Transcripts For GBN GB 20240703

Sunak. Were asking all of those very Big Questions as. Sunak. Were asking all of those very Big Questions as. And as very Big Questions as. And as even very Big Questions as. And as ever, this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. Let me know your thoughts on all of the stories well be discussing today by visiting gbnews. Com forward slash yours. Join that conversation there or message us on our socials. Were gbnews first of all though, heres the news with ray addison i thanks, darren. Good afternoon. 12 01 of our top stories. Sir keir starmer says the tories dont deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Thats after rishi sunak lost hundreds of councillors in the local elections, 102 of 107 councils have declared so far , councils have declared so far, with labour making major gains and the lib dems and the greens also doing well. Election expert sir john curtice says the final outcome could be the tories worst performance for 40 years, celebrating a mayoral victory in the east midlands, the labour leader said the tories time is up. I think the message here is very, very clear and i think across the east midlands theres been a sending of that message to the government, which is were fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure 14 years and im sorry, i dont care which Political Party you support if you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Longer. Well, Andrew Griffith is minister for science, innovation and technology. He told us the pubuc and technology. He told us the public doesnt want labours policies. Look, its a difficult set of results. I think that was what was expected going in. Theres going to be a very, very simple choice at the next election. Who walks through number 10 downing street . Is it rishi sunak with his plan . Thats starting to work now, or is it keir with with no plan or where they do have plans that dont really go with the grain of what the british people want . Sir keir starmer says he remains confident that sadiq khan can win a third term as london mayor. Thats as the battle with tory challenger susan hall appears to be closer than expected. The count is underway and we could have a result this afternoon. In total, seven mayoral contests contests will be announced today. A narrow one is also expected for conservative mayor andy street in the West Midlands. Well also hear from eight of ten contests for police and crime commissioner Boris Johnson has thanked polling staff who refused to let him vote without id. The former Prime Minister was turned away from a polling station on thursday after he forgot valid identification. Writing in the daily mail, mr johnson said the three villages were right to stick to the rules. The requirement to provide photo id was introduced by mrjohnson provide photo id was introduced by mr johnson when provide photo id was introduced by mrjohnson when he occupied by mr johnson when he occupied number 10. A burst water main has left around 31,000 properties without water in east sussex. Southern water says the disruption in Saint Leonards on sea and parts of hastings will continue into tomorrow. The issue was first reported on thursday, forcing the company to open water bottle stations, schools, a Leisure Centre and a theatre in the area have all been forced to close. Three been forced to close. Three people have been charged after protesters blocked a coach taking Asylum Seekers to the bibby stockholm barge. The met Police Arrested 45 people after officers were called on thursday morning to peckham, south east london. The demonstrators could be heard chanting no borders, no nafions be heard chanting no borders, no nations stop deportations , as nations stop deportations, as three have now been charged with obstruction of the highway. Obstruction of the highway. Motorists are being warned to expect heavy traffic this bank houday expect heavy traffic this bank holiday weekend, according to the rac, around 3 million vehicles will take to the roads today alone, an increase in day trips and short breaks could mean that local routes are congested. Also, train strikes congested. Also, train strikes between tuesday and the following saturday could lead to most roads being busier than usual. Most roads being busier than usual. Fuel prices have gone up usual. Fuel prices have gone up by an average of £0. 10 per litre so far this year. New figures are showing that the typical price for a litre of petrol reached £1. 50 in april, whilst diesel came close to £1. 58. The rise in prices have added around £5. 50 to the cost of filling a typical family car. The rac is calling on the competition and markets authority to crack down on retailers over what theyre calling unfair margins. The king is set to become the patron of the Royal British legion. Thats a role that the late queen held for more than 70 years. It follows a major review of more than 1000 royal patronages following the death of Queen Elizabeth ii. Charles will now be supporting a further 200 organisations. The decision comes as the Armed Forces Charity prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of the second world war, d day landings on june the 6th. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Common. Its now back to. Darren. Thanks ever. So ray, lets get stuck in to todays topics after a bruising day for the conservatives in these local elections, will be hoping to turn their fortunes around in several key mayoral races today. Meanwhile, the labour leader has been celebrating his partys big gains. Sir keir starmer has been in the east midlands today, where labour secured a mayoral victory. And he had this to say in the last few hours. In the last few hours. I think the message here is very, very clear and i think across the east midlands theres been a sending of that message to the government, which is were fed up with your division , were fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure. 14 years and im sorry, i dont care which Political Party you support if you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Longer. Well, joining me now to discuss this is gb news very own senior political commentator, nigel nelson. Nigel, thank you nigel nelson. Nigel, thank you for your time. As ever. This is quite seismic in and of itself, the east midlands, because ben bradley, who has ended up with more political positions than goodness, only knows what he was actually seeking that that job in order to actually strengthen the conservative outlet there and was bitterly disappointed, i think yesterday , not to win that think yesterday, not to win that vote. Yes, thats right, and i think that the that, keir starmer has managed to pick up a clutch of mayors in various parts of the country, which shows that labour are doing pretty well, its not a total catastrophe for the tories. I mean, i think that if theyd lost 600 Council Seats , it would lost 600 Council Seats, it would have been. And the key obviously was ben houchen, the tees valley mayor. The fact they kept that was helpful. So i think that at least rishi sunak will live to fight another day. Yeah. I mean, nigel, what did you make of the north east result . Because obviously i was following that quite closely given, you know, thats where i voted. But i was really struck by the strength of force and feeling behind the independent candidate, who actually did really rather well over 100,000 votes. Yes. I mean , i think that yes. I mean, i think that this is what happens in local elections if you get a strong independent candidate, they do tend to do well, which is why its always dangerous to try to try and extrapolate to a general election result from, from local figures. I mean, it was interesting. I think , with with interesting. I think, with with ben houchen in, in tees valley, he seemed to campaign virtually as an independent himself rather than as a, as a, as a tory mayor. Well, the conservatives do deny that. They say, well, hang on a minute. You know, ben houchen had rishi sunak up their campaign and alongside of him , campaign and alongside of him, he listed a whole slew of things that theyve done in Office Thanks to a conservative government. Ben houchen was adamant that that wasnt the case. Nigel, do you disagree . Yes , i do, im sure the yes, i do, im sure the tories want to spin it, spin it the best way they can because ben houchen was absolutely key to rishi sunaks future , but the to rishi sunaks future, but the way that the campaign went seemed to be it was more on his own personal vote than it was for the party, interestingly , for the party, interestingly, forgot to wear his rosette at the end, he says that was just a slip rather than anything deliberate. But yeah, i do think deliberate. But yeah, i do think that the that there was a certain feeling that the in many local areas, tory candidates were distancing themselves a bit from the national government, but i mean , youve got to but i mean, youve got to actually look at the final result, as i say, that the loss of, 460 odd, councillors for the tories , thats really bad, but tories, thats really bad, but not an absolute disaster. It puts them kind of on a par with 1995, when labour again were 20, were 21 points ahead in the polls, so i mean, nigel, given that were previewing london, i know youre not mystic meg, but im about to ask you to be. Where do you think were going . Here. Because were heanng going . Here. Because were hearing from several sources on both sides that it could go either way. Yeah, im genuinely surprised about that. The polls have been predicting an easy win for sadiq khan. Clearly, the whole thing is closer than we thought, and so we know that turnout is down. That may be of benefit to the tories in that the outlying tory areas might have actually turned out rather better than labour ones as as expected. So what it looks like at the moment, id have said sadiq khan will win. Well have to see in a few hours time whether thats true, but quite clearly its a lot closer than than we originally thought it ever would be. Yeah. All right, nigel, well leave that there. Thank you very much for your input. Well be getting some more of that very soon indeed. Well, joining me soon indeed. Well, joining me now in the studio is the broadcaster and journalist Claire Muldoon and political commentator matthew stadlen. Claire, ill start with you first. Where do you think were going . Here are you surprised by that . London is allegedly close is. No. Well, yes. Well, yes. No, im not surprised because if you look at the country, darren, the country is split 5050 and anything and even the brexit vote was very, very close, independence for scotland was very, very close. Its always that 5050. Im not surprised either about the low turnout. People are so apathetic. People are completely sick of politicians. People are sick of politicians. People are sick to the back teeth of not knowing and not being heard. Thats the issue. But if you thats the issue. But if you look to the manifestos of both susan hall and, sadiq khan , when susan hall and, sadiq khan, when you erase the top headline grabbers susan hall, ill scrap ulez, ive delivered thousands of pounds worth of Free School Meals to all state children in primary schools in london. If you look down, there are more or less saying the same thing. Less saying the same thing. Well increase police on the street. We will increase building of houses, we will protect renters , this, that and protect renters, this, that and the next thing. So theres not that much difference apart from the top two headline grabbers, so im not surprised. What i am so im not surprised. What i am surprised about, however, is the fact that theyre still political. If you understand, i would prefer a mayor to be have complete parity over all the panacea of all the political networking i think it would be better for them not to be lynched or attacked , but to lynched or attacked, but to a party, and therefore theyd have to feed into their narrative. I would prefer them to be independent candidates and to be able to liaise, almost like a house of lords crossbencher, to liaise between both sets of political, a planes and do the best for the people that have voted them in and are last are. And that is not the case when we go to the ballot box, we very rarely get whats best for us and what weve voted for. I mean, matthew , im assuming i mean, matthew, im assuming that you would say, well, hang on a minute, sadiq khans done really great things in london. Im really disappointed by how low the turnout was. How low the turnout was. Its not much lower than in 2021, but 40 when the mayor of london has control of our transport system and has influence at least. Over issues influence at least. Over issues such as policing, which really matter to people. And i find that very, very shocking, actually, i went to the polling booth. I took my 19 month old son with me, and it was just a such a wonderful experience putting your x in those boxes. Putting your x in those boxes. It feels to me. I mean, it should be a right, but it feels to me still like a privilege that so many people, just for example, the suffragettes who did so much to make sure that everyone has a say in how our society runs. But does that not suggest then theres a lack of support for sadiq khan . I suspect possibly hes turned off some some voters. Turned off some some voters. I think that many people in inner city london might have assumed, because the polls had been at least until quite recently, firmly in his favour. Theyd assumed maybe that he was going to win. So what was the point . Thats always a mistake. And i think nationally the labour party can learn from that. I suspect theyre on board with this idea that you cant take anything for granted. But if they werent, this will be a real lesson for them. If its as close as some people are predicting. I just want to take us back though. Pull us back a little bit. The lens back to the National Picture of what happened yesterday. The big story is the tories have been crushed, not totally destroyed, but theyve lost Something Like 450 odd councillors. Labour have won 170 to 200 councillors so far, whatever that is. The far, whatever that is. The headuneis far, whatever that is. The headline is labour. Whatever happensin headline is labour. Whatever happens in these Mayoral Elections , labour is on course elections, labour is on course for power. For power. Yes. Well, i think were probably agreed upon, i think i think, yes, i absolutely agree. And even the headlines that are coming out with where street winning , his mayoral candidacy winning, his mayoral candidacy and the, you know, the dreadful comments made from labour hq , comments made from labour hq, labour has predominantly had a stronghold in london, always because of the i think because of the wonderful characters that live in london, the beautiful differences that we have living in london. And i think in order to work together, theyve always voted labour. I am not a sadiq khan, supporter at all. Do you think things getting less beautiful . Absolutely it is. And its getting more violent and its getting more violent and its getting increasing difficult to getting increasing difficult to get around to live. And you get around to live. And you know, weve got ulez, weve got people who cant drive. Weve got people, people, key workers. And im talking about plumbers, electricians and people who care for people not being able to get to work without £12. 50, fines being imposed on them. And then all thats done with the introduction of the ltns as well, which is in sadiq khans back garden as well. That was him who started that and all he has done is displaced the traffic to arterial routes and its ridiculous. Its ridiculous. Could i come back on some of that . First of all, im a proud londoner born and bred here. I love our city and one of the great things i was talking to my kurdish taxi driver on the way to another tv studio yesterday. He said what . What makes london a great city is you could get something of everything here, of every culture, every religion, every culture, every religion, every race, every cuisine, all of that. And i think that is fantastic. And by and large, londoners rub along together really, really well. There are some caveats. There are some caveats, some only. Ive felt like anecdotally that theres been an increase in crime. Well, been an increase in crime. Well, petty petty crime. Well, i indeed had my phone nicked off me from behind by someone. Were not still bringing that up on on on an electric bike. I didnt bring it up. Claire. You did . Darren. No darren just said that i had had experienced crime, so. But weve got to be careful with anecdote. We certainly have. Certainly have. We have those. We have those. We have those. We certainly we certainly have issues with knife crime , have issues with knife crime, but we also had issues with serious issues with knife crime. When i kind of started out in politics 20 years ago, whoever is mayor has to do more if theyre able to cut that, because it is a real its a real blight. Its a real blight on our right. Hes right. It is a real blight. But you know, sadiq khan has said eight years to help sort this out. And hes not done it. Well get more from the two of you on that. I can see that, heating up already. So thank you very much, claire. And Matthew Stadler in there. Right. Its time for our the Great British giveaway now, and your chance to win the biggest cash prize of the year so far. Its a whopping £20,000. Imagine what you could do with all of that extra cash. Heres how you could win it all. Its the biggest cash prize weve given away to date. An incredible £20,000 that you could use however you like. And could use however you like. And because its totally tax free, every single penny will be in your bank account to do whatever your bank account to do whatever you like. With £20,000 in tax free cash, really could be yours this summer, but youve got to be in it to win it for another chance to win £20,000 in tax free cash. Text win to 63232. Text cost £2 plus one Standard Network rate message or post your name and number to gb05 , po your name and number to gb05, po box 8690. Derby de1 nine, double t, uk. Only entrants must be 18 or over. Lines closed at 5 pm. On the 31st of may. Full terms and Privacy Notice gbnews. Com forward slash win. Please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. Good luck. Watching on demand. Good luck. Youre with me Darren Grimes on gb news saturday. Thank you for your company. Weve got loads more coming up on todays show. Next well be crossing live to city hall. How close is susan hall to defeating sadiq khan . Well get the feeling on khan . Well get the feeling on the ground. And after the conservatives worst Election Results in 40 years. Is it time for rishi sunak to admit defeat . All of that and more to come. Youre with gb news. Britains news channel. Welcome back to gb news saturday with me, Darren Grimes. On your tv, online and on digital radio. Now, lots of you have been getting in touch with your thoughts. Thank you very much for doing so. Well. Very much for doing so. Well. Peter says. Oh, if