gb news. >> way . >> way. >> way. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 12:00 on tuesday, the 4th of june. >> i'm tom harwood, and i'm emily carver. >> new battleground on immigration. rishi sunak vows to bnng immigration. rishi sunak vows to bring down migrant numbers by introducing a new cap on visas if he wins the general election . if he wins the general election. >> but could this be down to nigel farage's shock decision to stand for parliament for reform uk? stand for parliament for reform uk.7 he's calling stand for parliament for reform uk? he's calling for net zero migration. >> meanwhile, the labour party has pledged to bring energy security to the uk and end its dependence on fossil fuels from overseas. but a new battle is

brewing over plans to tax oil and gas even more. >> and d—day veterans make the journey to france, where they will be honoured for their part in the liberation of normandy. we'll be there. >> a cap on net migration. where have i heard that before ? this have i heard that before? this is the sort of thing that the conservatives were promising in the 2010 general election. never introduced, partly because they couldn't. we were in the eu, so it would be physically impossible, illegal, but also because they were in coalition. but after that election , we sort but after that election, we sort of just lost sight of all of that. but robert jenrick, the former immigration minister, has been calling for precisely this policy . policy. >> yes, he has. and he did say publicly that rishi sunak hadn't been interested in the past about talking to him about legal migration and how to get it down. that's what he said. suella braverman has said similar, but this is quite interesting. this proposal from the conservatives i want to get

your thoughts on this at home. gbnews.com/yoursay one of the things they're proposing is to give mps a vote on this annual cap. now can you imagine how that would play out? >> i can see difficulties 10,000, 20,000, 30,000. >> how would you vote on it? someone would have to propose, presumably the home secretary or the prime minister would propose a figure. then you'd vote on it. if it got voted down, then would you try a different figure? how would it work? but what if this happenedin would it work? but what if this happened in 2022 and the ukraine war started in the middle of that year? >> what then? do we just have no refugee scheme for ukrainians, or do we amend the cap ? i mean, or do we amend the cap? i mean, we took in hundreds of thousands of hong kongers. yes. do we do we amend the cap on that? you can start to see when you get to the individual particulars of it, it becomes less simple. and of course, exemptions apply for temporary work visas such as, seasonal, seasonal, agricultural type visas. >> so you can see how the policy gets more and more complicated. sounds very straightforward cap

on visas. but what's the number? how did the votes go and what do you do with all these various exemptions. but there you go. let us know what your what you think gbnews.com/yoursay. but let's get the headlines with . aaron. >> good afternoon. it's 2:02. i'm aaron armstrong, the conservatives have pledged to reduce the number of migrant visas handed out each year. the cap on those coming to the uk to work or join family would be based on a recommendation by the migration advisory committee, and would be voted on by mps. net migration levels. that's the difference between people leaving and arriving in the uk each year, are now three times higher than they were in 2019. home secretary james cleverly says their plan will strike a balance between both the advantages and the costs. >> so the last couple of years the figures have been much, much, much too high, including on legal immigration. and there are some people that like that

large volume of legal migration for work purposes. but what we're doing now is we're saying in the future we will balance both the benefits of immigration. of course, there are benefits, but also the cost of immigration. >> labour leader sir keir starmer says the conservatives are responsible for the rising numbers and points out this plan reverses a decision the party took four years ago when it reformed the immigration system as part of brexit. >> the conservatives have let immigration get out of control. we've got record numbers of people coming to this country and they've now said they're going to have a visa cap. they've not said what the number is, so they've got a visa cap without a cap, we did have a visa cap before. rishi sunak. erg to get rid of it, which they did in 2020. and now they're going back to it. but without a number, it is utter chaos. >> the lib dems are promising free personal care for adults in england who need it, including the elderly and the disabled. sir ed davey says he wants to

pay sir ed davey says he wants to pay carers an extra £2 an hour above the national living wage . above the national living wage. and he says investment in the care sector will ultimately benefit the nhs. now this is a personal issue for the lib dem party leader. he looks after a disabled son and he will later outline his party's belief that provision of care should be based on need, rather than affluence. >> need more people to be supported in care, to look after loved ones who are either waiting to be discharged from hospital or so they don't have to go into hospital. >> if we do that, we rescue our nhs . our nhs is on its knees and nhs. our nhs is on its knees and one of the main reasons is on its knees is people haven't invested in social care and they haven't looked after family carers and our package today does just that . does just that. >> a ferry carrying d—day veterans to france for the 80th anniversary commemorations has set sail from portsmouth . the set sail from portsmouth. the mont saint michel is being accompanied by a number of royal navy ships. there's three patrol

vessels, a minehunter, a training ship and a couple of tug boats as well as it left at portsmouth harbour. now over off the coast of france, us troops have been carrying out a landing on a replica craft at omaha beach this morning. this is part of the d—day commemorations in normandy . of the d—day commemorations in normandy. omaha, one of two beaches taken by us forces 80 years ago. kenneth nick hewer ii told us about the impact d—day had on his grandfather , who took had on his grandfather, who took part in the landing. >> i'm amazed that he was even actually here because it was an experience. he never talked about. like a lot of veterans, you rarely heard any war stories, and i knew he was in the army , but that was it. the army, but that was it. growing up as a kid, you know , growing up as a kid, you know, never heard any stories, it wasn't until i got a box of letters from my mom. from granddaddy to grandma, talking about, his time in france .

about, his time in france. >> now, dna tests have revealed three babies have been abandoned by the same parents over the past seven years. one of the children was about an hour old when she was found left in a shopping bag in east london earlier this year in subzero conditions. her two siblings, two boys, were discovered in similar circumstances in 2017 and 2019. the details have emerged after reporting restrictions were lifted. a police investigation into the identity of the parents is ongoing . ten fire engines and ongoing. ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters have been tackling a major blaze in east london. it broke out in a ten floor construction site in canning town and no reports of any injuries. canning town and no reports of any injuries . a police have any injuries. a police have advised people to keep their windows and doors closed. the fire, the cause of the fire is under investigation , but you can under investigation, but you can get more on all of our stories by signing up to our news alerts, the qr codes on your screen, or you can go to gb news

.com/ alerts. now back to tom and . emily. and. emily. >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:07. now to our top story this houn 12:07. now to our top story this hour. immigration has today surprisingly become a key battleground for the prime minister in today's general election campaigning. >> it has indeed so. rishi sunak has come out and vowed an annual cap on visas. this is a way of limiting the number of migrants coming to the uk. well it follows nigel farage's decision to stand for parliament in essex i >> -- >> the new reform uk party leader says he wants zero net migration. meanwhile the labour party today is focusing on energy security, making britain less less dependent on what it calls rogue states to provide energy resources . energy resources. >> so it's all going on. it's all going on. >> let's get the overview now with our political correspondent

katherine forster, who's in westminster for us. and catherine, the race seems to have shifted somewhat in the last 12 hours. >> hahaha . >> hahaha. >> hahaha. >> yes, good afternoon, tom and emily. it certainly has. i mean, to be honest, things were all going pretty badly for the conservatives, weren't they? because they've made all these policy announcements. national service, the triple lock plus for pensions, etc, etc. but nothing has shifted the dial. in fact, if anything, the polls are going in a worse direction for the conservative party and then late yesterday afternoon, suddenly here comes nigel farage. having said the morning after rishi sunak announced that shock general election date that he didn't have time to sort of get it together and he was going to concentrate on the states, that he's had a change of heart. he's going to for stand clacton and he's going to lead the revolt , he says. so it has revolt, he says. so it has injected a whole lot of

excitement into this election campaign . but frankly, it is the campaign. but frankly, it is the conservative party's worst , conservative party's worst, worst nightmare because already it looked like reform were going to take a lot of seats from the conservatives, and it's likely that nigel farage, who's a big figure, love him or loathe him, he's well known. he's got a way of cutting through with ordinary people that perhaps the nominal leader richard tice. and so yesterday did not have. and so he's likely to make reform votes go even higher. even worse for the conservative party. so, let's see, in a few days when we get the next set of polls, how things are looking for rishi sunak, it feels like they couldn't get much worse, and yet they just have. they just have. there'll be a lot riding on the tv debate tonight. >> yes. it'll be very interesting indeed to see the most update, polls that take into account this change in the

election campaign. but, catherine, it's interesting , catherine, it's interesting, isn't it, that, yesterday nigel farage, launches himself onto the scene into election campaign painting, calling this election an immigration election . the an immigration election. the very next day, today, the conservatives come out with a cap on visas. are they trying to make it about to . immigration make it about to. immigration >> well , it's difficult for the >> well, it's difficult for the conservatives. so yesterday they've come out and said we're going to put a hard cap on visas for people coming into the country to help get immigration down. but of course, the problem is that this is a conservative party that's been in office for 14 years. they spent many years saying they'd get it down to the tens of thousands. by the time bofis tens of thousands. by the time boris johnson got that majority back in 2019, it was running about , 20 230,000 net migration. about, 20 230,000 net migration. bofis about, 20 230,000 net migration. boris johnson pledged to get it down from that. and then, lo and behold, it rocketed to three quarters of a million. and

although it's dropping slightly now, it's still at 680,000. so it's all very well. the conservatives saying they're going to get it down, but it's gone up massively on their watch. and i think it's worth saying too , that for all there's saying too, that for all there's many people thinking that they should never have got rid of bofis should never have got rid of boris johnson, who was of course, an incredible campaigner and did get that 80 seat majority. you know, the brexit vote to take back control , we do vote to take back control, we do have control now in terms of the numbers of people coming into the country. so the fact that net migration went up to three quarters of a million, that happens on boris johnson's watch as a result of deliberate decisions that the government has made because it's not like when we were within the eu and we couldn't control the numbers coming in. we can and the government has chosen to let those numbers go sky high. and now, of course, they're realising that this is going to come back to bite them in a

very, very significant way. but are people going to give them any credit ? i should say it's any credit? i should say it's worth saying that following steps that the government have already taken, net migration is projected to be down to about 300,000 by the autumn. but of course, that's too late for rishi sunak, and labour are likely to come in and then they will be able to take the credit for that, even though it won't in fact be anything to do with labour policies yet again. >> keir starmer appears to be the luckiest man in politics. not only are the snp imploding amongst themselves, the tories are infighting. nigel farage has re—entered the fray, but also by becoming prime minister and changing literally nothing about our migration policy. keir starmer will be able to claim credit for a more than halving of our net migration score next yean of our net migration score next year, thanks to the reforms that robert jenrick has already made a very lucky man in politics. although politics is all about lucky generals, i suppose to, to paraphrase napoleon. but

catherine, tonight there is a debate, of course, and the prime minister will be hoping that this television debate is a moment that can shift things in this campaign. could it? >> yes, the prime minister needs desperately something to change. so keir starmer needs nothing to change. and everything to stay the same. so a lot riding on this and particularly for rishi sunak. nothing they've done so far has shifted the dial. you know they've cut £0.04 off national insurance . nobody gave national insurance. nobody gave them any credit for that. all them any credit for that. all the announcements subsequent that they thought would shift the dial haven't worked . so, the dial haven't worked. so, rishi sunak has been prepping with oliver dowden . he's his with oliver dowden. he's his closest ally. and he's also prepped many , many leaders in prepped many, many leaders in the past. they've got to get this right. and i've been around the prime minister a lot in the last month. and what has really struck me is how energetic and positive and upbeat he seems. despite the dire predictions .

despite the dire predictions. and we have in the past, though, seen a rather tetchy rishi here and there and in the leadership contest with liz truss. and once or twice he really talked over her and interrupted her and didn't always come across well. so they desperately need the energetic, positive , upbeat energetic, positive, upbeat rishi tonight. no sign of tetchy rishi tonight. no sign of tetchy rishi at all, very difficult for him to be so upbeat and positive given all the projections at the moment. >> yeah, he's got to find his inner zen , his inner zen. inner zen, his inner zen. >> thank you very much indeed, catherine there, great to get your thoughts. shall we get the thoughts of the founder and ceo of electoral calculus, martin baxter , martin, thank you very baxter, martin, thank you very much indeed, pollsters , as much indeed, pollsters, as they've got a lot of a lot of work to do. there have been lots of polls coming out that have been showing kind of the same thing, the tories lagging behind around 20 points, from labour reform at about the 10% to 12% mark, sometimes lower, sometimes

higher . for mark, sometimes lower, sometimes higher. for nigel farage launching himself into the campaign , what are you expecting campaign, what are you expecting to change? >> well, yeah . so labour have >> well, yeah. so labour have had a consistent lead of, as you say, over 20% in recent months, which is larger , just to put it which is larger, just to put it in context than tony blair had in context than tony blair had in 1997. so you know, potentially a very large indeed. and the conservatives have already been losing a lot of votes to reform and i think the way to guess, although we haven't had data yet, is that, nigel farage is intervention will increase the votes for reform a bit. but the thing to remember is that reform , as you remember is that reform, as you say, are still polling around 10 or 12% in the polls. and even if they go up by 5, which would be quite a good result, they're still short, they're still below 20. and reform really need to be getting above 20% if they're going to win any seats. so the growth of reform , it's its growth of reform, it's its impact will be that reform will still not win any seats other than possibly 1 or 2 around clacton and elsewhere. but they

will cost the conservatives maybe another 20 seats. so things could get worse for the conservatives even than they are at the moment. >> i know you've been doing some polling. we've seen your, mrp research as well , fundamentally research as well, fundamentally all of that is now out of date. at what point will we start to see the polls that take into account the shift that we're all expecting to take place? that could have happened as of yesterday afternoon? >> well, we're of at the end of the week is the answer, i think. but until then, we do have a poll from, people's polling four gb news itself, which had a labour lead of 2,024. so that's a bit bigger. we saw, we used 22% in our poll at the weekend . 22% in our poll at the weekend. and so that could take another, 10 or 15 seats off the conservatives. and that actually would leave the conservatives in danger of not even being the opposition in parliament. that ed davey would be the leader of the lib dems, would be leader of the lib dems, would be leader of the opposition, and the conservatives would be the third to party beginning to approach

