Transcripts For GBN Martin 20240702

The bigger battle that to help to save the west . Does that lie to save the west . Does that lie in america next, the immigration down 10. It has dropped by 10 to the uk, but thats from a record high of 764,000. But immigration is still more than the size of nottingham and newcastle combined , and its newcastle combined, and its three times the total in 2019. Will we ever take back control of our borders and theyre unfit and theyre fat. A shock new poll has revealed that british children are among the laziest in the world. A mere 11 of girls get the exercise they need, and a staggering 43 of girls aged 15 are fat. What can we do about bloated british bands . And thats all coming in your next hour. Your next hour. Welcome to the show. Delights to have your company well, show. Delights to have your company well , the day after that company well, the day after that dramatic snap election was called on this show yesterday. Now were having to face another shock. And its this nigel farage isnt going to stand in britain. Hes instead going to help donald trump in america with a grassroots conservative movement. Do you think nigel is abandoning britain when it needs him the most, or actually , has him the most, or actually, has he served his time here just first past the post, prevent any meaningful interaction from him, and actually is the bigger battle to save the entire western world from woke, from net zero, from uncontrolled immigration. Does that big a battle lie in america . I want your responses on this. Has nigel betrayed britain or has he done the right thing . Please send your messages. Ill read as many as i can before the end of the show. Ive already got over 600 come through on this. It sent you berserk. Get in touch. Gbnews. Com yoursay but before we start the show, its your latest News Headlines with sam francis. Martin, thank you very much. And good afternoon. From the newsroom. 3 02. And i just want to start by bringing you some breaking news that were getting from the metropolitan police this afternoon, that a 64 year old man has been charged with assisting the russian intelligence service. Howard phillips has been remanded in custody. Thats after custody. Thats after a Counter Terrorism investigation into suspect and offences under the National Security act. We understand he is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court later this afternoon. Any more details on that . We will of course, bring to you later in the hour. In other news, the Prime Minister says that voters should back him if they want the rwanda deportation scheme to succeed, but concedes that flights wont get off the ground before the general election. Rishi sunak general election. Rishi sunak also says hes putting the economy and Global Security at the heart of his campaign. It comes as Political Party leaders have begun 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 conservative 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. Bold. The one person that doesnt is keir starmer. Thats doesnt is keir starmer. Thats 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 to and 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. And starting his Election Campaign in the south east of england. Earlier, labour leader sir keir starmer says that what the conservatives have done to the conservatives have done to the country is unforgivable and that voters dont need to put up with it. Rishi sunak clearly does not believe in his rwanda plan , i think thats been clear 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. I dont think hes ever believed 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. Journey. Meanwhile, the deputy leader of the liberal democrats, daisy coopen of the liberal democrats, daisy cooper, has ruled out a possible 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 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 in scotland in the last hour or so. The first minister, john swinney, has said that most voters want to see the back of what he called the disastrous conservative government. Never has a government deserved to lose more than rishi sunaks government. You want sunaks government. You want higher Living Standards and a fairer country where everyone can lead, secure, happy, healthy lives. You want a National Health service you can rely upon. Most of you think that brexit was a terrible mistake. You do not think westminster works for scotland and you want scotland to have a strong voice. All of those things sum up what i am about. I am about. In other news, official estimates show that net migration fell to 685,000 in 2023. The office for National Statistics says. Thats down 10 from the record of 606,000 764,000. In 2022. Figures suggest just over 1. 2 Million People arrived in the uk last yean people arrived in the uk last year, while 532,000 are likely to have left the country. The to have left the country. The family of a ten year old who died in a mudslide in North Yorkshire say she was a happy and bubbly go lucky little girl. And bubbly go lucky little girl. Primary School Student Leah Harrison was killed yesterday afternoon soon after getting into difficulty near carlton bank. It was believed she was on a school trip at the time. Its understood that Mount Pleasant primary school, where she was a student, have said that the incident is a heartbreaking tragedy and that leah was a much loved part of the school community. 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 giving evidence on the second day of her much anticipated questioning. Earlier, the horizon inquiry heard that the company had received legal advice against a review of its it system because it would open the floodgates to damages claims. But Paula Vennells says she wasnt aware of those claims. Vennells says she wasnt aware of those claims. For vennells says she wasnt aware of those claims. For the latest of those claims. For the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com alerts. Now, though, its back to. Martin. Its back to. Martin. Thank you. Sam, weve got an action packed show ahead. Lets get stuck in now. General election battle lines are firmly being drawn as rishi sunak and sir keir starmer begin hitting the campaign trail and laying out their visions for the future of the country and the Prime Minister was in derbyshire this morning and sought to draw dividing lines on evergreen issues like the economy and immigration. And he claimed that economic stability had returned , economic stability had returned, but appeared to have met. That flies 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. Well, our working people. Well, our Political Correspondent olivia utley now joins us live from downing street. Olivia, welcome to the show. The morning after the night before, as it were. Theyre both in full campaign mode. Shall we start with the extraordinary admission from rishi sunak that, after all, flights to rwanda are key policy, a headline piece of legislation might not even happen. Well, absolutely. Rishi sunak promised to stop the boat. He was planning to do that with the rwanda scheme. He managed to get the rwanda scheme through parliament. Eventually it took a long time, but now it looks like it looks almost certain that no flights will actually take off before the 4th of july. Now, we know that rishi sunak originally wanted flights to depart before the spring. Even so , it sounds the spring. Even so, it sounds as though rishi sunak is keen to make immigration a big talking point of the Election Campaign. Now, why is that when demonstrably he seems to have not done too well on tackling it . Well, i think its because he thinks that labour would do an even worse job. Their plan is pretty thin and in an interview with gb news earlier, Yvette Cooper sort of evaded, dodged and talked only in skeleton terms about labours plan for immigration. What rishi sunak is trying to set this up, as is , if trying to set this up, as is, if you vote for us on the 4th of july, then flights were around. July, then flights were around. It will leave on the fifth, sixth, 7th of july. Those flights are almost ready to go. Thats what the message were getting out of downing street is. If you vote for labour, not only is there no clear plan for immigration, but also those flights which would be about to go under, the conservatives will be dropped , will be scrapped. Be dropped, will be scrapped. Thats what labour have said theyre going to do. Thats the conservatives message. But it is pretty tricky to fight an election on the grounds of illegal immigration. When you have pledged to stop the boats and have totally failed to do that. In and have totally failed to do that. In fact, the numbers of small boats have gone up on last yean small boats have gone up on last year, even though there was a little dip under rishi sunak earlier this year and the year before. So its going to be a pretty tough sell for the Prime Minister. The other issue, which hes certainly going to try and centre this general election around, is the economy and there there is slightly better news. He has managed to cut inflation again, one of his five pledges now down to 2. 3 from 11 in october 2022. But of course people arent actually feeling that much richer, at least not yet. Everyone thought that the Prime Minister was going to wait until the autumn, when Interest Rates have hopefully gone down a little bit, and the money in peoples pocket felt a little bit more. He hasnt chosen to do that. Hes chosen to hope that the people accept that the economic picture is rosier , that economic picture is rosier, that a corner is being turned even if they cant feel it themselves. The conservatives will make this about immigration and the economy if they possibly can. What will labours fightback be . Well, olivia utley, thank you downing street. The sun is shining on you in a way it didnt on rishi sunak yesterday. Didnt on rishi sunak yesterday. Well come back to you later in the show. And joining me now is sir john curtice, the legendary polling expert and professor of politics at the university of strathclyde. And welcome to the strathclyde. And welcome to the show, john. Its always an absolute pleasure. You wrote a absolute pleasure. You wrote a fascinating piece in the papers today saying rishi had better be an extraordinary campaigner. Today saying rishi had better be an extraordinary campaigner. And an extraordinary campaigner. And what youre saying there, if i read between the lines, is all of the polling, all of the evidence seems to suggest that rishi sunak is going to have to pull the mother of all rabbits out of a hat to have any chance of winning the next general election. Tell me some more. Election. Tell me some more. Yeah. I mean, the honest truth is that all the historical precedents stand against him now. History is historical. Records are there to be broken, but to breaking the Historical Records isindeed breaking the Historical Records is indeed the challenge that mr sunak has has faced himself. So, lets go through a few examples. So the last time a Prime Minister called a general election , this far behind the election, this far behind the poll is actually somewhat further behind in the polls was john major in 1997, despite his best efforts during the Election Campaign itself, conservative support only rose by one point. Labours lead actually fell, primarily because the liberal democrats gained ground. What was the what was the historical backdrop to this . Well, the historical backdrop was, of course, that the conservatives got into trouble in that parliament in the immediate wake of the market crisis of 1992, black wednesday, when the pound was forced out of the European Exchange rate mechanism, mr sunak now is having to persuade voters to vote for him, despite having presided over his predecessor presiding over the market crisis of september and october 2022. Miss miss trusss fiscal event and the Historical Records say that governments that preside over market crises, including labour ones, do not survive at the ballot box. Indeed, then also youve just been talking a little bit about how well there are the first signs, perhaps of economic recovery. John major had four and a half years of the best record of Economic Growth since 1945 at that point, but the voters just werent willing to forgive him for that market drama. So, again, theres a just some simple examples from history, from conservative Party History, from conservative Party History as to how mr sunak is going to have to achieve objectives and turnarounds that , objectives and turnarounds that, john major was not able to do in the past. The past. And of course, the last time we had a snap election was 2017 with theresa may. The conservatives were 20 points ahead and they almost blew that. Does a snap election have any particular impact on peoples mindsets . I mean, rishi sunak would like to think that hes in the driving seat, but does it have any impact on if when you call an election quickly, historically . Well , of course, i historically . Well, of course, i mean, maybe to a degree in that insofar as, in the middle of a parliament, certainly like in 2017, voters may have been quite tuned out, not expecting election, not particularly thinking that much about how theyre going to vote for. And in the context of the site of a Prime Minister who had many admirable qualities, but who i think by her now, her own admission was pretty inept and uncomfortable at campaigning against, Jeremy Corbyn, who proved to be rather better at it than most people anticipated. So voters got new information at a time where they werent necessarily thinking about it. Now, at the moment at least, you know, voters are probably tuned into the fact that there was a general election coming. Not that too long in the distant future. Indeed, the polls have been suggesting that many voters were quite keen to have an election now. And to that extent at least , theyll be grateful for the opportunity that mr sunak has given them. And given also the relative stability in the polls. Since the autumn of 2022, and the way mr sunak has failed in the last 18 months to be able to turn things around again, you can see why, perhaps in this snap election, which isnt really anything like a snap as 2017 or indeed 2019, isnt perhaps necessarily going to. Its going to be so easy to persuade voters to change their minds. One thing, of course, to minds. One thing, of course, to say about 2017, that is the one election which where indeed the lead changed dramatically. So if mr sunak could achieve what Jeremy Corbyn achieved against, theresa may in 2017, maybe we could knock ten points off labours lead. Thats how i make the calculation. But that would the calculation. But that would still leave labour 11 points ahead. So still leave labour 11 points ahead. So sirjohn, you ahead. So sir john, you concluded your article today by saying can rishi sunak achieve something in six weeks that he hasnt in 18 months . Could you do something as crude as give me a percentage chance of rishi sunak winning this election, based purely on the polling and the data in front of you now , well, look, front of you now, well, look, ive, ive long been in the pubuc ive, ive long been in the Public Domain as saying that is a 99 chance that sir keir starmer is the next Prime Minister and thats not just to do with the scale of the poll polling challenge that mr sunak faces. Its also that if we if he does succeed quite dramatically in reducing labours lead and we get into Hung Parliament territory because neither the democrats nor the snp are willing to help sustain a minority conservative administration, the conservatives will still be out on their air. Mr sunak has to get all the way back to 320 or so seats. That means at least being a few points ahead of labour, so thats , lets say hes 25 points thats, lets say hes 25 points off his target at the moment. Off his target at the moment. Okay. And as you said, sir john curtice, that will take one heck of an extraordinary campaign. Thank you very much campaign. Thank you very much for joining us. Sirjohn for joining us. Sir john curtice, forjoining us. Sirjohn curtice, polling expert and professor of politics at the university of strathclyde. Always a delight now lets go to stormont now. Speak to gb news. Northern ireland reporter Dougie Beattie dougie, always a delight to have you on the show. We were just talking there about that snap election in 2017 and of course the dup became absolutely pivotal. That confidence and supply to the conservative party cost them £1 billion, but it kept them in power. Dougie whats the Political Landscape now . On, on on your side of the sea there in Northern Ireland . Well, its totally fascinating , well, its totally fascinating, martin. I mean, we have 18 seats in Northern Ireland. Eight of those are held by the dup, seven by sinn fein, but they are an abstentionist party. They dont take those seats, then we have two by the sdlp and one by the Alliance Party. But out of those 18 seats, six of them are very, very slim majorities, including, gavin robinson, the now leader of the dup seat in east belfast. If the tuv do decide to run in there, the chances are the Alliance Party will take that seat. We have a three way battle shaping up in north down between the sitting mp, the only alliance mp , the, the, an alliance mp, the, the, an independent candidate and, the ulster unionist party. So it is ulster unionist party. So it is more than likely the Alliance Party will hold that seat. But more fascinating for me is what goes on with sinn fein at this minute in time, as you and i have spoken about the immigration problems in the repubuc immigration problems in the republic of ireland, their battling a European Election that will take part or take place on the 7th of june. Well not really know how the facts and figures shake out of that till about the 14th 15th of june, when we start to analyse it, and that may well change sinn feins policies in Northern Ireland, because some of their biggest seats are held along the borders of tyrone, fermanagh and armagh. And of course, weve seen whats happening in the repubuc seen whats happening in the republic and that that could really cause the tables to shift. The likes of Fermanagh South Tyrone was below 100 votes that actually got sinn fein in the last time. So you would imagine that the unionists will put in some sort of united unionist candidate in there to try and take that seat back. So very strange times in irish politics, nationalism, republicanism, unionism , and republicanism, unionism, and theyre all in flux because of brexit and of course, the rwanda deal was stopped here in Northern Ireland as well. And Northern Ireland as well. And thats in the courts next wednesday, which of course, rishi with either had to have jettisoned Northern Ireland from that and left us inside the eu or brought it through the courts to fight it out. So unionists, if theres a minority government because of that, may not be keen to back the tory party again. To back the tory party again. Thank you for that update. Live from stormont. Always a pleasure. Now moving on. Rishi sunak and sir keir starmer have drawn swords over tackling illegal migration ahead of the 4th of july general election. The Prime Minister admitted earlier today that the first flight to rwanda will not take off before the next election, with a labour leader slamming the governments plan, and vowed to clean up the migration mess of 14 years of tory leadership. Well, with us now is gb news home and security editor mark white. Mark two. Two fascinating points to pick on. First of all, its astonishing admission that a flight might not even take off before the next general election and secondary. The net migration figure today. Yet more bad news for the conservatives. Yeah i have to say i was very surprised that rishi sunak , in his first that rishi sunak, in his first round of broadcast interviews after the election was called, should indicate that they are unlikely, it seems, to get any flights off the ground before the election in july. We were talking yesterday afternoon and i was suggesting that actually, you know, there is there are some plus points in going that bit early , but one of going that bit early, but one of them hinges on the ability to get at least a couple of the flights off the ground. Then you flights off the ground. Then you dont have to show that the policy as such, has been a success in acting as a deterrent, but you absolutely show that youre delivering on your promise to get the flights off the ground. But by not doing that, i think its quite a difficult sell for the electorate. But this is what rishi sunak said when he spoke on gb news earlier today. 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 as weve identified the cohort of the first people that will be sent. 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 and 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 you have a situation, martin, where several weeks have now passed since the rwanda bill passed and six more weeks have still to pass before the election on july the 4th. Im paul time, many would argue, to just get some flights off the ground to show that the policy is working and that the government is determined and to make it work when you dont do that, when you acknowledge very publicly right at the start of this campaign that those flights are unlikely to take off before the 4th of july, then you allow the 4th of july, then you allow the opposition to do what theyve done today, which is to come out and say the whole rwanda policy is just a con. This is what Yvette Cooper said to us a little earlier 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, but could the government really, at the end of the day, maybe pull a rabbit out of the hat with this one . Well, it was suggested to me by sources a little earlier that we are misrepresenting what the Prime Minister has said and that perhaps his caution mission was more to do with the fact that there will undoubtedly be legal challenges in the weeks ahead. So he doesnt want to suggest that this will definitely happen if perhaps it wont. However you know, by just acknowledging already that its not going to happen, it just allows Yvette Cooper and others to do exactly what theyve done. I mean, surely if youre determined to get the flights off the ground regardless of the court challenge, you say, this is what were going to do. This is how were going to do. This is how were going to approach it. And if the courts do what the courts do, well, thats another thing to argue in your favour. Astonishing stuff, mark white. And in the next hour well talk about the legal migration figures. But weve run out of time for now. Mark white excellent as always. Speak to you again soon. Ill have loads more on that story throughout the show. Theres plenty of coverage on our website gbnews. Com youve helped to make it the Fastest Growing National News website in the country, so thank you very much. Now coming up, the Prime Minister says he called the election because his party has put the economy back on track. But do those claims add up . Ill be joined shortly add up . Ill be joined shortly by by Liam Halligan to discuss it. Im Martin Daubney on gb news, britains news channel welcome back. 328. Your time and im Martin Daubney on gb news. Now. They say economists decide elections. And rishi sunak is certainly chosen. His time carefully. The Prime Minister appears to have done well, fulfilling his pledge to halve inflation and grow the economy, saying he has put the economy back on track. But with Interest Rates still stubbornly high, its 5. 25 and the tax burden at an all time record since the two world war of 70 year high. Will labour do a betterjob . World war of 70 year high. Will labour do a better job . Well, joining us now to discuss this is gb news economics and Business Editor Liam Halligan with on the money reporter. With on the money reporter. Liam, a delight to have you in the studio. So rishis been out and about today saying the economy is back on track. My plan is working with some key figures out today. You want to discuss with me from the purchasing Managers Index . Tell purchasing Managers Index . Tell me more. Indeed, the big the big thought here martin is that the inheritance that any incoming Labour Government will get off the tories will be very, very different from tony blairs inheritance in 1997. Ken clarke and the tories handed over an economy in pretty good shape, with debt to gdp of 3,030 of gdp. Were now at 100 of gdp, much less room to spend, much more need to get in tax revenue because the countrys finances are so tightly stretched post covid. Thats the big thought. Now. Some numbers came out today. Theyre called pmi indices. The purchasing Managers Index. These are surveys of business leaders. You know , business leaders. You know, people running little plumbing outfits with one van or people running Big Companies with hundreds of employees. The pmi surveys are taken all over the world, and theyre kind of a pre emptive way of looking at the economy, not official gdp numbers, but theyre survey numbers. Lets have a look at what they actually say. What they actually say. Manufacturing is up about 10 to 15 of the uk economy. And the manufacturing pmi in may was up from 49. 1 to 51. 3. Thats the highest manufacturer pmi in 22 months. And crucially, martin, if the pmi measure is above 50, that points to Economic Growth. So clearly the Manufacturing Sector is now growing for the first time in a while. The Service Sector pmi covers a much bigger share of the economy , bigger share of the economy, covers about 70 to 80. That fell from 55 to 52. 9. So it fell marginally. And that is a six month low for our services pmi. But theyre both above 50 these numbers. So manufacturing and services thats pretty much the economy. And theyre both showing growth. And there are many economies around the world not least in Continental Europe that will give their eye teeth at the moment for pmi numbers like that despite brexit. But that brings me to the next question. Liam. You and i have been cogitating for many, many weeks and months that that would suit a later election to give the economy time to warm up on the basis of that evidence. Why is rishi gone so early . Why is rishi gone so early . I think its partly because the inflation number yesterday, while it came down from 3. 2 in march to 2. 3 in april, it was still well above the 2 bank of england target. It still means theres pretty much no way the bank of england is going to cut Interest Rates when the Monetary Policy committee next meets on the 20th of june, theres no mpc meeting in july. They only meet eight months a year. They missed some months out. So the first some months out. So the first time Interest Rates could possibly go down and the numbers will keep needing to get more benign between now and then is august. And we originally thought wed see a rate cut in march, april, may, june. But inflation remained, you know, the opposite of transitory. Like the opposite of transitory. Like the opposite of transitory. Like the bank of england said, its remained stubbornly high. So i think its partly because it now looks as if were probably only going to get one Interest Rate cut, if any inflation can go up over the summer before an autumn election. And also downing street must be thinking maybe things could go even worse over the summer. An influx of small boats over the summer. Thats usually what happens in the summer months. Maybe inflation could start turning up again , as could start turning up again, as it has in america and the uk and america. The economies are quite closely aligned. So for all these reasons , when it became these reasons, when it became clear things werent going to get much, much better on the economic front, with many Interest Rate cuts before an autumn election , i think downing autumn election, i think downing street thought, well, things could actually get worse. Lets go now to aslef Liam Halligan as ever in a nutshell, bang on the money. Theres lots more still to come between now and 4 00. But first, its your headunes and 4 00. But first, its your headlines and its sophia wenzler. Wenzler. Martin. Thank you. Martin. Thank you. Good afternoon. Its 330 for good afternoon. Its 330 for your top stories 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 flights carrying migrants will not take off before the general election in july. 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. Meanwhile, nigel farage has confirmed he wont be standing as a candidate but will help the reform uk campaign next. A recap of the breaking news from the metropolitan police in the last houn metropolitan police in the last hour, a 64 year old man has been charged with assisting the russian intelligence service. Howard phillips has been remanded in custody after a Counter Terrorism investigation into suspected offences under the National Security act. He is the National Security act. He is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court later this afternoon and in some other breaking news, mohamed nur has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years for a series of attacks targeting strangers in south london. He was convicted of the murder of janita kashiwa dogbe , whose janita kashiwa dogbe, whose throat was cut with a makeshift blade in brixton in may of last yeah blade in brixton in may of last year. Noor was also found guilty of three other attacks two days before her death , and a record before her death, and a record of more than 68,500 people were granted Refugee Status or other types of leave to remain in the year to march, Home Office Figures show. Thats the highest number of any 12 month period since records began. Since records began. Meanwhile, the total asylum backlog still stands at more than 100,000. And for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Common alerts. Common alerts. Cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report , and heres Financial Report, and heres a quick snapshot of todays markets. Markets. The pound will buy you 1. 2720 and ,1. 1738. The price of gold is £1,848. 74 per ounce, and the ftse 100 are 8350 points. Cheers. Britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report welcome back. Your time is 339. Im Martin Daubney, and this is gb news. Now, sir keir starmer launched his partys general Election Campaign at the ground of Gillingham Football Club this morning and said that the upcoming election was a chance for the country to turn the page and rebuild britain. And he also attacked the conservatives record on the economy and claimed that his party was in the service of working people and meanwhile launching his own general Election Campaign, rishi sunak took a swipe at his opponent, dubbing keir starmer a leader with no convictions. However, he with no convictions. However, he did admit that flights to rwanda would not take off until after the election. Astonishing admission, and im joined now by our Political Correspondent Katherine Forster, who is outside downing street. Catherine welcome to the show. Another story that caught my eye that id like to pull you on is reform specifically nigel farage, in this studio last night was saying he felt that rishi sunaks decision to go early in july had more than quite a lot to do with the growing threat of reform. And dramatically today , catherine dramatically today, catherine nigel has said that he wont be standing at the next general election. Tell us more. Election. Tell us more. Yes, well , one of election. Tell us more. Yes, well, one of many tory mps nightmare scenario was a general election. While the polls were still so terrible. And of course, thats what rishi sunak has decided to go. Its never happened before that a Prime Minister has called an election when so far behind in the polls , when he didnt need the polls, when he didnt need to. But the other nightmare scenario has always been for the conservative party that nigel farage would come back to lead the reform party in the general election. Now, reform are election. Now, reform are creeping up in the polls and it was thought that if nigel farage came back, then they would go further. In fact, they could possibly have overtaken the conservative party in the polls. Now that wouldnt have been. Now that wouldnt have been. Theyd have got many seats or potentially any seats. But it would have definitely meant that they would have cost the conservative party an awful lot of seats. Now they still might. But of course, nigel farage has taken the decision finally, that he is not going to do that. He is not going to stand. He is going to support the party of which he is head, but hes not going to be standing. Hes not going to be standing. Hes not going to be leader. So i think that really will take the wind out of reforms sails. Now they had a press conference this morning. They say that they are standing in 630 out of 650 seats. Thats nearly all of them. And richard tice, the leader is going to be standing in boston and skegness, which is the 15th safest seat. Conservative seat in the country. Matt warman won that seat in 2019 with a whopping 61 of the vote. Its also one of the few constituencies in the country where people still take a positive view of brexit, so we will see what happens there. But they voted leave by 75, so i think although tory nerves are extremely frayed, although tory mps, many of them are very, very angry and bewildered, frankly, as to why rishi sunak has decided to go now, there will be a sigh of relief in cchq. Things could have been even worse. Okay, thank you very much, Katherine Forster. And lets see what that reform Party Vote Share looks like without nigel farage, who now be heading over to join donald trump on the campaign trail in the usa. Katherine forster, thank you very much for joining Katherine Forster, thank you very much forjoining us. As ever. Very much forjoining us. As ever. Now, very much forjoining us. As ever. Now, coming up, as british children emerge from a new study as World Leaders in laziness, which party will put our kids first . Im Martin Daubney on gb news, britains news channel welcome back. Time is 346. Im Martin Daubney, and this is gb news. Now, according to a new study published by the world health organisation, british children are among the least active in the entire world. As day to day exercise largely disappears from young peoples lives. An astonishing admission and the survey observed that the lives of children aged 11, 12 and 15 and showed that only 11 of girls and 16 of boys in england are doing the recommended 60 minutes