werejust under 470,000 year by year. In october 2014 there were just under 470,000 Emergency Hospital admissions but last month there were more than 560,000. Five yea rs there were more than 560,000. Five years ago, around 105,000 had to wait more than four hours in a e. Last month, the figure was around 320,000 patients. Boris johnson last month, the figure was around 320,000 patients. Borisjohnson was challenged on the decline in performance of the nhs. This is basically caused by the huge demand that there is on the nhs and thats why now in the last three months we have done the biggest investment in the nhs in modern times. But other parties attacked the governments record. The worst performance ever in oura e record. The worst performance ever in our a e departments. 50 many patients will be languishing on trolleys waiting longer and longer and longer for treatment and care in out and longer for treatment and care in our overcrowded hospitals. This comes after a decade of cuts in our Health Services. I am appalled by these figures today, they are the worst figures on record. It is devastating for patients that need help and support and treatment. It is devastating for those people that work in our health service. In england, 83. 6 patients were treated or assessed in a e within four hours in october. For the rest of the uk, the latest figures are for september. In scotland the level was 89. 3 in that month. In wales, the number was lower at 75 . In northern ireland, just 59. 6 were treated or assessed in four hours in major a e units. There were similar pressures on Health Services across the uk. They are illustrated by the experience ofjill, aged 88, who has dementia. She was on a trolley in a e for six hours and a family so she experienced severe stress. A e for six hours and a family so she experienced severe stressm was bedlam. There were trolleys in the corridors, there were trolleys in doorways, they were bringing trolleys in, moving your trolley and pushing you further and further and further meaning you could fit intu more people, if they were moving a trolley they had to move trolleys out of the way to get trolleys by. Herfamily say out of the way to get trolleys by. Her family sayjill should never have been sent to a e because she was let down by local community care. Hospital apologised but said a significant increase in the number of very prue leith patients meant services were under considerable pressure. Hugh pym is with me now. To be clear, those figures are from october so went to hadnt even set in and the fear must be it can only get worse. We havent had any serious Winter Weather and we havent even had a flu season and look what is happening in the system. Nhs staff are working flat out to try and deliver the patient ca re out to try and deliver the patient care they want to, but faced with this rising demand it is really difficult to hit these targets. I think there are a of issues that you could say havent been fully addressed in this election campaign. One of them is how much money does the nhs really need to keep up with demand and transform itself to do more care in the community so people dont need to end up in hospital . The other thing is workforce. Where is the future supply of nurses and doctors going to come from at the time at time of unfilled posts. There is a complex question at the moment about pensions which are in some senior doctors dont want to work extra shifts to clear waiting times because it is eaten up in tax. The conservative say they will seek to control immigration by introducing a points based system that would be firm but fair if they win the election. But the home secretary priti patel stop short of committing to reducing the overall number is coming to the uk. The Prime Minister said immigration could come down in some sectors but he didnt want the uk to be closed to the rest of the world. Heres our home editor mark easton. People have called lowestoft home since the stone age. Its name from the old norse means homestead, but not enough people want to come and live here these days. If lowestoft has an immigration problem, its not that there are too many migrants coming to the town, but too few. The National Immigration figures explain the problem. Since the brexit referendum in 2016 net migration into the uk has fallen. Still historically high, but down 20 . Within that change is a more dramatic shift. Net migration from outside the eu has gone up 21 . But from inside the European Union it is down by more than two thirds injust three years. That huge fall in overall eu migration to the uk has seen some sectors that have relied on european workers struggling to adapt. In this part of the world, that has led to insurmountable recruitment problems. Being at the end of the line, and at the edge of everything, we dont have people that just pass through. As chief executive of a Community Trust in lowestoft, emma rapson knows how desperate Staff Shortages can be for the towns most vulnerable citizens. We dont have much immigration out here, which will be, you know, good news to hear for lots of people, but, actually in terms of finding people to fill social worker posts, gp posts, teaching jobs, its actually a real problem for us. Health is a significant concern. There have been moves to bring in gps from abroad. Care homes are closing, there arent enough willing people locally to fill the vacancies. And its that problem that lies behind confusion today as to what a conservative government would do about immigration. A statement from Party Headquarters this morning quoted the home secretary saying we will reduce immigration overall. But by this afternoon, she could not say whether it should go down or up. The conservative party wants to control immigration. Ill ask again, do you want immigration to go up or down . Well, well be controlling immigration. Does that mean it goes down . Well, well be able to control immigration numbers. Do you want to reduce the numbers of immigrants that come to this country . We want immigration that is fair. The suggestion is that you want to lower immigration, is that right . We will be able to control who comes to our country, and also the reasons as to why people are coming here. In middlesbrough on teesside, one can find the other side of the immigration argument, that foreign arrivals put extra pressure on Public Services and jobs. Well, i do think they need to bring down the population. We havent got enough