that territory. he's got a bigger water slide farage then that could, that could perhaps turn out to happen. >> goodness me. i suppose one of the things that rishi sunak was hoping that this general election campaign would deliver was a tightening of the polls after all, we've generally seen polls tighten through campaigns in history. if anything, though, the first few polls that we've seen of the first week of this campaign, things have gone in the other direction , then i'd the other direction, then i'd say it's mostly stable. >> i think the conservatives hopeis >> i think the conservatives hope is probably founded on two things. one, that there might be an error in the polls, as there was back in 1992 when the polls predicted neil kinnock would win and he didn't. so there could be polling error. and i hope that i think the conservatives are also hoping that keir starmer would wilt under the campaign pressure. that's we've seen a, you know, a couple of, maybe dodgy moments for the labour leader so far. but, he's not, he's, he's still holding in there i'd say. and so the debate coming up will be the conservatives test to see whether they can, put some

pressure on on keir starmer and laboun pressure on on keir starmer and labour. but, if the polls continue, anything like they are at the moment, then, you know, labour are going to win, but there are still a few weeks to go and things may change. >> and martin, lots of talk about immigration today of course from reform. but the conservatives as well advocating proposing a new cap on worker visas and the like, some say this is an immigration election. is it ? is it? >> well, certainly talked about a lot on the centre right. the conservative and reform voters tell us are very often that immigration is a big concern. for many of those, it is less of a concern for labour and lib dem voters, but it's you know, it's certainly a potential issue that, that could move some votes. but it may, it may be that it just, confirms people's attitudes and parties. they'd already selected. but we will see. no interesting stuff . well see. no interesting stuff. well martin baxter, founder and ceo of electoral calculus really appreciate your time this

afternoon. >> thank you so much. going on. anyway, here is a full list of those who have declared their candidacy and the constituency of clacton so far. i'm not sure why we're in the giovanni russo nepal labour party, giles watling conservative party, matthew bensalem, liberal democrats, nigel farage, reform uk natasha osborne, green party there we go now. >> the list of candidates isn't finalised, of course, until the deadune finalised, of course, until the deadline later in the week when i'm sure there will be a few more candidates. but no doubt in this, in this constituency perhaps a monster raving loony party, a man dressed as a fish finger , maybe even a man with a finger, maybe even a man with a bin on his head. i expect we're going to get quite a few candidates like that in this particular. >> and of course, we've extended an interview invitation to all of the candidates. so we hope to see them on this channel very soon indeed. but coming up, sir keir starmer says labour will close the door on putin by reducing britain's reliance on fossil fuels from overseas. but there's a little row going on about taxing oil and gas even more. we'll have more on that shortly. good afternoon britain, we're

gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 12:23 now. yesterday, sir keir starmer set out his plans to tackle national security. today, he's looking at energy security. can you spot a theme here? security. something about security, i think, but labour will close the door on putin. so says keir starmer, by reducing britain's reliance on fossil fuels from overseas. >> but the confederation of british industry, that's the body that represents almost 200,000 businesses, is urging sir keir starmer to reconsider plans to increase the windfall tax on north sea oil and gas firms. >> well, joining us now is our economics and business editor liam halligan with on the money . liam halligan with on the money. liam halligan with on the money. liam which is it? are we going to get more secure with the labour plans for more green energy or less with their taxes

on fossil fuels? >> well, i must say, tom and emily, i've been waiting for quite a long time for a bit of detail on labour's energy plan and very little is forthcoming except, as you say, more rhetoric about the windfall tax on north sea oil and gas projects. let's have a little look at some of what keir starmer has said today and the implications is keir starmer said that labour's new energy , said that labour's new energy, entity gb energy, it's called , entity gb energy, it's called, will close the door on vladimir putin. that's what he says. we now know that gb energy is going to be a publicly owned investment company . like, we investment company. like, we don't know where the money for the investment is going to come from rather than a utility company. previous speculation was that it would replace the private sector utility companies. that's now no longer the case. it just shows you how vague these plans are. we barely know what this entity gb energy is. it's worth saying ,

know what this entity gb energy is. it's worth saying, as i've said to you before on gb news that half of all active oil and gas fields in the north sea are due to close by 2030, believe it or not. and hang on to your hat strap yourself in because the nonh strap yourself in because the north sea still provides 83% of the uk's oil and 54% of the natural gas that we use , and oil natural gas that we use, and oil and gas still account for. overall about three quarters of all the energy we use. when you increase include transport. so look, energy policy . it used to look, energy policy. it used to be the preserve of policy wonks, economists and nerds like me. after the war in ukraine, massive spike in energy prices, not for just households massive spike in energy prices, not forjust households but not for just households but companies as well. which is why even the usually very herbivorous confederation of british industry, always keen to get close to incoming governments, is complaining because uk firms in particular

households, have had some help with their energy bills. uk firms are paying more for their energy , their electricity, not energy, their electricity, not least our manufacturers, than any other major economy in europe. that's led to inflation, that's pushed up the cost of living crisis that has hindered our productivity and our growth and all the rest of it. and i'm afraid to say, with the best will in the world, i still can't see anything in labour's statements on energy, which gives me any detail on what they're actually going to do about this . about this. >> yeah, i mean, liam johns got in touch and he's he's saying, i still want to know exactly what this gb energy is. is it a generating company to rival the likes of british gas. is it a facilities company? what's the cost of setting it up? how many people is it going to employ. is it just another quango? it seems to me that it seems from what i've read about it, that it's more of an investment vehicle. >> we know that now. we didn't really know it before, and that's how sketchy the details

are. and something else is happening here. emily, look, there is a long term move away from fossil fuels. the uk used to use coal fired power stations to use coal fired power stations to generate 40% of our electricity. as recently as the turn of this century. it's now just 1 or 2% every year, which is coal . renewables do account is coal. renewables do account for a roughly a third to 2/5 of the electricity that we generate. but, but, but when we really look at this, is it true to say that renewables are, quote, cheap and at the moment they're not cheap because of the big subsidies that are paid put on households and firms? electricity bills to pay for, subsidies for wind farms such as you're seeing now, offshore wind farms to pay for subsidies for solar power and so on. and of course, the fact that renewables

are intermittent means, as we've often discussed here on gb news, that we have to fall back often on a day to day basis on gas fired power stations, which are very, very expensive to fire up. so it's almost as if our high share of renewables in the uk and as i say, about 2/5 of our electricity, is renewables. on some days , is actually harming some days, is actually harming households because it's leading at the moment to more expensive. and that reality is just now starting to seep through into the political mainstream, if you like. it's something that people like. it's something that people like me have been saying for months and even years, and it strikes me gb news viewers and listeners, some of them will dismiss the whole idea of moving to net zero, others will say, well, we do need to wean ourselves off oil and gas and fossil fuels over the medium term. but if we're going to do that, we've got to demonstrate to voters that renewables do lead to lower bills overall. and at the moment they're not. and i

can't see anything in these labour plans with the best will in the world. i'm very committed to looking in detail at the policy proposals of all the main parties. i can't see anything in these labour plans which answers any of the questions that i've just posed . and i say, i say just posed. and i say, i say that with regret because we desperately need to have a proper discussion about our energy security. >> we do. and it's so fascinating to look at all of these different ideas of course, we it would be lovely to have lots more wind farms and even solar farms and, and nuclear power, which wouldn't arrive for another ten years, but it needs to be married and with some form of, of, store storage or capture for when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow. i don't think we've heard anything about energy storage . we've about energy storage. we've heard about distribution. we've heard about distribution. we've heard about distribution. we've heard about generation , but not storage. >> indeed, energy storage is the great imponderable. some people, some scientists , put forward the some scientists, put forward the use of hydrogen as a storage vehicle. others say that we should be building much more

underground gas storage. all we've got is the facility vie, off the yorkshire coast at rafe, a facility which has been largely diminished in recent years, though it has some extra capacity, has reopened. but our gas storage is still very, very low by international standards. look, i think the real focus for this isn't just going to be labour and the tories arguing over net zero. another focus is going to be scotland , which of going to be scotland, which of course is so important to this election. labour can't win big unless it wins big in scotland as it did back in 1997. and scottish opinion is very , very scottish opinion is very, very split. aberdeen is the oil and gas capital of europe, you know, talk to trade unions across the country . do they want to see an country. do they want to see an even bigger windfall tax on nonh even bigger windfall tax on north sea oil and gas? no they don't. the gmb union does not, because it's got tens of thousands of workers with well—paid jobs in the oil and gas sector. and indeed, this is a big chunk of scotland's

economy. so this is largely a sort of very technical area. but, you know , high electricity but, you know, high electricity and gas bills, hugely important in the minds of households and firms and energy, i think is a very, very difficult area for labour because it's got it's kind of urban , pro—environment kind of urban, pro—environment left wing voters who want more net zero initiatives. but then again, it's got a lot of natural voters in scotland who look at what's happening in aberdeen and suggest, gosh, the windfall tax on north sea oil and gas is already 75% of profits. and now labour say they want a proper windfall tax. >> i think it's 78. i think i think they want, thank you so much. liam halligan economics and business editor, for setting that all out for us. and of course the cbi as well, warning that this may have an impact. well, this one extra windfall tax, an impact not just on investment confidence in that

industry, but in others , isn't industry, but in others, isn't it in the financial services in other industries as well ? other industries as well? >> when 75% tax isn't high enough?i >> when 75% tax isn't high enough? i mean, it boggles the mind, but i mean, they do say on their website for great british energy, they say labour's plan will lower bills because renewables are far cheaper than gas. >> but as liam was setting out there, it's a lot more complicated than that. there's a big subsidy scheme in place at the moment and yes, storage critical. anyway, moving on. get your thoughts in about that. by the way, gb energy. >> well still to come we'll be crossing to normandy. looking ahead at those d—day 80th anniversary events. all those preparations honouring our british veterans and indeed veterans from across the commonwealth and around the world. this is good afternoon, britain on . gb news. britain on. gb news. >> hi there. it's 1233. britain on. gb news. >> hi there. it's1233. i'm aaron armstrong , the gb aaron armstrong, the gb newsroom. sir keir starmer has dismissed rishi sunak's plans for an annual cap on visas, saying the government's lost

control of net migration. under the plan , mps would vote on visa the plan, mps would vote on visa numbers for those coming to the uk to work or join family based on recommendations from the migration advisory committee. the government says it's about having a balanced assessment of both the advantages and costs of migration. however, net migration. however, net migration levels are now three times higher than they were in 2019 and the labour leader says the government's responsible after it removed the cap four years ago with the introduction of a post—brexit skilled workers visa . visa. >> the conservatives have let immigration get out of control. we've got record numbers of people coming to this country and they've now said they're going to have a visa cap, they've not said what the number is, so they've got a visa cap without a cap, we did have a visa cap before. rishi sunak. erg to get rid of it, which they did in 2020. and now they're going back to it. but without a number, it is utter chaos. >> the liberal democrats are promising free personal care for

adults in need, including the elderly and disabled. sir ed davey, himself a carer for a disabled son, wants carers to get an extra £2 an hour above the national living wage. he says social care is under pressure and millions of families in the uk need more support. but it's also about people who work in the care sector who need to be looked after . a ferry carrying d—day after. a ferry carrying d—day veterans to france for the 80th anniversary commemorations set sail earlier from portsmouth. this is the mont saint michel ferry and people on board waving . you can see it's being accompanied by a number of royal navy ships and patrol boats, a minehunter, a training vessel and a couple of tug boats as well. that's it. leaving portsmouth harbour earlier this morning. also earlier this morning, us troops were on a replica landing craft at omaha beach. this is part of d—day commemorations in normandy . commemorations in normandy. omaha, one of the two beaches taken by us forces 80 years ago .

taken by us forces 80 years ago. for the latest on our story, sign up to gb news alerts. you can scan the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts

>> well. good afternoon. britain it's 1239 now. thursday this week is a momentous day to mark. 80 years since the largest amphibious landing in military history, which saw more than 150,000 allied troops risking their lives by storming nazi occupied beaches in normandy. it proved to be the major turning point in the second world war. >> ultimately leading to the liberation of western europe. the defeat of nazi germany, and the guarantor of our liberties we enjoy today. >> yes, indeed. well, let's cross over to normandy. our

reporter sophie reaper is there for the preparations . sophie, for the preparations. sophie, where are you exactly? and what's happening today ? what's happening today? >> well, a very good gaff. good afternoon to you both. we're here on arromanches beach , which here on arromanches beach, which is a part of gold beach along the normandy coastline . of the normandy coastline. of course, one of the beaches where the british troops would have landed almost 80 years to the day on d—day. now, you mentioned there that d—day was one of the largest amphibious landing in history , and we are currently history, and we are currently aboard one of those amphibious vehicles that would have seen troops taken from the channel. and brought them to shore. now, a little bit earlier, we took we took one of these out with us and did an interview out there. so here's what what happened while we were out there. do you want to talk to me a bit about what we're standing on right now? so what you're standing on is a military amphibious duck built in the second world war to transport cargo from ship to

shore. >> it was also used as ambulances and to transport troops from the normandy beaches . and if it wasn't for these, we wouldn't have won the war. in my opinion, this managed to drive up straight through the enemy lines and break the fire, and there's so few in the world now, it's rare to see them around the uk and wherever you go . uk and wherever you go. obviously we've seen them carry passengers around the world. they're not allowed to do that now, but it's nice to see them active and running . let me ask active and running. let me ask you, when we're about to reach the 80th anniversary of d—day, how does it feel to you to be here at this time, 80 years on? it feels an absolute i feel honoured and privileged to be out here and on this machine. and it's all thanks to harold payne , who bought the machine payne, who bought the machine off my company and has done it up and made it seaworthy and

it's just great to be out here. and on the 6th of june, we're going to be out laying roses out near the mulberry harbour . near the mulberry harbour. >> amazing. >> amazing. >> just for our viewers . >> just for our viewers. >> just for our viewers. >> obviously they the troops would have come in from that side and made their way to the coastline . how does it feel to coastline. how does it feel to almost replicate that journey? >> it feels amazing. it does feel amazing. i feel so sorry for those that fell coming up along this beach . but for those along this beach. but for those that didn't even touch the beach, those that fell in the water, it's i feel so sorry for them and their families , but it them and their families, but it feels amazing to be out here, to show respect, to those that fell. but it feels amazing. it really does . really does. >> well, you heard ryan talking there about the roses that they're going to be laying on they're going to be laying on the anniversary of d—day. this is just one of the 600 bunches i think we can now show you. there are 8000 roses on this vessel

alone. and on d—day, they'll be taking this out into the channel and showing their respects by putting those into the channel in memory of all those who lost their lives on that day 80 years ago. so incredibly poignant and incredibly moving, hugely poignant. >> and what a moment in the largest conflict the world has ever seen. if this landing, if gold beach had gone wrong, if d—day had gone wrong, the world would look so, so different today. >> absolutely. and i think that's a sentiment shared by everyone here today where, as you say on gold beach, if you look around , there are thousands look around, there are thousands of people here today and we're still two days away from the anniversary yet. so one will only imagine that, that that number will continue to rise . number will continue to rise. these beaches are filled with people who are here to pay their respects, but also to celebrate our veterans that still remain with us today. >> well, thank you very much indeed, sophie reaper, for

bringing us that report. sophie is of course, in normandy for us in preparation for those 80th anniversary of d—day celebrations and commemorations, of course. very moving. >> it's interesting because so often, so many of the commemorations that we experience for wars that have been fought have focused on the first world war, perhaps because it's perhaps seemed further away ago, but now that we're 80 years on, almost to the day from from d—day and the second world war is now much further in the past, from from where it was before, perhaps that is almost spurring on this need for remembrance, this need for recognition . i this need for recognition. i think you're right. it hasn't had been there. >> i think there's a lot of people out there who are worried that our collective memory will be lost of this event, and we've seen that disappointing polling of younger people, how they don't know what d—day is , they don't know what d—day is, they don't know what d—day is, they don't know what d—day is, they don't know the significance of the event . so this sort of don't know the significance of the event. so this sort of thing helps to keep it alive. and

yesterday sophie reaper talking to the americans who travelled all the way over the belgians as well. brits, of course, as well . well. brits, of course, as well. very interesting indeed to see. and we'll bring you more and more coverage of that. >> absolutely. but, of course, coming up, a charity is raising concerns over the decline in handwriting amongst young people . are we losing what was a pretty standard skill of being able to write things down on paper? well we'll be speaking to a teacher about how much we should worry about this emerging trend you're with. good afternoon britain on

gb news. good afternoon. britain it's 12:48. and the liberal democrats. it's nice to mention them. well, they've been out and about today outlining their

commitment to improving social care. let's hear from the party's leader, sir. >> ed davey need more people to be supported in care. to look after loved ones who are either waiting to be discharged from hospital, or so they don't have to go into hospital. if we do that, we rescue our nhs, our nhs is on its knees and one of the main reasons is it on its knees is people haven't invested in social care and they haven't looked after family carers. and our package today does just that i >> -- >> i'm just disappointed to not see sir ed davey zorbing down that hill or paragliding or i don't know , going for a sail, don't know, going for a sail, jumping in the water slip and slide was my favourite. >> that was a good one actually. but of course social care very important issue, something that means a lot to voters and, successive governments haven't been able to deal with it, have they really? well theresa may tried and she lost her majority for trying . well, so there you for trying. well, so there you go. there you go. >> trouble is, it's a hugely expensive to deal with. so usually either you have to massively raise taxes. and we've

already got the highest tax burden for donkey's years , or burden for donkey's years, or you're going to have to expropriate people's assets and ask people to sell their homes to pay for their care. the bedroom tax delayed way , as or bedroom tax delayed way, as or dementia tax as it was branded under theresa may. it's an intractable problem because ultimately we, especially in a world where we're going to be restricting visas for social care workers, the pay of social worker care workers is going to have to go up. it's going to get more expensive. how is it going to get funded? it's already unsustainable. >> well, you know, that's why we elect governments to try and sort these supposedly intractable problems. a but it is a question for society more broadly, isn't it? and how we look after our elderly relatives, but and of course, there's going to be this tv debate tonight between keir starmer and rishi sunak. one to watch. >> yes, absolutely . rishi sunak >> yes, absolutely. rishi sunak of course, wanted six different 1 to 1 debates, one for every week of the general election campaign. sir keir starmer has only agreed to doing two of

them. but tonight, tonight is them. but tonight, tonight is the first one and it will be a key moment for rishi sunak to try and turn things around. so far, the polls have been stubborn. they've been staying about the same point, 20 points difference between the parties. number one, are enough people paying number one, are enough people paying attention to tune in and change their minds? and number two, what on earth could the prime minister say to try and make them change their minds and of course, there'll be far more people who see clips from tonight's debate. >> then watch the entirety of it. so a lot of the time it really comes down to who can get there , who can get their views, there, who can get their views, who can get their policies, who can get their narrative out in the best, sort of clickbait almost really, because that's how people have such short attention spans. >> an awful lot of repetition. we're going to be hearing the same thing again and again and again. and if you're after nuanced debates , i'm afraid nuanced debates, i'm afraid i might have to let you down early. we're not going to get that from this tv debate. it's almost it's not a debate at all.

it's a chance for these two leaders to get their key soundees leaders to get their key soundbites across, because they know that people aren't going to be paying, undivided attention to what they're saying. they will hope that 5% of what they say seeps in, because ultimately, the kind of people that will be watching deeply , that will be watching deeply, intently tonight, it's unlikely they'll be changing their minds. >> oh, you think not many floating voters watching. i think political obsessives tend to be people who have already decided, and floating voters tend to be less engaged voters. >> and so really, this is why we are so often hear politicians sounding so robotic, repeating the same slogans, the same phrases. keir starmer has no plan. vote for change. we're going to hear those two phrases. i bet i'm going to write a bingo card. actually, i'm going to draw one out on a little piece of paper and try and do keir starmer and rishi sunak. bingo. because we're just going to hear the same things. >> i mean, they're going to want to catch each other out aren't they. that's that's half of it.

trying to catch each other out on a failed promises or pledges that may not work out, or things they've said in the past that don't match up with what they're proposing now. well, oliver dowden will be playing the role of keir starmer in all of rishi sunak's prep, and he's been trying to set him off catch him off. >> michael gove did the same thing for boris johnson in the run up to the 2019 general election, and the whole task of that prep for particularly boris johnson in 2019. gove was always trying to sort of throw him off, set him off, get him into a debate on something that he hadnt debate on something that he hadn't prepared to say before, actually talk about anything of substance or sort of trip him up. ultimately, the way these leaders will win is by sticking to their message and not going off piste, however tempting it might be, because they can be game changers they have been in the past. >> remember nick clegg? he came to such prominence because of these tv debates, because to a lot of people he came across well. so we shall see if this

has any similar effect. but our debate next hour is going to be whether those with the means, the rich, if you want to call them that, whether they should pay them that, whether they should pay for their own health care. we're asking this because a record nearly 1 million people are now paying for hospital appointments privately because of the nhs waiting list. we'll be back in a tick. this is good afternoon britain on . gb news. afternoon britain on. gb news. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello. good afternoon. welcome to your latest gb news weather update. it will turn brighter from the north into this afternoon, but it is going to turn considerably colder and that's because we have got colder air from the north. diving south and eastwards through this evening, so that will bring the brighter conditions to the north. but denoting the difference between that area as a cold front, and

that area as a cold front, and that will be bringing some cloud and rain to many southern and central areas of england and wales through this evening, central areas of england and wales through this evening , that wales through this evening, that will clear to the southeast overnight and behind it it will turn much brighter or clearer and drier for much of the uk, however, frequent showers will start to move in across northwestern areas and it is going to be quite a chilly start to the day. on wednesday we could see locally a grass frost, but i think most of us just down into the low single figures rurally and that could mean could mean it's cold enough for some snow showers to fall over the high ground of scotland above, around 600m and plenty of showers across much of scotland as well, particularly across northwestern areas across eastern scotland. it should be that much drier and across northern ireland as well . still, northern ireland as well. still, some brightness and eastern parts of northern england should see a fairly bright start to the day. but the best of the sunshine tomorrow morning will be across parts of southern england and the southeast as well, where it should stay fairly dry and bright through much of the day . however, it is much of the day. however, it is going to be a bit of a fresher day. some cloud will bubble up

across southern and central areas into the afternoon. there is a risk of showers across parts of wales and into the midlands, but i think the greatest risk is definitely across parts of northwest scotland where there'll be quite frequent, heavy as well, and there's a risk of thunderstorms temperatures only reaching 11 or 12 degrees in the north and a little bit cooler as well in the south. only highs of around 16 or 17 degrees, which is a few degrees cooler than today. so definitely a fresher day to come. tomorrow and potentially quite an unsettled one across northern areas. it will stay unsettled into the evening across the parts of the northwest . the theme continues northwest. the theme continues into wednesday into thursday and friday, but it does look a little bit drier and warmer into the weekend. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on . gb news. weather on. gb news. >> i'm patrick christys every weeknight from nine i bring you two hours of unmissable, explosive debate and headline grabbing interviews. >> what impact has that had?

>> what impact has that had? >> we got death threats and the bomb threat and so on. >> our job is to do what's in >> ourjob is to do what's in the best interests of our country. >> you made my argument for me one at a time. my guests and i tackle the issues that really matter with a sharp take on every story i'm hearing up and

>> well. good afternoon. >> well. good afternoon. >> britain. it's 1:00 >> well. good afternoon. >> britain. it's1:00 on tuesday, the 4th of june. i'm emily carver, and i'm tom harwood. a new battleground is drawn on immigration. rishi sunak vows to bring down migrant numbers by introducing a cap on visas if he wins. the general election. >> but could this be down to nigel farage's shock decision to stand for parliament for reform uk ? he's now calling for zero uk? he's now calling for zero migration, net zero. >> meanwhile, labour has pledged to bring energy security to the uk and end its dependence on

fossil fuels from overseas. but a battle is brewing over plans to tax oil and gas even more . to tax oil and gas even more. >> and d—day veterans mark the journey to france , where they'll journey to france, where they'll be honoured for their part in the liberation of normandy and western europe . western europe. >> well, the battle lines are being drawn, aren't they? today this time on, immigration and it's unsurprising why immigration has been at record record highs. question is, do the public trust any party to bnng the public trust any party to bring those numbers down? >> it's interesting . the >> it's interesting. the conservative party has been studiously avoiding talking too much about migration, at least bringing it up. it wasn't on their grid, as it's known in westminster until today. they've been talking about things like national service and an extra

double triple lock on pensions. all of these aimed at older voters, reform leaning voters. but they haven't grasped the migration nettle until this moment. and the theory was because this is what david cameron did in 2015. the theory was don't bring it up too much , was don't bring it up too much, because ultimately you're never going to be able to go as far on as nigel farage on that issue. so the theory is actually talk about other things and try and bnng about other things and try and bring back those voters through other means. but clearly what they've been trying for the last week and a half hasn't had the desired effect. >> well, it's interesting though, because of course, stop the boats has been one of the, you know, the prime minister's big five pledges throughout his leadership of the conservative party, so it's rather important to talk about, is it not immigration, both illegal and legal, but i'm sure tonight's debate, there'll be quite a bit on that issue, don't you? >> i think there'll definitely be a question on it. i don't know if keir starmer will be the person to bring it up though,

because i don't think the labour party is particularly far ahead on this issue either. it's one of those big things where the two largest parties in british politics, the two people who could possibly become prime minister, neither of them are particularly trusted on it. yes. >> and it'll be interesting to see how much is spoken about defence. another battleground as well , between labour defence. another battleground as well, between labour and the conservatives. get in touch gbnews.com forward slash your say. do you buy into this idea of a cap on worker visas? do you think it would work ? think it would work? gbnews.com/yoursay. but let's get to the headlines with . aaron. >> very good afternoon to you. it's 1:03. >> very good afternoon to you. it's1:03. i'm aaron >> very good afternoon to you. it's 1:03. i'm aaron armstrong >> very good afternoon to you. it's1:03. i'm aaron armstrong , it's1:03. i'm aaron armstrong, the home secretary. james cleverly says no other political party, including reform, is dictating the conservatives migration policy . dictating the conservatives migration policy. rishi sunak has pledged to cap the number of migrant visas handed out each year for those coming to the uk to work or join family. parliament would then vote on a number recommended by the migration advisory committee.

