all ends now. speculation. it all ends now. look well, any second now, i will be playing you. that clip of rishi sunak. will be playing you. that clip of rishi sunak . but look, of rishi sunak. but look, tonight it is about each and every one of you at home. i want to know how are you feeling? i've got a poll running on twitter. was rishi sunak right to call this election or not? tell me your thoughts. have a look at what he has to say . look at what he has to say. >> now is the moment for britain to choose its future , to decide to choose its future, to decide whether we want to build on the progress we have made , or risk progress we have made, or risk going back to square one with no plan and no certainty. earlier today i spoke with his majesty the king to request the dissolution of parliament. the king has granted this request and we will have a general election on the 4th of july. >> i've got to say, i have seen some bizarre things in my time. but rishi sunak stood outside in the pouring rain whilst if

you're a keen follower of politics, you'll of course be familiar with that song dreams, things can only get better. blasting out almost at some points, by the way, making it difficult to hear what rishi sunak was actually even saying. and i'll tell you now, when rishi sunak turned around his back , i am telling you, it was back, i am telling you, it was dripping. dripping wet . but what dripping. dripping wet. but what goes through people's minds? who wakes up, takes a glimpse at the pounng wakes up, takes a glimpse at the pouring rain and thinks to themselves , this is the day that themselves, this is the day that i am going to embark on my election campaign. please give me your thoughts. i am michelle dewberry i'm with you till 7:00 tonight alongside me to get into all the nuts and bolts. my panel of conservative peer shaun bailey and the former labour mp, and a new face onto this programme. lucy luciana berger. welcome to you. and also to you, sean, look, you can get in touch all the usual ways. gb news. vaiews@gbnews.com is the email

address. you can go to the website, which is gbnews.com/yoursay join the conversation there. or of course, go on to twitter. you can x me and give me your views on that poll. i'll have the results of that before the end of the programme. but look, it is official. shaun bailey, july the 4th. clear your diaries, get to the point with me. was rishi sunak right to do this? because this was a massive surprise. >> look, there'll be. i can't see anybody who's going to say this was the wrong thing to do. i sure know labour are happy about it. because one thing they know, they can't win an election unless there is an election the tories will want to say, come on, it's time to show people our record and see what's actually happened, how they actually feel. the only people who might feel. the only people who might feel a little bit insecure about this are some of the tory mps in the northern seats in in the red wall. they might be feeling a little bit nervous, but i think i actually think it's the right thing to do. months and months of months to you. it was a surprise to me. many of my

fellow peers seem to have the inside track. there's a lot of buzz this morning about this actually happening, but it's always a surprise when the pm calls an election. >> when did you find out, fairly early on today. someone said to me, this is going to happen. and you've got to remember, in my in my job, people always say this. yeah. >> so when did you know? hang on. when, when did i officially know? >> yeah, when i saw rishi standing in the rain with you. really? yes. but obviously when you sat in the house of lords, everybody has an opinion. and there's a lot of people, some who i know are in the know. they were saying, this is actually going to happen. >> luciana, what do you think? >> luciana, what do you think? >> let's start right at the at the beginning. was he right to call this today was a massive shock. was it a shock to you? >> it wasn't a shock. >> it wasn't a shock. >> i thought that we would see a general election before the summer because on so many of rishi's pledges, he's not going to be able to deliver them. and the results are only going to be worse if you wait. the longer that he waited. and labour has been calling for an election for over a, you know, for an extended period of time. and i say bring it on. and it couldn't

have come any sooner. i think the country is desperate for a change, and now they have an opportunity to go to the polls and put an x in the box that they want to see that change. certainly, i know i was in parliament earlier this afternoon and it's taken loads of people by surprise. i saw conservative members of parliament who themselves were being asked by journalists and like, you'll be the you'll be, you'll know before i do if it happens, i'll see it on bbc news or gb news or gb news. >> gb news everyone. this where else would you be tonight, i ask you, hopefully absolutely nowhere, look, let me cross live to our political editor, christopher hope. christopher, good evening to you. i mean, i've just been pontificating at the absolute spectacle of the prime minister. absolutely pounng prime minister. absolutely pouring wet . it was certainly pouring wet. it was certainly a surprise to many. bring everybody up to speed. if they're just tuning in. >> yeah, it surprised many in westminster. michel and good evening from our studio here in, in in the qe2 centre in westminster. a few saw it coming . it's been, it's been rumoured, been rumoured a while that there would be this, this election to be called, but we thought it would be november. not, not now.

and that's why it's such a surprise to so many people. i think this is the biggest gamble, michel, taken by a sitting prime minister being so far behind the polls in living political memory. he's 21 behind, behind points behind the polls , according to ipsos mori. polls, according to ipsos mori. the gamble has to be, as he said there, that that is a soft lead for the labour party. when you present people with a choice between the certainty , as the between the certainty, as the tories would see it, of carrying on, delivering on the promise and the course set by the pm well over a year ago now, against the risk of a labour government, people are going to government, people are going to go back to vote to backing the tory party that is clearly the gamble they're taking. but rather than wait to see, maybe by by september, when there's been two cuts in interest rates by the mpc, the monetary policy committee, when net migration may have come to down 2019 levels, when illegal migration may also be being dealt with because of the rwanda plan starts to work, when the economy starts to work, when the economy starts to work, when the economy starts to grow and inflation is to down 2. those five areas, it

looked like the government was heading towards three rishi sunak an election in november. so people would say don't risk it. look what's happened so far. and also don't forget a budget, possibly in september to cut taxes instead in the rain, in the pouring rain in the downing street . he's gone for an early street. he's gone for an early election in july that no one saw coming. tory mps. well, the ones i'm speaking to, horace speak, who are speaking to me are cross , one said this is madness and they don't understand why it happened. they don't understand why it happened . we're trying to find happened. we're trying to find out whether the pm will be speaking to his own backbench mps. there's normally a 1922 committee meeting of backbench tories on a wednesday. we don't know if the pm will address that. many mps had holidays booked next year, the next week. forgive me in the in the may half term they fought very hard going into the local elections . going into the local elections. now whether that can happen, well they clearly can't happen if they're fighting on. we don't even know if the party has selected all its own candidates. there are other choices outside the tory party. by the way, what will nigel farage do? he's the honorary president of reform uk .