a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity. Well, joining me now to discuss this is the tv weight loss presenter steve miller. Loss presenter steve miller. Steve, always a delight to have you on the show. And once again, our collective jaws are on the desk about something we read about the nation getting fatter and fatter. Steve. Young people especially, is very , very especially, is very, very concerning. What on earth is going on . Thats so few boys and girls are getting exercise. Where does this begin . Is it at school . Is it at home . Help me make sense of this. Make sense of this. Well, i think i think its a combination of things, but i dont blame the kids. I actually say to the parents, not all because many parents do a damn good job and they get their backside off the sofa, go for a walk with them and play in the park. But we have too many parents in this country that would prefer to sit and eat pizza on the sofa and are not great role models to the kids. So its all about parent power. You cant expect other people to be exercising your kids for you. Be exercising your kids for you. It comes down to you as an individual, and i have always said , you know that in this said, you know that in this country, the problem is weve developed this culture where its really cool to be fat, you know, love your curves , all of know, love your curves, all of this sort of thing. That message is now being transformed, transferred, i should say, into the heads of children where its kind of cool to be fat. So why should we bother . But the absolute number one issue here is parents not taking responsibility for their childs physical health. Yes, many do a good job, but unfortunately too many dont. Now also, its a societal thing, a cultural thing because in japan, for example, the kids, they walk to school in this country, its not unusual to see someone, a mum in a dressing gown, actually driving the child to school. You know, the child to school. You know, the child to school. You know, the mum has just opt out of bed and not even put the lippy on and not even put the lippy on and off. She she is in her slippers driving the kids to school. And do you know what some people may think you are you for real . You look around you. You look around you. This you. You look around you. This is what this country has come to. And of course, we make excuses, dont we all . Theres not enough time in the day. And all of this sort of thing. Britain loves excuses. The problem is excuses are very calorific and not good for your childs health. Its a culture thing. Steve. Steve, im laughing away. There because i actually do see that on my own school and i see parents getting out of cars. One of thems got a onesie like a friesian cow. Anyway, moving on. In terms of the league table of fat kids britain is below romania, poland, slovakia, spain, sweden , norway slovakia, spain, sweden, norway and croatia. And an astonishing thing there seems to be quite a gender divide, particularly by age of 15. Steve. 43 of girls aged 15 are officially fat versus 29 of boys. I always thought as the boys were sitting down playing video games, is this part of that thing youre talking about, about the celebration of fat culture via social media . And thats something particular that young women seem to be absorbing. Oh, totally. Absolutely. You know, we have gone from the catwalk to the catwalk , so to catwalk to the catwalk, so to speak. We, you know, any time you want to talk about weight and how being fat is not good for us and being a fat parent is not good in terms of role modelling for your child. You get the squealers now in this country. Oh, youre fat shaming, country. Oh, youre fat shaming, how dare you you should be cancelled. Thats awful when cancelled. Thats awful when actually its the other way round. Anyone endorsing fat, anyone endorsing their child to sit on Computer Games all night and pile on the pounds . Theyre and pile on the pounds . Theyre the ones that should have a good look in the mirror at themselves. And frankly, you know, if youre not prepared to look after the health of your child, of a child , you shouldnt have of a child, you shouldnt have them in the first place. Now, i just think thats common sense. But common sense seems to have sunk somewhere. Its been flushed away down the loo. Its flushed away down the loo. Its just gone. I sometimes it amazes me. I just say common sense things and then you get some of the, the angries on twitter. Always fat shaming. Youre terrible saying that. What that i want people to live a decent life , for gods sake, and live life, for gods sake, and live a long time and prosper. Now, steve, everybody of course knows you for your outspoken , excellent opinions on outspoken, excellent opinions on obesity. Youre also very political animal. Youre incredibly passionate about politics and today i noticed you got involved in a tweet that i put out asking the nation, has nigel farage betrayed britain . Because of course hes going to america to get involved in trumps campaign. Hes not standing in britain now. A lot of people i predicted and i called quite some time ago, i always felt nigels destiny would be in america. You got would be in america. You got involved in this, didnt you . And you said some pretty strong things. Do you think its the wrong choice for to nigel go to america and not stand and fight in britain . In britain . Im fuming with him and ill tell you why. I feel like hes flirted with me as a potential voter of reform. I feel like hes flirted with me for a couple of years and hes ditched me. Hes not taking me out on me. Hes not taking me out on that date, so to speak. Nigel farage is a decent man. I know that people say, oh, you know, all this racist allegation and the homophobic is not any of that. Hes a decent man. More to the point, though, hes a charismatic leader who i thought loved britain, but it seems that he loves america more than he loves britain. By by what im heanng loves britain. By by what im hearing today. So im very, very disappointed. Richard tice is a disappointed. Richard tice is a nice enough guy, but im afraid hes too beige as a leader, in my opinion. I dont he just doesnt do it for me. So will i be, you know . Am i one of those people that was voting reform thats going to vote elsewhere . Absolutely. I shant be voting reform now. Nigels done that. Wow. Id like to read a few more comments out if i could. Id like to read out your essays before the end of the show. Some people are very supportive. Rick says this. Its a strategic sound move. Nigels efforts would be wasted in britain. We need a Younger Generation to experience the misery and destruction caused by labour in order to create the same opportunity here, shazzer says. Nigels given 25 years to his country and hes been rewarded with derision and hatred. He received more than any politician since churchill. I respect his call to go to the usa and on that point, steve, is it worth saying that a lot of people believe that theres a huge, huge battle in some ways for the survival of the western world in america . They say if world in america . They say if donald trump gets in, theres a chance to fight wokery on the front line. And that will then filter down to britain. Nigel might even get a job with donald trump. So thinking like that, do you think hes got a point . Its a fair. Its fair to hop over the atlantic. You think that if donald trump gets elected, which im not, i hope he is. But im not so sure he will be. You actually think that if donald trump gets elected, will, will, will, will suddenly eliminate wokery in this country when weve got keir starmer as a Prime Minister no, thats not going to happen. Wokery will deepen in this country. Wokery will deepen under this, under labour, without a doubt, without a shadow of a doubt, i will have that many pronouns. Shadow of a doubt, i will have that many pronouns. Honestly, i that many pronouns. Honestly, i shall have every letter coming out the back of my back of my name. Its just crazy. No out the back of my back of my name. Itsjust crazy. No i name. Itsjust crazy. No i dont i am very disappointed. Dont i am very disappointed. Nigels going, i like him, hes a talented guy. Hes charismatic , all of those good things and i do wish him well. But im really annoyed with him. Okay. Steve miller, always enjoy your company. Thank you very much for joining enjoy your company. Thank you very much forjoining us. Well have loads on this story after the break. Its an election special. Im Martin Daubney on gb news. Britains news channel is your weather now its alex burkill. 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 , 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 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 , 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 it 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. Hey. Very good afternoon to you. Its 4 pm. And welcome to the Martin Daubney show on gb news. Were broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. Election all across the uk. Election latest . Yes. The date has been set. July the 4th is when the set. July the 4th is when the nafion set. July the 4th is when the nation will decide. Well be nation will decide. Well be live from the four corners of the United Kingdom to find out what that might mean for britain. Plus could there be a dramatic last minute coup to try and remove rishi sunak from office . Big question of the day has nigel farage betrayed britain because hes dramatically announced he will not stand for reform uk, and instead will head to the usa to help donald trump get elected. There is that the right thing to do . Or actually, should nigel have stayed and fought at britain . Thats the big debate weve got coming up in this. Our next story. Net migration to the uk has dropped by 10, but thats from a staggering high of 764,000. But immigration is still more than the size of nottingham and newcastle combined in one year alone. And thats three times the total of 2019, when they promised they would take back control. Will we ever do that . And unfit and fair to shop . New polls reveal that british kids are amongst the laziest in the world. A mere 11 of girls are getting regular exercise and 43 are fat. What can we do all about bloated british bands . Thats all coming in your next hour. Once a show. Always a delight to have your company, sir. Its the afternoon after the afternoon before the dust is settling on that dramatic announcement in the rain , things could only get rain, things could only get wetter. People mocked of rishi sunak as he stood there in the drizzle. With things going to get better, blasting out down downing street now, the battle lines are drawn. And that shock announcement today by nigel farage this morning he wont be standing and instead will be going to america to help donald trump. Thats really, really got you talking. Thats our big debate this hour. Have already had over 1000 comments on this. Has nigel done the right thing by going to america, or should he have stayed here to help save britain . Send your views quickly and ill get some read out. Gbnews. Com yoursay but before all of that, its your headlines andifs all of that, its your headlines and its sophia wenzler. Martin. Thank you. Good afternoon. Its 5 02 at four. Im sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. The Prime Minister says voters should back him if they want the rwanda deportation scheme to succeed , but concedes scheme to succeed, but concedes flights wont get off the ground before the general election. Rishi sunak also says 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 was announced polls would open on the 4th of july. The timing of 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 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 at this election. He a choice at 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. And starting his Election Campaign in south east england, labour leader sir keir starmer says that what the conservatives have done to the country is unforgivable , and voters dont unforgivable, and voters dont need to put up with 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. I dont think hes ever believed 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. Meanwhile, lib dems leader sir ed davey says the conservatives are out of touch. Conservatives are out of touch. For far too long, people across the United Kingdom have been let down and taken for granted by this conservative government and this out of touch conservative party but with this election, we have the chance to win the change. Our country so desperate needs. In scotland, first minister john swinney says most voters want to see the back of what he called the disaster of disastrous conservative government. Never has a government deserved to lose more than rishi sunaks government. You want sunaks government. You want higher Living Standards and a fairer country where everyone can lead, secure, happy, healthy lives. You want a National Health service you can rely upon. Most of you think that brexit was a terrible mistake. Brexit was a terrible mistake. You do not think westminster works for scotland and you want scotland to have a strong voice. All of those things sum up what i am about. I am about. In other news, a 64 year old man has been charged with assisting the russian intelligence service. Howard phillips has been remanded in custody after Counter Terrorism investigation into suspected offences under the National Security act. He is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court later this afternoon. A man has been jailed afternoon. A man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years for a series of attacks in south london. Mohammed nur targeted strangers and used a makeshift blade to kill yanita dogbein makeshift blade to kill yanita dogbe in brixton in may last yeah dogbe in brixton in may last year. She was attacked from behind while walking alone dunng behind while walking alone during the day, nur cut her throat and she died at the scene. The 34 year old was also found guilty of three other slash attacks two days before her death , and a record of more her death, and a record of more than 68,500 people were granted Refugee Status or other types of leave to remain in the year to march, Home Office Figures show. Thats the highest number of any 12 month period since records began. Meanwhile the total asylum backlog still stands at more than 100,000. The family of a ten year old who died in a mudslide in North Yorkshire say she was happy, bubbly and a happy 90 she was happy, bubbly and a happy go lucky girl. Primary happy go lucky 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. Mount Pleasant Primary School say the incident is a heartbreaking tragedy and leah was a much loved part of the community. And for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Common herts. Now its back to. Martin. Thank you sophia. Now campaigning is very much underway as both rishi sunak and sir keir starmer begin hitting the campaign trail and laying out their visions for the future of the country. The Prime Minister was in derbyshire this morning and sought to draw dividing lines on evergreen issues such as the economy and immigration. He said that he called the election because economic stability had returned, but admitted , astonishingly, but admitted, astonishingly, that flights to rwanda would not take off before the election. Meanwhile, the labour leader attacked the conservatives record on the economy and claimed the Prime Minister has never believed in his own rwanda scheme, while our Political Correspondent Katherine Forster is outside downing street. Catherine, welcome to the show. Lets start with that astonishing admission. The morning after , you know, calling morning after, you know, calling a snap election the key policy of getting those flights off the ground, you know, stopping the boats via this deterrent wont happen anyway. Happen anyway. Yes. Incredible. Isnt it, martin . I mean, when rishi sunak made those five pledges a year and a half ago, people said, oh, is that it . Theyre not very ambitious. And the original thinking was that they would fulfil them and then theyd give five more pledges. But those pledges have proved incredibly, incredibly difficult. Yes theyve pretty much got back inflation almost to 2. Thats a big achievement. And of course, that was the news yesterday, rishi sunak came along and called an election off the back of it. But the most intractable one of all, of course, was stopping the boats. Now, it was only on Tuesday Morning in vienna that he said to me that there would be regular flights taking off to rwanda from july , taking off to rwanda from july, but now there has been a condition attached to that and it is a monumentally big condition. The condition is if i condition. The condition is if i win the next election. Now, given that the conservatives are 20 points behind in the polls, thatis 20 points behind in the polls, that is looking very possible that is looking very possible that not a single flight will take off, because sir keir starmer has explicitly said that if labour come to power, they will scrap the rwanda scheme straight away. They say they dont believe in it. They say that the Prime Minister doesnt believe in it either, and this is why hes gone now, because