Transcripts For GBN Good 20240703

The town that has laid claim to the this historic first. Now, the Prime Minister says that an airfield is ready. That commercial planes have been chartered. Indeed, that 500 individuals are ready to get people on to those planes, and 300 more are on training. Now for those that can do quick maths, five, six, seven, 800 people there ready to work on this scheme. The question is , this scheme. The question is, will they be able to send even 800 people to rwanda . It all sounds terribly optimistic and expensive, doesnt it, tom . It certainly does. And this it certainly does. And this is after months and months. It was three Prime Ministers ago that the rwanda scheme was first proposed. Thats actually not that long in terms of time is it . I dont know the average length of time that a Prime Minister is a Prime Minister these days. How long is a piece of string . Well, there you go. But but of course, today is the day. Rishi sunak seeming incredibly confident at that press conference that mps are just going to keep voting. Theyre going to be voting and voting and voting throughout the day, even throughout the night. In order to make rwanda law. Will he snatch victory from the jaws of defeat . But even then, if it passes today, he revealed in that press conference, 10 to 12 weeks before that first plane can get off the ground. So what do you make of it . Gb news not april, is it . Gb news not april, is it . Its not april. Its not. Its well, i dont know if by any definition thats the spring, but of course, the Prime Minister blames labour lords for keeping on delaying this. But today could be the final crunch. Well follow every twist and turn of it on this programme , turn of it on this programme, but we want your thoughts as well. Gbnews. Com forward slash yourself to get involved in the conversation. All that to come and so much more after your headunes. Headlines. Good afternoon. Two minutes past midday im ray anderson in the gb newsroom. Our top stories. The Prime Minister says the first flight to rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. Speaking at a press conference within the last hour, rishi sunak slammed labour peers for trying to stop the controversial legislation. Mr sunak said an legislation. Mr sunak said an airfield is on standby and 150 judges are ready to deal with any legal cases quickly. His comments come ahead of a crunch vote tonight on the governments safety of rwanda bill. For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming. But keep the boats coming. But enoughis keep the boats coming. But enough is enough. No more prevarication , no more delay. Prevarication, no more delay. Parliament will sit there tonight and vote. No matter how late it goes. No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to rwanda. We are going to deliver rwanda. We are going to deliver this indispensable deterrent. So that we finally break the Business Model of the criminal gangs and save lives. Rishi sunak says met police chief sir mark rowley has his confidence , but he needs to confidence, but he needs to rebuild trust with the Jewish Community. The met Police Commissioner is meeting the mayor of london today amid calls for him to resign over his forces handling of protests. Forces handling of protests. Thats after an anti Semitism Campaigner was described as openly jewish and threatened with arrest at a pro palestine demonstration. Sir mark rowley will meet members of londons Jewish Community, including the board of deputies of british jews. Andrew mitchell is Deputy Foreign secretary. He told us the met made a big mistake. Well, it was an appalling error by the metropolitan police. And while while i dont think you should necessarily criticise the bobby who was actually dealing with it, there are Strategic Issues for the metropolitan police about how they ensure that people of any faith and no faith can go freely around our capital city. So i have no doubt at all that the home secretary with whom this really rests will be holding. Holding, sir to mark account for what happened, and making sure that nothing like this happens again. It was a terrible error of judgement by the police. Of judgement by the police. Thames water is warning that bills could skyrocket by more than 40 as it puts forward an Investment Plan amid a funding crisis. The troubled Water Company has proposed an increase in spending worth £1. 9 billion on top of its existing five year business plan. It would see extra money spent on environmental projects at an effort to treat sewage spills and chronic leaks. Communities secretary michael gove has previously said that customers must not be forced to cover the costs of the companys mismanagement. Thames water is struggling to prevent a total collapse of its business amid £15 billion worth of debt. Well, £15 billion worth of debt. Well, a car has crashed into a school in liverpool shortly before 830 this morning. A White Mercedes hit a wall and ended up inside a classroom at the Beacon Primary School in everton. Merseyside police say no children were present at the time of the collision. The female driver was assessed at the scene. Her passenger sustained a minor injury. The school has been closed for the day and the building will now be assessed for structural damage. The for structural damage. The number of people dying due to alcohol related causes is at a record high. Misuse of alcohol increased rapidly at the start of the covid pandemic, according to the for Office National statistics. Experts say the new figures show a continuation of that trend with deaths. A third higher last year compared to 2019. Among those drinking too much Liver Disease is the leading cause of death, with rates much higher among men. Alcohol change uk says its the result of years of inaction, and more must be done to tackle excessive drinking. A student excessive drinking. A student whose step father set up a hidden camera in her bedroom just after she turned 18, is calling for tougher sentences for voyeurism offences. 48 year old paul selwood was handed just 22 months in prison after he filmed her naked by setting up a camera in her teddy bears. 21 year old Kathryn Simpson says no one believed her when she raised concerns about sexually suggestive behaviour. Shes now launched a government petition which calls for an increase in maximum sentences for sex offences , and the first statue offences, and the first statue offences, and the first statue of Queen Elizabeth ii to be created since her death, has been unveiled. Based in oakham been unveiled. Based in oakham in rutland, the seven foot bronze statue is englands First Permanent memorial to her late majesty. Created by sculptor hywel pratley, it shows the late queen alongside her beloved corgis. It marks what would have been her 98th birthday. Well, for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com slash alerts. Back now to tom and emma. Well thanks ray for that. And good afternoon, britain. Its 12 07 here on gb news now. An airfield is on standby. Commercial charter planes are now booked and hundreds of highly trained escorts are ready to remove those with no right to be in the uk. Those are the words of rishi sunak, as he announced that the first flights to rwanda will take off in 10 to 12 weeks. Today is the day the Prime Minister has promised to take on the house of lords and finally pass the rwanda bill, allowing, quote, a regular rhythm of multiple flights every month over the summer and beyond until the boats are stopped, albeit later than the government had hoped. Yes, quite a bit later. Lets get the detail now with gb news Political Editor Christopher Hope. Christopher is today the day. Finally, are we going to see this bill passed . See this bill passed . Well, it certainly seems that way from the pm. Rishi sunak, labour and peers in the house of lords will be whipped to oppose any attempt to overturn what they want to happen with this bill. The safety rwanda bill, dont forget, has gone through all its stages. There are two all its stages. There are two sticking points, labour peers. Sticking points, labour peers. Des browne, the former labour defence secretary. Hes very keen for anyone who has served with uk forces in afghanistan. They cant be flown to rwanda for deportation. A Second Amendment is trying to ensure there are regular checks on the safety of rwanda. Number 10 is being very clear. This is not going to happen. Theyre going going to happen. Theyre going to sit through the night with mps and peers trying to trying to break down that that the, the, the feeling in the lords that they cant allow allow this to happen. Its quite a dramatic to happen. Its quite a dramatic moment i think tonight we heard from the pm earlier longer terms though it we are some way away from flights taking off 10 to 12 weeks, he said. First flights take off in july. Thats nowhere near summer. Summer ends or sorry, spring ends on june 21st. And he had said all flights will take off by spring, until his team said thursday. On thursday last week that would not happen. So a lot, a lot is happening here with the rwanda plan. The here with the rwanda plan. The pm is very clear, no ifs or buts. These flights are taking off, he said. There will be a regular rhythm of flights , he regular rhythm of flights, he said. Now what that means to me is it rules out, i think, the likelihood of a june general election. Lots of talk around westminster, that team, the team around him, want to go early because they worry about these flights not working to deter the Business Model of boats coming across from france. If the if these flights take off in mid to late july, then theres no way hell want to have an election before that because we do know, dont we, that labour have planned to abolish this scheme. Planned to abolish this scheme. And even if its successful, if you want a regular rhythm of flights, you need several months to make that happen. So this further supports the idea of an autumn election. Tom and emma Suella Braverman has said that this this rwanda bill is fatally flawed. Should we be expecting a potential leadership challenge from her . Well, youre leaping ahead a few bounds there. I mean, i doubt thats going to happen in terms of before the election. The point of that happening is getting narrower and narrower. Theres an opportunity maybe after may the 2nd the elections, local elections next thursday and results on friday and saturday in the local elections in england. And also, crucially, those mayoral elections on saturday, were it be to be a disaster. There saturday, were it be to be a disaster. There had saturday, were it be to be a disaster. There had been talk disaster. There had been talk about a problem the week after that. But but i cant see how Suella Braverman can affect that happening. Someone like penny happening. Someone like Penny Mordaunt may be drafted in, but this is kind of conversation which obsesses westminster but looks , i think, frankly, looks, i think, frankly, ridiculous to the rest of the country. So the braverman on on the radio this morning saying that these are only a token or a few flights wont be enough to prove its working. Shes been prove its working. Shes been very clear that she thinks this wont work. She will probably cause all sorts of difficulties, difficulties for the Prime Minister, but his battle now is with the house of lords. He said today. Hes he attacked his political opponents. He said they used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boat, keep the boats coming. The boat, keep the boats coming. So he is attacking piers. Labour peers in the house of lords. But really a lot of this blame is attached to him. I think he said last november that whats required is emerging legislation to get these flights off the ground. Were four and a half months later and it hasnt happened. And hes in power with with a large majority in the house of commons. In fact, there hasnt happened so far. A lot of this responsibility rests with him. Its so interesting to hear the criticism of people like Suella Braverman an and Robert Jenrick not against the principle of this plan, but saying that unless there is a substantial degree of deportation, it wont have the deterrent effect required. Do you think that todays rhetoric , you think that todays rhetoric, this new phrase that we heard from the first time, from rishi sunak, from that podium, a regular rhythm of flights through the summer is to some extent buying into that generic braverman narrative that one flight isnt going to do it, that you need this sustained and regular rhythm. Regular rhythm. Well, he knows that, tom, and there are forecasts saying that tens of thousands or people will be sent to rwanda after the five years, first five years of the scheme operating. So you want a scheme operating. So you want a regular drumbeat and in fact, you want if you want us not to be discussing it on gb news, you want this to be a regular thing that no one, you know, another flight is taking off with 150 200 more migrants being taken back to rwanda. You want the effect of that of just a routine flights taking off to show to the people traffickers in northern france. Its not working. And dont bother coming here because youll be taken to rwanda. Hes got a lot a big team around him built up. He says there are 500 highly trained individuals to accompany those individuals being taken to rwanda , 300 more being trained rwanda, 300 more being trained charter planes book some speculation in newspapers that that that no one, no Charter Company would sign up to take this because of the risk of damage to their credibility and to their business. Thats not happening. The pm is saying were on the way. Were ready to go over to the house of lords. But again, it goes back to, i think, the battle tonight, tom, emma is going to be how many of these crossbenchers are going to fold. So there has been a lot of people following. Lord hope, the former deputy head of the Supreme Court. He supported this second measure of regulatory checks on, on, on, on the safety of rwanda. If those start to peel away through the night, he should get his his moment by tomorrow. Well, it will be really, really fascinating to see just how many more times its gone back three, three times between the commons and the lords and the commons and the lords and the commons and the lords and the commons and the lords. How many more over the course of the evening . Might it be the early hours of tomorrow morning that it finally makes its way past both chambers, but Christopher Hope, thank you so much for talking us through what will be a fascinating and decisive day for the Prime Minister well, as weve been discussing, Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, has been critical of this bill. She told gb news earlier that the bill is fatally flawed and i dont really take a view on this amendment because i believe fundamentally the bill is fatally flawed and with or without this amendment, its going to fail. So i believe the bill wont work. And thats the more serious issue. It wont work because its left too many gaps , because its left too many gaps, and it wont work because people who are going to be detained will bring individual claims immediately and will just clog up the courts, and we wont get them off on flights to rwanda. Them off on flights to rwanda. Thats the big problem. So i dont really take a view on this amendment, which i believe is, incidental to the bigger issue that weve got with the bill. Its an interesting criticism that shes putting out there because its not against the principle. Its against what she principle. Its against what she describes as holes in the plan that there wont be enough flights going regularly, enough. Flights going regularly, enough. Well, this has been the concern, isnt it, that the bill doesnt actually go far enough that it stops just short of being effective . I thought it being effective . I thought it was very interesting there that Christopher Hope was saying that the labour party, if the labour party are the next government, that they would effectively just scrap this scheme anyway, even if its working. So i mean, if given the likelihood of another labour government, it just does make you wonder, you know, we spent all this money on it and as Suella Braverman is saying there, you might not even go far enough to be effective as a deterrent because they could bnng deterrent because they could bring individual claims regardless. And yet what we hear from all the briefing now is that if today goes as expected, if finally, this legislation is passed, perhaps in the early hours of tomorrow morning, what it then happens is all of these extra sort of levers kick into gean extra sort of levers kick into gear, you get the first flights going, but also all of these different deals that are being negotiated with countries from botswana to costa rica, many other countries. Suddenly it other countries. Suddenly it doesnt. Its not about a rwanda scheme. Suddenly its about if youre coming to the uk illegally, were going to remove you. And it could be to anywhere, perhaps that is a stronger level of deterrent once this scheme is broadened out, come here illegally and you will not stay, is the message they need to be sending in order for it to be an effective deterrent. But of course, if people think that they can come and that they stand a chance of just being able to make a claim and find a way to stay here, then thats not going to be an effective deterrent at all to people who are willing to take any chance, even if your first act on entering a country is to break the law. Break the law. Well, just how many holes are there in this new rwanda bill . And could people regularly , very and could people regularly, very easily make claims . Lets get the view of the immigration lawyer, ivan sampson, who joins us now , ivan, theres a us now, ivan, theres a criticism from Suella Braverman, from Robert Jenrick that this individual claim clause remains individual claim clause remains in the bill. How big of a hole is that . Well, it is a it is a problem for the government. But can i just correct your language . You call illegal entrance a legal Asylum Seeker . Theyre not illegal. Lets be clear about this. Weve got to apply the law. Well, they are. Well, law. Well, they are. Well, theyre not i mean, lets be clear. Theyre not illegal. Theyre called theyre described