>> good afternoon britain. it's 12:00 on monday, the 8th of january. postmark easter payout. >> one of the most significant miscarriage of justice in british history could be coming to a head today as the justice secretary looks at measures to clear all victims of the post office scandal. around 700 postmasters were wrongly convicted of fraud due to a computer system . we'll speak to computer system. we'll speak to one of those victims . one of those victims. >> knife crime carnage ban the sales of zombie knives and machetes. now a plea from idris elba as knife crime soars across the country , the movie star the country, the movie star takes his message to westminster

today, joined by parents of those whose children have been fatally stabbed . what can be fatally stabbed. what can be done and deep freeze after being battered by storm hank and awash with floods , brits are now with floods, brits are now bracing themselves for snow and ice as temperatures plunge, a weather warning says parts of the uk could be blanketed later this afternoon. >> are you feeling the chill . >> are you feeling the chill. >> are you feeling the chill. >> the more i see about this postmaster scandal, >> the more i see about this postmaster scandal , the more it postmaster scandal, the more it just boggles the mind. every twist and every turn. so much failure . failure. >> and you know what, tom.7 what really gets me.7 it's been going on for 20 years and it takes a tv programme get something tv programme to get something done. tv programme to get something done . so what have they been done. so what have they been doing .7 doing? >> it makes me think we should have more programmes to have more tv programmes just to fix issues . if itv fix all the issues. if itv commissioned a four part series on the boats, perhaps on stopping the boats, perhaps they'd be overnight , >> it would be sorted overnight, wouldn't yeah. wouldn't it? absolutely, yeah.

the faux pas the migration problem faux pas series. who would you star in that one? >> goodness me, that's >> my goodness me, that's a really mean, it, it's to be in really i mean, it, it's to be in the itv scandal about the post office. it's toby, a perky something like that. >> very good. yeah. no, i confess i haven't actually watched it yet, but i'm just concerned. i'm just concerned with the whole thing and the fact that ed davey ignored it when he was in charge of the post. >> there are big, big questions now of the leader of the lib dems. it's a tricky position because obviously he got the position of leader of the lib dems was this big wig dems because he was this big wig in government. in the coalition government. however, he has however, that does mean he has a record on now and record to stand on now and questions will be asked. >> five letters he completely ignored and five letters. and he said, oh, i'm sorry, but how sorry is he? i think he should roll. >> we'll get to all of that and indeed speak to one of the victims of these scandals in just a moment. but before all of that hits your headlines with

sophia . sophia. >> thank you. tom. good afternoon . it's 12:02. >> thank you. tom. good afternoon . it's12:02. i'm afternoon. it's12:02. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb news room. more than a million people have signed a petition demanding the former post office boss be stripped of her cbe. paul vennells was in charge and routinely denied there were problems with the horizon it system, which made it look like money was missing from shops . money was missing from shops. hundreds of staff were convicted, jailed , bankrupted convicted, jailed, bankrupted and some took their lives after they were wrongly accused of theft . the government is now theft. the government is now looking at ways to exonerate those who are caught up the those who are caught up in the scandal, the justice scandal, with the justice secretary office secretary and post office minister today. one of minister meeting today. one of the christopher head , the victims, christopher head, says he believe the says he doesn't believe the fault with just one person. fault lies with just one person. >> the reason that paula vennells is being singled out is because she was made because she was she was made aware countless occasions aware on countless occasions of the obviously she the problems and obviously she was the position at that was in the position at that particular to do something particular time to do something about fail do so about it and fail to do so. so i think that that's been think that is why that's been the case. but, you know, you roll over the years that, roll back over the years that, you know, there is obviously

people is people in fujitsu, there is people in government or ministers , you know, ministers or even, you know, civil that tried civil servants that maybe tried to do have damage limitation , to do have damage limitation, let's say, in order to try and make this a hope that it would go away. so there's countless number of people. so you had previous ceos at post office have crozier. there's, you have adam crozier. there's, you know, there's there's know, there's just there's the list need the list is endless. so we need the inquiry so that get inquiry to finish so that we get to the bottom of that. and obviously the met police obviously for the met police to do investigation, economic do their investigation, economic secretary to the treasury bim afolami says the government is working as quickly as it can to compensate the victims . compensate the victims. >> it's worth saying that everybody involved post everybody involved with the post office scandal , 100% of office horizon scandal, 100% of them received interim them have received interim payments of over £168,000. that isn't enough that that's an interim payment. we've brought forward a bill going through parliament, show clear parliament, show clear parliament in the next week or so that we don't have to wait for the results of the inquiry. so that we can get this compensation paid in full as soon as possible. in addition to that, the lord chancellor, who's soon as possible. in addition to that, of; lord chancellor, who's soon as possible. in addition to that, of the �*d chancellor, who's soon as possible. in addition to that, of the justice cellor, who's soon as possible. in addition to that, of the justice system vho's soon as possible. in addition to that, of the justice system is)'s head of the justice system is meeting with other colleagues

across later today to across government later today to see much we can make see how much faster we can make sure they have the legal redress , the financial , as well as the financial redress. we want to get this sorted soon as we possibly can. >> shadow environment secretary steve reed said he hopes justice will be served , and it's been will be served, and it's been over 20 years now that that justice cannot come fast enough. >> so what i hope will happen today is the justice secretary is having conversations . i think is having conversations. i think it would be a very interesting idea to bring forward legislation so that we could exonerate all of those who we now know beyond doubt, were completely innocent of what they were convicted of, and deal with it that way . it that way. >> freezing conditions are set to hit the uk, with some areas still trying to recover from floods . an amber cold health floods. an amber cold health alert has been issued for parts of england with sleet and snow to forecast. the met office has also issued yellow warnings for ice, with the cold snap set to continue throughout the week . continue throughout the week. more than 160 flood warnings remain in place across the

country, and over 1800 properties have been damaged . properties have been damaged. after being criticised for not meeting with flooding victims, the prime minister spoke to affected residents in oxford yesterday . rishi sunak tried to yesterday. rishi sunak tried to defend his record, saying the government has invested £5.2 billion in flood defences . billion in flood defences. labour has accused the government of being asleep at the wheel over flood warnings. sir keir starmer is visiting the flood hit east midlands today. this isn't the first time i've been out to talk to residents in this situation . this situation. >> i've got to get ahead of this and that means earlier in the yeanin and that means earlier in the year, in the autumn, having a task force brings together task force that brings together local authorities, the emergency response , local people ensure response, local people to ensure that the prevention work is done. some of the drains that are now being cleaned could have been cleaned beforehand. the response wasn't quick enough, so i just don't think it's good enough for the government to come after the event again and express empathy. get ahead of this with a task force. that's what i would do . what i would do. >> three energy firms have been

permitted to return to forcibly fitting pre—paid metres. edf octopus and scottish power were temporarily banned from doing so following a scandal around the practice . but after meeting set practice. but after meeting set conditions , they have now been conditions, they have now been given the go ahead to return to forcible prepayment metre installations . the energy firms installations. the energy firms will still have to make at least ten attempts to contact a customer before installing, as well welfare visit, and well as a welfare visit, and they are not allowed to fit them on risk households . on the highest risk households. the us has launched its first moon mission since apollo the peregrine mission one, built by us space company astrobotic , us space company astrobotic, will become the first private probe to land on the lunar surface. the rocket lifted off from florida this morning and is expected to land on the 23rd of february. it's operated by the united launch alliance company c, the number one competitor to elon musk's spacex. if it touches down safely, it will be the first american craft to make a soft landing on the lunar surface since the apollo era .

surface since the apollo era. this is gb news across the uk on tv , in your car, on your digital tv, in your car, on your digital radio and on your smart speaker by saying play gb news. now it's back to tom and dawn . back to tom and dawn. >> good afternoon britain. it's 1207 now. justice secretary alex chalk is meeting with ministers to discuss one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice the uk has ever seen brought to the fore by the tv drama mr. bates versus the post office . office. >> the controversy centres around 700 sub postmasters prosecuted and convicted after dodgyit prosecuted and convicted after dodgy it software made it look like money was missing from their branches. >> fresh calls have been made for those responsible to be held to account with more than 1 million people signing a petition calling on former post office boss paula vennells to be stripped of her cbe. >> joining us now is gb news political correspondent and

olivia utley to bring us up to speed on what's happening today on this most awful story. olivia, thank you so much for joining us today. olivia, thank you so much for joining us today . um, olivia, joining us today. um, olivia, what's what's i mean, this is the worst scandal i think i've ever covered as journalist. ever covered as a journalist. what's happening move what's happening today? to move it on. >> well, absolutely . it is the >> well, absolutely. it is the worst scandal. and of course, it is absolutely an ongoing scandal. there were 700 subpostmasters who were wrongfully given criminal convictions, 983 of those convictions, 983 of those convictions have still been overturned , but the rest are overturned, but the rest are still very much in existence . so still very much in existence. so the justice secretary , alex the justice secretary, alex chalk, is under huge pressure to get that fixed as soon as possible. there are a couple of opfions possible. there are a couple of options that he's mulling over today with fellow ministers to get this sorted . one option, get this sorted. one option, which the conservative mp david davis called for today , is to davis called for today, is to see all of those postmasters mass exonerated , as they're mass exonerated, as they're calling it now , david davis says calling it now, david davis says that although that would be a

pretty unprecedented move to overturn over 600 criminal convictions at the same time, in these circumstances , he thinks these circumstances, he thinks it's justified because all of the convictions were made on the bafis the convictions were made on the basis on the assumption that those postmasters were the only people who could access their accounts . it has been proved accounts. it has been proved that that's not true . their that that's not true. their accounts could be remotely accessed. and that's where lots of these alleged shortfalls, which didn't actually exist, came from. so in those circumstances, now, that fact has been proved. there is an argument simply to overturn all of those cases in one go. that's something alex chalk is actively considering. another option that is being considered is to remove the post office from the appeals process. now, the post office can act . perhaps quite can act. perhaps quite bizarrely, viewers might feel, as a prosecutor itself cases these postmasters cases didn't have to go through the police. the post office could execute the entire process . the post the entire process. the post office is now also involved in

the appeals process and the post. the postmasters and their families feel that that's why this process has been so long and so drawn out . essentially, and so drawn out. essentially, the post office has been judge, jury the post office has been judge, jury and executioner . the one jury and executioner. the one option, the justice secretary is considering is to remove the post office from the process altogether and hand it over to the crown prosecution service. lots of postmasters think that would be a pretty good idea , but would be a pretty good idea, but of course there would be knock on effects. the crown prosecution service already has a lot of cases on its books, and it require a lot of it would require a lot of resources, which is why there is pressure to sort of circumnavigate all that altogether and simply exonerate them in one go. either them all in one go. either measure would be pretty radical, but that is the stage that the government has got to on this. they know that public outrage is so enormous after that itv drama . they must act very, very quickly indeed. and of course , quickly indeed. and of course, there are plenty of people, mps, ordinary members of the public who watch the drama and most

importantly, postmasters and their families who feel that it shouldn't have had to get to this. shouldn't had this. it shouldn't have had to get itv four part drama to get to an itv four part drama to raise awareness about this issue, which has actually been in the public for eye 20 years. >> as it is remarkable that it takes a television series to highlight an issue. we were joking about what other issues might be solved or suddenly leapt upon by the government. if only someone made a tv out only someone made a tv show out of but olivia , there's of them. but olivia, there's another in the mix around another name in the mix around this scandal that has popped up in the media. a lot over the weekend. it's not just paula vennells who people are saying should give back her cbe, but also ed davey, who was the minister responsible at the time. now, of course , the leader time. now, of course, the leader of the liberal democrats . of the liberal democrats. >> well , absolutely. of the liberal democrats. >> well, absolutely. ed of the liberal democrats. >> well , absolutely. ed davey of the liberal democrats. >> well, absolutely. ed davey is under a lot of pressure now. he was post office minister at the time and he had five letters from alan bates , the sort of from alan bates, the sort of hero of this whole story. the

postmaster who set up the justice for postmasters alliance and has the main part in this itv drama. he, alan bates , itv drama. he, alan bates, requested five meetings with ed davey and ed davey responded to him by saying that he believed the post office's account and essentially dismissed what those postmasters were saying . ed postmasters were saying. ed davey now says he bitterly regrets not doing more , but he regrets not doing more, but he says he did go to the post office and raise the concerns of alan bates and fellow postmasters , and the post office postmasters, and the post office simply told him, as they told everyone the system, the everyone that the system, the honzon everyone that the system, the horizon it system was complete , horizon it system was complete, foolproof and the postmasters must be either sort of mistaken or lying. ed davey they took the post office at its word, and postmasters are now saying those wrongly convicted postmasters are now saying he should have been asking for tough questions. he was being paid. he was being paid a ministerial salary as the minister for the post office to ask those tough questions and he

failed to do so. now ed davey has a bit of a history as the leader of the liberal democrats , leader of the liberal democrats, of calling for public figures to resign when they've made mistakes . the resign when they've made mistakes. the times resign when they've made mistakes . the times actually mistakes. the times actually unearthed that over the last five years or so, ed davey has called on 31 public figures to resign. obviously that's now coming back to bite him a bit, with some mps saying that he should now resign for his part in this awful, awful scandal. will he hold on to his position as leader of the liberal democrats? well we'll have to wait and see. but it is looking a bit dicey for him at the moment with the postmasters themselves and their families now saying that he should step away from his role. olivia four people have taken their own lives over this scandal. >> i mean, you know, the stress and the anxiety of what these families have been through , families have been through, because it's not just the people concerned, it's their families. i listening to the son of i was listening to the son of postmaster on the radio this

morning. he was described describing the despair. it put him, his mum and dad do. for people have taken their lives on this. i mean, point out, this. i mean, as you point out, ed davey calls for people to resign constantly over much, much things . i mean, much lesser things. i mean, there some that saying there are some that are saying that on that he literally has blood on his fact that he his hands. the fact that he didn't investigate this, even though the issue was raised to him, least five times. him, at least five times. >> well, absolutely. and i think people will continue to say that at the moment. ed davey line is that he bitterly regrets not doing more , but he claims that doing more, but he claims that as he did raise the issue with the post office , it sounds the post office, it sounds reading between the lines as though he feels like he did his duty , and it was the post office duty, and it was the post office that lied to whether that that lied to him. whether that line continue hold while line will continue to hold while pubuc line will continue to hold while public anger grows remains to be seen. public anger grows remains to be seen . as you say, four people seen. as you say, four people took their lives over this. and of course, it wasn't just the postmasters. it was their families there's families too. there's a harrowing account out by leigh castleton, one of the postmasters in yorkshire , about postmasters in yorkshire, about how his children were bullied at school. his children were spat

at his his wife received public abuse because in their town it was perceived that this couple were stealing money off pensioners when of course , they pensioners when of course, they absolutely weren't. there are so many people here affected by this scandal, and it feels as though in the coming weeks anyone who had any part in this, anyone who had any part in this, anyone who had any part in this, anyone who allowed this to happen, is going to come under huge, huge amounts of scrutiny . mhm. >> well, olivia utley thank you so much for bringing us the detail behind this story. the more we learn, the more shocking it becomes. thank you for joining us there from westminster. >> i just i'm sorry i'm just >> ijust i'm sorry i'm just appalled by this. and the fact that ed davey has called for at least 31 people, including boris johnson, to lose their jobs over least 31 people, including boris jii'm.on, to lose their jobs over least 31 people, including boris jii'm sorry, lose their jobs over least 31 people, including boris jii'm sorry, far.e their jobs over least 31 people, including boris jii'm sorry, far less. ir jobs over least 31 people, including boris jii'm sorry, far less. he)bs over least 31 people, including boris jii'm sorry, far less. he was»ver least 31 people, including boris jii'm sorry, far less. he was inr . i'm sorry, far less. he was in charge. he needed to do something than the something rather than take the post office word for it. and you know tom? government know what, tom? the government are computer system. >> it's extraordinary. >> it's extraordinary. >> the post office is still using it even, and the people behind the computer system have

got almost a dozen other government contracts. >> yes. which is schools in northern ireland being the latest one. >> yeah. well let's speak now to a victim of this scandal, vijay parekh is one of those who was affected by it. >> vijay , first of all, can you >> vijay, first of all, can you explain your own personal situation? what were you accused of ? of? >> uh, uh, they asked for a theft and false accounting , but theft and false accounting, but they took theft away and just did false accounting on the accused . accused. >> is it is. it is such a such a miscarriage of justice as we keep saying. but, um . what what keep saying. but, um. what what precisely do postmasters want to see? have happen today? of course, the justice secretary is meeting with the post office. minister what would be your ideal outcome of that meeting ? ideal outcome of that meeting? >> um , the post stop is not in, >> um, the post stop is not in, uh , doing the compensation part

uh, doing the compensation part of it and giving it to someone else to look at and exonerating all the postmasters who are in the same situation as me . the same situation as me. >> vijay, did you ? >> vijay, did you? >> vijay, did you? >> sorry , sorry, vijay, did you >> sorry, sorry, vijay, did you actually have to go to court? >> were you one of the ones that were prosecuted and had to face a court case? >> i did have to face a court case and, um. so served time on it , uh, case and, um. so served time on it, uh, inside and outside as well. well waiting and what i mean, i can tell you a very emotional talking about now . emotional talking about now. >> really appreciate you talking to us about this. i mean, it's still very raw for you, isn't it? what emotional and indeed physical effect is it had on you and your family ? and your family? >> well, i've lost everything thing which i looked at for my whole family. the buildings, uh,

the whole building, plus my house. uh the reputation in the area, which i've lived for 50 years. uh haven't been down, had to move out to the area to try and avoid seeing these people who i've known for, for so many years . even my father used . we years. even my father used. we all lived there . and, uh , this all lived there. and, uh, this is it. it just brings back old memories going into this. sometimes >> and, vijay, we've just been discussing sir ed davey, who was in charge of the post office when all this was happening. how do you feel about him now? i mean, i personally feel like he potentially has on his potentially has blood on his hands people. their hands for people. took their lives you and your lives over what you and your family have been through. lives over what you and your fanlfl have been through. lives over what you and your fanif he ave been through. lives over what you and your fanif he woulden through. lives over what you and your fanif he would haveough. lives over what you and your fanif he would have started this >> if he would have started this when he was given the first, uh , when he was given the first, uh, letter by uh , alan bates, and letter by uh, alan bates, and when the case was heard , it when the case was heard, it could have saved those four

people's lives and other people's lives and other people's as well. wow. and some people's as well. wow. and some people passed away with out even getting . justice getting. justice >> it's so stark when you put it in those terms . um, we can talk in those terms. um, we can talk about all of those points of failure for the past 20 years, but are you shocked that it took a television program for this to sort of enter the level of, of, of prominence that it now rightly has ? rightly has? >> yes, it is, sir. it's only the program that has come out that everyone's now , uh, getting that everyone's now, uh, getting together and, uh, trying to sort this out. otherwise we would still be in the same position as we were before this started. and what do you think should happen to the people responsible? >> um , vijay, i mean, ed davey, >> um, vijay, i mean, ed davey, you know, he calls upon people to resign from their jobs for far less than he's responsible

for. uh, paula vennells, who was the ceo of the post office at the ceo of the post office at the time this was happening. what do you think should happen to those people ? to those people? >> they should , uh, resign as >> they should, uh, resign as well. but paula vennells cbe should be taken away from her and not given the privilege of her handing it back. um, and ed davey should stand down or stand aside for not doing what he's there to do. mhm mhm. >> i can't believe what you've been through vijay. it's just talking to you actually puts a human voice on it. um thank you so, so much forjoining us this afternoon. and durham good luck with the fight. that's still ahead for you. >> absolutely appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> goodness me. good to see it. it's because you think about sort of okay there's the money and okay. for those who did prison time, there's that . but prison time, there's that. but the effects in the community, that's something that i perhaps hadnt that's something that i perhaps hadn't thought about to the extent that was just explained.

