it all to you. live as it happens. also tonight , let me happens. also tonight, let me ask you this. do you reckon you should be able to have a household income of £120,000 and still get child benefit sunak's policy a new one says yes, you should and many agree. but others say why on earth does welfare state need to extend with households with six figure incomes? your thoughts on that? also, angela rayner says that locals should get first dibs on properties for sale. that sounds fantastic , but tell me, how does fantastic, but tell me, how does it actually work? also, stephen fry, he's in trouble for basically saying that a cricket club was too packed full of posh people. my words not his, but you get the gist. i'm asking you

tonight is classism still a big divide in society ? i've got all divide in society? i've got all that to come and more. but before we get stuck in, let's cross live for tonight's latest news headlines. >> michelle, thank you very much. and good evening to you . a much. and good evening to you. a look at the headlines at 6:00. well, day 16 of the general election campaign has been dominated today by the prime minister's decision to leave yesterday's major international d—day ceremony early. instead rishi sunak came back to the uk to film a tv interview . two to film a tv interview. two veterans, opposition parties and some of the prime minister's own mps have accused him of letting the country down. but mr sunak has now apologised and admits it was a mistake but insists it shouldn't be politicised. >> reflection . that was >> reflection. that was a mistake and i apologise. i think it's important though, given the enormity of the sacrifice made,

that we don't politicise this. the focus should rightly be on the veterans who gave so much. i had the honour and privilege of speaking to many of them and their families, hearing their stories, expressing my gratitude personally to them. but i'm someone who will always admit when i've made a mistake. that's what you'll always get from me . what you'll always get from me. >> standing on the cliffs that us soldiers scaled on d—day, joe biden has been warning against modern authoritarian threats. speaking in normandy this afternoon, the prime minister, the us president, rather stressed the need to support ukraine and drew contrast with his rival donald trump. he urged people to stay true to the values fought for in world war ii. >> we're the fortunate heirs of a legacy of these heroes. those who scale the cliffs point to hawk. we must also be the keepers of their mission, the keepers of their mission, the keepers of their mission, the keepers of their mission , the keepers of their mission, the bearers of the flame of freedom that they kept burning bright. that that is the truest

testimonial to their lives. our actions every day to ensure that our democracy endures and the soul of our nation endures. >> joe biden there, speaking earlier in france this afternoon. well, here in the uk, labouris afternoon. well, here in the uk, labour is pledging to introduce a series of new schemes aimed at boosting the availability of mortgages for first time buyers. among their plans would be an expansion of the mortgage guarantee, meaning that if a bank repossesses a first time buyers house, the government would compensate some of its losses. the conservative party has also unveiled its own measures, including a pledge not to raise stamp duty. >> this is a game changer if you're a young couple and you want to have the security of a roof, your own roof over your head, this is a game changer because many of those people, let's say a young couple, both on a reasonable wage, will be paying on a reasonable wage, will be paying a fortune in rent. and because of that, they can't afford to save for a deposit .

afford to save for a deposit. and if you don't have a parent who can help you out, that means you're never going to get on the housing ladder. >> elsewhere on the campaign trail today, the liberal democrats have been setting out their plans to make parental leave more flexible, including what they call a dad month on the election trail today, sir ed davey is promising to double statutory maternity pay to and encourage more fathers to take time off work. the conservative wives say they'll cut taxes for thousands of families . however, thousands of families. however, the lib dem spokesperson for education, children and young people, munira wilson, says the families need more choice and flexibility. >> there's lots of parents up and down the country, both mums and down the country, both mums and dads, who love to take more time off work in those early months for that, for their children's first smile, first steps, first words but just simply can't afford to do so because statutory pay at the moment is less than half the minimum wage if you were working full time. so we double statutory maternity and shared parental pay. we'd also increase paternity pay to 90% of earnings

with a cap, but also we would look to increase paternity leave pay, look to increase paternity leave pay, which is very low at the moment. again, to 90% of earnings . earnings. >> and just a reminder that in around an hour and a half's time, we will, of course, be seeing leaders from the seven major political parties, speaking at the televised debate, the second so far of the general election campaign. and we will, of course, bring you all of the reaction throughout the night here on gb news. well, in other news, a man who opened fire with an ak 47 machine gun at a cinema complex in liverpool earlier this year , has today earlier this year, has today been jailed for 14 years. lesley garrett opened fire at the theatre in croxteth area on the 3rd of january. no one was injured in that incident. the 49 year old had previously pleaded guilty to weapons offences and attempted robbery . new cctv attempted robbery. new cctv footage appears to show missing tv doctor michael moseley on the day that he went missing while

on holiday on the greek island of symi. if you're watching on tv, you can see here those pictures showing him holding an umbrella, wearing shorts, a cap and a t shirt . the presenter, and a t shirt. the presenter, who's known for appearing on programmes like the bbc's the one show and the podcast just one show and the podcast just one thing, hasn't been seen since wednesday. sniffer dogs, divers and drones are now scanning the island, which is around 25 miles north of rhodes . around 25 miles north of rhodes. and finally, before we head back to michelle, some sports news for you. england are set to play iceland at wembley this evening in their final friendly ahead of euro 2024, after confirming his final squad for the tournament yesterday. manager gareth southgate will now be fine tuning his best team for germany. his side are among the favourites to lift the trophy and he's left some big names out of his 26 man squad, including jack grealish and james maddison. they've both been dropped while harry maguire also misses out because of injury. england opened their campaign a week on sunday. for the latest

