3 pm. and welcome to the it's 3 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. we're broadcasting live, of course, from the heart of westminster. all across the uk. on today's show, the bbc has been forced to apologise to nigel farage after accusing him of using customary inflammatory language during a live broadcast of his speech at a reform uk event earlier on today in dover. meanwhile, shadow chancellor rachel reeves has said labour is the natural party for british business. in a speech in the east midlands saying she wants to lead the most pro—business treasury our country has ever seen, and vowed to not increase corporation tax. but can we trust labour on the economy? next up, the prime minister doesn't think so and claimed a labour government would run out of money and raise taxes as he announced his triple lock plus pension plan and after years of tirelessly campaigning, an independent councillor has won the battle. finally, for an

inquiry into oldham's grooming gang scandal. i'll speak exclusively to councillor brian hoban, who nobly made it his life's work to give a voice to the lancashire towns sexual abuse survivors. and that's all coming up in your next hour. once a show. always a pleasure to have your company. it's only day two of the general election campaign . the tories are bribing campaign. the tories are bribing pensioners. sir keir starmer has admitted he's a socialist and the party of big business reform kicked up a storm on the coast down in devon. the bbc has been a force apologised and lee anderson has said asylum seekers should be sent to live on a remote scottish island. all of that, and liberal democrat leader ed davey is up the creek without a paddle board. yes, he fell overboard. man overboard in lake windermere. maybe he was looking for floating voters . our

looking for floating voters. our reporters all over the country will bring you fully up to speed on the day's political events throughout the show, as we do here, and it's your chance to get involved. have your comments. who's caught your eye so far? has your vote been changed? who are you going to pick as the people decide? get in touch gb news. com forward slash your say. but before all of that, let's kick off the show andifs of that, let's kick off the show and it's time for your latest news headlines. >> martin thank you. 3:02 the top stories this hour. the prime minister has suggested that britain's approach to migration is the envy of europe, as he addressed a campaign event in staffordshire today, rishi sunak said the conservative plan to deal with small boat arrivals across the channel has faced heavy criticism, but warned a labour government would only bnng labour government would only bring uncertainty. >> that's what you'll get with us. let's just take the topic of illegal migration, something i know is important to all of you. something jonathan and i speak about a lot, right? it's fundamentally unfair that people

jump fundamentally unfair that people jump the queue and come to our country illegally. puts pressure on local services, whether it's hotels here or elsewhere, it puts people's lives at risk . puts people's lives at risk. it's simply not right. we've got a bold plan to deal with the boats. right. and when i first announced it or announced it, my predecessor and i first got this job, people said, oh, no, this is not the right thing to do. do you know what? now across europe, the penny has dropped that our approach is the right approach . approach. >> the shadow chancellor is promising to introduce new budget rules aimed at preventing the turmoil seen following liz truss's mini—budget. in her first major speech of the election campaign , rachel reeves election campaign, rachel reeves said the conservative party deserves to be judged on what she called 14 years of chaos and decline . she said average decline. she said average homeowners were paying around £240 more every month due to the mini—budget while wages remained flat and taxpayers are asked to pay flat and taxpayers are asked to pay more for less. >> if our economy had have grown at the average rate of oecd

countries these last 14 years, our economy today would be £150 billion larger, worth £5,000 for every household , and providing every household, and providing £55 billion more investment for our public services . that is our public services. that is their record and they deserve to be judged on it. >> pensioners could be in for a tax break worth up to £24 billion a year as part of an election pledge by the conservative party. it could see cuts worth around £95 in the next tax year, rising to £275 by 2029. the prime minister says it will be funded by a clamp down on tax dodgers. liberal democrats leader sir ed davey says the government has a poor record for pensioners. >> it's rather remarkable they're trying to make out this is some great policy. when they were the ones who increased taxes on pensioners in the first place by not raising allowance,

it was the liberal democrats who fought hard to increase the income tax allowance to help pensioners and help people on low incomes, and the conservatives froze those tax allowances . so i don't think allowances. so i don't think pensioners or anyone else is going to be fooled by the conservatives having broken their promise, having raised taxes, now suddenly just before election, saying they are going to do something different . to do something different. >> with all parties now out on the campaign trail, gb news spoke to people in derby about how they feel about the upcoming election. >> i'm not going to for vote anybody because none of them are anybody because none of them are any good. >> i probably for vote labour because they're making a difference. it's nice to have a new government. nice change. they have good policies and they help working class people. >> none of them . nobody. they >> none of them. nobody. they just any of them. they never deliver what they say . they make deliver what they say. they make promises, they never fulfil them. and if they do have something on the go, it takes forever to you know, to come to light. basically, i don't feel

any faith or any trust in any of them, to be quite honest . them, to be quite honest. >> two other news now, pope francis has apologised for using an offensive word to describe gay men after reports appeared in italian media. two of the country's biggest newspapers reported that he used the slur when suggesting that there were too many gay people in priesthood colleges. he has in the past told bishops to carefully vet priests and reject any suspected homosexuals. the vatican says the pope did not intend to use homophobic language and he apologises to anyone who was offended . anyone who was offended. overseas, now, israeli tanks are advancing on the city of rafah following a night of heavy strikes which killed at least 21 people, according to palestinian authorities . people could be authorities. people could be seen in the streets carrying their belongings in an attempt to escape the violence. the offensive on gaza's southern city is pressing ahead despite international condemnation. israel says it wants to root out hamas fighters in rafah and

rescue hostages who are still being held by the terror group . being held by the terror group. and moving portraits of blind and vision impaired d—day veterans will go on show to mark the 80th anniversary of the landings. the portraits capture 16 veterans who served in normandy and are beneficiaries of blind veterans uk. seven of the portraits are featured in a special exhibition at the national army museum in london, which runs until the 9th of june. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. camilla tominey. now back to . martin. tominey. now back to. martin. >> thank you tatjana. there's so much politics to get through today, but we start this hour with a huge climb down from the bbc over a nigel farage speech early today, nigel farage heavily criticised the bbc after

one of its newsreaders accused him of using inflammatory language during a broadcast of his speech at a reform uk events campaign event in dover. and let's have a little listen about the wave of. >> and i'm using his words, not mine. aggressive young males that are coming into poland having crossed the mediterranean. and he has said that this is now a matter of national security. >> nigel farage, with his, customary inflammatory language there at a reform uk press conference, he declined to stand as a for a seat. but we will have more . have more. >> well, within an hour of that little outburst, that live tv moment. the presenter issued this on air apology . this on air apology. >> nigel farage now an apology. earlier today we heard live from nigel farage speaking at that election event we just saw and when we came away from his live speech, i used language to describe it, which didn't meet the bbc's editorial standards on

impartiality. i'd like to apologise to mr farage and viewers for this . viewers for this. >> so sincere, wasn't it? not the first time that mr guru—murthy has had to apologise. she called the crowd on the crowd on brexit day very white. on january the 31st. that attracted hundreds of complaints . now let's cross the wind a bit now and speak to gb news political correspondent olivia utley. olivia, welcome to the show. you're on the campaign trail with the lib dems. but first, let's address this reform matter. an embarrassing climb down there by the bbc after a comment this morning in dover that nigel farage made that wasn't even his own. it was that of the president of poland, donald tusk . donald tusk. >> well, absolutely. martin, nigel farage there was quoting the polish president, donald tusk , and the bbc comments were tusk, and the bbc comments were judged to be not meeting the bbc partiality. and within just one hour of the comments being made, the bbc had apologised. now the whole incident was pretty

reminiscent to me, at least of the kutsero when nigel farage was de—banking and eventually the ceo of . has away, as we all the ceo of. has away, as we all know, of seizing . know, of seizing. >> okay, i think we're going to have to leave it there . we're have to leave it there. we're losing connection out on the campaign trail. these things happen olivia utley out there at windermere with the lib dems, my comment is this the bbc can't resist it, can they? having to make comment off the back of an interview. and as i said before, geeta guru—murthy before at the brexit rally on january the sist, brexit rally on january the 31st, remember independence day ? 31st, remember independence day? she did report from there. she commented on the ethnicity of the crowd. she called them very white. that attracted hundreds of complaints . that complaint of complaints. that complaint was not upheld. that time, the bbc stuck by their reporter, saying that she was accurately reflecting the ethnicity of the crowd or the quite why she had to refer to him in the first place is probably the point, but

she's been forced this occasion into an embarrassing climbdown. now we can't go to olivia to talk about the incident earlier with editor dave, but can we just please show the clip because everyone's enjoying it so much. we've got ed davey, the liberal democrat leader . earlier liberal democrat leader. earlier on he was on lake windermere with his silky skills. look at this. hello. hello, sailor . keep this. hello. hello, sailor. keep watching. there he goes, port to starboard . whoops. he's up, he's starboard. whoops. he's up, he's up. there he goes , smiling up. there he goes, smiling momentarily. there's ed davey making a break. hey man overboard! now that's what i call looking for floating voters. ed davey, who advised him to try this? a middle aged man. not in the best of shape. always going to happen that way. just like yesterday. rishi sunak. somebody advised them to play sunak. somebody advised them to play football. i think we need to start taking sports gear away from politicians on the campaign trail. look at this. rishi sunak his two left feet, who wore it worst. we're going to keep this on top of this each day. let's do gaff of the day. gaff of the

day so far i think is ed davey yesterday rishi sunak the day before that was probably rishi sunak at the titanic museum. that'll be nice fun. regular gaff of the day. but back to serious matters. the shadow chancellor, rachel reeves, has claimed that her party is the natural party for british business and has pledged to lead the most pro—business treasury our country has ever seen. let's take a look at her. speaking earlier today, where she also attacked the conservatives economic record. >> it's changed. labour party is today the natural party of british business, and i want to set out the central economic fault line in this election. the choice before the british people on the 4th of july, five more years of chaos with the conservative party leaving working people worse off, or stability with a changed labour party. i can tell you exactly what rishi sunak wants you to think on polling day . what rishi sunak wants you to think on polling day. he's already saying it, that the plan

is working . don't change course is working. don't change course now that the chaos and instability wrought by liz truss was just a blip that the deep problems that we face are down to global events . they're not to global events. they're not his fault at all. don't judge us on. don't judge. 14 years on 49 days he will say , i want to take days he will say, i want to take that head on. because while it is true that the crises we have faced are global in origin, our unique exposure to those crises, the reason that we have been harder hit than many comparable countries by the economic impact of covid, and then by inflation and rising energy prices, can only be explained by the choices made by conservative governments here at home. >> that was rachel reeves earlier. and meanwhile, the prime minister has been in staffordshire, where he defended his economic record and claimed a labour government would soon run out of money. >> inflation is down from 11%

when i got this job, down to 2% back to normal now wages have been rising faster than prices for almost a year. the economy at the start of this year grew faster than france. germany italy, even america. so we really have turned a corner. and ihope really have turned a corner. and i hope you can see that the plan is working and that we've restored economic stability, because that's what you get with me. that's what you get with the conservatives. we restored economic stability. we always will prioritise that. and the question now, the question for all of you, the question for the country is who do you trust to build on that foundation and secure a future for you, your family and our country? and that's the choice at this election. do we build on that progress that we've all collectively made and go forward , or do we go back to square one with no plan and no certainty? now, the only certainty you're going to get with the labour party is that they're going to run out of money and put up your taxes as clear as night follows

day . day. >> and as we've been discussing reform uk's honorary president nigel farage was speaking in dover earlier today where he attacked the conservatives and claimed the election was already a foregone conclusion. >> he'll say that a vote for reform is a vote for labour, but when the public realise and they're realising it already , they're realising it already, this election is a foregone conclusion. labour are going to win and we're going to win quite big. and therefore you could argue, actually, that a vote for the conservative party is a wasted vote. and given that , you wasted vote. and given that, you know labour are going to win, why not vote for something that you actually believe in? because here's the problem . the here's the problem. the conservatives will be in opposition , but they won't be opposition, but they won't be the opposition. they are too split. they are too divided. they're too i mean, goodness me, they've been fighting amongst themselves in government for years. goodness knows what they're going to be like in opposition . opposition. >> and next up, in his attempts

to make scottish labour the dominant political force north of the border , anas sarwar has of the border, anas sarwar has beenin been in east renfrewshire to state labour's intention to use the scotland office to promote brand scotland internationally . brand scotland internationally. this can be seen as a direct challenge to snp leader john swinney's claims that only a vote for the snp is a vote for scotland. well, let's now cross to east renee russia and speak with gb news scotland reporter tony maguire . tony, bring us up tony maguire. tony, bring us up to speed what's happening north of the border ? to speed what's happening north >> good afternoon. slight update for you. actually, we did spend this morning in east renfrewshire with anas sarwar and scottish labour, but such is the way of live news reporting, we're actually in edinburgh now for an imminent event with first minister john swinney , who's minister john swinney, who's going to be speaking here at the scottish poetry library . but scottish poetry library. but briefly back to this morning. yes, anas sarwar, he was certainly hoping to send a message that promoting brand scotland think your smoked

salmon from loch fyne, your your whiskies and your haggis if that's indeed your cup of tea. he wants to see the scotland office do more to promote them, not just around great britain, but further internationally, and create a real market economy for them. and in doing so, he did his events this morning at a tablet and fudge factory. now you know, it's not quite falling overin you know, it's not quite falling over in a paddleboard, but little insider baseball for you. anas sarwar was actually previously a dentist in a former life, and that obviously , you life, and that obviously, you know, raised a few smiles this morning that he was marching around the production floor of this factory, creating the most sugary sweets that our nation can be ever so proud of . but can be ever so proud of. but indeed, you know, he was quite hopeful indeed , that his vision hopeful indeed, that his vision for brand scotland would align with richard, sorry. rachel reeves plan this afternoon, you know, and i also got a chance to ask him about john swinney's plan for the day. he wants to

force rishi sunak and keir starmer by writing to them in order to get them to force a vote to recognise palestine . vote to recognise palestine. now, shortly, we are going to go inside the scottish poetry library and more of a chance to actually ask the first minister what he hopes to achieve from this, and also really whether he's actually even bothered to speak to the other leaders. he's actually even bothered to certainly, speaking to anas sarwar this morning of scottish laboun sarwar this morning of scottish labour, he seems to think that , labour, he seems to think that, you know, they might sit in other ends of the parliament floor, but actually, you know, there's a lot for them to agree on when it comes to palestine, primarily a return of the hostages and end to the fighting and a safe way forward for everybody with the minimal loss of life, now, certainly this has been another very wet day up on the campaign trail , but it does the campaign trail, but it does really feel like all the parties are getting moving now. and, you know, we're seeing them respond a lot more to each other's kind of policies and updates . and of policies and updates. and quite frequently, of course, we're also getting a chance to