>> as vijay was explaining there, to have to leave the place you've lived because people blaming you. people people were blaming you. people thought you were were thought that you were were conning the local pensioners, that pensions, you were that their pensions, you were stealing from your friends stealing money from your friends and . uh, there and your neighbours. uh, there was another victim. i was reading her story today and she was spat at when she went out in the street. she couldn't even get my share to sneak away into our a register office to get married, because she couldn't have a public wedding, because the in her local area was the hatred in her local area was so much because of what the post office had done live office implied she had done live lives she hasn't even got an lives of. she hasn't even got an apology it. mean , still apology for it. i mean, still waiting for compensation. blimey >> well, lots more to come on this and indeed other stories because coming up we're joined by a knife crime campaigner as actor idris elba calls for an urgent ban on so—called zombie knives and machetes . this is knives and machetes. this is good afternoon britain on gbh

monday to thursdays from six till 930. >> hello and welcome back. >> hello and welcome back. >> it is 1226 now. now mps will vote on the offshore petroleum, offshore petroleum licensing bill today, which if passed , bill today, which if passed, will award new annual licenses for oil and gas projects in the nonh for oil and gas projects in the north sea . north sea. >> but it's creating division in the conservative party with the member of parliament, chris skidmore, standing down on friday calling the prime minister's environmental stance

wrong and likely to cause future harm. and the former cop26 chair, alok sharma , is in chair, alok sharma, is in agreement, saying sunak is not serious about climate commitments. >> i love that line that's causing division in the conservative party. what does an um , right. joining us now is our um, right. joining us now is our economics and business editor, liam halligan, with on the money i >> -- >> liam, it it shocked a lot of people in westminster when chris skidmore announced his resignation on friday. that should take effect formally today. another by—election for rishi sunak. but does chris skidmore have a point here that commissioning new oil and gas licenses can't really be commensurate with our net zero target? well it's a debate, isn't it? >> we need oil and gas. we're going to need oil and gas for the rest of my life , tom. the rest of my life, tom. >> perhaps for the rest of your life, too. >> very few people are saying

that net zero means absolutely no oil and gas. >> it's net zero. >> you offset the carbon emissions from use of hydrocarbons, oil and gas by with other measures like carbon capture and planting forests and so on. and look, chris skidmore resigning now , uh, it causes a resigning now, uh, it causes a lot of publicity for him. he's obviously been making a lot of money as the members interest register of interest shows from various green companies. and i guess this will do. his post—parliamentary career prospects. no harm at all. does that sound cynical? i think that's just realistic. but talking about being realistic like tom and dawn, let's have a look at the state of play when it comes to oil and gas. the uk is still a pretty big oil and gas producer, even though we are a net energy importer around 300 fields are active in the north sea. still over half of those are due to cease production by 2030. the north sea provides 83% of the oil that we use, and 54%

of the oil that we use, and 54% of the oil that we use, and 54% of the gas. these are numbers from 2022 and oil and gas combined . hang on to your hats. combined. hang on to your hats. 75% of all the energy that we use, we often see numbers saying, oh, 40% of our energy is renewable. no 40% of our electricity is renewable. if you include transport, 75% of our oil and gas combined is energy. needis oil and gas combined is energy. need is met by oil and gas. so a lot of sensible people would say, we do need oil and gas, so why not use our own oil and gas? then we get the tax revenue from it and it means we don't incur the huge carbon cost of importing liquefied natural gas from the states from qatar that costs us huge amounts of carbon in order to import that, liam , in order to import that, liam, one of the arguments against these licenses is, is the oil and gas that will be produced by the new the new um, um, sites

will be sold on the open market in any case. >> so it won't necessarily benefit the uk. we'll still have to buy our own oil and gas back. yeah we will, but it's better to have the oil and gas than to not have the oil and gas than to not have the oil and gas than to not have the oil and gas, particularly in a world of increasingly fragile energy security. >> do we really want to be reliant on other countries for our oil and gas need ? we already our oil and gas need? we already import a lot of gas from norway, a pretty friendly country. they send us a christmas tree every year , of course, that stands in year, of course, that stands in trafalgar square because the allies liberate mid northern norway during the second world war. but do we really want to be reliant on other countries when we can have our own oil and gas? and by the way, it's not just me saying ask, ask the gmb, saying this. ask, ask the gmb, britain's third biggest union thousand. thousands of their members work in the oil and gas industry. the oil and gas industry. the oil and gas industry runs aberdeen , one of industry runs aberdeen, one of scotland's biggest city is. it's a major part of our economy. it's a major part of our tax take. why, if we're going to use

oil and gas anyway, should we not? many support hours of these new licences would say use our own oil and gas. we get the tax revenue from that rather than importing oil and gas, as i said, and the prime minister's made this point and he's correct . he's just, you know, correct from the point of view of physics and chemistry that if you liquefied natural gas you import liquefied natural gas from the us, which we do increasingly , that incurs far , increasingly, that incurs far, far more carbon emissions, because you've got to put the stuff in a tanker that crosses the atlantic 3000 miles, diesel fuel tanker. if you are interested in reducing our carbon emissions, given that we're going to need oil and gas , we're going to need oil and gas, uh, then you might as well use your own oil and gas. so in my view, it's just a view i think that argument, dawn falls away . that argument, dawn falls away. >> and you mentioned liam, the tax that we apply to the north sea still that windfall tax in place remind us the level of , of place remind us the level of, of tax placed upon british oil and

gas. >> well north sea oil and gas has for many years had a special rate of corporation tax. it pays 30% corporation tax as opposed to recently 19 now 25, and then an extra 10% supplement. so 40% corporation tax are 40% of all profits. go back to the tax authorities . that was then authorities. that was then increased to 65. now it's 75. the tories introduced that windfall tax. so imagine doing a big oil and gas project in the nonh big oil and gas project in the north sea. the amount of money you have to raise, the risks involved . and then the involved. and then the government takes 75% of your tax of your profits. it's pretty hard to make it stack up. and now labour is saying that rather than 75, they're going to impose a proper windfall tax on the nonh a proper windfall tax on the north sea. so 100% of profits, i mean, i'm not sure how that will work. look, there are lots of us, including me, who understand and believe we need to wean ourselves off oil and gas. but it can't be done overnight. the

nonh it can't be done overnight. the north sea oil and gas industry is a major, major employer. and yet this is going to be a pretty contentious vote in the house of commons this afternoon at 3 pm, about whether or not oil and gas licences should be renewed every year. licences should be renewed every year . a highly contentious issue year. a highly contentious issue to sum up in a sentence, the real costs of net zero are now coming to the fore . we're having coming to the fore. we're having a debate about how high those costs are and who should pay them, and it's about time , isn't them, and it's about time, isn't it always? >> uh liam halligan . thank you >> uh liam halligan. thank you very much for explaining that. so well. and seamless link here. coming up, weather alert coming up, a cold weather alert has been issued by the uk health security agency as the met office issues a yellow weather warning for ice and snow. we'll have more on that after have much more on that after your latest headlines with sophia wenzler, this good sophia wenzler, this is good afternoon on . gb news. afternoon britain on. gb news. >> thank you. dawn, it's 1233. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. more than a million people have signed a petition in

demanding a former post office boss be stripped of her cbe . boss be stripped of her cbe. paula vennells was in charge and routinely denied there were problems with the horizon it system, which made it look like money was missing from shops . money was missing from shops. hundreds of staff were convicted , jailed, bankrupted and some took their lives after they were wrongly accused of theft. the government is now looking at ways to exonerate those who were caught scandal, with caught up in the scandal, with the and post the justice secretary and post office minister meeting today. meanwhile virgin boss richard branson has gifted a necker island holiday to one of the post office victims, alan bates . post office victims, alan bates. freezing conditions are set to hit the uk, with some areas still trying to recover from floods . an amber cold health floods. an amber cold health alert has been issued for parts of england , with sleet and snow of england, with sleet and snow forecast . the met office has forecast. the met office has also issued yellow warnings for ice, with the cold snap set to continue throughout the week . continue throughout the week. more than 160 flood warnings remain in place across the country, and over 1800 properties have been damaged

after meeting with flooding victims in oxford yesterday, rishi sunak tried to defend his record, saying the government has invested £5.2 billion in flood defences as labour has accused the government of being asleep at the wheel over flood warnings . asleep at the wheel over flood warnings. mps will debate the offshore petroleum bill later as parliament returns for the first time this year. if it passes the legislation will mandate that licences for oil and gas projects in the north sea are awarded annually. it's already led to the resignation of tory mp chris skidmore, who says the law would show the uk is rowing ever further back from its climate commitments. and you can get more on all those stories by visiting our website at gb news.com

>> the camilla tominey show sunday mornings from 930 on gb news i'm michelle dewberry , and news i'm michelle dewberry, and i'm not here to tell you what to think. >> i'd much rather hear what you have to say , so send in your have to say, so send in your opinions to gbviews@gbnews.uk . opinions to gbviews@gbnews.uk. com keep them clean and you never know. i might read them out with my panel here on dewbs& co so we debate. we get stuck into the issues of the day on a show where all views are welcome, especially yours. gb news the people's channel britain news channel gb news. >> unlike other broadcasters, isn't obsessed with the london westminster bubble . westminster bubble. >> we think there's a nation beyond the m20 five, and that's

why we talk about the issues that matter across the land. join me on state of the nation at 8 to 9:00, monday to thursday on gb news. daisy's listening and you should too. >> in the gb newsroom we bring you the news as it happens with our team of dedicated journalists across the uk. we're ready to give you accurate reporting every day when the news breaks, we'll be there with bulletins on gb news, the people's channel, britain's news . channel. >> welcome back. it's 1240 now. more marriages , a breakdown in more marriages, a breakdown in january than at other times of the year. i love the fact they'll give me this link. thanks for that, guys. uh, so much so that the first working monday in january is often dubbed divorce day. >> throughout january, over >> yes, throughout january, over 42,500 people in the uk are expected to search online for

divorce . nearly a 25% increase. divorce. nearly a 25% increase. well, gb news london reporter lisa hartle explains. >> more january is usually the busiest time for divorce lawyers, as people reflect on their lives and consider what changes they want to make . but changes they want to make. but due to the cost of living crisis, this year could be different. >> well, traditionally every monday is described as divorce day because it's seen a huge spike in referrals to divorce lawyers as people have spent arguably extended periods of time with their loved ones over the christmas period. so much so that they have ceased to be their loved ones. and they have probably decided, actually, i can take no more christmases with this person. >> neil russell, a family law solicitor, says they get the most inquiries in most divorce inquiries in january , but financial pressures january, but financial pressures mean some people are delaying. proceed what with the growing utility costs, which are burdening families on their own. >> two, lots of those utility costs are even more difficult to

manage. the other factor is a big factor are mortgages as they want out of their marriage . but want out of their marriage. but sadly the finances do not always permit for them to do so. the other thing that we've noticed nowadays, where people can't necessarily get necessarily afford to get divorced , is a nesting divorced, is a nesting arrangement whereby the parents take it in terms of, say, renting a cheaper property where they share the occupation, or for 2 or 3 days a week. so the kids don't have to move. but the parents move in and out. >> research from legal and general has found more than 270,000 couples have delayed splitting due to financial pressures pressures >> pressures >> 1 in 5 19% of pressures >> 1 in 519% of our sample of recent divorces were delay made due to financial reasons. >> so, you know, the kind of common financial worries around the cost of divorce proceedings, but also about what will happen to their income as a result and so much uncertainty in market around the economic conditions and whether or not people will

even have jobs going forward. >> but psychologist lucy beresford says that she finds this research doesn't match her experience with clients. >> we've actually had other moments in time where you would have thought that things might have thought that things might have compromised people's ability to get a divorce. we had had the financial crisis in 2009 ten. we had a housing crisis. so people found it harder to move house and create two household issues. we also had the pandemic where people couldn't leave their house, and yet divorces still happened and i suspect that what's going to happen is that what's going to happen is that actually there will still be a large number of people , be a large number of people, irrespective of the cost of living crisis, which is hugely florid at the moment, who will just say emotionally, just simply say emotionally, this is too much of a toll for me to take. >> with the financial situation still so difficult for so many, it could be some time yet before unhappy couples finally get the divorce they want, leave the hartel gb news. london

>> well, i don't think i'm going to be looking to get divorced any time soon. but then again, i'm not married. well, actually , ho. 110. >> no. >> and i'm not about to marry you because that would be you now because that would be completely wrong. however delightful. up, delightful. however, later up, later in the show, we have a subject that i would possibly very much divorce you on within minutes if we were married, which we're not. >> i'm a big fan of space >> yes, i'm a big fan of space exploration. dawn is much more terrestrial. yes, that's terrestrial. yes yes, that's a nice way of putting it. >> thank you very much. i got him talking on it earlier on and seriously, he went on for half an hour. he's got maps his an hour. he's got maps on his computer. i do, got computer. i do, i've got multiple the moon landings. >> yeah. do you know >> yeah. dawn do you know when the man landed on the the last time man landed on the moon the last time man landed on the mo�*so what i me see what i mean? >> so what i me see what i mean? >> so what i me see what i mean? >> years ago. yeah crikey. >> i obviously wasn't born tom. >> i obviously wasn't born tom. >> no. >> i obviously wasn't born tom. >> well,o. >> i obviously wasn't born tom. >> well, possibly might have been slightly been born slightly born. >> have >> well, people have been writing dawn, particularly writing in dawn, particularly about the office scandal. about the post office scandal. the that we've leading the about the post office scandal. the on. that we've leading the about the post office scandal. the on. um, we've leading the about the post office scandal. the on. um, because ading the about the post office scandal. the on. um, because itiing the about the post office scandal. the on. um, because it isg the about the post office scandal. the on. um, because it is such show on. um, because it is such a scandal and tim has written in to say good discussion on the post office scandal this morning

i watched the itv series, and it seems to me that fujitsu should be responsible for the postmaster compensation as they presided that horizon software . presided that horizon software. >> tim. that's great. but you know what? we're still using them. we're still using that company. all the it company. they supply all the it for the schools in northern ireland. very new ireland. and that's a very new contract. and we are still using them the post office as well. them in the post office as well. so they're getting with so they're getting away with murder. i wonder how they're doing that literally doing that quite literally getting away with murder money as but ian. ian. good as well. um, but ian. ian. good afternoon says only afternoon ian. ian says the only way stop something this way to stop something like this from to from happening again is to put everyone involved it everyone involved in prison. it should prosecutors , should include the prosecutors, senior software senior management and software developers . basically everyone senior management and software deve knew; . basically everyone senior management and software deve knew thatisically everyone senior management and software deve knew that theilly everyone senior management and software deve knew that the software one senior management and software deve knew that the software was that knew that the software was faulty. and you know what? well, i mean , they put a load of other i mean, they put a load of other innocent people in prison already. they did. but why already. they did. but so why shouldn't the guilty ones go to prison? >> well, know every >> well, i don't know if every single software is single software developer is guilty or not. >> everyone. but you what? >> everyone. but you know what? they tried all this system before they rolled it out nationwide north of the nationwide in the north of the country . there glitch country. and there was a glitch in trial run. two in the trial run. two subpostmasters then , before it

subpostmasters then, before it was rolled out, were accused of fiddling the books because the system was faulty. they pointed out the system was faulty. it was still rolled out nationwide, complete negligence from those that those trials. complete negligence from those tha but those trials. complete negligence from those tha but nigelthose trials. complete negligence from those tha but nigel hase trials. complete negligence from those tha but nigel has written in to >> but nigel has written in to say, there was 1 or say, uh, if there was 1 or 2 accounting anomalies by subpostmasters, you would believe possible fraud. but when there are over 700 cases of the honzon there are over 700 cases of the horizon system, that should have been investigated. yeah, i suppose that is something that sort of really does jump out. did people in the 1990s or in the early 2000 think that suddenly there was just a spate of criminal postmasters, just the most extreme ? the most extreme? >> suddenly, just suddenly, everyone decided to do it? >> yeah. but you know what the worst it was? when worst thing about it was? when individual postmasters said, look, haven't done anything look, i haven't done anything wrong. is obviously wrong. there is obviously a fault the computer system. fault with the computer system. they told the post they were told by the post office they were the only office that they were the only one this issue , which one that had this issue, which must a blatant lie . must have been a blatant lie. >> all right. someone either is just completely negligent at how they can do their job or what is

