nation starts now. and through it all, i'll be joined by my panel. the former brexit party turned conservative mep annunziata rees—mogg and the author and broadcaster amy nicole turner. that's all coming up after your headlines with polly middlehurst. >> tom. thank you. good evening. well, our top story tonight from the gb newsroom is that two little boys have become the youngest convicted murderers in britain since the killing of two year old james bulger in 1993. the 12 year olds were found guilty of murdering a man with a machete in a wolverhampton park last year. they stabbed 19 year old sean c zahawi in november in an unprovoked attack. the jury's decision to convict the boys was unanimous. his parents have said they'll never recovered from the

loss of their son. in politics. the prime minister says he never considered quitting , despite considered quitting, despite heavy criticism over his early departure from d—day commemorations in normandy. it comes after the prime minister kept a low profile over the weekend, avoiding questions from reporters as rumours circulated that he may step down. he's now vowing to not stop fighting for the future of our country . the future of our country. labour today has promised to deliver free breakfast clubs in schools, part of a new childcare plan. they say will save parents over £400 a year. they're also claiming it will cut almost half a million days of school absences for parents who already pay absences for parents who already pay for before school, childcare .labour pay for before school, childcare . labour says funded breakfast clubs could cut the cost by up to £50 a week . the liberal to £50 a week. the liberal democrat leader, sir ed davey, has launched his party's manifesto with a pitch to voters based on boosting the nhs and social care . it's also said that

social care. it's also said that unlike those of labour and the tories, the liberal democrats plans are fully costed , adding plans are fully costed, adding that more and more people are coming over to their cause as reform uk has set out its economic policy for the election campaign. their plans include raising the personal tax threshold to £20,000, abolishing ir35 sole traders and raising the vat threshold for small businesses to around £150,000, and moving to politics in france now, where emmanuel macron, the president, says his country needs a clear majority now in government for serenity and harmony . he government for serenity and harmony. he said after the government for serenity and harmony . he said after the shock harmony. he said after the shock decision to call a snap election . he made the announcement following a defeat of his to party the right wing national rally party in european polls, which has also resulted in belgium's prime minister saying he'll resign in the election. the national rally won more than double the votes of macron's

centrist alliance . right wing centrist alliance. right wing parties making gains in italy, austria and germany, as well . austria and germany, as well. and lastly, pro—palestine activists have targeted 20 branches of barclays bank across england and scotland. today, palestine action and shut the system. both pressure groups sprayed red paint, threw rocks and smashed windows at locations including london, bristol and edinburgh. they say they're demanding the company divest itself from israel's weapons trade and fossil fuels. barclays says it recognises the profound human suffering caused by the conflict in gaza. that's the news for the latest stories. do sign up to gb news alerts. scan the qr code on the screen right now or go to gb news. common alerts . alerts. >> thanks, polly. welcome back to state of the nation. i'm tom

harwood. now the eu election results are in and the verdict is clear. a surge in support for the more hardline conservative parties in the european parliament, the hard right german party alternative for deutschland is projected to earn 16% of the vote, which is more than any of the other parties share in the government's coalition. these results came in spite of repeated scandals. meanwhile, marine le pen's party in france, national rally, is projected to win almost a third of the votes, more than doubling emmanuel macron's party, prompting him to call a snap parliamentary election in france . so, along with right wing leaders like viktor orban in hungary or giorgia meloni of italy, geert wilders , a man who italy, geert wilders, a man who was once blocked from entering the uk, now holds the keys to power in the netherlands. in them, two most powerful eu countries, two france and germany, both national rally and alternative for deutschland , are alternative for deutschland, are set to gain around gain ground at the next national elections. two this is also not just the

case in european politics. the now convicted felon donald trump is set to win the us presidential election if the polls are borne out to be true. he continues to lead across national polls. yet what a contrast can be seen in british politics. if you take a look at the six leaders who appeared on the six leaders who appeared on the stage at last week's bbc debate , the political compass debate, the political compass was quite revealing. of the six, four were on the left in one form or another , one being penny form or another, one being penny mordaunt was a moderate conservative and nigel farage. well, he's probably the only one who could reasonably being described as being on the traditional right wing in terms of reforms. recent rise in the polls , the most generous polls, the most generous projections have the party gaining only two seats. so what does all this mean .7 taken does all this mean? taken together with labour's persistent lead in the polls , persistent lead in the polls, with some suggesting the party will win perhaps a 200 seat majority in the united kingdom is set to turn sharply to the left, just as the rest of the western world is turning right.

