r , and i'm june. i'm tom harwood, and i'm emily carver. some good news for rishi sunak . as inflation drops rishi sunak. as inflation drops to the bank of england target of 2. the prime minister says he can now cut taxes further. but is this too late to save the beleaguered prime minister? >> meanwhile , keir starmer faces >> meanwhile, keir starmer faces growing allegations that he's planning secret tax hikes. labour's manifesto states the party won't increase taxes on working people . but how exactly working people. but how exactly does he define working people ? does he define working people? it's interesting, isn't it? that definition of working people. keir starmer seemed to present it as almost, if you're on the verge of destitution, you are a working person rather than the entirety of middle england. and then there was a remarkable road back by rachel reeves this morning , the shadow chancellor, morning, the shadow chancellor,

who was seemingly saying that in her view, some pensioners were working people because they'd worked earlier in their lives. >> i mean, there seems to be a great deal of confusion over what it is to be a working person . i mean, is there anyone person. i mean, is there anyone in britain who isn't a working person or has been a working person or has been a working person at one point in their life ? i mean, ultimately, i life? i mean, ultimately, i mean, the strictest interpretation of that is that perhaps only people who've never had jobs will have taxes raised on them, but you're just going to see a massive tax raid on people on benefits. i mean, is thatis people on benefits. i mean, is that is that the implication ? that is that the implication? >> well, i mean, that's one interpretation. the problem is it's open to interpretation because they've been so vague. and i think it is time for labour to come clean on which taxes they would rise, they would raise if they get into power. it's not good enough to just say, we're not going to put up national insurance, we're not going to put up vat, we're not going to put up vat, we're not going to put up vat, we're not going to put up income tax. there are so many other taxes . there are so many other taxes. and this rumour of a capital gains tax rise, i mean, it's getting stronger and stronger. it's not going away. >> isn't it interesting that the

more that rachel reeves denies certain specifics, the more it opens up that idea that actually there are going to be tax rises in other specifics? so, for example, she explicitly ruled out last weekend applying capital gains tax to a family home right now, that's a very, very specific issue to rule out. why did she need to be so specific there? why could she be so specific? they're saying we absolutely won't apply any capital gains tax to a family home. but she can't say precisely the same thing. we absolutely won't double capital gains tax elsewhere. she just won't say that. and she's been asked so many times and again keir starmer yesterday saying we will not apply a football premier league transfer tax. what a specific thing to rule out. yeah >> so they can rule things out. they can rule things out when they want to. >> exactly. so then when they're asked the question of capital gains tax, when they're asked the question of taxes on investment , these taxes that

investment, these taxes that might hit growth, why don't they just say we're absolutely not going to do that. no, no, no, they use that politician words. we have no plans to do that . we have no plans to do that. that's not we will not do that. >> no it's not it's rather different. it's a careful framing isn't it. anyway, the labour leader sir keir starmer and shadow chancellor rachel reeves have been out in wiltshire today talking about their party's plans for the economy. >> well, it comes as questions are raised over whether labour has this hidden tax rising agenda. >> yes. well, let's cross live to gb news political correspondent olivia utley, who has been following the labour campaign today. has been following the labour campaign today . olivia, it seems campaign today. olivia, it seems that the labour camp are in disagreement over what exactly are working people . are working people. >> well, absolutely . keir >> well, absolutely. keir starmer was asked that question yesterday on lbc . what exactly yesterday on lbc. what exactly is a working person and his definition seem to be that it was a little unclear and a people who do not have savings in their bank account, people who haven't yet managed to put anything away. now, what exactly is the definition of savings?

well, one definition is people who have less than £1,000 in a rainy day fund , which is what rainy day fund, which is what think tanks people who don't have any savings. well, that is only one third of people. two thirds of people do have at least £1,000 in savings accounts, which obviously raises the question for labour. and that's been asked quite a lot of times today. what happens about those two thirds of people who are savers, who have a little bit of money in the bank, even if not that much, will they see their taxes rise if it's only ruling out rises for working people? and working people are defined as people with less than £1,000 in the bank, then what does that mean for the others ? does that mean for the others? well, we were talking to keir starmer about this today. we're in wiltshire at the moment at a supermarket. i asked him whether he plans to raise inheritance tax this is what he had to say. >> oh i'm sorry, we won't. we can't see that at the moment.

olivia, can you tell us, can you paraphrase what he how he responded to that? very interesting. >> absolutely. i will paraphrase, he gave a bit of a politician's answer. he said, as we've heard so many times before, that he is not planning to raise the three main taxes on working people, and by that he means income tax, national insurance or vat . means income tax, national insurance or vat. he didn't answer the question about inheritance tax. he only said that the plans that labour have put in their manifesto aren't dependent on more tax rises. so i asked him again, can you rule out, though, a rise in inheritance tax in the next five years? he would not answer that question. he was also asked about capital gains taxes. another worry for lots of people who save and invest money. and again, he refused to rule out a rise to capital gains tax. there are lots of worries now that although labour hasn't actually announced these tax rises in its manifesto, the only way some people believe that they could possibly pay for some of the promises that they've made is by

raising some of those taxes. and of course , working, working of course, working, working people encompass people who pay capital gains tax, encompass people who might pay inheritance tax . so it's people who might pay inheritance tax. so it's an people who might pay inheritance tax . so it's an interesting tax. so it's an interesting choice of phrase that keir starmer keeps using that we won't be taxing more on working people. well, what exactly does that mean? i think this morning we're none the wiser than we were yesterday. >> and it's interesting because continually through this campaign, it seems that perhaps more pressure is now being appued more pressure is now being applied to the labour party to come clean on some of these answers, mainly because no right thinking person expects anyone other than keir starmer will be the prime minister after the 4th of july. are you getting any sense that the labour party is going to be coming more clean on these issues ? because we have these issues? because we have heard those sort of random specifics, this idea that that a transfer tax on the premier league can be ruled out what a random specific thing to say. similarly, capital gains tax on a family home, but not on second

homes or on stocks and shares or on all sorts of other things . it on all sorts of other things. it seems that it's a bit of a scattergun approach . scattergun approach. >> it feels as though keir starmer is trying to stay as evasive as he can on most of these tax issues, and where we have seen him answer , and as you have seen him answer, and as you say, a bit of a scattergun approach on specific taxes seems to be because he's just been pushed on the question so many times. it gets too awkward for him simply to refuse to answer. i think it's unlikely that over the next two weeks and remember, there are only now two weeks left of this election campaign. we will hear more specifics on those issues like council tax, capital gains and inheritance tax. rishi. keir starmer knows that this election is absolutely his for the losing his path to number 10 is looking very, very clear indeed . why would he want clear indeed. why would he want to upset the applecart by giving more specific answers on these taxes? and you know, the truth is, if you look at the numbers, yes, labour is talking about growth , which is absolutely a

growth, which is absolutely a noble ambition. and there are those who argue that the tories should be talking about growth more. but even if you are concentrating the economy on working towards growth , that's working towards growth, that's not going to be a quick influx of cash and lots of the promises that keir starmer has made in his manifesto. do rely on a quick influx of tax growth is something to be sort of considered for perhaps the next parliament, when the economy is getting bigger, bigger and stronger. but for now, there will have to be some sort of money coming in quickly , and money coming in quickly, and it's thought that that will probably be in the form of taxes on, well, not working people apparently . so savers, apparently. so savers, pensioners who exactly i think keir starmer will stay as quiet as he can on that question until after the election on july the 4th. and then i think we perhaps can expect to see labour to say, well, sorry, we had no idea the economy was quite as bad as as it is. this is when we're going to start raising taxes. >> extremely frustrating . thank >> extremely frustrating. thank you very much indeed, olivia utley, for being there on the labour battle bus, for us,

olivia, of course , she is our gb olivia, of course, she is our gb news political correspondent. >> the first time that we've had a live with olivia on the battle bus, where it didn't break up and the signal has been marvellous throughout. she was parked, wasn't she ? stationary parked, wasn't she? stationary battle bus is what we need to be doing. more of, stephanie. >> but the thing is, the ifs have come out and said, you know, if you want to stick to spending pledges, you're going to have to put taxes up. yet we need to know where these taxes are going to, you know, fall. people need to plan. people need to plan ahead anyway. let us know what you think. maybe they don't want people to plan, because if people plan ahead, then they move their money and then they move their money and then they move their money and then the money doesn't get taxed. you might sell something, you might spring on surprise tax rises so that they can take the money as soon as they're in. >> is a theory. of course. what the labour party says is that they have no plans to do any of they have no plans to do any of the above. well the inflation has fallen to the bank of england's target of 2% today. it's the first time it's been this level in three years. that's all. following a sustained period of high

inflation, which peaked at 11% inflation, which peaked at 11% in october 2022. >> yes . so the chancellor, >> yes. so the chancellor, jeremy hunt, says inflation wouldn't have fallen under laboun wouldn't have fallen under labour. is he right? >> a year and a half ago we had higher inflation than nearly any other major economy . today it is other major economy. today it is lower and that shows the difficult decisions we've taken have paid off. that would not have paid off. that would not have happened under labour. >> they refused to condemn the pubuc >> they refused to condemn the public sector pay strikes that would have meant higher inflation for longer. instead we have lower inflation, taxes starting to come down and hopefully now mortgages starting to come down. it will be a terrible shame if we turn the clock back and put up taxes for every family with savings , which every family with savings, which is what it now emerges. keir starmer plans to do . starmer plans to do. >> that's what our chancellor, jeremy hunt, had to say. but our shadow chancellor, rachel reeves, says that people are still struggling and the conservatives are to blame . conservatives are to blame. >> people are still really struggling because although inflation is back at target and thatis

inflation is back at target and that is welcome, of course, it doesn't mean that any of those price rises have been undone. price rises have been very severe in the last few years. the cost of the weekly food shop up almost 30% since the last general election. people looking to remortgage this year paying more than £200 a month more on their mortgage because of the conservatives mini—budget. less than two years ago that crashed the economy and sent mortgage rates soaring . so the rates soaring. so the conservatives might want to say everything is okay, but i know for many people right across our country, there still struggling . country, there still struggling. >> well, let's find out more from gb news political editor christopher hope, christopher, do you get the impression rishi sunak and the conservatives are making the most of this, this good. making the most of this, this good . news? good. news? >> yes. hi, emily. hi, tom, i certainly do. i think when they were planning this general election in secret before they announced it towards the end of

april , they clearly had this april, they clearly had this wednesday in mind. two weeks out from the general, the polling day, as a moment when it would it could be seen that the plan, pushed by rishi sunak to control immigration and bring it down to 2% as he has done, will succeed. the question is, will it have any bearing on polling? we're seeing a big mrp poll drop from yougov at 5:00. all eyes on that. so far. it seems that the pubuc that. so far. it seems that the public simply is not listening to what this government is trying to say. but yes, you've heard that we've got some interviews with the pm rishi sunak, to play out around 12:30 later on today, and also a chat with him again. those remarks on gb news later today. he's here, he's here, he's anglia. anglia making clear why he thinks that that this is the right step and don't risk it all by going to laboun don't risk it all by going to labour. but no question they are very pleased with this. but we'll make any bearing on the polls. i'm not so sure . polls. i'm not so sure. >> today the prime minister was in north devon in a seat with a

25,000 conservative majority today, the prime minister is in east anglia. many of these seats, with majorities of north of 20,000. this is remarkable for a prime minister during a general election campaign. do you get the sense that the conservatives think these tory seats in deep blue east anglia are at risk ? are at risk? >> it's more than a sense, tom. it is what is clearly happening. it is what is clearly happening. i mean, look at where they're campaigning. the reason why bofis campaigning. the reason why boris johnson , it appears, is boris johnson, it appears, is going off on another holiday and is not stepping in to help this party. it's because they're not fighting the same election as they were fighting in 2019. they're not trying to punch out into red wall seats. if that was the campaign and they were trying to hang on to those red wall seats, you can imagine bofis wall seats, you can imagine boris johnson would want to come and help out. but that's not the campaign they're fighting. they are defending seats against lib dems, seats against labour, where they should be winning. you're totally right. we yesterday were we in north devon

geoffrey cox's seat 25,000 majority at the last election. and then we went to one with around 50 i think 15,000 or so today. we're in one. we've been in seats where there's yeah, tens of thousands majority for the tory party. they are in seats here. they shouldn't be losing if they weren't fighting such a defensive campaign. and i don't know why they are being so defensive. i've been ruminating today about why they're not taking more risks. we're on a bus here, a battle bus . why bus here, a battle bus. why isn't this bus not pulling into towns across the country? we jumped down with a gb news camera and we film rishi sunak meeting with voters, some of whom are cross and angry and others aren't. instead, we are seeing a safety first campaign from the tory leader. we're doing trips which a prime minister would do, not a party leader who is 20 points behind in the polls. i don't know why they haven't yet slipped off the safety catch. >> very interesting. thank you very much, christopher. enjoy your time on the battle bus. there >> gb news political editor i have to say, it does seem that olivia has a rather more fun battle bus than christopher does

at this moment in time. a bit of at this moment in time. a bit of a funereal mood on the sort of blue tory battle bus. whereas it did seem that the labour battle bus might be in a bit of a more cheery. but labour have a lot of questions to answer. >> they have a lot of questions to answer over this tax stuff. i mean, you've got to be in agreement over what a working person means if you're using that to talk about which taxes you're going to not rise , not you're going to not rise, not raise anyway. of course. yeah. >> the big news inflation 2. the prime minister is saying that that means he can go further with tax cuts . big question is, with tax cuts. big question is, is that true ? should we get the is that true? should we get the views of albie amankona? gb news contributor and a bit of a finance boffin, albie , is the finance boffin, albie, is the prime minister accurate in what he says when he says that lower inflation can lead to lower taxes? >> first of all, inflation is back down to 2, as margaret thatcher would say . thatcher would say. >> just rejoice at that news.