stories you can sign up to gb news alerts. just scan the code on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts . common alerts. >> thank you very much for that. my >> thank you very much for that. my name is michelle dewberry and i'm with you till 7:00 tonight alongside me, i've got my panel, the director of the centre right think tank. onward, sebastian payne and community activist susie stride. good evening to both of you. i've got to say, you've done my show once before, a very long time. so welcome back. and you're a new face to this program. and we love those. so thank you. although you and l, so thank you. although you and i, we thrashed it out before haven't we. many a year ago. >> paper reviews on a different channel that many a year ago. >> i can tell you where i think we look younger now than what we ever did. speak for yourself. well, there you go. i'll let you catch up on that on youtube and you can decide for yourself anyway. look, i've got lots that i want to talk to you about. it's all been going on again today. rishi sunak. honestly, i

wonder if sometimes they just ruse. the. tammy's alarm went off. i bet he wishes he stayed in bed. so much going on. rishi sunakis in bed. so much going on. rishi sunak is about to speak to us, speak to us any moment now, and i'll be crossing live to him as soon as that begins. worry not, lots more i want to talk about, though. housing, child benefit and also class. how much of an issue is it in this country? stephen fry, he's got into hot water for speaking out about that. you know the drill. all the usual ways you can get in touch with me tonight. gb news .com/ your saves the website you can email gb views @gbnews. com or of course you can go on to twitter or x or whatever you want to call it and reach me there. but look, without further ado, let me cross live to our political editor, christopher hope, because of course, there's a massive debate taking place tonight. i can't wait to watch it. you're in the so—called spin room, christopher, what are we looking forward to tonight, it really is . well, hi, michel. really is. well, hi, michel. it's great to be on your show again. yeah, i'm here in new broadcasting house, the centre of the for bbc a seven way

leaders election debate. so all seven major parties are represented in a debate in the bbc radio theatre just across the corridor of where i'm standing. so you've got penny mordaunt for the tories, angela rayner for labour, the deputy leader , daisy cooper for liberal leader, daisy cooper for liberal democrats, nigel farage, a former gb news presenter and now, of course, leader of reform uk , stephen flynn. he's the snp uk, stephen flynn. he's the snp westminster leader. carla denyer from the green party and rowan , from the green party and rowan, who is the plight leader, for many viewers watching bbc tonight, these will be the first time they've seen many of them in action. but each individual candidate has got risk attached to their appearance. you look at penny mordaunt, she of course, is a cabinet minister. she's the she's a candidate in portsmouth and all she she'll be challenged immediately about the prime minister's decision yesterday to come home early from the d—day commemorations. was that right, was that right or not? and will

she will she defend the prime minister, or has she got half an eye on the future when there might well be a tory leadership campaign starting afterjuly the 5th? if the tories lose and she'll be a candidate in that , she'll be a candidate in that, she'll be a candidate in that, she'll try and drive home the £2,000 tax tax increase for individuals if labour win the election. that's her idea . and election. that's her idea. and zarina, we know about her. she courses practising weekly at pmqs, standing in for sir keir starmer. she's quick thinking , starmer. she's quick thinking, she, she wanted she, she'd want to try and reach out to the middle ground to people who don't know who she is and worry if she's a socialist, what she'll do, will she try and drive the party leftwards, labour if they get into power? so it's the first look at her in prime time. others. daisy coopen prime time. others. daisy cooper, the mp for saint albans since 2019. she's fluent , since 2019. she's fluent, articulate and her big target is tory. voters vote for us and we'll clean up the rivers in the south west. vote for us. if you can't bear the tories and not quite sure on labour, we're your party. that's what the lib dems will say. and just finally, stephen flynn, of course, the leader of snp westminster, she's

he's a candidate in aberdeen south. big challenge for him from the green party and the and the lib dems might be. do you want to get rid of the oil industry in scotland in favour of green energy . are you sure of green energy. are you sure about that? that of course brought down the coalition of with the greens in scotland. that will be a challenge. nigel farage you know about him? what he stands for is a former presenter @gbnews. he needs to connect with a wider audience , connect with a wider audience, not just gb news viewers, but much wider than that, he says he can get more than 3.8 million votes he got in 2015. he thinks it's a breakthrough moment for reform uk . let's see, because reform uk. let's see, because he's got to make it make a hit today. a big chance here. 90 minutes in prime time and the greens caladenia and plaid cymru really a free hit i think for both parties because labour is so far ahead. if you don't like the tories , let's send a message the tories, let's send a message on green issues for the greens and welsh independence for plaid. so lots of different competing priorities for these leaders in the seven way debate. the action starts at 7:30 pm, ends at 9 pm. and i'll be here, right here with all the best

reaction for gb news viewers and the coverage going to that saying what might what might come. so do stay tuned to gb news all night. >> i will definitely be staying tuned. i've got the popcorn before i let you go. christopher. you know what i'm like. i am a little bit nosy. can you give us all a little bit of a look around that spin room? i do like to see what's going on. show my viewers there. let's get it back on full screen. >> paul. what? i'm with paul. paul might ought to have a look around. paul, can you see? >> what have we got? >> what have we got? >> what have we got? >> what can you see with your camera. yeah. >> because not everybody in here knows what a spin room is. >> no, the spin room essentially is journalists talking to other journalists. half the time it's not very, not very mysterious, but later on, i think it's a bit more exciting than that. >> get. >> get. >> it'll get very full of people. no, no, no, it is very exciting. we're going to have lots of guests all night on gb news from all different parties trying to spin their candidates answers, making out why they matter. what you have now is a whole line of bbc, itv, sky news and others all doing some