so at this moment in time, please spare a thought for our friend in the scottish nationalist party, whose pitch for partition of the uk is almost entirely predicated on jumping from being governed by elected politicians in these isles to being governed from the continent. yes, the left wing scottish nationalist party are now pitching to jump from the soggy left wing starmer government into the arms of what could reasonably be described as an increasingly hard right eu . an increasingly hard right eu. whoops. well, let's get the detail now. let's discuss and analyse what has actually happened on the continent in the last day or so. delighted to be joined by guy dampier, senior researcher at the legatum institute. guy, thank you for making the time for us this evening. let's start with the two perhaps biggest upsets what happened with marine le pen in france and the alternative for deutschland in germany . deutschland in germany. >> thank you for having me, tom. so in germany , the coalition so in germany, the coalition government that is currently

ruling things has done an appalling time of things. but i think although the alternative deutschland has done extremely well, we should temper that by noting that the christian democratic union, which is the centre right party, has done equally very well and in fact , equally very well and in fact, if the afd leads anywhere, it's interestingly among youth voters , which again, is very different to britain , in france, on the to britain, in france, on the other hand, it's a somewhat different picture . the front different picture. the front national, sorry, the national, have done extremely well getting double the number of seats as double the number of seats as double number of votes as macron's party. but again , in macron's party. but again, in order to do that, marine le pen has been on a long journey away from the party of her father to the point of even expelling him. >> change the name of the party, as you just, demonstrated. >> yes, exactly. they changed the name of the party, and she's also taken a strong pr move, and she's put a young fellow called jordan bardella, who's only 28, as the almost face of the party. and with the announcement that,

from macron that they're going to hold parliamentary elections. she's even said that if they win, it won't be her as prime minister. it's going to be mr bardella . bardella. >> no, it's extraordinary that, that macron made this move, why do you think it is that the french president has decided to almost jump the gun and call these elections? is he trying to sort of get ahead of this rise in the polls for the right wing? >> i think that's exactly it, tom, he's had a very difficult time of it. and i think what he thinks is that if he gives, marine le pen enough rope, she will essentially hang herself. so, with all the energy that she's got, she now has to go into a new campaign. she's going to have very low funds, and she's going to have difficulty getting more funds, which is going to make it harder in the campaign should they do well, then they'll face a macron being president for several more years, which will blunt anything that they want to do. and he might reasonably hope that come the next election, people will think that actually le pen has

failed to deliver. and of course , if, people have been voting this way as a protest vote, then macron might hope that he'll actually just win the election itself. and yet, guy, these parties don't need to do as well as to enter government in terms of to change the conversation in europe. >> ursula von der leyen, the commission president, has started talking about deporting refugees . macron is boasting refugees. macron is boasting about his burqa bans and in germany you've also seen the cdu, the sort of more centre right merkel's party, take more and more positions that are hostile to immigration. as a result of the afd rising in the polls . to some extent, this polls. to some extent, this shift to the right doesn't need to win out right. it's completely changing the conversation in europe . conversation in europe. >> i think that's right. and as you said earlier, the european union is not democratic. even winning in the eu parliament doesn't actually guarantee you power. but what it does do is it enables you to influence your own national politics. and that's what we can see. these votes are clear signs that voters are dissatisfied with their current governments and

dissatisfied with the policies they have , and they will they have, and they will continue to push people to the right, albeit that there will be limitations on how far that can go . i'll be limitations on how far that can go. i'll be very limitations on how far that can go . i'll be very curious to see go. i'll be very curious to see how far the supposed deportations the germans want to do to afghanistan actually go, seeing as that would likely involve some form of recognition of the taliban government, which is probably still too far at this point . this point. >> no. very interesting stuff. well, guy dampier, thank you so much for joining well, guy dampier, thank you so much forjoining us, senior researcher at the legatum institute. of course, i'm delighted to now be joined by the uk chairman of the federalist european movement, mike glass. worthy. and mike, thank you for making the time for us, i'm slightly curious about the direction that the eu is going in. sorry sorry, what was that? mike. >> my name is mike goldsworthy. nice to meet you, tom. >> nice to meet you, i, i'm slightly curious at the direction that the eu is going in, because it's often painted as a sort of bastion of liberalism , particularly by the liberalism, particularly by the brits. but that doesn't seem to

be the direction that the sort of organs of this organisation are moving in. >> it's, it's currently in the european parliament centre right, and it stayed centre right. and in fact out of the main groupings, the centre right , the european people's party has had more growth than the far right, which are allocated into groupings . right, which are allocated into groupings. but then you've got the afd and you've got, some other exotic parties like, and they sit as independents. yes, will all sort of non—grouped. yes. and milling around . but yes. and milling around. but still it's clear from this that the right who've done well, and the right who've done well, and the left and the greens in particular have done badly this time around . but still, you time around. but still, you know, you've got you've got the same thing as what you had last time, which is the european people's party, the centre right main chunk. then the next biggest chunk is s and d, which is your lefties, your soft centre lefties. and then in

third position you've got renew, which is effectively your liberal democrats. and then after which you've got your , after which you've got your, your harder right's, and then after that you've got your greens. so actually too not dissimilar to what we often see in uk politics, but in the uk it looks like it's going just noting before. >> yes. plus one more section of the european union. ursula von der leyen will be the singular name on the ballot papers of european parliamentarians as they confirm the next european commission president when the session starts. but i wonder , do session starts. but i wonder, do these right wing parties actually need to gain a majority in these institutions to influence these institutions ? influence these institutions? we've heard von der lie—in talking about third country deportation schemes. we've heard the eu become much more restrictionist when it comes to issues like migration. clearly this is a bloc that is moving in a particular direction . a particular direction. >> yeah. no, immigration is an

