Agm since the great nigel farage scandal. All of that, and much more after the news with tamsin roberts. Roberts. Nigel, thanks very much and good evening from the gb newsroom. Well, first, an update on the latest developments in westminster, where mps have voted to reject two amendments from the house of lords on the rwanda bill. Well, it means the bill now returns to the house of lords tonight, where peers are expected to for vote new amendments before sending the bill back to the commons. Its been reported the political ping pong could continue into the night, with both mps and peers poised for a long session of voting. It comes after rishi sunak declared earlier that enoughis sunak declared earlier that enough is enough , and said mps enough is enough, and said mps and peers will sit through the night to get the bill passed well to the us now and prosecutors have told a court that Donald Trumps alleged cover up of a hush money payment to a porn star did break the law. Sparse crowds greeted trump at the new york courthouse despite his call for peaceful nationwide protests. Is the first ever criminal trial of a former us president and comes amid trumps election rematch with biden. Prosecutors argue with biden. Prosecutors argue his 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels deceive voters during the president ial campaign in 2016. Donald trump denies any wrongdoing. Wrongdoing. The judge had no idea what was happening. And this is the same judge that two months ago made a ruling that shook the world. It shook the world because everyone knows going to that trial, i did nothing wrong. And over here i did nothing wrong. Also, this is a biden witch hunt to keep me off the campaign trail. Witch hunt to keep me off the campaign trail. And so far its campaign trail. And so far its not working because my poll numbers are higher than theyve ever been, because the public understands that its a witch hunt, an anti semitism campaigner who was threatened with arrest at a pro Palestine Rally has told gb news the chief of the met police should resign. 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 his presence at a pro palestine demonstration was provocative. Mr falter says was provocative. Mr falter says 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 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. A former parliamentary researcher and another man have been charged with spying for china after an investigation by Counter Terrorism police. 29 year old christopher cash and christopher berry, whos 32, have been charged under the official secrets act. Both have official secrets act. Both have been bailed and will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on friday. The metropolitan police say the allegations are very serious and huw edwards has resigned from his position at the bbc. The news presenter was 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. Described as medical advice. Well, for the latest stories , do well, for the latest stories, do sign up to gb news alerts. Just scan the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com alerts. Now, though, its back to. Nigel. That game of parliamentary ping that game of parliamentary ping pong is happening once again. Yes, the house of commons again. Yes, the house of commons and the house of lords voting the next big vote, i believe in the next big vote, i believe in the house of lords at 10 00 this evening, and the house of commons will then to vote two hours later. Will the peers back down . Will they do as the elected house by a very clear majority, wants . Well that remains to be seen. Those of you that watch this show regularly will know i did pretty much predict the house of lords would make this as difficult as they possibly could , so nothing on possibly could, so nothing on thatis possibly could, so nothing on that is very surprising. But that is very surprising. But ill tell you what was surprising. And that was the speech today by rishi sunak standing behind the lectern with stop the boats on it. And bear in mind its now more than two years since Boris Johnson went to lydd airport in kent and unveiled the rwanda plan. So far weve spent over £150 million and not a Single Person has gone. But just have a listen to what rishi sunak said this morning and to his tone , i can morning and to his tone, i can confirm that weve put an airfield on standby , booked airfield on standby, booked commercial charter planes for specific slots and we have 500 highly trained individuals ready to escort Illegal Migrants all the way to rwanda with 300 more trained in the coming weeks. This is one of the most complex operational endeavours the home office has carried out, but we are ready , plans are in but we are ready, plans are in place and these flights will go come what may. No Foreign Court will stop us from getting flights off. Did you hear that . No Foreign Court will stop us from getting these flights off as indeed the European Court of human rights in strasbourg did last time round. Now that is a very bold statement for a british Prime Minister to make. Hes basically minister to make. Hes basically saying whatever is said by that court in strasbourg, we are simply going to ignore it. But he knows that half his own party, certainly half his own mps, would be appalled by that because they think the European Court of human rights is a good thing. What he didnt tell you is, even if we were to ignore the European Court of human rights, which i believe to be very, very unlikely indeed, wed still have something called the human rights act of 1998, which incorporated the very convention thatis incorporated the very convention that is used by that court in strasbourg into british law, which would be used by british judges. This this idea that those planes are going to rwanda in 10 to 12 weeks time, come what may. Folks, believe me , it what may. Folks, believe me, it isnt going to happen. And ive isnt going to happen. And ive been right about this consistently for the last four years. Sorry to sound a bit big headed, but literally i have been right about this. I predicted