gb news. >> good evening. it's 7:00. i'm tom harwood , and this is gb news tom harwood, and this is gb news vote 2020 for the people decide today, prime minister rishi sunak went on the attack with keir starmer in his firing line. >> he thinks that we should just offer an amnesty to illegal migrants to make us the soft touch of europe. it would make us a magnet for thousands of migrants coming from everywhere . migrants coming from everywhere. >> shadow home secretary yvette cooper put up the labour plan for controlling immigration, so we need a properly managed and controlled immigration and asylum system. >> so the system is fair.

>> so the system is fair. >> well, in the next two hours we'll speak to labour shadow ministers and get exclusive polling on who the public want to be the next prime minister. we'll also hear from a spokesperson from george galloway's . galloway's. party. and of course, we'll hear from the man of the moment, the man himself, nigel farage. he'll be in the studio giving his first reaction since revealing he won't be contesting a seat at the general election. he may be relieved to know that i'm not going to stand as a candidate myself. >> why.7 six myself. >> why? six weeks isn't long enough to fight a constituency seat. >> but there's some more news behind that, and we'll get to the story. behind the story? that's all coming up after your news headlines with sophia wenzler .

wenzler. >> good evening. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . the wenzler in the gb newsroom. the prime minister says voters should back him if they want the rwanda deportation scheme to succeed , but concedes flights succeed, but concedes flights won't get off the ground before the general election. rishi sunak also says he's putting the economy and global security at the heart of his campaign. it comes as political party leaders begin six weeks of trying to win votes after it was announced. polls will open on the 4th of july, kicking off the conservatives campaign this morning, rishi sunak claimed labour would do absolutely nothing to stop the boats . nothing to stop the boats. >> everyone else is starting to agree with my approach, which is bold. the one person that doesn't is keir starmer. that's a choice that this election, he thinks that we should just offer an amnesty to illegal migrants to make us a soft touch of europe. it would make us a magnet for thousands of migrants coming from everywhere. so that's the choice at this election . do you think my plan election. do you think my plan is the right one? do you think

i'm the one that's taking bold action to secure our borders and to stop the boats? or do you think he's going to do that? and it's pretty clear that on this issue, not only does he not share the country's values, that it's a problem. he's going to do absolutely nothing about it. >> and starting his election campaign in south—east england, labour leader sir keir starmer says that what the conservatives have done to the country is unforgivable and voters don't need to put up with it. >> rishi sunak clearly does not believe in his rwanda plan. i think that's been clear from this morning, because he's not going to get any flights off. i think that tells its own story. i don't think he's ever believed that plan is going to work. and so he's called an election early enough to have it not tested before the election. we have to deal with the terrible loss of control of the border under this government . we have to tackle government. we have to tackle the small boats that are coming across . nobody, but nobody across. nobody, but nobody should be making that journey . should be making that journey. >> meanwhile, lib dems leader sir ed davey says the conservatives are out of touch for far too long, people across

the united kingdom have been let down and taken for granted by this conservative government and this conservative government and this out of touch conservative party. >> but with this election , we >> but with this election, we have the chance to win the change. our country so desperately needs . desperately needs. >> in other news, police scotland has confirmed it submitted a report to the prosecution service in relation to former snp chief executive peter murrell. the husband of former first minister nicola sturgeon was charged in connection with the embezzlement of party funds last month . the of party funds last month. the prosecution service have responded, saying connected investigations of two other individuals, a man aged 72 and a 53 year old woman remain ongoing and a record number of more than 68,500 people were granted refugee status or other types of leave to remain in the year to

march, home office figures show. that's the highest number for any 12 month period since records began, meaning the total asylum backlog still stands at more than 100,000. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gbnews.com/alerts. now it's back to . tom. to. tom. >> good evening. it's 7:05. day two of general election 2024. well it's been quite a day in a number of campaigns have launched. we've heard from the lib dems, the labour party, the snp and the prime minister has also been on a campaign event, not to mention reform uk launching their campaign too. it's been a day of action. let's catch up with it all now with christopher hope, our political editor . christopher, what do you editor. christopher, what do you think are the big takeaway moments today? i should mention

to people that are listening on the radio? you're on a fast moving battle bus as things stand, so we'll hope the line holds . holds. >> that's right. hi, tom. yeah i'm travelling through the scottish highlands with the prime minister's party. he's hit the ground running . of course, the ground running. of course, the ground running. of course, the time of the election was his choice. he could plan for this big day today. he started in london. he went to erewash. maggie throup seat held with a majority of ten. >> we did warn you. we did warn you . oh, i think we might have you. oh, i think we might have christopher back. the highlands . christopher back. the highlands. not the best place for signal in the world, but christopher hope we've got you back . and of we've got you back. and of course, so i know. okay, we're gonna we're gonna see if we can catch up with christopher a little bit later in the program. perhaps in an area of greater signal. but joining me in the studio now is the regular host of this timeslot, nigel farage gb news presenter, of course, also honorary president of reform uk . and i suppose we have reform uk. and i suppose we have to start there. we were talking with the team earlier about what

