Transcripts For GBN Good 20240702

Reform uk candidate. Instead, he will prioritise the us election, not exactly a vote of faith in the party he helped found as it game over for reform uks chances. Reform uks chances. And amidst it all, today its revealed net migration hit a whopping 685,000 last year. Thats just 10 down on the record year before. The tories record year before. The tories say its even lower this year. But will that message sink. In. 7 but will that message sink. In . Well, yes. Im not tom harwood. No im emily, but if youve noticed, toms got a bit of a bit of a sore throat, bit of a bit of a sore throat, bit of a bit of a sore throat, bit of a sore throat today. Quite a lot of talking yesterday, but. But were powering through. Its a general election. You take these things election. You take these things on the chin. What was it . Five hours of talking, plus standing out in downing street in the rain. I think the rain didnt help. No i suppose not. But hes got his, hot, hot water and lemon hot tea and lemon. A bit like theresa may must have felt in 2070 at the tory conference when she went around to all of those different fringe events the night before her big speech. And she spoke to this group and she spoke to that group. And then when it came to her big speech that everyone watched, she lost her voice completely comparing yourself to a former Prime Minister term, i dont think im comparing myself to one thats held in particularly high esteem , so particularly high esteem, so i think i can get away with it. But anyway, we want your thoughts on the letters on the wall behind us. Dont fall down. Well, you never know. Be okay, you never know. But we want your thoughts today on that breaking news that nigel farage has decided that he will not stand as a reform party candidate. What do you make of that . Im not sure how it looks. How does it go down with you . Will it make it more likely . Less likely for you to vote reform . What does this say about Richard Tice Party . Well, send in your views, post them to gbnews. Com forward slash your say. Well get to those throughout the show. But those throughout the show. But now its time for the headlines with sam francis. With sam francis. Very good afternoon to you. Its just coming up to 12 03. A look at the headlines this lunchtime. The Prime Minister is lunchtime. The Prime Minister is urging voters to re elect him if they want to see asylum flights take off to rwanda , conceding take off to rwanda, conceding they wont get off the ground before the general election. Before the general election. Rishi sunak also saying hes putting the economy and Global Security at the heart of his campaign. It comes as Political Party leaders begin six weeks of trying to win votes , after it trying to win votes, after it was announced that polls will open on the 4th of july. The timing of the announcement came as a surprise to some, with labour polling 20 points ahead, kicking off the Conservatives Campaign this morning, rishi sunak claimed that labour would do absolutely nothing to stop the boats. Everyone else is starting to agree with my approach, which is bold. The one person that doesnt is keir starmer. Thats a choice that this election , he a choice that this election, he thinks that we should just offer an amnesty to Illegal Migrants to make us a soft touch of europe. It would make us a magnet for thousands of migrants coming from everywhere. So thats the choice at this election. Do you think my plan is the right one . Do you think im the one thats taking bold action to secure our borders and to stop the boats . Or do you think hes going to do that . And its pretty clear that on this issue, not only does he not share the countrys values, that its a problem. Hes going to do absolutely nothing about it. Absolutely nothing about it. Well, labour leader sir keir starmer has also begun his campaign in south east england. Today hes telling voters that what the conservatives have done to the country is, he says, unforgivable and that voters dont need to put up with it. Dont need to put up with it. Labour and a vote for labour is a is a chance to end that chaos, to turn a page, to change for the better of the country, to change our nhs , to change our to change our nhs, to change our pubuc to change our nhs, to change our public services, to make sure our economy is stable , to make our economy is stable, to make sure our communities are cared for and to move forward and rebuild our country. That is the choice i accept. Not a rebuild our country. That is the choice i accept. Not a single choice i accept. Not a single vote has been cast. Im humble about this and i know every vote must be earned. But the power now under our democracy is with the voters to. The voters to. Meanwhile, deputy leader of the liberal democrats daisy cooper has ruled out a coalition with the conservative party. People want politicians to be talking about our nhs and social care and about the cost of living crisis. People are struggling to see a gp, theyre struggling to see a gp, theyre struggling to see a gp, theyre struggling to see a dentist, theyre battling long waiting lists. Theyre worried that if lists. Theyre worried that if you call an ambulance, it wont turn up. And on top of all of that, theyre still struggling to pay the bills to put food on the table. Liberal democrats have been utterly relentless about talking about these issues for the last few months and years, and were going to keep on talking about the nhs and the cost of living over the next six weeks. And nigel farage has announced he will not be standing as a reform uk candidate in the july election. Party leader richard tice has been speaking this morning and hes urging people to vote for change. Everybody feels worse off after 14 years of tory failure. After 14 years of tory failure. Thats the result of incompetence and these experts , incompetence and these experts, along with weak, feeble politicians who have broken britain and sadly , that failure britain and sadly, that failure of the establishment and the experts manifests itself in the great scandals that we hear about. Well, in other news, net migration in the uk stood at an estimated 685,000 people in the year to december 2023, the office for National Statistics says. Thats down 10 from the record of 764,000 the previous yeah record of 764,000 the previous year. Official figures suggest just over 1. 2 Million People arrived in the uk , while 532,000 arrived in the uk, while 532,000 are likely to have left. As we are likely to have left. As we heard in the last hour, Primary School student Leah Harrison has been named as the person who was killed in a mudslide in North Yorkshire. 30 mountain rescuers were involved in the search for the year six pupil, who got into difficulty near carlton bank yesterday. Mount pleasant Primary School has described the incident as heartbreaking and says that leah was a much loved part of their community. We understand that counselling is being arranged within the school for both students and staff in scotland. A former Scottish Health secretary has been suspended from parliament and will lose his salary for 54 days. Michael matheson ran up £11,000 in roaming charges on his parliamentary ipad while he was on holiday in morocco last year , later announcing that he year, later announcing that he would cover the costs himself. He revealed the bill had in fact been the result of his children using the device as a wi fi hotspot to watch football. The punishment was handed down at holyrood earlier today and will now be subject to a vote in the Scottish Parliament and alan bates, the lead campaigner for justice in the post office scandal, says he has no sympathy for Paula Vennells, the former head of the post office , is head of the post office, is giving evidence on the second day of her much anticipated questioning at the horizon inquiry. Earlier, she was shown an email that suggests including an email that suggests including a jailed pregnant sub postmistress case. In an independent review would be a red flag to a bull for paula. Red flag to a bull for paula. Vennells was in charge of the organisation from 2012 to 2019, while those wrongful prosecutions of subpostmasters continued. Thats the latest continued. Thats the latest from the newsroom. For now. From the newsroom. For now. Another update in the next half houn another update in the next half hour. Until then, you can sign up to gb news alerts. Just scan the code on your screen or go to gb news. Carmelites. Gb news. Carmelites. Good afternoon britain. Its 12 08 now. General election battle lines are being firmly drawn as rishi sunak and keir starmer begin hitting that campaign trail, laying out their visions for the country. Yes , the Prime Minister was yes, the Prime Minister was in derbyshire this morning and sought to draw dividing lines on evergreen issues like the economy and immigration. He claimed that economic stability had returned, but appeared to admit that flights to rwanda would not take off before the election. Meanwhile, the labour leader attacked the conservatives record on the economy and said his party was in the service of working people. So there you go. Thats what they had to say. Gb news Political Correspondents and reporters are at key buildings and battlegrounds across the country for us. Olivia, ill start with you. Youre in the heart of westminster, outside number 10, downing street. How have things gone this morning, then . Then . Well, its been a pretty inauspicious start to the campaign for the conservatives, the immigration figures, the Legal Immigration figures came out today. We knew they were coming out today. Another reason why some conservatives are questioning why rishi sunak called that election yesterday. Called that election yesterday. And it shows that there were 685,000 migrants to the uk in the year of 2023. That is down 10 on 2022. But 2022 was a record high, and its nearly three times the number it was back in 2019, when the conservatives said that they would reduce the overall number of figures. Also, rishi sunak has now admitted we all knew it was true, but he hadnt yet come out and said it, that there will be no flights to rwanda before the 4th of july election, which is all making people wonder here in westminster, why exactly did he call that election yesterday . Why did he not just hold out until the autumn, which so many conservative mps wanted . And the conservative mps wanted . And the reason seems to be talking to people in westminster today, that although the economic picture is getting a little bit rosier, everything is moving very slowly indeed. It now looks relatively unlikely that the bank of england will cut Interest Rates. Almost definitely not in june , and then definitely not in june, and then probably not in their meeting. The six weeks after that either. That means its going to take an awfully long time for the effects of falling inflation, and falling Interest Rates to hit the pockets of ordinary people. Probably not before the autumn. One good reason why he needed to rip off the plaster. Another reason is there was a growing narrative that rishi sunak was squatting in number 10. Now thats something that the conservatives very effectively accused gordon brown of back in the late 2000. He took over that number 10 from tony blair and didnt call an election. He was accused of being an unelected Prime Minister, squatting in power. Now, rishi sunak was very worried about the same thing being said about him. And eventually most of his advisers thought the best thing to do was simply to go for it. That said, there were quite a lot of people with big reservations. Were heanng with big reservations. Were hearing that isaac levido, the veteran campaign chief rafe, said that rishi sunak should hold off and wait until the autumn or winter. Esther mcvey, formerly of this parish, also said that rishi sunak should hold off until the autumn and winter. Plenty more conservative mps who are feeling really, really angry about this, not least because in some cases they book their Summer Holidays. Well, olivia, thank you so much for all of that. From a rather sunnier downing street than we were seeing yesterday , than we were seeing yesterday, many of us will be thinking, why on earth did rishi sunak not wait just 24 hours and announce it all in the sunshine . As we can see today . Lets go to Katherine Forster now outside labour hq. What keir starmer and his top team up to today. Yes. Good afternoon tom and emily. Well sir keir starmer down in kent today at a Football Club surrounded by People Holding placards with one word change. Thats quite a powerful message, isnt it . After 14 years of conservative government. But the fundamental message coming from labour today , as yesterday, in that very warm, dry speech that sir keir starmer made, three things really stop the chaos. Number one, change number two. And then they say they will build a better britain. Now in the last hour or so, a very polished Campaign Video has been put out by labour, focusing on sir Keir Starmers working class roots , starmers working class roots, saying i grew up working class, ive been fighting all my life as pm. Ill fight for you, complete with very stirring music. Now talking to people, around sir keir starmer, both yesterday and this morning. A number of them are are here and they were shocked and very surprised, along with a whole of westminster, that the announcement to call a general election has been made now, but nevertheless they say they are ready now. I was told yesterday that the speech that keir starmer made was only written about 2 30 yesterday afternoon, but nevertheless they say they are ready. In fact, somebody very senior close to keir starmer told me months ago that they were ready and would be ready because theyve never known exactly when this moment will come. So they are not complacent. They know they have complacent. They know they have work to do. They know that a lot of people are not convinced by sir keir starmer. And so, you know , they have got a huge know, they have got a huge mountain to climb to get a majority. So no complacency, but optimism. And yeah, theyre optimism. And yeah, theyre pretty excited today. Well there you go. Thank you very much catherine. Lets head to stormont to speak to Dougie Beattie. Whos the outsider dougie . Northern ireland partys geanng dougie . Northern ireland partys gearing up for the election. Gearing up for the election. Well, they are, and its for someone like me. Its quite an exciting election because we have 18 seats here. The dup that backed theresa mays government, if you remember , hold the if you remember, hold the majority of those seats then sinn fein, but theyre an abstentionist party, so they do not actually take their seats. Not actually take their seats. Then the sdlp hold two seats and the Alliance Party one. But because of whats happened over the protocol and of course we talk about rwanda flights, not being able to take off. There was that court ruling in Northern Ireland that said that because we are under eu law, that that that wouldnt apply to Northern Ireland. Rishi sunak assured unionists that he would sort that out in the courts. Thats back in court next wednesday. And of course, if its not brought through, then he either has to leave Northern Ireland behind or to the rwanda and or stop the flights to rwanda until it is actually sorted out. But elections are very expensive things and at this minute in time, sinn fein are fighting a European Election campaign in the republic of ireland, as well as local elections. We have fought a couple of elections here in the last couple of years, so the coffers of these parties are very light. The unionist vote has been split before here and out of those 18 seats, six of them are with very small majorities. They could go either majorities. They could go either way. So the likes of, gavin robertsons seat in east belfast, the leader of the dup, his seat is looking very risky. If the tuv, backed by reform stand in there, that will definitely hand that seat to the Alliance Party. Other seats on Alliance Party. Other seats on the border because of what is going on in the republic of ireland over immigration and the real swell of, problems against it, it would be interesting to see how sinn fein does in those border areas, and some of the unionist parties, even the likes of reform, actually take those seats in there, because some of those were only got by 20 or 30 votes so far. Those were only got by 20 or 30 votes so far. For once in decades and decades, maybe generations. We may see Elections Come forward and people starting to vote on real issues that are not to do with green and orange, but more to do with how the country is run. But at the very back of it, it is bad timing for Northern Ireland because our School Holidays start on the 30th of june and quite a few people leave Northern Ireland from that time to about the third week in july, because holidays are cheaper, because holidays are cheaper, because the english holidays havent started yet. Its a really fascinating dynamic. And of course, dougie , dynamic. And of course, dougie, if the conservatives are successful in turning this into a 2017 style election where theres a huge change in that 20 point lead and things get very tight, and theres a Hung Parliament, it could be those Northern Ireland parties that make all the difference. But dougie, youve set us up brilliantly for tony maguire because its not only holidays in Northern Ireland when this election is on, its also School Holidays in scotland. Tony yes thats correct. Similar to Northern Ireland, our School Holidays start at the end of june and again run through to around the middle of august. Now that again means that you know the same kind of logic is appued the same kind of logic is applied up here that families try and get away towards the start of the holidays before the engush start of the holidays before the English Schools go out , and that English Schools go out, and that is going to present a problem not just to mps , as we heard not just to mps, as we heard yesterday, but to many families up and down the country. And thats, i guess, is going to really put the pressure and the heat onto the postal vote service, with many people having to turn to that in order to vote in this election. And indeed, i in this election. And indeed, i mean, im quite biased, but i think scotland is one of the more interesting parts of this election. And thats because, election. And thats because, you know, for a number of reasons. One of those is of course, the fact that the snp and recent polling, most recently by yougov, is actually down in labour, seems to have stolen points from them and consecutively over the last several weeks, and then , of several weeks, and then, of course, the fact that up here in scotland, so many of our issues are actually devolved. So people in scotland , theyll be voting in scotland, theyll be voting on a list of reserved matters, things like taxation and Foreign Affairs and, and various kind of acts of benefits, etc. So you know, the map and the battlegrounds up here will