£20 billion of expected to claim £20 billion of black hole in britain's finances. the tories say the new chancellor is just rolling the pitch for tax hikes in october, and the olympics under attack, just as the french high speed rail network is back to normal. >> police announce fibre optic cables have now been sabotaged in six areas of france. the interior ministry is pointing the finger at ultra left wing movements and the end of strictly. >> a damning new report is to be released by the bbc this afternoon, laying bare the scandal at the heart of one of their flagship shows. we're live outside the scandal ridden organisation . organisation. now there's this developing story out of france. we're going to be keeping across it through the course of this program , just

the course of this program, just as they thought the trains were back to normal . suddenly the back to normal. suddenly the fibre optic cables are being cut. i just can't catch a break, can they? no, there was so much speculation on friday when this all kicked off. that was this. russia was this some sort of terrorist action? but it turns out the finger of blame at least initially, is being pointed at the far left in france. and they're being described as as anti—olympics organisation. >> but it's interesting we're seeing this rise of far left organisations who are willing to break the law and, cause criminal damage, not just here in the uk, but also in france as well. yeah. >> i mean, there are parallels to be drawn with some of the environmentalist movements that don't only block roads, but also smash windows . i don't only block roads, but also smash windows. i mean, are we at risk in this country, from similar action? could our fibre optic cables be damaged ? could, optic cables be damaged? could, signalling for our train lines

be blown up in the same way that they were in france? i mean, we really it does expose how vulnerable some of these key points of connection are. >> and it's something that people have been warning about for a really long time as well, isn't it, that you know, you have to actually deal with these people when they do break the law, otherwise these things might escalate and cause serious infrastructure problems. >> but are you concerned? and what have you heard? do you know anyone in france that hasn't been able to get any phone signal or had or were they one of the i million people who had their train journeys disrupted over the weekend ? over the weekend? gbnews.com/yoursay is the way to get involved. we'll be getting to all of that after your headunes to all of that after your headlines with sam francis. >> very good afternoon to you. it's just after 12:00, and we'll start with some breaking news that we're just hearing from the high court this afternoon that a high court this afternoon that a high court this afternoon that a high court judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of tommy robinson, after it's understood he has fled the uk. it's after

he has fled the uk. it's after he breached a court order by showing a film at a protest in central london. he was arrested but then released on bail on sunday night before allegedly leaving the country. he was due to attend a hearing today for contempt of court, but his absence has led to the judge to continue proceedings in his absence. a further hearing is expected in october, though robinson's attendance is now uncertain. so, as we know at this stage, tommy robinson reportedly fleeing the uk with a warrant for his arrest being issued by the high court. in other news, the chancellor is set to announce major spending cuts to plug a £20 billion black hole in the public finances, which she's claiming has been left by the conservative government. it's understood rachel reeves will axe some road and rail projects and slash spending on consultants, among other measures, to rein in spending. she'll also accuse the conservatives of covering up what she calls the true scale of britain's economic difficulties. when she addresses parliament

later , however, the tories say later, however, the tories say she's just trying to con the british public so she can raise taxes . those hoping to lead the taxes. those hoping to lead the conservative party have until this afternoon to throw their hat into the ring. former business secretary kemi badenoch became the sixth tory to join the race, promising to reform the race, promising to reform the party on britain's sovereignty and revive confidence in capitalism. she says well, that comes after suella braverman ruled herself out, saying there's little point in her standing because the party's branded her, in her words, mad, bad and dangerous. her predecessor in the home office, priti patel, is also standing and she's got the backing of devon and cornwall police and crime commissioner alison hernandez. >> you take pretty anywhere people want to talk to her. they recognise her. she stands for something. i think people believe in, which is that unity element. she is someone who is a no nonsense but absolute, compassionate conservative. and i think for me , we are supposed i think for me, we are supposed to be the party of law and order

and someone who's got a real understanding of law and order should be someone who takes us to the next stage . to the next stage. >> one of the uk's top gps is warning today that planned strikes would bring the nhs to a standstill. the british medical association's ballot of its members closes later. association's ballot of its members closes later . doctor members closes later. doctor katy bramwell steiner doesn't think there'll be a full walkout, but she's suggesting it could see gps stop doing some kinds of work that sits outside of their contract, which could have severe consequences. the government, though, insists contingencies are being planned for every eventuality to keep patients safe . just stop oil patients safe. just stop oil protesters have this morning used suitcases with lock on devices to block departure gates at gatwick airport. the activists, about eight of them so far, have been arrested a short time ago after entering the south terminal and sitting in front of the security scanners to stop passengers from boarding their flights, the group says it's taking what it calls the proportionate action necessary as part of its summer

disruption plans to generate the political pressure it says is needed to stop the use of fossil fuels. but gatwick says its terminals remain open and they are currently operating normally. global leaders are urging israel not to escalate tensions with lebanon after a rocket strike killed 12 children on a football pitch in golan heights . on a football pitch in golan heights. israel and the us are blaming hezbollah for the deaths , blaming hezbollah for the deaths, claiming the weapon was launched from a part of the region. the militant group controls. the iranian backed group, though, has denied it was responsible. meanwhile, lebanon's foreign minister has condemned the strike but says it shouldn't give israel a license to kill . give israel a license to kill. here, the high court has ruled that an emergency ban on puberty blockers imposed by the previous government was lawful. the advocacy group trans actual and advocacy group trans actual and a young claimant had challenged the order restricting the prescription of the medication, which suppresses the natural production of sex hormones, to delay puberty. the ban was put in place by the now shadow

health secretary, victoria atkins, her labour successor . atkins, her labour successor. wes streeting acknowledged what he called lots of fear and anxiety around the issue, though it's understood he does plan to support the ban and some olympic news for you. it's good news. tom daley has won his fifth diving medal in the olympics after securing a silver alongside his partner noah noah williams, in the men's synchronised ten metre final. the pair finished behind china second and canada coming in third. it's the first ever silver for daley, making up his collection of three bronze and one gold, and for williams , it one gold, and for williams, it was his first ever olympic medal. in his second games and staying with news in france, the telecoms network has suffered outages after being targeted by vandals. landslide and mobile, landline and mobile services have been affected following attacks on infrastructure belonging to local communication firms. and that comes, of course, after the first arrest was made this morning following a series of separate attacks on the rail network last week ,

the rail network last week, local trains and eurostar services were disrupted all weekend after signal boxes were set on fire. in what's been described as coordinated sabotage, it was suggested that russia may have been to blame, though the kremlin has said this morning that that is fake news. but there's been an unexpected silver lining for visitors to paris after that travel chaos with tickets for the games now easier to get and hotel prices have been dropped amid the disruption . those are the latest disruption. those are the latest gb news headlines for now, i'm sam francis, more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain . it is >> good afternoon britain. it is 12:09 and some breaking news for

you to kick off the show. the times newspaper is reporting that a deal has been struck with junior doctors representatives over their pay demands, not the 35%. the famous 35% that the junior doctors were demanding. but somewhere around 20%. now it's understood . it's understood. >> massive. almost £1 billion. isn't that right? that's right. >> £1 billion. sum of money to junior doctors. that hasn't yet been all finalised. the times is reporting that will be put to the bma membership. junior doctors will vote on that pay offer , but it could end those offer, but it could end those junior doctor strikes and it will be remarkable if they didn't accept a sum so high a fifth of their entire pay, just uprated like that. >> and you do have to wonder whether or not that will encourage others who in the in the public sector, who are asking for those pay rises to one even higher maybe, than that 5.5% that the nhs doctors want. >> that's a very good point. we're also discussing this show

that the planned gp industrial action, well , if the if the action, well, if the if the junior doctors are going to get 20% or there's one report that says it could be 22%, well then where is all that money going to come from? big, big questions. we're going to have more on that throughout the show. but in other news, in what will be her first major speech on the state of the british economy since becoming chancellor, rachel reevesis becoming chancellor, rachel reeves is expected to accuse the conservatives of covering up the true state of the public finances and then running away when she addresses the house of commons. this afternoon. >> she's also anticipated to announce cost cutting measures designed to plug a 20 billion black hole in the economy and restore economic stability. >> however, the conservatives have hit back, accusing the new chancellor of seeking to con the british public simply so she can raise taxes. >> let's get more on this now with gb news reporter adam cherry , cherry, >> well, let's not go to adam cherry. let's go to josh simmons

the labour mp for makerfield , the labour mp for makerfield, who we, who we just saw there. let's go to josh simmons. oh no there's adam. >> well we have adam cherry adam. >> we're going to kick off with you. set some context here. what on earth is going . on. on earth is going. on. >> we don't unfortunately we don't have we don't have adam cherry's ordinary. there are a few technical issues. >> let's see the wide array of what is happening today is going to go like this. the chancellor will make a statement in the house of commons, and that statement will be explaining basically what she has been demanding of civil servants over the last few weeks. an audit, if you will, of the state of the pubuc you will, of the state of the public finances. >> and the hope is that this is going to effectively, make some cost saving measures without raising taxes. but let's have

adam cherry to tell us a little bit more about this. so, adam, give us the context. what are we expecting? the chancellor to announce today ? announce today? >> yeah. >> yeah. >> so today it's more on the spending side of the ledger rather than the tax rising side that will come in october. we will hear the date for that budget. it will be set today. but what we're expecting here is really tinkering to be honest. it will be things like cutting infrastructure spending in certain areas. for example , a certain areas. for example, a certain areas. for example, a certain part of hs2 will be shortened away from euston. things like that . so nowhere things like that. so nowhere near enough to cover 20 billion, we'll also hear things like cutting back on, on consultants in whitehall and trying to make some efficiency savings within the civil service. but as i say, this is really small fry for what they say is a is a huge black hole. so what they have to do here is, is lay the groundwork by blaming all of these problems on the previous

government. while they still can. you know, we're only three weeks into this government. they have a lot of goodwill. they have a lot of goodwill. they have a lot of goodwill. they have a huge mandate and a big majority. so they're going to try and weaponize that and use that as, as, as fuel for what is to come in october. i mean, you were just talking about the, pay rises for doctors, which may be signed off. we've also got 5.5%, uplift for other pay up public sector workers. so all of this comes at a price. and they they only have a limited amount of political capital to spend as well, let alone just, you know , well, let alone just, you know, the money in the coffers. so they have to move quickly . they have to move quickly. >> and if they're only going to be able to make a slight dent in this 20 billion black hole that they're talking about with these efficiency measures, how are they going to pay for all of these, these things that they're suggesting when it comes to, you know , the pay rises, as you know, the pay rises, as you mentioned there for the junior doctors, how are they going to doctors, how are they going to do that without without raising taxes, without raising taxes ?

taxes, without raising taxes? >> well, that's the question, isn't it? they'll probably will. they probably will have to raise taxes. they have ruled out certain taxes already in their manifesto and what they call taxes on working people. in other words, income tax, national insurance and vat. but when you ask questions on other areas like inheritance tax, capital gains , they're not quite capital gains, they're not quite so forthcoming. so i think we can expect something in that territory in october. but as i say, we're not expecting to hear that now. now it's really just about the playing the political game and blaming the circumstances on the previous government, >> well, adam cherry, thank you so much for that overview and a big apology to audiences for the slight technical issues we experienced there in the first few minutes of the program. let's get some more reaction. now we're going to speak to the labour mp for macclesfield, josh simons, josh , thank you for simons, josh, thank you for joining us. and, i suppose one of the big questions we've got to ask is you're one of the

founding members of what's called the labour growth group. now, the labour growth group is, of course, all about pushing forward economic growth. how does cancelling a whole bunch of infrastructure projects fit in with that idea ? with that idea? >> well, just firstly, i'm the labour mp for makerfield. there's no esim in makerfield, but for future reference , tom, but for future reference, tom, so i think the important thing is that we've inherited a government and we have to fix the mess that we have inherited before we can get on with the hard work of delivering on some of the promises that were in our manifesto. and that is exactly the platform that we stood on dunng the platform that we stood on during the general election, rachel reeves said. time and time again, we expect the inheritance will be bad and if it is bad, then we will clean up that mess and we will operate always. on the principle of sound public finances. and what has happened is, secretaries of state have started their desks and asked for all the policies

that have been uncosted or hidden, and they have looked at those policies, worked out how much is being spent on them that hasn't actually been sent to the treasury. and now they've generated what is a significant 20 billion black hole. and that is par for the course of the conservative government that we have thankfully just got rid of . have thankfully just got rid of. and i think it is absolutely right that the chancellor is transparent and open with the pubuc transparent and open with the public about what they've found and clear about what she's going to do about it. >> are you confident that labour are going to be able to make up this black hole just in efficiencies ? are you sure that efficiencies? are you sure that you're going to be able to stick to that commitment, not to raise taxes ? taxes? >> well, today is not about taxes. this is not a budget, as you said in the opener, what today is about is, is making sure that across every department we have got a full audh department we have got a full audit of all of the policies that the tories didn't cost or swept under the carpet or announced part of. but not all of . and we understand exactly

of. and we understand exactly how much those are costing taxpayers. and then where appropriate , making decisions to appropriate, making decisions to make sure that we are spending within our means. the tax rise question will not be relevant until the budget. and what you can be sure of is that this labour government will always do what we said we were going to do. so if we said we're not going to raise taxes on working people, we will not raise taxes on working people. and that's what you can expect to see in the budget coming up. >> a lot of people will be slightly puzzled by looking at this sort of list of widely briefed out infrastructure projects that may now not go ahead, connecting old oak common to euston station in london, perhaps a useful part of hs2, the stonehenge bypass, the arundel bypass, part of the new hospital building programme, the restoring your railway fund. all of these projects now big question marks over them. and yet i'm old enough to remember a leader of the opposition who talked about sticking plaster politics, who said that too many governments had ignored long

term investment and instead looked for short term cash injections. isn't that precisely now what the labour party is doing in government? £1 billion potentially to junior doctors. meanwhile bricks and mortar infrastructure projects cancelled ? cancelled? >> no. is the short answer. the decisions that rachel reeves is taking today are a result not of choices that she has made or things that the labour party has done, but as a result of choices were made , projects that were were made, projects that were neglected, problems that were swept under the carpet, and frankly, tough choices that were punted down the road of the last conservative government. and what rachel reeves has always argued is that at the heart of the growth that this labour party was elected to deliver is stability and sound public finances. we know from the liz truss mini—budget that sent mortgages soaring right across the country that unless you start with stability and sound pubuc start with stability and sound public finances, you cannot