thatis >> just rejoice at that news. that is the bank of england target. that is the target that rishi sunak set himself and the bank of england. and it is undeniably a good thing that inflation is back down at 2% now. inflation being back down at 2% does not mean that prices are not still rising. it just means that prices are rising more slowly. now on the on the question about whether or not this allows rishi sunak to deliver more tax cuts. that's an interesting question. it was certainly his argument during the 2022 leadership contest that liz truss's, pledges would not work because cutting taxes would increase inflation, because it would essentially increase the money in the economy . and money in the economy. and inflation is also described as too much money chasing too few goods. so you can certainly make the argument that now inflation is back down at normal levels, taxes can be cut further. the question is, does he have the commensurate spending cuts in order to cut taxes in a way which is affordable? now it's

clear the conservatives want this to be a crucial dividing line. >> we are the party who want to cut your taxes and will continue to do so . the labour party are to do so. the labour party are the ones who are planning secret tax hikes, but we haven't actually been told about any tax hikes coming down the line, apart from those that have been in the manifesto that non—dom loopholes, the vat on private school fees, is that a decent attack line when labour simply are refusing to outline ? are refusing to outline? >> it's certainly a difficult attack line when labour are saying we're not going to raise taxes on working people. the problem is, what is keir starmer's definition of a working person? he seemed to make an assertion on lbc with nick ferrari that a working person is someone that doesn't have any savings. well that is just one sixth of the british population. so that is not so. if he's only going to not raise taxes on one sixth of the british population, then that probably doesn't sound very promising. but i think when we talk about inflation, we've got to think about how it actually

impacts consumers. what does inflation mean back at 2% actually mean for you and me and the viewers watching us at home? well, not very much until interest rates are actually cut. and it's only when interest rates are actually cut that the banks might then feed that through onto mortgage rates would actually start to see mortgage rates come down. and that would mean that people would have more money in their pockets. and perhaps landlords wouldn't need to charge as much rent as they're currently charging to cover their mortgages. >> now, alba, you said rejoice at that news that this is what the prime minister has been looking to achieve . but really, looking to achieve. but really, did the prime minister do anything at all here? was this not entirely the independent bank of england's decision to raise interest rates that has brought inflation down. the bank of england has been independent since 1997. what's the prime minister got to do with it ? minister got to do with it? >> yeah, it's certainly the bank of england's one of the bank of england's jobs to manage inflation and the way that the bank of england did that was bay was by rising interest rates. that's quite often what central banks do now. what rishi sunak ,

banks do now. what rishi sunak, the prime minister, would say is that by not cutting taxes earlier, when he wanted to cut taxes after liz truss was the prime minister, he actually did not stimulate inflation even further. but the problem is, if you are going to claim credit for inflation coming down, are you going to claim credit for inflation coming up? and we certainly haven't heard from any politicians an admission that actually the policies implemented during lockdown, the quantitative easing that we have seen, the response to the russia—ukraine war and the inflation crisis that has followed, was actually the cause of the inflation that we're seeing. so if they're going to accept responsibility for inflation coming down, they've got to at least accept some responsibility for causing inflation to go up in the first place. >> yeah. so very good point. thank you very much for your time. albie amankona gb news contributor and financial expert. >> well, next up, the snp have promised a huge boost to the nhs, but i can't speak today.

the snp have promised a huge boost to the nhs, but can they deliver it also? george galloway will be launching his manifesto. yes it's a bit late

good afternoon. britain. straight now to george galloway . straight now to george galloway. >> manifesto launch on factotums with no connection to the community as their candidate, i'd put money. >> in fact, he's is probably our candidate. there is probably the hottest tip i can give you before turning to the manifesto itself. and i must say, we're very proud of it. very beautiful document, a meaningful document as opposed to labour's manifesto

, which seems to consist only of pictures of keir starmer and blank spaces, i want to make some preliminary remarks. there's a very real danger of nigel farage running away with this election because of the deliberate vacuity i'm not accusing either sunak or starmer of being stupid. the deliberate and contrived vacuity emptiness of their leadership and their programmes , people. i mean, it's programmes, people. i mean, it's not for nothing that my phrase that they, labour and tory, are two cheeks of the same backside has become the most famous thing i've ever said in all my life. it resounds everywhere that you

say it, and you even hear other people saying it, sometimes with attribution, sometimes not. it's no accident that that is a phrase that has risen and resounds because it is so palpably self evidently true. yes. that there is no difference between the policies of labour and the conservatives on all meaningful things, which is why , meaningful things, which is why, under freud's narcissism of the small difference , they have to small difference, they have to raise their voices about the small differences that exist between them, because no meaningful difference exists between them and it doesn't help, that both are sub prime performers in the public arena .

performers in the public arena. i was born when winston churchill was the prime minister of britain. i'm that old, and i have known well . well, in some have known well. well, in some cases, prime ministers from harold wilson, whom i knew well, callaghan , whom i, knew well callaghan, whom i, knew well that are not so well, but saw at close quarters , fought her every close quarters, fought her every step of the way , major. i knew step of the way, major. i knew well, blair. i knew well , brown well, blair. i knew well, brown i knew well, and so on. i have never seen an election in which two people who less deserve to be the prime minister of britain are competing for that office. and that's reflected in the polls in the latest polling . the polls in the latest polling. the number of people, percentage of people who will be voting labour or conservative is going to be the lowest since the second

world war. and those that are voting for one or other of labour and conservative are largely doing so because one is not the other . not the other. >> george galloway. they're talking about how percentage term's few people voting for conservatives and labour, the lowest since the second world war, must say we're going to have a 1 to 1 interview with george galloway a little bit later in the programme . later in the programme. >> yes, the catchphrase two cheeks of the same backside are coming up several times, anyway, in other news, scotland's first minister demands another independence vote if they win a majority of seats in scotland . majority of seats in scotland. >> we will always put the interests of people in scotland first, wherever our people were born, wherever our people have come from and at the very heart of our beliefs is the principle that decisions about scotland should be made by the people who live in scotland. why for the simple reason that no one else cares as much about this wonderful country , and no one

wonderful country, and no one else will do a better job wonderful country, and no one else will do a betterjob of else will do a better job of taking care of it now and in the future than the people who live here. it is through independence, therefore, that we believe we can build a fairer country and the more prosperous economy we know is possible, not independence for its own sake, independence for its own sake, independence for its own sake, independence for the powers to protect our national health service and to help people through tough times is independence for a stronger economy and happier, healthier lives and independence for a better future for scotland. made in scotland , for scotland . in scotland, for scotland. >> the inspiring words of the first minister of scotland, john swinney there. what an orator, well , he went swinney there. what an orator, well, he went on to say that an independent scotland would allow the snp to invest in the nhs and help people through tough times, although of course they do currently have tax raising powers and can invest in the nhs if they choose to do so. inside the united kingdom. but speaking

to us now is the political editor of the scottish daily mail, michael blackley. what did you make of john swinney's speech , but also perhaps his speech, but also perhaps his speaking style ? speaking style? >> well, i think what you heard there, it was only a short part of that speech that you that you showed. but how many times did we hear the word independence? i think that was at the centre of everything that he said today. it was the first page of the snp's manifesto was all about independence. and what i think we're seeing with that is that the snp are just desperate to get people who support independence to vote for them , independence to vote for them, if they can get people to coalesce around them , it will coalesce around them, it will prevent a disastrous result for them and i think in reality that is all that the snp are trying to do at this election. they're trying to prevent a disastrous turnaround in their fortunes. they're trying to prevent losing dozens of seats and that that's really what this is all about in

terms of the delivering style of john swinney. i mean, he doesn't have the charisma of alex salmond or nicola sturgeon , does salmond or nicola sturgeon, does he? so these kind of events, it's a very different sort of snp leader. and i don't think he's really going to have the personal appeal amongst even pro—independence voters that, that some of his predecessors did. >> and michael, where is independence in terms of what scottish people care most about when they go to the ballot? do we have that information? >> well, i think what you've seen from recent polls on the independence question there is it's very similar to the referendum ten years ago. there's maybe about 45% of people supporting independence . people supporting independence. on the whole, however, there's quite a lot of those voters who don't think this is the time to have a referendum. and really, for a lot of voters, even those in favour of independence, it feels like a referendum is a

long way away, especially with the snp facing the kind of crisis that they're in at the moment . so a lot of viewers will moment. so a lot of viewers will be tuning in and hearing john swinney's manifesto launch and really being a bit surprised that it's all about independence , rather than being about some of the key issues that they might they might want the snp and others to be focusing on. >> to some extent, it's sort of a core vote strategy that is being pursued here. and yet , a core vote strategy that is being pursued here. and yet, is it perhaps the correct strategy for for, the party to be pursuing? after all, many, many people will be voting not so much on, particulars of policy lines, but on that core issue of the union , pro snp people trying the union, pro snp people trying to keep out unionists and unionists holding their noses and voting for either the tories , the lib dems or the labour party, whoever's best placed to beat the snp ? beat the snp? >> yes, absolutely. and every general election, every election that i general election, every election thati can general election, every election that i can think of there is

always a point at which the snp try to appeal to people who don't support independence. so in a in a general election contest, they often argue that that voting the snp is a vote for a party that stands up for scotland's interests, so they try to appeal to these, even pro—union voters . and it just pro—union voters. and it just seems like that is going to be very difficult for them to do in this election, when so much of the manifesto is about independence. but as i say, there's 45% that maybe might vote for independence . and i vote for independence. and i think, yeah, it is a core vote strategy. it's all about targeting that 45. and if they can, if the snp can win as many as possible of those voters, then they they may avoid some of then they they may avoid some of the defeats that will otherwise face, yes. thank you very much indeed. face, yes. thank you very much indeed . michael blakely, indeed. michael blakely, political editor of the scottish daily mail of course, i'd say, you know, other than the

independence question, it does read like a standard left wing manifesto . you've got tackling manifesto. you've got tackling the cost of living, you've got ending 14 years of, austerity. you've got demanding an immediate ceasefire in gaza. of course, you've got scrapping the two child benefit cap, and standing up for the waspi women. >> well, there we go, now, in a few moments, we're going to be looking at a new report which claims that british children are getting shorter , fatter and getting shorter, fatter and sicker. but is it true we might well have to do a bit of fact checking? this is good afternoon, britain on . gb news. afternoon, britain on. gb news. >> very good afternoon to you. it's just after half past 12. the top story from the newsroom. and we've heard in the last hour that the jury in the trial of aristocrat constance marten and mark gordon has been discharged , mark gordon has been discharged, unable to reach a verdict on charges over the death of their newborn daughter, the 37 year

old and 50 year old man were on trial at the old bailey for manslaughter and other charges after their daughter, victoria , after their daughter, victoria, was found dead in a supermarket bag in brighton . the couple were bag in brighton. the couple were arrested following a high profile police search after over 72 hours of deliberation. jurors were unable to agree on a verdict. martin and gordon may face a retrial . the scottish face a retrial. the scottish national party has launched its election manifesto, describing it as the most left wing offering from any party. speaking at an event in edinburgh earlier, scotland's first minister john swinney edinburgh earlier, scotland's first ministerjohn swinney put first minister john swinney put an independent face at the core of the 33 page document, saying his party will also push the next government in westminster to boost health care funding by £1.6 billion a year. as we've heard today, inflation has now eased to 2, increasing the prospect of an interest rate cut within months. it's the first time in nearly three years that

the figure's been at the bank of england's target . chancellor england's target. chancellor jeremy hunt says it's because of the conservatives plans for the economy that labour says the government has nothing to do with the figure . the uk has seen with the figure. the uk has seen its highest day for migrant arrivals so far this year. the home office says nearly 900 people made their way by small boat across the channel yesterday. a total of 15 boats were intercepted as they made the journey from france . spanish the journey from france. spanish police are searching for a british teenager who's gone missing in tenerife. jay slater, from lancashire, was last heard from lancashire, was last heard from on monday morning . the 19 from on monday morning. the 19 year old called a friend to say that he was lost whilst hiking. he had no water and that his phone was on just 1% battery. and in north korea , leader kim and in north korea, leader kim jong un has promised full support for russia's war in ukraine as he met vladimir putin in pyongyang . the two heads of in pyongyang. the two heads of state have finished one on one talks that lasted around two hours, and they've signed an

agreement, including a vow of mutual aid if either country is attacked . for the latest stories attacked. for the latest stories , you can sign up to gb news alerts. just scan the code on your screen or go to our website gb news. common alerts . gb news. common alerts. >> well, good afternoon britain. it's 12:36 now. for the first time in 40 years, industrial action is being taken by steelworks staff at tata steel, starting with an overtime ban. well this comes as the company planned changes that will see 2800 job losses. >> our national reporter , theo >> our national reporter, theo chikomba, has sent this report from south wales . from south wales. >> since the 1960s, when you think of port talbot, you think of steel. but that could be coming to an end as the owners, indian company tata , planned to indian company tata, planned to close two furnaces that will see thousands lose their jobs.

>> jason, an electrical engineer , has worked here for 25 years since leaving school, i've been in the steel industry, so i've built my family around the steel industry. i've been part of the very loyal, committed workforce , very loyal, committed workforce, so yeah, basically everything i've got is, is all part of what i've got is, is all part of what i've achieved through the steel industry , he said. we're industry, he said. we're fighting for that future. we're fighting for that future. we're fighting for that existence, for that to carry on. tata steel say the reason for the closure is that they have been losing over £1 million a day. meanwhile, the government say without their support package, many thousands more would have lost their jobs here in port talbot and the wider supply chain . and that's wider supply chain. and that's why thousands of steelworkers like ian say they won't give up without putting up a fight, especially with the general election around the corner, because up until, you know, rishi sunak announced the general election , we were general election, we were looking at 500 million from the government. >> and what do we do? but that

hasn't been signed. so now the new labour government openly coming in, they've been quite forceful in saying they will not support 500 million for 2008 hundred job losses . they want a hundred job losses. they want a better transition to save jobs and grows industry. so i think we're at a pivotal point of what we're at a pivotal point of what we can do here. the steel industry contributes £2.4 billion into the uk economy every year , one of a number of every year, one of a number of reasons why unite unions say the deal they've been offered is disastrous for their members . disastrous for their members. >> there are workers here who've been here for, for, for decades . been here for, for, for decades. >> you know, we've got all of that experience here. and to lose this site and to lose that work is an absolute disaster for britain. and i think the, you know, during the general election, this is absolutely a key issue, you know, supporting british industry , ensuring that british industry, ensuring that we're competitive, that we're productive, that there are good, well—paid jobs, for british people is really important. >> while the future is uncertain

for thousands who have kept the fires burning in port talbot, tata steel's ambitions for a greener future come at a cost. for those who call this place home, the theo chikomba gb news. >> it's such a tough story for those workers , but ultimately, i those workers, but ultimately, i mean, this is always going to be a political issue for as long as energy is twice as expensive in the uk as it is in the united states. i mean, the fact is that these plants just aren't profitable with energy costs this high. >> it's so expensive. the production with sky high energy costs anyway , this is an costs anyway, this is an interesting one. our children in the uk actually getting shorter, fatter and sicker. the food foundation is warning the height of five year olds is falling because of poor diet and increased poverty. they blame aggressive marketing of cheap, ultra processed food for a significant decline in children's health, even their height. well joining us now is the head of lifestyle economics at the institute for economic affairs, chris snowden, chris, this is a this is a phrase i

think we've heard a number of times in recent years, that children are getting fatter and shorter, particularly what's this data based on? >> it's a sort of meme that arose a year or two ago, and it's just not true. and there's not much more you can say about it other than it's not true, there's only one measure of child's height in britain. it's a very good one, because every child gets measured at a national child measurement programme , and they measure five programme, and they measure five year olds and ten year olds every year, or reception kids in year six. >> if you prefer an and no, they are not getting shorter. the specific claim in the food foundation report is that children have shrunk since 2013, at the age of 4 or 5. in actual fact, the data shows that they've increased their height by one centimetre. >> chris hang on, how how are they getting away? if what you're saying is true, how are they getting away with

publishing stuff that is so much not true. there must be a grain of truth here. otherwise it wouldn't be published in the guardian and all the other papers that picked it up today. >> there's some sort of web page from something called the non—communicable disease, coalition or something like that. and they put this myth into circulation about 18 months ago, the telegraph covered it, and everyone started sharing a graph , their data is just wrong. graph, their data is just wrong. i mean, there there's no way they have separate data for the height of children in this country. as far as i can see, they just made a mistake . they just made a mistake. >> what about the fat issue, children are surely getting fatter. i mean, we can see it with our own eyes. >> yeah, i mean, childhood obesity or what the government defines as child of obesity, which actually includes a lot of people who are not fat, but that's a different story that, that's a different story that, that has grown over time. but nearly all the increase in the last 15 years, came during covid