its destined to fail. They say we may never find out. Its quite astonishing, isnt it . Hundreds of Million Pounds committed to rwanda. A number of home secretaries have gone. Only home secretaries have gone. Only one illegal migrant has gone. And that is somebody that chose voluntarily to go. Now rishi sunakis voluntarily to go. Now rishi sunak is saying, stick with me. Safer with me, safer with the conservatives, better the devil. You know , were turning the you know, were turning the economy around. Look what weve done with inflation. Things are beginning to change. Stick with the plan. Were going to hear it again and again and again. Hes telling us that we can stop the boats if you just stick with me. But the problem is, of course, we havent seen it. Are people we havent seen it. Are people going to believe that if they vote conservative, those boats are stopping . Are stopping . Astonishing stuff. And all those promises he made to you in vienna. Obviously, this Means Nothing to me. Thats a joke older viewers might get. Katherine forster, thank you very much for joining Katherine Forster, thank you very much forjoining us on the very much for joining us on the show. Always a delight. She didnt go there. Now, moving on quickly. Lets join to gb news scotland reporter tony maguire. Tony, thank you very much for joining us. So the scottish arent happy at all about the timing of the election. The snp have been moaning. Nothing new there of course, but tell us, why is july the fourth a problem for the scottish electorate . For the scottish electorate . Good afternoon martin, good to speak to you. So yeah, july 4th, you know, it is actually within about the first week of the School Summer holidays up here in scotland. And of course , here in scotland. And of course, its not just mps who are potentially looking to work around holiday plans, but now a lot of people will be looking to the postal vote service, perhaps something theyve not done before because many families like to get away here in scotland before the English Schools go away and fill up all those beautiful resorts around the world, but thats not to say that, you know, its all one sided. I think theres a lot being said , more tongue in cheek being said, more tongue in cheek than anything today, that, of course, this election is going to get called on the 4th of july and dependence day. I honestly, i think it beggars belief up here that such a gift would be given to john swinney and the snp. John swinney , of course, snp. John swinney, of course, just a month into back into top flight politics, he was explaining at the snp Campaign Launch earlier today and just two weeks into the top job, and already hes facing not just his first election test, his first real test. And indeed, as we heard a little earlier through the bulletins there, you know, he says that, well, labour and the scottish, the conservatives are going to go hammer and tongs against each other. Hes going to go hammer and tongs for scotland, go straight to the end of the line for the scottish people. But of course, you know, its a quite an unenviable position that john swinney is in. You know, he built up his career in the early 2000 as, you know, a gradualist towards independence. But now theres the full weight of the membership in him to use this golden opportunity to push for independence. And hes doing that by showing the success of many of the powers that have been devolved to scotland and the power that is done in successful decision making. According to the snp , of what according to the snp, of what happens when decisions for scotland are made in scotland, and i think that is going to form the framework so that he doesnt have to perhaps direct talk quite so much about independence, because when he was put into the top spot, he said that he would be the first minister for all of scotland and actually, as weve seen time and time again, most of scotland, they dont support independence. So it would be really interesting to see how he juggles them. And of course, you know, we are going to see we saw a Campaign Launch from scottish labour earlier today in leith, as well as i believe, a visit from rishi sunak later on. So, definitely day one. I cant believe it, but here we are, up here in scotland all to play for nice. Tony mcguire. And ive joined tony mcguire. And ive joined in the studio by the deputy Political Editor at the financial times, jim pickard. Jim, always a delight to have your company. Jim, always a delight to have your company. You were you were your company. You were you were nodding away in the previous talk there with Katherine Forster about getting those flights off the ground to rwanda. But you think rishi might have an a to b sleeve . So i was very surprised when i heard him say this morning that this isnt going to happen before the general election, but the preparations are there. I do wonder whether this is a bit of expectation management, and well get to the start of july and they will have that first flight taking off to rwanda, and the photographs will be all over the tv screens, all over the newspapers and rishi sunak can point to it and say, see, we are actively doing this, and you, the labour party , and you, the labour party, liberal democrats dont have any plans of this kind. And that would be one rabbit out of the hat. Or speaking to sir john curtice , of course, the sir john curtice, of course, the legendary pollster earlier, he said looking at the metrics, looking at the data, this is more or less its going to take a miracle for rishi to win. More or less its going to take a miracle for rishi to win. That a miracle for rishi to win. That rwanda could be one way of getting the flights of dramatically. Another thing that caught my eye, jim , is the caught my eye, jim, is the tories have thrown the gauntlet down to sir keir starmer and challenged him to six tv debates , six live debates, one per week for the next six weeks. Why do you think theyre doing that . So i dont think that keir starmer will say yes to the offer of a debate every week. I think starmer will probably settle somewhere in the middle, like maybe one bbc debate, one itv debate and i think that the theory among the conservatives is that rishi sunak is younger, slimmer, more dynamic , possibly slimmer, more dynamic, possibly a little bit quicker in debates when you watch them at Prime Ministers questions. Hes been pretty good in recent months. I would would say. Of course, labour believes that they have stronger arguments, not least that the conservatives have been in power for 14 years and a lot of things have gone wrong. But i do think that the conservatives think theyve seen these two against each other in pmqs. Rishi sunak sometimes does better. Keir starmer , and better. Keir starmer, and therefore the more airtime they get of them going head to head , get of them going head to head, the better from their perspective. And those tv debates do have a big impact. Now remember, nick clegg came from nowhere. Clegg clegg came from nowhere. Clegg mania cleggmania sort of swept across the nation just because wed never really heard from this fellow before. And actually, sir john curtice was saying, looking back to the 2017 election, when Jeremy Corbyn came from nowhere, 20 points behind to get a Hung Parliament, that was because nobody had really seen him perform. So do you think there may be relying on on the theatre of a live debate of an area where rishi sunak could excel . Sunak could excel . Absolutely. I mean, most people dont pay massively close attention to politics. They might be partially interested in politics, or they follow certain political stories, but theyre not analysing in the sort of depth that the westminster bubble does. And when you look at these polls of who can recognise members of the cabinet and the shadow cabinet, its pretty low and therefore the Short Campaign of a general election is the period when you can really see these people up close and people are listening more attentively because the stakes are an awful lot higher. Now, i agree with john curtice that its almost impossible to see a route for rishi sunak to remain Prime Minister. That doesnt mean that i think that labouris doesnt mean that i think that labour is going to walk to a landslide victory. I think there are all sorts of scenarios that could play out in the next six weeks, whereby keir starmer still becomes Prime Minister, but he doesnt necessarily have, you know, the massive manoeuvre room for manoeuvre in the house of commons that Boris Johnson had in 2019. Could i ask you, jim, about nigel farage, obviously this early election, he was in the studio last night saying that was more than a little to do with the fact to try and neutralise the threat of reform. Hes now said this morning, is going to go to america and not stand and fight, at least as a candidate in britain. Do you think the conservatives will be happy they seem to have put that threat to one side. Do you think, nigel is doing the right thing . So nigel farage has tried to become an mp seven times. Hes failed to become an mp in five general elections. Hes failed in two by elections. So, you know, theres a matter of pride there when, when your nigel farage and you are probably one of the most influential politicians in britain of the last 30 years, its got to be a bit humbling to stand on that podium and not be elected as an mp. And theres issues in terms of whether he could continue his broadcast career if he did stand up. I think what happens with reform is going to be really important to this, because where are they now in the polls . About 11 or something. That is a big chunk of votes, of which an awful lot of them are coming from the conservative party. If they can suppress reform down to 5 or 6, then their chances of Holding Labour at bay and preventing them getting a big majority and possibly even pushing them into a Hung Parliament, it seems a little less remote. And so theyll be praying that reform struggle is to put forward candidates everywhere. Theyll be praying that some of those candidates turn out to be a little bit controversial , as turn out to be a little bit controversial, as has happened in the past. And theyll be praying that the reform vote goes down. But what weve seen over the last year is reform getting more and more popular. So it could be Wishful Thinking again. Jim pickard, excellent as always to have you in the studio. Thank you very much for joining me. Now, rishi sunak and sir keir starmer have drawn swords over tackling illegal migration ahead of the 4th of july. General election. The Prime Minister admitted earlier today that the first flight to rwanda will not take off before the election, as we were just discussing with the labour leader. However slamming the governments plan and vow to clean up the migration mess of the past 14 years of tory leadership. Well, with us now is leadership. Well, with us now is gb news Homeland Security edhon gb news Homeland Security editor, mark white. Mark, welcome back to the show. Now, in the last hour , we talked in the last hour, we talked about illegal migration and this astonishing admission that we might not even get any flights off the ground to rwanda. Can we now focus on legal migration . Now focus on legal migration . The net figures were out this morning. Theres been a 10. 3 drop, but mog, a drop from a very high ceiling. Its drop, but mog, a drop from a very high ceiling. Its hardly very high ceiling. Its hardly reason to get the champagne out. Well its true, but those figures are going in the right direction as far as the government is concerned. They have a long way to go, and there are multiple reasons behind those historically high figures of course, there is whats happening in the economy and the move to, drive ever greater numbers of migrants into jobs here in the uk. But remember as well, youve had years in which the number of people coming from places like ukraine, hong kong and afghanistan have pushed up net migration figures and youve had this massive push by the University Sector in the uk, which relies really as part of his Business Model on pushing ever greater numbers of people from overseas into the University System here in the uk to ensure that that Business Model is a success. Now they have suffered a bit of a significant blow in terms of the government policy of late government policy of late government policy, which has not been factored in to the latest office of National Statistics figures, because those figures take you up to the end of december last year and then in january this year, the policies have come through from the government, particularly when were looking at students policies that ensure that in the vast majority of cases, students will no longer be able to take their dependents through. And their dependents through. And that has already resulted in a 79 fall in the number of visa applications for dependents of students. Theres a similar system thats come into place for health care workers, dependents, and that , again, has dependents, and that, again, has resulted in a 58 drop. And indeed also of the dependents, and also a significant drop in the number of people coming across or applying for visas to come across as health care workers. So all of these issues are going to work their way through in the system, but were not seeing that. As far as the not seeing that. As far as the office for National Statistics figures are concerned, because theres a four month lag that doesnt take into account the first four months of this year. And also mike whites worth pointing out that total that net total of 685,000, thats still more than the combined total in one year of my home city of nottingham and newcastle. Thank you very much. Mark white. You very much. Mark white. Always a delight to have you on the show. Now coming up, has nigel farage betrayed britain by not standing at the next general election . Well have a live fight, a debate right here in the studio. Im Martin Daubney on gb news britains news channel welcome back. Your time is 426. Im Martin Daubney. This is 426. Im Martin Daubney. This is gb news. Now as rishi sunak and sir keir starmer get their Election Campaigns underway , the Election Campaigns underway, the honorary president of reform uk and gb news presenter nigel farage has dramatically announced that he will not be standing in the upcoming general election and whilst his announcement would likely come as a relief to rishi sunak and the conservative party, many voters will be disappointed that the former ukip gaffer will be focusing his efforts instead on helping donald trump win the us president ial election. So the president ial election. So the topic of todays debate has nigel farage betrayed britain, or has he done the right thing . To debate this, im joined by political commentators emma webb and Matthew Stadlen. Welcome to you both. Emma, lets start with you. If we could has nigel done the right thing or should he have stayed and fought on british soil . Look, i think many of us would have liked to have seen, nigel run, but ultimately , his nigel run, but ultimately, his decision makes plenty of sense, and i dont think it makes sense , for the reason that many people have said that, you know , people have said that, you know, if he runs, hes unlikely to get a seat that hes ran so many times before and not become an mp. I think clearly, Nigel Farages power lies outside of, the sort of muck of politics hes been the most successful politician of a generation without ever having held the office of a member of parliament, and i think hes right that there is global significance to the election in the United States. So i dont think its particularly surprising. But of course, its a huge blow to the reform party. It does make it slightly more likely that the conservative party will be able to at least maybe achieve a Hung Parliament. So its good news for rishi sunak, but i think its a perfectly understandable decision, from nigels point of view. Okay , matthew, before we come okay, matthew, before we come to you, im afraid we have to quickly cut to our political edhon quickly cut to our Political Editor, christopher hope. Hes in the Scottish Highlands. Chris, are you there with the Prime Minister we havent got Internet Connection , so lets Internet Connection, so lets lets stick with matthew stadler. Matthew stadlen. So stadler. Matthew stadlen. So presumably youre no fan of nigel farage, are you happy that hes going to america . I mean, nigel and i get on perfectly well in person, but i certainly dont share any of his politics. I think some of their some of the things hes said over the years are reprehensible, however, and this is a bizarre position for me to find myself in defending nigel farage. But if you are on the other side of politics, to me, if you are on the sort of harder right side of things and indeed if you are a sort of moderate brexiteer, a moderate brexit voter, the idea that hes somehow betrayed the country, it seems to me to be peculiar. Country, it seems to me to be peculiar. And for the country, it seems to me to be peculiar. And for the birds hes peculiar. And for the birds hes done a huge amount for your cause. If done a huge amount for your cause. If you were someone who who wanted brexit, i doubt brexit would have happened had it not been for farage. His