billion boost to its another £6 billion boost to its coffers in a bid to drive productivity, but with record waiting lists and relatively poor outcomes internationally, is it time we turn off this service's life support machine and harry potter author j.k. rowling has hit back after trans journalist india willoughby accused her of committing a crime by misgendering her publicly . publicly. >> willoughby says she's reported rowling to the police. yes. so it all kicked off on social media between j.k. rowling and india willoughby overnight , right, rowling and india willoughby overnight, right, very rowling and india willoughby overnight , right, very heated overnight, right, very heated exchange of words . and now what exchange of words. and now what you've got is india willoughby, the trans newsreader , saying the trans newsreader, saying that she's reported jk rowling to the police for being rude about trans people and crucially, for misgendering her

for calling her a him . for calling her a him. >> the police have enough to be getting on with. >> well, this is the sort of crime that police get involved with. >> i think i think it's very rude to call trans women. >> he well, india has done it in the past, i believe. >> i think it's i think i'm not defending. i know india willoughby has said some really nasty well , but nasty things before as well, but i just don't see anyone i just don't see how anyone helps anything by being unnecessarily argumentative and rude. frankly i don't. rude. but frankly i don't. >> never unnecessarily argumentative. >> are you .7 never unnecessarily, >> are you.7 never unnecessarily, never >> are you? never unnecessarily, never unnecessarily? whenever i'm argumentative ? i'm argumentative? >> sure, sure, sure. >> _ >> sure, sure, sure. >> entirely necessary, but but the whole point is people are rude to each other every day online. yes. should being rude to someone online be a criminal offence? i don't think so . offence? i don't think so. >> well, rowling said that india willoughby , the trans willoughby, the trans journalist, is just a man revelling in his misogynistic performance of what he thinks woman means narcissistic, shallow and exhibitionist. then

willoughby hit back and accused her of outrageous while grotesque transphobia, before adding that she's every bit as much a woman as jk rowling is. so i guess the question for you is should misgendering someone ever be a crime? and is this absolutely absurd? well, that's my opinion anyway. absolutely absurd. vaiews@gbnews.com. let us know. we'll be talking about this later on in the show with an expert who's gone through something similar. but first, your . your headlines. >> emily. thank you. the top stories from the gb newsroom. labour says the government must explain how it will fund a cut to national insurance, announced in yesterday's budget. around £10 billion has been spent on a £0.02 cut to the insurance rate, but it's benefits are likely to be cancelled out by an expected rise in council tax. the prime minister has today repeated his long ambition to abolish long time ambition to abolish national insurance in the next parliament. non—dom tax

parliament. the non—dom tax status has also been scrapped, meaning that wealthy foreign residents will no longer get a tax break. sir keir starmer says the government is stealing labour's policies. >> how humiliating was that for the government yesterday? we've argued for years that they should get rid of the non—dom tax status . they've resisted tax status. they've resisted that and now completely out of ideas, only decent policy. they got is the one that they've lifted from us. and i think if you needed evidence of why we should go straight to a general election, it's that we need change. obviously, we will keep our commitment to the nhs so important. it is. our commitment to the nhs so important. it is . we'll go important. it is. we'll go through all of the numbers and will be absolutely clear. nothing in our manifesto will be unfunded and uncosted. that is an iron rule for the labour party. >> forecasters are predicting household disposable income to fall by 0.9. that would make this parliament the first in modern history to see a drop in living standards. we asked

residents in nottingham for their reaction to yesterday's budget . budget. >> i don't make a lot of a budget, to be fair. i think it's a scummy attempt by the conservative party to try and regain any bit of ground that they can get, really. i think they can get, really. i think they know they're in a difficult situation it's going to situation and it's not going to pan for them , and we pan out well for them, and we need to see results on the nhs seeing a gp, things that really matter, not beer duty , is this matter, not beer duty, is this there's nothing for the ordinary working man . working man. >> conservatives and labour, they're both certainly they're both the same. there is no difference. we need a change. >> to other news, the woman who went on the run with her partner and newborn child has denied harming her baby. constance marten, who's 36, and comes from a wealthy aristocratic family, is on trial with her partner, 49 year old mark gordon. their newborn baby, victoria, died while they were hiding from police in a tent in the south downs in sussex in wintry conditions last year. they allegedly went on the run in an attempt to keep the infant after

four other children were taken into care . speaking today in into care. speaking today in court, miss martin denied harming the child , insisting harming the child, insisting she'd given her the best that any mother would . both any mother would. both defendants deny wrongdoing. the case continuing on a missile case is continuing on a missile attack killed three sailors on a red sea merchant ship yesterday. the first fatalities since the houthis began targeting commercial shipping. the rebel group, who are backed by iran, claimed responsibility. the foreign secretary, lord cameron, says he's appalled by the deaths of the sailors, calling it a reckless and indiscriminate attack. britain and the united states are continuing retaliatory strikes against the houthis . a woman who loaded houthis. a woman who loaded a gun on a film set that was fired by actor alec baldwin, has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter. hannah gutierrez reed was found guilty of causing the death of 42 year old cinematographer halyna hutchins. she was killed when mr baldwin fired a gun as part of the making of a film. in october

2021. prosecutors allege that gutierrez reed unknowingly brought live ammunition onto the set, disregarding gun safety protocols. she now faces up to 18 months in prison. mr baldwin is also due to stand trial in july . nationwide building july. nationwide building societies reached an agreement to buy virgin money in a deal worth £2.9 billion. the planned takeover would create a combined lender worth more than 366 billion. it would eventually see virgin money brand disappear, though nationwide says it has no plans to cut jobs in the near tum . a new train service between tum. a new train service between london and central scotland has been given the go ahead. the rail regulator approved plans to operate four daily return services between london and houston and the city of stirling. it'll create new competition for lner, which currently operates services on that route. grand union trains is due to launch its new services by june next year , and services by june next year, and last month was the world's

warmest february in modern times. in another sign that the world is running out of time to deal with the climate crisis , deal with the climate crisis, each month since june last year has seen new temperature highs , has seen new temperature highs, with temperatures in europe 3.3 degrees above average degrees above the average throughout the 1990s. it means the world is at least temporarily now above the 1.5 degree threshold beyond which the worst impacts of climate change are expected . for the change are expected. for the latest news, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen. or you can go to gbnews.com slash alerts. now back to tom and . emily. >> migration will fall to 550,000 this year, down from its record high of last year. but crucially, this is up on what previous estimates of it would be this year . be this year. >> yes. jeremy hunt, he

mentioned migration throughout his budget at least three times, insisting we need to wean ourselves off cheap labour. >> but the obr shows that's not going to happen any time soon. and they've acknowledged that not all migration is economically beneficial. >> yes, very interesting indeed. so let's explore what was said. and crucially , what wasn't said and crucially, what wasn't said in yesterday's budget announcement . announcement. >> joining us is gb news political correspondent olivia utley, and our economics and business editor, liam halligan. olivia, let's start with you. it's really fascinating that the obr, for the first time have acknowledged that migration isn't always an economic boon. there's different types . there's different types. >> well, absolutely. i thought that was very interesting indeed . in previous budgets, conservative mps have consistent criticised the obr for overestimating the economic benefits of migration. i think it was in the last budget that one think tank said that the obr had overestimated the economic

benefits of migration by up to £8 billion, because they had refused to accept that they hadnt refused to accept that they hadn't built into their workings the fact that foreign students can only work for a certain number of hours. so the economic benefits they describe just wouldn't have been legally possible at all. the obr chief also admitted last time round that the obr's profile of economic, benefits of migration assumed that all migrants have a similar demographic profile to uk. nato citizens. obviously that's not the case. we know that's not the case. we know that there are some groups of migrants who are, far more economically active than the average brit, but there are also groups of economic migrants who aren't more active than the average brit. so this is a big change from the obr in their way of forecasting . and you could of forecasting. and you could see it trickling down into what jeremy hunt was saying. it was the first time, actually, that i had heard a politician

acknowledge the very obvious and simple yes , migration simple fact that, yes, migration might increase, gdp , britain's might increase, gdp, britain's gdp overall. but obviously , if gdp overall. but obviously, if you're making the cake bigger, as it were, if you're making the country, if you're making the population bigger, then even if the is getting bigger, the economy is getting bigger, people might still be feeling poorer. it's like making a cake bigger and giving people a smaller slices of it. so this is a fascinating shift from the obr and might be quite helpful to conservative governments in the future, although it might not be very helpful for this one as it's come a bit late for them. >> yes. well liam, also, this migration does it mask the level of economic inactivity to the obr? did highlight just how high worklessness is in this country . worklessness is in this country. >> i think there's a pretty merry dance going on between the obr and the treasury. and i think if we read the tea leaves of this budget, that pattern is

absolutely clear. why is it that jeremy hunt, just weeks ago, was preparing the ground for really hefty cuts in income tax, which hefty cuts in income tax, which he was, cuts which he then had to rein back from? i think the reason is because the obr pushed back and said income tax cuts, which of course cost £7 billion for each penny. you reduce income tax, are very expensive because they apply to pensioners, they apply to landlords and people who get income from non regular work. and that's why he went for national insurance cuts. this seems to me that there was a negotiation between jeremy hunt and the obr. but a negotiation which the chancellor was determined would not become a row, which would burst out into the open, as has happened in the past. you know, we have, experts so—called in whitehall who can get pretty bolshy when they feel they're not being listened to. they can leak to newspapers that

often happens. we all know it. we're professional journalists . we're professional journalists. yes. this is the world we live in. but it seems to me the chancellor, who's very much a consensual sort of feather smoothing kind of personality, very , very different from the very, very different from the likes of kwasi kwarteng and liz truss, who are much more combative, who, of course, fell out badly with the obr pretty much by ignoring them, the current chancellor and prime minister, they've wanted to keep their powder dry with the obr , their powder dry with the obr, it's clear that a lot of the growth we thought happen , growth we thought would happen, hasn't happened. no one could have in september or have said back in september or october that the uk was going to be in recession in the back end of last year. as it turns out, all these things affect the pubuc all these things affect the public finances. inflation has proved a lot more sticky than many people thought , and that many people thought, and that high inflation means higher interest rates means higher debt service costs, which means the pubuc service costs, which means the public finances are tighter. this was an underwhelming budget. it wasn't a pre—election

budget, but i think the chancellor was very much hemmed in by an office for budget responsibility that he was determined not to rile. >> well, let's raise that with olivia. this didn't appear like a pre—election budget. we were expecting. probably another fiscal event before the next election . election. >> well, i think that was really, really interesting . i really, really interesting. i mean, yesterday you and i were speaking and we were saying that perhaps jeremy hunt had something else up his sleeve. the very fact that he announced that cut in national insurance before the budget, that's almost unprecedented, unprecedented before the budget, that's almost u|chancellored, unprecedented before the budget, that's almost u|chancellor to unprecedented before the budget, that's almost u|chancellor to do,recedented before the budget, that's almost u|chancellor to do, weedented before the budget, that's almost u|chancellor to do, we thought, a chancellor to do, we thought, meant that there was going to be something else that perhaps he would cut income tax. he would also cut income tax. he didn't cut income tax. what he said was he gave this sort of tantalising hint that the conservatives plan in the long terme to combine national terme is to combine national insurance and income tax , but he insurance and income tax, but he wouldn't do it yet. now, why wouldn't do it yet. now, why wouldn't he do it yet ? possibly, wouldn't he do it yet? possibly, as liam says, because the obr sort of spooked him out of it.

it would be an expensive thing to do. there is a it could possibly be inflationary. although conservative, traditionally believe that if you lower taxes, people get to spend more of their own money and eventually it will actually lower inflation as well. but he didn't do that. and i think liam is probably right when the when the mini—budget that disastrous kwasi kwarteng liz truss mini—budget came out, it spooked the markets, it devalued the pound, etc. and it really scared politicians to jeremy hunt is now so terrified of spooking the market that essentially he did very, very little. it was a very unrwa budget. well, that's all very well. he succeeded in not spooking the markets, but his other job with this budget was to try and win back some disillusioned voters . will disillusioned voters. will voters be won back by this £0.02 cut in national insurance? i mean, on the one hand, it does put £450 back into the pocket of the average worker every year. that's not a bad tax cut. but

jeremy hunt did exactly the same last november and it proved to have no boost in the polls for the conservatives at all. and there are conservative mps who i've been speaking to who who are saying, well, isn't that the first sign madness doing the first sign of madness doing the same over and over again same thing over and over again and expecting different results? same thing over and over again an

hasn't registered? because it's only just come in, though. i agree with you completely. it is small beans and it is offset by the ongoing increase in personal taxation because those thresholds that we speak about all the time have been frozen. crikey. i've been in economics broadcast for a quarter of a century. never have so many of my colleagues been so keen for me to explain to them what fiscal drag is. it's become almost an everyday terme, a sort of technical piece of economics . of technical piece of economics. absolutely right, emily, to pick out this windfall tax again, it's labour putting forward a policy which the tories then pinch as things currently stand, nonh pinch as things currently stand, north sea oil and gas operators, often quite small firms, not the big oil majors , often small uk big oil majors, often small uk firms loaded up with debts. 75% of their profits are now being taken in a windfall tax. let's be clear. oil and gas companies

in the north sea have always paid corporation tax at a higher rate than everybody, ordinarily at than it's now 25. at 30, rather than it's now 25. for everyone else, then they've always paid a 10% supplement on top of that. and then when the war in ukraine began, the tories brought in an extra 25. that got them up to 65. and then they brought in another 10, 75. imagine doing a really capital intensive project involving millions of borrowed pounds, and then suddenly your profits are taxed at 75% rather than 40. almost impossible to make that work. that's why the scottish conservatives have taken the very unusual step of saying within minutes of the chancellor sitting down, they will back the budget as a whole. but when it comes to amendments on that windfall tax , they will oppose windfall tax, they will oppose their own government. and there's a lot of pushback, not just from tories, but also from parts of the labour movement too. you talk to the gmb union, the second biggest union in this country that has literally

thousands of workers on those oil rigs working in the oil and gas complex up and down the country, which employs over 300,000 people, all told, they really hate this windfall tax, too, because when you have such a windfall, tax projects just cease to operate and you get no tax at all. >> yeah, exactly. well thank you very much indeed for that analysis. liam halligan. of course, economics and business editor at olivia utley in westminster, political westminster, our political correspondent . we didn't correspondent. and we didn't even the, the nhs and even get on to the, the nhs and the of money that's going the amount of money that's going into service, £6 into the health service, £6 billion more, or will it actually affect the change we need, or is it time to, you know, think of other options, but, emily, i've been doing some maths. >> go on then. liz truss , when >> go on then. liz truss, when she was doing that mini—budget that everyone freaked out about, she did these tax cuts, right? 20 billion was the cost of her national insurance tax cuts. 20 billion was the forgoing of revenue from corporation tax and around 3 billion for the £0.45 rate. well, we've kept the ni

tax cuts. yep. and so we've ditched the corporation tax cut. but then the last two fiscal events jeremy hunt has done a £10 billion tax cut. and then a further £10 billion tax cut. we're only 3 billion off where liz truss was. >> we've just done she announced a huge energy package, didn't she. the same which was she. at the same time, which was a and while it a crucial point. and while it all y it all didn't add all didn't y it all didn't add up spooked markets , i suggest. >> but, but it's interesting, the total level of personal taxation about the same level. very similar to where liz truss had promised. we've ended up there. well, coming up, as more money is pumped into the nhs, we're asking if now could be the time, could be the to time, could be the time to aboush time, could be the time to abolish the health service altogether and to go for something a little different.