by the Refugee Convention as irregular and irregular, Asylum Seekers are permitted to come and claim asylum in the uk. Thats the law. Only if theyre Asylum Seekers, if theyre refused asylum , theyre illegal migrants. Commentators like you to describe these individuals as illegal. Theyre not. No. Im sorry, im sorry. The government describes them as illegal. The law of the land describes them as illegal. If theyre if their asylum application is refused. Youre application is refused. Youre quite right. The convention we signed up to back in the 1950s, before the days of mass migration, makes the makes the point that you do. But if. But thats only if people have a legitimate right to claim that theyre refugees. If theyre not refugees, if theyre economic migrants, they can be illegal. Yeah. Well, there is a distinction. So you cant bundle everyone coming across the channel as illegal. Theyre not those that are genuine. And remember the majority of them are and 50 are refusals , are are and 50 are refusals, are allowed by our appeal courts. So the governments not got a great track record in deciding these cases. But the government describes rwanda as safe. Thats what this bill does. And thats contrary to the fact finding determination of the Supreme Court. And i can just read you one line of the final judgement of the Supreme Court and what it says is on the present appeal, the Supreme Court, having heard full arguments on the point, has come to the clear conclusion that this policy is unlawful for the principle of refoulement. So the principle of refoulement. So thats the fact finding determination of the Supreme Court. Even that Supreme Court decision that this bill does, what it says is the judgement of parliament can replace the fact finding decision of the Supreme Court. Thats what this bill does. Thats what this bill does. Of course, the high court found something entirely different. The Supreme Court found what you found on the bafis found what you found on the basis of refoulement and on the back of that decision, the United Kingdom government signed a treaty with rwanda, a further treaty forbidding explicitly forbidding the process of refoulement the re export , i refoulement the re export, i suppose, of Asylum Seekers, which is the condition on which the Supreme Court made their judgement , the Supreme Court made their judgement, given that weve got this new treaty with rwanda signed between the uk government and the Rwanda Government that addresses us, the claim of the Supreme Court that addresses their concerns. Well, it didnt in the Supreme Court because , look, you Supreme Court because, look, you may wish to take the word of paul kagame, the leader of rwanda, a killer , a murderer, a rwanda, a killer, a murderer, a prisoner , arbitrary and prisoner prisoner, arbitrary and prisoner of political prisoners. You may wish to take his word for it. And remember, people can claim asylum from rwanda. So you may wish to take his word. Un, the un refugee agency. He un, the un refugee agency. He has a deal with israel to rule , has a deal with israel to rule, resettle, Asylum Seekers in rwanda. If its good enough for the un refugee agency, why on earth is it not good enough for the United Kingdom . Well, ill tell you why. Ill explain to you. And because you explain to you. And because you dont understand the facts, the reason that that was allowed is because people voluntarily went to rwanda. Now, if you have a policy of people voluntarily want to go to rwanda, great. Thats fine. You if you voluntarily want to go to rwanda, which happened with israel, then thats fine. But if israel, then thats fine. But if you fear being persecuted and being subjected to torture or degrading treatment or even being subjected to refoulement , being subjected to refoulement, then you shouldnt be forced. So, i mean, people bring up this un policy all the time, but they dont really understand it. So dont really understand it. So no, there were voluntary returns. So if everyone coming across the boat says, you know what, i want to go to rwanda. Great. Straight to the airport. Lets ship them off. But if you dont and you object for human rights grounds, you shouldnt. Rights grounds, you shouldnt. Look, this bill fundamentally erodes the separation of power between the courts and the and the judiciary. Its a affront to our constitution. And what really gets me, what really gets under my skin is people talk about deterrent and will it be effective . This bill is unlike lawful and the labour party quite rightly. And listen , im a quite rightly. And listen, im a conservative party member. The labour party quite rightly will revoke this bill and you know whats going to happen . Were going to have to bring all those people back and whats that going to cost . So i think that rishi sunak should give a, a blank check for the cost of bringing these people back, because its this ridiculous rwanda policy is going to cost the country a lot more than the cost of sending them to rwanda in the first place. Ivan, we dont have a separation of powers between the courts and parliament. We have parliament. Parliament is supreme and parliament can pass any law and override the courts. As we saw with the exoneration of the postmasters, thats our system. System. But theres a universality of human rights. Im afraid if parliament decreed tomorrow that it didnt like people with ginger hair and we should execute them, im afraid its not supreme. Well, so it would be legal under our system. It would be horrible, but it would be legal. Theres a universality of human rights. So parliament, Even Parliament has to respect human rights. Also in international treaties, which we are signed up to, we cannot the doctrine of parliament, of the supremacy of the commons was established when we cut off the head of the king. It hadnt didnt give a fig for human rights. Thats the system we live under. System we live under. Well, i think, unfortunately, im sorry. Well, i think, unfortunately, im sorry. Ivan. Sorry. Im afraid were going to have to end it there. Thank you. So much for coming on the show. That was a lawyer, ivan samson, well, i mean, it seems to me as if, that just means that human rights law is in conflict with our constitution. Because youre right, tom, we do have we dont have a separation of powers in this country, and actually the non supremacy of parliament is unconstitutional. But there we go. Go. We could have talked we could talk about that for so much longer. But we do have to get to a break. And coming up were going to be discussing the met police. Dont go anywhere. Good afternoon. Britain. It is almost 12 30 now. In his press conference this morning, the Prime Minister didnt only talk about rwanda, he also mentioned that he had confidence in the chief of the metropolitan police, sir mark rowley. Well, this follows calls for him to resign from the met following his incident. This incident involving one of his officers and an anti Semitism Campaigner , gideon falter, said campaigner, gideon falter, said that, well, he was told he was openly jewish and antagonising pro palestinian protesters. You pro palestinian protesters. You are quite openly jewish. This is a pro palestinian march, right . Im not accusing you of anything, but im worried about the reaction to your presence. You choose to remain here because you are for the breach of peace. Some of these. If i remain some of these. If i remain here, you will arrest them because your presence is antagonising a large group of people that we cant deal with all of that. Well, since then, fresh footage has emerged that gives the incident a wider context , the incident a wider context, including this footage that youre seeing right now, which appears to show the protester, gideon falter, though im not sure he was a protester walking against the palestine march and an officer approaching him. This clip has also been released of the confrontation between them. Ive already seen you deliberately leave the pavement and walk against this march. You chose to do that trying to get to the other side. So your comment about get to the other side is disingenuous , the other side is disingenuous, whether you like it or not. Do you want me to get to the other side . I will quite happily walk you over there. Im not trying to. When you get over there. When you get over there. Yeah, when you get over there, youll be able to use the far footpath and go up into it. So shall we go ahead . So shall we go ahead . Exactly. Across the road. I dont want to get right there. Theres a big confrontation going on. Davids not sir. Well, lets take a listen to what the Prime Minister had to say in his press conference this morning. I share the shock and the anger that many are feeling when they saw the clips over the weekend. And you know what i would say about mark rowley and the police . They do have a difficult job. Of course, i appreciate that. But what happened was clearly wrong, and its right that theyve apologised for that. And yes, i do have confidence in him, but thats on the basis that he works to rebuild the confidence and trust of not just the Jewish Community, but the wider public, particularly people in london, but more broadly. Well, lets get the thoughts now of gb news Political Correspondent olivia utley, because , olivia, there are because, olivia, there are growing calls for the chief of the met to stand down. You were at that press conference. Why do you think the Prime Minister is still backing him . Still backing him . Well, i said this morning that i thought that mark rowley was clinging on to his job by the tips of his fingers. It now very much feels as though hes on notice. Yes, the Prime Minister said that he backed mark rowley, but that backing was very, very caveated. He said that the backing was conditional on rowley restoring the faith and trust of the Jewish Community in london and elsewhere, and he also said that it was right for the met police to apologise. Now rowley is meeting James Cleverly and policing minister chris philp. Some time later this afternoon. That was just supposed to be a meeting with the policing minister, but it was upgraded so the home secretary is now involved as well. At the moment, James Cleverly is still saying that he has full confidence in rowley, but i think we can expect the home secretary to get a lot of promises out of mark rowley for what he intends to do. Going forward. Now, its not clear what those promises will entail , but i clear what those promises will entail, but i think its quite likely that that James Cleverly put some pressure on rowley to really crack down on some of the, the nastier, more extreme elements of the pro palestinian protest. For a long time now, ever since the days of Suella Braverman, theres been a tension between the met chief commissioner and the government over these protests. The over these protests. The government feels as though the met just isnt using the powers that the government has given the met, and so will james. Cleverly this afternoon put some pressure on mark rowley, and if he does, that might change the future of these pro palestinian protests. Either way, it really feels as though mark rowley is on notice, and i still wouldnt be surprised. Even with the backing of the Prime Minister and the home secretary, if we do see a resignation in the next couple of weeks. Goodness ni well, olivia utley, thank you very much for that update live from downing street. Really appreciate it. That meeting between the home secretary and the met police chief will be really, really crucial. I mean, i really think he personally i think he ought to resign and even from the context of that, you can see gideon falter, said hes just trying to cross the road. Hes coming back from , shawl. Its a saturday, it from, shawl. Its a saturday, it just is so appalling. And i think the Prime Minister is right to describe it as appalling that he would, effectively say that , if he will effectively say that, if he will be arrested, if he doesnt move on because hes really being jewish in the wrong area at the wrong time. I think that shows a real weakness on the part of the metropolitan police. And weve seen it time and time again, and not just with these marches, but with other protests too, that they just seem to not be able to, control these marches properly. They dont seem to be able to deal with the increasing lawlessness that were seeing on london streets. London streets. No, it is remarkable. I mean, even that extra footage that weve seen , i dont think that weve seen, i dont think that shows that he was going against the i mean , he was walking sort the i mean, he was walking sort of through the flow, of course, from one side to the other. From one side to the other. We know we know that, gideon falter has been opposed to the anti semitism in these marches. Of course, he would be, as the head of the campaign for anti semitism and against anti semitism and against anti semitism precisely against anti semitism. But, of course, he says that he wasnt there for that reason. Hes just trying to cross the road. And as you all know, as well as i do, tom, when these protests are clogging up all of the streets, you have no choice but to try and wade through them. If you want to try and get to wherever it is that youre going. But do you know what were going to be getting the views of the man himself, the man of the moment, gideon falter will be on this programme next hour, so do stay tuned for that. As we get the inside track. But coming up de banking complaints have surged after gb news very own Nigel Farages famous battle with the banks. Well get reaction from a former met Police Officer on the forces anti semitism. Row two. This is anti semitism. Row two. This is good afternoon britain on gb news. But now its the. News. News. But now its the. News. 1234. Im ray addison, our top stories. The Prime Minister says the first flight to rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. Speaking at a press conference within the last hour and a half, rishi sunak slammed labour peers for trying to stop the controversial legislation. Mr controversial legislation. Mr sunak said that an airfield is on standby and 150 judges are ready to deal with any legal cases quickly. His comments come ahead of a crunch vote tonight on the governments safety of rwanda bill. For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming. But keep the boats coming. But enoughis keep the boats coming. But enough is enough. No more prevarication , no more delay. Prevarication, no more delay. Parliament will sit there tonight and vote. No matter how late it goes. No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to rwanda. We are going to deliver this indispensable deterrent so that we finally break the Business Model of the criminal gangs and save lives. Rishi sunak says met police chief sir mark rowley has his confidence , but he needs to confidence, but he needs to rebuild trust with the Jewish Community. The met Police Commissioner is meeting the mayor of london today amid calls for him to resign over his forces handling of protest after an anti Semitism Campaigner was described as openly jewish and threatened with arrest at a pro palestine demonstration. Thames water is demonstration. Thames water is warning that bills could skyrocket by more than 40 as it puts forward an Investment Plan amid its funding crisis. The troubled Water Company has proposed an increase in spending worth £1. 9 billion to treat sewage spills and chronic leaks. Sewage spills and chronic leaks. Communities secretary michael gove has previously said that customers must not be forced to cover the costs of the companys mismanagement. It you can get all our top stories on our website gb news. Com alerts, or scan the qr code on your screen right now i good afternoon. Britain. It is 12 39. Theres been a huge increase in de banking claims. According to new data. Thats when someones bank account is closed down. It happened to nigel farage last year when he was told by coutts bank that he was told by coutts bank that he was unable to maintain an account with them. Well, this new data shows that last year there was an increase of 44, including an 81 surge in the volume of de banking complaints made by businesses. Well, heres what nigel had to say about it all earlier on gb news. But weve got are only four companies. What we dont know are the number of individuals who have gone to either to the ombudsman or have put in subject access requests to their bank demanding more information. What is certain is that ive helped to lift the lid on something that is nothing less than a scandal. You think about this 140,000 businesses were closed down last year by british banks. Now, even if a couple of thousand of them were crooks or money launderers, the vast majority wouldnt have been. The vast majority wouldnt have been. And i generally i mean, been. And i generally i mean, i generally believe in the free market. I dont want government to interfere. I dont need regulation. But in the modern digitised age, having access to a bank account is just the same. Its a human right and electricity coming into the human. Well, lets get the details of this new development with gb news economics and Business Editor liam halligan. Hes here with on the money. Liam, this editor liam halligan. Hes here with on the money. Liam, this is a growing scandal. It is indeed. Its worth going over once again, the news that were discussing today, because we have had this report from the Financial Ombudsman Service, and its worth just looking again at the numbers about the extent of de banking in this country. So lets have a look at them. The Financial Ombudsman Service has reported today a sharp rise in the number of complaints, as nigel rightly says, from businesses , is about says, from businesses, is about their Bank Accounts being frozen or closed down. 33,900 firms have raised concerns about those frozen and closed accounts this yeah frozen and closed accounts this year. Thats up from 202,700 over the previous year. Thats 44 increase and 36 of claimants, complaints were upheld over the last year, compared to just 30 of a much smaller number. The year before. Look, this is a national scandal. I dont know why this is being allowed to happen because if you are a high street bank, you have whats called a universal Service Obligation. You are meant to provide a bank account to anyone