join them, along with various of their mentions. now, it's worth saying that over the course of the rest of this week, we're expecting holyrood parliament to remain sitting during the day. of course, this is a westminster election, so tuesday to thursday quite a reduced itinerary . but quite a reduced itinerary. but around those weekends we're expecting to see quite a lot of motion from the main parties. >> okay, tony mcguire , things >> okay, tony mcguire, things going to get wetter north of the border. it's got to be said. i think you're weathering it better than the prime minister. rishi sunak, thank you very much for that update. we'll come back to you later in the show and let's go through all of this now with the former special adviser to theresa may and michael gove. charlie rowley charlie, welcome to the show. so lots of nibble through there. let's start with the nigel farage, who for the bbc forced into an embarrassing climb down. they can't help themselves can they? having a p0p themselves can they? having a pop at brexiteers , yes. it's pop at brexiteers, yes. it's obviously an unfortunate event for the bbc. and, the presenter had to apologise for it for

breaching bbc editorial guidelines . breaching bbc editorial guidelines. i think, they pulled away from the shop when nigel was actually quoting the polish prime minister as he was setting out, the real issue that lots of countries , not just the uk, when countries, not just the uk, when it comes to immigration and stopping the boats, but, countries right across , europe countries right across, europe and western europe. and he was just talking about the, the influx and the numbers of people that move from the mediterranean into eastern europe, then through to the west and obviously, that knock on effect that it has here on the uk. so quoting, another foreign leader to then be criticised for, you know , associating that claim know, associating that claim with nigel using inflammatory language i think was obviously an unfortunate event, which, as i say, has led to the bbc to apologise for breaking its own editorial guidance. >> and let's have a quick look at what the labour party said today. surprise! a lot of people by saying sir keir starmer said that yes, i am a socialist and within hours claiming to be the

party of 120 businesses, which is the real labour party. do you think ? think? >> well, sir keir starmer continues to tell the country that he's, changed the labour party. i think the only thing that sir keir starmer seems to change is his mind , every other change is his mind, every other day, because he tells us that it's a changed labour party, but yet he is a socialist, now that would be hugely damaging for the uk economy . socialism is about, uk economy. socialism is about, effectively, more state control, more tax, more spending . and more tax, more spending. and thatis more tax, more spending. and that is exactly, what i would have thought the labour party would want to avoid, if they're going to win over the nation's trust when it comes to the economy. so, i think it was a bold well, it was a mistake, but it was certainly a bold move, i think, for sir keir starmer to admit to that, i'm glad that he has, because he's obviously been exposed now. and the public will have that really clear choice to make whether they want a prime minister who can run the economy that wants to cut taxes, that's

taken some difficult decisions over the last few years. but where the tories will be saying they want to cut tax, they want to reduce regulation, inflation has come down. the economy is starting to grow, it's turned a corner and so the choice is clear whether you want to continue down that clear economic path, someone who's got a clear plan versus someone who is a socialist who would put up your taxes, borrow more, spend more, and cripple the economy . more, and cripple the economy. >> superb. thank you charlie rowley always a delight to have you on the show. thanks your expertise. now coming up, the process for starting an independent inquiry into oldham's grooming gang scandal is finally underway. we'll have all the details and later in the show, an exclusive interview with the man who's finally making that happen. i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news channel

welcome back. your time. it's 326. i'm martin

daubney , and this is gb news. daubney, and this is gb news. now, the process for starting an independent grooming gangs inquiry in oldham is now underway. the council's labour group agreed to support an inquiry after losing overall control of the council in the local elections recently. this comes after the former labour led council voted several times to reject it. the motion in recent years, well joining us now is gb news reporter charlie peters. charlie, i'm incredibly proud of what's happening in oldham. a local councillor has made it his life's work to make this happen. bring viewers up to speed of how we got to where we are today. well this has been a decades long process, martin, because for a long time there has been serious concern about child sexual exploitation, especially by gangs in the greater manchester town in oldham. >> and in 2022, there was a report that was released , an report that was released, an internal review, an independent review conducted by the greater manchester combined authority

looking into the issue of group localised cs in the town, but it looked at about 12 cases, 12 complex cases and one case of sophie in particular, who was abused by five different men in abused by five different men in a single day in the mid 2000, and it found that there were several safeguarding failures in the town, particularly with regards to how greater manchester police and the local authority communicated and dealt with these problems. it was a multi—agency failure, but many people in the town, particularly opposition to labour in the local council , did not think local council, did not think that the review was sufficient. that small number, that sample of cases, they said, didn't go into the greatest level of detail and the terms of reference were not wide enough. and so there has been this consistent campaign in recent years to seek a judge led or panel led public inquiry into the grooming gangs crisis in oldham. as we've seen in telford , as we've seen in rotherham this way, they think campaigners

and survivors have said this is the only way to secure a full and accountable understanding of what happened in the town. and it's only happening now because on the 2nd of may, earlier this month in the local elections, labour lost overall control of the council, losing to just 27 seats. of the 60 strong council, they've retained a minority control of the council because a group of independents, four independents from two different parties, said that they would be able to either lend their votes towards the labour leadership or they would abstain from that vote, which labour won 29 to 28. in exchange for being able to develop and put forward a motion on a public, independent inquiry. that's been granted. and as we understand today, the process for achieving that inquiry is starting now. and we've also heard from one of the leading independent councillors from the failsworth independent party, independence party. i believe you'll be speaking to

you later on your programme. martin, who said that they were meeting with survivors today and that the council has promised them a set of officers who will be allocated to push this process forward as soon as possible . possible. >> yeah, you're absolutely right, charlie. i will be speaking to brian hoban later in the show. had him on the show before, tirelessly campaigned for this in the face of extreme resistance. and it's a question that needs to be asked why was there such resistance for so long? i shall ask him that later in the show. and you're right, charlie, brian has been with the group of survivors today getting them involved. they're going to be a part of this inquiry. it will give a voice to those who are silenced and ignored for so long. a vital part of what should be going on as democratic part of this country. charlie peters, as you uncovered in your fantastic documentary grooming gangs britain's shame, charlie peters, thank you very much for bringing us up to speed. thank you. great stuff. there's lots

more still to come between now and 4:00. and we'll be discussing rishi sunak's triple lock plus plan. more of a quadruple lock as happens with gb news economics and business editor liam halligan, who will bnng editor liam halligan, who will bring us fully up to speed with all the details. but first, this your headlines and it's tatiana sanchez. >> martin. thank you. the top stories this hour. pensioners could be in for a tax break worth up to £24 billion a year as part of an election pledge by the conservative party. it could see cuts worth around £95 in the next tax year, rising to £275 by 2029. the prime minister says it will be funded by a clamp down on tax dodges. the labour leader described the plan as a desperate move . more than 120 desperate move. more than 120 business leaders have signed an open letter published in the times, offering their public support to the labour party.

shadow chancellor rachel reeves says the conservative party should be judged on what she called 14 years of chaos and decline. she said average homeowners were paying around £240 more every month, due to liz truss's mini—budget while wages remain flat and taxpayers are asked to pay more for less . are asked to pay more for less. pope francis has apologised for using an offensive word when suggesting that there were too many gay men in priesthood colleges. he has in the past told bishops to carefully vet priests and reject any suspected homosexuals. the vatican says the pope did not intend to use homophobic language, and he apologises to anyone who was offended . and israeli tanks are offended. and israeli tanks are advancing on the city of rafah following a night of heavy strikes which killed at least 21 people. the offensive on gaza's southern city is pressing ahead, despite international condemnation . nine people could condemnation. nine people could be seen in the streets carrying their belongings in an attempt to escape the violence. israel

says it wants to root out hamas fighters in rafah and rescue hostages who are still being held by the terror group . for held by the terror group. for the latest story, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. com slash alerts . news. com slash alerts. >> cheers! britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report that . financial report that. >> here's a quick snapshot of today's markets. the pound will buy you $1.2775 and ,1.1762. the price of gold is £1,840.54 per ounce, and the ftse 100 is at 8262 points. >> cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report .

financial report. >> thank you tatiana. there's loads more to bring you in. just a few moments. but first, there's a brand new way to get in touch with us here @gbnews and here's bev turner with all the details . the details. >> we are proud to be gb news the people's channel and as you know, we always love to hear your views. now there's a new way of getting in touch with us at gbnews.com/win your say by commenting you can be part of a live conversation and join our gb news community. you can even talk to me , bev turner or any of talk to me, bev turner or any of the members of the gb news family simply go to gbnews.com/yoursay

>> welcome back. your time is 336. i'm martin daubney. >> welcome back. your time is 336. i'm martin daubney . this is 336. i'm martin daubney. this is gb news now. the state pension will never be taxed under the tories. according to prime minister rishi sunak , as he minister rishi sunak, as he introduces the triple lock. plus, should they win the next general election, we'll

announcing the pledge . the prime announcing the pledge. the prime minister said it showed his party was on the side of pensioners. but labour have dubbed the move to be desperate. well, gb news economics and business editor liam halligan joins us now with on the money . joins us now with on the money. liam, welcome to the show. always an absolute pleasure to have you on. it wouldn't be election time without a great british giveaway. and of course, pensioners are absolutely vital to the conservative vote. so big cost £2.4 billion. talk us through it. >> strap yourself in, martin, because this is a little bit complicated , which is perhaps complicated, which is perhaps the point, because the government isn't actually giving any money away what it's doing. it's just insulated . some of us it's just insulated. some of us recipients of the state pension from the sharp end of one of its tax rises. let's go through this because, as i say, it does take a little bit of explaining. but don't worry, this is on the money. so all will be revealed. what is the triple lock itself?

this is a policy that came in in the coalition government after 2010, tories and lib dems. and it basically says that the basic state pension will increase every year . state pension will increase every year. martin by the highest of either inflation that year , pay increases that year on year, pay increases that year on average, or 2.5, whichever is higher. and in the last couple of years, we've seen some chunky increases in the basic state pension of 10% and then 8, because inflation has been high, wages have been high, wage growth has been high. so the full basic state pension, if you started claiming it after 2016, is now £11,502 per year , now the is now £11,502 per year, now the personal tax allowance. what's that? bear with me. that is the amount of money you're allowed to earn or receive before you start paying income tax . that's start paying income tax. that's been frozen at 12,570 until 2028. and it's the tories that have frozen rishi sunak when he was chancellor then jeremy hunt

as chancellor. they've extended that personal allowance freeze all the way to 2028. so you can see that from those numbers, 11.5 grand, 12.5 grand as the bafic 11.5 grand, 12.5 grand as the basic state pension goes up over the next few years, it's going to go above that personal allowance, which is frozen. and that's why the tories are saying that's why the tories are saying that for pensioners that froze that for pensioners that froze that tax allowance will go up for pensioners only in line with the basic state pension. so pensioners , as long as they pensioners, as long as they don't receive any other money from dividends or rental income or any other kind of income in their retirement. recipients of their retirement. recipients of the basic state pension only will not pay income tax. there you go . it's not entirely you go. it's not entirely straightforward. it's going to cost the government £2.5 billion. but it is actually martin, not a tax cut. it's protecting a share of the population from a tax increase , population from a tax increase, the freezing of tax thresholds that will impact all the rest of

us. >> us. >> and liam, they've said they're going to try and put some dosh towards this by clamping down on tax avoidance. and that's round about 5% of all tax owed. the absolute tax gap figure last year was an astonishing £35.8 billion. but that's up from 30 billion the year before. a lot of people don't want to pay tax . how don't want to pay tax. how they're going to recoup that, what, by employing an army of tax men? >> well, it's a kind of hardy perennial of election , campaign perennial of election, campaign eras. martin that all the parties are throwing around promises they don't want to increase taxes to pay for them. it's not particularly convincing to say, oh, we'll just make growth happen. and that will increase, you know, that will generate the extra revenue that we can spend. because of course, the uk economy hasn't really got out of second gear when it comes to growth. ever since that ghastly financial crisis of 2008 nine. and it hasn't particularly got out of first gear even since covid lockdown. so what happens is that all and sundry start promising money from nowhere.

oh, we're going to make efficiencies in the civil service. yeah, good luck with that. trying to sack civil servants or make them redundant. it's like pulling teeth. oh we're going to make lots of money by clamping down on tax avoidance. the thing is, tax avoidance. the thing is, tax avoidance is of course, legal. that's lee beginning with l legal tax evasion is illegal. tax avoidance by its very nature is you know, it's not against the rules. and if you try and clamp down on it, what are you going to do, arrest people for not breaking the law. see this is very very difficult thing to do. now, there are ways that you can clamp down on tax avoidance by maybe closing what are seen as unfair loopholes , but then as unfair loopholes, but then the kind of people who take advantage of those loopholes, they're canny enough to change their behaviour. okay. and look, lots of us are guilty of tax avoidance. if i buy my kid an isa, is that tax avoidance right 7 isa, is that tax avoidance right ? yes. when i'm being encouraged to buy my kid an isa, you know,

an individual savings account. so this is difficult metaphysical terrain, if you like. we're going to clamp down on tax avoidance because people change their behaviour. it's a bit like labour saying, oh, we're going to make, you know, a billion and a half quid by putting vat on school fees because all the parents will just stay there and just pay the vat. no they won't. lots of them will take their kids out of independent school because that extra 20% or so will be the straw that breaks the camel's back and they can't afford to pay- back and they can't afford to pay. and of course, many of the independent schools aren't the big well—known tom brown's school days. public schools with, you know, endless facilities and endowments and so on. a lot of independent schools are small businesses that are really under the cosh and have no reserves and provide for special needs students and so on. so, look, we're going to hear a lot about this. i applaud the fact that the tories are going after the grey vote, if you like. a lot of pensioners got upset because the tories tax

cutting menu. so far has been lowering national insurance hasn't it . £900 reduction in hasn't it. £900 reduction in employee national insurance, and but the thing is national insurance isn't paid by pensioners. so pensioners are miffed at that tax cuts. and now the tories are doing a tax cut for pensioners. except it's not a tax cut. it's insulating pensioners from the tories tax rise in the form of a threshold freeze. there you go. i told you it's a bit complicated but we got through it in the end and i'm sure it's all in your head how. >> now. >> martin lee made it bite size even for somebody like me. entertaining, factually packed as ever. liam halligan, thank you very, very much for bringing us up to speed. always a pleasure. now £20,000 has to be won in our great british giveaway tax free and you need to be quick as lie—ins are going to be quick as lie—ins are going to close this friday and hazel details that you need for your chance to win the wonga. >> it's the final week to see how you can win a whopping £20,000 cash. and because it's

totally tax free, every single penny will be in your bank account to do whatever you like. with £20,000 in tax free cash really could be yours this summer. hurry as lines close on friday, you've got to be in it to win it for another chance to win £20,000 in tax free cash text win to 63232. text cost £2 plus one standard network rate message or post your name and number two gb05, po box 8690. derby dh1 nine dougie beattie uk only entrants must be 18 or oven only entrants must be 18 or over. lines close at 5 pm. on friday. full terms and privacy nofice friday. full terms and privacy notice @gbnews .com. forward slash win. please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. good luck