and among reception age kids, it's more or less gone back to where it was before. amongst the year six kids, it's still significantly higher than it was before covid, but it was very, very obvious. in 2020, 2021, it just rocketed up , now the just rocketed up, now the reasons for that, we can we can discuss , i would say physical discuss, i would say physical activity probably has a lot to do with it. and locking kids down didn't help things. but you could also maybe put blame diet as well. and you know, the main point is that actually for the last 15, 20 years has been a very small increase in child obesity, except for during the pandemic. >> so that's quite interesting. so young children haven't bounced back from the pandemic in terms of they put on that weight because they were at home and probably eating too much and not exercising, and they've struggled to get it back off. >> yeah. that's right. and the funny thing is it hasn't affected adults. adult obesity didn't go up during the pandemic , there's a lot more heavy drinking, but no more heavy eating, but lots of it. >> i suppose that stands to reason, because young children, they'll get most of their

exercise when they're just running around playing football with each other and sort of just social activities for children are much more hyperactive, whereas social activities for adults are probably quite a bit more sedentary and, and don't really involve so much, if anything, when i'm exercising, it's more of a solitary thing rather than in the gym pumping the iron. oh when i try to, i try to, but but, chris, this is this is fascinating because this gets to not just the discussion that we have in the media. this gets to the policy pipeline because we've seen a lot of government initiatives in the last few years that have tried to stop certain things being advertised, move around the internal layout of supermarkets , internal layout of supermarkets, newcastle city council today and newcastle city council today and newcastle city council today have announced that they'll be there , going to ban fast food there, going to ban fast food shops. i mean, it doesn't really feel like we're living in a free market economy at all when it comes to food . comes to food. >> we're not living in a free market economy , and the general

market economy, and the general anti—growth, anti—business attitude is well summed up by people in public health. people in newcastle who are saying, we're not going to open up any more new takeaways, as if it's going to make any difference to anything. it's another example of a policy that goes not just, it's not just not evidence based. it actually goes contrary to the to the evidence. there's loads and loads of studies looking at the effect of fast food shops on obesity. and basically there isn't an effect, but they do it. i think politicians do these things to show off to one another as much as anything . it's, you know, as anything. it's, you know, it's got newcastle city council in the, in the national news. but yeah, look, it's i'm not saying there isn't a problem with child obesity or anything, but you know, the advocates of these kind of policies do feel these kind of policies do feel the need to push the envelope, let's say, in what is truthful in order to get more publicity for their cause. >> yes. very interesting. thank you so much, christopher. really appreciate you. speaking to us about this head of lifestyle economics at the institute of economic affairs. i mean, banning new junk food shops,

fast food shops on the high street. i mean, the only positive i can see is that it might look a bit nicer. i mean, some of these shops, you know, how many chicken cottages or variations on the theme do you need on one high street? i mean, quite unsightly more than anything. >> if you have if you have multiple chicken shops next to each other, they'll they'll keep the prices low because if one of them puts up the price, then you can go next door. surely that's a good thing. >> doesn't look great, does it? >> doesn't look great, does it? >> maybe we need design codes for design codes. >> yes. design codes. >> yes. design codes. >> you can have whatever shop you want as long as you have a nice stone sort of frontage. and you're you can you can have whatever you want written for youn whatever you want written for your, for your shop sign, but it must be, carved into the stone in a sort of serif font. >> yeah. it has to be in the same font. yes. anyway remember coming up tonight? this is our utopian. yeah, this is our utopia. everything looks beautiful. anyway, the state of the nation is live with michael portillo tonight at 8:00. you do not want to miss it. >> and, of course, it's, back

with me on thursday as well . but with me on thursday as well. but michael doing, doing tuesdays and wednesdays this week and yes, i watched i watched last night. >> it was very good. so you'll want to tune in again this evening. >> absolutely. well, the prime minister, rishi sunak, reacted to the latest inflation figures today. he's been speaking in the last few minutes. this is what he said. >> this is a very positive step, shows that the plan we put in place is working inflation back to target. it was 11% when i became prime minister. i said it was a priority to bring it down so that people can start now to feel an ease in the cost pressures that they've seen. and it's because that plan has worked that we've been able to start cutting people's taxes. and this election is about the future. we want to build on this economic foundation that we now have, and i want to keep cutting people's taxes at every stage in their life. and in contrast, labour would reverse the progress that we've made and just whack taxes up for everyone. and i don't want to see that happen . see that happen. >> food, energy, rent still 20% higher than they were three years ago. >> mortgage repayments have doubled. you can understand why people might say we're just not feeling it. >> i know people are only just starting to feel the benefits

now of inflation having eased and back to target today, and that's why it's important that we continue to cut people's taxes.i we continue to cut people's taxes. i want people to have financial security. i want their hard work to be rewarded so they can keep more of their own money, spend it on the things that they want to, and that's what they'll get with a future conservative government tax cuts at every stage of their life, tax cuts for people in work as we halve national insurance tax cuts for small business owners, entrepreneurs as we abolish self—employed nics , tax cuts for self—employed nics, tax cuts for a young couple trying to buy their first home. as we abolish stamp duty for first time buyers. and of course, the triple lock plus to give pensioners a tax cut and protect their pension , every single one their pension, every single one of those is opposed by the labour party . and worse than labour party. and worse than that, we just saw yesterday, they yet again couldn't rule out revaluing everyone's council tax bands whacking up council tax, attacking farmers, you name it, they are going to tax it. and thatis they are going to tax it. and that is the choice at this election. on small boats, though, no progress at all. >> in fact, on the other hand, yesterday there were the highest number of crossings so far this

yean number of crossings so far this year, 882 people attempted the crossing. why should anyone believe you're capable of sorting it out? >> well, in the last 12 months, the numbers of people crossing the numbers of people crossing the channel is actually down by almost a third. that hasn't happened before and it shows that we can make a difference. that's what i've been focused on doing. but there's a choice at this election, highest number yesterday, there's a there's a choice. there's always going to be days which are worse than others . but the choice of this others. but the choice of this election is about how do we solve this problem for good. i've got a plan to do that. and that's about getting an incentive up and running or a deterrent up and running, removing the incentive for people to come here. it's as simple as that. if people come here illegally , they shouldn't here illegally, they shouldn't be able to stay. we need to remove them somewhere else. and if we can get that up and running, then people will stop coming. and multiple other european countries agree with us. that's a choice for people at this election . if you want at this election. if you want that deterrent, then you need the flights to go to rwanda. that's what i'll deliver. in contrast, keir starmer is going to let everyone out of the detention centres, offer an amnesty, make us a soft touch of europe when it comes to migration. and i don't think that's right. >> and why did you call the

election then, before showing that that would work? >> well, this election is about our future and elections have choices. there's a choice for people . i believe our plan is people. i believe our plan is the right one. and now that we've delivered economic stability back, inflation back to target, it's right that we decide as a country what type of future we want. and my simple message to everyone is you vote for us. you're going to get tax cuts, deliver your financial security, you're going to get your borders secure. as we continue to bring down immigration and have a clear plan to stop the boats, and we're going to make sure that we protect your pension and get to net zero in a sensible way. there's a very clear offer for everyone. there's a clear choice. that's what elections are about. and there's a consequence of not voting for us. all the illegal migrants that we've been detained will be let out onto our streets by keir starmer and the labour party. those flights will be cancelled. there will be no deterrent . and there will be no deterrent. and now multiple other european countries have all agreed that our approach is the right one. they all recognise that unless you're able to return people to a safe alternative , they will a safe alternative, they will just keep on coming. so i've got a clear answer to that problem,

a clear answer to that problem, a clear answer to that problem, a clear plan that if i'm elected, i will deliver . and elected, i will deliver. and that's a choice for everyone. in a couple of weeks time, i'd like to ask you quickly on the snp. >> they've launched their manifesto today. they're offering a big cash boost to the nhs. are they more in touch with voters who would prefer better pubuc voters who would prefer better public services than tax cuts? >> well, under the conservatives right now we're investing record sums into the nhs and that will continue if we're re—elected with nhs spending and investment going up in real terms ahead of inflation every year of the next parliament. we're also hiring more doctors and nurses and training more for the future and doing things differently by making sure people can see their pharmacists instead of their gp to get treatments for common ailments. but look, all the snp do is focus on constitutional wrangling . they're the ones that wrangling. they're the ones that aren't focused on what people care about day to day . they've care about day to day. they've already made scotland the highest tax capital of the uk and if labour are elected, they would just do the same . hike up would just do the same. hike up everyone's taxes. just like the snp have done a vote for anyone who's not a conservative candidate at this election is just a vote for higher taxes. i

don't want to see that happen . don't want to see that happen. that's not how you deliver financial security anywhere. >> president putin has been meeting the north korean leader, signing a new strategic partnership pact. how worried are you by that? >> i've spoken previously about an axis of authoritarian states russia, iran, north korea and china who are increasingly acting together as you are seeing today, in a way that threatens our interests, our values , and indeed our security. values, and indeed our security. that's why i made the bold decision to increase investment in our to defence 2.5% of gdp. it's a clear plan. it's a bold plan . keir starmer hasn't plan. keir starmer hasn't matched that plan. if he's elected as prime minister in the most uncertain and dangerous times that this country is known in decades, one of the first things he will do is cut the planned increases in defence spending. that's not the right thing for our country. i'm deeply concerned that at a time of such challenge and worry, as you're seeing today with putin meeting the north koreans, that keir starmer doesn't think the right thing to do is to increase investment in our defence, i do. that's how we keep everyone safe. it's the first government priority to do that, and that's

what you'll get from me as prime minister >> rishi sunak. they're speaking from inside the tardis by the looks, he's been in east anglia today. >> marks got in touch, she says as rishi got a spaceship. question mark, question mark. question mark, question mark. question mark, question mark. question mark does look a bit like that. certainly a control room. yes, yes. >> but, look, the most peculiar thing about rishi sunaks itinerary over the last few weeks or few days, i should say, is how he stopped going to seats that would be considered marginal and has started going to seats with majorities of ten, 20, 25,000 votes. it seems like there's been a huge switch in there's been a huge switch in the conservative campaign strategy. they're not looking at sort of holding on to these seats that they won by a thousand couple of votes. they're now campaigning hard in seats that they won by tens of thousands of votes. >> this isn't much energy is there? it all seems a little bit dreary, a little bit low energy , dreary, a little bit low energy, a little bit lacklustre. i mean, we saw a nigel farage with his fireworks going off with a hall

filled with 800 odd people in it. you know, you've got to give things a bit of welly, surely. no. >> yeah, well, i don't know otherwise you get the accusation you've given up. but clearly he's trying to present a sort of image of being this, this, this sensible , stable guy that got sensible, stable guy that got inflation to down 2% would standing next to big, fizzing fireworks like nigel farage really sort of fall into that brand ? brand? >> well, no, perhaps i wouldn't suggest that for rishi sunak. i'm not a communications political communication strategist , but a little bit strategist, but a little bit more energy, a little bit more energy wouldn't go amiss. you know, you want to be the prime minister of this great country. >> yeah. perhaps he needs to stop doing these stage managed events and do what john major did in 1992, get his soapbox out, go into the country, talk to real people rather than just a few conservative activists . a few conservative activists. >> the risk of hecklers, though these days aren't. >> they're good. i i want prime ministers who can take hecklers on someone comes up to them and

shouts at them. they should have an answer. they should actually be able to engage with that. they should be able real politics. >> they should be able to. yes, certainly . it's all a bit sort certainly. it's all a bit sort of wrapped in cotton wool. >> it's far too wrapped in cotton wool. and you know what? i can't imagine sunak or starmer doing that. i could imagine david cameron doing that, though i could imagine boris johnson doing that. you'd probably imagine nigel farage doing that. >> well, in just a few seconds we're going to be speaking to, former labour mp gloria de piero to see what her take is. on labour's campaign so far and that big question mark over tax . that big question mark over tax. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . news. news. news. >> hello and welcome to the latest forecast from the met office for gb news high pressure today. that means most places are going to be fine. there'll

be some warm sunny spells as well. not entirely blue skies. there are a couple of things going on. first of all, some patchy cloud lingering across the uk under this ridge of high pressure as it builds in. and secondly, a frontal system, a weak frontal system will bring thickening cloud and some spots of rain into the far north of scotland through the day, freshening breeze here, but otherwise plenty of sunshine and the early cloud tends to disappear through the afternoon . disappear through the afternoon. so we're going to see some sunshine breaking out where we get the sunshine feeling pleasant enough. 22 to 23 celsius in the south, 21 celsius further north, although for northern and northwest scotland we do see further thickening of the cloud, especially for lewis and harris, with some outbreaks of rain moving in by the evening. but for much of the rest of scotland, sunny skies remain as we end the day, and increasingly sunny skies for northern ireland, northern england as well as well as for wales, the midlands. plenty of sunshine here and temperatures at 6 pm. still at 20 or 22

celsius. now by the later half of the evening, the cloud and the outbreaks rain, along with a fresh, strong breeze, push into western scotland, eventually sinking into the central belt but tending to fizzle out. meanwhile, across the rest of the uk, it's staying dry overnight, with clear spells , overnight, with clear spells, but temperatures will dip in sheltered rural spots down to 4 or 5 celsius across parts of england and wales. so a fresh start to thursday, but a bright start to thursday, but a bright start nevertheless. plenty of sunshine first thing for england and wales , there's always the and wales, there's always the threat of some showers making an appearance later across the far south—east, but for the vast majority it's going to stay dry. long spells of sunshine, just some patchy cloud around and highs of 23 or even 24 celsius. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of

gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 1:00 on wednesday, the 19th of june. i'm emily carver, and i'm tom harwood . so good news for tom harwood. so good news for rishi sunak. inflation drops to the bank of england. target of 2. the prime minister says he can now cut taxes further . but can now cut taxes further. but is it all a little bit too late to save the prime minister or is it a lifeboat? >> meanwhile, keir starmer faces growing allegations that he's planning secret tax hikes . planning secret tax hikes. labour's manifesto states the party won't increase taxes on working people. but how? how exactly are working people being defined here? gloria de piero, the former labour mp, is with us. for more on this . us. for more on this. >> and there's growing concern for a british teenager who's gone missing in tenerife. the 19 year old jay slater was last seen two days ago after attending a music event. we'll get an update live from the

island. and we've got some pictures to bnng and we've got some pictures to bring you. breaking news that just stop oil, the activist group, have decided to, well, attack stonehenge. there you go. with their classic orange spray . with their classic orange spray. they're saying on twitter that two people have taken action the day before the summer solstice. they're demanding the incoming government sign up to a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels. they're asking people to help them take megalithic action. megalithic action. so there you go, tom? thoughts? >> just extraordinary . these >> just extraordinary. these stones, in some cases, have stood for 5000 years. these stones have stood in that place for 5000 years. and in that time, these stones have have

stood unfettered. they have not been graffitied. they have not been graffitied. they have not been sprayed with fire extinguishers full of orange paint. and yet, who do these people think they are? well you know what they think they are. >> who do they think they are? well, apparently they think they're decorators. their press release that they put out say that they're decorating, stonehenge , that doesn't look stonehenge, that doesn't look like any decoration to me, or to you, i suppose. i mean, what should we do with these groups? because they seem to just be continuing continuing, continuing continuing, continuing to continuing to break the law, is it time for a tougher clampdown and they're proud of breaking the law as well. >> i mean, they're not sort of invisible people. i mean, they they there are repeated offenders within these groups. they have premises , these they have premises, these groups, some of these groups even have registered companies attached to them. well, if they exist to break the law, to damage property, in some cases to smash windows and all the rest of it. well, if that's