good afternoon. britain. 12:23. and one of the announcements from yesterday's budget was designed to help small businesses. a raising of that threshold. which businesses have to register for vat that went from £85,000 to £90,000. doesn't sound like the most seismic move in the world, but there you go. the chancellor claimed that that will cut taxes and help small businesses grow well. >> whilst the move has been welcomed some others the welcomed by some others in the industry, think does not go industry, think it does not go far and further support far enough and further support needs provided . needs to be provided. >> speak now with the >> and let's speak now with the policy. federation policy. chair of the federation of businesses, tina of small businesses, tina mckenzie suppose mckenzie and tina. i suppose there were little bits in this budget. there were tweaks there, here and there. but ultimately, is what wanted to see? is it what you wanted to see? >> well, certainly some of the things that he announced , were things that he announced, were very welcome. so, for example, he extended the loan recovery scheme, which we asked for, you know, the freezing of the fuel duty is quite important to our members , especially those in the members, especially those in the countryside out there in the rural areas and those that rely

on their vehicles for their business. but i think the big one for us was we've been asking for years, for the threshold on vat lifted, you know, for vat to be lifted, you know, for around seven years it's been the same at the 85,000. so never mind inflation that hasn't moved. and i actually personally asked the prime minister at the conference in the hall about that. and we weren't getting much commitment. so we really do welcome the fact that they've moved it from the 85,000 to 90. we did ask for 100,000, but at least it's going in the right direction. and another welcome move for us was the reduction in the national insurance for the self—employed from 8% to 6. that's definitely welcome. but if you ask the question, is that going to make the difference in this economy for small businesses and the entrepreneurs and the wealth creators? no, it's not really going to make that much of a difference. you know, we have asked for other things that would really make a difference and get the economy growing and get productivity up. things the things like bringing the threshold on business rates up

to 25,000 that would reconfigure great the high streets. that means that people that are the smaller businesses, the start ups get an opportunity and, you know, we all know walking up and down our cities and our towns that we need to do something to help more businesses open and expand grow. and the expand and grow. and the chancellor he can't chancellor knows that he can't get the economy growing unless the 99% of businesses that are smes actually are confident enough to invest. and that's what he's got to try and build. he's got to build that confidence . confidence. >> it's really important to build that confidence. thank you very much. talking through those issues with us. and, best of luck to all of the businesses in your federation. thank you very much indeed. >> well, the other thing that was in this budget was, of course, more money for the nhs . course, more money for the nhs. now, i believe the nhs has been the only public spending area that has been, ring fenced over the course of the past decade or so. 50. >> so. >> well, more than ring fenced. what the chancellor announced

was something that anyone can find if they take the time to go on the king's fund, that independent, health statistics authority , which shows that authority, which shows that there's been a one third increase real terms increase in nhs spending, has risen by a third from 2010 to today, gone from around 130 billion to over 180 billion in today's cash, an enormous rise . but of course, enormous rise. but of course, people don't feel like there's been a big rise. >> also contrary, contrary, contrary to popular belief, the number of people working in the nhs has very much increased. we talk about staff shortages in the nhs, but actually the number of people employed by the organisation has gone up, up, up , up, organisation has gone up, up, up , up, up. but are we feeling the benefits of our nhs on a day to day basis? we waiting lists record high. it's taking a long time to get those down, outcomes compared to international competitors not looking so good. and for crucial things like

cancen and for crucial things like cancer, survival rates are not good. people can't get gp appointments, is it time now to actually look at the nhs as a whole and think, can we do better? >> or is the chancellor right? is all we need a bit of technology in the nhs, perhaps we'll massively increase the productivity of this behemoth if we half the amount of paperwork that doctors and nurses have to do, that's the promise of the chancellor . do, that's the promise of the chancellor. and of do, that's the promise of the chancellor . and of course, chancellor. and of course, insert new technical marvels like ai in diagnosis. >> well, joining us now is political commentator reem ibrahim and doctor david lloyd. thank you very much indeed for joining us. regime in the budget statement. more for money the nhs. is this the 6 billion that's going to turn things around, or is it time to think of a different model? >> thank you emily. >> thank you emily. >> well, it's almost farcical at this point, it? this point, isn't it? >> every the chancellor >> every time the chancellor announces budget , the there is announces a budget, the there is more promised for nhs.

more money promised for the nhs. and yet we don't see those outcomes being implemented. there seems to be this kind there also seems to be this kind of, the nhs seems to be politically untouchable. you know, any kind of silly institutional reform to the nhs seems to be politically impossible . people view the nhs impossible. people view the nhs as though it is a sacred cow , as though it is a sacred cow, and we are spending just below £200 billion a year on our nhs and what i found rather farcical was jeremy hunt's comparison to this idea that to be proud, we're proud to be british and we're proud to be british and we're proud to be british and we're proud of our nhs. well, i'm not very proud of a healthcare system that is failing behind international standards . failing behind international standards. i'm not very proud of a healthcare system that effectively means that if we were to be implementing these kind of fully institutional reforms, they would be huge uproar across the country because people seem to be failing to understand that the solution is not throwing more money at a bureaucratic black hole. the solution is fully institutional reform. >> doctor david, is the nhs now

beyond repair ? a few billion beyond repair? a few billion here and there isn't going to fix what perhaps is an institutional failure . institutional failure. >> i think the nhs is facing the same problems that most health care systems around the world are facing, which is that we've got a huge log backlog from covid, and we have a population that's getting older and everybody is getting more and more diseases. >> and the and the consequence of that is that it's ever more expensive health expensive to have a health system works . sure, we can system that works. sure, we can aboush system that works. sure, we can abolish the nhs and go to another system , but i if i could another system, but i if i could if we're talking about money and i think money seems be i think money seems to be the topic today, average company topic today, the average company worker in the united states, the company has to pay $26,000 per employee , for their for their employee, for their for their health care. and the employee has to pay $6,000 themselves. so you add that cost to the average company in the uk , and you company in the uk, and you suddenly find that you have, uk plc having to have huge costs,

which makes us even more uncomfortable , which makes makes uncomfortable, which makes makes us much difficult, much more difficult to find the growth that we need to find the money that we need to find the money that we need to find the money that we need to pay for the vital public services. so it's not a good idea to get rid of the nhs economically. it's also not a good idea to get rid of the nhs on an egalitarian point of view. 7.7% of the us are uninsured, bankruptcy is. the health costs are the commonest cause of bankruptcy . we don't cause of bankruptcy. we don't want a system that is not free at the point of contact is not, though it doesn't feel very egalitarian at the moment. >> the nhs, if you have the money, you're going to go private to avoid those waiting lists. yeah. ream. realistically, it would take a very brave person to, abolish the nhs and start something from scratch. surely there's a middle ground? >> well, the first point i'd like to make is that there are more than two countries in the world, and not everyone in the

country , not everyone in the country, not everyone in the world nhs. we actually world has an nhs. we actually stand in that respect. stand alone in that respect. most countries form of most countries have a form of pubuc most countries have a form of public and private partnerships. my public and private partnerships. my favourite system would probably the singaporean probably be the singaporean system, in which effectively nobody without healthcare . nobody goes without healthcare. nobodyis nobody goes without healthcare. nobody is stuck with a heart attack and then a card machine comes out and they ask for payment. that's not how it works . in reality, the singaporean system effectively means that you are personally responsible for ensuring your healthcare and if you for things that are not catastrophic , things like dental catastrophic, things like dental care, things like, routine check—ups you can act as a consumer as you would for shopping for your food at sainsbury's or asda and tesco. you can shop around for the best, best services that you can. and again, if you can't afford it, the government will foot the bill so this idea that the only other system the the only other system in the world the nhs and the us is world is the nhs and the us is completely farcical. it's completely farcical. it's completely untrue . looking at completely untrue. looking at countries like germany, sweden, denmark, france , these

denmark, even france, these countries all have some form of pubuc countries all have some form of public and private partnerships. and fundamentally it's about allowing to have that allowing consumers to have that choice. and if we compete with different hospitals , we compete different hospitals, we compete with different providers. consumers will have that choice . consumers will have that choice. and also the actual system will be forced to compete with one another so that they can drive up standards. at the moment, we seem to think that the solution to public service failure to every public service failure is spending more money, and we're running out of time. >> i'm just going to give the >> so i'm just going to give the last to doctor david there. last word to doctor david there. what be one priority what can be done? one priority for nhs that could, help fix for the nhs that could, help fix the problems . the problems. >> we just need a pledge, i'm afraid, from the government that the nhs is the way to go. if you're going to chip away at the perception of the nhs and the middle class desert, it, you will end up with an nhs that is just for emergencies and then we will be sunk. so all this debate is great, but it just won't work any other way . any other way. >> well there we go. doctor david lloyd reem ibrahim thank

you very much both for your time. sorry you have to leave it there. i think we could have talked afternoon. there. i think we could have taliall afternoon. afternoon. >> all afternoon. >> all afternoon. >> j.k. rowling finds >> coming up, j.k. rowling finds herself the of herself at the centre of a transgender we're asking if transgender row. we're asking if misgendering someone should be a crime. this is good afternoon, britain. . britain. here on. gb news. >> good afternoon. it's 1233. the top stories from the gb newsroom. sir keir starmer says the government must explain how it will fund a cut to national insurance, announced in yesterday's budget. he made the comments during a visit to a construction site in the city of london today. shadow chancellor rachel reeves has claimed jeremy hunt delivered an omnishambles budget . around £10 billion has budget. around £10 billion has been spent on a £0.02 cut to the insurance rate, but its benefits are likely to be cancelled out by an expected rise in council tax . the non—dom tax status has tax. the non—dom tax status has also been scrapped, meaning that wealthy foreign residents will no longer get a tax break.

average house prices rose by 0.4% last month, the fifth monthly increase in a row. halifax says prices grew by 1.7% on an annual basis, compared to 2.3% the previous month. the average british home now costs just under £292,000. a woman who went on the run with her partner and newborn child has denied harming her baby . constance harming her baby. constance marten, who's 36 and comes from a wealthy aristocrat family, is on trial with her partner, 49 year old mark gordon. their newborn baby, victoria, died while they were hiding from police in a tent in sussex in wintry conditions last year. they allegedly went on the run in an attempt to keep the infant after four other children were taken into care. miss martin denied harming the child, insisting she'd given her the best that any mother would. both defendants deny wrongdoing. the

case is continuing . nationwide case is continuing. nationwide building society has reached an agreement to buy virgin money in agreement to buy virgin money in a deal worth £2.9 billion. the planned takeover aims to create a combined lender worth more than 366 billion, making it britain's second largest. it would eventually see the virgin money brand disappear, though nationwide says it has no plans to cut jobs in the near tum . for to cut jobs in the near tum. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. common alerts

i >> -- >> good afternoon. britain now. small businesses. yesterday's budget offered to help them with a vat threshold raise from 85 k

to 90 k. it's not the most interesting bit of the budget, but what is interesting is small businesses and how they might grow. >> yes, indeed. well, i believe we're going to gb news west midlands reporterjack we're going to gb news west midlands reporter jack carson, who's in tamworth getting the very latest reaction . jack. so very latest reaction. jack. so the dust has settled on the budget. what are the great people of tamworth thinking ? people of tamworth thinking? >> yeah, exactly. it has of course those commitments and those promises that jeremy hunt made at the despatch box yesterday , how exactly are they yesterday, how exactly are they going down the places that going down in the places that are to be affected? are going to be affected? businesses across the uk? we're here tamworth belo . here in tamworth and in belo. we're joined with carl raffa, who's here. carl, who's a director here. carl, thank much joining thank you very much for joining us kind us this afternoon. just kind of give then bit of reaction give me then a bit of reaction to jeremy hunt's budget yesterday. >> i think clearly it's laying a pathway to a general election. so while there's no big surprises, i would say it's been designed to really whet the appetite of voters . yeah. appetite of voters. yeah. >> and what did you make of it, how much of what he said might,

might kind of impact you and make your life and business maybe a little bit easier? >> well, ultimately, i think as a business, there's a small business, there's very little budget for us. but little in the budget for us. but what have seen is nice what we have seen is a very nice gesture national gesture from a national insurance , which insurance perspective, which will benefit our team. but from a small business perspective , a small business perspective, very little for us. yeah. >> i mean, one of the things that there's some that maybe there's been some criticism that there wasn't anything business anything to do with business rates, maybe rates, is that something maybe you have liked to have you would have liked to have seen? do feel seen? how do you feel about that? that changed? that? that wasn't changed? >> absolutely. i think, you know, every budget know, you go into every budget hoping something there. know, you go into every budget h0|would something there. know, you go into every budget h0|would like;omething there. know, you go into every budget h0|would like torething there. know, you go into every budget h0|would like to see ng there. so would i like to see a business rate change but business rate change 100? but what had is some what we have had is some opportunity , i guess, to, make opportunity, i guess, to, make the most in other in other the most of it in other in other parts of our business. >> yeah, of course. full expensing one of those things that's been extended, for the next, you know, year or so. so what kind of impact would that have? obviously you're have? because obviously you're here, merchandising, have? because obviously you're here, you've'chandising, have? because obviously you're here, you've'chara ising, have? because obviously you're here, you've'chara lot g, have? because obviously you're here, you've'chara lot of branding. you've got a lot of equipment. must equipment. i imagine that must be, big help to you be, you know, a big help to you that expensing full that full expensing full expensing will make expensing definitely will make a huge to huge impact to us. >> actually for other >> and actually for other businesses, slightly smaller

businesses, slightly smaller businesses are on the businesses maybe, who are on the cusp of vat, i think the increase in threshold there will certainly help them as well. >> yeah. and of course it's not just business well. just a business owner as well. you're paramedic you're also been a paramedic in as of commitments to the as lots of commitments to the nhs well about efficiency for nhs as well about efficiency for maybe experience within the maybe your experience within the nhs. are some of the nhs. what are some of the announcements jeremy announcements that jeremy hunt made you think made yesterday? do you think they're an impact they're going to have an impact about productivity, trying about productivity, about trying to it to fund, you know, new it systems efficiency? systems to improve efficiency? i think look, you know, we can't buy our way out of the problem with the nhs. with the n hs. >> with the nhs. >> we've tried many times. so >> we've tried so many times. so i think it's positive to see i do think it's positive to see that actually we're taking that step but the problems step into ai. but the problems there relate to blame, excuses and . we really need to and denial. we really need to get to the core issue, and the core issue is the leadership and the management of the nhs. all right. >> well, karl, thank you very much for joining >> well, karl, thank you very much forjoining us this much for joining us this afternoon. we'll hear a little bit little bit more from from karl a little bit more from from karl a little bit getting that bit later on getting that reaction of course, reaction to those. of course, promises commitments that promises and commitments that jeremy the budget jeremy hunt made at the budget yesterday . jeremy hunt made at the budget yes marvellous jack. we'd >> marvellous stuff jack. we'd love from real people on love to hear from real people on the ground. how is this affecting us all across the

country ? that's all what news country? that's all what gb news is be about. is meant to be about. >> indeed, it is. but coming up, jk rowling reported to the jk rowling is reported to the police. allegedly. we're asking if misgendering someone should be a crime. it's all kicked off .

