news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 12:00 on wednesday, the 5th of june. i'm tom harwood , and i'm june. i'm tom harwood, and i'm emily carver. yesterday they clashed in tv on the first debate. today they're united in paying debate. today they're united in paying respect to those who lost their lives in the liberation of normandy. we'll bring you live coverage of the events marking the 80th anniversary of d—day . the 80th anniversary of d—day. >> and of course, we'll have full analysis of that. tv leaders clash. what's the truth behind the prime minister's 2000 labour tax hike? claim and did keir starmer really say he'd rather a loved one die on an nhs waiting list than use private health care? >> and after a shaky start for

nigel farage in clacton yesterday, we're asking just how safe a politician's during this election campaign and should more be done to protect them . more be done to protect them. >> it's quite extraordinary what happened to nigel farage yesterday? >> it's not the first time it's happened, a young woman deciding to take it upon herself to throw something at him when he's out on the election campaign. it's not the first time this sort of thing has happened, though, is it? >> well, i think it's probably the first time that it's been a young woman, but she does seem to be something of a self—promoter, if we're to believe everything we read in the sun newspaper this morning, yes, that's true. she is a young entrepreneur. yes, one could say in, in, the oldest and most noble profession , but yes, lots noble profession, but yes, lots of things have happened before, haven't they? ed miliband was

pelted by an egg on the campaign trail. you also had, a teenager throw an egg at david cameron. is an egg different? >> i think an egg is different. i think i think there is a time honoured tradition of egging politicians and not advocate violence. it's been we've seen every politician under the sun be egged since time immemorial. it's a it's a it's an english tradition . it's probably a tradition. it's probably a western tradition. you throw eggs at politicians. that's just sort of that. you sort of expect that, i think. i think milkshakes are different. tomato. oh, that is proper tradition . we need stocks in tradition. we need stocks in stocks in town squares for politicians. really but but i think milkshakes are different. and here's why. you've got you've got a container which could have anything in it. you're running up to someone . you're running up to someone. and we're talking in a time where, of course, people have had all sorts thrown on them. corrosive substances, acid, alkaline fluids . we don't want alkaline fluids. we don't want to normalise the idea of running up to someone with a receptacle

because it's the unknown, and then throwing it in their face. however, someone's holding an egg. if someone's holding an 999, egg. if someone's holding an egg, it's not like they're holding a grenade. >> peter mandelson and the, custard to the face. >> yeah, i think that's a bit that's a bit more extreme , isn't that's a bit more extreme, isn't it? yes. i'm less i'm less keen on that. i think there's a difference between eggs and liquid. that's my that's my device. well, nigel farage said, you know, this happened to me because i'm the only politician who goes out and about in this way. >> but our politicians safe too, in this day and age. gbnews.com/yoursay would love to get your views on the debate last night if you watched it, or if you've seen all the follow up and who came out on top. and what do you make to those, those claims around the £2,000 labour tax rise and also keir starmer , tax rise and also keir starmer, saying that he'd rather a loved one stay on an nhs waiting list than, pay for private health care. but first your headlines. >> good afternoon. from the gb newsroom. at 12:03. your top

story this hour. the king has paid tribute to d—day veterans ahead of the 80th anniversary. the nation is coming together today in portsmouth to honour troops who crossed the channel 80 years ago as they headed into the battle of a lifetime . both the battle of a lifetime. both prime minister rishi sunak and sir keir starmer are attending the uk's national commemoration eventin the uk's national commemoration event in portsmouth alongside the king, queen and prince of wales and armed forces veterans. meanwhile, across the channel normandy prepares to honour the d—day legacy. chief of the general staff sir patrick sanders, who's in portsmouth, has told gb news about the jeopardy of d—day. >> so nearly didn't happen, 80 years ago. and the gamble that eisenhower took with the weather paid off. but it was a very, very different set of circumstances 80 years ago. and what always strikes me about these events is this is living memory. you know, people who took part are alive today. and for many of the younger generation, this feels like ancient history. and of course

it's not. it really happened. so it's not. it really happened. so it's fantastic to be able to share it with the veterans who took part . but it's also took part. but it's also important that all of us as a nafion important that all of us as a nation remembers the courage, the sacrifice that the extraordinary national endeavour that went into this, the largest amphibious operation in history. >> the conservatives are standing by rishi sunak claim that labour would raise taxes if sir keir starmer became prime minister. labour insists the claim is a lie. it comes as both leaders traded blows on the economy, nhs and immigration as they faced off in the first tv debate of 2024 election campaign. rishi sunak claimed sir keir starmer would raid pensions pot and hike taxes by £2,000 per household. shadow chancellor rachel reeves says the tories are lying. >> well. the letter from the permanent secretary of the treasury confirms what labour had said last night that the prime minister lied in the debate last night. labour has no plans to increase taxes on working people. in fact, i have

ruled out increases in income tax, national insurance and vat for the duration of the next parliament. >> meanwhile, energy secretary claire coutinho has reiterated the prime minister's claims. >> keir starmer couldn't do is he couldn't rule out the fact that his policies as set out by the labour party, would cost families £2,000 in extra taxes . families £2,000 in extra taxes. and he couldn't rule out the fact that pensioners, for the first time under labour plans, would have to pay tax on their state pension next year. and actually that's the substance of what people are choosing between. and i really thought actually it was quite shocking that on all of those major issues, keir starmer was woolly. he didn't have any clear plans or proposals to address some of the challenges that the country is facing . is facing. >> in other news, the first minister of wales has insisted that he's feeling confident about winning the vote of no confidence. he faces in the senedd. later today, welsh conservatives tabled a motion of

no confidence in vaughan gething following the collapse of the cooperation deal between labour and plaid cymru, and a series of rows . concerns were raised after rows. concerns were raised after mr gething accepted a donation from a man convicted of environmental offences. mr gething has also refused to show any evidence to explain why he sacked senedd member hannah blythe from his government, after he accused her of leaking messages to the media. american amanda knox has been found guilty of slander over accusations she made in relation to the murder of her british flatmate in perugia in two thousand and seven, an italian court issued a three year sentence for wrongly accusing congolese bar owner patrick lumumba of the killing of meredith kercher in an earlier case, knox had spent four years in jail for the killing, but that conviction was annulled in 2015. the sentence will have no practical impact, as it is covered by the time knox has already spent in jail to germany, where a local politician from the right wing

alternative for germany party has been injured in a knife attack. the incident in mannheim comes just days after another stabbing attack at an anti—islam demonstration in which a policeman was killed in the latest incident, the attacker was detained and the injured politician is in hospital, according to local reports and the first banknotes carrying the portrait of king charles will go into circulation today. notes that feature queen elizabeth ii will remain legal tender and co—circulate alongside the king. the new ones will only be printed to replace those that are worn, or to meet any overall increase in demand , in order to increase in demand, in order to minimise the environmental and financial impact of the change. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. common shirts. now it's back to tom and .

it's back to tom and. emily. >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:08 now. tomorrow will mark 80 years since the largest amphibious landing in military history. it saw more than 150,000 allied troops from the united kingdom , canada and the united kingdom, canada and the united kingdom, canada and the united states of america, risking their lives by storming nazi occupied beaches in normandy . normandy. >> yes, and to mark this momentous occasion, crowds have begun to gather in normandy and portsmouth, including the prime minister, rishi sunak, and the labour leader , sir keir starmer, labour leader, sir keir starmer, who, after battling it out in last night's heated tv debate, they're very much united in paying they're very much united in paying their respects to those who lost their lives in the fight for liberation . fight for liberation. >> but let's start off by crossing to the other side of the channel to normandy, and speak with our gb news reporter sophie reaper, who's been there all week. and, sophie, things are really getting underway now .

are really getting underway now. >> they are indeed, and thankfully , the weather here on thankfully, the weather here on gold beach in arromanches is absolutely glorious. the sun is shining, the sky is blue, the channelis shining, the sky is blue, the channel is looking absolutely beautiful. i must say that is completely unlike the weather. it would have been 80 years ago on d—day when in fact general eisenhower had to push back d—day by 24 hours. it was supposed to take place on the 5th of june 1944, but because of those adverse weather conditions, he instead decided to have it on the 6th of june. so a little bit of history for you there. now, as i say, we're joining you on gold beach , just joining you on gold beach, just over this shoulder. if you travel down the coastline that way, you would see, omaha and utah beach , the beach that the utah beach, the beach that the american troops would have landed on. if you then follow the coastline the opposite direction, you would come to juno beach, which was the beach the canadian troops landed on. and you'd also find sword beach,

which along with gold beach, where we are right now , that was where we are right now, that was the beach where our very own british troops would have landed on that day 80 years ago. now arromanches is a very special place because it played a really crucial role on d—day. this is where mulberry harbour, an artificial port, was installed . artificial port, was installed. in fact, you can actually see just behind me here part of it is still there. there are other bits scattered around on the horizon, but this bit right here is obviously it's right on the beach with us. an incredible, lasting legacy of what happened on that day. and that actually mulberry harbour allowed over 9000 tons of material to be delivered here to gold beach each day of that assault on the beach , of course. absolutely beach, of course. absolutely incredible to be here. you mentioned the build up of these commemorations. there are thousands of people here on arromanches alone across the normandy coastline . it will be normandy coastline. it will be a similar picture and i'm sure it

will be the case for the next 24 hours or so. while we are in the build up to that eight year anniversary of d—day. >> you've been talking to lots of people who've travelled from near and far. where's the furthest , someone's come from ? furthest, someone's come from? >> ooh. that's, that's a big question. let me test my geography. i think, the furthest is probably a couple i spoke to on the first day who'd come from new york. and they'd made the journey really early because they wanted to experience it all. but i think the most unlikely place or perhaps not unlikely, but a place i least expected was, a family from belgium, of course, belgium . in belgium, of course, belgium. in europe, they had been invaded by nazi germany in world war two, and they felt it was it was important for them to come along and show their respect , for what and show their respect, for what the troops on d—day did to liberate belgium and give them the freedom that they and we experience still to this day.

>> it's such an important point because, of course, if this wide second front hadn't been opened up, on gold beach , on juno up, on gold beach, on juno beach, on utah beach, across the normandy coastline, and we'd have stayed in the united kingdom, it could have been that the soviet union swept across europe, and that the iron curtain did not fall down halfway through germany as it ended up. but actually, that soviet domination took over the whole of europe right through the 20th century. that's an entirely possible counterfactual . so i suppose it is so important not just for those in france and those that were suffering under nazi occupation , suffering under nazi occupation, but those that might have suffered under soviet occupation to. >> absolutely. and i think the impact of d—day is absolutely not lost on anyone. everyone here in this part of france and around the world recognise that realistically, history could be very , very different if it very, very different if it wouldn't have been for the

bravery of those troops who risked their lives 80 years ago. >> absolutely. thank you so much . sophie reaper there from the beach in normandy. thank you so much. we'll check in with you a little later on, and we're expecting this, magnificent parachute drop. yes. at about 1:00. i believe it is around around that time . so we'll be around that time. so we'll be bringing that to you. live to. that will be quite spectacular to see, i imagine, because it wasn't just the amphibious landing , it wasn't just the amphibious landing, it was wasn't just the amphibious landing , it was a little wasn't just the amphibious landing, it was a little bit further up around the coast where there was an increase double, airdrop of paratroopers , double, airdrop of paratroopers, and those regiments that drop mainly on the american side, on d—day as well, not just those amphibious ducks . well, let's amphibious ducks. well, let's now speak with historian and author martin whittock to give us a little bit more context for all these preparations. just how important was d—day as a moment in history ? in history? >> well, it was staggeringly important because it opened up the second front. >> stalin had been demanding a

second front for over two years, and we simply were not in a position to do that. but the previous august 1943, at the quebec conference, the decision was taken to do this. >> and then in the tehran conference, in november to december 43rd, the date was set, although , as we've heard, it had although, as we've heard, it had to shift by one day. so this was a long time in the planning overseen by shaef. the supreme headquarters of the allied expeditionary force under the supreme command of eisenhower montgomery, british land commander ramsay, at naval forces, often the navy , do not forces, often the navy, do not get enough say or remembrance on this day. they played a huge critical part, lee mallory, the air force also played an important part in the massive bombing campaign that had taken place before d—day. but but you're right. this was this was something that started in the early hours at 12:16 am, just into june, the sixth airborne forces, british airborne forces seized pegasus bridge, a strategic bridge. other airborne

and paratroops landed in the early hours. about 8500 british and 13,000 us paratroopers landed after about 630. about 150,000 men from five divisions, two us, two british, one canadian and that day something like 1449 british, 2501 us and 391 canadians would die. but by the end of the day, the beachhead had been maintained . beachhead had been maintained. it had succeeded in the run up to d—day. eisenhower had written two letters, one a communique of success, and one that was his resignation. isn't that extraordinary? because he knew this was make or break for the western allies in the west and make or break for him as well. but the german defences, though fearful , were not as well fearful, were not as well organised, not as well equipped as they might have been. huge numbers of german soldiers were fighting the soviets , and that fighting the soviets, and that meant their response in the west

was weaker and they also weren't sure if it would happen in normandy or in the pas de calais. >> so, martin, this is what i wanted to get on to. the sort of deception, the deception that the british especially had had foisted upon the germans, the sort of fake tanks and plywood that we'd erected near dover, that we'd erected near dover, that sort of trying to trying to keep the germans guessing where we might actually land. >> absolutely right. an extraordinary deception campaign was launched . they were plywood was launched. they were plywood tanks. they were inflatable tanks. they were inflatable tanks , they're they're seriously tanks, they're they're seriously inflatable tanks. there were tents that had nobody in them. general patton, who would later play general patton, who would later play a significant part in the breakout operation cobra, from the normandy beaches in the run up to d—day, was made the command of a completely fictitious army . and signals fictitious army. and signals were sent, communiques were sent out about his movements and so

on and so forth. the army simply didn't exist. the germans were sure it would happen at pas de calais. some thought it might happenin calais. some thought it might happen in in norway. in fact, it's not often remembered that the hundreds of thousands of german soldiers, 250,000 german troops stayed in norway until the very end of the year, sorry, end of the war. completely useless to the war effort. brilliant deception , absolutely brilliant deception, absolutely staggering deception. and it meant that the germans were divided as to what to do with their panzer corps. so, in fact, on the day rommel only had one panzer unit, 21st panzer, who could be moved towards the coast, all the rest have been held back because they might be needed elsewhere, and the rest the mobile reserve couldn't be moved unless hitler gave the order. hitler always slept late, so the day was well into the 6th of june before they started moving forward, and then they were hammered from the air by raf forces and us air forces. extraordinary. am i right in thinking, martin, that there was also a significant sabotage

operation within france to prevent the quick moving of nazi troops up to normandy? >> it took days for reinforce to arrive. >> absolutely. as well as the raf and the usaaf bombing railheads bombing key transportation hubs. the french resistance were were active all in the weeks running up to d—day. signals have been sent out until the last signal went out. the secret signal, long sobs of autumn violins, pierce my heart with a melancholy languor and the resistance the machine knew it was on. d—day was happening. the germans just could not get troops to the beaches because of disruption to railheads attacks by the raf, but also, of course, by the french resistance , attacking and french resistance, attacking and attacking and attacking. and this caused some terrible atrocities , so, for example, atrocities, so, for example, when the das reich division, went , went into when the das reich division, went, went into oradour sur glane in france, they thought

that there'd be a tax on them as they moved through france by people who were resident in that place. they were wrong and they massacred the entire village because they'd been attacked again and again and again on their way westward towards the beaches by the french resistance. and so we must remember, this was an allied effort that, you know, in the liberation of france, of course, there were the french troops, there were the french troops, there were the polish troops . there were the polish troops. basically, it was a multinational army that launched the liberation. absolutely. >> and martin, i must i must ask you, we've been watching the torch of commemoration make its tour around the uk. we've been heanng tour around the uk. we've been hearing about how important it is that people continue to remember what happened. would love to hear your view on this, how important it is to continue the teaching of history, the teaching of moments like d—day. >> absolutely crucial. crucial because history reminds us of where we're coming from. it gives us an understanding of who we are, and it helps us to look

into the present with the insight of the past. i mean, now is different to the past . every is different to the past. every century is different, but we can learn from the past. we can understand from the past, and we need to commemorate certain principles and values. need to commemorate certain principles and values . and at principles and values. and at a time when war is once again ravished , ravaged, ravaging ravished, ravaged, ravaging europe, you know, there's a bitter war going on. as we know in ukraine, war is once again ravaging europe. we have to remember these brave men and women who put their lives on the line. many died to liberate the continent from oppression, from dictatorship and these are values that need to be celebrated. they need to be defended , and they need to be defended, and they need to be reinforced. in our own day. we cannot grow complacent . cannot grow complacent. >> now, what would you say to those who say that the second front actually opened up a year earlier with operation husky, with the invasion of sicily, churchill's soft underbelly of europe , was that still europe, was that still a significant moment, or how does that compare in how d—day fits in the whole second world war story? >> that's a very good point.