their stated aim as a group, why on earth are they allowed to operate legally in this country? >> well, tom, so one of the students, of course, involved in all of this, a student from oxford, has said standing inert for generations works well for stones. not climate policy . do stones. not climate policy. do you know what makes sense of that, well, i think rather disrespectful, at the very least. do you know what i think? i think i'm going to go, and take a take a bunch of paint and or maybe some cannon and just blow up the pyramids because i want tax cuts. is that how this works. well, apparently they they think, oh, well, it's going to be gone by the with the rain, so no issue here. well, send your views in, post your comments. visiting gbnews.com/yoursay but let's get the headlines . the headlines. >> tom. emily, thanks very much. good afternoon to you. it's just after 1:00. the top story this morning. this afternoon , in morning. this afternoon, in fact, for the first time in

nearly three years, inflation has fallen to the bank of england's 2% target. it's boosted hopes of an interest rate cut in the coming months. most analysts were forecasting that drop, which is down from 2.3% in april, lower than germany, france and the us chancellor, jeremy hunt, says it's great news but claims that inflation could rise again if labour wins the general election i >> -- >>a -- >> a year and a half ago we had higher inflation than nearly any other major economy. today it is lower and that shows the difficult decisions we've taken have paid off. that would not have paid off. that would not have happened under labour. they refused to condemn the public sector pay strikes. that would have meant higher inflation for longer. instead, we have lower inflation taxes are starting to come down and hopefully now mortgages starting to come down. it will be a terrible shame if we turn the clock back and put up taxes for every family with savings, which is what it now emerges keir starmer plans to do. >> chancellor jeremy hunt there

well, labour's shadow chancellor rachel reeves is warning the cost of living crisis isn't over and says the prices are still going up. price rises have been very severe in the last few years. >> the cost of the weekly food shop up almost 30% since the last general election . people last general election. people looking to remortgage this year paying looking to remortgage this year paying more than £200 a month more on their mortgage because of the conservatives mini—budget less than two years ago that crashed the economy and sent mortgage rates soaring. so the conservatives might want to say everything is okay. but i know for many people right across our country, they're still struggling . struggling. >> well, as we heard just a few moments ago from tom and emily, that breaking news coming to us that breaking news coming to us that just stop oil protesters have targeted stonehenge, spraying the monument with an orange substance. video posted to social media, which you can see here. if you're watching on television shows, two people running towards the monoliths with can of canisters spraying

orange paint. members of the pubuc orange paint. members of the public also then seen trying to prevent the protesters from doing so. several stones covered in that substance before one protester stopped and sat on the grass will bring you more on that situation as we get it. throughout the rest of this afternoon . more than 800 afternoon. more than 800 migrants arrived in the uk yesterday after making the dangerous journey in small boats across the channel that's the highest number for a single day so far this year. 15 boats were intercepted as they made the journey from france . the home journey from france. the home office says it takes the number of arrivals in 2024 to now 12,313. well, prime minister rishi sunak has admitted that some days will be worse than others, but defended the government's record . government's record. >> the choice of this election is about how do we solve this problem for good? i've got a plan to do that and that's about getting an incentive up and running or a deterrent up and running, removing the incentive for people to come here. it's as simple as that. if people come

here illegally, they shouldn't be able to stay. we need to remove them somewhere else . and remove them somewhere else. and if we can get that up and running, then people will stop coming . and multiple other coming. and multiple other european countries agree with us. that's a choice for people at this election. if you want that deterrent, then you need the flights to go to rwanda. >> and in the election, time is running out for voters in england , scotland and in wales england, scotland and in wales to apply to vote by post, with the deadline set for 5:00 this afternoon, applications can be made online at gov.uk. postal voting has surged in popularity, rising from 12.7% in 2005 to now 21. meanwhile, more than 600,000 applications to register to vote were submitted yesterday ahead of the national deadline. over half of which were from those aged 34 and under. the jury in the trial of aristocrat constance marten and mark gordon has been discharged. they're unable to reach a verdict on charges over the death of their newborn daughter. the 37 year old and 50 year old were on

trial at the old bailey for manslaughter and other charges. that's after their daughter, victoria, was found dead in brighton in a supermarket bag. the couple were arrested following a high profile police search after 72 hours of deliberation. jurors were unable to agree on a verdict . martin to agree on a verdict. martin and gordon may now face a retrial . spanish police are retrial. spanish police are continuing their search for a british teenager who has gone missing while on holiday in tenerife. jay slater, from lancashire , was last heard from lancashire, was last heard from on monday morning. the 19 year old has called called a friend to say he was lost with no water and that his phone was on just 1% battery. his last location showed that he was in a mountainous region of the island that's popular with hikers , and that's popular with hikers, and vladimir putin is visiting north korea for the first time in 24 years. kim jong un gave the russian president a red carpet welcome in pyongyang. earlier, they've announced a comprehensive strategic

partnership which would see the countries help each other repel external aggression. the pair were seen laughing together before the north korean leader pledged his full support for all of russia's policies. us secretary of state antony blinken has also commented on their visit . for the latest their visit. for the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts. just scan the code on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts . common alerts. >> thank you, sam, and welcome back to good afternoon britain here on gb news. >> well yes . the big news today >> well yes. the big news today that inflation has fallen now to the bank of england's target of 2. it's the first time it's been at that level in three whole years now following a sustained penod years now following a sustained period of high inflation, which peaked at 11% back in october 2022. >> well, the chancellor, jeremy hunt, says inflation wouldn't have fallen under labour. but is that a bit of a stretch of the

truth? let's cross live to gb news political editor christopher hope, who's been following the conservatives today. following the conservatives today . christopher, let's hope today. christopher, let's hope your signal holds what's been going on? >> that's right. hi, tom. hi. yeah, we've been in sizewell b, a nuclear reactor . prime a nuclear reactor. prime minister. he's been very keen. of course , to talk up the 2% of course, to talk up the 2% inflation target. he's finally got . got. >> you know what? i tempted fate also asked it asked in interviews here about . yeah interviews here about. yeah i tempted fate there i tempted fate i said everything went wrong there didn't it. i said i'd hoped the signal would hold and obviously rural suffolk is not the best place for signal. i don't know if that's . don't know if that's. >> yeah. christopher hopes they're ready and waiting. you know, all guns blazing , ready to know, all guns blazing, ready to go. and then the signal. the signal. it's not our fault, though , i should say. it's just though, i should say. it's just the way our country is and not tips in the road. dips in the road. >> not to worry, because we're joined by the former labour mp

gloria de piero now, and gloria, the prime minister today has been saying that inflation wouldn't have fallen, perhaps not, not as quickly under the labour party. i mean, make of that. >> well, i mean, how do you prove an assertion like that? >> or frankly , disprove an >> or frankly, disprove an assertion like that? >> the labour party has not won an election since 2005, what i would say is, even after the financial crisis, we're going back , as far as that, the back, as far as that, the economy was growing. >> when labour left office, he actually went back into recession. when david cameron and george osborne took the reins. but this is such ancient history. this is how long it is since labour has won an election. >> well, i mean, you could say that labour were all for another lockdown, towards the end of the pandemic and that might have, you know, kept inflation up higher for longer. >> they supported the governing party. >> boris johnson, in extending lockdowns. they didn't call for them to be. it's a myth that they said they said they said that perhaps there should be a

delay to a second delay to what was known as freedom day , but was known as freedom day, but but i think that that lockdown marginal perhaps what perhaps what is the crucial thing here is the question of would the labour party have been more generous with public pay settlements because , of course, settlements because, of course, the conservative party has taken a huge amount of flak for not doing that extra spending. and economists would argue that keeping spending lower keeps inflation lower. >> god , there are so many >> god, there are so many hypotheticals in this. i'll tell you a fact, tom, that this is the first parliament ever where people's living standards are lower at the end of this parliament than they were at the beginning of this parliament. that has never happened in history. we have a 70 year tax burden, a 70 year high on the amount of tax which the labour party wants to raise. that's absolute nonsense. the manifesto says it will be raised an absolute promise that people's income tax, that people's vat, that people's national insurance will not go up for the entire term of the next five years. and in fact, they would like to bnng in fact, they would like to bring very quick question, because we've got to we've got

to go shortly. >> but , very to go shortly. >> but, very quick question. what is your definition of a working person? someone who goes to work and earns and earns their money that way, and pensioners who have worked all their life to basically everybody, everyone, okay, everyone is a working person. good news, good news. >> unless unless they're a non—dom work in north sea oil and gas or send their children to independent schools. those are the three taxes. >> well, just a moment. perhaps we'll put that question to the labour candidate, nick thomas—symonds. so don't go anywhere. this is good afternoon, britain. we're on

gb news. right. 116 is the time. and i'll join by shadow minister without portfolio. nick thomas—symonds, nick, thank you very much indeed for joining us, what is your definition of a working person ? definition of a working person? >> well, firstly, i'm only very good to join you. this

afternoon. well, a working person is a person who works. or in the case of, our pensioners, people who have worked, and when we're talking about working people, i think we have to be clear about the pressures that they have faced. and keir starmer was talking this morning , of course, about working people who, often don't have savings. unfortunately, there are millions of people in this country who have less than £1,000 of savings and people as well, who in recent years, due to the financial pressures they've been under , have been they've been under, have been left without savings at all. >> did your leader, chris, just make okay? keir starmer did seem to suggest that his definition of working people excluded those with savings. and as you can imagine, this this worries those with a little bit put away that there may be a tax raid coming down the line. >> no, no, no , it's not >> no, no, no, it's not exclusionary. and i think q was talking there about his his own experience. and when we get

asked these questions, we do talk about our own experiences. and keir, when he was growing up , was in a situation where the telephone was cut off because his family were unable to pay the bill. so when he's talking about working people without savings, he is somebody who knows exactly how that feels . knows exactly how that feels. and he often talks about his father, of course, who was a toolmaker. his mother who was a nurse. so i think relating it to his own experience was actually quite a powerful thing to have done. >> and certainly it does seem, though, that there is a lot less , less specificity in these arguments than than what was said in 2021. in 2021, in both sakias conference speech and in rachel reeves conference speeches at the labour party conference in september, they they both said that taxes are too low on, assets, that they would like to raise taxes on assets but keep them lower on incomes on work. this was the

time that they were sort of floating ideas of rebranding council tax because it is it is ludicrous, isn't it? nick that a house in chelsea , that's worth house in chelsea, that's worth tens of millions of pounds, pays less council tax than a house up in darlington? isn't that insane? surely the labour party would be right to change that tax banding . tax banding. >> we will not change the council tax banding. but just tom, to address your your point that 2021 to now we've had huge and significant events that have happened since then. we've had obviously the chaos that was caused by the truss kwarteng mini—budget in september 2022. we've also had putin's invasion of ukraine, so we've got all the effects that that has had. we've have a significantly different financial picture. and frankly, when you have a situation where we're going to be this parliament is going to be the

only parliament in history where living standards are going to be lower at the end than they were. >> you're right that you write that there's been this war at one point, tom, i will i will come to that. >> tom. but just to say, tom, just for a moment, the tax burden is at its highest level since 1948. that's why we are saying it isn't the right thing to start asking working people to start asking working people to pay more tax. they're already paying to pay more tax. they're already paying enough tax. that's why we've got to grow the economy, which is the plan that we're putting forward. >> you're right. the tax burden in 1948 was 37.2% of gdp , it of in 1948 was 37.2% of gdp, it of course last year was 36.3% of gdp. labour's plans with extra taxes on the north sea, with extra taxes on schools , with extra taxes on schools, with extra taxes on schools, with extra taxes on schools, with extra taxes that you have announced that are in your manifesto , not even the ones manifesto, not even the ones that we might speculate on, council tax or capital gains or anything like that. the ones you've announced takes the tax burden to 37.4% of gdp. that's your own numbers in your own manifesto. that's higher than in 1948. that's not the highest in

70 years. that's the highest in 200 years. but they are very specific, aren't they, tom? >> and they are identified now transparently and openly to the british public, whether it is in terms of closing the vat loopholes and business rates, loopholes and business rates, loopholes that are enjoyed by private schools, whether it's closing the loopholes in the conservatives, not on tax policy, on the principle that people who live here make their home here should pay tax on all their assets here, whether it's closing the tax gap that the national audit office has, you can't complain about a high tax burden and then say you're going to raise it even further . well, to raise it even further. well, you can complain about a high tax burden and then actually say to the public at an election , to the public at an election, we're not going to raise your income tax, we're not going to raise vat , we're not going to raise vat, we're not going to raise vat, we're not going to raise national insurance, we're not going to put capital gains tax on primary residences. we're not going to change the council tax band. so we are putting forward a real statement of

intent in terms of our position, and it is as a consequence of the pinch that people are feeling out there. >> okay. well, thank you very much indeed for your time this afternoon. nick thomas—symonds, who is the shadow minister ? who is the shadow minister? thank you. without portfolio. >> well, gloria de piero is still with us, former labour mp, because, gloria, i saw out of the corner of my eye, you nodding along to my sneaky question about the insanity. frankly . of taxing homes. oh my frankly. of taxing homes. oh my goodness. banding these bands based in 1991. >> no, i know it's a real but you can't reopen it. but i tell you can't reopen it. but i tell you what is absolutely wrong, tom. so when i lived in nottinghamshire , my council tax , nottinghamshire, my council tax, my house was worth significantly less. it's probably bigger , but less. it's probably bigger, but but you know, you can get more bang for your buck there . oh my bang for your buck there. oh my gosh. half two far lower. and the wages where i was living were lower than not just the national average, but the regional average too. so your

point about the inequity of geographical inequity of council tax. >> so 100. >> so 100. >> so 100. >> so now you live in london, your house is worth twice as much, but your council tax is less. >> it's probably yeah it's probably worth three times as much. wow. close to it. and my council tax is yeah maybe £100 a month less i mean significant it's crazy. >> i mean surely it should just depend on the needs of the local area. >> well but then you get this inequity. i mean that, that you're right. so there's probably, higher numbers of people that live in my constituency in london or in my borough in london. so fewer, you know, less need to charge more. the bins cost less because there's more people paying for there's more people paying for the council tax. >> it's not just about the areas though, because it's the banding. and so there are some. so even within one local authority there will be some houses, house prices that have changed more and some that have changed more and some that have changed less compared to 1991. so, so setting the banding based on the value in 1991 means that some little flats that are now

worth £10 million, but back then were worth £500,000, have the same level of tax . same level of tax. >> the reason why i was nodding is there is a genuine geographical and regional ineqtu geographical and regional inequity , which is impossible inequity, which is impossible for anyone to justify . why? for anyone to justify. why? because people earn less in areas where they believe the labour party will do nothing about it. >> well, you know, it's this is really if i had the solution because i used to sort of rage about this all the time when i was the mp. >> i feel like this is absolutely outrageous. every time i get my council tax bill and you come down when i have to move down here, i'm like, this is ridiculous. i don't have a simple solution, but please, pointy headed people out there, please find one that is not going to really, really irritate people. >> i'm sure think tank after think tank have looked into this and proposed their way of working it all out and put it into the to all the politicians, put it in the well that's too difficult because we're going to get losers. >> but so many people in former coalfields are such big losers how. >> now. >> i mean, the labour party are being disingenuous when they say