broadcasting from here because it will be an exciting place later on. but it's only 6 pm. and the drinks haven't got flowing yet, but they will do later and it will be quite spicy i think, particularly after 9 pm. michelle. p.m. michelle. >> oh, i am looking forward to it. christopher. hope thank you very much for that. i've got to say, rishi sunak, he has had a very tough day. he will be speaking any minute now and i will be crossing live to him the second that he is ready to do so. but for now, sebastian, your thoughts? i mean, what a day it has been for rishi sunak. >> yeah, it's been very difficult for, for the prime minister, hasn't it? and really it started at 745 this morning. >> as fascinating as you are, rishi sunak i think is preparing here we go over the past year when she's up in westminster. >> but she has made the uk the technology capital of europe. she held a summit last year on al, which meant that we led on ai, which meant that we led on the world stage when it comes to making sure we get that opportunities of that technology right. and she's also led the world in making sure that our children are safe when they go

in line . those are extraordinary in line. those are extraordinary achievements. please join me in saying well done to michelle for everything that she's doing. but i know she also works incredibly hard for you here at home. i'm always following her social media. i don't think i've ever seen do so. anyone do more supermarket surgeries and fake appearances than michelle does? making sure she's delivering for all of you . i know health was all of you. i know health was a big issue that you and i talked about, and there are, i think, 57 more gp's here now than there were before. local policing was another priority of michelle. so there are now 195 more police officers on your street as a result of michelle's campaigning and education. as we conservatives know, is the best way to transform children's lives, which is why we've made sure, with michelle's help that every primary school pupil here is getting £4,000 of funding in every secondary school pupil, £5,000 in funding, so we can transform their lives and spread opportunity. but i also wanted to say it's great to be here with all of you. members like you are the lifeblood of our

party and everywhere i've been in this campaign across the country, i'm continually struck and inspired by your energy , and inspired by your energy, your determination, and your dedication to our cause . so dedication to our cause. so i wanted to thank you personally for that. and also , i know for that. and also, i know you're all going to work incredibly hard to get michelle re—elected. aren't you? yeah. there we go. that's what i need you to do. and look, the last few years have been tough. i know that you know that covid, ukraine, all the impact it's had on everyone's livelihoods, their bills, their family finances. but i hope you also know that i will always have you and everyone else's back during these tough times, whether that was with the furlough scheme when i was chancellor, the support with energy bills, when that crisis struck or more recently after i became prime minister, our bold plan to bring inflation back to normal. and after a tough few years , i think after a tough few years, i think people can start to see now that our plan is working. our conservative plan is delivered economic stability back to our country. inflation back to normal 11% down to just over

two. the economy is now growing faster than france, germany, italy and the united states. wages have been rising faster than prices for almost a year now. and that shows that we're on the right track. the nhs is disintegrating. >> i am one of 2500 gps in this country who are currently unemployed. >> due to your policies, what are you going to do about that? 37,000 gps will not vote conservative because of the constructive dismissal of general practitioner. well, not employ lesser qualified . cannot employ lesser qualified. cannot be confident. >> well no one. if i could answer , are being used to answer, are being used to conduct consultations . conduct consultations. >> the massively confident most people we see over the age of have at least six different disease . i lost because my heart disease. i lost because my heart qualified staff spend more time

on than in surgery. >> oh really ? >> oh really? >> oh really? >> right. well ma'am, if you just mind. so my dad was a gp, but my mum was also a pharmacist, so that's the household i grew up in. my parents dedicated themselves to primary care. i know a thing or two about it. i worked very hard in my mum's pharmacy and whilst we're supporting gps and actually right now supporting them with investment in digital telephony to make sure that we can make it easier for get access to them, we are also making it easier for people to see other primary care practitioners to get the treatments they need. and that's where i'll respectfully disagree with you, because i do think it is right that people can now see their pharmacists to get medicines for seven seven common ailments like sore throats, ear infections and sinusitis. and thatis infections and sinusitis. and that is an example of something we're doing that making it easier for people to get the care they need. but i will always support primary care, as i said, because i'm the son of

both a gp and a pharmacist. but we can't have a strong nhs without a strong economy. and that's the choice at this election. do we build on the progress that we have made, turn that secure foundation that we now have into something that can deliver a secure future for everyone in their families, so we can continue to cut their taxes and invest in the nhs? or do we put all that progress after all that hard work and sacrifice and resilience of our country at risk, and go back to square one with labour, because the only certainty with labour that we all know, don't we, is that we all know, don't we, is that they are going to put up everyone's taxes. right? and as you saw the other night, it's £2,000 in tax rises for every working family in our country. that's what all their uncosted, policies add up to. i don't think that's the right policy. you don't think that's the right policy? because we want to deliver financial security for our country. and that's the choice at this election. and with your support , with your with your support, with your help, we will go out and about across not just the south west, but across the country, and take that message to the country that with the conservatives, we will cut your taxes. we will deliver

a more secure future for you and your family and that's what the plan is. thank you very much. bye bye. bye bye. thank you. brilliant. thank you . brilliant. thank you. >> there you go. that was our prime minister there in wiltshire. michelle donelan . wiltshire. michelle donelan. there. the science minister alongside him. i've got to tell you, i almost jumped out of my skin then, because when i heard him say. michelle, michelle, i was like, me, i'm running for election for the tories. and i haven't quite realised it. but of course he was not talking to me. he was, heckled. you probably couldn't hear it because it was a crowd member and she was shouting out without and she was shouting out without a microphone. so worry not, it wasn't a sound issue. our end, basically, from what i could gather, i think that was a gp and she was shouting at the prime minister something about policy changes that they've made, which have basically led to kind of the dismissal of many gps. that was what i was kind of picking up there anyway, i rudely interrupted, you know, sebastian , when we were talking

