Transcripts For GBN Britains 20240703

Police and Crime Commissioners. Katherine forster has the latest. Yes, dreadful results for the conservatives so far. Labour are buoyant. Much, much more still to come. But keir starmer, speaking a little bit earlier, saying its a shout from blackpool we want change. Are we heading to a Labour Government later this year . Later this year . Boris johnson was turned away from his local polling station after forgetting to bring an acceptable form of photo id. Did the same happen to anyone you know . So the morning after the night before, tories look like theyre waking up with a bit of a hangover and a bit of a headache. Theres still plenty to come though, but i think they would have known that this was going to be a bad time for them. I mean, its, you know, nobody knows what to do about them. Its very sad, but such is life. Its very sad, but such is life. I tell you what, im looking forward to the london Mayoral Election result, which comes tomorrow night. All eyes on that. And. Yeah lots more coming during the show today. Weve got Dame Andrea Leadsom mp. The great leadsom mp. The great broadcasting legend Alastair Stewart will be with us as well with some top analysis. But before all that, heres your news with sofia. News with sofia. Ben. Thank you. Good morning. Ben. Thank you. Good morning. Its 932. Im sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. And as youve the gb newsroom. And as youve been hearing, labour has won blackpool south from the conservatives in yet another blow to rishi sunaks leadership, labours chris webb took the seat , beating took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second following a by election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton. Mark butcher was third in a decent showing from the reform party. Labour from the reform party. Labour leader keir starmer called the result seismic. Result seismic. It is, of course, the most important election result in the sense that its a direct message to the Prime Minister because this is a parliamentary seat. Thats a 26 swing, thats a huge swing and its the fifth swing of over 20 in by elections that weve had in recent months. And years. So its not a one off. Its no denying that the mood of the country now is for change. And i think its for the Prime Minister to allow the country to express that change. Now, in a general election, you and labour has made huge gains in local elections across england and wales, winning in key areas such as rushmoor in hampshire for the first time. Its being seen as a major test of Public Opinion ahead of the upcoming general election. Labour also won thurrock one of its top targets, but the tories held harlow. Tory Party Chairman held harlow. Tory Party Chairman Richard Holden tried to put a positive spin on the results. Positive spin on the results. Meanwhile, 38 police and Crime Commissioners are also being elected across england and wales. Currently conservatives have won and labour have two in the declared results. And for the declared results. And for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com alerts. Now its back to ben and. Nana. Back to ben and. Nana. Very good morning to you. 930 for you with ben. And ive got my nana with me as well on this on this pivotal morning on in british politics, local elections of course the main story i guess, is that blackpool south seat, a massive swing to laboun south seat, a massive swing to labour, is that a sign of things to come . Well, i mean , youve to come . Well, i mean, youve seen it. The turnout was very low, so it was just over 30 turnout. So if you look at the turnout, then i think a lot of conservative voters stayed at home. But having said that, i think yes, it is. It is the taste of things to come. So in 2019 labour well so yesterday they got 10,825 votes in that blackpool south seat. They are down 1730 on 2019. As you said, the turnout is of course a lot lower. But the conservatives losing 13,000 votes i know in that seat. Unbelievable. But of course unbelievable. But of course thats scotts old seat isnt it. Yes. Scott benson, who of course was ousted after his lobbying scandal but should we get stuck into some top analysis . As i said at the top of the show, weve got broadcasting legend Alastair Stewart with us, Dame Andrea Leadsom, as well. And yeah, its going to be a cracking 2. 5 hours. Well, you heard what sir keir starmer was saying that its time for an election and he says that it was a. Sorry. Thank you a seismic. He said that keir starmer says that the blackpool south by election was a seismic win. Heres the moment. It was announced. I declare that Christopher Paul webb is duly elected as the member of parliament for the blackpool south constituency. So labours chris webb took the seat previously held by scott benson, who stood down following a lobbying scandal. Following a lobbying scandal. Heres how it was decided. So chris webb, labour party, 10,825 votes. David jones , votes. David jones, conservative, 3218 votes. And crucially, this is the interesting point. Mark butcher , interesting point. Mark butcher, reform uk 3101 votes. Just behind the tories. Well, the green party 368 votes and cregan liberal democrats 387 votes. So were joined now by Political Correspondent. Olivia utley. Correspondent. Olivia utley. Olivia. Well, its been a bit of a landslide so far. Is this what was expected . Because it sounds like i mean, most people are thinking, yeah, we thought it would be bad, but do you think this spells the end for rishi sunak . Sunak . I think it was a really catastrophic night for the conservatives. Obviously, all the results of the local elections arent yet in, and we might not have a clear picture until sunday. But from what we know so far, it has been very bad indeed, and certainly in blackpool south. That result for the conservatives couldnt really have been worse. A 26 really have been worse. A 26 point swing away from the conservative to labour. Now, to put that in perspective , that is put that in perspective, that is the third biggest by election swing towards labour since the second world war, and it is now one of six swings over 20 since the 2019 general election. There the 2019 general election. There is no way that rishi sunak can pass this off as sort of mid term blues midterm angst, some sort of anomaly. The pattern over and over again is that labour are winning these by elections with enormous swings. The last time that we saw swings of this magnitude , this of this magnitude, this frequently was in the period between 1992 and 1997. And, of course, that ended with that landslide victory for tony blair. Now what the conservatives are consoling themselves with today is the fact that enthusiasm for labour doesnt actually seem to be that high. Yes, people dont want to vote conservative. But in the local Council Elections, although so, the conservatives have lost a huge number of seats, only about half of those seats, only about half of those seats have been lost to labour, the rest have been lost to independents. So the conservatives are trying to tell themselves that this isnt a 1997 moment, because keir starmer doesnt have the same pull as tony blair. I mean, there is definitely some truth in that. But ultimately for laboun in that. But ultimately for labour, that doesnt really matter. General elections are won on who turns out to vote. Turnout might be low in this by election. It was only just over 32. But if it gets keir starmer into 10 downing street with a huge majority , then with a huge majority, then labour wont really be worrying about that. At least not until the election after this one. Yes, olivia, you mentioned independents doing well. Of course, the greens as well, especially in South Tyneside picking up seats. Two what about reform uk in south blackpool . Theyll be feeling pretty bullish after that result. I suspect. Suspect. I suspect they will be feeling bullish. They wanted to come in second place. They wanted to pip the conservatives to the post. They didnt quite manage to do that. They came third, but there was only 117 votes in it. It was a good showing from reform. But was it good enough in this period before the 2015 general election, ukip , which is a rough election, ukip, which is a rough equivalent to reform, was polling higher and was actually doing much, much better in by elections. So is this actually going to play out for a long time now reform has been on the up. Its felt like theyre about to break through, but they havent got very much time left to break through. And coming third, albeit by only 117 votes in an area where theyve put in a lot of resources and a lot of campaigning time, it might be good, but is it good enough . The i mean, it just looks as though, the labor party are just going to just take everything pretty much , do you think that pretty much, do you think that its more a sign of, if pretty much, do you think that its more a sign of , if you pretty much, do you think that its more a sign of, if you look at it, that people are actually wanting a change or its just the fact that theyre just really turning their backs away from the conservative party after the sort of mess that has ensued. Well, i think, yeah, there is an element of people just wanting to turn away from the conservative party. And this is what i was saying about sort of voter apathy, focus groups are showing that fewer people care. Who runs the country than almost ever before. Turnout is also very low, which is also reflective of that. But does it really matter for labour in the long term if it gets keir starmer into downing street, doesit starmer into downing street, does it matter whether people are voting labour because they love the labour party offering, or if theyre voting labour because they hate the conservatives either way, it turns out with the same resolution and i think thats whats so difficult for rishi sunak at the moment. The whats so difficult for rishi sunak at the moment. The other sunak at the moment. The other question, of course, is when does he call that general election . He and the team around election . He and the team around him are minded to hold off for as long as they possibly can. Theyre hoping that Interest Rates start to go down, peoples mortgage misery is alleviated a bit and of course , that the bit and of course, that the rwanda scheme gets up and running and we see a dip in illegal immigration figures. Thats why hes been holding out for the second half of this yeah for the second half of this year. But if results over this weekend are as catastrophic as is being predicted, and it looks like they probably will be if the conservatives end up losing sort of 500 council seats, then i think we can expect a number of letters of no confidence in rishi sunak coming in from disgruntled backbench mps who think, well, maybe its worth one final roll of the dice before the general election, and if that happens, then it could get to a point where rishi sunak feels that he has no option other than to go to the country a little bit early, perhaps in june or july. Interesting june orjuly. Interesting okay, olivia, thanks very much. Yeah i mean, likely would it be rishi leading the party into a general election . They cant do it again. They cant honestly be looking to try and get another leader. I mean, in my show the other day, we sang that song. Lets go round again. Maybe well turn back. But what have they got to lose . If it is as catastrophic . Everything to lose, nobody will look at them seriously at all. If its like the planes going down and youre thinking, lets get another pilot in to steer it towards the sea, no point. Just get on with, i should say, get on with running the country because people are getting fed up with it. Youve got pretty waiting in the wings, potentially. Suella braverman. Im sure theyll all be lining up, but who would do it anyway . Like if you know the plane is about to, you know, hit the nice analogy. I like that. Yeah, very well put. Oh look, its been a very strong start for labour as results from local Council Elections continue to come in across the country. Its won control of a string of key leave voting councils in england and wales. So joining us now in the studio is our Political Correspondent Katherine Forster. Good morning to you, catherine, give us your judgement then on whats happened so far. I am i right in saying its only really not even half time yet, but yes, they are down a couple of goals. Weve still got a very, very long way to go with the local Election Results. Most. Of i Election Results. Most. Of i think weve only had about a third, just over a third of councils declare, but but the conservatives think they might lose. Ultimately up to 500 seats at the moment. It does look like they may be on on track for that labour have had a couple of particularly notable big wins. Particularly notable big wins. First of all, theyve got hartlepool back. Of course , when hartlepool back. Of course, when keir starmer lost hartlepool back in 2021, it was the height of the vaccine bounce. Boris johnson was riding high. He seriously thought about resigning. But look. How things resigning. But look. How things have turned around since then. So theyve got hartlepool back, theyve also and theyre very happy about this. Taken rushmoor in hampshire, thats the home of the british army. That is not the british army. That is not the sort of place that you would ordinarily expect labour to be taking. So they are trumpeting that very , very loudly. That very, very loudly. Im not sure if you know the answer to this question. Sorry to interject. Will there be a lot of squaddies living down there . Are there barracks down there . Yeah, there are, there are, which is interesting. Bear in mind sunaks defence. Yes budget bonanza. Yes. And of course, you know, weve had rishi sunak last, last week upping defence spending to 2. 5 by the end of the decade, making a lot of noise about that. And labour traditionally have been seen as less trustworthy on defence. But it looks like that may be changing. A couple of crumbs of comfort for the conservative party, and they are just crumbs because it is not a good picture for them. Theyve managed to hold on to Harlow Council now keir starmer was there yesterday saying yes, this is the sort of place that we need to be taking. The conservatives have kept it, albeit only by one seat and the other little bit of good news for the conservatives is that, labour have lost overall control of Oldham Council and this is largely due to the war in gaza. And we saw labour councillors resigning. A number have stood, resigning. A number have stood, independents have stood on a pro palestine ticket, chipping , pro palestine ticket, chipping, chipping in to the labour vote in areas with high muslim populations where theres a lot of concern about whats going on in the middle east, and also a lot of anger at what they perceive as labours stance. Perceive as labours stance. Its interesting with what were seeing , is there the were seeing, is there the potential for the muslim vote to become almost like the reform vote is to the conservative party, sort of chipping away at that because thats, you know, i think whilst keir starmer seems to have sat back and everything sort of fallen around him nicely, but he shouldnt attend things because the harlow one that he attended, sadly they didnt win. So hes better stepping back. Well certainly George Galloway of course hes back. He won rochdale a labour had to withdraw. Well their own candidate , they took their name candidate, they took their name off it and he stood as an independent. And George Galloway road to victory making a lot of noise saying the conservatives and labour are two sides of the same bottom cheek. Am i allowed to say that . Anyway, ive said it, etc. Etc. Hes got candidates all over the place , candidates all over the place, and there are many, traditional labour voters that are very, very unhappy with the labour leaderships stance. So yes, it is possible. I think sir keir is possible. I think sir keir starmer will be hoping for a meaningful ceasefire so that by the time theres an election, general election, probably towards the end of the year, if not sooner, that this issue will not sooner, that this issue will not have the resonance that it does now. I dont think its going to eat into the labour vote in quite as big a way as the reform party are eating into the reform party are eating into the conservatives. Well, the reform i mean, last night in blackpool, they got 16. 