that they're not going to be raising taxes. as tom pointed out, it is as a proportion of gdp going to go up. out, it is as a proportion of gdp going to go up . and also gdp going to go up. and also just saying that your ring fencing these three taxes on what they call working people . what they call working people. yeah, there are a lot of other taxes, gloria. and you know what? if you want to be the prime minister of this country, if you want to govern this country , tell us which taxes country, tell us which taxes could be going on. >> and there's manifestos there, andifs >> and there's manifestos there, and it's an absolute guarantee. the taxes that we all know and none of us love are not going up. i wouldn't be surprised. and ihave up. i wouldn't be surprised. and i have no inside knowledge on this. i wouldn't be surprised if those working people who are most in need get a tax cut by the end of the five years of a labour government. that's my instinct. >> but gloria, things like capital gains tax matter, those three, they matter. their taxes are investment. they're taxing. they're taxes on. emily, these taxes do matter just because they're not those you know, national insurance, income tax, vat, trickle down. >> are we going to have trickle down because the richest 3. yeah, that always works every

yeah yeah, that always works every year. but anyway the labour party have not said they're going to put up capital gains tax you know. so newspaper after newspaper after every week. >> and you say we love it. and you say if the economy grew at the same rate it did when gordon brown was chancellor. no, no, no, no, we'd have a lot more money. >> i didn't say that. but it but but can i go on because one of the first then let her speak. >> one of the first things gordon brown did as chancellor was cut capital gains tax. labour chancellor reduced that tax because he thought it would boost growth . boost growth. >> that's a really good argument, tom and i have no reason to question it. but that just shows all these right wing newspapers saying labour is going to put up a capital gains tax. it's not going to happen. in fact, you've just demonstrated that the only record that the labour party has on cgt, which i don't know, is. >> okay, well, let's move on. let's move away from the cgt question because the labour party have not ruled it out . party have not ruled it out. they have not ruled out a rise in capital gains tax. they have ruled out some taxes. so we know they're capable of ruling out

tax rises when they want to ask them to write five budgets like five years. >> well, when they asked the question, i mean, rachel reeves has been asked the question. >> she's running for chancellor. yeah. is she not? >> she says there are no there's nothing that she wants to do that's promised in the manifesto that's promised in the manifesto that requires additional tax. >> i don't want to do it, but will i do it are very two very different things, aren't they? gloria, i am a cynic. different things, aren't they? gloria, i am a cynic . yes. gloria, i am a cynic. yes. >>— gloria, i am a cynic. yes. >> and you may be proved right. i don't think you will. that's. that's the only debate we can have. >> okay, well, we won't do a bit because i don't approve of such things on the television anyway, gloria, when it comes to immigration, keir starmer also asked about the boats we saw yesterday, another record day, 700 odd people crossed the channel. it's getting absolutely out of hand. the government, the current government, well, the conservatives do have a plan, right? they have a plan . keir right? they have a plan. keir starmer says smash the gangs. i mean we're already trying to do that. are we not. >> well that's i mean look, let me let me be honest with you. i am not saying this is labour's strongest area in terms of what

they're saying, but i'll say one thing. an absolute promise to get immigration significantly down. now, we've had that from three tory manifestos. it's just gone up and up. three tory manifestos. it's just gone up and up . so at least give gone up and up. so at least give the labour party a chance and they're going to they're going to, invest in this, in this new patrol, new border security guard or something that they're going to set up. they're going to clear the, you know, all these people in hotels, thousand new caseworkers in the home office to clear that backlog. if you shouldn't be here, you know, then you need to go, so this lot can't do it. promise after promise, give labour a go. >> but, you know, you know that those returns agreements are slightly difficult to construct to agree with certain countries. >> it's peculiar, isn't it, because we've spoken to yvette cooper about this, and it seems to be the idea that just, just hard work can, can get these returns going , that that would returns going, that that would require negotiating with the taliban, that would require sending certain people back to areas that are undeniably

unsafe. >> listen, you can put the questions like that to. well, no, because obviously we have we have responsibilities . we don't have responsibilities. we don't send people back to unsafe countries. the argument that they come illegally, which i think which i think we all accept, is that there are people here who shouldn't be here. if you have genuine if you are seeking genuine asylum and refuge, but because of so many people in hotels not getting the claims process, then we don't know who's genuine who should be.see know who's genuine who should be. see you later. >> well, i mean, it's hard to keep up. i mean, 700 in just one day just to build another hotel . day just to build another hotel. >> i mean, it's i agree with you. it's outrageous . you. it's outrageous. >> the liberal, the liberal democrats have an idea, which is that. democrats have an idea, which is that . oh, do they once, once that. oh, do they once, once people are in this country for more than three months and they're still waiting for their claims to be processed, why not let them work? why not let them earn their own cash so that they're not put up by the taxpayer in a hotel in the country illegally? >> tom. >> tom. >> what's the. >> what's the. >> i'm with emily. let's get the extra caseworkers in place. let's find out who shouldn't be

here and let's get them out. >> oh, a bit of common sense from gloria. >> there is the risk is the risk that they're all just rubber stamped through? >> yes, i think so. >>— >> yes, i think so. >> no, no, that would be outrageous. yes, i mean that i mean, seriously, this is home office. you know, that's their job, literally, to protect our borders. you're going we're going to get another thousand of them. and, you know, i think it is, i think we should we should assume that people who are employed to do that job will do that job and do it properly, and it's needed. >> i love your optimism and hope in the capacity of the british to state bring it out. it is, it is. no, i'm glad someone has that sort of hope in in how and how efficient the government can really be. >> to be fair, we do share our cynicism for, for, for everything really, don't we? sometimes. anyway, up next, our fast food shops ruining our town centres. we're going to be debating that . debating that. next. >> very good afternoon to you. it's exactly 1:30. the top story from the newsroom. and we'll start with the latest breaking

news from stonehenge in salisbury, where we're now heanng salisbury, where we're now hearing that two just stop oil protesters have been arrested after throwing orange powder over the ancient monument, video posted to social media shows those two campaigners running towards the stones with canisters of paint, and the demonstration comes ahead of the expected arrival of thousands of visitors for the summer solstice tomorrow. rishi sunak, in the last few moments, has called it a disgraceful act of vandalism to one of the world's oldest and most important monuments, adding that just stop oil should be ashamed of their activists. the group, though, says that it wants any government to commit to ending the burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. in other news, the jury in the trial of aristocrat constance marten and her partner mark gordon has been unable to reach a verdict on charges over the death of their newborn daughter. charges over the death of their newborn daughter . the 37 charges over the death of their newborn daughter. the 37 year old and 50 year old were accused of manslaughter and other

charges after their daughter, victoria, was found dead in brighton in a supermarket bag. the couple were arrested following a high profile police search. inflation has eased to 2, increasing the prospect of an interest rate cut within months. it's the first time in nearly three years that the figure has been at the bank of england's target, chancellor jeremy hunt says it's because of the conservatives plans for the economy . labour, though, says economy. labour, though, says the government has nothing to do with the figure . the uk has seen with the figure. the uk has seen its highest day for migrant arrivals so far this year. the home office says nearly 900 people made their way by small boat across the channel yesterday . a total of 15 boats yesterday. a total of 15 boats were intercepted as they made the journey from france . spanish the journey from france. spanish police are searching for a british teenager who's gone missing in tenerife while on holiday. jay slater, from lancashire, was last heard from on monday morning. the 19 year old called a friend to say he

was lost while hiking. he had no water and that his phone was on just 1% battery. that's the latest from the newsroom for now. your next update at 2:00. until then, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the code on your screen, or go to gb news. com slash alerts . news. com slash alerts. >> cheers. britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report , and here's how financial report, and here's how the markets are looking this afternoon. >> the pound will buy you $1.2727 and ,1.1839. the price of gold is £1,830.36. that's per ounce, and the ftse 100 is at 8206 points. >> cheers. britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb financial report

>> good afternoon. britain. it's 1:37 now. big question. today should fast food shops be banned? banned in city centres? >> well, newcastle city council certainly thinks so. they say they'll stop new outlets from opening near schools. >> well, they hope that this will deal with child obesity and rescue litter from their streets i >> -- >> well joining us now is the chairman of the national obesity forum, tam fry, tam, is this a little bit authoritarian , no, little bit authoritarian, no, not at all. >> for 25 years, the local councils have asked for more powers to control fast food shops opening in their areas. >> and that is not, worked at all. so this is the next step whereby we're a little tougher and we say you can't have them .

and we say you can't have them. unfortunately, many of our high streets and our town centres are, littered with a profusion of fast food shops, to the exclusion of all kinds of other stores. and i think it's high time that we did something like this. you may feel it's a little draconian, but the writings been on the wall for the last 15. >> this is quite if you read the detail on this tab, so newcastle city council, they say it will not allow new food outlets to open near schools where more than 10% of the year, six pupils are currently obese. so they've really dug into the detail here. they're picking specifically which schools have a beast kids in them . in them. >> yeah, we just have a terrible obesity problem with our children and we've got to do everything possible . and if we everything possible. and if we don't, then those children will not just become obese. they'll become obese as adults with many other diseases as well. so if you will, this is a preventative

measure to try and limit the number of fast food shops which are. >> so have i stepped into a parallel world? am i going slightly mad here? i mean, we're not going to ban these children from going into shops. we're not going to sort of prevent shops selling anything other than vegetables. are we living in some sort of parallel dystopia where some investor wants to open a private business, and the government is telling them they can't , because 10% of children can't, because 10% of children who happen to live nearby happen to be obese. i mean, this is this is a very, very blunt instrument that probably won't even crack the nut. >> it's been a blunt instrument, if you will, on the on the honzon if you will, on the on the horizon for , for, as i say, 15 horizon for, for, as i say, 15 years and the local , years and the local, entrepreneurs who want to open their shops have paid no heed to it whatsoever. and therefore, if you will, they've gone one step too far. and the council there has decided that enough is enough , it's not banning the

enough, it's not banning the shops. it'sjust enough, it's not banning the shops. it's just making sure that they don't appear in specific places in, in the community. but what? >> any evidence? yeah. >> any evidence? yeah. >> what evidence do they have to suggest that this will actually kerb obesity. is it just sort of , you know, we'll try it. why not. >> well all children are measured now for their obesity at the, sixth of primary school and therefore the local councils know exactly what the situation is. how many healthy, how many undernutrition , how many undernutrition, how many overweight and how many obese people there are. and they can then say, right, the figure is 10% of our secondary school people are obese. and in those areas where they are going to school, there will not be any new opening of fast food shops . new opening of fast food shops. >> we pretend we live in a free market. we really don't, do we? i mean, this is this is quite extraordinarily authoritarian . i extraordinarily authoritarian. i wonder, tam, i mean, where does it stop? surely? i mean, what

happens when all of these new shops are banned and we still have 10% of fat kids in various schools? what's next? >> well, the answer is that when it's been banned, then the local council has got to take a really good look at what the effect is, and if the effect is in the right direction , then maybe right direction, then maybe they'll reconsider. but what you also have to understand is that the local authorities have got to cope with the cost of obesity and all these other diseases , us and all these other diseases, us as a nation, it's £198 billion every year and faced by that kind of figure, drastic action has to be taken . has to be taken. >> i just don't understand the logic though, because if, if they're doing bringing in this ban where kids are already obese, you know, surely the skinny kids would be getting fat without the ban. so you should bnngin without the ban. so you should bring in the ban across the board. well, maybe. or maybe proximity to a shop that sells food isn't isn't a direct correlation to how fat you are. >> well, i don't know . >> well, i don't know. >> well, i don't know. >> i mean, they are unsightly a

lot of the time anyway. thank you. tam fry, you're from the national obesity forum. chairman. goodness me. >> i mean, it's a big issue. >> i mean, it's a big issue. >> obesity. it's a big issue. but these sort of interventions , but these sort of interventions, do they really make a difference? >> well, maybe maybe obesity is actually just transmitted through standing through osmosis. if you stand next to a shop that sells unhealthy food, just just of course you're going to swell in size. i mean, it's defies to swell in size. i mean, it's defies all logic. >> well, scotland's first minister demands another independence vote if they win a majority of seats in scotland. he launched his party's manifesto. john swinney went on to say that an independent scotland would allow the snp to invest in the nhs and help people through tough times. >> well, joining us now is our scotland reporter, tony maguire. and tony, what exactly was said earlier on today ? earlier on today? >> good afternoon. well, certainly indeed it was independence traded all the way through today's manifesto announcement here in edinburgh . announcement here in edinburgh. john swinney, first minister,

saying that independence is not separate to people's concerns. in fact, independence is vital issue to people's concerns here in scotland. we have a copy here and in the front. the first minister has said that this line at the front makes no bones about it, that this is a manifesto as well for this election, for independence and as promised by consecutive first ministers, first lie—in first page of the manifesto, a vote for scotland, to become an independent vote snp sorry for scotland to become an independent country. now the first minister, as we say , spent first minister, as we say, spent a little bit of time. he also spoke about the nhs wanting to put some pressure on westminster government to match scotland's spending, and this would release them more capital to scotland , them more capital to scotland, in terms of by way of the barnett consequentials . and he barnett consequentials. and he also, as i say, went on to , to,

also, as i say, went on to, to, you know, want to abolish the house of lords. he wanted to scrap trident and quite a lot of claims that the snp really have stuck to. and indeed the first minister was thoroughly challenged on whether very much of this 28 page document was any different to manifestos we've seen before, or indeed the one before that. now, interestingly , before that. now, interestingly, he did speak quite, abruptly about independence through the debate. and i believe we've got a little snippet of that to share with you just now . share with you just now. >> right. it doesn't look like we've got that little snippet to show, but thank you very much indeed, tony mcguire, for , indeed, tony mcguire, for, taking us through all of that. sorry about that. we'll get that fixed. of course. tony maguire there up in scotland. >> so disappointed that we didn't get to hear the dulcet tones of john swinney . tones of john swinney. >> well, still to come time still to come though, we're going to be hearing from just stop oil. why? because they've decided to vandalise stonehenge .