sebastian, when we were talking about this. >> so i think what's interesting is we didn't get onto the topic of the day there, which was all about, the d—day events yesterday and mr sunak's decision to come back early, which has caused a huge firestorm in the campaign, and it really today's events began about 7:45 am. when mr sunak tweeted an apology, which showed, i think, how much, concern there was within the tory campaign about this. and he then went out and did a broadcast clip this morning where he again apologised and faced some pretty brutal questioning, i think about that, and i think this is going to keep on rumbling on. and really, you know, it has to be mr sunak's worst day of the campaign so far. sunak's worst day of the campaign so far . and the campaign so far. and the question is, how can they draw a line under this? and we've got that big debate. we will hear from christopher hope. and you can imagine who's going to be thinking about that. it's gb news nigel farage because he has been out and about and with increasing criticisms of mr sunak for this. but mr sunak won't be at the debate tonight. it's penny mordaunt who herself is a former naval reservist and,

it'll be very interesting to see how she's going to deal with this because, in terms of that debate, this is nigel farage moment to have a huge audience of millions of people and to get his point across there. and what's also interesting about that debate is you've got, seven people, a lot of people on a set , and all of them except penny mordaunt will be very happy to let nigel farage talk and make his point and get stuck into the conservatives, because that ultimately will benefit them. so, this is going to rumble on. we've not heard the end of the d—day row. i think it has been a difficult one. it's right that he apologised in a second. >> i'm going to i'll go to susie in a second. after i finish that, i want to go to johnny mercer and just listen to what he's been saying about this, and i'll go to him in a second. but before that, susie, your thoughts? yeah. i mean, i think it's kind of justifiable. i mean, i think what is what's justifiable? normal people. it's d—day. it's one of the most, you know, historical events in the world that our country brave men in fought, you know, against great evil .

great evil. >> and, you know, we honour them, we honour their bravery. and i'm not saying that rishi sunakis and i'm not saying that rishi sunak is a bad person, but i think it was just a really bad judgement call. but then for me, i'm a little bit like if you can't make that judgement call, you know what is underlying there, you know? and so i think what i'm saying is i think it is justifiable that he has had flak for this because i just think actually you know, it shouldn't have been a wrong call to make. fair enough. if he had, i know a family member sick, but it was an interview with itv, you know, however, i don't think i don't think we should go to town on it. ultimately, he made a wrong decision . he's in a high decision. he's in a high pressure environment at the moment. you know, he's got this, the flack for it, well, let's listen to what, johnny mercer, because he was speaking out. >> to be fair, he had a pre—organized, interview. he stuck with it, actually, and i quite respected him because he obviously knew this was going to come up. let's just listen to one of the things that he said that i certainly found interesting. >> you find, you know, the kind of faux outrage from people who've done nothing but make my life difficult, trying to

improve veterans affairs over the years. pretty nauseating, to be frank. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> saying obviously there is. he finds it pretty nauseating that many people that haven't helped him in his endeavours to try and support veterans are now all of a sudden, deeply concerned about veterans. he's suggesting perhaps double standards and hypocrisy. i do want to add a little bit of context to this , little bit of context to this, if i may, because apparently at the end of, may, the bbc were told by the french government and i'm going to directly quote this. rishi sunak presence is not guaranteed at the international ceremony because the british ceremony will be held beforehand. so i just want to be clear what we're talking about here. the ceremony that took place earlier on in the day, the british one, the king was there. rishi sunak was there, starmer and people like that. he the king then left. and i think that was based on medical advice because of his condition. and then rishi sunak also decided to leave at that point. so i do need to stress to everybody, he would argue that he was there for the british element. he obviously thought

that was sufficient . david that was sufficient. david cameron then went and stood on. i think i've got a clip of david cameron, with some of the leaders, including people like biden, as well, a picture of him, so he would kind of say, well , you know, i ticked the well, you know, i ticked the box. i did the british part. i mean, look at that. david cameron to me looks like the leader on that picture slipping back into his old role there, slipping very comfortably back. i would say. but do you think thatis i would say. but do you think that is any justification then, perhaps because , that argument perhaps because, that argument that actually, you know, i did the british part of it, does that make it all right? >> i'm not sure it does . and i >> i'm not sure it does. and i think the fact is that, you know, it's such a huge moment in our country's history that this is the last d—day celebration thatis is the last d—day celebration that is probably going to include people who were there. and that sort of bit of history is starting to sadly slip away. and i think it is an iconic moment . and as the prime moment. and as the prime minister, forget the election campaign, forget the conservative party. that's why people need to be there to represent our country. and the bit with the world leaders just normally on a political point

here, if you think about it, standing with emmanuel macron, joe biden , olaf scholz of joe biden, olaf scholz of germany, you know, for prime ministers, normally that's where you want to be because it's great images that will give you that sense of a commanding leader on the world stage. now i think what's probably genuinely happened here was this itv interview had been booked in before . it was something that before. it was something that had been in the diary and someone was like, right, well, you've done that bit, you need to go back to the uk to do this. >> the second part of this, who on earth is advising rishi sunak? either they are incredibly poor at their job because from day one, from second one, i would say from the whole umbrella ridiculousness outside of downing street, that whole thing, whoever is advising him every twist and turn either. they are incredibly incompetent and need to be fired, or he's not listening to them. i can't quite work out which one it is. i've got to say, many people at home, you're very divided on this. some of you saying, look, michel, the guy's apologised. accept the apology and move on, other people suggesting that political capital is being made