going on is something more sinister? yeah i mean, it's either complete , complete cock either complete, complete cock up , um, or uh, more, more up, um, or uh, more, more nefarious deeds. >> well, it makes you wonder , >> well, it makes you wonder, doesn't it? i mean, for the met police to confirm 20 years on that they are finally investigating the post office over . yeah, they announced over this. yeah, they announced it on friday. 20 years on bonkers. >> bonkers. um, peter has written in to say maybe someone who was prosecuted or related to someone who was prosecuted could stand against ed davey in the general election. >> well, absolutely . i think a >> well, absolutely. i think a lot of people out there would stand against him, even if they weren't involved, because they're so angry about this and they're so angry about this and the that taken tv the fact that it's taken a tv programme to action to the programme to get action to the for the police to go and actually, might look actually, yeah, we might look into it. there's obviously something dodgy going on here who itv had such who knew that itv had such magical powers? >> well, if you would like itv to programme about >> well, if you would like itv to pet programme about >> well, if you would like itv to pet political3rogramme about >> well, if you would like itv to pet political issue mme about your pet political issue gbviews@gbnews.com, what should the four part series be created on next? >> i would do something on the

small boat crisis. yeah, i think that. >> do you think they'd fix it just like that? >> yeah, absolutely. yeah. and sometimes i think should. sometimes i think we should. we've into it we've gary lineker into it seamlessly one of the actors. seamlessly as one of the actors. >> there you go. some >> well there you go. some inspiration. uh but other inspiration. uh but in other news leader keir news labour leader sir keir starmer has visited flood hit east midlands, where he met residents whose homes were flooded during storm. henk let's have a listen to what he had to say. >> the resilience task force is what i would do. um, i've been here talking to residents about the awful impact that flooding has had on them. um, damp water gets everywhere. it's not clean water. it's having a huge human impact on them. this isn't the first time i've been out to talk to residents in this situation. i've got to get ahead of this. and that means earlier in the yeanin and that means earlier in the year, in the autumn, having a task force that brings together local the emergency local authorities, the emergency response and local people to ensure that the prevention work is done. some of the drains that are being cleaned could have are now being cleaned could have been cleaned beforehand . the been cleaned beforehand. the response quick enough, so

response wasn't quick enough, so i just don't think it's good enough for the government to come again and come after the event again and express empathy . get ahead of express empathy. get ahead of this with a task force. that's what i would do. would labour commit more money to this? >> , of course it does need >> well, of course it does need money, but the force is not money, but the task force is not just about money, it's about getting basics done, getting getting the basics done, getting those cleared, getting those drains cleared, getting the authorities together, the local authorities together, having a but it early having a plan but doing it early in the year. >> this flooding always happens in december, january , february. in december, january, february. we know that what we've got to do is in the early autumn, get a task force together, get local plans make sure that plans together to make sure that all measures are taken to prevent this, and to ensure the response is very rapid because the devastate of people's lives . the devastate of people's lives. talking to some families here who've got young children, some people haven't got insurance , so people haven't got insurance, so they've lost a huge amount of their possessions. and this cost their possessions. and this cost the economy. you know, since 2010, about £4 billion. so, you know , this is the practical, know, this is the practical, sensible thing that needs to be done. i'd just say to the

government, don't come after the event again , get ahead of it. event again, get ahead of it. >> turning to other issues and on the and there it is. >> i'm only grateful he's not wearing. yeah i'm only grateful he's not wearing a hi vis vest. that's not what they do in these situations isn't it? >> boris called him >> boris johnson called him captain hindsight and i find captain hindsight and i did find it that it slightly amusing that he started by started that interview by saying, this the time saying, this is the first time i've visited flood and then i've visited a flood and then complaining the complaining about how the government to it, government responded to it, saying they should get on it earlier. but he didn't say that they should on it before it they should get on it before it happened, after happened, only after it happened. >> sure happened. >> i'm not entirely sure if i was standing in my house up to my want my knees in water. i'd want him popping my knees in water. i'd want him popping for in a cup of tea. joining us now loughborough joining us now from loughborough is will hollis will. good reporter will hollis will. good afternoon. we've got you standing water again . once standing in water again. once again um what's it like again i see um what's it like there. how is the situation up there. how is the situation up there today ? there today? >> yes. well, after the water has gone, it's a dry street now, but you can see the devastation and what is left from this one particular house. there's the sofa that has just been taken

away by the local council, as well as the underlay and carpet that's still complete wet. this is just one part of the country that's been flooded. a lot of it has been centred here around the midlands, east midlands in particular. this week we've been here in nottinghamshire, um, as well as across the country , well as across the country, england and wales, where there's been significant flooding and there are still flood warnings in in place from the environment agency . but after water has agency. but after the water has subsided after the flood, this is what's left. keir starmer as we just walk along buttlicker lane here in loughborough, you can see charnwood borough council and their refuse council and their local refuse collection teams taking away some of the things. you can see what's been left here. but this is what's left after the flood. a lot of people have been praising the environment agency and local resilience forums that have to the have been responding to the flood assisting along the flood and assisting along the way, but appears that what way, but it appears that what the labour leader , the leader of the labour leader, the leader of the labour leader, the leader of the opposition, is asking for, is saying that he would do,

would be bringing in more of a task force that would be in place beforehand, and that would be organisations working more closely together to prevent these sorts of things happening. the thing that we often hear from speaking to local people here on streets like this one in loughborough, is that they want to see more happen before hand drains being cleared , dykes and drains being cleared, dykes and streams being dredged so that these kinds of things are less likely to happen . of course, likely to happen. of course, rain comes particularly around this period of time . winter. um, this period of time. winter. um, often if you live close to water or flood plains, for example, you can expect in some way to at some point see flooding. but the real criticism and the real concern is that this is happening more and more often once in a century , floods are once in a century, floods are starting to become every few years, particularly in places that used to flood only every now and again, and now seem to flood a lot more. while keir starmer was here today in loughborough, the prime minister

after much criticism over the weekend for not appearing at places that had been flooded. he was in oxford , um, and he was was in oxford, um, and he was saying about the things that the conservatives been been conservatives have been been doing. this is the thing in an election year when there is a general election, what do you do? because it is about responding to people. it is about being here for people that are in really troubled times, but is it the right thing to do to turn up , but is it the right thing to do to turn up, like you said a few moments ago in a hive is and say, how are you doing after somebody's life has been completely ruined? because often somebody's life has been co thisetely ruined? because often somebody's life has been co this case, uined? because often somebody's life has been co this case, itned? because often somebody's life has been co this case, it can’ because often somebody's life has been co this case, it can completelyzten in this case, it can completely devastate your life. you know, it can completely devastate your wellbeing . for people that are wellbeing. for people that are listening in on radio, we're just seeing, uh , basically the just seeing, uh, basically the contents of somebody's home being thrown away into the back of a lorry. it looks like part of a lorry. it looks like part of a lorry. it looks like part of a sofa or a bed that's going into of a lorry right into the back of a lorry right now, for where we are in loughborough, looks like loughborough, it looks like there's 4. uh bin there's at least 3 or 4. uh bin lorries and dustcarts. maybe about 10 or 15 people from the local council that are taking

away people's livelihoods because it's just been completely ruined by floodwater . completely ruined by floodwater. >> it is extraordinary to see just house after house after house, soft furnishings, sofas , house, soft furnishings, sofas, perhaps a bed, as we're seeing now being tipped into the back of a lorry. these were perfectly serviceable items of furniture just a few days ago, and it does go to show will, doesn't it, that the effects of floods are not just when the water is there. this really does go on and on and on. will hollis, thank you so much for bringing us that extraordinary scene in loughborough. >> there just one thing i wanted to ask him who is the local council controlled by up there? um, i'm not sure it might have changed hands recently , but we changed hands recently, but we will find that out. absolutely. yeah >> course. e course. more 9 course. more to come >> of course. much more to come up not least my up on the show, not least my favourite subject . there's been favourite subject. there's been a launch, but also knife a rocket launch, but also knife crime two. with us here on crime two. stick with us here on good afternoon britain . good afternoon britain. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of weather on . gb news.

weather on. gb news. >> i'm alex deakin . this is your >> i'm alex deakin. this is your latest weather update from the met office for gb news. a cold start to a cold week. most of us will be dry through this week, but today we do have a few showers around. high pressure is controlling our weather as it will do for the next several days around the high days and around the high pressure. clockwise pressure. the winds go clockwise . i mean, we've got this easterly breeze across the south and is bringing mixture and that is bringing a mixture of snow showers of rain, sleet and snow showers over of east anglia the over parts of east anglia in the southeast. increasingly a few flurries likely and around flurries likely in and around london, in essex, kent, but also perhaps into parts of hampshire , perhaps into parts of hampshire, the sussexes and maybe 1 or 2 evenin the sussexes and maybe 1 or 2 even in the south midlands. the odd rain and sleet shower over northern england, southern scotland , but for most it's dry, scotland, but for most it's dry, quite but we've quite cloudy, but where we've got sunshine. well it still got some sunshine. well it still feels because temperatures feels cold because temperatures are struggling average and are struggling below average and that making even that wind making it feel even colder in the south, blowing a few more of those wintry showers across of south—west across parts of the south—west perhaps for a time through the evening and overnight, maybe

into wales . so into parts of south wales. so again, might see a few again, you might see a few flurries here and there could turn icy as well, where we've got showers as got those showers as temperatures tumble again widely, freezing, widely, well below freezing, particularly in scotland where there's some freezing fog patches are likely to patches which are likely to unger patches which are likely to linger through the day, through patches which are likely to lingnightough the day, through patches which are likely to lingnight andi the day, through patches which are likely to lingnight and into day, through patches which are likely to lingnight and into tomorrow1gh the night and into tomorrow morning. again most places having a fine, bright day tomorrow. any early in tomorrow. any early showers in the south west, they will disappear , if anything, not as disappear, if anything, not as much cloud around tomorrow, so a better longer better chance of seeing longer spells of sunshine. but it ain't going to warm things up very much. another cold one tomorrow. that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on .

gb news. >> good afternoon britain. >> good afternoon britain. >> it's 1:00 >> good afternoon britain. >> it's1:00 on monday. the 8th of january. >> postmaster payout. one of the most significant miscarriages of justice in british history could be coming to a head today as the justice secretary looks at measures to clear all victims of the post office scandal around 700 postmasters were wrongly convicted of fraud due to a computer system failure in the last few minutes, the prime minister has indicated that he'd back a move to strip former post office boss paula vennells of her cbe . her cbe. >> knife crime carnage ban the sale of zombie knives and machetes now a plea from idris

elba as knife crime soars across the country. the movie star took his message to westminster today, joined by parents whose children have been fatally stabbed . but what can be done stabbed. but what can be done and a mission to the moon this is getting to. >> i'm very excited. a robotic lander built by a private company is bound for the moon. in an attempt to make the first us lunar soft landing in more than half century. we'll tell us lunar soft landing in more tharwhy. century. we'll tell us lunar soft landing in more tharwhy. there tury. we'll tell us lunar soft landing in more tharwhy. there are. we'll tell us lunar soft landing in more tharwhy. there are somel tell us lunar soft landing in more tharwhy. there are some human you why. there are some human remains . remains. on board. it is exciting, dawn. it's absolute rivetingly beyond belief. exciting thing i yeah, you've got maths. i know your things. >> you're being sarcastic here. but space travel is one of the most exciting thing. unique technologically advancing , technologically advancing, progressive , um, brilliant progressive, um, brilliant things that humans have ever achieved. >> you've run out of words,

haven't you? yeah, i mean, thesaurus down here. he does literally have coloured diagrams and things on his laptop, his home screen . home screen. >> but dawn, the most exciting thing here is that for all of the 20th century, it was only states using taxpayers money that could get us up into space. this one is hugely funded by the private sector because they've attached all sorts of extra things to the mission and that means it's super cheap to do, right? okay >> the thing i'm a bit >> but the thing i'm a bit concerned about is there's dead things on there. evidently >> human >> well, there are some human remains human remains remains on board, human remains of 90 people, um, samples of around 90 people, um, samples of around 90 people, um, samples of ashes for those who wished to, uh, have a burial in space. and that is helping fund the mission. >> okay. how much do you pay for that, tom? you know this. >> i do know this. you can pay for it for as little as $13,000. you have a sample of your of you can have a sample of your of your on moon. your ashes put on the moon. >> see you coming, though. >> they see you coming, though. don't they? 30. would you would you which about you spend 13,000? which is about what, probably 11, what, 12, £12,000? probably 11, 11, probably 11. would you spend

that much money, a lot of money to have your ashes supposedly put in the rocket you don't know. well, and up to the moon, i mean, i mean , thank goodness i mean, i mean, thank goodness the rocket. >> the rocket did, uh, take >> the rocket did, uh, did take off a but , i off without a hitch, but, i mean, if it if it blows up on the pad, that's, uh, the launch pad, then that's, uh, that's ideal , the launch pad, then that's, uh, that's ideal, is it? that's not ideal, is it? >> do you get money back? >> do you get your money back? >> do you get your money back? >> it, um, well, you >> i doubt it, um, well, you wouldn't you? wouldn't know, would you? um. but, um, lots more on other, slightly more stories to slightly more serious stories to after the headlines with sophia . after the headlines with sophia. thank you. >> tom. good afternoon. it's 1:03. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . the prime minister gb newsroom. the prime minister says he'd support the revoking of the former post office bosses. cbe following the honzon bosses. cbe following the horizon it scandal. paula vennells was in charge and denied there were problems with the horizon it system, which made it look like money was missing from shops . hundreds of missing from shops. hundreds of staff were convicted , jailed, staff were convicted, jailed, bankrupted and some took their lives after they were wrongly

accused of theft. the justice secretary and post office ministers are meeting later today. one of the victims, christopher head , says he christopher head, says he doesn't believe the fault lies with just one person. the reason that paula vennells is being singled out is because she was she was made aware on countless occasions of the problems , and occasions of the problems, and obviously was in the obviously she was in the position particular time position at that particular time to something about and to do something about it and failed do so. failed to do so. >> that is why that's >> so i think that is why that's been case. know, been the case. but, you know, you back over the years you roll back over the years that, know, there that, you know, there is obviously in fujitsu. obviously people in fujitsu. so there people in government or there is people in government or ministers or even, you know, civil to civil servants that maybe try to have limitation , let's have damage limitation, let's say, in order to try and make this a hope it will go this a hope that it will go away. there's countless away. so there's countless number had number of people you had previous post office previous ceos at post office have crozier , there's you have adam crozier, there's you know, just there's the know, there's just there's the list is endless. so we need the inquiry to finish so that we get to bottom that. and to the bottom of that. and obviously met to obviously for the met police to do their investigation. >> secretary to the >> economic secretary to the treasury bim afolami says the government is working as quickly as it can to compensate the victims . victims. >> it's worth saying that

everybody involved with the post office horizon scandal, 100% of them have received interim payments of over £168,000. that isn't enough that that's an interim payment. we've brought forward a bill going through parliament, show clear parliament, show clear parliament in the next week or so don't have to wait so that we don't have to wait for the results of the inquiry so that we can get this compensation paid in full as soon as possible. in addition to that, chancellor, who's that, the lord chancellor, who's head system is head of the justice system is meeting with colleagues meeting with other colleagues across today to across government later today to see much faster we can make see how much faster we can make sure they have legal redress sure they have the legal redress , the financial , as well as the financial redress. we want to get this sorted as as we possibly can. >> labour mp kevin jones is pushing for emergency legislation to exonerate the victims . victims. >> it's what i've come to expect over the years. as from the post office, it's been lies and cover ups all along. uh, but the key point is we've got to get these convictions overturned because they're quite clearly unsafe . they're quite clearly unsafe. freezing conditions are set to hit the uk with some areas still

trying to recover from floods. >> an amber cold weather alert has been issued for parts of england, with sleet and snow forecast. the met office has also issued yellow warnings for ice, with the cold snap set to continue throughout the week . continue throughout the week. more than 160 flood warnings remain in place across the country, and over 1800 properties have been damaged . properties have been damaged. after being criticised for not meeting the flooding victims, the prime minister spoke to affected residents in oxford yesterday . rishi sunak tried to yesterday. rishi sunak tried to defend his record, saying the government has invested £5.2 billion in flood defences as labour has accused the government of being asleep at the wheel over flood warnings. sir keir starmer is visiting the flood hit east midlands today say this isn't the first time that i've been out to talk to residents in this situation. >> i've got to get ahead of this and that means earlier in the yeanin and that means earlier in the year, in the autumn, having a task force that brings together local authorities, the emergency response to response and local people to ensure that the prevention work is done. some of the drains that

are now being cleaned could have been cleaned beforehand . the been cleaned beforehand. the response wasn't quick enough, so i just don't think it's good enough the government to enough for the government to come again and come after the event again and express empathy . get ahead of express empathy. get ahead of this with a task force. that's what i would do . what i would do. >> three energy firms have been permitted to return to forcibly fitting prepayment metres , as fitting prepayment metres, as edf, octopus and scottish power were temporarily banned from doing so following a scandal around the practice . but after around the practice. but after meeting set conditions , they now meeting set conditions, they now have been given the go ahead to return to forcible prepayment metre installation. the energy firms will still have to make at least ten attempts to contact a customer before installing, as well as a welfare visit, and they are not allowed to fit them on risk households . on the highest risk households. the us has launched its first moon mission since apollo. the peregrine mission one, built by us space company astrobotic , us space company astrobotic, will become the first private probe to land on the lunar surface. the rocket lifted off from florida this morning and is

expected to land on the 23rd of february. it's operated by the united launch alliance company , united launch alliance company, the number one competitor to elon musk's spacex. if it touches down safely, it will be the first american craft to make a soft landing on the lunar surface since the apollo era . surface since the apollo era. this is gb news across the uk on tv, in your car, on your digital radio and on your smart speaker by saying play gb news now it's back to tom and dawn . back to tom and dawn. >> good afternoon britain. it's 1:08 and the prime minister, rishi sunak, says he would strongly support revoking former post office boss paula vennells cbe . this comes as justice cbe. this comes as justice secretary alex chalk is meeting with ministers to discuss one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice, the uk has ever seen i >> brought back to the fore by itv drama mr. bates versus the post office, the controversy

centred around 700 subpostmasters prosecuted and convicted by dodgy it software, made it look like money was missing from their branches . missing from their branches. >> fresh calls are now being made for those responsible to be held to account , with more made for those responsible to be held to account, with more than 1 million people signing a petition calling for the former post office boss to lose her honoun post office boss to lose her honour. hmm'hmm >> joining us now is gb news political correspondent olivia utley . olivia, thank you very utley. olivia, thank you very much for joining utley. olivia, thank you very much forjoining us. we have heard this morning that rishi sunakis heard this morning that rishi sunak is going to back any move to have paula vennells cbe removed . what's the reaction to removed. what's the reaction to that ? that? >> well , the petition to have >> well, the petition to have former post office ceo paula vennells cbe removed reached 1 million signatures over night. this morning the prime minister was being pretty quiet about it, but very recently in the last hour or so, he has said that he would support calls to strip vennells of her cbe. the

decision over whether to do that is ultimately in the hands of the honours forfeiture forfeiture committee, but of course vennells does have the opfion course vennells does have the option to simply hand her cbe back, something that postmasters have been saying she should have done a long time ago. now the problem with this scandal for the current sitting government is that it is very, very much still a live issue. vennells still a live issue. vennells still has her cbe ed davey davie, who was minister for the post office at the time, is now the leader of the liberal democrats and most importantly, of course, of those 700 postmasters who were wrongfully convicted , only 93 have seen convicted, only 93 have seen their convictions overturned, 54 have taken their their , uh, case have taken their their, uh, case to the appeals court and have failed to get that appeal, legitimised some of them were actually saw their convictions upheld and others simply had to leave the process because it was

all so stressful and difficult and complicated. so the current sitting government, although this all happened a very long time ago , they are under huge time ago, they are under huge amounts of pressure to get this fixed as soon as possible. the justice secretary , alex chalk, justice secretary, alex chalk, is meeting with ministers today to talk about possible options to talk about possible options to get those convictions overturned . and very, very overturned. and very, very quickly . one option would be to quickly. one option would be to simply exoneree date all 600 of those postmasters in one go. david davis, the conservative mp, has been calling for that to happen. mp, has been calling for that to happen . he says that although it happen. he says that although it is a pretty much unprecedented move, it is justified in these circumstances because the reason for the conviction , the idea for the conviction, the idea that only postmasters were able to access the it systems and therefore they must be the ones to blame, has been shown to be false. another option is to remove the post office itself from the process . the post from the process. the post office can launch its own prosecutions and is heavily involved in the appeals process.