the big moments of today would be, and we were a little bit worried, saying, are we just going to talk about nigel? is that just being too introspective? but then we realised actually people who aren't even particularly involved in politics, who might just be passing by, there is one main story today and it's that you're not standing now. >> it should be keir starmers speech this morning. but of course, that is not memorable in any way at all. i look, i have always said that there'll be a moment when i throw my hat in the ring fully into british politics. i've also said, aged 60, i've got one more card to play 60, i've got one more card to play and it's about when i play it. i had, be honest with you , it. i had, be honest with you, put in place some preparations to launch next week. i wonder whether the conservative party found out about it. i think the sense of panic that we saw yesterday, the badly prepared speech , might perhaps have speech, might perhaps have prompted it a little bit. >> to be clear, you were about to launch a campaign to stand as an mp. yes. next week?

>> absolutely, absolutely. >> absolutely, absolutely. >> where were you going to stand that wasn't certain? >> that wasn't certain. there were a variety of options that i could have gone for, but i was about to do it next week to say, look, i'm going to do this full on. however, that's the only thing that's changed. the fact that i won't be standing has changed. am i going to be campaigning? yes. am i backing richard tice 100? yes. will i be travelling around the country, speaking, going to rallies, doing media? yes. do i think that today's immigration figures, stunning figures? i mean, 1.2 million people settled in this country last year, 141,000 from nigeria, a quarter of a million from india, 83,000 from pakistan. this is incredible . this is incredible. incredible. this is incredible. at a time when rents have gone up 20% in two years, you can't get a gp appointment. so i'm going to be out there. >> nets. these numbers are 685,000. >> yeah. and net means a lot of british people have left. i mainly mainly foreign people. simon. sam it's sam and sam. >> lots of students, more

people. >> tom have settled in the country in the last two years than came here from a norman invasion until david cameron became prime ministerjust think about that. >> that was a line that was used by richard tice today . by richard tice today. >> and richard tice presentation today was in a different league today was in a different league to the mumbling and stumbling in the reign of sunak yesterday to the reign of sunak yesterday to the totally unmemorable performance in the medway towns earlier on today. so i'm going to be out. if the tories think it's great. nigel's not standing. they're wrong. i'm going to be involved in this campaign. absolutely. what i could not do in the space of six weeks and yes, all right. he's wrongfooted me , but in the space wrongfooted me, but in the space of six weeks was to find a constituency from scratch and go around the country. i'm utterly committed to reform . i believe committed to reform. i believe their agenda is the only one that can actually stop the sense of national decline that we're in. >> but you hadn't thought of a seat. you hadn't thought of boston. and i thought i hadn't thought of clacton. >> no, i thought of several seats. i hadn't decided which. that wasn't the point. so, look,

you know, the fact that i'm not standing is big news. well, fine. but i'm going to be involved in this campaign. >> nigel, i have to say, there was a significant part of your note that you wrote this morning that got a lot of people who are big, big fans of yours riled up a little bit. and that was the suggestion , the implication that suggestion, the implication that the united states of america election matters more to you than the united kingdom general election. no. >> the american election doesn't matter more to me. it matters more to us. it matters more to the world. we are closer now than we've been at any point since the cuban missile crisis to a serious global war. >> nigel, you are a man who's devoted your political career to the importance of domestic politics, domestic elections and pushing away foreign interference. you're now saying what happens in a different country matters more to this country matters more to this country than our own politics. >> world war iii matters more to this country than who wins the next election. yes, absolutely. no question about it. and a weak america. we saw the biden withdrawal from kabul. we saw

the taliban taking back over. that was followed by putin invading ukraine, the chinese now rattling their sabres over taiwan. we're in a very bad place. we need we have to recognise as the leader of the western world is america , western world is america, whether you like him or not. donald trump believes in peace through strength. that is good. that must be good for us. so my plan is very simple. it's to campaign up until the july the 4th. very hard for tice and for reform. and by the way, this is a six year campaign. we've got we have got a six year plan to become the biggest party in british politics. six weeks wasn't enough for me to do both on the national stage and a constituency, but after that i'll be in america a lot. trump, whether you love him or hate him , believes in peace through strength. he must win. >> you'll be in america a lot running up to that november election? absolutely. will you be working for donald trump's campaign in an official

capacity? >> no, i don't believe i will. what i'm good at is getting grassroots energy and getting grassroots energy and getting grassroots active, and i'm currently i've been offered a role to work for a very big grass roots conservative movement in america, not aligned to the republican party as such, but very influential, very much so. and i went out three years ago and spoke to these people. i turned up in arizona . a thousand turned up in arizona. a thousand people turned up. and, you know , people turned up. and, you know, i said to them, get engaged, get engaged, fight , don't come along engaged, fight, don't come along and clap and agree. don't go to and clap and agree. don't go to a trump rally and love it. get engaged if i can help with that. if i can help trump win, that's good for all of us. >> well, you heard it here first. nigel farage, nigel farage, perhaps the face of a trump adjacent super pac in the us presidential election, as well as having a big, big role to play in reforms, attempts to pick up a couple of seats, we know at least richard tice is