online. right. it's 1245. you're watching and listening to good afternoon, britain. and you've been getting in touch. after that, a debate about the state of the nhs and whether it's actually time to abolish the thing in favour of something else, of course, in favour of an alternative model . paul says alternative model. paul says the nhs should scrapped nhs should have been scrapped years a black hole and years ago. it's a black hole and not fit for purpose. strong stuff and robert says don't ever suggest that the nhs ceases to exist . exist. >> the nhs is one of the treasures we have left in

britain . mismanagement by highly britain. mismanagement by highly paid be paid individuals has to be investigated and union activities restricted. >> a lot of people would agree with you on that when there's polling done about the nhs , it's polling done about the nhs, it's overwhelmingly people support it , susan says, listening to your young lady talking about basically getting rid of the nhs, i'd suggest to her that she go visit a country without an nhs. if she has an ounce of humanity, she would change her mind. it's not about money and spreadsheets. it's about people's and health. people's well—being and health. but problem when but the problem is, susan, when you outcomes , i.e. you look at the outcomes, i.e. whether people being treated whether people are being treated and and whether and survival rates and whether they're treated, and then their health improves, we're not doing that well. we're not actually doing well compared to doing that well compared to other . other countries. >> if you're still watching, please in touch. i'd please do get back in touch. i'd just ask this just like to ask you this question. have you ever been to france? have you ever been to germany? to germany? have you ever been to the have you ever the netherlands? have you ever been to denmark? have you ever been to denmark? have you ever been to denmark? have you ever been to belgium? have you ever been to belgium? have you ever been to belgium? have you ever been to switzerland? have you ever been any of these ever been to any of these countries? none of which have

the . they've got a form of the nhs. they've got a form of universal health care, but it's through a mixed delivery. and i think that's what ryan was arguing for. she wasn't saying have no health care at all or the american model or the american model. she was saying there lots of european there are lots of european countries. well, she she actually the singaporean actually likes the singaporean model might model best. i think that might be bit beyond the model best. i think that might be of bit beyond the model best. i think that might be of possibility. beyond the model best. i think that might be of possibility. but)nd the model best. i think that might be of possibility. but butthe realm of possibility. but but but i mean, australia even they don't nhs in australia. don't have an nhs in australia. if you're a higher rate taxpayer and you don't take out private insurance, you get a tax penalty. now that means that they encourage through their tax system, afford it system, people who can afford it to pay for their own insurance and who can't afford it and people who can't afford it get better services through a less crowded state system. >> well, bob says nhs is increasing its staff numbers, but are they in the right areas ? but are they in the right areas? far too many in diversity, inclusion and oh, he said, in division, exclusion and inequality he's turned it on its head. very clever, very clever. bob that is a question. i mean, you often see job adverts for

the nhs, and a lot of them have absolutely nothing to do with health care. >> no, although it is a massive organisation, it's the largest employer in britain and the world is i do understand, i think the chinese army might say something about that, i don't know, but in europe perhaps, perhaps, i think, i think what is interesting is that perhaps it does make sense in areas to have non—clinical roles. if you have non—clinical roles. if you have doctors who spend their entire time just filling out forms, why employ a doctor on six figure salaries? who could be filling out these forms ? be filling out these forms? wouldn't it be more efficient to employ a manager , a non—clinical employ a manager, a non—clinical person who who is completely better yet, staff? >> better yet, tom, a robot? well, let's move on because now you've sparked my interest . he you've sparked my interest. he loves robots anyway. trans journalist india willoughby has reported. she claims to have reported. she claims to have reported authorjk rowling to the police for an alleged hate crime. what's the hate crime for

misgendering her in online posts? well miss rowling refused to refer to willoughby as a woman when engaging with online debate about all female locker rooms. but the harry potter author has responded, claiming that willoughby's obsessive targeting of her may meet the legal threshold for harassment. >> oh good. more police action each way, for tat. well, let's discuss this with the co—founder and executive director of sex matters, maya forstater . for matters, maya forstater. for maya, this is an extraordinary case. why on earth are twitter trolls spilling out into our legal system and police ? legal system and police? >> well, india said that he reported jk rowling for misgendering. >> whether the police take that seriously as a crime, it's yet to be seen. but people are using the police as their own private force to harass other people. >> jk rowling, of course, can say that india willoughby is a

man. there's no crime. >> see, tom here, well, i didn't i didn't like it when you said he when you pointedly said he as the second word in your set. >> that was that was clearly deliberate. that was clearly provocative. i mean, it's just it's just not very nice. >> well, you may say that, and that's fine, but as long as the police don't come knocking on my doom police don't come knocking on my doonl police don't come knocking on my door, i don't care if you roll your eyes. >> go ahead. roll >> go ahead. roll >> that's that's fair enough. i think we can. we can absolutely agree. there i don't the agree. there i don't think the police should involved in any police should be involved in any of but isn't there of this, but. but isn't there a point what jk rowling point here about what jk rowling was two years ago or was saying? two years ago or three years ago, when jk rowling sort entered this form of sort of entered this form of debate, she would refer, think debate, she would refer, i think , to trans people, by the way, in which i think most decent people would say, if a trans woman wants to be called, she will call you she. it seems that jk rowling has gone beyond that now, of gone down now, has sort of gone down a path away from a more moderate position that she expressed when she first went into this debate,

what some would describe as going down a rabbit hole. is that true? >> maya? >> maya? >> i think people are free to choose use their own words, choose to use their own words, and jk rowling is one of our best writers. >> very clear, words >> she's very clear, which words she chooses? >> india willoughby is acting like an angry , woman hating man, like an angry, woman hating man, he is going afterjk rowling's appearance, my appearance , the appearance, my appearance, the appearance, my appearance, the appearance of, you know, the women who had lunch with jk rowling last year, calling us from p, calling us fat talking about our shoes. >> that's the kind of thing that you get from women hating men, and in order to say, this is the behaviour that we're seeing, it's necessary to call him. he >> maya, india has also , >> maya, india has also, perpetrated this, alleged crime , perpetrated this, alleged crime, with the misgendering . with the misgendering. >> yeah. apparently so. yes. i

think india called debbie hayton, he who is another, trans identified man. it's clearly caught. pronouns are not a crime, what, india has done more seriously is he tweeted . and, seriously is he tweeted. and, what what van would be large enough to kidnap, jk rowling, joanna cherry and myself , joanna cherry and myself, referring to me as mayo potato . referring to me as mayo potato. i mean, it's childish, but it's also scary to have a man talking about kidnapping you on the internet. >> i think, the words that india willoughby have used are horrible , and it's really shows horrible, and it's really shows the depth that this debate has plunged to online. but but isn't isn't what but do you think do you think j.k. rowling is a is a transphobe? yes, i do actually. now i didn't used to i didn't when she first did her, when she

first came out and wrote that tweet where, where she was like , tweet where, where she was like, live as you live as you want. if you're discriminated, i'd march with all that sort of with you. all that sort of stuff. used to present stuff. she used to present a much moderate, position on much more moderate, position on her and her views, and i think a position that i think a lot of people would moderately say absolutely in sport. let's have this discussion in certain areas. >> yeah, you don't even like >> yeah, but you don't even like it when it comes to sport. >> no. she walks around calling trans women. >> rowling become an >> he has jk rowling become an extremist at. >> i think she's just being clear. i mean, the thing is , clear. i mean, the thing is, tom, there all kinds of tom, that there are all kinds of words talking about men. words for talking about men. male boy, he , they all mean the male boy, he, they all mean the same thing. and all of them have been called transphobic. so, you know, you're talking about, pronouns. but in order to talk about why we don't want men in female sports, we need to be able to say that they're men , able to say that they're men, that they're male. >> and can i just ask you? we're running out of time, do you running out of time, but do you think know jk rowling? think you know jk rowling? you've discussions with you've had many discussions with

her. think she has her. do you think that she has moved from the position that she first announced a few years ago? do think she agrees with you do you think she agrees with you more than used to ? more than she used to? >> i think she still respects everyone's human rights, but she's trying to be clear , about she's trying to be clear, about the difference between men and women. and that means we need to be able to use clear language. >> well, thank you very much indeed for your time, maya. forstater, to speak to you forstater, great to speak to you . stay with us, because we're going debating next going to be debating next whether bride, shamima whether the isis bride, shamima begum, allowed begum, should be allowed to return uk. the un had return to the uk. the un has had a about this . a lot to say about this. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello again. welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. tomorrow's going to be a mostly fine day for many of us, but before then we do have a few

showers to watch out for. at the moment there is southeast flow moment there is a southeast flow across that's being across the country that's being brought high pressure brought on by high pressure towards the northeast of the uk. worth bearing in this flow worth bearing in mind this flow is brisk and those winds is quite brisk and those winds are pick as we go are going to pick up as we go into tomorrow. will into tomorrow. there will be a few showers evening across few showers this evening across parts . they will then parts of wales. they will then push northern push into northern ireland overnight showery overnight and also some showery outbreaks across parts of northeast england and scotland. two could a bit of sleet or two could be a bit of sleet or snow over the highest ground , snow over the highest ground, otherwise night and otherwise mostly dry night and even developing even some clear skies developing in the south and across parts of northwest scotland. clear skies and shelter from the wind in prone spots could lead to prone rural spots could lead to a touch frost tomorrow a touch of frost tomorrow morning. as we go morning. otherwise, and as we go through from through tomorrow, apart from a few outbreaks of rain few showery outbreaks of rain through morning across parts few showery outbreaks of rain th|scotland morning across parts few showery outbreaks of rain th|scotland and ning across parts few showery outbreaks of rain th|scotland and northeastys parts of scotland and northeast england, it's looking like dry england, it's looking like a dry day we will see increasing day and we will see increasing amounts of sunshine, particularly many parts particularly across many parts of england and wales and also western meanwhile, western scotland. meanwhile, areas exposed to that southeasterly are to southeasterly wind are likely to remain cloudier and remain a bit cloudier and temperatures will be a touch lower than today. for many of us, with chill,

us, with a wind chill, especially across northern parts, weekend , and parts, into the weekend, and it's looking a bit wetter for many us. there be some many of us. there will be some unsettled weather pushing its way southwest as we way in from the southwest as we go saturday, so in go through saturday, so in southern areas likely to southern areas it's likely to turn times over turn pretty wet at times over the next few days a bit more showery. further north, temperatures may pick on temperatures may pick up on saturday dropping by saturday before dropping down by monday . monday. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers , sponsors of boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on

gb news. way. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 1:00 on thursday, the 7th of march. >> immigration is not cost free. that's according to damning analysis from the obr. the quango has revised up its net migration estimate to 315,000 people each year in the medium terme . can our public services

terme. can our public services cope and the united nations are now demanding britain repatriate shamima begum and review the decision to revoke her citizenship , should the un even citizenship, should the un even have a say? >> and should we let her return to the uk? we'll be having that debate and major defence spending concerns after there were no major announcements in yesterday's budget , with an ex yesterday's budget, with an ex armed forces minister saying does russia have to get to warsaw before we start spending what we need on . what we need on. defence? well, we just spoke to maya forstater from sex matters about the row between j.k. rowling and the row between j.k. rowling and the trans journalist india willoughby . and i'm, judging by willoughby. and i'm, judging by our inbox, a lot of people at home think that you're a bit ridiculous on this issue, tom. well i think i think i am the only person standing in the

moderate place on this. >> i think there are no but there are people who go crazy on either side of this debate. and i think being unnecessarily rude to trans people, calling them he if want to be called she is if they want to be called she is rude wrong. but i think rude and wrong. but i also think talking about throwing people into a van is into the back of a van is ridiculous. wrong. ridiculous. and wrong. >> you've argued >> previously you've argued something call something that i would call quite radical, arguing that, you know, if you're a transgender woman and you happen to be petite, then you can play in all sports. >> i've just been quoting what the guidelines are for lots of major sports. >> those guidelines are shifting quite, quite a lot, aren't they? >> well, no, there are lots of different rules. so for one of the one of rules, for the one of the rules, for example with swimming, that was celebrated people on sort celebrated by people on the sort of gender critical side of this debate are that people who go through male puberty can't swim in female teams. now, there are some trans women who did not go through male puberty, even under those rules that have changed, there are some trans women who

would be allowed in those teams. >> i just don't think that you can mansplain this issue. this is issue for women. is an issue for women. >> you're sounding like >> now you're sounding like a leftist. >> no, not sounding like a >> no, i'm not sounding like a leftist. i don't leftist. 2010 i think. i don't know talking about know what you're talking about on this one. and live in on this one. and you live in a fairyland you can completely fairyland and you can completely understand and why women are uncomfortable with those who are biologically male, competing in their sport and also with this row between j.k. rowling and india willoughby, it absolutely should not be against the law, and sure it won't be. i'm and i'm sure it won't be. i'm sure jk rowling will not be found guilty. should never be against the law to misgender someone i mean absolutely a moment of glorious agreements there. >> we go. we can settle on where the law should be even if people should be free to disagree, they should be free to disagree, they should be free to disagree . should be free to disagree. >> well, and we do it so well. here is your headlines. >> good afternoon. the top stories from the gb newsroom . stories from the gb newsroom. the prime minister refused to

say how the government would fund a plan to abolish employee contributions to national insurance. around £10 billion has been spent on a £0.02 cut to the insurance rate , but its the insurance rate, but its benefits are likely to be cancelled out by an expected rise in council tax. rishi sunak says british workers deserve to be recognised. >> the direction of travel is now crystal clear. our plans are working because of the improvement in the economic environment, because of the fact we've been able to get inflation down from 11% to 4, mortgage rates, energy bills, falling wages rising, we've been able to start cutting people's taxes responsibly , and that shows that responsibly, and that shows that our plans are working. >> i believe in a society where hard work is rewarded. we're delivering that for people , and delivering that for people, and they can see that the change we're about starting we're talking about is starting to happen. if stick to to happen. and if we stick to the we can make sure that the plan, we can make sure that everyone of mind. everyone has peace of mind. >> keir starmer says that >> sir keir starmer says that unlike the government, labour's policies are fully funded . policies are fully funded. >> contrast that with the government, where yesterday, at the end of the budget, the

chancellor made a staggering £46 billion unfunded commitment to aboush billion unfunded commitment to abolish national insurance. that's bigger than liz truss's commitment. so they've learned absolutely nothing . we need absolutely nothing. we need change. it's time for change. >> forecasters are predicting household disposable income to fall by 0.9. that would make this parliament the first in modern history to see a drop in living standards. we asked residents in nottingham for their reaction to yesterday's budget . budget. >> i don't make a lot of a budget, to be fair. i think it's a scummy attempt by the conservative party try and conservative party to try and regain any bit of ground that they really. i think they can get, really. i think they can get, really. i think they know they're in a difficult situation going to situation and it's not going to pan well for them, and we pan out well for them, and we need to results on the nhs need to see results on the nhs seeing a gp, things that really matter, not be a duty , is this matter, not be a duty, is this there's nothing for the ordinary working man . working man. >> conservatives and labour, they're both , they're both the they're both, they're both the same. there is no difference. we

need a change. >> to other news, the woman who went on the run with her partner and newborn child has denied harming her baby. constance marten, who's 36 and comes from a wealthy aristocratic family , a wealthy aristocratic family, is on trial with her partner, 49 year old mark gordon . their year old mark gordon. their newborn baby, victoria, died while they were hiding from police in a tent on the south downs in sussex in wintry conditions last year. they allegedly went on the run in an attempt to keep the infant after four other children were taken into care. speaking today in court, miss martin denied harming the child, insisting she'd given her the best that any mother would. both defendants deny wrongdoing. the case is continuing . mps are case is continuing. mps are warning the post office is not fit to run any compensation schemes for the victims of the honzon schemes for the victims of the horizon it scandal, and should be excluded. the business and trade committee published recommendations for delivering payments to hundreds of victims to scribing efforts, so far as abject failure. the committee says an independent body should

be appointed to lead the process . the chairman described it as a national disgrace that only £1 out of every £5 of the budget for compensation has been paid out . the government will attempt out. the government will attempt to overturn amendments to its flagship immigration policy after it suffered heavy defeats in the house of lords. commons leader penny morton confirmed today that the safety of rwanda bill will return to the lords. lords on the 18th of march. mps will get a chance to debate and vote on the amendments in the following week. peers in the house of lords made several changes to the bill, including allowing question the allowing courts to question the safety east african safety of the east african nafion safety of the east african nation . a missile attack killed nation. a missile attack killed three sailors on a red sea merchant ship yesterday. the first fatality since the houthis began targeting commercial shipping. the rebel group, who are backed by iran, claimed responsibility. the foreign secretary, lord david cameron , secretary, lord david cameron, says he's appalled by the deaths of the sailors, calling it a reckless and indiscriminate attack. britain and the united

states are continuing retaliatory strikes against the houthis . nationwide retaliatory strikes against the houthis. nationwide building society has reached an agreement to buy virgin money in a deal worth £2.9 billion. the planned takeover would create a combined lender worth more than 366 billion. it would eventually see the virgin money brand disappear, though nationwide says it has no plans to cut jobs in the near tum . and a new train in the near tum. and a new train service between london and central scotland has been given the go ahead. the rail regulator approved plans to operate four daily return services between london euston and the city of stirling. it will create new competition for lner, which currently operates services on that route . grand union trains that route. grand union trains is due to launch its new services by june next year. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts now

back to tom and . emily. back to tom and. emily. >> good afternoon britain. 1:08. and the prime minister has said that yesterday's budget shows his plan is working. while on a visit to south yorkshire today. let's hear what he had to say. >> oh, well, we will hear what he has to say. i imagine he'll say this is exactly what the plan, how it's working. everything's going right. >> just stick with us. they'll say he's cutting taxes. even though the tax burden is going up. he'll say. he'll say that the is working, even though the plan is working, even though we're the full we're yet to see the full details of the plan. but let's hear now . hear his words now. >> i think everyone recognises the difficult times that we've been through as a country over the past couple of years. >> we've had the pandemic and the war ukraine, both of the war in ukraine, both of which the which necessitated the government stepping in, rightly to people , families, to support people, families, businesses those businesses through those difficult of difficult times. and that's, of