>> welcome back. your time is 348. i'm martin daubney, and this is gb news. now. the commonwealth war graves commission's d—day torch of commemoration will to travel stormont in belfast today. it is part of the national road show to inspire younger generations to inspire younger generations to keep the legacy and memories of d—day alive. and of course, 2024 marks 80 years since the normandy landings. a recent survey found that just 21% of young people, well, they don't even know what d—day was, which is tragic if you think about it now. we're joined now by our reporter dougie beattie, who's at stormont. dougie always a pleasure to have you on the show. a huge moment in history. and today the flame is in stormont. tell us more . stormont. tell us more. >> it is martin and it was a huge moment in history. i mean, it came here at 130 today. >> it was greeted by a piper school choir and the speaker of the house, edwin poots. >> alongside him was a veteran

of d—day, a very old age now. but of course, in amongst that i spoke to some of the school children and so forth. and as you've said, it was amazing how many of them knew the dates of d—day but don't actually know the significance of d—day. and thatis the significance of d—day. and that is very, very sad because when we look at our educational system, we may have to do history projects and so forth that are all about remembering dates , but very little of cause dates, but very little of cause and effect. and of course, northern ireland, like every other part of britain, lost many, many men on those beaches all those years ago , 80 years all those years ago, 80 years ago. and it really does start the festivities here in northern ireland. and the remembrance of that d—day celebrations. and i caught up with david richardson, who is the head of the commonwealth and graves commission . commission. >> so we're here at stormont. >> so we're here at stormont. >> we've got our program, which is called lighting their legacy. >> we've got a flame of remembrance, a flame of

commemoration, which we're going to pass from a veteran from the second to world war a young person. >> and the whole idea is about the legacy of remembering the sacrifice that was made in the second world war, because we're coming up to the 80th anniversary of d—day, it's really the last time that we're going to have veterans available for ceremonies like this. >> what do you think it means to young people ? do they really young people? do they really realise what's going on? >> i think they've got a great sense of family history. i think for them they're very curious about the world, and i think there's a lot of lessons to be learned from the first and second world war. >> and where does it go to next? >> and where does it go to next? >> we've got a whole series of commemorations. there's another ceremony at edinburgh tomorrow , ceremony at edinburgh tomorrow, and then we take the flame from england across to normandy on the 5th of june. >> well, you can see from that interview that, of course, david richardson speaks about family history. and that is it is the most important part of that. i mean, my own grandfather, my

great uncles, etc. were in d—day. some were members of the royal navy, some were royal engineers. that and they hit those beaches quite hard . and it those beaches quite hard. and it was funny. they would never actually talk about what they saw at that time, but they were very, very against joining anything at that stage of the game. and i actually my brother wanted to join the royal navy , wanted to join the royal navy, and my grandfather was so much against it, and it was because he was in that very theatre of war. but northern ireland gives more to the british army per capha more to the british army per capita than any other part of the uk. in fact, most of its reserve forces at this moment are from northern ireland, some of them serving in cyprus. at this moment in time, others out in, close to ukraine and really keeping an eye on what could go on there because of course, if we don't remember d—day, we don't remember what happened, we don't remember what happened, we don't remember what happened, we don't remember the political circumstances that took us there . well, we could be heading down the very same road again .

the very same road again. >> dougie beattie excellently and succinctly put . thank you and succinctly put. thank you very much for joining and succinctly put. thank you very much forjoining us. and of course, the united kingdom is unhedin course, the united kingdom is united in war and united in remembering d—day today. stormont's turn. thank you very much, dougie. excellent report . much, dougie. excellent report. you've been getting in touch in your droves already. and of course it's pensions that's really got you going. and i knew this would happen. gary says this would happen. gary says this i retired last year after working all of my life after leaving school, and started work one day after my 15th birthday, and i've been paying towards every pensioner retiring before me. we have one of the lowest pensions in europe, whilst having one of the highest costs of living. gary excellently put. ben adds this i'm only 54, i'm 54. next month i don't think pensioners should have a tax code. they've paid enough tax and continues to do so until the day they die. and remember they have been paying tax on everything they consume for 60 years, longer than any 20 year old ban. again, you've hit the nail squarely on the head. an

excellent point. peter says this british pensioners are one of the lowest paid in the entire western world, very short and to the point and uther says this why don't they simply make the state pension in a tax free payment? well, that's a great point echoed there by ben. tax on everything until the pension. why should you be taxed on that final payment now very quickly, can we quickly have a look at ed davey on a paddle board earlier, as i said to you at the start of the show, i want to run gaff of the show, i want to run gaff of the day. the politician who puts their foot in it. the biggest. yesterday we had rishi sunak two left feet. there's ed davey wobbling like a bambi, a newborn lamb he takes to his legs on that paddleboard on lake windermere. there he goes. he's in the drink looking for floating voters. i thought ed davey was against unwanted floating objects in water systems . there he goes. straight systems. there he goes. straight in the drink at windermere has to be asking the question on a serious point. who's advising

these people? who's advising them to get on paddle boards that was destined to be a disaster, if you ask me . now. disaster, if you ask me. now. moving on. we've got plenty more to come in the next hour on our election campaign special. plus, i'll speak to a tory mp, a labour minister, and hopefully we'll cross live to hertfordshire, where sir keir starmer and rachel reeves will be, will be joining them live. i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news channel, but now it's your weather and it's alex berger. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello again. here's your latest gb news weather forecast brought to you in association with the met office. there will be some thundery downpours to watch out for through the next couple of days, but we also have some persistent rain across the uk at the moment, in association with a frontal system which is marching its way north eastwards across the country. it's already

brought quite a bit of rain to many areas through the morning, but it is bringing quite a soggy end to the day across parts of scotland and northeast england. that rain will clear away as we go overnight, but then plenty of showers following him behind. we've seen some of these turning heavy and thundery through the daytime, and they could still be a little bit on the heavy side overnight , most places staying overnight, most places staying quite cloudy, some clear skies, but on the whole temperatures not dropping a huge amount. many places holding up in double digits. so for most it is going to be a mild start to the day tomorrow and quite a cloudy one if we take a closer look and starting off across scotland. quite a cloudy picture here and some outbreaks of showery rain. nothing particularly heavy dunng nothing particularly heavy during the morning, but it is likely to turn a bit heavier and a bit thundery as we go through the day. across northern ireland, a similar story and northern england to some bright or sunny spells perhaps, but on the whole quite a cloudy picture , a bit brighter, sunnier further south. that's because we will have some clear skies overnight here, and so there could be a few pockets of mist and fog first thing, but these should quite quickly clear. otherwise as we go through the

daytime tomorrow and it is going to be quite a showery picture for most. the heaviest, most frequent showers across eastern parts of scotland, and here they are likely to turn thundery. could be some hail, could be some frequent lightning mixed in here. even elsewhere. some thundery downpours are possible. perhaps a greater chance of staying dry towards the southwest. highs in the low 20s towards the southeast. high teens generally elsewhere . not teens generally elsewhere. not feeling too bad away from any of those thundery showers . similar those thundery showers. similar picture as we go through the evening. tomorrow though, we should start to see the showers easing a little bit as we go through wednesday night into thursday. that being said, thursday. that being said, thursday still looking like a showery day for many of us, but with high pressure building from the west as we go into the weekend, it is going to start to turn drier for most by by that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> way .

>> way. >> way. >> a very good afternoon to you. it's 4 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk on today's show, there's been an embarrassing huge climb down by the bbc, which has been forced to apologise to nigel farage after accusing him of using inflammatory language during a speech. and this news just in, we're hearing that the police investigation into angela rayner has been dropped. she was accused of breaking electoral law relating to her living arrangements. more of that later in this hour. and meanwhile shadow chancellor rachel reeves has said labour is the natural party for british business. in a speech in the east midlands today saying she wants to lead the most pro—business treasury. our country has ever seen, and vowed not to increase corporation tax. but can we really trust the labour party on the economy? well, the prime minister certainly doesn't think

so, and today claimed a labour government would run out of money and raise taxes as he announced his boost to state pensions and after years of tirelessly campaigning, an independent councillor has finally won the battle for an inquiry into oldham's historic grooming gang scandal. our exclusively speak to councillor bnan exclusively speak to councillor brian hobin, who's nobly made it his life's work to give a voice to the lancashire towns sexual abuse survivors. that's all coming up in your next hour. warms the show. always a pleasure to have your company. it's only day two of the election campaign , and already election campaign, and already there's been a huge apology from there's been a huge apology from the to bbc nigel farage. sir keir starmer claims he's a socialist and the party of pro—business tory party have a £24 billion pension giveaway ,

£2.4 billion pension giveaway, and ed davey has fallen off a paddleboard. all that politics coming up. there's a huge way to get in touch, send your views. who do you vote for this time? has your views changed at all by anything that's been uttered so far and in particular, what do you make of that climb down by the bbc? forced to apologise to nigel farage for calling him customarily inflammatory? get in touch gbnews.com/yoursay but first it's your headlines and it's polly middlehurst. >> good afternoon. i'm polly middlehurst with your latest news and we bring you some breaking news coming to us from greater manchester police, which says it will take no further action in its investigation into angela rayner's tax affairs. as you've just been hearing, the labour deputy leader has faced scrutiny over whether or not she paid the right amount of tax on the sale of her council home in stockport in 2015, amid

confusion over whether it was her principal residence. >> well, in a statement released moments ago, greater manchester police are saying that after matters involving council tax which don't fall under policing's jurisdiction, it is now shared its information with the hmrc. that news just in to us. well, also in the news today, the prime minister has suggested that britain's approach to migration is the envy of europe, as he addressed a campaign event in staffordshire today. rishi sunak said the conservative plan to deal with small boat arrivals across the english channel has faced some heavy criticism, but warned a labour government would only bring uncertainty . only bring uncertainty. >> that's what you'll get with us. let's just take the topic of illegal migration, something i know is important to all of you. something jonathan and i speak about a lot, right? it's fundamentally unfair that people jump fundamentally unfair that people jump the queue and come to our country illegally, puts pressure on local services, whether it's hotels here or elsewhere. it puts people's lives at risk.

it's simply not right. we've got a bold plan to deal with the boats right. and when i first announced it or announced it, my predecessor and i first got this job, people said, oh no, this is not the right thing to do. do you know what? now, across europe, the penny has dropped that our approach is the right approach . approach. >> rishi sunak speaking earlier on today . now >> rishi sunak speaking earlier on today. now the >> rishi sunak speaking earlier on today . now the shadow on today. now the shadow chancellor has promised to introduce new budget rules aimed at preventing the turmoil seen following liz truss's mini—budget. in her first major speech of the election campaign, rachel reeves said the conservative party deserves to be judged on what she called 14 years of chaos and decline. she said average homeowners were paying said average homeowners were paying around £240 more every month due to the mini—budget, while wages remain flat and taxpayers were being asked to pay taxpayers were being asked to pay more for less . pay more for less. >> if our economy had have grown at the average rate of oecd countries, these last 14 years,

our economy today would be £150 billion larger, worth £5,000 for every household and providing £55 billion more investment for our public services . that is our public services. that is their record and they deserve to be judged on it. >> rachel reeves now pensioners could be in for a tax break worth up to £24 billion every year as part of an election pledge by the conservative party. it could see cuts worth around £95 in the next tax year, rising to £275 by 2029. the prime minister says it's going to be funded by a clamp down on tax dodgers , says liberal tax dodgers, says liberal democrat leader sir ed davey says the government has a poor record, though on pensioners it's rather remarkable. >> they're trying to make out this is some great policy. when they were the ones who increased

taxes on pensioners in the first place by not raising allowance, it was the liberal democrats who fought hard to increase the income tax allowance to help pensioners and help people on low incomes and the conservatives froze those tax allowances. so i don't think pensioners or anyone else is going to be fooled by the conservatives having broken their promise, having raised taxes now suddenly, just before election, saying they're going to do something different now, pope francis has had to apologise for using an offensive word to describe gay men in italian after a reports appeared in italian media, two of the country's biggest newspapers report he used the slur when suggesting there were too many gay people already in roman catholic priesthood colleges , as catholic priesthood colleges, as he's already in the past told bishops to carefully vet priests and reject any suspected homosexual calls. >> the vatican says the pope didn't intend to use homophobic language, and he does apologise to anyone who was offended.

international news and israeli tanks are said to be advancing on the city of rafah, following a night of heavy strikes which killed at least 21 people. the offensive on gaza's southern city is pressing ahead, despite international condemnation , un international condemnation, un people could be seen carrying their belongings through the streets in an attempt to escape that violence . israel, saying it that violence. israel, saying it wants to root out hamas fighters in rafah and rescue hostages who are still being held by the terror group , moving portraits terror group, moving portraits of blind and visually impaired d—day veterans will go on show to mark the 80th anniversary of the d—day landings. the portraits capture 16 veterans who served in normandy and are beneficiaries of blind veterans. uk. seven of the portraits are featured in a special exhibition at the national army museum in london, which runs until the 9th of june. that is the latest news. for the latest stories do sign up to gb news alerts, scan

that qr code on your screen or go to gb news. common shirts. >> thank you polly. now in the last few minutes. greater manchester police has announced that angela rayner will face no further police action following an investigation into her tax affairs , and the labour deputy affairs, and the labour deputy leader had previously said that she would resign if police found that she had broken the law . that she had broken the law. this is literally broken in the last 15 minutes and the statement ends by saying greater manchester police has liaised with stockport council and information about our investigation has been shared with them. details of our investigation have also been shared with his majesty's revenue and customs hmrc. but the force adds that matters involving council tax and personal tax do not fall into the jurisdiction of policing and details as i just discussed, have been shared with hmrc. so this is now a tax matter, not a

police matter . they say they police matter. they say they have completed a thorough, carefully considered and proportionate investigation with officers concluding that no further police action will be taken. now this was obviously a huge electoral talking point coming up. they were hoping in the labour party we announced yesterday that this will be concluded before the general election. it's concluded, been concluded the very next day. so the big breaking political news story and i'm now joined by gb news political editor chris hope, chris, welcome to the show. you've been out on the campaign trail today. show. you've been out on the campaign trail today . you're campaign trail today. you're back now with us in london. i understand this is a huge story, and this will be one that will be very, very comforting to the labour party, a big story. we've been put to bed and martin and. >> good afternoon. yeah, i've been with, rachel reeves, the shadow chancellor, and sir keir starmer up in derby at the rolls royce plant. they have a zen like calm around them at the moment, the labour party, but

not saying much . they say change not saying much. they say change as their big, their big idea, but they're not wanting to change anything at all. instead the change party appears to be the change party appears to be the tory party, with its ideas recently about the national service policy that came out with young people being told to do some kind of voluntary service or face penalty, and then overnight we have this triple lock ensuring that if you are receiving the state pension, you will not pay income tax at any point in the next five years. if the tories win power again . but labour are not again. but labour are not matching that at all. and that's quite interesting. i think it shows how the party there is trying to make sure it makes no unfunded commitments, i have interviewed rachel reeves for your programme. martin the interview goes out at 5:00, but earlier we heard from rachel reeves. she was saying how that they want she wants taxes to be lower, but she's not going to go anywhere near the idea of guaranteeing that pensioners will not pay income tax if labouris will not pay income tax if labour is re—elected, there also

news from her was there'll be no budget if labour win power for ten weeks. they want to give the office a budget responsibility, any veto or check checks on any labour policy, which means there'll be no budget until september october time. but it's a very confident speech from rachel reeves . that's someone rachel reeves. that's someone who thinks that she has found her voice . but the concern, her voice. but the concern, i think i did detect a degree of frustration that labour, the tory party, is chucking around all sorts of ideas in the way that jeremy corbyn's labour party did, did back in 2019. but laboun party did, did back in 2019. but labour, as the clear front runner, 20 points ahead, can't do that and is sticking very tightly to any only only funded announcements. and i only imagine the pressure on her privately from other parts of the labour movement. but she's holding firm at the moment and onto the matter of the angela rayner inquiry. >> just broken in the last few moments. chris greater manchester police concluding that no further police action will be take place, there could still be a tax issue. this isn't

necessarily dead and buried as a story , but this is now a tax story, but this is now a tax matter. hmrc, over allegations of a amount of tax which may or may not have been owed or paid historically over the selling of houses. but for today, chris, this is no longer a police matter. and of course, miss rayner said that she would resign if the police concluded she was guilty. that's no longer now. the case. >> that's right. a big boost here for angela rayner, the deputy leader. don't forget the row was whether when she sold her home in 2015 was any kind of capital gains tax due , and capital gains tax due, and there's an investigation going on. we understand from stockport council and hmrc. so of the three investigations, including greater manchester police, the police have now said there's no further action. but they are to talking hmrc and stockport council. she's not out of the woods yet and it might appear that they might share anything they have found. from interviewing neighbours about where she was living at the time. were there any taxes due?

