knife crime a moral mission make knife crime a moral mission we'll also hear from former england manager big sam allardyce ahead of tonight's big game against slovenia. and as always, i'd love you to get in touch with me with your thoughts on tonight's topics. visit gbnews.com/yoursay. but first, here's the news with polly middlehurst. >> camilla, thank you and good evening to you. well, suspended labour candidate kevin craig says he deeply regrets betting against himself and taking a punt on the tories, winning in his own constituency. he says he'll fully comply with any investigation and that comes after former conservative candidates craig williams and

laura saunders also face investigations amid allegations of betting on the date of the general election . mr williams general election. mr williams says he committed an error of judgement, but not an offence. meanwhile, labour is pledging to halve knife crime within a decade if it wins power. the party's plan includes creating a new cross—government coalition to work on solutions, as well as community hubs involving youth workers and careers advisers. sir keir starmer says cracking down on knife crime is for him a moral mission. >> i was the chief prosecutor for five years and therefore i prosecuted many cases involving the use of knives and i have made it my personal mission to deal with this. it is a moral mission as far as i'm concerned. it isn't a question of urban versus rural. in fact, i think there's more knife crime. sadly, in rural areas, at least it's going up more quickly. and i think it's not fair on the families we've been hearing from this morning to simply point the

finger to somebody else. this is something which a government needs to take responsibility for . i will take responsibility for on a cross—party basis, to make the change that we need now. >> a former engineer claims the post office tried to put words in his mouth when he attempted to disclose concerns he had about the horizon it system . about the horizon it system. gareth jenkins worked for fujitsu for his entire professional career and was regarded as a distinguished employee right up until his retirement in 2015. evidence he gave about the horizon system was used in the prosecutions of many subpostmasters, which have since been quashed , but he told since been quashed, but he told today's inquiry that he never had oversight of all the systems bugs, and he relied on others to supply reliable information . supply reliable information. juuan supply reliable information. julian assange is due to appear before a federal judge in the mariana islands. that's a us territory in the western pacific. the 52 year old founder of wikileaks left the uk this

morning after 1900 days at belmarsh prison . he's expected belmarsh prison. he's expected to be sentenced to five years. that's roughly the equivalent of the time that he's already served in britain , meaning most served in britain, meaning most likely he's due to walk free. well, it's understood he will plead guilty to a single count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security material. nonetheless here in london, pomp and pageantry were the order of the day. today, as their majesties the king and queen welcome the emperor and empress of japan, beginning a three day state visit, starting with a guard of honour in horse guards parade, the royals greeted the prime minister, rishi sunak, as well as other dignitaries. princess anne isn't taking part in today's welcome for the japanese royal family while she recovers in hospital after being injured by a horse at the weekend. early reports from her husband indicate, though, that she is doing fine. we understand that's the news for the latest stories, do sign up to gb news alerts. scan the

qr code on your screen or go to gb news. comments . gb news. comments. >> thank you. polly. before we get into the news of the evening, can i just have a little toot of my own trumpet? this is the tric award that won we today. my team on the sunday morning show we interviewed legendary broadcaster. let's describe him as that alastair stewart, who used to appear on this show very frequently, but told us in that interview that he'd been diagnosed with dementia and we've won a tric award for interview of the year. that's a hat trick for gb news, because nigel farage also won news presenter of the year for the second year running, and gb news breakfast won best news show . so we were very happy. show. so we were very happy. i've just been at the grosvenor house hotel. it's lucky i'm teetotal so that i can present this sober many people won't be because there was an after party and i think half the staff may be there, but i just want to

thank all of you for voting for us, because it made all the difference. this is an award that's awarded by the viewers, as opposed to a panel of judges who might often turn their noses up @gbnews, and that may explain why we've won. that's people power for you, because this is the people's channel. so thank you very much indeed. if no one minds, i'm going to keep it on the desk for the duration of this show. because if you don't blow your own trumpet, nobody else blows it for you. but let's get into the first story that we're going to be discussing tonight. and that's this record high small boat arrivals from the channel. since january. so let me just take you through the figures. first of all, a total of 12,901 people seeking asylum have crossed this year. that passes the previous six month record of 12,747. in 2022, home office figures show that 257 people made the journey in four boats on sunday alone, to just put that into context, couldn't quite believe this when i looked it up, but that number for

arriving on sunday alone is almost as many as the 299 people that arrived by small boats in the whole year of 2018. so if you look at the graph of small boat arrivals, i mean, it is literally like a ski jump. it's gone up and up and up. literally like a ski jump. it's gone up and up and up . and the gone up and up and up. and the question is why that's happening . and indeed, whether you think any of the main parties have been talking about cracking down, not just on legal migration, but illegal migration, but illegal migration, this promise being made by the tories and indeed labour primarily to stop the boats. do you believe it? do you actually trust anyone to stop the boats? and if you do trust someone who is it? get in touch. leave a comment for me @gbnews .com forward slash yoursay with your views this evening on that question, and we'll come back and revisit your thoughts. a little later. joining me to discuss this is doctor omar hammoud, galago fellow in political science at the london school of economics and formerly the united nations high commissioner for refugees .