who wants one, as long as theyve got a fixed address. As theyve got a fixed address. And yet we learned during the Coutts Natwest scandal. And Coutts Natwest scandal. And natwest, of course, owns the rather pukka, flashy bank coutts, where nigel had an account with respect. And then account with respect. And then he was debunked. Nigel did a subject access request, of course, and it turned out that coutts had been writing memos how they didnt like nigels politics. So they thought they would de banking him. And of course, the chief executive of natwest had to resign and what weve seen now because of that story, which very much played out on gb news, of course, youve had lots of firms complaining that theyre being debunked. Two but the real issue is for individuals who feel theyre being debunked, not least because the banks are really now abandoning, in many places, the uk high street. And if you cant get a bank account, its very difficult to exist in the modern world. You know, try parking your car without a smartphone and an app, and then try paying for that parking on the app. Unless youve got a bank account. Bank account. Liam, does this have anything to do with esg, environment, social and governance . I think it may be partly that i think there are many prees texts that banks are using to debunk people, as we learned in the nigel farage case, that was a straight out, undeniable case of bureaucrats in a bank not liking the politics of somebody who stood in multiple National Elections and of course, was an mep for many years and who led parties to separate parties, who won two National Elections. Im won two National Elections. Im talking, of course, about nigel farage. And yet they didnt like his politics, so they banked him. And i think other people will feel that their firms are being debunked because maybe they dont comply with, certain attitudes. Dudes, when it comes attitudes. Dudes, when it comes to environmental, social and governance issues, the esg agenda, which you just mentioned, which of course is very powerful now across many boardrooms in the uk, people are petrified to not comply with it. This is very much part of the culture wars. But look, banks want to get rid of accounts that they dont think are profitable. Banks want to get rid of branches because branches are expensive. Banks want to be completely online because thats cheaper and easier for them, and they dont want to deal with the small fry. They dont want to deal with ordinary people with not very much money or small firms with not very much money. But that is why for centuries in this country, if youve had a banking license, you have a universal obligation. A banking universal obligation. A banking license is literally a license to print money. And the quid pro quo of that, the, you know, the bargain, if you like, is that you must then as the bank provide Bank Accounts to those who, even if theyre not very commercially interesting to you, our Financial Services sector, the tech giant sector is now so powerful that theyre pushing away that universal services obligation. And quite frankly, as a long time observer of these trends, im pretty confused as to why the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority and others arent reinforcing this universal Service Obligation and telling the banks, look, you have to provide Bank Accounts to these firms and to ordinary people, even when you dont want to. Yeah, no, to. Yeah, no, its a to. Yeah, no, its a really, really stark, stark set of figures out 88 that rise of complaints from businesses following this scandal that was covered, of course, heavily on gb news. I hope that, perhaps weve begun to lift the lid here on something that is going across, across our banking sector. But liam halligan, thank you very much for the update. Really appreciate it. Really appreciate it. Well, coming up in just a moment, well get the reaction from former met officer on the forces anti semitism row. Forces anti semitism row. Youre watching good afternoon britain on. Gb news. Good afternoon. Britain. Its just coming up to 10 to 1. Now. Weve been reporting on the anti semitism row involving the met police. And in a further blow to the confidence in the force, a new survey has found 1 in 5 londoners say theyve been attacked or threatened over the past five years. The Yougov Research finds less than half of the public trust the police to solve crimes. Earlier today, the Prime Minister, rishi sunak, said he has confidence in the met police chief, mark rowley, but he needed to rebuild confidence and trust with the Jewish Community. Vie. Well, thats putting it lightly, i think. Well, the former met Police Officer and author of how to be a Police Officer, Graham Whettam , joins us. Graham, it really feels like today the authority of sir mark rowley is hanging in the balance. The balance. That might be one perception. I wouldnt think that. I think if you start looking to change the commissioner every time theres an incident involving a Police Officer on the streets, it will be like a revolving door at scotland yard. You cant keep changing the commissioner every time theres some sort of, disagreement or an officer says something on the street. Probably all the situations are very fast moving. You literally have seconds or just a minute or two to think about what youre going to say. Youre aware youre on camera, youre aware youre being videoed by a number of people. Videoed by a number of people. That exchange lasted several several minutes on the street. So having listened to what the officer said, they tried very delicately to explain why it wasnt a great idea to walk towards protesters. And ive done this on dozens of occasions with many, many different groups, most people would tend to walk away from a large Group Walking towards them. So ive got some sympathy. The words used were really poorly chosen , used were really poorly chosen, ill advised. And the met as rightly apologised for the terms used. But i think its just time to move on now, let let smart get on with doing the job he was hired to do, which is sorting out the met, get them out of special measures and rid policing of officers that shouldnt be in a job in the first place. But hes been commissioner for quite some time now, hasnt he . And its not just about this one issue. Its also about the way that these protests and other protests have been policed in general , other protests have been policed in general, continuing accusations of two tier policing, increasing lawlessness on our streets, people feeling much less safe. And now this this survey finding that 1 in 5 londoners has been attacked or physically threatened over the last five years, surely thats not good enough. And that that overall that picture would be enough to make a very, very strong argument that the met commissioner is responsible for this and therefore should resign i well, i dont think he needs to go as far as him resigning. I think hes hes been in post, i think hes hes been in post, i think about 18 months now, so i, i always said the met was going to take a few years , 5 to 10 to take a few years, 5 to 10 years to actually get him, get it back to where it should be. So dealing with crime, Police Numbers have dropped. Weve talked about this before, and you had numerous interviews around how the numbers have dropped. Population has dropped. Population has increased, demand has increased. Were asking more of a smaller number of officers when it comes to investigating crime and deaung to investigating crime and dealing with crime. They do very well in the very serious crimes , well in the very serious crimes, the murders, the serious assaults, etc. But some of the some of the lesser assaults, shall we say. And thats not thats not minimalism at all, but some of the other offences that they come in, they literally havent got the time to fully investigate them as they want to. Most officers want to fully investigate any allegations put to them , find allegations put to them, find the people responsible and deal with them. But it comes down to literally demands on time retention of experienced staff or experienced investigators who know how to actually conduct a full and thorough investigation. So policing has got a number of issues there that were in place before sir mark rowley took oven before sir mark rowley took over, will probably be in place dunng over, will probably be in place during his tenure, however long that is, and for the next commissioner. The commissioner before him had similar problems and similar challenges. And i think its just going to be part of society now. We saw sadiq khan on screen. There is it is it ultimately mark rowley, that is responsible for these failures, or is this also the responsibility and some responsibility should be taken by the home office and actually by the home office and actually by the home office and actually by the mayor of london well, it depends what responsibilities youre referring to. If it comes down to is it protests or the crime issues . Issues . Well, i think the loss of confidence in the police over all and all of those things play into that. Of course. Into that. Of course. Yeah. If its around the loss of confidence that clearly sits for me, that sits with the police. And thats for a thats because of a number of well publicised incidents involving serving officers, which is one of the reasons sir mark was brought into look at policing, look at the review, the recruitment and the officers hes got under his command, and start taking measures to remove them from policing. And hes doing that. Hes actively doing that now. That will take some time. Thats not an overnight solution by any stretch. So he is and i know from speaking to serving officers that process is being conducted as quickly as they possibly can to actually get rid of people who shouldnt be in police in the first place, that hopefully will rebuild trust and confidence. But again, trust and confidence. But again, as you alluded to in the first, in the first point, you made crime is an issue as well. And it comes down to the perception of crime and Peoples Awareness of crime and Peoples Awareness of what, you know, what crime is going on in their areas. Well, graham watson, im afraid thats all weve got time for, but thank you very much for joining us. Now dont go anywhere. Up next, well be debating if the england flag is racist. Stick with. Us. Racist. Stick with. Us. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on. Gb solar sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Good morning. Welcome to your latest gb news weather update. Its going to be a fairly cold and cloudy day for most areas, and rain will spread into southern and central areas of england and wales. Thats as this weather front sinks southwards through the day. Thats going to be bringing the rain, but actually for more northWestern Areas, High Pressure is in charge and so it will be a fairly dry and fine day, probably quite a warm day, particularly for southWestern Areas of scotland, where we could see highs of 17 degrees later on today. But elsewhere later on today. But elsewhere its going to be quite a cold feeling day. A lot of cloud around and some drizzly rain, particularly for the welsh border and midlands parts of the south later on today, and temperatures well below average underneath that cloud and rain will likely stay fairly clear and dry across the far southeast, and here could turn quite chilly overnight. Tonight we could see a touch of frost , we could see a touch of frost, and across the far north of scotland itll start to turn much drier and clear as this band of rain and clouds sinks southwards throughout this evening. So stay quite dull across central and southern areas through the night, but it will turn much drier and clearer across the north. And here is where it will turn a little bit chillier, but frost will be mainly restricted to the far south east. Were in slightly colder air to start the day on tuesday. The cloud and rain will sink into southeastern areas through tuesday morning. It could turn fairly persistent for a time, but elsewhere across the rest of the uk its going to be a much drier, brighter and probably sunnier day tomorrow, and temperatures will pick up a little bit higher than they did today as well. There is quite a brisk northerly breeze, though that will continue to bring that chilly feel here. That warm feeling inside from boxt boiler as sponsors of weather on gb news. Way. Good afternoon. Britain its 1 00 and this is gb news. Good afternoon. Britain now rishi sunak has set out a deadline for the rwanda legislation. Indeed, the rwanda legislation. Indeed, today is when it could all pass. Today is when it could all pass. Flights could take off in 10 to 12 weeks. But will people actually be flying off, or could more hurdles be in the way well be speaking. Well be speaking be speaking. Well be speaking to the man at the heart of the anti semitism row with the met police, gideon falter, who was told to back away from a palestine march as he looked openly jewish with growing calls for the met police chief to resign, will get the inside track this hour and you wont want to miss our debate. This hour. Well be discussing whether the Saint Georges cross is racist and divisive. New Research Shows that 1 in 8 labour voters think that 1 in 8 labour voters think that it that 1 in 8 labour voters think thatitis that 1 in 8 labour voters think that it is sending. Yes, this hour were going to be debating the england flag. It was pretty astonishing. New polling that showed 1 in 8 labour voters think it shouldnt be flown, that its divisive and that its racist. That its racist. Pretty shocking indictment, i think, of people who intend to vote labour. But there we go. Also means that, the Keir Starmers attempts to be, more patriotic as a party are probably not going to land particularly well with his voter base. No but its interesting. I the same sort of people who say, isnt this an awful racist flag, in my experience, the most likely people to say saint george isnt even english. Hes actually from turkey. So isnt this an inclusive flag . And i always find that so remarkable because firstly, people have known that he was turkish for the entire time that hes been our patron saint and no one had a problem with it. And secondly, the weird implication of that is that things that dont originate in britain cant be english, cant be ours, which is a strange turn of reasoning there. Absolutely. I mean, i never, never forget that. Actually, it never forget that. Actually, it was the chicken tikka masala that was invented in this country and one of our finest dishes to my favourite , my go dishes to my favourite, my go to. Whenever someone says, you know, you english, you have no culture, you have no food. Well, look at all the look at all the foods we invented, not least the best curry in the world. Its cultural appropriation, tom. Oh, i have, i have i committed a faux pas there. Well we want you to get involved in all of the conversations were having. Of course. Gbnews. Com yoursay to get involved, but were getting to all of those stories after your headunes all of those stories after your headlines with ray addison. Headlines with ray addison. Thanks, guys. Coming up to 1 03, our top stories. And first to some breaking news. Two men have been charged with spying for china. Christopher berry, for china. Christopher berry, whos 32 years old, and 29 year old christopher cash have been charged with offences under the official secrets act that follows an investigation by the mets Counter Terrorism command. Mets Counter Terrorism command. Both have been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court this friday. The met is describing the allegations as very serious. Obviously this is a developing story. Well bring a developing story. Well bring you more as we get it. A developing story. Well bring you more as we get it. Well, the you more as we get it. Well, the Prime Minister says the first flight to rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. Speaking at a press conference earlier, rishi sunak slammed labour peers for trying to stop the controversial legislation. Mr sunak said an legislation. Mr sunak said an airfield is on standby and 150 judges are ready to deal with any legal cases quickly. His comments come ahead of a crunch vote tonight on the governments safety of rwanda bill. But almost two years our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming. But enoughis keep the boats coming. But enough is enough. No more prevarication, no more delay. Parliament will sit there tonight and vote, no matter how late it goes. No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to rwanda. We are going to deliver this indispensable deterrent so that we finally break the Business Model of the criminal gangs and save lives , rishi gangs and save lives, rishi sunak says. Met police chief sir mark rowley has his confidence, but he needs to rebuild trust with the Jewish Community. The met Police Commissioner is meeting the mayor of london today amid calls for him to resign over his forces handling of protests. Thats after an anti Semitism Campaigner was described as openly jewish and threatened with arrest at a pro palestine demonstration. Sir mark rowley demonstration. Sir mark rowley will meet members of londons Jewish Community, including the board of deputies of british jews. Andrew mitchell is deputy jews. Andrew mitchell is Deputy Foreign secretary. He told us the met made a big mistake. Well, it was an appalling error by the metropolitan police. And while while i dont think you should necessarily criticise the bobby who was actually dealing with it, there are Strategic Issues for the metropolitan police about how they ensure that people of any faith and no faith can go freely around our capital city. So i have no doubt at all that the home secretary with whom this really rests will be holding. Holding, sir mark, to account for what happened, and making sure that nothing like this happens again. It was a terrible error of judgement by the police i a a car has crashed into a school in liverpool shortly before 830 this morning. A White Mercedes hit a wall and ended up inside a classroom at the Beacon Primary School in everton. Merseyside police say that no children were present at the time of that collision. The female driver was assessed at the scene. Her passenger sustained a minor injury. The school has now been closed for the day and the building will be assessed for structural damage. Assessed for structural damage. A student whose stepfather set up a hidden camera in her bedroom just after she turned 18, is calling for tougher sentences for voyeurism offences. 