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tv   Good Afternoon Britain  GB News  June 14, 2024 12:00pm-3:01pm BST

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tax to pensions tax to parents tax to pensions tax to family home tax. but what is the truth? we'll speak to both sides andifs truth? we'll speak to both sides and it's kick off for the euros 2024. >> scotland will play germany in a tense opening game. we'll be soaking up the atmosphere in both scotland and germany . both scotland and germany. >> right, well, vous vous vous. >> right, well, vous vous vous. >> get them in. what does this poll show , tom? okay, so reform poll show, tom? okay, so reform are now the second party in terms of vote share in one poll. >> what else? well, i think one of the things is that there have been a number of polls now where reform and the tories are sort of within three points of each other now, three points. generally, in a poll that surveys 2000 people, representatively, which is the industry standard, about three points is the margin of error.
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so it could be that for the last week, reform has been ahead of the tories . it could be that the tories. it could be that they haven't crossed over yet. this is all within the margin of error. this is all neck and neck stuff. but it does show something symbolic. and that is what nigel farage will no doubt be trying to capitalise upon at his press conference in less than an hour's time. >> yes, because i was wondering, what does rishi sunak do here? he's leading his to party poll now below the reform party, a party that is only three years old. it's only been around for five minutes. what does he do? does he try to relaunch his campaign in one way or another? >> last time we saw him, he did look a little weary. >> he did look like perhaps he had almost just given up conservatives coming out with things that suggest that perhaps they're resigned to defeat . does they're resigned to defeat. does anything change in this election campaign from the perspective of the conservatives, labour, because reform could be taking
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votes from labour as well. >> well, the big in some seats, big choice for the conservatives. >> they've had a big attack on labour today , a big press labour today, a big press conference about labour's tax rises and all the rest of it. do they pivot at some point to stop attacking labour and start attacking labour and start attacking reform, or could that be counterproductive? some big decisions. the head honchos of the conservative campaign, yes . the conservative campaign, yes. >> let us know what you think. gbnews.com/yoursay. please do get in touch, but let's get the headunes. headlines. >> good afternoon. from the gb news room at 1202. your top story this hour. the prime minister says a vote for reform uk risks handing a blank check to the labour party. the new poll by yougov puts nigel farages party neck and neck with the tories less than three weeks before the election . the before the election. the pollster says the close result represents a seismic shift in the voting landscape. but they also caution that britain's voting system means reform may still struggle to pick up any
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seats. meanwhile, labour scored 37, down one point, while the liberal democrats also lost a point, scoring 14. with the greens on seven points. responding to the latest poll , responding to the latest poll, chief secretary to the treasury laura trott said a vote for reform risks putting labour in charge, which would mean higher taxes. >> we know on their own figures that their manifesto would take the tax burden to a record high, but the truth is much worse. on top of that , we know the £385 top of that, we know the £38.5 billion top of that, we know the £385 billion black hole in labour's unfunded promises mean taxes will go up by an extra £2,094 for every working family in our country, so we know the size of the bill, but not how they plan to pay for it. >> meanwhile, specialist mental health hubs will be set up under
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a plan by labour to help people get back to work. it would see an extra 8500 new staff recruited to boost access to mental health support. depression and anxiety are among the most common conditions that force people out of work . while force people out of work. while an estimated 1.2 million people are currently waiting for mental health treatment, shadow health secretary wes streeting told gb news that poor health care is costing the country billions. >> the health secretary and i'm able to deliver those 40,000 extra appointments every week and the double the number of diagnostic scanners and 8500 extra mental health staff to cut the more than a million people waiting for mental health treatment. not only are we going to be able to get people back to health in lots of those cases that means people back to work. so we've currently got 3 million people who are both off sick and off work in our country. not their fault they can't get the treatment, but if we get people off waiting lists, not only will we be getting them back to health, we'll also be getting them back to work. that will help drive economic growth and
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backing british farmers will be a central to the plan, set to be unveiled by the liberal democrats. >> later, the party's deputy leader, daisy cooper, will be on the campaign trail in the east of england promoting her party's national food strategy. it would include financial help for farmers who are coping with expensive energy and production costs, the party says the strategy also tackles rising pnces strategy also tackles rising prices on supermarket shelves, ending food poverty and ensuring better food security . in other better food security. in other news, the us and ukrainian presidents have signed a ten year security agreement bolstering kiev's defence and inching it closer towards nato membership. the historic deal was signed on the sidelines of the g7 summit, which is currently taking place in southern italy. it aims to guarantee support for ukraine's war against russia's invasion. even if donald trump were to win november's us election. the gathering also agreed to continue a loan worth £40 billion, funded by frozen russian assets . campaigners from
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russian assets. campaigners from several movements , including the several movements, including the grenfell fire and the infected blood scandal, are calling for new rules to ensure recommendations from public inquiries can't be ignored. a walk is taking place in west london later to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the grenfell tower disaster that claimed 72 lives. the first phase of a public inquiry ended five years ago, but campaigners say some of its recommendations still haven't been implemented . still haven't been implemented. the groups are calling for a new body that would follow up on findings and ensure they're put into place . tesco has revealed into place. tesco has revealed a strong increase in the amount of groceries bought in the last three months, as inflation eases . the uk's largest supermarket firm revealed total retail sales grew 3.4% in may, compared with the same time last year. this came on the back of 5% increase in food sales, with high demand for fresh produce helping to drive higher sales volumes. and
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as britain waits for grey skies to clear, greece is sweltering through its earliest ever heatwave. tourist sites have been forced to close and elderly people are taking refuge at special cooling centres as temperatures in some areas push past 43 degrees. the deputy mayor in athens says emergency services are keeping watch for anyone experiencing difficulty. experts say greece has been severely impacted by climate change in recent years, with rising temperatures fuelling deadly fires and erratic weather conditions. as and. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts. now it's back to tom and . back to tom and. emily. >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:08 now. nigel farage insists his party is now the official
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opposition after a form have overtaken the conservatives in one poll for the first time. >> yes , in a yougov poll for the >> yes, in a yougov poll for the times, this was reform went one point ahead of the conservatives, with labour experiencing a slight fall in support, dropping to down 37. >> well, this made for an interesting opening bout to last night's election. debate over on itv , where seven parties itv, where seven parties competed to win your vote. >> oh, it's difficult when there are seven representatives, isn't it? labour's deputy leader, angela rayner was asked if she would rejoin the european union this is what she said. >> if elected, would you ever rejoin the eu or the single market? >> angela rayner no and europol question before was brexit and as a result of the referendum , as a result of the referendum, that's what we would never rejoin the eu or the single market. no >> well, the liberal democrats, for their part, have put fixing the nhs and social care at the heart of their manifesto . heart of their manifesto. >> our manifesto is a manifesto to save the nhs and social care. we're pledging £9 billion to invest upstream. we see on the
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tv all these disastrous pictures of people dying in the back of ambulances, having suffering the indignity of corridor care because they can't see a gp, they can't see a dentist. and that's what we want to fix . that's what we want to fix. >> daisy cooper there and the snp's stephen flynn criticised labour's response to the humanitarian crisis in gaza. >> it took four and a half months and the death or injury of almost 100,000 civilians in gaza for the labour party to back a ceasefire on day one of a labour government, will you end arms sales to israel? >> well, if we were in government we would immediately review, as we've been asking the conservatives, the legal advice on arms sales to israel, and we will comply with international law. thank you . law. thank you. >> yes. mps question there, but also invited bizarrely were plaid cymru. well they made a return and their leader wasn't impressed with the main party's ambitions .
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ambitions. >> the election. you'll hear me talking a lot about ambition. where is the ambition from either of the westminster main parties to invest in allowing us in wales to make the most of our natural resources through devolving the crown estate, allowing us to invest in transport and connectivity through giving us the billions we're owned are owed as a result of hs2 rail in england. that's the ambition that we need. we're not hearing it from the conservatives and i regret we're not hearing it from nigel. >> there we go. and the greens carla denyer says immigration isn't the problem . it's isn't the problem. it's government failure to invest that causes issues . that causes issues. >> i think it's shameful when some politicians scape goat, the people who become our neighbours, our friends , our neighbours, our friends, our colleagues to distract from their chronic under—invest in pubuc their chronic under—invest in public services. the solution isn't scapegoating or pulling up the drawbridge. the solution is investing in our communities to make sure everyone has access to the services they need. >> more spending, more migration. interesting. well, after a surge in the polls,
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reform uk's nigel farage took the tories to task over their immigration promises. >> given that your 2010 manifesto, your 2015 manifesto, your 2017 manifesto said you'd reduced net migration to tens of thousands? your 2019 manifesto said immigration would massively reduce , and that net 4.3 million reduce, and that net 4.3 million people have come into the country since that time. while earth. should anybody believe the fifth manifesto that promises cuts to net migration because of the record of this prime minister so we've had we've had oh, no, that's fine . we've had oh, no, that's fine. i'm happy. >> figures out today. i'm happy. >> figures out today . oh, it's >> figures out today. oh, it's interesting that everyone laughed at that one, because it is actually the case that, rishi sunak has, is cutting visas. >> it'sjust sunak has, is cutting visas. >> it's just come a little too late for the official statistics. >> it's because all of the stats obviously come out the year after the thing that's happened. so the migration falls that we're seeing now, actually, the numbers will come out . well,
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numbers will come out. well, we've got preliminary visa numbers, but the net migration annual net migration numbers won't come out until next year. likely keir starmer will be able to say, look, i've halved migration and it'll actually be all the things that rishi sunak's done. >> yes. and everyone will obviously point to the three quarters of a million, net migration from last year or close to. anyway, joining us now is our political editor, christopher hope, christopher hard to know where to start, the prime minister's camp today. very difficult to see the reform party, only three years old now beating them in the polls. yes. one poll, but still an important poll . poll. >> yeah, a moment, isn't it? i'm back in westminster now . i was back in westminster now. i was in salford last night in the so—called spin room for that seven way debate on itv . i was seven way debate on itv. i was struck by the fact that labour just stopped doing whatsapp messages to journalists trying to spin the answers from angela raynen to spin the answers from angela rayner. well, whereas the tories kept going with their attempt to spin what penny mordaunt was
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saying , whether that becomes saying, whether that becomes a trend that the labour party is almost assuming it's going to win, that could be a worry for them if that carries on, i don't know why they weren't doing their bit on the spinning side, but yeah, no question that the spin room, the debate yesterday was dominated by that yougov poll in the times. labour 37 points, reform 19 points tory party 18 points, i spoke to david bull afterwards . party 18 points, i spoke to david bull afterwards. he's the co—deputy leader of reform uk and i got him to say i pushed him on this. what's a good result for reform uk? he said four mps. now i put it to you both . if reform get four mps and both. if reform get four mps and if they're second in the share of the of the votes, come election day and the tory party get maybe 80 to 90 mps, what does that say about our political system? i mean, it's a real challenge there for nigel farage. what will he say about that? will he question the result? say, it's not fair. i think this one is going to
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bubble and bubble right up to election day. but as of today in westminster, we've been hearing from the tory party, laura trott's been. she's a shadow chief. she's the chief secretary of treasury. and getting ahead of treasury. and getting ahead of yourself there, christopher. tax increases . yes, indeed. tax increases. yes, indeed. well, maybe. but labour's, sorry tom. labour's tax increases here. they the tories say there are 18 different tax measures which the labour party don't want to talk about and were not mentioned in their manifesto . mentioned in their manifesto. so, but i asked her a question. well, two questions, one about the football, tom, for just you and one about tax. here's what she had to say to chris renee what labour allowing themselves some space for their own uncertain events, like you said just then that they have to have some way of raising money if they have to, if a black swan event happens, like ukraine energy shock or covid and just quickly the euro start this weekend. if you're a football team , you're four nil down. the team, you're four nil down. the crowd are booing you. isn't it time to do a deal with a striker on an on a rival team and get
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nigel farage to do a deal with with the tory party and see off laboun with the tory party and see off labour, just on football. >> i'm afraid i'm not the right person to ask , but but no, no, person to ask, but but no, no, what they're doing is they are pretending in a disingenuous way that they've got to wait to see the books. >> the books are there, right? they're called obr forecasts. they're called obr forecasts. they can look at them. right. what they are doing is secretly planning a number of tax rises, which they have not got a mandate for, and that is outrageous. and we are not going to let them get away with it. >> so laura trott there with her message . she said at one point message. she said at one point there, if you think labour are going to win , start saving going to win, start saving because they clearly think that there are opportunities here to raise taxes from us all. if they win power , many think they might win power, many think they might try and lift cgt capital gains tax to 40% and equalise income and wealth taxation. my point to them, though, was the tory party also raised taxes a lot in the last five years because of those big black swan events. as we call them, the war in ukraine. the energy shock coming from that and the covid 19 pandemic.