the prime minister has suggested that possibly one option the government is looking at is handing that power over to the crown prosecution service. now, either of those measures, measures would be very radical indeed. but of course, that's the situation that the government finds itself in. there is huge , huge public there is huge, huge public outcry and postmasters, ordinary members of the public and mps are all saying this is really a failure of government in in the long terme multiple governments have failed to act quickly enough on this and it is only the itv drama broadcast over new yean the itv drama broadcast over new year, which has really brought the government, uh, to heel about this and they are now taking this seriously, but only now i expect that in the next weeks and months ahead, we will see many heads roll over this and pretty much no party is safe. there have been different governments since the scandal broke out in 1999, and none of

them have really, really grasped them have really, really grasped the scale of this and a sense , the scale of this and a sense, the scale of this and a sense, the urgency of it. they might do now, but it will be too little, too late. >> it's absolutely stunning how this scandal has lasted for 20 years before people sat up and noficed years before people sat up and noticed before any accountability was taken at all. in 2019. that's 20 years, as you say. olivia of different parties in power , of lots of different in power, of lots of different ministerial, um, responsibilities . liz. and no responsibilities. liz. and no one taking that responsibility . one taking that responsibility. >> olivia what's the feeling in westminster about ed davis's position now . position now. >> well, ed davey is in a very awkward position indeed . and ed awkward position indeed. and ed davey had a brilliant 2023. uh the liberal democrats did extremely well in the local elections. they overturned a majority of 19,000 in somerset, and froome got their 15th mp and ed davey started the year on a real high. all of that was blown

apart when the post office drama aired on itv . ed davey was aired on itv. ed davey was minister for postal affairs between 2010 and 2012. in the coalition government, and was asked five times by alan bates for a meeting. he wrote back to alan bates, saying that there would be no useful purpose for a meeting , and essentially what's meeting, and essentially what's transpired is that the post office told ed davey that there there it system horizon was foolproof , and ed davey took foolproof, and ed davey took them at their word. he is now obviously under huge scrutiny for that decision . postmasters for that decision. postmasters themselves are saying that he should have been the one asking the difficult questions. he should have been more inquisitive about it. did he really believe that the post office had just been infilled by 700 criminals at the same time? he at the moment is maintaining his position that he was, uh, he he he just he listened to the post office and he raised his concerns with them, but they

didn't take it seriously . didn't take it seriously. whether that line will hold is less certain. there is huge amounts of scrutiny on him and personally , i predict that he personally, i predict that he could well be gone within the next month or so. >> wow . that next month or so. >> wow. that is next month or so. >> wow . that is a next month or so. >> wow. that is a strong prediction . but my goodness. prediction. but my goodness. yeah, absolutely . yeah, absolutely. >> olivia utley that's our political correspondent . thank political correspondent. thank you very much for that. and a very strong prediction indeed. but i think olivia might actually right. actually be right. >> keep our keep our >> well, we'll keep our keep our ears to the ground on that. and indeed there that indeed many questions there that we'll a we'll be putting to a conservative mp in the next few minutes. but, uh, let's talk about housing now. as the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, launches a consultation on what he's calling the good landlord charter to improve the standards of homes for renters across greater manchester. >> the charter is the first of its kind in the uk, and brings together a range of landlords and renters to improve the standards of their homes, with aim to recognise best practice and boost tenant confidence in the quality of rental properties in the city region. well let's

cross to our north west. >> reporter sophie reaper, who has more ? and sophie, this is has more? and sophie, this is a novel sort of gambit from the mayor >> it is indeed. and as you say, it is the first of his kind. andy burnham this morning launched that public consultation by saying he hopes that 2024 would go down as the year that greater manchester finally got serious about the housing crisis. now this good landlord charter as an idea has been around now for many years, being worked on behind the scenes with its three main focal points being to drive , uh, points being to drive, uh, housing standards to recognise good practice to and support local tenants . i had the local tenants. i had the opportunity to speak to andy burnham after he launched the pubuc burnham after he launched the public consultation , and i asked public consultation, and i asked him why this is so important to tenants in the greater manchester city region . manchester city region. >> well, one of the problems we've got is at the moment, there's no way one of our residents could differentiate

between a landlord who was trying to do right thing trying to do the right thing and treat from an treat people decently from an unscrupulous landlord or an absent . absent landlord. >> you know? there's no >> how do you know? there's no way greater way of knowing. so the greater manchester landlord charter manchester good landlord charter is recognising good is a way of recognising the good landlords out there, landlords that are out there, giving public a way of giving the public a way of seeing that as well. and then, uh, people understand uh, helping people understand who are those perhaps they should avoid the scheme is voluntary , but it's not going to voluntary, but it's not going to be an option anymore for landlords to fail to look after their tenants properly, fail to invest in their properties. we're calling time on that. that is not acceptable anymore. and to show that for those who won't join the charter, we're going to give our residents the right to request a property check . so if request a property check. so if they're worried about the safety request a property check. so if th

then get better at using the enforcement powers that our councils our fire service councils and our fire service and others have to make sure that those landlords, as i say, don't get option don't get the option of not maintaining homes maintaining their homes properly, putting their tenants at risk, dragging down a whole community that that is definitely coming to an end . definitely coming to an end. >> now, one of the really crucial things you'll have heard andy burnham talking about there is the importance of health and safety in people's property . as safety in people's property. as i'm sure many of our viewers will remember the tragic case of awaab ishak, that two year old who died in his home in rochdale after prolonged exposure to mould well, andy burnham and his team say that they want to learn lessons from that tragic death . lessons from that tragic death. so leading the uk in terms of rental standards . now, this rental standards. now, this pubuc rental standards. now, this public public consultation is now open until the 26th of february. so people are being encouraged to respond to that, to say what they feel needs to happen as part of this good landlord, make sure that going forward, it's mutually

beneficial to both landlords and tenants in greater manchester. >> sophie, it is interest ing looking at manchester as a case study, some people will say there's been quite a bit of initiative lives like this from the mayor. but affordability in manchester is still not getting much better . much better. >> i actually asked andy burnham about this as an issue of course, tenants may feel that they just have to accept landlords who aren't up to scratch because they feel that they have no other option. of course, housing itself has become almost a competition and they may feel that taking a landlord who isn't necessarily the best may be their only option. but andy burnham says that something they are that this is something they are working they're to working on that they're going to tackle, hopefully the tackle, and hopefully the starting point making sure starting point of making sure that are up to scratch that landlords are up to scratch and that follow this and that they follow this excellency is the way excellency standard, is the way to start that off. >> and sophie, one thing they could do is build more houses. and as tom's just read the stats

out about housebuilding in manchester in the city centre, lots of activity, lots of building. who can afford to live there in the suburbs? hardly any. how is that helping people that are struggling to find accommodation . accommodation. >> absolutely. and you know, before this launch of the public consultation, i spoke to a couple of the landlords based in the greater manchester region, and that was also their concern was that you may not be able to see there are several see me, but there are several high being built in high rises being built in manchester right now. but they of are focussed on people of course are focussed on people who work here, but also have the money to be able to afford it. so that something andy so that is something that andy burnham and his team will have to consider going forward is not only up to only making landlords up to scratch, also providing scratch, but also providing housing residents all housing for the residents all over boroughs of greater manchester. >> well, sophie reaper, thank you so much for bringing that interesting and novel story there uh , from greater there from, uh, from greater manchester, because i think it's worth dwelling on, on, on these stats that were amazing there from for cities, from the centre for cities, which that between

which calculated that between 2010 and i believe it's 2019, in the centre of manchester, they've built 25% extra housing, which is an extra ordinary rate of growth. but then when you take manchester as a whole , it's take manchester as a whole, it's actually below the national average . it's around 4 or 5% average. it's around 4 or 5% growth over all because nothing has been built on the outskirts. everything has been built in the middle and it's there's a smaller increase in number of dwellings than the increase in the population. yeah. so the problems got worse, not better. >> the problems are actually getting mean, as >> the problems are actually gett say, mean, as >> the problems are actually gett say, all mean, as >> the problems are actually gett say, all those ean, as >> the problems are actually gett say, all those shiny as >> the problems are actually gett say, all those shiny tower you say, all those shiny tower blocks where you could just you say, all those shiny tower blocksmakea you could just you say, all those shiny tower blocksmakea yo behind just you say, all those shiny tower blocksmakea yo behind sophie about make out behind sophie there, they're not designed to help accommodation problem. >> it's that they're >> well, it's good that they're being built my view, but they being built in my view, but they need types need to build all types of housing um, but housing as well. yeah um, but because we what is quite interesting is when you build even very expensive accommodation, it has a chain effect . so people might be able effect. so people might be able to sort of it , effect. so people might be able to sort of it, it effect. so people might be able to sort of it , it shifts effect. so people might be able to sort of it, it shifts along every sort of link in that chain chain. but yeah, it sometimes it can be deceiving. you can think

there's loads of development going on, but actually it's all very concentrated in one little area. i think it's very it's very similar in many cities. >> in london, >> it's certainly in london, lots blocks going lots of shiny tower blocks going up, people can't afford up, but people can't afford them. and not helping them. and it's not helping people's buy or people's struggling to buy or the market crucially, the rental market and crucially, look suburbs look at the suburbs where there's little, exactly look at the suburbs where therelittle little, exactly look at the suburbs where therelittle goinga, exactly look at the suburbs where therelittle going on.(actly very little going on. >> but coming up, a mission to the will, with a rocket the moon will, with a rocket built by a us space company , is built by a us space company, is aiming to become the first private probe to land on the lunar surface . this more details lunar surface. this more details on what was on board and coming up very soon. this is good afternoon britain on

the camilla tominey show sunday mornings from 930 on . gb news. mornings from 930 on. gb news. >> good afternoon britain. it is 125 and nasa has launched its first moon mission since the apollo program. you united launch alliance launched its powerful vulcan rocket from florida this morning in a mission that will feature the first us moon landing attempt in more than 50 years. us is expected to land on the 23rd of february, with some of the remains on board. because this is carrying lots of different payloads, not just nasa payloads , it's carrying human remains as well, including the star trek creator gene roddenberry and members of the original tv series cast . series cast. >> i'm sorry, that's just weird. uh, for more, we're joined by the space and planetary scientist andy lound andy. thank

you so much forjoining us. i understand you are almost excited as tom sitting beside me about this , uh, good afternoon . about this, uh, good afternoon. >> probably just as excited will fight it out between us. yes. this is a very exciting mission. this is a very exciting mission. this is a very exciting mission. this is the first one which kicks off a massive year of missions towards the moon. partly this is the build up to the artemis human moon landing, which is actually coming up . which is actually coming up. >> and the important thing about this mission with peregrine is that this is a private mission. >> rightly said , this is >> as you rightly said, this is a designed and built a privately designed and built spacecraft they're going spacecraft so that they're going to the moon with private companies and the is any companies and the idea is any university company can actually pay ' university company can actually pay , uh, for space on a lander pay, uh, for space on a lander like this to drop down to the surface . surface. >> and although everyone's emphasising a little bit the human remains, which is a little a little bit of ashes from each person, it's not a whole lot of them, um, is going to the surface. the main mission, of course, is the extensive scientific work, which is going on here. >>

e rovers from mexico >> we've got rovers from mexico which are going on rovers from an american university . and of an american university. and of course we've got a major, important british experiment on board developed by the by the royal by open royal and also by the open university, really university, which is a really important one to look at the very tenuous , uh, atmosphere on very tenuous, uh, atmosphere on the moon to see the what's called the water cycle, see called the water cycle, to see how water molecules are distributed the distributed around, around the moon itself . moon itself. >> so is a really critical mission. >> um, and it's fascinating that this is a largely privately funded mission. nasa has bought a little bit of space on board this rocket , but, a little bit of space on board this rocket, but, uh, a little bit of space on board this rocket , but, uh, there a little bit of space on board this rocket, but, uh, there are 15 non nasa payloads and six nasa payloads. and i suppose this is a huge , huge saving for this is a huge, huge saving for taxpayers . was it makes space taxpayers. was it makes space exploration much more sustainable and much more able to be funded. yeah >> well, the beauty of this is private companies with their launching systems now have been able to get the cost of launching down much more lower than the national body could. i

mean, the days of the 1960s, mean, in the days of the 1960s, when you were dropping stuff under surveyor under the surface surveyor landers and things like that, the actually launch was the cost to actually launch was absolutely . but now absolutely phenomenal. but now with , thanks with modern technology, thanks to people also like elon musk and spacex driving , the private and spacex driving, the private sector has encouraged other people to dive in on this as well . the cost has actually well. the cost has actually dropped immensely , and therefore dropped immensely, and therefore now there's cost benefit. >> can actually make >> so you can actually make a profit a little bit of profit actually capsules and actually taking capsules and equipment moon. equipment to the moon. >> then knock of >> and then knock on benefit of this is the this of course, is the commercialisation of space in general, where you'll have hotels in orbit you'll of hotels in orbit and you'll of course mining opportunities course have mining opportunities for moon and the asteroids for the moon and the asteroids to bring back vital materials which earth will actually which the earth will actually need. so this is really kicking off it. and this year, i off now for it. and this year, i mean, what the japanese are going to be landing, of course, mean, what the japanese are goirbeautye landing, of course, mean, what the japanese are goirbeauty ofinding, of course, mean, what the japanese are goirbeauty of this|g, of course, mean, what the japanese are goirbeauty of this is of course, mean, what the japanese are goirbeauty of this is it: course, mean, what the japanese are goirbeauty of this is it allows�*, the beauty of this is it allows other countries to actually send material , other countries to actually send material, uh, into other countries to actually send material , uh, into space which material, uh, into space which they normally afford they couldn't normally afford to do. countries like do. but it means countries like if we the long list if we look at the long list here, we've got hungary, usa, argentina, canada, japan,

seychelles, , canada, seychelles, canada, canada, germany, usa all participating here. and i think this is going to open the world up and think of the university saying in somewhere like , um, uh, in sri somewhere like, um, uh, in sri lanka , where university students lanka, where university students will have an opportunity to have their scientific projects going up there, it is going to unite the world a little bit better, especially for education. >> andy, how long is it actually going to take get there? going to take to get up there? >> this this is going >> yeah, this is this is going to going to land on the to actually going to land on the moon at the of month moon at the end of next month and its taking so and the reason for its taking so long again, this fuel long is, again, this is fuel efficient. it's going to make a series of elliptical manoeuvres where slowly increases its where it's slowly increases its distance from the earth , distance from the earth, eventually coming into the reign of the moon's gravity . of the moon's gravity. >> and that then will take it and then it'll slowly go into orbit about the moon and then drop onto the surface of the moon. >> so again, this is the thing you couldn't do with humans going moon because you going to the moon because you want to get there quickly. want to get them there quickly. but spacecraft, you but with robotic spacecraft, you can of elliptical can do a series of elliptical loops. it's more more cost loops. and it's more more cost effective. loops. and it's more more cost

effeandz. loops. and it's more more cost effeand andy, i think a lot of >> and andy, i think a lot of people will be surprised that the last time an american craft landed on the moon was apollo 17, back in 1972, two i mean, the last time the us landed on the last time the us landed on the moon , britain hadn't even the moon, britain hadn't even joined the european economic community. and now when it lands, i mean, they've completely missed uk membership of the eu. that's just a nerdy fact. >> so you're just weaving seamlessly your two favourite subjects together. >> is extraordinary that the >> it is extraordinary that the us been back to the us hasn't been back to the surface moon in over 50 surface of the moon in over 50 years, i suppose that's to years, and i suppose that's to do with the astronomical cost that apollo cost to the united states. they haven't been able to justify it in the last 50 years. >> it's a matter of focus because americans have been focusing on landing vehicles on the surface of mars, and therefore you couldn't do both. there wasn't the money to do both so had to do one or both, so they had to do one or the however having the other. however having said that, americans have put that, the americans have put some successful some several very successful orbiters around the moon and those orbiters have been mapping orbiters around the moon and thorsurfaceers have been mapping orbiters around the moon and thorsurface of have been mapping orbiters around the moon and thorsurface of thee been mapping orbiters around the moon and thorsurface of the moon mapping orbiters around the moon and