48 year old paul selwood was handed just 22 months in prison after he filmed her naked by setting up a camera in her teddy bears. 21 year old Catherine Simpson says no one believed her when she raised concerns about sexually suggestive behaviour. Shes now launched a government petition which calls for an increase in maximum sentences for sex offences. Thames water is warning that bills could skyrocket by more than 40 as it puts forward an Investment Plan amid its funding crisis. It would see extra money spent on environmental projects in an effort to treat sewage spills and chronic leaks. Communities secretary michael gove has previously said that customers must not be forced to cover the costs of the companys mismanagement. Thames water is struggling to prevent a total collapse of its business, amid fears £13 billion worth of debt. Fears £13 billion worth of debt. The number of people dying due to alcohol related causes is at a record high. Misuse of alcohol increased rapidly at the start of the covid pandemic, according to the office for national statistics. Experts say the new figures show a continuation of that trend with deaths, a third higher last year compared to 2019. Now, among those drinking too much Liver Disease is the leading cause of death, with rates much higher among men. Alcohol change uk says its the result of years of inaction, and more must be done to tackle excessive drinking. And finally, excessive drinking. And finally, the first statue of Queen Elizabeth ii to be created since her death, has been unveiled. Her death, has been unveiled. Based in rutland, the seven foot bronze statue is englands First Permanent memorial to her late majesty. Created by sculptor hywel prattley, it shows the late queen alongside her beloved corgis. It marks what would have corgis. It marks what would have been her 98th birthday. For the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Common shirts back now to tom and emma. Thank you very much, ray, for that. Now its 1 08. And welcome that. Now its1 08. And welcome to good afternoon britain. To good afternoon britain. An airfield is on standby. Commercial charter planes are now booked and hundreds of highly trained escorts are now ready to remove those with no right to be in the uk. Well, those are the words of rishi sunak as he announced that the first flights to rwanda will take off, albeit in 10 to 12 weeks. Today is the day the Prime Minister has promised to take the labour on the labour peers who are blocking the bill. But labour say that rishi sunak could have passed the rwanda plan sooner, and is just looking for someone else to blame. I have to say rishi sunak looks particularly short in this little video, with the big the big flags next to the left, too much space above his head. There should have should have chosen smaller flags. So he did have looked huge. Anyway, lets get looked huge. Anyway, lets get to the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper. Shes been giving a reaction to the Prime Ministers rwanda plan. This is ministers rwanda plan. This is what she had to say. Well, the government has an overall majority in parliament and could have passed this bill and could have passed this bill a month ago if theyd scheduled it then. But as we know, rishi sunak always looks for someone else to blame. This is costing the taxpayer half £1 billion for a scheme that will only cover 1 of Asylum Seekers. This is an extortionate scheme. They should be putting that money into boosting our Border Security instead. That is what labour would do. But would you scrap the scheme even if its shown to be working well, you have a scheme thatis working well, you have a scheme that is costing the british taxpayer a half £1 billion. Only to cover around 300 people. More people arrived in a weekend than that on small boats, so this is an extortionate scheme that has failed , just like the previous failed, just like the previous two laws that the conservative have passed on this. And its why neither the current home secretary , vie, nor the former secretary, vie, nor the former home secretary think this is actually going to work. Actually going to work. Well, that was the criticism of Yvette Cooper. But lets cross live to gb news Political Editor Christopher Hope. Now, whos in westminster, christopher , the labour party in christopher, the labour party in the house of lords is still voting for what the government describes a wrecking amendments. Describes a wrecking amendments. Hows the showdown tonight going to go . To go . Well, itll be bill. Quite exhausting, i think, for anyone in the in the lords. These are elderly people, many of them forced to try and push through these measures from the government side. The labour peers will be whipped to vote against it. All hangs on what these crossbenchers do. These are non affiliated politically peers. And will they support or not, what the government wants to do. This is a classic. This is how our democracy works. When you have the will of the elected house against the unelected house against the unelected house of lords at stake. There are two measures here which peers are refusing to back down on should those who serve with uk forces in afghanistan , should uk forces in afghanistan, should they be not allowed to be deported to rwanda, andrew mitchell, the Deputy Foreign secretary, said this morning that there are other other safe and legal routes for them to come here, so it shouldnt apply in our case. The other point is whether rwanda should be judged annually a safe country to send people to. The big concern here for the government is they dont want to lift up or create any new loopholes for lawyers to get their claws into and stop people being taken over there. You heard today, didnt you . How the pm now says its a 10 or 12 week delay from the moment it becomes law. Maybe this week before the first flights take off. That puts us into mid july , towards puts us into mid july, towards the end of this, of this session of parliament, before the before the summer break, that to me says he is not planning for a june election, maybe not even a july election. He says, interestingly, he wants to hear a regular rhythm of flights taking off full of migrants going to rwanda. You cant get a rhythm in just a few days or few weeks. You need a few months for that. So so i think the Election Campaign again, another sign pointing towards a november poll. But hes very clear. Mr sunak, he said in terms no ifs or buts, these flights are going to rwanda. Hes put it down almost as a vote of confidence in his own leadership as Prime Minister, to get what he wants. Hes clearly very frustrated. The plans are in place. 500 highly trained individuals to escort people to rwanda, 300 more on the way. Thank you very much, christopher. Hope for that. Its going to be a really, really interesting, i was about to say evening, but probably early hours of tomorrow morning to, lets get some more. Now for the political reaction. Gb news senior political commentator nigel nelson joins us, nigel, why on earth has the labour party gone . Perhaps beyond what was reasonably and ordinarily expected of a revising chamber, the house of commons is supreme over the house of lords. Is the lords misbehaving . Lords misbehaving . Well, its not just labour peers. Peers. I mean, the tories have 100 more peers than labour do in the house of lords. So what youre deaung house of lords. So what youre dealing with here is crossbenchers, as chris has just said, these are independent peers and theyre the ones who are really holding this up. If it was just between labour and tories, the tories could pass this through fairly easily. I think we will come to an end, end of this tonight. And the its right that we do that. There is a limit to how much the lords can delay the will of the commons and we probably reached that limit. Nigel, of those peers who are objecting to this bill, how many of them do you think are objecting because they think that rwanda isnt a suitable country . And how many may just be objecting because they dont want to solve the boats crisis . They dont think its a problem, that they are not really in favour of having strong borders. Favour of having strong borders. Well, i think that the that, pretty much everyones agreed that boats crossing the channel should be stopped. So i dont think that is the issue. What the lords are lords are asking for is some protection for afghans who served with British Forces and would be in danger if they stayed in afghanistan. They stayed in afghanistan. Varne, it perfectly reasonable amendment and the Second Amendment, is to ensure our that parliament has a say over whether rwanda is a safe country. Now what the government is doing is overruling our Supreme Court, who says, no, rwanda isnt safe, there isnt enough evidence for that. So all that the peers are asking for is lets put put a safeguard into this. Now, the way to get over this. Now, the way to get over this. Now, the way to get over this logjam would be for the government to come up with a compromise and meet the lords objections. At the moment, rishi sunak doesnt look as if hes going to do that, but it wouldnt be an unreasonable thing for him to actually go somewhere he to saying, yeah, okay. I take i take on board what youre saying, what it does show, of course, is the afghan resettlement scheme is not working. If youve got afghans trying to cross the channel in the first place. Well of course, the first place. Well of course, the government does say that there is a safe and legal route specific for those that help the British Armed forces in afghanistan and that subcontracting, subcontracting out the idea of rwanda is safe or not. To my understanding is it wouldnt be parliament, it would be a committee. That is currently constituted of people who dont sit in parliament subcontracting that out seems like a fairly large, amendment to change the sort of meaning. And to people who have no democratic accountability. Vie. Democratic accountability. Vie. But, but, nigel, im sorry. I wish we could have more of a back and forth, but that is weve got time. Thats all weve got time for on this one. Well have you back very, very soon. Nigel nelson, our senior political commentator. Of course, weve got to get to this story now. The child serial killer, lucy lucy letby bids to challenge all of her convictions is set to be considered by the court of appeal. Last august, the former nurse was sentenced to 14 whole life orders after she was convicted of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of six others. Well, sophie reaper, whos followed the case from the beginning, is at the court of appeal for us now. And, sophie, appeal for us now. And, sophie, a lot of people will be sort of slightly confused that theres a sense of an appeal here. Well, its an incredibly complex process. Im sure many of our viewers, if we cast our minds back, will remember the sheer length of that trial over ten months of evidence that was heard at Manchester Crown court. But what a lot of people may not know is that less than a month after those guilty verdicts were passed on lucy letby, she and her legal team made an application to appeal. One isnt application to appeal. One isnt simply allowed to appeal. They have to go through this application process now. That was initially denied in january, but once they relaunched that appeal, but once they relaunched that appeal , thats what brings us appeal, thats what brings us here to the royal courts of justice today , a panel of three justice today, a panel of three judges, dame Victoria Sharp , judges, dame Victoria Sharp, lord Justice Holroyde and mrs. Justice lambert. They will hear justice lambert. They will hear this application over the coming days. And what that basically means is theyre in a position where they will either approve this application and then its likely we will hear the substantive appeal over the coming days, or they will deny that application to appeal. And what that essentially means is, unless there were to be new evidence come to light in the coming years , then that will coming years, then that will mean that lucy letby will be serving those 14 life orders. There are no other options. If there are no other options. If the panel of three judges were to deny the application to appeal. Now, letby did appear to this morning here at the court of appeal via video link from hmp bronzefield , and she spoke hmp bronzefield, and she spoke just twice, once to confirm that she could hear the court and wants to confirm that she was indeed lucy letby. But other than that, she sat silently throughout what we heard here this morning. Now what we can bnng this morning. Now what we can bring you over the coming days is really quite restricted. And is really quite restricted. And thats because lucy letby is set to face a retrial in just under six weeks time at Manchester Crown court. Thats regarding child k, whom the jury last year were unable to come to a verdict on. So were unable to bring lots of details until that is finished and that we will be allowed to once that is completed. However, as it stands, we should be able to bnng stands, we should be able to bring the ultimate decision on whether this application to appealis whether this application to appeal is approved or whether lucy letby is last chance is denied. Well, there we are. Sophie well, there we are. Sophie letby appealing at the royal courts of justice , sorry, lucy courts of justice, sorry, lucy letby. Thank you. Sophie rupa , letby. Thank you. Sophie rupa, for the details there. Well, coming up, well be discussing whether the Saint Georges flag is racist after a survey found that 1 in 8 labour voters say exactly that, well be back soon after the. Break. Good afternoon. Britain. It is 1 22 now. 1 in 8. Labour voters and 1 in 2 lib. 1 in 12. Sorry. Lib dems think that the Saint Georges flag is racist and divisive and that it should not be displayed. Well, thats according to a study ahead of Saint Georges day tomorrow. Almost three quarters of voters, however , say quarters of voters, however, say its a symbol to represent england and no one should be offended by it. But today were debating is this flag divisive . Is this flag racist . Joining us is political commentator Femi Nylander, who believes that for many , the flag represents many, the flag represents slavery and domination. But were also joined by the director of the new culture forum, Peter Whittle , who thinks forum, Peter Whittle, who thinks theres nothing racist at all about englands flag or its history. Well, lets talk to femi first. Femi, why do you think that this flag represents slavery in some way . Slavery in some way . Well, i mean, the british flag represents britain and the engush flag represents britain and the english flag represents england. And so historically, when england went to a different part of the world and told the native people you belong to us, or told the native people , we now own the native people, we now own your land and you have to do what we say , or your resources what we say, or your resources belong to us, which it did to a quarter to half of the planet, it did so under the english and british flag. And what i would say is that the english flag represents england. And so if england wants the engush and so if england wants the english flag to represent something which is inclusive, which is non racist , england which is non racist, england should change the way it acts in the world, to palestinians currently against whom a genocide is being undertaken and which england is supporting, the engush which england is supporting, the english flag represents the support it holds of the genocide committed against them to anyone in the world who is currently suffering because of englands actions. Actions. And there are plenty of places im happy to go into detail, but we dont need to go into detail now. And i do think its preposterous if the i mean, i havent heard from the other commentator yet, but if the other commentator is saying theres nothing racist about englands history , then id englands history, then id invite him to read a history book because england ran a slave trade against africans. And, started eugenics, basically, under dalton, ucl was one of the kind of founding birth universities of the whole concept of eugenics. And england also ran an empire. Pause there to get the other point of view. Now, peter, england ran the slave trade , you england ran the slave trade, you know, look, im getting just sick and tired, tom, of these constant attacks on whether its our history or our heritage or the symbols of those things, and indeed the symbols of, our identity. It happens now, around about Saint Georges day, this night follows day. We can expect it, the fact is, is that this country. How many more times doesit country. How many more times does it have to be said, abolish the Transatlantic Slave Trade . The Transatlantic Slave Trade . And the ships that went round for 50 years after abolition, making sure that abolition was actually, enforced. They had actually, enforced. They had these flags, they flew these flags. Right. So basically i am flags. Right. So basically i am tired of the implied insult as well, that there is to the vast majority of people in this country, english people in this particular case, you said at the top there , tom, and quite top there, tom, and quite rightly, three quarters of people in this poll were happy with the flag or proud of the flag and thought that it didnt offend anybody. Why is it that we are always allowing , we are always allowing, criticism and voices who basically want to undermine this country . Its a huge insult to the majority of people. I think actually , by way of, just actually, by way of, just finishing here is that we should make Saint Georges day, we should not be ashamed of it. We should not be ashamed of it. We should make it a national holiday. We should turbo charge pride in Saint Georges day. Pride in Saint Georges day. Femi, come back on that. Femi, come back on that. Femi, come back on that. Well, i mean, he just