you, dear people of london, if you vote sadiq khan then you deserve everything you get. Hes not holding back, is peter. And actually theres a fair few comments pushed back against what matt stadlen was saying and the claires face wear claires face when matthews mugging was mentioned, which i brought up, i brought up, i did bring that up. Now theres a fair few comments actually questioning the need for devolution in general. Do we actually need all of these mayors . A few of you are questioning the actual premise of the mayoralty in general, so well discuss that potentially later in the show. But also the fact that there are a few fringe party votes yet reform doing quite well in places like blackpool, and youve got the green party doing well even in places like tyneside. So there are a few questions to be answered. There continue to get in touch though folks. Its gbnews. Com forward slash york. Join that conversation or message us on our socials. Were gbnews now. Counting is gbnews now. Counting is underway in the london mayoral race with the results set to be on a knife edge between sadiq khan and susan hall. Could ulez be whats about to catch up with sadiq khan . Well, joining me now is gb news Political Correspondent olivia utley, whos at city hall. Olivia whats the latest there . And are you hearing any Movement Candidates for the mayor of london . Well, we are just hearing right behind me now. You can right behind me now. You can probably hear it pretty loudly. The results from each of the 14 london constituencies, greenwich and lewisham is being read out now. My constituency, as a matter of fact , the excitement matter of fact, the excitement in the susan hall camp about the conservative possibly scraping a surprise win is dying down a little bit. The labour party is looking more confident that sadiq khan is going to win, but it does look much, much closer than was being predicted. Just a week ago. The outer doughnut of london, as its called, the sort of commuter areas surrounding london, bexley, dagenham, bromley had a much higher turnout over 40 than the inner areas of london, like camden and hammersmith , islington and hammersmith, islington and traditionally the outer areas of london. Those who drive cars, those who tend to be more small c conservative in mindset, are sway more towards the conservative party, which is why susan halls team were looking pretty enthusiastic if, as expected, what happens is that sadiq just manages to win. But the susan hall camp does pretty well. There will be questions in the conservative party over whether they should have picked a stronger candidate. Susan hall has a very , very vocal supporter has a very, very vocal supporter , gang of supporters, very loud gang of supporters. But, her campaign has been said to be pretty gaffe prone, meanwhile , pretty gaffe prone, meanwhile, sadiq khan has obviously run a pretty slick, smooth campaign. Pretty slick, smooth campaign. So if it does turn out that sadiq khan only just wins , i sadiq khan only just wins, i think the conservative party is going to be giving giving itself a long, hard look. Yes, i mean, olivia, some of the comments are saying , yes, i mean, olivia, some of the comments are saying, is it an intentional pun that were saying its on a knifes edge . And i think that tells you a lot about the fact that people are really disturbed by the levels of crime in london. I mean, youve got crime, youve got ulez, youve got low traffic neighbourhoods. All of these things are having a knock on effect. What people are saying in other parts of the country, i cant understand what londons thinking at 53. Well, well have to wait and see what is going to happen. It might still be that susan hall just about scrapes through. It does seem as though sadiq khans popularity has taken a bit of a hit. If he does manage to win a third term, we are expecting it to be with a decreased majority. To be with a decreased majority. That said, obviously any candidate fighting for a third term is going to struggle. Just look at the conservatives at the moment, looking at the general election, but it will be fascinating to see in just a couple of hours time what the result will actually be and just how close its going to get. In fact, there are rumours that the result is going to be a little bit later this afternoon, more like 4 00 rather than 130 as was originally being predicted. Is that because its looking closer than originally expected . Another factor. Lets just remember , is that if susan hall remember, is that if susan hall does manage to scrape this victory, it will be one of the biggest polling disasters in uk history. Right . Until last week, sadiq khan was polling 22. But were all getting ahead of ourselves. Lets see what ourselves. Lets see what happensin ourselves. Lets see what happens in the next few hours. Absolutely. Olivia olivia, youll be there to take us all through it and hold our hand. Through it and hold our hand. Im shaking with excitement. It could actually be the biggest polling upset since brexit, but well see. Olivia utley there at city hall. Well be hearing more from olivia throughout the day. Now folks. The times reports that tory rebels have laid down their arms and theyre prepared to put up with rishi sunak until the next election. Now, after ben houchen made a big hold for the conservatives the Prime Minister was quick to revel in the success at tees valley and he narrowly avoided a humiliating third place finish in the blackpool south by election just there, pippen reform uk well , joining me to reform uk well, joining me to discuss this is the visiting professor at London South Bank university, James Woodhouse. James, thank you very much for your company. Now, are you of the view here that reform is a serious challenger to the conservative party because at a general election that starts to look more perilous, does it not . Well, i think first past the post makes it very difficult for reform. I think in terms of ideas, the tories are so exhausted that reform is a challenge and i think the vote for the green party shows that really everybody in the country. Darren loves david cameron, they love ed miliband, they love ed davey. If they can remember who he is , they love their local he is, they love their local authority and the councillors who do so much and they love their mayors, you know, so , all their mayors, you know, so, all bets are off. Really . Yeah. Well, i mean, yeah, theres a fair few comments to theres a fair few comments to the contrary, but yes, im sure thats true. And theres a fair few people saying actually , the few people saying actually, the only reason i know ed davey is because of the post Office Scandal , and because of the post Office Scandal, and thats really put his name on the map. I doubt thats very good pr for the liberal democrats, but i guess the question there with the greens there an interesting one, because youve got those in the sort of leafy suburbs of, of conservative heartlands saying, im voting green because i quite like the idea of not building any new housing and all these other things. And then in the parts of the country like that, where i am from, you had places in tyneside that were voting for the greens and green councillors elected, and thats more to do with, well, i dont know who to vote for here, actually theres the gaza element for the green party as well, where people are saying, im not going to vote laboun saying, im not going to vote labour, but i want to punish them. For what . Their stance on gaza. Im going to vote green because theyre pretty hardline on that. Thats an interesting dynamic in and of itself. Well, i think one thing it shows, darren, is that the muslim vote is, you know, not a concept that i want to go along with because different muslims vote for different parties , vote for different parties, including the green party. Theres a green muslim councillor being elected, so i think its very wrong to just sort of in a racial manner, really, or an ethnic manner to just talk about the muslim vote. I think what were seeing is really not so much apathy as one of your previous speakers said, although the turnout is always low and particularly low in this local election. But were seeing a lot of disgust with the establishment. My earlier establishment. My earlier remarks were meant to be ironical. Oh, i know, i know , ironical. Oh, i know, i know, dont worry, i hope so. But, so it would only take another post Office Scandal for a whole lot more turmoil to break out. And theres going to be another scandal like that. Were not going to stay grey forever. And going to stay grey forever. And people are fed up with grey. The old distinctions between left and right dont matter because youre previous speaker, the lady said. Theres not much difference. Thats true. Difference. Thats true. Everybody sees that. Everybodys bored and exasperated by that. It cant go on. I think youre right, james, actually in the inbox is filling up to that effect. But, James Woodhouse there, thank you very much as ever. Now, folks , youre much as ever. Now, folks, youre with me. Darren grimes on gb news saturday. Weve got lots more coming up on todays show now. Up next, the result of the london Mayoral Election thats fast approaching. We dont know what time were going to get it, but we know were going to get it this afternoon. So bear with us. And im going to be speaking to the man who knows exactly what its like to run against sadiq khan. Thats right. Lord sadiq khan. Thats right. Lord shaun bailey is live in the studio. Thats up next. First of all, though, heres the news with ray addison. Thanks, darren. Its 1231. Thanks, darren. Its1231. Good afternoon, sir keir starmer says the tories dont deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Thats after rishi sunak lost hundreds of councillors in the local elections. 103 of 107 councils declared so far , with councils declared so far, with labour making major gains. Election experts sir john curtis says the final outcome could be the tories worst performance for 40 years, celebrating a mayoral victory in the east midlands, the labour leader said the tories time is up well. Sir keir starmer says he remains confident that sadiq khan can win a third term as london mayor. Thats as the battle with tory challenger susan hall appears to be closer than expected , and the count is well expected, and the count is well underway and we could have a result very soon. In total, seven mayoral contests will be announced today. A narrow one is also expected for conservative mayor andy. Streets in the West Midlands. Well also be hearing midlands. Well also be hearing from eight of ten contests for police and crime commissioner. A burst water main has left around 31,000 properties without water in east sussex , causing a in east sussex, causing a drastic impact on businesses. Southern water says the disruption in Saint Leonards on sea and parts of hastings will continue into tomorrow. The issue was first reported on thursday, forcing the company to open water bottle stations, schools, a Leisure Centre and a theatre in the area have all been forced to close and motorists are being warned to expect heavy traffic this bank houday expect heavy traffic this bank holiday weekend, according to the rac, around 3 million vehicles are taking to the roads today alone, an increase in day trips and short breaks could mean local routes are congested. Also, train strikes between this coming tuesday and the following saturday could lead to most roads being busier. Well, saturday could lead to most roads being busier. Well, for roads being busier. Well, for the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. Carmelites back to. To. Darren. Cheers very much right now. Remember folks, you can let me know all your thoughts on todays stories weve been discussing by visiting gbnews. Com yoursay. Join that conversation there or message us on our socials. Were gbnews now. Coming up next, i speak to the man who knows exactly what its like to run against sadiq khan. Lord shaun bailey is here live in the studio. All of that and more to come. Im Darren Grimes and youre with gb news, britains news 2024 a battleground year. 2024 a battleground year. The year the nation decides. The year the nation decides. As the parties gear up their campaigns for the next general election. Who will be left standing when the british people make one of the biggest decisions of their lives . Who will rise and who will fall . Lets find out together for every moment. The highs, the lows, the twists and turns. Well be with you for every step of this journey in 2024. Gb news is britains election. Channel. A very warm welcome back to gb news. Saturday with me, Darren Grimes on your tv, online and on digital radio. Now some breaking news. Labours Steve Rotheram has been re elected as mayor of the Liverpool City Region. Now were Just Moments Away from hearing who will be the next london mayor. It was the next london mayor. It was the lowest turnout since 2012 and theres growing noise that the conservative candidate, susan hall, could be about to spnng susan hall, could be about to spring an almighty upset. Heres her rival sadiq khan, speaking on the campaign trail. Weve been both tough on the complex causes of crime, deprivation, alienation , deprivation, alienation, poverty, lack of opportunities and tough on the causes of crime, supporting the police whove made good progress. So weve invested in record numbers of youth clubs, youth workers , of youth clubs, youth workers, young people, but also the police. And so since 2016, notwithstanding, government austerity notwithstanding , our austerity notwithstanding, our population going up by more than a million homicides are down. Gun crime is down. Gun crime is down. The number of young people injured with a knife is down, burglaries down, according to the office for national statistics. Not my figures. The ons figures youre less likely to be the victim of violence in london than the rest of the country. Youre less likely to be injured as a consequence of violence in london than the rest of the country. Of the country. Right. Well, lord bailey pushed sher khan close in the 2012 2021 rather Mayoral Election , and he joins me now. Election, and he joins me now. Im delighted to say shaun , im delighted to say shaun, thank you very much for your company pleasure. I want to start off by asking you, do you feel susans being let down . Let down by perhaps some even within our own party sort of sneered at, do you think actually the media have done a fair bit of sneering . I know the Political Class within the labour party, theyve certainly done it. Wes streeting tweeted a win for susan hall and the conservatives is a win for racists, White Supremacists and islamophobes the world over. I mean , that the world over. I mean, that kind of rhetoric is just deeply alarming , is kind of rhetoric is just deeply alarming, is it not . Look where to start. Firstly, to address wes streeting comments, because for me personally, theyre a really offensive. One of the growing trends in london is the fact that communities are at each others throats. And its comments like that from people like wes streeting that dont help. I was born and raised in london. Im 52 years old. Racism now is more of an issue between communities than its ever been, and i believe its the likes of wes, who, on one end are seen as respectable and knowledgeable, pumping nonsense like this very offensive statement. And id say to wes , does he consider me a to wes, does he consider me a white supremacist because dont . Well , you know, i really well, you know, i really dont consider myself that. No. And i think its offensive to do that. Thats the first thing i think on a, on a sort of more personal level. Susan hall is a colleague of mine. And yes, she colleague of mine. And yes, she is not your very slick politician. Shes never claimed to be. She doesnt want to be. Susan is a woman who listens to people. Susan is a feisty woman. Susans a woman about family , susans a woman about family, about safety. And thats what shes been trying to portray through her campaign. Shes had so many sinner attacks. People saying if there was a better candidate, well, ill tell you something now, as someone who fought to be mayor for three years, a very Long Campaign , years, a very Long Campaign, ive looked at what susan has done. And i tell you right now, shes worked her socks off. And when the media, the Mainstream Media treated her very badly, as they do most tory candidates, she did a very clever thing of switching to a guerrilla campaign. And what i mean by thatis campaign. And what i mean by that is she went to the doorsteps. So if she runs sadiq khan close now, its a demonstration of her smart political nous, because she started knocking on doors in huge numbers to say to people, thats what theyre saying about me. This is what im saying about myself. And i think thats been effective. Now. Some people would argue shes had a gaffe laden campaign. I mean, would you agree with that, those sentiments, or do you think actually shes been pretty decent . What id say is actually its a double standard if youre a tory, almost anywhere in the country and definitely in london, you are treated differently by the press. Thats a fact. And if they pick up all the supposed gaffes, shes had fine , i get it. Well, why have fine, i get it. Well, why have they not done the same to sadiq khan . Hes had many a gaffe. Hes had many things go wrong and he seems to just, you know, he seems to glide across it. I remember one of my colleagues saying hes teflon. And another colleague interjected saying, actually, the press are defending him. Thats how most of the Mainstream Press have supported him, really, by not pointing out his gaffes in a way they may have done susans. Do you know, i was really struck by an interview, a debate rather between the two of them and, susan hall raised the point of saying you know, there are people Walking Around the streets of london with machetes for goodness sake. And sadiq khans reply was a very , sort of khans reply was a very, sort of sharp and snappy. Well its not an episode of the wire. London isnt an episode of the wire, as if susan hall was talking absolute nonsense, but there are people who wont come to london from my part of the world. Jenny finley, fearful that london is awash with crime. And theyre correct. Lets be very clear, sadiq khan sneered. Dismissive tone khan sneered. Dismissive tone shows something he doesnt understand crime. I remember when he first became tried to become mayor, he ran on a campaign that hed get rid of, stop and search, etc, etc. And he did that. He really lowered the figures. But what he did was make sure we had two record years for teenage knife deaths. Thats under him. Weve had a massive spike in crime. So when susan says, actually, we need to look at whats going on in the street. When i ran my campaign, i said, we need to do much more stop and search. He misunderstood. He was saying stop and search is not effective for boosting arrest number. Its not about arrest numbers , its not about arrest numbers, its about presence. Its about showing people if