standing in boston and skegness this time. he's announced today nigel farage is going to be a big part of that campaign here. let's speak now to nick thomas—symonds, shadow minister without portfolio. senior senior labour mp. of course, nick, i have to say, looking at what has made news today, it's been nigel farage's decision not to stand and rishi sunak inability to understand that wales hasn't made it through to the euros. understand that wales hasn't made it through to the euros . we made it through to the euros. we haven't heard much from labour. labour's message. labour's big campaign launch in kent. it has not cut through the. >> well, look, before i come to that, i should say it's very disappointing that the and i say this as a welshman that the prime minister didn't realise that the welsh football team hadnt that the welsh football team hadn't qualified for the euros, which is, of course, a source of great disappointment to all of us. but look, in terms of the campaigning today, i think our campaigning today, i think our campaign has started very well. keir starmer spoke last night, first of all, responding to the prime minister setting out that

the moment has come where we have an opportunity to turn the page on the years of tory chaos. the five prime ministers, the seven chancellors of the exchequer, the nine education secretaries and to genuinely vote for change. and i think that message continued today with the visit to down gillingham football club. so we're pleased, tom, with how the campaign is going so far. but there is a long way to go. it's there is a long way to go. it's the election is six weeks today. it's going to be a long and gruelling campaign but we are very much up for it. >> nick thomas—symonds gillingham football club a lovely venue though it was, did not make big headlines, the speech was pretty run of the mill from keir starmer. i put it to you that your leader is running a deliberately boring campaign. he doesn't want people to talk about keir starmer, he wants the others to scrap it out to and win by default. >> no, i think that's completely a complete mischaracterisation

of it that that's wrong. first of it that that's wrong. first of all, by the way, keir starmer most definitely is not boring. i've known keir starmer for many, many years. witty, great company. but he's also, by the way, a serious politician for the very serious challenges of our time. we've seen the damage that unserious politicians do to our country . the 49 days of liz our country. the 49 days of liz truss, where my constituents and people up and down the country are still paying the cost of that as they come off fixed rate mortgage deals and see their new offers being significantly higher . we offers being significantly higher. we know what the cost of living crisis is still doing up and down the country. what we now know is that serious politician for serious times, economists would not say that today's interest rates have anything to do with the events of october 2022. >> economists across the political spectrum, across the ideological spectrum , some will ideological spectrum, some will say that immediate effects in october 22nd had an effect. but today, interest rates bear

almost no bearing on those events. indeed, they're around the same rate as the european central bank in europe, the federal reserve in the united states, the bank of canada, in canada. indeed, the australian central bank as well. all of these banks have interest rates around 5. why are you blaming the tories for that ? the tories for that? >> well, it's a novel idea. if the conservative party is going to go into an election trying to claim , after 14 years in power, claim, after 14 years in power, that the state of the economy is nothing to do with them, i think we can. >> clearly that's not what i said. nick thomas—symonds i said that interest rates, which are set by the independent bank of england, the bank of england that has not been under political control since tony blair came in in 1997, day one of new labour took that out of political control. now we can talk about economic growth, separate issue control of the government, interest rates, control of the bank of england. but but you are you're entirely

right to say that there is an independent central bank and you're entirely right to say that that was introduced as a measure for economic stability in the early days of 1997. >> but of course, when the bank of england's monetary policy committee set interest rates, they have to take into account they have to take into account the overall economic picture of the overall economic picture of the country. and it's frankly absurd to suggest that that is nothing to do with the conservative party >> but the point are you denying that interest rates are not out of line with interest rates in the united states or in the european central bank? the well, the interest rate that we currently have, of course, you're talking about the positioning other countries, but we can't have this situation where, for example, a couple of a couple of years ago, we had inflation at 11. the prime minister, the conservative party, claimed it's nothing to do with them. they claim it's to do with them. they claim it's to do with them. they claim it's to do with international factors. when we had the inflation figures noted the other day, the prime minister is then trying to claim it is something to do with

him. so you can't have it both ways. and my, neither can you. 14 years. this is not a one term. this is not a one. no, no, i'm having it one single way that 14 years into a conservative government, the economic situation of this country, they bear responsibility. >> thomas—symonds you're saying interest rates, which are the responsibility of the bank of england, are the responsibility of rishi sunak. but inflation is somehow not under rishi sunak control because it's come down. you seem to having you're having it both ways. you're saying the good economic indicators are nothing to do with the government, and the bad ones are all their fault. >> no, no, no, i'm sorry. one single proposition, tom. 14 years into a conservative government, the economic state of the country, they bear responsible for, that shouldn't be a controversial issue. 14 years in, can we name one public service, one single public service, one single public service that is in a better