net migration levels that's the difference between people leaving and arriving in the uk each year, are now three times higher than they were in 2019, james cleverly says. it will give the tories a more balanced assessment of migration . assessment of migration. >> so the last couple of years the figures have been much , the figures have been much, much, much too high, including on legal immigration and there are some people that like that large volume of legal migration for work purposes. but what we're doing now is we're saying in the future we will balance both the benefits of immigration. of course, there are benefits, but also the cost of immigration. >> well, labour leader sir keir starmer says the conservatives are responsible for the rising numbers and points out this reverses a decision the party took four years ago when it reformed the immigration system as part of brexit. >> the conservatives have let immigration get out of control. >> we've got record numbers of people coming to this country

and they've now said they're going to have a visa cap. they've not said what the number is. they've got a visa cap without a cap, we did have a visa cap before. rishi sunak argued to get rid of it, which they did in 2020. and now they're going back to it. but without a number, it is utter chaos. >> well, more than 200 migrants have arrived in the uk on small boats this morning after making the journey from northern france. gb news can reveal. four small boats have made it to uk waters since the early hours. it comes after 63 migrants managed to cross yesterday. it was the first successful crossing for a week and takes the total number of illegal migrants who've come to the uk by small boat this year to more than 10,500. a 38% increase. on the same time last year. increase. on the same time last year . so ed increase. on the same time last year. so ed davey increase. on the same time last year . so ed davey says increase. on the same time last year. so ed davey says his plan to invest in personal care will help rescue the nhs , which is on help rescue the nhs, which is on its knees. lib dems say they'd introduce free day to day care introduce free day to day care in england for adults in need, including for the elderly and

disabled, and they've pledged to increase carers wages. the lib dems say the £37 billion cost of their social care plan will be paid for by reversing tax cuts to big banks. sir ed, who cares for his disabled son, says the investment will relieve pressure on the nhs , need more pressure on the nhs, need more people to be supported in care, to look after the loved ones who are either waiting to be discharged from hospital or so they don't have to go into hospital. >> if we do that, we rescue our nhs. our nhs is on its knees and one of the main reasons is it on its knees is people haven't invested in social care and they haven't looked after family carers. and our package today does just that . does just that. >> a ferry carrying d—day veterans to france for the 80th anniversary commemorations left portsmouth earlier this morning. the mont—saint—michel ferry was accompanied by a number of royal navy vessels. there was trumpeter medusa basher , as well trumpeter medusa basher, as well as the minehunter hms cattistock

and a training ship, royalist, plus a couple of tug boats as well. so those are the pictures leaving portsmouth harbour . leaving portsmouth harbour. meanwhile, over off the coast of france, this replica landing craft was at omaha beach carrying us troops, part of d—day commemorations in normandy, omaha , one of two normandy, omaha, one of two beaches taken by us forces 80 years ago, and kenneth nishikiori told us about the impact d—day had on his grandfather , who took part in grandfather, who took part in the landing. >> i'm amazed that he was even actually here because it was an experience. he never talked about. like a lot of veterans, you rarely heard any war stories, and i knew he was in the army , but that was it. the army, but that was it. growing up as a kid, you know, never heard any stories, it wasn't until i got a box of letters from my mom. from granddaddy to grandma. talking about, his time in france . about, his time in france. >> dna tests have revealed three

babies have been abandoned by the same parents over the past seven years. one of the children was about an hour old when she was about an hour old when she was found abandoned in a shopping bag in a park in east london earlier this year in subzero conditions. her two siblings, both boys, were discovered in similar circumstances in 2019 and 2017. the details have emerged after reporting restrictions were lifted. a police investigation into the parents identity is ongoing . ten fire engines and ongoing. ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters have been tackling a blaze , a major blaze tackling a blaze, a major blaze in east london. it broke out in a ten floor construction site in canning town earlier. no reports of any injuries. police in the area have told people to keep their doors and windows closed , their doors and windows closed, and an investigation to find the cause is underway . we'll be back cause is underway. we'll be back with more news at the top of the next hour. or you can get more right now by signing up to gb

news alerts. qr code is on your screen and the details are on our website too. now it's back to tom and . emily. to tom and. emily. >> right, it's 108. good afternoon britain. now thursday this week will mark 80 years since the largest amphibious landing in military history. more than 150,000 allied troops risked their lives by storming nazi occupied beaches in normandy . normandy. >> well, today, veterans are gathered to travel to france to commemorate this event. that was a turning point in the war. >> well, looking ahead to the anniversary is our home and security editor, mark white, who is in portsmouth for us. mark, what exactly is taking place today ? today? >> yeah. good afternoon to you both . today we had a small both. today we had a small flotilla escorting a brittany ferry out from portsmouth harbour, heading across to normandy today with 30 veterans

on board. and i say a small flotilla. it was still impressive. royal navy minesweeper, a couple of patrol boats and some world war ii era motor torpedo boats, as well as a sailing ship and some escorting tugs, all there to take this brittany ferries vessel out into the english channel for that journey across to normandy. for the very poignant services. that, of course, will be taking place this evening and again tomorrow . this evening and again tomorrow. so across the normandy coast and 30 veterans have made it onto that ferry. other veterans have stayed here in portsmouth for the events that will be taking place here in south sea, where i am tomorrow . events that will am tomorrow. events that will include the king attending, along with thousands of members of the public, veterans and the military. a little earlier , as

military. a little earlier, as we watched that ferry go out from portsmouth harbour, i spoke to some of the people that had gathered early in the morning to see that flotilla leave. this is what they said, and it's just a privilege to be here today with the freedom that we all have and that a lot of people maybe for take granted a little bit fantastic, fantastic taste. >> i think more people should be here really, really kind of loud i >> -- >> can'd actually, and, really cool. >> it's good to see that young lad very impressed and, defying these surveys, suggesting that less than half of young people even know what d—day was. well, many thousands will be out to mark what is clearly a very special day in terms of commemorating d—day. special day in terms of commemorating d—day . with 80 commemorating d—day. with 80 years having passed and yesterday i had the privilege to meet some of those veterans, we

were at southwick house, which is just north of portsmouth , and is just north of portsmouth, and it was there, the epicentre, the nerve centre of the maritime operation, to send some 7000 vessels across the uk. they could only dream of such an endeavour. could only dream of such an endeavour . today it's the endeavour. today it's the biggest maritime operation ever in the history of the world and will never be repeated on that scale. some 1200 warship ships among them and among the veterans i had the privilege of speaking to. i was george chandler . he speaking to. i was george chandler. he was in the royal navy at the time, just 19 years old. he was on a motor torpedo boat that was charged with guarding the fleet from german attack. and he was up at omaha beach, one of five beaches where the allies landed. that was a effectively an american landing point. and he still recalls, even though he is blind and he

is pretty deaf, he still really can't recalls with incredible clarity the horror that he saw on the 6th of june, 1944. >> i was 19 at the time. these kids were younger than me. i know they were. every time i talk to somebody about d—day , talk to somebody about d—day, i'm there . i'm there. >> well, as you say, every time he thinks about d—day now , he is he thinks about d—day now, he is there 80 years on and he still remembers those events with such clarity. and no wonder the events that unfolded there were so horrific that so many allied forces, including many thousands of british personnel , were of british personnel, were killed in the operation to push forward into france. >> thank you so much. mark wight , our homeland security editor

there in portsmouth. it's always absolutely fascinating to hear the stories from veterans who lived through experiences that hopefully none of us ever will have to. quite incredible moving as well. a lot of them don't talk about it for years and years and years, and then it all comes out. all of those memories, flashbacks, everything that happened . that happened. >> and it's so important to make sure that we document it all. 80 years, on thursday since d—day . years, on thursday since d—day. of course, as time goes on, we're going to have fewer of those stories within living memory. so hugely important work mark's doing that. >> indeed it is. but back to politics. immigration has become a key battleground in today's general election campaigning. >> yes, rishi sunak has vowed an annual cap on visas as a way of limiting the number of migrants coming into the country. but he hasn't said at what level the cap should be set, saying it should be varied year to year. let's get the details with our political correspondent katherine forster in westminster. because, catherine, i'm sure that a lot of people

will be raising an eyebrow at this idea of a cap, but not saying where the cap should be. >> well, exactly, because they've been burnt before giving numbers, haven't they? reduced to the tens of thousands net migration. they said that for many, many years . and then boris many, many years. and then boris johnson in 2019 pledged to get it down below 230,000. and what do we are at now 680,000. it was up do we are at now 680,000. it was up at three quarters of a million. so triple what it was back in 2019. so no, they're not giving a number on this cap. but james cleverly, the home secretary, is saying it is a cap which will get smaller and smaller every year over the next five years. but of course, will people believe them because it is the conservatives that have beenin is the conservatives that have been in charge for 14 years. and since we left the european union , it is directly because of choices that the government has made that migration went up to that three quarters of a

million, absolutely unprecedented , never happened unprecedented, never happened before at any point in our history. now worth saying, too, that labour also say they want to bring legal migration down, but yes, they haven't given any number either, nor do i expect they will. and in the gb news poll that came out yesterday, people, i think it was something like only 4% of people trust labour very much to get migration down. and just under half don't really trust them at all. so i think with both the big parties, there is a lack of trust among voters because they've seen migration rocket . they've seen migration rocket. and despite the words from the conservatives, they haven't seen it go down. and meanwhile enter stage left, nigel farage talking about an immigration election pledging to get to net zero and pledging to get to net zero migration and his entrance likely to have, quite an effect

on this campaign. >> yes, very interesting indeed. thank you very much. katherine forster, our political correspondent there from college green outside westminster. i mean , interestingly, the mean, interestingly, the conservatives, as i understand it, they're going to be asking the independent migration advisory committee to recommend an annual cap . so it's not quite an annual cap. so it's not quite an annual cap. so it's not quite a completely 100% political decision. yeah. is it? if they're asking for advice on this issue, yes. one might ask why is it up to the independent migration advisory committee to necessarily suggest a number? surely that's a choice for a party leader, although parliament could, of course, vote, they could reject the recommendation. they could reject it. >> although we have seen how powerful these independent bodies often are. i mean, legally , legally, the government legally, legally, the government didn't need to go for an obr assessment of a of a budget or indeed a mini—budget. but the markets took a very different view when they did. well, quite , view when they did. well, quite, shall we turn to the labour party though? because today they're focusing on energy

security and making britain less dependent on what it calls rogue states to provide energy resources. i presume by rogue states, it means the united states of america, from whom we get a lot of, a lot of natural gas, perhaps even norway or ourselves, who we also get lots of fossil fuels out of the north sea from. but shall we talk to sarah jones, shadow for minister industry and decarbonisation, because sarah, it's fair to say it's not just rogue states that provide fossil fuels, is it ? provide fossil fuels, is it? >> of course not. you're absolutely right. but look, we have an international, price setting system. so what happens when we had , for example, the when we had, for example, the invasion of ukraine? everybody came out of russia in terms of getting energy from russia. and what happened is that made the pnces what happened is that made the prices spiral because globally, people were reliant on russia. we get a lot of our oil from russia . we did, but but not only

russia. we did, but but not only from there, as you say , we get from there, as you say, we get it from from norway, from other places. but what that , removal places. but what that, removal of that russian source meant was that the price for everybody rocketed because we hadn't made ourselves more energy secure. and what the obr have said in a kind of risk assessment that they've done, is that if we don't do something about this situation , this can happen situation, this can happen again. there will be another shock and another , and each one shock and another, and each one will put thousands of pounds onto people's bills and, it will affect our gdp, it will affect our debt. and so we need to tackle this as a problem as a country , i hope that makes country, i hope that makes sense. but it's not just where we're getting the energy from. it's this global pricing system that knocks all of us. >> where exactly are the labour party currently with, windfall taxes, specifically on the north sea? oil and gas? because, as i'm sure you've seen, the

confederation of british industry today is warning that raising those windfall taxes could harm inward investment to this country. i'm sure you don't want to see that harmed. they also say that there may be knock on effects on other industries. also know that many of the trade unions are concerned about job losses in this sector. so our labouris losses in this sector. so our labour is still going to persevere with raising that windfall tax, which i believe already stands at 75. >> so we're going to extend it so it is taxed for longer. so we will raise more money from that, windfall tax . it's a time windfall tax. it's a time limited tax though. it's not it's not going to be there forever. it's going to be there while the companies are making a profit, a massive profit. when that profit comes down, the windfall tax stops. but look, this is this is complex , right? this is this is complex, right? i'm not going to pretend it's not. we have lots of people who are employed, getting oil and gas , in scotland in particular, gas, in scotland in particular, and we know those numbers are

going to reduce over time and they have reduced a lot, over they have reduced a lot, over the last few years. what we want to do is to say, look, we know what the energy consumption is going to be of the future. we know where the job opportunities are for the future. so let's, as are for the future. so let's, as a government invest alongside the private sector in floating offshore wind, in solar , tidal offshore wind, in solar, tidal in nuclear. all of these different energy sources so that we can transition people who are working in oil and gas into the new energies of the future, and we can make sure we grow our we can make sure we grow our economy we can make sure we grow our economy . we can make sure we grow our economy . so this doesn't work economy. so this doesn't work unless you have a proper industrial strategy, unless you have the national wealth fund, where we're going to be investing in in nuclear and in other sectors. and it doesn't work unless you have great british energy, which will be there as this publicly owned energy , company, which will be energy, company, which will be investing in and creating energy across the country. you have to do all those things together for we think we have this huge

opportunity. other people will do it. if we don't, we'll end up buying this energy from other countries if we don't produce it ourselves. but one of the biggest windfall tax will be there until those profits , there until those profits, reduce one of the biggest issues that we face in our domestic energy supply market is, of course, regulation plan regulation that prevents, solar farms being constructed onshore, wind farms being constructed , wind farms being constructed, even offshore wind farms that only take 2 or 3 years to build the turbines. >> but ten years to get through planning and environmental impact assessments. why on earth do we have environmental impact assessments and all that red tape for what are supposed to be pro—environmental projects ? pro—environmental projects? spain has massively simplified how they deliver renewable energy without the need for the same impact. assessments that we put on those. is that a model to follow? can we deregulate all of that red tape? would you commit

to following what spain has done? >> so we do commit to reforming the planning process and speeding up the connections to the grid. absolutely we do. now. we do that in a number of ways, firstly, the grid, which has to link up to the energy that we start creating in, offshore wind, as you say, we have to have the connections, that that can then take the power across the country. at the moment, there are many, many, many, many, many people on the waiting list. people being told they have to wait ten, 15 years before they'll get that connection. we are going to have a national strategy that will say, well, which are the important ones? which are the ones that are crucial for our energy security, which are the ones that are ready to go. and let's prioritise those. how will that be decided? >> how will that be decided? because of course something can look like a fantastic project on papen look like a fantastic project on paper. but then a newer technology comes along or a better technology comes along or it doesn't work out in the way you hope. who's deciding this?