issue , and also in the light of issue, and also in the light of climate change, a lot of people are thinking that immigration is going to become a bigger issue. and one of the things that the european union is doing is actually starting to say, shall we put together a common framework on this because we have shared interests on this matter? i mean , in the uk, we've matter? i mean, in the uk, we've cut ourselves out from that, and we've got all these problems with the boats and lack of agreements in terms of sending people back. but it's nowhere near as many illegal refugees arriving in the uk compared to european countries where we're much, much lower . oh yeah, much, much lower. oh yeah, because we've got much less exposed border. and so this is why it is for critical the for europe as a whole. but, you know, it starts in the eu is most sort of getting ahead sort of , most sort of getting ahead sort of, movements do to most sort of getting ahead sort of , movements do to actually of, movements do to actually come together and put together a plan on it. so i think that is one of the influences that tends to drive the right a bit. but, but also when you've got 27

nations, you know, you, you see a lot of froth, you see a lot of noise, you see a lot of bubbling. some of the scandinavian countries have got a lot more left. we saw recently in poland, the, the right wing dominant government there just collapsed. and then you've got donald tusk back in who's he's a he's a centre right guy. >> he made pitches on migration and actually particularly on islam as well in order to get into power. >> he used to be he used to be the president of epp. i only found that out recently while having a look, which surprised me because i thought he was quite a socialist when he was younger. but anyway, so. >> so there it is, martin schulz, i think was a was a communist, if i remember correctly. >> there's a lot of noise and a lot of people are interested in a lot of the noise. but at the end of the day, there's the sort of centre right. the big block of centre right. the big block of centre right is kind of holding and dominant, but then also kind of working with, with s and, and reform. so the

collaborative politics will go on. >> yeah . and yet it does seem to >> yeah. and yet it does seem to be taking more of a restrictionist turn . but mike restrictionist turn. but mike goldsworthy really appreciate your time. thank you forjoining your time. thank you for joining us. uk chair of the european movement, now coming up, ed davey, the liberal democrat leader, has been making headunes leader, has been making headlines for his wacky hijinks. of course he's been on that enormous slides today. he was on a big swing type thing at thorpe park , but he launched his park, but he launched his manifesto and in the fine print he vowed not only to rejoin the single market, but something deeper as well. is brexit in of being overturned? we

break. welcome back. it's 8:19. my name is tom harwood, and this is state of the nation . now, we've state of the nation. now, we've been discussing the results of the european union elections , the european union elections, which resulted in a swell of support for more hardline conservative parties in the

bloc. but today, the liberal democrat leader, sir ed davey, announced the party's election manifesto, which included a whole host of plans including higher taxes on capital gains and an 8 billion package for the nhs. but what did the leader perhaps didn't mention in his speech was the fact that the manifesto includes the party's ambition on something rather controversial to rejoin the european union. well, with me now is mark oaten, the former mp and former chairman of the liberal democrats. mark, thank you for making the time for us this evening, why did ed davey not mention that the plan is to rejoin the european union? in his speech, when it says so in the manifesto ? the manifesto? >> good evening tom. yes, i think it is surprising that he wasn't perhaps bolder in the press conference, but there is such nervousness in the party about talking about this issue, as you just said in your introduction, it's controversial. the party knows that. and in 70 seats, where they are desperately trying to get some soft conservatives coming over to them, they will be nervous about raising this

issue. that said, it is in there. it is in the manifesto. so ed has said that a starting point will to be join the single market and then over time, to move towards rejoining europe. but i would personally like them to be more up front about this. i think actually there's an appetite for hearing from a political party that is honest about its european ambitions. >> yeah, it does seem i'm glad you used the word honest, because it does seem you're almost trying to have different messages to different people, hyper targeted messaging, because of course, there are lots of seats that the liberal democrats are trying to win that voted remain, and perhaps more leaflets , leafy parts of outer leaflets, leafy parts of outer london. but, there are also areas, for example, the southwest that has been traditionally deeply eurosceptic, sceptical of the common agricultural policy, and many of the anti farming measures of the european union. this is, potentially talking out of both sides of your mouth . of both sides of your mouth. >> well, i think what i'm heanng >> well, i think what i'm hearing when i chat on doorsteps

the most moment is the oh, mark, i'm afraid we're having some issues with your line . issues with your line. >> we're going to see if we can re—establish that. but, you are breaking up rather. so we'll go, for the moment to my panel. big apologies, mark oaten. we'll try and re—establish your connection. but joining me in the studio now is , is. well, the studio now is, is. well, let's let's let's talk about something slightly else, because in other news, shadow attorney general emily thornberry might have caused a bit of a stir. speaking to camilla tominey on gb news yesterday. >> you know , and if we have to, >> you know, and if we have to, in the short term, have, have larger classes, we have larger classes, you know, the, the, the, so you will make classes larger to accommodate larger class sizes . class sizes. >> crikey. well, this morning the leader of the labour party seemed to undermine these remarks , we've had the analysis remarks, we've had the analysis by the ifs on this which says