said, why is it we are always allowing criticism and people who want to like how can you say how is it we always allow criticism against the country when you claim to be a place of coming from a place of free speech, the whole point of free speech that you allow criticism . Wait, sorry. Just let me let me allow me to criticise, please. Because thats thats the idea of free speech that you claim to claim to care about. So why is it we always allow criticism . We allow criticism because there are things to be criticised. We have an open debate. I gave facts, you gave some spurious historical arguments saying britain led the, end of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Was britain was still owned slaves whilst it whilst it i mean britain. Yes. Britain stopped britain. Yes. Britain stopped slave trading. It stopped the slave trading. It stopped the slave trade. Sorry can i it britain abolished the slave trade, but it still owned slaves. It didnt actually aboush slaves. It didnt actually abolish slavery. It was still you were still were still able to own a slave. You just werent able to take one from africa and buy one for many years after it abolished it. And there are many economic reasons as to why britain did that. And when it did that, it paid off the slave owners until 2015. The slave owners until 2015. The slave owners that british taxpayer was still repaying the money that was given to the slave owners to purchase the slaves. And so we were still paying off the slave owners. We talk about reparations. Reparations were paid to the owners of human lives, not to the people who were actually enslaved. And we, were actually enslaved. And we, as the british taxpayers were paying as the british taxpayers were paying those reparations to the slave owners until less than a decade ago. So this is the reality. And no matter how much, no matter how much you try and shut down free speech, no matter how much you say criticism of the british flag or the english flag should not be allowed, why are we allowing criticism . It are we allowing criticism . It doesnt change the historical facts. It doesnt change the historical record. Historical record. Its rubbish. This. And first of all, i am not trying to close down free speech here you are having your free speech. I just am tired and i think the majority of english people and british people are tired of having their heritage, their history and their flag regularly attacked. Right. And this happens on a very regular basis. Now, it happens in throughout our institutions all the time now. And frankly, as i said, is an insult. I would ask you right , of those 34, what is it . Three quarters of people who are happy with the, Saint Georges cross, and what it represented . Are you actually calling them, therefore racists . Racists . Im saying that britain, as a country , miss and sorry. Let me country, miss and sorry. Let me just theres something called nuance. Britain has a country miseducated its populace. Miseducated its populace. Britain doesnt tell its populace the historical truth about colonialism or slavery. And therefore a lot of people who are not all horrible people in their regular lives who are not nasty people, have a misconception. They know divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived because every uk kid is has that shoved down their throats. Henry the eighth in the order in which his wives were disposed of in various manners, but they dont know about the bengal famine. They dont know about the realities of the british slave trade, because they arent taught it. And so they they are, theyre told by people like you that what we should be proud of is that we abolish the slave trade, and we should ignore the hundreds of years before it was abolished that we were one of the World Leaders in Human Trafficking and rape and pillage, and the years after the slave trade in which we continued to run a colonial empire which involved forced laboun empire which involved forced labour, and therefore we were still enacting slavery during the time of colonialism, after the time of colonialism, after the slave trade came the british empire. And so if youre still if you still if you , oh, stop if you still if you, oh, stop living in the past, great. Thats why weve got to now. Thats why weve got to now. Thats where weve got to come back now. 15, 2015. We were paying back now. 15, 2015. We were paying off reparations. Paying off reparations. Okay, okay. Lets lets lets hear peters side. Hear peters side. Now, listen, look, the fact is this has come out of a poll which says that a certain number of labour voters actually, you know, think its racist or whatever. As i said to you, the vast majority of people are proud of this country. They are proud of this country. They are proud of this country. They are proud of its history, and they are quite right to i totally reject the implication of what youre saying is that either theyre thick because they dont know what theyre actually proud of, or that they are indeed racist. Are you saying, therefore, that anyone who goes, im saying misinformed, dont put words in my mouth . I said they were misinformed. I said they were misinformed. Not that they were thick, not that they were thick. I said they were misinformed , that they were misinformed, that theyve been miseducated not the person is misinformed. Person is misinformed. Is you here . Your only person who is misinformed is you right . And i, i do not know. No one questions the motives of people who constantly do attack all of our symbols and history. When i am proud of the english farage and talk about it. Yeah you know, we have to sort of account for our views. Know, we have to sort of account for our views. What are our for our views. What are our motives really . What you know, all of that. No one is ever all of that. No one is ever asked from the other side , you asked from the other side, you know. So i would like to know why there is this constant need to undermine symbols of identity , benign symbols of identity. And for the vast majority of people, i think it is hugely insulting even that this is asked. Its not benign. Its not benign. If britain was to stop supporting genocide, for example, people would see britain as a less dodgy state if britain as a less dodgy state if britain was to like at the moment, people see the israeli flag as, as, as a pariah flag. When apartheid south africa ended, what did they do . They changed the flag. These are changed the flag. These are symbols. If britain changes its conduct in the world and becomes a kind country which doesnt dominate, doesnt colonise , dominate, doesnt colonise, doesnt support other countries bombing off kids legs, then people will change their view of britain and the british flag will become a symbol of something good and people. But a lot of people around the world, a lot of people around the world, youre talking about the british public, talk about all the countries that britain colonised and the descendants in those countries. A lot of people around the world remember the british flag as the flag that was flown. Im really sorry, gentlemen. We have run out of time now. I wish we could have a bit more time to hear more back and forth, but thats all we can fit in. Thank forth, but thats all we can fit in. Thank you very much , femi in. Thank you very much, Femi Nylander and Peter Whittle for joining us. Well , they really did. Well, they really did. Well, they really did. They really did have a go. Good go at each other. I just dont think that any other country would have their national symbols, so laid into in that way. Ive got to say, i think theres just one in controversial fact about the slavery debate that almost every society in the history of humanity, in one form or another, had slavery until the british empire, at which point its almost every society got rid of. Its part of human history. And every , every country has and every, every country has has negative aspects of its history. But but theres only history. But but theres only national symbols. Only one superpower in the world. That was the first one to get rid of it all. It was us. Yes. So its actually a symbol of anti slavery. There you go. Symbol of emancipation. But well be speaking to next the man at the centre of the anti semitism row with the metropolitan police. Its going to be a big interview that after the News Headlines with ray addison. 1 33, our top stories. The Prime Minister says the first flight to rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. Speaking at a press conference, rishi sunak slammed labour peers for trying to stop the controversial legislation. Mr sunak said an airfield is now on standby and 150 judges are ready to deal with any legal cases quickly. His comments come ahead of a crunch vote tonight on the safety of rwanda bill, with one tory mp saying hell be bringing his sleeping bag as Parliament Prepares to sit through the night. But shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper says the delay is not labours fault. Well, the government has an overall majority in parliament and could have passed this bill and could have passed this bill a month ago if theyd scheduled it then. But as we know, rishi sunak always looks for someone else to blame. This is costing the taxpayer half £1 billion for a scheme that will only cover 1 of Asylum Seekers. This is an of Asylum Seekers. This is an extortionate scheme. They should be putting that money into boosting our Border Security instead. That is what labour instead. That is what labour would do. Two men have been charged with spying for china. With spying for china. Christopher berry, whos 32, and 29 year old christopher cash have been charged with offences under the official secrets act that follows an investigation by the mets Counter Terrorism command. Both have been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on friday. The met is describing the allegations as very serious. Rishi sunak says met police chief sir mark rowley has his confidence, but he needs to rebuild trust with the Jewish Community. The met Police Commissioner is meeting the mayor of london today amid calls for him to resign over his forces handling of protests. Thats after an anti Semitism Campaign was described as, quote, openly jewish and threatened with arrest at a pro palestine demonstration in. You can find all our top stories if you sign up for gb news alerts by scanning the qr code. Its on your screen right now or go to gb news. Common, herts. Go to gb news. Common, herts. Cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report. Financial report. Lets take a look at the financial markets. The pound will buy you 1. 2313 and ,1. 1581. Price of gold, £1,905. 28. Thats per ounce. And £1,905. 28. Thats per ounce. And the ftse 100 is at 8028 points. Cheers. Britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report i good afternoon. Britain. Its 1 39. So earlier this morning, the Prime Minister said he had confidence in the met police chief, sir mark rowley, following calls for him to resign from the force following this incident involving one of his officers and an anti Semitism Campaigner, gideon falter was told he was openly jewish and antagonising pro palestinian protesters. At a march last weekend. At a march last weekend. Since then, fresh footage has emerged that has given a bit of wider context to the image, including this footage youre seeing right now, which appears to show gideon falter walking into the crowd. The police say hes walking against the march. He says hes trying to cross the road. Well let your own minds be made up. But the clip has been released a further clip of the confrontation between them. The confrontation between them. Ive already seen you deliberately leave the pavement and walk against this march. You chose to do that trying to get to the other side. So your comment about get to the other side is disingenuous, whether you like it or not. Do you want me to get to the other side . I will quite happily walk you over there. Im not trying to. Im not trying to. When you get over there. When you get over there. Yeah, when you get over there, youll be able to use the far footpath and go up. Far footpath and go up. So shall we go ahead across the road . The road . I dont want to get right there. Theres a big confrontation going. No, theres not sir. Well, the man at the centre of this row, gideon falter, is the chief executive of the campaign against anti semitism. Delighted to say that gideon joins us now, this has been a media whirlwind. Firstly whats your reaction to the new footage that has come out over the weekend, some people are saying that youre deliberately walking against the flow of the protesters there. Yes. Good afternoon. Is its not new footage to me because, of course, i was there , and what of course, i was there, and what you can see, what you dont see in the footage , in fact, you in the footage, in fact, you partially see it is that there is a bus stop on the pavement. Theres then a bicycle rack. Theres then a bicycle rack. Its quite constricted space. There were quite a lot of people around , and i didnt want to be around, and i didnt want to be pinned around between them as i crossed. Its also quite a wide road and i was looking for a right point where there was a little bit of a gap in the crowd to cross over and carry on, which is what we were in the process of doing, what the officer said is that hes going to escort us to some other way. There was actually, a massive commotion further up the road, banging of drums. I think that there was a counter protest, which was meeting the protest, and the officer said that he was going to escort me right through the middle of that in the opposite direction to where i was trying to go, so of course i said no to that. But also whats notable is that the officer says all of this after hes clocked that he has said the wrong thing, he realises that he should not have said that because im quite openly jewish, im antagonising the crowd and needs to be either removed from the area or arrested. He sees everybodys whipping out their smartphones. Theyre all filming him. And so he comes up this line with this line that i was sort of, you know, walking against the flow of the crowd. And i was causing some kind of a problem. I wasnt i was trying to find, you know, there was a march going on. I was trying to find the right place to cross the road. And i was crossing the road at the time that i was pulled over by that Police Officer. So, gideon, your meeting with that Police Officer today, arent you . Or youve already met with him . No , so, there seems to have no, so, there seems to have been some kind of briefing going on, about a potential meeting with, between me and the commissioner , there doesnt seem commissioner, there doesnt seem to have been an offer that weve received for a meeting with the commissioner , no time has been commissioner, no time has been set. Its about to be the jewish festival of passover. So, thats when we start two days of observances now, during which i wouldnt be having any meetings at all, and we, if there has been any kind of announcement of a meeting with the commissioner, then that would be, unfortunately , a ploy or a unfortunately, a ploy or a stunt, rather than anything thats in any way based in reality. Now, someone who is meeting with the met police chief today is the home secretary , james is the home secretary, James Cleverly, is there anything you would like, James Cleverly to say to sir mark rowley about this entire situation . I mean, quite apart from what happened to me, these protests have been going on for six months now, every single week. And at the protests, we see people, saying that they support terrorist organisations. We see them carrying placards with all sorts of anti semitic , comments sorts of anti semitic, comments on some of them that wouldnt be out of place. In 1930s germany, for example, a star of david thrown in a bin next to the caption keep the world clean. Caption keep the world clean. And in response to all of this, we see the met police week after week, telling us that calls for jihad on our streets or swastikas on placards all have some kind of a context which makes them understandable and makes them understandable and makes them understandable and makes them okay. And so really, what weve been seeing is the met police gaslighting the Jewish Community and the public for six months now. And weve reached a point where the Jewish Community is extremely fearful about whats going on. The met Police Commissioner has failed to use his powers to curtail or ban these protests. And now ban these protests. And now weve got a situation where there very regrettably, we are seeing, the, the, the met commissioner has failed completely and change has to come from the top. So what id really like the home secretary to be saying to the commissioner today is resign or youre fired, its, i dont know whats going to happen in, in this meeting, but thats really the kind of message that we need because i think for months now, also, weve seen the home secretary, James Cleverly, and the mayor of london, sadiq khan , the two of london, sadiq khan, the two of them are supposed to hold the commissioner to account and theyve been practically absent. Theyve done precious little and theyve created a vacuum in which this has been allowed to go on and on. And until you get to the kind of situation which i saw when i was in the march , on saw when i was in the march, on last saturday, i do want to put to you a question from a gb news viewer called steve, and i promised id id ask this because he didnt think that i would, he asks why on earth did you want to walk through a protest in the opposite direction, at this moment in time, steve says hes against these protests every weekend , these protests every weekend, but he would simply wait or walk around. He thinks you were around. He thinks you were trying to antagonise them. Trying to antagonise them. No, it was actually towards the beginning of the march. The march was thickening and coming closer, and i wanted to sort of get across and get away before all of that happened, and, you know, you have to make a decision sometimes, sometimes youve got to ask yourself a question. Am i going to run away . Hide away the fact that im jewish . Or am i going to say, no . Ive got as much right as all of the other people who were