thorsurface of the moon and)ping orbiters around the moon and thorsurface of the moon and theg the surface of the moon and the data from those orbiters over a number of years now has now number of years have now has now been used to actually focus in on what parts of the moon to place landers on. so it's a slow development process. but lander wise , mars has been the target wise, mars has been the target really, for the united states, and therefore they have had some very successful missions the very successful missions in the mars. spin off mars. and the spin off technology, of from that technology, of course, from that is landings technology, of course, from that is which landings technology, of course, from that is which is landings technology, of course, from that is which is a landings technology, of course, from that is which is a hardergs technology, of course, from that is which is a harder thing to mars, which is a harder thing to do something on the do than landing something on the moon means that they have the knowledge therefore, knowledge technology. therefore, to the moon, if to now go back to the moon, if you like. it's interesting. you like. but it's interesting. it's back with with it's going back with with private landers. so the private company landers. so the focus of space programs have changed somewhat. now instead of being all state based private enterprises now, getting hold of the if you like, the day to day work of going to the moon, the more complicated and difficult elements with humans and things like . nasa is still like that. nasa is still concentrating or state funding to but only to a certain to assert, but only to a certain degree, because now we're seeing private companies like elon musk's willing to take up musk's willing to take people up to , which is probably to the moon, which is probably going certainly before

going to happen certainly before 2030 and probably beyond that. so you'll have astronaut and scientific teams being taken to explore the solar system by private companies. >> and in one very, very quick question, we're running out of time. i have this, time. i have to ask this, though, behalf. though, on tom's behalf. prediction long take prediction how long it will take before people will be living on the moon , living in a general the moon, living in a general camp. the moon, living in a general camrthink certainly the 2030s >> i think certainly the 2030s will permanent base on the will see permanent base on the moon and people living and working there, then that working there, and then that will, depending on the situations on the earth, that'll expand then towards the end of the where you'll have the century where you'll have a permanent the moon, permanent base on the moon, where people be their where people will be doing their ordinary lives, the big ordinary lives, and the big key will then who will be the will be then who will be the first person on the moon? first person born on the moon? >> fascinating question . >> wow. fascinating question. well, andy lound, thank you so much for talking us through this, exciting . this, this exciting. >> you're booking your ticket already? i oh yeah, i think i think it would be quite fun to visit space wouldn't it. >> yeah, yeah. well coming up, the latest from our political edhon the latest from our political editor, the prime minister the latest from our political edit0|he the prime minister the latest from our political edit0|he supports1e minister the latest from our political edit0|he supports revokingar the latest from our political edit0|he supports revoking the says, he supports revoking the cbe former post office boss cbe of former post office boss paula vennells. all of that to

come your headlines with come after your headlines with sophia . thank you. sophia. thank you. >> tom, it's 133. sophia. thank you. >> tom, it's133. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . the wenzler in the gb newsroom. the prime minister says he'd strongly support a decision to revoke the former post office bosses. cbe paula vennells was in charge and routinely denied there were problems with the honzon there were problems with the horizon it system, which made it look like money was missing from shops. hundreds of staff were convicted, jailed, bankrupted and some took their lives after they were wrongly accused of theft . the government is now theft. the government is now looking at ways to exonerate those who were caught up in the scandal . britain is those who were caught up in the scandal. britain is in those who were caught up in the scandal . britain is in deep scandal. britain is in deep freeze as temperatures plummet and snow and sleet showers cover the country. an amber cold health alert has been issued for parts of england as some areas still trying to recover from floods. the met office has also issued yellow warnings for ice, with the cold snap set to continue throughout the week and

more than 160 flood warnings remain in place across the country and over 1800 properties have been damaged after meeting with flooding victims in oxford yesterday, rishi sunak tried to defend his record, saying the government has invested £5.2 billion in flood defences . billion in flood defences. labour has accused the government of being asleep at the wheel over flood warnings as mps will debate the offshore petroleum bill later as parliament returns for the first time this year. if it passes, the legislation will mandate that licences for oil and gas projects in the north sea are awarded annually . it's already awarded annually. it's already led to the resignation of tory mp chris skidmore, who says the law would show the uk is rowing ever further back from its climate commitments . and you can climate commitments. and you can get more on all those stories by visiting our website at gbnews.com . for a valuable gbnews.com. for a valuable legacy your family can own . legacy your family can own. >> gold coins will always shine

bright. rosalind. gold proudly sponsors the gb news financial report , and here's a quick report, and here's a quick snapshot of today's markets . snapshot of today's markets. >> the pound will buy you $1.2710 and ,1.1609. the price of gold is £1,593.66 per ounce, and the ftse 100 is at 7681 points. >> rosalind gold proudly sponsors the gb news financial report

isabel monday to thursdays from. six till 930. >> good afternoon britain . it's >> good afternoon britain. it's 1:39 and the prime minister, rishi sunak , says he would rishi sunak, says he would strongly support revoking former post office boss paula vennells cbe . this as justice secretary . cbe. this as justice secretary. alex chalk is meeting with ministers to discuss one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice the uk has ever seen. >> well, joining us now is gb news political editor christopher hope to talk about the latest developments as he is there . just thinking. yes chris, there. just thinking. yes chris, thank you very much for joining us live from wigan. we understand . hi. that's right. understand. hi. that's right. >> i'm here in wigan. >> i'm here in wigan. >> i've been just in accrington stanley football club where the pm, mr sunak has been speaking to local people, businesses . to local people, businesses. >> if it looked a bit like a farage at large, that's because it reminded me very much of

farage at large. you know , the farage at large. you know, the shows we do on thursday nights on gb news. well, you saw the pm earlier, you'll see on social media and elsewhere he's answering questions from local people surrounded by them, no notes . um pretty impressive. he notes. um pretty impressive. he had his kind of a game on today, i think on this tour around red wall seats. but he also was pretty cross about the post office. uh subpostmaster scandal you heard earlier from from olivia . that clear anger there olivia. that clear anger there from 10 downing street at the lobby briefing. what he called it an appalling miscarriage of justice. he said the stories are appalling and they want to bring forward and speed up payments as soon as possible to put subpostmasters. he said £150 million has been paid out now . i million has been paid out now. i would say that's also the same amount as being paid out to lawyers. work on this for the victims. so the same money go out to victims is going to lawyers and that's to worth lawyers and that's one to worth watching. think for the watching. i think for the government, the mr sunak also mentioned quite

mentioned two other quite important on issue important things on the issue of school absences being a big issue on gb news all morning, he said are going to said that schools are going to start parents start texting parents pre—emptively. before pre—emptively. so before before they take their kids out of school , they'll get reminder school, they'll get reminder texts them into school. texts to bring them into school. so there's a focus here so clearly there's a focus here on parenting getting parents on parenting and getting parents to get their kids into school , to get their kids into school, not allowing them to take days off here and there from school to on trips, or maybe an to go on trips, or maybe an early holiday, also just early holiday, and also just finally rwanda. now we know finally on rwanda. now we know the bill, probably the rwanda bill, probably back in commons next week. in the commons next week. committee the house is committee of the whole house is looking at it. um, robert jenrick, immigration jenrick, the former immigration minister, he's put he will be putting down important amendments , the pm said he's amendments now, the pm said he's open to any bright ideas and that'll be seen in westminster in terms of an olive branch to people who want to harden up these measures and make it clearer and harder for courts to overrule parliament. so three big ideas and lines coming out of the visit here up to accrington stanley . accrington stanley. >> well, chris, thank you very much for talking us through

those. and just a really quick one on on the idea of this as an election campaign. we've got a visit from starmer today, a visit from starmer today, a visit from starmer today, a visit from sunak. it's going to be like this every week for the yeah >> it does. and it's often behind the scenes. it's, uh, us charging around in cars, trying to get a signal to feedback clips and everything. we can do to get or make sure our viewers are fully across, uh , all the are fully across, uh, all the latest but yeah, no latest happening. but yeah, no question, we are in all but name the general election campaign has started, but we are the election station, aren't we? we are the election channel. we're with bring with it. we'll bring all the best most interesting best and the most interesting news viewers news on politics to our viewers all year. tom and tom and on chris can i just ask one very final quick question? >> what sort reaction he >> what sort of reaction is he actually the local actually getting from the local residents . residents. >> well, i felt it was quite warm actually. i mean, he talked a bit kind of beltway terms. he said i said at conference and i thought the kind of language you're using isn't really the

language of ordinary people who don't follow politics. and they're saying that way that you and i do, dawn. but i think he went pretty well. he went down pretty well. he got quite warm applause issue went down pretty well. he got qusmall'm applause issue went down pretty well. he got qu small boats. lause issue went down pretty well. he got qusmall boats. ande issue went down pretty well. he got qu small boats. and the issue went down pretty well. he got qusmall boats. and the question; of small boats. and the question about rwanda, whether was about rwanda, whether it was from journalist or two. got from a journalist or two. he got very, very loud applause and he said wanted tackle said he wanted to tackle immigration. so think it's a immigration. so i think it's a good way keeping it good way of him to keeping it real, keeping talking to real, keeping him talking to people and understanding what is bothering making bothering them. and he is making an into the an effort to get out into the red not hunkering red wall. he's not hunkering down in the in the in the south, where the party is meant to be the strongest. he's trying to fight and win the seats, which the tory party won in 2019. so i think the fight on for the think the fight is on for the tory party >> interesting stuff. well, chris hope, thank you very much for us there. live from for joining us there. live from wigan. well joining us now to discuss these stories in greater detail the political detail is the political commentator emma webb and the journalist ella whelan. and, uh, i think we have to start the story of the day office scandal and rishi sunak now weighing in. emma, um, do you think that

they. what can the government actually do now ? actually do now? >> well, i think they've got to do something. um, so there has been obviously talk about urgently reviewing this, um, post office master who was given an honour. um, probably out of conscience. she should, um , give conscience. she should, um, give that honour up . um, but also ed that honour up. um, but also ed davey. so looking into those who were in positions of authority at the time, he was the post office um, minister at the time, and he's been accused of ministerial decisions being , ministerial decisions being, quote, wicked and, uh, incompetent and wicked. um, so i think that those who do bear response ability for not looking at the red flags, not taking concerns seriously because it looks as if ed davey just trusted the post office's word for it. and didn't really look into things as he should have done.i into things as he should have done. i think those people need to be properly held to account and also that compensation needs to these people as to be paid to these people as quickly possible because quickly as possible, because a lot people were lot of the people who were involved it's involved in this scandal, it's a lot , a 700 people who

lot of people, a 700 people who were, know , convicted for were, you know, convicted for this , um, 736 people who've had this, um, 736 people who've had their lives disrupted by this. and that doesn't include the families of those people. some of whom have since died. so the government really needs to be quite quick in paying back , quite quick in paying back, well, paying compensation to them . but not just i think this them. but not just i think this is taxpayer money. of course. um, i think they should also be looking those . the company looking into those. the company that the horizon faulty that supplied the horizon faulty software in the first place because they bear some responsibility for this as well. >> really interesting point coming to you, because the post was still using that company for their systems. they've their it systems. they've just won contract supply won a huge contract to supply schools ireland. um, schools in northern ireland. um, surely they given the responsibility that they, they bear for for, this. i mean, surely they shouldn't be still supplying the government with it . technology. >> well, i mean , you know, >> well, i mean, you know, machines are only as good as and whether it's it technology or ai, the rest of it, it's only as good as the people who are using it. >> and so, yeah, i mean, i would

probably have some serious questions about renewing those contract think contract acts, but i think the more factor in this is more important factor in this is that where there was sort of almost, it seems simple sort of bureaucratic failings , um, bureaucratic failings, um, things you know , things like, you know, astronomical amounts of money going in multiple areas going missing in multiple areas from multiple post offices , um, from multiple post offices, um, and, and people and no one sort of connecting the dots . that was of connecting the dots. that was a human error. that wasn't an it error. and, you know, ed davey decided that he a meeting with alan that mr bates alan bates, that mr bates requested in 2010 was unnecessary . unnecessary. >> yes. go away. yeah. and so that kind of that's the thing that kind of that's the thing that that has caused the heartache for all these people, not just the technology error. >> and, you know, the government could um, there's talk about an act of parliament to just in a kind of swift and quick way, avoid sort of people going individually, going through the courts to have their convictions overturned. that's something that relatively sensible that seems relatively sensible in relation to paula vennells. >> i mean, i couldn't give a monkey's about her cbe .

monkey's about her cbe. >> i think that's a sort of symbolic . symbolic. >> that would be a way of looking, seeing, looking like you were doing something but not actually doing anything. i'm sure particular the sure that, um, in particular the people, of people who people, families of people who took lives in sort of took their own lives in sort of horrendous , um, horrendous circumstances, um, having some post office boss who was a, you know, beyond them and pushed them away at the time. anyway, have her cbe strip doesn't seem to me to be satisfactory. >> what about ed davey emma? i mean, you know, he has often called for people to be resigned , to resign from their jobs when they've committed worse crimes and inverted commas. um, do you think he should do the right thing and step down? >> well, he seems to have been strangely dismissive. also, even just recent interviews about just in recent interviews about this, where he was asked about, um, this , this cbe and didn't um, this, this cbe and didn't seem to be particularly bothered whether she kept it or not. um, so i think probably i imagine that if i were in the position of a family member and particularly, as ella said, someone who , um, has taken their someone who, um, has taken their own life because of this, and

people who've really had their lives completely destroyed, i would be looking at ed davey response and thinking frankly, you know , what the hell? you you know, what the hell? you know what's what's wrong with his moral compass ? i think that his moral compass? i think that there are serious questions there are serious questions there about his own, um, integrity and sense personal integrity and sense of personal responsibility over this because although admitted that, although he has admitted that, um, was wrong to be so, um, that he was wrong to be so, um, that he was wrong to be so, um, dismissive initially of the concern lines and just simply trusting the post office, um, i think he needs to really, seriously, publicly repent for what he's done. and i don't think he's gone far enough. >> it's interesting, our political correspondents olivia utley was to predict utley was seeming to predict that in the next month or so, things could get really, really tough for ed davey. and sometimes the dems do swap sometimes the lib dems do swap out their leaders. done out their leaders. they've done it on a number of it before on a number of occasions, and i wonder for, um, there have been successful in by elections, but ed davey isn't a particularly well known , uh, particularly well known, uh, household name . perhaps, uh, if household name. perhaps, uh, if people are calling for him to

stand down and someone else pops up as, as leader of the lib dems, that might be an electoral rule asset for them. >> i mean, do you think people are going to vote for the lib dems, or they just voting dems, or are they just voting against party on against a labour party that on the labour party and a tory party that tory party that on a tory party >> i mean, extent to >> um, i mean, to the extent to which the lib dems are relevant enough current election, enough in a current election, i think limited. i mean, you think is limited. i mean, you know, seem to pick up where know, they seem to pick up where other parties fail and, you know, whatever. >> the i think the thing >> but the i think the thing about post office scandal is about the post office scandal is it's a very example of it's a very clear example of little people being screwed and people having their voices ignored. >> and you know, people who don't hold any power don't have any , don't even want to speak any, don't even want to speak for them , you know, get ignored for them, you know, get ignored by politicians, brushed away by their bosses. and it's just a it's just a crystal clear example of injustice that speaks to a kind of broader feeling, i think, in the country of things not not not being fair, things not working , ordinary people having working, ordinary people having their turned all of their lives turned over, all of thatis their lives turned over, all of that is to feed into any that is going to feed into any general election campaign and sentiment. >> well, sticking on that theme

of necessarily being of things not necessarily being fair, uh, something that fair, uh, it's something that rishi pointed to. uh, rishi sunak pointed to. uh, chris hope was telling us about these school absences is that we've seen sky rocket more than 1 in 5 children are persists absent from school now rishi sunak suggesting that parents could be sent text messages to try and solve this. um emma, do you think that's the solution? i don't think it's going to go very long way because it's not as if that they don't know that their children are not in schools. >> and actually, this poll found that um, parents don't that 1 in 4, um, parents don't feel after the pandemic that it's essential their child it's essential for their child to school day. so to go to school every day. so sending sending them a sending simply sending them a text i don't think is text message i don't think is really going to the job. i really going to do the job. i mean, are quite shocking statistics. >> and that, you know, >> and the fact that, you know, we're being told today, the we're also being told today, the other about, you other story today is about, you know, if your child know, if you're if your child has sniffle cold, it's has a sniffle or a cold, it's okay to send them to school within three years of the government , don't send government saying, don't send your they're your kids to school, they're going kill going to die and probably kill teachers time. teachers at the same time. i think the pandemic effect has been increasing um, on

been increasing on, um, on parents and families relationships with schools because you had let's remember , because you had let's remember, through at that period, government policy was that your kids shouldn't be in school and, and government policy and rhetoric was that school isn't that the bottom of >> it's the bottom of the priority very priority list. and it's very hard to if you've if you've been , you know, a parent in that situation and then you see that maybe actually your kid is happier at home or, you know, whatever, you get a different perspective on things. hard perspective on things. it's hard to then to switch back into the school as the most important thing the world mode. and thing in the world mode. and you know, parents who know, i feel for parents who can't afford take their kids can't afford to take their kids on during times on holiday during tum times and, you go on holiday you know, want to go on holiday and that. everybody you know, want to go on holiday and everybody that. everybody you know, want to go on holiday and everybody can t. everybody you know, want to go on holiday and everybody can relate ybody you know, want to go on holiday and everybody can relate to ody you know, want to go on holiday and everybody can relate to that can everybody can relate to that and feel for that. but i think we've completely lost we've just completely lost schools, their schools, have lost their authority i think, teachers authority, i think, and teachers lost authority throughout authority, i think, and teachers lostpandemiclority throughout authority, i think, and teachers lostpandemic|ori1notiroughout authority, i think, and teachers lostpandemicloritnot stickingt authority, i think, and teachers lostpandemicloritnot sticking up the pandemic for not sticking up for the that come hell or for the fact that come hell or high water, you must be in that classroom or in chair classroom or in that chair listening to your teacher we listening to your teacher and we need regain authority, need to regain that authority, not taking responsibility for bringing well. >> do think? well look, you