course, an impact on things. course, had an impact on things. and i think people will recognise but the recognise that. but the direction travel is now direction of travel is now crystal plans are crystal clear. our plans are working because of the improvement in the economic environment, of the fact environment, because of the fact we've been able to get inflation down from 11% to 4, mortgage rates, energy bills falling, wages rising, we've been able to start cutting people's taxes responsibly. and the two tax cuts that have been announced at the end of last year and just now mean a tax cut worth around £900 for an average person in work earning 35 k, half of it kicked in in january, the other half in a few weeks in april. and that shows that our plans are working. i believe in a society where hard work is rewarded. we're delivering that for and they see that for people and they can see that the we're talking about the change we're talking about is starting to happen. and if we stick to the plan, we can make sure peace of sure that everyone has peace of mind, a brighter mind, that there's a brighter future their family future for them and their family , we can all have a renewed , and we can all have a renewed sense pride in country. sense of pride in the country. but it's the highest tax burden in 70 years. >> you comfortable >> are you comfortable with that tax you unfortunately, we >> you know, unfortunately, we

country's been through you know, hopefully century type hopefully once in a century type events pandemic and a war events with a pandemic and a war in ukraine. and government in ukraine. and the government stepped with an extraordinary stepped in with an extraordinary amount of for nhs, amount of support for the nhs, for vaccine roll out, for the vaccine roll out, furlough, help with people's energy those were the energy bills, those were the right things to do at the time. but now , because the situation but now, because the situation has improved, because our plan is working, we've got inflation down from 11% to 4. wages have been rising faster than prices for several months. energy bills are coming down. we've been able to cut people's taxes responsibly. so everyone in work and self—employed are seeing a tax cut worth around £900 for an average person in work on 35 k, half of that's already kicked in in january , the other half in in january, the other half in a few weeks in april. it shows that our plan is working. i want a country where hard work is rewarded and if we stick to this plan, people can have peace of mind that there's a brighter future ahead. mind that there's a brighter futland head. mind that there's a brighter futland on|d. mind that there's a brighter futland on national insurance , >> and on national insurance, you released a video yesterday on implying a longer on the budget, implying a longer time plan to scrap the national insurance a former insurance altogether. a former

chancellor philip hammond, said that important that that was an important contribution for contribution principle for national insurance. do you agree? and if you scrap it, how will you fund it? >> so i believe in a simpler, fairer tax system. and at the moment do have something moment we do have something that's overly complex. everyone in tax twice, in work is paying tax twice, once in income tax, once in national insurance. that's unnecessarily complicated because all that money ultimately into the same ultimately goes into the same pot to fund the same public services. unfair services. but it's also unfair because it's not right that people in work face this double taxation compared to everything else. so my ultimate long time ambition is to end that unfairness. and if we stick to our plan, we'll be able to make good progress towards that goal in the next parliament. and we've already showed that we mean with cutting mean business with cutting national insurance third national insurance by a third in just months, delivering just six months, delivering a £900 tax cut. and as i said, if we stick with our plan, we'll be able make good progress able to make good progress towards goal towards our long terme goal of ending that unfairness entirely over but over the next parliament. but how fund it? i said how will you fund it? i said what people can see from me, and i think they trust me on these

things, will always do things, is that i will always do this we funded our this responsibly. we funded our current tax cuts responsibly. borrowing current tax cuts responsibly. borrov still on track to meet our we're still on track to meet our fiscal rules that have our debt falling . we've also made sure falling. we've also made sure that we keep investing in our pubuc that we keep investing in our public services, especially the nhs, received more funding nhs, which received more funding yesterday, welcomed by yesterday, which was welcomed by the nhs ceo. and that's what you get when stick a plan . we get when you stick to a plan. we can in the nhs, we can can invest in the nhs, we can cut taxes and we can cut people's taxes and we can continue to have our debt on a falling trajectory that shows that our plan is working, it's the plan and if we stick the right plan and if we stick with it, we really can give everyone the peace of mind that there's a brighter ahead. there's a brighter future ahead. and choice and the alternative? the choice of election is clear, of the next election is clear, because our plan is starting to deliver positive change that deliver the positive change that people the people want to see. the alternative labour alternative with labour who don't is all that don't have a plan is all that progress will be eroded and we would go back to square one how. >> now. >> michelle donelan well, there we was the prime we are. that was the prime minister to minister responding to questioning about the budget yesterday and to some yesterday and also to some extent, sounding like he's delivering a bit of an election pitch , the choice between him

pitch, the choice between him and keir starmer, someone without a plan and someone with a plan that's beginning to work. those are the words of the prime minister. >> what happens, though, when keir starmer sets out his plan? he will have to eventually before the election then you before the election and then you can't really argue that they have you have no plan. but are you convinced? let us know. let's speak to gb news political correspondent utley , who correspondent olivia utley, who joins us now. olivia rishi sunak saying the same thing over and over again. we've got a plan. it's working. inflation's down. we've of course we want to get the tax burden to . down do you the tax burden to. down do you think people will be convinced by it ? by it? >> well, on the one hand he says that he's got a plan that's beginning to work. and to be fair to him, it was quite politically savvy, really , of politically savvy, really, of jeremy hunt yesterday to introduce that tax cut, introduce that cut that tax cut, that, removal of the tax cut for non—doms because all of labour's plans pretty much were built on the idea that it was going to scrap the non—dom tax exemption. and now the tories have just

taken the wind out of labour's sails by doing the same thing a few months in advance. so labour is now going to have to come up with a whole new plan for how it is going to pay for all of the very expensive pledges that it's made without cutting it, without raising taxes, which it's promised do. i guess promised not to do. so i guess in way , rishi sunak has a in a way, rishi sunak has a point. he does have a plan. and right at this moment, labour doesn't a on doesn't really have a plan on how it's going pay for how it's going to pay for everything. rest everything. but some of the rest of the that he said in of the things that he said in that clip there, i'm a that little clip there, i'm a bit more sceptical about, and i'm sure how well they're i'm not sure how well they're going with the public. going to play with the public. he that national debt is he says that national debt is going to be on a downwards trajectory . well, the trajectory. well, the predictions are that, yes, in the latter half of decade the latter half of this decade it will be. but for now, national is very high national debt is very high indeed. he talks about cutting taxes. well, again , technically, taxes. well, again, technically, yes, he has done this, cut to national insurance to p off national insurance to p off national insurance. that will put £450 in the pocket of the average worker this year. but of

course, income tax thresholds have frozen now fiscal drag . have frozen now fiscal drag. everyone's heart sinks a bit i think when you hear the word fiscal drag it sounds very boring. but essentially what it means is because income tax means is that because income tax thresholds stayed the same thresholds have stayed the same against of rising against a backdrop of rising inflation, it means that all sorts of people whose wages have gone up have now been pulled into those higher tax brackets. so people like nurses and teachers who were never really high earners, are now considered high earners, are now considered high earners, are now considered high earners because the threshold at which they start, they the threshold at which they, define a high earner was set sort of ten, 15 years ago when inflation was much, much lower . so actually, although lower. so actually, although rishi that he's rishi sunak says that he's cutting tax , his people will be cutting tax, his people will be worse off by 2027 than they would have been had thresholds risen with inflation, as they should have done. so again, it's a technicality really. any tax cuts that he's made have been eclipsed by an overall rise in

personal taxation over the last 13 years of tory government. and i think the public is probably going to notice that there are plenty of conservative mps i've spoken to who are fed up that those income tax thresholds haven't risen and they've spoken to their constituents who are feeling poorer. they might not know exactly why, they might not completely get heads completely get their heads around they around fiscal drag, but they know there less money in know that there is less money in their was this budget their pockets. was this budget enough change their minds and enough to change their minds and to get them voting conservative? well, has to. we'll have to well, it has to. we'll have to wait and see. perhaps when people start to feel the effect of that national insurance cut in a couple of months time when they start cutting their paycheques, maybe they will. maybe a poll bounce maybe we will see a poll bounce for conservatives. for the conservatives. we'll have to and see. have to wait and see. >> thank you very much, olivia. >> thank you very much, olivia. >> chancellor being called a >> the chancellor being called a fiscal queen morning fiscal drag queen this morning on radio. by who? by who? by on the radio. by who? by who? by a bbc journalist by the name of amol rajan . he he raised it amol rajan. he he raised it a number of times. the chancellor kept saying , well, why did you

kept saying, well, why did you call me a drag queen? why did you call me a drag queen? it was, oh, no, but but i suppose if it gets across the message, the vital message of fiscal drag, why not? >> think drag does >> yes, i think fiscal drag does get excited, actually. >> yes, i think fiscal drag does get you:ited, actually. >> yes, i think fiscal drag does get you reckon?tually. >> do you reckon? >> do you reckon? >> unlike many people. but >> yes. unlike many people. but anyway, get it anyway, it cost. get this. it cost taxpayers £15,000 to cover damages paid to an academic science, to an academic science secretary who michelle donelan falsely accused of supporting hamas. so essentially, the taxpayer forked out £15,000 for legal fees on behalf of a minister who wrongly accused an academic of supporting hamas. >> well, on tuesday, miss donelan retracted the comments that she made about professor kate tsang last year. but the taxpayers are on the hook for them . let's speak to elliot them. let's speak to elliot keck, the head of campaigns at the taxpayers alliance . and, the taxpayers alliance. and, elliot, should the taxpayers be on the hook for a mistake that was made by a minister? obviously the department would argue that she made that mistake

in her role as education secretary >> well, good afternoon, tom, and as you said , the department and as you said, the department have put out a statement saying that ministers are entitled to legal costs on matters relating to their, responsibilities and conduct as a minister. >> i think when it comes to responsibility, that's entirely justified. ministers are obviously dealing with huge departments, dealing with a huge range of issues and deserve support when it comes to their conduct. that's where i think it becomes a lot more debateable. i think michelle donelan made think michelle donelan has made quite a serious here on quite a serious mistake here on an sensitive issue . an incredibly sensitive issue. it's something that she should have been much, much more careful and i think careful about. and i think taxpayers will rightly be unhappy the unhappy about being left on the hook this. yes hook for this. yes >> and of course, opposition parties are making a noise about this. you've got the labour party, the liberal democrats, all that michelle all demanding that michelle donelan pay her own fees. donelan pay her own legal fees. i do wonder much i do wonder how much this happens. >> well, it's a it's a very interesting question. i think thatis interesting question. i think that is a question that i have that is a question that i have that a lot of taxpayers are

going have. this happened going to have. has this happened before? similar case before? has this similar case happened? i said, you know, happened? as i said, you know, if a minister is being taken to court or there's threats because of responsibilities, of their responsibilities, you know, take one know, let's take for one example, scottish government example, the scottish government is the, costs of is paying the, court costs of when it took the uk when the it took the uk government to court over the gender recognition act. now i think that's an entirely appropriate and entirely sensible. very real sensible. that's a very real pressing issue related to how legislation passed. but when legislation is passed. but when it's something like this where, frankly, minister frankly, the minister makes a quite allegation on quite serious allegation on a very sensitive issue and frankly, gets it wrong. frankly, clearly gets it wrong. that's incredibly worrying. and i think that's why taxpayers will be really questioning. >> thank very much >> well, thank you very much indeed, keck there, head indeed, elliot keck there, head of campaigns at the taxpayers alliance , tom, i do. it's alliance, tom, i do. it's difficult, isn't it, because it is in her role. should your employer pay for your legal fees when it comes to getting something wrong? i mean, £15,000. what do you think? >> are you asking for advice ? >> are you asking for advice? have you said something wrong? >> no, haven't said it. i >> no, i haven't said it. i never say anything wrong. >> should your employer.

>> but should your employer. i think question is, should think the question is, should the taxpayer. i mean, just that is employer preservation is her employer preservation strategy. i would just say absolutely. should absolutely. my employer should pay - absolutely. my employer should pay . no, sir, absolutely. my employer should pay. no, sir, don't absolutely. my employer should pay . no, sir, don't know. pay. no, sir, i don't know. >> mean, £15,000. i think the >> i mean, £15,000. i think the question really is how many times is the taxpayer coughed up for similar. can't be the for similar. this can't be the first time that a minister has accused someone wrongly of something and had to deal with the legal, it? the legal, isn't it? >> they she chose save cash >> they she chose to save cash to settle rather than to pursue this further. perhaps if it was , this further. perhaps if it was, if she was, she was doing this as a private citizen, she might have wanted to fight it and fight it and fight it and see if she would win. my understanding is they settled. now is that they settled. now the matter closed that has matter is closed and that has curtailed the whole process, which might have might have saved taxpayers i saved the taxpayers money, i don't well, compared to don't know. well, compared to what been . what it could have been. >> well, coming up, the united nafions >> well, coming up, the united nations are demanding that shamima begum, the isis bride, is repatriated. but should they even be getting involved in this. is it their.

business. well, it's 124. you're watching and listening to good afternoon, britain and un experts are demanding britain repatriate shamima begum and review the decision to revoke her citizenship. >> yes. these experts over at the united nations say that begum remains stripped of her citizenship, vulnerable and denied assistance and protection as a possible victim of trafficking. >> so we're asking is the un right? and should shamima begum return ? joining us now to debate return? joining us now to debate this is gb news presenter patrick christys , who thinks patrick christys, who thinks absolutely not, and author and broadcaster rebecca reid, who wants begum back in britain. well, there you go, patrick, firstly , two questions here. firstly, two questions here. really? should these un experts have a say at all? and should we

heed their advice ? heed their advice? >> well, i don't think the un have really got any credibility when it comes to this. we have to look at who we're dealing with here. >> the group of people >> this is the group of people who have refused to change the definition means to definition of what it means to be or asylum seeker, be a refugee or asylum seeker, which, as far i can which, as far as i can understand it means that any understand it now means that any woman, anyone who is or, woman, anyone who is gay or, dare i say, pretending to be gay, anyone wants move gay, or anyone who wants to move from into from a poorer country into a ficher from a poorer country into a richer country, essentially can do this is same united >> this is the same united nafions >> this is the same united nations that slammed rwanda despite sending people to rwanda. united rwanda. it's the same united nafions rwanda. it's the same united nations slammed nations that slammed the conditions begum kept conditions shamima begum is kept in, camps very in, despite having camps very similar one begum is in similar to the one begum is in all third world. all across the third world. i don't really they any don't really think they have any credibility. they're now credibility. i think they're now essentially lobby group credibility. i think they're now essopen.ly lobby group credibility. i think they're now essopen borders. lobby group credibility. i think they're now essopen borders. whatiy group credibility. i think they're now essopen borders. what i group credibility. i think they're now essopen borders. what i willjp for open borders. what i will say , though, is question of say, though, is a question of who believe? do you who do you believe? do you believe okay or do you believe that lot? okay or do you believe that lot? okay or do you believe successive home secretaries, successive prime ministers and crucially, most compellingly, ministers and crucially, most compellinglyour intelligence members of our intelligence services who say absolutely not a begum back ? a begum coming back? >> well, rebecca, this is the point, isn't it? our court of appeal has already rejected her

appeal to stay in this country and have her citizenship back . and have her citizenship back. why should the un then have a say, or at least experts within the un? >> the u n? >> well, the un? >> well, who do you believe is a good question? >> this instance, i would >> and in this instance, i would suggest that maybe should suggest that maybe we should believe our believe jacob rees—mogg, our colleague, who is somebody who l, colleague, who is somebody who i, not i, generally speaking, do not agree who wrote agree with, but who wrote a fantastic last week, last fantastic piece, last week, last week week before about week or the week before about why the decision to strip shamima begum of citizenship shamima begum of her citizenship was wrong, immoral and racist. >> he used the word racist . >> and he used the word racist. and i think if you get any topic where jacob and agree, then where jacob and i agree, then there be a correct central there must be a correct central opinion there because you've never met two people who agree on fundamentally, on less fundamentally, the reason have got have got reason the un have got have got involved their mission involved is that their mission statement to, intercede statement is, is to, intercede on issues that transcend boundanes on issues that transcend boundaries and borders. that's their sort of mission statement. and because we've made her stateless, this doesn't. sorry, i've got a really bad cold. i can't really breathe , because can't really breathe, because it made have made her stateless. we have forced a situation where bodies like the un are obliged to intervene. now, we don't have to