generate growth. and so actually what's happening today is a completely different approach to governing. we're saying here are all the things that have been swept under the carpet. let's be transparent with you. the british people, about what those are and how much they cost. let's be straightforward with you about what we need to do to pay you about what we need to do to pay for some of those things, and make sure that we are spending within our means and then let's go forward together to do the kinds of things that were in our manifesto to generate growth and that kind of honesty, levelling with people, being straightforward about difficult choices and making choices rather than ducking them is exactly the difference between this government that we now have and the government. the conservative government that went before it. >> but surely, i imagine the question people will be asking is, how do you secure growth if you're cutting those infrastructure projects that would help to facilitate growth ? would help to facilitate growth? surely that will lead to a larger hole in the public finances if it has an economic impact ? impact? >> well, there are, many, many

things that we're currently doing to make sure that in the long run, we save money rather than spend money. so take the junior doctors strike, for example. i've not read the report and i don't know the details behind it, but some of these questions about public sector pay are too often framed simply in terms of the short term cost of paying those wages, and what's neglected is the medium and longer term costs of failing to pay people properly in strikes in recruitment crises, because those are harder, they're more complex to talk about and manage, but actually so often choosing to punt things, choosing not to do things has just as many costs in the long run as choosing to do them. and the office for the value of money that the labour party are going to set up now in government, will make sure that when we are making these kinds of decisions, we are doing so with a time horizon that actually matters to working people and their lives, rather than the kind of time horizon that the westminster bubble tends to focus on, which is usually a few weeks and a few

months. and i think, again, that is the kind of responsible long term government, a government that makes tough decisions rather than ducking them, that the labour party were elected to do and to be. and that's exactly what you're saying. >> well, i suppose we'll have to wait for a little bit later this afternoon for the chancellor to get up on her feet and make that statement. but for now, josh simmons , labour mp for simmons, labour mp for makerfield, thank you so much for talking us through that , for talking us through that, that preview there. now coming up, french police announced fibre optic cables have now been sabotaged in six areas of france. it follows the attacks on high speed rail networks at the start of the games. we're in paris after this.

>> welcome back to good afternoon, britain. so following the attacks on french, the french rail network on the

opening day of the olympics, police say that activists have now sabotaged fibre optic networks in parts of the country. >> several telecommunications operators have been affected, but currently broadcasting feed for those crucial olympic games in paris remains untouched. but what on earth is actually going on here now? the second, so—called presumptive attack in just three days. >> let's cross now to the french capital to speak to journalist david cezanne. thank you so much for joining us, david. so tell forjoining us, david. so tell us a little bit more about what's been going on. >> well, during the night, between 1 and 3 am. local time, a number of cables and, pieces of electronic equipment were sabotaged in different sites across the country as you were saying, this happened in six different areas, not in paris itself, but there was one site near paris, others in the north

of the country, the east, and the south. and so the police believe that this was these were coordinated acts of sabotage, and they suspect that far left activists were behind them, presumably, although this is somewhat speculative, because of their opposition to holding the paris olympics. now, in their third day, because they see that as a manifestation of the evils of capitalism. >> why? why is it then, that they associate the olympics with they associate the olympics with the evils of capitalism? how can we sort of understand the motivation of these activists in in doing this, if they're not just doing this in paris, but across the country? are they are they trying to just cause chaos and disruption in france? more generally, or are they trying to specifically affect the olympic games? >> well, we're not sure because no group and no individual has actually claimed responsibility for this sabotage . but the

for this sabotage. but the police believe that the actions were coordinated. suspicions are growing that it's far left groups that are behind it, and ultra left wing groups in france have issued statements. declaring that the olympics glorify money and glorify the establishment. and they say that this is just a sort of a big, in their words , circus, which is their words, circus, which is a way of manipulating the public, by politicians. so, that is why they appear to oppose the olympic games, but i have to say that despite a lot of complaints from parisians over the past few months about the disruptions of their everyday lives caused by their everyday lives caused by the games, the country is now overwhelmed by enthusiasm for the game. since the opening ceremony on friday, people have become very excited, especially

because france has won a few medals. >> now, that's, that always sort of, i suppose, glosses over anything else that could have happened and even even a slightly underwhelming opening ceremony. but david, i've got to ask you, this is, of course, the second attack in three days, presumably from similar groups. we can't confirm that there's been one arrest of a far left agitator. so far. we understand. but people must be thinking in france . goodness me. they've france. goodness me. they've attacked the high speed rail. they've now attacked fibre optic cables and telecommunications. what could be next? >> yeah, well, i think you're right. the last thinking that. wondering that. i have to say, though, that the damage caused by cutting the fibre optic cables during the night is relatively small. very few people have had their internet or mobile services cut completely, but data rates have

been slowed in some places quite considerably because, according to the operators, the data has had to be rerouted over longer distances . now, as had to be rerouted over longer distances. now, as for had to be rerouted over longer distances . now, as for the distances. now, as for the arrest of the far left activist as the police have described him, this is somebody who tried to run away when police spotted him near a railway site in the north of france , and he was north of france, and he was found to be carrying tools, which the police say could have gained access to railway infrastructure and also aerosols, paint sprays. so we can't rule out that this wasn't somebody intending to sabotage the train network, but just to spray graffiti on it. which of course is very common up and down the lines , but the acts of down the lines, but the acts of sabotage on friday, when

arsonists detonated explosive devices near electrical cabinets and fibre optic cables along france's high speed train network that caused enormous disruption, both for people trying to reach the olympics. because eurostar services from london, for example, were disrupted, and also for french holidaymakers because it was a weekend when a lot of people were leaving paris to go on houday were leaving paris to go on holiday or returning from holidays across the country. and so the sncf, the national rail operator , estimates the damage operator, estimates the damage in the millions of pounds, and so it was a very serious attack. and the interior minister says that suspicion , the suspicion is that suspicion, the suspicion is growing that these were far left groups behind it. growing that these were far left groups behind it . why? because groups behind it. why? because of the modus operandi, he said,

and also because far left groups have attacked rail infrastructure in france in the past . so put those things past. so put those things together . and the supposition at together. and the supposition at the moment, the working hypothesis, if you like , is, is hypothesis, if you like, is, is that it was the work of far leftists, >> david, people outside of france will obviously be very familiar with the problem of islamist extremism, in france. but how much of a problem is far left extremism, particularly far left extremism, particularly far left extremism, particularly far left extremism, that is willing to cross the boundary of the law and, as you say, detonating explosive devices and interfering with critical infrastructure? is this a highly organised movement? are they is it related to eco terrorism in any way, or is this a new phenomenon in france ? phenomenon in france? >> well, the police know it's a phenomenon that's been around for a number of years, yes, it probably is related to eco

terrorism. according to the police, but these are fringe groups. it's really unclear how organised they are or how many people are involved, but anti—capitalist groups often come in on the fringes of legitimate protests in france. they did it during the yellow vest protests a few years ago. they did it again during mass demonstrations against president macron's pension reforms, and they come in, deliberately to start trouble , and they come in start trouble, and they come in quick to fight the police . and quick to fight the police. and in many cases they have started fights with the police. they've started the violence themselves and the police. then respond with tear gas and charge them . with tear gas and charge them. and so the whole of the protests , and so the whole of the protests, tends to be overshadowed by their violence. but yeah, it's

thought that there are no more than a few thousand , if that, than a few thousand, if that, across the country. >> goodness me. but a few thousand can cause some pretty horrific disruption. david chazan that's all we've got time for, but thank you so much for explaining that concerning situation across the channel >> now coming up, the bbc is due to publish a report into alleged bullying by strictly's giovanni pernice . could this be the end pernice. could this be the end of the flagship show? that's after your headlines with sam francis . francis. >> very good afternoon to you. it's just after 12:30, the top story today. downing street is remaining tight lipped , tight remaining tight lipped, tight upped remaining tight lipped, tight lipped rather about reports of a pay lipped rather about reports of a pay offer for junior doctors that could see their earnings increase by around 20% over two years. that figure has been reported in the times newspaper today. the prime minister's spokesperson, though, has reiterated the government's commitment to finding a solution but stopped short of giving any details on the ongoing

negotiations. the strikes, going on for many months, have severely impacted patients and waiting lists, with the government eager to end the disruption . a high court judge disruption. a high court judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of tommy robinson after he fled the uk. he breached a court order at the weekend when he showed a film at a protest in central london. he was due to attend a hearing today, but his absence led to the judge continuing the proceedings without him. a further hearing is expected in october, though robinson's attendance is now uncertain. spending cuts are expected to be announced by the government soon. in an effort to plug government soon. in an effort to plug a £20 billion black hole in pubuc plug a £20 billion black hole in public finances , chancellor public finances, chancellor rachel reeves is set to scrap some road and rail projects and cut public sector waste, among other measures , to rein in other measures, to rein in spending. the high court has ruled today that an emergency ban on puberty blockers by the previous conservative government was lawful. the advocacy group trans actual and a young claimant had challenged that order restricting the

prescription of the medication, which suppresses the natural production of sex hormones to delay puberty to the olympics. and tom daley and noah williams took silver medals in paris this morning. the pair came second place in the men's synchronised ten metre diving behind china. it's the fifth medal for daley and the first for williams and back here at home, yellow heat health warnings have been issued across most of england. temperatures are expected to reach 30 degrees in the south—east and london before thunderstorms set in later this week . those are the latest gb week. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm sam francis much more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward alerts

>> good afternoon. britain. it's 39 minutes past midday. now. the bbc's internal investigation into giovanni pernice behind the scenes behaviour on strictly come dancing will be released today. >> the professional dancer will meet with bbc bosses to learn the findings of the investigation, which was launched after claims were made by former dance partner amanda abbington. >> well, reporting from outside london's broadcasting house is our correspondent , cameron our correspondent, cameron walker. cameron, what can we expect today ? expect today? >> well, tom, this is the biggest scandal in strictly come dancing's 20 year history on the surface. it's a family entertainment programme full of glitz and glamour. but behind the scenes, specifically in the rehearsal room, there are allegations that the story is quite different. indeed, allegations of inappropriate behaviour, even bullying. the former sherlock actor amanda abbington, who was partnered with giovanni pernice, the professional dancer in last year's series, before she quit

early due to what she called personal reasons, has alleged that giovanni used threatening and abuse , was threatening and and abuse, was threatening and abusive towards her. the tv presenter laura whitmore as well has come out. he was also partners with giovanni pernice in the 2016 series. she has alleged inappropriate behaviour against an unnamed individual and says she raised concerns with bbc bosses at the time and now she wants to shine a light on what she describes as a pattern of behaviour. this, of course, has raised questions about the culture of the bbc programme . giovanni pernice has programme. giovanni pernice has previously denied all the allegations made against him, specifically the threatening or abusive behaviour. we have contacted his , contacted his contacted his, contacted his spokesperson for comments. the spokesperson for comments. the spokesperson previously said that they are confident that the bbc's internal review , this bbc's internal review, this three month review will clear his name. he also added that we are cooperating fully with the bbc's review process, and is

urging the public to wait for the review's conclusion before paying the review's conclusion before paying heed to what they described as serious and defamatory allegations. now, of course, there's also a wider question about the duty of care when it comes to bbc programmes such as this. the director general, tim davie, has spoken about the strictly allegations, specifically talking about, of course, that we would expect in a show like this that a streak of competitiveness on a day to day basis, but it should not be crossing a line. he apologised to contestants who haven't had a good experience and insists the show will return this autumn. but giovanni pernice has already been ruled out as a professional partner. now the bbc has already announced that it's going to be introducing further measures to strengthen welfare and support, including chaperones inside the rehearsal rooms at all times and the bbc and bbc studios, which is the commercial arm of that makes producers be strictly come dancing, takes duty of care extremely seriously. >> cameron, it seems that the

bbc is trying to put all of the blame onto giovanni pernice and almost no blame on itself in this report. could it be seen that this is a bit of a whitewash for the corporation ? whitewash for the corporation? >> well, we're still waiting for the report, tom, to be published. it was, of course , published. it was, of course, sparked by the allegations against giovanni pernice, but of course it is looking at the wider culture of the bbc show . wider culture of the bbc show. of course, hours and hours of rehearsal footage was filmed , as rehearsal footage was filmed, as it always is, from each contestant, and then they kind of choose the best bits to play out. just before the professional dancer and the celebrity dance on the saturday evening. but of course, all that unseen footage will be now being reviewed as part of this three month investigation, and it's up to the bbc and those reviewing whether or not that is appropriate and whether or not that extends wider to other bbc professional dancers or strictly professional dancers or strictly professional dancers, or just a very small minority of them. as

i said, giovanni pernice has denied all the allegations made against against him, but there are clearly some very serious allegations, which it now appears at least a couple of celebrities wants to be made public. >> well, cameron walker, thank you very much for bringing us all of that outside london broadcasting house. >> now we have some breaking news. team gb have won their first gold medal in the paris olympics games. >> yes, team gb's eventing team have retained their olympic title . now what on earth is eventing? >> i say i think it's also related. we are very exciting , related. we are very exciting, very good at horse things, aren't we? >> that is. >> that is. >> that is all we are culturally known for. i mean, it's like the norwegians being good at skiing or something. >> it's the old joke from the 2012 olympics that we're very good at all of the sports where you where you're not standing up, but you're sitting down when you're rowing or cycling or anything to do with horses. the brits usually win it. >> i must say, as a former

equestrian, there is more to horse riding than just letting the horse do the job. so well done to them. it's very exciting. >> yes, well, we should say that ross canter, laura collett and tom mcewen have each got their gold medals in the team eventing at the paris olympics. >> there's a bit of nominative determinism there. >> oh. >> oh. >> very good. absolutely. well, i think that that takes us up into the top ten, even though the medal table means very, very little at this early stage in the games. i'm always obsessed by the medal table. just seeing seeing the uk sort of or team gb tick up and up and up because last time round we came fourth overall in the world and the time before that in rio we came second. >> so you hate to be one of those people who, you know, watches the footballs only when we get into the finals of the euros. but this has made me maybe want to watch the olympics. >> yes, absolutely. and my goodness me, i mean, if you think about a country with a population, the size of the uk, i mean, coming fourth in the world, competing against china and the united states of america and the united states of america and vast countries like like brazil or russia, well, not that

russia can officially compete, but but but to see us doing doing this well this early, very, very good news, princess anne must be very pleased. well, coming up , anne must be very pleased. well, coming up, kemi badenoch is the latest to throw her hat into the ring for the tory leadership race. we're discussing the runners and riders as nominations close in just 1.5 hours time. >> partly accidental pun .