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so aren't labour allowed to leave themselves open for some room for some increases? but she wasn't having having any of it. >> yeah. it's absolutely fascinating that the labour party, the tory party, to some extent, i suppose this could be a core vote retention strategy. talking about the particulars of capital gains tax. it's not the most populist thing to do what it might be, chris, my contention is the tories know they've lost and they're already preparing for opposition. they're getting out all of their lines now so that when labour get in and they do raise these taxes, they do raise capital gains tax, they do do some council tax banding reassessment, tax stocks and shares and wealth more. the tories will be able to say, we told you so. the government are lying . lying. >> well that's right. and in fact laura trott used history to make that point. she pointed out that in 1997, when labour fought that in 1997, when labour fought that election , they promised no, that election, they promised no, no tax increase or no tax raise ,
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no tax increase or no tax raise, certainly on pensions. and within months, gordon brown had , within months, gordon brown had, ramped up taxes on pensions. and that was seen as a major betrayal. so the tories are building this idea of a future betrayal by a labour government, going back to what gordon brown did when he was chancellor. >> and do you think the attacks on reform are going to get more vicious ? we've seen a number of vicious? we've seen a number of candidates in the press that people have found sort of fruity things that they've tweeted or facebook posts that they've liked. do you think there's going to be more of this ? going to be more of this? >> i think so, and i'm expecting reform uk's manifesto to be announced on monday , somewhere announced on monday, somewhere out of london, somewhere where it might be hard for westminster journalists to get to, to see, to try and make the point that this is about voters way outside the westminster bubble. for nigel farage. i think he's going to have a lot of scrutiny. he announced things last night in that debate, which i think surprised, some reform uk people . he said. there should be a semi or partly elected house of
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lords, he talked about lots of referendums, almost like a swiss model of referenda on all sorts of issues. i mean , whether these of issues. i mean, whether these things appear in the manifesto on monday or whether in fact it's even written yet we have a draft contract with the british people on their website, but no formal manifesto . so that should formal manifesto. so that should be monday. and at that point, i think i think they will feel the white heat of proper scrutiny in the next three weeks, and rightly so. >> i really interesting stuff, chris. well, we await for that on monday. but also i hear you're going to be scarpering off to an event in about 40 minutes time with nigel farage. we'll see you then . and, let's we'll see you then. and, let's see if we can you can sort of pin him down on some of these questions. thanks for joining us. us. >> us. >> well, joining us now is the chief political commentator for the independent, john rentoul , the independent, john rentoul, john, thank you very much indeed, your reaction to this poll that came out, last night, well, i mean, obviously, i have to say , you know, it's just one to say, you know, it's just one poll and it's within the margin of error, but psychologically, it's, you know , it's absolutely
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it's, you know, it's absolutely huge, there's no question that it will reinforce, existing trends, which are reform going up and the conservatives and conservative morale are going down. and i think we will see several more polls like this in the, in the coming days and weeks . weeks. >> and i suppose, john, this is we might see more polls like this, but we might also see polls in the other direction. this is going to be a bit of a pr battle because ultimately all of these things are sort of within the margin of error. >> well, no they're not. >> well, no they're not. >> i mean, the point is that reform is going up. >> i mean, reform support is rising, which means that pollsters who tend to give reform a high score and, and the tories a lower score , such as tories a lower score, such as yougov, redfield and wilton and people polling who do, polling for gb news, those three pollsters are likely to show the conservatives being pushed into
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third place, either consistently or occasionally, but it reflects something that is really happening, which is that that reform is, is advancing and the tories are retreating. >> now, john, very interesting, nigel farage or the reform party are managing to spike the interest of, the gen zers, so the tories for 18 to 24 year olds, they're on about 7. it's double that for reform, 15% in the latest polling. that's very interesting, isn't it? >> it is. i mean, the whole point is that something is happening in the election campaign. i mean, until until nigel farage announced that he was coming back as, as leader and he's going to stand, the polls were static, the labour lead was fixed at about 20 points, and it didn't seem as if anything , points, and it didn't seem as if anything, you points, and it didn't seem as if anything , you know, it seemed as anything, you know, it seemed as if it was going to be one of those boring election campaigns where where nothing really changes, whereas we've , we've changes, whereas we've, we've suddenly been thrown into an election campaign where there's,
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there's a story there's a story here and that will interest people . i mean, nigel farage was people. i mean, nigel farage was the most interesting person in this tv debate last night. i mean, even if you don't agree with a word he said, he he says it in, in an extremely accessible way and he's freed from the constraints of a normal political party because he doesn't have to make his sons add up, i mean, you could say that about the lib dems and the greens as well, of course, but i mean, in his case, he uses that that liberty to the full. >> yes. i suppose when you are a party >> yes. i suppose when you are a party that as, as one of the deputy leaders said last night, are hoping to win as many as four seats, i mean, that's a good night for reform. it's not like they're going to be forming the next government . and how the next government. and how does that actually work then? john if you have the reform party and the tory party on about the same share of the vote, maybe, maybe it's a sort of 1983 situation where you had the sdp and the labour party almost neck and neck in popular vote share, but one obviously had far, far, far, many more mps
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than the other, how did that all play than the other, how did that all play out ? play out? >> well, i mean, the sdp, folded in the end, and merged with the, with the lib dems, i mean, that's that's the that's the point. i mean, unless reform gets right up to some, some very high scores, it has to get 30% share of the vote, which i, you know, i mean , unexpected things know, i mean, unexpected things happenin know, i mean, unexpected things happen in politics. but i mean, that really would be extraordinary. i mean, if it gets up to that sort of level , gets up to that sort of level, then it will start to gain seats. but until then, it's not going to win more than a handful. i mean, three, 3 or 4 is the maximum as you as you said, and the and the voting system is going to deliver to the conservatives almost however badly they do at 50 to 100 seats. so the idea that that something's going to happen, like canada, where, where the conservative party there went down from having a parliamentary majority to two seats and was overtaken by a party called
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reform , which got 52 seats. reform, which got 52 seats. that's not going to happen in the uk . the uk. >> yes. and nigel farage does refer to that example quite a lot, thank you, john. john rentoul, chief political commentator for the independent. i want to get your thoughts on that, broadcast from reform last night. i think it was on channel 4, 4.5 minutes of just a screen, saying britain is broken, britain needs reform or something to that effect. just for four minutes. complete silence. utterly bizarre. >> a lot of people thought that tv's broken, but. but i wonder if that will have only worked for people who are politically engaged. reform as you were saying, new party, i would wager lots of lot. many more people know who nigel farage is than know who nigel farage is than know the name of his party. >> yes, i imagine so and so. >> yes, i imagine so and so. >> just seeing the words britain needs reform up there. i think your average, perhaps low information voter , low information voter, low information voter, low information voter, low information voter might technical term, might not, might not realise that that's a sort of advert for a party or might
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think it's a pro—labour advert. i mean, who knows? >> i love that low information voter. you're basically saying a bit dim . bit dim. >> no i'm not. they could be very, very uninterested. just uninterested. don't like politics. that's most voters. most voters don't like politics. >> most people aren't political anoraks like you, my sir. anyway, during this election period, we want to hear from you. we'll be crossing very shortly to our latest people's panel hearing from voters in retford in nottinghamshire. this is good afternoon, britain. we're on gb news is
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well. good afternoon. britain. remember as always, we want to hear from you during this election period . election period. >> so let's cross over to gb news reporter will hollis, who is with the people's panel in retford . will take it away. retford. will take it away. >> good afternoon. yes, we're in
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retford. in bassetlaw. well, it is one brick in the red wall that labour hopes to rebuild in this upcoming election. back in 2019, it had the biggest swing from the labour party to the conservatives. a majority of 14,000 votes. so what happens here and what voters are thinking really does matter for the shape of britain to come. we've got a fantastic people's panel here. we've got joyce crabtree who's considering voting conservative. we've got geoff hampson as well. and he's going to probably go for the labour party . and over here in labour party. and over here in the corner as well. we've got peter pemberton and peter. your interesting because you're considering voting for the reform party. what is it about reform that is attractive to you here in retford ? here in retford? >> i just think we're basically the country itself is in such a state that we need a change. and i know the labour party are using change as their motto. if you like, for future events, but i think we need a bigger change than that. and i think reform probably offer that to us, i've
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seen, you know, nigel farage, not one of my favourite people, i've got to admit. but when i've seen other reform people talking, they seem to be talking common sense and talking about, you know, the mismanagement of funds in this country by the previous, conservative party pnor previous, conservative party prior to that with the labour party. so i think we just need people to, you know, or we need somebody in charge of the money who puts it in the right place. >> and the reform party have taken over the conservatives. they say that they're now the official opposition party for laboun official opposition party for labour, jeff, you're one of the people that didn't turn to the tories in 2019. you're a loyal labour voter here in the red wall. what are you seeing that you're liking? and what are you seeing that maybe you want a little bit more from the labour party? >> i want, i want more more help for people suffering mental mental health issues in particular ptsd, which is awful. >> yeah. you're a veteran , so >> yeah. you're a veteran, so you work with lots of people and a support worker for veterans as well. how important is that? thatis well. how important is that?
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that is something that happens in the new labour party. >> sorry . what was that? >> sorry. what was that? >> sorry. what was that? >> there's more support for veterans and people like you . veterans and people like you. >> there is in bassetlaw. there's a lot of support for veterans and mainly the labour councillors , have always councillors, have always supported us well supported me anyway because they know that i support them , but, let's just go support them, but, let's just go over to joyce crabtree . joyce, over to joyce crabtree. joyce, you're considering sticking with the conservatives. what is it about this conservative party that makes you want to continue to vote for the conservatives? >> it's partly because i don't want to vote for labour, and i don't know anything about the reform candidate, john varne really let down a friend of ours over a building issue , and over a building issue, and that's why i voted conservative in the last election. >> and a former mp for bassetlaw. yes. what are the issues that matter for you in this election? >> well , local issues, but, >> well, local issues, but, taxation, i feel for the young,
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i've got a grandson in his 20s and, you know, he can't afford to buy his own home. >> he lives at home at the moment, and, i would like to see more, more help for the youngsters. >> really , more help for the >> really, more help for the youngsters. interesting. because the tory party came out with that plan for national service a couple of weeks ago. guys, guys, we're going to stop this right now just for a few moments. we've got a fantastic dog down there as well. that's the noise that you're hearing. but we are here with our people's panel all day in bassetlaw in retford, talking about the issues that matter to local people. >> fantastic stuff. looking forward to getting back there because it's always that's what gb news is about, talking to real people in real parts of the country, not always just stuck in westminster. yes and not always just having to listen to us talk about it. >> it is very interesting to see what people, lots of people, are still undecided. i get the impression, not quite sure where they're going to put their vote. but anyway, coming up we'll be crossing over live to glasgow.
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why? because fans are kicking off celebrations ahead of the euros tonight. this is good afternoon britain. we're on gb news, britain's election . channel. >> good afternoon. it's 1232. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. your headlines. the prime minister says a vote for reform uk risks handing a blank check to the labour party. a new poll by yougov puts nigel farages party neck and neck with the tories less than three weeks before the election, but they also caution that britain's voting system means reform may still struggle to pick up any seats. meanwhile, labour scored 37, down one point, while the liberal democrats also lost a point, scoring 14% with the greens on seven points. specialist mental health hubs would be set up under a plan by labour to help get people back to work, with an extra 8500 new
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staff. depression and anxiety are among the most common conditions that force people out of work . while an estimated 1.2 of work. while an estimated 1.2 million people are currently waiting for mental health treatment . backing british treatment. backing british farmers will be central to a plan set to be unveiled by the liberal democrats later . it liberal democrats later. it would include financial help for farmers who are coping with expensive energy and production costs. the party is also tackling rising prices on the supermarket shelves with a promise to end food poverty and ensure better food security . in ensure better food security. in other news, the us and ukrainian presidents have signed a ten year security agreement bolstering kiev's defence and inching it closer towards nato membership. the historic deal was signed on the sidelines of a g7 summit, which is currently taking place in southern italy. it aims to guarantee support for ukraine's war against russia's invasion, even if donald trump were to win november's us election . and for the latest election. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news
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alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. corach rambler. that's
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>> good afternoon. britain. it's 37 minutes past midday. and just before the break, we were in retford in the bassetlaw constituency. so here are those candidates. brendan clarke—smith is standing for the conservative party. rachel. sarah reeves for the green party. frank ward for the green party. frank ward for the reform uk party. helen tamblyn saville for the liberal democrats and jo white for laboun democrats and jo white for labour. there are your choices. well, there you go. >> but all eyes are on scotland tonight because they faced face hosts germany in the opening match of the euros 2024 at the allianz arena in munich.
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>> well, steve clarke's side head into the tournament, picking up just one win out of nine games. but their fans are really in the mood, really in the mood. >> we're now joined by our gb news reporterjack >> we're now joined by our gb news reporter jack carson, who's in glasgow ahead of tonight's big game. jack, there are hundreds of thousands of scots who are planning to go to munich . but what's the atmosphere like in glasgow ? in glasgow? >> well, there's certainly some tension building in the air. we've already seen quite a few people with their scotland shirts on already walking around with scottish flags. we've got some sellers in the background as well that have been selling scotland flags to people walking by, and i should imagine as the afternoon goes on, those pubs are really going to start to get busy at the atmosphere builds the rain certainly probably keeping people away at the moment , but keeping people away at the moment, but the keeping people away at the moment , but the scottish fans moment, but the scottish fans know just how exciting today is, just how momentous this day is, not only to be back in their second consecutive european championship, they had to wait 23 years until 2021 to get back
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into the european championship. steve clarke is the first scottish manager to get them to back to back tournaments. andy robertson, who's the scotland captain and left back , of captain and left back, of course, for liverpool, has said that they don't want to come away from this tournament with any regrets. you know they they had a disappointing tournament in 2021. they did get to play here in scotland in front of a few scot fans, scotland fans, because of the covid restrictions back then, but they'll be hoping that they come back with something to shout about and something to cheer. of course, they've got nothing to lose. they know they're the underdogs in their group along beside germany, of course, switzerland and hungary, and they're the lowest ranked side in their group. but that surely gives them an extra edge going into tonight's opening match against germany . they know against germany. they know they've got nothing to lose. the hosts know they've got everything to lose. the pressure is on their shoulders because there are a lot of german fans that want them to come away with the win because of course it was back in 2014, a decade ago when germany won last a major tournament, winning the 2014 world cup. out in brazil. of course, we've seen the pictures today of 200,000. it's thought
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scotland fans in munich there's only 10,000 that can get into the game, but there's plenty of the game, but there's plenty of the tartan army cheering on over there in munich. but just how are the scotland fans that we've spoken to here in glasgow feeling? take a look. >> i'm not the best when it comes to football, but i think i think germany is a strong team, but i like to think scotland does have a decent chance. >> i so what scotland's chances against germany, three months in deutschland . do you not have any deutschland. do you not have any positivity? where's the body? >> because gibraltar ? remember >> because gibraltar? remember the morning and we were first to qualify to get two nothing up there tonight. and it can pull it back to two hits. i think clarke has got it . it's playing clarke has got it. it's playing classic toni. >> well i think we've got to give it a go. >> we've got to give it our best shot and make sure that we can do it. i think that as long as we're cheering and giving it our all, we'll be all right. >> i mean, we have to band
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together. otherwise there's just no hope. >> and, obviously , if it ever >> and, obviously, if it ever comes that england are playing against scotland . against scotland. >> i think my train's late. i gotta go, guys. >> strong, mate. they've got us. >> strong, mate. they've got us. >> yeah. see that? that's how you do it. you're the first person in. >> there we go. a bit of a mixed reaction on the streets of glasgow. i mean, we're in george square where no doubt a little bit later on there's bound to be plenty of people here celebrating the start of the european championship and cheering on scotland because they've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. germany, you've got the pressure on their shoulders tonight at 8:00. >> fantastic stuff jack and i can't help but note george square is the square that the local snp council want to get rid of a lot of the statues , but rid of a lot of the statues, but i think there's a statue right next to you, so they haven't quite got rid of these statues yet, by the looks of it. yeah no, they're still all there. that's that's good to see. although slightly damp . well, although slightly damp. well, there we go. thanks very much
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for joining us, jack carson , now forjoining us, jack carson, now coming up. >> yes. i mean, that's interesting, isn't it? the the old statues, statues could be removed from george square permanently. 11 statues to be removed to storage for restoration. i thought this was for political reasons . for political reasons. >> so they say they're going to remove them for restoration. but they'll only put the ones back that pass a soul. a whole lot of tests. >> so slavery and colonial legacy test. yeah which given that glasgow was a big port city, a lot of them there are quite a few links, aren't there? >> i hate this, just leave the statues where they are. if you have to put a little noticeboard explaining some of the, you know, problematic things about that character , that person, that character, that person, that character, that person, that historical figure, don't just rip them down. absolutely ridiculous. anyway, good luck to scotland . scotland. >> or maybe put up some figures of the great emancipation movement from this country. i mean, let's let's get some more statues of william wilberforce around this country. and i'm
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sure there are lots of scottish presbyterians who we should know a lot more about who are a big, big part of that anti—slavery movement. i mean, why don't we talk more about the english, scottish, welsh and irish people who helped end the slave trade as we did the first major country to end that evil trade? we don't talk about that enough. >> we don't talk about that enough. but coming up as nigel farage, farage appears to be trumping the tories in the latest yougov poll. is there truth to it? how accurate is this? how many mps could reform return parliament? we'll break it down with a yougov sperm
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>> good afternoon. britain. it's 12:47. now, we're hearing soon from a former uk leader, nigel farage. he's holding a press conference in london after this
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remarkable poll for the party was published last night. yes. >> for the first time, reform uk have overtaken the conservatives in a yougov poll for the times. now labour remain way ahead. their support has slightly dropped, though by one point to 37 points. >> well, to break this down for us and what it all means is the director of political analysis, analytics at yougov, patrick english. patrick, first of all, yougov has changed its methodology in the last week or so. is that what's driving this ? so. is that what's driving this? >> good afternoon. thanks for having me. no. under the old methodology , we would have shown methodology, we would have shown the same results here. what we are seeing is a surge for support, for reform uk in our sample, driven very much by the fact that nigel farage announced that he was standing and put forward himself as a candidate in clacton, and also said that he would be taking over as leader of the party. and that prompted reform to go up from around about 13, 14 points in our polling up now to the high of 19, it must be said as well.
