Brexit via the back door without a referendum , precisely the kind a referendum, precisely the kind of thing that many people said may well happen if the labour party gets into power. Cosying up to brussels and opening those borders when we already have sky high immigration. Are you concerned that this is brexit by the back door being scotched . Get in touch all the usual ways. I want to hear your comments. Theres new way can get in theres a new way you can get in touch send your views touch as well. Send your views and comments by and post your comments by visiting forward visiting gbnews. Com. Forward slash your say. Get involved, i want to hear from you. But before all of that, its time for your latest News Headlines. And francis. And its sam francis. Martin, thanks very much and good afternoon to you. Its just after 3 00 leading the news this houn after 3 00 leading the news this hour. The uk and western allies are calling for de escalation in the middle east after reports that israel launched air strikes against iran overnight. State media there says three drones were shot down with explosions heard at an airbase near the city of isfahan. No damage or injuries have been reported in that latest exchange, though the strikes are thought to have been in response to last weekends attack when iran fired its own barrage of drones and missiles at israel. Well, labour leader at israel. Well, labour leader sir keir starmer has added to those calls for restraint. He says its the best way forward. Says its the best way forward. Im deeply concerned about the prospect of escalation, escalation of the conflict in the middle east is in nobodys interest. And so its very, very interest. And so its very, very important, therefore, that every body urges restraint on all sides. More body urges restraint on all sides. More than that, we body urges restraint on all sides. More than that, we really sides. More than that, we really need that ceasefire in gaza now, straight away, so that hostages can come out desperately needed aid , needs to get in, aid, needs to get in, desperately, desperately needed, and we need, if you like, a foot in the door for the political process to peace. In other news, the Prime Minister is promising that his rwanda safety bill will be passed on monday. Rishi sunak couldnt confirm whether asylum flights would get off the ground by his spring deadline, but he did say his intention was to get the legislation through parliament any further Parliament Without any further delay. He says mps will be forced to in the commons forced to sit in the commons until job is done. The until the job is done. The British Medical Association is urging rishi sunak to avoid using hostile language on what he described as sick note culture. During a major speech this morning, the Prime Minister said 850,000 more people are out of work since the pandemic, and insists hes on a moral mission to fix the problem. The proposals, though, have been described as a full on assault on disabled people. Rishi sunak says he recognises hell be accused of lacking compassion , accused of lacking compassion, but insists the uk cant afford a spiralling increase in the welfare bill. We now spend £69 billion on benefits for people of working age with a disability or Health Condition thats more than our entire schools budget, more than our transport budget, more than our transport budget, more than our policing budget, and spending on personal independence payments alone , independence payments alone, its forecast to increase by more than 50 over the next four years, as. Years, as. Weve heard today that two Police Forces are being investigated over the stabbing of a mother in bradford, habiba masum is charged with murdering carl schumacher, who was attacked while pushing her baby in a pram two weeks ago. The independent office for Police Conduct says the victim contacted West Yorkshire police on the 28th of march after receiving Death Threats. Its receiving Death Threats. Its understood that information was shared with colleagues in the Greater Manchester force, and an investigation will now look at the steps officers may have taken to safeguard the victim. Taken to safeguard the victim. Scotlands former first minister Nicola Sturgeon has today admitted going through an incredibly difficult time. She says, after her husband was charged in a Police Investigation looking into snp finances, Peter Murrell was the partys chief executive for more than two decades before standing down last year. He was charged more than 12 months after his first arrest by detectives. First arrest by detectives. Looking at how more than £600,000 in donations were spent. The 59 year olds also resigned his snp membership. And resigned his snp membership. And weve heard this afternoon that five Just Stop Oil protesters have been convicted of aggravated trespass after they disrupted a performance of Les Miserables in londons west end last year. The performance was stopped when activists stormed the stage and locked themselves to the set. The angry audience of around 1000 people were asked to leave the auditorium, and the performance had to end. Those five activists were all found guilty today of aggravated trespass following a trial at Westminster Magistrates Court. And finally, before we hand back to martin in westminster, parents are being warned today that children between the age of five and seven are spending too much time, often unsupervised , much time, often unsupervised, on social media. Ofcom claims 38 of infant School Children now use platforms including tiktok, tiktok, whatsapp and instagram , despite those sites instagram, despite those sites requiring users to be at least 13 years old to have an account. The regulator also suggests a quarter of children in that same age bracket now own a smartphone, and the research comes as the governments Online Safety bill, which aims to make the internet