the crisis. Ive said all the way through rwanda wouldnt work , and because of wouldnt work, and because of that, ive rather changed my view today or something quite significant. If youd ask me first thing this morning before that speech, whether there would be a summer general election, not an autumn general election, id have said, well, i reckon its two thirds on it being an autumn election , a third on it autumn election, a third on it being a summer election. I have now shifted my view today, particularly given the words that sunak used. No Foreign Court will stop these planes from leaving. I would now say its two thirds likely that were going to have a general election at the end of june or early july , however well or early july, however well or badly the conservative us may do in the elections coming up next week on the 2nd of may. And bear in mind, weve got some big mayoral elections, weve got london, weve got the west midlands, and indeed weve got, you know, tees valley as well, which is pretty big stuff, for both parties , frankly. Now, the both parties, frankly. Now, the reason i think theres going to be an early election is because you cant keep upping the ante on stopping the boats and sending people to rwanda and keep failing. He must know. His advisers must know that all the while the human rights act is there in law. Therell be there in law. Therell be lawyers on behalf of people who are going to be deported and who will go to the courts. And british judges will find in their favour and not allow them to go to rwanda. So rather than wait for what is seen to be his flagship policy to disintegrate , flagship policy to disintegrate, hell call a general election before it, making promises that he cant deliver. Thats my thought. You tell me, will there be an early election . Farage gbnews. Com. Lets get to the palace of westminster and that ongoing game of ping pong. Im joined by Christopher Hope , gb joined by Christopher Hope, gb news political editor. What news from the palace . From the palace . No news yet since those votes about just over an hour ago or so, nigel, when we saw, of course, the house of commons sent back those two amendments to the house of lords, these are two attempts to weaken the safety of rwanda bill, trying to bnngin safety of rwanda bill, trying to bring in a new rule that rwanda must be pronounced safe, regularly called a safe country, and also stopping the risk of any afghans who arrive here illegally being flown to rwanda if they have seen military service with the uk forces in afghanistan. Those are both backed with the laws and theyre voting at 10 pm. Tonight. I can reveal to you that the pm, the Prime Minister, rishi sunak, is hosting drinks with his backbenchers in the office of the chief whip at 9 30 pm. Tonight, and thats to try and get them all going, get them all galvanised for what could be a late night. We think if the lords do not fold at ten, whether we could be back at midnight for votes in the house of commons to try and put it back into the lords camp, how many crossbenchers are Still Standing wanting to vote by that point . Well wait and see. That will be a 2 am. Reversal, and some think it might hang over into tomorrow. Theres time booked in the house of commons timetable for tomorrow, and that could even risk delaying a trip to poland and germany by the Prime Minister if that happens. So it could be quite dramatic night, certainly the most dramatic since 2005, when there were five iterations of the so called ping pong process , so called ping pong process, over Anti Terrorism laws. It could have been avoided. This, i think, if the pm had pushed harder for these votes before the before the easter recess, or 3 or 4 days there, he could have used and he didnt. I think youre right, though, your Central Point there saying, he said that no Foreign Court will stop us from getting flights off. No one here, no tories im speaking to. And of course, theyre the ones who would know are saying they want an early election. At least two of them said tonight they want six months more pay, nigel, by holding out till november, they get paid for longer than losing their seats in july. Which which you might enjoy. But that was that was what two of them told me tonight, and indeed the other big thing youre missing out, maybe, is that people in the tory side are waiting for Something Else to happen. You know, theres going to be probably, as ive been saying for a few months now, therell be a budget in september. There will be more tax cuts promised for after the election. So the promises vote for us and get these tax cuts in september. And you know how time and politics can change so quickly, if you had a 5 or 6 months to wait, why not wait that longer . And also youre missing out on the very point, nigel, that, rishi sunak, his two Year Anniversary as Prime Minister, is up in october now, rather than be Prime Minister for 18 months, if you can say ive been in charge for two years, that has more meaning to it. I mean, these people in downing street, nigel, are writing the first line of their obituary all the time. The most important job hell ever have is being Prime Minister. So why not . Why . Why give it up so quickly when you dont have to . And if he goes early, just finally, then and they go to a big defeat, as the polls suggest, it is all his fault. The party will not forgive him for not holding out for what might happen. And for all those reasons, i am still banking on a november election. Chris, i get the logic of every single point that youve made. I just feel that if your flagship policy, if youve upped the ante as high as he has, as high as he has today, when you know in the back of your mind the human rights act can be used against you, that would lead to utter humiliation. All im saying is the balance of probability has shifted today with the upping of the ante. Chris youre in for a very, very long evening, and viewers , you long evening, and viewers, you can catch chris hope live up until midnight and maybe later than that. Thank you very much indeed. Im joined by doctor mike jones, executive director of