but for now, a huge boost. i think at the beginning of this campaign for angela rayner. >> okay. superb sir. thanks for bringing us up to speed, chris, and thank you for speaking to rachel reeves. look forward to seeing that interview on the show round about 5:00. great to have you back in london. i'm joined now by gb news political. no, i'm not joined by olivia utley. she is out on the road with on the battle bus with the liberal democrats. olivia, you're on the battle bus. you've been with the lib dem leader ed davey today. tell us apart from ed davey falling off a paddleboard, what's been going on? >> well, yes, we are on the way from windermere to wales. we're nearly in wales now. the lib dems are doing a rapid tour of the country over four days. we started off in windermere, which is held by tim farron. it's the only lib dem held constituency in the north of england, and now we're heading to some more classic lib dem battlegrounds in the south—west of england and in wales. then we're going into the home counties around london. the

liberal democrat campaign in this election is very much focused on unseating swathes of conservative mps in areas which tend to be very, very conservative in nature . now, conservative in nature. now, this is why, you know, one of the reasons at least, why rishi sunak has come out today with this pensions policy. he needs to shore up that vote, he needs to shore up that vote, he needs to shore up his base. people who normally vote conservative, lifelong conservative voters are thinking this time around that perhaps they have no reason to vote. conservative ed davey and the liberal democrats are hoping to benefit from that. this campaign is not about the lib dems winning the general election and in fact , ed davey election and in fact, ed davey is steering very clear of, in any way criticising keir starmer. this for the for the liberal democrats is a drive to hoover up conservative seats, particularly conservative seats of cabinet members. the lib dems have their eye on jeremy hunts constituency in surrey under michael gove's former

constituency. gove is, of course, standing down down in the south east two. they're looking very chipper about their prospects. they're trying to be not complacent but definitely cheerful . cheerful. >> okay. thank you. olivia utley live from the lib dem battle bus. we'll come back to you, of course, throughout the show. and just for those of you who haven't seen this footage, here is ed davey on a paddleboard. he was on lake windermere earlier on. i know, keep going back to it. but his gaff of the day, can we quickly show it up there? ed davey on a paddle board. he falls off. here it is. it's worth the wait. so this was. here we go. he was advised to do this, to show he's a man of the people there. he is looking for floating voters. might thought ed davey was against and wanted floating objects in water. we'll come back to that throughout the show, but let's move on to some more serious politics, because in an attempt to shore up his base , rishi sunak has pledged to base, rishi sunak has pledged to raise the tax free pension allowance via a so—called triple lock. plus, if he wins the general election and announcing

the pledge earlier , the prime the pledge earlier, the prime minister said it showed his party was on the side of pensioners and claimed that they would save £275 by 2030. however, the labour party has dismissed the plan as not credible . well, let's get now credible. well, let's get now the thoughts of the pension expert at the lang cat and that's tony. tom mcphail bazball tom, welcome to the show. so it's election time . it's the it's election time. it's the great giveaway. pensioners, of course, are absolutely vital, particularly to the conservative vote. almost cost them the election in 2017 with the dreaded dementia tax. so now in a more generous mood, talk us through the benefits to pensioners and how this might be paid for. >> thank you. so we know about the triple lock, this guarantee that the state pension will increase by the most generous of earnings , inflation and 2.5% earnings, inflation and 2.5% that's been in place since 2010. and it's meant that the state pension has progressively caught up with more general incomes.

there's something that needed to be done because the state pension arguably wasn't generous enough. so a lot of progress has been made. there the problem now comes that the because the personal allowance, the amount of income that can be disregarded for income tax has been frozen , that's currently been frozen, that's currently set at 12,500 pounds and isn't going up. and because the state pension is getting progressively more generous and has now risen to 11,500 pounds and will keep going up within the next couple of years, the state pension is going to overtake the personal allowance, and we'll have a situation where the state is giving money out with one hand through the state pension and then having to take it back off people through the income tax system the very next day. and this is slightly odd and counterintuitive that it has to be said some pensioners are many pensioners are already paying tax on private incomes and some people have higher state pensions. so the situation sort of exists already today. but from the conservatives point of view, this is totemic of saying to millions of pensioners, don't

worry, your state pension will will never be taxed by us. and it's quite a strong appeal, we heard keir starmer recently saying he would he would keep the triple lock. so politically clearly everybody's trying to lean into pensioners and, and throw promises at them. the final point i'd make on this is this is not sustainable. we cannot keep doing this. the state pension cannot keep getting bigger and bigger as a share of state spending at some point, someone's going to have to pull the plug on this. and in that context , the conservatives that context, the conservatives saying we'll double down on it and improve the state pension even further is not a particularly helpful strategy . particularly helpful strategy. >> you know, tom, we covered this precise story yesterday . a this precise story yesterday. a story said that the pension may have to stop in its current form as soon as 2035, quite simply because national insurance receipts will no longer be able to cover the bill. tom, that is a huge, huge elephant in the room in terms of how we function as a society. not enough people are paying tax to pay the pension bill. what on earth can

be done about that? do you think i absolutely agree, and of course, it's not just the pension, the health care costs are going up. >> the populations are getting older. within 20 years, a quarter of the uk population will be over the age of 65. that's very expensive . we're not that's very expensive. we're not having enough children, so the birth rate is falling fewer workers paying taxes. this is not a good mix politically . not a good mix politically. we're in a bind here. no one wants to blink and step back from these promises. i think we've got to cast our minds back to where we were 20 years ago, when we had a pensions commission that came in with the proposals for auto enrolment to fix the workplace pension system, and that was done very successfully. created a consensus to depoliticise the question . i think we need to do question. i think we need to do something like that again. now, on the other side of the general election, to have some wise heads look at the question of how and when the state pension gets paid, how it gets paid for, come up with a consensus that all politicians can agree to, and just take a little bit of heat out of this. >> yeah, tom, that is a huge

question that and social care, sooner or later a political party will have to grasp the nettle. not this time round though. pensions experts are the lang cat. tom mcphail, thank you so much forjoining us. excellent. please come back on the show. great stuff. now. lots more on that story at 5:00, because we know that pensions matter to you. and there's plenty of coverage on our website gb news. com and you've helped to make it the fastest growing national news website in the country. so thank you very much. now £20,000 has to be won in our great british giveaway tax free. but you'll need to be quick as lines are closing this friday. here's all the details that you need for your chance to win all the wonga. >> it's the final week to see how you can win a whopping £20,000 cash. and because it's totally tax free, every single penny will be in your bank account to do whatever you like. with £20,000 in tax free cash really could be yours this summer. hurry as lines close on friday, you've got to be in it

to win it for another chance to win £20,000 in tax free cash . win £20,000 in tax free cash. text win to 63232. text cost £2 plus one standard network rate message or post your name and number two gb05, p.o. message or post your name and number two gb05, po. box 8690, derby , dh1 nine, jvt, uk only derby, dh1 nine, jvt, uk only entrance must be 18 or over. lines close at 5 pm. on friday. full terms and privacy notice @gbnews .com. forward slash win. please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. good luck . good luck. >> on the way, we'll have a lovely heart warming story because i'm discussing the princess of wales , who has princess of wales, who has received thousands of get well messages at the palace following her, a brave admission that she is undergoing cancer treatment. a wonderful story guaranteed to warm the cockles. i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news channel

welcome back. we can now cross live to hertfordshire. where the labour leader and shadow chancellor are doing a live question and answer session. >> straightforward. >> straightforward. >> we've had 14 years now of this government, and there's been a lot of chaos, a lot of division. >> and . and lots of things don't >> and. and lots of things don't work as well now as they did 14 years ago in my book of politics, if you leave your country worse than where you found it, then you shouldn't be given another five years and the country should have the chance to say, sorry, let's stop that chaos. >> let's turn the page and let's rebuild our country with a labour government . labour government. >> so that's the basic choice

thatis >> so that's the basic choice that is out there. one of the central things that we're saying, and rachel made a big speech about it this morning, is that the economy has to be the first priority, growing the economy and making sure that living standards everywhere go up. that's secure, skilled jobs, the sort of jobs that you've got here. and obviously all of the feeder jobs that come in to the brilliant work that you are doing here. and we want to hear about a bit of that work as well, because we're very committed to what you're doing, and we see the way forward is a real partnership between government and business. so we need your views on that as we go forward. but it is your chance to exercise your choice. the other difference there will be, if there's an incoming labour government, is that we will return to politics service, because i think politicians should serve the country. i think we've had far too much self—entitlement in the last few years, so it will be a government of service, and that means that what you think, what you think should happen, matters, which is why we're

going to now throw it open for a q and a. i think we've got some questions. anybody who's got a questions. anybody who's got a question or a comment, we're not going to filter this. we're not going to filter this. we're not going to filter this. we're not going to pick out only given individuals. so anyone who wants to say something, we want to hear from you. we'll stay for as long as possible to do that . any long as possible to do that. any question on any topic or if you just want to say, i haven't got a question, but what matters to me is this. or why don't you consider that is perfectly all right with us? because, if we're here to serve you, then it's not a kind invitation to hear your views. it's your right to give us your views. views. it's your right to give us your views . and i want you to us your views. and i want you to exercise that right. so should we kick off? have we got a question? yes, please . hi, question? yes, please. hi, andrew fleets airbus public safety. >> sorry. airbus public safety and security , i've been with and security, i've been with airbus for two years now , and airbus for two years now, and i've. i have to say, i've never actually voted labour. not yet. that's right. that's not yet , that's right. that's not yet, but i have for a long time been

a big fan of meg hillier, the chair of the public accounts committee, and i saw recently she was dubbed to the waste finder general by the, the new statesman, prior to joining the airbus family, i spent five years inside the home office, which was an interesting experience on the emergency services network program, which i think has been failing to deliver for almost as long as this government. but so my question, you know, given hopefully there's little scope for tax rises, fingers crossed. would you make it a priority in government to take a good hard look at many of the government procurement programs, which are not, you know, have been failing to give value for public money given the amount of waste there is, you know? >> yeah, i'll start on that. and then, rachel, i'll do a bit of a

double act. so we'll come in. the first thing is on your point about, tax rises, there have been far too many tax rises over recent years, the current prime minister, rishi sunak, has raised taxes more than any other politician on either as chancellor or as as prime minister and we've always said consistently , that putting more consistently, that putting more burden on working people is not the way forward, particularly in a cost of living crisis, because in addition to those tax rises, which you've all had to bear, the energy bills have gone up, the energy bills have gone up, the food bills have gone up, you name it, everything else has gone up. so that isn't the way forward. what we do need to do, what we do need to do , is grow what we do need to do, is grow the economy. and we've been flatlining on the economy now for the best part of 14 years. and that's not good enough because it impacts on people's lives. now, on your specific question on procurement, i think we can do a lot better on procurement, and i'd just give you 2 or 3, examples of that. there is too much waste , it's

there is too much waste, it's too slow. and we don't always get value for money that is something which rachel will bear down on. try getting money out of rachel in a hurry, and you'll just see how. no, because rachel understands that taxpayers money is taxpayers money, and therefore you should look after it as carefully as you'd look after your own money, with your own finances . you don't waste own finances. you don't waste money on things that aren't value for money. nobody does that, and it shouldn't be any different , which is the approach different, which is the approach that rachel takes. i do think there's a sort of on procurement in particular. i do think there's a positive side as well, because if you take defence, which is obviously , you know, which is obviously, you know, the first priority of any government, then there's defence procurement, which at the moment isn't considered to be part of our economic growth. and it should be. and i think that we could take a quicker, better, more strategic approach when it comes to procurement in defence. but rachel, over to you, because the value for money is obviously one of your bugbears as quite rightly, thank you very much for

your question, andrew. >> and you're right, what you say about taxes is taxes are now at a 70 year high at and at the same time, public services are on their knees, people are paying on their knees, people are paying more and more and yet getting less and less in return. so we do need to crack down on the waste. we've made the commitment to not increase income tax or national insurance at all in the next parliament. we would like it to be lower, but i'm not going to make any commitment around tax or spending without being able to say exactly where the money comes from. that's really important that we have those tough fiscal rules that we won't make any commitments that aren't fully costed, and fully funded. but that means, as you say, andrew, we've got to get a grip of public spending and crack down on waste. one of the things that has angered me most in this parliament is the billions and billions of pounds handed out dunng billions of pounds handed out during the pandemic to companies that didn't deliver on the contracts . and i don't know contracts. and i don't know about what happens at airbus , about what happens at airbus, but i bet that when you sign a contract, if you don't get what you put in that contract, you do

everything in your power to get your money back. and that is what governments should be doing on contracts that didn't deliver dunng on contracts that didn't deliver during the pandemic. and i've said that we would set up a covid corruption commissioner to get every penny back. that we can from those contracts that didn't deliver, because that money belongs in our public services, not in the pockets of people that didn't deliver on contracts that they promised. and more widely on procurement. we've got to get value for money. as i say, people are paying money. as i say, people are paying more and more in tax, getting less and less in return. so we need to look from the bottom up of everything that government spends its money on and make sure, as kie says, we treat public money with respect once again and get value for money for it. >> let's have another question and i'll look around the place. yes, young lady, there with the yes, please. and if we're not going to a part of the room and you feel you're being ignored, please shout out or get our attention. >> hi, my name is emma. i've been working here for about five years now, what are your thoughts on rishi sunaks proposed plan to strip gps of their power to sign people off work , a plan that's been work, a plan that's been labelled, unbelievably damaging and unhelpful by leading