condition than they found it in 2010? and when i'm out, up and down the country have been of course, we had the local and mayoral elections at the local and mayoral elections on the doorsteps. do people feel better off after 14 years of conservative government? i can tell you the answer i'm getting back on the doorsteps is most certainly not that they are now. >> i think it's a strong case that you make. of course, we're seeing this incumbent effect in many countries around the world, and no doubt we'll be looking forward to see what your party has to say on wider economic policy as the campaign goes on. but for now, nick thomas—symonds, really appreciate your time here on farage this afternoon on votes 2024. well, coming up , exclusive 2024. well, coming up, exclusive polling with matt goodwin, he's got some numbers that you will not want to miss that next

good evening. it's 7:22. this is

vote 2024. it's been the first full day of the general election campaign so far. it still feels a little bit odd to say that we're in the midst of a general election in just six weeks, britons across the country will go to the polls. so who better to speak to than a pollster ? to speak to than a pollster? matt goodwin joins us now because matt , you have got, some because matt, you have got, some brand new polling that i believe you can exclusively share with us. >> us. >> yeah, great to be with you. now, this is brand new polling. it was in the field after rishi sunak called the election the headune sunak called the election the headline story here. labour 27 points ahead of the conservatives. labour for on 87% of the national vote. conservatives down at 20. the reform party on 12, lib dems on nine, greens on eight. look, tom, this is about twice what labour need for a majority. this is a worse defeat for the conservatives since 1997. now, of course, the polls will change. we know this race will likely narrow as many of those undecided voters start to make

their decisions. but this is a really bleak start for rishi sunak and his party on day two of the campaign. >> a bleak start, a huge labour lead immediately looking at those numbers for the first time, i know that your polls have often had reform a little bit higher than 12. do you think that the news that this has happened so soon, the ambiguity at the time that you conducted the poll about whether nigel would stand or not, do you think that's hurting reform , it's too that's hurting reform, it's too early to know for sure. i reform will be squeezed. we know that. we saw the brexit party be squeezed at the 2019 general election. we also saw ukip, in 2015 of course, do quite well . 2015 of course, do quite well. still polling 12.5% with nigel farage campaigning . but even farage campaigning. but even then it was squeezed. and of course under paul nuttall in 2017, again the ukip vote was was really squeezed quite hard . was really squeezed quite hard. so my gut instinct is that reform support will will drop a little. the question for rishi sunak obviously is, is what what

by how much? because at the moment reform are attracting somewhere around a third of those 2019 conservatives. so sunak has to get that reform vote down, really as as much as possible to stand a fighting chance of pulling off any kind of upset. >> now, of course , when it comes >> now, of course, when it comes to these polls, it's not just the headline figures that matter. it's those sort of supplementary questions that you also asked and you asked on best prime minister, a very, very crucial question . crucial question. >> yeah, absolutely. so we know that leadership really matters for voters . right. who do they for voters. right. who do they want to be, prime minister? who do they think will be the best pm, in this particular, polling today, we've got keir starmer ahead of rishi sunak, starmer on 34, rishi sunak on 19. but here's the interesting thing, tom. a much larger number of voters, nearly half the country, 47% are actually not choosing keir starmer or rishi sunak. i think what that's tapping into, what that's reflecting is this very large reservoir of apathy out there in the country , a

out there in the country, a sense that, you know what? i'm not entirely sure anybody in the political class today, is really catching, much enthusiasm out there in the country. and i'm not sure they've got the answers for the big problems facing the country. so, yes, starmer is ahead, of sunak that again, another big plus for labour. but out there in the country, and i'm sure many people watching your show this evening will will share this sentiment and they just don't seem to be excited about anybody on front line british politics right now that is a really, really interesting point. >> the vast, vast plurality, they're not favouring either candidate, either main candidate to be prime minister. i suppose that shows that that could be squeezed in either direction . squeezed in either direction. this six week campaign could throw up some real surprises for us, i think. >> i think that's exactly right. it's not only in terms of the large number of voters who are currently undecided on on starmer and sunak. it's also on the issues. tom. we ask people , the issues. tom. we ask people, look, who do you think would be

the best manager of the economy? the number one issue facing the country today, the number one issue for all voters. and again, they put labour just ahead of they put labour just ahead of the conservatives, 35% think labour will be the best party on the economy, 19% say conservatives. but as you can see, a large number of voters, 46% are saying they don't know who to back on the economy because put yourself in the shoes of the average voter. council tax bills are going up, mortgages are going up, rents going up, food's going up. and they're just looking at this political class thinking, well, who is going to be able to solve this? also true. by the way, tom, on both , the national tom, on both, the national health service, which is a number two issue for the country , and immigration, which is a third issue for the country . third issue for the country. same story. labour, just a little bit ahead of the conservatives but again, a much larger number of voters overall saying i don't really know who to back on these issues. so look, i think this is going to be the theme of the election, right? we're going to have a lot of people out there basically fed up with the dire state of the country, basically aware that britain is sort of in this