9. Thats their best result ever. And they were within 100 votes of taking second place. Of course, whether they would actually get any seats in a general election in another matter. But theyre potentially going to do massive, massive damage to the conservatives. And thats all they really wanted, really. I mean, of course theyd love seats, but from the vibe ive got from richard tice and ben habib and so on, is that really their main goalis so on, is that really their main goal is just destruction of the conservative party because they feel it needs to be, remodelled in a proper conservative image. Yeah. And this is something that nigel farage has said as well. And of course, if and its a big if and hes keeping us all guessing, isnt he . If nigel farage decided to come back and lead reform , you would expect lead reform, you would expect their vote share to go up even further. Of course, we dont know if that will happen. Weve still got a way to go, but, yeah , and plenty of reform voters when i go out around the country , you know, a lot of gb news viewers are reform supporters. And they will say, if you say to them, well, all youre going to do is help labour to get a bigger majority, theyll be like, well, we dont care because were so cross with the conservatives that they deserve to be okay. Interesting. And of course, richard tice last night ruling out again any sort of electoral pacts with the tories. So catherine, thank you very much. From one political powerhouse to another, catherine to Alyssa Stewart, hes going to join us next in the studio in just a gb news. Good morning. This is britains newsroom just coming up to 51 minutes after 9 00. So is it time up for rishi sunak . Labour has won the blackpool south by election from the conservatives. In yet another for blow the Prime Minister. Gb news contributor alison stewart. Of course, the legend. Stewart. Of course, the legend. He joins us now in the studio. Alastair. Yes, first of all, very privileged and happy that youre with us this morning. Thank you. Well im delighted to be back on, on what has already an extraordinary day. And as our correspondents like olivia have been saying, theres yet more to come. Yes. Yeah. It feels like its only half time or not quite there. But as i said to catherine, maybe 2 or 3 nil down the tories. What do you make of the tories. What do you make of the blackpool south by election result . That massive swing to labour . I think seismic, is pushing it. But then thats keir it. But then thats Keir Starmers job today. And i dont blame him for one minute. But ill tell you what i dont think, has been observed. And im going to say it and underline it when in similar circumstances, the tories won hanup circumstances, the tories won hartlip poole by election all those years ago. There was a huge inflatable of Boris Johnson that was floated above the enthusiasm for boris and for the tories in those days was phenomenal. I really dont sense that enthusiasm for labour. I think that as a number of contributors have said, there is a real sense out there of, look, we want some change, we really do, whether thats labour or whether its the greens have had quite a good night as well, or whether its reform , and whether its reform, and although mark butcher didnt butcher the tories in blackpool south, he did very well indeed. And its going to be interesting to watch how reform go on. I also think, and this is slightly tongue in cheek, there is an irony in the fact that when bofis irony in the fact that when Boris Johnson went to vote, he forgot his id, which was the way of proving that he is what he is , because i think an awful lot of people out there are saying, what is the conservative party . What does it stand for now . Why should i vote for it . And in blackpool south, an awful lot of them voted reform. Alistair, do them voted reform. Alistair, do you think then, that this is a sign of how we, the tories, will fare in the general election . Or fare in the general election . Or do you think that it might literally put a rocket up . I wont say any rudeness about. Do you know where i was going with that one . And actually make them do something that may help in some way . Or are they just heading down the abyss . I think sadly, almost tragically, it proves labours strategy of pushing hard, which they have in this campaign, and their spokespeople have been saying it on television and radio all morning that its vote for change. Vote for change, without saying specifically what that change would mean. And i think theyre hoping that the time has come, as it occasionally does in british politics, where people just want to have a change. If you want to see whether blackpool south is going to be really seismic for labour going forward, then youve got to ask why they lost oldham, why they didnt win, harlow although bob halfon, the brilliant local mp, is standing down, a lot of their target places they havent taken, they did take redditch in the midlands , which, a number of the midlands, which, a number of labour people have said to many of us, if we take redditch then we really are on target for this with by elections, they come and 90, with by elections, they come and go, you know, if, if the three of us went into a darkened room now and said, right, lets list the five most significant by elections in the last ten years, wed be quite hard pressed to do it because by elections, frankly, come and go. But i think that its time for a change will be the mantra, and it could get friction just in 30s allison, youve covered a fair few of these elections , fair few of these elections, both nationally and local. Can you remember a capitulation similar to the tories from 2019 to now . Because it has been emphatic, hasnt it . It has. The it has been emphatic, hasnt it . It has. The thing that it reminds me most of is the final demise of margaret thatcher, in the sense that it wasnt the labour party and mr kinnock that that did for her. It was the tories themselves. Alison stewart, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Well be back in just a second. Two seconds. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Morning. Welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. Again, some places looking fairly soggy today, but it should be a brighter day across parts of the south. And another mostly fine and sunny day across northwest scotland. Elsewhere, though, a lot of cloud around this morning, outbreaks of rain still over the midlands, wales, parts of southeast england, some heavier rain coming into parts of Northern England as well. Well see a few showers developing for northern ireland, southwest scotland , but say most southwest scotland, but say most of scotland again set fair and again on the west coast. We could easily see temperatures up to 20 celsius cooler on the east coast, with a brisk breeze here and obviously much cooler than yesterday , where weve got the yesterday, where weve got the cloud and rain over the midlands parts of northwest england and east anglia. The far south seeing a much brighter day compared to yesterday. Staying generally fine here through this evening as the rain starts to edge further northwards, staying pretty soggy over parts of northwest england, north wales well see more showers developing through the night across parts of scotland. Temperatures mostly dipping down to about 5 or 6 degrees across the south, staying up at 9 or 10 celsius in this cloudier zone over Northern England , southern over Northern England, southern scotland. Thats making for a grey start to the long weekend, but more rain to come here. Although it is tending to fizzle out again. Highlands western parts of scotland generally looking dry and bright. There will be some sunny spells on saturday across the south, but we are expecting a few scattered showers to develop through the afternoon, but with a bit more brightness. Should feel a touch warmer. Warmer. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers. Sponsors of boxt boilers. Sponsors of weather on gb news. Away good morning. Its 10 00 away good morning. Its10 00 on friday, the 3rd of may. This is britains newsroom on gb news with me. Nana akua and ben leo. Very good morning. Very good morning. To you. Devastating blows for rishi sunak this morning. Chris webb has been elected as the new labour mp for blackpool south. Incredibly humbled. We had a record result here tonight and i promise the people of blackpool south i wont let them down. A catastrophic night for the conservatives and a fantastic night for labour. Are we now in general election territory . Find out more with me very soon. Well, and there are more results in coming local elections, Mayoral Elections and police and Crime Commissioners. Katherine forster has the latest. Yes. Still a very long way to go. Results will be coming go. Results will be coming through right up to tomorrow but dreadful results to the government. So far. Will it lead to a challenge to the Prime Minister . Ill bring you more shortly. And did you see this one, bofis and did you see this one, Boris Johnson. Who else . He was turned away from his local polling station after forgetting to bring an acceptable form of photo id. He was the man who brought the rule in. So that happened to anyone else. You know. You think his face would be id enough like everyone knows who he is . Well, theyre just being jobsworth because its a bit of extreme when somebody who, you know, is that person. It was probably some labour type, some lefties who thought, were going to get one on boris here and send him away packing. But its the was it, i guess, the kind of personification of a night to forget for the conservatives so far . Anyway were only a third of the way through. I keep saying its not even half time. They are 3 or 4 nil down perhaps, but not looking good for the tories. Looking good for the tories. Well, wed love to hear what you think. Send us your views and post your comments by using gbnews. Com yoursay but first, lets get your latest news with sophia. Sophia. Gnaana. Thank you. Good morning. Its 10 01. Gnaana. Thank you. Good morning. Its10 01. Im sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom, and as youve been hearing, labour leader sir keir starmer says his partys win in the blackpool south by election is seismic. Labours chris webb took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second following a by election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton. Sir keir suggested its time to call a general election. It is, of course. The most it is, of course. The most important election result in the sense that its a direct message to the Prime Minister, because this is a parliamentary seat, thats a 26 swing. Thats a huge swing, and its the fifth swing of over 20 in by elections. That weve had in recent months and years. So its not a one off. Its no denying that the mood of the country now is for change. And i think its for the Prime Minister to allow the country to express that change. Now in a general election, the reform uk candidate, mark butcher, came third, just 117 votes behind the conservatives reform mp for ashfield, lee anderson, told gb news the party is making huge strides to get 16. 9 in the by election in blackpool is absolutely fantastic. Its our best ever by election result. I was thinking about 15, 16, just 100 or so votes behind the conservative candidate, you know, with a few more resources, and a little bit, you know, more campaigning, maybe if weve got more bodies up there, wed probably pip the tories on this one. And labour has made huge gains in local elections across england and wales, winning in key areas such as rushmoor in hampshire for the first time. Its being seen as a major test of Public Opinion ahead of the upcoming general election. Upcoming general election. Labour also won thurrock one of its top targets , but the tories its top targets, but the tories held harlow. Tory Party Chairman Richard Holden tried to put a positive spin on the results. Positive spin on the results. Obviously theres been a mixed set of results, some good conservative colleagues have have lost their seats and obviously have been out campaigning hard for them. And sorry for those guys out on the ground. But other places i think weve overperformed compared to expectations as well. Places like harlow, which weve held visited twice by the labour leader keir starmer just in the last few weeks. So theres a bit of a mixed picture there, but i dont want to say that, you know, things havent been very tough for us this evening. Coming off what was obviously those vaccine bounce elections in 2021 where we made those vaccine bounce elections in 2021where we made gains after 11 years in government. After 11 years in government. Meanwhile, 38 police and Crime Commissioners are also being elected across england and wales. Currently conservatives have won and labour have two in the declared results , boris the declared results, Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station after forgetting to bring his id. The forgetting to bring his id. The former Prime Minister was attempting to cast his ballot in south oxfordshire. New rules requiring photo id to vote were introduced by mrjohnsons own introduced by mr johnsons own government in the elections act 2022. The change was rolled out last year, with the local elections in may 2023 being the first time voters needed to show id, and apple has recorded the biggest drop in iphone sales in more than a year. Sales for january to march were down 10 on the same period last year, something not seen since the 2020 iphone model was delayed due to lockdown factory closures sales slumped 4 year on year in the three first months of 2024, executives said sales would return to growth in the months ahead with Upcoming Product launches and investments in artificial intelligence. King artificial intelligence. King charles has been presented with an illustrated record of his coronation almost a year after the historic service. The king has praised the team which created the document, saying you deserve a very stiff drink. He made the comments with the queen on wednesday in his second pubuc on wednesday in his Second Public facing event since his cancer diagnosis. The public facing event since his cancer diagnosis. The document cancer diagnosis. The document follows centuries old tradition of creating a handwritten record on monarchs coronation. But its the first time to use papen its the first time to use paper, not the usual animal skin , and thats reflecting the Animal Welfare views of the king. And 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 now its back to ben and. Nana. To ben and. Nana. Hello. Welcome back. Its 1006. Youre with ben and nana on britains newsroom on gb news. Lots of you getting in contact about Alyssa Stewart saying its to great see him. Hes looking well and hes back with us in about half an hour. Yeah, i think nana. So stay tuned for that. Emails flying in as well. Talking about the Election Results, john, you say rushmore has been won by labour because of the state of the Army Accommodation repair under the tories. And sean, good morning to you, sean. You say Boris Johnson thinking he needs no id just goes to show how out of touch with reality they are, the sooner theyre gone the tories the better. Do you think though. I mean like, we know who he is. Like its when you go to the bank. You. They used to do this thing where known by the bank. I suppose you could get a lookalike. So there is the risk. Rixx been in touch. He said the tories need a new Prime Minister now and delay the general election as long as possible. Trevor says not. Not such a great labour win in blackpool south. Only 30 of the electorate turned out , compared electorate turned out, compared to nearly 60 in 2019. Very true, he said. The winning true, he said. The winning labour vote was 2000 lower than their second place in 2019. Yeah, it does seem that way, doesnt it . Do you