>> do you think? well look, you can you know, i think there is something the fact that you something in the fact that you know, devaluing of school and know, a devaluing of school and formal education, says something about parents own authority and their relationship with schools . their relationship with schools. >> i mean, anyone who's been anywhere near, in particular secondary moment secondary schools at the moment knows parental, the knows that parental, the relationship between parents and teachers has broken down completely. no trust , completely. there's no trust, there's no cooperation . a lot of there's no cooperation. a lot of there's no cooperation. a lot of the time they're at loggerheads. that's for a variety of reasons. and um, and that means that kids aren't getting the best that they do. i don't know they can do. i don't know whether faults, whether that's parents faults, teachers faults. it's kind of a horrible everything. but horrible mess of everything. but i probably the most i think probably the most important is this lack of, important thing is this lack of, um, sort of adult um, belief in sort of adult authority for saying, we know what's best, get into school and the government has to answer for that. on the on pandemic, or that. on the on the pandemic, or do have to say, actually, do we have to say, actually, some parents need to take responsibility way that responsibility here the way that we pandemic is we act in a pandemic is different from the way that we act after that is over. >> emma, i think personal responsibility , parental responsibility, parental authority and authority in

general has been culturally eroded over a long period of time , and we're starting to see time, and we're starting to see the rotten fruits that that's beanng the rotten fruits that that's bearing now. >> um, and actually, i think when you look at so working from home culture as well, probably this is part of a general attitude that maybe also parents are part of having themselves work from home, not feeling that they really need to go into the office every day in order to do their jobs, office every day in order to do theirjobs, in office every day in order to do their jobs, in order to office every day in order to do theirjobs, in order to do their work. seems some people even think they can run the country from so think that from home. um, so i think that this part of a general this is part of a general problem and um, as ella said, you know , teachers, i think you know, teachers, i think teachers don't have the authority that they once have. and culturally , we don't regard and culturally, we don't regard education, i think, as being as important as it is. >> and mweb ella whelan, thank you so much for talking us through stories through those big, big stories today for hour. today. that's it for this hour. but coming up so much more, not least the surge in knife crime, particularly in our big cities , particularly in our big cities, looks like things are heating up boxt boilers sponsors of weather

on gb news . on gb news. >> i'm alex deakin. this is your latest weather update from the met office for gb news. a cold start to a cold week. most of us will be dry through this week, but today we do have a few showers around . high pressure is showers around. high pressure is controlling our weather as it will do for the next several days and around the high pressure. the winds go clockwise. i mean, we've got this breeze across the this easterly breeze across the south is bringing a south and that is bringing a mixture sleet and snow mixture of rain, sleet and snow showers of east showers over parts of east anglia in the southeast. increasingly see few flurries increasingly see a few flurries likely london, likely in and around london, essex, kent, but also perhaps likely in and around london, essepartslt, but also perhaps likely in and around london, essepartslt, hampshire rhaps likely in and around london, essepartslt, hampshire forps likely in and around london, essepartslt, hampshire for the into parts of hampshire for the sussexes and maybe 1 or 2 even in the south midlands. so the odd rain and sleet shower over northern england, southern scotland, but for most it's dry, quite cloudy. but where we've got some sunshine. well it still feels cold because temperatures are below and are struggling below average and that wind making it feel even colder in the south, blowing a few more of those wintry showers across southwest. across parts of the southwest. perhaps time through the perhaps for a time through the

evening and overnight, maybe into south so into parts of south wales. so again see a few again, you might see a few flurries here and there could turn icy as well, where we've got those showers as temperatures tumble again. widely well below freezing, particularly in scotland , where particularly in scotland, where there's some freezing fog patches which are likely to unger patches which are likely to linger through through linger through the day. through the tomorrow the night and into tomorrow morning . again, most places morning. again, most places having bright day having a fine, bright day tomorrow. any early showers in the southwest, they will disappear , if anything, not as disappear, if anything, not as much cloud around tomorrow, so a better of seeing better chance of seeing longer spells it ain't spells of sunshine. but it ain't going to warm things up very much. another cold one tomorrow. >> warm feeling inside from >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers as sponsors of weather on .

good afternoon , britain. it's good afternoon, britain. it's 2:00 on monday. the 8th of january. and the prime minister has indicated that he'd back a move to strip former post office boss paula vennells of cbe. it comes as talks commence on what the government can do to clear and compensate all the victims of the post office scandal. that's around 700 postmasters who were wrongly convicted of fraud due to a computer system failure. knife crime carnage ban the sale of zombie knives and machetes . machetes. >> now that's a plea from idris elba as knife crime soars across the country, the movie star took

his message to westminster today , joined by parents whose children have been fatally stabbed. we'll hear from a bereaved grandmother and a tube strike u—turn. >> the rmt union has suspended strike action on the capital's underground system after indications that the mayor's office will up their pay offer, but where's that money coming from? and is this the correct way to avert future strike . action >> that's a really pertinent question, dawn . where's the question, dawn. where's the money coming from? and will this just not encourage more strikes in the future? >> well, i think it possibly will. and sadiq khan put this at the mayor of london, put out this amazing this is the way you sort of strike you get round the table and you talk. but the devil is always in the detail. don't you the moment, don't you find at the moment, tom, that with any politician of

whatever persuasion saying, i'm going to b and c, i'll going to do a, b and c, i'll sort this out, they never explain we know tfl explain how and we know that tfl is bankrupt. >> we know far people >> we know that far fewer people are taking tube is about 80% are taking the tube is about 80% of that it was before of the level that it was before the pandemic. of the level that it was before the pandemic . and what have they the pandemic. and what have they done? loads of done? they've cancelled loads of construction. they've cancelled done? they've cancelled loads of constroftion. they've cancelled done? they've cancelled loads of constrof investment. cancelled loads of investment. they've cancelled upgrades. are they just simply going to raid this capital investment budget? so that we don't get shiny new escalator or lifts and more things break down more often in order to upturn short terms. pay. >> this is the thing, tom isn't it? the money has to come from somewhere and bearing in mind, people, the government doesn't actually have any money. it's all taxpayers and all our money as taxpayers and every promise. and we're only at the start of the year. we've every promise. and we're only at the a art of the year. we've every promise. and we're only at the a long: the year. we've every promise. and we're only at the a long way year. we've every promise. and we're only at the a long way to ah we've every promise. and we're only at the a long way to go we've every promise. and we're only at the a long way to go over we've every promise. and we're only at the a long way to go over these got a long way to go over these election promises, and it's like, i never hear anyone explain how it's going to be achieved. no sadiq khan loves to tweet about where money is being spent. >> but what if fares go up? what if taxes go up ? where's the if taxes go up? where's the money actually coming from? >> you know someone has to pay.

there's no such thing as a free lunch. no there isn't. i mean, it's like the national insurance cut. it's like, oh, goody, we're all going to be rich. oh, no, we're not actually, it's not going make difference to going to make any difference to most of us. >> no, no. because those thresholds have still been frozen. you raised our frozen. so yes, you raised our taxes last now you've cut taxes last year. now you've cut our ever so slightly. but our taxes ever so slightly. but it doesn't for the it doesn't make up for the raise. yeah >> fiscal drag, fiscal drag. >> fiscal drag, fiscal drag. >> think i met her in >> i know i think i met her in soho um uh, anyway, soho once. um uh, anyway, where's going with that one where's it going with that one fiscal drag? it's funny. >> yeah yeah yeah >> yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. >> it's, um, coming to >> no, it's, um, coming to a reality show soon. um, anyway , reality show soon. um, anyway, we'll get to. we'll get to some big, big stories, not least speaking to two mps, one labour, one conservative. that's after your headlines with sophia . your headlines with sophia. >> thank you. tom good afternoon. it's 2:02. i'm sophia . wenzler in the gb newsroom. the prime minister says he'd strongly support a decision to

revoke the former post office bosses. cbe paula vennells was in charge and routinely denied there were problems with the honzon there were problems with the horizon it system , which made it horizon it system, which made it look money missing from look like money was missing from shops. of staff were shops. hundreds of staff were convicted, jailed, bankrupted and some took their lives after they were wrongly accused of theft . the justice secretary and theft. the justice secretary and post office minister are now looking at how to help those who were caught up in the scandal. one of the other victims, christopher head, says he doesn't believe the lies doesn't believe the fault lies with just one person. the reason that paula vennells has been singled out is because she was she was made aware on countless occasions of the problems, and obviously she was in the position that particular time position at that particular time to something and to do something about it and failed to do so. >> think that is why that's >> so i think that is why that's been the case. but, you know, you over years you roll back over the years that, know, there is that, you know, there is obviously in fujitsu, obviously people in fujitsu, there people in government or there is people in government or ministers or you know, ministers or even, you know, civil servants maybe tried civil servants that maybe tried to have limitation, to do have damage limitation, let's try and let's say, in order to try and make this a hope that it will go away. so there's countless

number of people you had previous office previous ceos at post office have crozier, there's you have adam crozier, there's you know, there's the know, there's just there's the list endless. so we need the list is endless. so we need the inquiry to so we get inquiry to finish so that we get to the of that. and to the bottom of that. and obviously the met police to obviously for the met police to do their investigation. >> secretary to the >> economic secretary to the treasury afolami says the treasury bim afolami says the government working as quickly government is working as quickly as can to compensate the victims. >> it's worth saying that everybody involved post everybody involved with the post office scandal , 100% of office horizon scandal, 100% of them received interim them have received interim payments of over £168,000. that isn't enough, but that's an interim payment. we've brought forward a bill going through parliament, show clear parliament in the next week or so that we don't have to wait for the results of the inquiry so that we can get this compensation paid in full as soon as possible. addition to soon as possible. in addition to that, lord chancellor, who's that, the lord chancellor, who's head of the justice system is meeting with other colleagues across today to across government later today to see faster we can make see how much faster we can make sure they have the legal redress , the financial , as well as the financial redress. we want to get this sorted as soon as we possibly can. >> labour mp kevin jones is pushing for emergency legislation to exonerate the

victims . victims. >> it's what i've come to expect over the years, uh, from the post office. it's been lies and cover ups all along . uh, but the cover ups all along. uh, but the key point is we've got to get these convictions overturned because they're quite clearly unsafe . unsafe. >> fresh ice warnings have been issued for parts of britain as temperatures plummet and snow and sleet showers cover the country . the met office issued country. the met office issued a yellow warning for ice across southern england and south wales, which will last until tomorrow morning. amber. cold tomorrow morning. an amber. cold health alert has been issued for parts of england, with the cold snap set to continue throughout the week and more than 160 flood warnings remain in place across the country and over 1800 properties have been damaged . properties have been damaged. after being criticised for not meeting flood victims, the prime minister spoke to affected residents in oxford yesterday . residents in oxford yesterday. rishi sunak tried to defend his record , saying the government record, saying the government has invested £5.2 billion in flood defences . labour has flood defences. labour has accused the government of being asleep at the wheel over flood warnings. sir keir starmer is

visiting flood hit east midlands today. >> this isn't the first time i've been out to talk to residents in this situation . residents in this situation. i've got to get ahead of this and that means earlier in the yeahin and that means earlier in the year, in the autumn, having a task force that brings together our local authorities, the emergency response, people emergency response, local people to ensure that the prevention work is done. some of the drains that are now being cleaned could have been cleaned beforehand. the response wasn't quick enough, i just don't think enough, so i just don't think it's good enough for the government after government to come after the event again and express empathy. get ahead of this with a task force . that's what i would do . force. that's what i would do. >> three energy firms are again allowed to forcibly fit pre—payment metres as edf, octopus and scottish power were temporarily banned from the practice following some controversy instalments. the regulator , ofgem, says the firms regulator, ofgem, says the firms have now met a set of conditions which includes identifying metres that were wrongly installed and offering affected customers compensation and the opportunity to return a non

pre—payment method . mps will pre—payment method. mps will debate the offshore petroleum bill soon as parliament returns for the first time this year. if it passes, the legislation will mandate that licences for oil and gas projects in the north sea are awarded annually. it's already led to the resignation of tory mp chris skidmore, who says the law would show the uk is rowing ever further back from its climate commitments . the us its climate commitments. the us has launched its first moon mission since apollo the peregrine mission one, built by us space company astrobotic, will become the first private probe to land on the lunar surface. the rocket lifted off from florida this morning and is expected to land on the 23rd of february. it's operated by the united launch alliance company, the number one competitor to elon musk's spacex. if it touches down safely, it will be the first american craft to make a soft landing on the lunar surface since the apollo era . surface since the apollo era. this is gb news across the uk on

tv, in your car, on your digital radio and on your smart speaker by saying play gb news now it's back to tom and dawn . back to tom and dawn. >> good afternoon britain . it's >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:08 and the prime minister, rishi sunak, says he would strongly support revoking former post office boss paula vennells cbe , obe. it says justice cbe, obe. it says justice secretary alex chalk is meeting with ministers to discuss one of the most wide spread miscarriages of justice the uk has ever seen. >> well, joining us now is the shadow paymaster general, jonathan ashworth. mr ashworth , jonathan ashworth. mr ashworth, thank you very much for joining us this afternoon. soon, um, we've been talking about this. the post office scandal. it is such a huge scandal. we've interviewed a victim very emotionally this morning. um, what do you have to say about it ? >> 7- >> oh, i 7— >> oh, i mean, 7 >> oh, i mean, absolutely. i watched the itv series over

christmas . like watched the itv series over christmas. like many watched the itv series over christmas . like many people christmas. like many people across the country did, and many of your viewers would have done. it was both heartbreaking . i it was both heartbreaking. i mean, i was in tears when that, uh, gentleman took his life , but uh, gentleman took his life, but it also made my blood boil . it also made my blood boil. absolutely made my blood boil . absolutely made my blood boil. watching it now, i was aware of this scandal as an mp . uh, but this scandal as an mp. uh, but the way in which it was brought to life in that series was a reminder of how outrageous these people have been treated and how they deserve justice. so let's hope and we're going to get a statement from the minister here today. let's hope that compensation is speeded up. let's hope that there is a route to overturning wrongful criminal convictions . but it to overturning wrongful criminal convictions. but it is an absolute miscarriage of justice. and i think the british people want this resolving quickly. >> jonathan. sorry, jonathan, as you say, you were aware of it. politicians of all persuasions were aware of it. why did it take a tv programme to get to this level of people doing something about it ? i mean, i

something about it? i mean, i think to be fair, there have been mps raising this for years and years and years of all sides of the house. >> by the way, not this is not a party political issue. there's been conservative mps working with this in with labour mps raising this in the house of commons. there have been the of been statements in the house of commons, there's debates, commons, there's been debates, it commons, there's been debates, h been commons, there's been debates, it been in news it has been covered in the news before. i've before. i remember i've, i've never personally an never personally done an interview but i remember interview on it, but i remember being sitting in studios about to go on do an interview when to go on to do an interview when it's been covered, know, it's been covered, you know, before on and things like before i went on and things like that. been out there, that. so it has been out there, but i think is a big but i think there is a big question why has it taken question of why has it taken a tv programme to bring this so to, the fore, bring it into to, to the fore, bring it into the national consciousness. i mean, want to tribute mean, i do want to pay tribute to those who have been to those mps who have been raising these issues. my colleague kevin jones has been very this. james very active on this. james arbuthnot, who's no longer very active on this. james arbuthrbutwho's no longer very active on this. james arbuthrbut he )'s no longer very active on this. james arbuthrbut he was no longer very active on this. james arbuthrbut he was a no longer very active on this. james arbuthrbut he was a conservative an mp, but he was a conservative mp or the. he was mp featured in or the. he was played programme. um, uh played in the programme. um, uh showed that he was onto this many it has been many years ago. so it has been raised, but we've really now got to on this issue. to get justice on this issue. >> some might that itv >> yeah. some might say that itv is a bit of a stiffer

is providing a bit of a stiffer opposition to the government than majesty's loyal than his majesty's loyal opposition, to park for opposition, but to park that for a second, what should we see practically happen now? what could be done, perhaps by the government, perhaps by parliament this very week ? parliament this very week? >> well, we need clarity today on both compensation and it needs to be sped up . and we need needs to be sped up. and we need clarity on what is happening around, um, convictions. so i imagine we'll get hopefully some of that clarity today. there's going to be a statement from the minister, uh, later this afternoon in parliament. i don't want to pre—empt that or predict what he wants to say, but hopefully will move matters forward. >> jonathan ed davey was in charge of the post office at the time . um, he was warned five time. um, he was warned five times that , um, that this was times that, um, that this was going on and refused to meet the person who was leading the campaign for justice. person who was leading the campaign forjustice. um, do you campaign for justice. um, do you think he should do the honourable thing now and step down?