honorary president of reform uk. will he now fight to be a tory mp? maybe in clacton, where he's been tipped to win by by polling paid for by the former brexit brexit donor arron banks? clearly keir starmer says bring it on. he's got to. what else can he say? can he say as does, sir ed davey, the lib dem leader. the pm in summary , had leader. the pm in summary, had one surprise in his arsenal. one bazooka left and that was when to call the election. he's gone earlier than many expected. it is, as i say, the biggest gamble taken by a sitting pm in decades i >> -- >> you are going to stay with me throughout this programme and we will be crossing back to you sooi'i. 500“. >> soon. >> but for now, shaun bailey you were laughing at points of that i heard you. why >> listen, if mps are sitting in the house of commons thinking , the house of commons thinking, well, you can't call an election because i have a holiday booked jog because i have a holiday booked jog on. this is about the future of the country and if you may love the prime minister or hate him, one of the things it is his

prerogative is to call an election when he feels he and his party are ready, he feels we're ready. he's called the election. let's get on and campaign. look, everybody is talking about how wonderful the labour leader is. i bet you that lead closes down now. and one of the challenges the tory party has had is nobody scrutinising the labour party. they can say, as they like keir starmer talking about chaos, keir starmer talking about austerity, the labour party calls austerity. he's talking about the only reason to serve is because you want to serve the public. they voted to bail out the bankers, same as everybody else. so let's now have a real look at where people actually stand. and i think the prime minister is right to say, let's have this election. let's really look at people's records. >> i'm sure i heard a snicker from you as well. whilst christopher was explaining the goings on. >> i think there are two points for me that were really striking from from what we just heard is that actually on two of rishi's economic tests , on his, economic tests, on his, particularly on his pledges to the country, i know there's real concerns in government that there is no way that the small boats numbers are going to come down. in fact, they're going to go down. in fact, they're going to 9° up down. in fact, they're going to

go up over the summer. so on that particular commitment, rishi is not going to deliver. it's going to get worse. and on the nhs there are 7.5 million people in this country who are waiting for an operation for a physical health condition. there is over 2 million people in this country waiting for a mental health appointment. and on both those fronts, we know that again, the situation is not going to get any better. it's going to get any better. it's going to get worse. and those are the pledges that rishi himself, you know, said to the country last year that he would achieve success on he's gone in the wrong direction. so for both those reasons actually, i don't think it's going to get any better for him. if he'd waited and i think it couldn't have come any sooner. >> but but this is precisely why we should have an election. let's be clear, one of the biggest reasons we have this nhs waiting list is because of covid, because of lockdown. keir starmer and the labour party were locked down tastic. they wanted to lock down earlier, longer and harder. so if you actually ask yourself how did we get in this situation, you would know that if you had a labour government it would have been significantly worse. >> why are you shaking your head at that? >> because that is not the reason that we see the extreme levels of waiting lists within

our nhs today, whether it's on mental health or whether it's in physical health. there are millions. there are 7.5 million people waiting and the number has gone up exponentially since the pandemic, which was now a couple of years ago. if anyone in the nhs is because we haven't seen the funding match, the commitments that have been made by this government, we have an nhs that is creaking, creaking at its seams and we have massive, massive recruitment challenges while we've got all these people waiting because we can't fill the vacancies across the nhs, because this government has done nothing, nothing to ensure that we've got the people on the front line, whether it's the nurses or the doctors, the people doing the operations or the radiologists, we've got a massive, massive issue with our workforce within the nhs. >> i'll accept your point. it isn't just about the pandemic. that's absolutely true. the nhs has structural, real structural problems. but let's hear what labour wants to do because all of the labour plans have been pie in the sky fantasy. the idea that they'll turn this around is ridiculous. the government has tried, in some cases, too hard, and i've had to step back. you know, when we when we employed people from abroad to come to the nhs and we let them bring their families and stuff, it then gave us another problem

elsewhere with unintended consequences. so their response to the nhs will be an interesting part of this election, because i don't believe they have any answers. >> well, i think we've only heard just this week. i'm going to challenge that only because we have heard an answer, and it's one of labour's key pledges at this election. and it's a really important one about how we can introduce 40,000 more appointments every single week by paying people that work in the nhs over time, be that in the nhs over time, be that in the evenings, all the weekends to make up, to make up the time and to actually deliver those extra operations every single week to close those waiting lists. those waiting lists are extreme. they are off the chart. they've gone up unbelievably. and i would just say about the pandemic, if you look at our country compared to other countries, we have half a million fewer people in the workforce today compared to our european neighbours. and that's because all these people on the nhs waiting list, well, well, let's let's look at this, isn't it you you're talking about paying it you you're talking about paying people extra. >> we are ready already ready. give the nhs £180 billion. just where are you going to get this extra money from? this is the benefit. this is the benefit of an election. you're going to

have to go to the public and explain to them you're going to be taking some money from somewhere else, normally the public's pocket to pay the nhs, even more money, interest in times. want to see what happens. >> but but the point is, we've heard only this week how this particular pledge is going to be paid for. and i think that's thatis paid for. and i think that's that is really, really important because we heard the prime minister go outside in downing street and say that, you know, vote for the same, you know, but didn't actually tell us anything about what what he'd do. it's interesting he's done that the week after keir starmer actually took to the country and set out his six key pledges to the country, and also set out exactly how that was going to be paid. you remind people the view of what those six pledges are absolutely. the first information. let's started. >> let's see if you do a better job of than wes streeting when he tried to recall them. >> well, the first thing to say is, obviously i'm not a member of parliament, so i'm going to do my very best. but first and foremost is how we how we actually ensure that we have growth in our economy. the labour party set out unless we have that growth and unless we build homes in this country,

we've got the lowest housebuilding since before the second world war, unless we actually invest in 1.5 million homes over the next five years and actually do something to ensure we've got that stability in our in our economy, nothing can follow. we've seen no stability in our economy, particularly over the last few years. the havoc that's been wreaked, the chaos that's been wreaked, the chaos that's been wreaked since liz truss in particular as well, we've seen the commitment only in the last week, also about creating great british energy . you know, one of british energy. you know, one of the main reasons why we're all feeling it in our pockets and why we are all suffering if we look at our bank balances, is because the massive increase in our energy bills, great british energy would do a massive thing to ensure that we've got bills that are manageable and that we're creating energy in this country, particularly when we've got issues like energy security that are as a result of international events, like what's happening in ukraine, the labor party has set out what we can do for the next generation and we've got a massive issue in our schools. they've set out how they want to pay for 6500 more teachers, to give young people the best chance in life. they've said how they're going to pay for that. also, by and revoking

the special status that private schools get, they've set out plans to tackle antisocial behaviour and have thousands more police officers on our streets. and the pledge on the national health service , which national health service, which is so important for the future of our country. >> before 7:00. i mean, we have got a lot to unpick, haven't we, to go through here? i want to look at these pledges. the small first steps, labour, we're calling them. so we'll look at those six. we'll also look remind ourselves of the five pledges that rishi sunak made. and look at how actually he's been progressing, alongside those targets, i can give you a small clue. it's not very well at all. anyway. look, of course the king has a slight role to play the king has a slight role to play in this. he, of course, has to grant the prime minister's request to dissolve parliament. let's cross live, then, to our royal correspondent, cameron walker. he is braving the rain as well. but this time you're a smart man than rishi sunak cameron. because you've got an umbrella. bring us up to speed with the latest. there >> yeah, luckily my hair's not