welcome back to good afternoon, britain. it is almost 1:00. so now kemi badenoch has become the latest to throw her hat in the ring. to become the new leader of the conservative party promising a renewal of conservative values .

conservative values. >> however, in a surprise to some, suella braverman has announced she will not be running to replace rishi sunak despite having the backing that she needed. at least that's what she's claiming . writing in the she's claiming. writing in the telegraph, the former home secretary said there was no point in running when most mps disagree with my diagnosis and prescription. >> now let's discuss this with gb. news, national reporter charlie peters , congratulations charlie peters, congratulations on your promotion to national news reporter. >> it's week three now, so the congratulations will keep rolling in. >> so let's start with, with suella braverman because obviously she did have the nominations to run, including from from sirjohn hayes. but she obviously doesn't have the support of the party. they're not quite as conservative as she is. >> and that's the move they have to make. they've got to go through two rounds of mps voting to reach. the members were obviously suella braverman, and indeed the right of the conservative party is more often to be found within that membership space, winning over the votes of the mps first is the votes of the mps first is

the big trick. the big struggle for so many of these mps on the right. and it'll also be a problem for kemi badenoch as she throws her hat into the ring. now that was a problem for her in 2022, and i think part of suella braverman decision appears to be that many of the mps who would have supported her in the past are now looking to other candidates on the right, in particular robert jenrick, who was her immigration minister when she was in the home office. so that's part of the process. >> but jenrick, of course, agrees with her on the echr. >> well, they're leaving it, as do many candidates now. many more people happy to. >> well, some say they do . >> well, some say they do. >> well, some say they do. >> yes. well happy to come around and make that position. i mean, tom, i mean you've heard various different people saying that they are now opposed to membership of the echr having in interviews with you, even within the last year, said they were in favour. so yes, it's interesting. >> they sort of take on the rishi sunak position, which is we won't let any foreign court interfere with anything we want to do, but obviously that's open to do, but obviously that's open to interpretation. if we need to leave it, we'll leave it. but but some might find that they never need to. >> does this mark a shift do you think then towards so away from

some, some, some people's fears that they were going to select a continuity candidate that actually there's the possibility, especially with kemi badenoch very popular with members throwing her hat in the ring, that this maybe suggests that the conservative party might seek to redeem itself by returning to its conservative roots. >> well, that's the message that kemi badenoch put in her piece in the times that she's just shared on x in the last few moments, saying that it's not enough to just win through unity, which is a message that james cleverly and priti patel have pushed out over the last couple of weeks. they're talking very much about unity. to win has to be the move for the conservatives. but kemi badenoch writing today saying that unity is all well and good, but what for? we have to revert back to those conservative principles that our fellow man agree with us. those are her words and in particular she does point out not just on the culture war stuff, that i think k btec was very well known for and despite her position in cabinet during the last government, she was often quite forthright on issues unrelated to that. now, a shadow housing secretary i think will still see her pushing on social

and cultural issues, but she's also talking about the need to embrace capitalism . and she says embrace capitalism. and she says in this piece that this has become a dirty word for some, which in a way is conceding something by saying that, but says that if the tories are going to be successful, it's got to be through that position as well. >> that is very interesting. of course, nominations close at 230 today. we'll learn exactly who is backing who of those ten nominations needed , but nominations needed, but ultimately only four can go through to the conference that's in at the end of september, start of october, when there's what's been described as a beauty parade. i'm not quite sure how accurate that term is. hopefully no catwalks, but ultimately it will mean one person needs to be knocked out of the likely contenders, right? >> and then they'll also have to go through those two mps ballots. so as we're seeing this jostling and people putting forward their slightly more right of centre perspectives, and perhaps they would have done under the last administration, they've still got to win over a conservative parliamentary party that doesn't necessarily fully

share the perspectives of its members. now, that was a problem for the right wing candidates dunng for the right wing candidates during the last election. could be again . but those two rounds be again. but those two rounds of mps are crucial. they'll they'll vote again at an mps ballot at conference to whittle it down to two. and then there's an online ballot for members after that, which has to finish in october. >> so here's the question very quickly, who do you think is going to win, or who do you think is going to be knocked out? >> i'm not sure, but i think the current favourites with the with the national polling for yougov is tom tugendhat. so he's the most popular candidate. they say, among the, when you ask everyone, not just tory party members, but kemi badenoch is the most popular among members. that's according to some recent polling. >> goodness me. well it's a long, long leadership race. there's another four months of this to go, or three months of this to go, or three months of this to go, depending on how you count it, we're almost in august, charlie , thank you so august, charlie, thank you so much for joining august, charlie, thank you so much forjoining us and talking much for joining us and talking us through all of that. well, goodness me, much more to come. we're going to be looking ahead to the chancellor's tax

bombshell speech . yes, that's bombshell speech. yes, that's happening this afternoon. don't go to air. this is good afternoon britain on gb news . afternoon britain on gb news. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello again. it's time for your latest gb news. weather forecast coming to you from the met office. plenty of hot and sunny weather to come through the next couple of days. yes, across northern parts it's a bit cloudier here and there has been some rain today and there will be a little bit more rain to come because there is a front pushing its way in that's edging southeastwards across parts of scotland and northern ireland. as we go through this evening and overnight. but it's breaking up , so most of that rain and overnight. but it's breaking up, so most of that rain is actually going to ease and clear through as we go through the early hours of tomorrow morning. for many, then it is going to be

a dry night, some clear skies, the odd pocket of mist and fog for some, particularly across england and wales. perhaps a touch warmer than last night, maybe a bit more difficult for sleeping, but towards the northwest, perhaps a little bit cooler than last night. as we go through tomorrow morning, like i said, there could be some mist and fog patches around , but and fog patches around, but these should quickly clear because there will be plenty of sunshine, a sunny start across much of england and wales, a bit cloudier across the far north of england and a little bit of cloud. perhaps the odd shower across some parts of northern ireland and western scotland. but for eastern scotland it's actually looking largely fine . actually looking largely fine. plenty of blue skies, plenty of sunshine here as well. through the day. yes, there could still be a few showers, most likely across parts of scotland. northern ireland and maybe into northern england too. but on the whole it's looking dry. plenty of sunshine around, and with that, temperatures are going to rise . it's likely to be even rise. it's likely to be even hotter than today for many places. there's a good chance that we're going to get into the

low 30s celsius with highs of around 32 celsius towards the south—east and even further north. we're looking at temperatures in the low to mid 20s for many places. as we go through later tuesday, we're sticking with the fine picture . sticking with the fine picture. another fine evening to come. plenty of late sunshine around, but there is a change on the cards. there's going to be a thundery breakdown as we go through later this week, likely to be sometime wednesday into thursday with temperatures then dropping by by that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . inside from boxt boilers. >> sponsors of weather on

gb. news >> good afternoon. britain. it's 1:00 on monday, the 29th of july. i'm emma webb, and i'm tom harwood . junior doctor pay harwood. junior doctor pay breakthrough reports suggests that there's been an agreement

with unions and the government, which could see a 20% pay rise over two years. could the long running debate over pay finally be over ? be over? >> yet labour's tax bombshell in a widely anticipated speech this afternoon, rachel reeves is expected to claim a £20 billion black hole in britain's finances. the tories say the new chancellor is simply ruling the pitch for tax hikes in october and olympics under attack , just and olympics under attack, just as the french high speed rail network is back to normal. >> police announce fibre optic cables have now been sabotaged in six areas of france. the interior ministry is pointing the finger at an ultra left wing movement . movement. >> now, could these strikes from the junior doctors be over? be finally over? it seems that the

health secretary will be well. has agreed a putative pay deal that will then be put to the members of the bma if they vote for it , those strikes could for it, those strikes could could be over worth around £1 billion. >> and i think the concern will be, will there be a rush towards the pot of gold from so many other workers in the public sector who also wanting pay rises? but who now see that this huge pay rise will be given to junior doctors, so it seems very, very unlikely that gp's teachers will be willing to settle for so much less. >> hang on emma, a pot of gold. i thought the chancellor today was about to say that there is no money, that there's a £20 billion black hole. and yet what we're seeing with this pay offer, which i think is 22.3% pay offer, which i think is 22.3% pay rises to junior doctors , pay rises to junior doctors, that's not costing millions or tens of millions or hundreds of millions. it's costing over £1 billion. well, that's the question. >> they say that they're going to make up for that 20 billion

black hole. with efficiencies, but at the same time seem to be very, very willing to cave into those public sector pay demands, which of course, is going to inflate the amount of taxpayer money that's going into the into the public sector. so it's difficult to see how they're going to be able to stick to their commitment to not raise taxes for working people . taxes for working people. >> well, of course, we want your views, your comments. visit gbnews.com/yoursay to get involved in the conversation. all that to come after your headunes all that to come after your headlines with sam francis . headlines with sam francis. >> very good afternoon to you. it is just coming up to 1:03. and the top story this lunchtime, as we were just heanng lunchtime, as we were just hearing there, junior doctors have reportedly been offered a pay have reportedly been offered a pay increase of more than 20% in a bid to end their ongoing strike action. downing street, though, is remaining tight upped though, is remaining tight lipped about reports of that pay offer for junior doctors that

could see their earnings increase by around 20% over two years. the prime minister's spokesman reiterated the government's commitment to finding a solution, but stopped short of giving any details on negotiations. the ongoing strikes have severely impacted patients and waiting lists , with patients and waiting lists, with the government saying they are eager to end the disruption . eager to end the disruption. well, some breaking news a high court judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of tommy robinson after he fled the uk. that's after he fled the uk. that's after he fled the uk. that's after he breached a court order by showing a film at a protest in central london. he was arrested but released on bail yesterday night before allegedly leaving the country. he was due to attend a hearing today for contempt of court, but his absence led the judge to continue proceedings without him. a further hearing is expected in october, though robinson's absence is now uncertain . attendance, rather is uncertain. attendance, rather is uncertain. attendance, rather is uncertain . and some more uncertain. and some more breaking news for you . now we're breaking news for you. now we're just hearing reports from southport that emergency services are responding to a

major incident . we understand on major incident. we understand on hart street, eyewitnesses there reporting dozens of police, along with fire and ambulance crews at the scene. armed police have now detained a suspect. we're hearing we are currently working to establish just what has happened there in southport. we will bring you, of course, any more details. keep across the latest lines coming to us as we get them. but as i say there, we get them. but as i say there, we know of a major incident taking place in southport , with taking place in southport, with one person now arrested by armed police . the chancellor is set to police. the chancellor is set to announce major spending cuts to plug announce major spending cuts to plug a £20 billion black hole in pubuc plug a £20 billion black hole in public finances, which she claims was left by the conservative government. it's understood rachel reeves will act some road and rail projects on us and slash spending on consultants, among other measures, to rein in spending. she'll also accused the conservatives of covering up what she calls the true scale of britain's economic difficulties. when she addresses parliament later, we expect to hear from

her just later, we expect to hear from herjust after later, we expect to hear from her just after 3:00 later, we expect to hear from herjust after 3:00 and we'll her just after 3:00 and we'll bnng her just after 3:00 and we'll bring that to you live here on gb news. however, in the meantime, the tories are saying she's just trying to con the british public so that she can raise taxes. staying with politics and those hoping to lead the conservative party have until this afternoon to throw their hat into the ring . former their hat into the ring. former business secretary kemi badenoch became the sixth tory to join the race, promising to refocus the race, promising to refocus the party on britain's sovereignty and revive confidence in capitalism. she says it comes after suella braverman ruled herself out, saying there's little point in her standing because the party's branded her mad, bad and dangerous. her predecessor in the home office, priti patel, is also standing with the backing of devon and cornwall police and crime commissioner alison hernandez. >> you take pretty anywhere people want to talk to her, they recognise her. she stands for something. i think people believe in, which is that unity element. she is someone who is a no nonsense but absolute, compassionate conservative. and i think for me, we are supposed

to be the party of law and order and someone who's got a real understanding of law and order should be someone who takes us to the next stage . to the next stage. >> the high court has ruled that an emergency ban on puberty blockers imposed by the previous government was lawful. the advocacy group trans actual and advocacy group trans actual and a young claimant challenged the order restricting the prescription of the medication, which suppresses the natural production of sex hormones to delay puberty. the ban was put in place by the now shadow health secretary victoria atkins, her labour successor, though wes streeting has acknowledged what he called lots of fear and anxiety around the issue, though he does support the ban . and in france, the the ban. and in france, the telecoms network has suffered outages after being targeted by vandals. landline and mobile services have been affected following the attacks on infrastructure belonging to local communication firms. it comes as the first arrest has been made following a series of separate attacks on the rail

network ahead of the opening ceremony of the olympics. local trains and eurostar services were disrupted all weekend after signal boxes were set on fire in what's described as a coordinated sabotage , and there coordinated sabotage, and there had been some pain but now delight for team gb at the olympics as the defending team eventing champions have secured the first gold for great britain at the paris games. congratulations to them . but it congratulations to them. but it follows a shock defeat for britain's adam peaty, who missed out on a third historic consecutive gold medal in the 100m breaststroke last night . 100m breaststroke last night. and there has also been a dramatic first round win for andy murray alongside his partner dan evans. that was in the men's doubles tennis yesterday. they saved multiple match points to triumph and kept murray's career going before he retires at the end of this games and kicking off day three. at the games earlier, tom daley won his fifth olympic diving medal after securing a silver alongside his partner noah williams in the men's synchronised ten metre final. the pair finished second, just