youre nervous and you carry a knife, youll get caught by the police. If youre out and out, villain and youre out and out, villain and you carry enough, youll get caught by the police. This reduces the temperature on the street and the fact that he doesnt know that its cost lives in london and thats sneering for me, its so its so painful because in the black community in particular, our teenagers have been murdered at such a rate. And its because we need a mayor who gets on top of that crime. All right. How much did just briefly, how much do you think actually gaza has impacted upon sadiq khans vote . I think very little. In some communities. It is really , communities. It is really, really important, but in most communities it isnt a subject that would change their vote, sadiq khan talked about it a bit in the beginning, but i think this, this election here is about ulez. Its about safety in london, and its about how much it costs to live in london. Thats really what people are voting on. Yeah i mean theyll on those points. Then the ulez 1250 a day for people who perhaps dont have 1250 a day, to be frank. Now, many in other parts of the country are saying this is just a plan to get people out of their cars. No part of an overall green agenda. And then overall green agenda. And then secondly, i mean, building houses. Secondly, i mean, building houses. Hes promised the land houses. Hes promised the land of milk and honey that hasnt happened. Look, to address those two things. The mayor only hit his housing target because he went back to the government and negotiated downwards twice. The government were very generous to him and lowered the target, but he never mentioned that once. He all he did was say , well, all he did was say, well, theyve missed their own target. Well, theyre a bit tougher on their own target than it was on his. He has failed to deliver housing in london. Ill say one more thing in his favour. It is tough. It is tough. But he definitely could have done better. For instance, he keeps asking for more money. He hasnt spent the £4 billion theyve given him already. So you know , given him already. So you know, spend that and then ask for more would be my would what i say about that with the ulez . Its simple. Sadiq khan didnt understand that london isnt an island. London is connected to the whole country , particularly the whole country, particularly the whole country, particularly the southeast of the country, and the economy of the outer london boroughs relies on that exchange of people and goods. Exchange of people and goods. And he disrupted that. And thats why people are so angry. Thats why people are so angry. And thats before you get into the disruption its made to families, charities and just generally moving around in london. And you saw in shrewsbury election, it made a material difference. And i think its one of the big things where its one of the big things where its allowed susan to get much closer because she was aware of it, because she listened. Yeah. I mean, do you think if bofis yeah. I mean, do you think if boris had stood again in uxbndge boris had stood again in uxbridge that he would have won that seat on that . Absolutely, liz. He would. He would have won because hes boris. I want to be very clear, part of the mess that the tory party is in now. Yeah. Was done when we removed bofis. Yeah. Was done when we removed boris. Lets make no mistake, boris. Lets make no mistake, one of the biggest majorities weve had since the second world war. It was something to do with bofis. War. It was something to do with boris. If you look at the boris. If you look at the council Election Results, they have been pretty bad to say the least. Luckily, boris was so affected. We started from a high affected. We started from a high point so weve lost some and my heart goes out to those councils. But he won in 2012, right . With some people saying maybe he wouldnt do it. But in 2012, turnout was low and with turnouts low today as well , its turnouts low today as well, its the lowest since 2012. And that actually helps the conservatives doesit actually helps the conservatives does it not . Look, a lower turnout suggests that it would help susan, but we have to we have to be careful because is that a low turnout across the board, which basically means stalemate is a lower turnout and a conservative vote, because people want to send a message before the general election . We dont know. Ispoke general election . We dont know. I spoke to members of susans team and they said, look, were cautiously optimistic. We ran our campaign , we hit our goals. Our campaign, we hit our goals. We are now just seeing what londoners think. So lets see how that low turnout affects. All right. Well see. Sean because neither of us, unfortunately, are mystic meg. My crystal ball i know i left it in. I left it in my bag. I left it in my bag. Youll have to bring it next time. I will do you a shaun bailey. Thank you very much for your time. Now, folks. Youre with me. Darren grimes on gb news saturday. Weve got lots more coming up on todays show. Our reform , plotting a takeover our reform, plotting a takeover of the conservative party while john redwood mp will join me to give his analysis on a set of bleak Election Results for the conservatives. Youre with gb news, britains news channel. Welcome back to gb news saturday with me. Darren grimes on your tv, online and on digital radio. Thanks, as ever, for your company. Now the conservatives have suffered their worst set of local Election Results in over 40 years. And if the polls are to be believed, they could face a wipe out at the next general election. Well, joining me now is the political commentator matthew stadlen. Matthew, the matthew stadlen. Matthew, the interesting element for me is the fact that youve got the green party nibbling at the labour vote. Shaun bailey just said that thats the interesting dynamic in this election. That could have hurt sadiq khan. But youve also got the reform vote in parts of the country evidently nibbling away at the conservative partys vote. Do you think actually there is going to be a fracturing of the main Political Parties , or is main Political Parties, or is this just back to politics as normal . I think labour of the two parties are clearly in better shape. They no doubt are concerned about some of the very, very early statements made about the war in gaza. What i would think most believe was a slip up on the part of keir starmer when he was talking about International Law and aid and switching off gas and electricity. And so forth. So that that has obviously had some impact on the vote. But by far the bigger question is , come the general question is, come the general election, what sort of damage will reform due to the conservative vote . Well, lets ask a man who may have 1 or 2 interests in this very question. Joining me now is the former minister and conservative mp, john redwood. I conservative mp, john redwood. I mean, john, do you agree with matthews analysis there . Do you think actually reform are your biggest threat when it comes to securing and keeping hold of seats . You already have . Seats . You already have . Well, when you get to a general election, people have to make a real choice and the choice will be between a labour led government by starmer or a conservative government. And i think in that context , and i think in that context, people, of a conservative disposition would be very wise to go with the conservative party even though theyre critical of it at the moment when you have by elections or local elections and people are faced with the choice between reform and conservative, some vote reform because they think that will, persuade the conservative party to be more conservative. And i can understand why they do that, but i dont think they would want to do that in a general election, because they would end up with a Labour Government. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, john, a lot of the comments from our viewers are saying things like, im so tired, sick and tired of being told not to for vote reform because that will harm the conservative party theyre saying, why doesnt the conservative party just offer us a prospectus that we can actually vote for . Dare i say , actually vote for . Dare i say, be conservative again . Thats what theyre saying, john. Well, i very much in favour of that. As you you well know, and ive put forward a lot of conservative ideas , being of conservative ideas, being of goodwill towards conservative government because i was elected as a conservative mp and im hoping they will adopt more of them. Theyve adopted some of them in the last few weeks , which is in the last few weeks, which is very welcome. I think the climate realism is a step in the right direction. Both what the Prime Minister and the secretary of state has said is a Welcome Change from the impractical and damaging net zero policies of the left wing parties. They are now tax cutters. Weve had two fiscal events with tax cuts. I think we need a third one before the general election. Ive got ideas on how you pay for those tax cuts and how they should not just relate to people at work, but also savers and pensioners and a number of issues over standing up to wokery , where standing up to wokery, where some of the ministers are now saying the right thing. So i think the government is on a journey which i and conservatives think is very necessary one. But i repeat the point. Im not lecturing people on how they vote. Im a great believer in democratic will of the people. Theyll all come to their own decisions. But john, it would be a bit odd if they all decided well have to leave it there. John, over government running out of time. Thank you very much for your time, though. As ever, youre with me. Darren grimes on gb news saturday. Lots more coming up on todays show. First of all though, were going have a though, were going to have a look the weather. Look at the weather. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news. Hello there. Welcome to your latest weather for gb news. Its a mixed outlook , largely its a mixed outlook, largely cloudy over the next 24 hours, particularly across the north of the uk. Best of the sunshine in the south. Why . Well generally low pressure dominates the weather pattern. This system bringing some heavier rain through bank houday some heavier rain through Bank Holiday Monday , showers holiday monday, showers elsewhere and through the rest of the day. Weve got this area of the day. Weve got this area of cloud across Northern Ireland, Northern England into scotland, giving some showery outbreaks of rain. This heavy at times clearing skies overnight elsewhere with light winds. Elsewhere with light winds. Well see some mist and fog patches forming later on. This weather system starts to increase the cloud and bring some rain across the Far Southwest under the clear skies. Temperatures in single figures, so a chilly start to sunday morning. Some mist and fog patches quickly clearing , then patches quickly clearing, then plenty of sunshine through this central swathe of the uk. It central swathe of the uk. It remains generally cloudy across Northern Ireland, Northern England and scotland through the day. Some patchy rain possible here. Some heavier showers later and this weather system slowly pushes northeastwards inland a little further, bringing cloud and rain to some southern parts of england and wales and the best of the sunshine. Temperatures approaching 19 or 20 celsius under the cloud, still feeling quite chilly and a misty, murky start to bank houday misty, murky start to Bank Holiday Monday. But again, this central part of the uk seeing the best of the sunshine as that morning mist and murk disappears. And then over the next few days well see High Pressure starting to build in. It will settle down. Well see more in the way of sunny spells and temperatures begin to rise. Looks like things are heating up. Boxt boilers spot hours of weather on gb news. Way hello and welcome to gb views saturday, im Darren Grimes, and for the next two hours, ill be keeping you company on tv, onune keeping you company on tv, online and on digital radio. Well keep you up to date on the stories that really matter to you coming up in this hour. Are we about to see one of the biggest shocks in british political history . Vie its political history . Vie its making brexit look like childs play. Its sadiq khan versus susan hall. Sources say its closer than anyone was expecting. But are the tories going to fall just short . Well bnng going to fall just short . Well bring you those results as soon as it happens. Now well also be of course , across the mayoral of course, across the mayoral results today with seven declarations taking place across england. Will andy street be victorious in the West Midlands . Victorious in the West Midlands . And then theres politics on the national scale. Has Starmers Labour Party lost . The muslim vote . Is the writing on the wall for rishi sunak . Wheres reformat . Were asking all of reformat . Were asking all of the Big Questions. Now this show is nothing without you and your views. Let me know your thoughts on all the stories well be discussing today by visiting gbnews. Com yoursay sandra has written in and sandra is a bit annoyed that i cut john redwood off. We were limited on time because were having some tech issues, so i do apologise for that, but well get john back in the not too distant future. Or you can tweet us on our socials folks, were gbnews. First of all though, heres your news with ray addison. With ray addison. Cheers, darren. Good afternoon. 1 01. Our top stories this hour. Sir keir starmer says the tories dont deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Thats after rishi sunak lost hundreds of councillors in the local elections. 103 of 107 councils have declared so far, with labour making major gains. Election expert sir john curtice says the final outcome could be the tories worst performance for 40 years, celebrating a mayoral victory in the east midlands, the labour leader said the tories time is up. I think the message here is very, very clear and i think across the east midlands theres been a sending of that message to the government, which is were fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure 14 years and im sorry i dont care which Political Party you support if you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Longer. Andrew griffiths is minister for science, innovation and technology. He told us the pubuc technology. He told us the public simply dont want labours policies. Look, its a difficult set of results. I look, its a difficult set of results. I think look, its a difficult set of results. I think that look, its a difficult set of results. I think that was look, its a difficult set of results. I think that was what results. I think that was what was expected going in. Theres going to be a very, very simple choice at the next election. Who walks through number 10, downing street . Is it rishi sunak with his plan thats starting to work now, or is it keir with with no plan or where they do have plans that dont really go with the grain of what the british people want. So keir starmer says he remains confident that sadiq khan can win a third term as london mayor. Thats as the battle with tory challenger susan hall appears to be closer than expected. The count is well than expected. The count is well underway and we could have a final result this afternoon. So far, mayor khans won greenwich and lewisham. Thats the first london borough to declare. In london borough to declare. In total, seven mayoral contests will be announced today. So far, labour has retained Liverpool City Region and South Yorkshire. A narrow contest is expected for conservative mayor andy street in the West Midlands. Well also be hearing from eight of ten contests for police and crime commissioner Boris Johnson has thanked polling staff who refused to let him vote without an id. The former Prime Minister was turned away from a polling station on thursday after he forgot valid identification. Writing in the daily mail, mr johnson said the three villagers were right to stick to the rules. The requirement to provide photo id was actually introduced by mrjohnson provide photo id was actually introduced by mr johnson when provide photo id was actually introduced by mrjohnson when he occupied number 10. A burst water main has left around 31,000 properties without Running Water in east sussex, causing a drastic impact on businesses. Southern water says businesses. Southern water says the disruption in Saint Leonards on sea and parts of hastings will continue into sunday. The issue was first reported thursday, forcing the company to open water bottle stations, schools, a Leisure Centre and a theatre in the area have all been forced to close. Dozens of been forced to close. Dozens of migrants in two small boats have crossed the channel today from france. Drone footage shows a france. Drone footage shows a french naval vessel following them until they reached english waters. Theyre largely male. Passengers were taken aboard a British Border force vessel off the coast of dover. More than 8000 people have arrived so far this year. Thats a new record for this period. Three people for this period. Three people have been charged after protesters blocked a coach taking Asylum Seekers to the bibby stockholm barge. The met Police Arrested 45 people after officers were called thursday morning to peckham, south east london. The demonstrators could be heard chanting no borders, no nafions be heard chanting no borders, no nations stop deportations. Three have now been charged with obstruction of the highway. Motorists are being warned to expect heavy traffic this bank houday expect heavy traffic this bank holiday weekend, according to the rac, around 3 million vehicles will take to the roads today alone. An increase in day trips and short breaks could mean local routes are congested. Also train strikes between tuesday and the following saturday could lead to most roads being busier than usual. And finally, the king is set to become the patron of the Royal British legion. Thats a role that the late queen held for more than 70 years. It follows a major review of more than a thousand royal patronages. Excuse me . Following the death excuse me . Following the death of Queen Elizabeth ii, charles will now be supporting a further 200 organisations. The decision comes as the Armed Forces Charity prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of the second world war. D day landings on june the 6th. Well, for all our top stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen right now, or go to gb news. Common shirts back now to. Darren. Now to. Darren. Thank you as ever, ray. Lets get stuck in todays topics. Now, those mayoral results are continuing to come in thick and fast across england today. The declaration in the West Midlands is fast approaching , where is fast approaching, where conservative andy street is fighting tooth and nail to be re elected. Well, joining me now from birmingham is gb news very own reporter, jeff moody geoff, whats