that there will be a negligible impact . but so that there will be a negligible impact. but so we're very confident about that . confident about that. >> and just as they were trying to steady the ship, a video emerged of angela rayner speaking in 2018 alongside rachel reeves , in which she rachel reeves, in which she appeared to call for the abolition of private schools altogether . altogether. >> we are not all the same and we should be celebrated for the people we are. we will end the marketisation and privatisation of our education. >> well, interesting proposals. let's try and discuss them now. i'm joined by my panel. former brexit party mep turned conservative annunziata rees—mogg and the author and broadcaster amy nicole turner. and theatre. the labour party seems to be getting into a bit of a bind over education policy. not that it will affect the general election, but it might affect the governance of the country. >> i, i don't know that they've got any idea what they're doing. >> keir starmer, you just saw quoting the ifs who happened to have also said that by getting

rid of private schools, which was, after all, what they were saying in that clip, you just showed would cost 4 billion in tax receipts and 3 billion with extra pupils going to state schools and causing these larger classes that emily thornberry wasn't meant to admit to. we all know it's clearly going to be true if private schools go bust , true if private schools go bust, if parents can't afford the fees, they can't send their children there. they're going to send them to state schools and it will be swallowed up with extra pupils. >> amy nicole turner, is this class war like the pun? well i think i think the messaging on this is getting really confused and i don't think emily thornberry really helped things. >> i'm not sure it's like my favourite policy. i think it's a very blunt instrument, but i think that also what's being reported on it is a bit inaccurate. so when you talk about those 40,000 kids that are going to have to be pushed into the state system , well, i think the state system, well, i think that over the past ten years or so, fees have gone up by 20% and then some and no children have really left the private system.

and now we see that that the energy prices and other things, costs are coming down, then schools will probably likely be able to absorb those costs elsewhere. and actually the fees won't go up. people have estimated they'll go up around 10% as opposed to 20, because it's up to the schools. they're a business. they want to keep their customers and the vat can be offset elsewhere. there are pros and cons to vat, so the schools will save money and make money off of this, if you know what i mean. >> i don't think many companies say that there are pros to paying say that there are pros to paying vat , but it is a tax paying vat, but it is a tax expenses, right? it does cost them money and if you put up the costs further, we have had a high inflation period that have already put up the fees substantially. but if you put them up yet further , there are them up yet further, there are going to be a lot of parents who cannot afford to send their children to private school. the schools that are going to be affected are not the eatons and the harrow's and the winchester's. they are the ones in some local areas, smaller schools that have a particular need. they will not be able to

survive and they will be pushing their pupils over the stories that we have seen such as the school, was it townsend school or something recently in the telegraph? >> it's just it's kind of a nonsense to say that, that school closed because of a policy that hasn't actually happened and isn't necessary, parents are going to have those budgets are parents are already getting nervous. the environment they've been already tory government. >> you've heard costs already from emily thornberry. class sizes will get larger. there will be a greater burden . she will be a greater burden. she has admitted it. she might not have been meant to, but she's actually telling the truth. >> dean sills isn't isn't the point here. the political point that this is a popular tax to raise only 7% of children go to private schools, and the 93% of families might go , well, do you families might go, well, do you know what? yabu sucks. >> oh well. they will then suffer the larger class sizes for all of their children that it's a very short sighted policy. it's class warfare policy. it's class warfare policy is it's an idea.

>> artistic, not pragmatic as it as much as you are, is incredibly short sighted because the one thing that will improve growth , social mobility, is a growth, social mobility, is a good education for all our children. and that will save the economy in the long run. >> so. >> so. >> so. >> so we should bring back assisted places so that state school children can go fully paid for by the taxpayer to private schools that do have better facilities, lower teacher, higher teacher to pupil ratios that we should be giving children those opportunities, not making sure no one has them. so everyone should have access to a good state, education. and i hate this argument that it's about special needs socialism and one of the grammar schools that were the biggest leg up we had was they want to put emphasis on improving special needs state education, because surely you shouldn't have to pay through the nose, not go on holidays, have this terrible eating baked beans life to send your kid to a decent education. >> thank you so much for raising the lib dem manifesto, because you've set me up so beautifully to return to mark oaten, the former lib dem mp, former chairman of the liberal

democrats as well. mark apologies that the line broke up, but you were mid—flow talking about you. yes of course. so were we in romania. i'm sure the internet connection would be a lot better . i'm sure the internet connection would be a lot better. but, mark, let's, let's, let's get down to the nitty gritty here because it does seem like the lib dems are talking out of one side of their mouth to one set of electors, and the other to another. >> i think that may have been a true comment five years ago when brexit was so toxic. but actually these days it's not as toxic. i find that people that used to support brexit actually are now seeing it hasn't delivered what they wanted, and particularly in those rural areas, a lot of the farmers actually feel that they've lost out as a result of brexit, and those that still do not as much as the dutch farmers feel they've lost out. >> well, the german farmers or the french farmers , tom, those the french farmers, tom, those that do feel strongly about brexit. >> i actually find this time around are going to be voting reform. so actually there is fairly safe territory in my judgement for the lib dems to talk about this in a measured way, saying , look, we're going way, saying, look, we're going to be honest with you, we're a