look completely different. And not least, of course, because the snp will. Theyre going to be gunning from that famous 56 seats. But the way that labour have gained on them in recent weeks and months, its not entirely sure whether thats even a remote possibility. Also just finally worth saying that of course you know it all through the last year, weve heard keir starmer say he wants scotland in the fold for this. He wants a lot more labour seats. Of course, in the last year, labour have essentially doubled their scottish seats from 1 to 2. And rutherglen and Hamilton West by election. Margaret ferriers former seat. But they will be looking for significant gains this year. Really fascinating to see if the snp collapse tony blair yeah, absolutely. Well tony thank you so much for bringing us all of that. Indeed. Thank for bringing us all of that. Indeed. Thank you to everyone across the country for bringing us all of the updates as this Election Campaign gets underway. Yes. Katherine forster there olivia utley Dougie Beattie and tony mcgrath, great to talk to you all. Joining us now is doctor david jeffrey, a lecturer in british politics at the university of liverpool. David, thank you very much for coming on the show this afternoon. I want to ask you about this latest news of nigel farage deciding that he will not stand as a reform uk candidate , but as a reform uk candidate, but instead his interest is in the us election at this time, what do you make of that . What do you think the implications for the election are , well, first of election are, well, first of all, its a its a rare rishi sunak win here, right . Its the one Silver Lining in an otherwise storm ridden, skyscape. And i think what we see here is that actually, what this will probably do is mean that reforms polling wont have the 4 or 5 point boost. It would have if farage came back, but that still leaves reform polling between 10 and 14, which is devastating for the conservatives. And its coupled with this idea that for every voter the conservatives have lost to reform, theyve lost a voter to, labour, the lib dems and the greens and also a voter to apathy. So the conservatives are still split three ways, and yet when ukip won 4 million votes in 2015, the conservatives were able to win a slim majority, they were, of course, able to squeeze a lot of that ukip vote with a with a story about how labour might get into coalition with the snp. I coalition with the snp. I suppose the conservatives this time around need to find that bogeyman to dangle in front of reform voters that they havent perhaps found yet. Perhaps found yet. Well, they hope theyve got it, dont they . In keir starmer we saw yesterday, rishi sunak say keir starmer made pledges when he wanted to become labour leader, that hes gone back on and now hell be saying to reform voters look, if you vote reform youll get labour and theyre still the same Corbynite Party that you know , we will. We party that you know, we will. We all defeated in 2017 and 2019. I dont think itll work this time. First of all, because people are so sick of the conservatives, they feel so let down by the party. But also coupled with the fact that actually keir starmer does seem like a safer, much safer pair of hands than Jeremy Corbyn ever did. Yes. And keir starmer will be forced to put more meat on the bones when it comes to his policy priorities and his policy pledges , are we likely to see pledges, are we likely to see that happen when it comes to keir, if you were advising him on his strategy for this election, would it be to continue to be vague on some of their pledges or to set it all out for us . I think probably being hes got the space to be vague, firstly because hes got a massive poll lead, so he doesnt necessarily need to set out in complete detail because the pubuc complete detail because the public are already saying that they want labour over the conservatives, i do think that the left of the labour party will become increasingly disgruntled. This might provide an opening for somebody like George Galloway, or for various left wing independent movements, but i dont think theyll do very well. I think this is really a change election where people have broadly made up their mind. Theyve made up their mind. Theyve made up their mind. Theyve made up their mind. If they dont like their mind. If they dont like the conservatives and theyll vote for whichever party will keep them out in their given constituency, which is good for the lib dems as well, because even though their polling hasnt increased much nationally, theyre doing really well in the seats that they need to do well in rishi sunak has gambled here, clearly gambled, but i suppose he had a very slim set of opfions he had a very slim set of options to start with. What needs to happen really to change the narrative, i suppose. There are two schools of thought in sort of the study of thought in sort of the study of elections , that elections of elections, that elections just show what fundamentally people think, or that elections actually change minds. I suppose. Again, 2017 was one of those elections that showed that elections that showed that elections can actually change minds. A lot can change over the course of a campaign. Yes. So what happened in 2017 was that actually the Election Campaign was the first time most people paid attention , or most people paid attention, or most people paid attention, or most people who who dont follow politics closely paid attention to who the leaders were, and they liked what they saw in Jeremy Corbyn. Not enough to give him a majority, obviously, but not enough to give theresa may a majority either. At the rishi sunak is already a well known figure, and i think people have generally made up not only their minds about him, but about the conservative party as a brand, and i think, you know, the idea being that parties can claw back some vote share in the campaign is true, but they can also lose vote share. And its not as if the conservative party mps have any reason to be harmonious. Now, as you were saying earlier, many of them feel really hard done by by this snap election. Yes, absolutely. Thank you yes, absolutely. Thank you very much indeed forjoining us. Doctor. David jeffrey, lecturer in british politics at the university of liverpool. Well , university of liverpool. Well, coming up, the labour party says the rwanda plan has all been a big con and sunak refuses to commit to getting flights off the ground before the date of the election. Whats the date of the election. Whats going on here . Yes, what is going on . This is good afternoon, britain. Were on gb news, britains election. Channel. Good afternoon. Britain. Its 27 minutes past midday. Well , 27 minutes past midday. Well, rishi sunak and sir keir starmer, hes got a sore throat, have drawn swords over tackling illegal migration ahead of the 4th of july. General election. Yes. The Prime Minister admitted earlier today that the first flights to rwanda will not take off before the election. The labour leader slammed the governments plan and vowed to clean up the migration mess of 14 years of tory leadership. Ukip. Well with us now is gb news home and security editor , mark home and security editor, mark white. Mark, what is labour actually saying today . Actually saying today . Well, labour clearly believes that as far as the government is concerned, the whole rwanda policy was a big con that rishi sunak never believed that the flights would get off the ground or it would be a deterrent. I have to say im surprised to hear the Prime Minister and his first round of interview since calling the election acknowledge effectively that there will be no flights leaving for rwanda before the election, because what kind of made sense was to get at least 1 or 2 flights off the ground to say, look, weve delivered. Its been tough to get there, but were doing that now. If labour get in, theyre going to reverse this whole policy. And by doing that, of course , they dont then have to course, they dont then have to prove because it wouldnt be time to prove that its actually worked as a deterrent. But just that theyve delivered their, long held ambition to get these flights off to rwanda. This is what the Prime Minister, though, in his interview with gb news, said this morning, plan is going to work. And i announced a little while ago all the preparations that weve put in place to get those flights off. So weve trained hundreds of caseworkers, weve identified the cohort of the first people that will be sent. Weve got an airfield on standby , weve booked flights, standby, weve booked flights, weve got the escorts ready. And as people have been watching on their tv screens and in the papers, weve already started detaining those who will then be removed in subsequent flights. Removed in subsequent flights. And thats a choice at this election. Ellie, if you elect me, if im Prime Minister on the 5th of july, those flights will go off to rwanda and we will begin to put in place the deterrent that we need to stop the boats. So speaking to sources, this morning, theyre suggesting that perhaps people have misinterpreted what the Prime Minister was saying. I dont think we have. I minister was saying. I dont think we have. I think it minister was saying. I dont think we have. I think it was think we have. I think it was quite clear that he was talking about clearing the way for flights to take place after the election. If you elect a conservative government and certainly three political parties, lib dems and labour, of course, have been very quick to jump course, have been very quick to jump on this, this is what sir keir starmer said this morning. Keir starmer said this morning. Rishi sunak clearly does not believe in his rwanda plan. I believe in his rwanda plan. I think thats been clear from this morning because hes not going to get any flights off. I think that tells its own story. Think that tells its own story. I dont think hes ever believed that plan is going to work. I dont think hes ever believed that plan is going to work. And that plan is going to work. And so hes called an election early enough to have it not tested before the election. We have to deal with the terrible loss of control of the border under this government. We have to tackle the small boats that are coming across. Nobody, but nobody should be making that journey. Should be making that journey. So its perfectly possible, of course, that this is all smoke and mirrors and that actually what will happen is a few days before the election, the government pulls a rabbit out of the hat and manages to get 1 or 2 flights off to rwanda. Lets wait and see. Well, thats always a possibility, isnt it, mark, theres a little bit of confusion id say were hoping to speak to. Well we will be speaking to the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, a little bit later in the show, and theres a little bit of confusion over what exactly their policy is. We know that labour do not want to deport people to rwanda. I guess the people to rwanda. I guess the question is the government is saying that theyre effectively going to have an amnesty for those who arrived illegally. What is their plan when it comes to what to do with those who have arrived illegally already, and for whom there is no returns agreement, i. E. They dont come from a country deemed safe . I think thats a very good point. And its a real potential area of attack for the conservative going forward, because youve got now a number of countries around europe actively looking at safe third countries as a way of returning people to not their home countries, but to a safe third country. If they cant be returned to their home countries. Now we focus all the time on the small boats issue with regard to rwanda. But what with regard to rwanda. But what rwanda will do as well, if its expanded out, is give this government an option to send people who have arrived in this country with no right to be here, not necessarily across the channelin here, not necessarily across the channel in a small boat, but people that have overstayed their visas, foreign, National Offenders who the government wants to get rid of, but they cant. For instance, they might come from afghanistan or iran or other unsafe countries where the government would be unable to remove them. Will a safe third country gives a government the opfion country gives a government the option of removing people to that safe third country that is, you know, potentially an area where the conservatives could really go on the attack for laboun really go on the attack for labour. Itd be very interesting to see what, Yvette Cooper says about that. Absolutely well, mark white, thank you very much for bringing us all of that. Very much for bringing us all of that. Now, we should say that that. Now, we should say that there are bills that are currently going through parliament that have not yet made their full way through parliament. At 1 00 today, Penny Mordaunt will stand up in the house of commons to say which bills will survive and be rushed through in the next two days, and which bills will fall away. It looks likely that that generational ban on smoking will be one of those bills that falls away. Well bring you all the away. Well bring you all the very latest after your headlines. Very good afternoon to you. The top stories this lunchtime. And first, just a recap of that news there that mark white was covering for us that the labour leader, sir keir starmer , has leader, sir keir starmer, has accused the Prime Minister of never believing in his own rwanda plan. Its after he admitted the flights carrying migrants will not take off before the general election in july. However, speaking as he july. However, speaking as he started his Election Campaign in derbyshire this morning, rishi sunak says the scheme will continue if hes re elected. Both the conservatives and the labour party have launched their Election Campaigns today alongside reform uk and the liberal democrats. Official liberal democrats. Official estimates show net migration the difference between those legally arriving and leaving the uk dropped by 10 last year. It stood at an estimated 685,000 in 2023. Thats down from the record of 764,000 the year before. Official figures suggest just over 1. 2 Million People arrived in the uk, while 532,000 are likely to have left. Primary are likely to have left. Primary School Student Leah Harrison has been named as the person who was killed in a mudslide in North Yorkshire. 30 mountain rescuers were involved in the search for the ten year old, who got into difficulty near carlton bank yesterday. Mount pleasant Primary School has described the incident as a heartbreaking tragedy and say that leah was a much loved part of the community. Former Scottish Health secretary Michael Matheson has been suspended and will lose his salary for 54 days. The punishment comes after he racked up £11,000 in roaming charges on his parliamentary ipad while on holiday in morocco last year, later announcing he would cover the costs himself. Would cover the costs himself. He revealed the bill had been the result of his children using the result of his children using the device as a wi fi hotspot to watch football. For the latest watch football. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts. Just scan the qr code on your screen or go to our website, gbnews. Com alerts. All right. Its 1239. All right. Its1239. Youre watching and listening to good afternoon, britain. Now lets go afternoon, britain. Now lets go straight to south wales and speak to our Political Editor , speak to our Political Editor, christopher hope. Christopher, the news broke a little bit earlier that nigel farage will not stand as a reform party candidate. Your thoughts . Candidate. Your thoughts . Yeah, i think this is a big boost here for rishi sunak. Hes been attacked by many of his own side. Tory mps particularly concerned about calling a general election. When youre so far behind in the polls. But i think the fact that that this surprise decision by to call the election has managed to discombobulate that the reform uk party, nigel farage, is clearly not ready for this and thats why hes now not standing. So has rishi killed off the political hopes of nigel farage to become Prime Minister we all look towards an autumn election, a november , election, election, a november, election, when thats when the choice will be made, whether nigel farage should work and try and help donald trump win the election in america, or continue with work as a as a presenter on gb news or not. But instead, hes not going to be an mp for reform uk after the election. And that is really significant. I think, for really significant. I think, for him for reform, many people think that the reform uk is polling at around 12, 14. Think that the reform uk is polling at around 12,14. Has it polling at around 12, 14. Has it been inflated by people taking a punt on thinking that farage will come back now farage has walked away from that party. It may well be that the support goes from reform, to the tory party and that might may give mr sunak a bump in the polls he desperately needs from his decision to go early for an election in july 4th. Yes, its hard to overstate the importance of nigel farage, more well known than most members of the cabinet or the shadow cabinet. Certainly i would have, i would have said. But chris, youre standing in the middle of what looks like a brewery or the, the sort of back entrance of a pub. Whats going on . Thats right. Were in a brewery in south wales told me youre going to see much more of these visits, of these party leaders. Were with the Prime Ministers party. Hes to my left. I can just see where hes gonein left. I can just see where hes gone in there, i think to maybe sample some non alcoholic beer. Im not sure im not with him, but youre going to see much more of these, these backgrounds on these these on the election tours earlier. Were in, in, in, east derbyshire and ilkeston in, in a big, depot there when he did a q a with workers and when he said there very clearly that he said there very clearly that he would , make sure that the he would, make sure that the renderfarm takes off, off after the july 4th election if re elected, made some comments about the nhs, about why he had hes bought an umbrella on his trip now. Wont get soaked. So were seeing much more of this. Were seeing much more of this. Mr sunak coming out from his shell on this trip today. Mr sunak coming out from his shell on this trip today. Were shell on this trip today. Were in now were in wales. And later on overnight will be in other parts of the uk. This is a kind of uk wide tour by the Prime Minister. Hes trying to take advantage of , of the surprise he advantage of, of the surprise he had by calling the early election and trying to leave his opponents to look flat footed, and what hes done so far has made reform uk look very flat footed, and that will be a win for him. Some reports this morning suggested the Prime Minister would end up the day in scotland. I imagine he might have to fly there. I dont know if youll be able to get there