23/09/2014 BBC News at Six

Ed Miliband sets out his vision for Britain should he be prime

Minister - in his last conference speech before the general election.

He sets out a plan for what he calls a fairer Britain

which he claims will restore people's faith in the future.

Labour's plan for Britain's future - let's make it happen together -

He says a future Labour government would pay for thousands more NHS

staff partly through a tax on wealthier homes and tobacco firms.

We'll be analysing Mr Miliband's speech and where it leaves

America and five Arab allies launch air strikes on Syria -

We're going to do what's necessary to take the fight to this terrorist

group, for the security of the country, and the region

A family from a remote island in the North Pacific ask world leaders

at a summit on climate change to save their home from rising seas.

The former Radio 1 DJ Dave Lee Travis is found guilty

And how the Prime Minister claimed the Queen

purred when he told her Scotland had voted no to independence.

how Labour's proposed mansion tax will mostly affect homes

And police investigate the deaths of a mother

and her young son killed after being hit by a train in Slough.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six.

In his last conference speech before the general election, the Labour

leader, Ed Miliband has set out his stall as a future prime minister.

He put the NHS at the heart of his pitch, pledging

a fund to pay for tens of thousands more doctors, nurses and midwives.

It would be paid for by a "mansion tax", a crackdown on tax avoidance

It was, said Mr Miliband, his mission to restore people's

Our political editor Nick Robinson reports form the conference

His report contains some flash photography. Today marked the start

of an eight-month job application, so says Ed Miliband. The role to be

filled, Prime Minister. The decision to be taken by you next May.

ANNOUNCER: Please welcome the leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband.

His hope today to prove that politics could make a difference by

setting out his goals for a full decade in power. But first the

question that has faced every recent Prime Minister, would he be prepared

to order British forces to take military action in the Middle East?

We support the overnight action against ISIL. What needs to happen

now is that the UN needs to play its part, a UN Security Council

resolution to win the international support to counter that threat of

eyesore. APPLAUSE

For now no agreement to the RAF joining air strikes over Iraq or

Syria. The big theme of this speech, not the threats the country faces,

but his repeated insistence that together the country could build a

better future. Together says it's not just a powerful few at the top

whose voices should be heard, it's the voice of everyone. Together says

it's not just a few wealthy people who create the wealth of our

country, it's every working person. Together says we just can't succeed

as a country with the talents of a few, we got to use the talents of

all. That worked together used more than 50 times. It was a contrast,

claims, to the Tories who have left so many to struggle on their own.

The deck is stacked, the game is rigged in favour of those who have

all the power. Friends, in eight months time we are going to call

time on this way of running the country. A speech of well over an

hour delivered largely from memory with just the odd note didn't

mention the deficit once. But it clearly didn't always excite its

audience. What it did do was spell out six goals for ten years of a

Miliband premiership, that's right, ten years including one that really

did wake them up. It's time to care about our NHS. We

need doctors, nurses, midwives, care workers, who are able to spend

proper time with us, not rushed off their feet. So we will set aside

resources so that we can have in our NHS 3000 more midwives, 8000 more

GPs and 20,000 more nurses. The NHS with time to care.

They let to their feet for that and his promise of how he would pay for

it, by taxing expensive houses, and taxing tobacco firms and hitting tax

avoiding hedge funds is to raise ?2.5 billion a year.

We built the NHS, we saved the NHS, we are going to repeal the health

and social care bill and we are going to transform our NHS for the

future. That is what the next Labour government will do. And, friends, we

will do it together! APPLAUSE

They also loved his attacks on David Cameron, a man he accused of

splitting the country in an effort to appease Ukip. He said he was a

compassionate conservative before the election and he imposed, the

vindictive, the unfair bedroom tax after the election.

APPLAUSE David Cameron, you have been found

out. Voters, he said, would soon face what he called the most

important choice in a generation. We are ready. Labour's plan for

Britain's future: Let's make it happen together. Thank you very

much. APPLAUSE

The question, of course, is whether voters in eight months time will be

ready to see him to see them together in number ten. Ed Miliband

says he's at the start of an eight-month job interview. He chose

not to sell himself but an idea and a symbol of that idea, the NHS. As

if to illustrate his theme the Labour leader took the applause with

his wife Justine, not on his own but together.

Let's talk to our political editor Nick Robinson who's at the Labour

You described that speech, or rather Mr Miliband, saying he is on an

eight-month job interview now. Was this the speech to get him the job?

What was fascinating was what he left off the job application. You

might have thought with conversation about military action being taken by

the RAF in the Middle East, potentially in the next few days if

Parliament is recalled this week, that there would have been a long

and detailed explanation of his attitude towards foreign policy.