campaigning, his relentless campaigning, his relentless campaigning for year after year after year. It was that, remember that sort of almost forced David Cameron or made David Cameron feel that he was forced to call that in out referendum. Why do i think farage it doesnt seem to be up for this particular fight. I think perhaps because he didnt want to lose , but he didnt want want to lose, but he didnt want to win. Now hes lost seven times and hes been widely mocked for that. To lose an mocked for that. To lose an eighth time would have further damaged his credibility and his ego. In that context of parliamentary elections. But im not convinced that he wanted to win either, because i think hes probably quite happy doing what hes doing at the moment. Fronting gb news shows emma and got a quick comment here to read out from one of our punters. Over 1000 comments on this. Its really got people going. Margaret says this. I cant tell you how disappointed myself and friends are that nigel would not be standing for reform in the election. He would have got millions of votes. He is the peoples choice. What do you say to that . A lot of people have anticipated theyve been waiting for nigel to return. Theyve been waiting for that big clarion call. That blowing of the bugle. And now they feel a bit disappointed. Bit disappointed. Well, certainly. I think there are lots of people who will feel that this was the golden opportunity that the moment had finally arrived. But ultimately, reform are not going to win the next general election. They might steal votes away from the conservative, they might conservatives, they might act as a kingmaker. Frankly, i think and with respect to your previous , segment on this, that previous, segment on this, that it would be sensible for the reform party to not stand candidates against sound conservative mps, but only to stand against those sort of tory wets, to use a to use the pun of, of, rishi being soaked outside of parliament but, outside of parliament but, outside of parliament but, outside of downing street even. But i think , you know, but i think, you know, ultimately i disagree with matthew. I dont think that this is about ego. I think that nigel knows what hes doing. And even if there are people who are disappointed that hes chosen to not run, and maybe he would have been reforms only mp. Been reforms only mp. Emma, im afraid i do have to interrupt you now because we can cross live to the Scottish Highlands. And with our Political Editor, chris hope, hes with the Prime Minister. Chris, coming to you. Chris, coming to you. Yeah. Martin. Hi. Can you hear . And you see me now . Im on the bus here with the Prime Ministers party going through the Scottish Highlands , we have the Scottish Highlands, we have been so far to derby , weve been been so far to derby, weve been to wales, weve been to seats in derby, erewash , held by maggie derby, erewash, held by maggie throughout with a 10,000 vote majority in 2019. That shows an indication of how. The campaign is starting then on now were in the Scottish Highlands in a to the Scottish Highlands in a to the next engagement. When i get there, ill be able to tell you what, chris, i think were going to have to pull out because we simply cant get an Internet Connection. Lets have a quick blast with Matthew Stadlen, whos still in the studio, patiently waiting to have your final say on nigel farage. Do you think theres something in this, matthew, that the bigger battle is to go to america and fight woke . No. Well, i think you know my answer to that. No, no, i do not. Iwas to that. No, no, i do not. I was surprised by the way that ben habib seemed to going quite hard on nigel farage today, talking about the need for a leader whos prepared to stay the course. I suspect. I mean, i dont know, i havent spoken to either of them in recent days , either of them in recent days, but i suspect that both ben habib and richard tice will be disappointed, actually, that nigel farage is not joining the battle lines. I wouldnt be at all surprised if Richard Tyson had been happy to hand over the leadership in the build up to an autumn election to farage. And indeed, theres been speculation that one of the reasons that sunak went earlier than many, if not all of us anticipated was because of the fear of farage coming back. So if we look at this, if we pan out and look at this, if we pan out and look at this in the big picture, this is unquestionably really good news or relatively good news. In a bleak picture for rishi sunak and the conservatives, because although nigel farage might well have lost the seat, that he might have run in himself, hes a fantastically effective campaigner. And to have had him spearheading the Reform Campaign could have been even more destructive than i think. Reform destructive than i think. Reform risks being for the tories, as things stand well, we have to leave it there. Emma and matthew, thank you very much and make a note of the date when Matthew Stadlen was very nice about nigel farage. Now lets move on quickly. Its your latest News Headlines and its sophia wenzler. Martin thank you. From the gb newsroom at 4. 33. Your headlines. The labour leader sir keir starmer, has accused the Prime Minister of never believing his own rwanda plan. Its after rishi sunak admitted flights carrying migrants will not take off before the general election in july. However, speaking as he started his Election Campaign in derbyshire, the conservative leader says 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. A help the reform uk campaign. A 64 year old man has been charged with assisting the russian intelligence service. Howard phillips has been remanded in custody after a Counter Terrorism investigation into suspected offences under the National Security act. He is the National Security act. He is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court later this afternoon. Mohammed noor has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years for a series of attacks targeting strangers in south london. He was convicted of the murder of janita kasiva dogbe, whose throat was cut with a makeshift blade in brixton in may last year. Noor was also found guilty of three other attacks two days before her death , and a record of more than death, and a record of more than 68,500 people were granted Refugee Status or other types of leave to remain in the year to march , Home Office Figures show. March, Home Office Figures show. Thats the highest number of any 12 month period since records began. Meanwhile the total asylum backlog still stands at more than 100,000. For the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Carmelites. Welcome back. Your time is 438. Im Martin Daubney on gb news now. Third time lucky. News now. Third time lucky. Lets cross now to our political edhon lets cross now to our Political Editor, chris hope , whos editor, chris hope, whos travelling with the Prime Minister near inverness on the conservative party. Battlebus. Chris, whats the latest . Chris, whats the latest . Thats right. Martin. Hope you can hear me now. Apologies you can hear me now. Apologies for the signal earlier. Yeah, im on the on the battle bus here in inverness, its quite clear to me, i think, that while there are a lot of in the tory party who are concerned about this early election caused caused by rishi sunak, when the party so far behind in the polls. If you look at whats happening here, the effect has been almost a push nigel farage out of the race and that might benefit the tory party. Im looking at polls for the weekend and i reckon there could be a few points shift towards the tory party to give the pm rishi sunak a result on his early election. Hes used that element election. Hes used that element of surprise that the Prime Minister can have to almost almost to push off the kill, off the threat of nigel farage, which few tory leaders have been able to do. So an early win on able to do. So an early win on day one of this election for rishi sunak. Rishi sunak. But chris has also been an early gaffe or an early admission. Anyhow, this morning, and it seems that your pint of been and it seems that your pint of beer. Your bet is safe. Rishi seems to admit not a single flight will take off before the general election to rwanda. General election to rwanda. Thats right. So the pm started the day in derby, near nottingham. Your your neck of the woods, martin. He said there the woods, martin. He said there the flights will take off in july. The airports are booked, july. The airports are booked, the flights are booked. But he wouldnt say theyd take off for the 4th of july, which is very early in the month. So yes, my early in the month. So yes, my pint of beer that we did bet with the pm notionally is now safe. He has been interesting to see when visiting. He was in Maggie Throup seat, erewash with a 10,000 majority from 2020 from 2019 that shows the scale of the defensive crouch. The tory defensive crouch. The Tory Campaign is in at the beginning of this campaign. Its going to a seat held with a 10,000 majority in 2019. He went on to the vale of glamorgan seat, alan cairnss seat held with 3500 back in 2019. So its more of a marginal seat just now. Now what ill say were in inverness in the Scottish Highlands, looking for another visit coming up shortly. Live on gb news. But the pm is doing a four nation tour of the uk. Hes been to so far the england, wales. Were now in scotland and more. Also, hes trying to show hes hitting the ground running, hes trying to put labour on the backs on the back foot and show that he and he has made, as i say, an early win by shoring up that vote on the right. Now, if you if i can i can understand richard tice would say, well im still here. We are standing seats in 630 seats, candidates across the country so far, though, he selected overjust over 500. So more being selected as we speak. But it is now clearer to those on the right that if you want to get labour out, you may need to vote tory, because the hope of nigel farage shaking up politics has , for shaking up politics has, for now, gone away. Okay. Thank you very much for that. Live updates from the battle bus of the Prime Minister, chris hope , near minister, chris hope, near inverness in scotland. Thank you very much. Now moving on. The very much. Now moving on. The duchess of sussex, Meghan Markle, has said that it will be that it was humbling to discover her nigerian roots, but now shes also discovered some ancestry in europe too, because, according to records, her great, great grandmother, mary bird, was born in malta in the middle of the 19th century. So shes 43 nigerian with also having roots in malta. Well, join me now to discuss this is the royal correspondent and writer michael cole. Michael. So this seems to be turning into something of a global dna tour , a Diversity Global dna tour, a diversity toun global dna tour, a diversity tour. Youve heard of the maltese falcon . Now weve got the maltese meghan. The maltese meghan. Well, martin, youve hit the nail on the head. Well, martin, youve hit the nail on the head. Meghan nail on the head. Meghan markles maltese connection is as elusive and illusionary as the maltese falcon in that famous 1940s, hollywood noir film , the ancestry is really film, the ancestry is really quite simple and its quite interesting. There was an english soldier called thomas bird. He was based in the garrison in dublin. He he was based in the garrison in dublin. He met a girl from belfast called mary mccook, and he was then based to malta. And she went with him where they had a daughter called mary bird. And when little mary bird was four years old, the garrison, the regiment, the cheshire regiment in which he was in. He were based and sent to canada to new brunswick. There unfortunately, soldier bird died, and mrs. Bird with her young daughter, married another man and they moved to america and from then on, the great story of Meghan Markle continued. And so, perhaps the continued. And so, perhaps the islands, the Three Islands of malta will be pleased or relieved , and we cant tell to relieved, and we cant tell to know that there is absolute no maltese antecedents with Meghan Markle. Not a bit of it. Its another one. Its another piece of the puzzle , the wonderful of the puzzle, the wonderful story of Meghan Markle. But maltese connection there is none. Yeah , well, maybe shes made yeah, well, maybe shes made the maltese cross. Lets move on to another story thats caught my eye today. Michael and its how shall we put it this, this obscure portrait of the princess kate on the cover of tatler magazine by a zambian artist, hannah uzor. Its drawn some pretty unflattering reviews. The telegraph said there, its jaw hits the floor. Bad. There it is on your screen. There now, michael , i on your screen. There now, michael, i think my daughter could do better than that. And shes no monet. Shes only ten. Its dreadful, isnt it . Its dreadful, isnt it . Its dreadful, isnt it . Its as dreadful as Jonathan Hughes red portrait of the red king was brilliant and wonderful. It is really a daub and those dreadful daub. And what tatler is doing, sticking it on the cover , i have no idea at all. I cover, i have no idea at all. I think shes got the garter sash. Right. Everything else is wrong. Certainly the features, certainly the deportment, everything about it. I have no idea why on earth that would be put on the cover of such a long established. Well it was its established. Well it was its the toffs bible, isnt it . Tatler i dont know what theyll think of it at all. And, i dont think of it at all. And, i dont think its helpful either, because, at this moment, as we know, kate, the princess of wales, is undergoing a treatment for an unspecified, cancer for, to have a picture of her, which might have been done by that man who did the scream, i forget what his name now that norwegian. But Everybody Knows that that munch. Thats right. Munch i remember theyre all Barry Humphries having great fun with that. Mr munch. Mr munch might have done this if hed thought of doing a portrait of the princess of wales. Now, i think its best forgotten. I think its best forgotten. I think its best forgotten. I think its one of those magazines. You just want to turn it over and see the advert on the back page. The back page. Yeah. And it says again in that telegraph review that the artistic interpretation of kate holds herself with the bored beanng holds herself with the bored bearing of an air stewardess about to begin an in Flight Safety demonstrate. Michael, safety demonstrate. Michael, i cant say it any fairer than that. Its always a delight to have your company on the show. You stay safe out there. Michael cole , always a pleasure. Thank cole, always a pleasure. Thank you. Now, coming up as saint albans is set to become the first smartphone free city for children under 14, are they on to a cracking idea . Im Martin Daubney on gb news, britains news channel welcome back. Its 10 to 5. Im Martin Daubney on gb news now. Saint albans is set to become the first smartphone free city for children under the age of 14. Headteachers are urging parents to delay buying mobile phones for their kids. And the move comes after fears over the impact of the usage of smartphones can have on Childrens Mental Health and development, with some children as young as seven having their own phones. Well, joining me now is mass teacher, author and broadcaster and west ham fan bobby seagull bobby. Always a delight to have you on the show. This is an astonishing story. 