know what, nana . Im just im wondering this morning, you know, ive been thinking about it. All those tory mps who aned about it. All those tory mps who knifed boris in the back are the mps he won a landslide election for. Got them mps he won a landslide election for. Got them in parliament and at the first sign of trouble. I mean, it was chris pincher who ultimately broke the camels back, but really the partygate situation, having a bit of crusty m s cake in parliament, all the mps who stabbed him in the back. What are they thinking this morning . Are they regretting it . Because ill tell you what, conservatives, normal people, could see what was going to happen from that point. Well, thats funny, isnt it . Because i saw it and i said it and i monologued it and said, dont do it. Itll be the worst thing that you could possibly do. But then they didnt listen. And obviously, if you are going to do that, i think you need someone better than the person youre getting rid of. And if youre getting rid of. And if you havent got someone better, then just dont do it. But listen. Stay tuned. Get in touch with us in all the usual ways. But, labour leader sir keir starmer says that its a win in south blackpool south the by election. He called it a huge win. Yeah. Chris webb, who won for laboun yeah. Chris webb, who won for labour. The seat was previously held by scott benson , the chap held by scott benson, the chap who was involved in that, lobbying scandal. Thats why he had to stand down. And the new mp, chris webb, he spoke to gb news earlier this morning incredibly humbled. We had a record result here tonight. And i promise the people of blackpool south i wont let them down day in, day out. People were telling me that theyre worse off under this conservative government. Theyve had 14 years of decline in blackpool. Blackpool is a worse place under this government. They want change and they know a Labour Government can deliver that. So ive been a Community Activist in the town for over a decade. Activist in the town for over a decade. I worked with the food decade. I worked with the food bank. I lead Award Winning Mental Health charity in blackpool as chair of trustees. I know the issues in my community and blackpool born and bred. I see them day in and day out and im ready to roll up my sleeves and get on with the job. Keith is very popular in blackpool. Weve seen that. Hes a friend of blackpool. Hes been here several times meeting young people, going into our deprived areas and always gets an incredible reception. And this is another vote for his victory and why people want him in downing street, i dont know. I mean , i think its just the i mean, i think its just the lesser of all the evils. But listen, were joined by Political Correspondent olivia utley olivia. Olivia so weve seen all the disaster for the tories at the moment. Seen all the disaster for the tories at the moment. Does seen all the disaster for the tories at the moment. Does this spell the end for rishi sunak . Spell the end for rishi sunak . Well, i think thats a really important question. And i think over the next few hours and possibly the next couple of days, things will become a bit clearer. Rishi sunak wants to hold on for as long as possible. He wants to hold out on that election until october november. Thats what everyone around him is telling us. But he might not have the choice if these local Election Results turn out to be as disastrous as his being predicted. If the conservatives end up losing something in the region of 500 seats, then polling would suggest that in a general election they might only win 100 or so parliamentary win100 or so parliamentary seats. That would be a far worse defeat than they suffered in 1997 under tony blair. If over the next few days that all bears out, then i think it is quite likely that conservative backbenchers start writing those letters of no confidence in about rishi sunak. So far, they have held off writing letters on the grounds that , changing the grounds that, changing leader this close to an election, a fourth leader in as many years would be quite embarrassing. But at this point they could think, hang on, maybe it is worth that final roll of the dice. And if we start getting into that sort of territory of letters start coming in. Even if rishi sunak thinks he could survive a no confidence vote, then he might feel that the sensible thing is to just call a general election now, to rip off that sticking plaster, rather than to wait around while morale sinks and potentially the tories go even further down in the polls so we could be looking next week or so at a general election being called. I think that that is a more likely scenario than a conservative leadership contest. I think that if we got into a situation where rishi sunak was even close to facing a leadership contest, he would instead choose to call a general election. So i dont think its the end of rishi sunak per se, but i think perhaps it could be the end of this conservative government. Things last night were more catastrophic than the conservatives were predicting, and expectations were very low. Olivia, thank you very much. Its interesting , isnt it, that its interesting, isnt it, that that they would consider, going for another leader. We want them to get on with running the country, even if theyve only got weeks left. And there worrying about whos going to steer that ship into the abyss. Well, id like its kind of its kind of all seems a bit helpless, doesnt it, at the moment, well, i mean, theyve doneit moment, well, i mean, theyve done it to themselves, and thats the worst thing i, you know, i was conservative voter. Im now i am homeless in terms of who i could vote for, i dont know. And you know, if they are talking about going for another leader, i think that the homeless of the electorate may consider finding a home elsewhere. What i dont understand is why does it maybe im just being too simplistic, simplistic and ignorant of the political sphere. But why, when most people can see what the conservatives problem was, deal with migration, you know , sort with migration, you know, sort out net zero and so on and so on. The out net zero and so on and so on. The big key issues, theyve ignored them for so long, and its only in the past couple of weeks that rishi sunak seems to have got his backside in gear. And also, as we mentioned a bit earlier with the ousting Boris Johnson, we all knew what was going to happen. I dont know why. Why did why is it, why are the only people who didnt know what was going to happen . Are the most important people conservative mps, conservative hierarchies and the powers that be . I think they were obsessed in that westminster bubble. They get into that place, into, you know, and suddenly they cant see outside it. And i think that the pressure of the partygate , the pressure of the partygate, partygate, partygate got too much for them. And they didnt think, well, what will happen, what what would be the next move if we get rid of him, what will happen to us . They thought they didnt. They . I think they underestimated underestimated the value of charisma. They thought partygate would have been an election loser for boris. But in actual fact, speaking of speaking to normal people on the street, which most mps dont do unless theyre knocking on doors for votes, they were completely wrong. I dont think people cared about partygate. I dont think they i think the only people that cared about partygate were the people who wanted boris out of office. And in actual fact, angela raynen and in actual fact, Angela Rayner. Even mentioned it in the comments. The other day when she was duelling with was it was it grant shapps when she said believe how lucky you got rid of you got rid of Boris Johnson. Bofis you got rid of Boris Johnson. Boris johnson, your only election winner. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Crazy. Well its been a very strong start for labour as results for the local Council Elections continue to come in. Joining us now in the studio is our Political Correspondent Katherine Forster. Catherine results coming in thick and fast still. Is there anything salvageable for the tories over the coming days . Well, theres a long way to 90, well, theres a long way to go, a long way to go. But their go, a long way to go. But their sort of worst projection would be that they would lose about half the seats theyre defending, but theyd lose about 500 council seats. And it looks at the moment like they are probably on track to be as bad as they fear, one very small ray of sunshine that theyre clinging to is that theyve managed to hold on to harlow , managed to hold on to harlow, and that is a place that keir starmer was in yesterday saying this is the sort of place that labour needs to get. But they only held on to it. By one councillor i mean one councillor. So this is a pretty thin victory count because if its one sort of was it one vote or 111 councillor, one councillor. So, so thats something for them. That said, in harlow Angela Rayner was there as well wasnt she in recent days. So both keir starmer and Angela Rayner. So yes it was only one seat. However, that is a key seat for the general election isnt it . Yes, a battleground seat. You might describe it. So what does that say about the facts that they threw sir keir starmer down there. They sent Angela Rayner down there and still it wasnt enough to win over the voters. Well it looks like from the results weve got so far that basically were sort of in a Holding Pattern to where we were the local Election Results last yearin the local Election Results last year in that, labour havent really improved much on them. The conservatives havent really got much worse, but its pretty awful for the conservatives. Lets face it, another small ray of comfort for the conservatives is some evidence that labour are going to get into difficulties with their stance on gaza, because weve seen theyve lost overall control of Oldham Council, where we had a labour councillors resigning in the autumn over comments that sir keir starmer had made and theyve got five independent councillors being elected specifically on a pro palestine ticket. So we could see come the general election that if the situation in gaza, if there still isnt a meaningful ceasefire , that labour will lose ceasefire, that labour will lose votes on that issue. But i dont think its anything like as many as the conservatives stand to lose to the reform party. Now, what about the Mayoral Elections . Now theyre coming up. People have criticised the conservative party for not giving getting behind susan hall, although i think in my view its probably better that they just kept quiet and let her get on with it because nobodys really it feels like the conservatives are falling apart, is there a sense that sadiq khan is there a sense that sadiq khan is going to take that one away . Polls can always be wrong, but at the moment the polls are suggesting that he will win it. And by some margin, of course, we wont get that result for london until tomorrow. And it does feel, as you say, gnaana, that the conservatives have not really put that much effort into london. I think theyve accepted theyre not going to get it. But theyre not going to get it. But the two, i think that we really need to look out for in terms of the conservatives optics and the sort of feeling amongst conservative mps, is the tees valley. Ben houchen, the conservative mayor theres been a lot of investment gone into that region. He has been very popular. They are hopeful that theyre going to keep that. The tories and also andy street in the West Midlands, that looks to be on a knife edge. We probably wont hear about that till tomorrow. But if the conservatives keep both of those, they will hold those aloft and say, look , look at aloft and say, look, look at these and weve got to stick with the plan. Inflation is coming down. Look at these tax cuts, blah, blah blah. Of course it looks like a lot of the electorate have simply stopped listening to the conservatives. Boris johnson of course, he recorded a video message endorsing both those mayoral candidates in the north east and yeah, in london. Rishi sunak wouldnt even say if hed voted for susan hall in the election. But in a way, its probably best for her because, i mean, hes not really very popular at all. So yeah, i think that would have worked in her favour. Well, thats something to look forward to tomorrow night. The london Mayoral Election. Sadiq khan susan hall. Whos it going to be . Thats a pay per view match up still to come. Its not all about the elections today. Were going to be joined by our panel next to go through some of the other stories. Stick with us. Gb news. Good morning. 21 minutes after 10 00. This is britains newsroom with me, nana akua and ben leo. Good morning to you. Right. So labour mp chris webb, he won. Of course, the election in blackpool south, the by election. The result came in the early hours of the morning. But did you see this tweet from lee anderson of reform uk last week about the litter in one of the streets there . Take a look. Its been flooded with migrants living. Migrants living. In, out. We seem to have lost that. But anyway, hes basically going through the streets somewhere in blackpool and you can see all the litter that that is in there. And i saw this and i thought, my god, this is terrible. What a dump. What a dump. Well, it is a dump. And well, it is a dump. And apparently its where there are apparently its where there are a lot of Asylum Seekers who are living. And its literally on the back of the houses. Well, two days after lees video, the council jumped into action and cleared the alleyway. So were cleared the alleyway. So were joined now by political commentator emma webb and broadcaster amy nicol turner. Good morning, both of you. That reminds me of, Brighton Council used to be a Green Council for many years. It was the first Green Council in the uk and they had the worst recycling rates in europe, which tickled me at the time, but yeah. Should we talk about the local elections . Boris johnson, he rolled up to the polling station without id, and it was his legislation that enforced that rule. I wonder whether he did it on purpose, because, look , were purpose, because, look, were talking about him now, arent we . And his is one of the top stories of the day. Hes managed to get himself into the news around the election at a time when people are trying to, pressure the conservative party to bring him back in the hope that he might be able to save them from a complete bloodbath at the next general election. So at the next general election. So i do wonder whether he did it on purpose. I dont believe that carrie wouldnt have reminded him. By the way, boris, dont forget to take your id as he was leaving to go and vote, but of course, there are people who were turned away, the veteran id has been in the news this morning, but i ultimately i think its a its a good piece of legislation. We need to know that people who are voting are the people who were, who can validly vote. So someone tweeted yesterday, they said showing voter id this morning left me with a very disturbed feeling, as ive never had to show id in my country before. I find it very sinister. Amy. I think thats a bit of paranoia there. I dont know, you have to show id when you go to the tip, dont you like its not a big deal, but something about Boris Johnson thinking that he might have done it on purpose. I think thats interesting because to me, it just completely summarises his whole leadership and his whole his his everything about him. Feckless, forgetful, no detail, just all all the chaos. Its important to know he did go and get his id and he went back and he was able to vote. I should mention that. I should mention that. So what, like this is just him, isnt it . Im going to bluster into the thing. Im going to vote however i want. Im not going to need to bring my id. I can do what i want. Im a law unto myself. That was kind of his vibe throughout. So for me, its just a reminder of his premiership. Yeah, well, you say that, but look at whats happening to the conservative party its even worse without him. You didnt think it could get worse if you didnt think