behind china, while canada came in third. those are the latest gb news headlines for now. plenty more on that breaking news coming to us from southport with mark white and tom and emma. in the next hour or so, i'll be back shortly for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain . >> good afternoon britain. breaking news at 1:08. we're heanng breaking news at 1:08. we're hearing reports from southport that emergency services are responding to a major incident on hart street. well, our home and security editor has more for us, mark. >> well, this incident just unfolded really in the last houn unfolded really in the last hour. we were just getting word of it . now, emergency services of it. now, emergency services attending and reporting multiple

casualties. we've just had a statement from merseyside police. i'll read that out to you saying that we can confirm that emergency services are in southport following a major incident. they've categorised it as such this morning at around 11:50 am, we were called to a property on hart street to reports of a stabbing. there are a number of reported casualties, according to merseyside police. they've not stipulated a number but a number, plural. and more details they say will be confirmed as soon as possible. they've also said that armed police have detained a man and seized a knife. he's been taken to hospital, sorry. he's been taken to a police station, police are saying avoid the area. understandably, while they deal with this incident, at the moment, they're saying there's no wider threat to the public

and that they'll have more updates for us. but a very significant incident. major incident as described to us by merseyside police, with multiple casualties being reported and the indications that we're getting, although it's not been said by the police, but there are reports that this may have been , a nursery or some kind of been, a nursery or some kind of pre—school. it may have been a nursery. that is the information thatis nursery. that is the information that is out there at the moment. so we've not been able to independently confirm that . but independently confirm that. but there are several reports indicating that this was some kind of pre—school premises in hart street, reminiscent of what happened. >> i think it was in, in france recently. in a playground, >> yes. up in the french alps, in which a number of school children and pre aged school children and pre aged school children were stabbed in what was a horrific incident. there

we don't know any more details about this or indeed the motivation, of course. understandably, the focus will be on whether this could have been some form of terrorism. clearly it's a terrifying incident. it is. it seems, a mass stabbing attack from what we can tell. but we will wait for the police to give us more in the way of detail. and all the time we're just looking for more updates on this incident. but as you can imagine, it's a full emergency service response with all three emergency services there to assist, including, of course, those armed police. because any time you have an incident involving any kind of lethal weapon , such any kind of lethal weapon, such as a knife, you will get an armed response to be able to deal more effectively with whoever has a deadly weapon. so that's why armed police are in

attendance in that area as well. in significant numbers. >> so we know that there are multiple casualties. we know there has been one arrest, that this involved a knife. we're calling it a mass stabbing. that's clearly what has gone on here. and it could have been at some sort of pre—school, some sort of nursery, a really shocking set of facts there, mark. what can we compare it to in in recent history, this is clearly a major incident. >> well i mean take your pick. there are so many sadly in modern society where in this country and abroad we've seen knives in particular used to deadly effect in multiple stabbing sprees and the, you know, they've been motivated on occasions , of course, more often occasions, of course, more often than not by, terrorism. normally islamist related terrorism in

the western world, but there are other issues at play, you know, that potentially feed in to what might have motivated someone. and we just don't know at this stage, we would only be speculating, it clearly is a very worrying picture, especially for people in that area who might be worried about people they know that have been caught up in this incident. and that's why the police, i think in the coming hours, will be fairly quick to get as much detail as they know out , because detail as they know out, because there are going to be worried people . people. >> now, southport, of course, in the merseyside area just north of liverpool , this is of course of liverpool, this is of course an area the wider liverpool area that has seen gun violence in the last year or so, that has seen gang violence, but also, has had some, some law and order trouble. >> yes. i mean, you know , >> yes. i mean, you know, violent crime generally across

the uk is an issue in urban communities in particular, and that involves gun violence, but also knife related crime. we know that there are significant issues with knife related crime , issues with knife related crime, particularly as it affects younger people. and by younger i mean in their teens or early 20s. but that's often gang related incidents. we don't know what the motivation as i keep going back to for this particular incident, is , but it particular incident, is, but it comes against the backdrop as i say, of an increase in violent crime, particularly using bladed weapons in this country and in particular in urban areas in london and birmingham, up in manchester, in liverpool, they all grapple with this on a daily basis. and the other issue, as i say to factor in, as always, because we've got to be mindful of this as whether there could

have been any, you know, extremist motivation behind this . extremist motivation behind this. certainly. i would imagine that , certainly. i would imagine that, police, counter—terror police will be examining this in the early stages to determine whether it is something that they should be involved in and investigating. no indication that it's going that way at the moment. and we've seen attacks like this in other european countries. >> but how unusual is it in the uk to have a mass stabbing event like this that isn't connected to some kind of extremism? >> well, we have had stabbings and mass stabbings that have been as a result of crime. as a result of a grudge, as a result of people with mental health issues and not always angers many of our audience when they hear about mental health issues being used and being cited by the police and investigations.

but you know, we can only go with what the police tell us is a potential motivating factor . a potential motivating factor. we are way too early in the process for the police. to you know, give us that kind of indication . normally, i think indication. normally, i think the statement there that there is no wider threat to the public indicates that the whatever this was, whether it was extremist in nature, whether it was any of the above, at least they are confident, it seems at this early stage that there's one person involved and not multiple people, as we've seen in the past in attacks in london, for instance, where you got multiple, offenders, terrorists who were involved in the attacks on london bridge, for instance , on london bridge, for instance, three attackers on that occasion . three attackers on that occasion. the indication is at the moment it's one attack.

>> more often than not, when it is terrorist attacks these days, because of the sophistication of security services, because of, frankly , how good our security frankly, how good our security services are now, it's only the lone wolves, the sort of self—radicalized people that tend to get through . tend to get through. >> well, it's certainly much more difficult for the authorities to be able to get a handle on plots that are being hatched in someone's bedroom by know conspirators other than the one, person that is involved in ultimately carrying out the attack. and using a weapon that you can get from your kitchen. >> well, exactly that. >> well, exactly that. >> and traditionally, of course, in terms of terrorism, you have often had multiple plotters, who have hatched up elaborate plans to put together, ieds , explosive to put together, ieds, explosive devices. and in doing that, they plot, they chat, they meet. and

that's the kind of trail that the counter—terrorism and the security services can pick up on. if you've got one individual carrying out an attack who's not done anything other than being perhaps self—radicalized on the internet, it is much more difficult then to necessarily follow the evidence trails , follow the evidence trails, because there are very few, if any, evidence trails. and sadly, in terms of where we are with self—radicalized because of the proliferation of extremist images on social media, it is incredibly difficult for, the police, as i say, to get a handle on that. but people can be radicalised so very quickly. >> well, mark, we know that news is breaking on this all the time. we'll let you find out more. and in the meantime, speak to former scotland yard detective peter bleksley peter. it seems this is a major incident with all three, emergency response services

involved. >> yes . although if there are >> yes. although if there are any small crumbs of comfort to be taken, it is from the statement that merseyside police issued saying that their armed police have detained somebody and recovered a knife, and that they're not looking for anybody else in connection with this. now, of course , that comes as no now, of course, that comes as no consolation whatsoever to anybody who's been hurt and their loved ones. i fully appreciate that . but in terms of appreciate that. but in terms of reassurance for the public, it would appear that in terms of any further harm, that possibility has now been neutralised. >> and peter, the press release says, casualties. but of course , says, casualties. but of course, viewers and listeners will be wondering whether there is any, any latest news on on whether there have been any fatalities . there have been any fatalities. >> well, the most important thing in any major incident where there are serious injuries or even deaths , we don't know.

or even deaths, we don't know. of course, the most important thing is that relatives are informed first. that is absolutely crucial for anybody listening or watching. put yourself in that position. if yourself in that position. if you could , and imagine the you could, and imagine the horror and the hurt of establishing via social media or via a media outlet, for example, that someone you loved dearly had been hurt or killed. so it is only right and proper that the correct channels are followed and procedures so that the relatives and the loved ones of those injured are notified. before we get to hear about it . before we get to hear about it. >> and it is important to stress just how early we are into what we know about what has taken place here. because, the police were first called less than two hours ago, it really does seem that we're going to be getting more information all the time on this issue. peter, in your experience, when responding to

issues like mass stabbings, what are the first things the police have to do ? have to do? >> the first thing always is the protection of life, and so whilst it may be police officers going there that you would imagine might primarily be thinking about arresting somebody and that would of course, be very much in their thinking. the whole thing is preserved life, which is why our courageous frontline police men and women so often go home from and women so often go home from a shift covered in blood, and that , unfortunately, a shift covered in blood, and that, unfortunately, is a by—product of the increasingly violent country in which we live in knife crime. in the last decade has increased by 78%, and that's only the recorded figures. we have an epidemic of knife crime and people using other bladed instruments. let's look back in just the last year

or so at two catastrophic incidents , one in hainault, incidents, one in hainault, where a 14 year old boy lost his life and two police officers were very seriously injured. a man is awaiting trial, for that matter, so i won't mention it further. but then if we go back to the 13th of june last year in nottingham, valdo calocane on his murderous rampage, who killed barnaby? ian grace and seriously injured another. a number of other people. these incidents are appalling. they are creeping into our lives with greater frequency and it cannot just be the responsibility of the police alone to try and tackle this epidemic. >> well, peter, what is the do you know any any more information about the crime profile of this particular area? because, of course, you mentioned a lot of other incidents that have taken place relatively recently. and we know knife crime is on the rise, but

obviously we don't want to speculate too much about what the motivations behind this attack might be because we don't have the information yet to discuss that. but just just speaking about the sort of the crime profile of the area, is this something that would be obviously, it is inherently shocking , but is this an area shocking, but is this an area thatis shocking, but is this an area that is prone to knife crime in the last five years, i've had the last five years, i've had the great pleasure of travelling frequently to liverpool as part of my hunt for a man wanted for two murders, kevin powell, and that's included southport. >> that has a lovely beach, although you have to be very careful of quicksand. and it's where antony gormley's statues, which are of naked men, are actually put on the beach , actually put on the beach, facing out, towards the west . facing out, towards the west. and they are quite striking things to go and see. i've met people there. it's a mixed area. it has very nice streets with boutique type coffee shops where

you can go and enjoy a coffee and a pastry, but like so much of that city and in fact all our city's poverty, sometimes lives cheek by jowl, very close to considerable wealth . liverpool considerable wealth. liverpool is a great city, with some astonishing people, and it has its challenges, of course, in its challenges, of course, in its glory days as a port, there was lots of smuggling and importation and skulduggery, but it remains a great city, presented with challenges around crime like london, birmingham, manchester, newcastle and others. >> well, peter bleksley do stay with us. we're going to return for the moment to our home and security editor mark white, who is still with us in the studio . is still with us in the studio. because, mark, we must be getting more information on this all the time, >> yes. some more information. not an awful lot at the moment, but whatsapp groups in that local neighbourhood were

reporting, to each other, neighbours saying stay in and lock the door. that there was someone running around the street stabbing people that was coming from , see these kind of coming from, see these kind of neighbourhood whatsapp groups that people have in many communities and people were being advised by the police for a while to stay away from the area. they have now said that a person is in custody and that there's, as they believe it, no wider threat. however, they're still urging people to stay away from the area, but that's more to do with managing what is not just an active crime scene at the moment, but an active scene of trying to get help to casualties involved in this unfolding incident. we're told that air ambulances were sent to the scene as well, an indication perhaps , of the significance of perhaps, of the significance of the injuries of those that were caught up in this, but not much

more detail about that at this stage, except to say there is a very significant emergency service presence in that area with the whole of hart street now just cordoned off and blocked off to all traffic. >> are there any indications in those witnesses, those whatsapp chats, as to what the motivation, early indications as to what the motivation might have been? >> no, it is interesting. there is so much speculation online. there are different numbers flying around. talk a lot of talk about a nursery that might have been affected, but clearly the police are not putting out a further statement until things are much clearer on the ground . are much clearer on the ground. there's a there's a lot of fog and mist around this story, as there always is in the early hours after after a large incident, a major incident like this . yeah. this. yeah. >> i mean, all i will add is that, you know , social media in that, you know, social media in particular, at times like this, it can be very useful for trying

to form a bit of a picture, but there can be lots of erroneous reporting out there as well. so we need to be cautious on on quite what we confirm. and we don't. i mean, i was talking about some reports and we'll put it no stronger than that, suggesting it may have been some a nursery or a pre—school , a nursery or a pre—school, institutional building of some sort, but that has not been confirmed by the emergency services. it'sjust confirmed by the emergency services. it's just that a number of outlets have been reporting that particular line. so let's wait and see, you know, covered many of these stories in the past where an hour into it, two hours into it, you're getting one picture, 3 or 4 hours into it. actually, it turns out that that is not the case, that, yes, it might have been near that particular building, but it didn't target that particular building. it has maybe been an event that has

targeted people on the street. i'm just saying that as an illustration of where it could go, i have no information to say it was targeting of people in the street or indeed in the building, because just saying to you there that the reports that we've got the whatsapp group, we're talking about an individual stabbing people in the street, other reports which have been picked up by other news outlets suggesting it may have been some kind of nursery or pre—school building. >> so are these whatsapp chats suggesting that the knifeman may have been actually roaming through the streets in southport? >> well, it says no more than that. someone has, on, on the streets and stabbing people . so streets and stabbing people. so there's no detail of exactly that. but i mean, you know, certainly indicates that that may have been the case. but again, it's whatsapp groups, people that are not necessarily there who are passing on one message to another , things message to another, things chinese whispers. well, it just becomes that doesn't it? so

that's why we need to be careful and just again confirm what we can confirm, which is the statement from merseyside police saying that it was 1150. so what, an hour and a half ago, that just over an hour or 40 minutes ago that they received reports of a stabbing at a location in hart street in southport and on attending, location in hart street in southport and on attending , they southport and on attending, they have declared it a major incident. and they're talking about multiple or a number of casualties. i should say, and not giving a further number on it than than just that. >> and important as you say, to emphasise that the police have said the suspect has been detained. there is no further threat to the community in south. yeah, that was armed police officers who were called, as they always do , to any as they always do, to any incident involving deadly weapon. >> of course, a knife falls into that category and it was armed police that arrested this man. no indication. and in fact,