spaces. Yes, i think they should bring it down, because obviously its taking ourjobs and that. All the parties give you all the spiel, what they are going to do, what they are not going to do, and then at the end of the day you dont see any difference with any of them. Its the different experiences of places like middlesbrough and lowestoft that explain why the parties wont be clear about immigration. Labours talked of extending Free Movement, the lib dems want a system that works for the economy, and the snp wants more immigration for scotland. But in truth, britain still doesnt know what controlling our borders should look like. Mark easton, bbc news, lowestoft. The labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has refused to say whether he would want to increase or decrease immigration if he became Prime Minister but he has hinted that labour would make it easierforfamilies to bring relatives to live in the uk from overseas and for Foreign Workers to come to the uk to fill skills shortages. He was talking to our Political Editor laura kuenssberg. Would you like to see immigration go up would you like to see immigration go up or down . I want to see immigration being fair and we will see what the outcome of that is but the principle of that has to be that there are many families in britain that want to bring relatives here and families should have a chance to live together but cant because of the income levels they are required to do. And also, we have to be realistic that in this country we have not trained enough people so they will be immigration in the future. Asa will be immigration in the future. As a point of principle would you be happy if it went up or would you rather see it go down . |j happy if it went up or would you rather see it go down . I want people to be able to be united with their families and i want british people to be able to work across europe as they are at the present time and i think putting arbitrary figures on it, as successive governments have done, simply doesnt work. You dont have a strong view on whether immigration should be higher or lower . I want our system to be decent, to be fair and our services to be properly run and properly staffed. In september, your party voted to extend freedom of movement. Some of your biggest backers, including the leader of the unite Union Len Mccluskey think that isnt manageable. What do you think . The conference motion was passed. It doesnt necessarily form part of the ma nifesto doesnt necessarily form part of the manifesto but i think we have to recognise there are many people in britain who have partners who are from europe or the other way around and have children, and therefore children of both. Your manifesto in 2017 said you would end freedom of movement. It sounds like your ma nifesto movement. It sounds like your manifesto in 2019 will Say Something very different. We are meeting this weekend to decide the contents of our manifesto and that will come to a decision. The 2017 manifesto also said, labour accepts the referendum result. Now you are offering people another referendum. Doesnt your change of heart on brexit undermine Peoples Trust . I think what we have done is a sensible approach. I recognise why people voted remain and why people voted leave. But dont you think there will be some people listening to you now who might have voted labour in 2017 who think, hang on a minute, you told me in 2017 that you accepted the referendum result, that it was done and now this time you are saying it is not done . Doesnt have consequences for people present trust in you . Were doing everything to make sure that the trade relationship, drop dummy jobs to make sure that the trade relationship, drop dummyjobs and rights accompanied by eu membership are retained in the future. And those large numbers of people that demanded a referendum have also got the opportunity to make their views known in the final say. Trade relationship, jobs and rights. Labour used to say they could not be another referendum in scotland and now you say that there might be. Isnt that again a question of trust . No, question of realism. The question is, scotland has poverty, has bad housing, has a need for infrastructure investment. Labours position in the last general election was they wouldnt be another Scottish Independence referendum, is promise you made to scottish voters. There is no promise to have a Scottish Independence referendum. We want the early years ofa referendum. We want the early years of a Labour Government to be com pletely of a Labour Government to be completely dominated by the investment we will put into scotland. You have also said in the last couple of years that you are doing everything you can to stamp out anti semitism in the labour party. And yet in this election your party has selected candidates who have been found to have expressed some anti semitic views. Again, isnt this a question of trust . |j have isnt this a question of trust . have introduced very strong procedures into the party. We go through it, we go through Due Diligence on candidates, and where there are questions they are brought before a group to answer those questions and then decisions are made. In some cases candidates are removed. What would you say to voters listening to you today who arejust voters listening to you today who are just not sure who to trust in this election was mac and they are not sure if they can trust you, whether on brexit, anti semitism or where the party is on immigration. We have an opportunity to end austerity, elect a government that will invest in the future of this country, an opportunity to elect a government that will start to redress the gross levels of income inequality across britain. And if your determination gets you to no 10, will you live above the shop or will you move into downing street . Do whatever is necessary to have as Efficient Government of this country, yes, of course. Jeremy corbyn, thank you very much. As weve been hearing, theres an ongoing debate within the labour party over whether it should campaign during the election, for greater freedom of movement. The general secretary of the unite union, len mccluskey, says there must be certain conditions if labour is to extend the right of citizens to work across the eu. He was speaking to our Political Correspondent iain watson. Just wondering whether were going to be able to count on your vote . Youre going to do this side of the road. Dont vote