the latest . Whats the latest . Well, as you say, counting is underway here. Were expecting the result in a couple of hours. What we do know at this early stage is, is that its very close. To give you some idea, close. To give you some idea, back in 2021, the last time this was fought, it was 54 for the tory candidate and 46 for laboun tory candidate and 46 for labour. But this time its expected to be a considerable amount closer than that. Well the front runner who we still think is going to win is andy street. Hes the conservative candidate. Hes been mayor here for the last two terms and hes been standing for a third term. And i think whats very interesting about andy street is that hes nicknamed brand andy. His campaign has been very much about him and about what he has done for the West Midlands, not so much about his role within the conservative party. In fact, if you look at his leafleting , if you look at his leafleting, you wouldnt even know that he was a conservative. Theres no blue on it at all. Its all branded in a nice green colour. And he talks exclusively about what he has done for the area, his achievements in the past two terms and they have been great. Hes been many people do believe he has been a very successful mayor hes brought a lot of business and enterprise into the area too, and quite crucially, hes not charged a mayoral tax. Hes he has the power to charge a mayoral tax, but he hasnt done so in the last two terms. And he says hes not going to in the next term. Two, hes very, very good on transport. A lot of people are saying lots of work on buses. Hes got a very good record on housing, too. Hes he claims hes very proud of the fact that hes only built houses on brownfield sites. Now, one of on brownfield sites. Now, one of the things that he has said, his main message in the run up to today, he says, you either get me or you get Birmingham City council. Now what he means by that, of course, is Birmingham City council was labour run and has recently declared itself bankrupt , as has recently declared itself bankrupt, as we has recently declared itself bankrupt , as we know. So hes bankrupt, as we know. So hes basically saying, look, if you go with the labour candidate, you get more of the same bankruptcy. Well, the labour bankruptcy. Well, the labour candidate who is certainly snapping at his heels is Richard Parker. He says, look, thats absolutely rubbish. The reason Birmingham City council went bankrupt is because funding was, was was capped and dropped from westminster from the tory government. Thats why he himself has a very good record in business. He was ceo of john lewis , very proud of that lewis, very proud of that record. But what i think is interesting about him is looking to see whether his campaign will be marred by the middle east, a labour campaigner said on twitter a couple of days ago its the middle east, not the West Midlands, that will have won andy street, the mayoral team, once again, hamas are the real villains. Well, that tweet was very quickly taken down and, labour itself has been distancing itself from that tweet, first of all, because it kind of concedes defeat very early on, but also because it its claiming that people are moving away from labour because of the middle east. Well, if they are moving away from laboun they are moving away from labour, theyll move towards the independent. Ahmed yaqoob. Hes independent. Ahmed yaqoob. Hes standing on a pro palestinian ticket, so it will be very interesting to find out exactly how big his support is and how much he has taken away from laboun much he has taken away from labour. We should hopefully know at all at around 3 00 this afternoon. All right geoff, thanks ever so for that brilliant analysis. Well see what happens in a couple of hours now folks. As well as that, the london mayoral results, theyre on a knife edge between sadiq khan and susan hall. Could ulez be about to catch up with sadiq khan now joining me is gb news Political Correspondent, olivia utley. Correspondent, olivia utley. Olivia. Ive just seen there theres been a swing from to labour the conservatives in some of the latest Election Results. Of the latest Election Results. There has been a swing from, theres been a swing in sadiq khans favour in a couple of the inner london constituencies , inner london constituencies, lewisham and greenwich among them. It is now looking pretty good for sadiq khan, sources have told gb news from the sadiq khan team that they are pretty chipper at the moment. Khan team that they are pretty chipper at the moment. There khan team that they are pretty chipper at the moment. There was a lot of excitement late last night about susan hall potentially , snatching victory potentially, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat , but from the jaws of defeat, but that has all died down a little bit this morning. There are swings of 4. 5 and 5 to sadiq khanin swings of 4. 5 and 5 to sadiq khan in wandsworth and merton and greenwich and lewisham, respectively. If we see swings respectively. If we see swings like that across the rest of london, then it looks like its going to be a pretty easy win for sadiq khan. Of course, it is quite possible that in some of those outer london constituencies, the doughnut constituencies, the doughnut constituencies, as theyre called in in bromley, bexley, dagenham, the conservative vote could go up because of, as you mentioned, ulez ulez is deeply, deeply unpopular. And susan hall, the conservative candidate has been campaigning on a very much anti ulez ticket. So it much anti ulez ticket. So it could be that she increases her share of the vote in areas like that, but it now looks as though to win this Mayoral Election, she would have to get very , very she would have to get very, very lucky and some really extraordinary things would have to happen in the remaining constituencies. Left to declare , constituencies. Left to declare, all right, olivia utley will be coming back to you. Ive no doubt about that. Thank you very much as ever. Joining me now, though , is my joining me now, though, is my fellow saturday five presenters, Albie Amankona and Benjamin Butterworth. Now folks, i mean, heanng butterworth. Now folks, i mean, hearing that there that excitement does seem ipp to have died down ever so slightly , died down ever so slightly, perhaps this happens every time. Doesit perhaps this happens every time. Does it not . Where theres a flutter of excitement saying, oh, could they do it . Shaun bailey i remember the same things being said about him. Well , exactly. I think look, well, exactly. I think look, we will find out the results of what happened with the london Mayoral Election later on today. I think , as our colleague olivia i think, as our colleague olivia said, it is looking more difficult for susan hall to find a path to victory. Now but i think just from my perspective, of course, as someone who is on the centre right of british politics and has looked at sadiq khans record over his time as mayor, it looked like londoners are going to be rewarding failure because ultimately what has sadiq khan actually achieved dunng has sadiq khan actually achieved during his time in as london mayor . Were seeing sky high levels of crime , sky low levels levels of crime, sky low levels of housebuilding, the nightlife in london is completely dead after 11 00, despite the fact hes paying his knight chief zaha, £116,000 a year to do what i dont really know. So i think for a lot of us who were quite excited last night when we heard those rumours about perhaps it being quite close and now feeling quite disappointed now, i mean, Benjamin Butterworth , i mean, Benjamin Butterworth, have you rewarded failure . Well, look , i mean, its well, look, i mean, its interesting because there has been a swing towards sadiq khan in merton and wandsworth now olivia utley is obviously right that in inner london, but its an area that until quite recently was more conservative than labour. Its a part of london that the conservatives should win because its quite wealthy. Its a bit older, its quite middle class. And so if susan hall is doing worse than shaun bailey did there for the tories three years ago, then thats a sign that i think the kind of Extraordinary Results in outer london arent going to happen. Now the difference in turnout between bexley and bromley out of london and tower hamlets, probably the safest place for labourin probably the safest place for labour in london. Well, its 17 labour in london. Well, its17 higher in the more tory area than the more labour area. So that does suggest that if shes done well there, it could be much closer than expected. I think the reality is that it looks like sadiq khan will probably win based on the earliest indications, but labour in london has been receiving poll numbers higher than it did in the 1990s under blair. For the last couple of years. And i suspect what youll see today is a much closer margin between the tories and labour for mayor than what labour is. Polling generally , which would polling generally, which would say that sadiq khan isnt personally popular. Ill be on that point that you heard earlier from jeff moody where someone within labour had said, if actually andrew street wins it, itll be hamas that won it for the conservatives. I mean , others conservatives. I mean, others have actually challenged that and declared it as racism by suggesting that theres an entire bloc of voters who will only vote one way. Where do you stand on that . Do you think it stand on that . Do you think it was a racist statement to make, or do you think actually theres an element of truth to it . I believe it might have even been a labour mp who called it out as being racist. If i remember correctly. Look, it seems to me a little bit of an odd comment to say that if a tory person wins the mayoralty of the West Midlands , it is a of the West Midlands, it is a win for hamas. Its not a win for hamas, its a win for the conservative party. And i think weve got to be very careful in the United Kingdom not to start importing this sectarian style politics from abroad. All right. There is a independent candidate in the West Midlands who is pro palestine and who is doing very well with a certain demographic demographic of voters in the West Midlands, but ultimately they are voting against a Foreign Policy decision that a British Government has made. And perhaps if a British Government made a different Foreign Policy decision, that candidate wouldnt be so attractive. So i worry about when people start saying things like, its a win for hamas, when actually what theyre voting against is a british Foreign Policy decision. But benjamin, you must be worried, though, about the religious sectarian element, given that George Galloway campaigning exclusively , it campaigning exclusively, it seems to me anyway, on a ticket. And he said explicitly , this is and he said explicitly, this is for gaza. He did. He did. And in rochdale the seat that he won not long ago, he said were going to wipe labour off the map where labour won. I forget where its 42 or 44 of the 60 seats on that council. So he won two councillors there. So i think while labour definitely has problems with apathy and opposition from sections of the Muslim Community that had always usually voted for labour, theres definitely been eaten away at. But actually its not nearly as significant as people like George Galloway tried to claim. Look at burnley, where lots of labour councillors, i think ten labour councillors, i think ten labour councillors, i think ten labour councillors resigned in opposition to labours position on gaza. Well, actually labour won several of those seats back with the people. They replaced the defectors with. All right, okay, ive got a statement here from the labour party. A spokesman has said the labour party has strongly condemned this racist quote, which has not come from anyone who is speaking on behalf of the party or whose values are welcome in the party. Well sadiq khan. The welcome in the party. Well sadiq khan. The us defended his record as mayor. Heres what he had to say. Say. Weve been both tough on the complex causes of crime, deprivation , alienation, deprivation, alienation, poverty, lack of opportunities, and tough on the causes of crime, supporting the police whove made good progress. So whove made good progress. So weve invested in record numbers of youth clubs, youth workers , of youth clubs, youth workers, young people, but also the police. And so since 2016, notwithstanding, government austerity notwithstanding , our austerity notwithstanding, our population going up by more than a million homicides are down. Gun crime is down. The number of young people injured with the knife is down, burglaries down, according to the office for national statistics. Not my figures. The ons figures youre less likely to be the victim of violence in london than the rest of the country. Youre less likely to be injured as a consequence of violence in london than the rest of the country. Country. All right, now, time for the latest Great British giveaway. Its our biggest cash prize to date. Its an incredible £20,000 date. Its an incredible £20,000 in tax free cash and it could be all yours. Heres the details. You need to enter the next Great British giveaway winner. Could be you with a massive £20,000 in tax free cash to be won. Imagine how youd react getting that winning call from us. Us. Hi, my names phil cox and i won the Great British giveaway. Id say why not . Its what . What is it . The price of a text and £2 to enter. And if i can win it , anybody can win it. And theyre going to get even more money this time round. So why wouldnt you go in the draw for another chance to win £20,000 in tax free cash . Tax free cash . Text win to 63232. Text cost £2 plus one Standard Network rate message or post your name and number to gb05, po box 8690. Derby de19, double t, uk only entrants must be 18 or over. Lines closed at 5 pm. On the sist lines closed at 5 pm. On the 31st of may. Full terms and Privacy Notice at gbnews. Com win. Please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. Good luck. Watching on demand. Good luck. Well, hey, youre all the gb views are coming in thick and fast there. It always happens when Benjamin Butterworths on the come up. Now youre with me, Darren Grimes on gb news saturday. Lourdes moore coming up. Can saturday. Lourdes moore coming up. Can londoners survive another term of mayor sadiq khan 7 another term of mayor sadiq khan . And should labour be cock a hoop at their performance in the local elections . Im going to speak to a former labour minister, Shaun Woodward, next. You dont want to miss that. All of that and more to come. Youre with gb news. Britains news channel. Welcome back to gb news saturday with me, Darren Grimes. On your tv, online and on digital radio. Now, lots of you have been getting in touch. Sending in your thoughts. Yours are buzzing. Online are layers is written in. I dont know where les is from in the country, but les says you would have to pay me mega bucks to live in lawless london or even to visit it. And thats a sentiment that i hear from anecdotally from many members of my own family. Anecdotally from many members of my own family. And actually my own family. And actually basically susan said , london is basically susan said, london is really abysmal at the moment, and she dreads the fact of another four years of sadiq khan others. Theres i support, others. Theres i support, obviously, from the likes of Benjamin Butterworth for the record of the mayor over the past few years, and a lot of people are concerned about the rise of, of religious sectarianism and whether or not thats playing a role in the vote and makeup and voting decisions up and down the country. Is gaza having more of country. Is gaza having more of an impact than perhaps issues pertaining to the british people and british local electorates . Miss said that they removed all assets from london and got the hell out. Khan has completely hell out. Khan has completely destroyed it. Harsh words indeed. But keith says if london votes khan, you get what you deserve. So, theres no forgiveness from keith now, folks, let me know all of your thoughts. Throughout on the stories weve been discussing, you can visit gbnews. Com forward slash your say join that conversation. There i am getting involved. Or message me on our socials gbnews now. Yesterday labour were celebrating big victories in the blackpool south by election and the Mayoral Elections in places such as york and North Yorkshire and the nonh and North Yorkshire and the north east. Heres keir starmer speaking today in the east midlands, where they were also victorious. Victorious. I think the message here is very, very clear and i think across the east midlands theres been a sending of that message to the government, which is were fed up with your division , were fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure. 14 years and im sorry, i dont care which Political Party you support if you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Longer. Well, lets find out what my guests thinks. Joining me now is the former labour mp and secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Shaun Woodward. Sean, thank you very much for your company. What have you made of the results . So far . I mean, do you think its sirjohn the results . So far . I mean, do you think its sir john curtice predicted, you know, complete annihilation potentially of the conservatives. Do you think actually theyve done better with results like ben houchen, dare i say in tees valley . Okay. Dare i say in tees valley . Okay. I think its been a pretty good set of results for keir starmer and for the labour party under his leadership. I mean, weve seen an extraordinary result again in blackpool. That result a 20 swing to labour, weve seen that now as a pattern. Its the fifth by election where weve seen swings of that kind. I think weve also got to remember , weve also got to remember, darren, that, you know, these are taking place not in the middle of a parliament. Theyre not mid term. This is on the eve of a general election. And i think there is a pattern here. And the pattern, i think fundamentally, is that people are fed up with the government. They think the tories have failed and its time for a change. And i think whatever way you carve this, however you look at it, and of course you can pick out extreme examples of a result in teesside, for example, which is a good result for the conservatives. But at the end of the day, these are one and a few amongst a pattern which is not in the conservative partys favour. Theyve lost 500 councillors nearly, theyve lost 12 councils. Theyre doing very, very badly. And of course the reform party is making that worse for them. So theres no worse for them. So theres no complacency here. I think the labour party, after the terrible defeat suffered under jeremy corbyn, is clearly back in the game at the next general election in a very competitive place. But i think election in a very competitive place. But i think keir and election in a very competitive place. But i think keir and the place. But i