there were lots of veterans. some had landed in north africa with operation torch, then had been sicily, and the beginning of the slow, bitter, terrible liberation of italy, a long slog up the italian peninsula . and up the italian peninsula. and many veterans would say things like, well, actually i've been to loads of d—day and none of them were actually in france, because actually , yeah, they because actually, yeah, they were very happy about this. and in fact, the italian army terrible. our fighting in italy, terrible. our fighting in italy, terrible casualties, terrible conditions, and they called themselves the forgotten army , themselves the forgotten army, they joked, oh, we're just the d—day dodgers because they knew that people at home thought they were not having the same sort of experience. they were slogging and suffering terrible casualties , but they did not get casualties, but they did not get the fame, in fact, they had a joke amongst themselves, which we are the d—day dodgers out of italy . always on the vino, italy. always on the vino, always on the spree. now, that's not what it was like fighting in italy. they knew it wasn't like that, but they knew back home people said, oh, you're in sunny italy. well, others are fighting , what? others are fighting in

france. it was a terrible battle that also drew german divisions into italy as well . we need to into italy as well. we need to celebrate them as well. the veterans of the italy campaign. terrible campaign still fighting on right until 1945. >> and a parallel there as well. in terms of the deception, perhaps one of the most famous now deceptions of the second world war to enable the invasion of sicily, what was known as operation mincemeat . so can you operation mincemeat. so can you tell us a little bit about that? >> yeah, this, this some people may have been i think there's a musical and as well as a film about at the moment, there's certainly we both seen it. >> we've both seen it. >> we've both seen it. >> is it amusing? my daughter seen it. it's not a musical, is it? >> it is. it in- >> it is. it is in— >> it is. it is a musical. it? >> it is. it is a musical. it's a fantastic musical as well as a feature film starring colin firth. >> yeah, yeah, i saw the film, you know, many years ago, and probably in black and white. >> i don't want to talk about that. it gives my age away, but but it's now about as well. the idea was to actually pull german forces away from sicily towards sardinia, to basically give the impression and towards greece. so basically all sorts of stuff

was going on saying, well, actually it might fall in sardinia or actually it might fall in greece. and there was this extraordinary situation where a body of a real person who was dressed up as, i believe, a royal marine major, and had a documents on, on, a, a briefcase that was, that was that was cuffed to his case, was allowed cuffed his wrists was allowed cuffed his wrists was allowed to float into spain where we knew there were german abwehr spies in the area. and they got hold of it. they took photographs of it and they passed them back. he's got as far as hitler. so these totally false ideas. the hammer was going to fall again somewhere else in the mediterranean. but but but not in normandy . absolutely. >> absolutely. fascinating, martin. thank you so much for giving such a painting such a vivid picture of those historic events. thank you so much, martin. always great to speak to you. martin whittaker, historian and author. brilliant. we got through so much there. >> i love british intelligence, inflatable tanks , plywood

inflatable tanks, plywood planes, even documents handcuffed to a dead body in order to fool hitler and try and pretend we were landing where we weren't. just just remark . weren't. just just remark. >> well, we're going to be back in, in normandy very soon. but, in, in normandy very soon. but, in other news, rishi sunak he faced off against keir starmer in the first tv debate of the general election campaign last night. let's remind ourselves a little bit of what happened . little bit of what happened. >> inflation is back to normal. wages are growing, taxes are now being cut. >> keir starmer would put all that progress at risk. >> he would put up every one's taxes by £2,000, £2,000 in higher taxes for every working family in our country. after all the hard work and sacrifice we've been through, that's not the right course of action. i don't know why you want to put up people's taxes. >> it's unforgivable what's happened to the nhs and to come into power for 14 years and leave the nhs in a worse state than when you found it, is unforgivable in politics. and rishi sunak stood 18 months ago,

janet, and said that those waiting lists, which are now nearly 8 million, he said he'd get them down. he made a promise. he said he'd be held accountable. they were 7.2 million at the time. now they're 7.5 million. so they've gone up and that bears down on the nhs. >> well, rishi sunak said repeatedly that keir starmer would raise taxes by over £2,000 for the average family, which the labour leader struggled to deny. well, well. >> while keir starmer pointed to the tories, 14 years in office as a period of failure and said it's as a period of failure and said wsfime as a period of failure and said it's time to turn the page who came out on top . and let's try came out on top. and let's try and fact check some of those claims that were made. >> there has been a bit of new information this morning, but here to tell us all about it is gb news political editor, christopher hope, live from the labour battle bus heading across the south coast of england today, chris, the labour party now this morning is pointing to a new letter from one of the head honchos at the treasury . head honchos at the treasury. but last night they didn't talk about it .

about it. >> yeah. morning. >> yeah. morning. >> both or afternoon? >> both or afternoon? >> both. from the labour battle bus heading down towards the south coast of england. that's right. a letter was emerged from james bowler, the chief of the permanent . josh howie to the permanent. josh howie to the government that they couldn't use. the tories couldn't use the evidence on this, this £2,000 a head tax, it claimed by rishi sunak. head tax, it claimed by rishi sunak . it wasn't developed at sunak. it wasn't developed at all by civil servants. it was said last night by the belem rishi sunak. it was made by civil servants. well, that wasn't the case. it was . wasn't the case. it was. >> i think we're losing christopher a little bit there. should we come back to him? >> maybe the labour party would be better placed, pledging some stronger broadband for the south coast of england. >> hopefully we can get christopher back because i do want to talk about that big claim that the conservatives have made that under a labour government you'd be taxed £2,000 more seems to be a calculation of the gap between their spending pledges and how much they will then need to. will the revenue that the treasury has.

so that must be borrowing or taxes that fund that. but where did it come from? >> there's some criticism though , because the labour party, of course, hasn't yet announced or published its manifesto. so they're only running on what's politician have said they'd like to do. and i suppose one of the big criticisms for any costings document that comes out before a manifesto is the labour party can say, well , that's not in the can say, well, that's not in the manifesto. no one's seen the manifesto. no one's seen the manifesto. the manifesto is not coming out until next week. >> and the question is also whether the prime minister, rishi sunak, should have called it a completely independent analysis of the figures. a completely independent estimate . completely independent estimate. i mean, all political parties end up plucking figures out of. yes, i think out of nowhere. >> this is the difficulty , >> this is the difficulty, right? the inputs were given by the conservative party even though the outputs were given by the treasury . so the treasury the treasury. so the treasury did independent treasury analysis of if these things were done, it would cost this much. but but it was conservative special advisers that say, can

you cost this thing and this thing and this thing. so that was a political assumption. so it's half and half, isn't it. >> half and half. it's a bit of a mix, but for example , the vat a mix, but for example, the vat on private school fees. so labour says 1.7 billion. that will raise the treasury says no, it will be 1 billion. so therefore you get a gap there. and the government is saying that that will have to be, you know, filled with tax rises. so that sort of thing. and they've done that for every spending pledge, presumably . pledge, presumably. >> yes. and, and i think there's some disagreement over what the government says the labour party has committed to and what the labour party says the labour party has committed to. but we of course, will clear up at least some of these disagreements by next week when those manifestos come out. >> yes, but ultimately the decision is made by you will be made by you. the british public. of course. our reporter, anna riley, has been speaking to the people of hull about their take on the first election debate . on the first election debate. >> and keir starmer, obviously, i think he's he's doing the

right thing for the cause at the moment. the council and everything else is good, proper, going downhill. >> there's a lot of homeless people on the street now and they need to be taken care of a little bit more. >> and what do you make to them both? >> keir starmer first, what do you think to him? >> i think it can be a bit of a bully. i get that impression. what he thinks is best known. >> they just want one fight. i think . think. >> and do you prefer rishi sunak? what do you think to him ? sunak? what do you think to him? >> i don't have a problem with rishi sunak , you know. rishi sunak, you know. >> no, no, he's all right. i prefer boris, though. >> well, like i said to you earlier, i never saw the debate last night, but i think they're both a pair of wet blankets, i think keir starmer see more life in the corpse and rishi sunak not much better, but about the two of them. you know, i think sunak does come over that little bit better, but only slightly in terms of who you think would be

the best leader. >> would it for you be definitely keir starmer, without a doubt. >> i feel like rishi has had his chance now. he's not done nothing with the time that he's been there. you know, i feel like he's, if anything, he's worse than what boris johnson was. >> mixed reviews. >> mixed reviews. >> they're really fascinating stuff, but it does reflect that overall impression from the opinion polls and from the focus groups that, well, no one's really enthusiastic about either of these people. >> both a pair of wet blankets . >> both a pair of wet blankets. one man said there. someone said that starmer had . that he seemed that starmer had. that he seemed more life in a corpse. strong stuff. well, there you go. and sunak only a little bit better , sunak only a little bit better, so. yes. what do you make of it? still to come, we'll be looking ahead to the uk armed forces parachute drop into normandy. that's set to take place in roughly half an hour , so you'll roughly half an hour, so you'll want to stay tuned for that . want to stay tuned for that. >> it's 1231. want to stay tuned for that. >> it's1231. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . your

in the gb newsroom. your headlines. the king and the prince of wales have paid tribute to d—day veterans ahead of the 80th anniversary. vie. the nation is coming together in portsmouth today to honour troops who crossed the channel 80 years ago as they headed into the battle of a lifetime. both prime minister rishi sunak and sir keir starmer are attending the uk's national commemoration eventin the uk's national commemoration event in portsmouth alongside the king, queen, prince of wales and armed forces veterans. meanwhile across the channel, normandy prepares to honour the d—day legacy. we the conservatives are standing by rishi sunak claim that labour would raise taxes if sir keir starmer became prime minister. labour insists the claim is a lie . it comes as both leaders lie. it comes as both leaders traded blows on the economy , the traded blows on the economy, the nhs and immigration as they faced off in the first tv debate of the 2024 election campaign . of the 2024 election campaign. rishi sunak claimed sir keir starmer would raid pensions pots and hike taxes by £2,000 per

household and the first banknotes carrying the portrait of king charles will go into circulation today, notes that feature queen elizabeth ii will remain legal tender and co—circulate alongside the king. the new ones will only be printed to replace those that are worn, or to meet any overall increase in demand. in order to minimise the environmental and financial impact of the change. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts. now it's back to tom and . now it's back to tom and. emily. >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:33 and now we're joined by someone i'm told is a former labour mp, gloria de piero. but you are wearing lib dem yellow, so it's very confusing . so it's very confusing. >> there's only so many shades

of red dresses. >> i have you an orange. >> i have you an orange. >> last time i remember it well, okay, i promise you, next wednesday i will be in red and every other wednesday after that, i'm saving the best for last rose, yeah. no. >> we'll get a strongly worded email from sir keir starmer saying stop wearing yellow in the studio on your broadcast. so where should we start? of course, this head to head debate last night, your instant reaction , who came out on top? reaction, who came out on top? are you going to say starmer? >> i might, yes. no, i am emily, well, guess because i think the problem with, rishi sunak sort of argument about he's got a plan is that, well, you've had 14 years. does anyone feel better off after you've been prosecuting the conservative plan after 14 years? is your nhs better after 14 years? are your schools better after 14 years? and i think the answer is a resounding hasn't been prime minister for all that time though, gloria. the tories have beenin though, gloria. the tories have been in government. he was chancellor of the exchequer. he's been prime minister for, what is it, two years? yeah. >> is there is there any health system anywhere in the world

thatis system anywhere in the world that is better after covid than before covid? well i'll tell you what happened because the rot set in in our nhs before covid. >> so under the last labour government, you didn't have to wait. you could get a gp appointment . waiting times were appointment. waiting times were at a historic low. the satisfaction rate with our national health service was 70 odd percent. it's now down to 20 odd percent. it's now down to 20 odd percent. >> gloria, would you leave a loved one on an nhs waiting list, to avoid going private? >> you know, emily, that is a decision that very few people would ever be able to take because they. >> he could because he's a wealthy man. >> because they wouldn't. i'll come on to that. but the fundamentals of this position is we should never be asking that that question because people shouldn't have to make the decision. if i want to save my mum, my daughter, my nan, i have to pay for it. and that question says something is very rotting and rotten in our national health service. to get to your point, though, are i would probably sell my house. you know, i don't come from from

family money. but yes, the truth is, if somebody that i loved, if i could help to get them an operation , i think he was lying. operation, i think he was lying. >> or do you think he's just that ideological. i think he said what he thought, you know, tell the truth . tell the truth. >> it's a it's a it's a totally legitimate position to have. >> it's not it's a different position to the one that you might have expected from someone like wes streeting, who's been very open about wanting more private involvement, or someone like tony blair. >> that's completely different. that will you won't be paying when the labour party uses the private sector to cut nhs waiting lists to get scans, it's a political and ideological position. no, no, tom, i completely, fundamentally disagree with you. now, would i bnng disagree with you. now, would i bring would i use the spare capacity the taxpayer will have to pay for it, to enable , you to pay for it, to enable, you know, my mum or my nan to get that hip replacement they need absolutely . do they have to pay absolutely. do they have to pay for that? absolutely not. we as a country pay for it. it's a completely separate decision. but would you spend it's the same sort of moral question in a way i don't think it is. >> should there be profit

involved in health care? because it seems to be that keir starmer's position on this is using private health care is something he would never do, even if it would save a family member's life. which is which isn't a question about the particulars of it. it's a it's an ideological question , tom. an ideological question, tom. and the vast majority of people are not not involved in this , an are not not involved in this, an ideological question because they can't afford it. >> it's not a choice they will ever make. yeah. people can't afford to, you know, they're making choices between whether to have a meal themselves or to feed their children . that's feed their children. that's a sort of britain we're in at the moment. the idea that they could say, oh, i know, you know, my mum needs a hip replacement cos she's going to have to wait a long time for the nhs. i think i'll just go into those savings. it's not britain, it's not britain. no, no, i know, but you're saying it was ideological for, for ever within the nhs there have been some things that there have been some things that the nhs can't provide and some things that it can provide. >> and forever within the history. >> not life saving, not less life saving. >> there are some drugs that cost millions of pounds that the national institute of care excellence, nice clinical clinical excellence , nice does

clinical excellence, nice does not provide on the nhs because it's too expensive. some things are just extraordinarily expensive and only available in america. there have always been crowdfunders for people to go across to the united states. there's always been charities that have allowed that because we don't have everything in this country . country. >> i'm not sure we're sticking to the review of the debate. now to the review of the debate. now to what was asked. we're having anidea to what was asked. we're having an idea we are now having. >> i think a lot of people will see what he said there along the same lines as how they see the tax on private schools policy . tax on private schools policy. they see it as pure ideology over practical. >> it's not ideal. it's a tough political choice, but it's a political choice, but it's a political choice. and if you want to get more teachers in our schools, 6500 extra teachers and you have to fund it. and the decision that the labour party has taken a decision, which i support, is that in order to help the 93, i think it's 93% of people who send their kids to the local state school. then we're going to say, actually, you can't get a tax break.