>> yeah , well, what's happened >> yeah, well, what's happened in the past is you have different companies that own different companies that own different parts of the system, and they just do whatever they do . and the people that come to do. and the people that come to them first get sorted first, and everybody else has to wait. so the government, to be fair, set up, through the energy bill, a new national body that looks at some of these things strategically, we're going to improve that and build on it so that you have a proper national strategy that goes, we know that we want investment in floating offshore wind. it's a new technology. it's fabulous. we are uniquely placed to be the leaders in the world because we're an island and we can use this technology. we want to encourage investors to this. so we will say where there is investment coming in to do floating offshore wind, they should get priority. so it's not easy. i'm not pretending it is, but there is a way to look at this strategically, and there is a way to change the planning system. so on onshore wind, for example , which you mentioned example, which you mentioned before, the conservatives have basically , stopped that through basically, stopped that through the planning system. we think we

actually could be creating a lot ofjobs actually could be creating a lot of jobs and a lot of energy and bringing our bills down if we did more. >> of course, there is a reason why the planning system has ganged up everything, and that's very often these projects face local opposition, and that's why you sometimes get this lawfare and this exploited red tape, whether it's, judicial reviews or forcing newt counting. and as i say, these environmental impact assessments as well, how are you going to override local opposition? are you going to buy people off or are you going to reform just how much red tape there's actually there? and particularly an answer i'm after on those environmental impact assessments? >> well, look, you have to have environmental impact assessments on, say for example, we want lots of offshore wind and, the crown estate, which own and manage a lot of the kind of sea around the island that we live in. they are looking at what's the marine implications for everything that we want to do.

so you have to look at those things. we want to make sure we're protecting nature, protecting the environment around us. but but planning is a huge problem. you're absolutely right . and part of it is because right. and part of it is because we don't have as many saying, we still need all of these environmental impact assessments. >> how are you going to fix it if are you going to keep that red tape. >> because the red tape isn't just environmental impact assessments, it's loads of other things. if i could just, build on the point that you were making about public, views as well, i think this is really important . we can't be saying to important. we can't be saying to people we need to build this infrastructure in your area, and you're getting nothing in return for it. we have to have an offer. and rachel reeves has said where we do need to build infrastructure because it's good for our country. you know, we need to thank people for that by giving them something back, whether that's cheaper energy bills in their area or whether that's a fund where local organisations, local communities can decide what to do with that fund, there has to be a proper

communication here. we don't want all of our planning, as you said, decided in the high courts, that's that's not democratic . that's not taking democratic. that's not taking people with you at all. so there are models and there are some organisations that have ideas about this, about how you take people with you, where you do need that development and how you use the best technology and the best, resources that you can so that the development is as, as least disruptive as it can possibly be. we're making a lot of offshore onshore wind in scotland . we've got we're going scotland. we've got we're going to have to move it down the country. otherwise we're still buying it in into london, which is what we do at the moment. we kind of buy it in through the pipes into london, when we could be producing it all. >> okay, well, thank you very much. we'll have to leave it there. but thank you very much, sarah jones, shadow for minister industry and decarbonisation, interesting stuff . i wonder how interesting stuff. i wonder how practical this stuff is, because whenever there's planning reform, it sounds rather bureaucratic. liz truss did it. tried to do it. boris johnson tried to do it. david cameron tried to do it. david cameron tried to do it. david cameron tried to do it. they all met lots of lots of opposition.

well, still to come, people are turning away from the nhs for private health care. that's according to new figures. so we're going to be asking should better off people contribute pay towards their medical treatment towards their medical treatment to leave some of that nhs space for those who can't afford it, you're watching. good afternoon britain on .

gb news. >> it's 131. welcome back. i'm >> it's131. welcome back. i'm aaron armstrong in the gb newsroom. let's get you up to date with the headlines, and we start with some breaking news. medical procedures have been cancelled or redirected to other nhs providers following a cyber attack on major hospitals in

london. staff at king's college hosphal london. staff at king's college hospital, guy's and saint thomas's and primary care services in the capital have been told their sites have been hit by a major it incident. the health trusts are reporting it has had a big impact on the delivery of its services, with blood transfusions particularly affected. it's a developing story. we will bring you more throughout the afternoon as soon as we get it here on gb news. let's turn to election campaigning. sir keir starmer has dismissed rishi sunak's plans for an annual cap on visas, saying the government's lost control of net migration. under the plan, mps would vote on visa numbers for those coming to the uk to work or to join family based on recommendations from the migration advisory committee. the government says it's about getting a balanced assessment of both the advantages and costs of migration. while net levels are now three times higher than they were in 2019, and the labour

leader says the government's responsible after it removed the cap four years ago with the introduction of a post—brexit skills workers visa. >> the conservatives have let immigration get out of control. >> we've got record numbers of people coming to this country and they've now said they're going to have a visa cap. they've not said what the number is, so they've got a visa cap without a cap. we did have a visa cap before. rishi sunak are due to get rid of it, which they did in 2020, and now they're going back to it. but without a number it is utter chaos. >> well, the liberal democrats are promising free personal care for adults in need, including the elderly and disabled. sir ed davey says he wants to pay carers an extra £2 an hour above the national living wage . and he the national living wage. and he says investment in the care sector would ultimately benefit the nhs. it's going to cost, he thinks, £3.7 billion. and sir ed davey says that will be funded by reversing tax cuts to big banks.

by reversing tax cuts to big banks . now by reversing tax cuts to big banks. now the lib dem leader, who himself is a carer for his disabled son, has described the issue as deeply personal and he says his party believes provision of care should be based on need rather than the ability to pay . now, if you want ability to pay. now, if you want to get more on all of our stories , we'll have it in our stories, we'll have it in our later bulletins, one at the top of the next hour. or you can sign up to our alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen. or you go to gb news .com/ alerts. >> cheers! >> cheers! >> britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report . report. >> a quick snapshot of the markets the pound buys you $1.2765 ,1.1747. gold will cost £1,828.97 per ounce, and the ftse 100 is trading at 8235 points. >> cheers, britannia wine club

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>> right. it's 137. >> right. it's137. good >> right. it's 137. good afternoon. britain now, demand for private health care has risen to record levels in the uk, up 7% from 2022. >> yes, patients are increasingly turning away from the nhs as it deals with long waiting lists and backlogs. but is this something that we should perhaps be welcoming? >> i mean, crucially, it's crucially not just that it's up 7% since 2022, but around 900,000 people in the uk. nearly a million people are now seeking private hospital treatment. that was last year could be even higher this year. >> but is this a way of getting more cash into our health system 7 more cash into our health system ? and should those who earn more perhaps be looking at getting

private health care? so the nhs is there for the rest of us, or does that undermine what the nhs is? well delighted to be joined now by the former medical director and chief medical officer at private health provider bupa. doctor andrew vallance owen and lead communicator at we own it john. john bosco nick hewer blog, let's, let's start with you, doctor. vallance—owen. why should we be more relaxed about this ? potentially. this? potentially. >> i think we should encourage people who can afford it to go into the private sector at this particular time . i mean, i, particular time. i mean, i, people have different reasons for not doing that, but one of them traditionally has been that they just want to support their nhs . well, in this case nhs. well, in this case supporting their nhs, if they can afford it could mean going to the private sector, taking the load off the nhs, which is a

big argument for the private sector at the moment. so yes, i would encourage people and, you know, we might even incentivise people in australia as you may know, there are rebates, tax rebates for people for private insurance, they give and they take away though, because, people of a certain income, who don't use their public sector get charged. so it's a bit of a but one take away with the other. but, nevertheless, isn't it a bit unfair, though, if you're a private earner, you're not only paying into the nhs for everyone else, but then you're also expected then to pay privately for your own health care at great cost. >> i mean, does that break down the social contract somewhat? >> well, the social contract is pretty broken at the moment, emily really , in terms of the emily really, in terms of the nhs, it's in a dire straits and, i mean, i'm an absolute

supporter of the nhs and deeply concerned about it, but i think the more people who can go and find other sources , you know, of find other sources, you know, of treatment, the better. i mean, the private sector itself has been doing a lot of work for the nhs. if we saw that, particularly during covid, where they took a lot of nhs treatment patients , at cost, you know, at patients, at cost, you know, at nhs prices and increasingly private hospitals are do have nhs contracts. so already nhs patients are being treated that way. but i agree there should be some incentive for more wealthy people to actually go privately and pay for it. >> well, john bosco, let's throw that over to you. after all, australia is a country we hear a lot about in terms of health care. indeed, nhs, practice owners are often saying perhaps we'll go and work in australia . we'll go and work in australia. well, australia has a tax penalty for wealthy people who don't take out private health care. surely that's been helping their system. so i think that this is a bit of a phantom

problem in the sense that , the problem in the sense that, the nhs has always, or rather great britain has always had a situation where people who have money are able to purchase some additional kind of health coverage in the private sector. >> that has always been the case for the 75 years that we've had the nhs. what we are seeing now and what's the much bigger social moral problem for us, is the fact that a lot of people who cannot afford it are being forced to go to the private sector, so we're seeing people set up, go fund me's, we're seeing people beg family for money. we are seeing people dig into their retirement funds in order to, ameliorate a problem that they have at the moment that they have at the moment that they're afraid they can't keep on waiting for the nhs to see them on. so that's the real problem . and if we want to talk problem. and if we want to talk about the real problem, then we need to talk about the real solutions. right? the real solutions. right? the real solutions at the moment is

really building up the capacity within the nhs. just to illustrate the fact that the use of the private sector by the nhs, is not going to make much of a dent to the 7.6 million waiting list. we have , spire waiting list. we have, spire healthcare is by far the biggest , private hospital chain in britain . they have 39 hospitals. britain. they have 39 hospitals. last year they treated a total of a million patients. you know, in what time the nhs treats a million patients, 36 hours. these companies are not going to make a difference. the real difference is investing into the nhs, investing into its staff, building up its capacity. that's how you fix the list. i mean, absolutely right. >> doctor vallance, own people aren't choosing to go private necessarily just because they want to , it's because they're want to, it's because they're stuck on nhs waiting lists and they're told by doctors that they're told by doctors that they need to get it sorted. now whatever their condition is, and you get told by the nhs all it's

going to be four weeks till you see a specialist and then another eight weeks till you get your scan, and then another four weeks till you hear about what's on the scan and what the problem is. and it goes on and on and on. people just go private because they can get it done quickly. >> yeah. well, i mean, i absolutely agree that's that's a huge, huge problem . and we have huge, huge problem. and we have to work. i mean, i agree with my colleague who has just been speaking actually. i mean, i think there's a huge amount we need to do to get rid of that waiting list. and it has to be done within the nhs. the private sector can help, but even the private sector is now getting full to capacity for private patients , so their ability to patients, so their ability to help the nhs. so we really , help the nhs. so we really, whether it's just funding or whether it's just funding or whether it's just funding or whether it's greater efficiencies or a whole range of things, it should be the very top priority for a new government coming in to to, really tackle the nhs. and it's more than one. there are so many issues around it, it i'm not going to call for a royal commission because that would take another ten years. but it

needs more of a business focus , needs more of a business focus, less political involvement and, and you know, i think it can be tackled. but we have to really get on with it. >> of course, john bosco, there's been a lot of money going into the nhs, particularly in the last few years. i mean, £50 billion if we're going to take the last 14 years uplift in real terms, inflation adjusted, that's about a more than a third increase, almost 40% increase in the real terms budget of the health service. but it doesn't feel like it's had that increase. >> so of course we are dealing with, the repercussions of the pandemic. and i should just kind of put that, the uplift, that you're talking about into a bit more context , the health more context, the health foundation, carried out analysis comparing different countries across the world. we spend, per headin across the world. we spend, per head in total £40 billion less on the nhs than the french spend on the nhs than the french spend on their health care system. we

spend about the same as the netherlands is. sorry. >> we spend about the same as the netherlands as well. >> i'm sure we spend , actually >> i'm sure we spend, actually we spend a bit less than the netherlands, to according the health foundation analysis as well, we spent £73 billion less than the germans , and the result than the germans, and the result of this, obviously partly is that those countries have a slightly less efficient health care system. they have to employ people to manage insurance systems, but i think that the significant problem is the fact that we are investing far less than we actually need to invest in the system. there was a british medical association analysis that found that if we had invested in the nhs at the same rate as we invested between 1955 and 2010, if we had invested at that rate between 2010 and now, we would have invested something like £322 billion more than we also , it billion more than we also, it also costs it also has to be used efficiently . used efficiently. >> and, you know, whenever a discussion is had about the nhs,

people always call for more investment, less is said about how to make sure that money goes far because you know, the people of britain are not made of money. and of course the population has boomed so much as well at the same time. thank you so much to both of you. that was a great discussion. we had, doctor andrew vallance—owen from bupa and the lead campaigner at. we own it, johnbosco nwogbo. thank you very much indeed for your time. >> well, coming up, a charity is raising concerns over the decline in handwriting amongst young people. >> this makes me sad, this one. >> this makes me sad, this one. >> but is it an reality in this day and age? well, we'll have that discussion

next. good afternoon. britain. it's 10 to 2 now. a charity has warned that children's futures are at risk due to the drastic drop in numbers. enjoying writing in their free time? yes >> the survey now suggests that

fewer than 3 in 10 young people aged between 8 and 18, put pen to paper anymore. now, of course, writing by hand is known to have important cognitive benefits for both children and adults alike. so is this doing damage? >> well, joining us now is a specialist teacher , michelle specialist teacher, michelle stone. because michelle i suppose it sort of stands to reason if children are now doing so much more work on computers, writing exams, on computers, spending less time writing, i suppose , is an inevitability . suppose, is an inevitability. >> it can be. »- >> it can be. >> although i think this is part of a much bigger conversation. we know that children are generally writing less, and it could be due to the sharp rise in screen use. >> it could be partly due to covid, where lots of lessons were taught online quite suddenly. it could also due be due to the fact that children perhaps don't see that enjoyment in writing so much anymore, possibly because they're very