migration watch uk. Well, of migration watch uk. Well, weve had David Cameron , weve weve had David Cameron, weve had theresa may, weve had Boris Johnson saying if you come to britain illegally, you wont be allowed to stay. We then got the big speech just over two years ago at lydd airport from boris. This was the strongest rhetoric yet , wasnt it . Yet, wasnt it . It is. Thats correct. But theres always a gap between rhetoric and reality and migration. Politics not just in in the uk, but also in the us and western europe. Politicians and western europe. Politicians talk a good game, but they deliver very poor results, results that are out of sync with the british public. And this is just another classic case study. The number of migrants crossing the channel illegally this year is higher than it was last year. No mention of that. No mention of that. Of course not, were very close to 2022 numbers, which is the highest , close to 2022 numbers, which is the highest, year on record in terms of numbers , so clearly the terms of numbers, so clearly the stop the boats policy isnt working. And as you say, at the working. And as you say, at the root cause of this is the human rights act and the legal architecture. Yeah. Weve we focus so much on echr because it was an unnamed judge at 10 00 at night that stopped that flight going to rwanda. But the human rights act is potentially a massive problem, isnt it . Absolutely. I mean, we were members of the Strasbourg Court, the European Court of human rights, long before we had the human rights act. Yeah. Now, interestingly, if you look at the number of cases issued against the uk by the Strasbourg Court , theyve gone down year court, theyve gone down year after year since the introduction of the human rights act. Now ask yourself, why is that . Thats because domestic that . Thats because domestic courts are just as zealous. Yeah, we dont need the mention. Yeah, we dont need the mention. We dont need strasbourg anymore because our own judges are working off the same rulebook effectively. Absolutely. And its the thing is, constitutionally, you can ignore the judgements of International Courts because the principle of parliamentary sovereignty, you cannot ignore domestic courts because then the home secretary would be in contempt of court. So is the human rights act. In a sense, the absolute nub of this problem when it comes to deporting people, its the root cause. Yeah. I mean, there are issues with the Strasbourg Court. Dont get me wrong. There court. Dont get me wrong. There are particular arguments regarding case law , the regarding case law, the interference of International Courts and so on. But the human rights act is absolutely fundamental to this. Its the root cause of the problem. And the tories have tried to circumnavigate around it. Theyve introduced, you know, sticking plaster after sticking plaster, legislation after legislation. But they they legislation. But they they didnt listen to people like dominic raab, for example. They dominic raab, for example. They should have got to the root cause and they didnt. And in the view of migration watch, will those planes be taking off this summer . Taking off this summer . Maybe. But lets just say hypothetically, some of them did. The numbers are going to be very small and people arent talking about this because this is on the request of kigali, the rwandan government. They only want a few hundred removed and deported in the first few months because they want a bedding in period. So we deport 51 day and its a nice day in june or july and a nice day in june orjuly and 500 come the next day. Yeah i mean, the times report, the numbers could be as low as 200 for the first two months. Thats not going to act as a deterrence. And of course, the election will be done and dusted by then, which is one of the reasons i think it could be early, not late, but who knows . I could be wrong. Mike, as even i could be wrong. Mike, as ever, thank you very much indeed. And the idea that a couple of members of parliament, conservative members of parliament, say to Christopher Hope they want it to go on to the autumn because they want six months more pay. What a bunch of weasels. What about the National Interest . Never mind. In a moment we discuss a really quite dramatic fall in our confidence in the police. But then when activities like shoplifting have effectively become decriminalise , is it any surprise . We keep being told that crime is falling. But thats not the perception of many of us. And our support and confidence in the police force is falling pretty quickly. Only about a third of us really now have confidence in the police. And crimes like shoplifting have literally doubled over the course of the last year. But in london in particular, some of the statistics out in a survey today are really, really alarming. And im pleased to be joined. Minor keith by nikita malik, who works for the centre for social justice, the think tank that have produced this evidence. Nikita, thank you for evidence. Nikita, thank you for joining me on the program. I was really , really stunned, actually really, really stunned, actually , that your polling revealed that 1 in 4 londoners had been attacked or threatened with violence in the last five years. Thatis violence in the last five years. That is an astonishing figure. That is an astonishing figure. Yes, absolutely. And i think whats interesting here is , as whats interesting here is, as you said in the beginning of this segment, the perception versus the numbers. So while we see that the numbers of knife crime offences have decreased over the last five years, we have to keep in mind there was a pandemic, so people werent leaving their homes. Pandemic, so people werent leaving their homes. And thats leaving their homes. And thats not really a result of any policy by the london mayor thats causing knife crime to go down. And after that its been going up. And most crimes low level crimes arent even reported to the police. Isnt that the point . Isnt that isnt that the point that so much crime now doesnt get reported . Whats the point . All this