think keir and the whole labour party takes nothing for granted at this point. Yeah, i mean, sean, janets just written in and janet says, sorry, i have to mute starmer. He sounds like a drone. I mean, do you think that there is a groundswell of love and admiration for sir keir starmer, or is there just a real falling out of love and favour with the conservative party well, by and large, in general elections , governments general elections, governments lose them, oppositions dont win them. And if you look at the history of britain in the last 50 years, thats the way it goes , but i do think that keir starmer is onto a number of things when he talks about what he wants to do with the country. And i think the country has made a verdict on the conservative party and no matter what rishi sunak has done in the last year , sunak has done in the last year, weve seen all of his attempts to effectively bribe the electorate in budgets fail. Weve seen his policies fail. Weve seen his policies fail. Weve seen his boats policy fail. Weve seen his rwanda fail. Weve seen his rwanda policy, which is absolutely absurd in terms of dealing with the hundred thousand plus people in the backlog. Its never going to touch that. That was delayed and pretty much looks like a failure. I think the country does feel the conservative party has run out of steam, run out of ideas , and its very divided. Ideas, and its very divided. And i think weve only got to look at the reform party , which look at the reform party, which is haemorrhaging large numbers of supporters from the conservative party to see that in many ways, if rishi sunak doesnt go to the polls very soon, and that would be my advice. And im saying that because the longer he leaves it, the stronger i think reform will become in the country that will divide the conservative voting constituencies. And in our first past the post system, that means the other parties will probably do a great deal better, and the major party that will do best in thatis major party that will do best in that is the labour party. Yeah. Where are you at, sean . Yeah. Where are you at, sean . On the idea that the comment that was made by someone within connected to the labour party, that actually saying, you know, the hamas comment actually it will be hamas what won it for andy street. And that was actually viewed as a racist comment. Where do you stand on that . Well, i think it was a stupid remark to make, look whats happening in the middle east is, is deeply upsetting. Whichever side you may sit on. I mean, the fact of the matter is, we need an immediate ceasefire, in that area of the world. We need to see the hostages released. And lets remember again, in all of this, there are still hostages which have been taken in october of last year, and they still havent been released. And we know that a number have died while theyve been held. So lets not forget about those hostages , too. And on all of hostages, too. And on all of this, keir starmer has laid out a message for the labour party and very, very clearly from some of the results we saw yesterday, some people dont like it, dont agree with it. That doesnt mean to say the message should change. It doesnt mean to say the policy should change and the policy is clear. We need a ceasefire immediately. Now in gaza, we need to stop the murder. In some cases, the deaths of many, many women and children. That has to end. We need humanitarian aid in there, but we also need the hostages released and what we need to effectively have, therefore, is a Peace Process. And as somebody a Peace Process. And as somebody who conducted the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, however difficult it may be, i believe it is possible. But that doesnt it is possible. But that doesnt mean to say that keir starmer is wrong to have sent the message hes done. Okay. All right. I mean, i can foresee a lot of divisions over that. Sean. I dont think its going to be a nest of singing birds, put it that way, because i think youre absolutely right. Youre absolutely right. Youre absolutely right, sean. We are going to have to leave it there, though, unfortunately. But thank you very much for your time. Thats Shaun Woodward there. Former Northern Ireland secretary. Now folks. So with gb secretary. Now folks. So with gb news with me, Darren Grimes gb news with me, Darren Grimes gb news saturday, theres massive results from the Mayoral Election still to come. Were election still to come. Were going to be crossing live to manchester in just a few moments. And ill be asking , moments. And ill be asking, does camilla deserve to be known as queen or queen consort . Where do you stand on that . Let me know. First of all, though, know. First of all, though, heres the news with ray addison i good afternoon. 131 im ray addison in the gb newsroom. Our addison in the gb newsroom. Our top stories sir keir starmer says the tories dont deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Thats after rishi sunak lost hundreds of councillors in the local elections. Currently, the local elections. Currently, 103 of 107 councils have declared so far, with labour making major gains. Election experts sir john curtice says the final outcome could be the tories worst performance for 40 years. Sir keir starmer says he remains confident that sadiq khan can win a third term as london mayor, as has the battle with tory challenger susan hall appears to be closer than previously expected. The count previously expected. The count is well underway and we could have a final result soon. So far, mayor khan has won greenwich and lewisham. Thats the first london borough to declare. In total, seven mayoral contests are being announced today, with labour already retaining Liverpool City Region and South Yorkshire two. A narrow contest is expected for conservative mayor andy street in the West Midlands. Conservative mayor andy street in the West Midlands. Well also in the West Midlands. Well also be hearing from eight of ten contests for police and crime commissioner. Contests for police and crime commissioner. A burst water main commissioner. A burst water main has left around 31,000 properties without Running Water in east sussex, causing a drastic impact on businesses there. Southern water say the disruption in Saint Leonards on sea and parts of hastings will continue into tomorrow. The issue first started on thursday , issue first started on thursday, forcing the company to open water bottle stations, schools , water bottle stations, schools, Leisure Centre and a theatre in the area have all been forced to close and dozens of migrants in two small boats have crossed the channel today from france. Drone channel today from france. Drone footage shows a french naval vessel following them until they reached english waters. Theyre largely male. Passengers were taken aboard a British Border force vessel off the coast of dover. Force vessel off the coast of dover. For the latest stories, dover. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. Com alerts. Thank you very much, ray. Now remember, folks, let me know your thoughts on all the stories weve been discussing today by visiting gbnews. Com forward slash kwasi. Join the conversation there or message me on our socials. Were gbnews 2020. For a battleground yeah the year the nation decides. The year the nation decides. The year the nation decides. As the parties gear up their campaigns for the next general election. Who will be left standing when the british people make one of the biggest decisions of their lives . Who will rise and who will fall . Lets find out together. Lets find out together. For every moment. The highs, the lows, the twists and turns, well be with you for every step of this journey. In 2024. Gb news is britains election. Channel. Welcome back to gb news saturday with me, Darren Grimes and not dawn neesom. I promise im not selfies identifying this weekend. What . Where on your tv onune weekend. What . Where on your tv online and on digital radio. Lots of you have been sending in your thoughts. Thank you very much for doing so. Tim says we are free to vote reform, but we all know that this time around, it will not make much difference. We may have to hold our conservative noses for maybe even two terms of labour and a lot of you are actually irate about the idea that we should call camilla, Queen Camilla and not queen consort camilla, which a lot of you are identifying as the wishes of our late and great Queen Elizabeth the second. And jennifer says a lot of people have left london because of what khan has done. If he wins london again, it will be finished completely. Just very briefly, completely. Just very briefly, wombat says the recent tweet from wes streeting regarding a vote for susan hall tells you all you need to know about labouh all you need to know about labour. That annoyed a lot of people now folks. Mayoral results will continue to come in thick and fast across england and over in manchester, the so called king of the north, andy burnham, has gone into battle at the ballot box, joining me from manchester is gb News Reporterjack joining me from manchester is gb News Reporter jack carson joining me from manchester is gb News Reporterjack carson award News Reporter jack carson Award Winning reporter. As i always say, jack, a pleasure to be with you. Whats the latest . You. Whats the latest . Well, really interesting actually. Over the last couple of hours what labour here at the council have been saying about just how well they believe andy burnham might well have done. Burnham might well have done. Certainly. Still, it does look like andy burnham will win a third term here in manchester. Got a big majority last time out in 2021, winning 67 of the vote here, winning by more than 300,000 votes. Turnout was low as it traditionally is in this local authority or Mayoral Authority election , only about authority election, only about 35 last year. Were awaiting to hear just what the turnout was this year. Labour kind of saying here that they dont believe andy burnham will do as well as 2021 and getting 67 of the vote. They do believe he has dropped down. They are. Did say dropped down. They are. Did say they were worried about a few wards particularly, around oldham. Now of course we saw in the local Election Results on friday and overnight from from thursday that there were some independent candidates using that International Issue of whats going on between israel and hamas that were taking votes away from labour. So theyre believing that there could be a few wards that andy burnham has lost support in, but still predicting that he will be, getting enough support, much enough support. They say good day for them would be between 50 to 60 of the vote share, but also interesting as well. Were also interesting as well. Were heanng also interesting as well. Were hearing that reform could well beat the conservatives here in manchester to second. Now weve not got proper confirmation just how well exactly theyve done. I mean, the conservatives only got around 20 of the vote last time out just because of, of course, how dominant andy burnham has been as manchester mayor. But of course that split between reform and the conservatives could well see a bit of a shock. Second place, here in manchester. But we are expecting the results very shortly. Very shortly. All right. Thank you very much. As ever there. Jack will come back to you later on. Joining me now from birmingham for the West Midlands Mayoral Election is gb News Reporter jeff moody. Geoff, has there been any movement , yes. Been any movement, yes. We think the votes have now been counted, but theyre being collated, which is taking some time. Were expecting the result time. Were expecting the result in possibly half an hour, possibly up to an hour. So it is fairly imminent at the moment, were still hearing that it is very, very close indeed. Just to give you some idea, back in 2021, it was 54 for the tory candidate and 46 for the labour candidate. Its expected to be considerably closer than that this time, but were still heanng this time, but were still hearing those rumours that andy street, the incumbent, will still have won. But exactly by how much we dont know. And of course, these things can change. These are just rumours that were hearing here on the ground , hes been mayor for two terms. This is now his third term. And of course, whats interesting about his campaign brand, andy, hes been known as , is that he hes been known as, is that he has really distanced himself from the conservative party, his whole branding, his whole campaign, his whole literature, all of the pamphlets and leaflets, theyre all a nice shade of green. There isnt a strip of blue on them. And interestingly, rishi sunak hasnt been to town. Hes not hasnt been to town. Hes not beenin hasnt been to town. Hes not been in the West Midlands, to try and shore up his candidate. So it really has been the case that that andy street has sort of distanced himself from the tories and has been looking very much at his own record, and he has quite a sizeable record. You know, hes been mayor here for two terms. Hes been pointing to all of the achievements that he has brought to the area. Hes brought a lot of business to the area. A lot of entrepreneurial entrepreneurs ship to, major strides with housing. You know, he promised to keep housing to brownfield sites, and he certainly succeeded in that. And all of these things hes done, hes done without having to raise any form of tax. He is entitled to, to raise a mayoral tax. But he hasnt done that for his first two terms. And he says that if he wins a third term, he wont either. His big campaign slogan, if you like, is, you know , if you vote, you either know, if you vote, you either get me or you get Birmingham City council. Now what of course, he means by that is Birmingham City council, which is labour recently declared itself bankrupt. So hes kind of saying that if you go for the labour candidate, Richard Parker, its more of the same with labour. But Richard Parker is saying, you know, thats really unfair. Its not is saying, you know, thats really unfair. Its not the really unfair. Its not the fault of the council or the fault of the council or the fault of the labour party, that there wasnt enough money coming from central government, a conservative government. Well, Richard Parker also has a strong reputation in business. He was the ceo of john lewis for a considerable amount of time. But itll be interesting to see how hampered his campaign has been by issues in the middle east. Very recently, a labour campaigner tweeted its the middle east, not the West Midlands, that will have won andy street the mayoralty once again. Hamas are the real again. Hamas are the real villains. Well, labour has distanced itself from that tweet completely, but it will be interesting to see how much of the vote goes to the independent candidate, ahmed yaqoob, who is standing on a pro palestinian ticket. So all to watch out for, particularly what it means and we should know within an hour or two. Absolutely. Theres a lot to scrutinise there. Jeff, thank you very much for taking us through that. Thats jeff moody there in the West Midlands folks. Heres are with me Darren Grimes on gb news saturday. Weve got lots more coming up on todays show, including this royal debate that has everyone divided. Does camilla deserved divided. Does camilla deserved to be known as queen Albie Amankona and Benjamin Butterworth go head to head on that sparks will fly. All of that sparks will fly. All of that and more to come. Youre with gb news, britains news welcome back to gb news saturday with me, Darren Grimes. On your tv, online and on digital radio. Now, the question im asking, and its got many of you very animated. Queen camilla or queen consort now, courtiers have debated the matter in the months before the coronation, with some being concerned that this would set a precedent for future generations of the royal family. Well, joining me to discuss this is my fellow saturday five presenters, Albie Amankona and Benjamin Butterworth. Ill be im going to start with you, but i must admit, i have been deeply impressed and actually quite moved at the way in which camilla has thrown herself into the role and performed, i think, a real service. Whilst his majesty the king has been out of pubuc majesty the king has been out of public duties during his cancer diagnosis. I completely agree. Queen i completely agree. Queen camilla, as she should be called and it is the tradition for the consort of the king, the wife of the king to be known as queen. And then their first name has done an amazing job. Essentially being the figurehead of the royal family during what has been a very difficult time with catherine, princess of wales is diagnosis of cancer and of course, his majesty the king. Charless diagnosis with cancer. And now theyre both, undergoing treatment and in recovery , thank treatment and in recovery, thank god. And the queen. Queen camilla has done an amazing job leading the royal family supporting the royal family and also serving as a figurehead to the country during what is a really difficult time, which is why i find that the fact that there was this discussion within there was this discussion within the palace about whether or not Queen Camilla should be known as Queen Camilla should be known as Queen Camilla should be known as Queen Camilla or queen consort is quite bizarre because we look to the royal family as sort of these beacons of tradition , and these beacons of tradition, and it is tradition that the wife of the king is known as the queen. Its as simple as that. Do you, benjamin . Do you think, actually, the problem here is, you know, i know, i know anecdotally , there know, i know anecdotally, there are still many members of my family who who hark back and say , well, i dont like what happened with princess diana. Happened with princess diana. And also, is there an element of respect for our late and great Queen Elizabeth ii in who allegedly reportedly said queen consort is how camilla should be known . I mean, ipp talks about tradition. You know, its tradition. You know, its tradition. You know, its tradition to have two people, not three in a marriage. And clearly, you know, diana famously felt that it was it was not a fair marriage. And it not a fair marriage. And it collapsed among the publics eyes. And i think thats why a lot of people, a lot of older people in this country in particular, who watch diana, the princess of wales, and fell in love with her and admired her and felt that she was mistreated by the then prince of wales, have found it uncomfortable. I think theres no real doubt from what you read, that charles always wanted her to have the straightforward title queen. The question was, was whether the pubuc question was, was whether the public would accept it and you know, this piece in the times, looking at it today, talks about that anxiety about whether they could convince the public that she is simply queen. Now. I think i found it very odd to call her the queen. I found it confusing because i dont think anybody that remembers the queen properly is the late queen. There