The town that has laid claim to the this historic first. Now, the Prime Minister says that an airfield is ready. That commercial planes have been chartered. Indeed, that 500 individuals are ready to get people on to those planes, and 300 more are on training. Now for those that can do quick maths, five, six, seven, 800 people there ready to work on this scheme. The question is , this scheme. The question is, will they be able to send even 800 people to rwanda . It all sounds terribly optimistic and expensive, doesnt it, tom . It certainly does. And this it certainly does. And this is after months and months. It was three Prime Ministers ago that the rwanda scheme was first proposed. Thats actually not that long in terms of time is it . I dont know the average length of time that a Prime Minister is a Prime Minister these days. How long is a piece of string . Well, there you go. But but of course, today is the day. Rishi sunak seeming incredibly confident at that press conference that mps are just going to keep voting. Theyre going to be voting and voting and voting throughout the day, even throughout the night. In order to make rwanda law. Will he snatch victory from the jaws of defeat . But even then, if it passes today, he revealed in that press conference, 10 to 12 weeks before that first plane can get off the ground. So what do you make of it . Gb news not april, is it . Gb news not april, is it . Its not april. Its not. Its well, i dont know if by any definition thats the spring, but of course, the Prime Minister blames labour lords for keeping on delaying this. But today could be the final crunch. Well follow every twist and turn of it on this programme , turn of it on this programme, but we want your thoughts as well. Gbnews. Com forward slash yourself to get involved in the conversation. All that to come and so much more after your headunes. Headlines. Good afternoon. Two minutes past midday im ray anderson in the gb newsroom. Our top stories. The Prime Minister says the first flight to rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks. Speaking at a press conference within the last hour, rishi sunak slammed labour peers for trying to stop the controversial legislation. Mr sunak said an legislation. Mr sunak said an airfield is on standby and 150 judges are ready to deal with any legal cases quickly. His comments come ahead of a crunch vote tonight on the governments safety of rwanda bill. For almost two years, our opponents have used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boats coming. But keep the boats coming. But enoughis keep the boats coming. But enough is enough. No more prevarication , no more delay. Prevarication, no more delay. Parliament will sit there tonight and vote. No matter how late it goes. No ifs, no buts. These flights are going to rwanda. We are going to deliver rwanda. We are going to deliver this indispensable deterrent. So that we finally break the Business Model of the criminal gangs and save lives. Rishi sunak says met police chief sir mark rowley has his confidence , but he needs to confidence, but he needs to rebuild trust with the Jewish Community. The met Police Commissioner is meeting the mayor of london today amid calls for him to resign over his forces handling of protests. Forces handling of protests. Thats after an anti Semitism Campaigner was described as openly jewish and threatened with arrest at a pro palestine demonstration. Sir mark rowley will meet members of londons Jewish Community, including the board of deputies of british jews. Andrew mitchell is Deputy Foreign secretary. He told us the met made a big mistake. Well, it was an appalling error by the metropolitan police. And while while i dont think you should necessarily criticise the bobby who was actually dealing with it, there are Strategic Issues for the metropolitan police about how they ensure that people of any faith and no faith can go freely around our capital city. So i have no doubt at all that the home secretary with whom this really rests will be holding. Holding, sir to mark account for what happened, and making sure that nothing like this happens again. It was a terrible error of judgement by the police. Of judgement by the police. Thames water is warning that bills could skyrocket by more than 40 as it puts forward an Investment Plan amid a funding crisis. The troubled Water Company has proposed an increase in spending worth £1. 9 billion on top of its existing five year business plan. It would see extra money spent on environmental projects at an effort to treat sewage spills and chronic leaks. Communities secretary michael gove has previously said that customers must not be forced to cover the costs of the companys mismanagement. Thames water is struggling to prevent a total collapse of its business amid £15 billion worth of debt. Well, £15 billion worth of debt. Well, a car has crashed into a school in liverpool shortly before 830 this morning. A White Mercedes hit a wall and ended up inside a classroom at the Beacon Primary School in everton. Merseyside police say no children were present at the time of the collision. The female driver was assessed at the scene. Her passenger sustained a minor injury. The school has been closed for the day and the building will now be assessed for structural damage. The for structural damage. The number of people dying due to alcohol related causes is at a record high. Misuse of alcohol increased rapidly at the start of the covid pandemic, according to the for Office National statistics. Experts say the new figures show a continuation of that trend with deaths. A third higher last year compared to 2019. Among those drinking too much Liver Disease is the leading cause of death, with rates much higher among men. Alcohol change uk says its the result of years of inaction, and more must be done to tackle excessive drinking. A student excessive drinking. A student whose step father set up a hidden camera in her bedroom just after she turned 18, is calling for tougher sentences for voyeurism offences. 