will do is damage my Insurance Premium or whatever it is. So its tough to get a real handle on what the crime figures truly are. Absolutely. And its also the idea that people feel that justice wont be done, you know . So even if i report the crime, either i dont trust the police or i dont. Theres a court backlog, so there wont be anything. So its betterjust to get on with it. But what really stands out in our figures today is people are being threatened. And, you know, there scared. Theyre theyre, you know, being involved in very difficult situations. And 1 in 4 londoners being threatened or attacked by violence is simply appalling in the last five years. And as you say, that includes the lockdown period. So actually the lockdown period. So actually the figures are worse than they look because of a considerable penod look because of a considerable period of time when nobody was about, and where is this happening . Is it happening on pubuc happening . Is it happening on public transport . Is it happening in the street . You know, where are the areas where where londoners are feeling these threats . These threats . We didnt actually break that down, to be honest. I think thats a very good question as to, you know, where are people and what kinds of crimes are being committed. We asked a more general question about Serious Violence. But, you know, we, we very much know that, crime is a huge concern nationally at the centre for social justice , we centre for social justice, we have over 700 Charities Across the nation, and the people who work in these charities. And the polling that weve done across the nation has also shown that the nation has also shown that the number one concern in this country, nationally for people is crime , so its not just is crime, so its not just a london issue, its a national issue. And it doesnt seem to be issue. And it doesnt seem to be going, not even going away, but Getting Better in any way. These london statistics highlight a problem that is national, more acute in london for fairly obvious reasons. Shoplifting. I mentioned shoplifting a couple of times already, and it looks like the figures, the estimated figures have doubled over the course of the last year and kind of were almost being told now that unless you nick more than 200 quids worth, its not really a crime. And what on earth is going on . So i think these are particularly what is classified as low level crimes. So we examined Serious Violence and high level crimes, things like knife crimes and homicides. Those are going up. This i believe, comes from the yougov polling today. Which shows things like shoplifting. The fact of the matter is, if people feel that they can get away with the crime, there are no consequences for their actions. Why not . You know, why not try to do it . And with why not . You know, why not try to do it . And with things like shoplifting in particular, thats dealt mating, the shops on the streets, you know, theyve already been massive repercussions from covid and to keep retail shops on the streets and they have to pay for their own private insurance and their security. And, you know, the police arent doing anything about it, its just asking a lot for some of these shops to continue operating the way that they do. And i go into the supermarket to buy some razor blades and theyre wrapped in some. And so, you know, the person on the counter has got to get some big machine. So i think i must just order it online. Exactly, and kind of to bring back to the research that we did at the centre for social justice, this is another big issue. You mentioned razor blades, but its becoming increasingly easy for people to order dangerous weapons, not razor blades. Im talking about knives and more dangerous weapons online than they ever could. And when the governments pushing for things like the onune pushing for things like the Online Safety act to be covering some of this , its just easier some of this, its just easier than ever to be able to find this , you know, not just in this, you know, not just in shops but online and people can get away with carrying it. Which leads me on to the last point i wanted to discuss, which i thought was very interesting in your figures, and that is pubuc in your figures, and that is public support for stop and search. Were always told stop and search. Very controversial if it happens in an area of high immigration. The police are accused of racism. So the police adopt a hands off approach. Yet your polling showing most people think its rather a good idea. Yes, our polling shows that most people support stop and search. And the interesting thing about the polling is, regardless of what which ethnic group they will support, stop and search. And this is really the issue about kind of being away from the heart of the issue. You know, people who are deaung issue. You know, people who are dealing with violence every day, who have children who are at risk of picking up knives and being involved in Gang Violence, want the police to be more involved. A majority of young people, exactly. More more young people than we are. Precisely. And i think there has been a very you know, we see a lot of things about the police, but theres actually been a very, strong effort on their part to use, stop and search effectively to educate people on stop and search. And when people are involved in crime and theyre in the heart of this Gang Violence and their children are at risk of being involved in it, they really want the police to do anything they can to stop them from from committing crime, because prevention is easier than cure. If we can prevent a young person from doing this, its much easier than trying to get them out of the system once theyre in in jail. So if a stop and search in london for arguments sake, that would need the met and the mayor to be working together. Absolutely. And one can argue, are they . Because, you know, as weve seen, the crime figures are higher than ever. They said that stop and search. You know, numbers have been cut. But its a very effective tool to prevent violence if used correctly. And i question whether the lobbying that has been done by certain groups, including the mayor of london, to criticise, stop and search, has really been effective considering the numbers that weve seen today. Nikita, i certainly support stop and search. It makes every sense. Thank you. Fascinating figures. But a little bit depressing, folks, isnt it. And hard to believe, you know, 1 in 4 people in london have been the victims of either violence or threats of violence in the last five years. No wonder a lot of people are, particularly those with young kids are looking to leave london in Donald Trumps full trial is taking place right now. Yeah, the jury is in place. The arguments are now being heard. Were going to get a full brief direct break. Donald trump appearing today in that new york courthouse. This is now the trial proper here. He was arriving just a few hours ago. Ago. 