getting too wet. michelle. well, i've actually in the last few minutes, just had a statement through from a buckingham palace spokesperson, it reads following the prime minister's statement this afternoon calling a general election, the royal family will, in accordance with normal procedure, postpone engagements that may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign. their majesties send their sincere apologies to any of those who may be affected as a result. now, i understand the d—day memorial engagement, scheduled for very soon indeed, will be going ahead involving both the king, the queen, prince william and other members of the royal family, both here in the united kingdom and in normandy. everything else is being decided on a case by case basis. so there is a huge question mark over trooping the colour scheduled for the 15th of june. there is also a big question mark over the state visit of japan. the king is was is scheduled to host a state visit for the japanese emperor here in london at the end of june . there

london at the end of june. there is a question mark over whether thatis is a question mark over whether that is going ahead. i am also told that the king was expected told that the king was expected to hold an audience with rishi sunak, the prime minister, at 545 this evening. that didn't happen. instead, as you can probably imagine, the prime minister physically went to see the king at buckingham palace earlier this afternoon to ask his permission to hold a general election on the 4th of july and therefore dissolve parliament. the king had had a busy diary already, to be honest, michel, but he had to find time to carry out one of his most important constitutional roles, and that is to see his prime minister and grant the prime minister his permission to hold that general election on the 4th of july and dissolve parliament, something thatis dissolve parliament, something that is the king's royal prerogative. but he will only do so on the advice of the prime minister. now, any bills currently going through parliament, which the king has not yet given royal assent to, they are not going to happen in this parliamentary session. they're not going to become laws. there's also a big issue

for the king's diary by the timing of this election, because the 4th of july falls within holyrood week, i.e. royal week, where the king is scheduled to be in edinburgh and scotland carrying out a number of traditional engagements, including a garden party at the palace of holyrood house on the 2nd of july, which suggests to me that the king may have to come back to london earlier to be here at buckingham palace on the 5th of july, the day after the 5th of july, the day after the general election, to appoint his prime minister now it could still happen in scotland. if you remember , liz truss in september remember, liz truss in september 2022 was appointed by her majesty the queen at balmoral due to the queen's health, the king is still continuing cancer treatment so they may decide nearer the time in july that the new prime minister whoever that is, has to go to where the king is, has to go to where the king is rather than it happening at buckingham palace. none of that, of course, is confirmed . as it of course, is confirmed. as it stands, the top line here is the king has granted the prime minister permission to hold a general election on the 4th of july. >> interesting stuff. thank you

very much for that. cameron walker, i was listening to you then as cameron was explaining that about events being paused and actually you were just saying to me that one of your events that you're associated with looks perhaps likely to be affected by that. >> so i think one of the garden parties that was due to take place in edinburgh for many charities and for volunteers in the week running up to the general election, obviously, as we've just heard, that no doubt will now be postponed and i hope that there'll be rescheduling it for those people that obviously contribute so much , they really contribute so much, they really look forward to that. >> i imagine i've never been ianed >> i imagine i've never been invited to one. if anyone wants to invite me, do feel free. but these are big, really huge deals for people, aren't they? >> they really make a difference. and to see, i've had the privilege of going to one of those the commitment from the royal family to listen and connect and engage with people who are doing so much across our country to contribute to charitable endeavours and to things in community spaces. i'm sure they will reschedule it because, as you said, it's so important to so many people to join that event. it is a really

big deal. >> i'm a member of the army cadet force and we had they had a garden party and we went and represented our cadets and it was a real legend for us. the glow lasted a very long time. it inspired some of our cadets to do more around raising money as well. so it is a very big deal, but i'm sure the palace will find a way of reaching scheduling that because these events are not unknown to us. you know, we've had elections before, they've disrupted the diary before, and i'm sure that the palace will restructure the diary accordingly. >> indeed. ijust diary accordingly. >> indeed. i just want to bring you guys in at herm. lots of you who've been getting in touch with your thoughts on the goings on of the day. paul, you say, can i just start by saying that the fact the police allowed that music to be played, you say, is totally unacceptable, but paul, it is a free country. what would you have them do? tell me, tim says he was standing in the rain like a true b'rit rishi sunak gets my vote on that alone. kgou's this is great. it's better than in being a fair weather pm like starmer, chris says i literally cannot wait for

polling day, he says i, i declare this the happiest day, of the year. oh chris, i want you to get out a little bit more. you need to start hanging out with me. this is his happiest day, it says chris, and steve says luciano is spot on. sunak will look even worse, if anything was left to go forward because he wouldn't be able to get any planes off the ground , get any planes off the ground, jim says this election now is going to definitely happen. july the fourth. in case you're just tuning in, starmer is going to win, the tories will get a battering, martin says it's good news we're having an election. i was a tory voter, but i can't vote for the tory party again. and i will certainly not vote laboun and i will certainly not vote labour. well what are you going to do then? who are you going to vote for? get in touch and tell me i'm running a poll on twitter or x. i'm asking you simply, do you think rishi sunak was right to have called a july election? i'm asking you yes or no? or

have you given up caring? i can tell you now, right? i threw that last option in just as a little curveball, because i know that quite a lot of you have been so bored now of all this kind of speculation, and you just want it over and done with. i can tell you right now, that the option in the lead, 48% is that you've given up caring what date it is. not really sure what that says , about the state of that says, about the state of the nation, jess phillips, i've got to say, she has tweeted out as well. she said, you've never had it so good. says a multi—millionaire man stood in the rain being upstaged by a speaker system, the polls don't lie, says one of my other viewers, which crosses me , which viewers, which crosses me, which crosses me. now live to my next guest. i am joined by top pollster chris hopkins. good evening to you. your reaction, first of all, was it a surprise to you that it called this today ? >> 7- >> yeah. 7— >> yeah. look, 7_ >> yeah. look, i 7 >> yeah. look, i think there's been a lot of speculation over the last 12 months, frankly, about when the general election

date would be. i think we've all got a bit of skin in the game. i'm glad that my family holiday in october isn't going to be disturbed. so, yeah, i think i'll take i'll take the 4th of july, and, and yeah, you know, i frankly, when you're so far behind in the polls, you know, there isn't an opportune time to call a general election. the conservative face a real uphill battle, but i guess they're hoping that this announcement will generate enough momentum for them to have some chance of making this election a little bit more salvageable than it currently looks. >> yeah, and i've got to say, you know, some people are saying, well, hold on, why didn't he hold on and push it back to, i don't know, say, autumn, but actually, realistically, do you think there would have been much more now that could have really swung those polls into such a different position for the tories or not? >> no, i don't think so. i think, frankly, the conservative party have kind of run out of wiggle room. they've run out of rope, really. i think there isn't a lot of a lot of time, frankly, left for them to use