penod that britain is sort of in this period of managed decline, looking at labour and the conservatives not being particularly enthusiastic about either of them or their leaders, and i think just searching around thinking, who does have the answers to these big problems facing britain? so this could change during the campaign if one of these guys has an amazing campaign and connects with the country, then obviously there's a lot of churn in the polling. there could be a lot of movement, but right now the british public are apathetic. they're alienated, and they look pretty angry. tom >> absolutely fascinating that we keep saying that starmer's so far ahead of rishi sunak. but actually what your numbers reveal is that very much mr sunakis reveal is that very much mr sunak is number three. mr starmer is number two and mr nobodyis starmer is number two and mr nobody is number one. well matt goodwin thank you so much for thank you so much for showing through that exclusive polling with us there, professor matthew goodwin, of course, listening to all of that was katherine forster, gb news political correspondent and, catherine, what do you make of that? we've got these numbers now. they do

seem to reflect this sort of grand sense of apathy. >> they do. and it was making me look at a message i received today from one of my non—politics friends, one of my, you know, ordinary friends who said, all a bunch of something i can't repeat on telly. idiots. in my opinion. red blue, green. none of them have an idea about anything so deluded from the average person's lives. it's untrue. the a 50 from holmes chapel to knutsford is an utter joke, ridden with potholes that never get fixed. i could go on, but i won't. but there you go issues. just basically he's saying i'm fed up with a lot of them. i don't believe that any of them are, you know, real, real apathy. and you know, i have to say, it's not entirely surprising because we've got rishi sunak, he told me in vienna on tuesday morning. he said to me, regular flights to rwanda will go from july. i'm not going to give you numbers ahead of the general election because i assumed obviously it would be in the autumn, but he said that and now today we learn

he's still saying regular flights could go , but that is flights could go, but that is conditional on him winning a general election on july the 4th. now. okay, things can always change. look what happened to theresa may. but it's not that likely either. similarly, he's saying, look , similarly, he's saying, look, net migration has come down 10% under me. stick with the plan. but net migration was three quarters of a million. it's come down to 685,000. when boris johnson came in in 2019, it was about 230,000. he got that majority partly saying we're going to get it down, take control of our borders. so you know, the conservative record is not good. that's a real problem for rishi sunak. no matter the progress he feels he's making. there's 14 years there. and on the other hand sir keir starmer, you know, they're promising change and that's very powerful. but there's not a lot of money around. we've got a massive, massive national debt. whoever

is in power, there's going to be not much wiggle room after the next election. it's going to be hard. >> whoever's in charge change without any spare change. katherine forster, thank you very much. we're going to cross now to our political editor, christopher hope, who i'm told has got off rishi sunak bus, christopher. they've they've plonked you somewhere in scotland, but thankfully we've got a stable signal now, what's been today like ? been today like? >> tom. that's right. welcome here. this is inverness. it is tipping with rain in inverness . tipping with rain in inverness. before earlier there was a very difficult signal as we left the nigg, the port of nigg, where they make these enormous great wind turbines replacing the oil rigs from the past there with new new economy, green energy . new new economy, green energy. today it's been an extraordinary day for the prime minister, rishi sunak the first day, first full day of the general election, travel from london to erewash in derbyshire , maggie erewash in derbyshire, maggie throup seat around 10,000. that was a defensive visit. if we're

looking at 10,000 seats, then we are looking at some form of labour majority. but then we went over there, flew to wales to the vale of glamorgan. alun cairns seat, around 3000 more of a marginal. and now we're up in inverness here, a lib dem seat. so this is the pm on the front foot and election he had planned. of course i understand from that. it was, it was planned from, from last week . planned from, from last week. some people were told about it. some people were told about it. so it had been in the running for a while. that's why the pm has been able to get ahead of his rivals and start planning fanning out around the country, we've heard the same thing from the pm where he goes. he talks about having confidence that the small boats plan will work, vote for the for vote the tory party at the election on july the 4th, and vote for the promise of more of what i've done before. look at my tax cuts , he's saying, at my tax cuts, he's saying, from national national insurance being cut twice, £900 being saved from the average family, and so it goes on nhs waiting list will come down. the big regret he's had of his, of his 18 months as prime minister is not to get the nhs waiting lists