>> you have to make it harder for other people. >> no, we've only got a minute left, but we should touch on wales. >> okay. something very important is happening at this afternoon. there is a vote of no confidence that will take place in the welsh first minister, who's only been in the job five minutes. but there's 73 days. >> i'm just trying to be more tom than tom. >> you're doing it well every day. >> so he's beaten liz truss, but, he he vaughan gething despite the tory sort of mischief making, it's a gimmick. >> he will still be first minister tomorrow. is it ideal? no but he will still be first. >> you're saying he'll still be first minister tomorrow? yes the parliament is 5050. the senate is 5050. labour? >> yes. she says, and he even if he loses the vote of no confidence, he will still be in post tomorrow. that is my prediction because he's he's said that he's got no intention of resigning. whatever happens this afternoon. >> so even if the parliament democratically rejects him and his leadership, well, you know, people say people are poorly . people say people are poorly. >> two of his colleagues are

poorly. >> we shall see. but we'll be following that story very closely, because this is a story about devolution. this is also a labour story . about devolution. this is also a labour story. keir about devolution. this is also a labour story . keir starmer about devolution. this is also a labour story. keir starmer was out campaigning with him, was he not? >> it's also a story about the calibre of politicians. not only have we had a very short serving prime minister of the united kingdom, a very short serving first minister of scotland in humza yousaf, but also potentially a no confidence vote in a very similar way in wales as well. well, well, he cling on. >> will he cling on? gloria de piero thinks so. thank you so much for your time. a pleasure. a former labour mp, gloria de piero, of course. >> well, let's return once again to those d—day commemorative events now taking place today and something which we're very much looking forward to, of course, is the uk armed forces parachute drop in normandy. that's set to take place in just around 20 minutes time. >> so let's cross back to normandy and our reporter, sophie reaper, sophie, we're expecting this parachute drop in, circa 20 minutes. what can we expect ? well, we're currently

we expect? well, we're currently still in arromanches, and i have to apologise about the noise. >> there is some replica military vehicles just leaving to my left and on my right. they have actually just stopped. we're hearing the sound of bagpipes. so the atmosphere here, as you can see, there are thousands of people in arromanches right now, taking in the atmosphere ahead of these commemoration days. there are military vehicles, replica military vehicles, replica military vehicles, replica military vehicles like this all over this town. of course, as i mentioned before, amazon is playing a very important role in d—day. all those years ago. the atmosphere here is just absolutely electric because of course it's about respect, but it is also about celebrating the sacrifice that was made all those years ago . and to talk to those years ago. and to talk to me a little bit about that, i'm joined now by john. john, thank you so much forjoining us. how are you today? fine. now john, you are here as a reenactor. do you are here as a reenactor. do you want to talk to me a little

bit about what that entails? yes it's very simple, really. >> what are we doing is portraying, 1940s characters. and the purpose of that is to preserve the memory of what 19405 preserve the memory of what 1940s people did , which led to 1940s people did, which led to the freedoms we all enjoy today. it's a it's commemorative, respectful, preserving the memory . that is it. memory. that is it. >> now you're sat right now in a really rather magnificent vehicle, aren't you ? so i think vehicle, aren't you? so i think my cameraman, if possible, can pan out and just show that off. do you want to tell our viewers a little bit about what this is? yes, i'm cheating slightly, but not very much. this is a true military vehicle, but it's actually post—war war, but we're also interested in the history of military vehicles as well. and this is one we like and we've enjoyed for about 15 years and very often it's not out of place at all in commemorative gatherings or indeed, historic

military vehicle events. so we exhibit it commonly , and we're exhibit it commonly, and we're very pleased to be here with it today. >> now, i know you've got a history with the armed forces. you mentioned before that your father was in the raf. >> i only have a small amount of history, really, which is that my father was in the raf during the war, and he was in charge of a team of airframe engineers, which maintained and serviced lancaster bombers, which he enjoyed greatly, i think he worked well. i'm sure he worked on halifax bombers as well, but he had little respect for those which was a general situation at the time compared with the respect for lancaster, which is widely accepted as probably being the best bomber of all dunng being the best bomber of all during during the war and certainly the best of ours. and so, yeah, i've got a link there and of course, lots of , air and of course, lots of, air force personnel that my father knew , came and visited our

knew, came and visited our family just after the war. so i saw i saw a lot of them as well. so there's a bit of a connection there. >> absolutely. and you mentioned respect. of course. it is all about respect, but it's also about respect, but it's also about commemoration. so how proud do you feel to be a part of this 80th anniversary of d—day , i think proud. i mean, d—day, i think proud. i mean, particularly here in arromanches, which is very strongly british because of the british troops who landed just up the coast from here, gold beach and of course, the mulberry b harbour, which was here. this is a very pro—british, area and i'm very pleased to be here because of that. so, yes, i guess i guess i'm proud, but i don't want that to sound arrogant, i'm very happy to do what i'm doing and make a little contribution. i did, actually get, i'm often asked, did i serve? and i have to give a truthful answer . say, to give a truthful answer. say, no, i didn't. and at one event, i was approached by a man who

asked that question, and i said , asked that question, and i said, no, i didn't. and he said, hang on, but you are serving because you're preserving the memory, which i thought was rather a nice thing to say. and it was quite a young guy as well. >> that is a lovely thing to say. john, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. stories just like john's how amazing that he's able to be here and celebrate and commemorate this 80th anniversary of d—day. >> what a fantastic interview. thank you so much for bringing us us that live sophie reaper there who is in normandy. of course, with that historical re—enactor very interesting to hear what he's up to. >> you notice her? when she started talking to us, i was just looking behind her and saw an entire line of in full garb , an entire line of in full garb, military, uniformed people. it looked like we were sort of back in time on a film set. it must be such amazing. >> does it look a bit like that, doesn't it? with the re—enactor there as well, we will be bringing you that parachute drop at the top of the hour, but stay with us because we're going to

also be getting reaction to last night's tv debate with the former conservative mp philip davies . you won't want miss it. we've got a few questions for him. you're watching.

gb news. 1248 is the time you're watching and listening to. good afternoon, britain. now, joining us now is the conservative sir philip davies . philip davies, philip davies. philip davies, thank you so much for joining philip davies. philip davies, thank you so much forjoining us on the show. this afternoon. there's been quite a lot of hoo ha over this £2,000 figure that rishi sunak lobbed out in the, in the tv debate last night. where does that come from? that figure ? figure? >> well, it comes from a combination of two things. it comes from a combination of the treasury costing out certain labour policies . and it also labour policies. and it also comes from labour's own figures of the cost of other things. so if you add those two things together, i mean, i'm sure both seem to me to be perfectly non—controversial figures . i

non—controversial figures. i mean, presumably nobody can really quibble with the conservatives using labour's own costings for certain things. and on the other things it's based on the other things it's based on treasury figures. should, should , should rishi sunak have should, should rishi sunak have presented it entirely as an independent, civil service led analysis of the figures? well, i mean, it's on it's all on the it's all on the government website. i mean, i'm looking at it here. opposition policy costings produced by the treasury. there's loads of them. national warm homes plan oil and gas levy carried interest bringing back the family doctor, qualified teacher status, mental health professionals dental appointments double the nhs scanners new gp. oh, there goes this list goes on and on and on. these are all done by the treasury. what the treasury do do correct me if i'm wrong . do correct me if i'm wrong. >> the labour party haven't yet announced their manifesto. do you and your team know something that us journalists don't? in terms of the final list of labour policies as well? >> i think we're being very kind

to the labour party, tom. we're taking them at their word that when they've announced policy proposals that we're taking it, that they actually meant them. i mean, if you if you're now saying that actually it's not it's not true because actually they made all these policy promises and they didn't actually mean them. well, then that's a different kettle of fish altogether. but isn't the problem here though , phil, that problem here though, phil, that you're doing this based on what the labour party have said, not what's in a manifesto, we're expecting that next week, the labour party, look at what you guys have said and perhaps overinterpret it and say, well, you said that you'd like to aboush you said that you'd like to abolish national insurance. you say you'd like to abolish inheritance tax, and then they cost that up and arrive at £70 billion. >> yeah. well, i think there's a big difference between saying, you know, we're going to , we're you know, we're going to, we're going to introduce, we're going to double the number of scanners in the nhs, which i'm taking as a policy pledge , i mean, it a policy pledge, i mean, it might not i mean, if you're saying it's not, then fair

enough, but it sounded like one to me. that's very different to saying that we'd like to do something when conditions allow. that's the two. he can't equate the two things. surely nobody's really seriously trying to equate those two things. one is a clear policy promise and one's an aspiration. >> i think, rishi sunak struggled a little bit when it came to the questions over the nhs. trying to suggest that waiting lists have have tumbled. they haven't really have they ? they haven't really have they? >> well, i think the issue is waiting lists came down when the doctors weren't on strike and, and things like that. but the getting the waiting list down has been hampered by strike action. and the i suppose the question that begs, given that they're saying they're still demanding a 35% pay rise if labour say that they're going to sort it out, does that mean that they're going to capitulate and give the junior doctors a 35% pay give the junior doctors a 35% pay rise because the strike action, unfortunately doesn't doesn't reflect that well on the conservative government either, does it? >> because they haven't sorted it out . it out. >> well, well, no, i don't think

it reflects well on junior doctors, to be honest, because a 35% pay demand is ludicrous. and i think most people can see that they're playing politics. it's a pretty poor form of politics at the bma as well, which is in effect abandoning vulnerable people to pursue a completely unrealistic pay demand. so either labour are going to capitulate and give them a 35% pay capitulate and give them a 35% pay rise, which isn't even in these costings that we've given here, or the bma don't really want a 35% pay rise, and they're prepared to accept a lower figure under a labour government, but not under a conservative government. i think neither of those reflect well on the bma. it's not not, not on the bma. it's not not, not on the government. >> it is interesting listening to the one of the health points last night, keir starmer saying, that he wouldn't under any circumstance want to see a family member go private, that he a wealthy man, senior lawyer turned leader of the opposition , turned leader of the opposition, holding one of the most prominent public positions in the country, wouldn't pay for a family member to go private .

family member to go private. what did that say to you? >> well, i think he said to me. i mean, it says a lot of things, i mean, it says a lot of things, i think. i'm not sure i i mean, it says a lot of things, ithink. i'm not sure i believe i think. i'm not sure i believe him, but why would somebody who can afford to take some of the pressure off the nhs, not want to take the pressure off the nhs if they really believe in the nhs? i mean, why would you not want to do that? and actually there's an awful lot of people who go to private hospitals on the nhs, and that was something introduced by the last labour government. and a jolly good thing it was too, you know, my constituents in shipley can go to, can go to a local , a local to, can go to a local, a local hospital now, thanks to tony blair, actually , vie, rather blair, actually, vie, rather than having to get way to the nhs, why is keir starmer is he saying that those people shouldn't be able to, to go to a private hospital? >> sir philip davies , thank you >> sir philip davies, thank you so much for your time this afternoon. a conservative there of course. coming up, the paratroopers will land in normandy as we approach the 80th anniversary of d—day. do not miss it. stay. anniversary of d—day. do not miss it. stay . with. miss it. stay. with. >> a brighter outlook with boxt

solar sponsors of weather on . gb solar sponsors of weather on. gb news. good morning. welcome to your latest gb news weather update. it's fairly cool and breezy day for many northern areas . there'll also be some areas. there'll also be some fairly persistent showers pushing in from the north and west. that's because we've got a key northwesterly breeze, low pressure centre to the north of the uk. at the moment we're in a quite a cold air mass for the time of year, so that's bringing that cool feel wherever you are. but it's particularly vie across the north and west. we've got quite a strong breeze where you'll be feeling the chill in the air, and we'll have some quite persistent frequent showers moving in to parts of northwest scotland, northern ireland, parts of northwest england as well. later on today elsewhere across the country, though for many central and southern areas it we should stay fairly dry and bright, but temperatures are going to be a little bit down on recent days and a little bit below average for the time of year, but i think in any sunshine into this evening, particularly across the south coast, it should still feel fairly pleasant. but across the north, a spell of quite persistent rain is to come

across northwest scotland, where the showers will turn quite heavy. there's also a risk of some snow falling over the highest ground in scotland because it is cold enough, which is not particularly typical for this time of year. showers still moving into parts of northern ireland this evening, and northwest england also into parts of western wales as well, but across many southern and central areas it should be a fairly dry and bright end to the day, and that will lead us into a clear night for many southern and eastern areas. through tonight should stay dry and clear and it will be another cold night tonight for the time of year . however, cold night tonight for the time of year. however, cloud will continue to build from the west. we could also see some showers moving into parts of the midlands, southwest england as well, so temperatures will be held up a little bit where the cloud cover does continue through the night. but in any clearer skies we could see a touch of grass frost by tomorrow morning, but that does mean it will be another fairly bright start wherever you are. however, the further north and west you are, the more likely you are to see showers. once again through thursday. it's going to be a pretty similar day tomorrow compared to today, with the best of any dry and brighter weather

in the south and east, and tomorrow we could see highs of around 18 or 19 degrees, again, around 18 or 19 degrees, again, a little below average, but not too bad in the sun. that warm feeling inside from

news. >> well. good afternoon. britain. it's 1:00 >> well. good afternoon. britain. it's1:oo on wednesday, the 5th of june. i'm emily carver. >> i'm tom harwood. and let's go straight to live. pictures of normandy . uk straight to live. pictures of normandy. uk armed forces are preparing a performing a parachute drop now, honouring those that came before them 80 years ago. we're currently watching members of the uk armed forces drop down in the same sort of parachutes that we would have saw, seen those paratroopers used back in june 1944. >> and what a glorious picture that is. what a glorious day in normandy. these are the