it is worse. But do you not think there is an element of it . Is Boris Johnson you know who it is. Its like if its just, for example, the king went there to vote. Now im sure the king would bring his id anyway. But do you not think theres a little bit of jobs worthiness in there when you know its him . We know that that is Boris Johnson. The rules apply to everyone equally. I think im quite proud that we live in a country where he couldnt just get away with it. Im happy that that what did somebody didnt sort of didnt. What if it was a lucky, lucky that happened to have id, i think, you know, like, do you know what i mean . I just think, you know, its you actually know that thats him. We know the rules are apply to absolutely everyone. And its funny because yeah, as emma said, it was the conservatives that brought in this voter id policy. And then shortly after, Jacob Rees Mogg essentially admitted that it was gerrymandering that had backfired because they assumed Younger Voters wouldnt have the id when actually it was the older. Older. But what is interesting is that if i mean sadiq khan was also opposed to this, but if you remember, he insisted that people have voter had photo id to go and see the london fireworks. So, maybe he was being discriminatory there and not being inclusive enough. If you thought that ethnic minorities and young people were not going to be able to go and enjoy the fireworks, but whats interesting on the gerrymandering argument is that thats been definitively proven now to be incorrect, because as weve seen with these results, its been a complete labour landslide. The voter id hasnt had the effect of deterring labour voters from from going to the polls, which is obviously what their concern was in the first. However, what about the veterans cards, though that wasnt accepted . I know it just seems a bit absurd. Seems a bit absurd. Well, yeah, but theres 22 different forms of id that would be accepted. And so theres be accepted. And so theres a lot of options. And im not actually one of these people that thinks, oh, we shouldnt have this. I think its in principle quite a good idea, even though when it came in there were only about just over 100 cases of election fraud. So it wasnt a massive problem that needed dealing with. I know, because if it was, if it was decent fraud, you wouldnt find out about. Yeah, i totally get that. But it did seem like maybe a problem that didnt need fixing. And then the motivation for bringing it in was, well, its the mail imbalance demographic. Demographic. I mean, if you if you want to deal with voter fraud , yes, this deal with voter fraud, yes, this is one thing. But ultimately the thing that really needs to be tackled is, is fraud, potential fraud through, mail, mail in votes. Because you could have people who dont even speak english, who where the head of their household just votes on behalf of everybody there. Yeah, and that is fundamentally undermining to democracy. So i think obviously this is have you got off on a have you ever forgotten your id and just frantically tried to do anything like, look, this is my twitter. If you google my name, its my picture. Well, i feel like the Boris Johnson thing is a bit like i want. When i went to the supermarket, it was like about two years ago and they werent going to serve me the alcohol because i didnt look old enough. I get so flattered that you do. I was so flattered. I was like, until i realised they actually werent going to get me the drink. And then i forgot to reregister to my new address. So i had to do a three hour round trip to go and vote at where i was previously registered to vote, and i almost did forget my id, and luckily i managed just at the nick of time to go back and snatch it. But at least you dont get idd for red bull like i do. You need to do 16 to buy red bull apparently. I know i look quite young, but apparently i stumble. My car got clamped and i had and taken away and i had to get in my car. And you have to have. Its ridiculous. They get there and go right, you need this form of id that, that, and youre like, nobodys got that. And one woman, her id was in her car that they had taken away and they wouldnt let her get it, shall we move to on ireland . Lots of furore with the migrant situation there. Rishi sunak has offered ireland the chance to join the rwanda scheme. What a chance. Downing street has rejected the irish offer to take back Asylum Seekers. Im sure its an offer they cant refuse as its turning out to be such a roaring success. So since rwanda came in big deterrent, the legislation passed. We had 711 crossings yesterday, up 34 on this time last year, and then a hilarious stunt this week, wasnt it . With the plane slowly taking off and then trying to, parade that as a example of success only when it was came out that they actually paid that migrant £3,000. But thats a standard thing , but thats a standard thing, a chartered jet. No, but no, but theres a volunteer scheme and thats offered to people from all countries. So if you came from ukraine or wherever there is the offer and theyll pay you the money. So that was and if you go voluntarily, then you cant come back. And a lot of people will take that as an opfion people will take that as an option anyway. So i dont think be nice and cost effective. What is wrong with rwanda . Why is it bad to be sending people to rwanda . Im not quite sure what the problem is. Well, its a dictatorship. Its got a lot of history of political violence, particularly against migrants , against against migrants, against journalists. Where did you example in what in the last when did you hear this . When israel sent some voluntary migrants there, a few of them ended up being shot dead. Was that i think that was in 2018. Okay. Okay. So even if that story is true okay. So lets go with it. Thats not the deal now. So things bad things do happen. But that that cant tar the entire scheme, especially with all the checks and balances that are put on it. Now. I think its, you know, five Supreme Court judges have said that rwanda is not a safe country in the sense that when the migrants get there, theres no guarantee that they will stay where they are and they might end up in a in another country or in a. So, okay, so what im saying is i just i trust the judgement of the five Supreme Court. We need over our politicians who are just scrabbling around for policy answers. Yeah, to me, i feel a sense of racism in their no, no, thats rightly not. I do sense thats rightly not. I do sense that because rwanda may have had a genocide many, many, many years ago. But how long was it before we were trading with germany after what happened in the war . We were probably trading with them literally within within years. Im sure its a Great Holiday destination. Im sure it has plenty to offer, but it is not safe for migrants. And i know how migrants have been treated in and you would say, what about this country, though . Do we treat migrants well here . Well, i mean, much better than you get treated in rwanda. You know, there was a video of a migrant who who was they were talking on newsnight and they said, well, why dont you stay in greece . Hed got to greece and said, greece is a safe country. He goes, i dont want to live in a tent because greece were providing tents. Theyre an eu. They are a nation within europe. Okay. They are a, you know, all the normal things that are supposed to follow. But people go in tents there. I know, but hes not obligated to stay in greece in a tent. He could move on, as we all would if we had to live in a tent. Yeah. All right. Well, i mean arsenal, they they flogged rwanda holidays on their show visit rwanda with rwanda all around the emirates stadium. So it cant be that bad. Amy anyway, emma. Amy, thank you for your contributions. Lets get your contributions. Lets get your News Headlines with sophia. Your News Headlines with sophia. Thanks, ben. Its 1031. Your News Headlines with sophia. Thanks, ben. Its1031. Im sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. Your headlines. Labour leader sir keir starmer says his partys win in the blackpool south by election is seismic. Labours chris webb took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second following a by election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton. Sir keir suggested its time to call a general election. It is, of course , the most it is, of course, the most important Election Results in the sense that its a direct message to the Prime Minister, because this is a parliamentary seat, thats a 26 swing. Thats a huge swing , seat, thats a 26 swing. Thats a huge swing, and its seat, thats a 26 swing. Thats a huge swing , and its the fifth a huge swing, and its the fifth swing of over 20 in by elections that weve had in recent months and years. So its not a one off. Theres no denying that the mood of the country now is for change. And i think its for the Prime Minister to allow the country to express that change. Now in a general election. Labour has made huge gains in local elections across england and wales , winning in key areas such wales, winning in key areas such as rushmoor in hampshire for the first time. Its being seen as a major test of Public Opinion ahead of the upcoming general election. Labour also won thurrock and hartlepool, but the tories held harlow and king charles has been presented with an illustrated record of his coronation almost a year after the historic service. The king has praised the team which created the document, saying you deserve a very stiff drink. He made the comments with the queen on wednesday in his Second Public facing event since his cancer diagnosis. And for the latest diagnosis. And for the latest story, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com slash alerts. Slash alerts. Cheers cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report , and heres a quick report, and heres a quick snapshot of todays markets. The pound will buy you 1. 2558 and ,1. 1690. The price of gold is £1,831 and £0. 47 per ounce, and the ftse 100 are 8207 points. Cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report. Financial report. Still to come, labour leader sir keir starmer has hailed his partys by election win in blackpool south as seismic. Were going to be joined by a staunch labour supporter next, and he looks like a man who has got the cream or cat thats got the cream, rather got the cream. Also alison stewart, obe legendary broadcaster. Hes back with us in the next couple of minutes. Gb news. Welcome back. 1037 ben and anna with you on britains newsroom on gb news. Now, labour has won the blackpool south by election from the tories. And yet another blow for rishi sunak, the Prime Minister and one man whos absolutely delighted this morning is sir keir starmer. Of course he is. Hes like the cat thats got the cream. Thats how you say it, not the man thats got the cream cat thats got the cream. It was the labour leader had to say this win in blackpool south is the most important result today. This is the one contest where voters had the chance to send a message to rishi sunaks conservatives directly, and that message is an overwhelming vote for change. He went on. The swing towards the labour party in blackpool south is truly historic and shows that we are firmly back in the service of working people. Our new labour mp, chris webb, has shown that after years of neglect with the tories, there is a better alternative. The message to rishi sunak is clear its time for change. Its time for a general election. Well, he would say that, wouldnt he . Well, joining us in the studio is a very smug former labour mp and minister of state for europe. Denis macshane. I for europe. Denis macshane. I like to call him. I wont say that. Like to call him. I wont say that. I like to call him. I wont say that. I say, like to call him. I wont say that. I say, penfold, youre that. I say, penfold, youre always so sweet. Nana. So sweet. Nana. So sweet. Dennis, are you smug about this result . You know . No, not at all, really. I mean, its completely predictable. Its on the cards. Predictable. Its on the cards. The polls have been saying it for months, and ive lived through. Im old enough to live through. Im old enough to live through similar, similar great days for the tory party. Great days for the tory party. Great days for the labour party. The only thing that matters now is how labour will govern. And we wont know that till theyre in power. Theres no point. Thumbsucking. I can read the Daily Telegraph four articles a day saying Labour Government will be a disaster. Thats total drivel. A lot of Civil Servants, a lot of business, a lot of economic actors know that we need to repair, renew, reform britain the way we do it will be incredibly problematic. It wont be easy, but therell be a lot of goodwill to begin with. But as always in politics, the politicians live or die by the results they produce. And tony blair was there in 1997. You i think you interviewed or somebody did Camilla Tominey about my book about that the diaries of that era, and we kept delivering results for the first few years. Then we hit the buffers of iraq war and so on. And the tories were delivering results until they turned to bofis results until they turned to Boris Johnson and liz sunak. Sorry, liz truss , and weve just sorry, liz truss, and weve just had the disastrous recent years. Had the disastrous recent years. Oh hang on, dennis, you said that the tories were delivering until they turned to boris. Bofis until they turned to boris. Boris won an 80 seat majority. I know , but surely getting i know, but surely getting rid of boris was their their terminal mistake that that though is a false illusion. Won blair a very, very big majority in 2001 and again in 2005. Its a false illusion. He did win in 89. No, no he did, he did. But it gives it gives a false hope then that he then opted for the hardest imaginable brexit, having promised in 2016 after the referendum result, which we all accepted, youd be able to live, work, travel, businesses would have no problem. Didnt accept it though, did they . They they repelled against it. Even now there is a repellent that and people are told, oh, it was a big mistake. You should never have voted brexit. And theres a big even now i get people, oh, i bet you wish you hadnt done that. Now i dont wish anything different. Im glad what i did, but im annoyed at the way they fine, fine. And i accept that. Thats called democratic politics. I mean, you have a vote, you elect a government. Youre entitled to say after one, two, three, four, five years that government is not doing very well. Were going to change it. But there seems to be an absolutely rigid idea that even saying, lets see if we can do Something Different with the brexit rules boris has bequeathed us and let our businesses grow, let the london stock market come back to life, been unhelpful Civil Servants, Civil Servants, even now, i think theyre talking about not not doing anything for wanda. And, you know, it feels like although the conservative government have been in, it does feel like there has been a blight and that has been the Civil Service and anybody else, i mean , all affection and i mean, all affection and respect. Unlike you, i was there. The unlike you, i was there. The Civil Service will do, will do what the Prime Minister orders. No they wont. They will, they will, they wont do is what other ministers do , or junior other ministers do, or junior ministers like me. If the Prime Ministers authority and power, which is why the Civil Service have delivered on this preposterous rwanda scheme, they know its illegal. They know itll fall foul of the. They have, but its still acting. Sorry, sorry, nana. Its not up sorry, sorry, nana. Its not up to the Civil Service to dictate government policy. If ministers and the government are saying we want to do this, get this done, they should be apolitical. Theyve of course, theyve delivered a bill written by parliamentary draughtsmen that says the ludicrous fantasy that rwanda is a safe country. Im not going to want to repeat the session of a moment ago now. Well, no, because trust me. Well, no, because trust me. But thats youre saying its a ludicrous fantasy. So you are now stepping into the