crossing the road. It was a, you know, saturday on in london, lots of people were going in all sorts of different directions. People were crossing the road, etc, and i just thought, why should i . The road, etc, and i just thought, why should 1 . Because im visibly jewish. Why should i have to run away from that . Why have to run away from that . Why should i have to, sort of try and find some other way through london . Its completely outrageous to say that thats something that jews should do. And no one else should have to, or it seems like an absolutely mad suggestion to suggest that you should hide any signs of your jewishness or or leave the area and run in the opposite direction when you have just as much a right to be in the streets as they are. So thank you very much, gideon falter, forjoining us and explaining all of that to us, again today. Thank you so much. Right. Next up, a much. Right. Next up, a wonderful tribute to Queen Elizabeth. In a second. Dont go away i good afternoon. Britain its just gone. 10 to 2 now. The former us President Donald Trump has left trump tower ahead of his appearance in court today. He faces charges of falsifying Business Records to conceal hush money payments to a porn star. Well, lawyers for the republican president ial candidate will also make their opening statement. Prosecutors say trumps former lawyer, Michael Cohens 130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with trump a decade earlier, deceived voters in the waning days of trumps 2016 campaign. Hes pleaded guilty to 34 counts of falsification of Business Records as well. Were expecting the trial to start officially at half past the next hour. Well be live in new york, but now a seven foot tall bronze statue of Queen Elizabeth ii has been unveiled in english. Englands smallest county, as a memorial to the countrys longest reigning monarch. The people of rutland donated more than £140,000 to have the sculpture erected in honour of britains late queen. Its the first of its kind to be revealed since her death , and be revealed since her death, and our east Midlands Reporter will hollis had a front row seat Nicola Sturgeon the biggest of occasions for englands smallest county in rutland. There isnt a single statue. Now there shall be of one of the most important people in british history , the people in british history, the late queen lord lieutenant Sarah Furness represents the monarch in the county. Her majesty provided us all with a sense of stability and continuity as head of state, she gave Us National Identity raising £140,000 in donations, mostly from individuals. The statue in the town of oakham is the first of its kind to be unveiled since the death of Queen Elizabeth howell. Pratley is the sculptor. Im a big fan of public sculpture, being integral to , sculpture, being integral to, you know, a friendly, caring community, young and old are lining the streets to catch a glimpse of the seven foot statue, including 89 year old joyce lucas in the front row. Joyce lucas in the front row. We met her on several occasions in oakham and weve got some lovely photographs and lovely , lovely memories. She is lovely, lovely memories. She is the queen, she was great, she was brilliant and we miss her. A delegation of around 50 corgis. The queens favourite dog is to. Here dog is to. Here itsjust dog is to. Here its just nice to be around all the corgis. Its a sharing a love of them and the reveal. And the reveal. Faux pas. Faux pas. Faux pas. The queens death broke the nations heart. Her memorial is filling rutlands with pride. Her image, taken from early middle age, set in bronze. Middle age, set in bronze. Its a real fitting tribute to the late queen. I think it captures our late majestys humanity. But also she looks so regal. Absolutely beautiful. Queen elizabeth was britains longest reigning monarch, an unbeatable 70 years on the throne. Its quite clear that throne. Its quite clear that the queen meant a lot to rutland, as she did for most people in the country. And in the years to come , her and in the years to come, her statue will mean a lot to local mp Alicia Kearns hopes the memorial encourages pride across britain and visitors to the area. We are so proud of our history, we are so proud of her majesty and we want to come together in celebration of british traditions. Her reign. Her reign. Her reign. A brighter outlook with boxt solar , the sponsors of weather solar, the sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Good morning. On. Gb news. Good morning. Welcome to your latest gb news weather update. Its going to be a fairly cold and cloudy day for most areas, and rain will spread into southern and central areas of england and wales. Thats as this weather front sinks southwards through the day. Thats going to be bringing the rain, but actually for more northWestern Areas, High Pressure is in charge and so it will be a fairly dry and fine day, probably quite a warm day, particularly for southWestern Areas of scotland, where we could see highs of 17 degrees later on today. But elsewhere its going to be quite a cold feeling day. A lot of cloud around and some drizzly rain, particularly for the welsh border and midlands parts of the south later on today, and temperatures well below average underneath that cloud and rain will likely stay fairly clear and dry across the far southeast, and here it could turn quite chilly overnight. Tonight we could see a touch of frost and across the far north of scotland itll start to turn much drier and clear as this band of rain and cloud sinks southwards throughout this evening. So stay quite dull across central and southern areas through the night, but it will turn much drier and clearer across the north and here is where it will turn a little bit chillier, but frost will be mainly restricted to the far south east. Were in slightly colder air to start the day on tuesday. The cloud and rain will sink into southeastern areas through tuesday morning. It could turn fairly persistent for a time, but elsewhere across the rest of the uk, its going to be a much drier , brighter and a much drier, brighter and probably sunnier day tomorrow, and temperatures will pick up a little bit higher than they did today as well. There is quite today as well. There is quite a brisk northerly breeze, though that will continue to bring that chilly feel here. That warm gb news. Good afternoon. Britain. Its 2 00 on monday, the 22nd of april. The Prime Ministers tough talk on the rwanda plan. Rishi sunak says airfield are on standby and flights will take off in 10 to 12 weeks. It comes on d day for his deportation bill as mps prepare to vote through the night on sending Asylum Seekers to rwanda. Asylum seekers to rwanda. Gideon falter, the man at the heart of the antisemit row with the metropolitan police, has told this programme that the head of the met should still stand down despite his apology. It follows an altercation with the officer which falter was in which falter was told he looked openly jewish. And finally, Donald Trumps criminal trial in new york will enter its next phase with Opening Statements expected to begin shortly. The former president has left trump tower for the hush money court. Case. Well, as we speak, donald trump is on his way to that new york courthouse. This could be a very crucial trial for him. Of course, its the first time that a president , former or sitting , a president , former or sitting, has been charged for a criminal offence. Well, its interesting, isnt it , because they used to refer it, because they used to refer to tony blair as teflon tony, but it seems that not only does trump manage to deflect every case against him or attempt on him that he actually always manages to come out like a phoenix from the ashes, and many people who support him will only feel more that hes being persecuted by the establishment. Well, this is of course described by many, sort of political commentators as the weakest case against him. And yet its the first and to some extent , the fact that this isnt extent, the fact that this isnt even about paying hush money to a porn star. This isnt even about allegedly having an affair. This is about the way in which the money was paid to the lawyer was described on one form of accounting. Its a very sort of accounting. Its a very sort of tangential thing that perhaps you can sort of understand why Donald Trumps base say here, this isnt actually anything to do with sort of how this was accounted. This is political prosecution. Thats what donald prosecution. Thats what donald trump argues. Yeah, theres Trump Supporters would argue that this is quite plainly vexatious. And actually, there was another case recently where there was a when i say case instance, where a state tried to prevent donald trump from being able to stand. And then that was at predictably, overruled by a higher court. So like i say, this would just be further fodder for people who support trump in saying that actually , trump in saying that actually, he is being persecuted by the political establishment and, and, and in many ways may actually cause people to come out and support him. And yet hell be in this court for multiple days a week, for weeks and weeks, potentially for weeks and weeks, potentially for months , take vital time out for months, take vital time out of his campaigning schedule, will have draining his finances and draining his finances. Well, well have that first sitting day of court starting around half an hours time. What will donald trump have to say . Very exciting stuff. But first, its youn exciting stuff. But first, its your, first, its , of course, your, first, its, of course, your, first, its, of course, your News Headlines with ray addison. Addison. Thanks, guys. Good afternoon. 2 03, our top stories this hour. Well, an anti Semitism Campaign. Well, an anti Semitism Campaign. Who was threatened with arrest at a pro Palestine Rally , has at a pro Palestine Rally, has told good afternoon britain that the chief of the met police should resign. Gideon falter, who is the chief executive of the campaign against anti semitism, was described as openly jewish by officers and told that his presence at a pro palestine demonstration was provocative. Mr falter told gb provocative. Mr falter told gb news that the home secretary should remove sir mark rowley from his post. The met Police Commissioner has failed to use his powers to curtail or ban these protests, and now weve got a situation where, very regrettably , we are where, very regrettably, we are seeing , the, the, the, the met seeing, the, the, the, the met commissioner has failed completely and change has to come from the top. So what id come from the top. So what id really like the home secretary to be saying to the commissioner today is resign or youre fired. Today is resign or youre fired. The Prime Minister says the first flight to rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks time. Speaking at a press conference, rishi sunak slammed labour peers for trying to stop the controversial legislation. He said that an airfield is now on standby and 150 judges are ready to deal with any legal cases quickly. His comments come ahead of a crunch vote tonight on the governments safety of rwanda bill. For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming. But enoughis keep the boats coming. But enough is enough. No more prevarication, no more delay. Prevarication, no more delay. Parliament will sit there tonight and vote. No matter how late it goes. No ifs, no buts. Late it goes. No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to rwanda. We are going to deliver this indispensable deterrent so that we finally break the Business Model of the criminal gangs and save lives as well. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper says labour is not to blame for the delay. Blame for the delay. Well, the government has an overall majority in parliament and could have passed this bill and could have passed this bill a month ago if theyd scheduled it then. But as we know, rishi sunak always looks for someone else to blame. This is costing the taxpayer half £1 billion for a scheme that will only cover 1 of Asylum Seekers. This is an extortionate scheme. They should be putting that money into boosting our Border Security instead. That is what labour instead. That is what labour would do. Two men have been charged with spying for china. With spying for china. Christopher berry, whos 32, and 29 year old christopher cash have been charged with offences under the official secrets act that follows an investigation by the mets Counter Terrorism command. Both have been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on friday. The met is describing the allegations as very serious. Well, some breaking news for you now. Huw edwards has resigned from his position at the bbc. The news presenter was the broadcasters highest paid star. His departure comes after what the bbc described as medical advice. Now this is a developing story. Were going to be bringing you more on this as we get it. Well, a car has crashed get it. Well, a car has crashed into a school in liverpool shortly before 830 this morning. A White Mercedes hit a wall and ended up inside a classroom at the Beacon Primary School in everton in merseyside, Merseyside Police say no children were present at the time of the collision. The time of the collision. The female driver was assessed at the scene. A passenger sustained a minor injury. The school has been closed for the day and the building will be assessed for structural damage. A student structural damage. A student whose stepfather set up a hidden camera in her bedroom just after she turned 18, is calling for tougher sentences for voyeurism offences. 48 year old paul selwood was handed just 22 months in prison after he filmed her naked by setting up a camera in her teddy bears. 21 year old in her teddy bears. 21 year old Catherine Simpson says no one believed her when she raised concerns about sexually suggestive behaviour. Shes now launched a government petition which calls for an increase in maximum sentences for sex offences. And finally, the offences. And finally, the number of people dying due to alcohol related causes is at a record high. Misuse of alcohol increased rapidly at the start of the pandemic, to according the office for national statistics. Experts say the new figures show that a continuation of that trend with deaths a third higher last year compared to 2019. Among those drinking too much Liver Disease is the leading cause of death, with rates much higher among men. Alcohol change uk says its the result of years of inaction, and more must be done to tackle excessive drinking. Well, for excessive drinking. Well, for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to news. Com. Au. Back now to tom and emma. Good afternoon britain. Well, lets start with that breaking news. Of course, its been confirmed that huw edwards will leave the bbc. Hes resigned on medical advice. A spokesperson said huw edwards has today resigned and left the bbc. Hes been off air since july last year and the Sun Newspaper reported that he had paid a young person for sexually explicit images. Well, this is , of course, well, this is, of course, a momentous moment because huw edwards was the highest paid star of the bbc. He was in many ways the face of the bbc, of the bbc. He fronted their election coverage. He was the man to tell the world that her majesty the queen had passed away. Itll be queen had passed away. Itll be hard to imagine, sort of a great occasion of state without him there, but its to easy forget. Its been nine months now. Well , actually, in fact, all well, actually, in fact, all of those things that youve just said are reasons why i think for some people of a particular generation, hes so inextricably associated with the bbc that thatis associated with the bbc that that is the reason why this incident was such an enormous , incident was such an enormous, to put it lightly, pr problem, opfics to put it lightly, pr problem, optics problem for the bbc. And of course, its only recently been reported that hed been living at home with his mother and continuing to be paid this extraordinarily large salary. I think it was over £400,000 a yean think it was over £400,000 a year, despite not being on air for a number of months. And there was a lot of kickback against that. So presumably his his resignation varne, is, you know, perhaps hes perhaps struggling with his Mental Health following this. And thats the reason why hes living at home with his mother, and perhaps hes chosen to, to resign to, to essentially to stay away from that kind of kickback if he were to continue to be paid that salary while the investigation is ongoing. I think the moment that that became public that that that sort of, it was revealed that that amount of pay was still going into his, his pay packet every single month. Surely this moment became inevitable from, from that time and of course, the bbcs investigation hasnt hasnt completed its findings. Although the metropolitan police found no criminality , so there found no criminality, so there is that to add into the mix. Question marks were raised as well that the bbc had been sort of dragging its feet on this investigation somewhat. So as i say, presumably hes chosen to resign because, because of the kickback that he received publicly for still being paid. Publicly for still being paid. Well, there we go. But, much more on that. Of course , later more on that. Of course, later in the programme, as more information comes to light. In the programme, as more information comes to light. Now, information comes to light. Now, the Prime Minister has blamed the Prime Minister has blamed the labour party for missing his spnng the labour party for missing his spring deadline for rwanda flights, but insists deportation flights, but insists deportation flights will take off in 10 to 12 weeks. But labour have hit back at rishi sunak. Shadow home rishi sunak. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has accused the Prime Minister of trying to find someone else to blame. Well, this comes well. Well, this comes well. Well, this comes well. The government has an overall majority in parliament and could have passed this bill a month ago if theyd scheduled it then. But as we know, rishi sunak always looks for someone else to blame. This is costing the blame. This is costing the taxpayer half a billion pounds for a scheme that will only cover 1 of Asylum Seekers. This is an extortionate scheme. They should be putting that money into boosting our Border Security instead. That is what security instead. That is what labour would do. But well, this comes as the Prime Minister said that parliament will sit for as long as it takes to end the deadlock between the lords and the commons over this bill. Now lets get across to gb news Political Editor Christopher Hope, who is in westminster. Hi, christopher. So is there any hope . Hi, emma. Is there any real hope that these flights are going to make a dent . We saw Yvette Cooper there saying that this isnt really going to deal with the problem and that that , that, that, that and that that, that, that, that those resources should be invested in Border Security. Even if this bill does pass, is that going to be a good bet for rishi sunak, as he seems to be placing his political fortunes all on that . One thing . Well thats right. He certainly has put place his own Political Capital on this bet that these rwanda flights will work. They wont take off for 10 to 12 weeks. Thats mid to late july , he had thats mid to late july, he had said. In the spring. Spring ends on june the 21st. Hes missed that deadline, but hes blaming, wasnt he the house of lords and peers, i think Yvette Cooper has got a point there when she says, why wasnt this passed before easter . They could have had this easter . They could have had this drama in parliament trying to get it through, but heres what the pm had to say earlier when he was asked this direct question. Talking to you now and its april, why . Because labour peers april, why . Because labour peers in the house of lords have repeatedly voted against and blocked this bill. That happened just last week. Again it will happen again today. And i think its Crystal Clear that the country believes this is a priority. Ive been clear from priority. Ive been clear from the first day that i got this job that its a priority for me to stop the boats and thats why im talking to you today about all the prep work that has gone in behind the scenes, and why im confident about our delivery going forward. The pm there saying its a priority when of course, he he announced his emergency legislation, the safety of rwanda bill last november, four and a half months later. Nothings happened. There was a penod nothings happened. There was a period of four day period before easter when it could have driven it through. That didnt happen. They misread the lords and other in quite a bind, i can tell you tonight will be completely dramatic. In parliament. We havent seen the kind of drama in parliament that well see tonight for quite a few years now. Mps vote at 6 pm. To overturn two amendments to the laws have made one on banning the deportation of afghan veterans who may have served with uk forces in afghanistan to rwanda, the second one requiring regular checks that rwanda is a safe country. Mps vote on those two at 6 pm. They will almost certainly overturn them. Then at 10 pm, peers will vote on whether to accept the will of the commons or overturn them. And so it goes on through the night. At midnight tonight , if night. At midnight tonight, if the amendments come back to them. Mps are expected to vote again, saying no, listen to us. You will not you will not, move this this house. To the to the house of lords, forced them to back down if that. If then the commons does act to the lords , commons does act to the lords, they will decide whether to accept that or vote again at 2 am. And so it does. It carries on through the evening, through the night, and by breakfast tomorrow morning on gb news, we may have some resolution. Well, it will be a long, long night, christopher. But of course it is interesting to look at the detail of this Second Amendment, particularly the one thats thats trying to say that it should be some, far away unelected commission that decides whether rwanda is safe, rather than the elected government of the United Kingdom. I i understand why the government wants to vote this down, but im at a loss as to why the government hasnt been sort of making the case for democratic accountability here. It seems like this is a not a modest amendment in the way that its been painted by many of those proposing it. Its really quite profound. That changes sort of the fundamental point of the safety of rwanda. Bill. Yeah well, thats right, tom. Lord hope, who is the deputy former deputy head of the Supreme Court who has moved this motion . He who has moved this motion . He thinks that it requires the government to ensure that rwanda is a safe country with regular checks. The problem is then they then the government then loses control of its policy. If you have this unelected group of this commission, so called checking the safety of rwanda, then it will almost tie one hand behind the backs of the government. Theyll be in hock to this commission and the policy wont work. Theyve got to get this through. If this works, the point theyre made by the pm. He wants a regular rhythm of flights taking off. Thats quite interesting , rather thats quite interesting, rather than one. Than 1 or 2 taking off as Suella Braverman says, earlier today on gb news, he wants a regular rhythm that implies, over several months, repeated flights taking off. It stops being a story on gb news you we three dont discuss it anymore. It carries on. Thats the idea he has got. And if that happens, i cant see, the bigger picture. I cant see a general election this summer. He wants a regular rhythm of flights. We regular rhythm of flights. We heard from Yvette Cooper. They will abandon this plan even if it works. So what the government wants to do is show it does work. It does deter the small boats crossings. In a sense, people trying to plan to come here from northern france are told, if you come here, youre going thousands of miles away to rwanda. Is that what you really want . If it starts to work, you can see them fighting on this, on this front, in what will i expect to be a november general election . Well, it will be a pretty profound moment if that first flight does get off in 10 to 12 weeks tonight, the big crunch moment. Christopher hope, thank you very much for explaining those details. And of course, if it doesnt work, then he really is going to be in a bind. Really even more of a bind than 20 points behind in the book. I suppose that things can always get worse, can always get worse. It was theresa may that once got 9 in a National Election in the in the european elections in 2019. So, theres always lower they can go. Well earlier this morning, the Prime Minister said he had confidence in the met police chief, sir mark rowley, following calls for him to resign from the force following an incident involving one of his officers and an anti Semitism Campaigner. Officers and an anti Semitism Campaigner. Gideon falter was told that he was openly jewish and was antagonising pro palestinian protesters. Pro palestinian protesters. As you are quite openly jewish, this is a pro palestinian march. Im not accusing you of anything, but im worried about the reaction to your presence. You choose to remain here because you are called the Rachel Reeves sunny virk. Rachel reeves sunny virk. If i remain here, you will arrest them because your presence is antagonising a large group of people that we cant deal with. All of that. Well, since then, weve seen more footage giving a wider context, including this footage contested though it is, which appears to show gideon falter walking against the flow of the of the protest , although he says of the protest, although he says he was trying to find a point to just simply cross the road. Mans allowed to walk down the street. Well , the clips been well, the clips been released, of a of a further confrontation between them. Ive already seen you deliberately leave the pavement and walk against this march. Against this march. You chose to do that trying to get to the other side. So your comment about get to the other side is disingenuous. Whether you like it or not. How do you want me to get to the other side . I will quite happily walk you over there. Im not trying to. When you get over there. When you get over there. Yeah, when you go over there, youll be able to use the far footpath and go up. Should we do it . Exactly across the road . I dont want to get right there. Theres a big confrontation. No theres a big confrontation. No theres not sir. Well, we spoke earlier to the man at the centre of this row, gideon falter himself now. Hes the chief executive of the campaign against anti semitism. Lets have a listen to what he had to say. Protests we see people, saying that they support terrorist organisations. We see them carrying placards with all sorts of anti semitic comments on some of anti semitic comments on some of them that wouldnt be out of place in 1930s germany, for example , a star of david thrown example, a star of david thrown in a bin next to the caption keep the world clean. And in response to all of this, we see the met police week after week, telling us that calls for jihad on our streets or swastikas on placards all have some kind of a context which makes them understand people and makes them okay. And so really what weve been seeing is the met police gaslighting the Jewish Community and the for public six months now. And weve reached a point where the Jewish Community is extremely fearful about whats going on. The met Police Commissioner has failed to use his powers to curtail or ban these protests, and now weve got a situation where very regrettably, we are seeing , the, regrettably, we are seeing, the, the, the, the met commissioner has failed completely and change has failed completely and change has to come from the top. So what id really like the home secretary to be saying to the commissioner today is resign or youre fired. You know, the more i see that footage, the worse i think it is. So lets now speak to the former president of the board of depufies former president of the board of deputies of british jews, jonathan arkush. Thank you very jonathan arkush. Thank you very much for joining jonathan arkush. Thank you very much forjoining us, jonathan arkush. Thank you very much for joining us, jonathan. Hi, tom. Hi, emma. Good to be joining you from israel. Good to speak to you. This is a very curious incident , this is a very curious incident, and it seems that people are digging in on either side, there does seem to be a tension at the at the centre of it between the different freedoms and rights of, of different groups of people. Should freedom of speech include the right to protest, even in a way that is so disruptive . Way that is so disruptive . Tom, im not sure i would agree with the way you just put that. Of course, there should be freedom to demonstrate. But what we saw here was demonstrators when they saw this jewish man wearing a skull cap because he was on his way back from praying in synagogue. They screamed at him, scum, scum i and ive been him, scum, scum and ive been walking in Central London and someone once came up to me in my face and screamed, baby killer i face and screamed, baby killer this is the discourse of these hate marches. I dont accept that theyre pro palestine marches. I would go on a pro palestinian march because i also support palestinian rights. Also support palestinian rights. But these marches are more about hating jews and the police. I just umphang emma burnell how they could have threatened to arrest a jewish man who had every right to be there and not arrest the people who were screaming disgusting, racist abuse at him. Now somethings gone badly wrong with the instructions given to the poor policemen who have to deal with these things. And thats something which sir mark rowley needs to answer for jonathan, something which sir mark rowley needs to answer forjonathan, in a Democratic Society , people a Democratic Society, people have responsibilities as well as rights. Rights. Yes, it seems absurd that a Police Officer would even simply try to redirect a jewish man who is, as he said, visibly jewish, because he doesnt believe that the protesters , hes, are going the protesters, hes, are going to behave themselves. To behave themselves. I agree with you. In france , i agree with you. In france, theyve banned these marches because of the race. Hate that they exhibit. Because of the race. Hate that they exhibit. Im wondering whether we shouldnt be able to do more to curtail these marches, or at the very least , marches, or at the very least, arrest people who come out with race hate against other british people. And one of the reasons that the met police has lost the confidence of britains Jewish Community is that they are hardly prosecuting anyone, and indeed , they seem to be finding indeed, they seem to be finding excuses not to prosecute, such as coming out with the absurdity. Well, a swastika might, in context, not be anti jewish. Its a nazi symbol, for heavens sake. Well, jonathan arkush, i wish we had more time, but that is all. We have time for you make a very strong case and we really appreciate your thoughts on this , on this developing story. Well, coming up, well be discussing , the report that discussing, the report that reveals that islamophobia as a term is being used to shut down debate. Dont go anywhere. Good afternoon. Britain. Welcome back. Now, a new report welcome back. Now, a new report claims the terms islamophobia is being used as an excuse to shut down debate. Published by policy exchange. It cites a number of examples, including criticism of rishi sunak by the Labour Muslim Network , after the prime network, after the Prime Minister urged labour mps to call on hamas and the houthis to de escalate the situation in the middle east, the group claimed it was clear islamophobia phobia and was dangerous for the safety of muslim officials and communities. Joining us now is stephen evans, the ceo of the National Secular society. Thank you for being with us today. Stephen. Is the word islamophobia a tool used to shut down criticism of islam, i think it can be. I think we found that its it to be a really contentious concept because of two reasons, really. It confuses race and religion in the first instance. So islam is a religion. Its not a race. So thats problematic. But it also conflates islam with bigotry and hatred. Hatred against muslims. Hatred. Hatred against muslims. So of course people of all faiths and none should be protected from discrimination and from hostility. But ideas and beliefs have to be open to criticism and ridicule. So the problem with this somewhat vague and nebulous turm of islamophobia is that it conflates all these things together, and so it obviously can be used by anyone that wishes to do so to shut down debate, criticise , millom and debate, criticise, millom and ridicule or anything offensive to muslims. So thats the problem, so yeah, we thats why weve been opposed to the definition being adopted since it was first formulated by the all party, group on british muslims in 2019, i think it was. And how how can this be used by extremists to essentially shield themselves from criticism . Well, it can be used by anyone that wants to shut down conversation that they dont like. So weve seen, for example , Trevor Phillips was hounded out of the labour party. He was actually suspended by the labour party after he commissioned polling about the attitudes of british muslims, which was thought to be not you know, particularly helpful for the pr of british muslims , the pr of british muslims, amanda spielman, who was the head of ofsted, she drew attention to some of the external outside pressure that schools were facing, incidents such as batley and other instances where relationships and Sex Education was opposed by groups. So, you know, we had groups. So, you know, we had groups congregating outside schools and she just drew attention to that and she was labelled islamophobic for that. But weve also found, for example , the gcse, pupil was example, the gcse, pupil was disqualified from the exam because she made comments critiquing the islamic form of non stunned slaughter. So halal slaughter. So halal slaughter. So halal slaughter. And she criticised that in our paper, which should be, you know , a perfectly, you know, know, a perfectly, you know, legitimate thing to do. But she was disqualified for islamophobia. So, you know, weve got theres a whole host of people who found themselves on the receiving end of islamophobia allegations. And in many cases, all theyve been trying to do is just having an open and honest conversation about a religion thatis conversation about a religion that is having, you know, quite an impact on british political and public life. So its really important that we are able to discuss these things openly and honestly. And what the, you know, the terms islamophobia does is just make those conversations more difficult to have because people will not want to speak up on things they cared about, things they feel deeply about , if it they feel deeply about, if it could lead to an accusation of racism. So thats the way it chills freedom of expression. Stephen, you make really , stephen, you make really, really important points there. Thank you very much for coming on and talking us through it. Stephen evans, the ceo of the National Secular society, now i in society today, we find it so easy to criticise or even mock christianity. Theres a musical even about her. Im not sure if its quite christianity, but mormonism and all sorts of religions. There is one religion that i think people always tiptoe around and dont feel like they could. Like they could. Well, i think if you, if you, even if you just look at the fact that theres a, theres a teacher still in hiding for showing a cartoon of the prophet muhammad, and there are many people who said that that was islamophobic. But of course, what theyre doing there is theyre using islamophobia to essentially mean blasphemy. And then applying it to the non muslim community. So you can see why, extremists would lean on that. Yes. As a way of essentially trying to control any kind of discourse around. Any kind of discourse around. But theres a real islamism, islam or extremism. Its a real live conversation here, because this definition, it was actually written up by a Cross Party Group led