commissioner for refugees. lovely to see you this evening. thank you very much indeed for joining me. so let's just start with why have the numbers skyrocketed to such a great extent since that figure of 299 in 2018, which, let's be honest , in 2018, which, let's be honest, wasn't that long ago. >> absolutely. well, there is one response, and that response is , on the one hand, it's is, on the one hand, it's brexit, on the other is, the war in ukraine and a series of upheavals throughout many of the regions from which rich refugees come from. >> let me just go back on that. why brexit? because we know that there have been thousands and thousands of migrants, for instance, landing at lampedusa , instance, landing at lampedusa, the italian island, for the last decade. and obviously they're still a member of the eu. i noted that over the course of the last year, until the end of may, 95,000 migrants had still turned up at lampedusa . so being turned up at lampedusa. so being a member of the bloc doesn't seem to make much difference. >> no, absolutely. in fact, the uk still receives and has often, quite, you know, quite often

received many more, many less applications or fewer applications or fewer applications than its european partners. now brexit comes into the picture because before brexit we had something called the dublin regulation, which allowed the uk to send back migrants , or rather asylum migrants, or rather asylum seekers who had first arrived in the european mainland and then tried to come to the eu back to the mainland where they had come from. but because we've left without any sort of agreement without any sort of agreement with the european union, now anyone can come in and, tough luck trying to convince the french to take them back. >> yes. well, let's talk about the french, because nigel farage, the reform leader, has been out in the channel, in the early hours of this morning and he has been saying that he's observed a dinghy arriving full of migrants. and effectively, the french authorities have escorted them into english waters. so he's questioning why we're paying all these millions to the french for them, not really to provide any border control at all. >> yes. >> yes. >> no, that's a good point. but,

i mean, i wouldn't know if the french authorities are actually escorting, migrants, but what can i what can i can tell you for sure is that this is a complex problem that requires complex problem that requires complex solutions, paying the french will not simply solve the problem. right. we need a comprehensive agreement with the european partners that will probably run along the lines of the dublin regulation. right. so we find a way of, the european union accepting individuals back that have arrived. via small boats to the uk. probably using some, you know , through some some, you know, through some negotiations and, that will probably entail resettling some individuals from the european mainland into the uk. but this is what it is about. right? so these are complex decisions. the outcome will it will they will be the outcome of complex negotiations, and i think schemes like the rwanda plan, for instance, are definitely not going to do anything in that regard. >> why do you say that? >> why do you say that? >> because the tory argument, of course, is that it acts as a deterrent. funnily enough, my newspaper, the telegraph did a piece today. one of our

reporters went over to dunkirk, asked some migrants there what they were thinking about the prospect of a labour government and some of them said, well, we're waiting for a labour government because they're going to scrap the rwanda scheme, and that's going to make it easier for us to come into the uk. >> yeah, so i'll be very clear on this. i don't think there is any evidence at the moment in terms of statistics that suggest that migrants have stopped coming to the uk by boat, as you've just shown, because they're waiting for a labour government. i think the home office data that you use, and told us about earlier that 882 migrants arrived on june the 18th alone. yes. shows that this is the case. so they're not just there waiting, are they? no, they're not waiting there. >> rwanda or the spectre of rwanda, even in the improbable likelihood of the conservatives winning the next election and instigating rwanda and having those flights take off, as rishi sunak has promised in july, it can't be acting as a deterrent, theoretically, because these are record high numbers. >> absolutely, i've said it

several times on this channel, they run the plan is ineffective. i don't think it's going to deter any migrants, or rather asylum seekers from coming in. they will just find other ways of coming in. is extremely expensive, right? we know that for to only send only the first 300 people will have to pay over half a billion pounds. and as a british taxpayer, i think our money can be better used than that. yes, and then third, of course, it's illegal. it goes against much of our national legislation, but also international conventions that were ratified and of course, it wouldn't pass the test of the european court of human rights. >> so a couple of questions on behalf of the audience, who i think are confused as to why migrants can leave a safe country like france and still claim asylum in the uk, they've been safe in france , or indeed been safe in france, or indeed they may have been safe in any of the european countries that they've travelled through to get to this island . to this island. >> absolutely, i think the response is quite clear . the response is quite clear. the convention, the geneva convention of 1951, that sort of sets the frame , the framework

sets the frame, the framework for, the way we accept refugees states that as a state, you don't have to accept anyone who's beyond your borders. but once they're in, you have to, get have a look at their application for asylum, because you might be missing something. now of course, if they're coming through, safe third countries, then , the question is why? and then, the question is why? and as you rightly ask . and, and as you rightly ask. and, and i think it's often because the reasons for, for choosing a specific country over another often comes back to the networks that they have , right, the that they have, right, the language that they speak. so the choice of country often goes way beyond, because if you think of it, if they wanted to look for a country with a higher gdp per capita, they might as well stay in in germany, right, or austria, right. and in fact, they have easier access to work there. so why are they coming to there. so why are they coming to the uk? they're coming to the uk for complex reasons. often depending on who they know, what they believe they can do in this country. and so to go back originally, how can we transform this flow of individuals that go