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nigel is absolutely, of course, a bigger number than 18. but polls like this are subject to a margin of error, statistical noise. so we can't rule out at all that the two parties are in fact tied, or that the conservatives might still be a little bit ahead , but certainly little bit ahead, but certainly a symbolic moment, for nigel farage and for reform uk in that they are, according to our estimates, one point ahead. but again, i must say with polling, thatis again, i must say with polling, that is as good as saying it's pretty much a dead heat. >> very interesting indeed. did you ask any supplementary questions that, show that this is the nigel farage effect, or are you just guessing that because this has happened since ? because this has happened since? >> yeah, we're projecting it based off the change that we've noficed based off the change that we've noticed pretty much since the day after nigel farage said that he was standing and indeed, rempe poll, our first projection of the race was released , an of the race was released, an hour after he made that announcement. so no data from post farage announcement was included in that. so we're very much looking forward to seeing what happens to the reform seat projections . we had them on zero
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projections. we had them on zero last week, but i think we might expect that to increase at least a couple, maybe two. anything up to four, perhaps in our next projection, which we'll be releasing next week. and indeed, it is seemingly very much driven by farage. he is a character who appeals very strongly to a very certain subset of the electorate. he goes down very well with brexit voters. and what we can say is that in this latest poll, around a third of those who voted brexit in 2016 are now intending to vote for reform uk, a far outstrips the amount who are currently planning to vote for labour or the conservatives. so we think this is very much a farage effect and it'll be interesting to see what effect that has on the mrp projections that we will be releasing next week. >> i'm sure all political nerds will be rubbing their hands with glee awaiting this new multi—level , regression and multi—level, regression and post—stratification analysis. but you had to get that out. i had to get that. but, patrick, there's been some criticism of yougov in terms of the sample that you're using. you do have higher reform numbers than some other pollsters. the criticism
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is that this online polling picks up very engaged people , picks up very engaged people, that people who are sort of perhaps paying more attention to politics than the average voter who might know a bit more about reform uk than the average voter i >> -- >> yeah. i mean, certainly the case that in online polls, of course , you have to be online to course, you have to be online to take part in them and the online community is perhaps not completely representative of britain overall , completely representative of britain overall, but we do things to try and mitigate for that.in things to try and mitigate for that. in our sampling and in our modelling of the voting outcomes, including controlling for political interests. so we make sure we don't have too many people that are sort of self—professed political nerds who are looking for trump polls in our samples. we also make sure that we represent in terms of us votes, in terms of education levels, things that we all know tend to drive vote intention. and i will say as well that, of course, online polls have their own particular biases, but so do phone polls. the sort of person who picks up a phone poll and is happy to sort of sit there and go through an unknown number, asking them a
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bunch of questions. they don't sort of know who they are or what it's being used for. that's also a particular type of person in the same way that a person who's decided they want to join the yougov panel is. so all methods come with their own strengths and weaknesses, and i think is important for us to all continually acknowledge that polling is, is a science, but it's also subject to error. and it's also subject to error. and it's also subject to error. and it's also subject to challenges. and we do our best to work our way through that and hopefully present the best possible accurate analysis of what's happening out there right now . happening out there right now. >> yes, i was going to ask whether you still do the phone calls, because i remember when i got my got one phone call from i'm not sure if it was yougov or another polling company. i was very excited to be asked all the questions. thank you very much indeed. we'll have to leave it there. but very interesting to find out a little bit more about that poll. patrick english, who is the director of political analytics at yougov . analytics at yougov. >> yeah, i think i don't think there are any pollsters who only use phone polls left in the uk. they were back in 2016. it was about half and half during the
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referendum. there was a definite split between those who polled on the internet and those who polled by phone. yeah but basically everyone does it on the internet. now. i think there might be 1 or 2 who still do phone polls, but it's very few and far between, and absolutely no one does. the original form of polling, which was literally going door to door for a representative sample. >> well, people don't open the doom >> well, people don't open the door, apparently. now to anyone political because they've got these ring bells or whatever they're called. oh yeah. where you can see record a little video. yes. oh no. but don't fancy that. i'll just pretend i'm not in. >> of course, nigel farage is standing in the clacton constituency, but here is who else is standing there. jovan owusu nepal is the labour party candidate. giles watling, the conservative party candidate, matthew bensalem, is the liberal democrat party candidate. nigel, of course, standing for reform uk. natasha osborne, the green party craig jamieson, the climate party, tony mac, an independent, tasos papanastasiou sue is the heritage party candidate. i'm sure i butchered that apologies and andrew pemberton is ukip the portuguese
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to greece, apologies to anyone of good pronunciation, ability. >> yeah, well, there are lots of candidates in that constituency. you know what? >> there were so many fewer until nigel farage announced he was standing the day before nominations. and then a whole bunch more people came in. which means when we have to read out these lists, it just gets more and more annoying. oh, we've got and more annoying. oh, we've got a little bit of time for some of your views, dennis says labour, certainly with their current team in quotation marks, he puts and son of a toolmaker leader, are totally unqualified to form are totally unqualified to form a government. >> debbie says we pray for scotland when they play germany tonight. >> paul says a vote for conservatives is a for vote more of the same high taxes, rising unemployment, long nhs waits, sky high immigration, low taxes for the rich. well, there you go . keep them coming in. >> and i do think that there is that huge problem for many incumbent governments around the world right now , when the global world right now, when the global economy is where it is not a lot of enthusiasm . of enthusiasm. >> no, but very shortly, we're going to be hearing from the reform party leader, nigel farage. he's due to speak in just a few minutes. so stay with
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us. this is good afternoon. britain >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on . solar, sponsors of weather on. gb news. >> hello and welcome to the latest met office weather forecast for gb news. heavy showers dominating the country's weather over the next few days. >> gusty winds, some sunny spells in between the downpours. >> they'll be in short supply because low pressure is firmly positioned to the west of scotland . scotland. >> it's going to become slow moving over the next few days andifs moving over the next few days and it's going to continue to drive heavy downpours in from the southwest, with gusty wind as well. >> that's going to be particularly noticeable for the south—west of england and northern scotland. >> northern scotland, subject to more persistent rain overnight, tending to ease later on. another band of more persistent rain moves into northern ireland, wales and the southwest , with some clearer and drier spells further east across england and central and southern scotland. however, temperatures not falling as far as previous nights because we've lost that
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cold arctic wind, we've replaced it with low pressure and unsettled weather, so it's not going to be a pleasant start to the weekend. there'll be further heavy showers or longer spells of rain . the wettest weather of rain. the wettest weather there for saturday morning across north wales , parts of across north wales, parts of northern ireland, southwest scotland, some sunshine , though scotland, some sunshine, though for central belts into the grampians highlands , western grampians highlands, western isles, the far north of scotland, shetland in particular, a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain so very mixed conditions across the country on saturday morning and things don't really improve into the afternoon with further showers , afternoon with further showers, building and just about anywhere could see a heavy downpour , even could see a heavy downpour, even a thunderstorm developing into the afternoon . a gusty wind the afternoon. a gusty wind continues across the south and southwest. >> meanwhile , while those >> meanwhile, while those showers will be interspersed by some sunny spells, but it's not going to feel particularly warm in the sunshine. >> highs of 17 or 18 celsius. now for saturday evening, we'll see further showers rotating around the area of low pressure,
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which by this stage is centred just off the east of scotland and into monday and tuesday. that low tends to fill and move away. so fewer showers, a better chance of some sunshine , that chance of some sunshine, that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on
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gb news. >> away . >> away. >> away. >> well. good afternoon. britain it's 1:00 on friday, the 14th of june. i'm emily carver, and i'm tom harwood. nigel speaks at the reform party's first press conference since one poll found the fated crossover point, with the fated crossover point, with the tories now ducking into third place, one point behind nigel farages party. what's next in store labour tax attack? >> the tories come out all guns blazing on what they describe as labour's 18 tax rises from parents tax to pensions tax to
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family home tax. but what's the truth ? truth? >> we'll speak to both sides and it's kick off time for the euros 2020 for scotland will play germany in a tense opening game. we'll be soaking up the atmosphere in scotland and in germany, and as the euros 2024 kick off in germany, why do we have lots of pride flags adorning the capital's regent street instead of the saint george's flag? >> well, that's our debate shortly . shortly. now we are waiting for nigel farage to speak at this first reform press conference since that yougov poll that we were just talking about a few minutes ago , that showed reform has ago, that showed reform has overtaken the conservative lives, at least in that poll. this is the scene in the room. we can see a lone lectern against a wood panel background
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with what looks like a fairly, makeshift sellotaped on a4 bit of paper that has britain needs reform written on it. >> well , reform written on it. >> well, nigel farage did say that we need to make efficiencies in spending. so you know, what's wrong with a bit of laminated card? >> no, this is very much an upstart party. and i suppose you can see it with that, laminated bit of paper . can see it with that, laminated bit of paper. but i have to say, doing it inside on a day like today, where in london it is raining, perhaps it's a bit wiser than what rishi sunak had , wiser than what rishi sunak had, come to decide to do when this election was called . election was called. >> yes, quite possibly. quite possibly . the memes did design themselves. >> yeah, absolutely. so i think all politicians have perhaps taken a note to find a room, any room, preferably with some wood panelling and here we can see the chairman of reform uk, richard tice. let's listen in. >> great to see you. thank you for being here at relatively short notice. well well well
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well it's fair to say that in just two weeks we have turned what looked like being the most bonng what looked like being the most boring general election campaign since any of us could remember it to the most interesting and extraordinary campaign . two extraordinary campaign. two weeks ago, everyone was writing reform uk off thought the big squeeze would be happening, but actually we were talking about what millions and millions of people up and down the country wanted to talk about, and that's the population increase. that's why we're getting poorer. it's about immigration. that's what ordinary folk want to talk about. but of course, the main parties didn't want to talk about that. and in that first week of the campaign we held in the polls , as everyone thought the polls, as everyone thought we would disappear downwards as .