further down. i should say, though, tom, we are seeing it a safety first campaign from the prime minister he's meeting. so far in the three visits we've witnessed here for gb news, with employees, of companies, with bosses looking on. it's not in the street, there's no jeopardy there . and i think that's that's there. and i think that's that's a risk that the parties go down. we saw it with theresa may back in 2017. unless you go out there and face the country like jeremy corbyn did, he got a lot of votes. he pushed the tories from a massive poll lead into a very slender , minority government. slender, minority government. that's why i think at the moment it's quite safety first for the prime minister. but i do think many people are in shock from the announcement yesterday . the announcement yesterday. unbelievably, 93 vacant tory seats , apparently 93 seats. tom, seats, apparently 93 seats. tom, some of those are safe. there's a scramble going on behind the scenes to get candidates to stand in 1 in 6 seats. the labour has got the same problem as have reform uk. i understand, by the way, that david frost, a former tory cabinet minister, he

is keen to be a candidate. he has not been approached by a central office yet, so there's a lot of battles being fought behind the scenes on whatsapp groups who will be the next mps for the tory party and in fact all the parties on july the 5th. >> no doubt there'll be a lot of people wondering, is it just going to be the boys from number 10 who are plonked in these seats very often in snap elections, you get these central government special advisers , as, government special advisers, as, many of whom are good people. but perhaps not precisely who local parties really want to see, christopher hope, fascinating , analysis there fascinating, analysis there that, sunak is running this safety first campaign as if he's miles ahead. perhaps the course of the campaign, things will change and get a bit more scrappy, we're going to have to leave it there because we are going to get. oh, sorry. no one last. >> well , the one, the one big >> well, the one, the one big the forgive me, the one big tick for the tory party campaign here has been this decision by nigel

farage, as you heard earlier, not to stand at the general election that has that i think will be a big boost for the sunak campaign. it may lead, i think, to the bubble, the support for the reform party to shnnk support for the reform party to shrink back, maybe under 10, down towards 8, because lots of people were backing the reform uk party in the hope that in the expectation they would see it, that mr farage might stand up and become the leader, become an mp and shake up the right of politics, him backing away. and he said on the programme, didn't he, that he did so because he didn't have time to build a support base in six weeks. that happening is a big boost. i think for the tory party there's now a single choice on the right of politics vote. the tories vote in the tories or you get laboun >> well, that's the message the tories will be putting about a boost from that angle. christopher hope, thank you very much for joining christopher hope, thank you very much forjoining us this much for joining us this evening. of course, a boost with reform not being , not boasting reform not being, not boasting nigel farage as a candidate, but perhaps the very opposite of a boost with some of these net

migration figures we've learned today. we're going to be speaking to alp mehmet from migrationwatch after

685,000. that was the net number of people arriving in the country in 2023. now, when you include the gross number and you discount those that went home from previous years, well, we're well over a million. let's make sense of these numbers now with alp mehmet, the chairman of migration watch alp. these are big numbers . first of all, your big numbers. first of all, your reaction officially last year net migration, one of the highest numbers on record, although 10% down on the year before . before. >> well, let's let's look a little bit more detail . i'll little bit more detail. i'll look a bit more detail. little bit more detail. i'll look a bit more detail . look, look a bit more detail. look, first of all 685,000. is i

wateringly high. unquestionably and it's got to come down. however if you remember this time last year when we had the first figures, looking back at, 20, 23, sorry, 2022, 2022, it was 606,000. by the end of the yeah was 606,000. by the end of the year. we were 26% up on that . if year. we were 26% up on that. if we get 26% increase on the number that we we've had, now, we're talking about well over 800,800. >> that's only because there was a methodology, a methodology change that meant that we got that big increase. whatever whatever. >> let's not say 26,000, 26. let's say it was only 10. we're still looking at 750,000 by the end of the year. so not very different to the year before. >> and any of these numbers are

the size of a considerable city in the united kingdom. sure. >> yeah. look, if net migration continued at 600,000, we're talking at a population looking at a population increase of 20 million people by 2046, that's not so far away, are we, though, because in concert of this, yes , because in concert of this, yes, we are, tom. >> we are in concert with higher migration. we've also got a lower birth rate . so in some lower birth rate. so in some ways you can sort of see how politicians are trying to plug gaps because sorry to interrupt you, but it's taking account of that lower birth rate that leads us to and bear in mind that the ons and the obr are looking at annual net migration of 315,000, and even that will lead to an increase by 2036 of 6.5 million people, of which 92% is actually

due to immigration. >> yes. so yeah, we are talking about the lower birth rate. if the birth rate increases and it sticks to around 750,000, three quarters of a million or more, we're talking about much more than 20 million people. what are we going to do with all that? over the last parliament, we've had an increase of 2 million people. net migration has contributed 2 million people to our population. in fact , our population. in fact, immigration has brought 4 million people. so these are huge numbers. how using enormous numbers and every party, every mainstream party says they're too high. >> but we've spoken about the last parliament. we've spoken about 2022. we've spoken about 2023. now, i want to talk about this year, 2024, because from january, there were changes that were brought in by robert