every reason to believe that at this stage there aren't any other people, as the police are talking about no information, they don't believe any wider threat. >> well, mark white do stay with us, but for now, we're going to get more reaction from former police sergeant, former armed officer himself, harry tangye, because harry, there were armed police called to this event . police called to this event. what will they have been thinking as they rush towards the danger that was clearly so present ? present? >> well, initially it calls go to the control room and the control room inspector in some forces. but anyway, that will be assessed as to the validity of it. and of course, the less information, the more dangerous it can be. and so they, they sift the sort of there's a, there's a 12 year old with a gun and it goes pop and they sift those out for a more measured response to something like this, where you probably get multiple calls, maybe if it was in the street, although it said they

were called to a premises, we don't know how many that might have been multi—occupancy or whatever. or as mark white very measuredly said as well. it could be a school or something like that. we're we're surmising . like that. we're we're surmising. so i think very quickly those armed response people would be going on. they would be in training mode. basically, they've done these, they've done these, these exercises, so on. and i've, i've taken the, the slack up on a trigger on two separate occasions. and to be honest, it wasn't oh, what's going to happen if i shoot. what's going it. no. this was so natural for me. i knew what to do when they know what their colleagues are doing, and they would have been very keen. you're talking emergency entry. this situation where people have already been injured, you're not going to do a containment and have a nice, you know, negotiation on that . you do that negotiation on that. you do that if the subject was on their own. well, there's no rush then, is there? so that really puts the pressure onto the armed officers. you'll have unarmed officers. you'll have unarmed officers that will be playing just as an important part, and then those officers will be highly trained with medical. we

used to do cannulation. they've got blood clots, those huge bags that they've been trained by. the best consultants there are out there as well . so it's out there as well. so it's they're they're a good unit to have to a location like that as soon as possible , and to, to soon as possible, and to, to offer , medical aid to the, any offer, medical aid to the, any offer, medical aid to the, any of the victims there, but i agree, the fact they would also have been thinking, is this an isolated incident or are these isolated incident or are these is this a terrorist incident or is this a terrorist incident or is it a number of people with a vendetta and they're going off in various areas. so they would have been very careful listening out to the rest of the country. what's happening elsewhere? there is no wider threat to the public, they said. so that's reassuring. indeed because it means they're confident that they've contained the actual individual, and they don't think that there's anyone else involved. >> harry, how is it that the police go about determining that there is no further risk to the pubuc there is no further risk to the public that this is just one lone knifeman, one lone attacker ?

lone knifeman, one lone attacker? and how do they go about establishing what the motive might have been ? might have been? >> they'll be looking at what's the information intelligence? what is known, what is believed, what is the threat level and that side of things? is it easier to take the public away from that subject, or is it easier to, take the subject away, you know, so that sort of thing, they're also looking at, you know, what actually are the offences that have gone on, what tactics are going to be used . tactics are going to be used. these are very automatic. ding dang dung dung. they will be being used by the arvs but also by the force incident manager to then establish really what's how at that information intelligence and they'll have little units going off investigating away. we'll find out everything about this person. do we know who they are. what's their vehicle. right. who's their associates are? we've got intel here to say that this is about them. and this is. oh, what's the link between that premises and the subject, okay. this could be a nasty break up with husband and wife and kids involved and things like this. so these

things like this. so these things are very determined. it might have been the subject himself, very targeted towards one individual or several individuals there, but the police are clearly satisfied that there aren't other people around that this same incident could happen in manchester, birmingham or wherever. so they wouldn't say that lightly. so the information intelligence that they have, and they'll also be thinking of contingencies in case things do happen and that they can react swiftly to it. >> and in incidents that are on this scale, is it often the case that police will already have intelligence about this ? will intelligence about this? will the suspect will already be known to the police in some way, maybe have had some previous interaction? with the law, or is it more likely that they won't have been known to the police? and as tom was saying earlier, that this is a, you know, a lone wolf attack , maybe somebody who wolf attack, maybe somebody who has just picked up a knife out of their kitchen, and, and gone out and committed this attack. is it is it often the case that they have had some interaction with the police?

>> it very often and often when i'm i used to drive along and stop a random a car that's coming in a fence, a random car, you might say, but i just want to know who that person is. i often know the name of the registered keeper, whether they've got any offences directly to them, what the intel is, before i even walk up and speak to them. so those officers, you will have had people doing the intel checks, reporting back to the force incident manager, who will be reporting back to the tactics adviser, the operational firearms commander, like the team leaders often, you know, these things are over there , so these things are over there, so spontaneous they're over before they start. and the armed response officers are very well equipped to deal with the unexpected. it's to answer your question, very likely that they are known, even if it's mental health, and very likely that they've had previous connections with the police, and of course, in the aftermath, this is why we so often get. well, the police were informed about this, this, this and why wasn't anything done. it's a very difficult thing to deal with proportionately with people. so

it doesn't end up like this. but you don't want to be too heavy handed of course, and arrest everyone for every threat. so it's very tricky, thank god. no, ithank it's very tricky, thank god. no, i thank goodness he's been detained. i think he must have been. we must be known to the police. i'm jumping to that conclusion because statistically speaking, it's correct. very unusual for someone not known to suddenly snap like that in such a big event. >> well, harry, thank you so much for talking us through that initial response from armed officers. again, three different emergency services called to this major incident. now breaking here on gb news. we can show you some photographs from the area. indeed, these are photographs taken from southport. following this major incident that occurred this morning around 11:50 am. pictures from southport in merseyside, where this major incident has taken place again , incident has taken place again, a number of reported casualties

and armed police have detained one male and seized a knife. but that number of reported casualties is deeply concerning , casualties is deeply concerning, no doubt. >> now we're joined by our home and security editor, mark white, who's still with us. do we have the latest on what's been unfolding? >> short statement from the nonh >> short statement from the north west ambulance service. and they are basically saying we're attending a major incident on hart street in southport following reports of multiple stabbings in which we have dispatched multiple resources. we're assessing the situation and working with emergency partners, again, police follow our channels and merseyside police for further updates. but the first time that, anyone has used multiple stabbings in terms

of terminology, i mean, that's what we suspected after policing, initially they were attending a stabbing incident, but , north attending a stabbing incident, but, north west attending a stabbing incident, but , north west ambulance but, north west ambulance service have put it in terms that there have been reports of multiple stabbings, and they have dispatched a significant number of resources to that location , and also , we have to location, and also, we have to go back to these whatsapp group messages. one of the messages that this is going around sort of neighbours in the area, just in a residential whatsapp group, started messages starting to go around, which said, lock your windows, lock your doors and added, we were told a man was running around stabbing people. but i go back to just that point. you know, that you said about chinese whispers, it's very true

that no one really knows whether we're actually talking about a building being targeted or whether a potentially, it was an incident that unfolded in the street, or it could have been a combination of both. it could have been an incident inside the building . and then, escalated building. and then, escalated onto the street or had happened in the street beforehand . so in the street beforehand. so you're looking at the first of the pictures. we are endeavouring to get more images for you, but that clearly shows the emergency service response beyond the police crime tape line there. and officers just on scene, sealing that street off. as i mentioned just before, the whole of hart street and surrounding streets. now, just impossible for anyone other than the emergency services who have to get to this incident itself. >> obviously very difficult to infer, but we're trying to sort of piece things together as the

information comes in. but you're saying it may have been the case, for example, that somebody could have been on a rampage and then opportunistically decided, as you say, to potentially target some kind of pre—school? >> it could have, but, you target some kind of pre—school? >> it could have, but , you know, >> it could have, but, you know, again, i'd only be speculating, but it's one of the caveats that we need to, give our audience at this time because we just don't know, we can only really report what people at the scene are telling those journalists who are now gathered on the scene and endeavouring to get eyewitness accounts. so it will become a bit clearer as to whether it was an incident that unfolded in multiple locations or whether it was just one location. but there are very significant emergency service resources now. there is no doubt police are in control of the situation because they felt empowered and confident enough to be able to say that there is no wider threat to the public, and that would indicate that the one person in custody is all

there. the only person they are looking for at this stage and mark white. >> this statement from the police was released as far as we understand it, around an hour after they were called to the incident, which was 1150, we started reporting on this incident at 1:00. this has moved incredibly quickly. will the police therefore have have been able to surmise what had happenedin able to surmise what had happened in order to, to release a statement to journalists? really quite surprisingly quickly after after this event took place? >> yeah. i mean, when it happens in the middle of a sort of residential street, in merseyside, as opposed to somewhere, that is a way, an isolated where people don't have communications as easily or readily in that area . then it readily in that area. then it takes a bit of time before these reports come out. but when you've got multiple people there on the camera phones, on social media, the message gets out

fairly quickly. and it was, again, social media is very good for being a rapid disseminator of information. it needs to be obviously clarified, and sometimes the accuracy isn't always there, but it's very quick in getting information out there, and that allows the journalists who are monitoring social media to then very quickly get to the emergency services. and for merseyside police, knowing that in a case like this, they've got to get that information out to the pubuc that information out to the public as quickly as possible because there are understandable or understandably very concerned citizens in that local area who will want to know as quickly as possible that one, there's no wider threat. and two, whether you know they or members of their family at least, and friends might have been caught up in this. >> and we were just discussing, there that the, the likelihood that an individual who commits an attack like this will have

had some kind of contact with the authorities before, whether it's through mental health or perhaps, through previous crime or perhaps intelligence. but of course, when you have a low tech attack like this, using a knife, something that you can just get from your own home, from your kitchen, how how likely is it statistically, when looking at previous incidents like this, that it would be premeditated? or is it more likely to be sort of opportunistic if it's so low tech ? tech? >> again, i'd only be speculating. so i don't know. but except to say that, you know , but except to say that, you know, the very, very few things just happenin the very, very few things just happen in isolation on the spur of a moment. even if someone has you know, had some kind of an episode that that's normally not the first episode that they would have had. people are on a journey. and it's true of extremism as it is of mental health. you know, people will have, probably progressed in

the, the sort of levels of, violence and risk that they show , violence and risk that they show, going forward. you know, they may have been involved in multiple lower level incidents in the past. and it's absolutely true of extremism, where even those that are self—radicalized in the bedroom quite a lot of the time these people will have mixed with other radical into , mixed with other radical into, individuals. they may have sort of attended groups, they may have posted things that have brought them to the attention of the police and security services. the difficulty is knowing unless they're properly put under some kind of, scrutiny. and, you know , scrutiny. and, you know, surveillance to know exactly what they're doing at any given time and how far down the road to radicalisation they are. and again, i just need to emphasise

that there's nothing at this stage to suggest a terrorist link to this. but of course, it's got to be right there, up there in the thinking of the, there in the thinking of the, the police and the security services, as they go forward, they'll be trying to establish fairly quickly whether this is someone that was known to them, whether it's someone who maybe falls on the spectrum of a radical rather than another, you know, criminality or or another particular reason behind this. >> now, mark, the internet is awash with unverified reports that small children have been stabbed, that this was an attack that did involve very young people hunted out by this seemingly known knifeman, i know this is very, very early days, but this just does emphasise that the gravity and the horror of what we're talking about. >> yeah, i think we need to be

very careful here, we've had no confirmation of that. it might well be true , but, you know, well be true, but, you know, you've got parents and you've got family members out there as well . so i got family members out there as well. so i think going down the road of trying to give age ranges on people that have been caught up in this, i think we should just be a little more cautious. there there are these reports. you're right, cautious. there there are these reports. you're right , hopefully reports. you're right, hopefully we can get some more confirmation, but i would be reluctant to go down that road just at this stage until we've got something that's a bit firmer from our point of view. because as as i just say, you know, there are potential for family members who have not yet been sort of, alerted. and if we're talking about an area and we've named a street, you know. yeah, it doesn't you don't have to leap too far, to, to realise that there may be people who've

not yet been told that's hugely, hugely important context, >> no doubt, though , this >> no doubt, though, this a very, very significant incident . very, very significant incident. mark white do stay with us. we're going to have a look at the words from, from the north west ambulance service. now, they say we're attending a major incident on hart street , incident on hart street, southport, following reports of multiple stabbings in which we have dispatched multiple resources. we're assisting the situation. we're assessing the situation. we're assessing the situation and working with emergency partners . please emergency partners. please follow our channels and mersey police for further updates. so again , that's a north west again, that's a north west ambulance service. they're saying that they are attending a major incident on hart street, southport, following reports of multiple stabbings in which we have dispatched multiple resources , north west ambulance resources, north west ambulance service says they're assessing the situation, working with emergency partners. >> so, mark, returning just to

that question of , of motivation that question of, of motivation for a second, that even if an individual is known to the, to the, to the authorities in some way beforehand, with such a low tech , attack, it is, of course, tech, attack, it is, of course, still very difficult to intercept such an attack before it happens , it happens, >> yes, it is , because, we don't >> yes, it is, because, we don't know how far down the road to radicalisation or extremism and violent extremism. someone has gone. they can associate with other extremists , as as people other extremists, as as people often do. but there are thousands of individuals who are on the police and security services radar in terms of extremists. and it's impossible for the police and security services to be across all of them. so they have to make decisions. they have to choose who the individuals are that you give most attention to, and that

can be motivated by a number of factors. they may have received some intelligence that someone is , meeting with a particularly , is, meeting with a particularly, you know, unsavoury radical element that someone may have mentioned to someone else that that they are planning something and then suddenly it ups the ante in the police and security services minds, and they decide or they don't decide to put someone under closer scrutiny. and only then might they get an indication of what they're up to if they can perhaps, you know, use surveillance techniques such as surveillance in someone's home, bugging them effectively to try to determine what they're up to . but it is made so much up to. but it is made so much more difficult by the fact that you can go on the internet. you can be exposed to the images that are widely available there, and you can radicalise in quite and you can radicalise in quite a short period of time, but as

again, i just want to keep adding, we don't know. that's what we're looking at here. there are multiple potential motivations behind an attack like this. unfathomable and unfathomable, for all of us, that anybody would go on a multiple attacking spree. but clearly, you know , there are clearly, you know, there are individuals for whatever motivation that do this because it's happened on multiple time occasions. >> but mark, to repeat what we do know what is concrete is this major incident on heart on heart street, multiple stabbings . and street, multiple stabbings. and in the last few minutes, the nonh in the last few minutes, the north west ambulance service confirming that multiple resources have been dispatched here. ambulance and police, armed police response. we know as well. tell us a bit about the breadth of response that we that the site will have seen. >> well, one of the responses , >> well, one of the responses, in terms of those more seriously injured are helicopter medical,