pro—european party. we start off coming back into the single market. but long term, if the rest of europe would have us, this is an ambition we would like to go very quickly. >> mark on the issue of the single market. of course, it used to be argued against by the liberal democrats on the basis that this is taking all the rules from a body that you send no representatives to. it's regulation without representation. and back then it was because we wanted, if you like, the full monty, but given that we can't get the full monty at this stage, let's go half in, because half in now is a lot better than what we've currently got. wasn't that once described as cherry picking ? as cherry picking? >> well, it's realistic, it's realpolitik. at the moment. we're not getting any of the benefits. let's at least get some of them long term. i would like to be full in and part back again where we should be at the heart of europe. >> well, mark oaten, thank you very much for rejoining us. i'm glad we could get that connection re—established. now, after the break, we'll be discussing a gb news exclusive . discussing a gb news exclusive. you won't believe what home office officials have said about the leader of reform uk, nigel

farage. plus can you guess what percent of young people are simply not

welcome back. i'm tom harwood this is state of the nation at 833. now, the civil service code demands political impartiality from our whitehall mandarins. however, one home office insider has told gb news that staff have been openly relishing the prospect of a starmer government attending pro—palestine rallies and even advocating for violence against nigel farage. well, our us correspondent stephen edgington has got hold of this story. and stephen, this is, your story. what exactly have they told you ? they told you? >> well, tom, it's not just one home office civil servant . home office civil servant. actually, two home office civil servants got in touch , got in servants got in touch, got in contact with me to tell. gb

news. that their colleagues have called for violence against nigel farage. and i can't specify the type of violence, but it's incredibly serious to the extent i would say it's criminal, but i'm concerned about protecting my sources . it about protecting my sources. it is incredibly extraordinary that home office civil servants discuss openly this kind of intimidation. not only do they talk about violence against mr farage, but also , in one case, farage, but also, in one case, civil servants were discussing arresting him . they described arresting him. they described the reform party as an extremist far right group. now many people will say, well , how do we know will say, well, how do we know if this is true? now, of course , if this is true? now, of course, i'm relying on sources in the home office that i've known , home office that i've known, i've done a lot of reporting over the years on the civil service i know many, many people, within government, within various departments, and i am 100% certain that this happened. and i know that these colleagues in the home office said these incredibly controversial, to the point that, as i said earlier , perhaps

that, as i said earlier, perhaps even criminal comments internally. now, stephen, some people might say that the home office employs thousands upon thousands upon thousands of people. >> not everyone is in a critical role. some people are in fairly menial roles. some are not anything to do with policy or indeed anything operational at all. how seriously should we be taking this? if it turns out to be low level , i taking this? if it turns out to be low level, i think we should be low level, i think we should be taking it seriously, the people that i know in the home office work in migration policy and on migration issues, and this is very relevant to the reform party, to nigel farage, obviously, they're very sceptical of immigration and the people. and the argument that reform makes, by the way, is, look, we need to replace, much of the home office because they are working against the interests of the british people, particularly on this issue of immigration. and i think this story only goes to confirm many people's suspicions that the people's suspicions that the people who run the home office

don't believe in the government's priorities and in some cases, are actively trying to frustrate the will of the government and the will and, frankly, of the british people when it comes to migration. and that's partly, perhaps explains why immigration have been has been so high in recent years. >> stephen, when people today talk about the civil service, resisting government policy , or resisting government policy, or use words akin to some sort of deep state as the united states might say, or in this country, perhaps institutional resistance, they're talked of as if they're sort of cranks or, or loonies or, or completely out of the mainstream. and yet i seem to remember there was a rather, popular bbc sitcom in the 1980s that was describing exactly that , the institutional resistance of the civil service indeed, we get the phrase sir humphrey from the wonderful series. why do you think it is that it used to be so politically acceptable to talk about civil service resistance to elected government policy, and now it's seen as

something that is fringe. >> that is odd because of politics and the people who are criticising the civil service now tend to come from more conservative backgrounds, particularly in the united states, where you've got donald trump talking about the deep state and this has been linked with president trump and leftists and sort of more mainstream media types. leftists and sort of more mainstream media types . they see mainstream media types. they see anything that president trump says, and they connect it as some kind of conspiracy theory or some sort of outrageous thing to say. i think in the uk, there's no doubt in my mind that there's no doubt in my mind that there are civil servants, senior and junior and middle, who are trying to frustrate ministers. having said all that, to explain , the dysfunctionality of the home office, i don't want to abdicate responsibility for ministers who have in many ways only fuelled, all of these problems that i've been talking aboutin problems that i've been talking about in terms of immigration and many other policy issues. they don't clamp down in many cases on the civil servants in their department, even with

