Authorities issued a notice which prevents all but essential new spending after admitting its unable to meet an equal pay claim of £760 million. The council has already paid £1. 1 billion to settle historic claims. All new spending, with claims. All new spending, with the exception of protecting Vulnerable People and statutory services, will stop immediately. More onshore wind farms are expected to be built as a result of a relaxation in the rules from the government. Earlier today. The changes will see projects supported by local people approved more quickly. People approved more quickly. Local areas will also have a greater say in how developments are considered, and they may even benefit from cheaper energy. Now the new rules come amid of a tory rebellion amid fears of a tory rebellion over the issue. Rishi sunak said back in october he planned to keep a ban on new onshore farms as the Shadow Energy secretary, ed miliband says reluctance to build more facilities has led to Higher Energy costs. Higher energy costs. This government is being held to ransom by a bunch of tory backbenchers who since 2015 have stopped onshore wind being built in england and that has raised bills for families by £180 for every family in britain, were going through a cost of living crisis. Surely now those individuals tools, those conservative mps can see that its much better to have onshore wind built and cut bills for families. Families. The schools minister says the governments been very proactive in dealing with the concrete crisis and has been issuing guidance since 2018. Speaking to gb news nick gibbs comments come after the education secretary apologised for using Strong Language while expressing her frustration at the situation. Both rishi sunak and Gillian Keegan are under growing pressure as schools across the uk have fully or partially closed. Mr gibbs says gillian closed. Mr gibbs says Gillian Keegans comments were off the cuff. Cuff. She was frustrated by the fact that the department for education , the Civil Servants education, the Civil Servants have been working very hard in terms of dealing with rake issue. Weve been very proactive in dealing with rack since 2018. Weve issued very detailed guidance to responsible bodies and these are the bodies that are legally responsible for School Buildings which are the local authorities. The Academy Trusts dioceses , but we provide trusts dioceses, but we provide them with the best advice based on the Technical Advice that we get about to how identify and monitor racks. Monitor racks. However , the shadow however, the shadow paymaster, general jonathan ashworth, says the governments handung ashworth, says the governments handling of the matter is an abdication of responsibility. I think today look, when youve got sort of roofs at risk of collapse in various various schools across the country, pupils really worried. Youve got the education secretary expecting to be thanked and congratulated and parents across the country, teachers who work in schools and pupils , because in schools and pupils, because some of these pupils are old enough to understand what is going on. Want you to fix this and dont want any more of your saying, oh, nothing to do with me, guv. That is frankly an abdication of your responsibilities. Responsibilities. There have been a further 1300 redundant cases at the collapsed retailer wilko. The collapsed retailer wilko. The news comes after a Discount Store b m agreed to buy up to 51. Wilko outlets from administrators for £13 million. Its understood the majority of the new stores are expected to be rebranded as b m , laughing be rebranded as b m, laughing gas is to be banned and those caughtin gas is to be banned and those caught in possession of the popular drug will face unlimited fines or up to two years in jail. The new measures expected to be introduced this year will also see tougher penalties for the supply and production of the drug. Officially known as nitrous oxide. Laughing gas is the third most used drug amongst 16 to 24 year olds in england. 16 to 24 year olds in england. Its been linked to antisocial behaviour with heavy use possible leading to anaemia and in more severe cases, nerve damage or paralysis. In more severe cases, nerve damage or paralysis. Ten people damage or paralysis. Ten people have been taken to hospital after a 52 seater bus was involved in a crash with another vehicle on the cleddau bridge in pembrokeshire. A fire and rescue pembrokeshire. A fire and rescue services say one driver, who was severely trapped had to be taken by air, ambulance to hospital and many of the bus passengers are suffering with a variety of injuries. Spains Football Federation has sacked jorge vilda, the coach of. Its vilda, the coach of. Its victorious world cup womens team. Vilda was the only member of the Coaching Staff not to stand down in protest after midfielderjenni hermoso was kissed on the lips by the Federation President luis rubiales. This is gb news. Ill rubiales. This is gb news. Ill be back with more at the top of the next hour. But now its over to. Michelle to. Michelle hello there, im Michelle Dewberry with you till 7 00 tonight alongside with the ceo of First Property group and the former brexit party mep, ben habib, and the political commentator joe phillips. Welcome to both of you. You know welcome to both of you. You know the drill as well on this programme, dont you . Its not just about us. Its about you guys at home well. Whats on guys at home as well. Whats on your mind . Get in touch with me. Vaiews gbnews. Com or you can tweet gb news. My first tweet me at gb news. My first email is gaynor in colchester. She says, michelle, why . Why, why do so many Media Outlets basically focus on everything doom and gloom . Youre saying that so many people now say britain is broken, but you reckon its just those media that are basically relishing, pounng that are basically relishing, pouring petrol on the fire . Youre saying that thank goodness, School