in time. All right. Right. Well, tim, i cant really say where im going. And with the Prime Ministers team and theres a security net around what were doing, but i will be popping up what were doing, but i will be popping up regularly around the uk for viewers and listeners on gb news. Ill have to keep you guessing on that. Fantastic stuff. Thank you very much indeed, christopher. Hope there. From the outside of a brewery today, well see where he is a little bit later on. Id recognise those kegs anyway. I know you noticed that i didnt know what it was. I didnt know what it was. I didnt know what it was. I didnt know what it was. Clueless, i keep saying i used to work in a pub. Well a bar. Used to work in a pub. Well a ban pve used to work in a pub. Well a bar. Ive changed these barrels before. Oh, well, there you go , yeah. Oh, well, there you go, yeah. You dont want to know about my waitressing career. Terrible. Not terrible. Terrible. Not terrible. So two clumsy, two clumsy. But lots of you getting in touch about nigel farage. I must say, the majority of you dont seem to be very impressed , david says to be very impressed, david says so. Sorry to hear nigel farage is not running. Im not sure if reform now has a Strong Enough leader to compete or rival labour and the conservatives. Pat says though nigel farage can do a lot more damage as a commentator rather than a candidate, john says i dont care what farage does , so there care what farage does, so there you go. And, fox 61 says farage wins the people up. Then goes back to the background. Hes doneit back to the background. Hes done it before. So there you go. A mixed reviews, mixed reviews. Perhaps nigel has his biggest passion when people are suspecting what he might do. Yes, he knows that. Yes, he knows that. And that power sort of has the wind to some extent, has been taken out of his sails by rishi sunak calling an early election. I mean, if rishi sunak called one, as many people were expecting as i expected in november, nigel would have been this sort of ghost boat floating over tory prospect sort of dangled the tantalising prospect of will. He wont he now that sort of. Although nigel did call a summer election , didnt he . Summer election, didnt he . A little while ago he said that he thought it was going to be summer. Yes. Thank you very much summer. Yes. Thank you very much indeed, tom, for telling me that it was going to be november. I listened to you in your political expertise and foresight, and you know. Yes, well, things change. Things change in june as well. Things change, things change. See if i can get my flights refunded. Weve got to be here to, drive you through this election chaos. But keep your views coming in. Im sure lots of you have all sorts of, of views on on nigels decision. Theyre very interesting. But coming up, as labour pledges to scrap the rwanda plan, should they win the election. Well flights ever take off. Were going to be joined by shadow home secretary yvette coopen shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper. Weve got quite a few good afternoon. Britain. Its 12 47. Now. Today we learned new migration figures. 685,000 more people came to this country last year than left it. The net year than left it. The net migration, that came into this country was one of the highest years on record. Although down down 10 on the year before, 685,000 and those from the year before have been upgraded as well, havent they . So those are higher than they were before , 700 and something were before, 700 and something thousand. I mean, its quite incredible , isnt it . I mean, incredible, isnt it . I mean, the conservatives time and time again have stood on the promise that they would reduce migration. David cameron, tens of thousands, they sort of dropped that a bit. But Boris Johnson was always clear that he wanted to reduce immigration and instead the visa numbers up, up, up there has been some progress. Yes, since january. Heres the crucial qualifier. As you rightly say, last year, 685,000 net migration. But thats measuring 2023. If we look at the month by month data, the more up to date data in 2024, we have seen a 76 collapse in the number of health and social care visas. Yes, weve seen a similar collapse in the new Visa University students. Thats a new visa. Thats a new visa. I think i you know, this certain visas, certain visas have been cut. Yes. But others not, so its all how you look at these figures really. International student numbers have also collapsed. What you used to see was a cyclica, or at least in the in the last two years, a cyclical spike, over the summer. Years, a cyclical spike, over the summer. Terms of applications for these. We have not seen that spike this year, but there is no spike. But the big question for today really is if whoever wins the election do we expect those numbers to go down or up . Were hoping to speak to Yvette Cooper very shortly. Shadow home secretary. She wants to be in charge of the home office, in charge of the home office, in charge of the home office, in charge of immigration on legal and illegal. What type of number of legal migration would the labour party be comfortable with or will the labour party simply be the luckiest incoming government on this issue that any has been . Because weve seen that last years net migration figures very, very high 685,000 this years month by month data, many visas collapsing by 60, 70, 80 in terms of the people coming. So by the time we get to this point next year, even if a new government is elected and change absolutely nothing about the migration system , it will be migration system, it will be hundreds of thousands people lower than it was last year. So could it be that the labour party can come in, do absolutely nothing and take all of the glory for a massive collapse in migration numbers . Quite possibly. Quite possibly. Its also feeds into, of course , the, news from the of course, the, news from the reform party and not only nigel farage not standing as a candidate at the election , but candidate at the election, but also looking at the campaign as it is so far. Richard tice, the leader, definitely trying to make this about. Immigration this is the immigration election freeze on immigration. If you vote for reform, yes, thats one form of net zero that theyre actually in favour of net zero immigration. That is what they are asking for. That is what they are campaigning for at least. But of course, richard tice is also said today that he will not be fighting the seats that he fought last time, no longer. Hartlepool, the reform party leader, will instead be standing in boston and skegness. Leader, will instead be standing in boston and skegness. Thats in boston and skegness. Thats currently a conservative held seat and it does suggest that actually perhaps the biggest prospects for reform are some of those seats that have been seen with very, very high conservative votes in 2019. But with demographics that they think are favourable to them. There perhaps demographics that are also favourable to the conservative party well, our Political Correspondent Katherine Forster is outside labour hq. Catherine, we were just talking about the, well, sky high immigration figures really when it comes to legal migration last year, the labour party have said they want to get those numbers down. They havent given us a figure, though. Though. Yes, indeed. I mean , its yes, indeed. I mean, its quite something. The timing of this, isnt it, for rishi sunak to call an election yesterday, knowing that the figures on legal migration were out today. Now, sure , they are down 10 now, sure, they are down 10 from last year, but they are still 685,000 people coming to in last december in that year. Now, bear in mind that Boris Johnson, when he was elected in 2019, net migration, then was about 230,000. The conservatives came into power pledging to get that down. And here we are with that down. And here we are with that number nearly triple what it was back in 2019. Now, of course , you know, rishi sunak course, you know, rishi sunak has been saying were doing this, this and this to get these numbers down. But still, you know, these numbers are sky high beyond anything that has ever been seen before. Now, labour have said they want to get the numbers down to its not entirely clear how that is going to happen though, and i mean also the timing of this. I still find very, very curious because a lot of the measures that the government brought in would have only kicked in in january were only kicked in in january were only likely to see the effects of those measures much later in the year. So if theyve gone for an election at the end of the yean an election at the end of the year, it is perfectly possible that there will be a very, very steep fall in net migration. Steep fall in net migration. Some are suggesting right down back as low as 200,000. Now that would have been a big help to the tories election prospects, but they have decided to go now. Well Katherine Forster, thank you very much for bringing us that outside labour hq. That outside labour hq. Now after the break, were going to be talking to the woman whos potentially going to be in charge of the migration system of the United Kingdom in just 40 days time. The labour partys shadow home secretary, yvette coopen shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, shell be joining us here on gb news after the break. And if you have anything that you specifically want us to ask her, why not write in. Youve got three minutes. Com yourself. Well be having a look at some of those messages during the break. But as we say Yvette Cooper to join us at the top of the next hour after these short messages. Messages. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on. Gb news. Hello again. Welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. Were sticking with a bit of a north south split in our weather as we go through the rest of this week, with northern parts staying pretty wet because of the low Pressure Centre that has brought so much rain recently. Lingering here. Recently. Lingering here. Further south, though, its a different story. Some drier, different story. Some drier, brighter weather to end the day and then we will have some clear skies across south southeastern parts as we go overnight. Further north and elsewhere across the country. Quite a across the country. Quite a cloudy picture and there will be further outbreaks of rain. Some of them could be a little bit on the heavy side, could be some more Flooding Issues for some of us where we see the clear skies in the south, it may turn a little bit chilly overnight, but elsewhere, because of the cloudy , wet and for some blustery weather, it is going to be a relatively mild start to the day tomorrow. Taking a closer look, first thing tomorrow morning and across many parts of scotland, quite a bit of cloud around and there will still be some outbreaks of rain. Perhaps western parts of scotland having some clearer skies. So it may be a little bit chilly first thing here. Otherwise lots of cloud and outbreaks of rain across Northern Ireland, Northern England and much of england and wales, but further south, some brighter skies. First thing i mentioned that it could be a bit chilly first thing, but once the sun rises, those temperatures should start to climb quite quickly. As we go through the day tomorrow, it is going to be fairly similar to today really across northern parts. Further outbreaks of rain, though they dont look quite as heavy as today. Nonetheless, some heavier bursts are still possible. Always driest towards the south, a greater chance of seeing some sunshine here, but 1 or 2 showers could pop up. Temperatures for many look quite similar, perhaps starting to feel a bit warmer across northern parts compared to today. More showery rain across northern parts as we go through the evening tomorrow. None of it looks especially heavy, but some moderate bursts are possible. Moderate bursts are possible. Clearer skies towards the south could take us into a bit of a chilly start on saturday, but definitely looks like the driest day of the long weekend before rain arrives through sunday and monday. Bye bye. Monday. Bye bye. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on gb news as well. Well. Well. Good afternoon. Britain. Its just coming up to 1 00. Now. Today we learned new migration numbers. Official net migration numbers. Official net migration numbers for last year in 2023, 685,000 more people came into the country than left it. Well, lets get the thoughts of shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper. Of shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper. Yvette, your reaction to cooper. Yvette, your reaction to the latest statistics on immigration . Well, its the first day of rishi sunaks general Election Campaign, and what its shown is that he has totally failed on immigration and asylum. The net migration figures have trebled since the last general election, when they promised to bring net migration down. And youve also had the Prime Minister also effectively admit that the rwanda scheme is admit that the rwanda scheme is a con, and weve seen figures showing that only 3 of those who arrived in small boats have been returned. Been returned. And i think theres just been chaos really, in their both their immigration and asylum approach. And also around the economy as well. Thats really damaging. And weve got to turn damaging. And weve got to turn the page. Its why we want change. Weve got to turn the page and have a proper system with proper Border Security command in place. Is that what people might say is that a page has been turned. These, of course, are numbers from 2023, very, very high numbers. But measuring from january, as the government released new statistics , monthly released new statistics, monthly statistics, more up to date statistics. Just yesterday , the statistics. Just yesterday, the number of health and social care visas is down 76. The number of health and care dependents is down 58. The number of dependents coming on sponsored study visas. Thats down around 80 as well. From january. Its 80 as well. From january. Its a very, very different picture to 2023. Well, in fact, what the figures show is over the last year compared to the previous yean year compared to the previous year, theres actually been around a 50 increase in work migration. And what that reflects at the heart of it, i think, is a failure on both the economy and on immigration, because because theres been no action to tackle the serious skills shortages. Skills shortages. So, for example, sorry, just to dive down on what youre saying there. Do you mean 2024 . No, no. Yeah. But to show no, no. Yeah. But to show that if you look over the last 12 months, if you look at those figures compared to the previous yean figures compared to the previous year, and thats important. So ill just finish the point and then come back to the point that you were making about some of those recent changes. What youve seen, for example, is a big increase in on engineering visas at the same time as engineering apprenticeships have halved. Well, you know, theres a link between those things. And thats what i mean about the failures around both the economy and the immigration system. There are changes that have been brought in in recent months. There are some changes , for there are some changes, for example, that we called for to get rid of the 20 discount on overseas recruitment because we didnt think that was fair. And also there are some other measures the governments introduced that we have supported. But at its heart, supported. But at its heart, unless you tackle the skills shortages, unless you make sure weve got proper skills and training here in the uk , thats training here in the uk, thats why were just going to have really chaos in the system. So we need a properly managed and controlled immigration and asylum system. So the system is fair so that we make sure that we obviously benefit from the International Talent and investment that our country will always need. But so we also have rules properly being enforced, which again, theyre not at the moment. Youre being admirably blunt about the need for control , for about the need for control, for rules. Perhaps youd be as blunt on what sort of numbers youd like to see. Labour has said 700,000 is too high. Labour has said 600,000 is too high, is 500 too high is 400, 300, 200. Can you give us a sense of where you would like those numbers to be . A measure by which we can measure your performance against . Well, we think that net migration should come down to whats important. And both for the immigration system and for the immigration system and for the economy as well. Were not setting a target. And weve had a history of conservative governments in the past setting targets. And then actually making things worse. So were going to be just sensible about this. Well set out particular measures, for example, that we would introduce. Would introduce. But were going to get, you know, broad sense of any sort of number what you would like to see. Were not going to get even a sense of that. Do you do you see when rishi sunak says youve got no plan when that starts to ring true, if you cant give us a number. No. So the problem is that all that rishi sunak has got really is press releases. He doesnt actually have a plan to doesnt actually have a plan to do anything. So im reading yours right now with his part of the conservative party. Well, he was part of the good. He was part of the conservative party that said that net migration should come down at the last election, and instead they have trebled it since then. So that is not a plan. So the things we are setting out is practical proposals, for example, to link the points based system to the skills and training system. So that youve got a proper system where you have, for example, jobs on the shortage occupation list. There have to be proper requirements around skills and training. So there are practical things. Weve said well do practical things around a Border Security command, for example, to strengthen our Border Security, where we know weve got these dangerous boats. I just want to know we dont have a lot of time, and i just want to get you on a on ilLegal Immigration as well as the league table, because we know from labour, weve heard time and time again that you dont want this rwanda scheme, you dont want to deport people to rwanda. But now 15 eu countries are now considering similar schemes. Theyre looking at third safe countries to deport Illegal Migrants to for their claims and so on. Why is labour thinking that their plan is better when so many European Countries are looking towards similar schemes to the one that were doing at the moment . The moment . Well, actually theyre not. What theyre looking at is a different kinds of approaches to working with third countries, and there should always be different sorts of programmes and working in partnership with other countries to address these really complex issues. But the problem with the rwanda scheme is this is half £1 billion of taxpayers money