paratroopers from the 16 air assault brigade . there you go. assault brigade. there you go. landing there on the grass there from the assault brigade combat team, and they're jumping from a royal air force a400m transport aircraft. can you count how many there are, tom? for us? >> oh, i wouldn't hasten to count, because i think we've got more planes, yes. and of course, this is all part of what is a two day commemoration , event not two day commemoration, event not only in normandy but across the channelin only in normandy but across the channel in portsmouth as well. remembering what happened 80 years ago this week , how western years ago this week, how western europe was liberated, first by those parachute drops of british and american air service personnel, followed by those amphibious landings. the largest amphibious landings. the largest amphibious landings. the largest amphibious landings in the history of the world. 150,000 people crossing the channel to retake western europe. >> what a beautiful sight that is. those parachutes dropping

down onto the grass there in normandy. of course , we have normandy. of course, we have members of the royal family in portsmouth, today . today our portsmouth, today. today our reporter is live in in normandy to watch this. another plane coming over. now, will people drop out of there? >> i imagine they will. of course. a day that unites people from all sides of the political spectrum . we can forget for a spectrum. we can forget for a moment we were in a general election campaign. we saw in portsmouth a little earlier, both rishi sunak and sir keir starmer standing almost next to one another. you'd be forgiven for forgetting they weren't debating yesterday, because it's moments like this where the country can come together on a our armed forces , both currently our armed forces, both currently serving, but also those who fell 80 years ago. but it's not just, of course, about those who fell and made the ultimate sacrifice. it's also about those who courageously fought on. and it was a remarkably successful operation. this isn't just a

commemoration for those that fell, it's also a celebration of what was a tremendous moment in allied and british military history. >> absolutely it is. and there we go. a close up shot of two of those parachutes coming down to earth. there what a beautiful sight. and there you go. a crowd at the bottom cheering and cheering them on as they come into, landing there. and we're going to be across all of these, commemorations over the next two days. we've been there for the preparation. there they are, helping that, man get out of his parachute. he's got a bit entangled, but there you go. >> he said that these are different parachutes. to what the paratroopers in the royal air force are used to using. of course , in today's day and age, course, in today's day and age, we don't have the sort of canopy style, parachutes that were , the style, parachutes that were, the only way to jump out of aeroplanes back in 1944. we're used to far different shapes. so this is a pretty faithful

replication of how those, paratroopers landed and marking this moment for the, what is a pretty profound anniversary. we've been hearing all week from people who were there on those beaches 80 years ago. and it is remarkable to hear those stories. there are fewer and fewer veterans left from that time, and to be able to hear from them has been a true privilege. >> absolutely. well, let's bring in our home and security editor , in our home and security editor, mark white, mark, tell us a little bit more about what we're watching here. >> well, what you're seeing is really a tribute to those paratroopers who were involved in dropping into areas behind the beachhead. effectively, what they were trying to do was to stop the reinforcement of those beaches by germany. now, some 18,000 allied paratroopers were dropped just after midnight on

the 6th of june, 1944, and many of those paratroopers, as they came down, came down into a nest of vipers, effectively , german of vipers, effectively, german dug out positions that were shooting them down, some of them dead before they even hit the ground. and a key role, as well as trying to stop germans from reinforcing those beach areas, was also to secure some of the bndges was also to secure some of the bridges over key rivers, along that area in normandy as well, so that they could, of course, be then used for the allied advancement that also exacted a heavy toll on those paratroopers and commandos that were involved in those particular raids . some in those particular raids. some dropped by parachute, others were in gliders that landed some of the gliders smashing up as they came in, killing occupants

on board. it was a terrible bloody episode, not just on the beaches. bloody episode, not just on the beaches . the five beaches of beaches. the five beaches of normandy, where those troops were being landed by that mighty armada out in the english channel. but of course , that channel. but of course, that airborne assault as well, some 14,000 allied sorties were flown, during that operation on d—day in support of the ground troops. so it was a huge endeavour not just by the maritime forces, but also for the royal air force, a huge endeavour which had taken place, for many weeks and months before d—day as they tried to bomb the supply lines and weaken the german defences. and they had to play german defences. and they had to play a game of subterfuge, subterfuge as well , by bombing subterfuge as well, by bombing different locations further up the coast. so as not to give it away. for the germans that this

was going to be the area, that the eventual landings would take place. and that went on, as i say , for many weeks and months say, for many weeks and months before d—day itself, to try to degrade as much as possible . the degrade as much as possible. the germans, the german armies , germans, the german armies, potential, to fight back and resist those advancing allied forces . forces. >> aeroplanes come across the channel now we're looking from the ground in normandy, expecting some more, paratroopers to drop out , paratroopers to drop out, replicating what happened, mark, as you say in the very early , as you say in the very early, early hours of the 6th of june, 1944, it should be said that on other parts of the coastline in northern france, to distract , northern france, to distract, the nazi occupying troops , dummy the nazi occupying troops, dummy parachutists were dropped out to confuse the germans radar systems, to confuse them and distract them. and it's one of

these, extra examples of distraction, deception and espionage that the british were so good at. these these pretend dummy parachute drops that the raf engaged in, as well as the real ones. but i should say we are looking at real ones right now . how. >> now. >> yeah. i mean, they were pretty small. they were only about a foot and a half, tall. anyone that's watched that incredible movie the longest day will have seen reference made to these dummy paratroopers who, as you say, were launched in their hundreds and thousands, to try to deceive the enemy. and of course, at night, and as they landed, they let off firecrackers that gave the impression that this was indeed paratroopers opening fire. and it did. it worked for a while. it fooled the germans and made them deploy and ensure that their resources were tied up in other areas before they

eventually got wise to that. but you know, all throughout that area, as i was saying, you had paratroopers who were landing in open fields , but of course, many open fields, but of course, many landing in villages in the area as well, landing on rooftops and getting stuck in trees, and of course, coming down onto the machine gun nests in the german dug in positions which must have been absolutely horrific for them as they came down trying and hoping that they would reach the ground unscathed. and as of course, we know many just didn't i >> -- >> and imam >> and mark, just as we're watching this picture live from normandy of these paratroopers jumping out of these aircraft into normandy, can you tell us a little bit about what's been happening over in portsmouth and what is scheduled for the rest of the day ? of the day? >> yeah, well, we hired a commemorating a commemoration service here at southsea in

portsmouth, a very moving ceremony indeed. we do these spectacles so well in the uk, and it truly was a memorable experience for everybody here, including, of course, about 20 veterans who were given a standing ovation at certain points. there was one veteran who came on to the stage , ray who came on to the stage, ray hayward, who was in a tank on d—day, and the weeks afterwards he vie his tank was actually struck and he told of how he had to. he was so badly injured they had to amputate his legs below the knee. absolutely incredible. he was still able to walk on to the stage , despite the fact that the stage, despite the fact that not only is he now 99 years old, but of course he is a double amputee, and he got a standing ovation and he spoke very

movingly about those events. and he said he considered himself despite those life changing injuries , he considered himself injuries, he considered himself to be one of the lucky ones because so many thousands of his brother, comrades just never came back from d—day. and we also saw another very moving moment when eric bateman, another veteran, came on to the stage and he was accompanied by two of his great granddaughters, who also spoke to pay tribute to their great granddad . and that their great granddad. and that was a very emotional moment for too . here, the king spoke, paid too. here, the king spoke, paid tribute to all of those who took part in the d—day operations , part in the d—day operations, both over in france. but here in the uk in support of that as well. his son, the prince of wales, gave a moving tribute as did the prime minister. so many celebrities and vips that were

here for that commemoration , and here for that commemoration, and it was intertwined by some really beautiful, reflective moments when we had music from that time, people dancing , that time, people dancing, re—enacting the gis that came over during the second world war to dance with the young english women in towns and villages right across the country. it was a truly an amazing event here that i'll certainly remember for a long time, and it was just incredible to see these veterans here still well represented, even though there are fewer than 100 veterans now still alive in the uk. wow. >> really, really remarkable stuff. but also a moment not just to remember those that fought, on d—day, 80 years ago, but also those who are currently serving in our armed forces, over 100 paratroopers have dropped out of the sky this

afternoon in remembrance. in commemoration, these are paratroopers from the 16 air assault brigade combat team, making the jump, as well as the parachute regiment's red devils parachute display team, all jumping into normandy, making that that commemoration , that that that commemoration, that tribute to those that have gone before them, but also helping us remember those that serve us currently today . currently today. >> yes, absolutely. has resonance with the world that we are now moving rapidly into, which is , you know, a very which is, you know, a very dangerous world. i was speaking to the chief of the general staff, effectively the head of the army , general sir patrick the army, general sir patrick sanders earlier. and we were just touching on that very point that there are , you know, it has that there are, you know, it has resonance because they were , of resonance because they were, of course, very dangerous times back then . but now we are seeing back then. but now we are seeing a war raging in ukraine, a war in the middle east, ships ,

in the middle east, ships, naval in the middle east, ships, naval, merchant ships being targeted and naval ships being targeted and naval ships being targeted in the red sea, in the gulf of aden. an increasingly belligerent china . and we don't belligerent china. and we don't even mention north korea and iran. this is a very, very tumultuous time and dangerous time that the world inhabits. and of course, that's why we've seen the likes of the current government and the future government and the future government talking about increasing defence spending, realising that the years following the cold war, and that end of the cold war, that the hollowing out of the armed forces that we saw over the decades since the end of the cold war, cold war can no longer continue. we have to ensure that the military in this country is capable to be able to meet the challenges. and that's why those people that are taking part in the d—day commemorations , we can the d—day commemorations, we can just see the prime minister,

coming along here, i'm going to try and show a little question to him, if i can, you probably can just see him there, we'll see what he has to say about what he thought will be moved by the ceremony. prime minister so the ceremony. prime minister so the prime minister, rishi sunak , the prime minister, rishi sunak, saying very much that he was moved by the ceremony here and we'll listen. you know, you cannot, but not have been moved by what you saw, as i say, especially the veterans , who is especially the veterans, who is incredible. i was speaking to these, military generals earlier who were telling me that they thought the 75th anniversary of commemoration was going to be the last real hurrah. for the veterans because of their advancing years . but still, advancing years. but still, given the fact that the youngest of them is 97, quite a number of

them . more than two dozen, them. more than two dozen, i think, are centenarians. ian's. thatis think, are centenarians. ian's. that is something that, you know, there were surprised at the resilience s, of these veterans. but perhaps we shouldn't be. but not just the resilience, but the absolute determination , to even though determination, to even though many of them are wheelchair bound now to come out to take part in the commemorations, to remember those that didn't come home. >> very moving indeed. and as you say, a stark reminder of the importance of making sure we spend enough on defence and have those essential resources. thank you so much. mark white, oh, i think we are looking at another a400m raf aircraft flying now. could it be that there's going to be more paratroopers jump out? or perhaps this is just a this, this might be one of those returning back across the coast. we're just going to stay on

these pictures to see what happens. but of course the a400m aircraft had been in a little bit of controversy earlier in the week . there was a question the week. there was a question mark over whether we would have enough free to, to, to, to, to perform this commemoration . perform this commemoration. clearly we have had, enough and things were moved around. >> but yes, there was a front page splash, wasn't there? i think it was in the mail on sunday, a suggestion that there wouldn't be enough. a source from within that regiment had , from within that regiment had, briefed the papers and grant shapps defence secretary said no , we will, we will. anyway, there's the prime minister and his wife . yes. his wife. yes. >> they're just talking to senior military personnel there. the a400m actually one of the ones that was used today in the parachute drops had been used recently in operation over gaza for aid drops. so it just does show how relevant these aircraft and all military logistics still are. it is an increasingly

dangerous world with conflict popping up dangerous world with conflict popping up all around us. another moment to think about, really, as we look to the past and we commemorate what was what has happened, we should also keep an eye on the future . keep an eye on the future. >> yeah, absolutely. and, people putting their lives at risk veterans, young and old, this is an important moment to remember all those became before us, but also those who are still willing to put their lives at risk for our own national security. very moving indeed . and as we just moving indeed. and as we just saw the prime minister giving a big nod to mark white's question there as to whether he was, he was moved by by what he's seen today. >> we're looking at the prime minister here, talking to those senior military figures , senior military figures, followed by, i believe that's the downing street photographer , the downing street photographer, and of course, it is hard to forget that even on moments like this, we are in the middle of a general election campaign. it was moving, perhaps, to see that forgotten for a moment, with keir starmer and rishi sunak

standing next to one another, after a fairly heated debate on live television last night, we felt a long way away from that. we felt that there was a moment, perhaps, to pause and reflect and perhaps, perhaps it is only the eye of the storm in terms of the eye of the storm in terms of the animosity between these two gentlemen, but i suppose it is moments like these national moments like these national moments like these national moments like these. >> well, it's a reminder that some things reminder that some things are more important than the day to day. changes in, in politics or the day to day quibbles , but, yes. rishi sunak. quibbles, but, yes. rishi sunak. prime minister, they're fresh from a tv election debate straight to the commemoration events for the 80th anniversary of d—day. >> well, you're watching good afternoon britain here on gb news. more reaction and analysis to those tv debates and that big clash between sunak and starmer to come

next. good afternoon. britain. it's 1:22, and we're joined now in the studio by the former labour mp gloria de piero and gloria. you're someone who knows the first minister of wales. you were in labour students together. >> i mean, about 100 years ago, tom, to be absolutely honest, i know this is shocking to you. >> i don't believe i don't believe you could have possibly been around even even ten years ago. >> but but let's get let's get down to what's happening, it's breaking news, actually, ten years old. >> go on, go on. >> tom. politics, let's, let's let's talk about what's happening at 5:00 today. yes. because there is a rather serious vote of no confidence. yes. >> in this man on the screen. >> in this man on the screen. >> the coalition deal between welsh labour and plaid country collapsed . yes. and there's collapsed. yes. and there's a real chance that he could lose

his job today. >> well, there's a real chance that he could lose his the vote today because two members of the labour party , assembly members labour party, assembly members are sick and it's not clear whether they can vote remotely or not. >> are they really sick? because i here's the suspicion, gloria. these are two people, one of whom was sacked from his , whom was sacked from his, indeed, hannah blythyn and one of whom has been very critical over this donation scandal. he took hundreds of thousands of pounds from a convicted criminal. yeah, it was a big, big scandal. it's the big impetus behind this vote. are they really ill or is this a political game play? well i can't tell you whether or not those two people are really ill or not. >> they have said that they are ill. so let's take them up their word, shall we? listen i would just say, that i think you know, the tories put this down not expecting to win. by the way , expecting to win. by the way, they put it down to create some mischief, to make life difficult

for the first minister in wales. but actually, you know, he's beenin but actually, you know, he's been in for 70 odd days. he won the vote from all the labour party members in wales trade unions backed him close vote, but he won it , unions backed him close vote, but he won it, you unions backed him close vote, but he won it , you know, unions backed him close vote, but he won it, you know, fair and square. so i think he actually does need to be allowed to get on with the job. does it have a good judgement, though, well , i have a good judgement, though, well, i considering all the various accusations against him, i mean, this vote of no confidence didn't come from nowhere , did it? well, it came nowhere, did it? well, it came from the tories, who are the official opposition and frankly, if i could see there was a little disquiet in that labour group, which clearly there has been there's clearly some bruises still after that leadership election, then i would be if the tories were in charge, i would think, let's call a no confidence vote just to make things difficult for them. so it's mischief making. >> it's a gimmick what a lot of people will be thinking about, though, is isn't this similar to what happened in scotland, where the tories put forward a vote of no confidence in humza yousaf,