There wasn't. You might have thought with questions about the deficit and

how to get the economy moving again they would have been a long speech

about the economy but there wasn't. There are also out of other things

that often in the last speech before a general election Prime Minister

's, or those who want to be prime ministers, go through a list saying

we must be seen to set out our views like a sort of UK version of the

State of the union speech on welfare, immigration and other

issues but there was nothing to be said at all. I think there is a

reason for that. Ed Miliband wanted to sum up the essence of him, the

essence of Labour's plan and the essence of what they will offer at

the next election. He believes that's a different philosophy and he

believes the electorate will reject what he believes is a selfish

Toryism that helps the rich and privileged and will opt instead for

Labour who don't in his language leave people on their own. That is

his belief. Some will attack him. I suspect he will get some bad

write-ups in the newspapers tomorrow, but remember this, nobody

thought he would get a job as the Labour leader and nobody thought he

would be ahead in the polls and on current poll ratings he is due to be

our next Prime Minister. Nick Robinson in Manchester, thank you.

For the first time America and Arab allies have launched air strikes

into Syria against the extremist group, so-called Islamic State.

At least 70 IS militants are reported killed long with 50

Islamic state has seized large areas of Syria and Iraq, and the US has

President Obama has pledged to continue the fight against Islamic

state - the group's stronghold of Raaqa in eastern Syria was targeted

Five Arab states assisted the US in the operation -

significantly, all but one are predominantly sunni muslim

Our first report tonight is from our North America

When President Obama said there would be no safe place and for

Islamic State this time he meant it. This was unleashed on Sunni

extremist targets in Syria. From these cruise missiles to fighter

aircraft to drones and critically the participation of the air forces

of a number of other Arab countries. And in the clear light of day the

flattened buildings, the rubble, the twisted metal and chaos, the

evidence of what had unfolded. That coalition of Gulf states and Jordan

was something that the President stressed when he spoke at the White

House this morning. Last night on my orders and

America's Armed Forces began strikes against Eisel targets in Syria. The

strength of this coalition makes it clear to the world that this is not

America's fight alone -- Eisel. Above all the people and governments

of the Middle East are rejecting ISIL and standing up for the peace

and security that the people in the region and the world deserve. One of

the country with an interesting role in the overnight raids is Syria

itself. The country's representative at the UN was given the heads up but

officials here are keen to stress there was no negotiation. We did not

seek the regime's permission, we didn't coordinate our actions, we

didn't discuss targets, they say. What is clear is that Syria did not

stand in America's way. And that is because the Assad regime has come

under sustained attack from Islamic State. The Sunni extremists have

taken over Basque swathes of land, so much so that the city of rack Hur

has become the effect of headquarters of IS and their

playground by the look of it. That explains its targeting in the

overnight air strikes -- vast swathes of land. Islamic State was

parading its hostage, the freelance journalist John Cantlay, reading

under duress from a preprepared script. Senior US politicians seem

content to call the Islamic state nasty names, awful, vile, a cancer,

an insult to our values. At such petty insults don't really do much

harm to the most powerful Jihadist movement seen in recent history. But

one notable absentee from this joint action against the jihadists is

America's closest ally Britain. David Cameron who is in New York

ahead of the UN General Assembly has issued a statement saying that he

supports the strikes and will be discussing over the next couple of

days what else the UK could do. But the Pentagon which released these

videos of the attacks has for the moment the vital support it needs,

that of the moderate Sunni states. Jon Sopel, BBC News, Washington.

Last night's strikes marked a new chapter in America's fight

So who's joined the US in the military action -

what's its legal basis - and for how long could the airstrikes continue?

Here's our diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall.

A bombardment, seemingly out of the blue, but not Damascus bombing

Syrian rebels this time but the U.S. Air Force with Arab allies. Critics

will call it yet another US led military intervention in a foreign

country without UN Security Council approval. At the fanatical followers

of the so-called Islamic State used by barbaric methods and they are

seen as a threat that could envelop the whole region in chaos. I'm

worried that today's strikes were not carried out at the direct

request of the Syrian government but I note that the government was

informed beforehand. I also note that the strikes took place in areas

no longer under the effective control of that government. These

attacks are the strongest international response yet to the

so-called Islamic State network. Led by the US but also involving Jordan,

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Emirates. Most of them also

taking an active military role. The aim is to target these areas. The

strikes themselves were carried out by fighters, bombers and unmanned

drones. Plus dozens of Tomahawk land attack missiles, a massive barrage.