20 out of 24 headteachers at the citys primary schools are begging parents not to buy phones for kids because of disruption theyre seeing in classrooms. As a teacher, bobby, does this make sense to you . Yes, i completely agree with it. While im someone that always advocates the use of technology and how it is democratising information for all people, the reality is in schools, when children have access to smartphones, it damages their education. It distracts them. It distracts them. Theres a drop off in academic performance. Theres academic performance. Theres risk of bullying due to social pressures. They i know they come to school, theyre knackered because theyve been on their phones scrolling all night. Their sort of Mental Development is stalled , for people under 14, is stalled, for people under 14, i generally think theres no reason whatsoever to have a smartphone. If youre really concerned about child safety, give them a, you know, this old nokia brick phone. Give them that. They can communicate with you. But theres no need for smartphone for younger children because i think it just leads to so many developmental issues for these people. And i applaud, the groups there that are looking to stop children under a certain age using it. And, you know, bobby, theres also gets my vote. My daughter is in year five. Shes ten. I got a message this morning from my school saying theres been problems in year five with kids, and theyre falling out with each other outside of school times because of Whatsapp Group fights, and then its bringing itself back into the school gates. So even bobby, when theyre not having phones at school, its causing trouble. Theyre bringing into school. Yeah. Again. But back when you were in school, i was in school even like five, six, seven years ago, students would be in school and theyd have to deal with issues in school, in school, and they leave the gate at 330, 4 00, go home. And theyve got that sort of secluded, they know theyre safe, whereas now they take the phone. They continue to take that. If theyre part of a snapchat group, Whatsapp Group or whatever it is, instagram group, that bullying that exists can continue to go on. So children that are vulnerable , children that are vulnerable, they expose for all their evenings, their weekends, their holidays. So clearly we need to get ahead of that. And again at some stage, adults, we need to make sure that again, maybe the sixth form of gcse students, they get access to technology. But i think year fives year six is literally theres no need. Again, ive got friends that are becoming young parents now and i tell them dont give your children tablets, dont give them smartphones, because once youre done, get this. Almost youre done, get this. Almost like this terrible time. Its like this terrible time. Its like crack cocaine. Once you get addicted, you can. Its so hard. Even as an adult, martin, sometimes im at night watching silly videos of cats dancing and im like, what am i doing . Im a grown adult. I should put the phone away. How can children who are still developing mentally be able to resist that . Able to resist that . So i totally agree, bobby seagull. And you know the amount of problems it causes inside schools and outside schools. The schools and outside schools. The problem though, how would it be enforced is down to teachers like you take their phones off them at school could cause trouble with the parents. So i think this is where its got to come from the top. And to be honest, a lot of schools do say, my secondary, for example, when schools are brought in, you give it in a form time and you collect it back at end of the day. So schools need to be rigorous in ensuring that policy and enough Technology Sort of teachers are keen on technology, say, oh, you know, we should encourage children to explore the world of technology. What they should do is have sanctioned things , tablets that sanctioned things, tablets that they bring in or the teachers say, you can use this in class time for specific moments, but not children to have it in their bags of, you know, or their pockets. Absolutely. Thats a no no for me. Tony. Agree bobby seagull is always a pleasure to have you on the show. Are you going to sign off with your customary west ham cross . Always because you know , you always because you know, you know. There you go, mate. Thank you very much. Bobby seagull always a pleasure to have you on the show. You take care. The voice of common sense on teaching matters as ever. Bobby seagull now coming up as Party Leaders launch their campaigns, well be right across britain as they compete for your votes on britains election channel. Chris hope, our Political Editor, is out there right now on the conservative party battlebus. Well catch up with him in the next hour. Im Martin Daubney on gb news, britains news channel, but now its britains news channel, but now wsfime britains news channel, but now its time for your weather and its time for your weather and its alex burkill. Its alex burkill. 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 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 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. By by, looks like things are heating up. Boxt boilers heating up. Boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news. A very good afternoon to you. Its 5 pm. And welcome to the Martin Daubney show on gb news. Were broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. On todays show, weve the uk. On todays show, weve got the very latest on the general election. Of course, the general election. Of course, the date has now been set. July the 4th is when the nation decides well be live from all across the country. To find out what that will mean for britain. That will mean for britain. Plus, could there be a dramatic last ditch coup to remove rishi sunak . Next up has nigel farage betrayed britain because he dramatically announced that he will not stand for reform uk at the next general election, and instead will head to the usa to help donald trump get elected. Was that the right thing to do to help the west battle against woke in america . Or should nigel have stayed to fight on british soil . Get in touch all the usual ways. And of course, immigration is down. New figures out today show a 10 decrease in net migration to the uk , but thats migration to the uk, but thats from a record stratospheric high of 764,000. And that immigration is still more than the size of the combined populations of nottingham. My home city and newcastle. And its three times the 2019 total. Will we ever take back control of our borders 7 . Welcome 7 welcome to the show. Its always a delight to have your company. So the battle lines have been drawn. The battle buses are out on the road. Our man chris hope on the road. Our man chris hope is in inverness, in the highlands, in scotland, with rishi sunaks team as they attempt to get votes from all four corners of the uk. Sir Keir Starmers team are also out and about. Meanwhile, nigel farage has withdrawn from the battlefield. Hes heading to america, was that the right thing to do, or should he stay to fight with reform . Or he had well over a thousand comments on that. Its really got you going, and theres still time for you to have your say. You can get your contacts, your views across by going to gbnews. Com forward slash your say this is your show. Get stuck in and ill read a bunch out before the end of the show. But before all of that, lets have your headlines with sophia wenzler. Martin. Thank you from the gb newsroom at 502. Your top story this hour. The Prime Minister says voters should back him if they want the rwanda deportation scheme to succeed. But concedes flights wont get off the ground before the general election. Before the general election. Rishi sunak also says 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 was announced polls will be open on the 4th of july. The timing of 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 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 at this election. He thinks that we should just offer an amnesty to Illegal Migrants to make us the 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 to action secure our borders and to action 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. And starting his Election Campaign in south east england, labour leader sir keir starmer says that what the conservatives have done to the country is unforgivable , and voters dont unforgivable, and voters dont need to put up with 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. I dont think hes ever believed 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. Meanwhile, lib dems leader sir ed davey says the conservatives are out of touch for far too long, people across the United Kingdom have been let down and taken for granted by this conservative government and this conservative government and this out of touch conservative party. But with this election , we but with this election, we have the chance to win the change. Our country so desperately needs. In scotland, first minister john swinney says most voters want to see the back of what he called the disastrous conservative government never has a government deserved to lose more than rishi sunaks government. You want higher Living Standards and a fairer country where everyone can lead secure, happy, healthy lives. You want a national lives. You want a National Health service you can rely upon. Most of you think that brexit was a terrible mistake. You do not think westminster works for scotland and you want scotland to have a strong voice. All of to have a strong voice. All of those things sum up what i am about. In other news, a 64 year old man has been charged with assisting the russian intelligence service. Howard phillips has been remanded in custody after a Counter Terrorism investigation into suspected offences under the National Security act. He is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court later this afternoon. A man has later this afternoon. A man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years for a series of attacks in south london. Mohamed mansour targeted strangers and used a makeshift blade to kill johann peter dogbe in brixton in may of last year. She was attacked from behind while walking alone during the day, nor cut her throat and she died at the scene. The 34 year old was also found guilty of three other slash attacks two days before her death , and a days before her death, and a Record Number of more than 68,500 people were granted Refugee Status or other types of leave to remain in the year to march , Home Office Figures show. March, Home Office Figures show. Thats the highest number for any 12 month period since records began. Meanwhile the total asylum backlog still stands at more than 100,000, and the family of a ten year old who died in a mudslide in North Yorkshire say she was a happy, bubbly, happy go lucky little girl. Primary School Student 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. Mount pleasant primary time. Mount Pleasant Primary School say the incident is a heartbreaking tragedy and leah was a much loved part of the community. And for the latest story , sign up to gb news alerts story, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Common alerts. Now screen or go to gb news. Common alerts. Now its screen or go to gb news. Common alerts. Now its back to screen or go to gb news. Common alerts. Now its back to. Martin. Thank you sophia. Now, rishi sunak may have only called the upcoming snap election 24 hours ago, but he and sir keir starmer are already trading blows as they battle to win your precious votes. Campaigning in derbyshire this morning, the Prime Minister is seeking to draw dividing lines on evergreen issues like the economy and immigration. He also dubbed the labour leader a man with no convictions who cannot be trusted. Meanwhile, sir keir starmer attacked the conservative record on the economy and claimed the Prime Minister has never believed in his own rwanda scheme. Lets go now to downing street and speak to gb news Political Correspondent Katherine Forster. Catherine, welcome to the show again and some dramatic news in the last few minutes. Nigel farage has made his position more clear. Earlier on, we felt he was going to go to america and not be involved at all in the general election in the uk, but he said im afraid the bad news is mr sunak, i will be fighting and campaigning around the country for reform. Tell us more. More. Yes, nigel farage very much trying to have his cake and eat it too. So this morning the news that he was not going to be actively leading the reform party, he was not going to be standing as a candidate trying to get elected as an mp for what would be the eighth time, maybe potentially, but that in fact, he said important though the general election is the contest in the United States of america on november the 5th has huge global significance. A strong global significance. A Strong America as a close ally is vital for our peace and security, and i intend to help with a Grassroots Campaign in the usa in any way that i can. Now, a lot of people, i think, have taken exception to that. Basically, the idea that nigel farage has chosen the United States over brits. But of states over brits. But of course, people in cchq and the conservative party, and certainly im sure rishi sunak will have been breathing a massive sigh of relief because i think one of the reasons that rishi sunak called this election early was basically to take nigel farage out of the equation, he said. He simply doesnt have time to find somewhere to stand and get this all rolling. In six weeks. They were terrified of the effect that nigel farage might have had on reforms vote share, but now now he is saying, okay, im not going to stand, but im not going to stand, but im not going away. And if anybody thought i was , think again, he thought i was, think again, he says, i will be out and about campaigning for reform over the next six weeks. Up and down the country. Now, no doubt he is an incredibly talented political operator. Whether you like him or whether you dont, he has a way of talking to people. A cut through that people like donald trump have, that people like bofis trump have, that people like Boris Johnson have. And hes politically therefore very dangerous to the government. But will the fact that hes out and about campaigning but not standing be enough to really help reform him . And will people forgive him that he appears to have chosen the United States over britain and Katherine Forster the video that mr farage has just posted on his twitter account on x rounds off by saying this ive got one more big card to play in politics, but the timing isnt now. But the timing isnt now. Now, catherine, that seems to be alluding to what many people will be thinking. Nigel is going will be thinking. Nigel is going to more or less sit this one out, at least as a candidate. Whats the conservatives . Lose the election. And then theres lots of talk about how the conservative the right might rebuild itself in the future. Nigel already flashing his garter. There could be a comeback , well. Yes, indeed. Oh, comeback, well. Yes, indeed. Oh, youve given me such an image of nigel farage flashing his garter. Morton thats disturb me anyway. Yes he could potentially, because weve heard lots of positive noises from many conservative mps towards nigel farage. He turned up at the conservative Party Conference last autumn. He was frankly given a rock star welcome. I saw it with my own eyes. He was mobbed. Weve had people like liz truss , people like liz truss, conservative mp, former pm, saying, you know, nigel farage should come back and help rebuild the conservative party. You know, even though he was last a member of the conservative party decades ago. So certainly some in the party that would love to see him back. Of course , that would horrify of course, that would horrify many one nation conservatives. Lets see, there is another possibility, of course, which is that donald trump might give him a job if he comes to be president again. You know , its president again. You know, its going to be tight, isnt it . But that could well happen. So, nigel farage thinks there is a big job somewhere. But whether it is back in westminster or maybe over the pond in the United States, well, time will tell. Katherine forster excellent as ever, live from downstream. And we do have that video now of nigel farage that statements he just released to show you he may be relieved to know that im not going to stand as a candidate myself. Why , six weeks isnt long why, six weeks isnt long enough to fight a constituency seat. The bad news, mr sunak, is ill be out around the country fighting, campaigning, appearing on media, supporting richard tice in absolutely every single way. Only reform , in my view, way. Only reform, in my view, has the agenda that can reverse our national decline. Our national decline. So there you go. If you thought he was going anywhere , thought he was going anywhere, hes back now. Got lots more on that story on our website. And thanks to you, gb news. Com is the Fastest Growing National News website in the country. Its got breaking news and all of the brilliant analysis that youve come to expect from gb news is now moving on. Rishi sunak and sir keir starmer have drawn swords over tackling illegal migration ahead of the 4th of july general election. The Prime Minister admitted astonishingly earlier today that the first flight to rwanda will not take off before the general election. But the labour leader election. But the labour leader slamming the governments plan and vowed to clean up the migration mess of 14 years of tory leadership. Well, im now joined , im now joined by. Im joined, im now joined by. Im now labour leader sir keir starmer, meanwhile, sets out his long awaited plans for health care reform, promising to create an nhs fit for the future. But an nhs fit for the future. But will they do enough to fix it . According to a doctor, this is the wrong bit. Look, lets now go to mark white, our Homeland Security editor, to talk about the migration mark. Weve had three hits of migration news today. First of all, that astonishing admission from rishi sunak this morning on the rwanda flights not taken off. Then the legal Migration Data came in. And then weve also had some figures on rocketing asylum data. Tell us, tell us more. Data. Tell us, tell us more. Yes. Well, the asylum data figures 68,000. Asylum claims granted, or at least, leave to remain here. If not, asylum as such. And thats the biggest increase for some 40 years. So thats an issue of concern. Absolutely. The issue of concern around the, rwanda , flights is, around the, rwanda, flights is, of course, that admission from rishi sunak in his round of interviews this morning that we might not get any flights, in fact , the likelihood from what fact, the likelihood from what he was saying is that we wouldnt get any flights leaving before the 4th of july. I mean, theres a real plus side, to the decision to bring the election forward , as he has done to the forward, as he has done