Building is and concrete doesnt seem to be featuring on todays agenda. Featuring on todays agenda. Ida, what do you make to that . Do you agree with gaynor at home . I do desperately try to search, by the way, for positive news stories. If any of you know of any, you are always welcome to get in touch with me. I tried once on a friday to do positive news story. I had to abandon it after i think about one show because i genuinely could barely find any positivity thats going on. And find any positivity thats going on. And ive decided not to talk about concrete tonight because everyone just wants to batter the government and gillian everyone just wants to batter the gov� butfent and gillian everyone just wants to batter the gov� but you and gillian everyone just wants to batter the gov� but you knowiillian everyone just wants to batter the gov� but you know what . This keegan but you know what . This stuff 30 year stuff only had a 30 year lifespan. About everyone lifespan. So what about everyone that was that went before that was building schools all the building schools and all the rest it with those concrete rest of it with those concrete matters . Anyway matters . What about them anyway , just to move on , ive just decided to move on tonight other problems tonight because other problems are. So im sorry, gaynor, are afoot. So im sorry, gaynor, youre not going to be sitting here high fiving yourself because i do have more bad news here high fiving yourself becyou, i do have more bad news here high fiving yourself becyou, im have more bad news here high fiving yourself becyou, im afraid,more bad news here high fiving yourself becyou, im afraid, especiallyiews for you, im afraid, especially if youre in birmingham, because birmingham have Birmingham City council have said the largest said theyre lurking the largest local authority in this country. It is the latest now in seemingly a long line that have issued what we call section 114 notices, basically to summarise that, its like youre waving like a white flag of surrender. You put your hands up, youre basically saying, ive made a hash of managing ing my finances. As a council. Youre basically reaching out to Central Government for a bit of assistance and all the rest of it. Birmingham is the latest council and i think whilst im talking actually i might just get up on the screen , im get up on the screen, im shrinking in my chair , my chair shrinking in my chair, my chair is going down. I know what is strange that is going to what a strange that is going to what a strange sensation i could feel myself going down. I do apologise if youre wondering what on is going on. I think my chairs a bit bossed like Birmingham City council. Quite frankly. If i can, ill frankly. Anyway, if i can, ill get you a list of the councils on the screen before i bring ben in. So look at this just to in. So we look at this just to give you a little bit of context, because this is not just birmingham. Um, youve got birmingham, got woking, birmingham, youve got woking, youve youve youve got thurrock, youve got croydon, got croydon, youve got northumberland, lets keep it rolling, move on to the next one because i assure you ladies and gents, theres more, theres more. Keep going. Youve got. More. Keep going. Youve got. Weve just done ben, weve done this one. Weve done. Move on to page two. Whats going on in the background . Youve got kent, which is warning. I know they havent declared yet, but theyre warning theyre in trouble. Theres Something Like 26 councils. Theres 26 that are on the cusp of it. Ben habib, let me start with you on this birmingham. Theyve been speaking out today. Deputy leader speaking out leader has been speaking out today. Blaming all today. Theyre blaming it on all kinds of things and it failed project. Theyre saying that aduh project. Theyre saying that Adult Social Care is going up. Business rates, income is going down. Saying that business rates, income is going down. Had saying that business rates, income is going down. Had £1;aying that business rates, income is going down. Had £1 billion hat business rates, income is going down. Had £1 billion worth of theyve had £1 billion worth of cuts essentially from Central Government. What do you make to some this . Some of this . Its a perfect storm, well, its a perfect storm, an equal pay as well. That one. Cant an equal pay as well. That. That one. Cant an equal pay as well. That. Thats|e. Cant an equal pay as well. That. Thats massive. Forget that. Thats massive. Which in which is which is in a subject in itself. But, you know, this is a perfect storm for the vast majority of institutions in this country. The cost doing business has the cost of doing business has gone up. The cost of borrowing has gone up, and income levels are under pressure because the economy isnt growing. I know economy isnt growing. I know were going to talk liz were going to talk about liz truss later, but its a classic example of why growth in the economy is so important. If the wheels come off your economy and growth doesnt keep up with the ever inexorable march of costs higher and higher, something has to give. And what were seeing is this now manifesting itself in the local authorities across the country. And as you said , the country. And as you said, joe, theyre not alone. There are 26 others or and the number is going to rise. I read an estimate that around the country theres going to be a deficit of £2 billion over the next three months in in local council incomes. Theyve raided their incomes. Theyve raided their reserves to get over this hump. But theres only so much raiding you can do. Of reserves and eventually you go bust and you you know, you, you provide the essential services that you have to and you scrap everything else. Its a disaster. Its a its a real sign of broken britain. Real sign of broken britain. You, gloria says she dont want people to use that phrase. Would you not listening at the start of the programme. See gloria you