jenrick, who's since quit the government. there were changes supported by suella braverman, the former home secretary vie. these changes have brought on month by month data . we don't month by month data. we don't have the annual figure. of course, the year's not over on month by month data. health and social care visas are down 76% on month by month data. health care, visa for dependents, down 58, and indeed sponsored study visas that that reduction in dependence 79. so the big, big changes that we actually won't see in the annual figures until this time next year. >> well, firstly , we're talking >> well, firstly, we're talking about applications. we're not talking about people who arrived. so that doesn't always follow, the increases, the number of people who come. >> but it doesn't always tell you there won't be these numbers specifically. there will be a considerable drop , not a considerable drop, not a considerable drop, not a considerable drop. >> if you look at what makes up

overall migration. in fact, this is only going to be a fairly minor part of it. if you look at the number of visas issued for work, they almost doubled. oh or 75% up. i mean, they went up, but but but isn't this isn't this 423? >> last year's numbers only around 150,000 visas were issued for work. all of the other visas were dependent students . family were dependent students. family reunion. i mean, if we're looking at this 685,000 number, a tiny fraction is work visas. perhaps it doesn't matter that much that work visas are up if all the others are down. if it's 430, 423,000, that's not insignificant out of the overall total. >> and that it's absolutely right that the dependence , the right that the dependence, the people who were getting low skill, low paid jobs, transferring into into work visas from study visas that quite rightly should stop, but

absolutely bonkers that undergraduate students could bnng undergraduate students could bring dependents, was that all undergraduate students couldn't. >> but nevertheless, master's students, master's master's students, master's master's students did, and the master's students did, and the master's students , frankly, there were a students, frankly, there were a lot more who dependents who came here and then there were than there were students, if you look at nigeria , there were many at nigeria, there were many more, dependents coming from nigeria than there were. >> one person would come for one year's master course and bring four dependents. >> and what sort of master's course was it? >> and were they at the best institutions in the country? >> look, there's what i'm really concerned about is that neither party, main party, who's going to form whichever one forms the next government and polls are suggesting it's going to be laboun suggesting it's going to be labour, whichever one it is, don't expect it numbers to come down significantly. we're going to continue at this rate. the only way that it will be brought down is by having a cap . that is

down is by having a cap. that is the only realistic way that you are going to make sure that the numbers that you need are coming in and no more. that's not going to happen. i'm afraid it's going to happen. i'm afraid it's going to continue running totally out of control. whoever forms the next government. that's seriously worrying. >> well, i matt, really appreciate your thoughts. as always. we'll have to put that question of a cap to the next government ministers that we talk to. but much more to come. of course, on this programme we're going to be speaking to the former labour adviser, peter edwards, as well as the man who calls himself tory boy pearce on twitter, andrew pierce. he'll be talking about his new book. you won't want

good evening. it's just coming up to ten minutes to eight now. joining me in the studio for something a little bit different

is andrew pierce. gb news presenter, of course, and daily mail journalist. presenter, of course, and daily mailjournalist. but presenter, of course, and daily mail journalist. but andrew, we're going to start this conversation not about the election . we're not going to election. we're not going to talk about the very boring speech that was given by the leader of the snp or the labour party, or even the lib dems or the tories. they were all boring. they were all boring. something more interesting is this, now i don't know which camera to hold it up to. oh no. every time i move, of course we cut a shot. no, this is your new book. it's called finding margaret, and it's all about yourjourney margaret, and it's all about your journey to find your birth mother. yeah absolutely. >> so, tom, i was, adopted when i was three. i was put in an orphanage when i was five weeks old by my irish catholic mother , old by my irish catholic mother, when i finally she kept visiting me by the way. so she desperately hoped that she'd be able to give me a home. very difficult to be a single mother in 1960s britain. she was an irish catholic . and when i did irish catholic. and when i did eventually decide to find her, i

was astonished . she wasn't in a was astonished. she wasn't in a 19 or 18, or she was 34. she was three weeks from her 35th birthday. so she was a very old, single mother, it took me so long to decide to find my birth mother, tom, because i was adopted at three by betty and george, working class couple who already had three kids brought up in a swindled out state. and i had a fantastic life. and they are your parents are my mum and dad. >> having having a birth mother doesn't take that away from you. >> nothing at all. and i love mum so much and i didn't want to do anything that i thought might hurt her feelings. i think she'd have been devastated. but as i got closer to my 50th birthday, i thought i do have to do this because i think she needs to know the birth mother, that i'm okay because she clearly cared about me, because she kept visiting me in the home. so i decided to do it. i never, ever told mum ever. or my sisters or my brother, but my dad, who's no longer with us, nor his mum now, he'd said to me privately, you should find that woman because she cared about you and she needs to know you're okay. so