through safe third countries into maybe, a direct resettlement for individuals who really need it instead of but let's find nail that down individuals who really need it as opposed to those who are picking and choosing which european country they settle for in possibly familial reasons. >> but also, let's be honest, economic reasons. i mean, maybe people are settling here because they like the, free access to they like the, free access to the nhs that they may be entitled to after three years, etc. right. so the waters appear to be muddied by the failure. and i don't know whether it's a un problem, whether it's a government problem, whether it's a home office problem, whether it's a general problem of distinguishing between economic migrants and genuine asylum seekers, would you agree that has been a problem historically when it comes to arrivals at the channel? >> absolutely, absolutely. i mean, we know that many of the individuals who are coming, are asylum seekers because, roughly speaking, around 50% of applications eventually get accepted . so we know that, for accepted. so we know that, for instance, if you if you look at

the third most common nationalities, you will find people from afghanistan, from pakistan and from iran. so hardly democracies in places where many individuals would, would want to make a life there, but on the other hand, how do you distinguish between, if you, if you want a pure economic migrants, right, who might not have a right to asylum? and i think that's a country, a country wide problem, you know, a country at war, a country that may persecute individuals because of their political affiliations, maybe because of their sexuality , doesn't their sexuality, doesn't necessarily mean it blanketly appues necessarily mean it blanketly applies to everyone coming from those countries. >> some of those people coming from those countries surely are not directly affected . not directly affected. >> well, we wouldn't know until we see those applications . we see those applications. right. and that's the problem. >> you can't know beforehand is the kind of acceptance rates of asylum claims in this country as opposed to other countries, i think the, the acceptance, for instance, if you look at, people from afghanistan or people from eritrea applying for asylum, they're almost universally recognised as asylum seekers.

right? and people coming from countries that we might consider safe almost universally get not recognised. however, there are many cases that are really difficult to tell beforehand, right? yes you can't know really if someone coming from i don't want to name countries, just avoid, yes, political issues, but some countries might have, let's say rogue authorities , the let's say rogue authorities, the army, they could have the police that are persecuting individually someone although, from the outset, if you look at the country, you might think, well, you know, it looks okay as a, as a, as a country in general. but there might be issues there that you're not capturing. >> so say the specificity of people being processed is accurate and right, despite a massive backlog because of the huge influx in numbers . huge influx in numbers. >> then i suppose the argument is should there be a cap just in general on how many people are granted asylum in this country? just in order to maintain quality of services , housing and quality of services, housing and infrastructure in the same way that legal migration? one could argue you can have too much of a

good thing if it means that it feels as if the public services in this country are overloaded. at what point do you say, well, i'm really sorry, we've taken a load of ukrainians, a load of hong kongers. there's been a huge influx from vietnam recently. i understand that actually, we can't take any more. is that just not the way the law works? >> i think for economic migration, i can understand the focus on quotas because, you know, how many you need, you know, how many you need, you know how many you want to get into the country. and so that's easy. but when it comes to asylum seekers, the biggest predictor of people coming into a country are the disasters that happenin a country are the disasters that happen in their own countries. right. it's not a surprise that the number of afghani asylum seekers has gone up after the fall of kabul. it's not a surprise that the number of ukrainians coming into this country skyrocketed after the invasion of russia. it's not a surprise that when syria collapsed, many individuals tried to get here. so the problem is with the inflows of asylum seekers and refugees, often it's difficult to predict beforehand what is going to happen. you don't know what the numbers are going to look like. and so it's rather a question of how do you respond to it. and i

think the uk could respond in a better way, right. by being better way, right. by being better prepared, by investing in the infrastructure that the home office needs, and i think , office needs, and i think, think, for instance, of what happenedin think, for instance, of what happened in the european union after the invasion of ukraine, the european union, instead of saying you know what a these many can go to this country and this many go to this country, actually simply let the borders open and ukrainians distributed quite well across the whole of the european union. >> doctor, we have to leave it there. i'm afraid, because we're running out of time. we could do a whole episode on this. let's be perfectly honest. but thank you very much for your wisdom and expertise on this issue. thank you. coming up next, we're going to be discussing the latest in the tory betting scandal. and would you believe a labour candidate has also been embroiled in his own alleged betting scandal? two don't go anywhere

welcome back to vote 2024 with me. camilla tominey. let's get

into the latest on the betting scandal now. so we've got five more police officers now implicated in the tory betting. betting scandal. that comes after craig williams and laura saunders, both under investigation for allegedly betting on the election date being disowned by the tories. so just explain their candidates and they're still on the ballot papen and they're still on the ballot paper. but the tories have basically disenfranchised them. then, weirdly, another twist in this strange tale a labour candidate called kevin craig has been suspended for betting against himself, winning his own constituency, which i find rather baffling. that's what we think has happened. we haven't had that confirmed, but that's what we think has happened. well, let's bring former labour mp steve mccabe into the conversation. stephen, it's strange this , isn't it? i mean, strange this, isn't it? i mean, what's your reaction to what's been going on? we've got tory candidates in implicated. we've got met police officers implicated. now we've got this separate thing of a labour