for a slogan, vote for a policy. Labour activists here in yorkshire want to send a message they really believe in. The gentleman there was very positive. At labour conference this year, members voted to defend and extend freedom of movement the right of european citizens to work and seek work in the uk. The partys grassroots are now pushing for this to become a fully fledged manifesto commitment for government. The idea for me of having closed borders and not having that freedom of movement is really a terrible one, to be honest. I dont know how it will go down on the doorstep, but i think its important to stand up for the values that you believe in. But some senior figures have been worried about how this will go down, especially in these areas. An influential leader of the biggest labour Supporter Union told me new policies to protect workers could make freedom of movement more acceptable. Labours policy will be to protect all workers migrant workers, as well as local and british workers. That is labours policy. It will be done with Labour Market regulations. It wont stop the Free Movement of labour. Could you possibly get them all bundled . But labour has wider tensions than brexit. The leadership have set out a route map towards a new referendum and wont officially say if theyll back leave or remain until after the election. But more than 120 labour candidates have signed a pledge making it clear theyll be campaigning to remain. But more than that, many in theircampaign literature are also saying it would be their top priority. And one shadow minister has even suggested that a vote for her was a vote to remain in the European Union. Labour is not a remain party. Labour is a party that speaks for the whole of the nation, and wants to put a proper deal back to the people. The task for labour when it drew up its manifesto is how to appeal both to voters and to its members on issues which have divided the country. Iain watson, bbc news. And you can find out what each party is promising to do on issues from brexit to the nhs in our general election policy guide. You can find more at bbc. Co. Uk news or on the bbc news app. The time is 18. 17pm. Our top story this evening a difficult winter ahead for the nhs as waiting times in england hit their worst levels on record. Articial speech i sound good, and exactly like a 12 year old scottish boy. Helping those who use artifical speech to sound as authentic as possible. Coming up on sportsday in the next 15 minutes on bbc news well hearfrom ben stokes the england all rounder tells us about his incredible summer and the family and friends that helped him get through it. The met office is warning up to 5cm of rain could fall in some parts of england and wales this evening. In oxfordshire, Emergency Services have rescued a number of people trapped in their cars. Parts of the east midlands have already been hit by heavy rain this afternoon and there are more than 100 flood warnings in place across england. The flooding began almost a week ago with more than 800 homes affected since then. Our north of england correspondent Judith Moritz has spent the day in south yorkshire, one of the worst hit areas. 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. And inside the old butchers cafe, the locals have been showing their gratitude, keeping the troops fed and watered. How valuable has it been having the support of the Community Like this, being welcomed in and given a cup of tea . Well, thats almost the most important thing in a way because the community have been fantastic and they have got a really difficult set of circumstances. Its just amazing how supportive they are being to our guys when their livelihoods and lives have been turned upside down in the last week. Some streets have now been underwater for nearly a week. This house belongs to the howsam family. They tried to save their belongings. Today they were salvaging what they could, knowing they wont be living here again for many months. Luckily, everything is fine with insurance, so weve got somewhere to stay, thats fine. Its just a case of getting everything out the best we can, stuff that weve saved that weve got up in the air, and then just wait. Thats all we can do. Emergency crews have come here from all over the country, equipment bought from as far away as cornwall. Theyre pumping a tonne of water per second from the village into the river don, trying to keep ahead of the weather. We are worried about the rainfall that has just started here and its moving through the midlands, and the flood affected areas from last week. We need people to take action. The rain started again this afternoon, waterfalling on water. Its not thought that levels will rise as high as the weekend, but no one here will relax until the rain stops. Judith moritz, bbc news, fishlake. Heavy rain is affecting parts of the east midlands this evening, and weather warnings are in place our correspondent sian lloyd is there. Whats the situation . It is a whats the situation . It is a developing situation in leicestershire. I have been talking toa number of leicestershire. I have been talking to a number of people here in this village who say their properties have been flooded. We have certainly seen people bailing out water and putting sandbags down. This road is passa ble putting sandbags down. This road is passable with help, people had been guiding the cars through and they are clearing the ditches because a lot of water has been running off the fields. The local school has been opened in case people need to seek refuge this evening and it has been a problem for many Rural Communities across this county but also across the whole of the west midlands. Schools have been closed, theres been disruption on the rail, tracks and many roads closed. Thank you. Meanwhile, in italy the government is set to declare a state of emergency in venice following the worst flooding the city has experienced in more than 50 years. Our correspondent jenny hill is there. Yes, they rang the flood sirens again here today, though in truth very few people need warning that very few people need warning that very high tides tonight and tomorrow could send floodwater back into the city. The people who run businesses here and look after the ancient monuments have been trying to clear up monuments have been trying to clear up damage which its estimate runs into the hundreds of millions of euros. Adding to their woes i think is the suggestion, the