the greens then were, equivocating over whether they'd back it, then said they would back it, then said they would back it. and you had a very short term first minister of scotland, in humza yousaf. he had to resign. >> there's one crucial difference. yes. the labour party are incredibly popular in wales. they have been in government for, gosh, forever. yeah for time immemorial, for a very long time. in wales, the labour party are very popular in wales , so i don't think they are wales, so i don't think they are actually, you know, they're not exact parallels, certainly because the snp were on the slide by the time humza yousaf encountered difficulty. but i would say to the labour party being government is an incredible privilege, which they have been in wales, so itself out pulled together, crack on with the job, deliver for this man though, because when he became leader, the press seemed to have simply report that he was the first black leader in europe, in wales, in europe, in

europe, in wales, in europe, in europe , and nothing really about europe, and nothing really about what he stands for. >> oh, he's not he's his policies like be he's very sensible. >> he's very, down the road, blairites a bit of a sort of centrist is centrist. >> i just love the centrists, but but it is interesting, isn't it, that the only thing anyone ever said was the colour of his skin rather than what? he's crazy. >> which, well, i think it is a historic sunak. no, no, because rishi sunak was the first, person of colour to be prime minister of the kingdom. people barely talk about it, barely talk about it. people talk about his politics, his policy. yeah. why is it so different in the labour party? >> well, i don't think the labour party made it. i think it's just a fact that europe has neven never. >> neven >> he does continually bring it up when, when he was facing attacks for his let her answer the question. >> it is a historical fact that europe has never had a government led by a black person, that is a fact. so i think it is worthy of note. do i think it is worthy of note. do i think that it is, and i do not think that it is, and i do not think it is only been noteworthy because vaughan gething has, has

proclaimed it to be noteworthy. thatis proclaimed it to be noteworthy. that is just a historic fact , that is just a historic fact, but that is not the crucial fact about vaughan gething . he's, you about vaughan gething. he's, you know, he's a very good communicator. he has won the vote of labour party members in wales. he has has won the backing of trade unions in wales . now he should 70 odd days he's beenin . now he should 70 odd days he's been in charge. stop the bickering. i would say the same to the to the tories and just just let him get on with the job and then the people can judge him. the welsh people can judge him. the welsh people can judge him on his record. >> right. well get in touch at home. gbnews.com/yoursay about that. if you're in wales , what that. if you're in wales, what do you make of it all, we'll be bringing you, i guess the result later this evening, so stay tuned. >> well , let's cross now to the >> well, let's cross now to the labour party. battlebus christopher hope has been following the labour party today. he's still on that battle bus and hopefully the signal is a bit stronger from when we last spoke to you. christopher >> hi, tom. hi, emily. i'm on a battle bus and it seems odd to be on a bus because the debate

today, today reminds me so much of 2016. and that row about the nhs money going back to the nhs. if we left the european union £350 million. the big debate right now in politics is this £2,094 cost that the tories say labour will inflict on britons if they win power in the in the election. result, of course, is now just one month away . we've now just one month away. we've heard from darren jones, he's the a senior shadow cabinet minister. he's saying that he would happily have a debate with the tories about that figure. we've heard from an independent body called the office for statistics regulation. they're saying that they're looking into into the presentation of this figure in that debate last night with rishi sunak in the itv debates, when he said it was produced by independent civil servants. the tories this lunchtime are doubling down on that figure, making very clear. it breaks down, it breaks down and is based on official most of it. virtually all of it is based on official treasury figures. in fact, they make clear they've hit a conservative figure, they

haven't gone for the high or the low figure, just the figure in the middle on all those costings. and they are very clear that these numbers are correct. so i think it's a difficult day for labour. we are rowing about a figure and a tack figure produced by the tory party, written, done, worked on by officials and then produced last night, repeated ad infinitum by the prime minister infinitum by the prime minister in that debate and the labour's on somewhat on the back foot to try and defend it. and that all goes back to last night, when the, when the keir starmer took it took maybe nearly half an hour said when he could have produced this letter from darren from the james bowler who was the chancellor. the treasury. this is not made. >> still having some of those connections in civil service, but chris, we've got the vast , but chris, we've got the vast, vast bulk of what you were saying there. so thank you very much indeed. i'll see if it looks like we might have a more stable connection now. so just a question to you, chris, which is that given given what has been happening with these back and

forth numbers and debates , are forth numbers and debates, are people listening because the labour put out their own costings , saying this 70 billion costings, saying this 70 billion figure for unfunded tory commitments , the tories are commitments, the tories are hitting back. is this just tweedle dum and tweedle dee ? tweedle dum and tweedle dee? >> they're saying it's all a lie and attacking it. i think what the tories are doing is lunchtime is making clear that most of it is based on official treasury figures. there's one figure in there which comes from an independent body and others come from labour costings. but broadly this number, they are saying , is correct and they are saying, is correct and they are quite clear that the party is 100% behind it. so what the politics of this is, you have a number being argued about, which is a number which labour don't want to talk about, and that is a win for the tory party. after after five days of dreadful mega polls forecasting a huge labour majority at the election. >> well, thank you very much indeed , christopher hope there indeed, christopher hope there on the labour battle bus while rishi sunak and keir starmer are both in portsmouth.

>> yes, indeed . now, joining us >> yes, indeed. now, joining us now is emily thornberry , the now is emily thornberry, the shadow attorney general for england and wales. and emily, thank you so much for making the time for us this afternoon. i want to ask you one very direct, specific question. to start with. and that's if you had a relative who was languishing on an nhs waiting list and they could be seen sooner, perhaps their life could be saved by going private. would you want them to do so ? i have . them to do so? i have. >> well, that's a very different response, isn't it, from , sir response, isn't it, from, sir keir starmer, last night, who seemed to say, well, he did say with full conviction that he absolutely would not support a relative to use private health care. is that, in your view, ideology gone mad ? ideology gone mad? >> no, i think that the point is this we have to have a government that is going to make sure that everybody is looked

after properly. you know, when labour left office, we had the highest rate of people being satisfied with the nhs that the nhs had ever had . nhs had ever had. >> and now, after 14 years of the conservatives, we have the longest waiting lists that the nhs has ever had . go figure. nhs has ever had. go figure. we've had a prime minister who told us that waiting lists were dropping. he lied, he told us that the number of people coming in on boats had gone down. he lied. he told us that there was that labour was going to increase taxes. he lied. unfortunately, we have a prime minister who is a liar and he demeans the role of the office of prime minister. he has been abusing the, the civil service. and do you know what? we're furious and we're furious on behalf of the british public because the british people should be able to make decisions on facts and people should be put their hand on their heart and tell people the truth. and if you have a prime minister who is so desperate that he will basically just say anything to try to hang on to power, he will

lash out at institutions upon which our very status dependent. then frankly, he ought to go and hopefully in a month's time he will have. >> so, emily, let's stick to facts then, and ignore what the tory spinners have been saying. let's ignore their £2,000 figure. let's just stick to the issue of frozen tax thresholds. you have said that freezing tax thresholds amounts to a huge tax rise for ordinary working people, and we've seen that over the last couple of years. and yet the labour party has still committed to those frozen thresholds up until 2027, 2028. surely that means the labour party has committed itself to raising taxes on ordinary working people, but not just people in jobs, people who have retired as well, because for the first time, the state pension is set to be taxed as well due to those frozen tax thresholds . those frozen tax thresholds. >> labour will not raise income

tax.labour >> labour will not raise income tax. labour will not raise national insurance. labour will not raise vat. thresholds are something which always historically have needed to be considered at each time there is a budget , because it depends considered at each time there is a budget, because it depends on the rate of inflation and that is just a central truth. emily, you say, i mean, i hear what you say about amounts to tax rises. >> you said, and it's true, ordinary working people have seen their taxes go up due to what's known as fiscal drag. those frozen tax thresholds. now, you're saying on the one hand you won't raise taxes on ordinary working people, but on the other, you'll keep those frozen thresholds, those two things can't live alongside one another. i think i just answered that. >> so. so there are frozen , >> so. so there are frozen, frozen thresholds that have been appued frozen thresholds that have been applied over the last few years. each time there is a budget, the chancellor has to look at the thresholds and decide depending on the rate of inflation, etc. what is a fair thing to do? and

thatis what is a fair thing to do? and that is what should happen . that is what should happen. >> yeah, emily, you know, for the tories to come into this general election saying that they're going to take one group and only one group and change the relationship in in terms of thresholds to pensioners, is just extraordinary and uncosted. >> they they claim that they can pay >> they they claim that they can pay for it. but, you know, you just look in some detail at their numbers. it makes absolutely no sense . do you know absolutely no sense. do you know what i would suggest? i would suggest that the treasury have a look at their promises and has a look at their promises and has a look at their promises and has a look at what the what the numbers are that they're putting forward while the conservatives have done it doesn't take it does emily. >> the conservatives have done have done their calculation and they've come up with this £2,094 tax rate, as they call it, that we can expect under labour. rachel reeves, as you said, has said absolutely no rises on national insurance, income tax and vat , those taxes on working and vat, those taxes on working people. but there are a lot of other taxes out there, aren't they? emily thornberry there's capital gains. they? emily thornberry there's capital gains . there's

capital gains. there's corporation tax, of course, taxes on pensions. you've got , taxes on pensions. you've got, excise duties. you've got all sorts of different taxes . is sorts of different taxes. is rachel reeves being a little bit deceptive there by putting a boundary around those working people, taxes . people, taxes. >> if you want to have any more details, and i'm sure that you will, what you will need to do is look at our manifesto, which will be fully costed. every promise that we have made has been costed one by one. as we've made an announcement, we've said this money will come from and we've said, but i'll tell you what, when the when the when the tories say that they're going to get rid of national insurance. right. they have no figures for how they're going to pay for that, how that's going to how will that get paid. what are they going to do when they say that they're going to introduce this, this dad's army for teenagers? they haven't said how they're going to pay for that. it doesn't make any sense. they say that they're going to they're going to look they're going to have a triple lock plus in relation to pensioners, they can't tell us how much that's going to cost or where the money is going to come from. all i'm saying is that we have been

really careful to every time we say that we're going to spend some money, we've said where the money is going to come from. so for the conservatives to turn up at this stage and to make up lies about how much it is that we're going to increase taxes by when it simply is not true, and they're using the civil service in to order try to shield themselves. it's completely disgraceful. and we are furious. >> independent economists left leaning economists, centrist economists, centre right economists, centre right economists across the board say that if we're going to see improvement in public services, as the labour party is promising, they will need to be general tax rises. now, i suspect that that the labour party will do that through keeping those thresholds frozen so that more people are dragged into higher tax brackets. as we've seen, these stealth tax rises will continue whichever party is in power. and i suspect that the labour party will also potentially double, capital gains tax as well. what's hard to imagine is that none of those major tax changes happen.

>> any of this from, i don't know where you're getting any of this from. where are you getting that? we're going to double capital gains tax. so you said that widely expected. but you're not the chancellor. you're not the shadow chancellor. >> it's a market expectation there, emily. >> we're going to raise money. well you know tough . listen, well you know tough. listen, people should expect that we will do what we will say in our manifesto. and i can tell you this, that we have had to make some really difficult decisions in relation to that, because we do know that money is limited and we do know that what we are likely to inherit, if we are given the honour of being the next government, will be an absolute mess. and so what we've said is this is where we will spend money in the short term. this is what our first steps will be. and most important, and over above everything else. and pledge number one is to make sure that we stabilise the economy , that we grow the economy, that we grow the economy, that we grow the economy, and only through growing that economy will we be able to do the sort of things that we, of course, want to do , that we, of course, want to do, because we are a labour government and we would want to look after those who need a

hand. and yes, of course, you know, when we are able to grow the economy as we did when we were last in power, and as this lot have not been able to do, we will be able to afford to put money into public services when we thought when we left power, nobody complained about the nhs. it wasn't a political issue. it had the highest satisfaction ratings that it had ever had, and now it has the highest, has the highest waiting list that it's ever had. >> but emily, this is what's going on. you're the labour party seemed to be expecting the british public to believe that clamping down on non—dom was taxing private schools and being a little bit cracking down on tax avoidance is going to pay to transform the nhs is going to pay transform the nhs is going to pay for all your various spending pledges. >> no no no no no no no no no. >> no 110 110 110 110 110 110 110 110. we— >> no no no no no no no no no. we have absolutely not said that. >> you know, we just have the pledges are paid for about as set out . set out. >> yeah. but you need to look at what the pledges are. right. so what the pledges are. right. so what we have said, for example, on schools is 6500 teachers,

6500 new teachers. and that will be paid for by putting vat on private schools. right. that's where we get the money from in relation to that. that is, of course, not a transformation of our education system. it will take much longer to be able to turn the tank around. you know, we have talked about the increase in the number of appointments that we will get, be able to get with doctors in order to start cutting back on the huge waiting lists of more than 7 million that the tories have built up. of course it will take time, but we know the direction that we're going to be going and we have set. we have not said you just, you know, close the tax loopholes on non—doms and that will transform them, you know, the health service. of course, we're not saying that this is grown up politics. you know, we are being responsible . we want people to responsible. we want people to trust us, and we want to be able to put forward what we will do and stick to our word. and the last thing we want is a bunch of liars like it being led by this prime minister, who is prepared to make up anything because they're so desperate to keep in

power and they have no idea what they want to do anyway, and are prepared to essentially just get away with anything and i hope that the people on gb news will hold them to account, because it should be your duty to do so. don't let them get away with this lying to the british public is not something which should be forgiven. >> okay , we will hold all >> okay, we will hold all politicians to account in the same way that we do. >> but emily thornberry, thank you very much for joining us much, and thank you for giving us some lines to deliver to the next tory we have on here, shadow attorney general for england and wales of course, well, tomorrow will mark the 80th anniversary of d—day, a day that saw thousands of troops make the journey across the channel to storm the beaches of normandy . normandy. >> now, just one of those men was albert keir, our north—west of england reporter. sophie reaper sat down with him to hear his story of what happened on d—day . d—day. >> i sure i was going to get home. i made sure i was going to get home on the 6th of june,