to the 4th of july. And we were discussing it yesterday, which is you avoid that period of many more boats coming across the channel more boats coming across the channel, many more people claiming asylum to bump up the asylum claims even more , and asylum claims even more, and many more people then entering the system that might have to be pushed out to rwanda on flights at some point. And that is by avoiding the flat, calm conditions of late july, august and september. Then when you perhaps dont see the numbers coming across as high as potential , really, we are coming across as high as potential, really, we are seeing at the moment because martin, were about 36, 37 up on where were about 36, 37 up on where we were last year and tomorrow, according to my sources down in doven according to my sources down in dover, were looking at a pretty good day in the english channel, and we are only 120 121 off reaching that figure of 10,000, which is a milestone figure so early in the year to reach. So if that comes on the very week that rishi sunak calls the election, thats going to be bad news for him, lets see what the weather does overnight and whether we get that influx of more boats coming across the channel yeah, immigration is going to be a huge, huge election issue, mark. And it makes you wonder, have either of them got the confidence of the electorate . Rishi sunak talks tough but the record speaks for themselves. Has anything youve heard so far from the labour party from sir keir starmer . Does it indicate to you that theyre going to clamp down even harder . Clamp down even harder . I have to say, this area of migration for labour is a potential weak point that could be exploited by rishi sunak by the conservatives in the coming weeks. I was listening again to Yvette Cooper, who, you know, is telling us that we need to get rid of the gimmicks and labour there will absolutely be able to deal with the illegal migration crisis. But i deal with the illegal migration crisis. But i dont really hear anything in the labour proposals. I havent heard anything in labours proposals over recent months that would convince me that they have a plan that would do this. What do they want to do . Well, they want to channel more money into the National Crime agency to go after the people smugglers at source and to create this new Border Security command . Well, yeah, security command . Well, yeah, you can, you know, play about with the way in which the investigations and operations are commanded. Is that going to bnng are commanded. Is that going to bring the results that you want in the form of dismantling these people, smuggling gangs . I dont think so. Its a multi Million Pound industry that has a sophisticated supply chain in operation now, and no end of people willing to come in every time one particular group are taken out by law enforcement, a bit like we see with the drugs trade. Its well established now internationally. This Human Trafficking , this smuggling trafficking, this smuggling operation right around the world. And then the other issue is to say from, labour is the issue of trying to process Asylum Seekers more quickly. Well, yeah, you can do that. You can take a thousand more processing staff on and ensure that youve done that. Youve reached a conclusion on these asylum applications. But then what do you do with them after . If there are those youre not granting asylum. Where do you put them . If you havent got a third country to send them to and you cant send them back to unsafe countries. So im not convinced that labour really has the answers either. Convinced that labour really has the answers either. And its one potential avenue of exploitation for the government Going Forward here. Mark was excellent as even here. Mark was excellent as ever, and thats it. On july the 4th, the nation decides who will clamp down on immigration remains to be seen. Mark white thank you as ever. Now moving on. Labour leader sir keir starmer sets out his long awaited plans for health care reform, promising to create an nhs, quote thats fit for the future. But will they do enough to fix it . Well, according to a doctor with 50 Years Experience and a former director at the world health organisation, the nhs is so broken it needs urgent and radical reform and that doctor now joins us. Its karol sikora , the oncologist and sikora, the oncologist and former director of the World Health Organisations cancer programme, doctor sikora always a delight to speak to you, a beacon of common sense during lockdowns. Youve got so much right and now youre telling us that the nhs needs dramatic reform. In fact, youve got a reform. In fact, youve got a six point plan. Tell us about it i someones got to take action, martin. Itsjust someones got to take action, martin. Its just cant go on the way its going. And the sort of tweets you get from the Current Health minister are really not helpful. Boasting that englands dropping a little bit in the waiting list as opposed to wales, which is laboun opposed to wales, which is labour. This is electioneering. We dont need that. We need a plan. The first thing in the plan. The first thing in the plan is to admit theres a problem that is the key, right . The way through the system is bureaucratic. Its rotten. Bureaucratic. Its rotten. Theres too many committees, theres too many people on salaries above 100,000 that push papers around on a desk and go home at 5 00. The second problem is get rid of the waiting list. We cant sit there with 7 Million People wanting something. The only way to do that quickly is to pay over time to frontline clinical staff and give the responsibility to solving the waiting times to the people at the front of the of the business end of the nhs. Those that deal with patient care. Weve got to utilise technology. We know everyones technology. We know everyones got a mobile phone and you can do a variety of things with it, but you cant make a gp appointment, you cant change your outpatient appointment, you cant get results from hospitals. You might be able to from gps and so on. Then its all about leadership. Weve got the leaders in the wrong place. We dont even a smart office in elephant and castle , the elephant and castle, the headquarters of nhs england. We need them in the field. They need them in the field. They need them in the field. They need to be responsible for defined functions in my case, radiotherapy or chemotherapy delivery. And then weve got to delivery. And then weve got to promote a meritocracy in the system. Weve got to promote people that come in at the beginning that are talented, should be able to get to the very top. The Health Care Assistant should get to the top. Tony blairs idea believe it or not, from 25 years ago, nearly the nhs university talented people are there, but they cant progress beyond the way theyve been appointed in. Lets change that system. And finally, the most important thing is to stop the bureaucracy from overtaking the bureaucracy from overtaking the function. And thats what weve really seen. And thats why i say its rotten to the core. Of course, it can be made better, but it needs more than political bickering , which im political bickering, which im afraid for the next six weeks, thats what were going to see. Id just like someone to say, lets grab it and get it better how. Now. Yeah. Karol sikora such common sense every time i speak to you. I just wish we had people like you running the country stand for office. I ill give you my vote. Karol sikora, always a delight to have you on the show. Thank you very, very much for that common sense. Now, coming up, rishi sunak has called a snap summer election, but how will the tories faring in the polls . Well, ill be joined by a pollster shortly on Martin Daubney on gb news, britains news channel welcome back. Its 526. Im Martin Daubney, and this is gb news. Now one question many of us are asking is, why did rishi sunak decide to call an election with his party over 20 points behind in the opinion polls . Well, it was expected that the Prime Minister would wait until the autumn to call the nation to the polls, by which time the economy may have picked up, and flights carrying Illegal Immigrants to rwanda would have begun to take off. So thats now got the thoughts of the founder and the ceo of electoral calculus , ceo of electoral calculus, martin baxter. Martin, welcome to the show. So the last time you were on, you had your spreadsheet open. You can tell spreadsheet open. You can tell at a at a stroke of a finger what small differences make in terms of the seats and the percentiles. Martin, can we talk about the dramatic developments in the last half hour . Nigel farage now said that he will campaign with the reform party, although he wont stand. And weve weve been expecting havent we, a sort of difference between what 10 may be getting reform up to 16. So how much of a difference does that make to the election . And can you tell the election . And can you tell us what an impact that might have on the election, on the conservative seats and the final outcome . Outcome . Sure. The first thing to say, obviously, is that reform at the moment, dont look like theyre going to win any seats themselves. But they can stop the conservatives winning many, many seats by taking votes away from the conservatives, from disgruntled conservative voters. Disgruntled conservative voters. So a very rough rule of thumb is every 1 of thing from the conservatives to reform costs the conservatives another ten seats. So if nigel farage, say, had stood and had really led the reform party , perhaps gained , 5 reform party, perhaps gained, 5 in the polls, might be a figure there, then that would have cost there, then that would have cost the conservatives another 50 seats, and then the conservatives would be in danger of being eclipsed by the liberal democrats, and wouldnt even be the second Largest Party in parliament. On the other hand, if the reform vote completely collapsed and all of that went back to the conservatives that could give the conservatives 100 seats more than they might be expecting. Than they might be expecting. So its certainly a very big issue for the conservatives as to how popular reform is. Yeah , and rishi sunak would yeah, and rishi sunak would have been hoping that nigel had gone away. But as i said in the last half hour, he said, no, he will be out on the battleground trying to drum up votes for the reform party in terms of all of the polling that youve been feeding into your system at electoral calculus, how are you calling this . I mean, obviously its a moveable feast. Weve got a long time to go, but six weeks isnt a huge period of time. Martin. Whats the what are the runes . Whats the writing on the wall . Well, the big lettering, the big writing on the wall is that labour are 21 ahead, and its pretty impossible to lose an election if thats what happens in the end. The conservatives will be hoping, of course, that theres a bit of, error in the polls, maybe, as there has been before. And that, perhaps keir starmer does not survive well under the scrutiny of an Election Campaign , equally, Election Campaign, equally, rishi sunak has not tested himself in that way , and i guess himself in that way, and i guess both parties are remembering the sad example of theresa may, who ran a very president ial style campaign. But the more she campaign. But the more she talked, the less popular she became. So you can see movement in the campaign. Its it would be have to be a lot of movement to make the 21 lead disappear entirely. But it might shrink it if it goes the conservatives way , equally, you never know, things might get even. You know, could go in a different direction, nobody knows. Nobody can predict which way the Campaign Swing will go. So martin, just say that the farage effect is at its most positive. And just see, we just say we see the biggest upswing to reform, thats likely in terms of the metrics, in terms of the seats the conservative party would have at the end of all of this. What are we looking all of this. What are we looking at if reform do very well, as a colleague of mine said, there is no flaw in british politics until you get to zero. The conservatives can go all the way down. If all their voters leave them, they will get no seats. And the scenario you mentioned, the conservatives could be around 50 seats, you know, with similar level to the lib dems. They might not even be the official opposition, but a word of caution on that. I think farage just saying that hes going to campaign actively is not the same as farage standing for a seat or leading the reform party , so id be sceptical about party, so id be sceptical about whether this is going to make a massive difference to the reforms vote share. But we will keep watching and find out. And martin, theres been talk. Or maybe its optimistic talk, Wishful Thinking, perhaps from rishi sunak, the conservatives of a Hung Parliament, is that in terms of the metrics youre looking at, the data at your fingertips that you update by the hour . Is that a possibility . Even everything could happen, but it requires many things to go in. The conservatives favour at once. So polling error keir starmer to be very unpopular in the Campaign Reform to collapse, and a lot of disgruntled conservatives who are planning to stay at home deciding to vote for the conservative party anyway. If all of those things happen, then yes , you could get happen, then yes, you could get a scenario like a Hung Parliament, but its getting , an parliament, but its getting, an incredibly narrow path to getting there. Its looking vanishingly, vanishingly unlikely. So martin baxter, in a nutshell, the direction of travel now without major upsets, without anything strategically going hugely wrong, which of course could happen. Whats your prediction for the next general election . A labour landslide bigger than blairs. There we go. There we have it. Martin baxter , the founder it. Martin baxter, the founder and the ceo of electoral calculus. Thank you for coming on. And calculus. Thank you for coming on. And imparting your mighty wisdom. Tom moore still to come wisdom. Tom moore still to come between now and 6 00 and the campaign trails have started with parties across the country kicking off, and well bring you all the latest lines here on gb news. But first, its your headunes news. But first, its your headlines and its sophia wenzler. Martin. Thank you. Its 532. Im sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. Some breaking news to bnng newsroom. Some breaking news to bring you. Police scotland has bring you. Police scotland has confirmed it submitted a report to the Prosecution Service in relation to former snp chief executive peter murrell. He was charged in connection with the embezzlement of party funds last month. The force went on to say its unable to comment further as the investigation continues. As the investigation continues. The labour leader, sir keir starmer, has accused the Prime Minister of never believing in his own rwanda plan. Its after rishi sunak admitted flights carrying migrants will not take off before the general election in july. 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. Meanwhile, nigel farage has confirmed he wont be standing as a candidate but will help the reform uk campaign. Mohammed reform uk campaign. Mohammed noor has been jailed for life , noor has been jailed for life, with a minimum term of 32 years for a series of attacks targeting strangers in south london. He was convicted of the murder of johannes kisiwa dogbe, whose throat was cut with a makeshift blade in brixton in may last year. Noor was also found guilty of three other attacks two days before her death , and a Record Number of death, and a Record Number of more than 68,500 people were granted Refugee Status or other types of leave to remain in the year to march, Home Office Figures show. Thats the highest number for any 12 month period since records began. Meanwhile, since records began. Meanwhile, the total asylum backlog still stands at more than 100,000. And for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Common alerts. To gb news. Common alerts. Cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report , and heres Financial Report, and heres a quick snapshot of todays markets. Markets. The pound will buy you 1. 2713 and ,1. 1747. The price of gold is £1,845. 