much pushed, particularly in key stage two, to achieve certain standards for the year six sats assessments. so it could it's just part of a much bigger conversation . conversation. >> i mean, it's worrying to me to see how stark the drop is really, 2010, it was upwards of 50% who were wrote in their free time. now it's down to fewer than 3 in 10. i mean, this is quite a drastic drop. i mean, are we going to lose the art of handwriting ? handwriting? >> obviously, as part of the national handwriting association, we would hope not. and we know that there's a huge part of learning that comes from handwriting with an implement as opposed to learning something on screen. so what we know is that when children are handwriting, they're more likely to retain information and be able to recall it. unfortunately what we've had is combined with covid, we've also had a huge

rise in the use of smartphones amongst children and young people, so it could be it could be again, as a result of that , be again, as a result of that, because children are not able to because children are not able to be bored as much , they they're be bored as much, they they're much more expected to be online. so it's just a whole everything feeds into everything else. and we also know that children don't see as much writing in their homes as they did perhaps. ten, 20, 30 years ago. we know that children's physical development has a huge impact on their handwriting ability, which can then in turn impact their self—esteem when they're writing. so because we know that children are doing much less exercise than they were again in the 1970s, 1980s, it's exercise than they were again in the 19705, 19805, it's 50% exercise than they were again in the 1970s, 1980s, it's 50% less, physical exercise for the children of today. and that has a huge impact on their motor skills. so their fine motor skills, which would impact handwriting. >> but but, michelle, what sort of writing would we be expecting children to be doing it in their

spare time if they're texting their friends or sort of i don't know what writing i would do in my spare time. >> what loads of writing. >> what loads of writing. >> what loads of writing. >> what would you write in your spare time? >> a poem? well, just really, yes, michelle, you would write a poem or a little letter or annotate a diagram or all sorts of things. spelling >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> so, i know for myself as a mum and as a teacher, i write at home, i write shopping lists. i make sure my children have access to pens, paper , etc. and access to pens, paper, etc. and we know as well that environmental circumstances can have an impact on children if they don't see writing absolutely as simple as shopping. >> see, i would count that as work. perhaps domestic chores. thank you very much indeed. >> michelle stone, specialist teacher. after the break, i'm going to tell you about all the different ways you can write. >> i look forward to it. >> i look forward to it. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar , the sponsors of weather

solar, the sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hello. good afternoon. welcome to your latest gb news weather update. it will turn brighter from the north into this afternoon, but it is going to turn considerably colder . and to turn considerably colder. and that's because we have got colder air from the north. diving south and eastwards through this evening, so that will bring the brighter conditions to the north. but denoting the difference between that air as a cold front, and that air as a cold front, and that will be bringing some cloud and rain to many southern and central areas of england and wales through this evening, central areas of england and wales through this evening , that wales through this evening, that will clear to the southeast overnight and behind it it will turn much brighter or clearer and drier for much of the uk, however, frequent showers will start to move in across northwestern areas and it is going to be quite a chilly start to the day. on wednesday we could see locally a grass frost, but i think most of us just down into the low single figures really . and that could mean really. and that could mean could mean it's cold enough for some snow showers to fall over the high ground of scotland above, around 600m and plenty of

showers across much of scotland as well, particularly across northwestern areas across eastern scotland. it should be that much drier. and across northern ireland as well. still, some brightness and eastern parts of northern england should see a fairly bright start to the day. but the best of the sunshine tomorrow morning will be across parts of southern england and the southeast, as well, where it should stay fairly dry and bright through much of the day. however, it is going to be a bit of a fresher day. some cloud will bubble up across southern and central areas into the afternoon. there is a risk of showers across parts of wales and into the midlands, but i think the greatest risk is definitely across parts of northwest scotland where there'll be quite frequent, heavy as well and there's a risk of thunderstorms, temperatures only reaching 11 or 12 degrees in the north and a little bit cooler as well in the south. only highs of around 16 or 17 degrees, which is a few degrees cooler than today. so definitely a fresher day to come tomorrow and potentially quite an unsettled one across northern areas. it will stay unsettled into the evening across the parts of the northwest. the theme continues into wednesday

into thursday and friday, but it does look a little bit drier and warmer into the weekend . warmer into the weekend. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers as sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 2:00 on tuesday, the 4th of june. i'm tom harwood and i'm emily carver. a cyber attack has hit patient care at some major hospitals in london. some procedures have been cancelled or redirected. this is a breaking and developing story, and we'll have all the details . and we'll have all the details. >> and a new general election battleground is drawn on immigration. this time. rishi sunak vows to bring down migrant numbers by introducing a cap on visas . visas. >> meanwhile, the labour party has pledged to bring energy security to the uk, ending

dependence on fossil fuels from overseas. but a battle is brewing over plans to tax oil and gas even more . and gas even more. >> and d—day veterans make the journey to france , where they journey to france, where they will be honoured for their part in the liberation of normandy and western europe . and western europe. >> now, i think emily and i have a different definition of what work is. >> yeah, i'm just telling tom we were talking about handwriting before, and tom seemed to think that no one would ever pick up a pen or a pencil as a child, unless it was homework. and i'm telling him there is. i'm telling him there is. i'm telling you that a lot of young children, particularly from age 4 to 12, i cast my mind back. you're writing little poems, you're annotating little pictures. you're maybe writing in a little diary entry. you're maybe making something up a story or something, or i don't know anything. a little post—it

that you might want to put somewhere with something written on it. if we lose that, if we lose that entirely , then it's lose that entirely, then it's very sad. and, you know, when i stopped doing that, when i got a screen in front of me, i'm sure i wrote post—it notes. >> i'm sure i did. sort of small little. i just don't think i ever sat down and wrote a story for fun. >> no creativity. >> no creativity. >> i think i had a lot of creativity, no creativity plays i put on so many plays for my parents. did you ever try and write one not written down? no, no, it was all about improvisation and theatricality. >> well, i can see that. i can see that. but i think you're wrong. i think a lot of children do pick up a pencil and pen and write whatever, just for the fun of it. >> i think there might be a gender divide on this. maybe. i think girls are more likely to sit down and write, and boys might go off and be a bit more bombastic. >> well, i could do both. thank you very much. >> i'm sure you can. >> just as bombastic. when i was writing diary notes and love letters and the like, i can't say i've ever written a love letter on a piece of paper, and i'm sure you haven't received

one either. no, probably not, but send your views. post your comments. clearly not many children are picking up a pen for anything other than homework these days, and most of their homework is online. gbnews.com/yoursay should we be worried about that and bring us your thoughts about everything else we're going to be discussing headlines with aaron now. how. >> now. >> good afternoon. it's 2:02. i'm aaron armstrong, home secretary james cleverly has refused to clarify exactly how many migrant visas will be allowed each year. after vowing to introduce an annual cap. the conservatives have pledged to limit entry for those coming to the uk to work or join family in an effort to reduce immigration. well, mps would vote on a number recommended by the migration advisory committee. net levels. that's the difference between people leaving and arriving in the uk each year. are now three times higher than they were in 2019, but home secretary james cleverly says their plan will help strike a balance between the benefits and costs of migration. >> if we are returned to

government, we have committed to a scheme to cap the level of work related visas . the work related visas. the migration advisory committee will crunch the numbers to balance the economic needs of the country against the pressure on public services, and suggest to the government a level with the labour leader, sir keir starmer says the conservatives are responsible for the rising numbers and points out this reverses the decision. >> the party took four years ago when it reformed the immigration system as part of brexit. >> conservatives have let immigration get out of control. we've got record numbers of people coming to this country and they've now said they're going to have a visa cap. they've not said what the number is, so they've got a visa cap without a cap, we did have a visa cap before. rishi sunak. are you to get rid of it, which they did in 2020, and now they're going back to it. but without a number, it is utter chaos. >> more than 200 migrants have

arrived in the uk on small boats this morning, gb news can reveal. four small boats made the journey from northern france after 63 people managed to cross yesterday. it takes the total number of illegal migrants who've arrived here by small boat this year to more than 10,500. that's a 38% increase on the same time last year. 10,500. that's a 38% increase on the same time last year . so ed the same time last year. so ed davey says his plan to invest in personal care will help to rescue the nhs, which is on its knees. the lib dems say they introduce free day to day care introduce free day to day care in england for adults in need, including the elderly and disabled, and they've pledged to increase carers wages . they say increase carers wages. they say there are £3.7 billion plan for social care will be paid for by reversing tax cuts to big banks. sir ed, who himself cares for a disabled son, says the investment will ultimately ease pressure on the national health service , need more people to be service, need more people to be supported in care to look after loved ones who are either waiting to be discharged from

hospital or so they don't have to go into hospital . to go into hospital. >> if we do that, we rescue our nhs, our nhs is on its knees and one of the main reasons is on its knees is people haven't invested in social care and they haven't looked after family carers. and our package today does just that . does just that. >> well. some medical procedures have been cancelled or redirected to other nhs providers following a cyber attack on major hospitals in london, staff at king's college hospital at guy's and saint thomas's, and primary care services in the capital have been told their sites were hit by a major. it incident. health trusts are reporting the incident has had a major impact on the delivery of services, with blood transfusions particularly affected a ferry carrying d—day veterans to france for the 80th anniversary commemorations left portsmouth earlier this morning. the mont saint michel was accompanied by a number of royal navy vessels . a number of royal navy vessels. three of these patrol boats ,

three of these patrol boats, trumpeter, medusa and basher, as well as a mine hunter and a training ship, along with a couple of tugs as it left portsmouth harbour, and also earlier this morning, us troops were on a replica landing craft . were on a replica landing craft. this is at omaha beach, part of the d—day commemorations in normandy . the d—day commemorations in normandy. omaha, one of the two beaches taken by us forces 80 years ago. kenneth nishikori told us about the impact d—day had on his grandfather, who took part in the landing. >> i'm amazed that he was even actually here because it was an experience he never talked about . like a lot of veterans, you rarely heard any war stories, and i knew he was in the army, but that was it. growing up as a kid, you know, never heard any stories, it wasn't until i got a box of letters from my mom, from granddaddy to grandma, talking about, his time in france . about, his time in france. >> dna tests have revealed three

babies have been abandoned by the same parents over the past seven years. one of the children was about an hour old when she was about an hour old when she was found abandoned in a shopping bag in a park in east london earlier this year. it was in january, amid subzero conditions. her two siblings, both boys, were discovered in similar circumstances in 2017 and 2019. the details have emerged after a reporting restrictions were lifted. a police investigation into the parents identity is ongoing, and ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters tackle a major blaze in east london. earlier, it broke out in a ten floor construction site in canning town . no reports of any injuries town. no reports of any injuries or people in the area have been advised to keep their windows and doors closed. the cause of the fire is under investigation . the fire is under investigation. we'll be back with more throughout the afternoon, but if you want more now, scan the qr code on your screen for gb news alerts and it's also on our website gb news. com now back to

tom and . emily. tom and. emily. >> good afternoon britain. 2:08. some breaking news to bring you. just now. the former labour candidate faiza shaheen . she was candidate faiza shaheen. she was expecting to stand for the eminently winnable seat of chingford and woodford green. she was deselected from that seat only a matter of days ago by the national executive committee of the labour party. she has now resigned her membership of the labour party. >> yes, and she has been. now that seat is iain duncan smith's seat. so this would have been a very big one for to her win. but yes, she has now resigned from the party. she was deselected and she's been very vocal hasn't she, in recent days. she said that the labour party is has been systematically, islamophobic in the like . did islamophobic in the like. did she not? and she said all sorts of things. so it's hardly surprising, perhaps, that she's chosen to resign.

>> it's interesting because this feeds into this, wave of left wing activity and independent activity. there are all sorts of groups now that are funding green candidates , independent green candidates, independent candidates, pro—palestine candidates. jeremy corbyn is standing, of course, as an independent candidate in islington . there'll be a islington. there'll be a question mark over whether faiza shaheen now will stand as an independent candidate in chingford and woodford green, and whether that will split the left wing vote of course, nominations will not close , for nominations will not close, for that seat until the end of the week as they do across the country. so we won't know who the candidates are until that point. >> yeah, she was very upset indeed. so it'll be very interesting to see if she decides to go it alone. go in on an independent ticket. but that's the breaking news. she's decided to resign from labour and has put out a statement to that effect. but of course, chingford and woodford green, of course, as we have mentioned, one of the candidates who is standing in that seat, it's

worth mentioning that for the greens, chris brody is standing, iain duncan smith for the conservatives, josh hadley for the liberal democrats, yusuf khan for the workers party of great britain, paul lowry for reform uk and for labour, shama tatler has replaced faiza shaheen. >> so that's the list for that seat. >> well there you go, now more on the breaking news that a cyber attack has affected some major hospitals in london, affecting services like blood transfusions , some of which have transfusions, some of which have had to be cancelled. well, our reporter charlie peters joins us now to tell us more because charlie, a hugely concerning development. >> that's right, tom, and a critical incident has now been declared as several hospitals in london have been caught up in this incident. >> as you understand, it's the royal brompton hospital in chelsea , guys in saint thomas's chelsea, guys in saint thomas's in lambeth, the kings college hospital in denmark hill, camberwell, south london, and also the harefield hospital out in hillingdon. also the harefield hospital out in hillingdon . so several in hillingdon. so several hospitals caught in this

situation . also some primary situation. also some primary care centres, to according health sources. and the crux of this issue revolves around a pathology company called synovus. it's had contracts with the nhs since 2021, and it's understood that a cyber attack has affected its it systems and it deals mostly in clinical pathology. so it's the assessment of blood diagnosis. this is limiting transfusions, particularly blood transfusions. but when you can't safely bring blood into a patient that's going to have knock on effects on other potentially risky surgeries where there is a concern around potential haemorrhaging or massive blood loss during those procedures, you need to know that the pathology has been done and the blood sources are safe. so that's had a significant effect. speaking to medical sources in the last hour, a medic in king's college hospital down in denmark