decided to vandalise stonehenge. so here we go. the classic orange powder all over the site, so i guess we're going to ask them how they justify this. it's good afternoon, britain. we're on

gb news. well, it's 148. and wiltshire police have arrested two people after they sprayed orange paint on stone henge. >> well, just stop oil have shared a video saying it's to get the incoming government to sign up to a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2030. of course, stonehenge famously associated with oil gas. i think the 5000 year old neolithic britons were a prolific users of the internal combustion engine , and they combustion engine, and they drilled for lots of oil. so it makes perfect sense. of course . makes perfect sense. of course. >> yes, we're going to be joined

by jill taylor, a spokesperson from just stop oil. jill, thank you very much indeed. what on earth is this all about? this is just criminal activity under the guise of some kind of activism. >> no, it's not that. >> no, it's not that. >> pain will be washed off. >> pain will be washed off. >> really easily. so it's not. >> really easily. so it's not. >> it's not long lasting damage at all. unlike the damage that is being done now by the fossil fuel industry. and just keeping burning fossil fuels, putting more co2 into the atmosphere. >> you're right. the more co2 into the atmosphere. >> you're right . the neolithic >> you're right. the neolithic people were not prolific users of fossil fuels. >> they did not cause the kind of damage that we're causing now i >> -- >> that's all been within the last since the industrial revolution. >> in the 150 years. so because it's watchdog which? has been done. so because this this stuff can be washed off. ergo, there's no issue here. well, the stonehenge aren't particularly happy about this. they've come out on their social media page and they say stonehenge is protected by the ancient monuments act. and it is a criminal offence to damage the stones. there are also multiple rare lichen species growing on

the stones that are also protected. so this isn't good for nature, is it? >> i think you're getting things so out of perspective here. what isn't good for nature is the damage we are doing now, and what's not good for nature globally is not good for you. it's not good for me, and it's not good for the people watching this programme because we now have the breakdown of the climate stability on which everything has evolved. all our agriculture systems , all the agriculture systems, all the things. if you've got stable agriculture, you've got stable food supplies. you can start thinking about education and wellbeing. we disrupt those patterns as we are doing with this consistent burning of fossil fuel. >> then we're in big trouble . >> then we're in big trouble. >> then we're in big trouble. >> so yeah. >> so yeah. >> was there more education and wellbeing before the industrial revolution or afterwards ? revolution or afterwards? >> are the two that is not related in that way? we have been since both before and after the industrial revolution. we, you and i, have still been able to enjoy a stable climate. but now the amount of co2 in the

atmosphere is so high that you can see the news. you just. this is a list i wrote yesterday of all news stories about climate breakdown, climate extremes in different countries that is threatening food supplies. you saw how people were upset about a shortage of toilet rolls dunng a shortage of toilet rolls during covid. what's going to happen when we haven't got the food we want? >> what's going to happen to produced more food in the last year than has ever been produced before ? before? >> for on the face of this bat in the mediterranean, our farmers, this year have only been able to plant something like on a third of their land. >> they still haven't got the productivity on that one third of land is higher than the productivity would have been for the entire field. >> only a few decades ago, because we can put nitrogen in the soil because we have technological progress to produce so much more food on so much less land. that's the beauty of the industrial revolution . revolution. >> no i'm not. there was something called the green revolution that was global and that went for this mass productivity that you're talking about. it has exhausted our soil, filled the air with pesticides . i

soil, filled the air with pesticides. i don't soil, filled the air with pesticides . i don't want to talk pesticides. i don't want to talk about all that because the argument is so simple . the ones argument is so simple. the ones you're coming up with are simplistic and they're not right. but i haven't got time to do that right now. jill, do you think is true ? just look out the think is true? just look out the window, look at the news. ask someone who's just come back from greece. ask someone who's planning a summer holiday in the med this year. look at america. something like 1 in 5 americans are now heating . okay, we are now heating. okay, we understand you're deeply concerned. >> we understand, jul that you are completely you are deeply concerned about about climate change. but let's try different. let's try a different tack because we're talking about this, you know, assault on the stonehenge, essentially that is what it is, how is that going to help? i mean, i'm looking at the reaction. i'm looking at the reaction. i'm looking at the reaction on social media, and it's almost entirely people either mocking it or saying how much of a disgrace it is. it's hardly good for the cause. is it? >> listen, some people do that and you perpetuate that because you choose to talk about this. we get on here and it is my if i said, hey, i'm jul, i live in stroud, i'd like to come on and talk about, the dangers of climate change and what it's

doing to us and why we have to stop burning fossil fuels. >> we talk about net zero all the time. we talk about how to get there, how to improve the climate, you don't you don't . climate, you don't you don't. what do you ever get? so this has happened. why don't you say, okay, these people are protesting. let's get some of the fossil fuel ceos and ask them about the real damage they're doing. instead of asking some people about spraying a bit of orange powder paint, you know, get perspective, please. because this is really serious and really important. and all the scientists i've been involved with, climate science, i think we try and look for sensible solutions, though. >> jill. that's the interesting discussion. that's the interesting discussion . interesting discussion. >> we've had 20, 30 years of politically pragmatic and sensible solutions. and in the meantime, we've burnt more and more fossil fuels. >> in the meantime, china keeps, you know, building those coal mines. >> are you going to start churning out the china thing? china is actually ahead of us in its investment. >> and it's he's doing an all in strategy. it's investing lots in renewables. absolutely. but also lots in in in fossil fuels as well. i just wonder , will you well. i just wonder, will you accept that we've reduced our

carbon emissions by 50% since the 1990s? we've in the uk, we've offshored our carbon emissions. >> we've done a lot. we do. we you know what, the stuff we buy and stuff is largely made in other countries. so therefore we're not quite greenwashing. >> there's quite a lot of greenwashing. sorry jill. we're going to have to wrap it up. sorry about that. great to speak to you. spokesperson from just stop oil. when we come back, damian hinds, conservative candidate will be talking to us about the campaign . about the campaign. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello and welcome to the latest forecast from the met office for gb news. high pressure today . that means most pressure today. that means most places are going to be fine. there'll be some warm, sunny spells as well. not entirely blue skies. there are a couple of things going on. first of

all, some patchy cloud lingering across the uk under this ridge of high pressure as it builds in. and secondly , a frontal in. and secondly, a frontal system, a weak frontal system will bring thickening cloud and some spots of rain into the far north of scotland through the day. freshening breeze here, but otherwise plenty of sunshine and the early cloud tends to disappear here through the afternoon. so we're going to see some sunshine breaking out where we get the sunshine. feeling pleasant enough . 22 to 23 pleasant enough. 22 to 23 celsius in the south, 21 celsius further north. although for northern and northwest scotland we do see further thickening of the cloud, especially for lewis and harris, with some outbreaks of rain moving in by the evening. but for much of the rest of scotland, sunny skies remain as we end the day and increasing sunny skies for northern ireland. northern england as well as well as for wales, the midlands, plenty of sunshine here and temperatures at 6 pm. still at 20 or 22 celsius. now by the later half

of the evening, the cloud and the outbreaks rain, along with a freshening breeze, push into western scotland , eventually western scotland, eventually sinking into the central belt but tending to fizzle out. meanwhile, across the rest of the uk , it's staying dry the uk, it's staying dry overnight with clear spells, but temperatures will dip in sheltered rural spots down to 4 or 5 celsius across parts of england and wales. so a fresh start to thursday, but a bright start to thursday, but a bright start nevertheless. plenty of sunshine first thing for england and wales, there's always the threat of some showers making an appearance later across the far south—east, but for the vast majority it's going to stay dry . majority it's going to stay dry. long spells of sunshine, just some patchy cloud around and highs of 23 or even 24 celsius. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it is 2:00 on wednesday. the 19th of june. my name is tom harwood. >> i'm emily carver. >> i'm emily carver. >> now, earlier today, we heard from george galloway as he launched his manifesto for the workers party of britain . and workers party of britain. and george galloway joins us now. george, thank you so much for making the time for us today. i've been reading through your manifesto commitments. they seem pretty enticing. a retirement age of 60 from when you can draw the state pension , no tax paid the state pension, no tax paid below £21,200 and free travel free travel for all children. i mean, it's a fairy tale wish list isn't it? >> no, as a matter of fact, until a year and a half ago, it was a six day retirement age in france. that well—known revolutionary socialist economy. you used to be able to retire at

60. in france. soon it will be 70. in britain and in france, there's a general election at there's a general election at the end of this month, and my equivalent in france is promising a return to the age of 60. free travel for children on our buses would be a good thing, would it not? it would keep our children safe . it would occupy children safe. it would occupy seats that are otherwise empty . seats that are otherwise empty. a free bus travel for children is the norm in some areas , but is the norm in some areas, but not in others. we think it should be a national service, so there's no fairy tales involved here. i'll tell you what the fairy tale is that we spend £12,000 per minute of every day, of every week, of every month, of every week, of every month, of every week, of every month, of every year on nuclear weapons. go out and ask the people whether they'd rather have free travel for their kids, be able to see a gp, get a

medical appointment at the hospital, or any of the other things. in our manifesto , or things. in our manifesto, or blow it on nuclear weapons. >> george galloway , you know, >> george galloway, you know, you know as well as anyone that we live in a we live in a dangerous world. and you're not only advocating to get rid of the nuclear deterrent, but also to remove ourselves from nato altogether . altogether. >> yeah, well, nato is the reason we're in the dangerous world. when the soviet union promised to withdraw from east germany and tear down that wall, mr gorbachev was promised by the american president that nato would not expand. and i quote oneinch would not expand. and i quote one inch to the east, since which they've expanded thousands of miles to the east and are now ringing russia with nato nuclear weapons. that's what's brought to us the cusp of world war ii. and our politicians are hoping that the public doesn't notice that, but they will notice it if

they listen to me . they listen to me. >> you're true to say that the nuclear deterrence is not free. it costs £3 billion a year out of our £56 billion annual mod budget. pensions cost £112.5 billion a year. they're scheduled to rise even with the rising age of retirement, the cost of pensions, because we've got a more and more people reaching that age, fewer and fewer people in work and a triple lock increasing these pensions . they're scheduled to pensions. they're scheduled to reach £200 billion. you can't make up almost £100 billion of spending , with £3 billion of spending, with £3 billion of savings . savings. >> well, uniquely discounted the cost of the nuclear weapons in the first place. you talked only of the annual running cost, but the cost of the nuclear weapons, the cost of the nuclear weapons, the cost of our now bloated military budget, which is being

ratcheted up in a dutch auction between the two main parties as to who can spend the most on weapons and war is astronomic and about to become more astronomical . still, you're astronomical. still, you're going on about 822 illegal migrants landing on a beach. you don't need to be nelson and turn a nelson's eye. where were the ships? the ships were in the red sea in the black sea, in the south china sea. in every sea except georgia. >> sir. that's a good point to raise. what would what would your party? what would you do about a illegal immigration? >> well, we would be stopping it . and for a start, with warships george galloway, from which these people were . we wouldn't these people were. we wouldn't be sorry with warships. >> george galloway, you suggested that we're having small boats across the channel. the royal navy's , because we've the royal navy's, because we've got warships in the red sea. would you would you shoot down

these migrant boats? >> you want me to answer? do you want me to do you do you want me to answer? >> i think we've got a delay on the line. go ahead. sure the royal navy's principle, purpose and duty is to defend the shores of her majesty's, his majesty's realm. but they're not doing so. they're in every sea except our own sea. and they are not involved in turning back illegal departures from france. illegal arrivals in england, which then cost £80 a night per person , a cost £80 a night per person, a potentially forever to the british taxpayer . british taxpayer. >> george galloway by implication. >> we've got all these, we've got all these, we've got all these royal navy assets. the problem is they're deployed everywhere except defending our own shores. so i was answering you and if we've got a delay on the line, forgive me. i was answering you that we would not be invading all these countries from which these refugees are

coming . but from which these refugees are coming. but that being said, we certainly wouldn't allow them to leave unmolested from the beaches of france . we paid beaches of france. we paid france billions of pounds to stop these illegal departures, and i saw a news bulletin last night in which the french authorities were watching these illegal departure was, george galloway. >> when you just lastly, when you were won the by—election, you were won the by—election, you said, c'est d'amour. this is for gaza, would a win for you now be for gaza ? now be for gaza? >> it would be a win for peace. but yes, it would be a win for gaza. i know you don't give a damn about gaza, as is evident from the contempt dripping in your voice with that question. but i assure you that millions of people in britain care about the little children and their mothers being torn apart in gaza, and many of them are

prepared to vote to show it . prepared to vote to show it. >> okay. well, thank you very much indeed. george galloway, great to speak to you, on your manifesto launch date. good stuff . stuff. >> you've got some vintage galloway there, i think some proper , sort of oratory, proper, sort of oratory, oratorical ability that i think you don't see in many members of parliament, although i do think, i mean, looking at these sums, it just it just doesn't add up. i mean, it really, really doesn't . doesn't. >> retirement at age 60. yes. well, rishi sunak has pledged further tax cuts after inflation returned to the bank of england's 2% target. it's the first time inflation has been at this level in three years. >> well let's cross to our political editor christopher hope. political editor christopher hope . he's been following the hope. he's been following the campaign. the conservatives in their campaign today, chris, is rishi sunak really taking credit for this drop in inflation? isn't that what the bank of england is supposed to do? yeah >> well, yes, of course you're technically technically right , technically technically right, that the yeah, that that may be the case, but certainly what the

pm says he's done right is get the economic choices right . post the economic choices right. post the economic choices right. post the chaos of liz truss's short lived premiership . and that's lived premiership. and that's why he would say inflation is as fallen by a huge amount since the over 10% it was when she became, leader and prime minister. and that's why he's been talking about today on a visit to suffolk coastal, a seat held by therese coffey, the former, key ally of liz truss with nearly 20,000 majority. we're seeing a theme here. emily and tom of the pm visiting very, very safe tory seats like 25,000. yesterday geoffrey cox, 20,000 a day, tyrese coffee. these are not seats which are marginal seats which the party might need. did win in 2019. these are seats which the party should win on a in a bad, bad day. a bad election day. and that shows the level of defensiveness , i think, in the defensiveness, i think, in the tory campaign. just two weeks to go. and but he was asked today about those record numbers of

small boats arrivals. we featured them yesterday on gb news today, the home office confirmed that 880 arrived yesterday, a legal arrived. immigrants came here yesterday in 15 small boats. the total for 2024 so far this year is higher than in 2022 and 2023. and maybe that gives a clue as to why he went from an early election campaign when no one else forecast it. but this is what he had to say earlier to reporters as well. >> in the last 12 months, the numbers of people crossing the channelis numbers of people crossing the channel is actually down by almost a third. that hasn't happened before, and it shows that we can make a difference. that's what i've been focused on doing . but there's that's what i've been focused on doing. but there's a that's what i've been focused on doing . but there's a choice at doing. but there's a choice at this election, the highest number yesterday, there's a there's a choice. there's always going to be days which are worse than others. but the choice of this election is about how do we solve this problem for good. i've got a plan to do that. and that's about getting an incentive up and running or a deterrent up and running, removing the incentive for people to come here. it's as simple as that. if people come here illegally, they shouldn't be able to stay. we need to remove them somewhere else . and remove them somewhere else. and if we can get that up and

running, then people will stop coming and multiple other european countries agree with us. that's a choice for people at this election. if you want that deterrent, you need the flights to go to rwanda. that's what i'll deliver. in contrast , what i'll deliver. in contrast, keir starmer is going to let everyone out of the detention centres offer an amnesty, make us a soft touch of europe when it comes to migration . and i it comes to migration. and i don't think that's right. >> that's the pm. earlier, speaking to reporters in east anglia, i should say tom and ellie emily, before i throw it back to you, that in the last half hour he has commented the pm on the vandalism by just stop oil protesters to stonehenge. he's called a disgraceful act to one of the uk's and world's most oldest, most important monuments i >> -- >> pretty profound moment in this campaign. we will be getting comment from the labour party on that, as well as the afternoon rolls on. but christopher hope, thank you very much for bringing us the very latest there from the conservative campaign battle bus i >> -- >> well, minister of state for schools damian hinds joins us now, damian, damian , some good

now, damian, damian, some good news today about inflation hitting that 2% target. but can the conservatives really take credit for it . credit for it. >> yes. it is good news that inflation is back down to back to down 2% to the target. >> it's a result of a lot of a lot of hard work and sticking with sticking with a plan. >> we've made reducing inflation the number one goal because that is the best way to help families , families with with their budgets and their costs and we've reached that point today. >> that is that is, of course, something to be welcomed. >> but we need to stick with that plan. >> and that's what that's what's at stake on the 4th of july. do we stick with that plan that's working , or do we or do we go working, or do we or do we go for a new course which involves higher taxes for households up and down the up and down the country? >> isn't the choice here between higher taxes and even higher taxes? i mean , currently the taxes? i mean, currently the percentage of the economy taken by tax is 36% of gdp . the labour