thought that perhaps this could have been prevented. A major flood perhaps this could have been prevented. A majorflood defence scheme has been delayed for years by corruption scandals, overspend. Then of course it is very low lying, it is sinking. It is prone to flooding and considered vulnerable to the effects of Climate Change so the authorities will be under renewed pressure. For now, everyone is looking to the waterways of the city to see over the next few hours what happens when that tide starts to rise again. Jenny, thank you. The childrens commissioner for england says it will investigate the use of unregistered accommodation, for children in care, following a bbc investigation. It is illegal for companies to accommodate and provide care for those under the age of 16, unless theyre providing a holiday. Our special correspondent ed thomas is with us now. Yes. This month we revealed evidence of care children being placed in narrow boats, caravans and holiday lodges. We also learned of Vulnerable Children being moved around as many as eight unregulated placements in one year. Now the office of the children commissioner said they are investigating after we showed them evidence. Two days after our report on this programme, the secretary of state wrote to all councils in england citing media reports into the use of these placements and calling for them to be eliminated. For many of the Vulnerable Children we spoke to, that change cannot come soon enough. Thank you. Young children who rely on Voice Technology to speak will be able to hear their own accents for the first time as a result of work being done in scotland using artificial speech. The Company Behind it hopes to develop accents from all over the uk giving thousands of youngsters a better chance to express themselves. Our scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. So well be doing different activities. 12 year old lachlan has quadriplegic cerebral palsy. What would you like to learn today . Big numbers. He uses technology to communicate. Until recently, the voice lachlan used was that of an adult. Now its much closer to those of his friends. How did the old voice make you feel . A bit boring. How does it feel to have a new voice . I feel great. Communicating like this takes a lot of work. Lachlan uses his eyes to operate the software to choose every single letter or phrase. Every word is precious. Has it made a difference . Yes. I can talk to other people. I think all children, when theyre starting high school, really want to fit in and i think for lachlan a different voice just makes him sound like other children. He has done so amazingly, we forget what an awesome journey hes been on, so we are super proud of everything that hes achieved. Many thousands of people require communication aids and, while the technology isnt new, the voices available have been limited. This is the first time an accent like this has been constructed for a child. Im an artificial voice. I sound good and exactly like a 12 year old scottish boy. In the uk were merged in accents and regionality that accents mean a lot to us. I think you cant separate our voice from our personality. The accent is part of what we are, so being able to communicate, especially when you have communication difficulties with something which helps retain your identity is really important, really crucial. And there are more accents on the way more opportunities for children to sound like the children theyre growing up alongside. What do your friends think of your new voice . They love it. His mum and dad love it, too. Hes a very bright, outgoing child. He obviously has difficulties but, within the capability that he has through the technology, hes able to shine. I think hes a wonderful guy. And its technology that could have the power to transform lives. For this family, its let a little boys personality burst through. Lorna gordon, bbc news. Art thieves tried to steal two paintings by rembrandt worth £100 million each from englands oldest public art gallery last night, but police managed to stop them after alarms went off at the dulwich picture gallery in south london. An intruder was chased but they managed to get away. Lets have a look at the latest weather now. Heres nick miller. Snow and lots of rain as we have heard. Yes, this is the back garden of one of our weather watchers in warwickshire today. The rain has been coming down from parts of wales and again into yorkshire, up to 30 millimetres in places. That is why we are seeing more disruption on the ra i lwa ys we are seeing more disruption on the railways and things like that, and further flooding with over 100 Environment Agency flood warnings. Notice how the worst of this rain is pulling northwards from the midlands and eventually yorkshire as we go deeper into tonight so something a little drier is on the way. That rain band begins to weaken as the night goes on. A few showers either side of that, wintry and northern scotla nd side of that, wintry and northern scotland and the widespread frost. Here are some snow falling to high parts of the peak district, but that does clear. Tomorrow, this is the area of todays rain. Theres not much left on it by the afternoon. In fa ct much left on it by the afternoon. In fact you may see the sunshine occasionally but rain coming back to east anglia and the south east of england later. Another cold day, a brisk breeze. It is no warmer at the weekend. Low pressure is close by and that will bring a good deal of cloud. Some rain at times, not all the time and probably not a huge amount of fresh rainfall. Some locations have been very wet over the past 24 hours. A bit of rain at times, much more information on our website. That is the forecast though right now, all of those flood warnings, met Office Weather warnings, met Office Weather warnings, we will pull all of that together for you on warnings, we will pull all of that togetherfor you on our warnings, we will pull all of that together for you on our website. Thats all from the bbc news at six, so its goodbye from me, hello this is bbc news. The headlines new figures reveal accident and emergency waiting times in england are at their worst since current records began. Several people have been injured after a shooting at a high school in california, near Los Angeles Police say the suspect has been located and is in custody. Victims of the floods across england are bracing themselves for more rain, with around 100 flood