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 knows it. Im here. Instead of being able to be in pennsylvania and georgia and lots of other 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. Well, a very angry donald trump. But lets try and cut trump. But lets try and cut through the noise. Lets find out what is really going on. Lets find out legally what actually matters. And joining me live down the line from georgia is sean del sommer, defence attorney at Summer Law Firm sean del. Were looking from across the other side of the pond. We cant quite get our heads around what is really going on here, so please explain. Its the trial proper today. Both sides putting briefly their cases. What is actually at stake here and what is trump accused of doing . Is trump accused of doing . Donald trump is accused of. Donald trump is accused of. Miscoding. Or basically falsifying Business Records to hide and conceal hush money payments to a woman named Stormy Daniels, another woman, and also a doorman at his new york penthouse. The reason this is important is because of the fact that the underlying conduct is a felony. There claiming that he tried to conceal these payments and was in violation of Campaign Finance laws. In in, in the United States. So if you can show that you put a business entry into your books , that was entry into your books, that was false and it was to hide , false and it was to hide, conduct which was illegal or to conceal conduct , which was a conceal conduct, which was a felony, then you can be prosecuted for a felony. The prosecuted for a felony. The penalties for what . So, so, so one act, the act of itself. The act of itself of itself. The act of itself isnt that serious. But if the act, its a misdemeanour, its a misdemeanour. But then what the prosecution are trying to do is to say, but no, no, no, no, no, that links into the conduct of the election as well. It it sounds a bit of a stretch. Well, the problem with the prosecutions case is that they have not indicted him for the underlying felony of a Campaign Finance violation, and other government authorities , the government authorities, the federal government versus the State Government have passed on that opportunity to charge him with the underlying trying to conceal, the records in in violation of Campaign Finance laws. And this is an interesting case because a few years ago, there was a candidate for Vice President named john edwards who had, you know , what we call in had, you know, what we call in the United States, a baby mama, that he impregnated during the campaign. And he was paying her, payments during the campaign. And he was prosecuted for doing that, and he was found not guilty. So there that, and he was found not guilty. So there is that, and he was found not guilty. So there is precedence guilty. So there is precedence to show that if you are paying someone money, hush money, and its for a personal reason, youre trying to preserve your marriage or something to that effect , then it is not effect, then it is not necessarily a Campaign Finance violation. And it was sort of incidental to the fact that he was running for Vice President. So donald trump is going to avail himself of that same theory , okay, that he was doing theory, okay, that he was doing his marriage rather than very, very interesting. And this , of course, is being and this, of course, is being heard before a jury , i dont heard before a jury, i dont know how many people they had to go through to get the jury and how you can find anybody. Its rather like the oj. Simpson trial all those years ago. How do you find anybody to go on to, to go on to a jury who has a neutral opinion about donald trump as a person . True that. Certainly they had struggles picking the jury, but they did it very quickly. I thought relatively speaking, they were theyre not necessarily looking for people who like him or dont like him. Although if you had very strong feelings, you were probably dismissed for cause. They just dismissed for cause. They just want someone who can be fair. And i thought it was interesting in this case that they put two lawyers on the jury and thats because i think the defence will because i think the defence will be very technical about the fact that the underlying felony has not been charged , that its not not been charged, that its not a Campaign Finance violation or that it could be interpreted in different ways. So the fact that they have a jury seated and, this is the first case widely recognised as being the weakest of the four pending criminal cases against donald trump. Will be interesting to see what happens. It could certainly provide a lot of momentum if hes, acquitted to the campaign. And it could also be very devastating if hes convicted. So the best Case Scenario from, from trumps point of view is that thats it. Its dropped. He wins. What do you get his legal costs back . Legal costs back . No, not likely. And of course, it seems as though his campaign is paying the legal costs. That seems to be whos funding all of these cases. I funding all of these cases. I mean, hes his legal costs are millions and millions of dollars , and you cant really get your legal costs back , for any legal costs back, for any criminal prosecution unless you