you go. Its going to there you go. Its going to accept it. So i tried to call the Queen Camilla to distinguish, but i do think that the way shes behaved since they got married , the level of got married, the level of criticism that shes taken on the chin, her commitment to work in the last year, i think at the very least, its not the toxic question that it was just a couple of years ago. I think the pubuc couple of years ago. I think the public quite admire her. She comes across as quite to down earth, having a sort of work ethic that her late majesty would admire. Absolutely. I mean , its absolutely. I mean, its real. Its a real mixed bag of comments going on here because, you know, dianas commented in saying Queen Camilla, absolutely she back. But its not not that the latest princess a different diana. That would be a turnip diana. That would be a turnip for the books. Ive got my ouija board out now and actually some of the comments saying, well, francis says very curtly, i think a commoner should only be consort, never queen. Coiisoit, never queen. Consort, never queen. No, i couldnt disagree more with that comment. Look, the wife of the king is known as the queen. There was a time at the beginning of the late queens reign where there were actually three queens. There was queen mary, there was Queen Elizabeth, the queen mother, and there was the queen mother, and there was the queen, queen, the Queen Elizabeth, elizabeth the great, who has recently just passed away back in 2022. So the wife of the king is known as the queen. I completely understand what benjamin is saying and what some of our viewers and listeners are saying with regards to them not thinking that camilla should be known as the queen because of what happened with the late princess of wales, diana. But tradition of wales, diana. But tradition must live on and the wife of the king is known as the queen, whether theyre a commoner or not. But, you know, it was what . But, you know, it was what . February 2022, when her late majesty said that she hopes in the fullness of time shell be called queen consort when charles ascended to the throne, he referred to queen consort. And so, you know, i think it is understandable that some people will be angry that that seems to have been overturned, a sort of unilateral change of that. The difficulty is that it kind of depends on what people think of camilla as an individual. You know, the princess of wales. Catherine, i dont think many people would say that she should be called queen consort. She is a commoner. Referring to that email you just had. You know, shes from a supposedly a middle class family, a lot richer than anyone i know. But, you know, not aristocracy. And i think the problem that the palace faced is that if they said that camilla was to be queen consort, would you then have to do the same for catherine . You know, in the in maybe 20 years time . Hopefully. And i think that would set a precedent issue that would cause issues down the generations. And issues down the generations. And you can also imagine, you know, would catherine, would william turn around and say, hang on, you know, i want her to be called just the queen. Youre going to cause problems for us in a generations time. I mean, do you think prince harry has done the best pr job for Queen Camilla . Theres me saying it now for the queen or queen consort that he ever could have possibly , she ever could have possibly, she ever could have possibly, she ever could have possibly, she ever could have possibly imagined. Because i mean, him saying he dislikes or making out he dislikes camilla. Well, most nations saying, well, i quite agree with her with camilla on harry. I just think whats happened with prince harry and the duchess of sussex and the rest of the royal family is so sad. And look, i think it does mean that there are other members of the royal family who previously werent as popular looking more popular, perhaps, Queen Camilla. Well, folks, ill let you decide at home. Let us know what you think. Now, folks, were expecting to bring you the live results from the West Midlands and london in the next hour. Wait around for that. You wont want to miss it. First of all though, were going to get a look at the weather with greg dewhurst. Dewhurst. A brighter outlook with boxt solar. Sponsors of weather on. Solar. Sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Hello there welcome to your latest weather for gb news. Its a mixed outlook , largely cloudy a mixed outlook, largely cloudy over the next 24 hours, particularly across the north of the uk. Best of the sunshine in the uk. Best of the sunshine in the south. Why . Well generally low pressure dominates the weather pattern, this system bringing some heavier rain through a Bank Holiday Monday. Showers elsewhere and through the rest of the day. Weve got this area of cloud across Northern Ireland, Northern England into scotland, giving some showery outbreaks of rain. This heavy at times clearing skies overnight elsewhere with light winds. Well see some mist and fog patches forming later on. This weather system starts to increase the cloud and bring some rain across the Far Southwest under the clear skies. Temperatures in single figures, so a chilly start to sunday morning. Some mist and fog patches quickly clearing , then patches quickly clearing, then plenty of sunshine through this central swathe of the uk. It central swathe of the uk. It remains generally cloudy across Northern Ireland, Northern England and scotland through the day. Some patchy rain possible here. Some heavier showers later and this weather system slowly pushes northeastwards inland a little further, bringing cloud and rain to some southern parts of england and wales and the best of the sunshine. Temperatures approaching 19 or 20 celsius under the cloud, still feeling quite chilly and a misty, murky start to bank houday misty, murky start to Bank Holiday Monday. But again, this central part of the uk seeing the best of the sunshine as that morning mist and murk disappears. And then over the next few days well see High Pressure starting to build in. It will settle down. Well see more in the way of sunny spells and temperatures begin to rise. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsor of weather on gb news. Hello and welcome back to gb news saturday. Im Darren Grimes. Thank you very much for your company. For the next hour, ill be keeping you company on tv, online, and on digital radio. This show will keep you up to date on the stories that really matter to you. Coming up. This hour, its. Sadiq khan births. Susan hall sources say its closer than anyone was expecting , but its now looking expecting, but its now looking like its going to be labours day in the capital. Weve had one vote, another vote showing a 5 swing from conservative to labouh 5 swing from conservative to labour. Well bring you that result as it happens. Well of course be across all the major results today with seven declarations taking place across england. Can andy street hold on to the West Midlands for the tories were expecting that result in the next hour as well , result in the next hour as well, and as labour lose control of Oldham Council to independent candidates and asking for her, Starmers Party being punished over gaza and is the writing on the wall for rishi sunak. All of that and more to come in the next hour. Now, as that and more to come in the next hour. Now, as i that and more to come in the next hour. Now, as i hope that and more to come in the next hour. Now, as i hope you know, at home by now, this show is nothing without you and your views. Let me know your thoughts on all of the stories well be discussing today by visiting gbnews. Com. Forward slash your say join the conversation there or message us on our socials. Were gbnews. First of all though, its your News Headlines with ray allison. With ray allison. Thanks, darren. 201 our top stories this hour. Sir keir starmer says the tories dont deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Thats after rishi sunak lost hundreds of councillors in the local elections, 103 of 107 councils have now declared , with labour have now declared, with labour making major gains. Election experts sir john curtice says the final outcome could be the tories worst performance for 40 years, celebrating a mayoral victory in the east midlands, the labour leader said the tories time is up. I think the message here is very, very clear and i think across the east midlands theres been a sending of that message to the government, which is were fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure. 14 years and im sorry i dont care which Political Party you support if you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Longer. Andrew griffith is minister for science, innovation and technology. He told us the pubuc technology. He told us the public dont want labours policies. Look, its a difficult set of results. I think that was what was expected going in. Theres going to be a very, very simple choice at the next election. Who walks through number 10 downing street . Is it rishi sunak with his plan thats starting to work now, or is it keir with with no plan or where they do have plans that that dont really go with the grain of what the british people want. Of what the british people want. So keir starmer says he remains confident that sadiq khan can win a third term as london mayor. Thats as the battle with tory challenger susan hall was said to be closer than previously expected. The countis than previously expected. The count is now well underway and so far mayor khan has won the first few london boroughs to declare. But we could have a final result very, very soon. In total, seven mayoral contests are being announced today, with labour already retaining Liverpool City Region and South Yorkshire as well. A narrow contest is expected for conservative mayor andy street in the West Midlands. Conservative mayor andy street in the West Midlands. Well also in the West Midlands. Well also be hearing from eight of ten contests for police and crime commissioner Boris Johnson has thanked polling staff who refused to let him vote without an id. The former Prime Minister was turned away from a polling station on thursday after he forgot valid identification. Forgot valid identification. Writing in the daily mail, mr johnson said the three villagers were right to stick to the rules. The requirement to provide photo id was introduced by mr johnson when he occupied number 10, a burst water main has left around 31,000 properties without water in east sussex, causing a drastic impact on local businesses. Southern water says the disruption in Saint Leonards on sea and parts of hastings will continue into tomorrow. The will continue into tomorrow. The issue was first reported on thursday, forcing the company to open water bottle stations, schools , a Leisure Centre and schools, a Leisure Centre and a theatre in the area have all been forced to close. Dozens of migrants in two small boats have crossed the channel today from france. Drone footage showed france. Drone footage showed a french naval vessel following them until they reached english waters. Theyre largely male. Passengers were taken aboard a British Border force vessel off the coast of dover. More than 8000 people have arrived so far this year. Thats a new record for this period. Three people for this period. Three people have been charged after protesters blocked a coach taking Asylum Seekers to the bibby stockholm barge. The met Police Arrested 45 people after officers were called on thursday morning to peckham south east london. The demonstrators could be heard chanting no borders, no nafions be heard chanting no borders, no nations stop deportations. Three have now been charged with obstruction of the highway. Obstruction of the highway. Motorists are being warned to expect heavy traffic this bank houday expect heavy traffic this bank holiday weekend, according to the rac , around 3 million the rac, around 3 million vehicles will take to the roads today alone an increase in day trips and short breaks could mean local routes are congested. Also, train strikes between tuesday and the following saturday could lead to most roads being busier than usual, and the king is set to become the patron of the Royal British legion. Thats a role that the late queen held for more than 70 years. It follows a major review of more than a thousand royal patronages following the death of Queen Elizabeth ii. The decision comes as the Armed Forces Charity prepares to mark the 80th anniversary of the second world war. D day landings. On june sixth. Well, for the latest stories , you can for the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com slash alerts back now to. Darren. Thank you very much, ray. Lets get stuck in to todays topics. Sadiq khan appears to be pulling ahead in initial results in the london mayoral race. It was thought the result could be closer than polls suggested, but hopes are now fading that susan hall could pull off a shock victory. Well, joining me now to victory. Well, joining me now to give us the latest from city hall is gb news Political Correspondent olivia utley. Olivia, are you hearing that labour sources are calling it . Labour sources are calling it . I think we can safely say that sadiq khan has won the london Mayoral Election. He has won in five of the 14 london constituencies, including west central, somewhere where the conservatives won in 2021, and the south west of london, which is normally a lib dem stronghold. It is not even looking like its going to be very much closer than the polls were predicting. So it feels as though that wave of excitement about the possibility of a shock susan hall victory has very much died away. Now we should be absolutely sure in the next couple of hours, but sadiq khan is leading by 180,000 votes in london and on the whole swings towards the current incumbent mayor in in in solidly labour areas, there are swings of 5 towards sadiq khan. Why is that . Well, one reason is that the green vote, which has been very strong in other parts of the country in the local elections, has collapsed in london. That could be because the greens are turning towards sadiq khan because of his ulez policy, which has obviously been deeply unpopular among conservative voters. And it could simply be because in london this is very much a two horse race. And so all of the parties that swing vaguely towards the left, the lib dems, the greens, etc. Are all throwing their weight behind sadiq khan. It could be, too, that sadiq khan has been helped by the new voting system, which has eradicated second preferences. Could be that all of those left wing parties are now just pushing sadiq khan first in what is so clearly a two horse race. Whatevers happened, it seems pretty clear that sadiq khan has won in this race. And all of that excitement about the polls, perhaps about the results being closer than polls were predicting, doesnt really seem to have materialised. All right, olivia utley there. Thank you very much. Well come back to you for the official result. But as olivia says there, labour source is saying that sadiq khan has clinched it. For all the best analysis and opinion on that story and more, you can go to our website fox gb news. Com. Well joining me now is the president of the conservative Primrose League, henry bolton, and journalist and broadcaster Benjamin Butterworth. Benjamin helens written in and helen says, what have you done to benjamin. Hes starting to talk sense and be nice. Keep it up, sense and be nice. Keep it up, benjamin. I may have to start listening to you so. So theres listening to you so. So theres some praise from helen at home now. Im some praise from helen at home now. Im wondering then. Benjamin, are you about to disappoint helen . Are you happier than a sort of pig in muck now . Well , i muck now . Well, i think the thing about being a responsible journalist and commentator is that you say what you think and not what the audience wants. I mean, look , you know, i mean, look, you know, labour has declared victory. Obviously, the votes arent all counted , but theres a clear counted, but theres a clear indication, i think, in the last sort of hour , west central, one sort of hour, west central, one of the constituent parts of city hall, has voted for sadiq khan, having never elected, having never had a majority for labour over the tories before, the conservatives have always won. It is a very wealthy part of london. And so that says if those places are shifting towards labour, then the chances that susan hall, the tory candidate, can overcome that in outer london is nonsense. And i outer london is nonsense. And i dont think that should really be a surprise, because susan hall was an absolutely dire choice of candidate here is someone who has endorsed donald trump. That supported brexit, that had made, liked tweets complimenting enoch powell. Now people can have their views, but the idea that that was going to convince londoners to vote conservative over sadiq khan was an absolutely ridiculous hypothesis, and youre seeing the consequences of. So before i bring henry in, then would you associate with yourself rafe with wes streeting comments where he said before the election , a win for susan the election, a win for susan hall and the conservatives is a win for racists , white win for racists, White Supremacists and islamophobes the world over. The world over. Well, i think a lot of those people will have liked susan hall. Yes henry. I mean, come on, i think thats it was an outrageous comment to make. And i think its slightly outrageous for you to, to, to in any way defend it. If that had been the other way around for, you know, somebody on the centre right of politics had sent something of equivalent meaning and weight and insulting weight about sadiq khan, there would have been an absolute outcry. Theres which illustrates the fact theres a great deal of hypocrisy on the left. I think there is no need whatsoever to bandy about words like racist and so on, when there is actually no grounds for doing so, somebody expresses an opinion that is not racist, but you dont like it, so you label it negatively because you want to try and gain the ascendancy in election. That is , is in election. That is, is a person who has no integrity, no honesty , and frankly, is the honesty, and frankly, is the sort of reason that people switch off to politics. I think its disgusting. Henry, are you optimistic . Henry, are you optimistic . Before i go back to benjamin, are you optimistic about londons future . Londons future . I think its very difficult. I think its very difficult. You, the london has huge challenges. And when you think about the fact that actually the mayor of london, whoever the mayor is, has, what, 17 billion budget, has, what, 17 billion budget, has huge leverage, huge power, but also is managing a massively complex society with all of the, the bits and pieces that go to support that society, policing and roads and everything else, its a and transport. Its a massive thing and i so its a big supertanker that youve got to turn around. Im, im very pessimistic about