for a scheme that was only ever going to cover around 1 of asylum seekers. No plan for the 99. Yvette cooper are you saying the labour party you say, you say in your press release going to work . You say in your press release that you want to clear the tory asylum backlog. But i want to ask that once youve, processed all of these claims, which may be 100 odd thousand as it stands, where do those who dont have a legitimate claim go . Because we dont have returns agreements with every country . Is the labour party advocating some kind of amnesty for anyone who comes from afghanistan . We dont have returns agreement from anyone who comes from iran, anyone who comes from iraq, and many other countries that are deemed unsafe. Will there be an amnesty for those who have arrived illegally from those countries . Countries . So we dont support amnesties . An amnesty is effectively what the conservatives are doing at the moment, because for the 99 of people who were never going to be sent to rwanda, all they do in practice is the government says that they can effectively stay in taxpayer funded asylum accommodation for as long as they want, for that could be an asylum hotels, because they have no process to make the decisions and no process to deliver returns. We dont think thats the right thing to do. We dont think we thing to do. We dont think we should have that effectively indefinite amnesty approach that the conservatives have introduced. We need to have a properly controlled and managed asylum system. That does mean making sure that you can do properly returns because the returns have dropped. I think its about about 30 or 40 since the last Labour Government, and thats because theyre not actually doing the work. You dont always need returns agreements in place to actually make the returns happen. You just need the hard work in place and that has collapsed under the conservatives. So youve got to actually get a grip instead of the gimmicks where theres been a lot of focus on gimmicks over the last few years. What labour would do is actually just get a grip of some of those practicalities , make sure weve practicalities, make sure weve got a major new returns and Enforcement Unit with the staff in place to actually do the paperwork to get it sorted. The concern is that you systems in place that you wont have anywhere to return them to. If youre scrapping the rwanda scheme on day one. But thank you so much for your time. Yvette cooper the shadow home secretary, great to get your thoughts. Thoughts. Well, it it does it does make sense. You can of course, you dont have to have a returns agreement to send someone back to a country. But my goodness it takes a long time to negotiate in all cases with individual governments. And think about some of these governments youd have to negotiate with. Youd have to negotiate with. Youd have to negotiate with. Youd have to negotiate with the taliban. Yeah, with the taliban. Taliban. Yeah, with the taliban. Varne. Yeah, yeah. And with all these European Countries looking at similar schemes. Yes. Not completely cookie cutter with rwanda, but theyre very much keen on similar schemes. Rishi sunak called a pioneer by, some country. So there you go. The austrian chancellor, austrian chancellor. Anyway, were now joined by our Political Correspondent olivia utley , whos on downing olivia utley, whos on downing street, and also Katherine Forster. Outside labour hq, catherine, you heard our questions to the shadow home secretary there, putting the case that things will get tougher when it comes to Border Control under a Labour Government. But again, not telling us what an acceptable level of immigration is. Yes, exactly. Saying we want yes, exactly. Saying we want the numbers to come down. Well, the numbers to come down. Well, the government is saying they want the numbers to come down, but under the government, you know, net migration was three quarters of a million in the previous year. And now until december , we learn that it was december, we learn that it was 685,000. So down 10, but still about three times the level that about three times the level that a net migration was when Boris Johnson was elected. And of johnson was elected. And of course, the conservatives spent many, many years telling us they were going to get net migration down to the tens of thousands. Now perhaps thats one of the reasons why Yvette Cooper absolutely refuses to name a number. But i do think many people around the country will look and think, well, everybody is saying theyre going to get it down, but it is rocket rocketing. And similarly, both parties are saying theyre going to crack down on illegal migration. But, you know, for all rishi sunaks promises, we now learn that hes admitting that no flights will go to rwanda before the election if he remained Prime Minister hes saying that they would go. But, you know, unless the polls changed dramatically, that is not looking very likely. And labour have said definitively they think rwanda is a total waste of time. In fact, today theyre saying, look, clearly rishi sunak never believed in this and this is why hes going early. So it cant be proved to early. So it cant be proved to fail. So i think, you know, a lot of talk from both parties. But i suspect that many voters will be listening to this and not really terribly convinced by either of them. Theres a lot of words, isnt there . But, you know, illegal migration, people crossing the channel has gone up and up and up now. Rishi sunak saying numbers were down last year relative to the year before, but this year the numbers are up and Yvette Cooper also flinging around a lot of figures. You can you can choose to statistics cant you, to help your message. But, my goodness, your message. But, my goodness, you know, the levels of net migration are still sky high and people are still crossing the channel. Yeah, catherine, really, really incisive actually. How labour want to talk about 2023. The conservatives want to talk about 2024. But olivia, one thing that the Prime Minister says repeatedly at every campaign stop, even in his stump speech, where you are in downing street yesterday , was that street yesterday, was that labour has no plan and i think that one incisive moment in that interview with Yvette Cooper there, when she refused to say what even vague level of numbers shed like to see coming into the country, that feeds into the Prime Ministers narrative that theres no plan. Theres no plan. I think exactly. The prime i think exactly. The Prime Minister is on the strongest ground when hes talking about labours immigration plans. The Prime Minister made five pledges at the beginning of 2023, just after he became Prime Minister, and of those five pledges, the only one which has really achieved is halving inflation. He did do that, and actually its gone down by more than half now on everything else. He is on rocky ground, but on immigration, labour is on even rockier ground. Yvette cooper rockier ground. Yvette cooper talks about not needing to have returns agreements with individual countries. Returns agreements with individual countries. You just individual countries. You just have to do the hard work. But as you said, tom, it takes a very, very long time. If you dont have a returns agreement with a specific country. And time is what we just dont have in the immigration system. What happens is migrants come over here. There is a huge, huge bottleneck while theyre being processed and you end up with people staying here for well over a yeah staying here for well over a year. The average, i think, is still 435 days for a migrants claim to be processed. It is unclear how that would get any better under labour. Yvette cooper has said that she would hire a thousand new caseworkers. She calls them Something Like an army against the tide of immigration. Or, im paraphrasing , but words to that paraphrasing, but words to that effect. But essentially its just more pen pushers in the home office, which i think quite a lot of voters will think is the absolute last thing we need that said, as i say, the tories dont really have a compelling message on immigration either. The rwanda scheme is not up and running, and rishi sunak has now admitted that there will be no flights to rwanda before the 4th of july. So its very difficult for the conservatives to sort of trump labour on this. They can just say youre not doing very well either. Yes. And i do think that issue of its all well and good processing asylum claims. But what do you do with those who dont have a legitimate claim . And i imagine the conservatives, catherine, will want to push the message that labour will just rubber stamp them and let them stay. But as olivia said , i stay. But as olivia said, i mean, rishi sunak basically admitting that flights probably will not, definitely will not take off before july the 4th isnt a compelling message either. Ehhen no, exactly. And i mean , im no, exactly. And i mean, im still stunned, to be honest, that rishi sunak has called this general election and i was with him in vienna on a monday and tuesday , and he gave us an tuesday, and he gave us an exclusive interview here on gb news. And he was talking then and he said flights will be taking off regularly from july through the summer to rwanda. And not only that, but basically and 15 countries in europe are saying that we are pioneers going and this is the sort of thing that we want to do now. He thing that we want to do now. He told me that on tuesday morning, but we now know, of course, that he must have known that he was about to call an election. So the reality is it is not going to happen now. Its all very well making promises , but the well making promises, but the fact is, people are going to go to the polls and rishi sunak can say all he likes. The flights will go, but people will have no evidence of that because theres plenty of people in the conservative party and elsewhere that simply dont believe it. Rishi sunak will be asking voters to trust that he can get people on flights to rwanda , people on flights to rwanda, some two years after Boris Johnson first announced this scheme, hundreds of millions of pounds spent. Of course, if it happens, it could be a game changen happens, it could be a game changer. But i think thats a really, really big if. And of course, that would mean that rishi sunak had to win the next election, which doesnt look very likely at the moment. Olivia, am i perhaps over interpreting something here because rishi sunak says july will be when these flights get off . Now hes not committing that. That will be before the election, probably because he cant commit that some things are out of his control. Theyll be courts that get involved and all the rest of it. But hes not saying that they wont go off before the election either. Could there be the chance of 1 or 2 planes on the first, 2nd or 3rd of july, making perhaps surprising journalists and observers and voters in the days before the election . I suppose before the election . I suppose we cant rule it out. We cant rule it out. I think thats a very good thought, tom. I think it is quite possible. Yes. Rishi sunak cant say that. Definitely flights will be taking off. But if there are a few flights taking off between the first and the 4th of july, then that is actually quite a compelling message for rishi sunak because laboun message for rishi sunak because labour, while not really having a very clear plan themselves, have said that they will stop the rwanda plan even if its up and running. Now you can imagine the message from rishi sunak on perhaps the 3rd of july. If weve just seen 6 or 7 planes take off between the first and the 3rd of july, look , the the 3rd of july, look, the rwanda scheme is up and running. Migrants are now returning. And migrants are now returning. And also, lets remember that by july there will be a huge increase in the number of small boats coming over here in the warmer months. We always see a spike in those migrant numbers. The migrant crisis will feel pretty desperate by the beginning of july. If flights are taking off, then rishi sunak could make the point. Perhaps the day before polling day , that the day before polling day, that labouris the day before polling day, that labour is about to bang the nail in the coffin of a policy, the first policy that has really worked to stop illegal migration. But i think even rishi sunaks closest aides and advisers will be only a little bit hopeful that that might be able to be pulled off. Yeah. Yes, indeed. Well, thank you very much. Olivia utley and Katherine Forster too, for bringing us that insight, we want to find out what the key battlegrounds will be in this election. Where are the different parties targeting seats. So joining us now from electoral calculus is marwan riyak. Marwan. Thank you very much indeed. And im sorry if i butchered your name there. Fantastic to have you on the show. What are the key battlegrounds here . Where are labour . Looking to make gains. Where are the tories looking to hold seats. Hold seats. So it will be quite difficult to spin a single narrative on this, fundamentally, the conservatives are going to be playing very much a game of defence and labour are very much going to be on the attack. Labour will almost certainly be targeting the red wall, trying to recoup those bricks that were lost to Boris Johnsons conservative party in 2019, and the liberal democrats will be hoping to make traction in their traditional heartlands of the southwest, where brexit is no longer the issue it once was. Longer the issue it once was. I suppose one of the big question marks will be will the local Election Results map on to the general Election Results . And this could be taken in two different ways. Number one, the labour party won all but one metro mayoralty. It was a pretty impressive mayoral showing, but on the other hand there have been some analysts who showed that if you map precisely the way people voted in the locals onto a potential general election, although that might not be entirely likely , you come not be entirely likely, you come out with a Hung Parliament . Yeah, i think that was, the projected national share. I mean, one thing id add, or mention in response to that is the turnout in the police and crime commissioner elections was very low. Of course, in the very low. Of course, in the general election, we expect to see a turnout of about 60 or 70. So people who generally arent politically engaged most of the time will probably focus in, in the next six weeks of the campaign. Campaign time on the point of the mayoral elections, there was an interesting element specifically in andy streets race in the west midlands, which was, the independent candidate, ahmed yaqoob, who we estimate won four out of four seats. Parliamentary seats in birmingham. Birmingham. Well, thank you very much indeed for your insight. Marwan rupa huq from electoral calculus. Thank rupa huq from electoral calculus. Thank you very much. It is interesting to think about all the different , election the different, election battlegrounds that therell be where the lib dems are looking to make gains. Whats happening with the snp . How are they going to try and claw back some support in certain areas . Everything to play for . Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And precisely as we saw in the, in the west midlands, how much could spoil a third. Candidates actually eat away at a labour vote. How much. How are we going to see George Galloway gallivanting around the country and his backed candidates and how much of the muslim vote is going to change things, albeit not in a lot of seats, where thatis not in a lot of seats, where that is going to be the difference between labour winning and not winning, but perhaps 5 or 6 seats. This could be a real yeah, that issue of gaza. How much will that play into the result in certain areas . And, nigel farage not standing as a reform candidate, how much damage , how much of a blow is damage, how much of a blow is that for the reform party . Keep your views coming in. And also on that interview with yvette coopen on that interview with Yvette Cooper, some of you not convinced that that the plan is fully set out and workable quite yet. Well, coming up, net migration to the uk fell 10 in 2023, but inflows of course above historical averages for that year. Above historical averages for that year. But it all changed in 2024. Were going to have a breakdown for these numbers after the. Break. Good afternoon. Britain. Its 1 24. Yes. Rishi sunak and keir starmer. Yes. Rishi sunak and keir starmer. Drawing swords over. Tackling illegal migration ahead of that 4th of july general election. Now, the Prime Minister admitted earlier today that the first flights to rwanda will not take off before the election. The labour leader slamming the governments plan, vowing to clean up the migration mess they call it, of 14 years of tory leadership. Well, with us now is gb news home and security editor mark white and mark, you were listening to the interview there with the shadow home secretary. With the shadow home secretary. Vie what was your biggest takeaway . Well , my takeaway . Well, my biggest takeaway from that really was that she had no answer to that fundamental question of what on earth you do with those that you might process as she wants to do more quickly by taking lots of additional staff and ensuring that whole asylum process is much quicker and much more efficient. What do you do with efficient. What do you do with those who you might decide should not be granted asylum . Have no leave to remain here. Where do they go if mark cant go back . Trying to say to us now that you didnt believe of her contention that therell be 100,000 plus individual negotiations with other governments around the world in order to individually, without a broad agreement between the countries, send people back to various places on an individual basis. You didnt buy that. And you know , its more of an and you know, its more of an issue than just the 100,000 individual negotiations. You individual negotiations. You cant negotiate with iran or afghanis , varne or iraq or syria afghanis, varne or iraq or syria or multiple other countries that are just not safe to send people back to. So this is where, you know, a returns agreement or individual, very detailed negotiations are just, you know, null and void because no court in the land would allow you to send anyone back to iran or afghanistan or wherever you want i the taliban are not are not onorable negotiating partners. Next question. Next question. Next question. Well, next question. Well, lets get you on the Legal Immigration as well, mark, because as expected, although in the run up to an election, i do really do think they should be more clear about what acceptable numbers look like on immigration. She went she she, she spoke about Yvette Cooper. She spoke about how legal migration has trebled under the conservatives, how its far too high. But tom could not get anything close to a figure from her. Yeah. Listen, im not surprised by that because they know that the absolute lots that the conservatives tied themselves