disability charities? >> well, look, i think , rishi >> well, look, i think, rishi sunakis >> well, look, i think, rishi sunak is putting out a lot of ideas now which are pretty desperate stuff, almost every day he rummages around in the sort of toybox of possible ideas and flings one on the table. and yesterday we had national service for teenagers or teenage dads army, which is apparently, his suggestion of the way forward. today. we've had something on pensions , but no something on pensions, but no funding for it, which goes back to rachel's point , about making to rachel's point, about making sure that everything you say is fully costed and fully funded. on the question of, sort of bypassing gp's , i think he's bypassing gp's, i think he's going down the wrong track now that there are many people i would acknowledge who are not in work at the moment, who want to be back in work, in fairness to them, but they don't feel supported back into work and i think they should be supported

back into work sometimes because of physical health or mental health. they've got, you know, they're not absolutely confident that they can go back into the workplace very many good employers, and i've seen this in practice, are running schemes to help people come back to work so that they can actually contribute, which is what they want to do and help build our economy. so i think that there are positive, sensible , grown up are positive, sensible, grown up things that we can do to help. but what we've got to get away from, and you're going to see a lot of it in this election, i think, is desperate ideas from the tories. i mean, after 14 years, they're rummaging around for anything to fling on the table to try and get a bit of attention, and the i mean, national service for teenagers is, is just so badly thought through that the first question is bound to be, well, how are you going to enforce it? what happens if someone says no to which they couldn't give an answer? i mean, if you haven't even thought to question one, you haven't thought it through, and we're going to see a lot of

that. thank you very much. where else should we go? yeah, i can just about see you. all right, my name is will. >> will. >> will. >> hey. yeah. will, i'm a graduate engineer here at airbus , i work on spacecraft, so i'm currently working on lunar mission planning. fantastic. yeah, it's very exciting. >> i mean, it is fantastic. by the way, to cut. thank you for letting us come to your workplace. because this for me and for rachel, is really uplifting to be able to come and see what you're doing. some of the most incredible engineering and design and build in the world, and to be able to come and see it is brilliant and you can't do it through a briefing. so over to you. >> it's really exciting. >> it's really exciting. >> oh, it's great. >> oh, it's great. >> based on my experience as an engineer , i've noticed that my engineer, i've noticed that my peers in countries like the us and germany often enjoy higher salaries and better career prospects , given the global prospects, given the global economic differences and existing efforts, what specific steps would a labour government take to increase investment in uk aerospace , improve uk aerospace, improve professional recognition for engineers and ensure our pay and

opportunities are competitive on a global scale? >> thank you. well, i'll. i will say a few words, then i'll pass to rachel because she made a speech this morning all about it, investment. my strong view is that there is investment to be made here in in space projects, in defence projects , projects, in defence projects, in the work that you're doing. i strongly believe that. and we've had lots of discussions with those that want to invest in the united kingdom. when we ask them, well, why aren't you investing at the moment? them, well, why aren't you investing at the moment ? the investing at the moment? the answer they most often give is because it's too chaotic. there's too much chopping and changing , and the idea of having changing, and the idea of having sort of five prime ministers in the last government, six chancellors, seven chancellors. i mean, it's politically funny. and you might think, well, keir, your leader of the opposition, surely it's great for you if the government's all over the place with, you know, four budgets in one year, four chancellors, i think in the course of one year,

you might think, well, as leader of the opposition, that's great because the government is chaotic, but it's really bad for the country. it's really bad for investment because guess what? people who are serious about investment are not going to put it into an environment where they don't think things are calm and stable. and that's why the number one thing on investment is providing the environment, the stable economy that we need with a clear vision for the future and a plan that we stick to. so if you say you're going to. so if you say you're going to support this sector, then you've got to be doing that not just for six months or 12 months and then change your mind or change the timelines. you've got to stick with it for the long term. and so i think government plays a really important role in this. the final thing i'll say, and then we'll go to rachel, is it's also about partnership. people know if there's a partnership between airbus and the government , they know the government, they know whether that's working. is the government pulling its weight? doesit government pulling its weight? does it understand what you're trying to do here, and are we fully behind it? out there in

the world, people watch that. they see it. and in other countries they observe that partnership and we want to build that partnership here. but rachel gave a speech this morning about investment, so i'll just pass over to her on some more of the detail. >> well, thanks very much for that question, will the number one commitment that i gave in the speech earlier today was to bnng the speech earlier today was to bring stability back to the economy, because stability is what families need to plan for the future, but also , crucially, the future, but also, crucially, it is what businesses need to make long term investment . and make long term investment. and we now have the lowest investment as a share of gdp than any country in the g7. and one of the reasons why high wages have not kept up with comparable countries is that we're not investing enough in britain and the state of the pubuc britain and the state of the public finances mean that it's not going to be a load of public investment. you know, frankly, if i become chancellor in a few weeks time, i'm not going to have that luxury. so it's going to be about what government can do to leverage in private sector investment. stability has got to come first, but we've also committed to a modern industrial strategy that we write in

partnership with business and sectors like , defence and space, sectors like, defence and space, as well as pharmaceutical and zero carbon technologies . they zero carbon technologies. they are some of the areas where there is huge potential in the uk because of our industrial heritage, because of our geography , because of our great geography, because of our great universities and the skills that we already have . and so we would we already have. and so we would want to focus with a laser focus on the sectors where we already have a comparative advantage, but where there is a lot of competition and where we think there is growth potential. and this is definitely one of those sectors . so stability, a plan sectors. so stability, a plan for investment, a modern industrial strategy, and also reform of the apprenticeship levy so that it works better for business and also works better for young people and people who want to retrain and get the skills that they need to succeed in the world of work. but in the end, it's got to be more of a partnership approach. in the last few years, it felt like government and business have been pulling in different directions. and i said in my speech today that if i'm

chancellor, in a few weeks time, it will be the most pro—growth treasury. this country has ever seen, because unless we can grow the economy, we're not going to be able to boost wages. we're not going to be able to improve living standards. and we would have failed. so being pro growth, being pro—business is about ensuring that we can lift wages and the cost of living crisis and give our country its future back and, well, finally , future back and, well, finally, on this, we need to the government needs to be a champion of what we do in this country. >> what you do here is fantastic. we need to be out there as ambassadors for that across the world. winning the trade into this country and rolling up our sleeves and doing it. we have a lot to be really proud of. we're really good at stuff in this country, but you need a government that's out there absolutely advocating for it. where should we go next? is there a part of the room yet that we haven't been to, my name is. >> oops, sorry. >> oops, sorry. >> hi, i'm hazel wood. i'm a project manager and i've been here for 27 years. >> 27 years. hazel. that's great. >> so one thing, following on from the question, had one thing i'm very passionate outside of engineering in space is

education and inspiring our next generation. so one of the things i do in my spare time, i'm a school governor, so i'm interested on what your thoughts. >> primary school or secondary school? >> both. i'm in a academy trust, so i'm interested what your next steps of labour for academies, free schools and for multi—academy trusts. multi —academy trusts. >> okay. multi—academy trusts. >> okay. well look, thank you for raising that . as the father for raising that. as the father of a boy who's just doing his gcses, i've got a lot of focus on education at the moment, we need to do some basics when it comes to education and then we need to do some changes. the basics are making sure we've got the right teachers, particularly in our secondary schools . one of in our secondary schools. one of the things i'm most frustrated to put it politely, about, is that we've got a prime minister who keeps going on about maths until 18, but we haven't got enough maths teachers for our children up to age 16. in our secondary schools that is just not good enough, because if you're missing a key teacher, the age that my son is now 15 or 16 or you know, at that

secondary school, if you're missing it, that's not just something that went wrong for a year or two for that child. that's their whole education affected for the rest of their life, because we all know i'm drilling it into my boy. if your gcses matter for what you want to do next. and so it's a stepping stone. so we've got to fill that gap. we need 6500 more state secondary school teachers . state secondary school teachers. and so we're going to invest in that by getting rid of the tax break for private schools and putting it into that space. that's just the sort of patching up. make sure we've got the basics in place more broadly, i think that we should be looking again at education and making sure that the skills we're teaching in our schools are the skills that people are going to need for the jobs they're actually going to go into and the lives they're actually going to lead. and also that we teach our young people jul confidence. one of the things i'm very, very keen on is what i call confidence. speaking which is

teaching young people to be able to hold a hold their arguments, to hold a hold their arguments, to be able to be confident in what they say, think about all the interviews you've done to get various jobs, or to do whatever, or the way you work in teams here. you need to be confident in your ideas. you need to be able to communicate with other people. these are skills that matter in the job, so we need to do that as well. the other thing is that we need to make sure that our sort of technical colleges, where we've got skills , operate better, got skills, operate better, because at the moment many companies are be really interested in your views on this. say the skills we need, we can't actually get anywhere near here just at the moment. and that's a strategic failure that we need to address. so i think there's a lot to do in that space. would you have i mean, if you just come in would if you what do you want me to think about on the train when i'm going home, in terms of what

else we should do on schools? i mean, you're a governor of a primary and a and a secondary , i think. >> i mean, i definitely think that teacher retention is very important, and i agree, i've got a daughter doing her a—levels and similar lacking lacking teachers is a big, big problem, and i think yeah, i think it's about having that joined up view of what you're saying, thinking about the country. where do we want to go to having, engineers, having the skills here and how we feed that into our schools . we feed that into our schools. >> and we need to celebrate technical skills as well, the sort of skills that many of you have here. my dad was an engineer . he have here. my dad was an engineer. he worked in a factory. he was a toolmaker, and he always felt that technical skills were undervalued. and i've sort of carried that all my life because i think he's right, if you look at the technical skills , as they are incredibly skills, as they are incredibly clever, incredibly demanding and challenging, and i want young people to value that and to want to do it, and i hope that all of you, or as many of you as

possible, are getting into your local schools because i think if local schools because i think if local and i'm sure they do, local and i'm sure they do, local children came in to here see what you do. many of them would say, i want a job like that. and that's a very good thing. great, let's go somewhere else, shall we? i've got one. i know there's one at the front. i'll just go to the back. so we're getting a bit of everything in. yeah, i can just about see you in a. yep. got you. have we got a roving mic somewhere? i think. could someone, thank you. thank you apprentice. very, very well done i >> -- >> hello, bob hobson system engineer at airbus for the last 12. >> your name again? sorry bob hobson . hobson. >> bob. yeah. that's better. >> bob. yeah. that's better. >> thank you, my question is about freedom of movement for both goods and people, we are an industry which relies on transnational working, whether it's sending people to meetings, whether it's sending engineers to work on spacecraft and test facilities around europe. and five years ago, ten years ago, this was easy. we could send people quite easily, but now we're running into a problem that we simply can't get people

out easily and we can't transfer goods easily. will the next labour government be looking at freedom of movement with europe at all, well, let me be let me first address the problem, then completely answer that. obviously we had freedom of movement when we were a member of the eu. we haven't got it anymore and we're not going back, there is no case for saying we go back into the eu . saying we go back into the eu. we had that referendum back in 2016. we got an outcome for it. but i do want to address your question , because i've been to question, because i've been to airbus many times before. not not here, but obviously broughton and other places like that. and i know the they explained to me in the particular thing and there'll be other examples here of, of the team going to, to toulouse to deal with the wings and going for well as long as is necessary to do the work, which will be the pattern, i suspect. >> and that was sir keir starmer and rachel reeves, speaking in hertfordshire at the airbus plant, they took a range of questions from employees there, ranging from the economy , vie,

ranging from the economy, vie, and then public safety. a public safety worker at airbus who never voted, labour, who worked for the home office, asked about procurement and lots of government waste and a hint, perhaps, of what may come with rachel reeves sir keir starmer joke. try getting money out of rachel reeves in a hurry. she shook her head, looked a bit of a schoolmarm. could we expect to see a scrooge like chancellor if she gets into power ? next she gets into power? next question was on gps taking power away from gps having their power strips to sign people off sick and sir keir starmer said rishi sunakis and sir keir starmer said rishi sunak is desperate. this is another one of his toy box ideas like the dad's army. the conscription idea , and today's conscription idea, and today's pensions. no funding ideas . he's pensions. no funding ideas. he's going down the wrong track. sir keir starmer said the next question was from a lunar mission planner. what a job that is. and he talked about how

people in britain are relatively underpaid compared to the usa and germany. what will you do to improve that? and then we got a bit of, well, we're a stable economy, clear vision and no change in tack, no real detail there. rachel reeves adding we need economic stability . that's need economic stability. that's the word that she kept mentioning. and finally at the end there, bob asked about freedom of movement. and of course, a lot of people have been saying, what will sir keir starmer position be on freedom of movement, particularly with the european union? bob complained that it's getting more difficult. so keir starmer says straight away there is no case for rejoining the european union. that was sir keir starmer and rachel reeves at the airbus plant in hertfordshire. now it's been a huge day for election campaigning. we've just been heanng campaigning. we've just been hearing from sir keir starmer and the shadow chancellor. now let's hear from the prime minister, rishi sunak. he's been speaking to voters in stoke city. >> prime minister, you are stopping an effective tax rise

on pensioners, but allowing an effective tax rise on millions of working people . have you of working people. have you given up on young voters? >> you know what i believe is that if you work hard all your life, you should have dignity in retirement . retirement. >> that's why we've protected the triple lock, which is going up the triple lock, which is going ”p by the triple lock, which is going up by £900 this year for pensioners. but today what we've announced is the triple lock. plus we're going to increase the personal allowance for pensioners delivering a tax cut worth around £100 to millions of pensioners. demonstrate our commitment to them, making sure that we can deliver a secure future for them. and in contrast, the labour party has said they oppose that policy, which means pensioners will be paying which means pensioners will be paying tax under any future labour government. and that's a clear choice on offer at this election. stick with us and our plan that is working . that plan that is working. that economic plan is now allowing us not just to cut taxes for everyone in work by £900, but also to protect the triple lock and deliver a new tax cut for millions of pensioners by calling this a tax cut. >> are you admitting that the conservative policy to freeze tax thresholds was a tax rise?