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we would disappear downwards as. and then a week last monday , and then a week last monday, nigel joined the campaign big time. and we've been heading north in the polls . time. and we've been heading north in the polls. i'm loving being out campaigning. and what's remarkable is what's happening out there up and down the country. the noise, the activity, the word is spreading like something we've never known before. i'm loving getting messages from all over the country, from people i haven't heard of for ages . have you heard of for ages. have you heard of for ages. have you heard this? the whole pub is talking about it . the pub came talking about it. the pub came out, people came out from the pub when there was a reform candidate and cheered and clapped . the fact that there's clapped. the fact that there's a sign on a bridge on the m6 saying vote reform is also pretty extraordinary, but it's
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just indicative, indicative of the enthusiasm for something else apart from the boring status quo of the main two parties for whom, frankly, there is not a jot of difference . they is not a jot of difference. they both stand for higher taxes. they're sort of competing in these debates. who's going to raise taxes more than the other ? raise taxes more than the other? something is significant and going on out there. but what no one expected and no one really believed could possibly actually happen. believed could possibly actually happen . as we went up in the happen. as we went up in the polls and the conservatives started to slide in the polls, how far could they slide ? well, how far could they slide? well, that was the question. how far could we go up? could we get equal to them in certain areas ? equal to them in certain areas? could we get equal to them nationally ? no one expected nationally? no one expected within less than two weeks that
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less than 12 days we wouldn't bother with equalling the polls? no. we would leapfrog them in the polls using the rolls—royce of pollsters, no less. so last night, just a few minutes before the seven way leaders debate, there it was everywhere, across there it was everywhere, across the whole of the media that reform uk was 1% ahead of the conservatives in the polls. now, if that folks, is not momentum , if that folks, is not momentum, if that folks, is not momentum, if that folks, is not momentum, if that is not activity, i don't know what is . and so we're know what is. and so we're upsetting all the right people. at the beginning of this week of course, we upset the banking industry from the press conference we gave on monday, we talked about how actually the truth is that the big banks, the bank of england, are ripping off taxpayers. you know, you're making progress when the big banks, lobby groups start to attack us. and that is because reform uk is on the side of
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ordinary working folk. and it's pretty clear that we're the only party that is. that's why we're going up in the polls. that's why everybody is talking about us. that's why we've got the momentum, the noise, the activity. it is truly bull. that's why we're holding this press conference following that last night, so that we can hear from the leader of reform uk. and then you can ask some questions . so i'm delighted to questions. so i'm delighted to welcome to the lectern , the welcome to the lectern, the podium, my good friend, leader of reform uk nigel. farage. >> well good morning everybody . >> well good morning everybody. that it was on monday and i said to you something is happening out there. there is a momentum behind what reform uk are doing. and of course there's always a
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lag time between understanding what's happening on the ground and seeing it playing out in the polls. i also told you that some of the polling industry were acting entirely dishonestly, and i'm pleased to say, as a result of my letter to the chair of the british polling council, there have been told now they really ought to be prompting for reform. so they're all playing catch up . i also said 3 or reform. so they're all playing catch up. i also said 3 or 4 weeks ago that i thought reform would get more votes in this general election than the conservative party. and i absolutely believe that now to be the case. so, yes, it was a delight last night to see that the inflection point has arrived, the momentum that richard and i are seeing on the streets and on the doors through and we are one point ahead of the conservatives, but just bear this in mind. we are well ahead of the conservatives in the
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nonh of the conservatives in the north east, in the north west, in yorkshire and the humber in the east midlands , in the west the east midlands, in the west midlands and in parts of eastern region, and in what we all call the red wall seats . we are the red wall seats. we are significantly ahead of the conservatives. and so i think penny morgan was a little bit shocked last night on the itv debate. i don't think she had a very good evening really all round because they're still pumping out the same line that if you vote for reform you will get labour. but the inflection point means that actually if you vote conservative in the red wall, you will almost certainly get labour a conservative vote in the red wall is now a wasted vote. we are the challengers to laboun vote. we are the challengers to labour. we are now the real opposition and this needs to be reflected . as i said, it's reflected. as i said, it's beginning to be reflected by the
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polling industry, but it needs to be reflected by the broadcasters as well , because broadcasters as well, because ofcom, on the guidance they've given to broadcasters, say that really the most important of all the factors is the performance in the last two general elections , we haven't stood in elections, we haven't stood in the last two general elections . the last two general elections. it's as if everything about our politics is designed to stop new boys and girls coming in and to keep everything the same. at the moment, broadcasters are giving, our party 8% of their coverage, which clearly is nowhere near in line with where we actually are. but there's something else i want to ask for today. the bbc will be having a leader's debate, a four way leader's debate, a four way leader's debate with the leader of the liberal democrats, the conservatives, labour and the snp, and that takes place next week . and i think we can demand week. and i think we can demand of right now that the bbc put us into that debate. i would also
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very much like to do a debate head to head with keir starmer. and the reason is very simple . and the reason is very simple. we think that this should be the immigration election , because immigration election, because whether we're talking about rents, whether we're talking about housing availability, whether we're talking about access to gp services, whether we're talking about pressure on infrastructure, there is no aspect of our national life that is not touched by the massive population crisis this country now faces directly. as a result of immigration policies that were started by labour but accelerated by this conservative government. and i thought it was very interesting to see the labour manifesto where keir starmer lays out his six priorities for the country and not one of those six was mass migration into britain. so we're very much of the view that nothing will change under laboun nothing will change under labour. who knows, it may even get a little bit worse. i would
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love, as i'm now the leader of the opposition. i would now love. well, i thought that was fairly obvious to everybody . i fairly obvious to everybody. i would love to do a head to head with keir starmer to ask him why. why? if you're going out looking for the working people of britain to vote for you , have of britain to vote for you, have you not put this in your top six priorities as what is for certain people are beginning to realise this is the election is oven realise this is the election is over. labour have won. it's merely a debate about the size of their majority. but perhaps more importantly , who is going more importantly, who is going to be the opposition voice to labourin to be the opposition voice to labour in the house of commons and in the country? well you may say to me, perhaps it'll be ed davey when he's not falling off logs or on kiddie slides or whatever he may be doing, but ed davey can't provide real
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opposition to a labour government, a labour government about which we know in terms of policy, really precious little because ed davey agrees with the labour party on most substantive issues, and it isn't going to be rishi sunak leading the opposition . i mean, he'll opposition. i mean, he'll probably be in california anyway , and the conservatives will choose someone, and they probably won't last very long and they can't provide opposition because they are hopelessly split down the middle on policy. in fact, they've spent more of the last four years fighting each other than they have fighting for the interests of the country. and i'm putting it to you that i believe i can be that voice of opposition. i'm pretty clear and consistent in what i stand and what i for . consistent in what i stand and what i for. stand up i'm not afraid of a fight. i don't bow to twitter pressure or the mob on the streets. i've taken on
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the european union. i've taken on the big banks , and i'm pretty on the big banks, and i'm pretty certain i can take on a labour government headed by keir starmer that will have almost no honeymoon period whatsoever, will inherit some very, very deep problems . and i don't think deep problems. and i don't think has the radical solutions to sort the country out. so my message to the country is thank you, but come on, join the revolt. what have you got to lose? you've been so let down, frankly betrayed by the conservatives after their 2019 win, that it really is time for something new. we're excited about this. we've got up nine pips about this. we've got up nine pips in the polls over the course of the last ten days. i don't know where this ends , but don't know where this ends, but i do feel momentum. optimism is out there with us. thank you very much indeed . thank you sir,
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very much indeed. thank you sir, that's the formal bit. then we'll take some questions from the media. i think chris just beat the two crysta's just beat the chris mason in that race. chris hope, can i just ask when you ask a question, then you stand up because everyone . stand up because everyone. >> gb news nigel farage. >> gb news nigel farage. >> we've been here before in 2015, you get all these votes pile up and one mp in 2015, what will change this time? >> if you get nearly four mps? >> if you get nearly four mps? >> and david rule told gb news last night and you're in second place and the tories in third place and the tories in third place may get 80 or 100 mps, what does that say about our electoral system? >> well, first things first, chris. we got 4 million votes . chris. we got 4 million votes. when i let ukip in 2015, we got 4 million votes. and you're quite right. one seat. you know, neverin quite right. one seat. you know, never in the history of british elections had so many votes
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counted for so few seats. and i was deeply frustrated by it. and i'll admit, pretty wounded by it. i mean wounded to the point where i pretty much said to myself, i never, ever want to do this again. but here i am, back out of retirement again . we're out of retirement again. we're not going to get 4 million votes. we're not going to get 5 million votes. we're going to get a very, very substantial number of votes. i genuinely think we can get over 6 million votes. i don't know where the ceiling is , but when you start ceiling is, but when you start to get through, i mean, think about the liberal democrats now, albeit they've got a much more developed ground game than we've got, and we know that. but the liberal democrats sort of went from ten seats to 50 seats by just getting through that electoral threshold. whether we get through it this time or not, i don't know. but remember, this is not a short term commando raid. this is a five year commitment. this this election is our first step towards building for 2029. so however many seats we win, you have my
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absolute assurance that our campaigning for the 29 election are building of a big movement in this country will begin the very next day, on july the 5th. if if, if we did finish up with a huge number of votes and a paltry number of seats, do you know what it would do? it would tell us yet again that britain is broken and britain needs reform. and that reform includes the electoral system . that the electoral system. that reform includes the abomination thatis reform includes the abomination that is the house of lords , and that is the house of lords, and that is the house of lords, and that reform includes the right, as people in switzerland have to call referendums on key issues if they think their government and parliament are out of touch with them. thank you . with them. thank you. >> thank you, chris mason bbc thank you, chris craig snell mr farage. >> give us an insight into your your dreams. when you're at the
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shaving mirror in the morning. >> it's difficult , isn't shaving mirror in the morning. >> it's difficult, isn't it, for smaller parties to make an imprint in the house of commons. >> however we do, however popular you are. are you dreaming at the moment of being the leader of the opposition, standing down at the despatch box, potentially throwing questions at a prime minister, starmer begins thank you. >> what i see in the shaving mirror every morning, looking back at me, i think, gosh, where have the last 40 years gone? you know? but there you are. i'm sure i'm not the only one in the room that has that sensation, well, i'll tell you what. i led a group in the european parliament for 15 years. i was in seat number 20 with mr barroso, and then mrjuncker, who wasn't himself , but never barroso, and then mrjuncker, who wasn't himself, but never mind, so you know, i'm quite used to getting up in big chambers and asking questions of the french president or british prime ministers or i mean, i have actually done all this before, albeit in a different, theatre
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of operations. but if you're asking me, am i capable of doing it? yes and maybe somebody better than me comes along, but maybe the conservative party, i think penny morton was being lined up for it. but of course she's going to lose her seat, so that won't work, but if there's someone better than me to stand up there and provide opposition, then that's great. i'd be very, very happy if somebody younger better than me comes along. but right at the minute i do see myself as being that person. yes, i do, and i have no confidence in the conservative party as it currently is to be even capable of providing opposition so deep are the rifts within it. so yeah, you know, i mean, i've, i've made a huge decision. you know, as i say, i've come out of retirement. i'm in this for keeps. >> thank you very much chris henry riley lbc.
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>> thank you henry ryan from lbc. did de—man jenkins ask for permission to use a photograph of . of. >> since then. since you came back as leader, have any conservative mps with that name or the name? >> you won't have any of them texted you or called you. >> oh gosh, never lie at a press conference. it's very, very important . conference. it's very, very important. though. andrea didn't ask my permission, but she did send me a very nice text saying, what do you think? well, it's a bit late by then. wasn't it really? i think the fact that andrea did that just shows you that depth of division that exists within the conservative party. i mean, they are two completely different parties , completely different parties, and i think they muddled along for decades with the odd row here and there. obviously, i think brexit, it is the thing that highlighted what those fundamental divisions , you know, fundamental divisions, you know, i mean, look, there are people in the conservative party that richard and i feel politically augned richard and i feel politically aligned to, but they are in a very small minority of the 360
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conservative mps that were elected in 2019, there's about 50 probably that would take our view on many things in the world. the rest don't. and that was why, you know, when i went to the conservative party conference in manchester last yean conference in manchester last year, albeit with the gb news badge on, you know, i was hailed like a hero. but the membership but most of the mps sort of walked past and couldn't even look at me because i'm so absolutely ghastly, so, so and if, if as we go forward, as we go forward and we establish this bndgeheadin go forward and we establish this bridgehead in parliament and the splits in the conservative party become ever wider , and i suspect become ever wider, and i suspect my presence will perhaps even help to widen those splits. then some of those people that we like will be very, very welcome to come to us. it's as simple as that. >> i have got a new game for you as well, actually. oh gosh. yeah. if you look at conservative mps leaflets , i
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conservative mps leaflets, i want you to try and count up how many times you see the word conservative. i've looked at half a dozen and i never got before beyond the number of two. and that was just on the imprint. so it's pretty extraordinary what is going on. how the brand has become so toxic. let's take a question just here. >> i've got parm sandhu isn't the most realistic way that you become a leader of the opposition after this election to join the tories, and could you rule out boring, boring, bonng? >> no. they're done . the brand's done. >> you can rule the. >> you can rule the. >> i was very interesting. one of the polls at the weekend showed that 25% of 2019 conservative voters want the party to get zero seats. this isn't just a sort of change that happens election to election. this is a wholesale rejection by a significant number of
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conservative voters who, by the way, if we weren't here, probably wouldn't vote for anybody. we'd stay at home. they are so disgusted with the political system, they feel absolutely betrayed by the promises that were made . in promises that were made. in 2019. the conservative party will not be in power for a decade, maybe more. and you know, you can say to me, well, look, they've been around for 190 years, but occasionally these big seismic shifts do happen. it happened in britain in the 1920s. it happened in canada in the early 1990s. i think this may well be one of those big 50 or 100 year events that happens even under first past the post politics. i mean , past the post politics. i mean, if we were in pr, we'd be talking very, very different game. so no, no , no, the brand's game. so no, no, no, the brand's broken. it's gone. it's done . broken. it's gone. it's done. >> just on the right there. yes yes. yeah. >> thank you for the i
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newspaper. i just wanted to pick up on something that you said in the debate last night about agreeing that the two child benefit cap should be scrapped, should we expect that to be a reform party policy, or is that your personal opinion ? and your personal opinion? and obviously that would add to the benefits bill. are you very comfortable with that? >> yeah. look, i just feel and we feel that actually support for families is really rather important . we should be important. we should be encouraging people to have children . we should even perhaps children. we should even perhaps through the tax system, be encouraging marriage as well. i mean, my own track record on this is not great. i got to tell you. but but despite that, i mean, there is very strong evidence, very strong evidence that kids that are brought up within a married environment do better in life. so do we believe as a party in encouragement for the family and the concept of the family and the concept of the family and the concept of the family ? you bet your life we the family? you bet your life we do. yes >> thank you. just corgi. just just behind. there we go. and then just to your right, you
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said the tories the department now, isn't it ? you said the tories the department now, isn't it? you said said the tories the department now, isn't it ? you said the now, isn't it? you said the tories are divided and that's certainly true, but during the next parliament, the right will have to unite in some way, given the electoral system that we have. so are you confident that leader of the opposition nigel farage, can unite the right against labour by 2029? >> oh, i think so, yes. and i think i think, you know, i mean, if people i mean, who knows how many tory mps there are going to be there anyway, you know, the number could be very small. and of course, you know, the other problem they've got, and you see this in the polls in the last week is the liberal democrats are on the rise. and that reflects tactical voting that is going on certainly in southern, central, southern and southwestern england. so who's to say how many mps the conservatives are even going to have? but look, you know, if the damian green and jeremy hunt wing want to go and join the liberal democrats, i'd have thought they'd be very, very at
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home there. frankly just you're right. >> yes. gentlemen, just to chris's left. there we are. yeah thanks. chris's left. there we are. yeah thanks . hi. chris's left. there we are. yeah thanks. hi. hi. i'm amelia from predicted votes. >> the conservatives are obviously trying to make this election about tax in terms of that dividing line with labour. >> they're shouting about that. >> they're shouting about that. >> under labour's plans, the tax burden or the percentage of gdp would rise to 37.4, but they're being quiet about that under the conservative party would rise to 36.8, less than percentage point. do you think that that is a conservative style tax plan? >> and i know your launching your manifesto on monday. we have a contract on monday. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> could you give us an idea or at least of where the number you'd want it to be if it was a reformed tax plan? >> i mean, look, this argument that's going on overtaxed, i've beenin that's going on overtaxed, i've been in two of these debates with angela rayner and penny morden. you're going to put taxes up. no, you're going to put taxes up more. i mean,
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mindless stuff, quite how the conservatives have got the front to say we're a low tax party, having increased the tax burden to the highest level it's been since 1948, is completely and utterly beyond me. the answer is they're both going to put taxes up because they're going to freeze the thresholds . and that freeze the thresholds. and that means dragging in, you know, £0.40 was top rate from the late 19805 £0.40 was top rate from the late 1980s all the way through the blair years . that was accepted blair years. that was accepted as the top rate of tax. if you weren't a lot of money, you paid £0.40. and throughout that time, about 1.5 million people paid pretty consistently through that penod pretty consistently through that period of time. but at the end of 2027, under current plans, 8 million people will be paying £0.40 tax. and that to me illustrates just what's happened. just where the tax burden has gone up in britain . burden has gone up in britain. and we've got a radical plan, very radical plan to reduce the tax burden so that someone who's
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a staff nurse should not be paying a staff nurse should not be paying £0.40 tax. so we would up that threshold to 70,000, which strikes us as being realistic as a place where £0.40 kicks in. but more significantly, what we will be unveiling and explaining fully and talking about on monday. and you're quite right, it's not a manifesto because the word association with manifesto is lie. so we're not going to play is lie. so we're not going to play that game. it'll be our contract and it'll be what we're going to campaign for in opposition. the arguments that we're going to make in opposition, we're not pretending we're going to be in government. we're not. not this time anyway. so the radical plan is to raise the level at which people start paying the level at which people start paying tax to £20,000 a year. it will be a mass simplification of a tax system . it will take many, a tax system. it will take many, many pensioners incomes are now being dragged into the tax system out of a tax system. it will take a total of 7 million people completely out of tax. it
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will mean fewer civil servants. isn't that good, but it will also more significantly generate only give those on benefits. the incentive to go to work . and i incentive to go to work. and i think, you know, sometimes we talk about people on benefits and perhaps people use slightly pejorative term about those on benefits when actually many are trapped , completely trapped. trapped, completely trapped. they go back to work. they work more than 16 hours. they start to lose in tax what they're gaining, they may as well just stay on benefits. this is a real way to get people back to work. and if we do that and succeed with that which we think understanding human nature as we believe we do, that it will that means less reliance on unskilled , cheap foreign labour. now, i know the big employers will scream and shout because they become addicted to cheap foreign laboun become addicted to cheap foreign labour. so i think what we've got to say on tax is actually radical and genuinely interesting. and we will outline all of it on monday. thank you . all of it on monday. thank you.