candidate betting. i mean, it's strange, isn't it? >> well, it is strange, but i think if you unpick it, it's fairly straightforward, in the case of the labour candidate, as you say, betting against himself . keir starmer's been as good as his word. his feet haven't touched the ground. he's been suspended . that's the difference suspended. that's the difference between leadership and dithering i >> -- >> so you emma >> so you think rishi sunak dragged his feet too much? >> well of course he did. and the longer he drags his feet, the longer he drags his feet, the more his scandal expands. and remember the distinction here is one person who inexplicably votes against bets against himself. yes, and clearly isn't fit to be a labour candidate. no problem there. i'm very clear about that. but the other issue is whether people used insider knowledge to try and defraud the betting system. yes, and that's a much more serious charge. >> stressing. look, this is under investigation. the conservative party are investigating their own. we've got the gambling commission also investigating. so far, no

admissions of guilt or indeed findings of guilt. we've heard from rishi sunak in a debate last week with bbc's fiona bruce saying how angry he is about all this. i mean, it's very difficult, isn't it? >> well, so angry that it took him nearly two weeks to take any action. >> but then he thinks that the authorities should be investigating before he says the prime minister isn't the authority he is. all right, stephen, let's talk in general terms about the election campaign. i mean, what's your reading of it? do you believe these projections of a labour supermajority? one mrp poll last week for savanta, predicting that they may end up with 516 seats? >> no, i don't think anyone in the labour party believes that at all. i think that is fantasy politics. i mean, it does look as if people go out and vote labourin as if people go out and vote labour in the way they are telling, labour candidates on the doorstep. then there could well be a labour government. i don't think that's really in dispute. i think i can't think of anyone who can believe the

conservative campaign we've witnessed, and it's very clear they're much more interested in roughing each other up than fighting an election. yes >> against the labour party. do we know what we're getting with keir starmer? i mean, we found out from labour who they aren't going to tax that phrase. working people , whatever that working people, whatever that means, stephen. but they haven't said who they are beyond non—doms people who pay private school fees and energy companies, i mean, people are suspicious that as soon as he gets handed the keys to number 10, they got to tax something because they can't afford all of their spending pledges. if they don't . so are we to expect a don't. so are we to expect a wealth tax? are to we expect an increase in capital gains tax? could we see our gardens being taxed as has been proposed by labourin taxed as has been proposed by labour in wales? council tax going up. stephen, what do you reckon. >> well, i can't remember an election where the labour party hasn't been accused of having some fantasy range of taxes and i can't actually remember a labour government that's subsequently done it . look,

subsequently done it. look, labour has set out a programme that it believes it can, implement within the tax provisions they've made available, and they've made it very clear the priority is to go for growth. it's to grow the economy. >> but you must remember the 19705 >> but you must remember the 1970s where the labour government imposed a super tax on the wealthy, led to an absolute brain drain and an exodus. so this is why people are suspicious, because as margaret thatcher once famously said, you know, the trouble with socialists is that they're good at spending other people's money. so people are just thinking that labour will revert to type. if rachel reeves is saying she won't borrow beyond certain parameters, she won't tax vat , income tax or national tax vat, income tax or national insurance. but they've got these huge spending pledges, including their green prosperity plan. how on earth are they going to pay for it? if they don't impose a wealth tax? which, let's be honest, the woman who wants to be the next chancellor has massively flirted with in the past. >> well, i can just about

remember the labour government 50 years ago. i'm not sure it's the best thing to join, at the present time and the reality is the present government has imposed the highest level of taxation since the second world war. so i don't think we need any lessons or any warnings from the conservative party about taxation at the moment . taxation at the moment. >> institute for fiscal studies has examined all the manifestos. labour claims theirs is fully costed , as has the conservatives costed, as has the conservatives and the liberal democrats, and indeed reform. and paul johnson at the ifs basically says they're not worth the paper they're not worth the paper they're written on. they're not properly costed at all, and they're flimsy. and i include labourin they're flimsy. and i include labour in that, you know, they could be entering government on a super majority on the basis really, of a blank piece of papen really, of a blank piece of paper, which hasn't got much detail in it. >> well, see, i don't think there would be any super majority, but and i've got a lot of respect for paul johnson actually, the ifs report also said that labour's proposals in terms of regulation and in terms