>> i think most people watching recognise that the country has been through an extraordinary amount. the pandemic and then the war in ukraine, both of which meant that the government stepped in to support people, whether that was to support the nhs or the vaccine, roll out furlough and then to help everyone with their energy bills. and i think people recognise that that meant some difficult decisions in order to ensure that we could control our debt and borrowing and not leave our kids with bills. but now that that plan has worked, inflation has come down from 11% to 2. wages are rising in the economy is growing. we're also able to cut people's taxes. an average person in work this year is receiving a tax cut worth £900. state pension going up by £900. state pension going up by £900. and today's announcement of the new triple lock , plus an of the new triple lock, plus an increase in the personal allowance for pensioners , allowance for pensioners, millions of pensioners getting a tax cut as well . that shows that tax cut as well. that shows that our plan is working and if we stick with that plan, the bold action that i'm prepared to take, like today's announcement for pensioners that shows that we can deliver a secure future for everyone across our country. >> are you disappointed that 121

businesses today have decided to back labour? >> well, i'm not sure what they actually think that they're backing because labour really haven't said what they would do differently for businesses in our country. but we can look at what they're doing in labour run wales, where they increasing taxes for small businesses. in contrast to what we're doing in england. so if you're a typical pub in wales, your business rates bill just more than doubled as a result of the actions of the welsh labour government. you're paying thousands of pounds more in business rates compared to if your pub was in england. the same goes for cafes, restaurants. small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy. what are labour doing in wales? they're taxing them more and what do they want to do more and what do they want to do more broadly, they want to introduce french style union laws to the uk. 70 different new regulations. what's that going to do? it's going to cost jobs and damage our economic recovery . and actually 200 leading businesses signed a letter not that long ago calling our policy to cut taxes for investment . in to cut taxes for investment. in their words, the single most

transformative thing we could do to drive growth, productivity and investment in our country. and again, it shows we are the party that are taking the bold action, cutting taxes on investment, because that creates jobs, drives growth. and you can see that that plan is working. earlier this year, our economy grew faster than france, germany, italy and the united states. wages are growing, inflation is coming down. and if we stick with that plan , we can we stick with that plan, we can deliver a secure future for everyone across the country . everyone across the country. >> your former mp, lucy allan, has told people to back reform. nigel farage is out on the campaign trail today. how worried are you that reform is becoming? >> in his words, the new conservative movement . conservative movement. >> well, on july 5th, one of two people is going to be prime minister keir starmer or me. so the question for voters is on the question for voters is on the issues that they care about, whether it's illegal migration or a more sensible approach to net zero that prioritises people's bills and our energy security, or cutting taxes and rewarding hard work on all of those issues. we're the ones

that are prepared to take bold action. we're the ones that have got a clear plan, and that's how we'll deliver a secure future. that particular topic of illegal migration is a case in point. we've got a bold plan, the rwanda scheme, to ensure that if you come here illegally, you will not be able to stay and you will not be able to stay and you will be returned. that's how you create a deterrent. the penny is dropping across europe that that is the right approach. but in contrast, keir starmer is going to scrap that plan , let out to scrap that plan, let out everyone that we've detained for those flights and offer an amnesty to illegal migrants. that's going to make us the soft touch of europe, a magnet for migration everywhere . and just migration everywhere. and just when we're getting on top of this problem and we've got the numbers down, all that progress will be reversed. so that's a choice at this election bold action, clear plan and a secure future with us or open borders with keir starmer . with keir starmer. >> so that was rishi sunak , the >> so that was rishi sunak, the prime minister speaking in stoke earlier, when asked about national debt, he said well, we had the pandemic, the war in ukraine, the vaccine rollout, we had difficult decisions to make. but he says the plan has worked.

inflation is down. national insurance tax cuts of £900 per person, pensioners £900 better off, he said. bold action is a phrase he kept repeating we have bold action. when asked about 121 businesses backing labour early on, he said i'm not sure what they're backing. he then looked to wales where pub landlords, for example, and cafe owners are looking at thousands more pounds in rent. and he looked at french style union rules being brought in if labour were to get into power. so using wales as an example of how labour potentially might run the best the rest of the country, he then talks about we have a faster economic growth rate in the uk and france, germany and the uk and france, germany and the usa to paint a more rosy picture then specifically he was asked how worried are you that reform the reform party with nigel farage is the new conservative movement , and he conservative movement, and he brushed that to one side really by saying on july the 5th, one of two people with the will be

the prime minister, myself or sir keir starmer. we've got a bold plan. the rwanda scheme swept nigel farage to one side. i wonder if it'd be quite so easy on that now playing more to come on the general election campaign in the next hour. don't go anywhere . we'll have an go anywhere. we'll have an exclusive interview with the councillor who's forced oldham's grooming gang inquiry. i'm martin daubney first, here's your weather and it's alex burkham. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar , the sponsors of weather solar, the sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hello again. here's your latest gb news weather forecast, brought to you in association with the met office. there will be some thundery downpours to watch out for through the next couple of days, but we also have some persistent rain across the uk at the moment, in association with a frontal system which is marching its way north eastwards across the country. it's already brought quite a bit of rain to

many areas through the morning, but it is bringing quite a soggy end to the day across parts of scotland and northeast england. that rain will clear away as we go overnight, but then plenty of showers following in behind. we've seen some of these turning heavy and thundery through the daytime, and they could still be a little bit on the heavy side overnight, most places staying quite cloudy, some clear skies, but on the whole temperatures not dropping a huge amount. many places holding up in double digits. so for most it is going to be a mild start to the day tomorrow and quite a cloudy one if we take a closer look and starting off across scotland. quite a cloudy picture here and some outbreaks of showery rain. nothing particularly heavy dunng nothing particularly heavy during the morning, but it is likely to turn a bit heavier and a bit thundery as we go through the day. across northern ireland, a similar story and northern england to some bright or sunny spells perhaps, but on the whole quite a cloudy picture , a bit brighter, sunnier further south. that's because we will have some clear skies overnight here, and so there could be a few pockets of mist and fog first thing, but these should quite quickly clear. otherwise, as we go through the daytime tomorrow and it is going

to be quite a showery picture for most. the heaviest, most frequent showers across eastern parts of scotland, and here they are likely to turn thundery. could be some hail, could be some frequent lightning mixed in here, even elsewhere. some thundery downpours are possible. perhaps a greater chance of staying dry towards the southwest. highs in the low 20s towards the southeast. high teens generally elsewhere . not teens generally elsewhere. not feeling too bad away from any of those thundery showers . similar those thundery showers. similar picture as we go through the evening. tomorrow though, we should start to see the showers easing a little bit as we go through wednesday night into thursday. that being said, thursday. that being said, thursday still looking like a showery day for many of us, but with high pressure building from the west as we go into the weekend, it is going to start to turn drier for most by looks like things are heating up boxt boiler showers sponsors of weather on

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>> a very good afternoon to you. it's 5 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk . on today's show, we'll the uk. on today's show, we'll get more on the decision by greater manchester police to drop the investigation into labour's deputy leader, angela rayner. labour's deputy leader, angela rayner . she was accused of rayner. she was accused of breaking electoral law relating to her living arrangements. of course we'll also have an interview with shadow chancellor rachel reeves and she spent the day telling voters that the uk economy is safest under labour, vowing to create the most pro—growth treasury in history. but the prime minister has attacked labour's plans, claiming if elected, they'd run out of money and raise taxes. as he announced his plans to boost state pensions . and after years state pensions. and after years of tirelessly campaigning and independence , councillor has independence, councillor has finally won the battle for an inquiry into oldham's grooming gang scandal. and i'll speak exclusively to councillor brian hoban, who has nobly made it his

life's work to give a voice to the lancashire town's sexual abuse survivors. that's all coming up in your next hour. what's the show? it's always a pleasure to have your company, tony. day two of the general election campaign. and what a ride it already is. rishi sunak has been talking to voters in stoke, so keir starmer, rachel reeves in hertfordshire at airbus, we'll have the full inside detail on that. plus we're on the battle bus with the liberal democrats. of course . ed liberal democrats. of course. ed davey fell off a paddleboard in lake windermere earlier. maybe he was looking for floating voters. nigel farage has forced an apology from the bbc already earlier on today they accuse him of being customarily inflammatory. a humiliating climbdown when they apologised just an hour later. it's been an action packed couple of days.

we'll have the full update after your latest news headlines. get in touch, though, before that, gbnews.com/yoursay have a have a say it's your show, but now it is those headlines and it's polly middlehurst. >> the top stories this hour. pensioners could be in for a tax break worth up to £24 billion every year as part of an election pledge by the conservative party. it could see cuts worth around £95 in the next tax year, and that could rise to £275 by 2029. the prime minister says it will be funded by a clamp down on tax dodgers. labour described the plan as a desperate move, but rishi sunak says it's part of the government's broader plan. >> what i believe is that if you work hard all your life, you should have dignity in retirement. that's why we've protected the triple lock, which is going up by £900 this year for pensioners. but today what

we've announced is the triple lock. plus we're going to increase the personal allowance for pensioners delivering a tax cut worth around £100 to millions of pensioners , millions of pensioners, demonstrating our commitment to them, making sure that we can deliver a secure future for them. and in contrast, the labour party have said they oppose that policy, which means pensioners will be paying tax under any future labour government. and that's the clear choice on offer at this election. >> rishi sunak, speaking a short time ago. well, as you've been heanng time ago. well, as you've been hearing in other news today, greater manchester police have said they'll take no further action in their investigation into angela rayner's tax affairs. labour's deputy leader has faced scrutiny over whether she paid the right amount of tax on the sale of her council house in stockport in greater manchester, in 2015, amid confusion over whether or not it was her principal residence. in a statement released this afternoon, the force said that matters involving council tax don't fall under policing's jurisdiction and it's now shared

its information with hmrc . the its information with hmrc. the shadow chancellor has promised to introduce new budget rules aimed at preventing the turmoil seen following liz truss's mini—budget. in her first major speech of the election campaign, rachel reeves said the conservative party deserves to be judged on what she called 14 years of chaos and decline . she years of chaos and decline. she said average homeowners are paying said average homeowners are paying around £240 more every month due to that mini—budget, while wages remained flat and taxpayers are asked to pay more for less. >> if our economy had have grown at the average rate of oecd countries these last 14 years, our economy today would be £150 billion larger, worth £5,000 for every household and providing £55 billion more investment for our public services . that is

our public services. that is their record and they deserve to be judged on it. >> rachel reeves. pope francis has had to apologise for using an offensive word to describe gay men after reports appeared in italian media. two of the country's biggest newspapers, in fact reported that he used the slur when suggesting there were too many gay people in priesthood colleges. he has in the past told bishops to carefully vet priests and reject any suspected homosexuals. the vatican says the pope didn't mean to use homophobic language , mean to use homophobic language, and he does apologise to anyone who is offended . new research who is offended. new research has suggested that a lack of progress on insulating british homes is costing bill payers £3.2 billion every year. analysis by the energy and climate intelligence unit found that upgrading the average british, home to an energy performance rating of c, would have saved bill payers around £200 a year each, despite a rise

in energy costs, the government scrapped a target last year that would have seen all privately rented homes rated c or above by next year. latest figures show that fewer than 5000 homes have been insulated under the government's scheme . in government's scheme. in international news today , international news today, israeli tanks are advancing, we're told, on the city of rafah following a night of heavy air strikes which killed at least 21. the offensive on gaza's southern city, on its border with egypt, is pressing ahead despite international condemnation. people could be seen in the streets carrying their belongings in an attempt to escape that violence . israel to escape that violence. israel says it wants to root out hamas fighters in rafah and rescue hostages who are still being held by the terror group . moving held by the terror group. moving portraits of blind and visually impaired d—day veterans will go on show to mark the 80th anniversary of the landings. the portraits capture 16 veterans who served in normandy and a

beneficiaries of blind veterans uk. several of the portraits are featured in a special exhibition at the national army museum in london, and the exhibition is running until the 9th of june. that's the news for the latest stories, do sign up to gb news alerts. scan the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts . slash alerts. >> thank you polly. now all the political leaders have been out and about across the country today on their general election campaign trail. today on their general election campaign trail . rishi sunak has campaign trail. rishi sunak has pledged a pension boost to grab the grey vote, and sir keir starmer has talked up his party as the best party for business. well, let's hear now from the shadow chancellor, rachel reeves, who's been speaking to gb news political editor chris hope early today in derby . hope early today in derby. >> rachel reeves, thanks for joining us on gb news today. you say labour is a party of change, but the party trying to change things is the tory party. they

want national service for young people. they want to take pensioners out of paying income tax in the next five years. aren't you being a safety first shadow chancellor and that's damaging you. >> well, stability is changed after 14 years of chaos and decline under the conservative gives. and what people should know about me is that everything that i put forward will be fully costed and fully funded, because i will never play fast and loose with the public finances. because when you do so, you put family finances and pensioners finances in peril and the conservatives are now adding bauble after bauble to the christmas tree without any idea of how they're going to fund these new commitments. yesterday they said they were going to use this money to create national service scheme. today they're saying they'll use the same pot of money to give a tax break for pensioners. well, the reason that pensioners are paying more tax today is because of decisions by this conservative prime minister and this conservative government. >> is it frustrating, though,

that they can fund these ideas and you're being very disciplined saying, i can't. i mean, it's almost reverse of 2019 when jeremy corbyn was giving some grandiose claims about things to pay for and the tories weren't. >> well, people will have to make a judgement about whose plan is more credible and whose plan is more credible and whose plan will be the for best our country and for their families. but the truth is, if you make commitments without being able to say where the money is going to say where the money is going to come from, then you risk blowing up the economy and all that will happen is that interest rates and mortgage rates go through the roof. once again, we cannot afford a repeat of those mistakes, and that's why i will always put stability, economic stability first on your plans. >> you've said corporation tax won't go up above 25% before 2030. what about income tax and national insurance? will that also not go up in those five years? >> so i want taxes on working people to be lower, but i'm not going to make commitments without saying where the money is going to come from. but i can make the commitment that income tax and national insurance won't

go tax and national insurance won't 9° up tax and national insurance won't go up under a labour government. and of course, the whole five years, the whole five years of the next parliament and on corporation tax and obviously here with businesses at rolls—royce today, have made the commitment that we will freeze corporation tax at its current rate . but if there is any threat rate. but if there is any threat to our competitiveness by other countries reducing their corporation tax, of course we would always look to act . would always look to act. >> you've announced here in derby plans for a fiscal lock . derby plans for a fiscal lock. the obr will check any big government spending announcements . aren't you giving announcements. aren't you giving away power to unelected officials when you're the chancellor, you're in charge. rachel reeves. >> if you win, what's really important is that you have checks and balances within the system. and the office for budget responsibility, created by former conservative chancellor, ensures that government can't put forward ideas , whether that's tax cuts ideas, whether that's tax cuts or spending increases, without having a proper forecast of the impact of those things to ensure that the sums always add up. and with me as chancellor, if i have

that privilege, the sums will always add up . always add up. >> you mentioned planning reforms in your speech here in derby. there's a big round norfolk about pylons to carry wind generated energy across south norfolk. locals are upset the tory tories locally are opposing it. but you on the record saying you support these these big pylons going in is are you going to take the battle to nimbys if you win power? >> well, we do need to get britain building again. >> well, we do need to get britain building again . we need britain building again. we need new housing and we also need energy infrastructure because energy infrastructure because energy bills have gone through the roof these last few years because we've become overly reliant on imported gas and energy, and that is bad for our national security . so it is national security. so it is important that we invest in those home grown renewables to take putin's boot off our neck. and that means producing more here at home and getting it to people's homes and people's businesses. how would you feel? we also have said that people who host nationally significant infrastructure, including energy infrastructure, including energy infrastructure and including those new pylons, should get something in return, including, for example, lower energy bills.