any sort of policy manoeuvring to make much of a difference. i think, you know, the rwanda policy and the symbolism of flights taking off may well be the one thing that could move things. and obviously an improving economy is something that the government are going to point to, but voters aren't really feeling it and they're not really crediting the government with turning that around either. i guess at this stage, they're just hoping that the actual election campaign has a bigger impact than any sort of policy decisions that they'd be able to make. and we have seen historically 2017, with theresa may being key and probably the most recent example, campaigns can have a big impact. but there's no guarantee that it's going to have the impact that rishi sunak wants. and it could in fact, make things worse. >> so what's your prediction then ? what do you think is then? what do you think is actually going to happen, july the 5th. i'll get you back on. what will you be saying? i told you so then. >> well, look, as i say, campaigns can change things, but our most recent poll implied that the labour party had a 17 point lead. that is , you know,

point lead. that is, you know, generally going to point to an absolute pasting for the conservative party and i think, frankly, the polls haven't really moved for a long time now. you know, if they do move dunng now. you know, if they do move during the election, they could move both ways. and we'll have to wait and see. but if they don't end up moving, then frankly, the sort of, you know, the question mark for us pulses is going to be the size of labour's majority. it isn't going to be whether or not labour get one. >> yeah. and talk to me, if you will, just about reform . we've will, just about reform. we've touched then on say, labour and the tories. a lot of people are getting in touch saying that they don't want to vote for labour or the tories. so like let's look at place, parties such as lib dems reform. how do you see those guys performing ? you see those guys performing? >> yeah i mean the lib dems are a really interesting case. they obviously fight the general election like a series of by elections, i think they're going to do well in the seats that they're really strong in and contesting , but they're probably contesting, but they're probably not going to going to pull up that many trees. i wouldn't have thought. reform uk are an interesting one. i think they're going to have a huge impact at

this general election. probably not in terms of winning seats. it's going to be the votes that they take away from the conservative party, which could then open up other seats as opportunities for labour and the liberal democrats. i think, frankly, you know, the best hope that the conservatives have is some sort of electoral pact with reform uk. but whether richard tice nigel farage stands for that , you'll tice nigel farage stands for that, you'll be tice nigel farage stands for that , you'll be better placed to that, you'll be better placed to know know than i. but everything that we've heard from richard tice hasn't really implied that that they will. and therefore i think that creates far more of a headache for rishi sunak is ultimately good news for both ed davey and keir starmer. >> interesting stuff there. you go. that's chris hopkins. thank you for your time, sir, a pact between you and reform. what do you say to that, sean? i don't think richard tice will do that. >> he's made it quite clear that he believes in his party, and he wants to forge forward and deliver his message. he believes he's right. of the tory party and for him, they've lost that trust. we've lost that trust. so i think would be hard. but what i think would be hard. but what i will say this for reform will

really test what effect they'll have in parts of the country. they take a little vote from laboun they take a little vote from labour, but there's no doubt that they are much, much, much bigger risk to the tories. and actually there's no doubt if you vote reform you will end up with with labour probably. >> i find it really interesting. i asked you about whether or not the tories should do, a pact with reform and then you, you answer that by telling me what you think. rishi. sorry richard tice will do. i find that really interesting because it's almost like psychologically, you're almost placing him as the most important . important. >> he's a kingmaker. politics is, is about negotiation. do you think the tories should seek to do a deal with him? it doesn't matter because he's made it quite clear that he won't do it. so the reason i talk about richard tice is up for negotiation. and the reason i talk about richard tice is because in this particular instance, richard tice is the kingmaker. and to reach out to him does two things. a it allows him does two things. a it allows him the opportunity to say no publicly, and b it shows . publicly, and b it shows. >> do you think the tory party should be doing that? >> no i don't no, i don't i think the tory party should try to win the votes for themselves

in their own name. i don't think they should make the pact. >> do you think, do you think actually, because i've got to say, in fact, actually, let's listen to keir starmer. i've not brought him into this conversation yet. and then i'll come back to you. keir starmer's had a lot to say this afternoon. as you can imagine. >> look, tonight the prime minister has finally announced the next general election, a moment the country needs and has been waiting for. and where, by the force of our democracy , the force of our democracy, power returns to you a chance to change for the better. your future for your community, your country . country. >> well, look right. so the six pledges as they currently stand from labour party. so, i am chuckling . i am a bit mean chuckling. i am a bit mean because i do think it was a little bit embarrassing really, when people like wes streeting couldn't actually remember these six literally about 48 hours after the been announced. but anyway, economic stability. so they want to deliver that cut they want to deliver that cut the nhs waiting list. we've just

been talking about that a little bit earlier on launch, a new border security command unit. interesting addition that that was , a slightly later addition was, a slightly later addition to previous promises from the labour party. we'll come on to that. great british energy. as we've just been talking about two, cracking down on anti—social behaviour and recruit 6500 new teachers . recruit 6500 new teachers. they're all really good headunes they're all really good headlines and they will get a lot of people nodding along and high fiving each other. but do you think there's actually a lot of substance behind them, how they're going to be costed , they're going to be costed, funded, delivered and what they actually mean? i mean, what does crack down on anti—social behaviour mean? what are you going to do ? going to do? >> it's not i'm going to do because i'm a bit yeah, i'm not a member of parliament, i think what we've, we've only actually just heard these pledges made in the last week , i think it the last week, i think it particularly interesting that rishi decided to go to the country today in the wake of what was a very clear plan that was set out by the labour party and sir keir starmer last week, which you know, we didn't hear any. you're laughing, but

where's the plan? where's the plan? where's the programme from rishi. we don't have one. >> where's the clarity from, from keir starmer. he said so many things and flip flopped in so many directions. oh yes, he absolutely flipped the missions have been laid out by the labour party for well over a year now at all. >> the missions connect to the pledges that have been made and they're also fully costed. so, you know, you talk about it because that economic credibility and the economic stability is so important to the country. i thought, you know, when we heard the prime minister earlier today and the chancellor , in response to the inflation rate coming down, but still above the 2% target rate, we heard from a prime minister who's richer than the king, basically setting out to the country, basically gaslighting the country when people are still very clearly looking at their bank balances and know when they go for the weekly shop. we heard today that since the last election, we are all spending just under £1,000 more a year just going spending just under £1,000 more a yearjust going to the supermarket. >> i think that's a bit absurd when people say, oh, there's this wealthy guy and his gaslighting people. so do you want us to be run by a pauper? >> no, no, no, i think the point