can show bad faith on the part of the prosecutor because prosecutors enjoy sovereign immunity from from being prosecuted every time they have an acquittal, they cant then get the person who really cannot get the person who really cannot get money back. So i think theyre sheltered. However, theyre sheltered. However, leave it to donald trump to file a lawsuit against the prosecutor if he is acquitted , he would. He if he is acquitted, he would. He was. Hes a very aggressive litigant. Litigant. And the worst Case Scenario for donald trump, and the worst Case Scenario for donald trump , the worst case for donald trump, the worst Case Scenario is that hes convicted and that he gets jail time because the maximum sentence for this particular, crime is up to four years in jail. Now, hes a first offender. Hes, you know, in his, late 70s. Do i think hell go to jail . Not in a million years. But i still think that thats his risk. And not to mention the damage to his reputation , right damage to his reputation, right now, hes able to kind of ride this into , momentum with his this into, momentum with his campaign. People are, he says , campaign. People are, he says, at least that people are on his side because hes being persecuted. So well see how persecuted. So well see how that plays out. Fascinating summer law. Thank you for giving us that summary of what is going on in new york. And well play out for what, the next four weeks, five weeks likely six weeks. Theres a lot of evidence and a lot of witnesses. Yeah. Wow somalo, thank you very much indeed. Thank you. The very much indeed. Thank you. The thought of trump sitting there through this day after day for six weeks, i think hes going to find it very difficult to control himself. I know that i would in such circumstances and ihave would in such circumstances and i have to say, a lot of this is because of a very highly politicised, highly politicised judicial system in america and one that is absolutely brutal in every regard. I think they need some pretty wholesale reform of theirjudicial some pretty wholesale reform of their judicial system some pretty wholesale reform of theirjudicial system right some pretty wholesale reform of their judicial system right now. What the farage do you remember this time last year , the tric this time last year, the tric awards . Yes, the television and radio industry awards, and its their club. Every year they have a big lunch. And i urged you on this channel. I kept putting qr codes up on the screen, and we got heavily stuck in and i was delighted to be awarded news presenter of the year. It really was a very, very nice thing to do. I was delighted, i have to say many of the rest of the industry did not share that joy on the evening, a lot of people booing etc. But then i guess like any industry or any business, people dont like an upstart. People dont like a newcomer. Upstart. People dont like a newcomer. And thats very much the way that gb news was viewed then, and probably still is today. Then, and probably still is today. So there is a long list today. So there is a long list of a couple of dozen names of people whove been put forward again, for the news presenter of the year category, we have been assured by trek that it will be assured by trek that it will be a full public vote with no interference whatsoever , interference whatsoever, provided that the process is run freely and fairly. And what ive got to decide over the course of the next couple of days, because this vote will close on may the 17th, is shall we have another big go . Shall we have another big go . Shall we have another big campaign . It will take up time on this show, because if were going to do it, well do it properly. Love your thoughts. Please farage gbnews chess. Com. Tell me what you think. Should we have another really big go or did we prove our point with this last year . Love to get your thoughts please on that. Now some figures out overnight suggesting a very large increase in the number of people whove been going to the financial ombudsman complaining about their bank account being frozen, their bank account being frozen, their bank account being frozen, their Bank Accounts are being closed. Ill give you the full details of all of that in just a moment. And important to say, all of this on the eve of the natwest groups agm, their first agm since all the traumas the bank went through as a result of their treatment of me, did it it was in july last year when i decided ive got to go public. No longer am i going to keep it under my hat. That ive been told by the Banking Group that ive been with since 1980. Both in a personal and indeed business capacity , that my business capacity, that my accounts were being closed and that id been turned down by ten other banks. Yes, i was being other banks. Yes, i was being banked. I other banks. Yes, i was being banked. I was being made a non person and i decided to come out. And the reason i came out was because i was conscious that this was happening for a variety of reasons, to a lot of people, some because theyre public figures they described as politically exposed persons , not politically exposed persons, not just them, but in some cases their children or their grandchildren being debunked just for having a relation. That was a senior military officer , a was a senior military officer, a judge or a member of parliament. But equally, many people were having their accounts closed because of what the banks viewed as unusual payments. Because of what the banks viewed as unusual payments. You know, as unusual payments. You know, youre a company that turns over five grand a month. Suddenly in one month, ten grand comes in, alarm bells ring at the bank. Are you now the front for some colombian drug lord . And as a result of rafe very overzealous, well intentioned but overzealous anti Money Laundering laws , all anti Money Laundering laws, all of which we got from the european union, all of which were incorporated into our system, none of which have been questioned by the Financial Conduct Authority or anybody senior in parliament. Many, many businesses