and so we would make sure that communities that host that nationally significant infrastructure feel the benefits of it. >> how do you feel, though, if a big pylon went up near your house? >>i house? >> i feel it's really important . >> i feel it's really important. i'm in favour of new building and i'm in favour of new building where i live and in other communities around the country because we need those new homes at the moment, home ownership is falling and we need that energy because we've seen a sharp increases during the course of this parliament. in energy prices, there are good jobs to be had in britain if we invest in home grown energy . i'm invest in home grown energy. i'm determined to do that and it will also boost our national security so that never again can putin dictate the prices paid for energy by british households and businesses. >> nothing on wealth taxes yet. is that the. that's the that's the treasure chest you're keeping locked up. >> labour will not be introducing wealth taxes on homes that kind of thing. >> capital gains tax. >> capital gains tax. >> labour are not going to be

introducing wealth taxes. indeed chris, we've set forward our plans and they are all fully costed and fully funded, and there will be nothing in our manifesto that requires any further increases in taxation. >> and just finally, on your new deal for working people, has that been watered down? it was called something else at the weekend talking to companies, aren't you? and checking their concerns . concerns. >> we will introduce the new deal for working people. indeed we will publish and bring forward legislation to parliament within the first 100 days of a labour government. if we're successful at the general election, and that will ban exploitative zero hour contracts and fire and rehire and start to turn the minimum wage into a real living wage so that everybody who goes out to work gets the security and dignity that should come from work. >> and firms can opt out if they want to, because some people, some people, some will do like to have, don't they? zero hour contracts, no. this will mean that after 12 weeks, an employee is entitled to a contract based on the hours that they are working. the majority of firms are not using zero hour contracts. they're not using fire and rehire . but this is fire and rehire. but this is about creating a level playing

field so that good businesses are not undercut by those that aren't treating their workers properly. >> rachel reeves, thank you for joining us today on gb news. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much. >> well, that was rachel rees with chris hope. and i'm now joined by the conservative mp for penistone and stocksbridge, miriam cates. miriam, welcome to the show. always a pleasure to have your company. as you'd expect rachel reeves having a p0p expect rachel reeves having a pop at the conservatives. there blaming you lot for the economic situation. there on one. one thing that struck me about what she's saying is she seems like she's saying is she seems like she's being a bit of an old mother hubbard . it doesn't seem mother hubbard. it doesn't seem to be putting anything forward in terms of dangling to the voters, whereas the conservatives, you're dangling a pension pot today. but rachel reevesis pension pot today. but rachel reeves is saying there's no money to pay for any of that. where's the truth ? where's the truth? >> well, i think we are at the start of the election campaign , start of the election campaign, and the point of an election campaign is for the political parties , for candidates to set parties, for candidates to set out what they would do if they were elected. if we don't tell

the population what we're going to do, how can they make an informed choice about who to vote for and of course, we need a combination of policies that are new, that are visionary, that set out the kind of direction of travel that our party wants to offer, but also more detailed commitments, which we'll see, i'm sure, when the manifesto comes out. i think the problem with labour's position at the moment is exactly as you're saying. they're not really committing to anything. they're saying nice things, they're putting out nice vibes about the change they will bring, but very much failing to establish how they will turn around some of the deeply entrenched problems that we do have in this country that we've had for decades that my party, the conservatives are starting to turn around. and i think when we look at labour's behaviour over the last few years, look at lockdown, for example , you know, lockdown, for example, you know, the government paid out, i think, £400 billion during the covid pandemic to support businesses. they were very, very popular policies and they had to happen because businesses had been shut down and all those kind of things. but one of the reasons, one of the main reasons

that we had such high levels of inflation last year and the year before was because of all that borrowed money that had flowed into the economy. now that was necessary. vie at the time, it was very painful when it became inflation of course, but don't forget that labour called for furlough to go on and on and on for people to be paid more and more money for the government to get more and more into debt. had they been in power, the inflationary spike would have been far higher than it was under the conservative, and i very much doubt that they would have brought it back under control in the way that rishi sunak has done. so we don't know what they're offering because they won't put any detail to their proposals. but we certainly know what they've called for over the past four years. and it doesn't look like secure economics to me. >> miriam, the £24 billion cost of the new pension plan is meant to be a raise by looking at tax avoidance, clamping down on those who haven't paid their tax. and we saw that, of course, as you said, there, sky rocket dunng as you said, there, sky rocket during the pandemic, 5% of all taxes owed are those that have been avoided £35 billion

shortfall last year, but that's increased from £30 billion a year before. how do you clamp down on this? i mean, you can't get hold of a tax man now if you want. they're rarer than gp's. >> well, i'm not an expert in tax or in how hmrc collect unpaid tax, but certainly there is a problem and i think we need to look much more carefully at how people are still managing to avoid tax, even though most things are now digitised, it is a lot harder to not submit things than it was in the past. but i think on the pensions at the point of this, this plan is that because pensions have increased under the conservatives, which most pensioners absolutely welcome, it has brought some pensioners into paying tax and i think most people would agree that pensioners who are on fixed incomes , often very small incomes, often very small incomes, often very small incomes, should probably not be paying incomes, should probably not be paying tax. so that's what this policy represents. of course, there are some pensioners who are hugely wealthy, and do pay tax because they have other income and investments. but we're talking about pensioners

who only get the state pension and other small benefits and whether or not they should be paying whether or not they should be paying tax. and so i think most people would agree that they should be brought out of tax. and that is what that this policy is about. >> now, miriam, undeniably, immigration is going to be a huge issue at this general election. yesterday evening and again repeated today in dover, nigel farage, the honorary president of reform uk, challenged rishi sunak to a tv debate on this to once and for all put the matter to bed. do you think rishi sunak should accept that challenge? >> i know, but i'd be happy to do it if he doesn't. but i've been on the doorstep all day in my constituency and you're absolutely right, immigration is one of the number one issues that comes up, partly because people are very concerned about it, also because people feel let down. and i think for the last, i don't know how many elections, the last 20 years, people have voted for lower immigration each and every time. and both major parties need to put their hands up and say, we have not done enough about this. and i think the government is understands

now the concern that people have. and i think it's becoming clear that while high immigration levels might make our gdp look better at a surface level, actually large levels of immigration have suppressed wages. they've reduced gdp per capha wages. they've reduced gdp per capita , which is how wealthy capita, which is how wealthy people feel and what's happened over the last ten, 15, 20 years has not been good for the country. so i think the government acknowledges that, and we've started to see some changes to things like the student visa route dependent route. that's starting to bring numbers down. it isn't enough. and i completely understand why people feel let down, why they're considering reform , but they're considering reform, but at least the conservatives recognise this as a problem. now whereas i don't think labour have any intention of doing anything about it. >> okay, miriam cates, if rishi sunak doesn't take up the challenge you just did on live television, let's make that happen. want to do it on my show in this studio? great spectacle. miriam cates thanks for joining us. always a delight to have your company. i'm joined now by gb news political editor, chris hope. chris, welcome back to the

show. so fascinating insight there with rachel reeves. one thing that struck me and you asked her, i think a great question at the top. she's starting to come across as a bit of an old mother hubbard. there's nothing in the cupboard . there's nothing in the cupboard. she's not asking. she's not dangung she's not asking. she's not dangling anything to get us salivating , get us excited. it's salivating, get us excited. it's a very much a safety first approach. in fact, sir keir starmer earlier at airbus in hertfordshire, said try getting any money out of rachel reeves in a hurry. and she shook her head and looked all pursed, lips not very exciting for the voters, is it? >> no, i mean hi martin, on the on the idea of labour is change and yet almost it's like loose change in the bottom of rachel reeves wallet or maybe no change at all, because on all the all the offers we gave her in that interview for gb news, it was known no plans to increase income tax, no plans to increase national insurance corporation tax will be frozen at 25% and could fall if needed to boost britain's, competitiveness.

competitiveness with rival nafions competitiveness with rival nations and no plans for wealth taxes . so it is fascinating, taxes. so it is fascinating, i think, how she's boxing herself in on spending. they're so worried, i think at labour of spending anything that can't be funded. this idea of this ming vase poli, they can do anything, anything to damage it. conversely you've got the tory party chucking around ideas with abandon. party chucking around ideas with abandon . you've got the idea for abandon. you've got the idea for abandon. you've got the idea for a national service for young people at the weekend, overnight, the triple lock, plus each of these costing billions of pounds, it's almost like the tories have found jeremy corbyn's magic money tree. now, of course , i'm going to pause of course, i'm going to pause there because the tories were definitely not agree with that. and they would say all their plans are fully costed, fully funded . but i just think the way funded. but i just think the way that labour are delicately stepping around these landmines and not triggering them is because they are so far ahead in the polls. they don't have to. and that's so fascinating. i think you've got this party trying to be so careful all the time and offering no change. and in fact , she's had a line in the

in fact, she's had a line in the speech before i go, martin in derby, she said that stability is change. so not changing is change. >> okay chris, great questioning as ever. thank you very much for getting that onto my show. now coming up, police have dropped the investigation into labour's deputy leader angela rayner , deputy leader angela rayner, following the row over the sale of her council house. i get reaction from a shadow minister, louise haigh after this. i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news channel .

welcome back. now, we've heard from shadow chancellor rachel reeves today announcing stability is change. after 14 years of tory rule. and labour leader sir keir starmer promises to back businesses on his campaign in hertfordshire . and also greater hertfordshire. and also greater manchester police has also announced that deputy leader

angela rayner will face no further. police action following an investigation into her tax affairs. well, joining me now is louise hague and she's the shadow transport secretary. louise, welcome to the show. always a delight to have you. shall we start with angela rayner? she said that she would resign if the police were to take any action. it looks like that now won't be happening. the police have passed this on to hmrc , yeah, greater manchester hmrc, yeah, greater manchester police have announced they are no further actioning the complaint into angela rayner by the deputy chairman of the conservatives >> and, as far as we're concerned , that absolutely draws concerned, that absolutely draws a line under the matter. >> angela had always been clear that she would participate in any investigation or any questions from hmrc or any other organisation. my understanding is the local council has investigated and dropped everything, and i don't believe hmrc are pursuing any further lines of inquiry either. >> okay, i mean there still could be an inquiry by hmrc that

remains to be seen. can i talk to you about rachel reeves today? she's been out on the campaign trail talking about labour's plans for business, for the economy. one thing that strikes me is that she's coming across as a bit of an old mother hubbard when she got there, the cupboard was bare. there's no money with the opposite of jeremy corbyn's magic money tree. but is that enough to win votes? people want to be offered tax breaks. they want to be offered incentives , don't they? offered incentives, don't they? rather than just saying we can't spend any money because we're bankrupt, because of the conservatives, is that going to be enough to woo voters? >> well, it is absolutely the case that if we win the next election, the economic circumstances that we inherit will be truly dire after 14 years of conservative chaos and economic instability and particularly the disastrous penod particularly the disastrous period that liz truss was in power when her budget crashed the economy and sent interest rates and inflation soaring, and people are still paying the price through, mortgages that are so over where they would have been paying just prior to

that budget. so yes, it is the case that there is not, the money immediately available to spend, but we have set out where we would apply tax rises, for example, on non—dom on non—doms and on the vat tax relief from private schools . and that would private schools. and that would provide an immediate injection into the nhs and into education. but we've also set out also set out, you know, a series of very important policies ahead of the manifesto being announced that we hope the electorate will respond to, for example , setting respond to, for example, setting up gb energy, a publicly owned energy company that will help bnng energy company that will help bring down people's energy bills for good, bringing our railways back into public ownership so that we can invest properly in a railways that the country can be proud of again, rather than hundreds of millions of pounds leaking out to shareholders every year. and of course, we've committed to the triple lock for pensioners as well. so there are things that we hope people will respond positively to. but our

entire strategy is, of course, based on the rock of economic security and stability, because we haven't had that simply for 14 years. and that's why over 120 business leaders have backed labour and our plans today. >> okay. thanks forjoining us. always appreciate your time. louise haigh, the shadow transport secretary. thank you very much for your time. now, the liberal democrat campaign battlebus has been in the lake district today, and party leader sir ed davey was very critical of the conservatives triple lock plus pensions policy. when we spoke to reporters earlier on. >> it's rather remarkable. they're trying to make out this is some great policy. when they were the ones who increased taxes on pensioners in the first place by not raising allowance , place by not raising allowance, it was the liberal democrats who fought hard to increase the income tax allowance to help pensioners and help people on low incomes , and the low incomes, and the conservatives froze those tax allowances. so i don't think pensioners or anyone else is going to be fooled by the conservatives having broken their promise, having raised taxes now suddenly, just before election, saying they're going

to do something different . to do something different. >> and soon after that he fell off a paddleboard . there's lots off a paddleboard. there's lots more still to come between now and 5:00. and the process for starting an independent inquiry into oldhams grooming gang scandal is finally underway. we'll exclusively speak to the man who's made that happen. but first, it's time for your latest news headlines. and it's polly middlehurst. >> the top stories this hour. pensioners could be in for a tax break worth up to £24 billion every year as part of an election pledge by the conservative party. it could see cuts worth around £95 in the next tax year, rising to £275 by 2029. labour has described the plan as a desperate move, but the prime minister says it will be funded by a clampdown on tax dodgers. >> what i believe is that if you work hard all your life, you should have dignity in retirement. that's why we've

protected the triple lock, which is going up by £900 this year for pensioners. but today what we've announced is the triple lock. plus we're going to increase the personal allowance for pensioners delivering a tax cut worth around £100 to millions of pensioners, demonstrating our commitment to them, making sure that we can deliver a secure future for them. and in contrast, the labour party have said they oppose that policy, which means pensioners will be paying tax under any future labour government. and that's a clear choice on offer at this election i >> -- >> in other news today, greater manchester police is saying it's going to take no further action into its investigation into angela rayner and whether or not she broke electoral law. labour's deputy leader faced some scrutiny over whether or not she paid the right amount of tax on the sale of her council home in 2015, amid confusion over whether it was her principal residence. well, in a statement released this afternoon , greater manchester afternoon, greater manchester police clarified that matters involving council tax don't fall under its jurisdiction . more

under its jurisdiction. more than 120 business leaders have signed an open letter published in the times, offering their pubuc in the times, offering their public support to the labour party. the shadow chancellor, rachel reeves, says the conservative party should be judged on what she called 14 years of chaos and decline . she years of chaos and decline. she said average homeowners were paying said average homeowners were paying around £240 more every month due to liz truss's mini—budget, while wages remain flat and taxpayers were being asked to pay more for less. and pope francis has apologised for using an offensive word when suggesting there were too many gay men in the priesthood. he's in the past told bishops to carefully vet priests and reject any suspected homosexuals. the vatican says the pope didn't intend to use homophobic language and apologises to anyone who was offended. those are your latest news headlines. do sign up for gb news alerts. scan that qr code on your screen right now, or go to gb news.