by tax is 36% of gdp. the labour party plan to raise it to 37.4% of gdp. that's the spending and the tax that they've announced in their manifesto. but because of these frozen thresholds, despite tax cuts that rishi sunak has announced, the conservatives will raise it as well. not as much as the labour party, but the percentage of the economy being taken by tax is going up in the next few years under your plans, not down. >> the tax right now is higher than we than we want it to be. we want to reduce tax. there have been some extraordinarily high costs that the country has faced. the £98 billion of furlough and the self—employment business support schemes in, in in covid and of course, the big, cost of living support payments as well. over time, we need to chart a course which brings tax down while also being able to afford the excellent public services that we need, that we

want, that we value. and particularly with things like the national health service, where we know demand is going to increase over time, and that ends up being all about economic growth and so i think in many ways, the framing of this election is which of the two parties, labour or conservative, which do you think has the more credible plan for growth? and i think if you look at our record since 2010, with the unemployment rate coming down by almost half , 600,000 fewer almost half, 600,000 fewer children in workless households now third highest foreign direct investment in the world after the united states and china. i think we've got that record for the economy to keep on growing . the economy to keep on growing. >> damian hinds, a new poll has dropped , that might come as dropped, that might come as a bit of a shock to some conservatives. this is, relating to clacton, where nigel farage is running now. the conservatives got a 72% of the vote there last time around. now it's looking like it's going to be the biggest swing in modern history with nigel farage on course to win. i mean, your

reaction to that . reaction to that. >> well i haven't seen that poll. i don't spend a lot of time looking at polls. there is one poll that i'm really, really focused on. it happens, on july the 4th and closes at 10:00 and we are out knocking on doors, meeting as many people as possible, holding public meetings, hearing from people us heanng meetings, hearing from people us hearing their concerns. yes, that includes hearing their frustrations, but also presenting what really is the choice between a labour government that's going to raise your tax in all sorts of ways. we don't even know what and how much and for what end, or a conservative government that is going to stick with a plan that is working, that has brought down, inflation and does have prospects for economic growth into the future to afford the great public services that i know people value. yeah. >> the latest numbers we had, of course, for april was economic growth at zero flatlining. nothing and of course, it's nice to have tom. >> tom, as you know, as you know, as you know, you should never look at a one month, a one month figure for growth because

it always depends on, you know, which month easter fell in or when the school holidays were, of course, of course. >> and of course, across the quarter it is growing. >> you should always look at a quarter. >> yeah, yeah, look at quarter. >> and across the quarter it is growing. but it's nothing to write home about. it's nothing to boast about. i mean, it's sclerotic growth. and this is true, to be fair, of the french economy, the german economy, the italian economy , the canadian italian economy, the canadian economy, in fact, just about the only economy in the in the group of seven, 67 nations advanced economies is the american economy. they're going gangbusters, whereas all of us are being left in the dust. what is america doing? right. that, frankly, britain and everyone else is doing wrong ? else is doing wrong? >> look, there have been there have been tough times as we all know, there is war in europe as we speak, and there remain, you know, a number of a number of difficulties hanging over from previous events that, that countries are dealing with. but if you look at our record since

2010, we have had the third highest rate of growth in the g7 and also for the time ahead for the years to come, we are projected to have the third highest rate of growth in the g7, the highest among the european 67, the tallest dwarf, one might say that's because of the economic plan that we have in place, because we have a business friendly, investment friendly , approach. and that's friendly, approach. and that's what that's what attracts businesses to innovate here, to invest here, to come here to create jobs here. and that story on unemployment, on and reducing the unemployment rate by almost by half since 2010, i think is an incredibly important thing and one that perhaps hasn't focused. people haven't focused enough on this yet in this election campaign. no labour government has ever left office with a lower rate of unemployment than when it came in. we have been absolutely focused on getting people into jobs, quality jobs and building up the skills level for our productivity and economic growth. >> damian hinds, are you pleased with how the campaign is going? do you think rishi sunak is

taking enough risks? i mean, you're quite far behind in the polls. wouldn't it be worth, you know, stepping things up a bit? it all seems a little bit lacklustre . lacklustre. >> i don't think election campaigns are about, you know, how much risk do you want to take on? i think they're about deciding what you think is the is the best approach for the next five years for the country. and putting that to people straightforwardly and honestly. but it's not working though, is it, though, to be fair and also and also drawing a contrast with what the other side are offering, because this is a competitive this is a competitive this is a competitive process . you say competitive process. you say it's not working. i'll tell you one thing. this is my i think, sixth general election as a candidate, my 10th as a campaigner. i have never known two weeks out. i have never known there to be nearly so many undecided voters on the doorstep as there are this time. there are still a lot of people very actively considering, very carefully considering how they're going to cast their votes and what we are. what we are doing is, is trying to set out why it should be for the

positive vision put forward by the conservatives, but also highlighting the risks of labour and the risks. if you don't for vote either of those effectively, that is helping labour to put labour into government or even, you know, if you're someone who already thinks labour are headed for government, could hand them a blank check. majority. it's interesting because you in this interview have referenced things that have changed since 2010. >> and yet when the prime minister was asked that question in the first head to head debate with rishi sunak against keir starmer, he said i don't want to look at the past, i want to look at the future. i mean, was that at the future. i mean, was that a mistake because we are looking at the future because. because you. but rishi sunak , when he's you. but rishi sunak, when he's asked this question, he can't point to three successive years of the last 14 years. >> well, we are talking about the future. my point in looking at our record since 2010 was, you know, a big question in this election is who is most to be trusted in terms of economic growth? getting people into jobs, keeping people into jobs, making sure they are they are decently paid quality jobs. and

i think our record since 2010 gives the evidence for that . the gives the evidence for that. the record of labour governments in the past does not. and that is a clear choice in this election. >> well, damian hinds, thank you very much for joining >> well, damian hinds, thank you very much forjoining us and talking through, what is another thrilling day of this exciting general election campaign? now, we did mention, clacton, where nigel farage is running, we did mention, clacton, where nigel farage is running , the nigel farage is running, the other candidates are matthew bensalem for the liberal democrats , craig jamieson for democrats, craig jamieson for climate party, tony mac, an independent, natasha osborne for the green party, giovanna wasu, nepal for the labour party, tasos papanastasiou for the heritage party, andrew pemberton for ukip, giles francis watling for ukip, giles francis watling for the conservative party there you go. >> it's good to know that entire list. it was. it was a lot nicer and shorter before nigel, announce it. and then suddenly all these candidates flock in. but i've got to be fair to them now. the spanish police are continuing their search for british teenager who's gone missing in tenerife. >> yes, the 19 year old jay slater, from lancashire, was on houday slater, from lancashire, was on holiday with friends to attend the nrg music festival.

>> well, chris elkington is the editor of the canarian weekly. he joins us from southern tenerife because, chris, this is a deeply concerning story . it's a deeply concerning story. it's every family's nightmare . every family's nightmare. >> yes, absolutely, you know, it's the worst thing , isn't it? it's the worst thing, isn't it? >> you know, you let your kids go on holiday and then you get this news whilst they're, whilst they're away. he did come over with friends , so you'd think with friends, so you'd think they'd be safety in numbers. but at some point after the third day or on the after the third evening of the festival, somehow jj 90t evening of the festival, somehow jj got split up from his friends, decided to go with some other people for an after party, if you like, at someone's apartment . apartment. >> and, that's the last we've heard of him in the morning when heard of him in the morning when he left there to try and find a bus back to las americas, where he was staying. >> and, chris, do you know, do you know a little bit can you give us a little bit of insight into how this, police search is, is going on? where are they looking exactly? and how many people are involved in this search? >> okay, well, jay's last location was, about 30 miles on

up the west coast from las americas , around an area called massacre. >> and, the ten aurora park, which is a well known area for hikers. there's a lot of trails there. >> it's a very barren landscape, quite deserty, and also up into, into the forested areas. the police search actually started on monday afternoon, which was very soon after in spanish terms, for after someone went missing, because of the final phone call, he made to his friends and the fact his phone battery ran out and he didn't know where he was. so the police, the guardia civil, are leading the investigation with mountain rescue teams. >> they've also had dogs out, sniffer dogs out on the trails , sniffer dogs out on the trails, and the areas they can't reach on foot. they've actually deployed , drones and the help of deployed, drones and the help of helicopters from above to try and find something. >> it would be very easy, for jay to veer off route without having his mobile phone for location or to look for a trail,

because it's a sort of area. if you go hiking, you want to make sure you've got the right footwear because it's quite a dangerous or a mountainous terrain . you want to make sure terrain. you want to make sure you've got water. you definitely don't want to go by yourself , don't want to go by yourself, and you certainly want to make sure you've got enough phone signal to find your route or to call for help. so the aerial assistance is very important in this case, because there's a lot of deep ravines and valleys in that area. it covers quite a big area and temperatures are currently around about 2520 six degrees celsius. so it's very warm as well . so it is, there's warm as well. so it is, there's a big team out there looking. they they stopped last night obviously at sunset because they can't look overnight and resumed first thing this morning and jay's family and friends have also up in the area looking, the local police are now stopping cars and vans in all parts of, of this area along the west and south coast and searching vehicles just in case. obviously, he's found in a car for some reason . maybe someone

for some reason. maybe someone you know picked him up or he pitched a hitched a lift. so it is a massive, massive search for jay in this part of the island. >> well, chris elkington, thank you so much for talking us through this really concerning story. editor of canarian weekly. i really appreciate your time. >> thank you. well, still to come inflation as we've said has dropped to the bank of england target of 2. will that mean a drop to the interest rate? we'll speak to one of the uk's top economists to find out. you're watching. good afternoon britain. we're on

news. >> good afternoon. britain it's 2:26. now, the prime minister is hoping , of course, that today's hoping, of course, that today's inflation news might provide a boost to his campaign. but what do voters think ? well, our south do voters think? well, our south west reporter, jeff moody has

been speaking to bill green, a farmer in north devon . farmer in north devon. >> everybody wants to see inflation come down a small amount. inflation i think is often a good thing , i think it often a good thing, i think it bnngs often a good thing, i think it brings our inflation down below many of our major competitors, and i guess theirs will follow us down. i think our economy is running parallel to many of the world economies and doing just as well, if not a bit better. so i think it's good news. i think it's good news for the government. good news for the country. i'm not sure it's good news for labour and i'm sure they won't present it as such , they won't present it as such, well, with this fall in inflation, will the bank of england finally cut those interest rates ? let's speak to interest rates? let's speak to justin urquhart stewart, economist and co—founder of investment platform originally. justin, thank you very much indeed for joining justin, thank you very much indeed forjoining us this indeed for joining us this afternoon. so that is the question on everyone's lips. will we see an interest rate cut . soon? are you there, justin. yeah. well cross out the word

soon and just say yes. >> already cutting them already because you think back last year we had actually a significant penod we had actually a significant period where rates were going to go up. why? because you actually had the economy being threatened by supply chains. now this is what was stupid. the bank of england . england. >> justin, your line is, is a bit rubbish . we'll try and bit rubbish. we'll try and reconnect with you, justin urquhart stewart , their urquhart stewart, their economist, that's a shame. i'm not sure what he was saying. no. saying that we can expect one. >> well, it seemed that his thoughts were concertinaed, by by the technology. but we'll see if we can re—establish that line , because it is something that is deeply concerning, because a lot of people thought we would get an interest rate cut by now, and we haven't had one yet, evidently. but it does seem that to some extent, what happens in this country is contingent on what happens in the united states of america , where states of america, where inflation has actually been going up, not down in some of the recent . reportings. so to the recent. reportings. so to some extent, i think one of the

big questions is, does it matter? i mean, even if inflation is continuing to go down in the uk, if it's going up in the united states, if it's not going down as quickly in the eurozone, will that actually have more of an impact on the bank of england's decision on rates than what happens in this country? >> what happens if inflation falls below that 2? do we get into dangerous waters in terms of deflation? is that possibility? >> well, if inflation is above 3% or below 1, the bank of england governor has to write a letter to the chancellor , letter to the chancellor, explaining why they're failing in their target. if it's if it's that far off the off the bounce . that far off the off the bounce. so i think if it was a little bit below 2, it wouldn't be too much of a worry. if it's below 1, that becomes a real big worry because price deflation delays spending. >> yes. because price is rising a little bit is actually a good thing. you want to have around the 2. that's why it's the target. but yes, if it falls lower than that, then the alarm bells in the opposite direction start ringing. >> the big risk is that if you

see prices going down, why would you buy something today? you're going to delay that spending. and that's going to shudder your economy. that's going to stop your economy from moving, because everyone will be thinking, oh, it'd be better to do it next week, or the week after, or the week after. >> so it doesn't look like we're going to get justin back, but it's scotland versus switzerland in the euros this evening . it's scotland versus switzerland in the euros this evening. but, after that five one defeat to germany last week, is it is it game over for the scots? no. let's be a bit more optimistic , let's be a bit more optimistic, for the scots. could they win? could they win? >> they win. could pigs fly? well, that's after the news headunes.i well, that's after the news headlines . i a. headlines. i a. >> very good afternoon to you. it's just after 2:30 the top stories from the newsroom today. two just stop oil protesters have been arrested on suspicion of damaging stonehenge after orange paint was thrown over the monument near salisbury. the demonstrators comes ahead of the expected arrival of thousands of

visitors for the summer solstice tomorrow. rishi sunak has called it a disgraceful act of vandalism to one of the world's oldest and most important monuments . oldest and most important monuments. the group oldest and most important monuments . the group says it monuments. the group says it wants any government to commit to ending the burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. the jury in the trial of aristocrat constance marten and her partner mark gordon, has been unable to reach a verdict on charges over the death of their newborn daughter. the 37 year old and 50 year old are accused of the manslaughter and other charges of their daughter, victoria, who was found dead in brighton in a supermarket bag . the couple were supermarket bag. the couple were arrested following a high profile police search. george galloway says his workers party is the antidote to labour and reform uk, as he launched his manifesto in manchester earlier. he says he wants a referendum on the transition to net zero and that he would slap ulez. meanwhile, in edinburgh, the snp

launched its manifesto leader and scotland's first minister john swinney says he wants to commit to a return to the european union . the mother of a european union. the mother of a british teenager who has gone missing in tenerife, says having to search for her son is horrendous. jay slater, from lancashire, was last heard from on monday morning. the 19 year old had called a friend to say he was lost while walking 11 hours on foot with no water and his phone on just 1% battery. and in france , campaigning is and in france, campaigning is underway after president macron's surprise call for snap elections. jordan bardella, the president of the national rally , president of the national rally, says that if elected, he'd back ukraine but not supply it with any long—range weapons. mr bardella, who's just 28, shares leadership of the party with marine le pen and is widely expected to become france's prime minister if the national rally wins the election on the 7th of july. for the latest stories, you can sign up to gb

news alerts by scanning the code on your screen, or go to gb news. common alerts .