of planning, changes will likely to speed growth. and that that was the thing that was going to make the difference. >> so you don't think that labour will bring in more regulation. and again revert to type? i mean, that's the problem or at least the concern of small and medium sized businesses that they're going to be caught up in ever more red tape. >> well , no, i ever more red tape. >> well, no, i don't think that's, i don't think that's any part of labour's plans. what we want is to grow small businesses, micro businesses, to small businesses, small businesses to bigger businesses. that's the whole minimum wage goes up to say, as has been mooted by angela rayner and indeed hinted at by rachel reeves , to £15 an hour. reeves, to £15 an hour. >> let's just look at the hospitality sector. with pubs closing down rapidly by the week, isn't that going to cripple a lot of small businesses that have had 6% shaved off their profit margins because of the rise in corporation tax? they've had a

horrific covid. how are some small businesses going to cope with that kind of wage increase? the living wage and the minimum wage has risen by a record amount just in recent years, and amount just in recent years, and a lot of businesses are going to be really struggling to cope with that. >> well, obviously, i recall when the labour government, the last labour government, introduced the minimum wage and there were all sorts of dire warnings about what it was going to do in fact, it helped the economy. i don't think there's any question that we're going to try and impose wage rises that are unrealistic. what we're looking for is a fair deal for people who are working and for people who are working and for people who are running businesses . businesses. >> the counterargument to that is, okay, a fair deal for people . that's fine. if you put wages up too high, it's inflationary. and equally, if it closes businesses down, people lose their jobs. anyway. businesses down, people lose theirjobs. anyway. hold businesses down, people lose their jobs. anyway. hold that thought because i've got james heappey in paddington. he's the former armed services minister. he's with us now. james heappey, can i get your reaction to this

latest development in the tory betting scandal? we've got five more police officers now embroiled. it's a bit of a nightmare. this for rishi sunak, isn't it? yeah >> it just the whole. the whole thing sucks and just plays to the public's perception of politicians generally. i mean i don't think they distinguish sadly because there's now a labour guy that's involved in some sort of election betting thing as well. i think all it doesis thing as well. i think all it does is just creates that sort of weary sigh as people look at each other over the in the coffee queue in the morning and does politics on the whole, a massive disservice. >> and james, i know you're not standing, so you're sort of running into the distance in a different way and doing something different with your life. after committing a huge amount of your time, not just to the armed forces by the way, but also to political life. give us as objective a analysis of the tory campaign and what you think the prospects are for rishi sunak come july the 4th.

>> oh, look , there's there won't >> oh, look, there's there won't be a conservative government elected next week, that is plain to see, and so i think that what people have got to consider is whether or not it is healthy for our democracy. if parliament were to become just irrelevant, which is what it would become if the majority was was so vast , the majority was was so vast, and, you know, heck, there have been people on the left who were complaining that an 80 seat majority gave boris johnson untrammelled power, well, they ain't seen nothing yet . ain't seen nothing yet. >> on that note, james heappey, thank you very much indeed for joining me. i know you had a bit of a transport nightmare, so i'm very grateful to see your face in the paddington studio. my pleasure. we'll be speaking again. i know during this election campaign. steve mccabe, thank you very much indeed for your contribution. coming up next, we're going to discuss sir keir starmer's plan to make knife crime, or at least reducing it a moral mission. and

we're going to be speaking to two men who have gone onto the streets and tried to confiscate knives. they're doing great work, and we're to speak to both in just a

welcome back to vote 2024 with me. camilla tominey. now labour leader sir keir starmer has said he wants to make it his moral mission to bring knife crime down. this is what he said about it earlier . it earlier. >> i was the chief prosecutor for five years and therefore i prosecuted many cases involving the use of knives and i have made it my personal mission to deal with this. it is a moral mission as far as i'm concerned. it isn't a question of urban versus rural. in fact, i think there's more knife crime, sadly, in rural areas. or at least it's going up more quickly. and i think it's not fair on the families we've been hearing from this morning to simply point the finger to somebody else. this is something which a government needs to take responsibility for

. i will take responsibility for on a cross party basis, to make the change that we need. >> so labour says knife related offences have risen by 81% since 2005 across england and wales. to discuss this issue, i'm joined now by farron, alex paul, who's an anti—knife crime campaigner and founder of faze amnesty. lovely to see you farron. thank you so much for coming in. now you were stabbed 18 times in two different attacks this happened when farron, once in 2000 and another time in 2003, and then you took it upon yourself to basically try and rid the streets of knives. so i understand that you've collected more than 1400 weapons in just five years, which is astonishing. or more than that , do you reckon? than that, do you reckon? >> yeah. no, the last count we've done, is in the high parts of 4000. >> 4000? well, sorry, my figures are out of date. so when you hear the labour leader or indeed any politician talk about bringing knife crime down, do

you find that credible? or do you find that credible? or do you think there's a complete disconnect between politicians and what's actually happening out on the streets , well, i out on the streets, well, i thought where knife crime is now, and the governing bodies that's been responsible over the last decade or so, i believe there are part of the reason why knife crime is where it is now . knife crime is where it is now. so when you do hear somebody coming, and they're offering tangible manifestos, then maybe it's something that we'd like to believe in, but at the same time, i just asked if anybody's coming with these ways and these promises of how to fix knife crime. i don't know how. maybe. >> yeah, well, let me tell you what he suggested. >> he suggested that he wants to create a new cross—government coalition to work on solutions. so he's saying, let's not make this party political. let's all get together, put our heads together, and come and try and come up with some solutions. he then wants to chair an annual knife crime summit to track progress once a year. >> right? >> right? >> yeah, but i'm looking at it and thinking , hang on a minute.