the point no, no, no, the point is the why why? i think people today would have found it risible. what he did is that, like, everything's kind of all great and rosy. prices are still going up, and we still have people paying with the interest rates for their mortgages that people struggling to get by. the number of people in this country in work who are having to get having to access emergency food because they can't put food on the table. the idea that all things are great and rose, they are not. >> but, but but that's that's that's not true, is it. so it's a it's a labour tactic to a first make a personal attack. he's a very rich man. as if that's somehow makes him evil. but secondly secondly secondly , but secondly secondly secondly, he never tried. at no point did he never tried. at no point did he try to say everything's rosy. what he's trying to do is make the have the country look at their progress that he has made, and see that he's going in a positive direction, which is important to us. and when you talk about detail, when you talk about be, when you talk about detail and costing, when you talk about, cutting anti—social behaviour , there was no detail behaviour, there was no detail there. so you can give no cost there. so you can give no cost there. what does it mean? and if you look at labour already, why

this is important to have a general election. labour made a lot of pledges about their first 100 days, right. already they've turned around on them. so the thing that we're talking about delivering housing, the thing about their green deal all gone. and that's why a general election is important. there's no doubt that labour are ahead in the polls. but i tell you now, a better scrutiny of what labour's are proposing will narrow that gap. and what i hope for the good of the country, not for the good of the country, not for the good of the country, not for the good of any of our parties, for the good of the country, that the press scrutinise labour a little bit more, because there's lots of sweet words, very, very little plan. >> it's about the number. we're going to talk about anti—social behaviour. and i want to talk about the police on our streets. we've got 20,000 fewer police on our streets, so it's no surprise that we're seeing anti—social behaviour, rocket and people really struggling. the amount of people that have their phone taken, people that are being broken into, the police don't even comes. happened in my area like five times over the course of the past few weeks. like i hearit of the past few weeks. like i hear it all the time and actually we need more police on our streets. so they've made a commitment. the labour party of

13,000 more police officers on the streets. and they've said how they're going to pay for it as well. >> but the government have done that too, and they've already paid for it. and the only person in the whole country who failed to deliver those police was the labour mayor of london. every other police force in the country since 2010, every other police force in the country has taken the government's money and moved us back to the level of police we had at that time, except our labour mayor of london, aslef, our mayor of london, aslef, our mayor of london, and so am i. the rest of the country. >> that's the question, then, how many fewer police on our streets since 2010, we're about for the country. we're about 1300 below that, all in london, because the labour mayor of london. >> i'm talking about the country. >> you're talking about the country. >> you talk about the mayors. the mayors are only as good as the money given to them by central government. >> he was given the money he didn't recruit, so he had to give the money back. the money was absolutely there. that's a fact. and when you talk about the rest of the country, the government gave money to give an uplift, to bring us back to where we were. everybody else in

the country, labour, lib dem, everybody else achieved it. only the mayor of london did not. labour mayor of london. so let's if you want to talk about ask anyone what you're doing, they would warmly welcome 13,000 more police officers on a street that's fully, fully costed and paid for. >> yeah, but it's already there. >> yeah, but it's already there. >> they've been delivered by this government. >> well, the crime figures speak for themselves. >> yeah, in london they do. they're horrific. in london it is people right across london. i'd love you to do a poll. the crime figures are so bad in london they're driving them up nationally. >> all right, well, you guys tell me what you think to this situation. don't worry. i'm going to return to these pledges, and i also want to look a little bit deeper into rishi sunak's five pledges. and let's explore how he's performed against those, shall we? but before we do that, let's cross back to westminster for the latest goings on there. our political editor, chris hope, joins me now. bring us up to speed, christopher. >> yeah, there's a few things since we last spoke, michelle, to make you aware of jeremy hunt is going to fight the next election, although he knows there'll be a very tight spot to win it, down in surrey . there'll be a very tight spot to win it, down in surrey. he had been thought that he would stand

down at the election, but in some quarters he is fighting the election as the chancellor alongside the prime minister. we're now hearing the detail of what will happen on the 24th of may. that's in two days time . may. that's in two days time. parliament will be prorogued. that means it will no longer sit on may the 30th. parliament will be dissolved. the election on july the 4th, on the 9th of july, a new parliament is formed and the new mps are sworn on july the 17th. so the architecture of the next, two months or so , with the election months or so, with the election in between, has now been set out by the government, there are still some concern about why on earth the pm has called an election before, six months before he had to. the view is that he's trying to do it, to try and try and get ahead of the feelgood factor. but some tory mps are not happy at all. i asked one mp, a red wall, a blue collar tory, red wall, tory mp , collar tory, red wall, tory mp, why has he done it? and he, he says simply , he gave up, and he

says simply, he gave up, and he should have stepped aside. that's obviously critic of mr sunak. but others are equally or don't understand why he's done it so early. they think it's madness because, you're not allowing for a second budget in september 2nd, maybe two, interest rate cuts by the bank of england and, net net migration falling , illegal migration falling, illegal migration falling, illegal migration starting to be dealt with with the rwanda plan , with with the rwanda plan, falling inflation, a booming economy , and so on. there are economy, and so on. there are other areas that could have worked for the pm, and labour advisers told me the same, but instead in the rain, he's gone early. it's the biggest gamble i can remember by a sitting mp, by a sitting prime minister, and we'll see if it works . we'll see if it works. >> thank you for bringing us up to speed. i can tell you this huge reaction online, as you would, expect, nigel farage. i mean, many people will be really pondenng mean, many people will be really pondering what his next move will be. he's tweeted out and said rishi sunak and his speech

notes are both soaking wet outside number 10. it's the most farcical general election in history. there is a lot of focus on that kind of, absolutely drenched prime minister and some people might say, what a trivial thing to focus on, but actually, if you think about the optics of this, it really does not look great. you're not standing there. i mean, look at him. and i'm not someone to try to get into personal attacks or something, but this is your moment. you're supposed to be galvanising a nation around you. you're supposed to be rallying the troops. you're supposed to be energising us and making us 90, be energising us and making us go, yes! instead, i'm sat there going, oh gosh, someone please give that fella an umbrella. and we're focusing on those kind of things, instead now , angela things, instead now, angela rayner as well, she has tweeted out and she's saying it's time for a change. bring it on. but one of the things that i think is quite interesting, luciano, is quite interesting, luciano, is that many people will say to me that, they're saying quite a crude way, which i'm not going

to say, but what they would say is there's not much difference, really, between labour and the tories . so whilst it's great tories. so whilst it's great that angela rayner will suggest change, do you think there is much of a difference between the two main parties now? >> well, i don't know what rishi sunak and the government is proposing as i understand we don't have any plans. we got the plan from rishi last year, of which he's failing on on a number of those different points. >> let's get those five fire pledges up then, shall we? because we've looked at, in brief, at the six labour ones. let's look at the five tory ones as well. we can put the spotlight on you, mr bailey, because of course, his five pledges were to half inflation. you know, a big fat tick on that one. yeah. great, we're going to grow the economy . well, that grow the economy. well, that really hasn't gone well as it it's grown. what 0.6% on economy in europe, yeah . but then people in europe, yeah. but then people will say, well, how much did it fall in comparison to some of the other economies? it's been compared to and its growth, debt falling. our debt is something like 100% of gdp at the moment. waiting list in the nhs. we've just been talking about those.