conversation . Of course i am. Thats what i think. Thats what i know. I do track these things. Ill be tracking around for a number of years. Have you been to rwanda . No, i havent, i havent been to nonh no, i havent, i havent been to north korea. I havent been to other african despotic. Were not using north korea, are we . Well, what is your objection . Why is rwanda so unsafe in your view . Im just reporting what the Us Government says. Its not exactly a left wing government. Im reporting what Amnesty International says. What every in france. What about the un who use rwanda . Un, un agencies also. So say un, un agencies also. So say that now they use the problem is that now they use the problem is that well have to take itll end up in court. You and i spluttering about it on either direction, will end up in the court and then go to the European Court of human rights. I dont think itll happen under the sunak government. I mean any government before the election. If it does, then is mr sunak really going to leave . Whats the council to do about it if hes. Thats a very good question. And you know something . I cant answer this endless question. What will keir endless question. What will keir starmer do . And nobody can. And i doubt if sir keir, even he has told us i doubt if he can. And ive made this point endlessly, this endless demand. What will you do about rwanda . What will you do about rwanda . What will you do about Angela Rayner . What will you do about gb news . Its just silly chatter at the moment , and we should just accept the fact that youre going to have this government look at all the individual ministers, i know them, some are friends, i think. Well, talking person, theyll theyre better than the current guys. Well sorry to interrupt there dennis, but talking of individual ministers. So wes streeting, i actually thought he was quite a decent bloke up until about a few weeks ago. First of all, he got up on the despatch box commenting on the natcon conference in belgium, in brussels that had been shut down, laughing away like a juvenile schoolboy with his mps behind him. It was pathetic. Behind him. It was pathetic. That was bad enough. And then this tweet, i dont know if you saw it, i did, i did im talking about susan hall. Yes. At wes streeting said let me just repeat if anyone who wasnt familiar with it, he said a win for susan hall and the conservatives in the london Mayoral Election is a win for racists, White Supremacists and islamophobes. The world over. What kind of language is that from a government in waiting calling people who are concerned about net zero, about knife crime, about teenagers getting aned crime, about teenagers getting knifed to death on our streets, calling them White Supremacists, has he lost his head . Ben, im. If you really want me to go through everything susan hall has said, ill talk about what im talking about. Wes streeting. Wes streeting. They were not. They were not. They were not. They were not. I dont want talk about susan wes streeting. Im sorry. You are. Youre defending her . No, im not defending her . No, im not defending susan hall. Im not pro or against susan. Im talking about wes streeting. Lets be very clear. You say not pro. Uk. Thats a very easy position. I have been looking at her. I dont know why the tories chose her. Theres so many other better can you stick with that tweet . This is. This is. No, ive seen the tweet, but i would not be my not to be my one is not to be my. This is a government in waiting. This is one of the potential ministers wholl be in charge of yes, a lot of policy. Yes. And hes calling somebody white supremacist, will be in charge of the fact that we have a great number of people in this country now from the irish community. I grew up with jews, now muslims now people from the afro caribbean countries. We have invited them in. Rishi ianedin have invited them in. Rishi invited in 654,000 indians, pakistanis and nigerians last yeah pakistanis and nigerians last year. They have different values , different cultures and susan hall is the most divisive politician on. Youre not going to answer that whether you think thats a is that a ive said its not words. I would have used any of those words. None of it. All of it. Oh, ho. 110. No. Im sorry. Some of those words. Im sorry i track susan hall are people that vote for susan hall, white supremacist dennis. No. Is she though a person whos constantly attacked the presence of muslims in our midst . Susan hall, a white supremacist . Supremacist . I would say that she comes pretty close 0 Denis Macshane. At least we got it out of you. She at least we got it out of you. She comes pretty close. So thats the sort of well, the vote is over now, but you see, saying that, i was going to say, wait, wait, wait for the votes to be cast on saturday. Let me say ive been astonished even yesterday at the hostility to sadiq khan. And its about cars and its something labour has agreed. We are really running out of time. Its also, dennis, about kids dying on our streets, not just about cars , but like in the west about cars, but like in the West Midlands, 57 increase in crime. Thank you. She comes close to a white supremacist is what he said about susanna hall. You did say that, didnt you . Oh yeah. Very happy to. Oh yeah. Very happy to. Okay. Up next were going to be joined by broadcasting legend Alastair Stewart. Hes back. Hes going to be giving us us his expert analysis us. Welcome back. Its 1050. Youre with ben and anna on britains newsroom on gb news. Now, there are major elections taking place in 11 regions in england. Now, all eyes will be on tees valley and West Midlands, where tories ben hailsham and andy street are currently in charge. If they lose their posts, could that be the end for rishi sunak . Well, we wont find out about the West Midlands results until tomorrow, but tees valley could be declared any moment now. Delighted to be joined again by gb news contributor and broadcasting legend Alastair Stewart. These big mayorship or mayoralties, are fascinating because it goes way back to John Prescotts day. He was one who really loved them. George osborne funny enough with david cameron, quite liked them as well and embraced them as well. Well and embraced them as well. The key thing about them is they have real power and influence. People like andy burnham, who many say would make a better labour leader than keir starmer, has really stamped his authority on manchester. The other thing i find fascinating about teesside and about West Midlands, is that both ben houchen and andy street are their own men. Theyve hardly touched rishi sunak, theyve hardly touched the central tory brand. So if people, as we were saying earlier on, are fed up with the tories, but still dont want to go the whole hog and vote for labour or lib dems or what have you, then theyre okay with with lord houchen and theyre okay with andy street very much their own men. So my instinct looking at the polls is that the tories could well have a good afternoon and they could well hold one of them this afternoon. And the other one, as you quite rightly said, tomorrow. London is also fascinating because thats just around the corner. Whats your thoughts on london, well, the tories are putting out that theyve done much better than they expected to do. Theres one, one seat within the, the london area where the tories have only got a 2000 majority if labour took that as well as, sadiq khan holding on, then that really would be quite significant because theres a whole stack of marginal seats in and around london, and weve already seen quite a few where labour have not done anywhere near as well as they need to do in essex and on the north banks of the thames, to be sure of winning a general election. Harlow, which has stayed tory, always goes with the Winning Party of the general election. At the moment general election. At the moment it remains tory even without, the, the tory mp who said hes not going to stand again. And sir keir starmer and Angela Rayner, both visiting harlow the day before the election. So what does that mean . I think its a bad its a bad thing actually for them. Thing actually for them. Theyve been listening to professor curtis. Professor curtis. Do you think, do you think because a lot of people have said that suzanne hall didnt get the much support from the tory party, do you think actually its better that she didnt . So shes slightly distanced from them . Distanced from them . No, i dont personally. I mean, i think mavericks are always tricky as as keir starmer may well find this afternoon as well. When you get rochdale and well. When you get rochdale and the workers party, George Galloway , whos a master of by galloway, whos a master of by elections himself, of course. That he could be eating away in my own view is if your instincts are conservative, which clearly, andy streets are very successful businessman in his own right and ben houchen as well, businessman in his own right and ben houchen as well , then ben houchen as well, then i think you should embrace the party that most represents what you think and makes you tick, and i think that would be better for the individuals. And i think it would be probably better for the party. But as weve already seen right across the piece, these elections, are fascinating because there are lots of opportunities for people to do their own thing. Just talking to my old mate Denis Macshane on his way out, talking about oldham. Hes very upset about that because the gaza and palestine issue has been very, very strong in many areas, like and i mentioned rochdale as well, and those are big issues that the leaders really need to get a grip with as they eventually did in the case of laboun eventually did in the case of labour, with anti semitism , is labour, with anti semitism, is the issue of gaza, though not confined to those, you know, the northern seats, oldham, bolton, rochdale, in places like, you know, in oldham, etc. Where are the key battlegrounds seats for the general election . Is it going to be that much of an issue for. I dont think theres a very good point because i dont think theyre confined to those areas. I just i think simply because of the demography, that theyre more important there. But in london, you talk to people wandering around london and theyre one of the big issues. And it is an issue for sadiq is policing how these huge demonstrations are policed and people being told you cant cross the road because you look jewish. Yeah, yeah. Awful scenes. Alison stewart, thank you so much. Good to see thank you so much. Good to see you later. Thank you, heres your. Weather. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Morning. Welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. Again, some places looking fairly soggy today, but it should be a brighter day across parts of the south and another mostly fine and sunny day across northwest scotland. Elsewhere, northwest scotland. Elsewhere, though, a lot of cloud around this morning, outbreaks of rain still over the midlands, wales, parts of southeast england, some heavier rain coming into parts of Northern England. As well. Of Northern England. As well. Well see a few showers developing for northern ireland, southwest scotland but say most of scotland again set fair and again on the west coast. We could easily see temperatures up to 20 celsius cooler on the east coast, with a brisk breeze here and obviously much cooler than yesterday, where weve got the cloud and rain over the midlands parts of northwest england and east anglia. The far south seeing a much brighter day compared to yesterday. Staying generally fine here through this evening as the rain starts to edge further northwards, staying pretty soggy over parts of northwest england, north wales. Well see more showers developing through the night across parts of scotland. Temperatures mostly dipping down to about 5 or 6 degrees across the south, staying up at 9 or 10 celsius in this cloudier zone over Northern England , southern over Northern England, southern scotland. Thats making for a grey start to the long weekend, but more rain to come here. Although it is tending to fizzle out again. Highlands western parts of scotland generally looking dry and bright. There will be some sunny spells on saturday across the south, but we are expecting a few scattered showers to develop through the afternoon, but with a bit more brightness. Should feel a touch warmer. Warmer. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. Good morning. Its 11 00. Good morning. Its11 00. Its may the 3rd. This is britains newsroom im nana akua, and this is ben leo. Very good morning to you. Coming up on the show. And a devastating blow for rishi sunak. Chris webb has been selected as the new labour mp for blackpool south. Terribly humbled. We had a record result here tonight and i promise the people of blackpool south i wont let them down. And theyre an absolutely catastroph pick tonight for rishi sunaks conservatives and a fantastic evening for labour. Are we now heading into general election territory. And the there are more local Election Results in coming Katherine Forster , what is the latest . Yes. Still a long, long way to go with these results, but a terrible showing for the tories so far. Could it cause more conservative mps to put in letters of no confidence in the Prime Minister and possibly trigger a challenge to his leadership . Dear, oh dear, what a shambles. And were also expecting the local mayor Election Results to start flooding in soon. Anna riley is in harrogate. In harrogate. Yes, very, very vacation is underway at Harrogate Convention centre for North Yorkshires first ever metro mayor, but the results are on a knife edge, with the bookies favouring labour to win here on rishi sunaks doorstep and Boris Johnson was turned away from his local polling station after forgetting to bring an acceptable form of photo identification. Identification. Did the same happen to anyone that you know . Interesting, isnt it, the results flooding in. Its not looking good for the conservatives terminal. Perhaps theyre projected in some quarters to lose up to 500 seats, but the fact that theyre even talking about potential another Leadership Campaign in between this gap, i just find it. But why not . What . But because theyre supposed to be running the country. They should get on with country. They should get on with that. Like migration. Everything else. But if theres a chance of stopping a socialist starmer government, surely one last roll of the dice youre going to lose anyway. No. Why not . Why not . One last roll of the die will mean that loads of people who would have voted for them will just be completely fed up, and i think theyll scarper. Suella braverman priti patel perhaps. Lets know what you think. Who would your next tory leader be . Is it too early to even be talking about that kind of thing . Gb news. Com forward slash your say before all that, heres your news with sofia. Ben thank you from the gb newsroom at 1102. Your top story this hour. Labour leader sir keir starmer says his partys win in the blackpool south by election is seismic. Labours chris webb took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second following a by election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton. Sir keir suggested its time to call a general election. It is, of course , the most it is, of course, the most important Election Results in the sense that its a direct message to the Prime Minister, because this is a parliamentary seat, thats a 26 swing. Thats a huge swing , seat, thats a 26 swing. Thats a huge swing, and its seat, thats a 26 swing. Thats a huge swing , and its the fifth a huge swing, and its the fifth swing of over 20 in by elections that weve had in recent months and years. So its not a one off. Its no denying that the mood of the country now is for change. And i think its for the Prime Minister to allow the country to express that change. Now in a general election, the reform uk candidate , mark butcher, came candidate, mark butcher, came third, just 117 votes behind the conservatives reform mp for ashfield, lee anderson, told gb news the party is making huge strides to get 16. 