hill told me that several surgeries, surgeries that were planned for today were cancelled . today, people getting prepped for theatre suddenly cancelled . for theatre suddenly cancelled. they had no idea when procedures might return and did say that it was an awful situation in the hospital. lots of panicking going on as they react to this dire situation. there's no indication of what might occur now, and there's also very limited information on the cause of this cyber attack. as we understand it, it's a ransomware attack. and for those who aren't used to these situations, that's when details and files are encrypted by a hostile actor, who then often in cases of trying to take over money or influence, will then offer the encryption code to allow the source to have access to those files . but as source to have access to those files. but as we source to have access to those files . but as we understand it, files. but as we understand it, a ransomware attack has now occurred completely encrypting the synovus pathology details , the synovus pathology details, limiting clinicians access to

that information , which, as you that information, which, as you said, has massively limited access to that pathology data. putting lots of surgeries at risk and many procedures cancelled today across at least four major hospitals in london. we also understand that it includes the evelina centre at guy's and saint thomas's. the evelina centre is the paediatric care unit in london. it's a significant children's hospital that's also being affected by this ransomware attack . more this ransomware attack. more information in the next few hours, i'm sure. >> hugely worrying charlie, not only for patients, of course. staff members too, but for national security for hospitals hit by a cyber attack. and you say, as it stands, we don't actually know where this came from. >> that's right. the first bit of information seems to have come out yesterday when synovus was first affected by this. it attack, but information has only reached us in the last few hours, with the critical incident being declared. as far as we can tell, just after

midday in the last couple of hours, no information on the source of this cyberattack, which, as we said, is understood to be a ransomware attack and no further information on when it might be recovered. one source speaking to the health service journal earlier today, said that access accessing pathology data could take weeks, not days . so could take weeks, not days. so a very troubling situation for people who are lined up for procedures in these major central london hospitals over the coming days, raises the question about security in all these hospitals . these hospitals. >> i know that a lot of the it systems are running very old tech. this isn't the first time there's been a cyber attack on there's been a cyber attack on the nhs . charlie, we'll be back the nhs. charlie, we'll be back with you as anything else develops on this breaking story. >> but in other news, could tonight's first tv debate between rishi sunak and sir keir starmer be a critical point? even a turning point in the race for number 10? >> well, as things stand, the labour party is on course to win a landslide victory, according

to the latest gb news people's poll. yes it sees 46% of the pubuc poll. yes it sees 46% of the public voting for labour, while 22% would vote conservative. and a new yougov poll says that labouris a new yougov poll says that labour is on course to win 422 seats in the commons, leaving the tories with just 140 seats. and that was a big special, what's known as an mrp mega poll . but could the leaders of these two parties facing off on the cameras tonight change that dynamic ? dynamic? >> well, joining us now is christopher hope gb news political editor christopher, put that question to you. could this tv debate have a significant impact ? significant impact? >> hi, tom. hi, emily. that's right. >> well, you're joining me in salford. in manchester, where later on today we're going to hear from both the main two party leaders, sir keir starmer. rishi sunak debating head to head for the first time of this election campaign for itv . 9 election campaign for itv. 9 pm. till 10 pm. we'll be live p.m. till 10 pm. we'll be live for viewers of gb news in the

spin room. >> i'm there to talking the colleagues of theirs shadow ministers, ministers leading up to and after that big event. >> but it could. >> but it could. >> yeah, it could be, i think, a significant moment. >> i think it's the first chance, i think, for voters to look at sir keir starmer, the labour leader. he's been doing some preparation and for rishi sunak he's well known, but he may want to appear more headmasterly than head boy like. but earlier we heard from sir keir starmer, the labour leader, about here, how he had been getting ready for tonight's big debate. >> very good, i'm looking forward to the opportunity to speak directly to voters through the debate and to put our case because at the end of the day, it is that clear choice. and i think voters will see that tonight more of the same. and 14 years of this, and after 14 years, nothing is better than when the tories started . we can when the tories started. we can end that, turn the page and start to rebuild our country with the labour party. and i'm much looking forward to be able

to make that argument in the debates this evening. well look, we have got a team preparing with me. it's much the same team as for parliamentary for pmqs, and i suppose the best bit for the staff is that they get the opportunity in the debate prep to put the difficult questions to put the difficult questions to me. so they're relishing that i >> -- >> keir starmer there, the labour leader now it's quite clear that for many this will be the first opportunity to get a look at sir keir starmer. we see him weekly, don't we? on pmqs live on gb news when he grills rishi sunak asking questions of him. but now it's back on keir starmer. what would you do if you became prime minister? four weeks in a month's time, a month today as a general election, of course, rishi sunak, he practised for these kind of debates when he debated with liz truss back in those leadership debates back in 2022. back then, he became like a duracell bunny, often interrupting, liz truss. that annoyed viewers, annoyed voters, he it was almost he was told he was mansplaining to a

woman. so i think he may want to rein him back in and be more presidential, be more like a prime minister and less like the head boy, which he can appear at sometimes . sometimes. >> well, christopher hope, thank you very much for that preview. we look forward to you in the spin room. hopefully grabbing some of the biggest beasts from both of those parties and getting them head to head. well, let's speak now to the former special adviser, kevin maher, because kevin , a lot of people because kevin, a lot of people have been questioning whether this was smart for keir starmer to set this race up as sunak versus starmer. isn't that the framing that number 10 wants to say that it's either this guy or this guy, and no other parties have a look in? >> that's a very good point. >> that's a very good point. >> i mean, it's high risk, for both men and for lots of different reasons. but i think, i think what we would probably both agree on is that the kind of format where you've got multiple party leaders, never really works in terms of

television, and it never really works in terms of politics ehhen works in terms of politics either. and what it tends to do is elevate that, fringe parties and perhaps give them far more welly, than they either would get on their own merits or perhaps deserve as well. so i suspect that there's a, there's a, there's a slight accord between both the red and blue camps here to say, actually, in reality, only one of us is ever going to be stood on the threshold of number 10 on the 4th of july, so, so why why don't we just cut to the chase and do this between us anyway? because that's the fundamental choice, i guess, that that's put before voters at a general election. >> yes. but, kevin, lots of people getting in touch saying, why on earth aren't the other leaders involved in this? they want to see what everyone else has to say. it's not just rishi sunak and keir starmer standing for election . for election. >> it is. i mean, in a sense, you're never going to get a format that everybody agrees on. i mean, you could look at this and say, should ed davey is a leader of the liberal democrats beyond. but i mean, the lib dems

at the moment only have a very small number of seats. what about the snp? what about plaid comrie? what about george galloway and the reform? >> of course, nigel farage and of course, nigel farage? >> of course. absolutely. so, you know, you would you would get a very kind of big and growing kind of ensemble of political leaders. although kevin may potentially end up like that, though potentially it actually suits keir starmer to not have any attacks from his left to not have the snp saying you've u—turned on this and that and the other to not have plied khumri. >> speaking about how the welsh labour party is imploding and has kicked the plied agreement out of the senate. i mean, there's lots of different angles from which keir starmer would be under pressure from the left, not least over israel and palestine as well. perhaps it's actually suits both of these gentlemen who are perhaps uniquely unpopular as party leaders, to avoid any criticism from the smaller parties. >> it's one of the few areas of real, probably agreement in a general election campaign that

in a sense, you would end up with, as i say, both the captain of the red team and the captain of the red team and the captain of the red team and the captain of the blue team sort of stood there like rorke's drift, fending off, political attacks from from left and right and all over the place. so i think, i think this is, this is the forum where we might get, more light than heat, but it may be that, of course , in the context of the of course, in the context of the rest of the campaign, that there has to be full balance. there has to be full balance. there has to be a format where other party leaders are invited as well. so we'll wait and see what happens on that score. but this will probably be in terms of telling us most about the kind of the key campaigns. this is probably the most important moment so far in the general election campaign, and probably for the rest of it as well, suspect. >> yes, but let me let's be honest, the british public don't have too much trust, in the leaders of these two parties or indeedin leaders of these two parties or indeed in politicians as a whole. i mean, how much will people actually change their mind viewing this? will it just be you know, people are looking for the usual soundbites, aren't they? really? that's what they're expecting. >> it is it's high risk for both

men. and they'll both play a defensive game. and you know, it's a bit like , you know, a it's a bit like, you know, a defensive boxing match or a defensive boxing match or a defensive world cup final. it doesn't actually make brilliant television because everybody, you know, because there's so much at stake, no one can afford to make a slip. and the preparation for these events is just a gigantic list of do's and don'ts. really. so, so, so know your stuff , but, but but it's your stuff, but, but but it's difficult for a prime minister. it's probably a bit more difficult for a prime minister, because you're aware of the totality of everything that's going on at any one time. so, rishi sunak, you know, finding the time to prep for this properly is just really , really properly is just really, really difficult given he's running, obviously, such a frenetic election campaign himself. anyway, so a lot to lose for rishi sunak. but in a sense also a lot for keir starmer to kind of seal the deal with the british public as well, in a format that, you know, the pubuc format that, you know, the public really don't like, listening to politicians prattle on for an hour on prime time television. so in a sense, it's a no score draw is probably the best anyone's going to get. >> no, i fear it might be slightly underwhelming, the sort

of two rather nasal leaders of both parties. what might be more interesting is friday's undercard debate with, penny mordaunt and angela rayner and nigel farage and these bigger personalities. perhaps that will actually be where the magic happens. but kevin marr, we're going to leave it there. thank you very much for joining us, former special adviser. >> well, still to come, we're heading to portsmouth, where events are taking place ahead of the 80th anniversary of d—day this thursday. you're watching. good afternoon, britain. we're on

gb news. well. good afternoon. britain. it's 227. and more on the events taking place ahead of the 80th anniversary of d—day this thursday. >> veterans are travelling to france ahead of the big day commemorating the largest amphibious landing in military history, which saw more than

150,000 allied troops risking their lives by storming those nazi occupied beaches in normandy and creating that that that fundamental turning point in the second world war. >> yes. well, looking ahead to the anniversary is our home and security editor, mark white, who's in portsmouth, mark, veterans have made quite the journey . journey. >> well, they have indeed. >> well, they have indeed. >> and although many of them are now wheelchair bound, struggling with various infirmities, because the youngest of these veterans is 97, there are 20 centenarians that have made the journey down to portsmouth so far. it is a real toll on them. but they wanted to be for here the commemorations because they know this is a big commemoration, 80 years on from d—day and probably the last of the big commemorations that we

will see veteran representation . will see veteran representation. the last time on the 75th anniversary of d—day, there were some 500 uk veterans of d—day. now according to the ministry of defence, there are fewer than 100. so a very poignant commemoration this particular yeah commemoration this particular year. that's why, of course, senior royals vip , many senior royals vip, many thousands of members of the military and members of the pubuc military and members of the public will be gathering to celebrate. and we saw the ferry going out this morning from portsmouth carrying veterans over to normandy. some 30 veterans on that ferry to begin with. it was accompanied by a small flotilla, a minesweeper , a small flotilla, a minesweeper, a couple of patrol boats, some old world war ii era motor torpedo boats , sailing ship. it was boats, sailing ship. it was still impressive, but nothing in

comparison to that armada of 7000 vessels big and small, including 1200 warships that took part in the naval operation took part in the naval operation to land those troops on the five beaches of normandy on the 6th of june, 1944. and i spoke to a number of people that gathered to watch that flotilla leave portsmouth this morning. this is what they said, and it's just a privilege to be here today with the freedom that we all have and that a lot of people maybe take for granted a little bit fantastic, fantastic taste. >> i think more people should be here really, really can't allowed, can't actually, and, really cool. >> and yesterday it was so humbling actually , to be invited humbling actually, to be invited to southwark house north of portsmouth , which was the nerve portsmouth, which was the nerve centre for the naval operation to get these ships across to normandy to meet the veterans as

they arrived. they're taken there by london taxi. and among those i spoke to was george chandler , who was a 19 year old chandler, who was a 19 year old rating with the royal navy on board a motor torpedo boat out in the channel tasked with trying to keep the fleet safe from german attack. and he was at omaha beach, which was, a landing spot, of course, mainly for american forces. and he still recalls very vividly the absolutely horrific scenes that he saw, the slaughter. he described it to me on the beaches of normandy . beaches of normandy. >> unfortunately , we had to die >> unfortunately, we had to die outside and watched it going on and it wasn't it wasn't very nice to actually watch these kids . and they were kids. they kids. and they were kids. they were young. i was 19 at the

time. these kids were younger than me. i know they were , we've than me. i know they were, we've we've all heard of the brash american you . boy, oh, boy, were american you. boy, oh, boy, were we pleased . they were like that we pleased. they were like that every time i talk to somebody about d—day , i'm there. i'm about d—day, i'm there. i'm there on d—day , watching these there on d—day, watching these young american rangers tried to get into the. so some of them were killed before they even got off their assault craft . off their assault craft. >> well, it's just incredibly moving and humbling to listen to the recollection of veterans like george chandler . like george chandler. >> one or fewer than 100 d—day veterans from the uk who are still surviving but determined to be here for these few days of

commemorations to remember their fallen comrades. >> well, thank you very much indeed, mark white there, our home and security editor from portsmouth. >> yeah, really important to listen to those stories. the further we get away from events like d—day, the fewer of those stories we can listen to right from the source. >> absolutely , but coming up, >> absolutely, but coming up, relationships may have frayed or relationships may have frayed or relations may have frayed between the once close beckhams and the sussexes. all all whilst the couples go head to head on their netflix popularity. we're going to hear from a showbiz expert and we've got huge numbers of your views to get through to, so stay tuned for that. >> it's 233. good afternoon to you. i'm aaron armstrong in the gb newsroom. the home secretary, james cleverly, has refused to clarify exactly how many migrant visas will be allowed each year after vowing to introduce an annual cap. the conservatives have pledged to limit entry for

those coming to the uk to work or to join family in an effort to reduce immigration. mps would vote on a number that was recommended by the migration advisory committee. net levels of migration the difference between people leaving and arriving in the uk each year are three times higher than they were in 2019, but james cleverly says their plan will strike a balance between the benefit and cost of migration . cost of migration. >> if we are returned to government, we have committed to a scheme to cap the level of work related visas. the migration advisory committee will crunch the numbers to balance the economic needs of the country against the pressure on public services, and suggest to the government a level . to the government a level. >> labour leader sir keir starmer says the conservatives are responsible for the rising number and has pointed out this policy reverses a decision. the party took four years ago when it reformed the immigration system as part of brexit.