responses and a member of staff at yates motor engineers, which is on hart street, has been talking to the liverpool echo and he's quoted as saying, i've heard helicopters overhead . it's heard helicopters overhead. it's further down the road from us. there must be at least 20 police vehicles here. i heard the air ambulance overhead. it landed on the field by scarisbrick, new road, so that again just backing up the reports, that i was talking about just half an hour ago about air ambulance assets also being sent to the scene and perhaps an indication of the significant injuries involved in what is we now know a multiple stabbing attack we have here. >> obviously not confirmed yet , >> obviously not confirmed yet, but, an eyewitness saying that

the attack took place in a day care centre , which confirms what care centre, which confirms what you were suggesting earlier. but as i say, not absolutely not confirmed yet, this eyewitnesses said that it took place, quote, just a few houses up the road. i think it is a day care, and it's just on a residential street, another local, told another broadcasting outlet, that his colleague had seen, quote , kids colleague had seen, quote, kids being carried out of one of the houses. >> yeah. so that i think that's lbc, that's been reporting that. so we should attribute that as well as, you know , these are well as, you know, these are people that have spoken to legitimate news organisations. it's not just lines that we're pulling off, social media. so thatis pulling off, social media. so that is lbc reporting on what they've been told by individuals. the suggestion that this was at a day—care centre in hart street, as i say, that's not yet been confirmed by the

emergency services or the merseyside police at this stage . merseyside police at this stage. but now, of course, you're seeing journalistic assets on the ground who are speaking to people that are from the local area , and you can then take what area, and you can then take what they are saying with a little bit more credibility than unknown sort of names on social media. so yeah, that does appear to be a worrying indication. >> no, really, really deeply concerning. but again, all of the eyewitnesses that have been reported by multiple different media outlets are all operating from what is a sort of, vantage point of not perfect information. lots of people in cases like these can think they see something, but that not be confirmed. we need to have that level of scepticism to everything that we hear. until officially confirmed. but of course, we have heard word from multiple different authorities. most recently the north west

ambulance service, who have said this. we're attending a major incident on hart street , incident on hart street, southport, following reports of multiple stabbings in which we have dispatched multiple resources . we're assessing the resources. we're assessing the situation and working with emergency partners. they then tell people to follow their channels and the merseyside police for further updates. so thatis police for further updates. so that is what we do know. there is, of course, a vast amount of speculation and we are getting more pictures of what it looks like on the ground. we can see, of course , multiple resources of course, multiple resources there. i'm counting three ambulances just from my vantage point. yeah, a really significant incident. yeah >> i mean, i think there's, two ambulances nearest the screener. what they actually call hart ambulances. hazardous area response teams. so they attend the more complex incidents involving multiple casualties. they are there. you've got senior paramedics on board who are specialised in being able to

deal with these multiple casualty incidents. just going back to the point you were mentioning, why we're just being a little bit cautious in what we report with the multiple eyewitness reports. a perfect example of this for me was back in 2005, when i covered the shooting death of the brazilian jean charles de menezes. after this was in the weeks after the london bombings, where we had bombings, attempted bombings in the 21st of july that year. >> he he was the brazilian man who jumped the barriers at a tube station, had a backpack. >> he didn't. >> he didn't. >> oh, he didn't. >> oh, he didn't. >> so that's exactly the point. i want to make, the eyewitness reports were saying that he'd jumped the barriers. he'd run away from the police. he'd resisted none of that happened. but what happened was eyewitnesses in the station saw armed response officers, and wearing civilian clothes apart

from a police cap as they do because they were in civilian vehicles on patrol. and they attended and they ran down after him because he'd just gone through the barriers and to down the tube train. and they had vaulted the barriers because obviously they're not going to waste their time, you know, trying to tap in. they're just jumping over the barriers. so people saw that and reported to the media all we saw him jumping the media all we saw him jumping the barriers and going down. so that was one example. and there have been many, many others of eyewitnesses who in moments of great sort of , turmoil and great sort of, turmoil and panic, see something that doesn't turn out to be exactly as they're recalling it , that as they're recalling it, that being said, we are clear that the incident unfolded in hart street, that it has involved multiple casualties. there are reports now of a day—care, a day—care centre as being

reported to the media by eyewitnesses at the scene. i should just say, i've had a statement from the merseyside police and crime commissioner, emily sparrow, she is saying, like everyone , i'm deeply like everyone, i'm deeply shocked and concerned about the major incident in southport this morning. she goes on, an arrest has been made and there is no wider risk to the public. again, that's echoing what merseyside police themselves are saying. no wider risk to the public. i would urge people to be careful about what they share online and to not speculate about this incident . so that is the incident. so that is the merseyside police and crime commissioner, emily sparrow, just again trying to urge caution in terms of what people speculate and the reports that they're getting. >> mark, the north west ambulance service has released an official update . now, they

an official update. now, they say that they're responding to this major incident following a call at 11:48 pm. to hart street in southport. they dispatched 13 ambulances along with specialised resources of our hazardous area response team, hart air ambulance and merit doctors to the scene. so far, the north west ambulance service has treated eight patients with stab injuries who have been taken to alder hey children's hospital, aintree university, university hospital and southport and formby hosphal and southport and formby hospital. this is the first official confirmation mark that children have clearly been involved in this attack, because alder hey children's hospital is one of those venues that the eight patients so far with stab injuries have been taken to. >> yes , and that confirmation of >> yes, and that confirmation of eight, victims as well of this stabbing from the ambulance

service confirming that they sent 13 ambulance vehicles dispatched to that scene. and as you see, the very critical information there, the first confirmation that clearly children have been involved and caught up in this as the casualties, some of them at least, have been taken to alder hey children's hospital, also aintree university hospital and southport and formby hospital. now it doesn't mean that the casualties taken to aintree university hospital or southport and formby hospital were not children. it's possible that you know, with a multiple casualty event like this, you have specialised trauma teams standing by at major trauma centres in the area so it can be, you know, the dispatchers in

conjunction with those medical teams will decide how best to do it, not to flood one place with eight very seriously injured, potentially people. it's better to then put them across, three major trauma centres as they've done on this occasion. >> mark white. thank you. it's just on 2:00 here on gb news. this is our continued coverage of a major incident in southport in the merseyside area on hart street, where we can now reveal that eight patients with stab wounds have been taken to three hospitals. 13 emergency response vehicles were called to the site and one man has been arrested . and one man has been arrested. this is a major incident declared by the police services and north west ambulance service, who in the last few minutes have said this. the nonh minutes have said this. the north west ambulance service is responding to a major incident following a call at 11:48 am. to hart street in southport ,

to hart street in southport, following reports of multiple stabbings . we have dispatched 13 stabbings. we have dispatched 13 ambulances along with specialised resources to our hazardous area response team, air ambulance and merit doctors to the scene. so far , north west to the scene. so far, north west ambulance service has treated eight patients with stab injuries who've been taken to alder hey children's hospital, aintree university hospital and southport and formby hospital. our home and security editor , our home and security editor, mark white joins us in the studio. mark this is a deeply serious event. >> yeah , very concerning indeed. >> yeah, very concerning indeed. now to get the confirmation of the number of casualties involved, we'd been told, of course, in that initial statement by merseyside police that they were attending an incident after reports of a stabbing and there was a number of casualties. well, a number is clearly a significant number of eight casualties and the fact

that there have been taken to three separate hospitals as well gives an indication of the way in which the medical services try to, siphon off the most seriously injured to the major trauma centres and also, of course, a very, sobering and disturbing aspect of it, that there are clearly children involved in that some of the casualties have been taken to alder hey children's hospital. >> and does the fact that they have been taken to separate hospitals, perhaps imply that those injuries are actually quite complex and so in terms of resources, they see it as best to not take them all to the same place so that they can all, sort of be, be properly seen to . of be, be properly seen to. >> well, it's more down to the fact that, even in a major trauma centre, you will only have a finite number of resources. so they might be able

to effectively deal with three patients at one time. and can split their resources. but giving them eight at the same time would just overwhelm them . time would just overwhelm them. so they have well—rehearsed plans in dealing with mass casualty situations. we've seen it in other mass casualty events in the past where they will split the number of hospitals so that you've got then the best possible care that can be provided with the medical staff that are there, that can give their attention to those that are being , treated at the scene. are being, treated at the scene. and, you know , some of them and, you know, some of them might have had minor injuries, some of them may have very complex and critical injuries. that level of detail is not being given out by the ambulance service as yet, but at least by having three hospitals involved, you've got three trauma centres worth of personnel that can give

the best possible care to those that are coming their way, and the emergency services are obviously doing a fantastic job of clearly communicating what is known to the public. >> and we were expecting to have a regardless of this, irrespective of this, we were expecting to hear from the home secretary later today. should we be expecting that? maybe she'll give a statement on this. obviously some people will be, many people at home and listeners will be wanting to, you know, eager to eager to know exactly what the details are of this. and as you said, they will be wanting to inform the families first before releasing full information to the public. how long should people expect to wait for that information, particularly if they are in the area and are particularly worried about this? and should we expect more information from the home secretary? >> well, hopefully, as we speak , >> well, hopefully, as we speak, relatives, loved ones of people caught up in this incident have either been told or are being

told, in terms of yvette cooper, i think there's no doubt that she will reference it if she is in the comments live this afternoon, as we're expecting , afternoon, as we're expecting, there is no doubt she will address this. it's a major incident involving eight people who are injured, and some of them at least are children. so i think it would be, you know, unimaginable that the home secretary would not put out, some either statement or should certainly, if she's going to be live in the commons, i'm sure she'll address it, even if she has to be very sort of guarded with what she says and has very little information at that point. >> and it is, of course , it >> and it is, of course, it emphasises how little perhaps is known about motivation , about known about motivation, about the facts on the ground that we are yet to have an official statement from the home secretary. no doubt she will be being briefed on this, but no

official communication from the home secretary as things stand, what we do know has been released by merseyside police and the north west ambulance service. and just to repeat what the north west ambulance service is saying, they're responding to a major incident following a call at 11:48 am. this morning to hart street in southport, following reports of multiple stabbings. they have dispatched 13 ambulances along with specialised resources of their hazardous area response team, air ambulance and merit doctors all taken to the scene . and so all taken to the scene. and so far the north west ambulance service has treated eight patients, eight patients with stab injuries who've all been taken to either alder hey children's hospital, aintree university hospital or southport and formby hospital. so those are three hospitals, one specifically a children's hospital that have been

responding to these eight patients. these eight victims. >> so that is confirmed. eight patients, including children . patients, including children. >> well, we can we can surmise it's children. mark this is clearly a very, very significant issue, we are learning more all the time. and some of these updates are quite hard to listen to . to. >> yes they are. i mean, it's clearly, you know , any incident clearly, you know, any incident like this is obviously traumatic for those caught up in it. and we've been hearing from eyewitnesses who are in that local area, a witness in a garage talking about the fact that the place is just flooded with about 20 separate police vehicles, that they'd seen. they'd seen their ambulance landing in a field nearby and also of course, other witnesses who were on whatsapp, group residents in the area telling urging each other to lock doors

and windows because of earning reports that someone was stabbing people in the street. >> mark, we can now report that a local business owner, who was one of the people who called the police, said the incident in southport , southport was like southport, southport was like a scene from a horror movie that from an eyewitness on the scene, the local business owner, one of the local business owner, one of the people who called the police to this incident, said it was like a scene from a horror movie. >> i think many people at home will be experiencing in the same way as we are in the studio. i feel like my sort of throat, my sort of stomach, is in my throat at the thought of these children, potentially being victims of a knife crime. >> in this way, it it's always all the more disturbing when you realise that the target of an attack are the most vulnerable in society. the very young and the very old, when they get caught up in events , it has caught up in events, it has a particular resonance and

understandably so, and so, of course it is all the more shocking to learn, as you say, we can surmise that children have been caught up in this one. the reports early on about this being either some kind of nursery or day—care centre day day—care centre, and now of course through the ambulance service with the confirmation that one of the hospitals involved in receiving casualties is the alder hey children's hosphal is the alder hey children's hospital, they ordinarily would not take adult patients. >> thank you mark. so mark will be staying with us to bring you more on this story as it unfolds. but joining us now is the founder of fair cop, harry miller . miller. >> harry, good to, good to hear you this afternoon. and sorry it's in such appalling circumstances. obviously there has been a wide array of responses from the ambulance services. we know 13 ambulances

were sent to the scene , but we were sent to the scene, but we also know that armed police were sent to respond. what does that tell us? >> this tells us quite frankly, that the situation is incredibly dangerous as we know that the second that there are weapons involved. second, there are knives involved and children involved, public involved. this number of ambulances, we have a catastrophic situation now. at the moment, of course, we don't know, either the motive or the identity of, of the perpetrator. so i don't like to comment on that. but what we can say is that. but what we can say is that let's give a shout out to the police at this time. yet again, they are being asked to march into a situation largely without largely our police do not carry weapons other than perhaps a taser and a stick. and yet again, we are asking them to march into a cauldron, a boiling, seething, dangerous cauldron of a situation in order to protect the public and to

protect the other emergency services, who, of course, have been called onto the scene . this been called onto the scene. this is an intolerable situation and my thoughts go out, of course, to those who were stabbed, the emergency services. >> harry, we're just going to pause. you for a second to turn to mark white in the studio, who has some news. >> this is a statement just through from alder. hey children's hospital. it has confirmed and declared a major incident. the trust, it says, is working with other emergency services to respond to this incident. and our emergency department is currently extremely busy , they said in extremely busy, they said in a statement. they've said we ask patients or parents, i should say to only bring their children to the emergency department if it's urgent. all other appointments and services are running as normal, so they have declared a major incident at alder hey children's hospital, they are extremely busy, so an