were being debunked. Now, weve had overnight some statistics that have come out which say that complaints to the financial ombudsman about being debunked have increased by 44 over the course of the last year. Well, all i can say to that is good because i hope that my coming out over de banking has encouraged other people to say, were just not going to put up with this. But the important point to note is these are just companies. Now harriet baldwin, whos chair of the Treasury Committee , she said, when we set committee, she said, when we set out our inquiry into financing for small and medium sized businesses, we werent necessarily expecting de banking to emerge as a key issue. And what harriets Committee Found was that 140,000 businesses last year were closed down by their banks. Year were closed down by their banks. Now, year were closed down by their banks. Now, ive no doubt some of them were wronguns. Some of them were Money Laundering or doing terrible things, but that would have been a very, very small minority. So a lot of this is still going on. More people are complaining, but what the figures dont tell us is how many people have been to the ombudsman as a result of their personal Bank Accounts being closed . This issue of de banking, in fact, the very phrase de banking is now in the Oxford English dictionary. Itll be my one claim to fame after ive gone. Its a word in the language that wasnt there before. But how much damage is all of this doing to business . Because i suspect even getting a bank account open has become a very, very tricky business. Im joined down the line by Senior Research fellow at the institute of economic affairs, doctor jamie white. Jamie, welcome to the programme. Were you shocked . The programme. Were you shocked . Probably not to see a 44 increase in one year of companies complaining to the ombudsman . Well, im not shocked because the number of accounts that are being closed by banks has also increased dramatically over recent years. And as you say, its in response to legislation thats been brought in actually successively since the early 90s, theres been a succession of anti Money Laundering regulations which place an obugafion regulations which place an obligation on banks to effectively act as the police. So the banks have a legal duty to prevent Money Laundering from occurring. And if the government deems them to have failed in administering that duty , even if administering that duty, even if no actual Money Laundering has been detected, just they dont think theyre doing a good enough job with their processes and all that kind of thing. They get fined, the banks get fined billions. I mean, there was a fine of, i cant remember bank. It was now, but not long ago, 20, 23 of 4. 5 billion. There have been fines as large as 9 billion, the threat is real. Yeah. The threat is real. So its easier, isnt it, just to close the account rather than go through the sheer costs of compliance, just close the account. You know, its bad account. You know, its bad legislation. Jamie, id very much hope with brexit it would be a chance to revisit it. This very onerous legislation ive seen nothing done on this at all. So the banks are acting rationally. So what they do is they go, well youre a, youre a you look like a risk , perhaps you look like a risk, perhaps because youre depositing too much cash. We dont like the look of the cash. Yeah. Should look of the cash. Yeah. Should we look into you and see if you really are a money launderer, or should we just close your account . Well, looking into it is very expensive. And most peoples accounts, Small Business accounts dont make banks very much money. So if they close the account, that is they close the account, that is the rational thing for them to do. From an economic point of view. And so the government hasnt thought this through. Its having an unintended consequence of closing. I think last year it was in 2022 it was 180,000 accounts. For, for this reason, and what they need to do is lighten the burden on banks and then this would stop happening. The banks have no natural interest in closing peoples accounts. They dont want to do it. By the way, just want to do it. By the way, just to make a clarify point that you made , of course, some of some made, of course, some of some people are doing Money Laundering. They are wronguns , laundering. They are wronguns, as you put it. No, no, i get it. The ratio is minute. Its 1000. There were 1000 convictions for Money Laundering in britain in 2022, and 180,000 counts are closed on suspicion. Counts are closed on suspicion. So whats effectively happening here is that innocent people are being punished. Yeah. Because of the economic incentives that the regulation has created for the banks. And just one more statistic that your viewers may not know, which i think theyll find shocking , the cost of find shocking, the cost of complying with Money Laundering regulations for banks has been estimated by lexisnexis, which is a Law Consulting firm, and Oxford Economics at being 34 billion a year. Well, to put that in context , the total cost that in context, the total cost of policing in britain for all other crimes put together is 17 billion. So britain spends twice other crimes put together is 17 as much on trying to prevent Money Laundering as it does on all other crimes put together. Absolutely bonkers. Jamie absolutely bonkers. Jamie white, thank you for joining us with that knockout statistic. Now, tomorrow, its the annual general meeting of natwest group. Yes, its their first agm since i perhaps caused them some difficulties. No not true. They difficulties. No not true. They caused themself those difficulties as i did nothing wrong whatsoever. They de banking me because my views did not align with those of the bank. They then palmed it all off onto a city law firm, travis smith, to do an investigation. Now the reason i won that case and got public sympathy was i put in a subject access request to got to the get the information about me. The bank held well, ive done a similar subject access request to the legal firm who conducted the inquiry, travis