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>> only yesterday, i mean, it really is a very serious issue. i had two pensioners yesterday say you give with a one hand where pensions go up, but all of a sudden it's all gone in tax and you say what's the point. it's a massive, massive issue. itv thanks very much harry. >> automotive news. that's the restriction. >> this is clearly a moment for your campaign. >> are you ready to take advantage of this. >> do you know where these voters are? are you able to get your supporters out on polling day? >> is your party in a state capitalise on this moment? >> it's a very good question . >> it's a very good question. not really. no, no, i mean , not really. no, no, i mean, look, we're not as organised and as developed as the liberal democrats . i as developed as the liberal democrats. i mean, as developed as the liberal democrats . i mean, they are democrats. i mean, they are very, very good at their ground game . they've got a network of game. they've got a network of counsellors they've built up across the country . this with across the country. this with you? we admit we're not in that position. so the way that we do it and it's back really to chris hope's question right at the very beginning, the only way we can do this is we have to get
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the total number of votes well up over that 6 million figure. and if we do that, we will start to break through and win seats. so so is there a ground game for us? yes are people now coming forward enthusiastically to help us? yes are people coming forwards and giving us £25 or more to join the party or support the party? yes. you know, money is flowing in through the door. support and help is coming in. in it. look, i'd have loved six months at this. i'd have loved six months of this, but we haven't got six months. we've got three more weeks. we're making the best of what we can. but i do think there's a very, very big gap in there's a very, very big gap in the electoral market out there. you know , if none of the above you know, if none of the above was on the was on the voting papen was on the was on the voting paper, quite a lot of people would have been tempted by that. i also think what we'll do is we'll bring people out to vote who the other parties can't reach anyway , because they will reach anyway, because they will have been non—voters before and
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a significant chunk of our vote already are people who who otherwise would not vote. so look, are we fully in a position to capitalise from this? no. but are we doing our best as we go? yes. and if we can get if we can win that really big mass audience, then i think, i think we'll we'll surprise even ourselves with how many seats we can win . look, it's an f. of can win. look, it's an f. of course it is. everything in an election is. but i do think momentum and trend is with us. >> it's actually one of the saddest things you hear on the doors, where people say, it's not worth it. it won't make a difference this time round. actually, i think there is a sense of belief that it can make a difference , that it's a a difference, that it's a journey. it just feels very, very, very different to before . very, very different to before. yes, gentlemen, we're just there. thank you very much. >> now , your german news site, >> now, your german news site, hizb ut—tahrir would allow a question from the german perspective. >> of course, you know, there is a similar party in germany which manages to tap into the pool of disenfranchised voters who have left the conservative party and also the social democratic
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party. now, this party, the afd, they're also growing very quickly. and they went into a problem that a number of their candidates held views that were quite damaging. yeah. so how do you do you want to prevent running into a similar problem? >> no, it's a good question. i mean, the afd i mean, you know, i knew the founders of the afd and i saw them in the european parliament. of course, it was actually found it was actually founded by academics who were really worried about germany's place in the euro. and that was that was the main thing that got the party going. yeah. look, they've had some some real runs in the afd , not at grass roots in the afd, not at grass roots level, but at quite senior elected level out in, as you know, better than me, out in some of the lander. all i can tell you is this in my previous incarnation as leader of ukip, you know, i had an absolute rule that nobody who'd ever been part of the british national party or any organisation like that, could even be a member of the
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party. let alone a candidate. and i was absolutely ruthless about that. and i think because i did that , i would honestly say i did that, i would honestly say to you, i did more to destroy the british national party as an electoral force in britain than absolutely anybody else. and the same thing applies this time. and of course, because it's been a very rapidly called election and because , you know, 450 of and because, you know, 450 of our candidates have never stood before . they're not before. they're not sophisticated politicos. they will have like, things on facebook with links to somebody else. it doesn't make them extreme right or far right. i don't want support from people like that. i've never had the support and worked with people like that. i never will support people like that. i'm as acutely aware of the problem we are in a better place with all of that than the afd of that. i have no doubt. and yes, of course we're going to have our problems with candidates as every party is with a very, very rushed election . but it's funny really. election. but it's funny really. you know, even though there are
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651 seats up for grabs in the commons in most of the united kingdom, there are really only three names people are going to vote for. they're going to vote for sunak, starmer or farage. and that's the reality . is that high? >> high, sir. yes, sir, from the daily mirror. >> so lots of people obviously got to see you again on i'm celebrity. >> lots of me. yeah you're gonna make friends. >> syria has said that after spending three weeks with you in the jungle, he doesn't think that you have a vision. >> and he thinks that you just rant. >> what's your response to that? >> what's your response to that? >> jolly good fred? happy birthday to. >> just to the front here. yes >> just to the front here. yes >> thank you very much. the sun newspaper. i want to ask you a question that's been put to you in dover. >> the questions can put you in quite some time to sort of facet away of all the speculative. but now, as you say, the inflection point has happened. it might be
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one you're slightly more happy to answer. >> and that is , how many seats >> and that is, how many seats do you think you can get or how many seats are you targeting ? many seats are you targeting? >> and if you won't give us a straight number, if the palafox gods came down from the sky on july 4th and say no, you farage, you can win in clacton on sea, but that is it. there is one reform mp in parliament. is that a deal you would take, or would you charge your all of the electorate? oh no. >> if you gave me a chance now to say would i take clacton and nothing else, i'd say no, absolutely not. we will win many more seats than clacton. how many? well, perhaps i can be more specific now than i've been before with you. i've literally got no idea. i don't know , i got no idea. i don't know, i haven't got a clue. >> well, i haven't got a target. >> well, i haven't got a target. >> i'm travelling optimistically , doing the best i can, building what's going to become a very, very big mass movement over the course of the next five years. just you watch. just
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>> the sunday times, my job is not leading on from the last question , are we to take it? question, are we to take it? then? that factor is not enough for you. >> clacton is not enough that i will agree with. yes. >> what are you going to do for the people of clacton , do what i the people of clacton, do what i do and have done for many, many years, when i was an mep. it's quite interesting if i write a letter to banks or authorities or people with whom constituents have problems, they generally jump have problems, they generally jump up have problems, they generally jump up and start to do things. so i do think i could be a champion for local people who've got problems with they might be running their own business or whatever it is, and i can do that for them. but you know something? clacton is at the end of the line. it's the terminus . of the line. it's the terminus. it can be easily forgotten and it would be accurate to say that, of course, it has had some levelling up money. that's true. but kind of once levelling up money is spent, that's sort of it, really. you get a few pretty new buildings or whatever it may
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be. what i would hope to do . i be. what i would hope to do. i can't promise what i'd hope to do. >> well, there we have nigel farage just talking about the constituency. he's standing in in this election. before that, of course, he was talking about how the reform party is now second place. according to yougov's latest poll. and he demanded a four person debate between himself, the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and ed davey, as well . he sees this as an era of four party politics. yes, definitely . party politics. yes, definitely. >> he was very much taking it to ofcom, the broadcasting regulator . but he mentioned the regulator. but he mentioned the clacton constituency where he is standing . so we'll let you know standing. so we'll let you know the other candidates there. you've got yovanna, nepal for the labour party, giles watling, conservative party, matthew bensalem , the liberal democrats, bensalem, the liberal democrats, nigel farage, of course, for the reform party, natasha osbourne for green, greg jamison for the climate party, tony mac, an independent, tasos papanastasiou for the heritage party and andrew pemberton for ukip. >> goodness me, emily, you're a lot better at reading those
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names out than i am, let's get some analysis now with the political commentator nathaniel ogunniyi , ogunniyi, nathaniel, ogunniyi, ogunniyi, nathaniel, thanks for joining us, first of all, your impressions of what nigel farage, was saying there to some extent it was it was quite an energetic performance . quite an energetic performance. >> yeah, i can see. >> i can see why you'd say that, i think nigel farage is making the most of the prime minister being away at the g7 in italy, but i do want to pick up on one of the things that nigel farage said about a vote for the conservative party, for labour or for reform, over the last days, a lot of people have said vote for reform is a vote for keir starmer. and he picked up on that. >> i think it's interesting. >> i think it's interesting. >> you look at richard tice, who was on stage there and he said he would he was happy that the reform party knocked the conservative party into second place in the west midlands. you look at the deputy leader of
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reform, he said he'd be happy with the labour government, so i'm not sure nigel farage has sort of quite killed that story yet. >> well, he spun it on its head though, hasn't he, nathaniel? he's taken something that's been thrown at him and the reform party, and he's thrown it straight back . straight back. >> so i think he's, he's, he's, he's tried to, he's tried to, but this is one poll of many, and, you know, we've got a while to go until until the third until the 5th of july, three weeks ago. until the 5th of july. so, you know, i think we've got a while to go yet. >> i'm very interested in the style in which nigel farage came across, because perhaps this is one of the reasons why reform is breaking through a little bit. keir starmer and rishi sunak are so scripted . they're very sort so scripted. they're very sort of autonomous as politicians as they use their catch phrases and you pretty much know what they're going to say before they say it. whereas nigel farage, he was asking a question about the tories at one point. he just went boring , boring, boring. i went boring, boring, boring. i mean, when do you last hear a politician sounding a bit like a
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siren ? siren? >> so yeah, i think boring . >> so yeah, i think boring. >> so yeah, i think boring. >> boring is also his response to the general election . at to the general election. at first, you may remember he put out the statement saying that he was off to campaign in the united states with donald trump and so it's interesting now that he's come back and trying to trying to start something here, i think he's taking lots of voters in the red wall for a ride, but i don't think he has their best interests at heart, i think he abandoned them at the start of the election campaign. and now that it looks like he might be able to might be able to generate a bit of interest here, he's come back for that. but i don't think this is where i don't think he has those people's interests at heart. >> well, he did say the reform party are now well ahead of the conservatives in the north east, nonh conservatives in the north east, north west yorkshire and the humber, east midlands, west midlands, parts of the eastern region region. do you think he's right to ask to be at these debates and to challenge keir starmer to a debate on, immigration? >> so i think he's he's preying
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on starmer's weakness on immigration that i think is clear for all to see, obviously the conservatives put out their pledge to put in a legally binding migration cap, labour have pledged to sort of rebadge existing, existing offices into this border security command, but actually , i think the best but actually, i think the best debates are between the leader of the conservative party, rishi sunak, and with keir starmer. right, because those are the only two people that can become prime minister come 5th of july. >> so really interesting stuff there, just to finish up, i suppose , do you expect that suppose, do you expect that these polls will continue in the direction they're going in? will nigel farage continue to climb, or might he have a ceiling? >> i think this is more of a blip, i think he's headed back on the way down, you look at what the conservatives have come out with over the last week or so. and actually a lot of that, i think, will go down very well with some of these people who have suggested they'd vote reform in these in this poll, you look at national service,
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which is very popular with reform voters. you look at things like the income, national insurance tax, cuts , which the insurance tax, cuts, which the conservatives have announced. i think it's about £1,300 per person, so you look at things like that and i think those will go down very well, very well with reform voters. i think , i with reform voters. i think, i think we've probably seen, about as much of nigel farage as we should. >> all right. well, nathaniel ogunniyi, thank you very much indeed for coming on the show. great to get your perspective on this. >> now, the labour party continue on the campaign trail. of course, today they're focusing on getting people back to work with specialist mental health hubs as it's as they're facing questions surrounding their spending pledges in their manifesto. >> well, joining us now is labour's deputy national campaign coordinator, ellie reeves. ellie, thank you very much for joining reeves. ellie, thank you very much forjoining us on the show. much for joining us on the show. i must we've just had this big press conference from nigel farage. are you worried that he might take votes from the labour party and some of those seats, particularly up north? >> look, we're not complacent
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about any votes at the election. >> we're working hard speaking to voters, getting across our positive message for change. that's what we are concentrating on. rather than focusing on reform. we want to be speaking to voters. >> now let's get to what you've promised to do, the taxes you've promised to do, the taxes you've promised to do, the taxes you've promised to raise , but also the promised to raise, but also the things you haven't promised to spend money on. am i right in saying that there is no accounting in your manifesto for any settlement with the junior doctors, the potential billions that might be spent on that ? that might be spent on that? >> well, everything in our manifesto is fully costed and fully funded , unlike the fully funded, unlike the conservative manifesto you haven't mentioned the junior doctors. it's incredibly , look, doctors. it's incredibly, look, you know, everything that we've doneis you know, everything that we've done is fully costed and fully funded, either either we would get round the table, so sorry ,
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get round the table, so sorry, just just to just to press this point. i know there's a bit of a delay on the line, so i apologise for that. but just to press this point . the junior press this point. the junior doctors, you say you'll get around the table, you'll reach a settlement with them. you haven't set aside any money in your manifesto for that settlement. so surely that means if you want a fully costed, fully funded way to settle that dispute, to stop there being strikes, we can expect more tax rises as . rises as. >> we have made absolutely clear that there will be no raises to income tax. national insurance or vat. everything that we've doneis or vat. everything that we've done is fully costed and fully funded, including an immediate injection of cash into our nhs, putting 40,000 more, appointments and procedures on each week, paid for by clamping down on tax avoidance and properly ending non—dom status. so if you live here and work here, you should also pay your taxes here. the nhs is on its
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knees after 14 years of the conservatives, which is why we have got a plan to get it back on its feet. >> yeah. ellie reeves, we've heard from the conservatives today. they're saying you need today. they're saying you need to come clean on 18 potential tax rises that you haven't ruled out. but it's not just the conservatives saying this. it's also the institute for fiscal studies. they're very worried that some of your various pledges, there's not the spending to back it up. they're saying this is going to come from taxes or it's going to come from taxes or it's going to come from borrowing. do you need to come clean on where you're going to fund all of these pledges ? to fund all of these pledges? >> no. and we've made clear that we won't be raising income tax, national insurance or vat. we've set out in our manifesto some very specific things that we would do on tax to put that money immediately back into ali reeves. >> there's a huge amount of uncertainty. there's a huge amount of uncertainty about how those tax rises that you have mentioned are going to fund how much money is actually going to be put into the public purse from clamping down on non—doms,
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from clamping down on non—doms, from the vat, on private fees. there are so many different analyses of these policies that show that number could be drastically different. so essentially the people want to know what are the tax rises ? know what are the tax rises? might we see down the line if people vote for a labour government? >> not everything in the manifesto is fully costed. there's £85 billion that we can put into our public services, and we set out how we do that, but the majority of that comes from clamping down on tax avoidance. that's not a tax rise, that's making sure that people are paying the tax that they should be paying. so that is fully set out in the manifesto, as well as ending those tax breaks for private schools, putting that into our state schools , we've recruiting state schools, we've recruiting those 6500 extra teachers , those 6500 extra teachers, bringing in 3000 new roofs. there's so much uncertainty primary school but but but the costings are set out. >> there's so much uncertainty though isn't there, about how
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parents are going to react to the vat on private school fees. there's so much uncertainty over how energy firms will react to yet another windfall tax on their profits. there are so many uncertainties. i don't think you can come and say it's absolutely costed. what's in our manifesto ? costed. what's in our manifesto? >> well, it is fully costed and it is fully funded and we've been clear that economic stability is at the heart of everything that we would do. look under the conservatives, people are facing the highest tax burden in 70 years. they crashed the economy with liz truss mini mini—budget, leaving people paying hundreds of pounds more each month in their mortgage. and, you know, they just want to continue in that same cycle. you know, they've they've promised another unfunded national insurance reduction but aren't able to say where the money is going to come from. from that in contrast, everything that we've done, we've set out how we would pay for it, whether it's the windfall tax on the oil and gas giants, ending tax breaks for private schools, ending the
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loopholes on non—dom and importantly, clamping down on tax avoidance. so we've tax that if we take that money back into our public services, if we're to take your sums at face value, that means that you'll be freezing those tax thresholds through to 2028. >> that means more people dragged into higher tax bands. thatis dragged into higher tax bands. that is a tax rise on working people. it means , according to people. it means, according to your own sums, that the percentage of gdp taken in tax will be the highest in history. and according to your sums, you'll be sticking to jeremy hunfs you'll be sticking to jeremy hunt's cuts for budgets going in to the next fiscal year. so that means there'll be 20 billion in cuts as well as frozen tax thresholds, tax rises on working people. that's not saying anything that isn't in your manifesto. that is your manifesto. that is your manifesto . manifesto. >> we have made clear that we're not raising income tax, vat or national insurance. we've also got a plan for growth across the economy. that's how people end up feeling better off by growing the economy. that's why we've
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got an industrial strategy. we'll invest using our national wealth fund. we'll we'll set up gb energy to bring down energy bills, create good jobs across the economy. we've announced today that we will bring in 8500 new mental health workers, far too many people are unable to work because of mental ill health. we want to change that. we want to get people the help and support that they need so that they can get to work and live fulfilling lives. that's the difference that we will make, because growth has flatlined in this country under the conservatives. our manifestos are growth manifesto. we're going to grow the economy and people will feel better off than they will do after the last 14 years of conservative failure. >> okay. well, thank you very much indeed . ellie reeves, much indeed. ellie reeves, labour's deputy national campaign coordinator. thank you very much indeed for your time this afternoon. thank you. those little children playing behind the camera there a little bit off putting. >> no, it's nice, it's nice as
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well. >> you're much nicer than me. >> you're much nicer than me. >> victoria tower gardens is awash with picnicking, especially this time of year. >> i think there's going to need to be quite a bit of economic growth. >> right. because here's the thing. and it's know when we spoke about, will you raise this tax, will you raise that tax . tax, will you raise that tax. they're just going back to the three taxes they say they won't raise apart from the threshold. >> that's all rachel reeves has said isn't it. >> but then there's all these other taxes. there's the banding for council tax. there's taxes on investments. there's stocks and shares, capital gains tax, taxes on pensions, all sorts of taxes. >> but people think, oh, capital gains tax that won't that won't affect me. all of these taxes end up affecting everyone anyway, it is trooping of the colour tomorrow . and joining us colour tomorrow. and joining us now is the former editor of the horse and hound and lucy higginson, lucy, thank you very much indeed . now, i was reading much indeed. now, i was reading how the bolted horse, the one that, bolted from that military practice , is going to be at the practice, is going to be at the trooping of the colour .