into are over a number of years saying that they wanted to get net migration down to the tens of thousands and never being able to achieve that. They just dont want to go down there because they, you know, they create a hostage to fortune there. So, theyre not going to do that. But again, there are issues as well in terms of the direction of travel. She wanted to concentrate on the year up to december when, as tom quite rightly pointed out , actually, rightly pointed out, actually, theres a completely different picture now emerging from january this year where a lot of the changes that the government have implemented are coming into effect, such as a students no longer being able to take dependents over or indeed Health Care Workers no longer being able to take dependents over changes to the likes of the skilled worker pay thresholds. It will also start to have an effect. I understand why shes effect. I understand why shes doing it, but clearly concentrates on the year before, is her particular plan. But the conservatives will obviously push forward with the fact that they are seeing these these differences coming through in four months of the first year, andifs four months of the first year, and its going to continue. They would hope, in that same vein. I mean, how did we get to the point where 500, 600, 700,000 legal net migration is a is normal . And how did we get to that point , years basically of that point, years basically of allowing , i suppose, a system allowing, i suppose, a system where it was , more efficient to where it was, more efficient to be able to allow people to come in and fill jobs, often at a lower , on a lower wage than than lower, on a lower wage than than people here in this country, and, you know, weve got to that particular situation with regard to many of the workforce that have come in. But remember as well, a lot of the net migration that weve seen in recent years was also, boosted by the fact that we take we took in hundreds of thousands of people from ukraine and from hong kong and from afghanistan. And theres also the explosion in Higher Education and university education, where universities now are are, you know, for a massive part of their Business Model, relying on International Students coming across to ensure that the university itself can thrive as a business . Its interesting. Mark, i think weve struck some some gold here because when were looking at what the conservatives say on legal migration, they say, look at 2024, not 2023. And the labour party say the reverse. But when it comes to ilLegal Immigration, the conservatives say, look at 2023. Yeah, it was down by a third. And the labour party say look at 2024 when its up. Look at 2024 when its up. Doesnt this just show how politicians will pick and choose their statistics depending on their statistics depending on their argument . You are so cynical, tom, and 100 correct, and one of the advantages for rishi sunak in going on the 4th of july is you avoid that period over the very hot and calm, flat, calm months in the English Channel when we see sometimes thousand, the channel migrants coming across in a single day. You go on the 4th of july. Yes, of course , the 4th of july. Yes, of course, the weather is improving all the time, and there will be more that come across in the six weeks until the election. But if you wait until november, theres lots of people are saying theres so many advantages of waiting so long. You can get flights off the ground to rwanda, for, for as one example. But what if you get flights off the ground to rwanda and it makes absolutely no difference at all to the deterrent factor that youre hoping will be the net result of getting flights off the ground to rwanda. And theyre still coming in ever increasing numbers this year than the crossed last year , then than the crossed last year, then thatis than the crossed last year, then that is an unmitigated disaster for the government. Having spent for the government. Having spent half £1 billion on the rwanda scheme. So there are definite advantages to going on the 4th of july, despite what many people would see as the disadvantages of not being allowed to see the improvements in the economy that so many people were hoping for. Well , thank you very much well, thank you very much indeed. Mark white, our Homeland Security editor. Very security editor. Very interesting to get to talk about some of the holes, perhaps in the in that interview with the shadow home secretary. But shadow home secretary. But coming up, were speaking to the minister for science, innovation and technology, andrew griffith. Lots to ask him his reaction to this, snap election and also his department, which is responsible for universities , university for universities, university visas, a huge, huge issue. Well get to that after your headunes well get to that after your headlines with sam. Headlines with sam. Tom. Emily, thanks very much. Good afternoon to you. Its just after a 1 30. A look at the headunes after a 1 30. A look at the headlines this hour. The labour leader, sir keir starmer, has accused the Prime Minister of never believing in his own rwanda plan. Its after rishi sunak admitted that flights carrying migrants will not take off before the july general election. However, speaking as he started his Election Campaign in derbyshire, the conservative leader says the scheme will continue if hes re elected. Continue if hes re elected. Both the conservatives and labour have launched their Election Campaigns today alongside reform uk and the liberal democrats. Official liberal democrats. Official estimates show net migration. Thats the difference between those legally arriving and leaving the uk dropped by 10 last year. It stood at an estimated 685,000. In 2023. Thats down from a record of 764,000 the year before. 764,000 the year before. Official figures suggest just over 1. 2 Million People arrived in the uk in 2023, while 532,000 are likely to have left the family of a ten year old who died in a mudslide in North Yorkshire say she was a happy, bubbly, go lucky little girl. Bubbly, go lucky little girl. Primary School Student Leah Harrison was killed yesterday afternoon after getting into difficulty near carlton bank, Mount Pleasant Primary School, where she was a student, say the incident is a heartbreaking tragedy and that leah was a much loved part of the school community, and former Scottish Health secretary Michael Matheson has been suspended and will lose his salary for 54 days. The punishment comes after he racked up £11,000 in roaming charges on his parliamentary ipad. That was while he was on houdayin ipad. That was while he was on holiday in morocco last year, later announcing he would cover the costs himself. He revealed the costs himself. He revealed that the bill had been the result of his children using the device as a wi fi hotspot to watch football. Watch football. Didnt know that information, you know. Now, the former head of the post office is giving evidence on the second day of her much anticipated questioning earlier , anticipated questioning earlier, the horizon inquiry heard that the horizon inquiry heard that the company had received legal advice against a review of its it system because it was , quote, it system because it was, quote, opening the floodgates to damage claims. But Paula Vennells says she wasnt aware of that advice. She wasnt aware of that advice. She was in charge of the organisation from 2012 to 2019, while wrongful prosecutions of sub post masters continued. For sub post masters continued. For the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts. You can scan the qr code on your screen or go to our website gbnews. Com alerts. Our website gbnews. Com alerts. Cheers cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report, and lets take a look at the markets this afternoon. The pound will buy you 1. 2738 and ,1. 1739. The price of gold is £1,860. 46 per ounce, and the ftse 100 is at 8371 points. Cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report well, welcome back to good afternoon, britain. It is 139 in the afternoon. And a bit of a headache for rishi sunak this week, as hes forced to row back on plans to crack down on the amount of visas offered to university graduates. Thats university graduates. Thats following opposition from within his own cabinet, including his foreign secretary, lord cameron. Well theres been mixed Economic News as well. One of britains key sectors has been hit by weaker than expected growth, although inflation has fallen back to down normal 2. 3, which the Prime Minister is hailing as proof that the economic plan is working. Yes. Well, joining us now is yes. Well, joining us now is minister for science, innovation and technology , andrew griffith. And technology, andrew griffith. Andrew, thank you very much indeed. Weve been talking about these very high migration figures for last year. Of course, student visas and dependents and the like account for quite a few of those, quite a few of those figures , some of a few of those figures, some of your colleagues have said that there are some of our universities that are selling immigration rather than education. Do you believe that to be true . To be true . Well, certainly the level of immigration, both illegal and legal migration is too high. My constituents in arundel and south downs see the pressure on that. The pressure on public services. So we have to reduce it. And the government has a clear plan, bold plan. In the case of the rwanda scheme, but a clear plan to reduce both illegal migration by stopping the boats and legal migration. And were starting to see that. So the removal of the ability to bnng so the removal of the ability to bring dependents here, if you came to study, you know, you can no longer bring your whole family here, that has already seen a reduction of about a quarter in visas in the First Quarter in visas in the First Quarter of this year. So that that plan is there. Its that plan is there. Its working. Its starting. People are starting to see the benefits of that, of course, were in an election now. And theres a very clear choice between continuing with that plan. Its got certainly a long way to go. And laboun certainly a long way to go. And labour, who dont have a plan. Theyve opposed every single thing that weve done. They dont have a plan themselves and they would just leave us open to that unlimited migration here. I mean , the accusation is that mean, the accusation is that some of our universities are to dependent on immigration, theres been quite a lot of university spokespeople and heads of universities coming out to say that if you do anything to say that if you do anything to restrict graduate visas or student visas , that these student visas, that these universities will suffer as a result. Is there an argument that we should allow some of our university is perhaps lower calibre universities, if youll accept that , to fail to deal accept that, to fail to deal with it . With it . Look, i think the these these debates are never best conducted at the extremities. So, you know , it shouldnt be the case that you say, you know, every university , every single course, university, every single course, no matter how quality it is, if theres an evidence of abuse or if its not really bringing in the best and brightest, but then at the other, other end, you know, we do want our universities , some of the top universities, some of the top universities, some of the top universities on the whole planet , you know, big destinations for people to come here and study and research to be able to be open to that. And i think the Migration Advisory Committee report, you know, did talk about some abuse is that that should be cracked down on, you know, particularly Short Courses maybe, or where weve seen an institution expand very significantly on the back of graduate visas. Thats not what graduate visas. Thats not what those visas are there for. Theyre there for people who to come here, study genuinely, you know , get competitive entry and know, get competitive entry and then to go on to a high, well paid job after that. So where there where there is abuse , of course the government should, should and will bear down on that. Thats interesting. Thats you seem to be suggesting that there are some courses. There are some universities that perhaps dont justify being propped up , perhaps dont justify being propped up, being subsidised by the number of visas that are being issued for them. Being issued for them. Well, as i say, we shouldnt conduct the debate at the extremity in any big, you know, human process. You will find some examples of bad practice. You know, some of those have have come to light and have been surfaced in the past, and the government has looked at exactly that and seen whether those are abusing or misrepresenting the position. Its not just confined to graduate visas. Weve seen that on health and care visas as well. So lets be really clear. Well. So lets be really clear. The level of immigration, legal and illegal, is too high. The governments taken a whole set of actions to put in place things that are going to reduce over time, that level of migration. Those actions are working. Weve seen that in the working. Weve seen that in the figures that have been released today. The rwanda plan, the Prime Ministers talked about getting people on flights if and when the conservatives, you know, win this election. If people give us their support, they need to know that flights will take place in july, that that will be breaking the Business Model of people smugglers. Thats a very clear plan against that because it is a choice. So its okay to frame it as a choice. You know, youve it as a choice. You know, youve only got the conservative party or youve got the Labour Party Keir starmer after the election. It literally doesnt have a plan. I mean, opposed hundreds of times. Everything that weve done to try and bring this really important issue under control. Its not abstract. This control. Its not abstract. This is affecting peoples access to pubuc is affecting peoples access to public services. Its putting burdens on british taxpayers. Burdens on british taxpayers. And its very clear, you know, what what the choice people need to make if this is an issue of concern to them, okay, thats migration. Migration. Lets zoom across to a wider issue of the general economy. Now you used to work in the treasury. Is it not the case that the Prime Minister choosing to go in july rather than waiting for a later month, perhaps november, as was widely expected for the date of this election . Doesnt that show a bit of pessimism in the future trajectory of the british economy . That people wont feel economy . That people wont feel the growth, wont feel the plummeting of inflation, wont feel better off enough, or wont credit the government for that . Credit the government for that . If its if things are getting better, going early seems to suggest theres a more pessimistic outlook. Pessimistic outlook. No, i dont accept that. I do accept that its our job in this election to contextualise the decisions that are in front of the british people. Youre right. I was in the treasury when we were making those tough decisions. Not always popular , decisions. Not always popular, but but they were the right decisions that led to inflation coming down. One of those is to make sure that, you know , we make sure that, you know, we didnt put any unfunded spending into the plan , into the economy into the plan, into the economy that would have made inflation and Interest Rates higher for longer, so that that plan is working. We have seen that working. We have seen that reduction from 11. 1 down to 2. 3 earlier this week. So were getting inflation back into the range. It needs to be everybody to be clear has made sacrifices to be clear has made sacrifices to do that. You know people with mortgages , people whove had to mortgages, people whove had to absorb the higher cost of living. But again the context is really important. No government for, you know, over 80 years has had to deal with a Global Pandemic and a live war on european soil. Thats the context, the right way of measuring that. If is not just to sort of look narrowly through the lens of this government, you know, weve got the second highest growth in the g7. You know, within that pack of other major economies, most of whom have dealt with many of the same issues. You know, were doing relatively better than a lot of those other economies, and that is the choices that weve made to get there, although perhaps thats more of a more of a comment on how poorly most of Continental Europe is doing, rather than how splendidly the United Kingdom is doing. Yeah. United kingdom is doing. Yeah. Look, i mean, you know, the pace car as we know on the economy is the us. You know, the us benefits, amongst other things, from, you know, lower burden of tax. Thats something that as a conservative, you know, we are philosophically committed to for us, cutting taxes is a first choice, not a last choice. We reluctantly had to increase taxes because of the £6,000 per head support that was put in place during covid. I dont think anyone thinks thats not the right thing. It was another bold. Yes, i thought it was an interesting choice from the Prime Minister to begin his, his statement , Prime Minister to begin his, his statement, his announcement talking about the pandemic, which wasnt the best time for all of us. But thank you very much, andrew griffith, a minister for science, innovation and technology, thank you very much for your time. Really appreciate you. I appreciate you appreciate your time. We should say that your time. We should say that just breaking the deputy speaken just breaking the deputy speaker, dame eleanor laing, she is has made the decision to stand down as mp for Epping Forest at the next election. Safe. Tory seats. Safe. Tory seats. So theyll shoehorn seats. So theyll shoehorn someone in there. But what does that make it . How many conservative mps . 