9 in the by election in blackpool is absolutely fantastic. Its our best ever by election result. I was thinking about 15, 16, just 100 or so votes behind the conservative candidate you know, with a few more resources, and a little bit , you know, more little bit, you know, more campaigning. Maybe if weve got more bodies up there, wed probably pip the tories on this one. One. One. Meanwhile, labour has made huge gains in local elections across england and wales, winning in key areas such as rushmoor in hampshire for the first time. Its being seen as a major test of Public Opinion ahead of the upcoming general election. Labour also won election. Labour also won thurrock and hartlepool, but the tories held harlow tory Party Chairman Richard Holden tried to put a positive spin on the results. Results. Obviously theres been a mixed set of results, some good conservative colleagues have have lost their seats and obviously have been out campaigning hard for them and sorry for those guys out on the ground. But other places i think weve overperformed compared to expectations as well. Places like harlow, which weve held visited twice by the labour leader, keir starmer just in the last few weeks. So theres a bit of a mixed picture there, but i dont want to say that, you know, things havent been very tough for us this evening. Tough for us this evening. Coming off what was obviously those vaccine bounce elections in 2021 where we made those vaccine bounce elections in 2021where we made gains after 11 years in government. After 11 years in government. Meanwhile, 38 police and Crime Commissioners are also being elected across england and wales. Currently conservatives have won and labour have two in the declared results. This in other news, a High Court Judge has ruled that the government acted unlawfully by approving a strategy to meet the uks climate targets. Several Environmental Charities took joint legal action against the government, saying the strategy ignored the risk of missing targets. In his judgement, mr targets. In his judgement, mr Justice Sheldon ruled the governments plan was not justified by the evidence and apple has recorded the biggest drop in iphone sales in more than a year. Sales forjanuary than a year. Sales for january to march were down 10 on the same period last year, something not seen since the 2020 iphone model was delayed due to lockdown factory closures. Sales slumped to 4 year on year in the first three months of 2024, but executives said sales would return to growth in the months ahead with Upcoming Product launches and investments in artificial intelligence. And artificial intelligence. And king charles has been presented with an illustrated record of his coronation almost a year after the historic service. The king has praised the team which created the document, saying you deserve a very stiff drink. He made the comments with the queen on wednesday in his second pubuc on wednesday in his Second Public facing event since his cancer diagnosis. The document follows a centuries old tradition of creating a handwritten record of a monarchs coronation. But its the first time to use paper, not the first time to use paper, not the usual animal skin, which reflects the Animal Welfare views of the king and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. Common alerts. Now its back to bernard. Nana. Back to bernard. Nana. Good morning. This is britains newsroom. Its fast approaching eight minutes after 11 00. Im nana akua. This is ben leo. Good morning to you. Lots of emails flying in. Do you want to kick off . No. You go first, ladies first. Okay, john, you say, for goodness sake, Boris Johnson didnt win the 80 seat majority. It was the brexiteers. It was it was the brexiteers. It was bons it was the brexiteers. It was boris and the tories who threw away all the opportunities that brexit offered. Of course, nigel farage and the brexit party stood down in that election, giving boris and the tories a pathway to victory. And michael says nana you are correct, Civil Servants are not applying the wishes of this government, which is what the majority of the electorate voted for. This government has been useless. Government has been useless. Labour will be a lot worse. Well, well, i was going to say, because if you want anybody slightly more in on the side of the Civil Service, or because thats what the head of the civil, the pcs agency, said, that they would try and bring the government down. But anyway, lawrence said, it seems that people have forgotten why one actually votes. It should be about services in this country , about services in this country, not the gaza nonsense and cagey cumbria says just shows what is wrong with britain when israel and gaza are big issues in communities and tom says they prevent the planes leaving like they prevent our views being heard. If rwanda wasnt safe , heard. If rwanda wasnt safe, the left would let the planes go so they can use it for their agenda. When people get harmed, they know what that this isnt going to happen. Interesting. Yeah. Will interesting. Yeah. Will labour be worse than the tories . Ive argued and ive received a lot of flak for it in recent weeks, that how can labour on immigration at least be any worse than the conservatives . 700,000 every couple of years come in legally, a city the size of birmingham. Then youve got tens of thousands on small dinghies coming, throwing their mobile phones and passports into the water. Can labour really, really do any worse than that . Well, i think you can. I think you can always do worse. And so i, you know, i dont know whether to be any worse or any better, but i think you can always do worse and but labour leader sir keir starmer says that its win in the blackpool south by election is seismic. Seismic interesting. Yeah chris webb, who won the seat he spoke to gb news earlier this morning incredibly humbled. We had a record result here tonight and i promise the people of blackpool south i wont let them down day in, day out. People were telling me that theyre worse off under this conservative government. Theyve had 14 years of decline in blackpool. Blackpool is a worse blackpool. Blackpool is a worse place under this government. They want change and they know a Labour Government can deliver that. So ive been a Community Activist in the town for over a decade. I activist in the town for over a decade. I work with the food bank. I lead Award Winning Mental Health charity in blackpool as chair of trustees. I know the issues in my community. Im blackpool born and bred. I see them day in, day out, and im ready to roll up my sleeves and get on with the job, keir is very popular in blackpool. Weve seen that hes a friend of blackpool. Hes been here several times meeting young people, going into our deprived areas and always gets an incredible reception. And this is another vote for his victory and why people want him in downing street. Downing street. Well, to be fair, i mean, hes a local. Hes really a close to the area and i dont know whether any of you saw it, but, lee anderson did post a view of one of the streets in blackpool that didnt look great at all. And then shortly after he posted it, somebody cleaned it up. But that is obviously under tory rule. But were joined now by Political Correspondent olivia utley olivia. Okay. So all of this olivia. Okay. So all of this disaster for the tories do you think this spells the end for rishi sunak . And are they likely now to try and change leader. Well, i think the next few hours and days will be really, really crucial and we will find out more about the state of the conservative party. It is looking like the conservative party is going to suffer catastrophic losses in the region of about 500 seats. Now, if that is the case, then morale will be very low indeed on the conservative benches and we could start to see those letters of no confidence in rishi sunak start to flood in when, if that happens, well be in a situation where we could be looking at a possible no confidence vote. People ive spoken to think that rishi sunak would almost definitely win that no confidence vote, but if it got to that stage, it could be that the Prime Minister decide that it is the moment to call a general election. So i dont think were looking at the end of rishi sunak per se, and a new conservative leader, but we could be looking at a general election much, much sooner than we were predicting. And that is because the scale of these losses is just phenomenal here in blackpool south, where i am, the conservatives lost with a 26 point swing towards labour. Now thatis point swing towards labour. Now that is twice what labour needs to win overall general election majority. And its not the only time. This isnt some sort of anomaly. In fact, this is the sixth time since the 2019 general election that labour have won a by election on a swing of more than 20. This is really, really bleak for the conservatives. We are looking at the sort of territory that we were looking at between 1992 and 1997, and of course, at the end of that, tony blair won with a landslide victory. Some pollsters are even suggesting that the conservatives could could go down to fewer seats than they held in 1997. There are very few conservatives ive spoken to who think they have any chance whatsoever of winning the next general election. What the next general election. What theyre talking about now is mitigating losses. They want to have at least some semblance of a strong opposition. So that in 4 or 5 years time, they might just might stand a chance of coming back into power. The question is, do they want to do that with rishi sunak at their helm . Plenty of them. Over the next coming hours and days will probably decide its worth another roll of the dice. Another roll of the dice. Yeah, olivia, of course it was a by election, the turnout was a by election, the turnout was 32. 5 compared to 56. 8 in 2019. Labour were down 1700 votes on 2019. The tories down more than 13,000. But crucially, reform uk were just 100 votes behind the tories. Do you think the conservatives will be looking to do some sort of pact with reform in the run up to the general election, whenever that may be . I think its quite possible that the conservatives would like to do a deal with reform. I think its unlikely that reform would be interested in a deal. Everyone ive spoken to from reform says that theyre not sort of tory lite. Theyre not kind of an extra wing of the conservative party. They want Something Different. Their form of conservatism, small c conservatism, they say, is very different from what the big c conservatives in the party are offering. They want to be a force to be reckoned with in the red wall. And they say that if there ends up being a split on there ends up being a split on the right, which conservatives warn against, and if the conservative vote gets split between the conservatives and reform and labour end up winning, will reform say it so be it. Were not here to prop up the conservative party we have a completely different proposition. So i think that unlike in 2019, when Boris Johnsons conservative party were trying to get brexit done, as were the brexit party, there was an obvious deal to be made. This time, there isnt really anything like that and that is bad news for the conservatives reform wanted to come in second place. They wanted to beat the conservatives. They didnt quite do it. 117 votes in it, but in somewhere like blackpool south, one of these really important red wall seats, they did come very close. And if that result is echoed across the country, that could be even more of a hammer blow to rishi sunak conservatives as olivia utley. Thank you very much. Lovely seeing behind you as well. Lovely shot there. But joining us in the studio, our Political Correspondent Katherine Forster. Catherine. So you heard what olivia said. And it does it does seem like this is a big blow for the conservative party and theyre talking about changing leader, before another general election. I mean, is this this madness . Well, i think the majority of conservative mps, certainly ones that ive spoken to me, think that ive spoken to me, think that it would be, james cleverly, the home secretary, was talking to journalists a few days ago and basically said, if youre going to jump out of a plane, you need to make sure that youve got a good parachute and he was basically saying, if you push out rishi sunak, you havent got, you know, he said it was madness. Basically and a lot of them think that it would be after the chaos that weve had. But of course, theres others like Dame Andrea Jenkins , others like Dame Andrea Jenkins, who came out with her no confidence letter, said shed publicly who think that rishi sunakis publicly who think that rishi sunak is the problem and that it cant be any worse. I have to say thats not the majority view, but certainly there will be a lot of nervousness over the next few days. And number 10, other tory mps might decide that they have nothing to lose. They could. I dont think it will happen, but it could trigger a vote of no confidence, everything to lose. I think theyve got everything to lose. The analogy about. If youre going to jump out of a plane, make sure youve got a parachute. Theyre talking about that now, shouldnt they have been considering that when they got rid of Boris Johnson . Well , got rid of Boris Johnson . Well, yeah, but its a bit late for that. But the point is that the conservative mps at that the conservative mps at that time and yeah, sure, it was chris pincher that broke the camels back. But there was partygate that started with the Owen Paterson affair. It was a long list of things conservative mps that took him out did so because they were convinced that he had stopped being an electoral asset and that he had become an electoral liability that was going to lose them. The next general election. Thats what they thought. Of course, then conservative members put in liz truss. That lasted seven weeks. You know, she, she, she was beaten by a lettuce, as everybody likes to joke. And then we have the, you know, the financial meltdown and all the chaos that that caused. But then rishi sunak came in and he was supposed to be the guy that would get them back on track , would get them back on track, that would calm everybody down, would get things better. And, and it hasnt really happened because although the polls are not quite as bad as the height of the liz truss chaos, but basically they have flatlined. And no matter what he has done and lets face it, theyve given pretty big tax cuts over the last few months for pay off national insurance. Okay. The tax burden overall is still rising. Theyve made this big announcement on military spending. They think theyre going to get flights to rwanda soon. But none of this really seems to be having an effect with voters. Okay, catherine, thank you very much. Im delighted to say were joined now by conservative mp for north. Sorry, south northamptonshire, Dame Andrea Leadsom. Good morning, dame andrea, thank you for joining us. Very much appreciated. Ill get your thoughts on the, election situation in just a second. But we were just talking about how the conservatives got to this point. About how the conservatives got to this point. Some would argue to this point. Some would argue that it was the, the, the axing, the ousting of Boris Johnson by his own mps, who he helped win a massive majority in 2019 that caused this terminal decline for the conservative party. You andrea, condemns Boris Johnsons unacceptable failings of leadership in 2022. Do you regret getting rid of Boris Johnson . Waking up this morning . Johnson . Waking up this morning . Well, to your first question, which is one about how do we get to this point and the reality is that we had that once in a hundred years pandemic, the covid pandemic that was closely followed by the putins aggression in ukraine, which has had the most devastating impact on our economy. So we then had the cost of living crisis, the energy crisis, and actually nobody has done more than rishi sunak, first as chancellor dunng sunak, first as chancellor during pandemic and then as Prime Minister, to try and alleviate the pressure on people. But nevertheless , im people. But nevertheless, im afraid i think last night is the culmination