was he wasnt paying attention, mr habib, im afraid britain is broken housewifes favourite. I might have to rescind that title from you because gloria reckons britains not broken. She says its the punst not broken. She says its the pundits are putting that pundits that are putting that message out there. Well, i can point to very many examples of why it is broken, including of course, the border down the irish sea , which border down the irish sea, which literally constitutionally breaks the united kingdom. Going to start on im not going to start on that because need to bring that one because i need to bring joe on the council. I tried, joe in on the council. I tried, gaynon joe in on the council. I tried, gaynor. Tried. Gaynor. I tried. So you mentioned the equal pay so you mentioned the equal pay thing. So thats £760 million. This is going back to 2010 when they were because were found ad wanting because they hadnt paid women working for the council the same rates as men. So theyve got that , as men. So theyve got that, that theyve got to pay. But i think you know, when you look at some of these councils on the list and you look at croydon is a perfect example of a council that thought that it could do something amazing, that thought that it could do something amazing , that it could something amazing, that it could go and build and become go and build houses and become basically Property Developer basically a Property Developer and it launched this scheme called by brick. It called brick by brick. It was a total disaster and you can see that replicated across the country where councils , as many, country where councils, as many, Many Councils do Amazing Things and many councillors are there for the right reasons and they want to serve the people that they represent. But there are too many who think they want to leave a Lasting Legacy with something that is very expensive. Theyre not Business People by and large, and councils seem to veer between being risk averse , which means being risk averse, which means things dont get done and then make taking terrible decisions. I mean, one of the other reasons that birmingham is in this terrible pickle is because they got an it system that wasnt fit for purpose and theyve now had to spend an enormous amount of money fixing it. So now, sir, before i was sitting on your tv screen as of an evening, my pnor screen as of an evening, my prior professional career, i used to be an it consultant, and what i used to do was i used to go in and i used to work at a board level with organisations, large organisations that were doing what we would call business transformation doing what we would call business tran so rmation doing what we would call business tran so huge n doing what we would call business tran so huge technology, programmes, so huge technology, it projects. And i cannot for the life of me understand how a project. So this particular one, it was an oracle erp system. Thats what they were trying to do. They were trying to make all of their kind of hr systems and things like that a little bit more slicker. They estimated that that project would would cost something million. Something like £19 million. Theyve three years worth of theyve had three years worth of delays project now delays. That project is now looking likely to cost Something Like £100 million. And what i found fascinating is people just kind of go, oh weve got kind of go, oh yeah, weve got this failed it project. Is to this failed it project. It is to me, its an absolute scandal and you wouldnt let where is the audit, would you . Well, im afraid it does happen. Mean, it projects, as happen. I mean, it projects, as you probably know from time you probably know from your time in it, can be a black not in it, can be a black hole. Not the i used to run. The ones that i used to run. Then. Then. Then. Then look at the post office. And mean that cost. Yeah. And i mean that cost. Yeah. Horizon scandal. The horizon scandal. The horizon scandal. To many absolutely tragedy to so many postmasters postmistresses postmasters and postmistresses and their families. Many of whom, you you know, many of whom, you know, prison. Know, went to prison. Yeah. I mean, often the pursuit just it projects, pursuit just on it projects, often pursuit of an it often the pursuit of an it project is for perfection and you end up fixing a problem that you end up fixing a problem that you never had or or seeking to fix a problem you never had. And creating a bigger problem. And weve seen that time and time again it. Im not again with it. Im not suggesting councils suggesting that councils shouldnt the times, suggesting that councils sh0|itjnt the times, suggesting that councils sh0|it is. the times, suggesting that councils sh0|it is. You the times, suggesting that councils sh0|it is. You know, the times, suggesting that councils sh0|it is. You know, the; times, suggesting that councils sh0|it is. You know, the but1es, but it is. You know, the but history, often what you have is you have an external consulting house thats very expensive. Come they disconnect they come in, they disconnect from business. So what from the business. So what theyre doing is theyre saying, right, is what going theyre doing is theyre saying, rigdo, is what going theyre doing is theyre saying, rigdo, this is what going theyre doing is theyre saying, rigdo, this is what were going to do, this is what were going to do, this is what were going to theyre not very to do. Theyre not very integrated terms getting integrated in terms of getting the required points from the business and working with the proper they proper stakeholders. They dont have full stakeholder buy in. Then wheels start coming off then the wheels start coming off slowly and slowly and then it just kind of it kind of just kind of it just kind of becomes like this out of control cat flying this cat thats flying down this track and no one can get a hold of just been reliably of it. Ive just been reliably in