65. Is that now . Yes, theyre standing down 66 maybe. Well, well get that number precisely to you. Heres a little tease after the break. But also were going to be joined by our royal correspondent because theres some news from. Some news from. King charles. Right. Well, thank you very much for getting in touch with all of your views on everything weve been talking about today, gareth seems to think that rishi sunak will win the election. He says i think sunak will win simply because labour and sir keir starmer in particular, do not stand up to scrutiny. And as for labours slogan of change, he says its too vague, like their policies and not all change is good. Not even rishi sunak believes rishi sunak is going to win the election. I know so that gareth has got a lot of faith for a Hung Parliament. Gareth has got the faith there in, in rishi at least someone does, margaret on, nigel farage deciding to, not stand as a reform candidate. She says, i never expected nigel to stand as an mp. Im sure he mentioned before he had no plan to. Yes, im disappointed he wont. However ill still be voting for reform if theres a candidate in wales. She says. Im sick of conservatives and labour arent any better. So there you go. Still standing with reform. Is margaret someone calling themselves s apples . Says smarmy starmer. Just sit back, criticise, block everything and watch the government fail. Well watch the government fail. Well watch out mate, once youre in government the shoe is on the other foot. Cant wait to see you crumble once you fall from your condescending ivory tower. A lot of colour in that message. Not not not holding back. No or gbnews. Com yoursay say contributors, but, but i do think it is a fair point that, look around the world, look in the United States, in canada, in germany, all incumbent governments are trailing in the polls. Interest rates are high polls. Interest rates are high in all of those countries. And the opposition is doing very, very well. I think its a reasonable question to ask, actually, if anyone different was in power right now, would the economy be particularly different . Well, the electorate arent forgiving, it looks like, peter says, how can Yvette Cooper try and sell a pup with labours immigration policy, at least 15 other eu countries are looking to copy the rwanda scheme, while none are considering labours solution, which surely says everything, thats a good point , everything, thats a good point, Yvette Cooper doesnt like the rwanda scheme , but a little rwanda scheme, but a little a little low on the detail. Richard says if labour get in, theyll probably reduce the voting age to 14, which i think its a its actually a, a fair point, i think in the manifesto that they havent yet released, but in their policy documents, the labour party do commit to a voting age of 16. So this could be the last election when only adults are allowed to vote. And they accused the they could accuse the conservatives of voter id being a way to gerrymander an election. But anyway , hey, let us know but anyway, hey, let us know what you think about that. Why not vote for 16 . Well, coming up, the king has approved an order in council to Prorogue Parliament ahead of the general election. Were joined by our royal correspondent in just two ticks. Stay with. Us. Ticks. Stay with. Us. A brighter outlook with boxt solar. Sponsors of weather on gb news. News. News. News. Hello again. Welcome to your latest gb news. Weather update brought to you by the met office. Were sticking with a bit of a north south split in our weather as we go through the rest of this week , with northern rest of this week, with northern parts staying pretty wet because of the low Pressure Centre that has brought so much rain recently. Lingering here. Further south, though, its a different story. Some drier, brighter weather to end the day and then we will have some clear skies across south southeastern parts as we go overnight. But further north and elsewhere across the country, quite a cloudy picture and there will be further outbreaks of rain. Some of them could be a little bit on the heavy side. Could be some more Flooding Issues for some of us where we see the clear skies in the south, it may turn a little bit chilly overnight, but elsewhere, because of the cloudy, wet and for some blustery weather, it is going to be a relatively mild start to the day tomorrow. Taking a closer look, first thing tomorrow morning and across many parts of scotland, quite a bit of cloud around and there will still be some outbreaks of rain. Perhaps western parts of scotland having some clearer skies. So it may be a little bit chilly first thing here. Otherwise lots of cloud and outbreaks of rain across Northern Ireland, Northern England and much of england and wales, but further south, some brighter skies. First thing i mentioned that it could be a bit chilly first thing, but once the sun rises, those temperatures should start to climb quite quickly. As we go through the day tomorrow it is going to be fairly similar to today really across northern parts. Further outbreaks of rain, though they dont look quite as heavy as today. Nonetheless, some heavier bursts are still possible, always driest towards the south. A greater chance of seeing some sunshine here, but 1 or 2 showers could pop up. Temperatures for many look quite similar, perhaps starting to feel a bit warmer across northern parts compared to today. More showery rain across northern parts as we go through the evening tomorrow. None of it looks especially heavy, but some moderate bursts are possible. Moderate bursts are possible. Clearer skies towards the south could take us into a bit of a chilly start on saturday, but definitely looks like the driest day of the long weekend before rain arrives through sunday and monday. Bye bye. Monday. Bye bye. That warm feeling inside from boxt boiler as sponsors of weather on gb news. Away. A very good afternoon to you. It is now 2 00 on thursday, the 23rd of may. It is indeed. And its on in the full day of campaigning. Rishi Sunak Keir Starmer hit the road as they battle it out to win the keys to number 10. Were across the width and the breadth of the country as the leaders set out their stall. Plus nigel farage has confirmed he will not stand as a reform uk candidate, instead prioritising the United States of america not exactly a vote of faith in the party. He helped found. So is it game over for reform uks chances . Reform uks chances . And amidst it all, today its revealed net migration hit a whopping 685,000 last year, just 10 down on the record year before. The tories say its even lower this year. But will that message sink. In . Well, will that message sink in . Its almost like different politicians point to different numbers and different figures. They try and confuse the electorate because there are different stories going on. If you look at 2024, immigration is falling and falling quite considerably. But 2023 was considerably. But 2023 was another near record year. I think its going to be hard to spin 685,000 net migration last year in a positive light. I mean really they can try they can try record year. But in 2024 there are huge falls in visas. Falls in visas. But i mean, its whether people who care about the issue of immigration trust, the labour party, we spoke to the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, a little earlier on. She said immigration is too high under the conservatives but she would not be drawn on where shed like it to be at all. And the plans over ilLegal Immigration. Well keep your views coming in on those very, very interesting that Yvette Cooper would not say what level i didnt even ask for if she wanted a cap. Just, just just what sort of level . 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000. You cant sort of say roughly where youd like it to be. Very, very roughly, not even that. But we think here gbnews that you deserve to know that if a if a government in waiting potentially is telling you that immigration is too high under the conservatives, we believe you have a right to know what ballpark theyre looking in, and we dont seem to get that answer. Perhaps we will by the end of this Election Campaign. Who knows . Madder things have happened. Well, send in your comments. Your views and suggestions. Gbnews. Com yoursay or say, little squeak, their little squeak. Its your headunes little squeak. Its your headlines with sam. Very good afternoon to you. Its just after 2 00. A look at the top stories this afternoon. The Prime Minister says that voters should back him if they want the rwanda deportation scheme to succeed, but has conceded that flights wont get off the ground before the general election. In. Rishi general election. In. Rishi sunak also says hes putting the economy and Global Security at the heart of his campaign. It comes as Political Party leaders begin their six weeks of trying to win votes, after it was announced that polls will open on the 4th of july. The timing of the announcement came as a surprise to some, with labour polling 20 points ahead, kicking off the Conservatives Campaign this morning, rishi sunak claimed that labour would do absolutely nothing to stop the boats. Everyone else is starting to agree with my approach, which is bold. The one person that doesnt is keir starmer. Thats a choice that this election , he thinks that this election, he thinks that this election, he thinks that we should just offer an amnesty to Illegal Migrants to make us a soft touch of europe. It would make us a magnet for thousands of migrants coming from everywhere. So thats the choice at this election. Do you think my plan is the right one . Do you think im the one thats taking bold action to secure our borders and to stop the boats . Or do you think hes going to do that . And its pretty clear that on this issue, not only does he not share the countrys values, that its a problem. Hes going to do absolutely nothing about it. It. Well, starting his Election Campaign in south east england today, labour leader sir keir starmer says that what the conservatives have done to the country is unforgivable and that voters dont need to put up with it. It. Rishi sunak clearly does not believe in his rwanda plan. I believe in his rwanda plan. I think thats been clear from this morning, because hes not going to get any flights off. I think that tells its own story. Think that tells its own story. I dont think hes ever believed that plan is going to work. I dont think hes ever believed that plan is going to work. And that plan is going to work. And so hes called an election early enough to have it not tested before the election. We have to deal with the terrible loss of control of the border under this government. We have to tackle the small boats that are coming across. Nobody, but nobody should be making that journey. Meanwhile, the deputy leader of the liberal democrats, daisy coopen of the liberal democrats, daisy cooper, has ruled out a coalition with the conservatives people want politicians to be talking about our nhs and social care and about the cost of living crisis. People are struggling to see a gp, theyre struggling to see a gp, theyre struggling to see a gp, theyre struggling to see a dentist, theyre battling long waiting lists. Theyre worried that if you call an ambulance, it wont turn up. And on top of all of turn up. And on top of all of that, theyre still struggling to pay the bills to put food on the table. Liberal democrats have been utterly relentless about talking about these issues for the last few months and years, and were going to keep on talking about the nhs and the cost of living over the next six weeks. And nigel farage has announced that he wont be standing as a reform uk candidate in the july election. Party leader richard tice has been urging people to vote for change. Everybody feels worse off after 14 years of tory failure. After 14 years of tory failure. Thats the result of incompetence and these experts, along with weak , feeble along with weak, feeble politicians who have broken britain down. And sadly, that failure of the establishment and the experts manifests itself in the experts manifests itself in the great scandals that we hear about turning away now, from election news to official estimates that have shown that net migration fell to 685,000 people in 2023, the office for National Statistics says. Thats down 10 from the record of 764,000 the year before. Figures suggest just over 1. 2 Million People arrived in the uk last year, while 532,000 are likely to have left the family of a ten year old who died in a mudslide in North Yorkshire say she was a happy , yorkshire say she was a happy, bubbly and go lucky little girl. Primary School Student Leah Harrison was killed yesterday afternoon after getting into difficulty near carlton bank. Its understood she was on a school trip at the time of that incident. Mount pleasant Primary School, where she was a student, say that the news is a heartbreaking tragedy and that leah was a much loved part of the school community. The Scottish First minister has accused a committee which has recommended the suspension of a former Health Secretary of. He says, being prejudiced. Michael matheson has been banned from holyrood for 27 days and will lose his salary for 54 days. Its after he racked up a bill of almost £11,000 on his parliamentary ipad while on houday parliamentary ipad while on holiday with his family in morocco last year. The punishment was handed down earlier and will now be subject to a vote in the Scottish Parliament. But john swinney says he wont be supporting the recommendation and says his friend has made mistakes. And friend has made mistakes. And finally, alan bates, the lead campaigner for justice in the post office scandal, has said he has no sympathy for Paula Vennells, the former head of the post office, is giving evidence on the second day of her much anticipated questioning. Anticipated questioning. Earlier, the horizon inquiry heard that the company had received legal advice against a review of its it systems because it would open the floodgates to damages claims. The Paula Vennells says she wasnt aware of that advice. She was in of that advice. She was in charge of the organisation from 2012 to 2019, while wrongful prosecutions of subpostmasters continued. Thats the latest continued. Thats the latest from the newsroom for now. Another update in the next half houn another update in the next half hour. Until then, you can sign up to gb news alerts. Just scan the code on your screen or go to gb news. Com slash alerts. Gb news. Com slash alerts. Good afternoon britain. Its 2 08. Now as weve all seen when a general election is called, the Prime Minister must request the dissolution of parliament for an election from the monarch of the day. Lets take a listen to such announcements in recent years. Earlier today, i spoke with his majesty the king to request the dissolution of parliament. The king has granted this request and we will have a general election on the 4th of july. Ive just been to see her majesty the queen earlier on, and she agreed to dissolve parliament for an election. Parliament for an election. Ive just had an audience with her majesty the queen following the dissolution of parliament, the general election will be held on may the 7th. Well, the british political system has , of course, evolved system has, of course, evolved over centuries from what was once an absolute monarchy through oliver cromwells, repubuc through oliver cromwells, republic , his protectorate, his republic, his protectorate, his commonwealth of england to the constitutional and largely ceremonial monarchy we have today. So what is the kings role in our democratic processes . Well, who better to ask, then . Our royal correspondent, Cameron Walker. Cameron in the last minutes, the king has approved an order in council to Prorogue Parliament ahead of the general election. What does that mean , cameron . Yeah, well, a very busy morning for the king and a hastily arranged privy Council Meeting in Buckingham Palace this morning, attended by the king. Penny mordaunt as lord president of the privy council. Victoria atkins, the secretary of state for health and social care affairs. Alister jack, secretary of state for scotland , secretary of state for scotland, and lord true, the leader of the house of lords. But and lord true, the leader of the house of lords. But effectively house of lords. But effectively the cameron. Im going to have to interrupt. Interrupt you. Sorry john swinney, the leader of the snp, is launching the snps Election Campaign in the mainstream of scottish Public Opinion and they define my leadership of my party and our country. Country. They are why i believe so passionately in independence, because when decisions are taken in scotland, for scotland, we can bring about a better country. They are also why im asking you to vote snp in this election to unite, to bring about that better country that we all want to see. That starts by seeing the back of rishi sunak and his government, the challenger for every tory seat in scotland is the Scottish National party. So by voting snp you can get rid of this tory government on the nhs. I dont know about you, but im a liar at the language that is coming. Not just from the tories but from labour at westminster too. Very alarmed indeed. Too. Very alarmed indeed. Whether that is talking about the nhs, looking for excuses to ask for more money or picking fights with doctors , or fights with doctors, or questioning the very survival of the National Health service. So im asking you to vote snp to send a very clear message. Lets unite scotland to protect the National Health service , our National Health service, our economy and the cost of living. I know many of you feel that the Economic System is broken. Youre right, its failed far too many people. That goes to the very core of why i believe in scottish independence. At in scottish independence. At present, it is westminster that holds most economic power over scotland, and that power has been used disastrously. The tories have imposed austerity. The catastrophic liz truss budget and brexit, of course, which compared to eu membership, has wiped billions of pounds from the scottish economy, pushed up prices and hit hard our ability to fund Vital Public Services such as the National Health service. Labour knows all of that. But keir starmer now supports brexit. Whatever the cost to scotland, i do not think scotland should put up with that any more. So lets unite to get any more. So lets unite to get scotland back into the European Union and to stop the damage of brexit with limited economic powers in scotland, we have made a difference where we can. Economic growth per head has been higher here than in the uk as a whole. Productivity. The key driver of living standards, has also grown faster in scotland since the snp came to office at holyrood , we have office at holyrood, we have helped with the cost of living through measures such as free prescriptions , free bus travel prescriptions, free bus travel for under 22 seconds and all day off peak rail fares. Thats what off peak rail fares. Thats what we can do when decisions are made in scotland for scotland and looking across europe, when we look at independent countries that are similar to scotland, we find this compared to the uk. They have higher living standards, lower poverty and they are more equal. So why not scotland . We have the people, scotland . We have the people, the talent and the resources. So the talent and the resources. So lets unite to win the powers of independence to strengthen our economy, tackle the cost of living and bring about a fairer country. Independence of course, is also fundamentally about democracy , about getting the democracy, about getting the governments you vote for. Sadly we know the only guaranteed outcome of a Labour Government is the tory government that will follow it, and it usually lasts a lot, lot longer in an independent scotland. Never again will people here be subjected to an unelected tory government. For those who are government. For those who are not persuaded of independence , i not persuaded of independence, i look forward over the next six weeks to listening to your concerns , to making the case, concerns, to making the case, hopefully persuading. But if not, then engaging in respectful dialogue for those who are already persuaded. I cannot stress enough how important it is to vote snp on july the 4th. We will win our countries independence and win the powers to bring about a better scotland through democratic pressure. So no. On july the 4th independence day, make sure your voice is heard. And on that issue of making scotlands voice heard, the snp will always fight to further scotlands interests under any constitutional circumstances. Quite simply, we put scotland first. I expect over the next six weeks well see the tories and labour really going at it. Theyll be going hammer and tongs to discredit each other. Ill also be going hammer and tongs , but not hammer and tongs, but not against anyone. Ill be going hammer and tongs to put scotland first. Thats what snp mps always do at westminster, putting scotland first. We cant do anything else thats in our dna. We see Stephen Flynn and dna. We see Stephen Flynn and his snp colleagues do that job every week with real passion and commitment. So lets unite to commitment. So lets unite to make scotlands voice heard. The make scotlands voice heard. The task is more important than ever before. In recent years, its before. In recent years, its become clear that the gains of devolution can never be taken for granted. These are for granted. These are challenging times, not least because of the financial circumstances we face. But i believe the Scottish Parliament has made a real difference to peoples lives. Scotland has had peoples lives. Scotland has had the best performing a e corps units in the uk for nine years. Weve more than doubled nhs funding and we have the highest number of gps per head in the uk on housing since the snp came to office, scotland has seen over 40 more Affordable Homes delivered per head of population than in england and over 70 more than in wales. Than in england and over 70 more than in wales. When we took more than in wales. When we took office, Renewable Technologies generated the equivalent of 20. 