They hit a wide area including rack Hur, which is seen as an IS

stronghold. Targets included command and control centres, training camps

and even a finance centre used by the extremists. Though it is thought

IS dispersed some of its fighters and weapons in anticipation of the

attack. Ironically the Syrian President could well benefit from

this turn of events. Only a year ago his government was the potential

target of US strikes. Now the Americans are taking on some of his

enemies for him. It's inevitable that air strikes against ISIS will

help the Assad regime. That's just an unintended consequence. We are

basically putting our fingers in the mangle of somebody else's Civil War,

and you have to do that sometimes. And what of other unintended

consequences, curbs on the Turkish border say they are worried that IS

fighters are coming their way to flee the air strikes. The refugee

crisis there, already hundreds of thousands strong, could get even

worse. Bridget Kendall, BBC News. The time is just before 6:15pm.

Ed Miliband has set out what he calls a fairer Britain before the

general election. Back in the swim -

the turtle and 3,000 other sea creatures returned to their aquarium

months after being flooded out. Training teachers to help identify

those affected by FGM - as the first clinic in the UK to

treat victims opens in London. And what will it be like to be

a West Ham fan when the club moves World leaders are being asked to

make bold pledges to address climate change at a one-day summit in

New York. Opening the gathering

of 120 world leaders, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon,

said the global response to climate change will define our future

and that a clear vision is needed. The summit aims to build momentum

for a new world treaty on reducing Our science editor, David Shukman,

reports. From the melting of the ice, in the

far north of the Arctic, to the rising sea level threatening

low-lying countries like Bangladesh. The dirt storm has hit. The fear of

dust storms and drought intensifying in the grain belt of the United

States. Climate change is described by the United Nations as potentially

devastating. Today the UN called a special summit on global warming.

There has been deadlock in negotiations. Maybe some Hollywood

star dust could help. I play characters often solving problems. I

believe mankind has looked at climate change in that same way. As

if it were a fiction. As if pretending that climate change

wasn't real would somehow make it go away. The smallest islands say this

is a a matter of survival. Pleading for help hasn't really worked. A

young mother from the Marshal Islands in the Pacific tried a poem

to her baby daughter. They say, your daughter and your granddaughter too

will wander rootless with only a passport to call home. Then her

daughter was brought on stage. It's not often a baby gets a standing

ovation at a UN summit. Getting anywhere on climate change has

always been a struggle. The talking starting back in 1992 in Rio.

Emissions of carbon dioxide total 28 billion tonnes. Five years later

came the Kyoto treaty. By then annual emissions were running at

more than 32 billion tonnes and the treaty only covered a few dozen

countries anyway. By the time of the Copenhagen summit, emissions were

more than 34 billion tonnes and they just keep rising. This year, they

are set to climb to more than 40 billion tonnes with no sign yet of a

cut, which climate scientists say should happen soon. Carbon dioxide

swirling above America, Europe and China. Some countries, cities and

companies are cutting emissions on their own. The UN wants a global

deal next year. Though there is no guarantee of getting one. David

Shukman, BBC News. Experts at the World Health

Organisation claim the number of people with Ebola could reach 20,000

by November if swift action isn't taken now. Here, it's been revealed

that 164 NHS staff have volunteered to go to West Africa as part of the

UK's efforts to contain the Ebola crisis there. Over 2,500 people have

already died from the disease. A woman and child have died

after being hit by a train Both were pronounced dead

at the scene, and Police are treating the deaths

as suspicious, The former Radio 1 DJ,

Dave Lee Travis, has been found He was cleared of a second charge

of the same offence. The jury were unable to reach

a verdict on a third charge There is some flash photography in

this report. Today, a jury found that one of his

victims had at least told the truth. In 1995, he indecently assaulted a

TV researcher on the day he appeared in the spoof chat show, Mrs Merton.

His victim said he grabbed her breasts in a studio corridor.

Today's verdict, the end to a career which took DLT to the heights of

light entertainment. Top of the Pops and a show on Radio 1 for 25 years.

His victim, now an entertainer, is entitled to anonymity. She wasn't

the only woman to have been groped by DLT. A journalist, who didn't

testify, has spoken about her own experience of meeting the former DJ

at his home in 2012. He got me to stand up and I

didn't know what was going on. So I stood up, then he pulled me

back onto his lap and kissed me. Sort of went (makes noise),

like that. I thought - this has never

happened to me before. I've had some very aggressive

and unpleasant interviewees, but I'd never had, what I class,

as a groping. When the Jimmy Savile scandal blew

up, Scotland Yard launched Operation Yewtree, investigating

historical sex abuse allegations. DLT told the jury he'd no

idea Savile was a paedophile. He was one

of the famous names caught in the You can't try and touch people all

over and get away with it. It's not right. What sort of message does

that send? That's OK. You can go and touch somebody's breast or

somebody's bottom, that is acceptable behaviour? Of all the

allegations that Dave Lee Travis faced he has finally been convicted

of just one count. It's ruined his reputation and his livelihood. David

Griffin, as he's known in court, will be sentenced on Friday.