and thinking, hang on a minute. you know, what are more practical solutions? is it we need more coppers on the streets? is it that you're going to say to me, an increase in stop and search would help? is it that we need youth workers who have disappeared over the course of recent decades? there aren't enough things for young people to do, so they get sucked into knife crime. i'd imagine it's a multifaceted approach, but in your experience , you're but in your experience, you're out in the streets dealing with people who are carrying knives, young people. what do you think would make the most difference, i think we need to be aiming at preventative measures, and we need to be getting through to the younger children before they even are susceptible to certain behaviours or interactions. and i also think that youth provisions and provisions in terms of funding, in terms of youth centres, that they've been depleted over the years . and i depleted over the years. and i just feel like if there's anybody out there that realises how detrimental youth services are to the younger people in terms of growth and in terms of guidance, like it's really, really important factor of society and into children growing. so anyone that's in a possible, in a position to offer

them services back into the community. yeah. then i feel that that is going to be a start of helping. >> so get up close and personal with young people who are sucked into this, talk them out of it. take knives away as you've been doing, and really offer that practical help. and joining me down the line now is anthony olatunde, who is the ceo of always an alternative, a youth organisation based in south yorkshire. i've spoken to farron here. i hope you might have heard that, what do you think needs to be done ? because once needs to be done? because once again, here we've got some great rhetoric from the politicians . rhetoric from the politicians. let's have cross—party summits. but again, you're on the streets, you've got these bins that you've set up where people can put knives in, no questions asked, just get rid of them. have an amnesty. what else needs to be done ? to be done? >> i think, well, it just needs like a reset button, if i'm being honest. we need a multi—layered approach. of course. what fans don't does absolutely fundamental. why because he's giving young people an option. and at the minute, young people don't have a safe

opfion young people don't have a safe option to get rid of weapons. so when they get given an option, then that's what they can use. so that is fundamental as you said. also we need to get them young. unfortunately, primary school age , we don't have to go school age, we don't have to go in all guns blazing knife this knife that we can teach them soft skills. we can teach them to how handle conflict. we can teach him how to, you know , teach him how to, you know, speak to one another and how to handle, you know, disruptive other people. so for me, it's multi—layered. i think that the government, they're just out of touch. they come, they make these things up that sound absolutely beautiful. they do. they sound like , yes, that's they sound like, yes, that's what i need in my life. however, we all know it is far from the truth. i mean , even now, let me truth. i mean, even now, let me just pick something up that you've said . you've said. >> primary school children. i mean, how young are some of these kids with these knives? >> i've. i've dealt with a young boy, he came to me when he was. i think he was seven, and we did all we could. we offered the family help. and two years

later, he ended up getting stabbed himself, which was absolutely heartbreaking. you know it. it's happening. it's a real thing, and it needs the attention. >> but you agree with farron that what this is really about is 1 to 1 help. it's embedding people who can relate to children in the community. i mean, perhaps more than police officers is the relationship between the police and young people, particularly in ethnic minority communities, just not what it once was? anthony finally , i don't think it is anywhere. >> i think the police need to understand that, you know, that relationship that was once held years ago when there was community police around that has long gone, and people don't trust the police as much as they do. i've had accounts where people have had their houses robbed. the police don't even go to see him. they just give him an incident report number people don't want that. people want to feel supported and they want to feel supported and they want to feel safe. and this is why a lot of people are carrying weapons, because they simply don't feel safe on the streets . so actual safe on the streets. so actual police numbers would be a start.

increasing community policing anthony . finally. anthony. finally. >> yeah i don't think the increase of police isn't the issue because you know prisons are full. i think it's training those police that we have got to be community based and work within communities and sort out those issues within communities and branch out . and branch out. >> okay. anthony farron, thank you very much indeed for your expertise on that. coming up next, we're going to be thinking ahead to the england versus slovenia match at the euros and talking to big sam allardyce about what gareth southgate needs to do to win back the support of england don't go

>> welcome back to vote 2024. the people decide with me. camilla tominey england kicking off against slovenia shortly. let's speak to theo chikomba, our gb news reporter who's live

from the fan zone in croydon. oh my goodness me. probably being covered with beer and certainly soaking up the atmosphere. theo >> yeah, well, the atmosphere here is electric at the moment. only a few minutes away until the england match starts. now, interestingly, for those who may be watching eastenders when they're a bit younger, a shaun williamson who used to play barry on eastenders was on the stage a few moments ago and now they have been singing. it's coming home, so a lot of people are hopeful this evening. england has got one change this evening. conor gallagher, who plays for chelsea, is in the starting line—up, taking over from trent alexander—arnold, who plays for liverpool. >> there have been a lot of talk in the last couple of days about who's going to start, who is going to drop out, so it's going to be a tasty affair this evening. >> but here in croydon the spirits are high. we've been speaking to fans, some who've travelled all the way from australia to come and watch the game here in croydon, so plenty of people are excited to be