smith. And guess what . Ive got 139 pages of documents back and all they are are copies of press articles. No information , no information or information, no information or debate that took place between natwest and travis smith has been released to me at all. Travis smith are claiming this is privileged information. That is privileged information. That is privileged information. That is a load of baloney because this is not a legal it wasnt a legal responsibility. Travis smith had. It was an investigation into natwest and how and why they made the decision. The whole thing is a whitewash and if they think theyre going to have this big agm tomorrow and announce theyre going to sell shares to theyre going to sell shares to the public in natwest, a bit like sort of british gas privatisation 40 years ago. Were all going to pile in and buy natwest shares. No they are. They are still being openly and brazenly dishonest. They could have told travis smith to tell me the full facts of what was discussed between them. They discussed between them. They havent done. So im pretty blooming angry still. But calm down. Jacob rees moggs in the studio. Yes. Well, would you buy studio. Yes. Well, would you buy shares in natwest at the moment . It depends on the price, but their behaviour towards you is so outrageous. And continue this wokeness as it infected british industry, british interests are there to make money. Its not there to express its political views and to get promoted for being woke. Its there to lend money on margin to make a profit for its shareholders. Its a very simple job, really. Its not there to job, really. Its not there to say, well, we dont like nigel farage or we dont like anybody else for that matter, i know. Well, well see. Well, well see. You have unrwa revealed this terrible practice and theyre not the only ones doing it. Massive problem. And were finding it, you know, across business and individuals to parliamentary ping pong. Jacob rees mogg up voting all night perhaps. Well possibly. He, i went to well possibly. He, i went to sit in in the house of lords for a few minutes just to see what they were saying, and, and its always very civilised in the lords, as you know. I think there will be one difficult vote for the government, but a number of peers are peeling off and saying, look, ultimately the house of commons must win. Itll be done, itll be done. Itll be done today, whether its early or late. Im not sure. Or late. Im not sure. And a quick thought, if i may sunak today was tougher on this than hed ever been. No Foreign Court will stop these planes from going. Does an early general election look slightly more likely today than it did yesterday . I think i mean, i think it does. I i think i mean, i think it does. I have no inside information, but all the mood music is that they want to get on with it, i think. Yeah. You see, jacob, sensible chap, agrees with me. Everybody else disagrees. But there we are. Either were right or were very, very wrong. I dont know, im back with you tomorrow night live at 7 00. Looks like things are heating up. Boxt boilers sponsors of up. Boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. Hello. Good evening. Welcome to your latest gb news weather update. Looking ahead to tomorrow. Its going to be a much drier and sunnier day for many of us. But there will be some rain, particularly across the southeast. Thats due to this weather front thats still making its way southwards. Much of the rain will tend to fade away throughout this evening, but therell be a real legacy of cloud left behind. So quite cloud left behind. So quite a murky evening for central areas of england, parts of wales, the south coast as well. We can see some drizzly rain for a time this evening. Theres also a risk of some fog developing across parts of northeastern england through tonight. Further north and west, though, it will be much drier and clearer tonight. Its going to be quite a cold start tomorrow, but frost will be fairly limited to just some scottish glens and perhaps the far southeast of england as well. So a chilly start to the day, but definitely a brighter start to the day for northern ireland, much of scotland, Northern England as well across many Western Areas of wales and southwest england, as well. It southwest england, as well. It should be a fairly dry and bright day, but sunshine will be a little bit more limited across the south coast, where therell be some drizzly rain on and off through the day across the south east, but it wont feel too bad in the sunshine if youre sheltered from that northerly wind. Its going to be a cold start on wednesday, though theres a greater risk of seeing a frost. Generally, though still in rural areas, weve got more of a north easterly wind developing on wednesday that will bring in a few showers across the east coast, but in the west its going to be another fairly dry, bright and warm feeling day in the sunshine. Looking ahead to the sunshine. Looking ahead to the rest of the week, while still some chilly nights to come and it looks like it will turn a little bit more unsettled from fri day. Friday. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news. Way. Hello. Good evening. Its me, Jacob Rees Mogg on state of the nation. Tonight in his press conference, the Prime Minister made clear his determination to push through the rwanda plan. He criticised the schemes opponents in the house of lords and will, if necessary, make parliament, sit through the night. Enough is enough. No more prevarication , no no more prevarication, no more delay. There is no doubt that the Prime Minister is serious about making the rwanda plan succeed. But what obstacles could he still face . Could the relentless ping still face . Could the relentless ping pong between the commons and the lords culminate in a constitutional crisis . As united constitutional crisis . As United States speaker of the house mike johnson finally emerges victorious after congresss lower house approves a colossal 95 billion aid package for ukraine and others, following months of opposition from republican isolationist united