18 per ounce, and the ftse 100 closed at 8339 points. Cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news Financial Report. Welcome back. Its 538. Im Martin Daubney this is gb news. Now, over a thousand of you have got in touch. The debate of the got in touch. The debate of the day was nigels decision to not stand in the general election for reform uk. Initially earlier for reform uk. Initially earlier this morning, when nigel said he was going to america a lot of people thought he was completely abandoning british politics. But that has been updated in the last hour. Nigel has spoken. Lets look at a clip. Lets look at a clip. He may be relieved to know that im not going to stand as a candidate myself. Why . Six weeks isnt long enough to fight a constituency seat. The bad news, mr sunak, is ill be out around the country fighting, campaigning, appearing on media, supporting richard tice in absolutely every single way. Absolutely every single way. Only reform, in my view, has the agenda that can reverse our national decline. National decline. So nigel wont be standing as a candidate, but he will be campaigning across the country with reform uk. He was saying six weeks isnt long enough to fight a campaign of this nature. So initially the conservatives were calling this election to try and cook the goose of nigel farage. With that last night he said that this just isnt long enough, but he did say only reform has the agenda to reverse our national decline. A few of you have been getting in touch. Michael said this. No way is nigel betrayed this country. Individually he is. The more for this country than any other politician. Since winston churchill. Yasmin, however, is a bit more disdainful about nigels decision to go and campaign with donald trump. He campaign with donald trump. He said in my opinion, nigel farage is all about himself and money, money, money. And dont forget that has been overtaken by events. That video is the latest and a candid clue was dangled at the end of that clip. Its on nigels twitter account. You can watch it in full. He said this ive got one more big card to play ive got one more big card to play in politics, but the timing isnt now. So a lot of people have been saying to me today, is this the right time . Or as Napoleon Bonaparte said, never interrupt when your enemy is making a mistake is the time for nigel to return after the labour party win the next election, which is looking increasingly likely. And now to discuss that, lets talk to the labour mp. Lord, lets lets move on now to a labour party mp who can join us right now on the show. Welcome to the show. Its lloyd welcome to the show. Its Lloyd Russell moyle. Hello mate. Here russell moyle. Hello mate. Here we are. Labour mp for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell moyle. Welcome to the show. So weve been speaking to two big pollsters today. Lloyd, the first one, sir john curtice said hes lie ins frozen. What a shame. Okay, look, when he comes up , i was shame. Okay, look, when he comes up, i was going to put this to him. Weve spoken to two big pollsters on todays show. We spoke at the top of the show to sir john curtice, who actually knows everything about polling. What he doesnt know hes forgotten about. He said, with 21 points behind for such a consistent period of time, it would take a campaigning skill, the like of which hed never seen in political history. For rishi sunak to be able to overturn this , this deficit. So overturn this, this deficit. So he said, no matter what, what the campaigning, it would be unlikely to ever be able to overturn that. Now, a short while ago, we spoke to martin baxter. Hes the ceo and the founder of electoral calculus. Hes been running all of the numbers. Hes got a spreadsheet which allows him to update it by the hour. When i pushed him, even with a full reform effect. Nigel farage having the full effect, given the big uplift, even though hes not standing as a candidate, he predicted the biggest election wipe out for the conservative party since 1997. Hes predicting a landslide as big as 97. The labour landslide. So all of the writing on the wall seems to be bad news for rishi sunak. Weve been out and about with the conservatives today. Chris hope is in scotland at present on the conservative battle bus to see what theyre up to and their mood seems to be high. We can now try again to get a connection with the labour mp for Brighton Kemptown , lloyd for Brighton Kemptown, Lloyd Russell moyle. Can you hear us this time . Lloyd i can hear you now. Can you hear me . I can fabulous stuff. So we were just talking there and ive been speaking to a variety of pollsters and they more or less have labour nailed on to win this general election. But of course, you dont want to get complacent, lloyd , but can i complacent, lloyd, but can i first ask you, how surprised were you about this snap election being called yesterday in july . The labour party, sir keir starmer has been wanting an early election all along, but many in the tory corner felt a later election would be a better thing. How surprised are you . Thing. How surprised are you . Well of course we were all caught slightly by surprise. Caught slightly by surprise. But if you look at the economic figures that came out yesterday , its not actually yesterday, its not actually surprising. The headline figure looks quite good 2. 3 inflation. But if you look at actually whats important, the consumer inflation figure , which is inflation figure, which is actually what youre spending in shops, thats over 5. Still, its stubborn and its not going down. And theres some talk about it going up. Fuel prices might go up in the second half of the year as they often do. As you go into the winter. And that would mean overall inflation would start rising again. That would have an effect on mortgage prices. We know that the borrowing has gone through the roof under the conservatives and the chancellor was going to have no chance to introduce his giveaway autumn statement. All those things, i think , all those things, i think, suddenly hit rishi and he realised that he was a goner and he might as well go now, save the country some time and hope that he can pull the wool over the eyes of the country. I dont think its going to work because i think that the people know. They of course, such a mess economically and they need to get out and lloyd, there was an astonishing admission on the first morning of the Election Campaign when rishi sunak appeared to admit that no flights would get to off rwanda before the general election. I mean, how did you react to that . Well, that, i think shows what a gimmick the rwanda deal is. Have they focused on strengthening the border . Have they focused on getting deals and return agreements with other countries . Have they focused on proper and legal routes . No, they havent done any of that. Theyve got this gimmick of rwanda, which i dont think anyones ever going to be sent to , and i would prefer us to to, and i would prefer us to have focused on the real things that mattered. But thats the that mattered. But thats the problem with the tories. Its all gimmick and no substance. All gimmick and no substance. But lloyd, we need to turn to the labour party as potential solution for this. It was incredible. Earlier this week incredible. Earlier this week when rishi sunak, the Prime Minister, was in vienna , and we minister, was in vienna, and we had the situation where 15 European Union Member States are writing to ursula von der leyen, demanding something similar a third country deal. The Labour Party Said youre going to cancel rwanda on day one if it even ever happens. So the big question is, lloyd, what would the labour party do to cut down on immigration, both illegal and legal . Its going to be a huge legal . Its going to be a huge issue at the general election. Whats your sale . Whats your sale . Well, the Third Party Deals are not bad in principle. We arranged a deal with albania, for example, and it reduced the numbers of people that were coming over having processing centres like australia has with third parties, works. Then you also parties, works. Then you also provide fair and transparent routes. What doesnt work is routes. What doesnt work is sending people to a country thats at war with another country next door anyway, and has very little competency in deaung has very little competency in dealing with the complex , asylum dealing with the complex, asylum cases that we have. And finally, it was a deal that both ways, rwanda could still send their most difficult refugees to us. So it was madness. All around. Labour believed that there should be Third Party Deals across europe to ensure that people are safe and supported where they are. So to discourage them needing to travel long distances. We believe we need to crack down on the people smugglers that often give people false hope. And then once they are here, leave people in a life of slavery. Thats the kind of thing that we can focus on, making sure we have peoples lives better where they are, and we clamp down on the criminals where theyre here. Okay, lloyd, so what kind of third country deals are you talking about . I mean, tony blair, back in the day , he blair, back in the day, he actually looked at an african style containment scheme , which style containment scheme, which actually sounds very like rwanda. You know, successive labour Prime Ministers have pledged to bring migration down, both legal and illegal. What other countries are you talking about . Well, greece. Albania. And what would that look like on the ground . Well, i think you have to do deals with all the bordering countries that are taking , a countries that are taking, a next to conflict zones or taking the bulk of refugees. And you see how thats worked in albania. I wouldnt want to list now all the countries that they could be. And i think you put the finger on the pulse there, didnt you . Labour looked at an african deal previously , and we african deal previously, and we didnt do it because it wasnt going to be successful. And it wasnt going to be good value for the exchequer. And whats important is we find something thats good value for the exchequer, ensures that we get the people that we need in this country. We have a falling birth rate, so we do need some immigration. You know, kind of the average couple only have 1. 4 children in this country. It doesnt even replace the people we have here. And we need to ensure that were training the people up who are here to be able to have good, fruitful lives. All those things need to lives. All those things need to be done. And if you try and just do a rwanda in isolation, it doesnt work. And australia has found the same as well, with small boats arriving in australia very recently , because australia very recently, because the deterrent system without a proper system of legal routes doesnt work. Doesnt work. But, lloyd, the problem youre going to have is if you try and do a deal with any of those countries, such as greece, then their European Union Member States, brussels will say, no chance whatsoever. Theyll refer you back to the European Union headquarters , and theyll say, headquarters, and theyll say, if you want any kind of deal with those countries, then we want a returns deal where the uk will have to take a share of the immigration going into those 27 Member States, and the net result would be more people coming into britain. Macron has said this will happen. Brussels said this will happen. Brussels have said was this will happen. What youre saying is for the birds. Birds. Well, we did an albania deal and that worked very successfully in reducing the number of albanians who were coming over. Im not sure greece is necessarily the country you would first look at doing a deal would first look at doing a deal. Turkey clearly would be because they border syria and iraq and some countries that are in conflict at the moment are armenia as well. So you would armenia as well. So you would choose your countries cleverly and you would go and negotiate and you would go and negotiate and you would see what the arrangements can be. Of course, if the European Union dont want to play ball , if the European Union dont want to play ball, we if the European Union dont want to play ball , we would have to to play ball, we would have to find other countries to play ball with us. But i find when you get people around the table, theres a lot of political , hot theres a lot of political, hot air. And i give as much political hot air as the next man. But when you get round the negotiating table , you usually negotiating table, you usually find a deal can be struck and it will be win win. Okay. Superb, sir. Thanks for joining us on the show. Labour mp for Brighton Kemptown Lloyd Russell moyle always a delight to have you now coming up, well be expecting to hear from Prime Minister rishi sunak as he begins his campaign trail across the country. Im Martin Daubney on gb news, britains news welcome back to 552. Now, were expecting to be heanng now, were expecting to be hearing from rishi sunak sunak at a press conference before that. Ive got a few emails to send. Ive had over a thousand in today on the huge topic of nigel farage. Earlier in the day, he said that he wasnt standing as a candidate and many people believed to that meant hed be going straight to america and wouldnt be taking part in the british general election. What soever that turn out not to be the case . About an hour ago, nigel released a statement and so he basically said, no, ive got one last card left in me politically. But the left in me politically. But the timing isnt right now. But he did confirm that he will be fighting on the front line, campaigning across the country with reform uk. So the debate earlier was is nigel running away . Is he betraying britain . Thats now been outmoded. Got a few of you getting in touch and k says this the people who have given their whole hearted support to you are utterly disappointed. And we feel that the reform party will not succeed without your full support, which will leave us without a party to vote for. And britain will remain in dire straits. Nigel, your country needs you. And another point here about donald trump is the bigger battle over the pond to the battle to fight for the free world. Tony says this donald trump has bought our best chance of a decent future in great britain. Im seriously disappointed in nigel farage, and thats not a good thing to say, because i suppose everything and every word he has previously stood for. But you can still turn it around. And in fact, tony, thats the point. You know, nigel, now has said that he will be campaigning with reform until the next election, and then he will go to america. So an astonishing day in politics, very fast moving day. Were expecting a press conference from rishi sunak soon, but that will roll into the next show because of course, its dewbs co after me six til seven. Ill be back tomorrow three til 6 pm. Thanks for your company. Thanks for all your emails, 100 and hundreds of them. You all care about your country, but now its your weather and its alex bercow. Weather and its alex bercow. A brighter outlook with boxt solar , the sponsors of weather solar, the sponsors of weather on. Gb news. On. Gb news. Hello. Very good evening. Hello. Very good evening. Heres your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. Southern areas the met office. Southern areas will stay mostly dry as we go through the end of the week, but its a wetter story further north because the same area of low pressure that has brought all the rain weve had through the last day or so is lingering across the uk. So we can expect further outbreaks of rain as we go through the end of today. Overnight and into friday. Some of the rain will be a little bit on the heavy side, but it is definitely easing further south. Its going to stay largely dry overnight and there will be some clear skies under which it could turn a bit fresh, a bit chilly perhaps for some of us to start first thing tomorrow morning. But on the whole, once the sunshine gets going, temperatures should rise quite quickly. If we take a look at whats going to happen first thing tomorrow morning. And yes, its a bit of a cloudy, damp start across many northern parts, particularly across a big chunk of scotland cloud and outbreaks of rain. None of it looks particularly heavy but could cause some further issues for areas affected by the heavy rain weve seen recently. Perhaps some brightness across western parts of scotland. But across Northern Ireland, much of england and wales are fairly cloudy and a little bit damp. Start the best chance of any sunshine first thing tomorrow morning will be across southern parts and to be honest, heres where were likely to see the best of the sunshine as we go through tomorrow. As a result of the sunshine, though , we could the sunshine, though, we could see a few showers popping up, but it is generally going to be dner but it is generally going to be drier towards southern parts, a little bit cloudier and a bit wetter further north. Some outbreaks of rain perhaps the odd heavy shower here, but not as wet as it has been recently. The temperatures will be near normal for the time of year, feeling warm in any sunshine. In fact, across northern parts it will feel markedly less fresh than it has done recently. As we go into saturday. Perhaps a bit of a chilly start for some of us, but it does look like the driest, sunniest day of the long weekend. A few showery outbreaks weekend. A few showery outbreaks developing, particularly towards eastern parts. But on sunday we are expecting some more wet weather to push its way in. Some of that could be pretty heavy at times and more showers perhaps on monday. Two that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers. Sponsors of weather on but i wonder now that youve slept on yesterdays shock. What slept on yesterdays shock. What are your thoughts on it all today . Theyre all a load of. Today . Theyre all a load of. Dad, what have i told you about speaking to the cameras . No more please. But the big news of the day, nigel farage says that he is not going to stand in the election. What do you think to that . Also out today, the that . Also out today, the immigration figures show that net