safer for children , the internet safer for children, is set to come into force in september. Thats the latest september. Thats the latest from the newsroom for now. More in half an hour. Until then, do sign up to gb news alerts. Just scan the code on your screen or go our gb news. Go to our website gb news. Common alerts. Thank you sam. Now weve got absolutely shedloads to get through this afternoon, so lets get and after another get cracking. And after another dreadful week, rishi sunak has come out fighting and declared war on what hes called the uks sick note culture. The countrys welfare state bill cost the average taxpayer now £2,000 every single year for every british taxpayer. Im joined in our studio in westminster by our political correspondent, Katherine Forster, to discuss the state of the nation, astonishing numbers catherine simply mind bending £69 billion every year. Now goes on benefits. I paid my tax bill last month. Where did your tax go . I clicked on it. Long term sickness and benefits is now second only to the nhs on what we spend our tax pound on this is simply unsustainable. Thats exactly what the Prime Minister said. 69 billion a year on long term sick and disability benefits projected to rise to £90 billion by the end of the next parliament. If nothing has done as he said, it is totally , done as he said, it is totally, totally unsustainable. So this speech that hes made today, this is basically a problem thats been building for a long time. The government for a long time. The government for a long time also , i think put it in the time also, i think put it in the too hard basket. But they finally decided to grasp this nettle and the message from rishi sunak really is tough love. Youre going to take your medicine, its going to be good for you. You may not like it. Lets have a look at what he had to say earlier. Role of welfare state the role of the welfare state should merely to should never be merely to provide Financial Support as important as that will always be, but to help people overcome whatever barriers they might face to living an independent, fulfilling life. Everyone with the potential should be supported and not just to earn, but to contribute and belong. And we must never tolerate barriers that hold people back from making their contribution and from sharing in that sense of self worth that comes from feeling part of being something bigger than ourselves. Feeling part of being something bigger than ourselves. And that bigger than ourselves. And that is why this is a moral mission. And why the value of work is so central to my vision for welfare reform. Reform. Well, theres rishi sunak saying, get on your bike, catherine. Theres a bitter irony in this sick pay was introduced by Maggie Thatcher in 1982 to get the dole numbers down to mass unemployment. In so down to mass unemployment. In so doing, has she created a monster, a record 2. 8 Million People. Now, on long terms , people. Now, on long terms, sick, 850,000 sick notes increase this since the pandemic is the pandemic, partly to. Is the pandemic, partly to. Blame . Did it get more and more people used to getting paid for doing nothing . Well, certainly, rishi sunak said speech. The said in the speech. In the penod said in the speech. In the period pandemic, period since the pandemic, something has gone wrong. Of course, people course, millions of people had their by furlough. Their wages paid by furlough. Now that was an entirely artificial situation in an exceptional circumstance, but quite a lot of people left the workplace and simply havent come back. And then theres all the associate problems. As a result of lockdown, it was a very artificial situation. Some people got out of the way of working , but also some people working, but also some people have found adjusting to normal life again very difficult. Weve seen this huge uptick in Mental Health issues, anxiety , health issues, anxiety, depression and over half of people now being put on sick leave and have Mental Health issues. Often they go along with with another condition too. So rishi sunak has said, you know, that theres a risk of over medicalised, over medicalising the everyday challenges and worries of life. So the message worries of life. So the message is, they they want to basically crack down on gps just doling out fit notes, as they call them, because they give 11 million last year, 94 of those said that the person was unfit to do any work. The government wants Health Professionals to work with people from the benefit system and support people , and try to get them back people, and try to get them back into work, whether that means working from home or making adjustments, but meaning that they can contribute in a meaningful way rather than having them languishing on on benefits, and theyre going to get much tougher with people if they view that theyre able to work and turn down work, they may then lose benefit. So they are certainly cracking down, now you can see why theyre doing it, because the costs are astronomic , but of course, its astronomic, but of course, its not going down well with everybody. I mean, the Mental Health charity mind that does i would say very good work. They have said this is deeply damaging. Their concern is that there are , of course, people there are, of course, people with genuine Mental Health cnses. With genuine Mental Health crises. Theres been a huge crises. Theres been a huge surge in suicide rates. But there is a difference , isnt there is a difference, isnt there, between Something Like that which is critical and people really need support and people really need support and people just feeling a bit anxious. Does any of this matter . Is does any of this matter . Is this rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic . I mean, look , by on the titanic . I mean, look, by every metric, going by every opinion poll worth, you know, waving a stick at