listen to what the un says. this is a bit like if i said i think james corden should stop doing comedy. i can it. the un can comedy. i can say it. the un can say whatever they we don't say whatever they want. we don't have anything. but have to do anything. but fundamentally very fundamentally enough, very sensible this sensible people are making this point maybe we point that perhaps, maybe we should listening to them. >> well, m them. >> well, i'm delighted >> well, rebecca, i'm delighted that jacob that you've upgraded jacob rees—mogg very sensible rees—mogg to a very sensible person , but, patrick, isn't person, but, patrick, isn't jacob reece mogg right here? it's just wrong headed. she's our fault . she's our our fault. she's our responsibility. look, i like jacob. >> i've got a huge amount of time for him. i don't think jacob rees—mogg is going to be living anywhere near shamima begum, though, is he? or in any of the circumstances surrounding where there where she would be? there is a security threat here. it's the question mark as to whether or not we to allow a jihadi not we want to allow a jihadi bride order to come bride pen up in order to come back to britain. it isn't racist, we have racist, by the way. we have actually certainly around 2016 and 2017 isis were towards and 2017 when isis were towards their we actually their pomp, we actually let an astonishing number returning astonishing number of returning isis so isis jihadis come back. so clearly there is actual distinctive intelligence on this. can i also just say, i actually think we're at risk

here of this being slightly irrelevant? and let me you irrelevant? and let me tell you why. think why. because i think that shamima family lawyer. shamima begum is family lawyer. tasnime is probably tasnime akunjee is probably going become next labour. going to become the next labour. sorry, the next mp beating the labour candidate in bethnal green. okay. i think keir starmer is going to win a majority and i reckon he's going to be under pressure to to be under massive pressure to appease certain section the appease a certain section of the community as we all community that has, as we all know, him. i think under community that has, as we all k|labour him. i think under community that has, as we all k|labour government think under community that has, as we all k|labour government thincouple' community that has, as we all k|iyears' government thincouple' community that has, as we all k|iyears' goveishamima in couple' community that has, as we all k|iyears' goveishamima in co be e' of years time, shamima will be back anyway . back in britain anyway. >> wow, is a prediction. >> wow, there is a prediction. well, rebecca read this is let's continue on this tangent for a second. i suppose this is something that keir starmer said back when this all blew up as an issue that he would want, shamima begum back in the uk , shamima begum back in the uk, are we seeing a very odd sort of coalition building here? you. keir starmer and jacob rees—mogg i >> -- >> yeah. >> yeah. >> so i just want to pick up on the un and the un. what a dinner party. i just want to pick up said and we all know that i love patrick. he's a fantastic guy. but i really, really, really worry when use language like

worry when we use language like pin or like jihadi bride pin pin up or like jihadi bride pin up shamima begum. she was up around shamima begum. she was 15, so she was not a pin up. she wasn't even an adult. it's a very lot of the language very a lot of the language around her her like she around her treats her like she was of independently was a sort of independently minded, adult who minded, sexual adult who was able to make a marriage. she was 15. couldn't get married . 15. she couldn't get married. she was groomed and then trafficked raped . this trafficked and then raped. this is not somebody, you know. if i went and joined isis, i think we could all agree that would be my fault. fundamentally, she fault. but fundamentally, she was and she did very was a child and she did a very aduu was a child and she did a very adult because she was adult thing because she was groomed into it. so when we talk about her, not talk about her. >> it's a question of what you believe, though, isn't it, rebecca? right. is that is rebecca? right. that is that is absolutely side of yeah. absolutely one side of it. yeah. fair side of fair enough. that is one side of it. i ijust believe fair enough. that is one side of it. i i just believe that. it. i i just don't believe that. right. a lot of people right. i think a lot of people who hold that view miraculously also year to have who hold that view miraculously alscvote. year to have who hold that view miraculously alscvote. so year to have who hold that view miraculously alscvote. so yea would to have who hold that view miraculously alscvote. so yea would to ha\just the vote. so she would have just been months away from been a few months away from being vote. she was being able to vote. she was a straight a student at the straight a star student at the time. she's gone over there. she didn't to too much didn't seem to express too much of negativity it of a negativity about it initially, and then anyone who's ever really, seriously initially, and then anyone who's ever any really, seriously initially, and then anyone who's ever any timeeally, seriously

initially, and then anyone who's ever any timeeally, seriher.y spent any time and met her like the who did a documentary the bloke who did a documentary on interviewed on her, who i interviewed just a couple ago said, couple of weeks ago said, absolutely is absolutely not. this girl is still the potential be still the potential to be completely radical, and he thinks just acting. thinks that she's just acting. and said pin okay, i and when i said pin up, okay, i could have said girl. could have said poster girl. it's sexualising it's certainly not sexualising her, i am saying is her, but what i am saying is that there was miraculous that there was a miraculous physical transformation, wasn't there? interviews there? from the first interviews where to the where she was doing it, to the second ones where there was a baseball and lippy is baseball cap and lippy on, is there rebecca, that there not a risk, rebecca, that if if let her if we let her, if we let her back to country, that back to this country, that essentially we're saying you can go off, join terrorist go off, join a terrorist organisation, but don't worry, britain will have you back in our warm arms. >> no, i think it's the opposite. i think it's really good to be able to say to people, if you're considering this, awful it was and this, look how awful it was and look how not fun was. look look how not fun it was. look how glamorous it is, and how not glamorous it is, and look pointless look look how pointless it is. look how and don't how you get there and you don't achieve are not achieve anything. you are not achieving some higher spiritual power. come crawling power. and you come crawling back to the country you came from first place. that is from in the first place. that is how making a martyr of how you avoid making a martyr of her. absolutely. but she comes back. should face trial 100. back. she should face trial 100. unquestionably. but she was radicalised here. grew up

radicalised here. she grew up here. was a british citizen. here. she was a british citizen. and are responsible for her. and we are responsible for her. we just start getting we cannot just start getting rid of because don't like of people because we don't like their if they their behaviour, even if they join jihadi death cult. well, join a jihadi death cult. well, in the meantime, it's costing us a of money, it ? all a lot of money, isn't it? all these legal challenges. thank you rebecca read, you very much. rebecca read, author and broadcaster. great to have you on show. and of have you on the show. and of course, christys gb course, patrick christys gb news, presenter. great debate. >> head. very good >> head to head. very good debate and i do i do actually appreciate that position from rebecca there that this was a girl you used to see girl who you used to see pictures of in sort of, you know, hijabs and burkas and all the rest of it. and now she's wearing low tops and wearing low cut tops and sunglasses and sort of is being more westernised. and maybe that is . is cynical. >> yeah, it's totally cynical. right. >> but but even and even if she's lying through her teeth isn't that a good thing to be projecting? >> well, i don't i'm not sure about that. she managed to get lots of interviews, didn't she? and lots broadcast attention and lots of broadcast attention over this country making a over in this country making a bit of a pinup her. no but bit of a pinup of her. no but anyway, she is an adult now.

yes, an adult now. plenty yes, she is an adult now. plenty more the show. more to bring you on the show. defence shapps defence secretary grant shapps has been summoned over the lack of spending in of defence spending in yesterday's budget. there was not much for defence and we're constantly told, you know, world war iii is coming, but let's get your headlines. your news headlines. >> emily. thank you. the top stories from the gb newsroom. the prime minister refused to say how the government would fund a plan to abolish employee contributions to national insurance. around £10 billion has been spent on a £0.02 cut to the insurance rate , but its the insurance rate, but its benefits are likely to be cancelled out by an expected rise in council tax. rishi sunak says british workers deserve to be recognised. but the labour leader, sir keir starmer, says that unlike the government, labour's policies are fully funded . a boy sentenced for the funded. a boy sentenced for the murder of transgender teen brianna ghey is to appeal the decision. eddie ratcliffe and

scarlett jenkinson, who are both 16, were jailed for life last month with a minimum of 20 and 22 years. they were 15 when they hatched a plan to kill brianna with a hunting knife in an attack that was described as frenzied and ferocious. brianna's parents say the killers should never be released from prison . a woman who went on from prison. a woman who went on the run with her partner and newborn child has denied harming her baby. constance marten, who's 36 and comes from a wealthy aristocratic family , is wealthy aristocratic family, is on trial with her partner, 49 year old mark gordon . their year old mark gordon. their newborn baby, victoria, died while they were hiding from police in a tent on the south downs in sussex in wintry conditions last year. they allegedly went on the run in an attempt to keep the infant after four other children were taken into . miss martin denied into care. miss martin denied harming the child, insisting she'd her the best that she'd given her the best that any mother would. both defendants wrongdoing and defendants deny wrongdoing and the case continuing . the case is continuing. christian horner's accuser has been suspended following red

bull's investigation into inappropriate behaviour against the formula one team principal. mr horner, who's 50, was allowed to remain in his role after red bull's parent company, gm, dismissed the accusations made against him. it's understood the female member of staff has been suspended as a direct result of the inquiry . suspended as a direct result of the inquiry. nationwide building society has reached an agreement to buy virgin money in a deal worth £2.9 billion. the planned takeover aims to create a combined lender worth more than 366 billion, making it britain's second largest. it would eventually see the virgin money brand disappear, though nationwide says it has no plans to cut jobs in the near tum . for to cut jobs in the near tum. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news .com/ alerts . gb news .com/ alerts. >> for a valuable legacy your family can own, gold coins will

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i >> -- >> it's 139. >> it's139. you're watching and listening to good afternoon, britain . we're going to get to britain. we're going to get to some of your views on that. shamima begum debate. the united nafions shamima begum debate. the united nations getting involved, at nations getting involved, or at least their experts least some of their experts saying the should repatriate saying the uk should repatriate her and by surprise, give her citizenship back. keep your views coming in. we'll get to

them very shortly. but of course, yesterday's budget offered a little bit of help to small businesses. the chancellor said will cut their and said it will cut their taxes and help them but not all have help them grow, but not all have welcomed some of those moves. >> some the industry argue >> some of the industry argue that the budget measures too that the budget measures are too small late for small businesses. >> well, what does it actually mean on the ground for small business owners who know what they're talking about? our gb news west midlands reporter jack carson is in tamworth getting the reaction. so jack, the latest reaction. so jack, what does it actually mean for people who run and work in small businesses ? businesses? >> well, that's exactly what we're trying to find out . >> well, that's exactly what we're trying to find out. emily and tom here in tamworth today. we're at ombello. who do printing and merchandising. we're joined with director carl raffo . carl, thanks again for raffo. carl, thanks again for joining us this afternoon. just to a bit of your to remind us a bit of your reaction about the budget yesterday that jeremy hunt delivered despatch box. delivered at the despatch box. >> i think for small >> well, i think for small businesses, empty businesses, it was an empty budget . it businesses, it was an empty budget. it was certainly one which targeted from which targeted voters. and from my , really laid that my perspective, really laid that pathway to a general election .

pathway to a general election. >> i mean, what kind of impact do you think the budget, because there were some commitments in there. of impact are there. what kind of impact are they going to have on you, do you think? >> look, as a small >> i think look, as a small business here in the midlands and we manufacture, so we're physically tools physically here on the tools with little ads, with some nice little ads, really , whether we look at the really, whether we look at the benefits of how we can claim against our lease equipment, which we have lots of, but actually my biggest concern is the of support to our the lack of support to our customers. so working in the hospitality sector , really there hospitality sector, really there hasn't been enough support there for them. and is that going to have a knock on effect to us? >> yeah, i suppose that people may want shirts or posters or things printed. you things printed. so are you worried maybe the worried then that maybe the chancellor hasn't freed up enough you enough money because, like you say, necessarily say, you're not necessarily a necessity you're necessity for businesses. you're kind i think. kind of a bonus, i think. >> know, it's all >> look, you know, it's all about confidence. and not about confidence. and i'm not sure enough confidence sure there's enough confidence in business right now. speaking to leaders around to other business leaders around what the future looks like for us. maybe a budget which gave us. so maybe a budget which gave us. so maybe a budget which gave us a little bit more certainty, a little more support and

a little bit more support and a little bit of a budget which went past the general election would have been lovely. yeah. >> mean, one maybe criticism >> i mean, one maybe criticism was what, there was was that what, that there was nothing there specifically nothing in there specifically about ? there had about business rates? there had been calls from business been some calls from business leaders cut in business leaders for a cut in business rates. is that something that you're you didn't see? >>i see? >> i mean, look, it's always disappointing there isn't disappointing when there isn't the want . and i the support that you want. and i think businesses take think most businesses would take almost they can get almost anything they can get right now. so would i to right now. so would i like to see it? absolutely. but it's not there. we've got to on there. so we've got to focus on what have got. what we have got. >> i fuel duty one >> i mean fuel duty is one of the things that committed to the things that he committed to freezing, £0.05 reduction, freezing, that £0.05 reduction, i that going to have an i mean is that going to have an impact you've got impact on you? you've got a fleet of cars. >> yeah, i think from us. certainly. definitely >> yeah, i think from us. certairwe've definitely >> yeah, i think from us. certairwe've a definitely >> yeah, i think from us. certairwe've a definifleet, helps. we've got a small fleet, but is every penny but it literally is every penny counts right and i know counts right now. and i know lots businesses a similar lots of businesses in a similar space where we are trying to make small changes to make those small changes to ultimately help our survival in the future. >> so that really how >> so is that really how businesses it is literally just kind making sure penny kind of making sure every penny is wisely, maybe is spent wisely, because maybe you the freedom to you haven't got the freedom to go over budget and you've got to

be strict with yourself be really strict with yourself at moment. at the moment. >> you know, i think >> look, you know, i think there's a stronger there's definitely a stronger budget from internal budget mindset from internal business we don't to business where we don't want to overspend. are kind of overspend. we are kind of battening down the hatches just in case. and we hear the r word that recession word getting used regularly now. so, you know, there is uncertainty and we've got to be mindful of that . got to be mindful of that. >> right. karl, thank you very much for joining >> right. karl, thank you very much forjoining us again this much for joining us again this afternoon. to get that real on the ground impact of jeremy hunfs the ground impact of jeremy hunt's yesterday . hunt's budget yesterday. >> brilliant stuff. you >> brilliant stuff. thank you very jack carson very much indeed. jack carson there live from tamworth with a small business owner. good stuff. >> now coming up, one of the killers of brianna ghey g. one of those killers who was jailed for a minimum of 20 years for her murder, has asked for permission to appeal his sentence . this is eddie sentence. this is eddie ratcliffe, the charming looking fellow on the right, on the screen there who, has been, of course, convicted and sent to prison but now wants to appeal

despite the overwhelming evidence. yes. >> we don't know on what grounds he wishes to appeal and how far this will go. but there he is. he has issued an appeal. he has lodged an appeal against his 20 year sentence. interestingly to. and i didn't know this actually eddie ratcliffe's father has been jailed recently for exposing himself to two teenage girls , which is, quite something girls, which is, quite something extraordinary . extraordinary. >> the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. one could say. but listening to the verdict and l, but listening to the verdict and i, i was transfixed, listening to every word the judge said. in this case, the callousness, the joy this case, the callousness, the joy these two, teenagers took in murder and the planning of it, the planning of it, the meticulous detail, the texts that they sent one another, i, i am very , very i find it very

am very, very i find it very hard to understand on what grounds . grounds. >> perhaps it will be mental health related or something like that. it usually it often is often is. well, we're going to be speaking to a lawyer about this, about what he could possibly grounds he possibly on what grounds he could appeal shortly. so could appeal very shortly. so stay with us. we'll be back

i >> -- >> good afternoon. britain. it's coming up to 10 to 2. and major concerns around military spending have been raised to the defence secretary . after no defence secretary. after no announcements for his department. yesterday's budget and an assumed large cut as with all departmental budgets in the next year. yes >> grant shapps has been summoned to the commons defence select committee with the chair, sir jeremy quin, issuing sirjeremy quin, issuing a statement saying the defence secretary has referred to us being in a pre—war state. this does not appear to be reflected

in his department's budget allocation. meanwhile, former armed minister mark armed forces minister mark francois added does russia have to get to warsaw before we start spending what we need on defence? yes. >> well, we can speak now with the former british army officer, hamish de bretton—gordon, and hamish de bretton—gordon, and hamish i suppose, on the one hand very concerning that there are assumed cuts in the defence budget in the next year in this, in this spending review. but no one really believes these cuts will happen. they're sort of being described as a fiscal fiction just to fit in with the obrs fiction just to fit in with the obr's spending rules. do you believe that the government would go ahead and cut our armed forces ? forces? >> well, one, sometimes wonders whether people in the westminster bubble actually listen and watch the news and what's going on. >> you know, the threats to this country have never been higher, really, since 1939, when another tyrant, hitler , was steaming