of this, martin says the veterans care only that the king was there, but no one, apart from labour and the media, cared less if sunak or any politician was there. in a second, i'll try and bring up a clip of a veteran who definitely did feel let down. but before i bring that in, let me just say, harry, says basically this is the ultimate proof that what people have suggested that rishi sunak does not understand britain, he's absolutely finished , i'm almost absolutely finished, i'm almost starting to feel sorry for him because he says , harry says he because he says, harry says he doesn't realise what kind of mistake he's made. and paul says, sure, starmer has made mistakes, but nothing as bad as what sunak has done. if this was starmer that had gone early, the tories would be after his head. and chris says come on, mercer, you cannot defend him this time around, surely let me play this veteran clip quickly if i can, just to show you some of the reactions that people like the veterans have and feel about this. >> well, some of them are taking

issue. yes, i can understand . issue. yes, i can understand. and the, division of what he would call his duty and he opted . to, put, the election before the thousands who , who were the thousands who, who were killed and, but, it seems it was the wrong decision . the wrong decision. >> there you go. you've had a different opinions. yours can be the final ones on that getting touch. and let me know what you make to it all, i've got to say, the tories were actually trying to launch some kind of renewed energy around one of their suggestions today, of course, massively overshadowed. it's all about whether or not child's benefit now should be given to households , those that have households, those that have incomes of £120,000, up to 160, incomes of £120,000, up to 160, in some cases . what do you make

in some cases. what do you make to this, sebastian? >> well, i think , first of all, >> well, i think, first of all, there's these thresholds that are put in on these policies. if you earn x amount of money, you will get child benefit. they're often quite a bad way of making policy, because if you have two people in a household who earn £80,000 each, they might still get it. but if the whole household is in a different way, they don't get it. so i think they don't get it. so i think the fact they are looking at it so it's for a household, not an individual, i think that is a good thing to do. and ultimately, you know, child care costs are very high. and i think there has clearly been this gap here between people that that earn, you know, that that 120 to the 160,000 within their household. so i think it is a good thing to do here, but there needs to be much more done on child care that, you know, last year the government introduced 13 free hours of child care for those, on below £100,000. that was a good thing. but my think tank has argued we should be doing much more on child care. we need to be looking at, get

having a liberalised system of child tax credits. so parents can decide how and where they spend their child care . so it's spend their child care. so it's not dictated to them by how liberal. >> so could a parent decide to spend their child care on booze and fags? >> no no no on on like child care stuff . not just giving them care stuff. not just giving them money, but they would be deciding what kind of child care they do is not just necessarily nursery. >> so could they pay the grandparents in your scheme under the proposals we've talked about would be have like a big set of options for child care, ranging from nursery to people coming in, and the parents would be able to get credits that they can use and spend on different types of it would be sort of authorised, assured things. >> so it's not just people spending money where they want, but it would be a bit less dictatorial than the system we've got at the moment. >> interesting, susie, your thoughts? >> yeah. i mean, as a mom, all i can say as my experience is it's a complete nightmare. you know, it's complete off putting to go back to work because it is so very expensive. and so, you

know, i think this is in many ways a great policy. do i think , ways a great policy. do i think, it is the biggest priority at the moment in what they're saying? possibly not, because i think there's so many issues around kids in poverty at the moment. but i absolutely agree . moment. but i absolutely agree. this is an area where we basically need a bit of a revolution, like change has got to come, you know, it's got to be an encouragement for mums and dads to go back to work. you know , we've heard that today, know, we've heard that today, didn't we? >> we've just been talking about in the bulletins. then we're talking about, extra payments for things like maternity leave, paternal leave as well, trying to encourage people to have children and then be able to have time off with those children while simultaneously, of course, then being able to return to work afterwards. so it is obviously being considered by a cross section of parties. >> i mean, ultimately we are in a much better place. i mean, my son's six and a half years old. we're in a much better place than where we were five years ago. so, you know, it's positive. but, you know, and i wouldn't say i'm an expert on this, but it makes me happy that

people are talking about what are the new things that we can do to incentivise, incentivise people to go back to work? people want to go back to work. but ultimately child care costs are so high that it's often, often not financially feasible. >> and i think it's about giving parents choice , right? because, parents choice, right? because, you know, some families that want to have two parents working, some families might have one parent working . so and have one parent working. so and at the moment, you know, this this threshold was originally introduced back in 20 30in the £60,000 threshold. and obviously we've gone through a big period of inflation in that period. and i think it hasn't really caught up with it. but i think with childcare, you know, the fact is there are a lot of mothers who would like to go back into the workplace, but they can't afford to at the moment. when they look at the cost of doing that, there's also feeds into the housing problems we've got in this country at the moment. and i think, you know, it's all lots of different areas all caught and bound up together. and that's what we've got to try . so that's what we've got to try. so i agree with you entirely. you need a big look at the whole thing about how you can fix it. >> but hold on though, because

there'll be a lot of people saying one of the problems in society is that we've got this inflated welfare state. now, welfare was supposed to be for those people that literally, physically cannot support themselves. you're now talking themselves. you're now talking the tories are now talking about expanding things like child benefit to people on six figure incomes. isn't that just kind of fostering this kind of dependency on the welfare state? >> the difference? the thing i would focus on this is more about the household versus the individual, because when it was under the current system, when it was focusing on what the individual was earning, they were getting penalised compared to households that have two parents. so i think that change is really important here. and of course, yes, it is going to help some people who are earning more at the higher end of the spectrum. but i think fixing that distortion in the system is a really good and positive thing. >> what do you make to it at home? do you think that's a good thing or not? i always find it fascinating because i do feel like it kind of conjures up this nofion like it kind of conjures up this notion of politics, of envy. as soon as you start kind of talking about someone on a