1944, a then 18 year old albert keir played his part in d—day. >> eight years later, and he's still remembers how he felt at the time. >> we did feel a bit scared at that time and different things. everything goes through your mind when you're in danger. we were coming in and out of the ports. i was in the navy, of course, i was going out serving in the sea for anything like bombs underneath the water. we used to have to search for them and then drop depth charges to blow them up. >> d—day marked the beginning of the end for world war ii, which for many troops like albert would mean they would finally be able to return home. >> i went back home and we were very happy to get back home because you never know when you go to sea if you're ever going

to get back again. i felt marvellous and safe when i got back into england . i've always back into england. i've always been quite happy ever since i got back. i've never been sad or anything like that since i got back eight decades later, and albert is still proud of what he accomplished on d—day. >> but like so many veterans, he is remarkably humble. >> oh, so many of us, so many in the navy. and they're doing the same job as you. so how could you be a hero over all these others ? you couldn't? i feel others? you couldn't? i feel happy that we won the war and that we beat the germans and we got them out of france. >> sophie reaper gb news. >> sophie reaper gb news. >> sophie reaper gb news. >> so special to hear those stories. >> absolutely it is. >> absolutely it is. >> who were actually there? >> who were actually there? >> absolutely . well, stay with >> absolutely. well, stay with us, because, shortly we're going to be discussing the king and queen who have attended commemorations in portsmouth today ahead of the d—day 80th

we'll bring you the very latest. you're watching. good afternoon, britain. we're

gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 1:47 now. earlier today, the king paid tribute to the courage, resilience and solidarity of veterans as part of the d—day commemorations. >> yes, he joined the prince of wales and politicians, including the prime minister and the labour leader, as well as veterans, at a major event in portsmouth. well during his speech, the king said the stories that we've heard today and throughout our lives cannot fail to move us, to inspire us and to remind us of what we owe the wartime generation, that great wartime generation. yes indeed. well, we can speak with our royal correspondent, cameron walker, who is down in portsmouth for us. cameron, we

just heard a little snippet of what he had to say. what else ? what he had to say. what else? >> yeah, he certainly did. emily it was an incredibly poignant commemoration here for the d—day 80th anniversary. and of course, the king and the royal family have an incredibly important relationship with the armed forces, both past and present. and with that in mind, the king and the queen, it was revealed today, met with four d—day veterans inside buckingham palace to hear their testimony, hear their stories, and those veterans showed him and the queen their their memories of d—day, including a pair of football boots which one of them had tied to his backpack as he storms the beaches of normandy on the 6th of june, 1944. another still has his dog tag, which still has blood stains on it from when he was shot. he was shot in the lung. he was saved by his friends, who unfortunately was killed the following day, and the king was visibly moved by that. and he also revealed what his grandfather, king george the

sixth of course monarch at the time of world war two, thought of d—day. he said, my grandfather was actually so determined to go during the d—day landings, and he got very frustrated because they wouldn't let him go for several days. he also read an extract from the king's diary that day, and it said so that was something the fact that those they did manage to meet their objectives on the 6th of june. but today, of course, as you mentioned at the start, the king delivered a speech on the stage, accompanied by the queen to the d—day veterans as well as hundreds of schoolchildren and local people of portsmouth as well. and 500 military personnel. the prince of wales also delivered a reading. he read an extract from alistair bannerman of the royal warwickshire regiment, who took part in the d—day landings. let's listen to what prince william said. >> too many never returned. they remain in some corner of a foreign field that is forever england . we will always remember

england. we will always remember those who served and those who waved them off. the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters , fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who watched their loved ones go into battle , their loved ones go into battle, unsure if they would ever return .today unsure if they would ever return . today we remember the bravery of those who crossed the sea to liberate europe . liberate europe. >> will the king, queen and prince of wales spent half an hour to 45 minutes actually meeting other d—day veterans here in portsmouth before they left? it was an incredibly long time elsewhere. if we look across to normandy, princess anne actually has been a bit of a trooper today . she's had 3 or a trooper today. she's had 3 or 4 separate engagements , 4 separate engagements, including one with the canadian royal regina regiment. she's also been at the bayeux war, beyer war cemetery, and she's going to be attending a vigil tonight. then tomorrow the king and queen will be attending the royal british legion, british naval memorial, british memorial as well. but the king is missing

out on the kind of heads of state memorial that's happening on omaha beach tomorrow. now, i understand the reason for that is that it's on doctor's advice. of course, we know that the king is undergoing cancer treatment. he's done the commemorations here. he's attending one at the royal british legion , the royal royal british legion, the royal british legion commemorations tomorrow. but it's thought that doctors have advised him not to attend that event with other heads of states. we know president joe biden for example, is one of those other heads of state attending the omaha beach. the prince of wales is going to be there on the king's behalf. and i'm understands that the king is delighted that the prince of wales is going to be representing great britain for that particular event. the prince of wales is also going to be on juno beach, attending a canadian memorial services as well. so it's a busy diary for the royal family over the last couple of days. of course, there was also a bit of a notable absence. the princess of wales was not here for that particular

particular commemorations here in portsmouth. she is recovering from her cancer treatments, but it appears from the veterans that i saw that the that they were very pleased that the royals were to here show their support for them. >> yes, it's very important indeed. >> yes, it's very important indeed . thank you so much. indeed. thank you so much. cameron walker, who's there in portsmouth for those commemorative events. >> now, of course, it's not only that the king is appearing at these events in portsmouth today. he's also appearing hundreds of thousands of times up and down the country in lots of little local branches of banks. why >> why do you ask? >> why do you ask? >> we've got new money. yes, the king is now on the 20 and £10 notes and they're his his portrait, he is there without a crown as he is on the coinage. but as of today, we can see this. this is the £20 note. and emily, you've got a £10. >> i only got a tenerle for me.

what have i done to deserve just the £10 note? no, these are these are the new. >> these are the new physical pieces of cash. >> that's good. do i get to keep it? >> i don't know who who paid for this. i might have to give it back. so did you know that he is the only the second monarch to appear on these particular notes? >> yes , because the new plastic >> yes, because the new plastic ones were introduced in 2017. i think . think. >> and, yes, these have now entered circulation. so apparently one of our producers went down to collect one of these banknotes. apparently there was quite the queue. yes. that was unusual at that particular bank branch. so presumably there are lots of other people who have wanted to get their hands on them. >> it's an exciting moment because i suppose when you when you think of the money picture of her late majesty the queen. but, we've got much more coming up in the next hour, after the weather. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . news. good morning.

news. news. good morning. welcome to your latest gb news. weather updates fairly cool and breezy day for many northern areas. there'll also be some fairly persistent showers pushing in from the north and west. that's because we've got a key northwesterly breeze, low pressure centre to the north of the uk. at the moment we're in a quite a cold air mass for the time of year, so that's bringing that cool feel wherever you are. but it's particularly across the nonh but it's particularly across the north and west. we've got quite a strong breeze where you'll be feeling the chill in the air and we'll have some quite persistent frequent showers moving in to parts of northwest scotland, northern ireland, parts of northwest england as well later on today, elsewhere across the country , though for many central country, though for many central and southern areas it we should stay fairly dry and bright, but temperatures are going to be a little bit down on recent days and a little bit below average for the time of year, but i think in any sunshine into this evening, particularly across the south coast, it should still feel fairly pleasant. but across the north, a spell of quite persistent rain is to come across northwest scotland, where the showers will turn quite heavy. there's also a risk of some snow falling over the highest ground in scotland because it is cold enough, which is not particularly typical for

this time of year. showers still moving into parts of northern ireland this evening, and northwest england also into parts of western wales as well, but across many southern and central areas. it should be a fairly dry and bright end to the day, and that will lead us into a clear night for many southern and eastern areas. through tonight should stay dry and clear and it will be another cold night tonight for the time of year. however cloud will continue to build from the west. we could also see some showers moving into parts of the midlands, southwest england as well, so temperatures will be held up a little bit where the cloud cover does continue through the night. but in any clearer skies we could see a touch of grass, frost by tomorrow morning, but that does mean it will be another fairly bright start wherever you are. however, the further north and west you are, the more likely you are to see showers once again through thursday . it's again through thursday. it's going to be a pretty similar day tomorrow compared to today , with tomorrow compared to today, with the best of any dry and brighter weather in the south and east. and tomorrow we could see highs of around 18 or 19 degrees. again, a little below average, but not too bad in the sun. that warm feeling inside from boxt

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gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 2:00 on wednesday, the 5th of june. i'm tom harwood , and i'm june. i'm tom harwood, and i'm emily carver. the king, queen and prince of wales have led commemorations for the bravery of the d—day soldiers at a national event for the 80th anniversary of the normandy landings. >> and in these amazing pictures from the last hour, british paratrooper land in normandy, as a tribute to those who were liberated, who liberated the area from nazi tyranny . area from nazi tyranny. >> we'll have full analysis of last night's tv leaders clash. what's the truth behind the prime minister's £2,000 labour tax hike? claim and did keir starmer really say he'd rather a

loved one die on an nhs waiting list ? the news, private health list? the news, private health care and after a shaky start for nigel farage in clacton yesterday , we're asking just how yesterday, we're asking just how safe a politician's during this election campaign should more be done to protect them . done to protect them. now, of course, through the program, do send in your views, post your comments by visiting us gbnews.com/yoursay i'm particularly interested in your thoughts of how these commemorations are going on d—day. what remarkable pictures we saw over the beaches in normandy. those paratroopers, both performative and current serving soldiers over those skies . really remarkable pictures. >> yes, i know that many of you watching will have family members who have served. you may well have served yourself in our

armed forces. please do send in any stories you have and anything you'd like to say. just watching that footage was a quite an exceptional moment. >> yes. and i think that it actually sometimes there's always in the run up to these big state occasions , there are big state occasions, there are jitters we've seen in the press. people were worried that we wouldn't have enough planes, thought we'd only have one to deliver those those paratroopers over the skies . and of course, over the skies. and of course, there's always there's always worries. but i think it's just been magnificent today. we've seen politicians come together . seen politicians come together. the king's been there. biden is crossing an ocean to be there on those beaches. i think this is actually turning out to be a really remarkable couple of days, and hugely moving. >> so yes, please do get in touch. gbnews.com/yoursay let's get the headlines with sofia . get the headlines with sofia. >> emily. thank you. good afternoon. it's 2:02. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. your

top story this hour. the king has paid tribute to d—day veterans ahead of the 80th anniversary of the normandy landings . speaking at the uk's landings. speaking at the uk's commemoration event in portsmouth , he said the stories portsmouth, he said the stories of d—day could not fail to inspire the nation. prime minister rishi sunak and sir keir starmer are also attending the event alongside the king, the event alongside the king, the queen and prince of wales and armed forces veterans . and armed forces veterans. >> too many never returned . they >> too many never returned. they remain in some corner of a foreign field that is forever england . we will always remember england. we will always remember those who served and those who waved them off. the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who watched their loved ones go into battle, unsure if they would ever return .today unsure if they would ever return . today we remember the bravery of those who crossed the sea to liberate europe . liberate europe. >> meanwhile, across the channel normandy, hundreds of armed force personnel have taken part

in a historic d—day parachute drop to recreate the airborne liberation of normandy 80 years ago.the liberation of normandy 80 years ago. the conservatives are standing by rishi sunak's claim that labour would raise taxes if sir keir starmer became prime minister. labour insists the claim is a lie. it comes as both leaders traded blows on the economy, nhs and immigration as they faced off in the first tv debate of the 2024 election campaign. rishi sunak claimed sir keir starmer would raid pension pots and hike taxes by £2,000 per household shadow attorney general emily thornberry says labour are furious after 14 years of the conservatives. >> we have the longest waiting lists that the nhs has ever had. go figure . we've had a prime go figure. we've had a prime minister who told us that waiting lists were dropping . he waiting lists were dropping. he lied. he told us that the number of people coming in on boats had gone down. he lied. he told us that there was that labour was going to increase taxes. he

lied. unfortunately, we have a prime minister who is a liar and he demeans the role of the office of prime minister he has been abusing the, the, the civil service and do you know what? we're furious and we're meanwhile, energy secretary clare pochettino has reiterated the prime minister's claims. >> keir starmer couldn't do is he couldn't rule out the fact that his policies , as set out by that his policies, as set out by the labour party, would cost families £2,000 in extra taxes . families £2,000 in extra taxes. and he couldn't rule out the fact that pensioners, for the first time under labour plans, would have to pay tax on their state pension next year. and actually that's the substance of what people are choosing between and i really thought actually it was quite shocking that on all of those major issues, keir starmer was woolly. he didn't have any clear plans or proposals to address some of the challenges that the country is facing . facing. >> in other news, american amanda knox has been found guilty of slander over accusations she made in relation to the murder of a british

flatmate in perugia . in two flatmate in perugia. in two thousand and seven, an italian court issued a three year sentence for wrongly accusing congolese bar owner patrick lumumba of the killing of meredith kercher in an earlier case, knox had spent four years in jail for the killing, but that conviction was annulled in 2015. the sentence will have no practical impact, as it is covered by the time knox has already spent in jail. to germany, where a local politician from the right wing alternative for deutschland party has been injured in a knife attack. the incident in mannheim comes just days after another stabbing attack at an anti—islam demonstration, in which a policeman was killed. in the latest incident, the attacker was detained and the injured politician is in hospital, according to local reports , and the first banknotes reports, and the first banknotes carrying the portrait of king charles will go into circulation today. notes that feature queen elizabeth ii will remain legal tender and co—circulate

alongside the king. the new ones will only be printed to replace those that are worn, or to meet any overall increase in demand . any overall increase in demand. in order to minimise the environmental and financial impact of the change. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts. now it's back to tom and . it's back to tom and. emily. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:07 now. rishi sunak faced off against keir starmer in that first tv debate of the general election campaign . let's remind election campaign. let's remind ourselves of what went on. >> inflation is back to normal. wages are growing, taxes are now being cut. keir starmer would put all that progress at risk. he would put up everyone's taxes by £2,000, £2,000 in higher taxes for every working family

in our country. taxes for every working family in our country . after all the in our country. after all the hard work and sacrifice we've been through, that's not the right course of action. i don't know why you want to put up people's taxes. >> it's unforgivable what's happened to the nhs and to come into power for 14 years and leave the nhs in a worse state than when you found it, is unforgivable in politics. and rishi sunak stood 18 months ago, janet, and said that those waiting lists, which are now nearly 8 million, he said he'll get them down. he made a promise. he said he'd be held accountable. they were 7.2 million at the time. now they're 7.5 million. so they've gone up and that thank you. down on the nhs , there was some criticism of nhs, there was some criticism of how the debate was handled. >> some people said the lady there, what's her name, julie etchingham, did a fantastic job of arbitrating. others thought that perhaps the format was too quick, that the two weren't allowed to actually elaborate on their answers. we didn't get exactly what they mean when they suggest certain policies . exactly what they mean when they suggest certain policies. i quite liked it when they were

let to allowed to , you know, let to allowed to, you know, argue a little bit, pose each other questions , push each other questions, push each others to answer. i don't mind a little bit of shouting , but little bit of shouting, but perhaps i'm in a minority there. you know, i want them to be passionate. they want to be prime minister of this fantastic country. you know, a little bit of passion, a little bit of oomph, a little bit of, you know, anger. if they're accusing someone of lying or being disingenuous, i think is a good thing . yeah. thing. yeah. >> no, you want a bit of zim and i don't know, i puff, is that a word? >> a little bit of puff ? we >> a little bit of puff? we don't want any puff. >> i don't know, i don't know, anyway , what what i think was anyway, what what i think was particularly interesting is not even how they sounded, but how they looked. and i think you meant maybe that's what i was thinking of. but, but but if we look at keir starmer there, does he look a little bit unsure, a little bit more nervous than someone you'd expect a person 20 points ahead to look, i don't know if he looked a bit pale, a bit nervous, a bit unsure . bit nervous, a bit unsure. >> well, he's got a lot to lose,

you know, he's he's he's very much in the lead when it comes to the polls. 20 points ahead roughly, so he's got a lot to lose from taking part in these types of debates. whereas rishi sunak has all to win in terms of where he is in the, in the election. >> i don't know, ijust election. >> i don't know, i just i just thought that sunak looked a bit more confident and maybe you wouldn't think that someone in sunak's position, looking at all of these polls showing he's going to lose hundreds of seats, you wouldn't think he'd look that confident. but i think just looking at the body language, they're just looking at how these two people, are to talking one another without without even listening to the words . i think listening to the words. i think rishi sunak does seem more confident , but rishi sunak does seem more confident, but i guess, think about it. >> rishi sunak is the prime minister before that he was the chancellor. he does know about governing day to day and keir starmer is pitching for the job. picture for the job. you know, it's a nerve wracking,

particularly when you're 20 points ahead because you know, these debates have in the past really shaken things up . really shaken things up. >> and i think there's probably a parallel that we can draw to the 2012 us debates here. the first one, when obama was seen to do very, very poorly in romney, was seen to lack quite a few blows, and the race was seen to narrow. only then for the next debate, obama to come back much, well, much more well prepared. that could happen. much more confident that, seeming much more slick and smooth in the way that we all used to know barack obama. so, so potentially the next debate, bbc debate, i believe, we could see a very different set of, behaviour from these two people. but who better to discuss their body language and their behaviour with and darren stanton behaviour and body language expert. darren, did you get the sense that i did that? to some extent? keir starmer looked a little nervous. there >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> when you made the comments, i was nodding actually before i

came on the screen. good afternoon to you guys. i think for majority of the debate, sunak did appear to be the more confident man, he does a gesture that tony blair used to make, believe it or not, which is almost like a karate chop. >> he's it's, as you can see there, and this is sort of something that's very been very passionate and emphatic about what he's saying, and it's also showing the knuckles . it's also showing the knuckles. it's also saying i'm the more dominant man. >> and that's what that gesture means. so i do agree for a lot of the debate, sunak did come over as a more confident man from a nonverbal point of view. >> one thing that i'm not sure either excelled at was the straight to camera speeches where they deliver a little speech for about a minute, 45 seconds. i think it was straight to camera. now that is a bit of an uncomfortable thing to do. but what did you notice there? well this takes me back because i actually worked on the original 2010 election when it was clegg , cameron and brown.