indication that we're dealing with multiple, children that are involved in this, not just 1 or 2 by what the this hospital is seeing. >> and we now have reports that it may be 6 or 7 young girls who have been injured in this attack. >> right. sorry. where have we got we've got let's, let's let's have a look at this . have a look at this. >> local business owner. a local business owner. this is the same local business owner who initially phoned in the incident to the police. one of the people that phoned that in, this is just his speculation, but he says he believes 6 or 7 young girls involved in the stabbing of course we do know from the official reports from the ambulance service that eight individuals have been taken to hospital, three separate hospitals, alder hey children's hosphal hospitals, alder hey children's hospital, aintree university hospital, aintree university hospital and southport and formby hospital . mark

hospital and southport and formby hospital. mark your statement from alder hey children's hospital suggesting that they are under a lot of pressure. a very, very busy scene at that hospital. >> yes, i mean obviously that, local businessman who has been speaking to the media, that's fine. that's what he's saying. as you pointed out, quite rightly, we've not had that officially confirmed. but certainly by what? alder hey children's hospital are saying now they are dealing with multiple child casualties , to multiple child casualties, to now have to resort to declaring a major incident at the hospital itself . and it's just worth itself. and it's just worth reiterating the statement . the reiterating the statement. the trust, it says, is working with other emergency services to respond to this incident . respond to this incident. incident and our emergency department is currently extremely busy. we ask that parents only bring their

children to the emergency department if it's urgent . all department if it's urgent. all other appointments and services are running as normal, so it's only the emergency department, the trauma unit that's dealing with this crisis that is extremely busy. >> and you use the word crisis . >> and you use the word crisis. mark, i suppose that is the only word we can use to describe it, because ultimately they wouldn't put a statement out like that if these were minor injuries, these these were minor injuries, these these are clearly major injuries, >> yeah. i mean, we don't know how serious they are, but i mean, to, to tie up a trauma unit there with multiple staff for them having to declare, a critical incident at the hospital, it's clear that the, the injuries they're dealing with are quite complex in nature. >> well, mark, thank you for that breaking line . and that breaking line. and apologies to harry miller, the founder of fair cop, for interrupting you there with that news. but harry, to return to you, this does seem like it is a

significantly, major event. of course, we now know that this children's hospital has has said frankly, it's responding to an overwhelming incident . overwhelming incident. >> it's just overwhelmed a major incident. we do not historically have this kind of event on the streets of britain , what? i am streets of britain, what? i am terribly afraid of is that this is going to be dismissed as another lone wolf mental health, episode we cannot keep having these lone wolf isolated mental health, episodes where people end up stabbed, dead, etc. it's what is it ? it's end up stabbed, dead, etc. it's what is it? it's less than a fortnight since a so—called mental health issue ended up with a lieutenant colonel. being stabbed multiple times on the streets of the uk. now it's happening here in southport. we've got to do something about this. if it is a mental health issue, then we need to address our mental health services

immediately. my suspicion, though, is that it's not a mental health issue. my suspicion is that it's something far more, far more, ideological, of course , we have no official of course, we have no official confirmation on the identity of the suspect. >> it is interesting, the suspect. >> it is interesting , however, >> it is interesting, however, that that an arrest was made and even though there were armed response units called to this incident, it seems like that the suspect who has injured at least eight people, according to the or to according the ambulance service, seemingly was arrested alive . oh, let's see if we can alive. oh, let's see if we can get harry miller back there. apologies for the brief delay in communications there, harry miller, i hope you heard my question. that, that that that it is significant that the that the suspect here was arrested alive. >> yeah. of course. and that's

unique to britain in the united states, for instance. the perpetrator would have been shot and killed. that's it. we don't want to go down an american route. we don't want that, we don't want to have police officers routinely armed as far as i'm concerned. but what we do want is to have police officers and members of the public, to be protected , we have to address protected, we have to address the mental health crisis . if it the mental health crisis. if it turns out to be yet another mental health crisis, if it turns out to be an ideological incident, then we absolutely have to address that as well. either way, what has happened today on the streets of southport is entirely unacceptable, and it's the first duty of government to protect us from such incidents. and the government needs to crack on with this immediately. we need to be hearing from yvette coopen to be hearing from yvette cooper. we need to be hearing from sir keir starmer. cooper. we need to be hearing from sir keir starmer . we need from sir keir starmer. we need to be hearing from chiefs of police to say what they are going to do in order to drive this dangerous, nonsense from our streets. we cannot have a

situation where our children are put in a day—care centre or what have you , and they are subject have you, and they are subject to this. we simply cannot have it if it needs more stop and searches to get, weapons off the streets, let's have more stop and searches if it needs arrests because people are engaging in terrorism, let's have more arrests. but what we need to do is to be proactive in order to keep our streets safe. this is simply not good enough . simply not good enough. >> context, particularly referencing some of the recent stabbings that we've seen in this country, you mentioned the lieutenant colonel who was who was stabbed in a in a mental health incident. of course, the nottingham attacks, we saw was put down to mental health as well. but it's fair to say we have also had our own experience of, of terror stabbings as well in this country. i mean a long, long list of them , we have no

long list of them, we have no confirmation that this is either of those things. right now, but it seems like we can whittle down perhaps some of the other initial suspected elements of this. it's unlikely , if there this. it's unlikely, if there are indeed children involved, that this is for example, gang related warfare . related warfare. >> no, i don't think it's going to be a warfare at all. i think it's going to be mental health, or it's going to be terribly related, that's that's all i can think of right now. either way, what we have is removed the means by which somebody with a mental health episode has the opportunity to wreak this kind of carnage . so that involves of carnage. so that involves getting police, getting knives off our streets, we have to do that. we have to do that as a matter of urgency. and as i say, if it is ideologically driven, then that that that prompts and demands an entirely different response, we have to address the issue. we cannot solve a problem if you can't name it, and you can't solve it unless you

resource it and give the police the powers to proactively go in there and do something about it. we cannot have people on our streets subject to this kind of terror, be it mental health, albeit ideological. either way, it's not acceptable. >> but of course, harry, as you say , irrespective of the of the say, irrespective of the of the motivation behind this. and we'll see as this unfold what unfolds, what the motivation might have been, irrespective of the motivation. this is an intolerable situation as you've just described there. so what would you have the authorities do you you say you keir starmer yvette cooper must come out and make a statement about this, but what would you have them do to deal with this completely intolerable situation? because, as you say, we never used to see incidents like this on the streets of britain. >> there seems to be an increasing acceptance of weaponry on our streets. you know, 20 years ago there were very, very few police officers who were armed with anything

other than a short truncheon. that's because back in the day, burglars, criminals, the criminal classes, they tended to respect the fact that our police service were unarmed. that's the way it went . but that has way it went. but that has changed. now what? what? i don't want to see happen is that is that we fundamentally change our police service so that we become a armed gendarmerie . we don't a armed gendarmerie. we don't want that. but what we do want, we want a we want a society that is not riddled with weaponry. now, luckily, in this country, unlike the united states, there isn't a massive gun culture, but there is an increasing knife culture. we have to start deploying officers and encouraging officers to use their powers of stop and search. we've got to give officers the opportunity to make stop and searches without instantly being accused of being racist or what have you. they need to use their common sense because the primary objective is to get these

dangerous weapons off the streets. and unfortunately , that streets. and unfortunately, that means that there's going to be a few more people who are upset because they've had their pockets gone through. they've had their car looked at, they've had their car looked at, they've had their car looked at, they've had their jacket inspected because they may well be carrying weapons. we have to do that because the alternative is that because the alternative is that we see more incidents like this. we have to get the weapons off the street to do that. we have to have trust in our police service and give them the power. well, encourage them to use the powers that they already have to stop and search. >> well, harry miller , founder >> well, harry miller, founder of fair cop, thank you so much for talking us through what is a developing incident still still learning more information on this. all the time. appreciate your your your thoughts there. now we have a map to show you of the incident. this is southport and here is hart street where the incident took place at 1148 this morning. here's what we know. eight patients with stab injuries have been taken to alder hey children's hospital

and aintree university hospital, as well as southport and formby hosphal as well as southport and formby hospital. well, alder hey children's hospital said we can confirm that the trust has declared a major incident. a local business owner, who was one of the people who called the police, said the incident in southport was like a scene in a horror movie . our home and horror movie. our home and security editor mark white is still with us. mark, this is a developing situation. we are learning more all the time. but of course a suspect arrested and it's important to note that the police seem to have contained the situation. >> well, certainly what the police are saying is that they don't believe there's a wider threat. so by that, what they mean is they don't believe there was more than one person involved in this incident who might still be out there and potentially posing a threat to other people. so the one suspect is in custody. they don't

believe there's a wider risk to the public. they often will say as quickly as possible that message that comes out quickly , message that comes out quickly, because they want to just ensure that people in that area who would understandably be very concerned on hearing that multiple people had been stabbed, know that the threat has been contained and dealt with. that doesn't mean in the fullness of time when they delve in to the background of this individual , that other people individual, that other people don't come to light, or that, you know, other people might have had knowledge of what this person was planning to do. whatever the motivation was for the attack that that individual involved, you know , carried, involved, you know, carried, this alleged to have carried out . this alleged to have carried out. >> mark, we've now got a statement from yvette cooper, the home secretary, who said, i'm deeply, deeply concerned at the very serious incident in

southport. all my thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those affected, affected. i have spoken to merseyside police and crime commissioner to convey full support to the police and thanks to the emergency services responding now , it's a limited responding now, it's a limited statement mark, but i suppose that emphasises that the home secretary will be wanting to get much more information before a fuller statement can be made. >> yes, and, and i think the fact that the home secretary has actually commented as well gives you an indication if an indication were needed. really, i think it's self—evident that this is a very serious and significant incident that unfolded in southport in merseyside. so she is liaising with merseyside police as she said, to get as much information as possible and no indications as possible and no indications as yet, and doesn't mean it won't, but no indications yet of

there being any extremism, terrorism at play here in what the home secretary has said. but as i say, it's early stages. let's see where the police investigation takes us. >> yes. i mean, it's hard to think of any sort of motivation, but it's worthwhile repeating that. but it's worthwhile repeating that . alder hey children's that. alder hey children's hospital one of the three hospitals that victims have been taken to, is saying that people shouldn't bring their children now there unless it's deeply serious. i mean, that shows us sort of the level of severity of this incident. >> yes. and i mean, it's difficult to imagine what the motivation of anyone , stopping motivation of anyone, stopping anyone else as far as i'm concerned. but to stab children, multiple children is just, you know, a very difficult for anybody to comprehend. but in terms of a motivation, i remember covering because i'm

old enough, the murders of school children in dunblane back in 1996, in which 16 school children and their teacher were shot to death by thomas hamilton . shot to death by thomas hamilton. and that wasn't terrorism that was a nasty, sad old individual who had a grudge, for whatever reason, in his twisted, psychology that made him go and end the lives of those very, very young children . so we just very young children. so we just don't know what the motivation for anyone that decides to embark on such a horrific campaign of stabbing the most vulnerable in society is it could well be terrorism. it could well be terrorism. it could well be something else at play. >> and of course, the policy response to the dunblane massacre was was significant firearms restricted in this country. more than than ever before, more than than most countries on earth. clearly

there will need to be some sort of policy response to this. it's the sort of thing that you hear more about in the united states of america , where people walk in of america, where people walk in and, and start, well, in that case, shooting people at random in educational establishments have, have have we returned to those dark days? >> well, a policy response in, in response to an armed, incident involving firearms and guns, is easier , than to respond guns, is easier, than to respond to attacks using knives simply because knives are so prevalent there , as you were saying there, as you were saying before, you can just go to the kitchen drawer and take out a deadly, knife from that kitchen drawer and use it. i mean, you can buy and people do buy combat knives and so—called zombie knives and so—called zombie knives and so—called zombie knives and machetes over the internet, and we've heard i

can't begin to tell you how many announcements from the previous government and now this government and now this government about just how tough they're getting on these combat knives and zombie knives. we don't know the type of weapon that's involved. it was at least one knife, possibly more, and as i say, we don't know if it was just something taken from someone's kitchen or whether it is actually one of those knives that we've been told for. so long are going to be banned. let's let's have another read of that statement. >> there from the home secretary, yvette cooper, who has said, i'm deeply concerned at the very serious incident in southport. all my thoughts are with the families and loved ones of those affected. i have spoken to merseyside police and crime commissioner to convey full support to the police and thanks to the emergency services responding , there we go. responding, there we go. >> the words of the home

secretary , a limited statement secretary, a limited statement there, talking of those affected rather than anything else , rather than anything else, keeping the language vague at this stage. likely because there are still some facts that need to be fully ascertained and nothing yet from keir starmer should we be expecting a statement from him imminently? >> is it unusual that he hasn't commented, yet? >> undoubtedly we will get a statement from the prime minister and leader of the opposition as well, that that will all come, i'm sure they're just in the process of putting something together , but it, you something together, but it, you know, it's inconceivable that the prime minister wouldn't comment on such a horrific event with multiple young children being stabbed here, i should say, as well, that, we've seen reports now of a local parent, who said that his daughter was traumatised by the attack , traumatised by the attack, thankfully not caught up in the

attack by, or certainly injured from what we can see, he said my daughter was, was in this day centre, and is traumatised. she ran away and she's safe , thank ran away and she's safe, thank god, but clearly that will be the feeling of so many parents of children at this day care centre who will be extremely worried about the fact that their, their youngsters could well have been caught up in this and injured and hearing that they're okay. but then knowing that they're traumatised, potentially what they're seeing and also knowing that they probably know some of the victims here because they will have been friends of their own children. >> it is shocking to hear the words of a of a parent at this early stage. from whose child ran away from this incident . ran away from this incident. would you mind repeating that

statement, mark? >> yeah , i mean, the local >> yeah, i mean, the local parent has said that his daughter, is traumatised by the attack and the father said that, my daughter was in the day—care centre, and she was traumatised . centre, and she was traumatised. she ran away and she's safe is what he says. >> so if you are a parent in the area, you wouldn't be. i mean, i'm sure there'll be many parents around the country thinking they don't want to send their their kids to school or to day—care if they if they are not safe. and how awful that must have been also for the for the staff in the, in the day—care centre. >> well of course i mean it's always, you know, very concerning for any parent who has children that go off to school, you know, most probably don't worry too much about it. but you know, when their children are out of their sort of reach and control and you entrust them to other individuals to look after them