you've got over 7 million people, these small boats. i mean, we're just a laughing stock now, about 10,000 people this year alone . shaun bailey this year alone. shaun bailey have made that crossing. and many people will suggest that one of the reasons that rishi sunak has called this now is because he knows, hopefully, if we're lucky anyway, that the sun imminently is about to shine and those crossings are going to go through the roof and he's lost control. >> so there's two things i say about the small boats, the small boats, the political class in general has, has made that far harder for the pm to do anything about. harder for the pm to do anything about . it's absolutely been about. it's absolutely been a failing, there's no doubt about that. but i wonder , would labour that. but i wonder, would labour have done anything different because they kept talking about safe and, legal routes? what does that mean? bigger numbers? we don't know. we need some detail there. cutting inflation. he's definitely done well on that. and he needs to keep going. and i'd argue the cost of living is a single biggest issue in the country. so it's good that he's moving things on on that he's moving things on on that on the growth of the economy. we didn't sink as far as people, said we would and we've come back stronger than

almost any other european nation. so i think he's done really well on that. paying the debt off, i think, is a generational problem that's going to be hung around for quite a while . and the nhs quite a while. and the nhs waiting list as well. i don't i would be lying if i said that was going well. >> why put it as one of your targets then? if you realise debtis targets then? if you realise debt is problematic, there's going to be some kind of multigenerational thing, why have that as one of your. >> but that's the prime difference between the tories and labour. you have to do what you have to do. it mightn't be pleasant, it might, it mightn't be sexy . but it's necessary. if be sexy. but it's necessary. if we don't start to pay that debt off now, we'll never pay off the. remember the last time you had a great big debt? labour fussed about us paying it off. then when they got on board and realised you had to pay it off, they then said we won't pay it off quick enough. is these kind off quick enough. is these kind of tough but important decisions that he's been reasonably good at? >> well, i mean, i have to obviously challenge you on that. and you yourself, of course, have acknowledged on some of the points where rishi and his government and the conservatives are going backwards, where we've

seen chaos on the specific pledges he, he made, like he's he's staked, i think his credibility and his future on these points that he made last yeah these points that he made last year. so, you know, this is not just like something he's done recently. he set these pledges and these commitments out. and on the majority of them, he's failing and or he's only just only just kind of been able to say, oh, well, you know, the economy is growing. let's not forget that we've been in recession times, that people are really, really struggling . really, really struggling. >> people are struggling. i'll accept that. but we avoided the recession. you can't say we were in a recession when the when the when the stats say we weren't we were on stagnant growth . were on stagnant growth. >> and we know we know from all of the figures in terms of what people are paying and what they're feeling in their pockets and what they're paying, particularly on their mortgages when they're on fixed interest rates, you know, created a problem created by this conservative government that people are really that happened. >> it happened throughout the world, the whole of europe. oh come on, all of us had had no i know it's a nice narrative for

you to not. >> come on. why why didn't this trust only be in. why was she only in number 10? because because because you are very good campaigners and create a narrative. >> come on. you destroyed the economy. >> we are all paying the price of liz truss. and she did. we are all paying the price. >> and most importantly, consequences. >> most importantly, we had two inept people at the top of this country. >> importantly, rishi has built that back. if he gets if he gets one thing right, i'd really, really like it to be interest rates because that's the biggest impact across our economy. and he's working hard and he's getting it done well again, you guys ' getting it done well again, you guys , wayne says if you vote for guys, wayne says if you vote for starmer, you're going to have more flip flops than you'd find in an australian pub on a hot summer's day, playing blair's song should remind everyone and anyone why not to vote for starmer, says alan. dave says sunak may have pulled a rabbit out of a hat. the election is not a foregone conclusion for a labour majority. he predicts that we will have a hung parliament, i mean, you're

really kind of divided on this one, joe says i've only ever voted tory, and i've got to say, icannot voted tory, and i've got to say, i cannot wait to see them get destroyed, july the 5th will be a happy day. he says things can only get wetter. well, i'm joined now by the former labour spokesman. james matthewson . spokesman. james matthewson. good evening to you, many people have been in touch saying this is a very happy day for them today. is it a happy day for you ? >> 7- >> oh, 7— >> oh, every 7 >> oh, every day is a ? >> oh, every day is a happy day for me , i think to be honest, for me, i think to be honest, when we look at the situation, the way the country have reacted to this, it's entirely understandable , isn't it? people understandable, isn't it? people are sick, people are fed up. and i think that goes across politics. by the way, this isn't me arrogant enough to say that they're absolutely thrilled and excited about a labour government. i think it's just the fact that everybody has had enough. everybody has had some really turbulent times, whether it be through the pandemic, whether it be right from the back to brexit as well. you know, and under those 14 years

of tory government, of course, we've seen various, various kind of, guises of leadership and different forms. and i think it's now just time for a fresh start. and i think keir starmer stand in front of those words or, or behind those words. sorry. change, shows that they're tapped into that as well. >> i've been looking at labour's six pledges and, and a bit of debate in the studio here about whether or not there's actually any considered thought out detail behind this or whether it's just soundbites, stuff like, crack down on anti—social behaviour, nhs waiting lists and all the rest of it. do you think there's any real detail there? >> yeah, i find it quite disingenuous to be honest. and i don't know if this is kind of a mistake on the part of lots of people in the media, but what's happened with this pledge card is that the pledges are there. and then he did a big piece in the mirror that explained the thinking and the strategy behind each single policy in each pledge, and that hasn't been covered a lot, to be honest. everywhere i've been, i've been. we'll pick up the mirror, copy the mirror and read it. so i think when we go into the

election cycle properly, we'll actually see, you know, the manifesto will have that detail. as luciano pointed out there. you know, it fully funded pledges, they'll all be kind of scoped out and i mean, i, you know, rachel reeves isn't from my wing of the labour party, by the way, but i have no doubt that she will have fiscal credibility at the forefront of everything. so i have no concerns about how thought out and how fleshed out it is . and how fleshed out it is. >> you're an optimistic fellow, james matthewson . i look forward james matthewson. i look forward to seeing the outcome and talking to you again soon. do you share james's optimism? get in touch and let me know. let's look how ed davey reacted to the news today . news today. >> across the country, people are crying out for change and this election is the chance to make that happen . in so many make that happen. in so many parts of the country, it's the liberal democrats who can beat the conservatives, who have taken people for granted for so long. every vote for the liberal