of that problem arising. Post pandemic post, cost of living , crisis when cost of living, crisis when inflation was at 11. That means people do feel that things arent working for them. And although inflation is now much lower, real wages are rising. We finally got the rwanda legislation through so we can start to send Illegal Migrants to off rwanda in line with what people want. Nevertheless, they are feeling fed up and, you know, so first of all, i do feel deeply sorry for all those excellent conservative councillors whove lost their seats last night. But i also have to say, i understand the many people whove voted effectively against the conservatives or whove sat on their hands because they are just fed up. But i would say to them is that, you know, things are improving and weve seen that with inflation down with employment, up with growth in the economy against a forecast of a huge recession, which never happened. Soi of a huge recession, which never happened. So i dont think things are as bad on the ground as the as the results last night might suggest. Might suggest. But all of that is great. But it does feel a little bit like its a little bit too late now. Its a little bit too late now. But the conservatives are talking about changing of leader before the election. In your view, is that a wise thing to be doing . Doing . No, i dont think it is. Doing . No, i dont think it is. You no, i dont think it is. You know, i think in in rishi weve got somebody who is totally focused on the things that matter to people. So so growing the economy, getting inflation down, stopping the small boats, getting nhs waiting list down. Hes absolutely focused on those and making inroads in every area. I think it would be a big mistake. We just need to get behind him and help him to see this through and certainly make the case to the public that things are genuinely improving. But also, i think we have to remind them, you know, that back in 2021, which was the High Water Mark when the conservatives did incredibly well at the local elections, that was post pandemic , when that was post pandemic, when rishi sunak was chancellor and bons rishi sunak was chancellor and boris as Prime Minister had supported millions of people in theirjobs, supported millions of people in their jobs, thousands of businesses to avoid bankruptcy. And wed rolled out the fastest Covid Vaccine and wed come out of lockdown earlier than other countries. So that was a real boost time. And now were in that sort of trough afterwards where weve really seen the impact on inflation and on the cost of living of that period of lockdown, which the whole world faced. So i understand that people are feeling really fed up at the moment. Dame andrea, just very briefly , Sir Graham Brady was briefly, Sir Graham Brady was talking about the other day saying that the conservative members shouldnt be involved in selecting a leader, are lots of members tell us on a daily basis that the conservative party doesnt listen to them anymore. They just dont get it. They ignore them and they feel totally disillusioned, which i guessis totally disillusioned, which i guess is what youre seeing with the results from last night. Do you respect the members anymore . Does the conservative party respect its members . Absolutely. We respect our members. I mean , all of us as members. I mean, all of us as constituency mps spend time with our members. We provide , talks our members. We provide, talks and q a sessions and we absolutely listen to their feedback. And we have policy feedback. And we have policy forums for people to provide input directly to the party on their views. And were so grateful to all of our members for all that they do. Many of them go on to become councillors or parish councillors. So many do. So sir graham wants them excluded from the membership then from the leadership race. If you respect them so much, why dont you trust them to pick a leader . Are they picking the wrong leaders . Wrong leaders . I ive, ive im not aware of that discussion with sir graham. I suspect what he would have been talking about was the recent challenges to the leadership. And possibly speculating about another one. But as far as im concerned, we need to get behind rishi, get behind the government and keep on with doing everything we can to make people feel better. De man listen, thank you very much for talking to us. Thank you. Thank much for talking to us. Thank you. Thank you so much. Right. Well, still to come, emma weber, naomi nicol, join us to go through some of the other top stories of the day. Yes. Youre with britains newsroom on gb news. Stick with us. Hello. Good morning to you. 1126. Youre with ben and nana on britains newsroom on gb news. Were joined again by political commentator emma webb and broadcaster amy nicol. Turner in the studio. Good morning to you both, amy. Should we lock horns on a trans issue again . Why not . Its a weekly event. As times sake. As times sake. Yeah. So there is a story doing the rounds that, britains oldest breastfeeding charity has called in regulators amid claims of, quote, harassment and bullying over a policy to include trans women in meetings. So directors at la leche league gb have requested the Charity Commission intervenes because basically a minority of directors want trans women to be included in these meetings with breastfeeding mothers. Yeah, and breastfeeding mothers. Yeah, and the majority of the Charity Board members dont. But theres a big row kicking off. Yeah. Yeah. I dont know why you would exclude trans women who might be breastfeeding their children because theyre men. Well, i think they would breastfeed a trans man. Well, these are male to female. No. So they dont they dont lactate. Naturally. They can. Its hormones. Its hormones. Well, no, theyre taking chemicals. Its actually the same science that is used for adoptive mothers and mothers that have had mastectomies, this is a chemical concoction which creates toxic sludge. It doesnt creates toxic sludge. It doesnt care about if you cared about your child and youre a trans woman, put them on a formula because theres no evidence suggesting that its for i think its for its for the parents. That is that is a very ignorant take because what the medicine does is it promotes a hormone in your brain and the hormone in your brain and the hormone creates the milk, and it can be very harmful to a baby. Two theres two actually theres one hormone that does that. Theres another one that helps to build the breast tissue. And one of those chemicals can cause heart arrhythmias in the baby. So they arrhythmias in the baby. So they create this thing that theyve put together. There is no evidence to theyve measured the level of testosterone in the milk, but they havent actually measured what is in the milk itself. So then they also dont know the long term effect of this sludge. Its absolutely not. It doesnt have the same nutritional value. It doesnt, but then you cant say human milk is always superior to formula milk in terms of the immune system, in terms of the immune system, in terms of the immune system, in terms of fighting infections , in terms of fighting infections, in terms of fighting infections, in terms of fighting infections, in terms of bonding. Yeah. A womans breast milk, a womans breast milk created in a womans breast milk created in a womans breast milk created in a womans breast milk, not an artificially created breast milk from a biological male. From a biological male. Yeah. This i think this is more about the parent rather than the child. This is about the adult, not the babys health and well being. And in any case, this charity was set up for mother to mother support for women who are struggling with breastfeeding to include in an all female space male men who want to artificially feed a baby from their biologically male nipples. That is, that is against, i mean, the equality act allows for same sex spaces. This is an and possibly a legal imposition on this charity. This is an and possibly a legal imposition on this charity. And imposition on this charity. And like i say, i think this is for this is for the trans woman, not for the baby fantasy breastfeeding. How can you say that . How is it any different to any mother that wants to breastfeed . Well, theyre not theyre not women, are they . So listen, i think a real like a mother, a mother whos actually reared this child would not inflict anything that could cause any sort of. So would you say the same to an adult . Would would not inflict anything that could cause some sort of unknown harm. So thats why it appears to be satisfying. Some weird, delusional fantasy thats so incredible that you can say its a delusional fantasy. Its just a mother nursing their baby, a man creating milk from his chicks. If you can call, if youre the one with the deluded fantasy, if you can call a trans woman a man. Whatever you just said. No, im talking about somebody whos so incredibly offensive. This is just about including all mothers on this website. The website says they support everyone who wants to breastfeed, regardless of whether they gave birth. You dont have to have given birth. Simple, simple. Breastfeed simple, simple. Breastfeed thats one of the got it. Thats one of the got it. Can i can i ask you a simple question with the harms or potential harms at this point unknown. Because thats true. It unknown. Because thats true. It is true, amy. It is true. How can you say that with the potential harms unknown . Weve not got the full picture yet from the scientific studies. Why would any loving mother, if you want to call these people mothers, why would any loving mothers, why would any loving mother take that risk . Exactly mother take that risk . Exactly why would you not just give them formula which you know is safe . Because the benefits of human milk no far outweigh. Milk no far outweigh. No, thats not true. No, thats not true. Its not human milk. Its a mothers milk. Yeah, because it has to be artificially produced. Has to be artificially produced. Its all chemicals. Hormones go in your brain, and your brain tells your body to lactate. Chemicals . Chemicals . Its artificial chemicals to cause the hormones. Yeah, but cause the hormones. Yeah, but they can do a natural. But it doesnt have the same nutritional value as a mothers milk. Im pretty sure if you look on the back of a paracetamol packet, it would Say Something like a very rare side effect. Could be that and the paracetamol. We give babies all sorts of things. And also for bonding with the biological male you can just have skin to skin contact. You dont need to artificially produce milk from a male nipple. You apply the same standard to adoptive mothers or mothers who have had mastectomies. Well, here ive got a couple of that chest milk right here. I dont think so. Thank you very much. Amy and emma. Right, lets get the News Headlines with sophia wenzler. Gnaana. Thank you. Its 1131. Gnaana. Thank you. Its1131. Im sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. Your headlines. Labour newsroom. Your headlines. Labour leader sir keir starmer says his partys win in the blackpool south by election is seismic. South by election is seismic. Labours chris webb took the seat, beating conservative david jones in second following a by election caused by the resignation of tory scott benton. Sir keir suggested its time to call a general election. Time to call a general election. Labour has made huge gains in local elections across england and wales, winning in key areas such as rushmoor in hampshire for the first time. Its being seen as a major test of Public Opinion ahead of the upcoming general election. Labour also general election. Labour also won thurrock and hartlepool, but the tories held harlow. A high the tories held harlow. A High Court Judge has ruled that the governments climate plan is unlawful. Several Environmental Charities took joint legal action against the government, saying the strategy ignored the risk of missing targets. Saying the strategy ignored the risk of missing targets. In his judgement, mrjustice risk of missing targets. In his judgement, mr Justice Sheldon ruled the governments plan was not justified by the evidence and king charles has been presented with an illustrator record of his coronation almost a year after the historic service. The king has praised the team, which created the document, saying you deserve a very stiff drink. He made the very stiff drink. He made the comments with the queen on wednesday in his Second Public facing event since his cancer diagnosis. And for the latest stories , sign up to gb news stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com slash alerts. Com slash alerts. Cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report , and heres Financial Report, and heres a quick snapshot of todays markets. The pound will buy you 1. 2560 and the pound will buy you 151. 2560 and ,1. 1690. The pound will buy you 1. 2560 and ,1. 1690. The price of gold is £1,831. 68 per ounce, and the ftse 100 are 8206 points. Cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report. Another cracking rendition of good afternoon britain, coming up with emily and gloria. Yes, congrats. Results day only one day only. Well, you never know. Yes. What a day its going to be. We have so many live events coming up. Those results are continuing to flood in, and theyre going to flood in, and theyre going to tell us so much about where people are in this country. Of course, the story of last night was what happened in that blackpool south by election labour absolutely delighted with those swings, but because the results come in over a couple of days, really the story can change. Weve got so many results in our airtime, loads of council results. Were going to council results. Were going to well, we sort of almost found out whats happening in tees valley. Ben houchen, the tory mayor, report that he is holding on, but still a massive 19 swing to labour. So the tories will be delighted about that and labour will be delighted about the swing. Yes, it looks like ben houchen is going to cling on but we dont know for sure we havent had it officially. We havent had it officially. We count it all up so well find out very soon. Theres a couple of new mayoralties as well. There is york and North Yorkshire that contains rishi sunak constituency, so that will be interesting to watch and that will be revealed by emily and i. The east midlands loads the red wall seats there. Bolsover ashfield, north east derbyshire, laboun ashfield, north east derbyshire, labour. Suppose to be the favourites there, but until we hear the result, which you will in mine and emilys air time, you know, we dont know. Got loads of great guests on actually during our show weve got, were going to be hearing from rishi sunak at the top of the show, were going to have richard tice on to explain what reform are up to, what are they expecting at the general election . Have they actually done very well . Theyre saying they have. Weve also got wes streeting on. Oh, i think were going to have to ask him. Ask him . Yes, please. That awful, awful week it had occurred to emily to ask about that. Its very on wes streeting. I cant wait to ask him. Actually, hes done other ones that were bad, though. Remember, gloria, before i should go outraged. You go disappointed . Yes. You go disappointed . Yes. I was going to say. Wheres tom . Hes probably asleep. He should be asleep. He should be asleep. He should be asleep. Just a quick one for you, gloria. As a as a labour woman, was that a mistake from wes streeting . Because. Because moderates like me or. Right of centre people. I considered moderates like you. Im a moderate. You. Im a moderate. Im in the left eye and so is wes. And so is wes. And so is wes. What are you saying . Hes saying hes. I was very surprised. I was very surprised. I found out knowing wes, having been wess colleague, having known him for many years, i found it very unwise. Like so. As emily says, unwise. Like so. As emily says, im disappointed. Mum shes. Shes crossed. I quite liked him. A couple of months ago. I thought he was doing really well. He did some great interviews on radio four about his past. I thought we should say what he said, he said. He