spending time with their family and friends this evening. but we're looking forward to after the game. what does this mean for england ? will they remain on for england? will they remain on top of the table or will slovenia win this game? or even if it's a draw , what's that if it's a draw, what's that going to mean for both those teams? because what happens this evening will determine particularly for slovenia as well, if they progress or not. but england though they are pretty much safe. it's how are we going to perform tonight for all of these fans, not just here, but right across the country and across the world as well? we'll be watching this game and they'll be hoping it will be coming home. >> theo, thank you very much indeed. competing there with the strains of the beatles hey jude, which i presume is being played in honour of jude bellingham . i in honour of jude bellingham. i know you're giving us dispatches throughout the evening so you can stay tuned to gb news. keep on the radio. we'll keep you updated with the football score, well, joining me now to give his expert opinion on tonight's big match is big sam allardyce again. lovely to speak to you sam. let's have a look at this

line up then. i've just scribbled down on my piece of papen scribbled down on my piece of paper. so we've got foden still starting and we've got trent alexander—arnold swapped out for conor gallagher, who had been brought on after half time in the last two matches. what do we think of that? because this whole foden starting thing has proved a bit controversial. >> sam, it's not him starting, it's in the position he's been playing and of course that's right. he's he's not out wide left. he's not preferred out wide left at man city. he's player of the season at man city. scored 20 goals playing in one. and he would go very well in my opinion with bellingham. but obviously gareth has this this particular system that he's stuck to no matter what, which is two city midfield players and of course that restricts who plays in that, in that position in the old who plays a the floater position number 10. and obviously jude bellingham has that position at the minute. i am disappointed in the selection i must say, but i am hopeful

that that won't matter, that the performance will pick up and the players will play to their best and then the system won't really matter that much if all the players play much better than they have been. create more, get more on the front foot, close the opposition down when they get the ball. and this is not an easy game by the way, so i don't really, really well. so i think they'll drop back . they'll play they'll drop back. they'll play defensively. look to play on the counter—attack and england need to break this type of defending down tonight and really need to try and pick up the spirit of the england fans that are out in their thousands supporting them again . again. >> sam, just explain why you wouldn't have made this selection. i get what you're saying. we've got this problem on the left, we've got luke shaw injured, we've got trippier who's a right footed player playing on the left. i mean, in my mind, he keeps on kicking it backwards with his right foot, which doesn't seem to be working. i'm sort of shocked that there aren't more premier league players with a left foot who he can choose from, but we've had criticism, haven't we,

between gary lineker and alan shearer saying that harry kane isn't playing to his strengths, how would you have organised things, sam? who would you have started and not started out of this? line—up >> well, well, i would obviously. i would obviously have. i've obviously played foden in in with with bellingham and declan rice . i mean yes for and declan rice. i mean yes for me no doubt about that. and obviously down the left hand side bowen because i think when he's come on as a sub he's done all right. but you know you could have palmer you could try him. don't forget we're through to the next round. so it's not. yes. it's not a huge risks on changing the side that little bit to find somebody comes in and gives a fresh pair of eyes, as in terms of the left back of trippier. well, we just haven't got a left footed player to play there. so he has to maintain that position for the for the time being of course. but it's about every performance today about every performance today about lifting the performance, about lifting the performance, about playing on the front foot

and moving the ball quickly and playing off. harry kane and the front three play off the harry kane, the front three squeeze. and what i'm really seeing is this slow, pedantic build up this slow, pedantic build up this sideways and backwards passing. yeah. all the way through. >> it's so tedious, isn't it? >> it's so tedious, isn't it? >> you know, i, i've just watched austria, you know, and they're just going to beat holland and they played the ball forward so quickly the dutch couldn't cope with in the end. and they've won three two. so i'd like to see england play that. they play that ball forward, play it and pass and move and get in the opposition's box as much as possible. >> amen to that, sam. i mean, the southgate formula seems to be safety first, and it's quite frustrating as a fan to have to sort of sit through it, do you think this criticism of harry kane has been fair ? kane has been fair? >> yeah, because he hasn't played he hasn't played very well at all. and i mean, harry, as a captain really has to say to his players, come on, lads, i mean, i'm getting a load of sticky. i need some service off

you. i need you to be finding me. i need you to be getting the ball into me, you know, wherever that might be. i'll receive the ball, i'll accept it. and then i'll get the ball in possession going forward and get in a box and score. but yeah, you know, just deliver for me and i'll deliver back. and that really has been a problem about the amount of ball that he's been able to receive. hence the criticism that he's got. >> but also it's a criticism that they're all just playing too defensively and not with enough courage and flair. sam. that's the point, isn't it? >> well, yes. well, there's over 100 goals in that team that played well. harry 44 goals in germany and the rest of the team in the premier league. probably 80 odd goals. so you know we we've got really very accomplished goal scorers from most positions in that team. so let's get them in a position to score. >> yeah. if you were a manager sam what would you be saying to them right now. you're in the dressing room. you've got all of their attention gathered round. they're all hanging on your every word. what's your team talk sam ?