48 year old paul selwood was handed just 22 months in prison after he filmed her naked by setting up a camera in her teddy bears. 21 year old Kathryn Simpson says no one believed her when she raised concerns about sexually suggestive behaviour. Shes now launched a government petition which calls for an increase in maximum sentences for sex offences , and the first statue offences, and the first statue offences, and the first statue of Queen Elizabeth ii to be created since her death, has been unveiled. Based in oakham been unveiled. Based in oakham in rutland, the seven foot bronze statue is englands First Permanent memorial to her late majesty. Created by sculptor hywel pratley, it shows the late queen alongside her beloved corgis. It marks what would have been her 98th birthday. Well, for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. Com slash alerts. Back now to tom and emma. Well thanks ray for that. And good afternoon, britain. Its 12 07 here on gb news now. An airfield is on standby. Commercial charter planes are now booked and hundreds of highly trained escorts are ready to remove those with no right to be in the uk. Those are the words of rishi sunak, as he announced that the first flights to rwanda will take off in 10 to 12 weeks. Today is the day the Prime Minister has promised to take on the house of lords and finally pass the rwanda bill, allowing, quote, a regular rhythm of multiple flights every month over the summer and beyond until the boats are stopped, albeit later than the government had hoped. Yes, quite a bit later. Lets get the detail now with gb news Political EditorChristopher Hope. Christopher is today the day. Finally, are we going to see this bill passed . See this bill passed . Well, it certainly seems that way from the pm. Rishi sunak, labour and peers in the house of lords will be whipped to oppose any attempt to overturn what they want to happen with this bill. The safety rwanda bill, dont forget, has gone through all its stages. There are two all its stages. There are two sticking points, labour peers. Sticking points, labour peers. Des browne, the former labour defence secretary. Hes very keen for anyone who has served with uk forces in afghanistan. They cant be flown to rwanda for deportation. A Second Amendment is trying to ensure there are regular checks on the safety of rwanda. Number 10 is being very clear. This is not going to happen. Theyre going going to happen. Theyre going to sit through the night with mps and peers trying to trying to break down that that the, the, the feeling in the lords that they cant allow allow this to happen. Its quite a dramatic to happen. Its quite a dramatic moment i think tonight we heard from the pm earlier longer terms though it we are some way away from flights taking off 10 to 12 weeks, he said. First flights take off in july. Thats nowhere near summer. Summer ends or sorry, spring ends on june 21st. And he had said all flights will take off by spring, until his team said thursday. On thursday last week that would not happen. So a lot, a lot is happening here with the rwanda plan. The here with the rwanda plan. The pm is very clear, no ifs or buts. These flights are taking off, he said. There will be a regular rhythm of flights , he regular rhythm of flights, he said. Now what that means to me is it rules out, i think, the likelihood of a june general election. Lots of talk around westminster, that team, the team around him, want to go early because they worry about these flights not working to deter the Business Model of boats coming across from france. If the if these flights take off in mid to late july, then theres no way hell want to have an election before that because we do know, dont we, that labour have planned to abolish this scheme. Planned to abolish this scheme. And even if its successful, if you want a regular rhythm of flights, you need several months to make that happen. So this further supports the idea of an autumn election. Tom and emma Suella Braverman has said that this this rwanda bill is fatally flawed. Should we be expecting a potential leadership challenge from her . Well, youre leaping ahead a few bounds there. I mean, i doubt thats going to happen in terms of before the election. The point of that happening is getting narrower and narrower. Theres an opportunity maybe after may the 2nd the elections, local elections next thursday and results on friday and saturday in the local elections in england. And also, crucially, those mayoral elections on saturday, were it be to be a disaster. There saturday, were it be to be a disaster. There had saturday, were it be to be a disaster. There had been talk disaster. There had been talk about a problem the week after that. But but i cant see how Suella Braverman can affect that happening. Someone like penny happening. Someone like Penny Mordaunt may be drafted in, but this is kind of conversation which obsesses westminster but looks , i think, frankly, looks, i think, frankly, ridiculous to the rest of the country. So the braverman on on the radio this morning saying that these are only a token or a few flights wont be enough to prove its working. Shes been prove its working. Shes been very clear that she thinks this wont work. She will probably cause all sorts of difficulties, difficulties for the Prime Minister, but his battle now is with the house of lords. He said today. Hes he attacked his political opponents. He said they used every trick in the book to block flights and keep the boat, keep the boats coming. The boat, keep the boats coming. So he is attacking piers. Labour peers in the house of