2 of scotlands gross electricity consumption. Since then, this has soared to 113. The number of schools in good or satisfactory condition has increased from just over 60 to more than 90, and were seeing record levels of literacy and numeracy at Primary School level. Recorded crime has fallen by around 40 to one of its lowest levels in half a century. And this year, using our limited Social Security powers, measures like the scottish child payment are helping keep an estimated 100,000 children in scotland out of relative poverty. But ever of relative poverty. But ever since brexit, the tories have chipped away at the powers of your Scottish Parliament. And weve demonstrated what we can do together when decisions about scotland are made in scotland , scotland are made in scotland, the tories have made it harder for our parliament to take decisions to protect the environment, and they are threatening our hard won gains in policies. I have no idea where labour stand on this and whether they will reverse the tory power grab. So lets unite to protect our Scottish Parliament. Ive directed all of my remarks so far to the people of scotland, but i want to say a word specifically to snp activists, members and supporters. If ever there was a supporters. If ever there was a time to get involved and make a difference, then this is it. Every election is an opportunity to move scotland forward to a better future. In a uk election , better future. In a uk election, the snp faces particular challenges so we i need all of you to do whatever you can to advance our cause. I will never take anything for granted, but i have no doubt the snp can win this election and thats what i intend to do to lead the snp to victory in this election. Now, victory in this election. Now, ive only been back in frontline politics for a month. I couldnt have imagined even two months ago. Standing here, launching the snp campaign for the 2024 general election. But i am here general election. But i am here because i knew i could unify my party. Im two weeks in and ive done that already, but more than that, im now your first minister because ive got a wider mission to unify. Im in the unity business for a purpose, to unite around a better way of doing politics, to unite scotland, to protect our National Health service, to unite scotland, to strengthen our economy , to unite scotland, our economy, to unite scotland, to eradicate child poverty. To to eradicate child poverty. To unite scotland, to ensure scotlands voice is heard. To scotlands voice is heard. To unite scotland for independence. Reaching out. Listening. Persuading. I am relishing the opportunity to Campaign Across this modern, diverse, beautiful country. I can, of course, make any promises about the outcome. Thats for the voters to decide. But i can promise you this the snp will be fighting an energetic , Optimistic Campaign energetic, Optimistic Campaign full of enthusiasm , a campaign full of enthusiasm, a campaign infused with hope for a better future. Ill be leading that future. Ill be leading that campaign from the front. Ill travel the length and breadth of scotland, bringing that campaign of hope and unity. I cant wait to get started. Lets get out to get started. Lets get out there and put scotland first. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Well, there we have it. The first minister of scotland, a man who was, elected to that position unopposed to steady the ship. Frankly to be a little bit boring, thats why he got his job, launching the snp Election Campaign, talking a bit about independence. But also trying to maintain the stranglehold that was a theres a high way to say stranglehold , the stranglehold stranglehold, the stranglehold his party has over a majority of seats in scotland. Yes, a lot about brexit, not about the damage of brexit. Wanting to rejoin the European Union a lot. This all came a little for soon john swinney and the snp. They werent expecting the snp. They werent expecting the general election to come this early. Ive never been able to understand this argument from the snp that they think the uk, leaving a trade bloc with which it did less than half of its around half of its trade, was economically catastrophic. Economically catastrophic. Catastrophic. But scotland leaving the uk , where it does leaving the uk, where it does like 90 of its trade. Oh, that would be fine. Like how how do you put two and two together . Well, one has england involved , and theyre the involved, and theyre the baddies. Yes, i see, but theres john swinney setting out his case a little sooner than they were hoping. There was some talk , hoping. There was some talk, wasnt there, about the School Holidays and how it wasnt Perfect Timing for scotland because they begin those Summer Holidays a little bit sooner. The schools are out earlier in june, but there you go. John swinney, snp campaign. Will they be able to claw back some support because theyre trailing labour at the moment . All of that was tony mcguire, our scotland reporter, whos speaking to us live from glasgow. Tony, what did you make of what john swinney had to say . Frankly, hes not a very well known politician , i mean, i known politician, i mean, i think it really probably depends who you ask. You know, some of the more senior snp supporters and voters here in scotland, theyll know, of course, because he he led the party. He wasnt first minister, but he led the party just in between phase when alex salmond was not in charge. But certainly he said there , you but certainly he said there, you know, one month back in top flight politics, two weeks in the job. And interestingly , he the job. And interestingly, he thinks hes already unified the party. He said hes in the unity business, which was quite interesting , of course, because interesting, of course, because the last year really ever since the last year really ever since the departure of Nicola Sturgeon and arguably before that, all weve heard is about the deep seated divisions within the snp. So their new leader, john swinney, two weeks in the job, thinks hes already healed. Those divisions and certainly they will be getting into the election stance now. Another thing i thought was quite interesting, of course , as interesting, of course, as expected, we heard the election gambit there , for independence, gambit there, for independence, and he used a lot of devolved matters. Im sure you caught that in the studio as well, you know, to talk about the successes that scotland has had and the successes that when decisions are made in scotland and ergo, you know, by that logic, he thinks that all decisions should be made in scotland. Certainly now, at least on the larger scale, parties , he the snp are the only parties, he the snp are the only party now that are really batting for independence. Of course weve got the scottish greens and alba, but labour, who, you know, were kind of divided in 2014, as to which way they were voting. Well, they are now strongly in the union camp and keeping the country together through these quite difficult Economic Times in the last five years. And of course, you know, he he is the great scottish term there. You know, maybe, maybe it is used wider afield , hammer and is used wider afield, hammer and tongs. He said that labour and the tories will be going hammer and tongs at each other. But he wouldnt. He would be going hammer and tongs for the whole of scotland. And, you know, that has been his mantra through a lot of this that he doesnt just want to be the first minister for the Pro Independence , for the Pro Independence, supporting that 45 who voted back in 2014, he needs to step up for all of scotland. And thats going to mean, you know, not focusing in too much on independence, talking about the cost of living, talking about jobs and taxes because of course, when he mentioned all those things that make scotland so great, he forgot that scotland in some parts is the highest taxed part of the uk. And of course, those ferries which we might maybe see one day before were old and grey, which at the price that theyre racking up, many are expecting should be constructed with faberge eggs by this point. But well wait and see. Interesting though, to see him set out his stall , as it were, up here though, to see him set out his stall, as it were, up here in scotland, in edinburgh this afternoon. Very much of your time. Tony maguire, who is in the heart of glasgow for us. Interesting to see how things play out north of the border now. We rudely interrupted our royal correspondent Cameron Walker to go to that snp launch, but cameron remains with us. And of course we turn to you, first of course we turn to you, first of all, because the king has approved whats known as an order in council to Prorogue Parliament. This ahead of the general election. Yeah, absolutely. Tom a hastily arranged meeting at Buckingham Palace this morning of the privy counsellors, where the king has ordered that parliament should be prorogued before the dissolution of parliament on the 30th of may. Prorogation basically means the end of the parliamentary session before dissolution. Now we live before dissolution. Now we live in a Constitutional Monarchy here in the United Kingdom. So effectively its actually the government and the Prime Minister that makes the decisions. But the king still has many prerogative powers, one of which is dissolving parliament. Only he can do that, but hes going to do it on the advice of the privy council and ministers. Now he already approves the Prime Ministers request yesterday to hold the general election on the 4th of july. Buckingham palace very quickly came out and told us that they are postponing all the royal familys engagements that could distract or overshadow any of the general Election Campaigning. But the king still has an incredibly important constitutional role, because not only does he have to dissolve parliament on what we expect to be the 30th of may, but he also has to invite on the 5th of july, july, the day after the general election, the person who can commands the confidence of the house of commons to form a government in his name and therefore become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Minister of the United Kingdom. So its a royal prerogative. Hell do it in a privy Council Meeting. We believe , on the 30th meeting. We believe, on the 30th of may, which is 20. Yeah 30th may, which is 25 working days before the general election. It all happens in a documents. Then all happens in a documents. Then all the different returning officers from the 650 constituencies around the country will be sent effectively. Instructions on behalf of the king to hold a general election on that date. So its a very busy period for the king constitutionally, but hes stepping back from public dufies hes stepping back from public duties that could distract from the election. The election. Yes. And are any of these royal events . Its quite a busy period, isnt it . In the lead up to the summer months , any royal to the summer months, any royal events going to be cancelled because of all the everything thats going on politically . Yeah, they certainly will. They already have been. Prince william was expected to be out and about today. Thats been put on hold. The king expected to be in crewe tomorrow. Thats also in crewe tomorrow. Thats also been put on hold as well. Theres a big question mark over big state events like trooping the colour on the 15th of june. Were not sure if thats going to go ahead. The state visit of japan. The japanese emperor was meant to come to london at the end of june. Again, big question mark over that. We do know that the d day memorial, services and engagements are going ahead. So its being decided. We understand on a case by case bafis understand on a case by case basis as to whether or not it will overshadow the election. Will overshadow the election. And all of this is in the context of, what is perhaps a poorly king. I mean, we do know that he had a, a reduced sort of itinerary over the summer , im itinerary over the summer, im finding it hard to work out if this is actually perhaps a benefit for the king. If hes out in public, less resting, more. Could this be a good thing . Well, quite possibly, tom, we have heard from the queen a number of times over the last couple of weeks that theyre trying to rein him in. I think the king is very keen to carry out as many public engagements as possible, making up for lost time , but perhaps his doctors time, but perhaps his doctors and his family are advising him to rest a bit more. Another big question mark over the week of the election itself. He is, if he is well enough meant to be in scotland for holyrood week in edinburgh. So will he have to leave scotland early to come back down to london to appoint whoever the new Prime Minister is, or if its the old one at Buckingham Palace . Or will it be a situation that we had in september 2022 with the late queen that the Prime Minister travelled up to scotland . So well have to wait and see what happens there. Nothing, of course, is going to be confirmed until very close to much closer to the time. Its very interesting to consider , what, what the impact. Consider, what, what the impact. Whats going on in westminster has on the royal family. But cameron, youve also launched a new podcast, havent you . For all things royal, tell us a little bit about it. Yeah, we have the royal record launched this morning. Our First Special guest is alastair stewart. Hes talking about meeting the queen because he was invited to Buckingham Palace talking about the brick donkey charity, which both the queen and he are heavily involved with. He also gives a very touching tribute to the princess of wales, as well. You princess of wales, as well. You can getit princess of wales, as well. You can get it on spotify, on apple podcasts and on youtube or wherever you get your podcasts. Its co hosted by me and varne anderson, who writes a lot of the articles for gb news websites. Hes royal editor of gb news. Com if you want to get in touch with us at the email address is royal gbnews. Uk wed love to know what you think, so check it out now what a perfect break from all the all the politics and all the general election on campaigning and all of this lovely. And all of this lovely. Yes, thats. Yes, thats. Oh no, toms lost his voice. No, hes struggling. But thank you so much. Cameron walker , our you so much. Cameron walker, our royal correspondent. Ill be tuning in to that, thats for sure. Definitely so you can get that on spotify and apple and everywhere. Everywhere you can get podcasts. Now, were going to be coming back very shortly. To be coming back very shortly. Weve got lots more for you, including the latest reaction to everything political. Also, quite a few pieces of legislation may never make it onto the statute books because this general election has been called. Well tell you which ones after the headlines. Ones after the headlines. 230 exactly. The top stories this afternoon from the newsroom. The labour leader, sir keir starmer, has accused the Prime Minister of never believing in his own rwanda plan. Its after rishi sunak admitted that flights carrying migrants will not take off before the general election in july. However, speaking as he started his Election Campaign this morning in derbyshire, the conservative leader said the scheme will continue if hes re elected. Meanwhile, nigel farage has confirmed he wont be standing as a candidate but will help the reform uk campaign. Help the reform uk campaign. Official estimates show that net migration, thats the difference between those legally arriving and leaving the uk, dropped by 10 last year. It stood at an estimated 685,000 in 2023. Thats down from a record of 764,000 the year before. The 764,000 the year before. The official figures suggest just over 1. 