>> right. it's coming up to 3:00, and martin daubney is going to be up next until 6:00. i wonder what he's got on his menu for us today. martin, are you there? are you there? yes. you are. excellent. what's coming up ? coming up? >> i am, can i just say, guys, what a joust you had with george galloway. marvellous. i watched it about three times. well done. you held him to account . very, you held him to account. very, very entertaining. it was too. what have we got coming up? well, today is judgement day on the polling . two massive polls the polling. two massive polls dropped today. one at 4:00, one

at 5:00, expected to paint an apocalyptic vision of what it means for the conservative party. all that's up for grabs is the size of that supermajority . can the lib dems supermajority. can the lib dems resurge? can they get over their cleggmania years? will the reform party break through? we'll have all of those polls as they land with full analysis. plus follow the money we're going to ask a bookie. the bookie doesn't lie. the markets don't lie . could reformers be don't lie. could reformers be underrepresented in the polls? could the reform do even better than the polls say? and which tory big beasts look nailed on to lose their seats? we'll have full analysis, and stonehenge will be live from the site. the cultural vandals at just stop oil desecrating a unesco world heritage site. the tree huggers mecca. what were they thinking? even their own supporters must agree this was an act of cultural desecration . they cultural desecration. they should be banged up in jail. and

i'll be joined by professor karol sikora, the legendary oncologist looking at the facts. britain's cancer outcomes are 20 years behind sweden, denmark, other european nations. he agrees with nigel farage only a root and branch overhaul of the nhs can get us back into line with our european counterparts. all coming up three till six. >> austin sounds absolutely jam packed and i can't wait to see what is what the aftermath is at, at stonehenge. great that we've got a reporter heading there, martin. look forward to it. >> such a bizarre choice , isn't >> such a bizarre choice, isn't it, stonehenge the night before the summer solstice, it's an engush the summer solstice, it's an english heritage site , a natural english heritage site, a natural wonder. the druids ways , but, wonder. the druids ways, but, hey, yes, i think a lot of people would like to see those people would like to see those people banged up, anyway, scotland will attempt to rescue their euros campaign as they face switzerland this evening. >> well, manager steve clarke says it's important they bounce back from their five one defeat to hosts germany .

to hosts germany. >> obviously they want to go back to the pitch and play better. >> so that's i think that's pretty standard when you when you're when you play so poorly and you let yourself down, you want to go out and make amends. so that's that's where the their mentality is. >> right. >> right. >> well sorry for him. >> well sorry for him. >> oh you don't need to feel sorry. let's go to our scotland reporter in edinburgh. it's all to play for still tony mcguire, tony, you must be getting excited for this match. what are your thoughts? what do you think's going to happen ? think's going to happen? >> good afternoon. well, you know, i think i'm going to keep my thoughts on tonight's match to itself . switzerland performed to itself. switzerland performed pretty well against hungary earlier in the tournament, winning three one. and of course , that five one defeat at the hands of germany. well, you know , many of our countrymen up here are still licking our wounds from that one. but, you know, i think, you know, we look to the scotland manager, steve clarke, who we heard from there, you know, and he actually commented on how he reacted to that five

one defeat. and he said that he had to kick a couple of backsides, give a few cuddles and make the players understand why that result happened. but of course, up here in scotland, hope springs eternal, not least when it comes to football and these international tournaments and i went into glasgow to actually ask the people, you know, what their thoughts were ahead of tonight's big game. but there was a bit of a twist. so we gave the choice to people to choose between the good old favourite scottish tablet and the swiss chocolate and do the most unscientific pop psychology test to see whether that betrayed what their thoughts were about tonight's match. and i think you'll see the results pretty much speak for themselves . does that mean that you're both hopeful of a scotland win tomorrow night, it'd be good, but switzerland played well . but switzerland played well. maybe scotland always. >> we'll see. we'll see on the

same answer. >> no . what's the point of it? >> no. what's the point of it? all right. okay. scotland are gonna when they're gonna bring the euros home, get it back to scotland in you. >> well, if they keep it going, maybe they should. >> okay . >> okay. >> okay. >> should mid beds a few parallels between germany out domestically one each go for a draw . draw. >> but i feel like you should get a better tablet as well. do you have that tablet further, if scotland go out early, will you support england? no. absolutely not. >> no chance. no no claire pearsall. no chance . pearsall. no chance. >> well what. no no no no . >> well what. no no no no. >> well what. no no no no. >> perfect . >> perfect. >> perfect. >> so? >> so? >> so? >> so let's not forget. and the independence referendum, 55% of scotland obviously voted to remain as part of the uk. you know, there is there is a definitely a country countrymen ship here. but when it comes to football , let's face it, all football, let's face it, all bets are off. still all eyes will be on scotland. who could

be facing first in first out if they don't win tonight , scotland they don't win tonight, scotland can stay on for as long as they can, although perhaps the trophy might be a little bit. >> a little bit too much, too too ambitious this time around. but tony mcguire , thank you so but tony mcguire, thank you so much. really great to hear the voices of the people of glasgow . voices of the people of glasgow. >> i think you're a bit pessimistic, tom. a bit mean, you know , the gearing up for you know, the gearing up for a match this evening and you're just, you know, being realistic. well, there's no need for real being realistic when it comes to this sort of thing, you know, just be like, you know, good luck. >> no, no , no, this is this is >> no, no, no, this is this is this is. we need to be cynical about everything. this is a hard hitting news show. we've got to get to the truth. even if it's an uncomfortable truth. you've got to get to the truth. >> well, let's hope you look silly tonight anyway. coming up, it's the hall of shame. but for celebrities now, following justin timberlake's arrest for dnnk justin timberlake's arrest for drink driving, we'll be comparing some mug shots of a very famous stay tuned for this. it's

all right. well, 246 is the time. and another quick reminder for you that the state of the nafion for you that the state of the nation show is live with michael portillo tonight at 8:00. he's got a huge amount on planned. i've heard, anyway that michael has a rip roar of a show tonight at 8:00, so you don't want to miss it. so there you go. there is, michael portillo indeed . is, michael portillo indeed. >> but let's have a look at what's been going on in south wales for the first time in 40 years. industrial action is being taken by staff at tata steel, starting with an overtime ban. >> yes. this comes as the company plans to change the structure of the firm that will see 2800 jobs lost. our national reporter, theo chikomba reports from south wales since the 1960s. >> when you think of port talbot

, you think of steel. but that could be coming to an end . as could be coming to an end. as the owners, indian company tata, planned to close two furnaces that will see thousands lose their jobs . jason, that will see thousands lose theirjobs . jason, an electrical their jobs. jason, an electrical engineer, has worked here for 25 years. >> since leaving school, i've beenin >> since leaving school, i've been in the steel industry, so i've built my family around the steel industry . i've been part steel industry. i've been part of the very loyal, committed workforce , so yeah, basically workforce, so yeah, basically everything i've got is, is all part of what i've achieved through the steel industry . through the steel industry. said, we're fighting for that future. >> we're fighting for that existence, for that to carry on. >> tata steel say the reason for the closure is that they have been losing over £1 million a day. >> meanwhile, the government say without their support package, many thousands more would have lost their jobs here in port lost theirjobs here in port talbot and the wider supply chain . and that's why thousands chain. and that's why thousands of steelworkers like ian say they won't give up without putting up a fight, especially with the general election around the corner, because up until ,

the corner, because up until, you know, rishi sunak announced the general election , we were the general election, we were looking at 500 million from the government and what we do, but that hasn't been signed. >> so now the new labour government openly coming in, they've been quite forceful in saying they will not support 500 million for 2008 hundred job losses . they want a better losses. they want a better transition to save jobs and grows industry. so i think we're at a pivotal point of what we can do here. the steel industry contributes £2.4 billion into the uk economy every year , one the uk economy every year, one of a number of reasons why unite unions say the deal they've been offered is disastrous for their members . members. >> there are workers here who've been here for, for, for decades . been here for, for, for decades. you know, we've got all of that experience here. and to lose this site and to lose that work is an absolute disaster for britain. and i think the, you know, during the general election, this is absolutely a key issue, you know, supporting british industry, ensuring that

we're competitive, that we're productive, that there are good, well—paid jobs, for british people is really important. >> while the future is uncertain for thousands who have kept the fires burning in port talbot, tata steel's ambitions for a greener future come at a cost. for those who call this place home, the theo chikomba gb news is so hard to see how steel can be, frankly, viable to be made in this country unless we bring down the price of industrial energy. >> it's twice as expensive to make this stuff in the uk or to get the energy for this stuff in the uk than it is in the united states. i mean, no wonder these places are closing. we just can't be competitive with this price of energy. >> yeah, but you know as well as i do that this is an industry that people will say is of utmost important for us to make in house because it's of such strategic importance. should we be spending billions subsidising it? >> i mean, wouldn't it be better to have an all in energy policy

so we don't need to subsidise the steelmaking? >> we don't have that, do we? chicken before the egg anyway , chicken before the egg anyway, justin timberlake faces a charge of driving while intoxicated after being pulled over by police in the early hours of tuesday morning . tuesday morning. >> well, the pop star had his mugshot released yesterday by sag harbour police department in new york, and, to be honest, it doesn't really look like a mugshot, does it? it looks better than most people's passport photographs. yes. >> he doesn't seem to have aged much, but it all got us thinking about, celebs vie mug shots from history or recent history. >> anyway, of course. let's have a look at robert downey jr . now, a look at robert downey jr. now, this was perhaps the nadir of his career, but my goodness, not as good a mug shot. i say if i'm going to rank justin timberlake and robert downey jr, i think this one is slightly lower. however justin bieber barely looks like a mug shot at all. he's beaming at the camera. are you allowed to smile in a mug shot? yeah. >> so this was when he was 18, after being arrested under suspicion of driving under the influence. lots of duis going on

when it comes to celebrities. then of course, we have paris hilton , paris hilton coming up. hilton, paris hilton coming up. i believe we do. are there she is she she's she's doing a side profile there. >> is that allowed? i thought when you do when you do a passport photograph , you have to passport photograph, you have to look straight on at the camera. now, i have never been myself to clark county detention centre in the united states, but i would wager that most people have to look directly at the camera. is paris hilton getting special treatment here? >> she's just posing, isn't she ? >> she's just posing, isn't she? that's what she does. >> well, hugh grant was also been famously arrested. oh, that is, he's he's really not happy there. that's an interesting body contortion. really, in front of the lapd, the los angeles police for another dui ? angeles police for another dui? no, no, no, this was much more famous, this was, with a lady of the night. >> right. okay. and lindsay lohan , now she's had a lot of lohan, now she's had a lot of mug shots. she's been in and out, with these mug shots. very much so. >> well, she doesn't look that

bad. >> how many exactly she's had, but it's a very large number. at least six. multiple unwanted jail photos shoots, including a dui arrest in two thousand and seven, stealing a necklace, apparently. and also assaulting apparently. and also assaulting a woman in a nightclub , so. yes. a woman in a nightclub, so. yes. >> no, she's had a tough time of possession of drugs and all sorts, but, i mean, she doesn't look that bad in the mugshot, i think i think i think of celebrities. i think generally they get a bit of leeway when it comes to their mug shots. but perhaps you don't have to take your makeup off, do you? >> you can leave it on true . >> you can leave it on true. >>— >> you can leave it on true. >> maybe the most iconic of them all, however, was not a celebrity in the traditional sense, but someone who's actually, perhaps more known for politics now than he ever was for celebrity . for celebrity. >> who could he be talking about? >> donald trump had his mug shot put on t shirts. he's fundraising with his mug shot, which i think is perhaps the most innovative , form of that most innovative, form of that particular, virgin version of photography. >> but yeah, just before we clock off for the day, we wanted

to bring you some reaction to just stop oil antics, potentially criminal antics at stonehenge, i think we've got the tweet from the labour leader, which may be of interest to you. have we got it ? there we go. >> keir starmer says the damage done to stonehenge is outrageous. just stop oil a pathetic . those responsible must pathetic. those responsible must face the full force of the law. >> pathetic. well, there you go. strong stuff from keir starmer . strong stuff from keir starmer. and i think we also have the prime minister, rishi sunak. what's he had to say? just a simple one, what is that? six words. just stop oil are a disgrace. >> well, they got that out half an hour before, keir starmer did. maybe keir starmer needed the extra half hour to write the extra two sentences, consult the focus group. >> you know , well, anyway. >> you know, well, anyway. >> you know, well, anyway. >> well, it does seem it's nice in these, in these times of political division to have a group like just stop oil be able to bring the leader of the tory party and the leader of the

labour party together. it's just a sense of entitlement. >> entitlement that winds me up. i think my cause is important enough to, you know, ruin your heritage site and make it close for the rest of the day. i mean. oh, well, let's hope it never be rewarded. >> should it should not. let's hope they lock them up and throw away the key. but that's it from us today, join us, of course, for the same time tomorrow, 12:00, monday to friday. up next, it's martin daubney and he will have a reporter live at stonehenge . don't miss it. stonehenge. don't miss it. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb views . news. views. news. >> hello and welcome to the latest forecast from the met office for gb news high pressure today. that means most places are going to be fine. there'll be some warm sunny spells as well. not entirely blue skies. there are a couple of things

going on. first of all, some patchy cloud lingering across the uk under this, a ridge of high pressure as it builds in. and secondly, a frontal system, a weak frontal system will bring thickening cloud and some spots of rain into the far north of scotland through the day. freshening breeze here, but otherwise plenty of sunshine and the early cloud tends to disappear through the afternoon . disappear through the afternoon. so we're going to see some sunshine breaking out where we get the sunshine feeling pleasant enough. 22 to 23 celsius in the south, 21 celsius further north, although for northern and northwest scotland we do see further thickening of the cloud, especially for lewis and harris, with some outbreaks of rain moving in by the evening. but for much of the rest of scotland, sunny skies remain as we end the day, and increasingly sunny skies for northern ireland. northern england as well as well as for wales, the midlands. plenty of sunshine here and temperatures at 6 pm. still at 20 or 22 celsius. now by the later half

of the evening, the cloud and the outbreaks rain , along with the outbreaks rain, along with a freshening breeze, push into western scotland , eventually western scotland, eventually sinking into the central belt but tending to fizzle out. meanwhile, across the rest of the uk , it's staying dry the uk, it's staying dry overnight with clear spells, but temperatures will dip in sheltered rural spots down to 4 or 5 celsius across parts of england and wales. so a fresh start to thursday, but a bright start to thursday, but a bright start nevertheless . plenty of start nevertheless. plenty of sunshine first thing for england and wales, there's always the threat of some showers making an appearance later across the far south—east, but for the vast majority it's going to stay dry. long spells of sunshine, just some patchy cloud around and highs of 23 or even 24 celsius. >> that warm feeling inside and from boxt boilers. sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> a very, very good afternoon to you. it's 3 pm. welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk . on today's show, the uk. on today's show, a massive political poll will drop dunng massive political poll will drop during the show this afternoon. it's likely to paint an apocalyptic picture for the tories, with only the size of labour's supermajority and the numbers of seats picked up by a resurgent liberal democrats and an emerging reform party up for debate, we'll have full expert analysis the moment this poll lands. analysis the moment this poll lands . next up, the former lands. next up, the former justice secretary, sir robert buckland , has called for an buckland, has called for an amnesty for more than 29,000 people giving criminal convictions for breaking covid rules while they broke the rules. but then so did the government . so is ditching the government. so is ditching the fines the right thing to do ? fines the right thing to do? next up, just stop oil has

sparked fresh outrage this time