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trooping of the colour. >> that's right. >> that's right. >> i think three that were involved in that incident are taking part tomorrow. two of them who were the most sort of severely injured then are recovering at a charity that does a lot of great work in the equestrian sector called the horse trust in buckinghamshire, enjoying some grazing or doctor green, as we call it, in the horse world, including the grey pictured there. >> i believe. but yeah, three of them are going to be at trooping them are going to be at trooping the colour tomorrow apparently, which is excellent news back doing what they know and love. and those are the two recovering at the horse trust, having time out. >> but i that is a heartwarming story , but i'm sure many people story, but i'm sure many people will be slightly worried about this . are these horses safe? it this. are these horses safe? it seems quite soon that that two of these horses will be back at the trooping of the colour, will we not sort of be presenting perhaps a risk to the public by reintroducing these horses so quickly? >> no, they will have been really carefully assessed. the army, the household division has really excellent horsemen. >> it has riding masters, it has
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vets . it has some of the best vets. it has some of the best farriers in the country. they really do know their stuff. >> and they will have checked that the horses are feeling well and safe and they'll have been out on watering order. >> they'll have been out on morning exercise near traffic to check they're okay, and the two most severely injured may take more rehabilitation , perhaps more rehabilitation, perhaps until they're ready to do that, if they're ready to do that. but it's a bit like, you know, if you have unlucky enough to have a prang in your car, very few people say, that's it. >> i'm not going to drive forever. >> you know, horses are working animals. most of them really thrive on having routine and a job, something to do. so they'll be they're resilient. >> they're resilient. i love the names of these horses, tennyson. trojan and vanquish. fantastic names . names. >> they often have, names with military associate ons. >> so you often get names like tobruk, named after specific battles. and interestingly , battles. and interestingly, their names start with the letter of the alphabet that denotes what year they were
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born. so a horse beginning with q is going to be a bit younger, two years younger than a horse whose name begins with t. >> so that's quite a ready an easy, ready reckoner for working out how old the horse is that you're about to get on in the army? >> well, you learn something new every day. thank you very much. lucy. lucy higginson, former editor of the horse and hound. thank you very much for taking the time out to speak to us. >> though we are not now that great and noble power that once here we go, earth and heaven, that which we are, we are. so when you said tennyson, i've just got to do some tennyson, anyway , lots of people have been anyway, lots of people have been getting in touch, but we'll get to some of those views. do we have time for one? we might have time for just one. >> go on then. let's do a little view. if we can get to our views again, we're going to. hopefully they'll help us out behind. >> do you know what? we'll save it. we'll save it for the next houn it. we'll save it for the next hour. that's something for everyone to look forward to, but also much more to come, including our spicy debate. it was delayed because of nigel farage's announcement, but we'll be coming to that and much, much more after your adverts .
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more after your adverts. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello and welcome to the latest met office weather forecast for gb news. heavy showers dominating the country's weather over the next few days . weather over the next few days. >> gusty winds, some sunny spells in between the downpours . spells in between the downpours. they'll be in short supply because low pressure is firmly positioned to the west of scotland. it's going to become slow moving over the next few days and it's going to continue to drive heavy downpours in from the southwest with gusty wind as well. >> that's going to be particularly noticeable for the south—west of england and northern scotland . northern scotland. >> northern scotland, subject to more persistent rain overnight, tending to ease later on. another band of more persistent rain moves into northern ireland, wales and the southwest, with some clearer and dner southwest, with some clearer and drier spells further east across england and central and southern
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scotland. however, temperatures not falling as far as previous nights because we've lost that cold arctic wind, we've replaced it with low pressure and unsettled weather, so it's not going to be a pleasant start to the weekend. there'll be further heavy showers or longer spells of rain . the wettest weather of rain. the wettest weather there for saturday morning across north wales , parts of across north wales, parts of northern ireland, southwest scotland. some sunshine though for central belts into the grampians highlands, western isles, the far north of scotland, shetland in particular, a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain so very mixed conditions across the country on saturday morning and things don't really improve into the afternoon with further showers building and just about anywhere could see a heavy downpour. even a thunderstorm developing into the afternoon. a gusty wind continues across the south and southwest. >> meanwhile, those showers will be interspersed by some sunny spells, but it's not going to feel particularly warm in the sunshine. >> highs of 17 or 18 celsius now
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for saturday evening. >> we'll see further showers rotating around the area of low pressure, which by this stage is centred just off the east of scotland and into monday and tuesday. that low tends to fill and move away. so fewer showers, and move away. so fewer showers, a better chance of some sunshine i >> -- >> that 5mm >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers
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gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 2:00 on friday, the 14th of june. i'm tom harwood , and i'm june. i'm tom harwood, and i'm emily carver. there's momentum behind reform uk. the words of nigel farage as he addressed a central london press briefing today alongside his chairman, richard tice. >> labour tax attack. the tories come out all guns blazing on what they describe as labour's 18 tax rises from parents tax to
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pensions tax to family home tax. who's right when it comes to tax? >> and as the euro's 2024 kick off tonight in germany , why do off tonight in germany, why do we have pride flags adorning the caphaps we have pride flags adorning the capital's regent street instead of saint george's flags? well, we'll be debating this issue shortly . shortly. >> yes, i get it's pride pride month . and personally, i think month. and personally, i think maybe a month is a little bit too much . okay. you know, it too much. okay. you know, it used to be pride day, didn't it? >> no, it's always been. it's always been. it depends how many parties you go to really. you've got you've got to go around the world to various different parades and they can't all be on the same day because they've all got the same people going to them. so you've got to go from manchester to brighton to to london new york, you know. >> but this is the this is the, the summer of epic sports england going into battle in the
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euros . surely, surely we should euros. surely, surely we should be switching that flag up for the saint george's flag. >> well, we could alternate them. is that a centrist solution, perhaps what you don't do is change the saint george's flag into a multicoloured version . that that. no, we've version. that that. no, we've seen that before. we saw the huha. seen that before. we saw the huha . we saw the upset and the huha. we saw the upset and the controversy that what happened with the football kit don't need that again. don't need that again. >> is there an argument here that this is regent street we're looking at here? this is the caphal looking at here? this is the capital, not just of england but of the united kingdom. and at this stage in the game, actually tonight it's scotland playing. >> no, not england, scotland . >> no, not england, scotland. >> no, not england, scotland. >> i mean, isn't there a bit of a, there's always been an awkward stage for london because london is supposed to be the capital of this country of countries, not just one country. >> okay, well then hang on then get this very controversial solution. the union flag. >> wow, that would be good. >> wow, that would be good. >> the union flag . okay, well, >> the union flag. okay, well, we're going to be having about a multicoloured union flag . my multicoloured union flag. my blood pressure top, my blood
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pressure . gbnews.com/yoursay. pressure. gbnews.com/yoursay. please do get in touch. and also was nigel farage right to demand to be at that bbc debate? let us know. gbnews.com/yoursay. but first the headlines . first the headlines. >> good afternoon. it's 2:02. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . your top story this newsroom. your top story this hour nigel farage says reform uk is now the opposition after a poll put them 1% ahead of the conservatives. yougov says the close result represents a seismic shift in the voting landscape. but they also caution that britain's voting system means reform may still struggle to pick up any seats. labour is still well ahead on 37, down one point, while the liberal democrats also lost a point, scoring 14% with the greens on seven points. speaking a short while ago, mr farage said his party could change the dynamic on election day. >> they're still pumping out the
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same line that if you vote for reform you will get labour, but the inflection point means that actually if you vote conservative in the red wall, you will almost certainly get labour a conservative vote in the red wall is now a wasted vote. we are the challengers to laboun vote. we are the challengers to labour. we are now the real opposite in and responding to the latest poll, chief secretary to the treasury laura trott said a vote for reform risks putting labourin a vote for reform risks putting labour in charge, which would mean higher taxes. >> we know on their own figures that their manifesto would take the tax burden to a record high. but the truth is much worse . on but the truth is much worse. on top of that, we know that £385 billion black hole in labour's unfunded promises mean taxes will go up by an extra £2,094 for every working family in our
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country. so we know the size of the bill, but not how they plan to pay for it. >> meanwhile , specialist mental >> meanwhile, specialist mental health hubs will be set up under a plan by labour to help get people back to work. it would see an extra 8500 new staff recruited to boost access to mental health support, depression and anxiety are among the most common conditions that force people out of work. while an estimated 1.2 million people are currently waiting for mental health treatment . the shadow health treatment. the shadow health secretary, wes streeting, says getting the economy back on track will mean more money for health care . health care. >> labour's manifesto is a fully costed, fully funded manifesto with promises that we can keep and promises the country can afford . we've got to get our afford. we've got to get our economy back to growth while we do that, we've spelled out specific measures that we will take in our manifesto and how we
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will pay for them making fairer choices than the conservatives. we don't want to see the burden of taxation rise. we can't tax and spend our way out of this crisis in the economy. we've got to grow our way out of the crisis . crisis. >> backing british farmers will be central to a plan set to be unveiled by the liberal democrats later, the party's deputy leader, daisy cooper, will be on the campaign trail in the east of england promoting her party's national food strategy . it would include strategy. it would include financial help for farmers who are coping with expensive energy and production costs , the party and production costs, the party says. the strategy also tackles rising prices on supermarket shelves, ending food poverty and ensuring better food security . ensuring better food security. in other news, nato is to have more control over the coordination of weapons for ukraine in an effort to safeguard supplies in the event of a second donald trump presidency . the us of a second donald trump presidency. the us and ukrainian president signed a ten year security agreement at the g7 summit last night, inching it
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closer towards membership of the alliance. it aims to guarantee support for ukraine's war against russia's invasion. mr trump has been a strong critic of the nato alliance, even saying he would encourage russia to attack any member that fails to attack any member that fails to pay its bills, leading pub groups and breweries have written to three main political parties demanding an immediate cut in duties on beer. the letter appears in today's edition of the times coincide with the start of the euros. they say british drinkers pay 54% of duty per pint, compared to german or spanish beer lovers who pay less than £0.05. their calling for an urgent radical reform of business rates to bnng reform of business rates to bring the uk in line with the european average. and as britain waits for grey skies to clear, greece is sweltering through its earliest ever heatwave. tourist sites have been forced to close and elderly people are taking refuge at special cooling
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centres as temperatures in some areas push past 43 degrees. the deputy mayor in athens says emergency services are keeping watch for anyone experiencing difficulty. experts say greece has been severely impacted by climate change in the recent years, with rising temperatures fuelling deadly fires and erratic weather conditions . and erratic weather conditions. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news corach rambler. that's now it's back . to. that's now it's back. to. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:08 now. a confident nigel farage insists reform uk is the real opposition after they've overtaken the tories in the latest yougov poll . latest yougov poll. >> yes, he says they'll soon release their policies in a contract to the british people, which will include a radical plan to hold the government to
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account. >> the party's leader is also demanding the bbc invite him to a four way leaders debate, alongside the tories, labour, the lib dems as well. well joining me now is christopher hope, gb news political editor, who joins us from the reform uk press conference, crystal offer. he is very much demanding that the bbc get him involved, allow him to take part in this debate. do you think he'll win this one? >> he's a constant battle , nigel >> he's a constant battle, nigel farage, isn't he? against what he calls the establishment, farage, isn't he? against what he calls the establishment , the he calls the establishment, the elite. he's just been writing to the head of the polling council, demanding that when big polling companies poll, they strip out reform uk's name rather than other parties on a different tab to ensure that those who want to support reform uk get a chance to tell pollsters about it. he's won that battle . his next one is won that battle. his next one is with establishment broadcasters. why should it be that the bbc arranged an interview between rishi sunak and keir starmer when he is now in second place? according to one poll by yougov
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overnight, so you can see how he's trying to get this battle, this fight against the establishment, he told us just now he might win as many as more than 6 million votes. that's nearly twice as many as he won in 2015. but i asked him a question. i think on many people's lips. i raise it with you guys two hours ago that what happens if you win loads of votes? you come second with a popular vote, but you get just 2 or 3 mps. what then ? here's what or 3 mps. what then? here's what he had to say this election is our first step towards building for 2029. >> so however many seats we win, you have my absolute assurance that our campaigning for the 29 election, our building of a big movement in this country, will begin the very next day, on july the 5th. if if, if we did finish up with a huge number of votes and a paltry number of seats, do
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you know what it would do? it would tell us yet again that britain is broken and britain needs reform. and that reform includes the electoral system . includes the electoral system. that reform includes the abomination that is the house of lords , and that reform includes lords, and that reform includes the right, as people in switzerland have to call referendums on key issues if they think their government and parliament are out of touch with them. thank you nigel, nigel farage there answering a question we put to him about this, this democratic deficit. >> if he wins all these mps and gets zero or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4, maximum of four mps, as david bull, who's the co deputy deputy leader of the reform uk party, told us last night. he also did not answer the question would you, would you join the tory party if you become an mp? he did say there were as many as 50 tory mps, he thinks, who are augned tory mps, he thinks, who are aligned with reform. and clearly this is the beginning of a six year program, he said. to try and form the main right wing