said that anyone who votes for susan hall for the london Mayoral Election is a white supremacist. Well, Denis Macshane said them and that was fair enough. Thats what i did. We did challenge him on it, but he did say, oh, brilliant, im not in that camp, but were going to were going to ask us about it. And weve got weve got tory, no. Its coming. Hell know. Weve got loads of great guests. Wheres on is he near the end of quarter three. So you have to watch us all the way. All the way, of course. Yes. All the way, of course. Yes. Sounds like a cracking show. Gloria. Emily thank you very much. All that and more coming us. 1040. Its ben leo with my nana on britains newsroom on gb news now, lets continue our coverage of the local elections. Labour. They overturned a 24 years of tory control at rushmoor council, which is the home of the british army. So lets cross live there now with gb News Reporter ray addison. Whats the latest, ray . Yes, well good afternoon. Yes, well good afternoon. Good morning to you. Good morning to you. It welcome to the home of the british army here. Aldershot. Very much part of rushmoor borough council. Nearby farnborough as well. This has been home to the parachute regiment over the years, currently home to the 1015t years, currently home to the 101st logistics brigade, and very much part of what we would call the blue wall. Ever since this constituency was created, theres been a tory mp here, and ever since the councils existed, theres been a tory led council as well. Thats been for the last 24 years at least. Now the result came through shortly after 3 am. This morning in the building behind me, princes hall , that labour had won nine out of 13 seats that were up for grabs. Tory are gaining three and lib dems just winning one. So that means that labour now has control of that council. Now they had been laying the groundwork theyd sent john healey mp. Thats their shadow defence secretary. He was he was here just a few days ago. He was speaking to some of the Service Personnel here as well. And theyve got concerns about the quality of the accommodation for some of the squaddies. And that some of the squaddies. And that will definitely have helped potentially get them some more votes. That was covered by the local papers. Concern of councillors here as well, blaming reform , saying that they blaming reform, saying that they lost votes to them. I had a look through the added up some of the numbers, if reform hadnt been on the ticket and those votes had gone to the tories, the conservatives would have had two more councillors and they would have retained control of this council turn out not to huge , council turn out not to huge, around 34, so perhaps a little bit of apathy there among the voters. So im not sure how much we can extrapolate from this result to the upcoming general election. Whenever, whenever that might be. But labour, really keen to push this as a truly historic win for them. They say its proof that the party has changed since its time under jeremy corbyn. Of course you know the his views about the military, the army and one Party Spokesperson has said people in rushmoor know that only labour can deliver the change that they want. So theyre using this as proof now that a general election needs to be called. And election needs to be called. And they say that this is simply a result that rishi sunak cannot ignore, it seems quite surprising that they i mean, i see the conservative party have been a bit of a disaster. I have to admit. Weve all watched it, but but the conservatives were promising to spend 2. 5 of gdp on, weapons and so on and so forth on the armed forces. And you would have thought that might have swayed some of the voters, but it appears that they werent having any of it. Well, the thing in any of it. Well, the thing in this town, i used to live down the road in farnborough, which is not very far from here. Its about ten, ten minutes drive from here out. Aldershot has always been known for its problems. Its a bit it can be a bit of a problem area. And there are higher rates of crime here as well. Although i havent lived in this area for many years, its certainly an area that could do with a spruce up, if we can put it that way. And so that could have had an impact as well. And so perhaps some of these, lack of votes going towards the tories and switching towards the tories and switching towards labour is just an indication of that kind of trend thats going on at the moment. Thank you very much. Really good to talk to you. Up next. Were expecting some of the Mayoral Elections to come in at any moment now. Do not go anywhere. Gb news. Good morning. 47 minutes after 11 00. This is britains newsroom with me, nana akua and ben leo. Now, there are Mayoral Elections are taking place in 11 regions in england. And all eyes will be on tees valley in the West Midlands, where, tories ben horsham and andy street are currently in charge. Although ben, we do have some sort of inside information about whats happening in london as well. Nana and i, i mean, this is, this is bombshell, if you ask me, nana and i separately, over the past hour, we have heard from multiple sources , that from multiple sources, that labour chiefs are concerned about the way london is going. The mayor race between sadiq khan and susan hall, the conservative candidate it was meant to be nailed on, wasnt it . A dead cert, a dead cert, but there are whispers and rumours now that all is not as clear cut as was made out to be. Well, and it doesnt sort of surprise me, because out of london is a very large area, and i cant imagine that any of those in outer london are happy with ulez. Even if you dont have to pay for it, because a lot of people suspected that the reason why it was there was actually paving the way for pay per mile, because obviously, when everybody is ulez compliant, they wont get any money out of it. So what then . Whats next . Youve got the cameras, youve got everything else. Everyones got a ulez compliant car. Youre not going to make any money. So apparently theres concern about low turnout in the caphal about low turnout in the capital, which would be a detriment to labour and sadiq khan. And also, i just wonder whether the interventions from the likes of wes streeting. Weve already touched on his absolutely ridiculous tweet calling susan hall voters, White Supremacists. I mean, how how can anyone be whos concerned about net zero . As youve talked about net zero . As youve talked about kids getting knifed in our streets . Knife crime, how can anyone whos concerned about that be a white supremacist or an islamophobe . Well, hell be on here on gb news at about just before 3 00. Very much looking forward to that, because i hope emily and gloria really take him to task on that. Was that kind of intervention. Would that put labour voters off . Because, of course, Hillary Clinton did the same thing in the 2016 us president ial race, calling trump voters deplorables. And look how that turned out. Well, lets continue this. Anna riley is in harrogate and will hollis is in nottingham with their mayoral results. Theyll be announced very soon. Anna, whats the latest out . Anna, whats the latest out . Well, nana the declaration has just been made. As to the turnout, 29 turnout out here for the brand new position of metro for mayor yorkshire, North Yorkshire and york. There was an electorate of just over 640,000, and counting is now underway. And counting is now underway. Its said to be a real tight race between the conservative candidate and labour, with the bookies actually favouring labour to win. Thatll be a real labour to win. Thatll be a real blow for rishi sunak, of course richmond is in North Yorkshire. Thats his constituency. So for labour to make a win here, that will be a real blow for him as nonh will be a real blow for him as North Yorkshire is a traditional blue area. Theres six candidates in the race, as well as conservatives and labour. Theres lib dem, green and two independents as well. That are vying for this role. The beheading up the york and North Yorkshire combined authority and the mayor will have 500 and £540 million to spend over 30 years that will go on adult education. It will go on public transport and housing as well. So a real tight race here to see who comes out on top and when we have those results, we will be bringing those in, exciting stuff. Stuff. Right. Well well. Hollis, where are you. Well yes. Well, this is nottinghams Tennis Centre and this is the centre for where the countis this is the centre for where the count is taking place for nottinghamshire and derbyshire. Combining 17 Different Councils to make the brand new east midlands combined county authority. And similarly with authority. And similarly with nonh authority. And similarly with North Yorkshire, this is a brand new area. So this is the first time that these candidates and the local people had an opportunity to elect a mayor for the east midlands. Now the battlegrounds have been drawn for a few months now, particularly on the lines of the economy in the local area. The east midlands is traditionally one of the lowest funded regions in the country, as well as things like transport. But hs2, when it was scrapped, scrapped a giant train station here in the east midlands at toton, where millions of pounds had been promised for the local area. So those two points in particular will be things that people are looking at, particularly when they were voting for any of the mayors. Six different candidates, including labour, conservative, independents, reform, the liberal democrats and the greens. There will be a close watch on what happens, particularly in the east midlands, because it is a centre part of the red wall, particularly for coal mining areas in north nottinghamshire, where until quite recently the conservative mp for ashfield, lee anderson, left the party, joined reform. So how well joined reform. So how well reformed does here similar to what we saw in blackpool may signal what might happen in the near future when we do see a general election. Now, counting has not yet started here in nottingham, but we can expect it to start quite soon and we are expecting a declaration in around 2 00 later this afternoon. Okay, well, anna, thanks very much, lets get stuck into some quick emails before we hand you over to the good ship. Good afternoon britain, jones says. Why is wes streeting still an mp . After his appalling statement about tory voters . Much worse than what lee anderson said, and he was thrown out of the conservative party. Thats exactly what i said about that. Well tim says riccis defence spending promise would carry more water if the amount was inflated by counting Service Pensions in the overall amount. Yeah, because what youre saying, ive got one from andrew, so ill do this one. Andrew, so ill do this one. Andrew says starmer is calling for an election now because hes so very scared that things will change dramatically in november. And once his so called manifesto is finally revealed, he is not home and he knows it. And may. Good morning. May you say tories can blame reform uk all they want. The votes would have gone to independence if reform was not there. The sooner they understand there is no way we will ever vote for them again, the better. No way we will ever vote for them again, the better. Well, them again, the better. Well, there you go, mary. Get off the fence, why dont you . Well, listen, theres so much still to come here on gb news. And good afternoon, britain. Remember, theyll be talking to wes streeting. He can answer with regard to that. And rishi sunak at the top of the hour as well, coming imminently. And as you just mentioned, im really looking forward to this confrontation with wes streeting conversation. Conversation. Well, no, no, no , dont scare him. He should he should be confronted about those comments. Confronted about those comments. You cannot call people concerned about knife crime. Ulez safety of the streets, White Supremacists and islamophobes. Supremacists and islamophobes. Its just ridiculous. And its andifs its just ridiculous. And its and its a shame because i quite liked wares up until a couple of months ago. You saw what happened to lee anderson when he made some comments. So wes does need to answer for himself. But thats it from us here in britains newsroom. Its been a pleasure. Up newsroom. Its been a pleasure. Up next, good afternoon, britain with gloria and emily. We will see you tomorrow. Thank you very much, ben. Thanks great show. Gosh, ben and nana, theyve teased our show for us. They cant let it go. Cant. They cant let that wes streeting. Its going to be a good one. If you dont know what its about, you will find out very soon. You will indeed. Weve got so much coming up. Lots of live Election Results, mayor elections, local elections. Theyre still flooding in, arent they . Yes. Weve got some brilliant guests. Weve got the leader of reform. Well have the first words from rishi sunak in his response as wes streeting from laboun response as wes streeting from labour. Jacob young from the tories , a pollster. The legend tories, a pollster. The legend thatis tories, a pollster. The legend that is Alastair Stewart. Weve got it for all you, havent we . Weve got it all, all of that. After your weather. Looks like things are heating up. Boxt boiler is sponsors of weather on gb news. Morning. Welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. Again, some places looking fairly soggy today, but it should be a brighter day across parts of the south. And another mostly fine and sunny day across northwest scotland and elsewhere. Though a lot of cloud around this morning. Outbreaks of rain still over the midlands, wales, parts of southeast england, some heavier. Rain coming into parts of Northern England as well. Well see a few showers developing for northern ireland, southwest scotland, but say most of scotland again set fair and again on the west coast. We could easily see temperatures up to 20 celsius cooler on the east coast, with a brisk breeze here and obviously much cooler than yesterday , much cooler than yesterday, where weve got the cloud and rain over the midlands parts of northwest england and east anglia. The far south seeing a much brighter day compared to yesterday. Staying generally fine here through this evening as the rain starts to edge further northwards. Staying pretty soggy over parts of northwest england, north wales. Northwest england, north wales. Well see more showers developing through the night across parts of scotland , across parts of scotland, temperatures mostly dipping down to about 5 or 6 degrees across the south, staying up at 9 or 10 celsius in this cloudier zone over Northern England, southern scotland. Thats making for a grey start to the long weekend, but more rain to come here, although it is tending to fizzle out again. Highlands western parts of scotland generally looking dry and bright. There will be some sunny spells on saturday across the south, but we are expecting a few scattered showers to develop through the afternoon , but with a bit more afternoon, but with a bit more brightness. Should feel a touch warmer. Warmer. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. Well. Good afternoon. Britain it is 12 00 on friday the 3rd of may with emily carver and today . One day only. Gloria de piero. Its great to be here with you, emily. Weve got a great show ahead. After a bruising day for his party in the local elections, we will hear from the Prime Minister rishi sunak. We can do that straight away. Can do that straight away. Last week, i announced a historic increase in our defence spending to 2. 5 of gdp. Because i believe, as Prime Minister, thats necessary to keep our country safe from the increasing threats that we face. And today ill be speaking at a passing out parade and paying tribute and congratulating some of our brave Armed Forces Personnel about the careers that theyre about the careers that theyre about to embark on. Were very grateful to have their service right to the other questions, if thats okay, to the to the to the Election Results overnight , the Election Results overnight, these results show youre on course to lose the next general election , dont they . Well,