>> well, i'm i'm not going to call for a davies resignation. i mean, he was a minister because, you know, famously we, the liberal democrats went into a coalition with the conservatives and propped the conservative up and propped the conservative up and actually supported many of the measures that the the austerity measures that the conservatives uh, implemented in that anyway, going that period. anyway, i'm going off tangent there. look, off on a tangent there. look, i'm sure he will want to answer questions or people will expect him to answer questions. we him to answer questions. and we all to him, uh, all look forward to him, uh, coming and explaining coming forward and explaining exactly his role was, what exactly what his role was, what he he know at he knew, what he didn't know at the time . the time. >> w a pam p— >> now there's a big vote in parliament today on oil and gas licences. i'm taking to understand the labour party will be voting against the government's plan to use our own natural resources to get oil and gas for britain and yet sir keir starmer has not committed to cancelling those projects . if cancelling those projects. if you win this year's general election, isn't that having your cake and eating it? voting

against the new licences but then reaping all their benefits? if you happen to be elected into power, no , we're not having our cake. >> uh , and eating it. what we've >> uh, and eating it. what we've said is that future licences should not be granted because of both of our both of the cost of subsidising those licences and are obviously wider commitments to climate change. but that basin is going to continue with exploration for many , many exploration for many, many years. uh, and a lot of jobs are dependent jonathan ashworth the cost of subsidising those licences . licences. >> liz, do you really think that the north sea is a net drain on the north sea is a net drain on the british economy? is that what you're seriously trying to argue? >> t are there is, >> well, there are there is, there there is subsidies there is there is subsidies involved in this regime, but we're not going to cancel existing licences. we're going to support those jobs . we've to support those jobs. we've been hard with our been working very hard with our colleagues in the gmb trade union, who represent many of those people, and we'll those working people, and we'll always support always stand up and support those working people and protecting jobs in that protecting those jobs in that part the part the country.

part of the part of the country. >> what are the subsidies that you're referring to? last time i checked, was a 75% on checked, there was a 75% tax on the profits made in the north sea . sea. >> well, these these licences do come with a degree of , of, uh, come with a degree of, of, uh, government support. i don't have the particular figure at my fingertips. i'll go and get it for you, and i'll make sure i get it to you for the next time that i come on. but there is a that i come on. but there is a thatis that i come on. but there is a that is part of that. but the key thing is this we are not ending that exploration in. we are supporting those jobs. our position is about future licences as well . licences as well. >> jonathan ashworth thank you for coming and putting across for coming on and putting across your case on those two big issues parliament today. issues in parliament today. appreciate your time . let's get appreciate your time. let's get more now with our political correspondent olivia utley, because this is something that is ricocheting through parliament. the post office scandal. of course, we're expecting that statement from alex chalk a little bit later. what might he be saying ?

what might he be saying? >> well, as you say, tom, this is a scandal which reaches every corner of government. every party corner of government. every party has been implicated by this. the liberal democrats were in coalition with the conservatives when all this was going on. and actually the labour government under gordon brown were in office at the very start of this scandal. now we're expecting to hear from alex chalk, the justice secretary, later . he is chalk, the justice secretary, later. he is at the moment mulling over potential options for how to get those wrongful criminal convictions overturned and for how to speed up the process to get compensation to the victims. now on the question of overturning those criminal convictions, he is considering the option of simply exonerating all of those postmasters in one fell swoop. that's what david davis has called for. it would be a pretty radical thing to do. there are 607, uh, post masters at least, who still who have

criminal convictions, which have been upheld by the courts and which have not yet been overturned by the appeals process. another option that alex chalk is considering is stripping the post office of its role in prosecutions. the post office can mount private prosecute actions against individuals , nothing to do with individuals, nothing to do with the crown prosecution service. and that is what it did in those over 700 cases. then the post office is also heavily involved in the appeals process . and in the appeals process. and postmasters say that is why it has gone so, so slowly. it's been a clunky , difficult process been a clunky, difficult process and as we know, over only 93 of those 700, uh, criminal convictions have been overturned so far . those convictions have been overturned so far. those are convictions have been overturned so far . those are the two convictions have been overturned so far. those are the two main opfions so far. those are the two main options that alex chalk is considering. he's talking to other government ministers and other government ministers and other stakeholders today, and we're expecting to hear from him later this afternoon with his his verdict. will it be enough

at this stage, public outrage has reached such a pitch that it feels that the government is now really playing catch up, catch up, really for 20 years of government failures can what alex chalk says this afternoon fix any of that or will it just be too little, too late ? be too little, too late? >> olivia, as we're talking to jonathan ashworth just now about this and it's like, you know, it's taken a tv program after 20 years of hell that , as you said, years of hell that, as you said, all political parties were involved in, um, to, to get things moving on this. i mean, the very least that alex chalk can do is remove the ability of the post office to be judge and jury the post office to be judge and jury on this. i find it astonishing they didn't have to get the police involved or anyone to investigate it, apart from themselves . from themselves. >> yeah. and i think that's an element of this scandal which the public just weren't really aware of. i mean , personally

aware of. i mean, personally speaking , i didn't realise that speaking, i didn't realise that the post office had the ability to launch these private prosecutions. so do other government sort of arm's length bodies . the rspca, for example, bodies. the rspca, for example, has the ability to launch these these , uh, prosecutions. so will these, uh, prosecutions. so will alex chalk simply strip the post office of that , that ability? office of that, that ability? that would seem like an obvious first step for the government . first step for the government. >> mhm. well, olivia, we will keep a keen eye on what alex chalk has to say and perhaps catch up with you a bit later. thanks for joining catch up with you a bit later. thanks forjoining us catch up with you a bit later. thanks for joining us to catch up with you a bit later. thanks forjoining us to discuss thanks for joining us to discuss this further. >> is conservative mp sally anne hart who joins us now. sally. ah good afternoon . thank you very good afternoon. thank you very much for joining good afternoon. thank you very much forjoining us. now, the much for joining us. now, the top story, um, an absolute horror show for the families involved . and, um, what do you involved. and, um, what do you make of the way it's being currently handled ? currently handled? >> well, i think it's really good that this whole scandal has been brought to the public attention, particularly through that documentary, the sort of programme that's been on this

week, which i think is appalled people. i'm really keen to hear what the government , its what the government, its response is to. so when williams interim report into this, um , interim report into this, um, issue to find out what happened and why it happened , and i think and why it happened, and i think that's an important step to take. look and see what happens there . but from what i hear, there. but from what i hear, from what, um, alex chalk and other ministers are saying, is that all of the victims and these people who are victims should be compensated and, um, full and proper compensation. and i think that's absolutely right. and i think we should also look at those people who have been in prison. we've seen that people have committed suicide . i think there were four suicide. i think there were four suicides. um, because of this scandal. this is absolutely a tragedy . and it's in this day tragedy. and it's in this day and age to have this sort of thing going on under the minister's noses. and i heard earlier that it is through , um, earlier that it is through, um, it doesn't matter what political

party was in government. it has been going through , um, the last been going through, um, the last 20 or so years without anything being done. and i think it's about time that something has been done. and i'm glad it's this government that is actually getting to grips this getting to grips with this situation . situation. >> but but, sally anne, the government has power for government has been in power for a now. we've all been a long time now. we've all been aware of this scandal. what i keep asking this question can't get head around it. why has get my head around it. why has it a tv programme to get it taken a tv programme to get the get the anger the action and get the anger that seeing amongst that we're seeing amongst politicians why that politicians now? why wasn't that anger you anger there? why weren't you doing something this ? doing something for this? >> don't think the tv >> i don't think the tv programme caused the government to take action. the government did call, did conduct an inquiry which sir wyn williams has produced an interim report. i would like the government to respond to that report as soon as possible, but it has stated that people victims should be compensated fully for this and, um, you know, when we're looking at people who've been in prison,

should we look at pardoning those people who have received being convicted through horizon ? being convicted through horizon? um, it not working properly. i mean, it is quite gobsmacking that i mean, i was looking before it's a bit like, um, the labour party criticising, uh , labour party criticising, uh, the prime minister for questioning whether the rwanda policy was the right one to do. if you've got hundreds, hundreds of post office people suddenly becoming criminals, don't you think that someone should have questioned why suddenly there seemed to be so many criminals in our post office workers ? i in our post office workers? i think that's something that should have been looked at. >> and sally , one of those >> and sally, one of those people who perhaps missed some warnings , perhaps dismissed five warnings, perhaps dismissed five letters from mr bates, the lead campaigner in all of this was ed davey, now the leader of the liberal democrats. uh, in 2010, of course , uh, the minister of course, uh, the minister

responsible for the post office should ed davey apologise . and should ed davey apologise. and should ed davey apologise. and should he resign ? should he resign? >> i think he's got a lot of questions to answer . questions to answer. >> but sally anne, i mean, should he do he calls for people to resign all the time. he's doneit to resign all the time. he's done it 31 times over the last couple of years. um, should he stick by his own principles and therefore resign? what? what do you should you think he should do personally? i think we need personally? yeah i think we need to find out why he didn't resign i >> -- >> and 5mm >> and what are the circumstances ? i'm not someone circumstances? i'm not someone who has a knee jerk reaction. like members of the labour party or the liberal democrat , by like members of the labour party or the liberal democrat, by just demanding someone resigns. we need to find out what the circumstance are. why nothing was done at the time. and if he is found to have been at fault and overlooked , something that and overlooked, something that was glaringly obvious , then he was glaringly obvious, then he should do what he tells everybody else to do when they make the slightest mistakes is to resign. then he should consider should consider whether he should himself resign.

>> sally—ann hart , thank you so >> sally—ann hart, thank you so much for your time this afternoon, conservative mp. there sally—ann hart, speaking about , uh, what there sally—ann hart, speaking about, uh, what is a tragedy and about, uh, what is a tragedy and a scandal? i i just feel so that that lovely chap we interviewed in the first hour, a heartbreaking, uh, right. >> uh, coming up, we are speaking to an anti—knife crime campaigner as actor idris elba calls on the government to ban the sale of zombie knives and machetes. this is good afternoon , britain on gb news

monday to thursday from six till

930. >> welcome back. >> welcome back. >> it is 1427 now. actor and musician idris elba has called on the government to ban the sale of zombie knives and machetes in a bid to reduce the number of young people losing their lives to knife crime . their lives to knife crime. >> these weapons have been banned on the streets since 2016, but the labour party says there's a loophole in the system allowing the sale of them online. >> what do you use them for? >> what do you use them for? >> well, the government remains committed to further intervention measures, but with 13,000 knife related incidents in london alone last year , do we in london alone last year, do we need an immediate ban ? well, we need an immediate ban? well, we can now talk to julie taylor, whose grandson , son liam, was a whose grandson, son liam, was a victim of knife crime, i believe , four years ago. uh, julie , , four years ago. uh, julie, thank you so much for joining , four years ago. uh, julie, thank you so much forjoining us this afternoon. obviously today,

um, idris elba launching this campaign . um, what do you make campaign. um, what do you make of it ? how do you feel about the of it? how do you feel about the new campaign ? new campaign? >> any campaign is great, isn't it? we've just got to get this through. we've got to get it pushed through immediately. um, today was very emotional, very powerful . when you went to powerful. when you went to parliament square and there was 247 sets of youths clothing folded neatly, put in little piles to represent them. one of them being my grandson and one of them being my friend's daughter, both just 19 years old. and that was heartbreaking to look at that. and, you know , to look at that. and, you know, he's he's there now with you, isn't he ? it's just isn't he? it's just heartbreaking . um, i sat in heartbreaking. um, i sat in parliament personally about seven months ago with roger hurst and anna from essex , speak hurst and anna from essex, speak and, and um, mp for southend, and, and um, mp for southend, and we had chris philip, the policing minister. he was flown in by helicopter. now i'm just a grandmother of a, you know, a

brave grandmother. and i've walked out of that room with a lot of hope in my heart. you know, it was there was a lot of passion in that room, a lot of touring and a lot of we cannot make mistakes and they are doing their very best. but everything is long. so the is taking too long. so the government said today, do it government has said today, do it today. know, have a cobra today. you know, have a cobra meeting let's get meeting today. let's get everything online. everything banned and online. i know it's not going to be immediate effect and we're never going to stamp out knife crime completely. that's that's never going to happen. but everything's done that everything's got to be done that can possibly be done. there's no there's time is of the there's no time. time is of the essence now . essence how. >> essence now. >> feels we essence now. >> feels >> it feels like we report on a new knife crime , a new stabbing, new knife crime, a new stabbing, a new murder . new knife crime, a new stabbing, a new murder. every new knife crime, a new stabbing, a new murder . every week here, a new murder. every week here, especially in and around london. an it is something that just has not gone away . so tell us a bit not gone away. so tell us a bit about your grandson . son liam. about your grandson. son liam. liam, who was who was killed in 2020. >> so liam had been to work normal 19 year old lad. you know , gone out on friday night in a very small, affluent village and

decided to go with his best friend and have a drink and for individual was known to police known knife carriers. this is where our laws have got to toughen up . you know, we've got toughen up. you know, we've got toughen up. you know, we've got to do these laws that say for four for carrying knife, four years for carrying a knife, we've there. so let's we've got them there. so let's use laws. let's not keep use the laws. let's not keep letting them off saying there's no prisons. give letting them off saying there's no a prisons. give letting them off saying there's no a little risons. give letting them off saying there's no a little chance give letting them off saying there's no a little chance to give them a little chance to rehabilitate and things these people are using knives and they are end up killing are proven to end up killing people. so liam, in a 39 second attack, 13 seconds on him had six stab wounds, two for his heart, two for his lower back artery on his arm. his leg , artery on his arm. his leg, bone, lung and liver, and 28 separate injuries in a 13 second attack by four individuals and yeah, it's just heartbreaking. you know, and every story you hear seems worse than the last one. and they're all just horrific. it doesn't matter if there's one stab wound or 100 stab wounds. these children are still being murdered on our streets . streets. >> julie, that that is just i mean thoughts you and your

mean, thoughts with you and your family. just awful that family. that's just awful that that that happened. and as you say, every it happens say, every time it happens again. we lost our, um, um, again. and we lost our, um, um, young harry pitman , 16, again. and we lost our, um, um, young harry pitman ,16, on new young harry pitman,16, on new year's eve. now, you've been at the receiving end of one of those phone calls. so when you know, when harry lost his life on new year's eve to knife crime, what thoughts go through your head? i mean, you've been there. you know what it actually means. we can say the means. we can all say the statistics, but to someone that's actually taken phone that's actually taken that phone call . call. >> at the time, for those >> so at the time, for those split minutes , you think, no, split minutes, you think, no, it's wrong because it was liam's mum that phoned me. um, she was just screaming and screaming down he's dead. he's down the phone. he's dead. he's dead. he's been stabbed. they've killed and just in dead. he's been stabbed. they've kille heart and just in dead. he's been stabbed. they've kille heart thati just in dead. he's been stabbed. they've kille heart that it's just in dead. he's been stabbed. they've kille heart that it's justrue. in your heart that it's not true. and liam, unfortunately, was murdered 5 or 6 minutes drive from my house. so drove from my house. so we drove to the murder scene and were not knocking the police . um, it was knocking the police. um, it was a murder scene. they were very busy. took 45 minutes before busy. it took 45 minutes before anyone said me anyone actually said to me because i couldn't prove who i was. i had on me or was. i had no id. on me or anything. i'm just saying my

grandson's in this pub. um, and a senior officer said to go a senior officer said to me, go to your daughter's house. she needs those moments, needs you from those moments, i knew dead. and. and knew he was dead. and. and i don't want to say this, but you're in such shock. for the first few months, even a year or so, or definitely in our case, it's. we're now four years at the end of this month, and every year got worse. it's not year it's got worse. it's not got easier. and that's every family that spoken to. i've family that i've spoken to. i've been two other families been with two other families today. been ollie's today. i've been with ollie's family joe's family. their family and joe's family. their year year three. i'm year two and year three. i'm year two and year three. i'm year four and all agreed year four and we've all agreed every gets harder because every year gets harder because it's not the first christmas, the first anniversary, the first birthday missing the rest birthday you're missing the rest of their life. they're dead. they're never coming home. >> oh, julie. >> oh, julie. >> thank you so much for telling us your story . >> thank you so much for telling us your story. i know it can't be easy. and i know sort of having to relive it, having to say it again and again. but it's so important to know what is happening on our streets. >> and everybody's got to realise the effects it has and the kids have got us killing

each other. you know, it's there's just so much going on and we don't want anyone else to feel the pain that we suffer. we're living the life sentence, not not the perpetrators. >> julie, thank so much >> julie, thank you so, so much for joining us today. you're forjoining us today. you're welcome. with and welcome. thoughts with you and your family and luck your family and good luck with the let's hope someone the campaign. let's hope someone sits up and takes notice. and yeah , we don't leave so many yeah, we don't leave so many children. you. oh right. children. thank you. oh right. coming up i honestly it's like so many emotional subjects we're covering today . um, right okay covering today. um, right okay a coming up . coming up. >> um, it's we'll be talking to our panel at our panel. >> yes, absolutely. >> yes, absolutely. >> about all of the big, big stories, not least post office scandal. but that's after the headunes scandal. but that's after the headlines with sophia . thank you. >> tom, it's 234. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . the wenzler in the gb newsroom. the prime minister says he'd strongly supported decision to revoke the former post office bosses. revoke the former post office bosses . cbe paula vennells was

bosses. cbe paula vennells was in charge and routinely denied there were problems with the honzon there were problems with the horizon it system , which made it horizon it system, which made it look like money was missing from shops. hundreds of staff were convicted, jailed , bankrupted convicted, jailed, bankrupted and some took their lives after they were wrongly accused of theft. the government is now looking at ways to exonerate those who were caught up in the scandal . fresh ice warnings have scandal. fresh ice warnings have been issued as temperatures plummet and snow and sleet showers cover the country. the met office issued a yellow warning for ice across southern england and south wales, which will last until tomorrow morning . there's also an amber cold health alert for parts of england , with the cold snap set england, with the cold snap set to continue throughout the week . to continue throughout the week. meanwhile sir keir starmer is visiting the flood hit east midlands today. it comes as labour has accused the government of being asleep at the wheel over flood warnings. more than 160 warnings remain in place across the country, and over 1800 properties have been damaged . rishi sunak tried to damaged. rishi sunak tried to defend his record whilst

visiting flood hit residents yesterday , saying the government yesterday, saying the government has invested £5.2 billion in flood defences . mps will start flood defences. mps will start debating the offshore petroleum bill in half an hour as parliament returns for the first time this year. if it passes, the legislation will mandate that licences for oil and gas projects in the north sea are awarded annually. it's already led to the resignation of tory mp chris skidmore, who says the law would show the uk is rowing ever further back from its climate commitments . and you can climate commitments. and you can get more on all those stories by visiting our website at gbnews.com .