common alerts . common alerts. >> cheers! britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report . financial report. >> let's take a look then at the numbers for today in the pound, buying you $1.2780 and ,1.1751. the price of gold is £1,847.92 an ounce, and the ftse 100 has closed the day to day at 8254 points. >> cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report . financial report. >> again, i'm joined now by gb news political editor chris hope . so police have dropped the investigation into angela raynen investigation into angela rayner, but does that mean, chris that she's in the clear? >> it does look that way, martin. that's right. news

breaking in the past 40 minutes. that greater manchester police are saying there's no further action. then a statement from stockport council. of course, the issue was whether any capital gains tax was due, whether she'd add anything to do with with way where she may have benefited from in any way, from the sale of that property. they're saying she's in the clear and labour now, louise hague, who's a shadow transport secretary, saying that they believe that hmrc are not pursuing it any further. now, we will never find out that hmrc never comment on the affairs of individual taxpayers. so it looks like, as lorraine is in the clear. >> martin okay, thank very much for that important update on the angela rayner matter. chris. okay, thank you very much. now moving on because £20,000 has to be won and our great british giveaway. and you need to be quick as lie—ins are going to close this friday. and here's all the details that you need for your chance to get your hands on all the cash. >> it's the final week to see how you can win a whopping £20,000 cash. and because it's totally tax free, every single

penny will be in your bank account to do whatever you like. with £20,000 in tax free cash really could be yours. this summer. hurry. as lines close on friday, you've got to be in it to win it for another chance to win £20,000 in tax free cash. text win to 63232. text cost £2 plus one standard network rate message or post your name and number two gb05, po box 8690 derby rd one nine, jvt uk only entrants must be 18 or over. lines close at 5 pm. on friday. full terms and privacy notice @gbnews .com. forward slash win. please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. good luck

>> welcome back. it's 539. i'm martin daubney , and this is gb martin daubney, and this is gb news. now, the process for starting an independent grooming gangs inquiry in oldham is now finally underway. the council's labour group agreed to support an inquiry after losing overall control of the council in the local elections recently. this comes after the former labour led council voted several times to reject the motion. in recent years. well, joining us now is the independent oldham councillor, brian hoban, who has campaigned tirelessly to make sure the town will face a full independent public inquiry into its historic grooming, gang and child sexual exploitation scandal. thanks for joining child sexual exploitation scandal. thanks forjoining us on the show, brian. absolute pleasure to have you on. this is sterling work. can you please tell us why you believe this inquiry is so overdue ? inquiry is so overdue? >> well, martin, as you've alluded to, we've tried for the last five years to get this pubuc last five years to get this public inquiry. >> we had the review by the

mayor of manchester that we didn't feel went deep enough. so the failsworth independent party team have pushed for this for five years, trying to get to the truth, trying to get people made accountable for what has gone on, and what may still be going on, and what may still be going on, in the borough. >> and brian, we've seen in other towns across britain the devastating results of inquiries . what sent up the red flags to you, brian, you're a councillor. you speak to locals. you know what's going on on the ground. we all know how so often those in power have turned a blind eye. what alerted you locally to the fact that this had to be pressed ahead with, the contact from survivors ? from survivors? >> martin, the. i've been speaking to survivors overseas for the last five years, and, it's them that have drove us and it's them that have drove us and it's them that will now drive this push for this independent inquiry. we have had a meeting today with some of the survivors, and they're very happy survivors, and they're very happy with what we're doing.

they're comfortable with what we're doing. and the plan that the failsworth independent party are pushing and moving forward . are pushing and moving forward. and we we've had a very good meeting today and they will be involved now every step of the way to get this inquiry underway and to and to get really down to the bottom of it. >> and, brian, first of all, i'd like to extend the severe respect , to those individuals respect, to those individuals for coming forward. it takes most incredible bravery to put yourself on the line like that . yourself on the line like that. so please make sure that message is passed on on behalf of myself and all of gb news viewers, but can you give us some of the details without going into specifics of the types of things you've been hearing, that may have happened in oldham? historically, we've heard horrendous things from other towns. what kind of things have leapt to your attention, brian? >> it's very similar. martin it's horrendous when you when you sit down with these survivors and hear the, the in depth, details of these stories, every one of them is

heartbreaking and disgusting. and to think that there may be people out there that have covered this up and facilitated it, that for them, we need to get to the bottom of this now . get to the bottom of this now. and brian, we've heard the main drivers for this now . drivers for this now. >> and brian, we've heard so often historically about a fear often historically about a fear of tackling this by the police, by those in power, by councils , by those in power, by councils, by those in power, by councils, by everybody, because this fear of being called racist in terms of being called racist in terms of the demographics, the makeup of the demographics, the makeup of the demographics, the makeup of the offender profile and the victim profile, does it mirror what we've seen across other northern towns , parts of it, northern towns, parts of it, parts of it does mirror it, martin. but i think we need a wider scope on that. we cannot. we cannot have any tunnel vision into any kind of demographic. we cannot have any tunnel vision into any kind of demographic . we into any kind of demographic. we our plan for this inquiry is for the scope to be as wide as possible, as deep as possible, and to go as far back as possible. and that's what the survivors are asking us to do. and the survivors have got the confidence in the failsworth independent party councillors now to push this forward. >> and brian, it would seem

astonishing to many, many people listening and watching to this now to even countenance the idea of such an inquiry being blocked, being blocked by by councillors. why? why was it blocked. >> well, that's something that these people will have to answer themselves. martin, we can only surmise the reasons for their blockage. the same. the same way that it was blocked before in rotherham and it was blocked in salford until somebody actually stands up or a team stand up and put the fight to them, that's a question that that's something they will have to live with. hopefully the inquiry will unearth any reasons behind that and any issues that are behind that, that have prevented this from happening earlier. >> and brian, we've seen in other inquiries, as you said, in rotherham, in telford, across many other industrial towns in britain, the results, those inquiry inquiries led to criminal charges, led to prosecutions , to gangs, to

prosecutions, to gangs, to individuals. do you think that's the direction of travel of the oldham inquiry? is this do you believe , does it need to end in believe, does it need to end in people being prosecuted and put in jail for what they did? >> that's got to be that's got to be at the end of this tunnel. martin has got to be people made accountable. people arrested, whatever . however the accountable. people arrested, whatever. however the law accountable. people arrested, whatever . however the law comes whatever. however the law comes against them, that has got to happen. against them, that has got to happen . there is no point having happen. there is no point having this going to all the trouble of having this inquiry without it having this inquiry without it having that kind of ending where the people are brought to book, however they've been involved, whether they are perpetrators or facilitators or just people that turn a blind eye, it all needs to be out in the open before we can even think of moving forward. >> and brian , can i ask you how >> and brian, can i ask you how helpful the local police have been? we've heard historically , been? we've heard historically, the police, again, in some instances, have been a part of the issue. they'd rather ignore the issue. they'd rather ignore the problem, put their head in the problem, put their head in the sand and hope it goes away. now that you're finally approaching the position of official recognition for this

inquiry or the police being helpful. >> well , helpful. >> well, we're at a very early stage, martin. we're setting the stall out now and hopefully making the right steps to get this inquiry right. we will obviously have to bring in outside agencies, whether they're the local ones or whether we have to go further afield, for i am sure that with this push now and with it being so open and so transparent that nobody will be able to hide anymore . anymore. >> well, brian hogan, i want to thank you on behalf of myself and gb news for the work you're doing here. it's incredible stuff. it's so, so important that we give a voice to these survivors and allow them to get their chance at justice. on a personal level, you must be feeling very proud . i know it's feeling very proud. i know it's not about you, but you must be feeling proud. this is what you're elected to do. this is what councillors should be doing. >> yes, but it's. i don't want it to be me. martin. it's been a team effort, by me and the colleagues and we all feel proud

now, the independent party team feel really, really proud that we've got to this point and we take no glory in it. as i say, we will work now. we will facilitate whatever them survivors want. it does give us an element of pride that we are part of it, and the survivors are trusting us to take this forward, but in an ideal world, we wouldn't have to be in this position, martin, would we? so. >> okay, well, thanks again for your work, brian hoban, and we'll endeavour to give our full support to your work. and again, please pass on my respect to those survivors. thank you very much. >> brian hoban certainly will. thank you very much, martin. >> amazing . now, still to come, >> amazing. now, still to come, you know, the collectable football vouchers for big tournaments, the ones which go into sticker albums . well, into sticker albums. well, you'll be shocked about how much they now cost to complete an album. i'm martin daubney on gb news fryston searching.

welcome back. it's 10 to 6. i'm martin daubney on gb news now. rival companies panini and topps , who are well known, of course, for their trading cards and sticker albums, have both launched their euro 2024 sticker albums for this summer. but some are saying that this once fun childhood hobby is being transformed into a monumental rip off. well, according to estimates, it could cost a staggering £1,000 to fill both albums. taking into consideration the heaps of doubles or swaps as i call them, you are likely to end up with. well, join me now to discuss. this is great pal of mine sports presenter aidan magee aidan. got admit as a kid totally addicted to football stickers. so was i 78, 79, 80 i'm showing my age now. the smell of them while i open them, but it used to be a good value hobby. no longer.

>> no, not at all. i mean, look, i mean this argument, i'll be honest, it did rage a little bit, what, 18 months ago during the world cup of 2022. >> and once the tournament started, we kind of concentrate on other things. but these these rules and these, these commercial disputes are not a new thing. >> panini lost the contract to merlin for the premier league sometime in the mid 90s, and panini was always the golden standard. and then topps took over some time. some time later. and now topps that have got the license to print the stickers and publish the sticker book for the for the euros. >> now, the issue here is that topps have taken this over. >> they've got their sorry, no topps had it . >> they've got their sorry, no topps had it. panini took over. but they can't publish every player because some of the players have got individual deals for with panini via the ea. so sorry with topps via the f.a. so sorry with topps via the fa. so you're seeing players included in squads who aren't going to be in the squad. you're going to be in the squad. you're going to. >> and they also can't can only pubush >> and they also can't can only publish the head, a floating head because they can't reproduce the umbro or sorry, the nike shirt that england have recently produced to great controversy.

>> so, you know, it's a bit of to and fro to be honest with you. i think that there has to be ironed out because these are commercial, commercial agreements with uefa and with fa to reflect the fact that one's a domestic competition and one's the euros. the euro wouldn't be a money spinner necessarily, because it only happens every four years. the real money is to be made in the domestic league. >> but the thing about this is for everybody watching out there, if you've got kids, you know, you get your free album. yes. but the thing is, you're they're a loss leader, isn't it? you let yourself into a big financial commitment. as i said, i don't know. my kids have these things because they're so expensive, matches, tax all these things. let's talk about where there might be some value in football, because football, for a parent, for your kids, for the kit, for the tickets, for everything is so, so, so expensive. >> if we're talking about the euros specifically, i mean, £125 for the authentic match. we went through this a couple of months ago when the flag issue came up. £125 for that, 120 for the kids one. now the manufacturers, nike, they love a controversy. it was right up there. straza this one and beyond beyond that they also sell most of their shirts to adults. that's always

been the way. so it's a bit of a myth. it's about parents being badgered by their children , badgered by their children, further to that, jd sports have also said that they were selling out more of the away shirt, but the home share has caught up. so for collectors reasons, i think fans want to buy it, but it is still nonetheless very expensive. even if you want to buy the non—authentic one. i mean, you're talking £85 for an aduu mean, you're talking £85 for an adult and £65 for a child. this is a polyester football shirt. did that, did that. >> nike controversy put sales on after long term longterm over the over the over the two months. >> yeah. since then i know we were we were they they love it. all the stuff with colin kaepernick all the various. oh kaepernick all the various. on they parked their tanks didn't they, on on germany's lawns because they usurped adidas from the adidas have made germany's kit since the second world war. and so they love a bit of controversy. but in terms of the actual value of going to watch league football, i contacted a lot of clubs this afternoon and they were falling, falling over themselves to give me their the deals they've got for kids to keep kids in the game. so seconds 10s the value. i would say west ham united under 18 season ticket £109 and on a family of four two adults, two

kids £47.78 per match on certain matches when afc wimbledon £1, £41.52 per game. if you get a £35 season ticket for an under 17 in the family stand, that's outstanding value. qpr and charlton also do good deals. >> go go live there, blow the final whistle. that's all from me. alexis dewbs& co. don't forget breakfast is from 6 am. and that's with eamonn of course, and isabel followed by newsroom at 930 with andrew and bev.thenifs newsroom at 930 with andrew and bev. then it's tom and emily at at 12 till three. i'm at three. i've been martin daubney. now it's your weather with alex berger. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello again. here's your latest gb news weather forecast brought to you in association with the met office. there will be some thundery downpours to watch out for through the next couple of days, but we also have some persistent rain across the uk at the moment. in association with a frontal system which is

marching its way northeastwards across the country. it's already brought quite a bit of rain to many areas through the morning, but it is bringing quite a soggy end to the day across parts of scotland and northeast england. that rain will clear away as we go overnight, but then plenty of showers following in behind. we've seen some of these turning heavy and thundery through the daytime, and they could still be a little bit on the heavy side overnight. most places staying quite cloudy. some clear skies, but on the whole temperatures not dropping a huge amount. many places holding up in double digits . so places holding up in double digits. so for most it places holding up in double digits . so for most it is going digits. so for most it is going to be a mild start to the day tomorrow and quite a cloudy one if we take a closer look and starting off across scotland. quite a cloudy picture here and some outbreaks of showery rain . some outbreaks of showery rain. nothing particularly heavy dunng nothing particularly heavy during the morning, but it is likely to turn a bit heavier and a bit thundery as we go through the day across northern ireland, a similar story and northern england to some bright or sunny spells perhaps, but on the whole quite a cloudy picture, a bit brighter , sunnier further south. brighter, sunnier further south. that's because we will have some clear skies overnight here, and so there could be a few pockets of mist and fog. first thing, but these should quite quickly

clear. otherwise, as we go through the daytime tomorrow and it is going to be quite a showery picture for most the heaviest, most frequent showers across eastern parts of scotland , and here they are likely to turn thundery. could be some hail, could be some frequent lightning mixed in here, even elsewhere, some thundery downpours are possible, perhaps a greater chance of staying dry towards the southwest. highs in the low 20s towards the southeast. high teens generally elsewhere. not feeling too bad away from any of those thundery showers . similar picture as we showers. similar picture as we go through the evening. tomorrow though, we should start to see the showers easing a little bit as we go through wednesday night into thursday. that being said, thursday still looking like a showery day for many of us, but with high pressure building from the west as we go into the weekend, it is going to start to turn drier for most by by that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

if indeed vat was applied to those fees. what do you make to this? do you think this policy stacks up or not? is it fair to tax them in this way with vat or is it a policy of envy, serious emotions flying around ? when it emotions flying around? when it comes to that topic? i can tell you also when it comes to pensions is the triple lock has yesterday's news everybody. because today it's all about the triple lock plus basically meaning that no tax should be payable on the state pension. he's had a good solid policy or an attempt to buy voters. your thoughts also, do you think it's good news that they will finally be an independent investigation into grooming gangs in oldham ? into grooming gangs in oldham? yes, i hear you cry. let me ask you, though, what on earth took them so long? and we saw a horrendous crime which saw robbery at a watch shop. the victim of that crime has now sadly been found dead. do you

think we do enough to support