democrats is a vote for a local champion, an mp who will fight for you, your family and your community to get the fair deal that you so deserve . that you so deserve. >> do you think it is as much of a clear cut as many people are anticipating? because so many people are just predicting? does a landslide now for labour, but actually, when you look at the likes of lib dems reform as well, i've just been touching upon them. it might not be quite as easy as that. one of my viewers suggested a hong parliament. do you reckon that the lib dems are going to play a key role in all of this? >> well, for the liberal democrats, their target seats are facing the conservatives. so if they are successful , they are if they are successful, they are going to be taking additional seats away from the tories . and seats away from the tories. and obviously the election in terms of the outcome of this election, there's only two winners, there can only be two winners and it's either the labour party or it's the conservative party. so i think the lib dems will be successful in the south—west of england and some of the other seats in scotland. but what they

will do is take seats away from the government. >> do you worry about the lib dems, there is some truth in what you're saying, that the lib dems tend to be more of an issue in some of the shire seats for the tories than they are for laboun the tories than they are for labour. i think labour's challenge will be scotland, the snp are not doing that well, so you might have that one, that one cupboard. but i do think there's a tiny chance of a hung parliament if you look what happenedin parliament if you look what happened in london and london is labour's heartland now. labour has an awful lot of mps in london. i mean the mayoral election, they didn't quite smash it in the way that everybody anticipated they would . it's a little bit more of a mix and if that sort of is repeated across the country, it might not be what people are assuming will be the outcome. and of course, you could end up like john major, you know, he managed to pull it back. >> yeah. but i mean, the labour candidate, the labour mayor, won a third historic term with more than 200,000 votes than his conservative opponent. >> yeah, yeah. but let's be clear that the plan was for him to absolutely smash it and he won. let's be clear. i'm not

disputing that. and he and he won handsomely, but nowhere near the prediction. and that's the point isn't it. if, if, if that was played out nationally, it could be closer to a hung parliament than people know. >> and i think i think it's really important to say that, you know, i certainly when i speak to people that are in the labour party that are working hard every single day, whether that's people behind the scenes or people that are mps or prospective candidates, no one takes anything for granted and no one is taking this election whenever it was going to come. it's obviously been announced today for granted. there was no complacency and that had been drummed in, you know, rightly into everyone. and i was hearing that back, you know, when i've been campaigning, whether it's in the east midlands and here in greater london and other parts of the country, so i think it's really important that no party takes any vote for granted. but if we're going to have a prediction looking at the polls as they are, i mean, we heard from the pollster just a moment from the pollsterjust a moment ago, it was 17 points. other polls, one certainly yesterday that showed the labour party on on 20 points ahead of the conservatives. you know, a lot would have to change between now

and july the 4th for us to entirely for us, for us to see a hung parliament. i'm not you know, it's anything anything's possible in in, in politics. and i said no, no party. no party should take any vote for granted. and that's certainly not the case when it comes to the labour party. >> well, i think you'll see is as the labour party are scrutinised more and more, that that gap will close. i remember when i ran for mayor at one point, the mayor was 35 points ahead of me. he's only four. in the end, the point is, the greater scrutiny that keir starmer gets the more risk the labour party is at. for a long time he he sort of stood still and didn't say anything. he can't do that now. and people ask difficult questions. >> absolutely. but people will also want to know what rishi sunak's plan is. and everything that we heard today when he announced the election was about what's happened gone past, it's not about the future and everyone be looking very closely to see what he's pledging for this election. >> i'm just looking at the website on your say. there's lots of conversation happening between all of you guys on there right now. when i brought ed davey up, there's a lot of people i will be completely frank with you on here laughing.

there's a lot of people feeling quite insulted. you're saying you don't really know how he's got the front to still remain there, following all of the scandal that went on with the post office, you're saying it's quite an audacity to continue running and not actually of step down because of that, so if you're just joining us, you don't know what on earth is going on, i'll round it up very, very quickly. there was a lot of speculation today. there's always been a lot of speculation, quite frankly. but anyway, it was reaching fever pitch today. the rumours turned out to be true. rishi sunak, he stood out in the pouring rain and he called a general election to take place on the 4th of july. now there's also another issue that will be going on, you know, at the background of all of this, which is the conflict in israel, gaza, it will be really interesting to hear your perspective on how much of an impact you think that will have on the general election here. this is a very emotive issue for many people , a very divisive many people, a very divisive issue. many people will actually say that there's been lots of undue influence put on to politicians about this issue. do you think it's going to be a

relevant factor, well, certainly. i mean, we heard the launch of a report yesterday which talked about intimidation in politics and what i sincerely hope for as we go into this general election period is that we can have all parties behaving in a civil way and not just people within the parties themselves, but activists that might have a single issue cause that they behave in a civil way as well. and certainly, you know, we've seen that's going to happen because that's a nice sentiment. >> but i've run i've run in two general elections and they were awful. they were just awful. >> absolutely. and i've been involved in the jo cox commission, which has looked at civility in public life and specifically has put forward proposals that they've put to the to the main parties to sign up to. and i hope that we're going to see some response to that and that whether it's a candidate or a sitting mp who's standing again, that everyone subscribes to fair rules of engagement. and i think where the limits should be is, mps and their candidates families. and certainly we've seen some, you know, some people turning up and protesting outside people's

houses. i think that should be off limits. i don't think that is acceptable. >> so i think if you ask mps, prospective candidates whether they will be easy to control and they will be easy to control and they will be easy to control and they will behave, they've got skin in the game. they can imagine if they don't actually have first hand experience of how that feels. your real problem lies with third party third party groups who cannot be called to book in the same way that you know you or i as party members could be. i think that's where you'll see the real problem you've seen some very, very, very egregious campaigning tactics on both sides has been accepted by major parties. you've seen a lot of third parties who are campaigning for their political party. so the party can say, well, they're nothing to do with us. they'll reap the benefit, but they won't call out the bad behaviour. i think that's our next challenge in public life. >> why won't they call out that? because i ran in 2017 and 2019 and it was horrible. it was nasty . yeah, it was bullying. it nasty. yeah, it was bullying. it was insulting. and people can go , oh man up, michelle. that's politics. but i don't mind robust debate. i'm not a

snowflake. but there was so much of it that went below the belt. and i just wonder i am really actually concerned that this issue, the israel gaza issue, will really, translate to a way that it won't be controllable in some countries. >> let's be clear . if you look >> let's be clear. if you look at the general election as an entirety, i don't think it will change the result or anything like that. but in the seats where it's an issue, it will be a very, very live emotive issue. and you do run the risk of, of campaigning tactics that, you know, right minded people wouldn't want to see. and anybody who thinks i'm imagining that, we've already seen it, it's already happened. turning up at labour party offices and intimidating the mp because she decided to vote another way. all of those, in fact, she didn't even vote. she just suggested she'd look at it. all of those kind of things have been normalised and i think somebody needs to take a very robust stance against them or that practice will just grow well. >> gb news member on the website, dennis, he said, don't forget, michelle wes streeting has set the tone for a lot of this abuse during the london mayor election , which he did. do