that's why i did it. it was an extraordinary journey. yeah, amanda patel, who's a great friend of mine on the daily mail. columnist, she she and i, we found her through jane moore. by we found her through jane moore. by the way, who's a writer on the sun. she literally found her. we went to her house, we took advice on how to do it. and don't write to them. >> you don't write at all. you just turn up one day out of the blue, out of the blue, but with a friendly female face, i'm round the corner and amanda knocked on the door. >> she lived in a little house in birmingham. shock for me because i was born in bristol, so i'd assumed that she lived in bristol. i'd worked on the birmingham mail for two years, not knowing that my birth mother could have walked past your birth mother in a supermarket. >> you could have walked on the high street three miles. >> she lived from my office. amazing. so amanda knocked on the door. no answer. i was in this black cab looking out the window, and i saw a dot emerging on the horizon, and i absolutely knew it was. that dot was getting closer. it was her. how did i know that? i hadn't seen her instinctive. hadn't seen her

for 45 years. so i rang a man who said, she's walking down the street. amanda said, who? i said, who do you think , said, who do you think, margaret? but how can you possibly know? i said, trust me, it's her. so she lived in a little semi—detached with the path here. if you turn left that way, it wasn't her. she turned right. she turned right. it was her. amanda knocked on the door. she denied it was anything to do with her. amanda showed a picture of the little boy that she'd given up for adoption. i was then patrick james connolly. so a little boy, aged two and a half in my red duffle coat. rupert bear trousers, and she was stroking the picture saying, what a lovely boy. he's crying. i wasn't crying in the photo, actually, it's not me. shut the doorin actually, it's not me. shut the door in amanda's face. we went to the pub, jane mccall said. what happened? >> dutch courage . >> dutch courage. >> dutch courage. >> got some dutch courage, said amanda. you've got to go back. amanda. you've got to go back. amanda went back. she knocked on the door. i then subsequently met her a few weeks later in british home stores cafe. not quite what i imagined, tom, and bizarrely, she never asked a

single question. >> she just sat and listened. she didn't? >> yeah, she asked me nothing about my life at all where i'd been brought up, whether i was happy, what i did for a living. she told me a lot about her life with her husband and her children. but we met up a few more times. we met up a few more times, and it's an extraordinary story. >> andrew, where can we find the book? >> well, it's now on sale. launched today. you can get it in world stage. you get in wh smiths, you get it on amazon. or you can go to biteback publishing who have published it, and i'm very proud of it. brilliant. and at the launch party, dame joan collins, no less, made a little speech. >> i heard your launch party was star studded. well all good bookshops and no doubt some bad ones too, finding margaret by andrew pierce, really, really highly recommended . what highly recommended. what a fascinating story. fascinating story. well, much more from me over the next hour with new star studded guests . the general studded guests. the general election has only just begun, and we're covering every second of it . of it. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of

whether on gb news. >> hello. very good evening . >> hello. very good evening. here's your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office . southern areas the met office. southern areas will stay mostly dry as we go through the end of the week, but it's a wetter story further north because the same area of low pressure that has brought all the rain we've had through the last day or so is lingering across the uk, so we can expect further outbreaks of rain as we go through the end of today. overnight and into friday. some of the rain will be a little bit on the heavy side, but it is definitely easing further south. it's going to stay largely dry overnight and there will be some clear skies under which it could turn a bit fresh. a bit chilly perhaps, for some of us to start first thing tomorrow morning. but on the whole, once the sunshine gets going, temperatures should rise quite quickly . if we take a look at quickly. if we take a look at what's going to happen first thing tomorrow morning. and yes, it's a bit of a cloudy, damp start across many northern parts, particularly across a big chunk of scotland cloud and outbreaks of rain. none of it looks particularly heavy, but

could cause some further issues for areas affected by the heavy rain we've seen recently. perhaps some brightness across western parts of scotland . but western parts of scotland. but across northern ireland, much of england and wales are fairly cloudy and a little bit damp. start the best chance of any sunshine first thing tomorrow morning will be across southern parts. and to be honest, here's where we're likely to see the best of the sunshine as we go through tomorrow. as a result of the sunshine, though, we could see a few showers popping up, but it is generally going to be dner but it is generally going to be drier towards southern parts a little bit cloudier and a bit wetter further north. some outbreaks of rain , perhaps the outbreaks of rain, perhaps the odd heavy shower here but not as wet as it has been recently. the temperatures will be near normal for the time of year, feeling warm in any sunshine. in fact, across northern parts it will feel markedly less fresh than it has done recently. as we go into saturday. perhaps a bit of a chilly start for some of us, but it does look like the driest, sunniest day of the long weekend. a few showery outbreaks developing, particularly towards eastern parts. but on sunday we are expecting some more wet weather to push its way in. some

of that could be pretty heavy at times and more showers perhaps on monday. >> two a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good evening. it's 8:00. my name is tom harwood, the deputy political editor of gb news. now, while my voice may be a little hoarse from the last, well, nine hours of television that i've covered over the last two days, last night's election announcement coverage and all of the rest of it. it won't stop me from powering on, not least because there is so much to say . because there is so much to say. tonight we'll be bringing you in—depth analysis of the prime minister's decision to call a snap election. many thought he would go along and go long and wait until winter, but instead he's gone for the 4th of july. everything from reduced

inflation to reduced