ministers who, one would suspect are more hardline on these things, at least openly . people things, at least openly. people like suella braverman, they weren't successful at a sort of reining in their department. now, you could say that that's because that's the way the home office is run. but i think there are some really, critical kind of criticisms, criticisms you can make of suella braverman and other tory ministers over the years. so, yes , i think this is years. so, yes, i think this is clearly happening. as i said, look, i've been doing reporting on this for many years now. it's not a conspiracy theory . and not a conspiracy theory. and this latest example is one of many where civil servants feel openin many where civil servants feel open in the office to express their extreme , what i would call their extreme, what i would call far left, political beliefs without any fear of being slapped down by their bosses or by ministers, frankly. >> well, stephen edgington, thank you so much for bringing us that story. some fairly shocking findings. there must be. a home office spokesman has said in response, as the public would rightly expect, our day to day operations have continued in line with pre—election guidance and it would be incorrect to suggest otherwise. the home office 50,000 staff abide by the

civil service code and continue to work on existing government policy and operations in line with published pre—election guidance. well, there we are then. now a recent survey has found that 1 in 5 young people between the ages of 18 and 24 are unlikely to vote in the upcoming election 20, which means it makes for a very interesting development, considering the fact that the labour party intends to lower the voting age to 16. although i can today exclude disclose that i've learned that senior members of the labour party are divided on this policy. i'm told that rachel reeves is uneasy about the idea of lowering the voting age, and despite this , keir age, and despite this, keir starmer is adamantly in favour of this constitutional change and pushed it through to feature in the manifesto. all will, of course, be revealed on thursday when that manifesto is released . when that manifesto is released. so what are the rights and wrongs of this significant change, and will it make any difference to the most apathetic generation ? well, still with me generation? well, still with me are my panel. former brexit

party turned conservative mep annunziata rees—mogg and the author and broadcaster amy nicole turner, amy, it does seem interesting that this is sort of a move out of the blue that for a move out of the blue that for a party that is trying to project stability and moderation, they're going to change the franchise , i don't change the franchise, i don't think it's out of the blue. i think it's out of the blue. i think it's out of the blue. i think it's being inspired by what happened in scotland, when 16 year olds were allowed to vote in the referendum , and it's vote in the referendum, and it's been that way in scotland for over a year, and it's worked really well. however, it does remain the fact that it's quite unpopular with the public. but i don't know why the public can't just see that 16 year olds are civically active. they pay tax . civically active. they pay tax. a lot of them do they? well, some do. some do. some 12 year olds pay tax. well, that's a good point, but my i was thinking about it. and my 16 year old nephew, i've just been going through his gcse course. he's been doing an inspector calls, which, if you recall, is a critique of capitalism by a socialist author. he's in a great position to vote. >> well, that's what some people might, i think.

>> i once played gerald in an inspector called it a school play, but, that's very on brand, is it? what what's your take on this one wonders, i think it's , this one wonders, i think it's, yet another just political ization of the electorate and trying to swing things. it's essentially a form of gerrymandering. oh, come on, if you look at the 2017 general election , 66% of 18 and 19 year election, 66% of 18 and 19 year olds voted labour, nine, 19% of over 70 voted labour. there is a very clear incentive for the labour party to allow younger voters because they think they will vote labour. >> is your contention that they wouldn't be doing that if young people were intensely conservative? i'm absolutely certain labour would not be doing this if young people were as strongly conservative as it would appear they are. >> what would be your towards labour? but they should be careful what they wish for, that if you look over to our continental neighbours, actually

the youngest voting group tends to vote for the furthest right parties, so this could easily backfire on labour. but fundamentally i, i think that people who are fascinated by politics at 16 and desperate to vote tend to be slightly weird. people like me, and quite possibly you, tom. >> indeed. yeah, but that most 1617 year olds don't have a huge appetite for politics. >> maybe does buy it. no because it gives them a chance to learn what it's all about, to understand. and it as an adult, for when they are paying taxes for when they are paying taxes for when they are paying taxes for when they are part of their communities and society, their community, and not as a child only, would this argument not have made more sense when the school leaving age was officially 16. >> now, if you leave school at 16, you have to go into some form of education or training or education or apprenticeship. >> exactly. >> exactly. >> apprenticeship. you're not allowed to enter a full time job until you're 18 of the community, and the only opposition to this idea that i can hear really is, oh, they'd vote labour. >> and if that's really the only

argument against, i think this is likely to be fair, an uninformed 16 year old as an uninformed 16 year old as an uninformed 50 year old, to be fair, they are uninformed people everywhere. of course, their political literacy is where do you base the franchise? >> do you do it on who's informed or not? which lies the way to take tests before you're allowed to vote? i don't think that's a good idea. i'm saying why not? so why not just base it on who is an adult? because surely the risk here, amy, is that if it's lowered to 16, why then are 16 year olds prohibited from drinking? why are they prohibited from driving? why are they prohibited from buying cigarettes? why are they prohibited from watching pornography ? right. pornography? right. >> so the thing about this is that a 16 year old will be less engaged going forward. by the time they get to 18, they'll be even less likely to vote. and we'll have less political engagement than we already do. >> we have higher political engagement with the voting age is 21. >> massive complacency problem and apathy. there's voter apathy to the hilt, and i think that full study of the conservatives that showed that people were more likely to vote if they had voted when they were young, a