for that period of time when they're away, it's always , i'm they're away, it's always, i'm sure, an anxious time for any parent. but when anyone hears about this , it just makes that about this, it just makes that resonate all the more , and resonate all the more, and especially for people that will have had children at this day—care day—care centre. i can't even imagine what they're going through and just how beside themselves they've been until they got confirmation that their loved ones are safe. >> well, mark white do stay with us. and as you have been bringing us that that more information, we're looking at some new pictures of the scene. clearly a significant police response. we know that 13 ambulances were called to the scene as well, and that victims have been taken to three separate hospitals. now, joining us now is peter kirkham, former police officer . police officer. >> thank you so much forjoining us, peter . good afternoon . us, peter. good afternoon. >> now, peter, this is clearly

such a significant incident. there will have been, clearly a scrambling of police officers when they've heard what we understand to be multiple calls to the police from hart street. what will have that first response been like? >> it will have been everybody that's available as quickly as possible , possible, >> when you've got young people involved in an incident such as this and you've got the scale of the incident such as this, that will have become plain, fairly rapidly once the calls started coming in, then it is a case of sending everybody that's available as quickly as possible. in the, in the media, you're finding that we're still in a stage of confusion about what has happened. well, that's exactly what the officer would find themselves in when they arrived , trying to establish arrived, trying to establish what's gone on, trying to establish who the victims are, trying to ensure that everything is done to preserve life and

deal with the injured parties , deal with the injured parties, especially the children and, also to try and establish who has been responsible, try and identify them, locate them and detain them. so there's a load of things that all need doing at once, and it's a time when you initially have got few resources. they then keep, turning up in quick succession, and you're trying to brief those officers and deploy them as best you can, until, some sort of order can be, maintained. established and maintained at the scene . the scene. >> and we've just been discussing how parents must be feeling in particular across the country, you know, having to send their children to school and to see that something like this could happen when their children are in somebody else's care, how quickly can the police respond to an incident like this , respond to an incident like this, >> most forces have got a

standard 999 response time of somewhere around 12 or 15 minutes, that doesn't sound very long, but it's an awful long time . if you're on the end of time. if you're on the end of the phone waiting for the police to turn up. i very much suspect that the first officers arrived on the scene. much quicker than that, bearing in mind the time of day and the location of the incident, it's not in a remote area, it's in a town where there will have been patrols on duty. and so i suspect that police will have been on the scene. an ambulance will have been on the scene. initially within five minutes. but of course, with so many casualties and so many things that need doing, sufficient officers and sufficient officers and sufficient paramedics to deal with the whole incident. would take some time to get those resources there , obviously, resources there, obviously, because this involves children as well. >> this is, is particularly shocking . what is the broader

shocking. what is the broader context of this? are we seeing an increase in, in in incidents like this, mass stabbings? i know recently there have been some incidents in europe that have involved child casualties, but is this something that, you know , requires some sort of top know, requires some sort of top down intervention from the government? should we be expecting the government to really step up and do something to deal with this ? and if so, to deal with this? and if so, what? what do you think that, that they could do to try and mitigate against any future attack like this? >> i'm not aware of any particular pattern or increase, of attacks like this happening, >> it strikes me as a, as an unusual incident from the point of view of the uk , and of view of the uk, and therefore, i'd be surprised if the, government take very specific action in relation to, trying to prevent any further

attacks . one thing that all attacks. one thing that all those involved , should be doing those involved, should be doing periodically, in any event, all those involved with the care of children or the care of groups of people of any age, really , is of people of any age, really, is establishing their own procedures, to lock down their premises, to deal with a variety of different types of incidents, such as they might expect . now, such as they might expect. now, where you've got this sort of incident , we are where you've got this sort of incident, we are a long way where you've got this sort of incident , we are a long way away incident, we are a long way away from understanding what the motivation for the attack might have been, but the more likely ones are probably related to domestic situations. somewhere along the line , it may be along the line, it may be something else. it may be terrorism, but i think that is unlikely , the more likely and unlikely, the more likely and probable, motivations are to do with some domestic situation involving one of the one or more of the children , at the,

of the children, at the, location . and that would be location. and that would be something that anywhere, any school, any playgroup, any childminder, should have some contingency plans for dealing with. so anybody watching this , with. so anybody watching this, thinking that could have been us, should take advice from a security professional. and look at their own contingency plans, some of the information that's on the government websites, about counter terrorism, would be applicable, there's stuff about lockdown there . well, that about lockdown there. well, that can be adapted to any circumstance , not necessarily a circumstance, not necessarily a terrorist attack. so there's lots of information out there. and the management of, organisations such as the one involved here have got a duty of care to those, at the premises, especially young children who

are not in a position to care for themselves, and they should take the opportunity to review their procedures and contingency plans. >> well, peter kirkham, former police officer, really appreciate your thoughts on this incident. i should say we are now looking at live scenes of hart street in southport, where clearly there is still this police presence. police tape has been put up and you can see the blue flashing lights of police cars. there well, let's remind ourselves now of where precisely this has taken place. our map shows southport in the centre of the of the town there is hart street and this is what we know. eight patients with stab injuries have been taken to alder hey children's hospital, aintree university hospital and southport and formby hospital, alder hey children's hospital has said we can confirm that the trust has declared a major

incident. a local business owner who was one of the people who called the police, said the incident in southport was like a scene in a horror movie. well, our home and security editor mark white is still with us and mark white is still with us and mark now looking at these live pictures, we can see the aftermath on what looks like a quiet residential street . quiet residential street. >> yeah, i mean, and you can still see that there is obviously a significant emergency service presence there . emergency service presence there. what is evident now is the lack of ambulances at the scene , of ambulances at the scene, because the injured have been deau because the injured have been dealt with by the paramedics at the scene fairly quickly and dispatched to those, major trauma centres in the local area. so now what we have is much more of the slower time investigations. so that fast time rapid response to what was

unfolding here in terms of a multiple stabbing incident, is over and it's moved to the next phase, which is evidence gathering, securing the scene, speaking to eyewitnesses, clearly dealing with the man who's in custody, to delve as a matter of urgency into his background to determine exactly who he is and what his potential motivation was. here and there'll be, you would hope, able to establish this, fairly quickly , it depends on what kind quickly, it depends on what kind of identification this person has and how cooperative they're being, if they are not cooperative, it can be a bit more difficult unless this person is known to authorities , person is known to authorities, has offended before. is on the sort of police criminal database. they can take fingerprints and establish who someone is quite quickly. that

way. but yes, our first pictures live from the scene. there giving an indication that although from these images that was the paramedic response of an hour or so ago, that has now moved, shifted to this investigation this longer term investigation this longer term investigation as the police deal with trying to piece together exactly what happened and also, of course, deal with the many worried parents who have been getting some really alarming reports that have been coming out now , from eyewitnesses at out now, from eyewitnesses at the scene who are talking about women screaming parents, you know , screaming because of what know, screaming because of what has happened to their children and what they've seen happening to children in that street. >> i mean, it's just mortifying. and obviously, the scale of the incident is, is evident, evident. but we've also got a statement here from southport football club. saying that southport fc are aware of a

major incident in southport and are following developments closely. the club can confirm we are in an ongoing dialogue with merseyside police and have offered full use of the club's facilities as an emergency response centre if required. the source of all at the club are with those affected by today's events, so this is clearly something that has already, quite significantly rocked, the community, just absolutely devastating as we see this unfold . unfold. >> and this is one of the positive things that you see in incidents like this is the community coming together, and those that have the capacity to be able to sort of offer facilities to help are doing it like the football club here. >> well, mark, do stay with us because there is so much more to learn, so much more to discover about what has happened today in southport, just in the last few hours . to repeat, eight hours. to repeat, eight individuals taken to hospital,

including alder hey children's hosphal including alder hey children's hospital. we will right back with all that we know after this

break. good afternoon. britain at 2:48. this is our continuing coverage of a major incident in southport involving eight individuals taken to three hospitals. >> and we have now a statement from keir starmer joss. breaking from keir starmerjoss. breaking the prime minister has said horrendous and deeply shocking news emerging from southport. my thoughts are with all those affected. i would like to thank the police and emergency services for their swift response. i am being kept updated as the situation develops. now. we have our home and security editor, mark white, still with us? >> yes, as we thought, you know , >> yes, as we thought, you know, they're just in the process of drafting something for the prime

minister. we'll be hearing from other senior figures throughout the day as the news emerges. one piece of new information i think we can bring you, which, again, is just alarming. we can bring you, which, again, isjust alarming. it we can bring you, which, again, is just alarming. it appears that this, day centre , there may that this, day centre, there may have been a taylor swift event, a yoga and dance workshop. it's been called for year two to year six. children, so pretty young children, and that was scheduled according to, flyers and online posters for monday, 29th of july. today, obviously from 10 am. to 12 pm. so that just fits into that time , time fits into that time, time schedule as we were, were reporting before that, the police got the call to reports

of a stabbing at, 10 to 12. >> all children , if that's true, >> all children, if that's true, under the age of 11. what we're really looking at here, potentially significantly younger than the age of 11, it paints a very harrowing picture of what has taken place. i should say. we're looking at live scenes of hart street in southport, the aftermath of what is clearly a deeply horrific incident, mark, this is this is going to obviously have reverberations throughout the local community, but nationally to a deeply significant incident. >> there's no doubt about it. i mean, i struggle to think of another incident that really in this country that's comparable to that, other than thinking back as we were talking before to dunblane, all those years ago ,

to dunblane, all those years ago, back in 1996, where children have been targeted, it seems in attacked on this scale , to have attacked on this scale, to have eight people that we know of at this stage, according to north west ambulance service that have been stabbed , and quite a number been stabbed, and quite a number of them, it seems, appear to have been children, some adults as well , as i have been children, some adults as well, as i say, i'm not aware of another incident involving so many young casualties deliberately attacked like this . deliberately attacked like this. >> let's just have another read of that statement that just broke from the prime minister, keir starmer , he said. keir starmer, he said. horrendous and deeply shocking news emerging from southport. my thoughts are with all affected. i would like to thank the police and emergency services for their swift response. i am being kept updated as the situation develops now. mark, we were

heanng develops now. mark, we were hearing from a previous guest there that maybe, schools day care centres may want to take extra measures, almost as they do in america to be able to lock down their institutions, to protect children if incidents like this take place. and so , like this take place. and so, regardless of whatever the motivation turns out to be, i think the british public, given , think the british public, given, as you say, this is, is sort of unprecedented since dunblane, will want to see something come of this to know that their children are safe when they go to school, or to know that their children are safe when they go to events like the one that you've, just described. and as harry miller was saying, you know , people don't want to see know, people don't want to see their police officers being armed . and we've had debates in armed. and we've had debates in the last couple of weeks, a couple of days even about, the appropriate use of force from police, what sorts of, of response, what sort of response might we expect to see from the government to this ? government to this? >> well, i think we might well

see a more concerted effort to ensure that all schools are rehearsed and practised in the kind of steps to take in the event of a sort of a marauding, attack of whatever description . attack of whatever description. interestingly, 2 or 3 months back, a couple of months back, we were reporting on a stabbing at a school in mid wales , and on at a school in mid wales, and on that occasion the school had been put into lockdown. so actually , schools, believe it or actually, schools, believe it or not, we think this is just, an american thing . but many schools american thing. but many schools in this country , especially in this country, especially because of the issue around knife crime, do have plans that they rehearse on a regular basis to ensure that pupils know to what do. if there's any knife related offences that are taking place that might pose a potential risk to pupils within that school. so they do have a

lot of the schools these plans , lot of the schools these plans, but you might see a more concerted effort to make sure that those plans are robust enough. and of course, no one could ever imagine that you know, a younger establishment like a day—care centre would potentially be a target as well. but as horrible and unpalatable as it seems, you know, all of these institutions might have to ensure that they have these robust plans in place. >> i think some people might say, well, we don't want to live in a society where schools have to take these sorts of measures that, that, that alone, is unacceptable and that something else has to be done. that's sort of on a, on a broader scale, to, to deal with the risk of these sorts of things happening. >> that's a flip side. but i think many parents would probably rather live in a society that, at least is doing all it can, knowing that there is violence in parts of that society to ensure that the their

loved ones are children are, as you know, best protected as they can be, that those institutions that you entrust the care of your child to for that period of time that they're there, know exactly what to do in any given crisis. >> absolutely mortifying. >> absolutely mortifying. >> absolutely. i should say that we now have a statement from the mayor of the liverpool city region, steve rotheram. he says, like you, i'm deeply concerned to hear about the incident in southport this morning. i've beenin southport this morning. i've been in contact with the police and am being kept updated on the situation. but then he adds this, which i think is very important. please wait for official updates. don't spread unconfirmed speculation and false information clearly. mark, social media are awash with a huge amount of speculation, and much that goes beyond what has officially been confirmed. >> yes. i mean, it's always, always the case that there are

people who are out there that see or hear something, and perhaps misconstrue what has happened and wrong information gets out there. it's understandable. in traumatic situations , people can situations, people can misinterpret what they're seeing. so we've got to be careful. i've just got a statement through from north west air ambulance , no time to read. >> we won't have time to read that mark, but martin daubney will, i'm sure, be joining you and many more guests from 3:00. that's been good afternoon britain continued coverage here on gb. news of this

us. >> hey. very good afternoon to you. it's 3 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news broadcasting live from the heart of westminster. all across the uk. today, at least eight people, including a number of

children, have been taken to hospital after they were stabbed in southport. >> local business owner says the incident was like a scene in a horror movie , and we also have horror movie, and we also have the rest of the day's news at 3:30 pm. today, rachel reeves will warn us britain is broke. >> in her first major speech as chancellor, the huge sell off of pubuc chancellor, the huge sell off of public buildings freezes on projects such as hs2 and tax rises are expected to fill. a £20 billion black hole will spell out what it means for you, and that's all coming up between now and 6:00. thanks for your company. we'll have full coverage of the horrific incident in southport and we'll be live in the town a little later on in the show. but now it's time for your news headunes now it's time for your news headlines with sam francis. >> martin, thank you and good

afternoon to you. it's just afternoon to you. it's just after 3:00 and