tyrant, hitler, was steaming across europe. >> so to have a cut is extraordinary, as you said. grant shapps said the other day , grant shapps said the other day, we're in a pre—war phase, pre—war to me , means preparing pre—war to me, means preparing for war. >> you know, we've got the smallest army that we've had really for 20 or 30 years, and when some of our allies are looking a bit unreliable , like looking a bit unreliable, like the germans and the possibility that the americans might change their view on supporting nato, come november and even today, one of russia's senior generals has said that he wouldn't be at all surprised if there's war in europe, with the europeans shortly. >> so to go to have a cut in defence is , is to me, absolutely defence is, is to me, absolutely unbelievable, but to not increase defence. now, the key thing is that our conventional forces are not a deterrent to putin. he just doesn't see the you know, we can probably put an armoured brigade which is about 100 tanks into the field. and

when we know the russians have got thousands and thousands. so i mean, it's extraordinary . i i mean, it's extraordinary. i know no political party is leading on this because they don't believe it's a vote winner. quite frankly, as winner. but quite frankly, as you the russians are in you said, if the russians are in warsaw in six months time, the election is irrelevant. we will be fighting and we need to make sure that we have a conventional deterrent . that makes putin deterrent. that makes putin think again, because i think after yesterday's budget , after yesterday's budget, they'll be drinking vodka in the kremlin and far happier than the people who are trying to man our defence in this country. >> it's all politics, isn't it? as you say, you say that the chancellor may not see defence spending as a as a vote winner. do you think the government is prioritising short tum gains in terms of cutting taxes on ordinary people instead of boosting defence when, as you say, grant shapps has said, we're on a pre—war footing . we're on a pre—war footing. >> well, absolutely. and it's not just the tory party i think, you know, the labour party and

everybody else is trying to win votes. this, next election is not focusing on defence. and i think generally the people of this country as well don't quite realise what a perilous this country as well don't quite that we're in. i know everybody's concerned about the cost of living and climate change and what's happening, in the middle east at the moment. but we need to look a lot closer to home of what's happening in ukraine in europe, on our eastern boundary. and anybody who thinks that putin will stop if he prevails in ukraine is completely delusional because, you know, his policy is to push as far west as possible . and as far west as possible. and it's great that sweden is joining nato today because they really had a stiff back to our defence. but we in britain, who've traditionally been such a key element to keeping the peace in europe , you know, the size of in europe, you know, the size of our military is for a country our military is for a country our size and a country, you know, with the wealth that we've

have is extraordinary. i think the british people, i'm sure if they really knew the state and things that were happening in europe and things that are happening in ukraine at the moment would back, at least a half or 1% increase, which ben wallace, the previous defence secretary, has really said is the bare minimum. but hamish, when it comes down to it, isn't the problem here that we've got no money. 110 money. >> no money. >> there's every department is facing a squeeze. and if we look at the procurement of the mod, it has not been up to scratch. as things stand, we're wasting money within this department with huge overspends and under—delivery. shouldn't we get the house in order first? >> oh, you're absolutely right . >> oh, you're absolutely right. yeah. defence procurement. you know, there have been some absolutely dreadful, examples of wasting money. and in a perfect world, we would get that all in place, get it sorted, but we just don't have the time, you

know, it could well be as you know, it could well be as you know, i very rarely agree with president macron , but i do when president macron, but i do when he says we need to get boots on the ground in ukraine to hold the ground in ukraine to hold the russians there. you know, we if we want to make sure that russia goes no further west than ukraine, we need to consider putting boots on the ground. and i don't mean in a year or two's time once we sort it out, you know, some of the vagaries of defence procurement, it could be a lot sooner than that. but at the moment , a lot sooner than that. but at the moment, you know, we are pretty stretched, might talk pretty stretched, we might talk a good game, but and we've got, you know, the men and women in the british armed forces are the best in the world, sort of pound for pound. they very, for pound. but they are very, very small and we need to wake up to this because, quite frankly, know, if , if, if frankly, you know, if, if, if russia does progress westwards , russia does progress westwards, which is their want anything else vexing us at the moment could become horrifically irrelevant . irrelevant. >> hamish de bretton—gordon. it's a terrifying picture. you paint there. western troops,

nato troops on the ground could drag us all into a huge war. but, but as you say, that might be coming down the track anyway. really concerning stuff. hamish de bretton—gordon, i appreciate your here on good afternoon your time here on good afternoon britain. i guess it takes far >> yes, i guess it takes far more time to sort all the problems within mod to , problems within the mod than to, you know, splash a bit more cash on it, but say british troops in ukraine? >> no, to me i find as a terrifying prospect. but coming up, we're going to be speaking to a lawyer about those killers of ghey their of brianna ghey appealing their sentence . sentence. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar , the sponsors of weather solar, the sponsors of weather on . gb news. on. gb news. >> hello again. welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. tomorrow is going to be a mostly fine day many of a mostly fine day for many of us, but before then we do a

us, but before then we do have a few showers to watch out for. at the there a the moment there is a southeasterly across the southeasterly flow across the country being brought country that's being brought on by towards the by high pressure towards the northeast of the worth northeast of the uk, worth beanng northeast of the uk, worth bearing in mind flow is bearing in mind this flow is quite bearing in mind this flow is quhe and bearing in mind this flow is quite and those winds are quite brisk and those winds are going to up as we go into going to pick up as we go into tomorrow. there a few tomorrow. there will be a few showers this evening across parts they will then parts of wales. they will then push into northern ireland overnight and also some showery outbreaks of outbreaks across parts of northeast england and scotland. two a bit of sleet or two could be a bit of sleet or snow over the highest ground, otherwise dry night and otherwise mostly dry night and even some clear skies developing in the south and across parts of northwest scotland. clear skies and the wind in and shelter from the wind in prone rural spots could lead to a touch of frost tomorrow morning. otherwise, and as we go through tomorrow, apart from a few outbreaks of rain few showery outbreaks of rain through across parts through the morning across parts of and northeast of scotland and northeast england, looking like dry of scotland and northeast england. looking like dry of scotland and northeast england we looking like dry of scotland and northeast england we will king like dry of scotland and northeast england we will see like dry of scotland and northeast england we will see increasing day and we will see increasing amounts sunshine , amounts of sunshine, particularly across many parts of wales and also of england and wales and also western scotland. meanwhile, areas to areas exposed to that southeasterly are likely to southeasterly wind are likely to remain a bit cloudier and temperatures will be a touch lower than for many of us lower than today for many of us with a .wind chill, especially

across parts the across northern parts into the weekend, looking a bit weekend, and it's looking a bit wetter for many of us. there will some weather will be some unsettled weather pushing in from the pushing its way in from the southwest go through southwest as we go through saturday, in southern areas saturday, so in southern areas it's likely to turn pretty wet at times over the next few days. a more showery. further a bit more showery. further north, temperatures up north, temperatures may pick up on saturday before dropping down by monday. >> warm feeling inside from >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. way. >> good afternoon. britain it's 2:00 on thursday, the 7th of march. yes >> the chancellor, jeremy hunt, began yesterday's budget by announcing £1 million of taxpayer funds to be spent on a first and second world war memorial for muslims. could this really counter extremism like he seemed to imply ?

seemed to imply? >> one of the teens who murdered brianna ghey guy in a frenzied and ferocious attack is to appeal against his sentence after being jailed for a minimum of 20 years. how could he possibly appeal ? we'll speak to possibly appeal? we'll speak to a top lawyer. it is a busy show coming up, developing lines on all of these stories, and i am just shocked over this guy, eddie ratcliffe. a murderer, a murderer, unusually for someone under the age of 18, the court made the decision to make his name public, partly so that we could know the details of this horrific attack and spot the warning signs and stop more of this happening. but, emily, you were saying that there's actually more to this guy, and

more to this guy's family that we should be concerned about. >> yes. and i don't know if this has any relevance to how eddie ratcliffe turned has any relevance to how eddie ratcliffe reports turned has any relevance to how eddie ratcliffe reports are turned has any relevance to how eddie ratcliffe reports are saying out, but, reports are saying that his father has gone to jail , has been sentenced to a jail time for exposure , for exposing time for exposure, for exposing himself to, teenage girls , so, himself to, teenage girls, so, clearly, a bit of a wrong in there . yeah. there. yeah. >> it's, they seem like a complete, completely messed up family. >> but i wonder, in terms of this request to appeal, can they completely throw it out on what grounds could he be appealing? very interesting to speak to this top lawyer we're going to have on very soon to talk about what he could possibly say in order to have an appeal accepted. can it be just completely thrown out immediately ? and what happens immediately? and what happens next when this sort of things happen ? happen? >> and of course, he was the one of the two who had the shorter sentence, the 20 year minimum. he was seen almost as a bit of an accomplice to, to scarlett

jenkinson, who was was the jenkinson, who was who was the other murderer. and of course, they meticulously planned out their murder. they spoke over text messages about how they would kill brianna in an almost gleeful way. very evil mindset. >> yes. what's this all say about our justice system? but let's get your headlines with tatiana . tatiana. >> emily. thank you. the top stories from the gb newsroom. the prime minister refused to say how the government would fund a plan to abolish employee contributions to national insurance . around £10 billion insurance. around £10 billion has been spent on a £0.02 cut to the insurance rate. but its benefits are likely to be cancelled out by an expected rise in council tax , as rishi rise in council tax, as rishi sunak says british workers deserve to be recognised for the direction of travel is now crystal clear. >> our plans are working because of the improvement in the economic environment and because

of the fact we've been able to get inflation down from 11% to 4, mortgage rates, energy bills falling, wages rising, we've been able to start cutting people's taxes responsibly. and that shows that our plans are working . i believe in a society working. i believe in a society where hard work is rewarded. we're delivering that for people, and they can see that the change we're talking about is starting happen. and if we the change we're talking about is stéto ng happen. and if we the change we're talking about is stéto the happen. and if we the change we're talking about is stéto the plan, jen. and if we the change we're talking about is stéto the plan, we and if we the change we're talking about is stéto the plan, we can! if we the change we're talking about is stéto the plan, we can make stick to the plan, we can make sure that everyone has peace of mind . mind. >> sir keir starmer says that the are giving with one the tories are giving with one hand with other. hand and taking with the other. and the government , and unlike the government, labour's fully funded. >> contrast that with the government, where yesterday, at the end of the budget, the chancellor made a staggering £46 billion unfunded commitment to aboush billion unfunded commitment to abolish national insurance. that's bigger than liz truss's commitment. so they've learned absolutely nothing . we need absolutely nothing. we need change. it's time for change. >> a boy sentenced for the murder of transgender teenager brianna ghey is to appeal the decision. eddie ratcliffe and

scarlett jenkinson, who are both 16, were jailed for life last month with a minimum of 20 and 22 years. they were 15 when they hatched a plan to kill brianna with a hunting knife in an attack that was described as frenzied and ferocious. brianna's parents say the killer should never be released from prison . mps are warning the post prison. mps are warning the post office is not fit to run any compensation schemes for victims of the horizon it scandal, and should be excluded. the business and trade committee published recommendations for delivering payments to hundreds of victims, describing efforts so far as abject failure. the committee says an independent body should be appointed to lead the process. the chairman described it as a national disgrace that only £1 out of every £5 of the budget for compensation has been paid out . christian horner's paid out. christian horner's accuser has been suspended following red bull's investigation into inappropriate behaviour against the formula one team principal. mr horner,

who's 50, was allowed to remain in his role after red bull's parent company gm, dismissed the accusations made against him. it's understood the female member of staff has been suspended as a direct result of the inquiry . suspended as a direct result of the inquiry. the suspended as a direct result of the inquiry . the government will the inquiry. the government will attempt to overturn amendments to its flagship immigration policy after it suffered heavy defeats in the house of lords. commons leader penny morton confirmed today that the safety of rwanda bill will return to the lords on the 18th of march. mps will get a chance to debate and vote on the amendments in the following week. the government's plan would compel judges to regard the east african country safe , african country as safe, clearing the way to send people who crossed the channel in small boats flight to boats on a one way flight to rwanda . a missile attack killed rwanda. a missile attack killed three sailors on a red sea merchant ship yesterday , the merchant ship yesterday, the first fatalities since the houthis began targeting commercial shipping. the rebel group, who are backed by iran, claimed responsibility . me, the

claimed responsibility. me, the foreign secretary, lord david cameron, says he's appalled by the deaths of the sailors, calling it a reckless and indiscriminate attack. britain and the united states are continuing retaliatory strikes against the houthis in the us. president president joe biden is preparing to deliver his state of the union speech later this evening. he's expected to use his fourth address to present a sharp distinction between his style of leadership and his likely opponent , donald trump. likely opponent, donald trump. touting a strong economic performance , he'll also look to performance, he'll also look to allay voters concerns about his age . despite being just four age. despite being just four years older than mr trump . and a years older than mr trump. and a new train service between london and central scotland has been given the go ahead . the rail given the go ahead. the rail regulator approved plans to operate four daily return services between london euston and the city of stirling. it will create new competition for lnen will create new competition for lner, which currently operates services on the route . grand services on the route. grand union trains is due to launch its new services by june next

year. its new services by june next year . for the latest story, sign year. for the latest story, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts. now it's back to tom and . emily. now it's back to tom and. emily. >> well, we heard yesterday in the budget statement that £1 million will be given towards the cost of building a memorial to honour the muslims who died in the first and second world wars. chancellor announced the >> the chancellor announced the funding yesterday's spring funding in yesterday's spring budget, in budget, saying it was in the service of freedom and democracy. >> yes, it follows the islamophobe row within the conservative party after tory mp lee anderson was suspended for suggesting that london mayor sadiq khan was being controlled by islamists. >> well, the chairman of the national muslim war memorial trust , national muslim war memorial trust, mohammed ahmed, joins us now. and thank you for joining us. i suppose the idea behind this is to create a sense of, of

perhaps unity amongst different people of different faiths, all of whom fought for britain. >> good afternoon . memorials >> good afternoon. memorials have two important functions . have two important functions. one is to honour the dead who fought and died for britain. but secondly , they also have an secondly, they also have an important role for the living . important role for the living. this memorial will serve to remind british muslims how their ancestors fought for the crown and the state that they have in this country, which was fought , this country, which was fought, in one sense, purchased by their ancestors blood . and it will ancestors blood. and it will also inform non—muslim britons just what a contribution muslims have made to the history of our country, and defending it in its time of need . time of need. >> mohammed. he chose to announce this right at the top of the budget statement in the context of what he calls the tragic loss of life in israel and gaza. and he said that this

is reminded us of the need to fight extremism. he'll divisions and suggested that this memorial will somehow do that. do you think that it will? >> i do think it will help. i mean, no single thing by itself will solve all of our society's many divisions and problems. but i think jeremy hunt is right to recognise that the conflict in israel and palestine has affected community relations in this country. he's also right to recognise that british people and british muslims , everybody and british muslims, everybody in our country, needs to know more about the history of muslims in the armed forces, as well as recognising the service that they gave . that they gave. >> there are those who say that religion specific memorials might in themselves be a divisive measure , rather than divisive measure, rather than more unifying memorials that honour everyone. what do you say

to those criticisms ? to those criticisms? >> i don't agree with that at all. each individual school chooses what is important in their identity . the people who their identity. the people who are religious, whether they are christians, whether they are jews, whether they are muslims for them, their religion is an important part of their identity. when they're alive , identity. when they're alive, it's an important part of their identity when they die. that's why it's important to have a crosses , have stars of david, crosses, have stars of david, have crescents on tombstones . have crescents on tombstones. and it's important for the living who remember them. >> mohamed, do you think that there might be anything cynical about this announcement saying it right the of the it right at the top of the budget and in the context of lots of accusations of islamophobia within the conservative party? or do you just take it at face value? this is a nice thing for the muslim community. >> i don't look for cynicism in people unless i have strong evidence for it, so i'm very happy to take this announcement at face value. one thing i should mention for your viewers

is that our trust is trying to build a memorial in london. we are a long way, away from that sort of being happening yet. but there's another charity called there's another charity called the world wars muslim, memorial, which has permission to build a memorial in the national memorial arboretum. and my understanding is that this will go towards that particular memorial . memorial. >> now, that is an interesting point, because there are, of course , some, religion or course, some, religion or community specific memorials that already honour some groups in britain. and i suppose this would add to that roster. >> well, thank you very much indeed. mohamed ahmed, great to speak to you. chairman of the national muslim war memorial trust. i think we got here. we lost him a little bit at the end there, but we covered off most of what do you of the points. what do you think? think fine, have a think? i think fine, have a memorial those who've lost memorial to those who've lost their muslims lost