states that blinking obvious. >> those who are interested in politics when they can first vote remain interested in politics and want to continue voting, that seems very, very obvious. and it makes no difference if you're 18, 16, 14, or ten. if you're interested. at that point, you're more likely to carry on voting 18 year old. >> why not tell of being politically literate if they can take their exams? in politics? >> i'm sure there are many. >> i'm sure there are many. >> i'm sure there are many. >> i'm sure there are many 14 year olds who are who are much more literate in politics than many, many 65 year olds. but thank you to my panel coming up, the government may have promised to end the practice of banks closing accounts due to holders political opinions, but toby young evidence that the continues. how so?

welcome back. i'm tom harwood, and this is state of the nation at 847. now, de—banking , at 847. now, de—banking, remember that when nigel farage had his bank account closed by

natwest. then it turns out thousands of regular folk had similar experiences. well, the scandal promised promoted the government to take action. and they promised back in march to change the rules, to make it harder for banks to shut down accounts for political reasons. but was all that simply hot air? the rule changes have been lost in a process known as wash up the hasty passage or ditching of legislation ahead of the dissolution of parliament before an election. well, toby young is here and he says that the government is still failing us over de—banking toby, you have campaigned hard on this, this is an issue that seems to have just got lost in the melee. yeah >> i mean, it's, it's one of the casualties of the snap election , casualties of the snap election, yeah.the casualties of the snap election, yeah. the free speech union, the organisation i run, got debunked , back in 2022. we fought back and managed to get paypal to restore our account. but we thought, well, this is obviously not just happening to us. so we

then embarked on a long campaign to persuade the treasury to change the payment services regulations, to make it more difficult for banks and payment processors like paypal to debank individuals, companies, organisations for political reasons. and we actually made some headway. and then when nigel's issue blew up and it turned out he'd been debunked by coots, the government thought, well, we'll have to act. and so they agreed to change these regulations to make de—banking not impossible , but a bit more not impossible, but a bit more difficult, and the treasury minister that we were dealing with, and we developed a good relationship with he was reshuffled last year, but he said at the time i was reshuffled, it was all ready to go. and then the treasury published a draft version of the statutory instrument. >> the secretary legislation henry the eighth powers. henry the acas secondary legislation that would have enabled the government to make these changes to the payment services regulations . regulations. >> it was all agreed the draft had been written and it was going to be laid. >> these things are just nodded

through parliament. usually >> yeah, there's very little there's no debate. there's no opportunity to amend them. so it was a done deal, but they just didn't have time to lay the statutory instrument before the dissolution of parliament. so it's fallen by the wayside . i it's fallen by the wayside. i mean, i don't think it was just i don't think it was deliberate malfeasance by the government. i think it was just one of many things. they were genuinely planning to do that got lost in the wash up, as you say. >> of course , you and the free >> of course, you and the free speech union and many campaigners built relationship with the conservative ministers who were drawing up this legislation ready to go, obviously , if we're to believe obviously, if we're to believe the polls, unless there is the most monumental polling error unseen before in the history of western democracy , there will be western democracy, there will be a labour government in three weeks time . have you made weeks time. have you made inroads with, likely treasury ministers, with rachel reeves team , how how how optimistic are team, how how how optimistic are you about this going forward? >> not terribly optimistic . we >> not terribly optimistic. we started a petition at the free

speech union to try and urge all the political parties to include a commitment to seeing this through in their manifestos. and it's you know, it's not a partisan issue. anyone can be debunked . it isn't just people debunked. it isn't just people on the right that it affects, you know , some far left groups you know, some far left groups have been debunked as well, and it affects muslims, the muslim charities , often find charities, often find themselves, debunked. finsbury park mosque got into difficulty with its with its banking facilities, so, it's my hope is that the best way of persuading the labour party to embrace this policy and see through these changes. and they didn't oppose them in parliament. it wasn't it was, you know, it was a there was, you know, it was a there was cross—party consensus that this needed to happen. we don't want a chinese style social credit system in our country. in some ways , it's perhaps more some ways, it's perhaps more augned some ways, it's perhaps more aligned with the labour party's values. >> after all, you're telling businesses that they can't operate their business in the way that they would choose. >> yes. you know, and the reason i the reason i hold out a

smidgen of hope is that because the labour party is terrified of losing votes to muslim candidates in various constituencies where the muslim vote, this new organisation is fielding candidates against the labour candidate and has made this list of 14 demands. it wants the labour party to meet before it'll withdraw these candidates. well, it obviously can't meet all 14 of these demands, but if they added a 15th, you know, see through these amendments to the payment services regulations to make it more difficult for us, amongst others, to be debunked, then that that might enable the labour party to claw back some of these votes. it might lose to muslims who are concerned about this issue, as well as many other issues. >> but amendments to the payment regulations, it doesn't sound like the most populist charge in the world, but somehow, somehow it has become, i think, a large political issue. >> i think with muslims, they're aware of this and they do care about it. and if they can be persuaded to add it to their list of things, they want the labour party to, to prioritise when they get into office. i