the future about of london because i think that sadiq khan has done absolutely nothing but in many respects has encouraged but done nothing to stem this fly flood of flagrant abuse of, of british tradition. British laws, even. Tradition. British laws, even. Ive called it cultural displacement. I think london is unrecognisable compared to what it was 20 years ago. He has encouraged that process. He has encouraged that process. He has facilitated that process. And i think that thats only going to go further in in the next ten years. All right. I mean, benjamin, come on, youre sadiq khans biggest fan, are you . Not . You must you must want to come. I wouldnt quite say that, to be honest, but. Look, i dont know what you mean by the change in london in the last 20 years. Are you referring to demographics and partly , yes. Partly, yes. Well, i am talking about demographics, but im also talking about cultural stuff. Im talking about the old markets are going the, the, the entire character of the town has been changed. What about black cab drivers . What about black cab drivers . I mean, celebrating ramadan over easter things. Precisely. And then you get this two tier policing. I suspect that. No, im you know, ill put it out there. I suspect that sadiq khan knew perfectly well because he knows london, that a lot of his voters would be people who would support the palestinian cause in gaza, and thatis palestinian cause in gaza, and that is why weve seen two tier policing. And he is he has benefited from that in this election. I think that is that is appalling politics and its bringing in sectarianism and islamic politics as well, which carries with it a whole raft of serious issues. Now, sadiq khan, of course, isnt here to defend himself or to verify that claim , but, well, to verify that claim, but, well, that would be a good one. But benjamin , i mean, do you do you benjamin, i mean, do you do you accept that london has changed in that respect . I mean, the great thing about london is its multiculturalism. Its the fact that the entire world lives in this city. You know, i did my undergraduate at the London School of economics, which has more nationalities than any university in the world, and theyre all exceptionally talented. I think thatis exceptionally talented. I think that is a microcosm of what is brilliant about london. You know, bear in mind that there are only two regions of this country that put more tax in than they take out. Thats london and the south east. So a lot of people attacking london should know that, you know, huge amounts of money come into this city which benefit the country. Now i dont think sadiq khan is anti semitic. I dont think he was endorsing the allegation of two tier policing that was made against him. I think hes met with the Jewish Community extensively. I do also think that the met has been dealing with it badly. But i think to put that simply, at sadiq khans door on what has been a very complicated situation, not just in london but in other parts of the country, is unfair. But what i would point out is that i still think, though, sadiq khans going to win, you will see a much closer result than what labour is. Polling generally , and i think that generally, and i think that should be a warning sign to sadiq khan that hes won a historic third term. The first three term mayor of london. But i suspect if the tories had a better candidate and maybe an incumbent Labour Government isnt that popular, you know, things could get tougher. I think a very briefly on that, the greens in some areas have been picking up support. The i dont know whether its the case in london yet. Its too early to really tell. But in other parts of the country, the greens have been gaining support, not on the basis of green policies or the green partys position on anything except on gaza. There are people who candidates who have been shouting out allahu akbar when theyve been elected for the green party. Now this , this is green party. Now this, this is this is problematic because it leads. Sorry. Leads. Sorry. Leads. Yeah. In leads. Leads. Yeah. In leads. Yeah. In, leads. Harehill and elsewhere, but i think that is massively we weve got a big dilemma. Democracy and this is the londons pretty much in the lead in this democracy means, quite rightly. And i would defend it to my dying breath that we give people the opinion and the choices as to how theyre governed and by who. But if in that process we then elect or a people are elected who fundamentally believe in the political approach or approach or the islamic approach to politics, that means that that. Politics, that means that that. Because the reason the green party councillor, the quran in. Well, im not talking about the green party, im talking about their candidates, im talking about their about the green party. Im talking about their candidates. Yeah. Not the green party. Im talking about their candidates here and if there are people being elected who believe that the government should be as interpreted from the quran then not so. Youre governing on the bafis not so. Youre governing on the basis of interpretation of what the qurans guidance says, rather than governing on the bafis rather than governing on the basis of what the people want government, government of the people, by the people , you know, people, by the people, you know, then youve got a problem. I see that i see that sectarianism and that i see that sectarianism and that political islam creeping in quite dramatically in this election. All right. I mean, you can accept, benjamin, that the weekly marches are becoming a bit much. Really . Really . Yeah. I find that a very difficult question because i think the right to protest and protest should be uncomfortable, but clearly its caused problems for jewish people going about forjewish people going about their day to day lives, which is totally unacceptable , also costs totally unacceptable, also costs a fortune. So i think thats been a very difficult one. But i dont think it would have been any easier for a different mayor. Okey doke. Right, folks . Okey doke. Right, folks . Well leave it there. Thank you very much to my panel. Now, folks, its time for the latest Great British giveaway and your chance to win the biggest cash prize of the year so far. Its a whopping £20,000. Imagine what you could do with all of that extra cash. Heres how you could win it all. Its the biggest cash prize weve given away to date. An incredible £20,000 that you could use however you like. And could use however you like. And because its totally tax free, every single penny will be in your bank account to do whatever your bank account to do whatever you like. With £20,000 in tax free cash, really could be yours this summer, but youve got to be in it to win it for another chance to win £20,000 in tax free cash. Text win to 63232. Text cost £2 plus one Standard Network rate message or post your name and number two gb05, po box 8690. Derby de19 jvt uk only entrance must be 18 or oveh only entrance must be 18 or over. Lines close at 5 pm. On oveh lines close at 5 pm. On the 31st of may. Full terms and Privacy Notice gbnews. Com forward slash win. Please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. Good luck. Watching on demand. Good luck. Youre with Darren Grimes folks on gb news saturday. Lots more coming up on the show. Can londoners survive another term of mayor sadiq khan and should labour be cock a hoop at their performance at the ballot box . I speak to former labour minister bill rammell next. All of that and more to come. Youre with gb news, britains news channel. Welcome back to gb news saturday with me, Darren Grimes. On your with me, Darren Grimes. On your tv, online and on digital radio. Ithank tv, online and on digital radio. I thank you ever so for your company. Now, lots of you have been getting in touch with your thoughts. Very animated on that debate that we had between henry bolton and Benjamin Butterworth a moment ago. Now, spencer says, a moment ago. Now, spencer says, benjamin, you are so out of touch with london. Its lost its identity way before. 20 years ago, it was someone elses version to make us multicultural ism. None of us had a choice in the matter. And paula says what wes streeting has said was the nail in the coffin for me because i leaned to the right. Its made me feel vulnerable , its made me feel vulnerable, you know that, paula . They actually saying that she feels by being dismissed as a as a racist and all these other things for disintegration, for disagreeing with someone i found that to be student politics, you know, wes streeting used to be in the National Union of students. Hes meant to not be anymore. I did find that deeply immature, to be perfectly honest with you, and, well, another comment says the great thing about london is multiculturalism. Ha is he kidding . Its destroyed london and others getting in touch and saying that , you know, london saying that, you know, london has perhaps had its day in not feeling comfortable to visit london but keep coming. Your thoughts coming in thick and fast. Let me know all your thoughts on the stories weve been discussing, by visiting gbnews. Com forward slash york. Join that conversation there or message us on our socials. Were gbnews now , as i, as you might gbnews now, as i, as you might have heard just a moment ago, sadiq khan appears to be pulling aheadin sadiq khan appears to be pulling ahead in the london mayoral race, but labour didnt make the gains that they had hoped to make in some areas. So have they suffered a loss of votes in the Muslim Community due to their stance on gaza . Well, joining me now is former labour minister bill rammell. Bill, thank you very much for your company. Lets start on sadiq khan then. I mean, do you its looking like hes going to romp home today. Do you think actually its going to be closer than most were expecting though i actually dont i mean, there were some weird briefings coming out last night , weird briefings coming out last night, suggesting that it was going to be very close and that even susan hall could win. I mean, certainly based on the first 5 or 6 results ive seen, sadiq is going to, clearly win and probably win much more substantively than he did four years ago, and, you know, naturally, i think that is a good outcome. Yeah. I mean , on that point yeah. I mean, on that point about my last guests would have beaten the prevalence of religious sectarianism within a lot of these, votes, not just in london, but in other parts of the country, too, with high muslim population. Is that an muslim population. Is that an element that labour are having to become more alive to . Well, i was listening to that debate and i thought henry boltons attack on sadiq actually going as far as suggesting that he intervened in the operational independence of the operational independence of the metropolitan police to force them to Police Demonstrations in a certain way without a shred of evidence that was absolutely scandalous. But but undoubtedly, scandalous. But but undoubtedly, if you look at the results of the election last thursday across the country in communities where there are high, muslim population, then yes, the labour party has , yes, the labour party has, suffered a hit, because of whats happening in gaza. Now. I think part of that problem is that theres some really scandelous campaigning, taking place with clipping things that keir starmer has said about, gaza and then putting it out on tweets, putting it out on instagram , weve got a battle, instagram, weve got a battle, against that. Weve got to make clear exactly where we stand on gaza, that we support the right of israel to exist. We support of israel to exist. We support them in defending themselves against the horror of what happened, last october. But we need a ceasefire, because, you know, the conditions , the plight know, the conditions, the plight of ordinary palestinians in gaza , is frankly, intolerable. So we need to make that clear. But even where weve lost votes, because of, high concentration of muslim voters, i dont think its enough to hit us at the general election. Yes, but, i mean, as that population grows, maybe that that could start to become a factor right in, in future elections, if not this year. But bill, what do you say to viewers who are messaging in now . Many of them, by the way, will be labour supporters or in the past have been labour supporters. And have been labour supporters. And theyre saying theyre really concerned about what theyve seen in london over , well, since seen in london over, well, since october 7th, basically, you know , that horrible terrorist atrocity in israel committed by hamas. Weve seen people on the streets calling for jihad, calling for intifada, and theyre worried, actually that theres an element of two tier policing in london, for example , policing in london, for example, and they dont want labour to shift its stance to actually be more supportive of those that are viewed as more hardline. Is are viewed as more hardline. Is that a concern of yours, too . That a concern of yours, too . I dont think we are going to be, supporting people who are more hardline. And there have been instances i mean, sorry, firstly, let me make clear, people have every right to demonstrate in support of palestinians in gaza , on the palestinians in gaza, on the streets of london. But some of the examples , you know, with the examples, you know, with people walking along with, nazi , people walking along with, nazi, swastikas and not being challenged by the organisers of the demonstration , i think that the demonstration, i think that is reprehensible. And the labour party and keir starmer thinks that that, is reprehensible. That that, is reprehensible. But, you know, there are passionately held views on both sides of the conflict and peacefully and properly people have have to have the right to protest. And thats what the police in a very difficult job are trying to, to balance. They dont always get it right , but are trying to, to balance. They dont always get it right, but i think theyve got to, you know, police it properly. And thats what sadiq khan has been saying. And thats what keir starmer has been saying. Yes. I mean, the other results then across the piece, i mean tees valley , you know, ben mean tees valley, you know, ben houchen, the conservative mayor, clung on there. But you had places like North Yorkshire and york going to the labour party that wasnt expected. I mean, i that wasnt expected. I mean, i certainly didnt expect it to happen, and actually the country does seem to be moving in one direction. Is there a risk here that labour becomes complacent at . The labour party has lost too many elections for us to become , many elections for us to become, throughout our history to become complacent. But i think there is a pattern across these elections i you know, you look at the local elections, its the worst tory performance for about 40 years. You look at that astonishing result in the blackpool south, by election, where we got a 26 swing, to labouh where we got a 26 swing, to labour, and then youre seeing a whole host of, labour mayors across the country being elected for the first time or being , for the first time or being, re elected, and i think the pattern is clear and consistent andifs pattern is clear and consistent and its all pointing to and you never take anything for granted, but it is pointing to a very substantial labour majority in the next general election. And, you know, why is that happening . You know, why is that happening . Its happening because people are sick and tired of 14 years of chaos under the tories falling living standards. Public services that have been cut to the bone. Theyre mortgages going up because of liz trusss mad , hang on where she was. Mad, hang on where she was. Oh, thats unfair, thats unfair. Mortgage rates went up in the United States of america. And i dont think america elected liz truss as the president of the United States. President of the United States. Interest rates went up immediately following, the botched mini budget that liz truss, put forward. Yes, there have been , Interest Rate have been, Interest Rate pressures across the world, but i dont think anyone can deny that the cavalier manner in which she disregarded the need for proper, sensible budget , for proper, sensible budget, planning. Okay. Excluding the office for budget responsibility, sacking the permanent secretary at the treasury, all of which sent the markets into mayhem and have made our economy and our livelihoods more challenging. All right, well, there are a fair few viewers who would quite like to sack a few Civil Servants who are standing against certain policies , like, against certain policies, like, dare i say, rwanda bill, but ill leave it there. Thank you very much. Thats the former labour minister, bill rammell there, giving his views on were here. And sadiq khan has clinched it. Folks, youre with me. Darren grimes on gb news saturday. Lord small coming up. First of all, lord, were going to get the news with ray addison i thanks, darren. 232 our top stories and labour sources are saying that they are confident that sadiq khan has won the mayoral contest in london. Thats despite the battle with tory challenger susan hall being said to be closer than previously expected. The count is well underway and so far mayor khan has won the first five of 14 london boroughs to declare , gaining almost double declare, gaining almost double the number of votes of his main challenger. Officials have asked candidates to arrive at city hall for 430 this afternoon, so we could have a declaration very soon after that. Now, in total, seven mayoral contests are being announced today, with labour already retaining Liverpool City Region and South Yorkshire two. A narrow contest is expected for conservative mayor andy street in the West Midlands. Well also be hearing from eight of ten contests for police and crime commissioner sir keir starmer says the tories dont deserve to be in government for a moment longer. Thats after rishi sunak lost hundreds of councillors in the local elections, 103 of 107 councils have been declared so far, with labour making major gains. A burst water main has gains. A burst water main has left around 31,000 properties without Running Water in east sussex, causing a drastic impact on businesses. Southern water says the disruption in Saint Leonards on sea and parts of hastings will continue into tomorrow. The issue was first reported on thursday, forcing the company to open water bottle stations, schools, a Leisure Centre and a theatre in the area have all been forced to close. And finally dozens of migrants in two small boats have crossed the channel today from france. The channel today from france. Drone footage showed a french naval vessel following them until they reached english waters. Their largely male passengers were taken aboard a British Border force vessel off the coast of dover. More than 8000 people have arrived so far this year. Thats a new record for the period. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Common. Thats right. Back to. Darren. To. Darren. Thanks very much, ray. Thanks very much, ray. Theres plenty more coming up on todays show. But before i tell you what, we have lined up for you what, we have lined up for you on this show. Well, im a man that likes his nana. And ive got the perfect manner with me right here and now. Nana akua has joined me in the studio. Nana, what have you got coming up on your show . Well, we have a very busy one. Well be talking to lee anderson because remember that ridiculous tweet from wes streeting . Yeah. Calling people streeting . Yeah. Calling people who vote for suzanne hall, White Supremacists. Unbelievable. Supremacists. Unbelievable. Were going to get his take on that because of course, he got in trouble for the comments that he made with regard to sadiq khan. He made with regard to sadiq khan. Also, are you did you ever khan. Also, are you did you ever watch married . At first sight . Yes. Well, do you remember ross . Yes. Well, do you remember ross . Right. When she sat at the dinner table and somebody was using a Remote Control . She is going to be here live as my guest at five, so im really looking forward to talking to her. So if you if you were a fan of married at first sight, i mean, i got addicted to the australian ones and then i couldnt help myself. Oh, its so good. One after the other after the other. Shes going to be here, live in the studio, so im looking forward to her. But dunng im looking forward to her. But during our show , we suspect that during our show, we suspect that we will get the results for the london Mayoral Election. So we suspect we dont know. But suspect we dont know. But obviously there are 14 in total. Weve already had 4 or 5, i think, of the results already. So coming up in my show, stay with me if you want to find out what that result might be, we might be able to reveal it. Final confirmation. Thats right. Go into detail about it as well. Nana. So lots to come. Well see and enjoy that im sure. Thank you very much. Nana akua. Lots more coming up on todays show. Well go live to london, West Midlands and manchester to bring you all of those latest Election Results. And with the rise of migrant tent cities in ireland , might we tent cities in ireland, might we end up seeing the same in britain . Well, all of that and britain . Well, all of that and more to come folks. Im Darren Grimes and youre with gb news, britains news channel 2024 a battleground year. 2024 a battleground year. The year the nation decides. The year the nation decides. As the parties gear up their campaigns for the next general election. Who will be left standing when the british people make one of the biggest decisions of their lives . Who will rise and who will fall . Lets find out together. Lets find out together. For every moment the highs, the lows, the twists and turns. Well be with you for every step of this journey in 2024. Gb news is britains election. Channel. Welcome back to gb news saturday with me, Darren Grimes, on your tv, online and on digital radio. Now continuing that trend of being britains election channel, were going to give you the mayoral results. Theyre continuing to come in thick and fast across england today in manchester, the so called king of the north, andy burnham, has gone a battle at the ballot box. Joining me now from manchester is gb news Award Winning reporter jack carson. Jack whats the latest up there . Up there . Well, we are expecting that result imminently, but labour sources are telling us that they do believe that andy burnham has once again won in manchester and the combined authority here, winning that mayoralty for the third term. Hes got a big, ambitious plan for this third term. It seems to have gone down well with the voters. We are well with the voters. We are expecting that confirmation of his win short. Expecting that confirmation of his win short. But expecting that confirmation of his win short. But of expecting that confirmation of his win short. But of course he won very well here a few years ago back in 2021, receiving 67 of the vote on a 35 turnout. Now labour telling us today they dont believe that it will be as high of a result, as high as a percentage and a win as much back in 2021, citing that its always difficult for for a a mayor going into a third term to secure so much support, telling us there will always be things that burnham has done over the past couple of terms, that people will and wont be happy with, but they do believe that it could be within 50 to 60 still of the vote. But they were citing there were some concerns around some wards , particularly around some wards, particularly werneth in oldham. We were told of course we saw, didnt we, on thursday night into friday around their local council elections, particularly with a few independents standing on a more pro palestine ticket, that there were votes being taken away from labour. Of course, labour dropped out. A candidate in that area as as well. So we do know that theyve been struggling to pick up some votes in some of those wards. So struggling to pick up some votes in some of those wards. So there in some of those wards. So there were some of the concerns that the labour party have had here, whether andy burnham could engage with those communities. They told us that they do know they have to do more to win those votes back, to win and engage, to win and win that trust back from muslim communities here in manchester. But his big, ambitious plan seems to have gone down well with the voters now , where the with the voters now, where the likes of reform and conservatives come is going to be quite interesting when the results are declared shortly. We results are declared shortly. We had heard earlier particularly that maybe reform might have done a lot better than was hoped. Of course, with burnham taking so much of that percentage, it really is down to you know, a lot very few votes that could decide who well, comes second in this contest. Last year, the conservatives back in 2021, the conservatives got around 20 of the vote. But reform could well split that and could well come second here. So that will be one to certainly watch out for when we get the results here. But andy burnham, looking to have secured his third term as mayor all right, jack, thank you very much for that update out now folks. Meanwhile in birmingham, the declaration in the West Midlands is expected imminently , where conservative imminently, where conservative andy street is fighting tooth and nail to be re elected. Joining me to give us the latest is gb News Reporter jeff moody. Hello again jeff. Hello to you. Well, theres general excitement here at the moment in the icc, but its not for the Mayoral Election. Its for the Mayoral Election. Its for the Mayoral Election. Its for the Mayoral Election. Its for the police and crime commissioner. Weve had some of the results in fact, most of the results for that have come through. Weve still got a couple to declare. But if you have a look down there, all of the supporters of both of the main candidates are gathering. Main candidates are gathering. The results are imminent. It looks like labours incumbent police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands will, will be on course to retain his post. Thats simon foster, we know weve found out in the last sort of 20 minutes or so that hes won 125,631 votes in the Birmingham City council area , Birmingham City council area, compared to just 77,798 for the conservative candidate, tom burn. Mr foster has won a large majority in coventry. Two majority in coventry. Two 43,000, that does give him a commanding lead with only. But the boroughs of dudley, sandwell and walsall still to declare. So and walsall still to declare. So its looking very likely that mr foster will continue in his role as police and crime commissioner. But of course, you know, we never know until the final results come through. As to the mayoral votes , well, to the mayoral votes, well, were not sure when that will happen, but it will be shortly afterwards as the votes have been counted. Theyre just being collated now. So once theyve collated now. So once theyve got the police and Crime Commissioners results , thats commissioners results, thats when well hear the mayoral results. And were still hearing that the incumbent will andy street, whos been there for two terms already. Were still heanng terms already. Were still hearing that he may just about pick the post again. All right. Well well youll be there to keep us informed. So thank you very much jeff moody as ever. Now folks, youre with me, Darren Grimes. Thank you to you too. At home, were on gb news saturday. Theres lots more coming up on gb news saturday. The uk is now offered the repubuc the uk is now offered the republic of ireland the chance to get involved in the rwanda scheme amid a growing row between the two countries over Asylum Seeker returns. Aint it funny, folks . Ireland has just discovered the merits of a border. All of that and more to come. Youre with gb news, come. Youre with gb news, britains news welcome back to gb news saturday with me, Darren Grimes. On your tv, onune me, Darren Grimes. On your tv, online and on digital radio. Now, lots of you have been getting in touch. I thank you getting in touch. I thank you very much for doing so. Theres a lot of, doom and gloom about london, actually , from a lot of london, actually, from a lot of you who are saying that you dont feel that your, youre comfortable enough to, to actually visit london at the moment, and on island , actually moment, and on island, actually a lot of you are, well, not too impressed with the idea of migrants who have got from Northern Ireland to the republic of ireland actually being sent back to the United Kingdom. So back to the United Kingdom. So on that, lets discuss that story then. The uk has offered the republic of ireland the chance to get involved in the rwanda scheme, amid a growing row between those our two countries over Asylum Seeker return. Is the Prime Minister return. Is the Prime Minister made clear that the United Kingdom will not, that is, will not accept migrants from ireland that follows a rise in migrant tent cities in dublin. For our radio listeners, weve just got scenes of these tents stacked outside of places. I heard that there were some tents being set outside of schools, which, if i was a parent, would not please me one iota. The irish police have set about dismantling these tents. Well, joining me now to discuss this is the president of the conservative Primrose League , henry bolton, and journalist and broadcaster Benjamin Butterworth. I mean, henry, its butterworth. I mean, henry, its pretty inevitable that this will impact britain. I know theyve impact britain. I know theyve left britain, but i bet my Bottom Dollar theyll find their way back here. And if ireland send them back, well just say, oh, well, yeah, i mean they, they will come back if they wish to come back. Really. I mean , just looking really. I mean, just looking at your footage just now, those tents all look remarkably similar to each other. I wonder where theyve come from. But i think there is an opportunity in this, and it doesnt look as though rishi sunak has identified it or is taking it, the reason that irelands got a problem is because we have the migrants have travelled from here to there , obviously, just here to there, obviously, just as theyre travelling from france to here. What rishi sunak should do is sit down with simon harris , the taoiseach, with, harris, the taoiseach, with, macron , with ursula von der macron, with ursula von der leyen and say, look, we have all got a massive problem here. This mass migration to europe is a risk in economic terms, in security terms , in all manner of security terms, in all manner of terms. We could go back to the previous conversation about political islam as well. To an extent, we need to find a solution to this instead of playing ping pong with Asylum Seekers, we need to come up with a regional strategy as to how we deal with the push pull factors and also the method of movement along the way. Well, i can already hear Benjamin Butterworth saying, well, you henry supported brexit. So did that not i mean, yeah, but theres nothing, nothing to do with it, nothing to do. Its extraordinary to, you know, to hear the intern , ukip know, to hear the intern, ukip leader saying, what if we went and sat down with various european leaders and countries and had some kind of. But you dont economic agreement that had a deal on borders . Well, i think we had benjamin. I worked in brussels for three years. I was in the room when you had council meetings. I was in the room with heads of government. I was in the room in government. I was in the room in the Political Security committee. Okay i the idea that the uk could actually exercise leadership of that sort. No, the leadership of that sort. No, the uk could raise issues, could raise concerns. It would be discussed, there would be a meeting of minds that is not leadership from outside the european union. We can say this is were triggering it already with rwanda. Ive got all sorts of issues with rwanda as a plan, but its triggering a situation that can be mobilised, utilised to then say, right, we have a problem. We are going to invite you all to london to discuss it. You couldnt do that if you were in the eu. You simply couldnt. Legally, you couldnt. Legally, you couldnt. The foreign secretary, david cameron, said last week that the reason that we dont have a deal to exchange migrants is because of brexit. Well, hes talking out of his excuse me , but he out of his excuse me, but he well, he was he was asked if he wasnt saying that and he wouldnt dispute that that was his implication campaign. So i mean hes got i mean he is the foreign secretary. Well hang on, can we deal with your point on that . Because youre fundamentally wrong. So is he okay . People who say that dublin three enabled us to send people back to france are factually wrong. Okay, dublin three enables us to send people back to the eu country that theyd entered the eu through. If we could identify if that country agreed, and if weve given them three consecutive opportunities to appeal the numbers were minuscule and we ended up taking more than we were. What i would say is islands, which is very much in the eu. You know, theyre not able to say, here you go back to france with you. Well what i mean, obviously what the Irish Government is saying is that they want to send these people back to the United Kingdom. Weve said no , because the weve said no, because the United Kingdom has said we want to send them back to france. And france has said no. So youve definitely got a stalemate in this scenario. And i think its totally legitimate that we refuse to take them because youre seeing the same thing. You know that ireland and france are both part of the eu, and its an eu decision to refuse that. So its not an eu issue. No. No. Its that when we were in the eu, we were part of an agreement on how to make these exchanges. No, we were more diplomatic , but no, we were more diplomatic, but we werent. Now what a fallacy about what i would say about the idea that ireland should join the rwanda plan. Well, there was a lot of headlines , conveniently a lot of headlines, conveniently before the local elections that they had sent the first migrant, but they hadnt. It was under a completely different scheme, and the estimated cost of that person is 140 grand with all the rehousing. So in a word , should ireland so in a word, should ireland join the rwanda scheme, we shouldnt join the rwanda scheme, let alone ireland. Scheme, let alone ireland. Should ireland join . No, i think its the wrong approach. The approach is the one that i described earlier and they cant you cant have both together. Together. Okey doke. I thank you very much Benjamin Butterworth and henry bolton there for their insight. Youve been with me. Darren grimes on gb news saturday. Thank you very much for your company. Dont go anywhere though, because theres plenty more coming up on gb news today. In just a moment. Its fiery debate with nana akua, and at 6 pm, im back, you lucky lot. So is Benjamin Butterworth for the saturday five. First of all, though, were going to get all, though, were going to get a look at the weather. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Hello there. Welcome to your latest weather for gb news. Its a mixed outlook sukh largely cloudy over the next 24 hours, particularly across the north of the uk. Best of the sunshine in the uk. Best of the sunshine in the south. Why . Well generally low pressure dominates the weather pattern. This system bringing some heavier rain through Bank Holiday Monday , through Bank Holiday Monday, showers elsewhere and through the rest of the day. Weve got this area of cloud across Northern Ireland, Northern England into scotland, giving some showery outbreaks of rain. This heavy at times clearing skies overnight elsewhere with light winds. Well see some mist and fog patches forming later on this weather system starts to increase the cloud and bring some rain across the far south west. Under the clear skies, temperatures in single figures. So a skies, temperatures in single figures. So a chilly start to sunday morning. Some mist and fog patches quickly clearing, then plenty of sunshine through this central swathe of the uk. This central swathe of the uk. It remains generally cloudy across Northern Ireland, Northern England and scotland through the day. Some patchy rain possible here. Some heavier showers later and this weather system slowly pushes northeastwards inland a little further, bringing cloud and rain to some southern parts of england and wales and the best of the sunshine. Temperatures approaching 19 or 20 celsius under the cloud, still feeling quite chilly and a misty, murky start to Bank Holiday Monday. But again, this central part of the uk seeing the best of the sunshine as that morning mist and murk disappears. And then over the next few days well see High Pressure starting to build in. It will settle down. Well see more in the way of sunny spells and temperatures begin to rise. Rise. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. Hello. Good afternoon, and welcome to gbd news on tv, onune welcome to gbd news on tv, online and on digital radio. Im nana akua. And for the next few nana akua. And for the next few hours, me and my panel will be taking on some of the big topics hitting the headlines right now. The show is all about opinion. Its mine. Its theirs. And of course its yours. Well be debating, discussing and at times we will disagree , but no times we will disagree, but no one will be cancelled. So joining me in the next hour, broadcaster and columnist lizzie cundy and also former labour Party Adviser matthew laza coming up in a few moments time, ill be mucking the week with gb news comedian bruce devlin and then stay tuned because on the show ill be joined by lee anderson mp. Hell be shining a light on some of the latest stuff from westminster, including the little tweet that was sent by wes streeting. Id love to get his thoughts. Then love to get his thoughts. Then well be discussing the tory party. Is it the end . As