higher salary, then getting some financial support, there'll be one side of the fence that says, hang on a second, because now you're helping the rich. there'll be the other side of the fence. they'll go, hang on a second, because some of the high earners here, the amount of money that they pay is something like the top 1% of earners pay something like almost 30% of income tax. and then what they're able to draw out of the state back in return is reduced to virtually nothing in most cases. so the flip side of that argument is, well, hang on a second, because they are the ones doing the contributions. so therefore they are the ones that should be able to take cash out of the system. tell me your thoughts all the usual ways websites, email, twitter or whatever. very interested in heanng whatever. very interested in hearing what you have to say after the break. i want to talk housing and i also want to talk the class system in this country as well. it still an and if so, tell me to what

hi there. i'm michelle dewberry, and i'm with you till 7:00 tonight. alongside with the director of the centre right. think tank. onward, sebastian. i don't know why we're calling it a centre right think tank. is that your. >> yeah, that's where we are. so where we sit on the political spectrum, i've never really heard a think tank. >> or maybe i'm just not paying attention. described as like a left or a right or a centre. dunno. is this a newfound, transparency anywhere, sebastian payne is alongside me and the community activist susie stroud . community activist susie stroud. and, gary says 120,000 receiving child benefits after paying high tax on their income, getting a small amount in return, he actually absolutely supports that, he says, because you have so many people earning up to about £25,000 a year on benefits for sitting around doing absolutely nothing, he says. so therefore he supports that plan. what do you make to it? also, i want to talk to you about housing. angela rayner. she's been speaking out. she did a comment piece. there's a couple of things in it actually, that

caught my eye. one was the extension of the so—called freedom to buy guarantee, which basically means that you can have like a 95% mortgage scheme. another part of that caught my eye as well is that she was saying essentially that locals would get first dibs on properties when they come up for sale . what do you make to these sale. what do you make to these plans and suggestions, susie? i mean, look again at the same as what we were talking about before. >> this is an area that just basically needs a revolution. i mean, me and my husband, when we got married, we had to live with my parents. we can afford to get anywhere. you know, we weren't even looking for something grand, you know, just anything. and we can afford it. and that story is replicated time and time and time again. the only way it became possible was my parents, you know, were able to borrow us some money. and then somehow, by a miracle, we got like a shared ownership place. but the point is, is like, you know , we shouldn't be in this know, we shouldn't be in this place as a country. you know, it shouldn't be be so difficult for people. and obviously, this impacts upon teaching. it impacts upon teaching. it impacts upon teaching. it impacts upon loads of key workers because people can't afford to get to get housing. so

for me, anything well, there's a few things, anything that begins to make it easier, like the 95% mortgages, but also the announcements around new, cities , new garden cities. i think that's so important, i think, announcements around, like you were saying , giving people first were saying, giving people first dibs on housing if they're, if they're local. i think that's really important, taxing foreign investors, because i think all of us can just agree. why on earth are foreign investors, you know , being able to buy up know, being able to buy up housing and then like a local school teacher or local nurse, you know, can't afford to even rent? actually, that's what that's what we've come to. so i think actually some of these try and you wouldn't try or would you try and say that foreign investors are not able to invest investors are not able to invest in british property. no i'm not. no, i'm not saying that. but i think absolutely we look, we've got a problem haven't we. there's a problem going on at the moment in our country whereby people can be a nurse and a teacher, they could be earning a decent amount of money and they still can't get on the

housing ladder. and that's not good for anyone. and so i think these announcements today, i mean, the 95% mortgage idea actually is a conservative idea. and basically people are saying, actually we're going to continue that. that's that's good. but on top of that, it's also actually we're going to build new towns. i don't know why i say garden cities, new towns, new generation of harlow, harlow, new towns, but also building on not building on the green belt, but building on what they're calling the grey belt, which i think is very interesting. i've never heard of this. i'm a geographer. i find this fascinating. but those bits of land that actually they're car parks, they're not serving any purpose and we can build housing on them. but one of the things i do want to say on this is i'm not one of those people that's like, oh, let's just build anything we do need to build. well, you know, and i like this word beautiful because i think it's important. >> i saw something the other day that i didn't think was very beautiful. let me show you this scheme that caught my eye, look at this. so you've got some kind of beautiful building at the bottom. and in order to preserve that for listed reasons or whatever the reasons were, they

decided to build over the top of it, potentially put some stilts over the top of this house and build all of these apartments at the top. this was in birmingham, i think it looks an absolute eyesore, quite frankly . anyway, eyesore, quite frankly. anyway, where are you on these policies? >> that is absolutely dreadful, look, my view on this is that it's really interesting looking at these two elements of housing. you've got the supply and the demand and the issue of just looking at mortgages and trying to make them more accessible is you're just going to increase demand because it means more people are able to buy houses. but we're not tackling the supply problem. and the fact is that we do have a housing crisis . and i think if housing crisis. and i think if we built a house every five minutes in this country, it would take us still about ten years to solve the backlog of houses that are not being built. we need about a million new homes in this country to fix the housing market, and the danger of focusing just on things like 95% mortgages is it means that you're just going to pump up the market like a balloon with ever more helium put into it, and that's something i think is could potentially be a real

issue. so it's good to see that labour are talking about this. the housing market is a real problem. and i think we do. we do. it's good to see they're talking about home ownership. with everything you've just said about how it affects everyone's life, chances, about where they live, about their jobs , about live, about theirjobs, about how many kids they have. and, you know, ultimately to give people a stake in society. and, you know, i work for a centre right think tank, and we ultimately want to make sure there's a strong conservative voting base in the future. if people can't have their own home. you know, it was mrs. thatcher who said that a property owning democracy is a conservative democracy. unless we get to that and build more houses, that dream is not going to exist in the future. so it needs to be a lot more done. and i think the big challenge for laboun i think the big challenge for labour, if you know, if when they they win the election, is going to be about, that planning reform thing because the conservatives tried several times to get planning reform and through the house of commons didn't get anywhere. it failed three times under boris johnson. if labour do this, it will take