2 Million People arrived in the uk , while 532,000 are in the uk, while 532,000 are likely to have left the family of a ten year old who died in a mudslide in North Yorkshire say she was a happy, bubbly and go lucky little girl. Primary School Student Leah Harrison was killed yesterday afternoon after getting into difficulty near carlton bank. Mount pleasant Primary School say the incident is a heartbreaking tragedy and that leah was a much loved part of their school community. Former Scottish Health secretary Michael Matheson says that a committee which has recommended his suspension was politicised and the sanction is, he says, excessive. The Standards Committee thinks the msp should be banned from holyrood for 27 days and lose his salary for 54 days. The punishment comes after he racked up £11,000 in roaming charges on his parliamentary ipad while he was on holiday in morocco last year , didnt know morocco last year, didnt know that information and the former head of the post office is giving evidence on the second day of her much anticipated questioning, Paula Vennells has denied trying to close down a review into the software , which review into the software, which led to the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of subpost masters. Shes told the horizon inquiry that executives felt the independent analysis was too expensive for the latest stories. You can sign up to gb news alerts. Just scan the code on your screen or go to gb news. Com alerts. All right. Well, its 236. Good afternoon. Britain were now joined by our Political Correspondent olivia utley, whos on downing street, olivia, whats the temperature in westminster for you, sir . Well, the conservatives are feeling a little bit more cheerful than they were last night. And thats mainly because nigel farage has said he will not be standing for a reform at the general election. Now, farage has suggested that if the election had been later in the yean election had been later in the year, he might have considered standing , but because it came standing, but because it came when it did, he decided against it that almost begins to vindicate vindicate. Rishi sunaks decision to go to the country a little bit early. Rishi sunak is also talking a lot about rwanda today. Now that might seem a bit counterintuitive because he has said that flights will not be off the ground by the election. On the 4th of july. And originally, of course, he said theyd be off the ground by the spring. But his message seems to be vote for me and the flights will be off the ground immediately. And it does look immediately. And it does look like theyll be ready to go on perhaps the fifth, 6th or 7th of july. Vote for keir starmer and those flights will be stopped. Now that might be a relatively compelling message for voters. Labouris compelling message for voters. Labour is at their weakest, i think, when theyre talking about immigration. And although rishi sunak cant really say that he succeeded in his goal of stopping the boats, things are vaguely moving in the right direction. Rishi sunak is going to try and make this an election about the economy, something where he is doing relatively well. Inflation has fallen to 2. 3 down, of course, from 11 back in october 2022, when he became Prime Minister, and Interest Rates are set to fall relatively soon. So its going to be on and on the economy and on immigration, where the conservatives might not be winning, but they might be doing a little bit better than labour. Yes, because its interesting heanng yes, because its interesting hearing what labour has to say on migration , they seem to have on migration, they seem to have less detail than the tories. Less detail than the tories. They do seem to have less detail. It was a very interesting interview i thought we did with Yvette Cooper earlier in the show. She doesnt. She wants to keep her powder dry, which has been the labour strategy for quite a long time now. She she said, and obviously shes technically correct about this, that you dont have to have an official returns agreement with a country in order to return migrants. Well, thats true, but it all takes a very, very long time if you dont. And of course , the you dont. And of course, the problem with the immigration system is that theres a really big bottleneck. Theres migrants big bottleneck. Theres migrants who are still here from up to a year ago who have, who havent yet had their claims processed. Now, Yvette Cooper main strategy seems to be to hire more caseworkers to deal with those claims. Well, thats all very well and good, but more pen pushers havent really helped in other areas before. And there is, of course, a danger that even if those claims are processed, what do you do with the migrants who have their claims rejected . So there isnt that much clarity from labour on immigration. But i think over the next few weeks we will see a bit more flesh on the bones of that pitch. Well, thank you very much indeed. Olivia utley , our indeed. Olivia utley, our Political Correspondent, live outside downing street. Thank you for your time, yes, i should say that theres quite a few little bits of legislation, quite significant pieces of legislation that may not make it through parliament because of this snap general election, including the smoking bill, the one that wanted to put through a generational ban on smoking, one that wanted to put through a generational ban on smoking , the generational ban on smoking, the football regulator to, that might be, scrapped. And whats the other one . Martyns law. Theres. Yeah, rumours of this protect duty for venues. Oh. Oh. Im sorry. Your voice. Ill continue. Rishi sunak and sir continue. Rishi sunak and sir keir starmer have drawn swords over tackling illegal migration ahead of the 4th of july general election. Now, the Prime Minister admitted earlier today that the first flights to rwanda will not take off before the election, with the labour leader slamming the governments plan, vowing to clean up the migration mess. Well, with us now is gb news home and security security editor mark white. Mark tell us your analysis of everything thats going on when it comes to immigration. Yeah, i mean, you heard from olivia there. How rishi sunak is concentrating very much on the situation with regard to rwanda, where i would disagree with her, really is on the issue of the flights not going off the ground before the, july the 4th. And, you know, thats still been potentially a strong and convincing argument for the electorate. I think its a tough sell to try to convince the electorate after waiting so long for flights to go off the ground to rwanda, that still, weve still got now six weeks, and its been quite a number of weeks since this bill was passed for them not to get a single flight off the ground. I think just allows, people like Yvette Cooper to come on air and say, look, its exactly as we told you. It was a complete and utter con. Its never going to happen. Con. Its never going to happen. Thats what rishi sunak is playing at here in moving forward the election and not getting any flights off the ground. So its possible we might get a rabbit out of the hat. You know, its possible that they might still get a flight or two off the ground just a few days before the election. This is what rishi sunak said, though, this morning on gb news breakfast, where he was suggesting that that might not be the case. Plan is going to work and i announced a little while ago all the preparations that weve put in place to get those flights off. So weve trained hundreds off. So weve trained hundreds of caseworkers, weve identified the cohort of the first people that will be sent. Weve got an airfield on standby, weve booked flights, weve got the escorts ready. And as people have been watching on their tv screens and in the papers, weve already started detaining those who will then be removed in subsequent flights. And thats a choice at this election. Ellie, if you elect me , if im prime if you elect me, if im Prime Minister on the 5th of july, those flights will go to off rwanda and we will begin to put in place the deterrent that we need to stop the boats. So there is a definite advantage in bringing the election forward to july the 4th. In terms of the rwanda deal 4th. In terms of the rwanda deal. If you get flights off or not, at least you dont. Then have to prove to the electorate before any election that the deterrent has actually worked. It would be clearly very difficult for the government. Indeed if we got to a case in, say, november and election being called, then when many flights had left for rwanda and you were still having thousands of people coming across the channel, that would be a very difficult position that the government would find itself in. So there are some advantages , liz, in are some advantages, liz, in going early, but in no flights taking off before the election. Election at all. It allows the likes of Yvette Cooper, as i say to save what she just told you guys about an hour or so ago when she said, effectively, the rwanda plan is just a con. This is what she said. Problem with the rwanda scheme is this is half £1 billion of taxpayers money for a scheme that was only ever going to cover around 1 of asylum seekers. No plan for the 99. The reason that rishi sunak has called the general election now is because he knows its not going to work. Over the summer , going to work. Over the summer, so the election is going to be a key battleground, theres absolutely no doubt, and you can see that day one after the election called and its being dominated today by this whole issue. Issue. Yes. Absolutely fascinating to hear and the hope is, i guess, that we get a little bit more detail from labour and that rishi sunak can somehow persuade people that these rwanda flights will take off. Interesting that you say that there might be a rabbit out of the hat, and that there might be a 1 or 2 symbolic flights off to rwanda. Could there be a possibility that rishi sunak is actually, hes actually got that in mind, keeping his powder dry . Yeah it would be very interesting. No, tom was a bit cynical last hour. No, tom was a bit cynical last hour. Emily. Me no, tom was a bit cynical last hour. Emily. Me cynical. Last hour. Emily. Me cynical. The baton is being passed to. You know what im hearing from sources is a suggestion, perhaps, that we misrepresented what rishi sunak was saying this morning, that the caution perhaps expressed by him in terms of flights getting off the ground, might be more to do with the impending legal action that will no doubt follow the move in the coming weeks to get those flights off the ground. And if that happens, that may scupper the chance of getting a flight or two off the ground. So thats why i say its possible that they might pull a rabbit out of they might pull a rabbit out of the hat and plough through with this. Anyway very interesting. Thank you. Mark white, our home and security editor , for home and security editor, for talking us through all of that, coming up , talking us through all of that, coming up, will the tories win on the economy . Theyre supposed to win on the economy. But, things have been a little bit sketchy recently, but some positive news. Well be asking that question well. Good afternoon. Britain. It is 248 in the afternoon. Now, they say economies decide elections. And rishi sunak has certainly chosen his time carefully with regard to that one, he has fulfilled two of his five pledges, halving inflation more so and growing the economy a little bit. Inflation is down from 11. 1 in october 20th 22 to 2. 3 this week, and after slipping into a bit of a shallow recession at the end of last yean recession at the end of last year, the economy is slowly, very slowly returning to growth. Very slowly returning to growth. But with Interest Rates still at 5. 25, has sunak handed in the baton a tad too early . Well, joining us now is gb news economics and Business Editor Liam Halligan with on the money. Liam halligan with on the money. Liam, the timing of this election, does it make sense looking at the Economic Situation . Situation . Not really, i must say. The inflation number you mentioned yesterday that came out yesterday, emily, 2. 3 during the year to april, down from 3. 2 during the year to march. It was obviously a good number for the government. Its a 2 inflation target. So it is definitely inflation turning returning to its sort of normal state of affairs after going well into double digits , as you well into double digits, as you as you said. But it wasnt as good as many people thought there was an expectation. Inflation would go all the way down to 2, maybe even lower. And that would have laid the way open for the bank of england when the Monetary Policy Committee Meets on the 20th of june to start cutting Interest Rates and once Interest Rates start coming down from their current 16 year high of 5. 25, it really will change the way markets are thinking about the uk economy. More rate cuts will be priced in, Mortgage Rates will come down very sharply in anticipation of rates going down two or 3 or 4 times in quick succession. But until you get succession. But until you get that first rate cut, which now wont happen until august at the earliest, because its not going to happen in june, when inflation is 2. 3 above target. Theres no mpc meeting in july, by the way. August is the first Interest Rate cut. In theory. Interest rate cut. In theory. Thats quite you know, not youve only really got time for one Interest Rate cut then before an election in the autumn, possibly early to when the tories were hoping for three. So rishi sunak seems to have thought, well, lots could go wrong over the summer. We could have an influx of small boat migrants. Of course, in the Better Weather there could be worse Economic News. Inflation could even start ticking upward. Thats certainly what money markets in the us think is going to happen over the summer. So if there is no going to be no sort of great economic, improvement with lots of rate cuts and possibility of a lower tax rate with an autumn budget, then the tories are thinking we might as well just go now, because things probably arent going to get better and they could get worse. Better and they could get worse. Its a pessimistic view, liam. Wheres the optimism , liam. Wheres the optimism, well, heres ive got some numbers are coming out. Just came out today, tom, which well go to now, which i think are relatively optimistic , even relatively optimistic, even though theyre being reported in lots of places as if the economy has fallen off the cliff. What we had today werent gdp numbers. Theyre not official numbers. Theyre not official numbers. Theyre not official numbers. Theyre numbers from whats called the purchasing Managers Index survey. Pmi surveys come out around the world hugely authoritative. And world hugely authoritative. And what they do is they they reflect surveys of Business Owners opinions. So big business Small Business and so on. And the pmi Small Business and so on. And the pm for the Manufacturing Sector , came out today and it sector, came out today and it was up from 49. 1 to 51. 3 in may. That suggests that when you talk to Business Leaders in detailed surveys, they think theres growth in the Manufacturing Sector. If its above 50, the pmi index that points to growth, thatis pmi index that points to growth, that is the best pmi manufacturing figure for 22 months. And of course, its in those red wall seats manufacturing heartlands where the tories really do need to shore up their support. The reason these pmi numbers are being spun negatively, unfairly i think by some journalists, is that the Service Sector pmi fell from 55 to 52. 9 in may, and thats a six month low for services now, services are of course, 70 to 80 of the uk economy. They cover everything from you know, legal stuff, hospitality. Restaurants, hotels and everything. But the Services Number is still above 50. Its well above 50. Its almost at 53. Even though its come down a bit. So the economy is growing, manufacturing in particular is has returned to growth. Thats good news. Overall, the economy is still quite lacklustre. But i is still quite lacklustre. But i would say there is now a path of economic improvement. But sunak seems to have judged that its not enough of an improvement to risk waiting for an autumn election when things on other fronts could get worse. Well, thank you very much indeed. Liam halligan, our economics and Business Editor there with on the money. Good stuff. And of course a labour might find you know, they make promises about public spending. Thats what labour usually does. Thats what labour usually does. But they may find theres not that much wiggle room for them to follow through with any big spending. But thats it from us today. Spending. But thats it from us today. Thank you for struggling through. Im off to get some honey and some ginger and some hot water. And so you should. Some of you at home have been a little worried, but yes, thats all from us. Up next is Martin Daubney. A brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news. News. News. News. Hello again. Welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. Were sticking with a bit of a north south split in our weather as we go through the rest of this week, with northern parts staying pretty wet because of the low Pressure Centre that has brought so much rain recently. Lingering here. Further south, though, its a different story. Some drier, brighter weather to end the day. And then we will have some clear skies across south southeastern parts as we go overnight further north and elsewhere across the country. Quite a cloudy picture and there will be further outbreaks of rain. Some of them could be a little bit on the heavy side, could be some more Flooding Issues for some of us where we see the clear skies in the south, it may turn a little bit chilly overnight, but elsewhere, because of the cloudy, wet and for some blustery weather, it is going to be a relatively mild start to the day tomorrow. Taking a closer look first thing tomorrow morning and across many parts of scotland , quite a bit of cloud scotland, quite a bit of cloud around and there will still be some outbreaks of rain. Perhaps western parts of scotland having some clearer skies, so it may be a little bit chilly first thing here. Otherwise lots of cloud and outbreaks of rain across Northern Ireland, Northern England and much of england and wales. But further south, some brighter skies. First wales. But further south, some brighter skies. First thing i mentioned that it could be a bit chilly first thing, but once the sun rises, those temperatures should start to climb quite quickly. As we go through the quickly. As we go through the day tomorrow, it is going to be fairly similar to today really across northern parts. Further outbreaks of rain, though they dont look quite as heavy as today. Nonetheless, some heavier bursts are still possible, always driest towards the south. A greater chance of seeing some sunshine here, but 1 or 2 showers could pop up temperatures for many. Look quite similar, perhaps starting to feel a bit warmer across northern parts compared to today. More showery rain across northern parts as we go through the evening tomorrow. None of it looks especially heavy, but some moderate bursts are possible. Clearer skies towards the south could take us into a bit of a chilly start on saturday, but definitely looks like the driest day of the long weekend before rain arrives through sunday and monday. Bye bye. That warm feeling inside from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on gb news. Away. A very good afternoon to you. Its 3 pm. And welcome to the Martin Daubney show on gb news. Broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. The election latest as the dust settles after the night before the date has been set. July the 4th is when the nation decides well be live from all across the country. To find out what that might mean for britain. Plus, could there be a dramatic last ditch attempt at a coup to remove rishi sunak as Prime Minister . Next up has nigel farage betrayed britain . Well, nigel farage is dramatically announced he will not stand for reform uk and instead will head to the usa to help donald trump to get elected as nigel betrayed britain. Or is