their lives, to muslims who lost their lives, to muslims who lost their lives, to muslims who lost their lives the world wars. their lives in the world wars. but is. there something but it is. there is something a bit the budget. >> yeah, know. i mean, >> yeah, i don't know. i mean, i grew up not far away from a, american memorial, for and there's a, there's a polish memorial near where i grew up as well. i especially in a place like the national memorial arboretum , sort of makes sense. arboretum, sort of makes sense. and i, and i do sort of get even if it is cynical, even if it is politics, i kind of get it like £1 million is in the context of a budget spending billions upon billions, hundreds of billions, it sort of it's a tiny proportion of the budget . and if proportion of the budget. and if it can help muslims feel more british rather than more separate and help people come together rather than be ghettoised and siloed and against each other, that could be a good thing . be a good thing. >> i just wonder why he started the budget with israel. gaza. yeah and then he goes into the uk economy has been dealt with. it seems that it seems like it was sort of plonked in there at

the top, tacked on at the last minute perhaps. yeah. i mean, yeah, you wouldn't expect it in a statement. but anyway, a budget statement. but anyway, a budget statement. but anyway, a the a boy who carried out the sadistic transgender sadistic murder of transgender teenager to teenager brianna ghey wants to appeal against sentence. appeal against his sentence. eddie jailed eddie radcliffe was jailed for life last month in order to serve 20 years before parole for the killing . the killing. >> sentencing judge mrs. justice yip the pair who committed yip said the pair who committed the act would be jailed until they no longer present a danger to the public. but now , of to the public. but now, of course, this individual is appealing. joining us to discuss this is the criminal defence lawyer, nick freeman . nick, i'm lawyer, nick freeman. nick, i'm i'm flabbergasted. i listen to this judgement in full. it was a watertight . there was so much watertight. there was so much evidence. i was astounded by the amount of evidence that was collected and decided upon. on what? what grounds and earth could this person be looking to appeal on? >> well, possibly two grounds. first of all, he was 15 at the time. that he carried out the attack, but possibly more

significantly than that, his father has just been jailed. i think , for 15 months for sex think, for 15 months for sex related offences , and i don't related offences, and i don't remember during the trial that there was any finger of blame being pointed at his father, and it may be because his father hadnt it may be because his father hadn't been sentenced , but i hadn't been sentenced, but i don't know whether his lawyers are saying, look, this is fresh evidence . we weren't able to evidence. we weren't able to deal this at the time or we deal with this at the time or we chose not to. >> but it's now out the open. >> but it's now out in the open. >> but it's now out in the open. >> actually, my father is >> and actually, my father is largely responsible for the perverse , sadistic, disgraceful, perverse, sadistic, disgraceful, disgusting behaviour that i carried out in relation to this poon carried out in relation to this poor. because it was obviously transphobic as well. so, it may be it's interesting to note she's not, jenkins jenkinson's not appealing and he is. so that to me is the striking point that a lawyer might try and hang his hat on. it's important to bear in mind what he would like to do is appeal. he needs to get permission from a single judge, a senior judge the

a single seniorjudge in the court appeal division , it's court of appeal division, it's by no means a certainty that that will be granted . if that's that will be granted. if that's refused, then he can appeal again to a full court. 2 or 3 senior judges sitting again to a full court. 2 or 3 seniorjudges sitting in again to a full court. 2 or 3 senior judges sitting in the same division. and if they refuse the appeal, then and he decides to go ahead with it, then the time that he's spent in custody will no longer apply. it will no longer count towards the sentence he's doing. so he'll have start in effect again. have to start in effect again. so i think his lawyers will advise him very carefully of the risk, and i it we don't know what the grounds are. i haven't, i haven't seen the grounds, but at the moment it's simply for permission. and that seems to be the striking feature where, he might try and point a finger of blame at his father, but i don't know what the relationship is between them. but it between the two of them. but it is to note, and is interesting to note, and i don't recall anybody saying anything father during anything about his father during the mitigation, they were the mitigation, before they were sentenced, for sentenced, of course, they for murder. they have to receive a life sentence. what the judges said is you will serve a minimum

of 20 years, jenkins. and will serve, serve 22 years. she seems to be accepting that . and it to be accepting that. and it doesn't mean that will be. all it means is that's the minimum they may spend. both of them may spend the rest their life spend the rest of their life behind bars , that parole behind bars, that the parole board has to be completely board has got to be completely satisfied . they no longer pose satisfied. they no longer pose a threat society. and this was threat to society. and this was such a gruesome, horrific offence i the parole offence that i think the parole board will take some persuading. >> that's very interesting indeed. he does have options, indeed. so he does have options, but they're not going to be very easy. and he'll be told of the potential consequences on his custodial time, least. but, custodial time, not least. but, the his father being the issue of his father being convicted for, indecent exposure . i think there are some other, convictions, too. at least alleged crimes there as well. i guess. alleged crimes there as well. i guess . and of course, we don't guess. and of course, we don't know if this is what he's appealing on the grounds of, but i guess whether as a young person, he could have been influenced by his father's bad behaviour , it could have been he

behaviour, it could have been he could have been abused himself, potentially by his father. i guess these are all hypotheticals . of course we hypotheticals. of course we don't know, but i guess that would be a defence. >> well, it won't be a defence. it wouldn't. it certainly wouldn't afford a defence. it wouldn't afford a defence. it would mitigation. it would afford mitigation. it would afford mitigation. it would explanation would afford an explanation possibly that would reduce the sentence. know , there will sentence. you know, there will have been a full social inquiry report, psychiatric reports beanng report, psychiatric reports bearing in mind on the bearing in mind he's on the spectrum of autism, so there will be very, extensive inquiries before, reports prepared, before they're both sentenced, i don't know what the relationship is with eddie and his father. all we do know is that there is now this conviction and custodial sentence for sex offences. and i anticipate his lawyers are going to be, suggesting that there was something untoward in relation to their relationship and that the father and the way the eddie's been brought up is to some extent responsible, and they weren't able to put that forward at the time , or they forward at the time, or they chose not to. but now they want to. >> the sadism in this case was,

more gruesome than anything that i can remember. the discussions that these two teenagers had with one another about how they would kill brianna ghey, about what they would feel while they were killing brianna ghey was shocking . i wonder meant that shocking. i wonder meant that they told him not to get a return ticket, that that's how carefully it was planned. >> it's mind boggling. evil, the careful planning , the sadistic careful planning, the sadistic nature, wanting to hear how she screamed , how her face looked as screamed, how her face looked as they plunged a knife into her head, her face and her back 28 times. it's horrendously gruesome , and i think the gruesome, and i think the sentence was absolutely right. and as you said, the judge gave a very full account as to why she thought that was the appropriate sentence , i wonder, appropriate sentence, i wonder, in your experience of criminal defence, is it very often that if a family member has been a criminal, if a father has been a

criminal, if a father has been a criminal, is it more likely that the son or the daughter might be a criminal too? >> well, it can work in all sorts of ways, but what you can say with certainty is if there is , some pollutant behaviour by is, some pollutant behaviour by the parents and that influences the parents and that influences the child and that in some way is responsible for the child behaving in the way that they have that will be fully aired at the crown court before sentence. and i suspect that that wasn't fully aired in these particular proceedings because , i don't proceedings because, i don't remember where he was. my recollections , i don't think he recollections, i don't think he was even charged. i don't think the father was charged. was he at the time, all know is he at the time, all i know is he received 15 month custodial received a 15 month custodial sentence since february, since the two murderers were sentenced to life imprisonment. so i think, yes, he was jailed. >> jailed four days before his son's trial began. so you would have thought it would have come up.

>> you would . you would i agree >> you would. you would i agree with you. you would. i don't i don't know what extent it's come up and i'm, i'm hypothesising with you as to what grounds there are. we may be completely wrong. it may be nothing to do with that. it may be. look the judges got it wrong, i was led. he may say. look, i was led by the girl. my father's nothing to do with it. she was the one who plunged the knife in, etc, etc. but it was dealt with on the bafis but it was dealt with on the basis of a joint enterprise. and they other at the they did blame each other at the time, i just don't think time, and i just don't think that, i'd be surprised if permission is granted for this, this appeal to proceed , but this appeal to proceed, but we'll wait and see because we don't we just don't know the grounds. >> yeah, we'll we'll wait and see for grounds and see for those grounds and whether is allowed, whether or not it is allowed, but my goodness, what a sadistic and murder . but my goodness, what a sadistic and murder. nick freeman, and evil murder. nick freeman, really appreciate your thoughts on matter, really, on this matter, really, really interesting stuff. >> very interesting. very interesting us know interesting indeed. let us know what of that . but what you make of that. but coming talking spuds. coming up we're talking spuds. why? that thousands of why? because that thousands of gear changed. they're a big gear

change. thousands of potatoes lie shrivelled and rotten in muddy throughout the uk. muddy fields throughout the uk. now, this is very important stuff. could potatoes go missing from the shop floor? more after the .

break. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 2:24, and you have been getting in touch with all of these issues, particularly shamima begum. john has said shamima would have been happy as an isis bride if they were victorious. so the un have no right to say the uk should repatriate her and keep her out of it. it's a pertinent point, is the only reason she wants to come back, because isis lost. reason she wants to come back, becyeah, sis lost. reason she wants to come back, becyeah, because her >> yeah, because it suits her now. yeah, suits her now. i now. yeah, it suits her now. i didn't turn out how thought didn't turn out how she thought it but is of course, it might, but this is of course, the un getting involved or un special rapporteurs getting

involved to say that she's a victim that we should victim and that we should repatriate her, their titles. >> tom moore rapporteur. >> tom moore special rapporteur. >> tom moore special rapporteur. >> like to be called >> i'd quite like to be called a special rapporteur, tom says hi. if she returns , i will leave if she returns, i will leave this country for good. i'm almost at that point. anyway i don't like hearing that. tom, i hope you i hope stay , and it hope you i hope you stay, and it reminds me of when people say, oh, boris johnson wins the oh, if boris johnson wins the election, i'm going to leave a bit different. but and then they don't leave, in fact, quite leave. >> @ came t came to the country, >> people came to the country, but another. but that's another. >> very true. >> that's true. very true. >> that's true. very true. >> says if the un >> michael says if the un believed that shamima begum wants repatriated , then wants to be repatriated, then they must also believe all illegal in the uk illegal immigrants in the uk should be too. even the un can't have both ways . have it both ways. >> and yvonne says shamima should definitely not be allowed back. can't believe she's still being discussed. on being discussed. yes, it goes on and on and that's and on and on. and that's because she keeps appealing, keeps appealing and then get keeps appealing and then you get people from the un you know, giving their £0.02. >> robin says our legal system demands proof beyond a

reasonable doubt. with the caliphate destroyed and people dispersed, how do you find witnesses to provide evidence against begum beyond a reasonable doubt? >> interesting question . and >> interesting question. and bill says regarding the un, who are these people trying to dictate to others about something that does not concern them ? yes, i must say i have them? yes, i must say i have some sympathy with that view. >> hasn't he heard their special rapporteurs? special rapporteurs? special rapporteurs? very special sort of . what? it's what it's what of. what? it's what it's what a parent say to a parent would say to a misbehaving or to a child. that's a of off. that's a sort of slightly off. you're special. very you're very special. you're very special, special, very special, very special, very special, very special, very special special special un. >> well to potatoes, >> right. well to potatoes, thousands potatoes green thousands of potatoes are green and mushy on uk store shelves as thousands of spuds lie shrivelled and rotten in muddy fields across the united kingdom. a very sad sight. the past 12 months have been a horror story for britain's poor old potato farmers, with a perfect storm of appalling weather. rain, floods, a catastrophic summer drought followed by storm after storm

after storm. >> not just too much water, also a drought. i know not what you want. goodness feast and famine, but let's cross to one affected in northern ireland where we can speak to gb news northern ireland reporter dougie beattie and, dougie, how's the farm behind you doing ? behind you doing? >> well, you can see the furrows here with the potatoes. still are are absolutely shocking . i are are absolutely shocking. i mean, the whole field is drenched. and in fact, i just walked a few feet into it there a moment ago. you can see that lovely potato . do that and that lovely potato. do that and that side. look at that. it's gone altogether. that that has altogether. and that that has happened you've happened because as you've said, that were lit and planting that we were lit and planting crops, and that is number of crops, and that is a number of reasons that . number one on reasons for that. number one on that the weather. was that was the weather. it was that was twet. aather. it was that was the weather. it was that was twet. buter. it was that was the weather. it was that was twet. but number; very, very wet. but number two, and that was high energy costs , and that was high energy costs, and that was high energy costs, and particularly in and around refrigeration, when you're planting crops right about like this, you could be up to £3,000 an acre to plant these fields . an acre to plant these fields. and of course, the red diesel

that goes in the tractors. we reported this a couple of years ago that was taken away. that's now you get that returned in your vat return, etc. and that means that there's a cash flow problem on the farms. so most farms, as they pull crops out, they're then replying the fields, getting ready to plant new crops. and every year, of course , your crops are 12 months course, your crops are 12 months in but on top of that , in advance. but on top of that, we also have a serious amount of cheap imports coming in from all over the world. and if you look at what pakistan at what happened in pakistan with there, of with the flooding there, and of course , ukraine, which one of course, ukraine, which is one of the biggest potato to the biggest potato to give the biggest potato to give you the biggest potatoto give you an manufacturers. so to give you an idea of how much potatoes used to be in britain back in the 60s, there was over 300,000 hectares of potato crops across the uk. last year there was just about 100,000 hectares. and because most of these crops are now destroyed, you would imagine going to the bank and saying, sorry, we didn't get all our returns out of this crop this yeah returns out of this crop this year. can we put it in next

year? and by the way, fertiliser pnces year? and by the way, fertiliser prices were so high last year that we're instead of getting what was in the land, it's now washed out totally and we are now going to have to spend serious money putting that fertiliser back into the ground. the banks basically are saying no , that's not going to happen no, that's not going to happen because the same thing may happen again. so you are looking at a very real situation here of farmers right across the uk saying it is not worth our while, but it also brings in food security. should we be planting more and should government be doing more to help these farmers feed a nation because it is a staple diet of the uk? and if you look at india, they have stopped the exports of onions and rice because they want to feed their own people first. they realise that crops around the world are going down because farming is being really put under the microscope of environmental issues. and you could actually

say a lot of these fields are flooded because there was no money given by government to clean out the shocks or drains as you, as we call them, because there may have been newts in there may have been newts in there hadn't been in there there that hadn't been in there for and and of for years. and years. and of course, that the water course, that sends the water table high, so high that it table so high, so high that it doesn't get a chance to go away. then when the storms come, the flooding because of flooding happens because of course , the water tables are course, the water tables are already extremely high. now, if you think last year the price of non—contracted potatoes has risen to over £600 a tonne, it's not because they're good potatoes, it's because there's a very big lack of them going into the shops and supermarkets , the shops and supermarkets, really, really concerning stuff for potato farmers. dougie beattie , thank you for bringing beattie, thank you for bringing us all the very latest there, and i hope you can find some potatoes that aren't rotting in the fields . the fields. >> it's not very good, is it? >> it's not very good, is it? >> it's not very good, is it? >> i like potatoes, dark times, i i'd be sad if i could i love it. i'd be sad if i could no longer get a potato. >> yeah, think it affects >> yeah, i think it affects sweet potatoes.