a lot of political capital. it'll be very difficult, but it could be one of the most important things to try and really get growth going. >> there you go. >> there you go. >> what do you make to that? because of course i'm sure we will all agree actually that the housing situation in this country, it is broken. i mean, great high five for anyone that's got property that's made a lot of money on that. brilliant. but for those people that are really, really struggling, i mean, can you imagine being in a situation where you graft, you work, you do everything that you are to told do, and yet you still can't even afford a place that you could literally call your own, look, lots of you are getting in touch about this sunak story, claire on the website says i'm incandescent over sunak's behaviour. my family members who went over didn't get the chance to go. or your family members basically went over to the ceremony , but they stayed. ceremony, but they stayed. you're basically saying that they stayed showed the respect due to the veterans, but you're saying shame on rishi sunak for not doing absolutely the same. michael says , how much more

michael says, how much more could you milk out of this sunak story? it's been on gmb news all day long. we're not gmb, we're gb news that a trade union aren't they. >> yeah, gmb very good trade union. >> my trade union. >> my trade union. >> yeah actually know what gmb is. >> but if you mean us then actually it's the story that really has got a lot of people talking. i heard it described today as, rishi sunak's gillian duffy moment . you remember that duffy moment. you remember that one when he said that, of course she was a bigot. that cost gordon brown, dear, didn't it? and this one i worry, and i think we'll perhaps cost sunak dear to look after the break. jubilee tavern opens my favourite part of the week, quite frankly, and i want to ask you, the class divide is the biggest divide in society, is

hi there. i'm michelle dewberry with your tools. seven alongside me. i've still got my panel. sebastian payne and suzy stride. it's friday. it's almost about

quarter seven, so you know what that means in my mind. anyway, the weekend begins. jubilee tavern is open. so big cheers to all of you at home, to you. cheers and to you i will try leaning over and reaching a glass. i'll probably do my back in, quite frankly. anyway. >> cheers everybody. >> cheers everybody. >> happy weekend. we've got three very different drinks here. actually, we have exactly three very different drinks. >> we are no expense spared here on gb news. look, one of my viewers has just said you're talking about this debate tonight. it's going to be absolutely boring . are you absolutely boring. are you kidding me? i am genuinely i am not. if you watch my show often, you'll know that i don't really get massively excited , about two get massively excited, about two leaders debating, and i thought the other one was a bit dull. nigel farage angela. rena, do you think that's going to be dull? really, look , let's talk dull? really, look, let's talk then, shall we? because stephen fry, he's got himself into a bit of a pickle. he was basically talking about the marylebone cricket club, one of the oldest sporting institutes in the country. actually, he's basically come under attack now because he says that the club has basically become an image now of a bastion of privilege

and class hierarchy. apparently he's back—pedalled a little bit on those comments, but it did get me wondering. in fact, actually, you were nodding along when i introduced this topic. do you think that class is still such a massive divide in society? suzy >> i mean, for me, this is definitely a no brainer. i think the biggest dividing line in this country above gender and i've obviously experienced sexism above vase. i'm greek—cypriot , i'm an ethnic greek—cypriot, i'm an ethnic minority, but the biggest one for me is class. i mean, i'm from a working class background. i went to cambridge university very, very grateful for the incredible opportunities that i had there. but but for me, class, i mean, look, the most underperforming group in this country are white working class boys. and obviously, look, there's complex reasons for that. but there is a there is a what there is a deep connection between poverty and class. you know, there's a deep connection and interestingly, i would say one of the only spheres where you're classed does not hold you backis you're classed does not hold you back is becoming a professional footballer. and whatever we may think about professional footballers, you don't money

doesn't i mean, it's a bit more complicated now, but you know, if you want to go kick a ball against the wall, no one's going to stop you. your accent will not stop you. my accent has stopped me. you know, people have pulled me up on my accent. you know, confidence. the confidence that sometimes you do not have the social capital, the cultural capital. all these things i experienced it even, you know, i've experienced it evenin you know, i've experienced it even in the last five years in the world of politics, you know? and so, look, i'm not trying to say, oh, poor me. because ultimately, look, i'm actually, you know, flipping heck. i've been to cambridge, got a great education, got a good job, etc. but there is no doubt in my mind that we have a class problem in this country, but i don't believe in like class warfare. i'm not into all of that. i'm into where there are issues. let's do something about it. let's do something about it. let's make it so whether you're born in poplar or you go to eton, you can thrive and flourish and do your best. and your class background doesn't hold you back, especially saying, well, i think that stephen fry's been talking about the marylebone cricket club, which is obviously lord's. >> it's a very august prestigious institution, and this is one where he's, kind of

saying the public face of it is very disturbing. and he told this gathering, sort of beetroot coloured gentleman in a yellow orange blazer, sitting in the space in front of the long room and looking as if they'd come out of edwardian cartoon, including accusing the mcc of stinking of privilege and classism and i mean, ijust think it's very odd thing to get stuck into on this. don't forget, of course, the garrick club, which is a gentlemen's club in covent garden that's just admitted women's member. and stephen fry has been a long standing member of that. >> what do you think to that, the garrick doing that? >> i think it was the right thing to do. of course, the right thing to do. it was pathetic. >> why? it was absolutely. why was it pathetic? >> why can they not be a men only club? why do women feel the need to muscle in? why are you not allowed your own space? >> let's put the other way. why exclude women? >> because it's a men only club. >> because it's a men only club. >> no, but you're saying why should you know? look, you can look at it two ways. you can say, you know, why should they not just be a club which allows