the conservatives are on their way out of power. Does any of this matter . M atter . Matter . Well, youre probably right in that most of this would come in that most of this would come in potentially down the line. And if, as we currently expect, labour get in some or any of this may go in the bin. I mean the smoking ban similar, but i dont think that will happen because labour are fully supportive of that. Ditto rishi sunaks plan to replace a levels. That was a ten year project, but it doesnt seem like the conservatives are going to get five years, let alone ten years in power. So you do wonder, but i think its worth saying that labour too, do acknowledge that the benefits bill has got out of control and something has to be done, so it will be interesting to hear what they propose. Given that they are the ones potentially that might have to deal with this. Catherine a neat segue into our next guest now, because i can speak with former labour spokesman james. T t to the show. Always a welcome to the show. Always a pleasure. So there we have it. Weve got £69 billion a year on benefits , an unsustainable benefits, an unsustainable number by anybodys metric. One thing that might concern you is the proposed way of dealing with stripping powers away from gps, who are the first point of contact and you think might be the best, the best place to actually appraise peoples state of health, and instead putting this into the private sector, into the workforce. Is this partially a privatisation , partially a privatisation, privatisation of the nhs . Privatisation of the nhs . Yeah, i think so. Yeah, i think so. I think thats clear. And i think that, that will not bother rishi sunak in the slightest, i cant , i mean, believe i mean, cant, i mean, believe i mean, i cant, i mean, believe i mean, i cant believe because ive seen what government has done what this government has done consistently. I mean, when i say government, mean the past 14 government, i mean the past 14 years of tory government because government, i mean the past 14 yea allf tory government because government, i mean the past 14 yea all the ry government because government, i mean the past 14 yea all the same ernment because government, i mean the past 14 yea all the same peoplet because government, i mean the past 14 yea all the same people. Because government, i mean the past 14 yea all the same people. Letsrse its all the same people. Lets be honest. All the same be honest. Its all the same guys the behind the guys behind the behind the scenes strings. And guys behind the behind the scenewere strings. And guys behind the behind the scenewere seeing strings. And guys behind the behind the scenewere seeing here gs. And guys behind the behind the scenewere seeing here gs more what were seeing here is more attacks, more punching down on people who have very, very little in life , very little little in life, very little going for them, who are facing genuine hardships from a man who is a multimillionaire and hes sitting there telling people that you know, the everyday hardships of life are just something you need to get used to. The everyday challenges , the the everyday challenges, the normal day to day, as hes called it. What on earth does this man know about the normal day to day struggles of Single Parents who are trying to feed their kids, of people who are forced, who are forced by this system to work multiple jobs to try and pay their bills, and to try and pay their bills, and to try and pay their bills, and to try and make their life bearable to live. And thats what were talking about here. Were not talking about here. Were not talking about here. Were not talking about whether you can actually feed actually survive and feed yourself enough food in yourself and have enough food in yourself and have enough food in your belly stay alive. Were your belly to stay alive. Were talking a reason to stay talking about a reason to stay alive as well. So. But james. But but but, james, if we if we, we take if we take the we, if we take if we take the personality out and just personality out of this and just make the numbers, a make this about the numbers, a future would future Labour Government would have to deal this problem have to deal with this problem as simply as well. The numbers are simply unsustainable. £69 billion a year benefits. It was 42 year on benefits. It was 42 billion the year before, a staggering increase. Second only now to nhs spending. And we now to nhs spending. And we simply cant spend money on the things the labour party would like to spend on no doubt, education, defence. We cant spend that money if we have such a cripplingly high benefits bill, so something needs to be done. Yeah and i think the answer to that is labours new deal for work. You know, its this idea that you make work a place that people can be. Its not about where people want to be. This is the thing the tories forget time and time again. They think they want to make work appealing to people choice. People as if its a choice. Okay, if you are suffering from Severe Health issues, severe Mental Health issues, its not about whether you want to and work or whether to get up and work or whether you to go to work. So many you want to go to work. So many people want to go work. People do want to go to work. They have routine. They want to have the routine. They want to have the routine. They income they want to have the income that work. But that comes with work. But workplaces just dont work for them. Workplaces, weve them. So many workplaces, weve seen rights stripped seen workers rights stripped away over the last 14 years. The trade act did that in a, trade union act did that in a, in a in a kind of fell swoop. We had so many workers rights taken away ability to away and that ability to represent themselves in their workplaces. So under labours plans, far as i can see from plans, as far as i can see from the