>> but also, suppose it >> but also, i suppose it it does something that is does highlight something that is perhaps underappreciated on food security also about diversity security is also about diversity and diverse supply chains . if and diverse supply chains. if our food when we talk about food security, we're all very often talking about sort of what's known as autarky , sort of known as autarky, sort of self—sufficiency, yes. >> british food for british people. >> but actually but actually, if we have a really bad summer or a really bad winter or in this case, both, it's important to have friends to trade with. it's important that we have our trade deals like we do with australia and new zealand. it's important that we sign deals with canada and the states america and the united states of america and the united states of america and friends and and our european friends and partners, well . our trade partners, as well. our trade interdependence is also food security . absolutely. security. absolutely. >> you want good trade deals with other countries, just in case absolutely case you have absolutely terrible of course, terrible weather. but of course, we help our british we do want to help our british farmers too. not a great thing if you can't sell any of your potatoes. i mean, how many hours graft, days graft have graft, how many days graft have gone potatoes gone into those potatoes that are now looking absolutely horrendous one will eat?

horrendous and no one will eat? but there you let us know. but there you go. let us know. have had any trouble finding but there you go. let us know. h potato had any trouble finding but there you go. let us know. h potato hthe|ny trouble finding but there you go. let us know. h potato h the supermarket, ding a potato in the supermarket, but coming harry potter author coming up, harry potter author jk rowling has hit back after trans journalist india willoughby accused her of committing a crime by misgendering stay misgendering her publicly. stay with . us. with. us. >> emily, thank you and good afternoon. your top stories from the gb newsroom . the prime the gb newsroom. the prime minister has refused to say how the government would fund a plan to abolish employee contributions to national insurance. around £10 billion has been spent on a £0.02 cut to the insurance rate. but its benefits are likely to be cancelled out by an expected rise in council tax. rishi sunak says british workers deserve to be recognised. but the labour leader, sir keir starmer, says that unlike the government, labour's policies are fully funded . a boy convicted of funded. a boy convicted of murdering transgender teenager brianna ghey is to appeal his sentence . eddie ratcliffe and

sentence. eddie ratcliffe and scarlett jenkinson, who are both 16, were jailed for life last month with a minimum of 20 and 22 years. they were 15 when they hatched a plan to kill brianna with a hunting knife , in an with a hunting knife, in an attack described as frenzied and ferocious. rihanna parents say the killers should never be released from prison. christian horner's accuser has been suspended following red bull's investigation into inappropriate behaviour against the formula one team principal. mr horner, who's 50, was allowed to remain in his role after red bull's parent company, g.m.b.h , parent company, g.m.b.h, dismissed the accusations made against him. it's understood the female member of staff has been suspended as a direct result of the inquiry, she to the united states, where president biden is preparing to deliver his state of the union speech later this evening. he's expected to use his fourth address to present a sharp distinction between his style of leadership and is likely opponent donald trump . likely opponent donald trump. touting a strong economic performance. he'll also look to allay voters concerns about his

age, despite being just four years older than mr trump . for years older than mr trump. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts

i >> -- >> now here's an easter egg from the budget. it's 2:37. by the way. the obr, the big bogeyman at the obr, said something really rather strange , and that really rather strange, and that is that one of the tax cuts the chancellor announced, far from losing revenue for the government, it will actually raise revenue for the government here to tell us all about it. is our news. gb news economics and business editor liam halligan .

business editor liam halligan. liam, what on earth is going on? >> so what's going on, tom? is that the obr and the treasury, they've acknowledged the existence of something called get ready, drum roll. the laffer curve . what is the laffer curve? curve. what is the laffer curve? the laffer curve is an economic concept invented by by a us economist called art or arthur laffer , he was big in the sort laffer, he was big in the sort of reagan era in the 80s and 90s, and arthur laffer came up with the striking but very simple idea that some taxes, if you lower the tax rate, that means more people pay the tax because you change behaviour and tax revenue goes up. the laffer curve is usually thought of in the other direction . if you the other direction. if you raise tax rates, then people do less work and work very hard to avoid taxes . so you actually get avoid taxes. so you actually get less tax revenue . and the obr,

less tax revenue. and the obr, the office for budget responsibility, has resisted the idea of the laffer curve for quite a long time. you know, people like liz truss, kwasi kwarteng, people on the right of the conservative party, john redwood, also former cabinet minister, have often said if you lower taxes , you get the economy lower taxes, you get the economy moving. and that means you raise more revenue. the obr has resisted that idea. but in this one instance, and jeremy hunt referred to this in his speech yesterday, didn't he, that the obr have found their inner laffer curve in this one instance, the obr have acknowledged the chancellor's argument as being correct because what the chancellor did yesterday, it was little noticed , but quite an ideologically striking move . he lowered striking move. he lowered capital gains tax from 28 to 24% on houses that are sold under certain circumstances. there are some complications that aren't your residential property. look, if you sell the house that you live in with your family and

you've lived in it for more than three years, then you don't pay capital gains tax. that's a fundamental principle of living in the uk . you don't pay capital in the uk. you don't pay capital gains tax on your principal residence . i don't think that residence. i don't think that any party would have the guts to touch that fundamental principle of life here in britain. but if you sell a house that you rent out a buy to let or so on, then you you really do pay capital gains on it and it can be quite high, particularly if you're a higher rate taxpayer. but what jeremy hunt is saying in certain circumstances, capital gains tax on non—residential housing or houses in which you don't reside, someone else resides in them , but you own them. that's them, but you own them. that's going to come down from 28% to 24. quite a chunky reduction. and the obr, unusually, has admitted that will raise more revenue. that is a lot of people in this country that might have bought a house in the 1990s for tuppence ha'penny, perhaps just

the quid they found back down the quid they found back down the back of the sofa as house pnces the back of the sofa as house prices used to cost, and, and suddenly they've realised that this house has is now worth hundreds of thousands of pounds more than when they bought it, and so won't sell it because they'd be on the hook for potentially 100,000 plus of tax, maybe even more than the rest . maybe even more than the rest. tax. you're you're exactly right. the thing up. >> what the chancellor is trying to do here and i fully, it's not my job to endorse, the policies of one party or another, but i completely understand his logic here. and i actually think the logic is compelling. let me put it like that. he's trying to unlock housing for people who can buy the housing in order to make it their principal residence. and there are quite a lot of people, tom, in my generation and the older generation, rather than with respect to your , your, your, respect to your, your, your, your emily's generation, if i may say, eating generation , may say, eating generation, there are quite a lot of people who, over the years have moved

from one house to another, but they've kept the house that they're moving out of as a sort of nest egg, as a pension in, you know, we have lots of accidental landlords in this country, we? people country, don't we? people with, say, buy rather than say, one buy to let rather than being sort of big corporate being a sort of big corporate rental company and if you lower the punishment when you sell that house, if you lower the tax on the gain that has accrued in that house, then you may encourage people to sell those houses and release them back onto the market. so frankly, younger families can buy them . younger families can buy them. i'm not sure it will work, but the obr certainly has accepted the obr certainly has accepted the argument that it might work , the argument that it might work, and the idea that you can lower and the idea that you can lower a tax rate and get more tax revenue from the same tax at a lower rate is a revolutionary idea. it's a powerful idea, and it's an idea , tom and emily, it's an idea, tom and emily, thatis it's an idea, tom and emily, that is borne out by the evidence. you know , when the uk evidence. you know, when the uk lowered corporation tax , to all

lowered corporation tax, to all the way to down 19% from the high 20% from 2010 down to 2022, two tax revenue from corporation tax as a share of gdp rose quite significantly . i believe in the significantly. i believe in the laffer curve as a professional economist , i've laffer curve as a professional economist, i've studied it for many years. whitehall generally doesn't believe in the laffer curve, but this tax and it's well spotted by you. this tax, the fact that there may be a laffer curve with this treatment of capital gains tax is a major change in the thinking of whitehall. it may be just a limited example of a shift in thinking, but it's better than nothing. well maybe stamp duty next on the on the chopping block. >> let's see. thank you very much. liam halligan. our economics and business editor. of course. >> well, after the break, we'll be speaking to a discrimination lawyer as j.k. rowling is reported to the police for an alleged hate crime for misgendering a transgender

journalist. more on that. after this

i >> -- >> it's 247. km >> it's 247. you're watching . >> it's 247. you're watching. listening to good afternoon, britain. now, the trans journalist india willoughby has reported authorjk rowling to the police , where she says she the police, where she says she has anyway for an alleged hate crime for misgendered king in onune crime for misgendered king in online posts. >> well, jk rowling refused to refer to willoughby as a woman when engaging in an online debate about all female locker rooms . but debate about all female locker rooms. but the harry debate about all female locker rooms . but the harry potter rooms. but the harry potter author has responded, claiming that willoughby's obsessive targeting of her, in her view, may meet the legal threshold for harassment. well joining us now to discuss the legal boundaries of this row is discrimination. >> lawyer robin moira white. robin, thank you very much for

joining us. it's getting rather heated on the twitter sphere between jk rowling and india willoughby, india has for a long time not appreciated. jk rowling's interventions in the whole transgender debate and issue. and now india. willoughby claiming that she's reported jk rowling to the police for misgendering. i mean, could that be a crime , well, it could be be a crime, well, it could be part of a crime. i mean, there are whole series of, in the workplace or in service provision locations. >> the equality act applies , >> the equality act applies, we're quite protective of free speech, though, in the uk, and there are a number of acts, relevant acts, the communications act, the online safety protection act and potentially the harassment act from 1998. but in all cases it requires really quite serious conduct to go across the line .

conduct to go across the line. and i'm not sure anything. >> i have been following the frankly unattractive exchanges on social media, and i don't think i've seen anything yet that goes across the line. >> some of it's got quite close to it and, and, and police forces are quite used to reports on occasion, i think, from people who are concerned , so people who are concerned, so that they are ready if people go that they are ready if people go that step further. >> so what would be the line to cross? because you're right, this country does nominally at least support free speech. you should be allowed to be rude to somewhere someone else. i suppose. harassment is a line about about race, repeated, targeted. what's the legal boundary? >> yeah, well, in the harassment act requires, a course of conduct. >> so it's more than one action. >> so it's more than one action. >> and the definition in the harassment act is a bit circular. >> it's harassment. if a reasonable person would think it's harassment, so it sort of leaves it to the court , the, the

leaves it to the court, the, the other acts are quite carefully written. so the communications act, for example , for which act, for example, for which there was i think we've seen matters related to harry miller and kate scottow in the past, and kate scottow in the past, and that requires an intent to cause harm with a communication that's directed at someone. so from person , someone online from person, someone online community, the communications act , as far as community, the communications act, as far as i understand it, is the act that meant that someone who wrote a tweet that joked about british soldiers, or was it sir captain tom moore , was it sir captain tom moore, ended up with some sort of sentence. >> there are people who sent whatsapps making jokes about grenfell who were prosecuted under this act to some dog that could it be? >> isn't there a dog that did a nazi salute as well and that got that, got into all sorts of it, was a pug, all sorts of legal trouble. >> so i suppose there are this country isn't totally free speech, there's speech, sadly. there's a there's a level. speech, sadly. there's a there's a lev mean, the speech, sadly. there's a there's a levmean, the communications >> i mean, the communications

act i'm paraphrasing, act requires, i'm paraphrasing, but requires something that's but it requires something that's grossly offensive, so , so, you grossly offensive, so, so, you know, virtually any comparison of someone to a nazi, would be across that line , for example, across that line, for example, because of how people react to that , virtually because of how people react to that, virtually anything that calls someone who wasn't , a calls someone who wasn't, a paedophile or a child abuser would be grossly offensive . would be grossly offensive. >> it's a difficult one, though, isn't it, robin? because, jk rowling is very much accusing india willoughby of a harassing her over a number of years, writing nasty things, going after her, targeting her over the course of, of many years. so she says she says that lawyers advised her that not only did i have a clear , winnable case have a clear, winnable case against india willoughby, when it came to defamation , but that it came to defamation, but that india's obsessive targeting of me over the past few years may meet the legal threshold for harassment. so they both believe they may have legal case they may have a legal case against one another, but is it not very, very important to note that also gender critical views,

i.e. the belief that, you know, transgender women aren't women and so on, is also protected under equality law? >> well, the belief has an absolute protection. manifestation of belief has a, a, protection with limitations . a, protection with limitations. so the case that everybody will be familiar with the first case in the at that established protection for gender critical people judge in that case said very clearly that what this wasn't was a license for people to go around misgendering people in workplaces, because if you do that to a work colleague, that's very likely to be unlawful harassment. if it unless it's done , it's a mistake or done, it's a mistake or whatever. so there are balances and boundaries to be had between rights that mean all people should be able to live in comfort and peace in, particularly in something like a workplace or a shop or a service

delivery location. >> no really interesting stuff there. robin. moira white, thank you very much for your expertise on this matter. discrimination lawyer of course. emily, what do you make of that? >> well, it's difficult, i mean, it doesn't really make an awful lot of sense the equality laws around because you if around this, because if you if your belief is protected, that your belief is protected, that you don't believe a man can become a woman if that's protected law, but then it's protected in law, but then it's against law to misgender against the law to misgender someone in what could be considered an offensive manner, then those two surely contradict one another. if you strongly have a held belief, you have to then pretend that you don't in order to get around the harassment. i don't think that. >> i think that might have been more referring to sort of employment tribunals and the rest of it, you sort of rest of it, if you sort of pointedly shouting pronouns at someone that might considered someone that might be considered to know, india to be, i don't know, india willoughby she's got case. >> yeah, it's true, it's jk rowling waiting to follow. >> we don't have time. >> but we don't have time. >> but we don't have time. >> don't free speech. >> we don't have free speech. really nominally.

nominally. >> if you can be arrested for a tweet, you don't have free speech. across to speech. let's cross across to martin daubney. what's on your show ? show? >> okay. the morning after the night before , christopher hope, night before, christopher hope, our political editor, sits down with jeremy hunt and asks him, was it the right thing to do to propose a £1 million muslim war memorial plus immigration baked into your budget? plus, we'll have dame andrea jenkins on the budget we should have had. >> and news as gb news >> and great news as gb news helps house a homeless woman helps to house a homeless woman in constituency. in jeremy hunt's constituency. that's all coming up after your latest weather forecast . latest weather forecast. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello again. welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. tomorrow's going to be a mostly fine day for many of us, but before then, we do have a few showers to watch out for. at the there is a the moment there is a southeasterly across the southeasterly flow across the country being brought country that's being brought on

by pressure towards the by high pressure towards the northeast of uk. worth northeast of the uk. worth beanng northeast of the uk. worth bearing mind this is bearing in mind this flow is quite brisk and those winds are going pick up as go into going to pick up as we go into tomorrow . there will be a few tomorrow. there will be a few showers evening across showers this evening across parts wales. will then parts of wales. they will then push northern ireland push into northern ireland overnight and also some showery outbreaks of outbreaks across parts of northeast scotland. northeast england and scotland. two could a bit of sleet or two could be a bit of sleet or snow over highest ground , snow over the highest ground, otherwise mostly night and otherwise mostly dry night and even skies developing even some clear skies developing in the south and across parts of northwest scotland. clear skies and shelter from the wind in prone spots could lead prone rural spots could lead to a touch frost tomorrow a touch of frost tomorrow morning. as we go morning. otherwise, and as we go through apart from a through tomorrow, apart from a few outbreaks few showery outbreaks of rain through morning across through the morning across parts of scotland northeast of scotland and northeast england, a dry england, it's looking like a dry day and we will see increasing amounts of sunshine, particularly across many parts of england and wales, and also western meanwhile western scotland. meanwhile areas exposed to that southeasterly to southeasterly wind are likely to remain bit cloudier and remain a bit cloudier and temperatures will be a touch remain a bit cloudier and tempethan as will be a touch remain a bit cloudier and tempethan today. be a touch remain a bit cloudier and tempethan today for a touch remain a bit cloudier and tempethan today for manych remain a bit cloudier and tempethan today for many of us, lower than today for many of us, with a wind chill, especially across northern parts, into the weekend, and it's looking a bit wetter many us. there wetter for many of us. there will be some unsettled weather

pushing from the pushing its way in from the southwest we through southwest as we go through saturday, areas saturday, so in southern areas it's likely to turn pretty wet at times over the next few days. a bit more showery further north. temperatures may pick up on saturday dropping down on saturday before dropping down by monday. >> warm feeling inside from >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good afternoon, you wonderful people . people. >> it's 3 pm. welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. >> broadcasting live from the heart of westminster. >> all across the uk. >> all across the uk. >> today, the morning after, the night before . jeremy >> today, the morning after, the night before .jeremy hunt has night before. jeremy hunt has told gb news that the government must change the uk's economic model. so we don't rely on mass migration to boost the economy .

migration to boost the economy. and the chancellor has also defended that highly controversial decision to give £1 million towards a memorial for muslim soldiers killed in the two world wars . he says the two world wars. he says it will heal the divisions of the conflict in gaza . but will it? conflict in gaza. but will it? now this story really , really now this story really, really got you going yesterday on the show and i'll get much more reaction to news that pensioners will cop for an £8 billion hit after the budget , oaps and will cop for an £8 billion hit after the budget, oaps and high earners. the worst off was this a labour party budget and michelle donelan is facing calls to quit after taxpayers paid £15,000 over a libel case. rishi sunak has backed the minister to the hilt. >> that's all coming up in your next action packed hour . next action packed hour. >> welcome to the show. now, please get in touch all the usual ways. >> gbviews@gbnews.com. >> gbviews@gbnews.com. >> it struck me yesterday.

staggering amount of