ev eryone? everyone? >> well, there's lots of clubs that allow everyone in. and there's some clubs that only allow men in, and there's some clubs that only allow women in. why do women or activists feel the need to try and muscle in and start crying? because men have got their own space and they are so desperate to be in it. and don't talk to me about people like stephen fry, because those people have been members of that club happily. well, that's exactly farage. >> that was exactly the point i was gonna make. >> the second that some women start crying, then they go out into the press going, oh yeah, we're going to like, you know, get rid of our membership unless you let women in. like, it's absolutely upset. do you think that men should be allowed in the women's institute? >> i mean, look, ijust think having gender divides on clubs is an archaic thing and shouldn't that men should be allowed into the women's institute? as i said, i don't think women's institute is not a private members club. no it's not. >> it's like an educational charity, apparently. >> exactly. so do you think i'd have no problem with men who want to be involved working with that, if they are promoting the aims of the organisation? >> do you think that men should be allowed in women's only

clubs? well, i don't think there should be any, only clubs. >> i think there's just be clubs. what if i want to go to a women's only club without you lot getting involved? >> i think it's only when it's a barrier, isn't it? i think, for example, i play football, i love football, i've spent my life playing football. however, for the first 18 years of my life, there was no barely any women's football clubs. so what did i do? i played with the boys, which was cool, but i just sat in defence the whole time. never got to play. striker got to cambridge, there was a girls football club and the coach said to me, you go up front. and so suddenly that opportunity was there and i think what it is, is ultimately there have been barriers for certain groups, whether that be women or people from working class backgrounds, and it doesn't. i'm not into this whole thing of like, i hear what you're saying, like you do need to have men only groups, and that's cool. but i think the point is, is where there's been barriers, where it's not been fair, where it's been unjust, you know, and my question would be things like, for example, alan sugar, i'm not saying like, i think alan sugar is amazing, but alan sugar is clearly a gifted guy. he brought a lot to this country. he's from a working class background. and sometimes i think, well, where are we going to find the other

alan sugars? their whole chunk of them are probably in the state schools. hang on. if we don't have the right, if we don't have the right, if we don't have the right, if we don't have the right support there, just don't demand your your your argument because alan sugaris your your argument because alan sugar is a massive success as a working class person. >> he's the one he didn't. he's the one though. he he's the one. >> now, the point is, is when you get the ones that get through, the point is, is there's got to be more than the ones. >> yeah, i think i think that's right. >> you know what? look, these these two next time. and guess what? the beauty of it being my own show is that i get the final say what i will say to all these women that try and muscle in onto these men's club. grow up. packit onto these men's club. grow up. pack it in, create your own group and all the rest of it. and by the way, someone said, why didn't you talk about just a point? because i think they're ridiculous and i think we need to ignore them anyway. look, that's all i've got time for. have a good weekend. daubney. up next. no night. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> good evening. it's time for your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office . it is feeling a bit office. it is feeling a bit fresh considering it is early summer at the moment, and there will be some showery bursts

around through the next couple of days, all due to an area of low pressure just to the north northeast of us. that's driving some cooler air across the country, and also some showery bursts as well. the showery bursts as well. the showery burst will be pushing their way southwards as we go through this evening and overnight. some clear spells in between , clear spells in between, particularly across some eastern parts eastern scotland, north—east england, perhaps where we get the clear skies here, temperatures could drop, could get into low single figures, possibly a touch of grass, frost . nonetheless, a bit grass, frost. nonetheless, a bit of a fresh chilly start for many of a fresh chilly start for many of us tomorrow . if we take of us tomorrow. if we take a closer look at what we can expect tomorrow morning, then , expect tomorrow morning, then, starting off in the south, a relatively cloudy picture for some of us, but some showery bursts possible and some decent bright sunny spells maybe around the bristol channel. also a swathe of cloud and rain affecting more central parts that pushing its way southwards, then across northern ireland, northern england and into scotland . a mixture of sunny scotland. a mixture of sunny spells and scattered showers, the showers will always be most frequent in areas exposed to that north northwesterly wind, so northern northwestern

scotland going to see the most frequent showers. and here they will be pretty heavy at times. there could even still be some rumbles of thunder and a bit of hail mixed in. and all the time some sleet or snow is possible over the highest ground, the cloud and rain across central parts through the morning does shift its way southwards and breaks up as it goes with brightening, sunnier skies developing across central parts as we go through into the afternoon. temperatures just about getting into the low 20s. a bit disappointing for the time of year . sunday then starts off of year. sunday then starts off on a bright note across southern parts . again. pretty chilly for parts. again. pretty chilly for some here, but increasing amounts of cloud and outbreaks of rain will feed down from the north, and so , particularly north, and so, particularly across northern parts, it is going to be a bit of a damp day with some heavier bursts of rain possible, more showery rain to come as we go into the beginning of next week, and no major rise in our temperatures , looks like in our temperatures, looks like things are heating up boxt boiler as sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> a very good evening to you. it's 7 pm. on friday, the 7th of june. and this is a gb news election special . election special. over the next action packed houn over the next action packed hour, i've got former conservative mp henry smith , the conservative mp henry smith, the former conservative mp jessica harrington, former labour mp denis macshane and lifelong liberal democrat and federal board member calum robertson . board member calum robertson. there we are now. in four weeks time, we will know which party will lead the country for the next five long years. will it be rishi sunak forced to apologise today for bailing out of d—day commemorations? keir starmer

well, he