mayor election, which he did. do you remember that tweet? >> i remember it very well. >> i remember it very well. >> he was basically, if you're not familiar with it, wes streeting was basically suggesting that if susan hull wins, it was a victory, basically for the far right racists . i basically for the far right racists. i mean, basically for the far right racists . i mean, it was basically for the far right racists. i mean, it was a basically for the far right racists . i mean, it was a little racists. i mean, it was a little bit more intense, like, yeah, white supremacist as well. >> and again, it's unnecessary andifs >> and again, it's unnecessary and it's quite offensive . i and it's quite offensive. i voted for susan hall. i do not consider myself a white supremacist, you consider myself a white supremacist , you know, consider myself a white supremacist, you know, and i don't think he needed to say that. i used to believe wes was better than that. and it was quite disappointing. and it sets the tone, doesn't it? and i've had really horrible personal experience. people turn up at my house, scare my wife and my children on, on the back of the idea that because you disagree with them, they can physically intimidate you. and we have to stamp that out in our politics pretty hard. >> i still get that today because i ran in two general elections in my home town. i've got no interest whatsoever, and being a general mp, i wanted genuinely to make my hometown better. and it had been labour for such a long time that i believed it was time for a

change. to this day, all these years on, i still get abuse from people i highlighted it on my social media the other day actually. some guy basically saying i will not be tolerate and i will not be tolerated in my home town because i'm a fascist. and what it all boils down to is that he feels deeply offended that i had the audacity to run against the labour party, and i remember running in those elections and saying to the likes of the labour candidate , likes of the labour candidate, you should be calling this out. all of this i remember campaigning there, it was kind of near a school on this massive guy coming right into my face, effing blinding at me. yeah, yeah, but the candidate didn't come out and say, i do not condone this behaviour. this behaviour is wrong. so for me, it felt like that you're almost kind of galvanising those people who who are performing that activity, they would think in their pugled little mind , on in their pugled little mind, on in support of the it was then the labour candidate you by not by not condemning that you're almost kind of bolstering it in

almost kind of bolstering it in a way. >> i think we find ourselves in different times today. >> i mean, i certainly empathise with that. >> yes, i would say it's worse. >> i think it's a difference within the parties. i do think it's different within within the parties in a way that it wasn't previously. so i first stood for election in 2010, 2015, 1719 and in 2010. there were people that said i had one of the worst election campaigns of any labour candidate in the country, and i was literally chased out of tesco's by people with long lens cameras. i've chased me around. i had people that were planted in my team. people went through my bins, they turned up outside my bins, they turned up outside my parents home, outside my parents work. i mean, it was relentless and people put out really, really racist material about me as well. that was all anonymous. we had like some really, really despicable things that happened. but but i do think in, in the wake of what have been some horrific things in this country, we have seen two mps murdered in this country and in the wake of that, i think there is a responsibility on all parties. it's incumbent on candidates and sitting mps to behave in a way which doesn't descend into this behaviour. >> i think it needs more than

behaviour. you need people from the very, very top of all the parties to call out this behaviour, particularly when those people say they're supporting you. it's easy for us to pull out somebody on the left. absolutely. somebody on the left needs to do that, and we need to call out people on the right. >> indeed, we spoke as well about richard tice. well, he's of course, been responding to the news today. let's have a listen to what he has to say. >> well, we're ready for the general election on july the 4th. reform uk is the party with the common sense policies. but what are seen? the prime minister drenched in rain, drowned out by the boogie blaster of steve bray, no less, highlighting the utter incompetence of this conservative government. the electorate have a clear choice . electorate have a clear choice. people know that the tories have broken britain. labour and starmageddon will do what they always do, which is bankrupt britain and its only reform uk's common sense policies that can

now save britain . july. now save britain. july. >> the you guys will have the final say, of course, on all of this on july the fourth, andy says michelle, is there any way that i says michelle, is there any way that! can says michelle, is there any way that i can go and hibernate somewhere until july the 5th? i can tell you, a lot of people will share that sentiment. i just want to cast your mind back. if you're just tuning in, wondering what on earth's gone on. rishi sunak, of course, has stood in the rain on the steps of downing street. he's announced, the next general election will take place on the 4th of july. just cast your mind back, though. do you remember bons back, though. do you remember boris johnson? how did it all go? so wrong from this moment? >> say thank you for the trust you have placed in us and in me, and we will work round the clock to repay your trust and to deliver on your priorities with a parliament that works for you. >> did it work for you ? do you >> did it work for you? do you think that's where it all went wrong? the ousting of boris

johnson? i know a lot of you lent your to vote the tories and it was because of brexit. it was because of boris johnson. what will you do next time? huge huge debate. i can tell you you are massively divided at home. i was running a poll, wasn't i? i was asking you on twitter or x, what do you think about rishi sunak's decision to call this general election? i was asking you whether or not you supported it. was it the right decision? was it not the right decision or have you given up caring? well, look, i can tell you, nearly 50% of you have now given up caring, about when the general election is in this country. you know what? i find that incredibly sad . and i blame so many politicians for what they have done to our society. the disengagement among so many of you at home is something that is really, actually quite tragic. i want you to ponder, though, how on earth can people make you turn out? we have the date. it is on. let's see what the next

few weeks hold. but for now, luciana, thank you very much for your company , shaun bailey. your company, shaun bailey. thank you at home for yours too , thank you at home for yours too, the man though that will have a lot to say. i'm absolutely sure nigel farage, will have much to say over the coming days. weeks and hours. of course, gb news will bring it all to you for now, but next up, tom harwood up to you . away . to you. away. >> tom harwood. and this is gb news news vote 2020 for the people. decide >> earlier today i spoke with his majesty the king to request the dissolution of parliament. the king has granted this request and we will have a general election on the 4th of july. >> tonight we bring you reaction and analysis from across the political spectrum .

political spectrum. >> a chance to change for the better. your future, your community, your country . community, your country. >> you'll hear from big name guests, including the person usually in this seat at 7:00, nigel farage, who will give his first reaction to the news. plus, we're live in the key locations with our reporters at downing street and buckingham palace tonight. two we'll look at the events leading up to the announcement today. and, crucially, what happens next. with just 44 days until the general election , who will get general election, who will get the keys to number 10? this is gb news, britain's election channel. but first, let's take a quick look at the other headunes quick look at the other headlines today with sophia wenzler . wenzler. >> good evening. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom and as you've just been hearing, the prime minister, rishi sunak, has

now confirmed a