mean, it wouldn't be that big a price. it's not like, you know, breaking off military relations with israel. it, it wouldn't be that big a price for keir starmer going to happen anyway. it was something that was going to happen anyway in the labour party hadn't opposed. but if people want to sign our free speech union petition, if they search for change.org and de—banking, they'll find it. and the more signatures we can get, the more signatures we can get, the more signatures we can get, the more pressure we can put on the more pressure we can put on the labour party and the other parties to actually see this through, whatever the outcome of the election. brilliant stuff. >> well, toby young, thank you so much forjoining us and talking through that issue. the fight goes on for some, although for others, what an onerous regulation being placed on businesses. perhaps it's right up the labour party's street. well thank you toby. up next it's ben leo in for patrick christys. ben, what's coming up? >> hello, tom. cracking show. look, we've just been watching rishi sunak's interview on bbc panorama with nick robinson. we've got all the clips, some very bizarre goings on, including talks of roast dinners and quinoa salads. kelvin mackenzie is here as well, and also extraordinary footage of the idf raid in gaza, where they rescued four hostages. do not

miss it. see you in a tick. >> amazing stuff. well, i'm looking forward to that footage. ben, thank you so much for all of that. now, it just remains for me to say that there is the weather to come up. and i've been told at the end of each of these programs, i'm contractually obliged almost to say that in somerset the weather is of course, very, very sunny. but of course i can't give any guarantees for the weather anywhere else. up next, it's ben leo in for patrick christys . leo in for patrick christys. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hi there and welcome to the latest update from the met office for gb news. still some showers around during the next 24 hours, but also a few clear spells and under starry skies. tonight temperatures will fall . tonight temperatures will fall. it's going to be a chilly one for june. we've got this northerly airflow and within those northerly winds we've still got some showers, especially for the north and the

east coast, 1 or 2 inland elsewhere. but many of the inland showers will ease overnight, leading to plenty of clear spells, especially in the south and the west, where we've got clear spells temperatures dipping to 7 or 8 celsius generally, but a little lower than that in some sheltered spots , and as a result, the spots, and as a result, the potential for a grass frost first thing in 1 or 2 places. however, despite the early june chill in the air, it's going to be a bright start to the day on tuesday. plenty of sunshine for southern england, parts of wales as well. in between the showers . as well. in between the showers. showers also affecting parts of northern ireland, especially towards the west, but plenty of bright weather away from those showers and again thicker cloud further north. a few showers running into the north of scotland and the north sea coast of england. but during the morning, what we'll see is the cloud build more generally across the uk and showers will again develop fairly widely . you again develop fairly widely. you could get a shower just about could get a showerjust about anywhere, but the most likely

areas for frequent showers will be northern, central and eastern england , where those showers england, where those showers will be heavy at times it's going to feel cool here as well. 12 or 13 celsius on that north sea coast, but where we've got mostly dry weather towards the southwest, 17 or 18 celsius not feeling too chilly into wednesday morning. again, a cool start to the day. plenty of bright weather. first thing a few more showers develop across eastern england. elsewhere, it stays mostly dry as a ridge of high pressure builds in. that leads to a settled end to the day on wednesday, but it's only ahead of the next batch of rain moving for in thursday and fri day. >> friday. >> looks like things are heating up boxt boilers as sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good evening. it's 11:00. >> good evening. it's11:00. you're with gb news and our top

story. tonight, two boys have become the youngest convicted murderers in britain since the killing of james bulger in 1993. the 12 year olds were found guilty of murdering a man with a machete in a wolverhampton park last year. they stabbed 19 year old sean c zahawi in november in an unprovoked attack. the jury's decision to convict both the boys was unanimous. his parents have said they'll never recover from the loss of their son. in election news today, the prime minister said he never considered quitting despite heavy criticism over his early departure from d—day commemorations in normandy last week. it comes after the prime minister kept a low profile over the weekend, avoiding questions from reporters as rumours circulated he may step down. he's now vowing he won't stop fighting for the future of the country , and labour is promising country, and labour is promising to deliver free breakfast clubs in schools as part of a new child care plan they say will save parents over £400 a year.

they're also claiming it will cut almost half a million days of school absences. sir keir saying it'll help parents get back to work and the liberal democrat leader, sir ed davey, has launched his party's manifesto with a pitch to voters based on boosting the nhs and social care. said also said that unlike those of labour and the tories, their plans were fully costed , adding that more people costed, adding that more people are coming to the liberal democrat cause now. in a new story tonight, elon musk has threatened apple tonight over the possibility of the tech company using open ai in its iphone software. taking to x to complain, the tesla founder said if apple integrates open ai at the os level, then apple devices will be banned. at my companies thatis will be banned. at my companies that is an unacceptable security violation, he said . his comments violation, he said. his comments followed a presentation by apple today when it said that customers would have access to open ai's chat gpt chatbot through the siri digital

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