Matt Prodger, BBC News at Southwark Prime Minister court.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, while on a trip to New York, has

appeared to let he slip the Queen's reaction after he rang her to tell

her the result of the Scottish referendum. She said "she purred".

Meanwhile Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, speaking at the

Scottish pamphlet for the first time since the No vote said the country's

politicians have a duty to ensure promises to devolve more powers to

Edinburgh are delivered. Here's Lorna Gordon.

They are a party which was at the forefront in the fight for

independence and lost. Their defeat comes tinged with victory.

Membership of the SNP has surged to more than 50,000. It has more

members than the Liberal Democrats, making it the third largest party in

the UK. Being a member I think will help the whole process. Let

everybody know it's not going to stop here. It's going to go forward.

It's voters like Joyce who's Scotland's outgoing First Minister,

Alex Salmond, who will President Bush for Westminster to deliver more

powers. All parties should understand, and understand this

well, the true guardians of progress are not the political parties at

Westminster. Or the political parties here in this Chamber, or

Lord Smith, they are the energised electorate of this nation, the

community of Scotland who will not tolerate any delay. The man charged

with making that happen, in the Chamber, listening closely. He

warned that reaching agreement will involve courage and compromise from

all those involved. There is broad consensus anyway that there needs to

be more power given to Holyrood. My job is to try and get consensus

around some of the detail of that. My message to the political parties

today is that Scotland is expecting us to arrive at consensus. Today,

the Prime Minister broke with protocol and was overheard

commenting on a conversation about the referendum he had with the

Queen. The settled will of the Scottish

people is for the United Kingdom to continue, democracy is being

reimagined here. All parties are pushing for additional powers to

come to this paramilitary. Though they have yet to agree what exactly

those powers will be. Lorna Gordon, BBC News, Edinburgh.

Turtles, penguins, seals and sharks are among nearly 3,000 sea creatures

being returned to an aquarium in Norfolk after it was damaged by

storms and flooding last December. They've been looked after in

aquariums across England while the Sea Life Centre in Hunstanton was

rebuilt. Sian Lloyd reports on a noisy homecoming.

The penguins came two by two, carried carefully towards

Seals and otters have also arrived back from their temporary homes.

But it was Ernie, the green sea turtle, who was first to arrive.

At eight years old, he already weighs 80 kilos,

What better creature, than Ernie the turtle, to be the first

Today is a fantastic day to welcome back the creatures.

The animals look happy, settling into their new homes.

When the tidal surge hit the Norfolk coast last winter, the sealife

It was a race against time to evacuate the building.

The power to the temperature-controlled tanks

had been cut off and the animals' oxygen supply was affected.

Ernie seems happy enough, but he will be monitored closely

He's got some time to settle in now though before he's joined

It didn't take the penguins long to test the water.

But it isn't the first time for the seals to move home.

Many of them have been rescued locally over the years.

The pool has been specifically designed to improve what they

Obviously, we've had a bit of a swap over here,

As long as they get fed, they're going to be happy.

But the otters weren't quite so brave.

They were a bit apprehensive of their new enclosure.

Nina Ridge is here. This scene was sent to us by Nick Thompson. Further

north across the UK it was cloudier. We had some outbreaks of rain. There

have been a couple of weather fronts. They have produced rain to

northern England and Scotland. The cloud will continue to push south

this evening and over night tonight, along with the rain. A different

picture for tomorrow morning, overcast skies, patchy rain, showers

to the north and west. Temperatures around 10-13 degrees. As we start

the day. We have some of that patchy rain to clear away by around about

lunchtime it should move out into the North Sea and skies will

brighten. Still the potential for one or two showers, but many places

for the afternoon should be dry and bright. A little bit on the breezy

side. We have that north-westerly breeze. For south-west England we

will see sunshine with temperatures 17-18 degrees. The showers to the

south-east giving us an idea there is the potential for one or two

around. A good deal of dry weather with afternoon brightness,

Manchester seeing 16. Temperatures for Northern Ireland 14-15. Around

average across parts of Scotland where it will be dry and bright with

patchy cloud. Through Thursday we keep high pressure building to the

south. Weak weather fronts in the north will keep things more overcast

here. We could see patchy light rain and drizzle around. Further south

it's more than likely to stay dry with brightness around. Northern

areas overcast, fortunes changing on Friday, Scotland and Northern

Ireland enjoying brighter skies. Further south, warm it will be quite

cloudy. A good deal of dry weather throughout the weekend. It will be

rather over cast at times. It should stay fairly warm. Fiona.