talk sam? >> my team talk would be to be very positive about how you're going to play the game and, you know, really get down to the way you play and the way, you know, you play and the way, you know, you can play both individually and as a team. you've done all the tactics, you've done all the opposition and how dangerous they are. but it really is about you. it's really going to make slovenia pay for our lack of performance in the first two, and go and show everybody at home and everybody in the stadium just who you are tonight, and deliver. >> all right, great stuff. sam allardyce i'm sure we'll be speaking again throughout this tournament, but thank you very much indeed for your time this evening. coming up next, we've got state of the nation with tom harwood. lovely to see you. and you. >> congratulations on the trick. i mean, my goodness me, have i mentioned huge honour? have i mentioned huge honour? have i mentioned we won an award, tom, what have you got coming up, breaking news just now. rishi sunak has had four home invaders in his home property in richmond, yorkshire. four have been arrested. one seemed to

have been attempting to defecate in his goodness in his lake. so we'll be discussing that. but we'll be discussing that. but we'll also be discussing much more . besides the idea that more. besides the idea that there are these migrants who are waiting to cross the channel before a change in government, we're going to investigate the truth behind that. >> yeah, that was a telegraph story, suggesting they were quite eager for sir keir starmer to be in charge. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> that the border might be a little more lax. >> they've spoken to some people who are in and around calais who are saying that they might delay, but also the financial times has done some investigation in where the labour party is sending its activists, suggesting there might be a secret behind the scenes. lib—lab pact, a non—aggression, a non—aggression pact, particularly in the south—west of england. >> all right, great show coming up. very much looking forward to it.thank up. very much looking forward to it. thank you very much, tom harwood. did i mention i won an award? yes. and that's one of three for gb news. so celebrate with us. thank you very much for your support and for your votes. i'll be back here tomorrow at 7:00. coming up next, the state

of the nation. but first of all, here's the weather. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news evening. >> welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. very warm and humid again for most places. tomorrow it will be a bit cloudier across parts of the east, particularly eastern scotland. we are kind of between two areas of high pressure. an old weather front has been providing quite a lot of cloud today over parts of scotland and northern ireland, and still producing a little bit of light rain over eastern scotland. 1 or 2 heavy showers for southern scotland and northern england. they should tend to fade away. for most. it's a dry night, lengthy, clear skies across the south turning a bit misty along some eastern coast and perhaps in the south—west and temperatures holding up maybe no lower than 17in the capital, but a much fresher feel in the northwest for much of northern ireland and western scotland. so a more comfortable night here. we should start off with quite a

bit of sunshine in western scotland, but in the east of scotland, but in the east of scotland quite a grey start and likely to stay fairly cloudy here through the day. could even be a little bit of rain at times as well. a brighter day though for northern ireland compared to today. a bit more in the way of sunshine. quite a bit of cloud over the far north of england, but the bulk of england and wales dry and sunny, just a bit misty around some coasts in devon and cornwall, and the threat of this mist and low cloud lingering across parts of the north sea coast as well. i suspect, though, much of england and wales just dry and sunny and very warm once more . plenty of very warm once more. plenty of sunny spells for northern ireland and the west of scotland . but in the eastern side, as i mentioned, always likely to stay fairly cloudy with maybe a little bit of rain at times. nofice little bit of rain at times. notice cloud and rain is edging towards the west of northern ireland as well. temperatures were a little higher for northern ireland compared to today and across england and wales again, mid 20s, maybe up to 31 in the capital. we are going to see a change though, as low pressure comes in. you can see the swirl here bringing a band of cloud and patchy rain

across the country, followed by plenty of showers. that is a cold front and so it will introduce cooler conditions. one more very warm day across the south—east on thursday, but turning fresher for all by fri day. >> friday. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news

>> good evening. i'm tom harwood, bringing you state of the nation tonight home invasion. four individuals have been arrested in the home grounds of rishi sunak in north yorkshire on suspicion of trespass. one appeared to have been trying to defecate in his lake . and as the conservative lake. and as the conservative party finally withdraws support from candidates under investigation by the gambling commission, i'll be asking, are these truly the last days of

rome? reports also have suggested that migrants are anxiously awaiting a labour government before they hop into small boats and row their way towards dover, in hopes of a softer labour migration policy. in other news, top civil service turned starmer adviser sue gray, once his reportedly clean. keen to close all of the commons bars? but is this sort of killjoy mindset that we should expect from a labour government? plus, could there be a secret lib—lab electoral pact denied by the party but thrashed out behind closed doors in order to utterly destroy the conservatives? find out shortly. state of the nation starts now . state of the nation starts now. i'll also be joined by my panel. the former editor of the sun, kelvin mackenzie, and the pr

consultant and former labour aide, stella santaguida.