sunday mornings from 930 on. >> good afternoon britain. it's just coming up to 20 to 3 now, just coming up to 20 to 3 now, just before the break, we were speaking to julie taylor, whose grandson liam was the victim of a knife attack in 2020. a fatal knife attack . it comes as actor knife attack. it comes as actor idris elba is asking the government to ban zombie knives and machetes . well, joining us and machetes. well, joining us in the studio is political commentator emma webb and the journalist ella whelan and ella just the most emotional story of heartbreak? >> yeah , every parent's worst >> yeah, every parent's worst nightmare . and i think that for nightmare. and i think that for a lot of parents, it feels like

there's only so much you can do within the confines of your own home. it feels a bit kind of lawless out there, and there's a, um, a real fear around. not even your child falling into the wrong kind of groups , but just wrong kind of groups, but just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. and it's a horrendous tragedy that i don't think anyone will ever get over. and actually, of things and actually, some of the things that about, um, living that she said about, um, living with life sentence of lost with a life sentence of a lost child, it's just unimaginable . child, it's just unimaginable. well, it's horrendous and the child, it's just unimaginable. well, goes orrendous and the child, it's just unimaginable. well, goes outndous and the child, it's just unimaginable. well, goes out to>us and the child, it's just unimaginable. well, goes out to her.ind the heart goes out to her. >> you think that the >> do you think that the campaign that's been launched today about today by idris elba about banning the sale of machete knives , machetes and zombie knives, machetes and zombie knives, machetes and zombie knives , i don't know, what do knives, i don't know, what do you use a zombie knife for? i mean, i don't know. >> well, they're called zombie knives because they apparently would kill zombies. >> aren't real, tom. um, would kill zombies. >> do aren't real, tom. um, would kill zombies. >> do you aren't real, tom. um, would kill zombies. >> do you do �*en't real, tom. um, would kill zombies. >> do you do you real, tom. um, would kill zombies. >> do you do you thinktom. um, would kill zombies. >> do you do you think this um, but do you do you think this campaign will actually change anything? well i don't know. >> it seems a bit bizarre to me that this isn't already the law, that this isn't already the law, that it should be so easy to get your hands on machetes and zombie seems a bit zombie knives. seems a bit strange, particularly. i mean, like was saying often, it

like ella was saying often, it could be a case of you're in the wrong at the wrong time. wrong place at the wrong time. um, and know, particularly um, and you know, particularly if in a, in a bad if you're living in a, in a bad area and you're a family that area and you're a family that are finding would it hard are finding would find it hard to leave that area for whatever reason, be, um, reason, it must be, um, extremely worrying for parents if they know that their children are being exposed to this kind of through their peers, of thing through their peers, either on the either at school or on the streets . um, so, i mean, streets. um, so, i mean, obviously , who wouldn't hope obviously, who wouldn't hope that this campaign does make a difference? um but but it is it's very strange that, um , it's very strange that, um, like, for example, there was a home office announcement last yeah home office announcement last year, um, suggesting that the maximum penalty should be raised for the manufacture , import, for the manufacture, import, possession and sale of these knives and machetes . um, that knives and machetes. um, that that should be increased to two years. and to me, two years doesn't seem even like that would be enough. i feel like we should be cracking down really hard on the possessions of these knives. there's no reason to possess a machete so often in

these cases, it's people that were known to the police . were known to the police. >> julie was speaking julie's case. >> you know, the people who killed her grandson were known to the police . to the police. >> they might have had, um, been arrested for knife offences in the past and then released and so it is those people who so often it is those people who are known to the police who are trouble makers, leading families like to to, serve the life sentence. >> well , i sentence. >> well, i think we have to be careful because obviously i don't think anyone would be against ban of zombie knives i >>i >> i mean, they it seems like a no brainer. um, but just be clear, they are banned to purchase on the street, but you can order them online. can still order them online. >> i mean, that's but you can, you know, even if that if you know, even if that was if even is action that even if that is action that happens, you can i mean, you can kill someone with a kitchen knife. >> it's not i think we should get we should be too hung up get we should not be too hung up on the sort of tools on fetishising the sort of tools which there's a sort of more which is there's a sort of more complicated answer complicated question to answer here, which that why do so here, which is that why do so many young people, i mean, shockingly in the sort of shockingly young in the sort of young the teens, young end of the teens, um, value and their own

value other lives and their own life, loss of their in life, the loss of their life in prison sentence is so little. i mean, what is it the fact mean, what is it about the fact that are seeing themselves that kids are seeing themselves as of dispensable and as sort of dispensable and seeing each as seeing each other as dispensable? much dispensable? i think that's much more complicated. know, more complicated. you know, discussion uh, how kids discussion about, uh, how kids view themselves a sort of maybe a sort of sense of sort of victim kind of victimhood or victim kind of victimhood or victim culture is feeding into this idea of life as being not really that worth it. i'm trying to explain something that's sort of a bit almost too complicated to of fit into neat box, to sort of fit into a neat box, which is that there's a crisis of sort of not identity in the way that we usually understand it, a crisis of it, but sort of a crisis of sense of self kids. i mean, sense of self for kids. i mean, people sort of say, oh, what we needis people sort of say, oh, what we need is more community centres. and, you know, i don't see anything wrong more anything wrong with more community think community centres. i don't think knife be the knife crime should be the they're the answer to knife they're not the answer to knife crime, centres crime, but more youth centres would thing for would be a great thing for a variety of reasons. people say, well, it's about parental authority. there authority. well sure, there might going on might be something going on there models it's there with role models or it's about that, but i think about this or that, but i think actually much more bigger actually it's much more bigger centre sort of

centre that we're not sort of commuting message to a commuting this message to a younger that the younger generation that the worst thing you can is take a worst thing you can do is take a life. and the idea of valuing life. and the idea of valuing life. there's something missing in socialise in our ability to socialise young in our ability to socialise you emma, think that >> emma, do you think that sometimes politicians think, well, there's a lack well, there's a there's a lack of community here. press of community here. i'll press the community and the community centre button and magically be this magically there will be this sense of community. >> a youth club. >> give them a youth club. >> give them a youth club. >> right. and then that'll fix everything. i'm sure it's all things football teams things like football teams and ensure, was saying, ensure, like ella was saying, you there's nothing you know, that there's nothing wrong things. wrong with those things. >> i'm sure that they make >> um, i'm sure that they make some difference, but they're not going be a silver bullet to going to be a silver bullet to deal this complex array of deal with this complex array of factors are feeding into factors that are feeding into what we see in the symptom of knife crime and other antisocial behaviours as well. i think that there is a possibly a sort of like particularly cultural problem because that sort of feeds into as ella was saying, you know, the things that you value, whether you , you know, value, whether you, you know, back in the days when we recognise that all other human beings are made in the image of god, and so therefore life is sacred and it's not something

that you have the right to take away. i think that there's a kind nihilism, a loss of kind of nihilism, a loss of value. um in some communities andifs value. um in some communities and it's all sorts of complex factors like ella was saying, it's not something that can need to fit into a, into a box and to be fit into a, into a box and summed up, um , but of course summed up, um, but of course those things do help. they're just to deal with the just not going to deal with the entirety of the problem. no. >> think, um, we're not >> and i think, um, we're not going it all today here going to fix it all today here on these sofas. >> as we were talking >> truancy. as we were talking about earlier, is definitely not going to help. >> it's going to help. and >> it's not going to help. and parents that. parents encouraging that. let's move tower now. um, move to tower hamlets now. um, the tower hamlets, the mayor of tower hamlets, which my london borough, has which is my london borough, has been of criminal been accused of criminal offences palestinian flags. offences over palestinian flags. what's is basically what's happening is basically someone we don't know who or people are going around and putting palestinian on putting palestinian flags on literally lamppost i walk literally every lamppost i walk past in tower hamlets at the moment, hamlets moment, and tower hamlets council being of not council are being accused of not taking them down, of leaving them up there, which obviously i've got a very elderly jewish neighbour and she's finally incredibly she's incredibly upsetting and she's not so do you

not alone in this. so do you think there should be criminal charges involved for the council? doing their job? >> um, well, you've got to be careful because, uh, the idea of sort of public protest on the rest of it is important. and um, you know, if you set a precedent that people putting up or displaying signs of solidarity with whatever kind of campaign is liable to criminal offence, it's on public property, on lampposts. yeah. i mean, it's a bit like flyposting. it's like it's just the council's job to strip it down and get rid of it. it's a bit like cleaning posters off side of lampposts. it's off the side of lampposts. it's sort issue, i think. sort of a simple issue, i think. but i think there's, you know, this obviously an extremely this is obviously an extremely tense, . and we know tense, um, debate. and we know that has been an that there has been an intimidating at of intimidating tone at a lot of the pro—palestine marches from , the pro—palestine marches from, um, that march, um, people within that march, either openly expressing support for hamas or being sort of, you know, deliberately silent about sort of, um, condemning, uh, hamas and things like that. so there's a tension there. and i think most people would stand in most decent people would stand in solidarity with jewish,

particularly jewish, londoners who of hatred and who have had a lot of hatred and a lot anti—semitism and open a lot of anti—semitism and open anti—semitism the streets anti—semitism on the streets recently but the thing, the recently. but the thing, the thing that i think we always have to think about is freedom of speech, freedom of protest, and actually , i don't i don't and actually, i don't i don't think there are many jewish people who would want to close down discussion about this issue. um as you know, i don't think that's the right way to 90, think that's the right way to go, not least because censorship of any issue always pushes the worst elements of it deeper underground and makes it fester. underground and makes it festeh >> i suppose the real test of this is were individuals to put up some israeli flags on some lampposts. would the council be similarly nonchalant about not taking them down? that's to me , taking them down? that's to me, a big question. >> i would put my money on the fact that tower hamlets in particular, would take those down. um, not least we've seen other examples of the police, for example , taking down, um, for example, taking down, um, hostage posters because they regard them as being inflammatory to community tensions. and so on. but one of

the so it's not just flags and posters, it's also one of the stickers mentioned in the news report said victory. um, to the intifada. and obviously that has connotations of acts of terrorism not only within israel but also, um, potentially here in the uk as well. and you've seen people calling for global intifada, you've seen people on these marches associated with islamist groups talking about muslim armies and so on. there's a chance on one of these marches from london on to gaza. >> we demand an intifada. yeah. which which would imply action. and also the continent of europe. >> people who were making certain chants in arabic that were making reference to the um, uh , muhammad's acts of what you uh, muhammad's acts of what you would probably call genocide against, um, jews. i'm not going to repeat the, um, repeat the chant on air. so i think what's interesting about the background , um, of this is that tower hamlets is under the control of the aspire party. um and lutfur rahman is somebody who, um, had

already been excluded. excluded banned from office for five years and then was, um, brought back in again when he was running the party called tower hamlets. >> first they were found to have been rather liberal with postal votes and all that sort of thing. and then this new party comes along and now he's he's back. >> yeah. so i think, um, i think it's sort of against that background of maybe that's the reason why, you know, it's a large muslim area. perhaps there are a lot of people within the council who are very, um, pro the palestinian cause. they don't want to remove these things because they agree with them. maybe maybe. um, but going back to the point, i think, you know, the council are liable for under under under existing legislation if there are posters and so on, anything that breaks the law, they are criminally liable. they have to take that down once they've been notified that it's there and so if they haven't, then yes, it is the case as, um, these lawyers have

been arguing that they could possibly be criminally liable for not removing. >> i just want to bring in another story here rather quickly. linked. um, quickly. it is linked. um, organise members of pro—palestine could be pro—palestine marches. could be forced for great forced to help pay for the great amount resources. amount of police resources. i think million. the london think 17 million. the london bill for the metropolitan police is so far not talking the is so far not talking about the peaceful protests where they're standing on, the on the standing on, on the on the pavement, where had pavement, but where they had that saw the that this weekend. you saw the die westminster bridge die in on westminster bridge blocking that bridge, which leads saint thomas hospital. leads to saint thomas hospital. um, they should be um, do you think they should be made to pay the organisers of the march should be made to pay for the policing of those events i >> -- >> no, because that means that you um, protest if you can only, um, protest if you've got a fair bit of cash. and i don't that's fair or and i don't think that's fair or , um. well, it's an affront to the freedom of protest. i mean, there is there obviously there is this issue which is that from extinction rebellion to pro—palestine to actually some of the i remember some of the student protests. i used to go on, you know, you people are really annoying and it can be really annoying and it can be really and you know, really irritating. and you know, if on that

if you're sort of on that protest, you think as impactful and as disruptive as possible that get the most that we're going to get the most the noise most the most noise and the most press. on other hand, if press. on the other hand, if you're trying to get to saint thomas's you're trying to you're trying to get to saint tho tons's you're trying to you're trying to get to saint tho to work, you're trying to you're trying to get to saint tho to work, it'sou're trying to you're trying to get to saint tho to work, it's a|'re trying to you're trying to get to saint thoto work, it's a realrying to get to work, it's a real headache. if you're blocking a road, breaking the law. road, you're breaking the law. >> you not? you're blocking >> are you not? you're blocking a public highway and to that extent, just calling it a protest i do something protest. i can't do something illegal it was a illegal and say, oh, it was a protest. therefore legal. protest. therefore it's legal. won't no of course won't quite work. no of course it doesn't work. >> if you do something >> and if you do something illegal, should expect to be illegal, you should expect to be arrested. i mean, used arrested. i mean, we used to write our numbers on our write our phone numbers on our arms. when did it, it arms. i mean, when we did it, it was, you know, that's something that it's a decision you that it's a decision that you make as a group. make individually as a group. but the idea but i think the idea of pre—emptively trying to get people to pay for policing is a means off. it's means to put people off. it's a block protest. it's a means block to protest. it's a means to try and people off it. to try and put people off it. >> i think elon makes a good point, because i think it would be concerning just for the freedom to if we set freedom to protest if we set a precedent for people having to pay precedent for people having to pay security for their precedent for people having to pay protests. curity for their precedent for people having to pay protests. um,y for their precedent for people having to pay protests. um, but'their precedent for people having to pay protests. um, but itheir precedent for people having to pay protests. um, but i do r precedent for people having to pay protests. um, but i do think own protests. um, but i do think that some of these, quote, protests have been, whether it's

pro—palestine some pro—palestine or not, it's some of them more like street of them are more like street parties. when look at parties. and when you look at the um, being , you the sums as, um, being, you know, that the, the taxpayers expense, 20 million that has been spent on policing these marches that are happening every single saturday, they're extremely disruptive. they're blocking roads, they're preventing people from going about their daily business. they're interrupting critical infrastructure at train stations and so on. um, so obviously i do i think elon makes a really good point. i think that we can't be charging people for the cost of, of security and policing protest because it would put people off, um, from exercising their right to protest . i can understand why to protest. i can understand why there are concerns about this because it is a huge expense and you do you can easily end up with a situation where, in a way, you have protest groups that are kind of holding the pubuc that are kind of holding the public hostage in a way. and i think that the reason why we have right to protest is because it's important to democracy . and

it's important to democracy. and i think sometimes it's possible for, um, those who have a sort of, um , a bullying instinct of, um, a bullying instinct shall we say, to try and hold the public hostage, to try and get their way. well i'm afraid we don't have time for any more stories. >> dawn will be delighted. >> dawn will be delighted. >> the moon. >> the moon. >> because , uh, i'm tom. >> because, uh, i'm tom. >> because, uh, i'm tom. >> it's fantastic . fantastic. >> it's fantastic. fantastic. >> it's fantastic. fantastic. >> yeah. so, so why do we have. i've got about 30s. no 20s. >> i'm being told. thank you. gallery. thank you. >> can't discuss. dawn will be delighted that we can't discuss the moon landing. i am slightly disappointed, but we'll be back , disappointed, but we'll be back, of course, tomorrow at midday. thank you so much to emma webb, the political commentator and the political commentator and the journalist ella whelan for joining us in this discussion . joining us in this discussion. and of course, as i say, dawn and i will back tomorrow . of and i will be back tomorrow. of course. emily carver, currently on holiday in norway. >> so get away you. enjoy that. >> thank you very much . >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb

news. >> i'm alex deakin, this is your latest weather update from the met office for gb news. a cold start to a cold week. most of us will be dry through this week, but today we do have a few showers around. high pressure is controlling our weather as it will do for the next several days and around the high pressure. the winds go clockwise. i we've clockwise. i mean, we've got this easterly breeze the this easterly breeze across the south is bringing a south and that is bringing a mixture rain, sleet and snow mixture of rain, sleet and snow showers of east showers over parts of east anglia south—east. anglia and the south—east. increasingly a few flurries increasingly see a few flurries likely and around london, likely in and around london, essex, perhaps essex, kent, but also perhaps into hampshire , the into parts of hampshire, the sussexes and maybe 1 or 2 even in the south midlands. the odd rain and sleet shower over northern england, southern scotland , but for most it's dry, scotland, but for most it's dry, quite cloudy but where we've got some well it still some sunshine. well it still feels cold because temperatures are struggling below and are struggling below average and that making it feel even that wind making it feel even colder in the south, blowing a few more of those wintry showers across southwest.

across parts of the southwest. perhaps through the perhaps for a time through the evening overnight, maybe evening and overnight, maybe into of south wales. into parts of south wales. so again, a few again, you might see a few flurries here and there could turn icy as well, where we've got those showers as temperatures tumble again widely well below freezing, particularly in scotland where there's some freezing fog patches which likely to patches which are likely to unger patches which are likely to linger the day , through linger through the day, through the night and into tomorrow morning. again, most places having a fine bright day tomorrow. early showers in tomorrow. any early showers in the south—west, they will disappear, anything, not as disappear, if anything, not as much around so much cloud around tomorrow, so a better of seeing longer better chance of seeing longer spells of sunshine. but it ain't going to warm things up very much. another cold one tomorrow. >> looks like things are heating up boiler . as >> looks like things are heating up boiler. as sponsors of up boxt boiler. as sponsors of weather on

good afternoon. it's 3 pm. welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. in a few minutes time, i'll be joined by the deputy chairman of the conservative party, captain lee anderson, and as usual, he's got plenty to say . next up, got plenty to say. next up, liberal democrat leader ed davey is facing calls to quit for his role in the post office scandal. well, this fella's called for other people to quit. 31 times in the past. so is it time for ed davey to get the high jump? and with much of the country under water, sir keir starmer