was clegg, cameron and brown. >> and i always remember that clegg was seen as the kind of outsider in terms of his experience and he was the first politician to look directly down the barrel of the lens. and then it became a bit of a joke, because gordon brown kept saying, i agree with clegg, and he began to do the same. so i noficed he began to do the same. so i noticed on this one they did do that. noticed on this one they did do that . whereas some politicians, that. whereas some politicians, especially the americans, they will tend to address the audience more. i think the theory comes from the fact that they want they know they're going to be speaking if down the lens and speaking to more people down the lens than they would in the in the audience , but i'm not the in the audience, but i'm not quite sure if it's a brilliant strategy , to be honest. strategy, to be honest. >> darren, keir starmer appeared to be willing to be interrupted , to be willing to be interrupted, in a way that rishi sunak was not rishi sunak would continue, continue, continue until he finished his sentence , even when finished his sentence, even when the referee was trying to interrupt and move things on, and even when obviously when keir starmer was trying to interrupt him. what does that say? tell us about the two men.

>> i think they, as you would intimated , you know, rishi intimated, you know, rishi sunak's been in the job for quite a while now. he's very, very used to speaking, you know, being a public speaker. i mean this is a very different situation to pmqs, i mean, keir starmer is coming from a, you know, a law background . you know, a law background. you know, a law background. you know, being a barrister is a very slow sort of process in court. so i think it took him quite a while to find his feet. and i agree with you. there were a lot of opportunities where, keir starmer could have got his point across, but he sort of followed the rules, if you like. whereas sunak did , it was got whereas sunak did, it was got quite irritating by the end that he kept jumping in at every opportunity and didn't really respect any of the time limits as well. so i did think that, keir starmer could have got a few more points in if it had been a slightly more aggressive, isuppose been a slightly more aggressive, i suppose one of the big questions here is what should each one of them look to do next time , what were the pitfalls of time, what were the pitfalls of these two candidates? there's been a lot of suggestion that, rishi sunak perhaps interrupted

just slightly too much. what would be your advice to these two individuals in terms of how to approach the next debate? >> i think one thing that i did nofice >> i think one thing that i did notice from, or one thing that does happen with mr sunak quite a lot when he feels he's kind of potentially losing, some of his points , he will tend to speed up points, he will tend to speed up with his speech and i've noticed a gesture and you may notice it now. i've said it, it has to do with anxiety and stress. he'll get the furrow on his forehead just there and that's when we begin to see him changing his body language to being quite open and honest, to kind of clinching his hands quite a lot, i think for me it comes down to two things. yes. sunak was more confident non—verbally, but i think in terms of building rapport and trust, i think keir starmer , a job at certainly starmer, a job at certainly addressing, you know, some of the more key issues like, how, immigration, you know, the cost

of living. so i think my advice would be, you know, just to let it settle a bit more for keir starmer . i it settle a bit more for keir starmer. i think he just needs to be a little bit more on the ball. and i think for sunak just needs to slow down and just listen , and try to build some listen, and try to build some rapport with the people speaking to him. >> well, thank you very much indeed. darren stanton , you are indeed. darren stanton, you are a behaviour and body language expert. great to get your insight into how they look, how they behave, whether they come across as confident, interesting what darren said about the furrowed brow, because they do say that, when you become prime minister, you end up looking a lot older , more quickly than you lot older, more quickly than you might have done otherwise. >> i know that these two men spent hours in rooms getting advice from people like darren, getting a rise from their political advisors, but also in terms of how they sound, how they come across. this has been happening since the 1970s in our politics, that people need to sound and look the right way, not just say the same thing. >> could we see their, their

stance, last night, or were they covered by a lectern? >> well, there was a lectern in front of them, but you did get the wide shots because there was that. >> awkward. yeah, there was always those complaints about politicians. was it george osborne? no. david cameron, who had that sort of standing or the standing wide leg power stance as it was our stance, yes, no. >> although i do think that was a little unfair , because it was a little unfair, because it was only in certain photographs that you'd see it. it's not like david cameron stood there, dunng david cameron stood there, during prime minister's questions with legs akimbo. i think a i think he did, i think there were certain photographs. there was one of, sajid javid when he became home secretary, and the photographers were very , and the photographers were very, very naughty. they said, sarge, take a step over here. and as he was stepping, they snapped. and that went on the front page of the times the next morning that very , very wide set stance. but very, very wide set stance. but that's only because he was taking a step. >> no, i know a lot of people don't have much sympathy with politicians across the board, but having every single movement analysed, every twitch, every

furrowed brow, brow furrow, every, yes, slightly weird foot arrangement i was looking at studied . studied. >> i was looking at, rishi sunak in 2019 when he was in that, bbc seven party debate. he represented the conservatives back when he was a relatively unknown chief secretary to the treasury he didn't have a single grey hair, not one. and now, five years later, he's got quite a few grey hairs. it is true what they say about this job, it is it is one that does premature ageing. >> you and i can't remember either of them are going to have any help in that department. you're not going to get a facelift. rishi sunak facelift? no, not that he needs it . no, not that he needs it. they're both quite young men in the scheme of things. certainly compared to the united states. >> keir starmer is older than nigel farage. >> well, there you go. >> well, there you go. >> that's a good fact for you i won't comment. the alba party leader and former first minister of scotland, alex salmond, he's

on the general election campaign trail for his party. >> yes. speaking at a press eventin >> yes. speaking at a press event in central london, salmond outlined his vision for his party. >> ally pally was founded three years ago as a social democratic political party which places scottish independence as a foremost priority. our position is, and this is why it's distinctive from the snp, is that each and every election should be used as a test, a ballot box test for scottish independence , looking for a independence, looking for a majority of the votes at each and every national electoral test, we don't believe that the snp strategy of asking the incoming prime minister a sir keir starmer , to hold a scottish keir starmer, to hold a scottish independence referendum is entirely credible. in fact, we think it's incredible. in fact , think it's incredible. in fact, i don't know anyone who thinks it's credible and therefore our policy of looking at an election as the democratic mandate for scottish independence , we think, scottish independence, we think, is the way that scotland has to

go . go. >> i have to say i have seen alex salmond be more passionate than that in the past. has he, been like samson? lost his verve. lost? >> we should asked darren >> we should have asked darren what he said about her. that body language. yeah. >> well, coming up, we're going to be speaking to the man behind the first ever televised debate in the united kingdom. he moderated it for itv . yes, it's moderated it for itv. yes, it's the one and only alastair stewart. that

next. >> right. well. good afternoon. britain. it's 2:23. and, keir starmer and rishi sunak. britain. it's 2:23. and, keir starmer and rishi sunak . yes. starmer and rishi sunak. yes. they went head to head last night in their first tv debate, but the broadcaster and journalist alastair stewart hosted the first leader's tv debate all the way back in 2010. and he's done us the pleasure of

joining us now, alastair stewart, thank you so much for joining us this sunny afternoon. tell us, did julie etchingham do a good job and how does she compare to you ? compare to you? >> julie etchingham did a fine job. i thought the format. i agreed with the 1 or 2 of the criticisms that your commentary was giving earlier. i thought the format stifled it slightly , the format stifled it slightly, and what had emboldened david dimbleby and i all thought after our debate back then. >> yes, they went head to more audience participation was required, which is the way we do it. >> on gb news with the people's forum hosted , and, and that sort forum hosted, and, and that sort of thing all the way back. but my main takeaway is i'm afraid we've got we can hear ourselves back in your, in your audio. >> so i think there must be the most almighty delay. we'll see if we can get this sorted out. alastair. we're gonna we're gonna come back to for us a bit, and we'll get back to you in just a moment and see if our

tech people can work out what on earth is going on here. >> i think what was happening there is that alistair may have had it playing in the background, and of course, there's a bit of a bit of a delay. so you could hear me, you could hear me asking, asking the question, which was a bit of a shame. i hope we can sort that out. let's sort that out, because i really want to know what it's like to host one of these debates and, and where these debates and, and where these things work, when, you know, it can be little, small things that make something not work, it really can. >> but the history of tv debates in this country is so, so interesting. of course, the us has had them for donkey's years, since since jfk and nixon , and since since jfk and nixon, and they kept trying to have them in they kept trying to have them in the united kingdom , and there the united kingdom, and there was a moment where they almost happened, 1979, because that was the first time that the incumbent prime minister, callaghan, wanted to have those debates. and it was all to down margaret thatcher, the leader of the opposition at that time, as to whether or not she would accept the debates. and she was umming and arring and talking to her team about whether or not she should say yes. and she was 5050 on the issue until she was told that the bbc would be very,

very unhappy if she said no. she said, well, that makes the decision very easy. it's a no. >> the bbc would be very unhappy. oh well, in that case, yes. the, i guess one criticism is that, our parliamentary system isn't, isn't really supposed to have these kind of presidential style, debates. i guess we don't elect a president in the same way as the united states have one election. >> we've got 650 elections around the country . around the country. >> but, i mean, when it comes down to it, for a lot of voters, it is who the man in number 10 is going to be. >> yes. >> yes. well, >> yes. well, hopefully >> yes. well, hopefully we >> yes. well, hopefully we can get alastair stewart back because wanting to ask him really about, yes, obviously juue really about, yes, obviously julie etchingham sir tactics, but also what kind of format he thinks is best whether they should be longer or cover fewer topics , or whether there should topics, or whether there should be lots of interjections when you should allow them to squabble between themselves? >> well, we'll see if we can do that after this next item,

because russian hackers are said to be behind the cyber attack, which impacted a number of major london hospitals yesterday. >> yes, analysts have warned gb news that the group has started to strike more british targets in recent months. >> well, our reporter charlie peters has more and charlie, what is going on? >> well, it's a russian based group called kilin. that's q i l i n they've only been around since 2022, but they've caused significant carnage in recent years. hacking not only this nhs third party organisation in south london this week, but also in recent years serbia's sole electricity provider and a major chinese manufacturer, and also the australian court system. but this week we've heard now from the former ceo of the national cyber security centre and indeed the former head of cyber security at gchq, kieran martin, who said this morning that the same group was behind this attack on several major london

hospitals. they were affected because this group, hospitals. they were affected because this group , keelin, because this group, keelin, based in russia, had launched a ransomware attack on this group called synovus. it's a third party provider that works with the nhs to conduct pathology services. its it systems went down, we understand around midday on monday, with several planned operations in at least four major london hospitals cancelled as a consequence, they couldn't get blood transfusions ready and that meant stand by for potential haemorrhaging or massive blood loss wasn't available. and in those circumstances , major surgeries circumstances, major surgeries cannot go ahead. now, all of those hospitals have said that they're still going ahead with urgent care. but we do know that many more planned operations are set to be cancelled, one source telling the health service journal yesterday that this blockage could take weeks , not blockage could take weeks, not days. what do we know about killing? well, speaking to cybersecurity analysts this morning for some information after that revelation from the former ceo of the national cyber

security centre, it appears that they are motivated by profit. now, one analyst from sibylline told me that there is a very remote chance that they are directly linked to the kremlin and the russian state. it's much more likely that while they operate there, they're motivated by profit . they don't have any by profit. they don't have any political aims, and that might be evidenced by the fact that they've targeted those serbian and chinese companies in recent years. serbia and china , of years. serbia and china, of course, close allies of russian president vladimir putin. but we do know that they have also started in recent months to target european and british targets . it wasn't just this targets. it wasn't just this third party operator for pathology, it being hit on monday. in march , they also monday. in march, they also targeted the big issue magazine organisation. so another british target being hit there. and the question now is what sort of ransomware target attack was this and how can it be resolved. there are two types. in ransomware, you either encrypt

the data involved and ask for a password in exchange for payment, or you totally demolish an it system. that's what's happenedin an it system. that's what's happened in the case of synovus , happened in the case of synovus, and that's why so many of these operations are going to be cancelled, and why so many hospitals are struggling to get on with their planned care . on with their planned care. >> and, charlie, you say that this the motivation behind this is likely to be money financial benefit. this may sound like a silly question , but what how silly question, but what how would they be able to, get money out of nhs hospitals? >> well, it's clear that they've targeted that private organisation, synovus. so it's actually a private body. and one of the possibly troubling things that kieran martin said this morning, that former spook, he said that it's not really in the hands of the state about how that's handled. now, of course, we expect the hospitals to be taking a close advice from the national cyber security centre because they're part of the

british state, but it's under that direct contract in the same way there have been other circumstances where public bodies have paid off the ransom hacked by ransomware, cyber hackers . but in this case, we hackers. but in this case, we don't know how that's going to be dealt with, how it could potentially be resolved. but i think it's highly unlikely that a ransom will be paid to russian hackers, even if they're handung hackers, even if they're handling such a sensitive and delicate situation like pathology. it. >> yeah, the big risk in any sort of ransom payment, of course, is you just encourage more attacks , charlie peters, more attacks, charlie peters, thank you so much for joining more attacks, charlie peters, thank you so much forjoining us and updating us on that really important story. >> well, we're going to be getting to some of your views about the debate. we all saw and heard . well, most of us maybe, heard. well, most of us maybe, last night, 4.9 million people watched it live. yeah, apparently we'll be getting to your views. lots of them coming in thick and fast. and we'll also be back in normandy as we build up to the d—day 80th

anniversary. >> it's 231. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . your in the gb newsroom. your headlines. the king has paid tribute to d—day veterans ahead of the 80th anniversary of the normandy landings. of the 80th anniversary of the normandy landings . speaking at normandy landings. speaking at the uk's commemoration event in portsmouth , he said the stories portsmouth, he said the stories of d—day could not fail to inspire the nation. prime minister rishi sunak and sir keir starmer are also attending the event alongside the king. the queen and prince of wales and armed forces veterans . and armed forces veterans. >> too many never returned . they >> too many never returned. they remain in some corner of a foreign field that is forever england . we will always remember england. we will always remember those who served and those who waved them off. the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters , fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who watched their loved ones go into battle , their loved ones go into battle, unsure if they would ever return .today unsure if they would ever return . today we remember the bravery of those who crossed the sea to

liberate europe . liberate europe. >> meanwhile, across the channel in normandy , hundreds of armed in normandy, hundreds of armed forces personnel have taken part in a historic d—day parachute drop to recreate the airborne liberation of normandy 80 years ago . and american amanda knox ago. and american amanda knox has been found guilty of slander over accusations. accusations she made in relation to the murder of her british flatmate in perugia . in two thousand and in perugia. in two thousand and seven, an italian court issued a three year sentence for wrongly accusing congolese bar owner patrick lumumba of the killing of meredith kercher in an earlier case, knox had spent four years in jail for the killing, but that conviction was annulled in 2015. the sentence will have no practical impact, as it is covered by the time knox has already spent in jail, and for the latest story , sign and for the latest story, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen , or the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. common alerts . go to gb news. common alerts. >> cheers! britannia wine club

proudly sponsors the gb news financial report , and here's financial report, and here's a quick snapshot of today's markets. >> the pound will buy you $1.2791 and ,1.1753. the price of gold is £1,831 and £0.71 per ounce, and the ftse 100 is at 8273 points. >> cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report