by anna soubry and wes streeting, the labour party has adopted it. Would this be and a number of councils as well . Its a very, very troubling. Under a new government. Would under a new government. Would this be a massive chill on on free speech and on the right, frankly, to criticise a religion . Almost 7 almost certainly. Almost certainly. Well, coming up, the rwanda debate is fast approaching, set to be a long day for politicians. Plus donald trump, Donald Trumps hush money trial begins. Freudian slip there, first, the news with ray addison. News with ray addison. Coming up to 234, im ray addison in the gb newsroom. An anti Semitism Campaigner who was threatened with arrest at a pro Palestine Rally, has told good afternoon britain that the chief of the met police should resign. Gideon falter , who is resign. Gideon falter, who is the chief executive of the campaign against anti semitism , campaign against anti semitism, was described as openly jewish by officers and told that his presence at a pro palestine demonstration was provocative. Mr falter told gb news that the home secretary should remove sir mark rowley from his post. The met Police Commissioner has failed to use his powers to curtail or ban these protests. Curtail or ban these protests. And now weve got a situation where, very regrettably, we are seeing, the, the, the, the met commissioner has failed completely and change has to come from the top. So what id really like the home secretary to be saying to the commissioner today is resign or youre fired. Today is resign or youre fired. Well, some news breaking in the last half hour , huw edwards the last half hour, huw edwards has resigned from his position at the bbc. The news presenter was the broadcasters highest paid star, but hes been off air since last july amid newspaper reports that he paid someone for intimate images. His departure comes after what the bbc described as medical advice. The described as medical advice. The Prime Minister says the first flight to rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks time. Speaking at a press conference, rishi sunak slammed labour peers for trying to stop the controversial legislation. Mr sunak said that an airfield is now on standby and 150 judges are ready to deal with any legal cases quickly. His comments come ahead of a crunch vote tonight on the safety of rwanda bill and two men have been charged with spying for china. Christopher spying for china. Christopher berry, who is 32, and 29 year old christopher cash have been charged with offences under the official secrets act. It follows an investigation by the mets Counter Terrorism command. Both have been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrate Court this friday. The met is describing the allegations as very serious. Describing the allegations as very serious. For the describing the allegations as very serious. For the latest very serious. For the latest stories sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. Common shirts i good afternoon. Britain. Just coming up to 20 to 3. And Martin Daubney will be on your screens from 3 pm. He joins us now and, martin, whats coming up on your programme . Programme . Crackin show, guys . Well, no ifs, no buts. These flights will take off. Is that true . Theyre going to vote through the night. Will rishi be saved by rwanda or will it sink sunak . Next up. The will it sink sunak . Next up. The openly jewish row rumbles on. Im about to speak to a former senior metropolitan Police Officer who thinks the whole thing might have been a bit of a setup. Controversial opinion there. Ill be cross exam him. Also, tony blair over the weekend said the Labour Party Needs to forge closer ties. Youve guessed it with the european union. Is this a drip, drip, drip betrayal of brexit . Lord frost thinks that all of the work could be undone by a future labour government. Is that going to happen . And Meghan Markles jam shes in a pickle over it. One of her celebrity mates posed for a hollywood celebrity photo shoot. Its being called very ridiculous and an advert of pure sunshine. Pass the sick bucket. Thats all coming up on my show. Three till six. Looking forward to it. Well goodness me. In the meantime, former us President Donald Trump has arrived back in court today as Opening Statements are due to begin any moment in his new york hush money trial. He is facing charges of falsifying Business Records to conceal hush money payments that were made to a porn starjust before he went to court. He addressed reporters, saying that the trial was an attempt to disrupt his campaign to be the next us president. Take a listen to what he said. Just some moments ago. Actually, lets not lets talk instead to the chair of republicans overseas, greg swenson , while we overseas, greg swenson, while we try and get together that clip, we might play a little bit later, but greg, just break down for us what is actually on trial here, donald trump, disputes that he had an affair with this person, but he doesnt dispute that he paid hush money. But its actually about some peculiar bit of accounting. Right. And its a great question because this is not about paying a porn star or even having an affair with a porn star. Its about falsifying Business Records, which is a real stretch to say the least. Its thats actually a misdemeanour. According to new york law. So now you have alvin bragg, who campaigned on the theme of im going to get trump, similar to letitia james, who who in a way did get trump with the with the civil case a few weeks ago. And so theyve campaigned on this. And then hes what hes done is turned a misdemeanour. And through very, very questionable legal standards , turning the standards, turning the misdemeanour into a felony, hes doing that by tying it to Campaign Finance law, all of which is a real stretch. This is just weaponization of the justice system. And theyve got justice system. And theyve got four, four, potentially four trials going on at the same time. But four indictments that are that are some of which are getting underway, including this one. So its really taking away President Trumps rights to due process and to a fair trial. So process and to a fair trial. So its really obscene right now. Well, greg, we now do have what donald trump said just some moments ago. Lets take a listen i all lyman all right. Thank you very much. I just want to say before we begin these are all beau biden trials. This is done as election interference. Everybody election interference. Everybody knows it. Im here. Instead of being able to be in pennsylvania and georgia and lots of other places campaigning. And its very unfair. Places campaigning. And its very unfair. Fortunately, the poll numbers are very good. Theyve been going up because people understand whats going on. This is a witch hunt and its a shame. And it comes out of washington. Its in coordination with washington. Everything, including the das office. Its in coordination with washington. I just want people to understand that this is done for purposes of hurting the opponent of the worst president in the history of our country. Country. Trump theyre saying that this is essentially vexatious. How is this going down with trumps supporter base . Do people feel that american democracy is being undermined by this use of the legal system . Yeah, absolutely. I mean, this is the ultimate election interference. And so to answer your question about his supporters, surely thats its really helped. It clearly helped President Trump in the nomination process. You know, nomination process. You know, there were a handful of voters that were considering other candidates a year ago at this time. You know, trump was basically tied with ron desantis in the polling. And then after in the polling. And then after alvin bragg indicted President Trump , trumps numbers went up trump, trumps numbers went up 15, most of which came from desantis. Its a 30 point swing. Its very similar to the swing he he received after the mar a lago raid, where he also had a 30 point swing. So, you know, what youre seeing is the republicans, even those who werent necessarily supporting trump, really coming to his aid and supporting him. The question and supporting him. The question is, how does it work for the general electorate . I was afraid general electorate . I was afraid six months ago that these indictments , especially the indictments, especially the alvin bragg indictment, this particular trial in new york, would really help trump in the nomination, which it did , and it nomination, which it did, and it really secured it for him. It basically ended the republican contest, these four indictments. But the question is, you know, would it hurt him in the general . Im not so sure about that. Now. Hes hes actually getting support from independents that also see this as real weaponization of the justice system. And President Trump is right. This is all coming from the biden white house. I really, really interesting stuff. Although there are some polls now that do show that donald trump is slipping down a little bit, that joe biden has had a bit of a rebound , had a bit of a rebound, particularly after that, state of the Union Address that was better received than many were expecting. This is still a nail biter. Yeah. In terms of who might win. Absolutely. And i think, look, the Trump Campaign has confidence right now. They are leading in most of the swing state polls. Theyre up four points in most of the critical swing states. And hes still swing states. And hes still leading slightly in the polls. But President Biden has come back a few points but only a few points. And partly because his Approval Ratings are up from the terrible lows that they hit. You know, he was at 37, 38. Now hes at 4042. So President Bidens coming back. I dont think it was because of the state of the union speech. If anything, that showed that hes just a bitter and angry old old man candidate. But but he did. He has in the last 2 or 3 weeks come back a little bit, but its still trumps. Trumps race to lose. Well, greg swensen, thank you for talking through all of that. Really appreciate it. Now coming up, well hear about russias attempts to hack into the uk flights to holiday destinations. What on earth is this about and are our holidays safe that. Next . Good afternoon. Britain. Just coming up to 10 to 3. Now. A seven foot tall bronze statue of Queen Elizabeth ii has been unveiled in englands smallest county. This is a memorial to the countrys longest reigning monarch. The people of rutland donated more than £140,000. Good on them to the sculpture erected in honour to of the of the britains late queen. Its the first of its kind to be revealed since her death in september 2022, and our east Midlands Reporter will hollis had a front row seat to the biggest of occasions for englands smallest county in rutland. There isnt a single statue. Now there shall be of one of the most important people in british history, the late queen, lord lieutenant Sarah Furness represents the monarch in the county. Her majesty provided us all with a sense of stability and continuity. As head of state, continuity. As head of state, she gave Us National Identity. She gave Us National Identity. She raising £140,000 in donations, mostly from individuals. Individuals. The statue in the town of oakham is the first of its kind to be unveiled since the death of Queen Elizabeth. Howl pratley is the sculptor. I am a big fan of public sculpture, being integral to , sculpture, being integral to, you know, a friendly, caring community, young and old are lining the streets to catch a glimpse of the seven foot statue, including 89 year old joyce lucas in the front row. Joyce lucas in the front row. We met her on several occasions in oakham and weve got some lovely photographs and lovely , lovely memories. She is lovely, lovely memories. She is the queen. She was great, she was brilliant and we miss her. A delegation of around 50 corgis, the queens favourite dog is here too. Itsjust dog is here too. Its just nice to be around all the corgis. Its a sharing a love of them and the reveal. Love of them and the reveal. The queens death broke the nations heart. Her memorial is filling rutlands with pride. Her image taken from early middle age, set in bronze. Middle age, set in bronze. Was a real fitting tribute to the late queen. I think it captures our late majestys humanity, but also she looks so regal. Absolutely beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Queen elizabeth was britains longest reigning monarch, an unbeatable 70 years on the throne. Its quite clear that the queen meant a lot to rutland, as she did for most people in the country, and in the years to come, her statue will mean a lot to local mp. Alicia kearns hopes the memorial encourages pride across britain and visitors to the area. We are so proud of our history. We are so proud of her majesty and we want to come together in celebration of british traditions. Her reign was great, unlikely to be matched by future king or queen, a legacy of unwavering service recorded in a place of permanent remembrance. Will hollis gb news in oakham. Its hollis gb news in oakham. Its great to see. Its also brilliant that this was privately funded. This is, i know, the people of rutland, the people of rutland have got such a special place in my heart. Now, i dont mean to be an emotional, incontinent millennial, but ive got a lump in my throat watching joyce. Theyre talking about how much she loved the queen. Its great stuff. There should be one in every town, as far as im concerned. I cant believe this is the first. I think thats shameful. Almost. We havent got one in our capital city yet. But anyway, anyway, weve just got time to slip. In another story, russia suspected of launching what is being described as an extremely serious series of electronic attacks against thousands of british holiday flights. According to aviation sources , according to aviation sources, the planes appear to be suffering from gps jamming and spoofing. Whats spoofing . It interferes with Wireless Communication Systems and uses fake signals to trick pilots into believing the aircraft is into believing the aircraft is in a different location to the location theyre actually in. Very dangerous. Well just last month, russia jammed an raf plane that was holding defence secretary grant shapps as he returned from poland, and the plane was also Holding Someone you may recognise. Gb News Reporter and newsreader ray addison. Yeah, ray. We chatted to ray, after the incident. He said that they knew something was happening when they were on the plane, but that it was sort of all okay, but it was. It was because it was flying over kaliningrad. And so flying over kaliningrad. And so these are these are about planes that are sort of going near poland or down to sort of cyprus, turkey. Cyprus, turkey. That was raf. And these are commercial liners. So lets hope that emily is not riding on a ryanair flight, which has been very affected by all of this. Oh yes. Well, emily will be returning to our screens on wednesday and we hope that her flights are entirely unaffected by this. But emma, it has been a delight to present alongside you these last couple of days. I know that you cant be with us tomorrow. Well be joined by pip tomson. Its been a pleasure. Its been a pleasure. Its been a pleasure. But no, its been an absolute joy but no, its been an absolute joy. And thank you for all the lovely comments youve had to say about emma as well. Really appreciate it. Thats up it for us today. Up next, its Martin Daubney. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on. Gb solar sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Hello. Good afternoon. Welcome to your latest gb news weather update. Well, for the rest of the day its going to stay feeling quite cold. But we do have some late sunshine to come, particularly for northern areas. However, in the south this weather front still sinking southwards through this evening and overnight, bringing quite a lot of cloud and some drizzly rain to central areas of england and wales, as well as the south coast of wales. Later on this evening well also see some further rain arrive into parts of lincolnshire, the humber. Here we could see some quite persistent low cloud as well, so quite a murky evening here. However, further north its going to brighten up or clear up across northern ireland. Many northWestern Areas of england and much of scotland, well be quite a cold night, but frost will be very much restricted to the far southeast , so a fairly the far southeast, so a fairly chilly start to the day for many areas of the uk. But its going to be a much drier and brighter day for the bulk of the uk. The day for the bulk of the uk. The best of sunshine across northern ireland, Western Areas of scotland. Here, temperatures scotland. Here, temperatures will likely rise into the mid teens. However, across the mid teens. However, across the south itll stay cloudy, particularly across the south east, where rain will come and go through. The afternoon should stay dry though. Further west and there is quite a chilly onshore breeze along the east coast, so that will bring a chillier feel here and that will lead us into quite a cold night on tuesday night. So a bit of a wider risk of frost to start the day on wednesday , but it does day on wednesday, but it does look like another fairly dry and fine day, but still , weve got fine day, but still, weve got that pesky onshore northerly wind across the east coast looking ahead to the rest of the week, while some further cold nights to come, and it turns a bit more unsettled on friday that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsor of weather gb news. Good afternoon to you. And a very happy monday. Its 3 pm. Welcome to the Martin Daubney show on gb news. Broadcasting live from the heart of westminster. All across the uk. Coming up on todays show, no ifs , no buts. These show, no ifs, no buts. These flights are going to rwanda today. The Prime Minister talked tough on immigration in saying the first flights will take off within 12 weeks. But the big question is can rwanda save rishi or will it sink mr sunak . Rishi or will it sink mr sunak . Next up, metropolitan chief sir mark rowley is fighting for his career after one of his officers threatened to arrest an openly jewish protester. Rishi sunak called it appalling. Is it