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opposition for the next election in 2029. >> it is absolutely fascinating to think ahead, to what could actually happen in this parliament, because are we all getting ahead of ourselves? how much does voter share actually matter? i think back to 1983, when the sdp came within a gnafs when the sdp came within a gnat's crotchet of the labour party vote share in the polls leading up to that election in, they were they were over and ahead of labour, but they came within, within almost 1% of labourin within, within almost 1% of labour in 1983. but by 1990 they dissolved and. >> well, i could be the case, couldn't it? i mean, and also how what does nigel farage do again? we are speculating three weeks away today. we'll know the result , but we are speculating result, but we are speculating completely. but he may face his own donald trump moment. what does he do? he he can't challenge the result. does he accept it and campaign on
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electoral reform, you know, he's a he's a patriot, a democrat, he believes in democracy. but if that system means he gets a couple, 2 or 3 mps and the tory party is third and they get 20 times, 30 times the number he gets, it does raise question marks about the whole the democratic process in this country and whether that might fuel the idea of proportional representation , which, by the representation, which, by the way, a labour government with a huge majority will not want to do so. i think it does pose all sorts of questions, but right now he is ready for a real assault, i think from the establishment parties over the final 20 days before polling day from labour last night, they started doing attack, tweets on on x about nigel farage. the tories, they know their enemy nigel farage will be a complete pile on on i think on him personally on his party. he's got a weekend trying to raise money. he thinks he can raise £25 million from £25 donations. he needs more than that to try and make this happen. he also
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has a problem . he has no idea has a problem. he has no idea where voters live now. the lib dems do well because and also the establishment parties do well. they know where their voters are. voters don't move around that much over years. they stay in their homes, they've got their databases. they know that's lib dem voter. that's a tory one. nigel farage has no idea where anyone is, so he can be very big on social media. he can be big on gb news and he can make a big noise nationally. but where do the voters live and can you get them out? that's a question he knows he can't answer . and that is why he can't answer. and that is why they'll only win a few mps at they'll only win a few mps at the election. that's a very interesting point. >> thank you so much, christopher hope gb news political editor. good stuff. >> well, delighted to be joined now by the conservative peer, lord howard. of course, former leader of the conservative party and lord howard. i want to just continue that question that we were talking to christopher hope about, about the disproportionality of our electoral system, because, of course, when you took the conservative party into the 2005
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election, tony blair won a big majority on just 35% of the vote. indeed your conservative party beat the labour party in england on vote share, but lost on seat share . on seat share. >> thank you for reminding me about that . but the fact is that about that. but the fact is that that's the electoral system we have.i that's the electoral system we have. i think it's the best electoral system, if you look at various other kinds of systems, like the ones they have in many continental countries, you, you it's very difficult to get real change. you have all these coalitions in european countries as a result of proportional representation and all that happens after each election is that the, the, the balance in each coalition may change a little bit. you might find one party has a few more seats in the cabinet, and one party has a few fewer seats, but nothing much changes. so our system i think, is the best system and we did. nigel farage is very keen
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on referendums , but we had on referendums, but we had a referendum on a proportional representation system, just a few years ago during the years of the coalition between the lib dems and the conservatives and the country rejected it and rejected it quite rightly, in my opinion, lord howard , it looks opinion, lord howard, it looks likely if we believe the polling, that the conservatives may well have thrown away essentially their stonking majority, what do you put that down to? >> well, i don't think you should pay too much attention to the polls. polls have been proved to be, wrong very many times in the past. but what you've asked me is a is a really serious question . and i think serious question. and i think the answer is this. we as a country , we have been through country, we have been through really difficult times. we've had the pandemic, we have a war on the continent of europe that has to led a spike in energy pnces has to led a spike in energy prices and inflation. these
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things are more difficult than anything. i had to deal with all those years ago when i was in government with, with margaret thatcher and john major. and these things have meant that we're not where we would like to be as a country, we're not as rich as we would like to be, although we've we've outgrown many of our european competitors, but we're not where we would like to be. >> and people aren't, like, aren't where they would like to be in their own lives. >> but what about immigration? >> but what about immigration? >> natural in those circumstances for people to blame the government. but but in fact, the government i think, has done a really good job in steering us through those crises. and overcoming them. >> i think a lot of people have sympathy for that. >> we have gone through a many crises, but what about the immigration question? because thatis immigration question? because that is something that a lot of the electorate can no longer trust the conservatives on. how many times has the conservative have the conservatives broken
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the promise to reduce immigration levels? it's almost as if they say, yes, yes, yes, we're going to bring it down. and then it goes up, up, up. thatis and then it goes up, up, up. that is a huge lost in trust, lost in trust. >> well, i, i agree that it's far too high, it's grown in the last 2 or 3 years, largely because we've taken in a lot of people from places like ukraine and hong kong, and that's a that's not going to happen every year that that was a one off thing. now, if you look more recently at the figures , they recently at the figures, they started to come down last year. the government have put in place policies which are estimated to bnng policies which are estimated to bring them down by half next year. bring them down by half next year . and, in the conservative year. and, in the conservative manifesto . so there is a clear manifesto. so there is a clear plan for parliament to vote every year on the limit of immigration, and that will help to bring it down even further.
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in fact, there's a commitment to bnng in fact, there's a commitment to bring it down year on year. so i agree that it's been far too high. there are specific reasons for that. and what you can see is the government taking action to bring it down with further action promised in the manifesto i >> -- >> now, of course, you're a member of the house of lords, one of the many esteemed former members of the house of commons who've moved from the lower chamber to the upper chamber. >> you're very kind. >> you're very kind. >> if we're to believe the, the polls and the labour party is to win the next election , there's win the next election, there's going to be changes to how the upper house works . people who, upper house works. people who, once they reach the age of 80, will be forced to retire. and that's only the start of a number of the changes they're going to be brought in. what's your view on how that will change? how our bicameral legislature works? >> well, i'm one of the over 80s, so i'll be out if they win, it wouldn't particularly bother me personally , but it would me personally, but it would depnve me personally, but it would deprive the house of lords for a
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large number of a large number of people who play a very important part in scrutinising legislation. now, that's something the house of commons used to do, but it doesn't do anymore. it's only the house of lords that actually, screw routinise legislation and it doesitin routinise legislation and it does it in detail, and it does it. well. now, it may be that the incoming labour government, if there is one, don't want to have their legislation scrutinised carefully, maybe they want an easy ride in the house of lords. and if that's what they want, then removing everybody over 80 will be a good start for them. but it'd be very bad for the country because it's very important that legislation is scrutinised carefully and rigorously. >> and lord howard , just to >> and lord howard, just to finish, lots of warnings about a supermajority, a one party socialist state from some senior figures in the conservative party. what are you most worried about when it comes to a labour government? if there is one?
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>> i most worried about the blank check that it will give them to raise taxes, they , they them to raise taxes, they, they even the guardian has said that rachel reeves is going to announce 10 to 12 new tax increases in september, and i'm very worried about their so—called workers rights package , which is going to give the trade unions more power to strike, make it easier for them to go on strike and make it more difficult for firms to run their businesses. now, if you do that, there's zero prospect of economic growth because economic growth depends on the private sector, which creates the wealth and creates the growth. and if you make it more difficult for the private sector to operate, you're not going to get economic growth. >> well, lord howard, michael howard, real pleasure to talk to you.thank howard, real pleasure to talk to you. thank you forjoining us you. thank you for joining us this afternoon. thank you. appreciate your time. >> thank you both. >> thank you both. >> it is so fascinating that the house of lords is getting younger in some ways. and some of the people who have knowledge
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and experience , from serving in and experience, from serving in margaret thatcher's cabinet and john major's cabinet and having that wealth of experience, they're going to be shown the doon they're going to be shown the door. and instead we're going to get 30 somethings who used to be a special advisor. perhaps you're going to get that would be a disgrace. >> that would be a disgrace. i don't know what it is about me personally, but i think it's just so important to have older people making decisions as well as young that you know the experience, as you say, the knowledge , the word, for senate knowledge, the word, for senate and the upper house in the united states and many other countries called a senate rather than the house of lords, obviously, comes from old, old man is the latin root of senate . man is the latin root of senate. i don't think you should boot them out just because they've turned 80. but hey, let us know what you think. up next, the much debated issue of flags resurfaces regent street in london is draped in pride flags over the saint george's flag dunng over the saint george's flag during the euros football tournament . should they be tournament. should they be replaced for this event? we'll debate that shortly.
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>> good afternoon. britain. it's 2:25. and now on to this much debated issue of flags. >> yes. the former top gear presenter, james may tweeted about there being too many pride flags on regent street. he wrote pride, while i have observed and admired what you have achieved over my lifetime, may i respectfully suggest that you are borderline guilty of too much bunting ? it may be seen as much bunting? it may be seen as authoritarian and therefore oppressive , if too much bunting. oppressive, if too much bunting. >> tmb a lot of bunting . well, >> tmb a lot of bunting. well, as the euros kick off tonight, should central landmarks of the capital city be adorned instead any other city with the st george's flag instead of the pride flag? let's have that
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debate. >> yes. to discuss this, we're joined now by political commentator and broadcaster christine hamilton and the discrimination lawyer robin moira white, christine , is it a moira white, christine, is it a case of too much bunting or the wrong bunting ? wrong bunting? >> well, it seems to be some confusion that, as i understand it, the photograph that james may actually tweeted is an old photograph from a couple of years ago when it was pride's, i think , 50th anniversary, and think, 50th anniversary, and that was their excuse. but i haven't been to regent street. i don't know what it's looking like at the moment, but it would be nice if there was saint george's flags. but you know, you can't change the flags every day, etc, what i they are still there, christine. >> they are still there for pride. >> are still there. fine they are still there. but i think, you know, james may is somebody i really take much cognisance of. i don't mind about karves or anything like that. i think it was slightly tongue in cheek, but i think it was very unfortunate that he he says he didn't, but he did make some sort of reference to the origins of world war ii, which i think was a bit unfortunate. and i think that's probably why he's
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had so much pour down on him, like a, like a ton of bricks. but yes, i would like to see i would like to have seen some union flags on d—day, for example, why didn't we celebrate that, and yes, why not? i'm not particularly into football either , but yeah, let's support either, but yeah, let's support our home team. well let's throw that over to robin. >> moira white. robin there are some people who will say that actually for a whole month, one of the sort of premier streets of the sort of premier streets of the sort of premier streets of the capital, i mean, it does seem that perhaps there are sort of other events that get shrouded out. >> well, you know, i used to be sceptical about things like flags, and i have a strong working connection with our railway network. >> and i, there came a moment when southeastern put what they call a train bow. >> i, a version of a pride flag across the front and end of one of their, trains that runs around the south—east >> and the positive reaction
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from the lgbt staff of southeastern had to be seen to be believed just with something. >> so , in some ways so trivial, >> so, in some ways so trivial, but showing that they were valued. >> robin, if someone said if someone said started grumbling about it and saying, oh, i don't know why that train needs a rainbow flag on it, and all of that, would you think that they were, i don't know, showing bigotry ? bigotry? >> i let's not jump to calling people bigots. >> let's jump to the fact that my local pub, when england is playing, does indeed fly, you know, the saint george's flag and celebrates englishness. >> let's celebrate the difference , the diversity of our difference, the diversity of our country in different ways , and country in different ways, and let's be pleased to do that. christine, just throw it back to you. >> of course, james may has taken a bit of flak for this tweet. he used a two year old photograph. he could have, of course, taken a photograph just yesterday or indeed today and done the same tweet. but, why do
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you think he felt compelled to tweet this ? tweet this? >> i have no idea. i mean, it obviously taking an up to date photograph would have been term too much effort for him. so he he used an old photograph. he needs to check his facts. but you mentioned with robin, why is it a month? why is it a month? why do we have gay pride month? we have their special day on. i think it's the 29th of march, when they. no, not the 29th. march 20th 9th of june. sorry. when they have the pride and the celebrations and the march and everything. but why a whole month? we don't have mothers month, we don't have armed forces month. why do we have to have a month? and it seems to me that, lgbt cetera. et cetera. of course, they deserve equal rights and it's been a long and hard battle to get them. but what i object to, and what i think a lot of people object to, is special treatment. yes. equal rights. and they can't be there cannot be many people in this country nowadays who don't have amongst their friends gay, etc, etc. i mean , there really can't,
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etc. i mean, there really can't, and my understanding is that a lot of gay people object to all this over promotion and the idea that if you object to it, you are regarded as homophobic, etc, etc. i'm not remotely homophobic, but i just think enoughis homophobic, but i just think enough is enough , and i think enough is enough, and i think that spread of flags, if they're going to be up there for a month , is, frankly, special treatment. it's ludicrous. but i presume it's some sadiq khan's doing. >> i mean, robin, is this all gone a bit too far? i mean, you've got, you know, banks and, and hedge funds and supermarkets all emblazoning their brand logo with the with the pride or the progress flag, is it all a bit sort of virtue signalling, particularly when the corporates get on board? >> no, i don't think it is. i think it shows the value of a staff as christina said, who had to have had to fight very hard to have had to fight very hard to be treated equally. >> and i'm afraid some people still need to be reminded to treat people equally .