lords. But really a lot of this blame is attached to him. I think he said last november that whats required is emerging legislation to get these flights off the ground. Were four and a half months later and it hasnt happened. And hes in power with with a large majority in the house of commons. In fact, there hasnt happened so far. A lot of this responsibility rests with him. Its so interesting to hear the criticism of people like Suella Braverman an and Robert Jenrick not against the principle of this plan, but saying that unless there is a substantial degree of deportation, it wont have the deterrent effect required. Do you think that todays rhetoric , you think that todays rhetoric, this new phrase that we heard from the first time, from rishi sunak, from that podium, a regular rhythm of flights through the summer is to some extent buying into that generic braverman narrative that one flight isnt going to do it, that you need this sustained and regular rhythm. Regular rhythm. Well, he knows that, tom, and there are forecasts saying that tens of thousands or people will be sent to rwanda after the five years, first five years of the scheme operating. So you want a scheme operating. So you want a regular drumbeat and in fact, you want if you want us not to be discussing it on gb news, you want this to be a regular thing that no one, you know, another flight is taking off with 150 200 more migrants being taken back to rwanda. You want the effect of that of just a routine flights taking off to show to the people traffickers in northern france. Its not working. And dont bother coming here because youll be taken to rwanda. Hes got a lot a big team around him built up. He says there are 500 highly trained individuals to accompany those individuals being taken to rwanda , 300 more being trained rwanda, 300 more being trained charter planes book some speculation in newspapers that that that no one, no Charter Company would sign up to take this because of the risk of damage to their credibility and to their business. Thats not happening. The pm is saying were on the way. Were ready to go over to the house of lords. But again, it goes back to, i think, the battle tonight, tom, emma is going to be how many of these crossbenchers are going to fold. So there has been a lot of people following. Lord hope, the former deputy head of the Supreme Court. He supported this second measure of regulatory checks on, on, on, on the safety of rwanda. If those start to peel away through the night, he should get his his moment by tomorrow. Well, it will be really, really fascinating to see just how many more times its gone back three, three times between the commons and the lords and the commons and the lords and the commons and the lords and the commons and the lords. How many more over the course of the evening . Might it be the early hours of tomorrow morning that it finally makes its way past both chambers, but Christopher Hope, thank you so much for talking us through what will be a fascinating and decisive day for the Prime Minister well, as weve been discussing, Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, has been critical of this bill. She told gb news earlier that the bill is fatally flawed and i dont really take a view on this amendment because i believe fundamentally the bill is fatally flawed and with or without this amendment, its going to fail. So i believe the bill wont work. And thats the more serious issue. It wont work because its left too many gaps , because its left too many gaps, and it wont work because people who are going to be detained will bring individual claims immediately and will just clog up the courts, and we wont get them off on flights to rwanda. Them off on flights to rwanda. Thats the big problem. So i dont really take a view on this amendment, which i believe is, incidental to the bigger issue that weve got with the bill. Its an interesting criticism that shes putting out there because its not against the principle. Its against what she principle. Its against what she describes as holes in the plan that there wont be enough flights going regularly, enough. Flights going regularly, enough. Well, this has been the concern, isnt it, that the bill doesnt actually go far enough that it stops just short of being effective . I thought it being effective . I thought it was very interesting there that Christopher Hope was saying that the labour party, if the labour party are the next government, that they would effectively just scrap this scheme anyway, even if its working. So i mean, if given the likelihood of another labour government, it just does make you wonder, you know, we spent all this money on it and as Suella Braverman is saying there, you might not even go far enough to be effective as a deterrent because they could bnng deterrent because they could bring individual claims regardless. And yet what we hear from all the briefing now is that if today goes as expected, if finally, this legislation is passed, perhaps in the early hours of tomorrow morning, what it then happens is all of these extra sort of levers kick into gean extra sort of levers kick into gear, you get the first flights going, but also all of these different deals that are being negotiated with countries from botswana to costa rica, many other countries. Suddenly it other countries. Suddenly it doesnt. Its not about a rwanda scheme. Suddenly its about if youre coming to the uk illegally, were going to remove you. And it could be to anywhere, perhaps that is a stronger level of deterrent once this scheme is broadened out, come here illegally and you will not stay, is the message they need to be sending in order for it to be an effective deterrent. But of course, if people think that they can come and that they stand a chance of just being able to make a claim and find a way t