>> well, it's martin up next. martin daubney. he's coming up at three. do we have him with us, we are going to have him in.

just. there he is. >> oh, there he is. what's coming up? martin on your show at 3:00? >> well, continuing from your excellent coverage of the d—day services in normandy will be at the royal british legion commemorative service. a thousand veterans, descendants and family members expected at a hugely emotional service in normandy will be live with that. plus, sir keir starmer's claims last night he wouldn't save a family member if by using the private sector we've unearthed, footage which shows that he said he would do precisely that in a previous interview, yet more flip flopping from sir keir starmer, and also to shake or not to shake the big milkshake debate, we'll be joined by a labour party activist who thinks people complaining about nigel farage getting milkshake yesterday are snowflakes and need to get over it. she'll be against somebody who thinks it's totally abhorrent, and that has no place in the public sector. and another tragic stabbing in mannheim in germany. what on

earth is going on in a town where six were stabbed last week by an islamist, now a politician , taking place in a live electoral cycle, has come under attack. what on earth is going on in germany ? calls for afghan on in germany? calls for afghan immigrants to be barred from going into the country as germany heads to the polls tomorrow. all that coming 3 to 6. >> 6.- >> yes. 6. >> yes. absolutely shocking that news from germany. i wonder what impact that may or may not have on the elections. >> yes. and of course, europe elect voting for meps from tomorrow. throughout the weekend, across all of those member states. really really important time. and we've seen attacks in all these european countries, in many european countries. martin, we'll look forward to your show. >> 3:00 yes. stay tuned for that , now, tomorrow, of course, marks eight years since the historic d—day landings. still the largest seaborne invasion in history until taiwan. >> no, i'm. that's not. anyway, an operation of its size and

scale, needed to be planned at a discreet location to avoid intelligence leaks . and so the intelligence leaks. and so the scottish seaside town of largs made an ideal command base for joint operations. well our scotland reporter, tony mcguire visited the west coast to explore scotland's contributions that helped operation overlord turn the tide of war to the untrained eye, the seaside town of largs, on the west coast of scotland, would look the same today as it did in 1944. >> but back during the second world war, this coastal paradise held a secret , for it was home held a secret, for it was home to the headquarters of the combined operations planning d—day. george newlands, a volunteer at the local largs museum, talks about the buildings at the heart of scotland's best kept wartime secret . secret. >> sandie vara was taken over and became the combined operations headquarters for the duration of the war, and then a conference of about 110 military personnel took place in the

hollywood hotel, as was then. it's little known, but that conference was one of the most important pre—planning things for the whole operation. >> the varne guest house was owned at the time by the derby family, and although mrs. derby moved out, mr derby stayed on. his efforts were rewarded with the rank of chief petty officer . the rank of chief petty officer. flats now stand at the site of the hollywood hotel. the location of the critical field of cloth and gold conference . of cloth and gold conference. only the name remains. signalling history was made here. one thing that wouldn't have changed in 80 years is largs promenade. being a popular site for a stroll. so how much did today's locals know about the history made on their doorstep? where do you think that would have been planned . that would have been planned. >> here maybe. >> here maybe. >> yes. well done . so i think >> yes. well done. so i think that's quite cool that it happened that a wee scottish town like this. yeah, london. >> it was that building right behind me over the corner. really? yeah hollywood house.

>> it's gone now. >> it's gone now. >> it's gone now. >> it's been replaced by flats. >> it's been replaced by flats. >> but there were meetings here in largs , nana. in largs, nana. >> i've lived here all my life and i wouldn't have known that longterm. >> largs resident gordon scott says younger generations are beginning to take a keen interest in the approaching anniversary. the younger generations are much more interested than maybe my generation was. again, it was. it was more recent to my generation . so my parents were generation. so my parents were my father were trying to forget it . they didn't talk about the it. they didn't talk about the war. but it's a time that's gone on, you know, we've looked back and we've realised the tragedy of it all. in truth, history was made all across scotland. the sheriffmuir , the atlantic wall sheriffmuir, the atlantic wall was used to practice breaching techniques . oban was a testing techniques. oban was a testing ground for the mulberry harbours . chaff was tested for the first time at tantallon castle in nonh time at tantallon castle in north berwick, and even largs has more stories to tell. >> hms largs was the command ship for all the land use that took place in sword beach in june 1944, so she was quite an important little ship .

important little ship. >> two of scotland's surviving d—day veterans passed the torch to the younger generation this week, but by the next landmark anniversary, it will most certainly fall on the shoulders of youth to champion their story, their courage and their sacrifice. tony mcguire , gb news. >> it's easy to forget how every corner of the country was involved in such a mammoth operation. >> yes, and lots of those people are walking by having absolutely noidea are walking by having absolutely no idea that the secret d—day base, anyway , will households be base, anyway, will households be £2,000 worse off under labour? rishi sunak hammered that point last night. didn't he? in that heated tv debate, we'll hear from our economics business editor to sort the fact from the fiction. stay

us. 246 is the time now. the economy

was one of the hot topics last night. the prime minister hit home his claim that labour will increase your taxes by £2,000 per household. >> the choice that this election is with my clear plan and bold action to keep cutting your taxes, to give you financial security , or put all that security, or put all that progress at risk with higher taxes. £2,000 worth of higher taxes. £2,000 worth of higher taxes under the labour. >> but how did he arrive at those numbers and should we believe them? well, joining us now is gb news economics and business editor liam halligan with on the money reporter. liam, where did this number come from ? from? >> it's kind of just conjured out of the air. look, this general election campaign, it's barely got going . and already barely got going. and already we're in the realms of finger pointing , fur flying about pointing, fur flying about economic forecasts. many years hence, which, let's be clear, probably won't come true anyway.

and i'm about to tell you about the row over the assumptions behind that headline number. >> last night was, of course, the leaders debate on itv news. >> congrats to our rivals. they hosted that debate , it certainly hosted that debate, it certainly has generated interest. and one thing that particularly generated interest was rishi sunak repeatedly saying this kind of attack line labour will increase your taxes by £2,000 per household. he kept saying it , he kept saying it. and starmer didn't really have much to come back at him with on that particular thing. so there's been a huge row overnight . been a huge row overnight. >> and this morning. >> and this morning. >> where does this £2,000 number come from? the tories say what they've done. they've added up all labour's spending plans. they've used labour's own information. they've used treasury documents. in particular. they mentioned the treasury, the tories behind this number. and they reckon if you add up the total amount of tax that labour are going to need to hit their spending plans, you divide it by the number of households. it's two grand. then this morning cabinet secretary

claire coutinho, the energy secretary for it, is she she admitted that that actually is two grand over four years, which the prime minister didn't make clear last night. in fairness to his opponent, keir starmer. and since then, blimey , the since then, blimey, the permanent secretary of the treasury weighs in. he's a kind of super , sir humphrey, you of super, sir humphrey, you know, very, very senior civil servant. the permanent secretaries are extremely powerful figures in our public life, as you both know. and the permanent secretary of the treasury, no less, released a letter publicly distancing the treasury and himself from these numbers that the tories have used . now the tories have hit used. now the tories have hit back. bear with me. the tories hit back. they've sent nerdy people in the media like me, detailed spreadsheets showing where these numbers come from and the tories are maintaining that all the numbers, all the background to these estimates come from treasury sources. the treasury counter civil servants, of course, wanting to stay clean

away from the political fray . away from the political fray. they're saying no. some of the underlying assumptions came from special advisers, i.e. political appointees appointed by the conservative party within the treasury, confused . and if treasury, confused. and if you're not confused, you don't really understand what's going on. >> but what people want to know is will their taxes go up if there's a labour government? >> now, rachel reeves says, not national insurance, not income tax , not vat, what are the taxes tax, not vat, what are the taxes could be raised instead. >> well, this is the great imponderable of democracy. a long standing, imponderable of democracy. a long standing , sophisticated long standing, sophisticated democracy like ours. we want clean, clear choices between our parties. and yet both parties are trying to tell us, essentially, philosophically, how they are going to manage the great unknown future. and there's, you know, so much about there's, you know, so much about the future is unknown. but what's particularly unknown is the state of the economy, financial markets, geopolitics ,

financial markets, geopolitics, wars, other kind of whiz bangs. we just don't know. i think it's fair to say, emily, i'll try and be even handed in this. i think both parties are trying to promise the world without telling any of us how we're going to pay for it. and, you know, i sometimes criticise the likes of the ifs, the institute for fiscal studies and other, you know, independent sort of nerd think tanks. but i think in this case, paul johnson of the ifs is right. he says, in fairness to him, and to his credit, none of our major parties are being honest with us. look, in the end , if you us. look, in the end, if you want more good stuff from the state that costs money for the most part, reforms the other side, you have to pay for that. you either pay for it by borrowing more, which means you pay borrowing more, which means you pay high interest rates as a government or from extra taxation . both parties are taxation. both parties are trying to hang their hat on this idea , and there's some truth in idea, and there's some truth in this. you can grow your way out of the problem. so if the economy gets bigger or generate more tax revenue , but labour in more tax revenue, but labour in particular don't want to bang that drum too loudly because of

course we need growth, growth, growth. well suddenly they sound like liz truss. and maybe she was right after all. so this is the way this election is going to be. there's going to be lots of theatre. there's going to be lots of finger pointing and fur flying, as i said. but at the heart of a lot of it is ordinary people trying to find out what this means for the economy, for their pocketbooks, for their household budgets , for their household budgets, for their economic futures of themselves and their kids. economic futures of themselves and their kids . as bill and their kids. as bill clinton's chief political adviser said back in their day, it's the economy, stupid. >> and it's interesting that the permanent secretary, the serving permanent secretary, the serving permanent secretary, the serving permanent secretary of the treasury , has released this treasury, has released this letter. fairly unusual, do you think? >> and quickly, tom, within within a few a few hours of this row getting going. >> do you think he'd be doing that if he didn't expect the government to be changing, if he didn't expect to? having to be working with rachel reeves in just a month's time ? just a month's time? >> look, it's the job of the likes of me to know civil servants and in particular, to

know permanent secretaries. i'm of the age that you two aren't at the moment where, you know, so many of my contemporaries are so many of my contemporaries are so much more successful than me, so much more successful than me, so i have to sort of get to know them all. yeah, a lot of people i was at university with my generation are now becoming these very powerful figures in whitehall, and i don't know the treasury civil servant, permanent secretary, particularly well. i've met him once or twice, but what i would say is, you know, it's easy to point the finger and say something like, oh, you're only doing this because you're stitching up the tories. i don't believe that in this case, i do believe that in this case, i do believe there is some civil service activism. i do believe that the blob sometimes tries to stop centre right politicians from doing what they've been elected to do, but in this case, i don't think that's true. i think the treasury is distancing themselves from these tory estimates of labour's spending plans because the underlying assumptions the treasury claims were made by special advisers and not civil servants, but more information is coming out all

the time. >> well, it's one to ponder and no doubt there'll be more rules once the manifesto those are released. >> for now, liam halligan certainly won't be the only figure flung out there, flung out there. >> no, thank you very much to liam halligan for that. now we're going to cross to normandy to speak with gb news reporter sophie reaper, who has been there, overseeing these commemorations. there, overseeing these commemorations . and, sophie, commemorations. and, sophie, you're at a graveyard . you're at a graveyard. >> yeah. good afternoon to you both. let's not waste any time. i am joined now by a very , very i am joined now by a very, very important guest, bernard morgan, d—day veteran . thank you so much d—day veteran. thank you so much for joining us, bernard. how do forjoining us, bernard. how do you feel being back here in normandy on the 80th anniversary? >> vie i was last here when i was there in normandy the first time was on the 9th of june. and when i come back, i think about the lads who were with me who lost their lives during the battle of normandy. i had three wireless operators who worked

with me regularly. i was a frontline code breaker and they gave me all the messages in groups of five scrambled letters. i'd coded them on a typex machine and then pass the message to the air operations officer, who sent the aircraft where the army had requested them . them. >> and what do you remember? i know you landed on d—day, didn't you? what do you remember from that day ? that day? >> a third thing i remember was seeing all the dead bodies on the beach. suddenly they'd arrived in the morning and the small landing craft for them, they brought them in, dropped them in 7 or 8ft of water. and sadly, when the soldiers jumped out, they got that much equipment on them . they couldn't equipment on them. they couldn't get up. once they got down in this water. and it was sad to see the army wrap them in blankets and taking them ashore. and also at the same time,

german prisoners who would be taken during the invasion. they were marching back to the landing craft that these soldiers had come on, and they were taken straight back to britain and then very quickly sent to canada , because they sent to canada, because they didn't, in the event of a german invasion, they didn't want german troops in this country. so those lads were very lucky. spend the summer, the winter in canada. >> bernard, i'm sorry to rush you. it's been an absolute honour to speak to you. thank you so much forjoining us today i >> -- >> it's been a pleasure. thank you.thank >> it's been a pleasure. thank you. thank you for inviting . you. thank you for inviting. >> what a wonderful interview there with a veteran. wonderful to hear the experience. very moving indeed . moving indeed. >> bernard manning, their code breaker on the front line . so breaker on the front line. so many individuals doing so much. that's it today.

>> hey. very good afternoon to you. it's 3:00 pm. welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk today, british paratroopers have landed in normandy to pay tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives when they invaded northern france 80 years ago . the king, france 80 years ago. the king, queen and prince of wales have led commemorations for the bravery of the soldiers at a national event in portsmouth, and we'll bring you live coverage of d—day, 80th anniversary events throughout the duration of the show . and a the duration of the show. and a furious row has erupted between the tories and the labour party. after last night's first tv general election debate, labour have accused rishi sunak of lying about sir keir starmer's plans to raise taxes. and that's all coming up in your next hour.