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treat people equally. >> and the changing of logo colours for a period, and it tends to be for the month for for, pride month is something that shows , that shows that that shows, that shows that piece of value. >> people value it, they see it comes around each year and they are their value is marked and quite right. >> have , months to celebrate >> have, months to celebrate other characters , sticks, other other characters, sticks, other things in society, have other events . events. >> i was certainly out. >> i was certainly out. >> you mentioned 12 months though. >> robin . >> robin. >> robin. >> well, you mentioned d—day at the start. >> part of my family history is fighting across northwest europe. >> i had a grandfather who was particularly involved in that , particularly involved in that, and at the moment i'm, daily, on on what i still call twitter. >> i am putting out the history of his trip across northwest europe and celebrating that. and i'll be doing that until next may. so everything has their time. okay. >> well, getting back to the
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christine, just a quick one. just to just to finish. i mean, it is some people would say, you know, the only flag we need in our capital city should be the union flag . union flag. >> well, that's the only flag we need as what you might call a bafic need as what you might call a basic flag. but then we can have different flags. you mentioned the euros. we can have a different flag for different events, but for our whole month, the other thing i have to say i object to is this a purloining of the rainbow. i used a rainbow emoji on a tweet the other day. i think we were. we just had our wedding anniversary and i put a heart and a rainbow emoji. it was all ridiculously lovely and i got criticised for that and i said, excuse me, but the rainbow is a much loved natural phenomenon which belongs to all of us, and it shouldn't be hijacked by one particular group in society. well christine, there was there was a time when you couldn't draw a rainbow without thinking that it's in favour of the nhs and it was this train and an nhs train or an lgbt train. >> it was quite hard. i always
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funny , i always think, thank funny, i always think, thank you. >> i always think christine hamilton and robin, moira white, great to speak to you both on this. >> yeah. well it must be said that's true actually. >> yes. >> yes. >> just because these logos are a bit of a, controversial thing when it's weapons manufacturers that put on there. i know that axon and raytheon technologies , axon and raytheon technologies, bae systems have all got rainbow logos, and sometimes people in the lgbt community then go, hang on, what on earth are you doing ? on, what on earth are you doing? oh, for goodness sake. >> coming up, we'll be dissecting a quite bizarre tweet from emily maitlis concerning crime in el salvador. stay tuned i >> -- >> it's 234. lam >> it's 234. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom . your in the gb newsroom. your headunes in the gb newsroom. your headlines nigel farage says reform uk is now the opposition after a poll put them 1% ahead of the conservatives. yougov says the close result represents a seismic shift in the voting landscape. but they also caution that britain's voting system
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means reform may still struggle to pick up any seats. labour is still well ahead on 37, down one point, while the liberal democrats also lost a point, scoring 14, with the greens on seven points. speaking this afternoon , mr farage said his afternoon, mr farage said his party could change the dynamic on election day. >> they're still pumping out the same line that if you vote for reform, you will get labour, but the inflection point means that actually if you vote conservative in the red wall, you will almost certainly get labour to a conservative vote in the red wall. is now a wasted vote. we are the challengers to laboun vote. we are the challengers to labour. we are now the real opposition specialist. >> mental health hubs will be set up under a plan by labour to help get people back to work , help get people back to work, with an extra 8500 new staff. depression and anxiety are among
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the most common conditions that force people out of work. while an estimated 1.2 million people are currently waiting for mental health treatment and leading pub groups and breweries have written to three main political parties demanding an immediate cut in duties on beer. the letter appears in today's edition of the times, coinciding with the start of the euros. they say british drinkers pay 54% of duty per pint, compared to german or spanish beer lovers who pay less than £0.05. they're calling for an urgent radical reform of business rates to bnng reform of business rates to bring the uk in line with the european average . and for the european average. and for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gbnews.com. alerts . gbnews.com. alerts. >> cheers! britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news
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financial report , and here's financial report, and here's a quick snapshot of today's markets . markets. >> the pound will buy you $1.2691 and ,1.1872. the price of gold is £1,839 and £0.61 per ounce, and the ftse 100 is at 8159 points. >> cheers britannia wine club sponsoi's gb news financial report
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>> right. it's 240, which means it's nearly 3:00. and that's the time when martin comes on martin daubney, what's coming up ? daubney, what's coming up? >> okay, today, nigel farage throws down the gauntlet to the bbc to rishi sunak , to sir keir bbc to rishi sunak, to sir keir starmer demanding live tv debates . and he's predicted
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debates. and he's predicted 6 million votes could be up for grabs . grabs. >> i'm going to put those through some software with an electoral expert . you will not electoral expert. you will not believe the reset political landscape that will entail if that happens. plus i've been diving into the labour manifesto. there are some horror shows hidden in there. a war on the motorist that could cost £14,700 for every single household, and a devolution of power, a constitutional change which could block brexit happening again . events like happening again. events like brexit, more powers for mayors like sadiq khan and andy burnham. and finally, is it coming home? of course, the euro kicks off tonight at 8 pm. the tartan army facing munich . tartan army facing munich. 200,000 of the tartan army are there. they probably won't even remember the result. they're 225 to 1 outsiders, but england are favourites. we'll look ahead to that. all coming up 3 to 6. >> army 200. i still can't quite believe that number. astonishing stuff martin. we look forward to it.
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>> 3 pm. it.- >> 3 pm. i it. >> 3 pm. i heard somewhere it was 4% of scots, but i think it might have been 4% of a particular age group of scots. right. but anyway, i'll be supporting scotland. >> yeah . i'm. supporting scotland. >> yeah. i'm. yeah, of supporting scotland. >> yeah . i'm. yeah, of course, >> yeah. i'm. yeah, of course, until england, until they play england. at which point absolutely not, but how's this for a story? the former bbc star presenter emily maitlis tried to take a pop at reform party's crime and justice policies yesterday, but she's rather put her foot in it. >> yes, the presenter turned podcaster unveiled what she called her reform uk or el salvador government policy quiz. >> well, followers of maitlis were asked to guess if the following policies were those of reform uk or el salvador. they included automatic life sentences for violent offenders , sentences for violent offenders, helicopters and drones to be used by everyday police or forces . police leaders replaced forces. police leaders replaced with military veterans. >> no bail for people charged with organised crime. >> automatic prison sentences for the possession of a knife in reality, we were just
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alternating there between reform policies and what el salvador has done. >> maitlis was clearly trying to make reform seem south american in its approach to crime and justice, but she might just have majorly stuck her foot in it. >> yes, el salvador has, in fact, recently been declared one of the safest countries in america by some measures, second only to canada thanks to pro incarceration policies like the ones we were discussing as well as a huge prison building programme. the homicide rate, as you can see on the screen, has collapsed. calais lapsed from 103 per 100,000 to just 2.4 per 100,000. now, by comparison, the united states their homicide rate stands more than that 6.4 now, since el salvador started really cracking down on crime with its zero tolerance approach, homicides fell by. >> get this more than 97. >> get this more than 97. >> well , >> get this more than 97. >> well, perhaps emily maitlis should have read up on el salvador before her snarky tweet. take it from the bbc's
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own reporting in february. >> until recently, the country had one of the world's highest murder rates. but under president bachelet there has been a crackdown on crime and gangs, and el salvador has been transformed from one of the most violent countries in the world to one of the safest in latin america . oops. so essentially america. oops. so essentially what she ended up saying was that reform policies work when it comes to crime and punishment i >>i -- >> i think hm m >> i think she was trying to she was trying to have a jab. she was trying to have a jab. she was trying to take the mic and actually ended up perhaps performing promotion. very odd . performing promotion. very odd. >> well, make of that what you will. coming up as the euros kick off tonight, we'll be live to germany to hear from a sports journalist who's there in the thick of
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>> good afternoon. britain. just coming up to 10 to 3. now, the liberal democrats are targeting
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the farming vote. >> yes. they're promising to boost the budget for the department for environment, food and rural affairs by £1 billion and rural affairs by £1 billion a year. they hope this will bnng a year. they hope this will bring down food prices and help families suffering in the cost of living crisis. well, joining us now is the welsh farmer gareth wyn jones, friend of the show. >> gareth, what do you make of what the lib dems are promising? is it subsidies you're after ? is it subsidies you're after? >> oh, just a fair price for what we're producing , sad thing what we're producing, sad thing is, the liberals will never get in. they'll never have the power to do this. but, as a farmer, we're frustrated because we don't hear anything about food security and the importance of what we do every day to feed the nafion what we do every day to feed the nation . none of that has been on nation. none of that has been on any of these debates. >> and , you know, i think we've >> and, you know, i think we've got to be careful, and people need to understand, you know, farming is a major part of what we've got in the uk. >> and feeding the nation in an affordable way has to be something that looks is looked
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at. whoever goes into government next. and it's scary with some of the policies that are coming out from all sides, because look at any of these debates, farming, food production is never even spoken about. and, you know, you talk about immigration, you talk about the nhs, you talk about taxes, but you're going to need a farmer every single day of your life. when you're on god's earth and do import food from all over the world. and we talk about the climate crisis and all the problems we've got instead of making sure we're producing food environmentally friendly, you know, in a low carbon way in this beautiful country, we've got. so these politicians and these big, big players should be getting behind agriculture because we are one of the most important parts of everybody's life every single day. >> well, it certainly looks absolutely stunning behind you. do you think sometimes farmers are a demonised almost.
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>> oh yeah. that's right. we've been demonised by mainstream media for a long time, you know, and people are blaming us for anything and everything. but the time people will understand we're important when there isn't food on the supermarket shelves, you know, and when they can't afford it, because we've seen what's happened with the rivers and pollution and how these water companies are being exposed as well. if you go back two years ago, everybody was pointing the finger at farmers all the time, and it's frustrating . and we've had a frustrating. and we've had a very poor spring this year. a lot of crops have failed. yeah, it's going to be a struggle. and if these politicians and whoever gets into power don't back back agriculture, this country is going to go hungry. we are sleepwalking into food shortages. and it's not just in the uk, it's worldwide. look at what's happened in the netherlands. look at what's happenedin netherlands. look at what's happened in new zealand. they're all trying to plant trees wherever they can and solar farms and, you know, take away
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good farming land out of food production. biggest mistake they'll ever do. >> well, that's a strong, strong case. you make gareth jones really great talking to you. enjoy the rest of your day. welsh farmer of course . welsh farmer of course. >> well the euros begin today as well and germany is , the host. well and germany is, the host. of course they're playing scotland in the opening match this evening. >> well joining us now is sports journalist ben jacobs in germany , ben, the tartan army are very much there . much there. >> they really are. it feels more like a euros in scotland, in edinburgh and glasgow, rather than necessarily here in germany. a fantastic showing. and they won't just be in the stadiums either. they're all throughout the city centre making some noise. and that's what we like about the euros. it's diverse , it's multicultural it's diverse, it's multicultural and scotland are going to have a real go, but they've got their work cut out on the football field. of course, against the host germany, who do have a bit of an indifferent record in opening games at major tournaments of recent times . but tournaments of recent times. but clearly germany, the favourites
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and for scotland , if they can and for scotland, if they can get something from this game and get something from this game and get out of the group in the longer term, it will be a very successful tournament for them. >> a very successful tournament, some might say a miracle, but of course the number we're hearing is £200,000. is it really 200,000 scots who have flown out for this game ? for this game? >> well, it's certainly over 100,000. have got to be honest with you. i'm not sitting there with you. i'm not sitting there with a little ticker counter, but it feels overwhelming . and but it feels overwhelming. and last night i was out in the town centre where there's various bavarian eateries and the scottish fans were there early. they were respectful, they were tying flags to various landmarks. they're in their kilts, they're in their thousands will have to kind of wait and see whether the home crowd can overwhelm them this evening. but one thing's for sure we're not just going to see a scottish based inside the stadium there, there by the hotel, and they're there in the town centre. they're making some noise and they're making a case at the moment for being the best fansin at the moment for being the best fans in germany . fans in germany. >> well, let's like it. thank you very much indeed, ben
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jacobs, you're a sports journalist in germany for the kick off of this tournament. thank you very much indeed. yes, tom, pub landlord hires £90,000 private jet to fly scotland fans to germany just for the euros. what a man. >> if you know this, this country and all the countries within it rely on pub landlords can't do anything without pub landlords. what great, great people they are so he's hired a private jet? >> yeah. he said the plane quickly filled up all 150 spaces. the landlord said that he thinks he could have filled multiple planes. well, yes, i imagine so. i mean, i'd be quick to try and get a ticket. >> do you think that people. because obviously these people won't have tickets to watch the actual game to be inside the actual game to be inside the actual stadium? but i suppose just being that to say, i was there, i was in germany when this happened, i suppose that's that's sort of part of the magic of it all. yes. >> i'm still my scottish family. wish they were there. yeah to soak up the atmosphere. also munich. i lived in munich for a few months and, there are a lot
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of beer gardens . yes, there are of beer gardens. yes, there are a lot of places for those scottish fans to, sit down and have a pint, commiserate or celebrate or just prepare. >> yeah, i'm still yet to go to munich, but i'm determined to visit some of the beer halls, but , but there we go. visit some of the beer halls, but, but there we go. this is shandy. >> this time i've got a theory about this, this euros tournament in the same context of the general election . of the general election. >> if england do quite well, perhaps it might be a bit a bit of a buoyant mood in the country. will people start feeling stop feeling quite so miserable? i mean, we're expecting to get to the semi—finals or the quarterfinals just the day after the general election. >> do you know what i think is making people feel extremely miserable is the weather. and i've been checking on it and it is due to improve. so, that's all i can say, we could be heading into the 20s, very soon, so that'll be rather nice . we're so that'll be rather nice. we're going to see you on monday, though. >> absolutely. so have a fantastic weekend. and up next it's martin covering forjobs.
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it's martin covering for jobs. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . news. >> hello and welcome to the latest met office weather forecast for gb news. >> those heavy showers dominating the country's weather over the next few days, gusty winds, some sunny spells in between the downpours. they'll between the downpours. they'll be in short supply because low pressure is firmly positioned to the west of scotland. it's going to become slow moving over the next few days and it's going to continue to drive heavy downpours in from the southwest with gusty wind as well. that's going to be particularly noticeable for the south—west of england and northern scotland. northern scotland, subject to more persistent rain overnight, tending to ease later on. another band of more persistent rain moves into northern ireland, wales and the southwest, with some clearer and dner southwest, with some clearer and drier spells further east across england and central and southern scotland. however, temperatures not falling as far as previous
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nights because we've lost that cold arctic wind, we've replaced it with low pressure and unsettled weather, so it's not going to be a pleasant start to the weekend. there'll be further heavy showers or longer spells of rain. the wettest weather there for saturday morning across north wales, parts of northern ireland, southwest scotland . some sunshine, though scotland. some sunshine, though for central belts into the grampians, highlands, western isles, the far north of scotland, shetland in particular, a lot of cloud and outbreaks of rain, so very mixed conditions across the country on saturday morning and things don't really improve into the afternoon with further showers, building and just about anywhere could see a heavy downpour. even a thunderstorm developing into the afternoon. a gusty wind continues across the south and southwest. meanwhile, those showers will be interspersed by some sunny spells, but it's not going to feel particularly warm in the sunshine. >> highs of 17 or 18 celsius. >> highs of 17 or 18 celsius. >> now for saturday evening. we'll see further showers rotating around the area of low
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pressure, which by this stage is centred just off the east of scotland and into monday and tuesday . that low tends to fill tuesday. that low tends to fill and move away. so fewer showers, and move away. so fewer showers, a better chance of some sunshine , that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on
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gb news. >> hey. very good afternoon to you. it's 3 pm. happy friday and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. today as reform overtook the tories. and in a poll today , tories. and in a poll today, their leader, nigel farage roared. i'm in this for keeps. and he dramatically challenged keir starmer to a debate on tv on immigration. our political edhon on immigration. our political editor, chris hope, was at that
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press conference and will bring us all the very best analysis . us all the very best analysis. and the euro 2024 football tournament kicks off tonight with host germany facing the tartan army of scotland . we'll tartan army of scotland. we'll be hearing from scotland fans ahead of that big showdown . ahead of that big showdown. eamonn and a gb news investigation has discovered prisoners rapping about their support for hamas on mobile phones. they shouldn't even have another full story on the radicalisation that's happening inside british jails. and that's all coming up in your next hour. so nigel farage held a press conference around about an hour ago in that he said reform or the real opposition. he predicted 6 million votes. 4 million votes, if you recall , million votes, if you recall, ukip garnered in 2015. what would that mean for the electoral landscape ? we'll have electoral landscape? we'll have full analysis on that. i'll have somebody from electoral calculus
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put those numbers into his software.

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