>> the conservatives have let immigration get out of control. >> we've got record numbers of people coming to this country and they've now said they're going to have a visa cap. they've not said what the number is. they've got a visa cap without a cap , we is. they've got a visa cap without a cap, we did is. they've got a visa cap without a cap , we did have is. they've got a visa cap without a cap, we did have a visa cap before. rishi sunak. are you to get rid of it, which they did in 2020, and now they're going back to it. but without a number, it is utter chaos. >> the lib dems are promising free personal care for adults in need, including the elderly and disabled. so ed davey says he wants to pay carers an extra £2 an hour above the national living wage and add the £37 billion of investment they are pledging, he says, will ultimately benefit the nhs. he is himself a carer for a disabled son and has described the issue as a deeply personal one. finally, a labour candidate who has dropped last week after liking social media posts

criticising israel and its actions in gaza, has now quit the party. faiza shaheen, an economist, was set to contest the chingford and woodford green seat held by the former tory leader, sir iain duncan smith. well she's accused labour of subjecting her to a systematic campaign of racism, islamophobia and bullying. miss shaheen may still stand as independent. she is to make an announcement tomorrow . and we'll have more at tomorrow. and we'll have more at the top of the next hour. you can get more right now by signing up to gb news alerts, the qr codes on your screen and the qr codes on your screen and the details are on our website, gb news.

com >> right 239 is the time, and martin daubney is up next. he joins us now. martin, you're on

from three. what have you got in store ? store? >> well, stand by for a sensational gb news political exclusive. >> we can confirm up to six conservative candidates are set to sensation defect to reform ahead of the deadline. 4 pm. this friday. could be the doomsday for the prime minister. if those candidates declare for reform and not the conservatives, will have the full inside story on that. as the tories today reported to be haemorrhaging donors. the money is stopping. the candidates are jumping ship. can it get any worse? for rishi sunak? those tv debates now look like everything hangs on them . plus, the hangs on them. plus, the european union goes to the election polls this week . is the election polls this week. is the spirit of brexit in the air across france , germany, the across france, germany, the netherlands, belgium, spain . netherlands, belgium, spain. i'll talk to an expert in brussels who says that, yes, we could be looking at a surge of anti—eu parties across the bloc.

plus, an airline is saying we should ban booze on long haul flights because a few people have heart attacks. is that a sensible precaution or is it mile high? nanny state nonsense. all coming up three till six. >> how exciting . 6 to >> how exciting. 6 to 7 potential tory defections to the reform party. i mean, that would be catastrophic for rishi sunaks chances. >> well, it all depends on which seats, which seats standing in. are these former mps, or are these candidates in unwinnable? isuppose these candidates in unwinnable? i suppose you'll have all the information. good stuff. >> martin, well, there you go. i mean, no , but in terms of how it mean, no, but in terms of how it looks. yeah, how it looks to the electorate, more defections to to, reform with nigel farage now at the helm of that party. what's going to happen there? is it true? and when will it happen ? >> well, 7- >> well, i ? >> well, i suppose 7 >> well, i suppose some of the big, big discussions that people will be having today all centre on this evening because the prime minister and keir starmer have both basically gone to ground today. they're all preparing for the big showdown

tonight. their head to head , in tonight. their head to head, in that debate on itv. >> yes, indeed . what will >> yes, indeed. what will happen? will it be a game changer? or if people already made up their minds? we had a little chat a little bit earlier about , handwriting or the demise about, handwriting or the demise of it, among children. anyway, kelly says got my seven year old writing letters to his favourite footballers to encourage him to write. he was chuffed to bits to get autographs from jack grealish, erling haaland and even marcus rashford . now he's even marcus rashford. now he's an unstoppable autograph collecting letter writer. his handwriting is coming on a tree. what a fantastic idea . i am very what a fantastic idea. i am very pro handwriting, alison says my four year old grandson jude wrote me a letter at the weekend about how much he loved his nanny, alison. it was all mixed up letters, but he signed it with his name . we should with his name. we should encourage our children and grandchildren to take pen to paper as much as possible. i'm one proud nanny that is a lovely story. >> oh, isn't that lovely? and it doesn't matter if they're all jumbled up, you know. it's the

effort that matters. >> four years old. it's impressive live. >> but, tom suggested that maybe girls are more likely to write in their spare time. just for fun. yeah shelley agrees. she says it's definitely a gender issue. my daughter spent most of her spare time writing and drawing things in beautiful handmade books and cards. however, my son, who is ten months younger than her, never picked up a pen unless it was absolutely essential and usually with lots of moaning from me. you know, that reminds me of, i once received a little book with a fish and it was all sparkly all over it and what i had to do with it, i had to go around my class and get all my friends to write a little poem or something nice about me in it, and it was so lovely. and i've still got it. wow. yeah >> what do i, i don't, i don't think i have, i can look back on it and see what my seven year old friends thought of me at the time. goodness, i hope they were telling the truth. >> yeah, so maybe it is a girly thing. i did go to a girls school. >> maybe, goodness me, i'm. i mean, i suppose it depends. it depends how you define your your

free time. of course. i wrote sort of thank you letters after receiving christmas presents and all the rest of it. >> but i know what we're talking about here, i hasten to say, was that under duress, you've got to be creative. yes, you're probably forced. you're probably forced. and we did discuss whether the rich should pay for their own health care, i tend to think that if you've paid into the system, you should be able to use it. but lillian says, yes, the rich should pay for health care. we know many who pay health care. we know many who pay to see a private consultant and then are then referred to the nhs, and these people could easily afford to pay for their treatment. whilst many, like ourselves wouldn't be able to. but yes, if you've paid lots of tax into the system, surely you should be able to use the services, but perhaps not at the moment. >> well, keep those views coming in, and of course we'll be looking at d—day as well. ian has written in on that very subject. we'll no longer have any first hand accounts. will soon no longer have any first hand accounts of what happened on d—day or other major events in the second world war. isn't it time we made this a part of the school curriculum? well, ian, i couldn't agree with you

more. but i do think it is. i think we do do a lot of tudors, second world war and romans. those are the, i think, the three things that just about every school child should be learning about. and are right. >> oh, this is one of my mum's gnpes >> oh, this is one of my mum's gripes. when she was a teenager, a teenager, a teacher, she was so frustrated with how history wasn't taught in a chronological way. we sort of jumped around so you went from, you know, civil war over here in the united states or the civil rights movement, and then to the second world war. it was all higgledy piggledy. >> you know, what we don't do and i don't think this is on the national curriculum, but it really should be the glorious revolution of 1688. i mean, the foundation of our of our modern constitution and our liberties, bill of rights. we should do all of that , and the sort of of that, and the sort of supremacy of parliament. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> tom. anyway, coming up, we're going to live in normandy ahead of d—day anniversary, i believe, with ellie

>> good afternoon. britain. it's 12 minutes to three. and now for some breaking news. as nigel farage, the leader of reform uk , farage, the leader of reform uk, has had a drink thrown in his face while out on the campaign trail today, a mcdonald's milkshake was thrown at him by a member of the public. now this has happened to him before, has it not? >> it has. and it's happened to other politicians. i mean, is this really the way we want to 90, this really the way we want to go, you know, there is so much intimidation of politicians. lie—ins we've had mps coming out to say that every mp should have a protection officer. we known nigel is out with the public very frequently , but this this very frequently, but this this is just not acceptable. you don't have to agree with nigel farage's politics. and not do such a thing. >> well, i think we've got video of the last time this happened. this was back in 2019, yes, let's have a look at i believe it was in, in newcastle, if i

remember correctly, and a milkshake was thrown at him. and of course, it doesn't need explaining that throwing liquid unidentified liquids over individual cells in public for very, very obvious reasons is a very, very obvious reasons is a very scary thing. we have seen instances in our major cities in recent years of people throwing things that aren't milkshakes and throwing liquid. that is much more corrosive over individuals. if this sort of behaviour is normalised, i can see this going in a dark, dark, kind of pathetic individual . kind of pathetic individual. >> who does that? i mean, oh, look at me, i'm such a big man. i'm gonna. i assume it's a man. it could be a female. it's a woman. oh it's a woman. well, there you go. there you go, let's not be sexist here. equal opportunities for this type of behaviour. but there you go. nigel farage has had a drink thrown in his face out on the

campaign . so there you go. campaign. so there you go. >> that is going to be on a lot of the news. >> make of that what you will tomorrow morning, but to end the show today ahead of the 80th anniversary of d—day, on thursday, our presenter, ellie costello, is in normandy for the arrival of the torch of commemoration. well, d—day veterans are arriving now. ellie, what's going on? >> good afternoon, tom and emily. yes, i'm at ouistreham port in normandy. emily. yes, i'm at ouistreham port in normandy . and right as port in normandy. and right as we speak, the british veterans, 20 of them, have just arrived off this ferry . you can see off this ferry. you can see behind me. they have just been brought down from that ferry in these special vehicles . and with these special vehicles. and with them they have this torch of commemoration which they are going to pass on to some very young people here in the port. this has all been organised by the commonwealth war graves commission, and their message is light , their legacy. and it is light, their legacy. and it is quite literally about this

generation in this great war generation, these men who are now in their 90s, perhaps even into their hundreds, are back on the beaches of normandy 80 years after storming them so bravely in order to make europe free once more. and now they are here to pass on the torch to the next generation. they set off from portsmouth at 8:00 this morning on that brittany ferry that you might be able to see just behind these veterans here, and you can just imagine how emotional that passage was for them. >> mick, emotions. >> mick, emotions. >> smiles are being with their their friends again, but also great sadness that knowing those that that never made it onshore. and we do know that they did actually lay a wreath on board that ferry today in order to honour and commemorate those who never did make it onshore. they have then made their way off their ferry, and we know that they've been, brought over by

their friends, their family, the world's press, which we can also see around me right now. and actually looking out around the port, there are thousands of people gathered trying to catch a glimpse of these british veterans and waving to them from the streets around this port. it has really been such a moving few moments here. the pipers actually. you might be able to catch a glimpse of the pipers just behind these veterans were playing as that ferry came into port. so it really has been such a moving few moments . so once a moving few moments. so once this torch of commemoration is passed on to the younger generation, and you might be able to catch a glimpse of it. now, if you're listening on the radio, this torch of commemoration has just been seen there in front of these veterans. it's going to be passed to a frenchman and an engush passed to a frenchman and an english young woman, and that torch is then going to be given a military escort out of this

port. and that torch will then go on to light the war graves across normandy. it's going to be a huge operation. 25,000 war graves. those headstones are going to be lit up through candles by local schoolchildren and communities , so that all of and communities, so that all of them will be illuminated by d—day on thursday morning. so it is going to be a very busy operation to get all of those war graves illuminated in time. but what a fitting tribute that is to such brave men. and these veterans here that we can see in front of these cars waiting to pass on this torch of commemoration. you can only imagine how exhausted they are. these men in their 90s and in their hundreds now they've been on that ferry since 8:00 this morning, but they are still at least the two i can see in front of me are standing with all their medals on their chest. really are incredible men from an incredible generation. and it's so important that we don't forget them. and that's why this year's theme from the commonwealth war graves

commission of lighting their legacy is just so, so very important. you may have seen that survey out last week from the commonwealth war graves commission that showed that nearly half of young adults do not know what d—day is. 48% of people didn't realise that that was the date that allied forces landed on the beaches of normandy . and that is why this normandy. and that is why this awareness, this education, is just so important to hear the eyewitness accounts of these brave, brave men and what they saw here on the beaches of normandy, just 20, making it over on the ferry this year. in 2019, there were 255 veterans who made this very same journey. so it just goes to show, doesn't it, that we are losing this generation and how important it is to remember their stories and remember the ultimate sacrifice . remember the ultimate sacrifice. >> moment, ellie. and this is an important commemoration, particularly for the future generations, because, as you

say, these these people, these heroes really are perhaps won't be around for the future anniversaries. certainly not the hundredth . hundredth. >> well, thank you very much indeed. >> well, thank you very much indeed . ellie costello there gb indeed. ellie costello there gb news presenter live from normandy. bringing that special moment a moving moment, a commemoration passing on the memory to future generations. thank you very much indeed for joining us today. that's it from us. >> absolutely. but we'll have so much more with a packed show back for you tomorrow and do stick around for martin daubney. he'll have so much more information on that scoop that he's going to be delivering on. just how many conservative candidates could well be switching to reform ahead of the deadline. that close of nominations later this week all to come after three. i'm patrick christys every weeknight from nine, i bring you two hours of unmissable, explosive debate and

headune unmissable, explosive debate and headline grabbing interviews. >> what impact has that had? >> what impact has that had? >> we got death threats in the bomb threat and so on. >> our job is to do what's in >> ourjob is to do what's in the best interest of our country. >> you made my argument for me one at a time. my guests and i tackle the issues that

>>a >> a very good afternoon to you. >> a very good afternoon to you. >> it's 3 pm. >>— >> it's 3 pm. >> and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. >> we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk . across the uk. >> on today's show, gb news can exclusively reveal that six tory candidates are on the verge of censorship , candidates are on the verge of censorship, only candidates are on the verge of censorship , only defecting to censorship, only defecting to the reform party. it spells a huge headache for rishi sunak ahead of tonight's first live tv debate, we'll bring you all the latest and all the inside information. >> and this comes as the tories of today plans to deliver what david cameron promised in 2010 to cap legal