vigil for the three girls that have been killed and seven others in critical condition following monday's horrific mass stabbing. we're live on the scene and more unrest at the other end of the country. >> the streets of southend played host to a daylight machete fight. the seafront was cordoned off as the brutal brawl forced onlookers to flee . forced onlookers to flee. it seems like the majority of the show today is going to be on crime , on justice, on law and on order. >> it's the only thing on anyone's mind. the country seems to have descended into a kind of spiral of lawlessness. everywhere you look, there's somebody climbing on the back of a bus with a machete running through the streets with machetes, fighting each other. i think people are wondering what on earth is going on. >> absolutely. and not to

mention the aftermath and the frankly, the community tensions in merseyside. now, the riot last night, and not to forget the horrific mass stabbing on monday, it feels that there is a palpable sense that there is a disintegration in law and order in this country. >> yeah, i think people are really feeling it. i think people are frustrated, they're angry and all you have to do is look at the way that keir starmer was heckled when he went to lay flowers in southport yesterday, people are really frustrated. they don't feel that the government has their back and can keep them safe. and if people don't feel that they can let their kids go to a an activity during the summer holidays for and them to be safe, then i think, you know, we've got ourselves into a really, really bad situation. >> well, we're going to be across the country today from southend to southport to westminster magistrates court and beyond, sending your views and beyond, sending your views and post your comments throughout. visit us at gbnews.com/yoursay. that's all to come after your headlines

with sophia wenzler. >> tom thank you. good afternoon. it'sjust >> tom thank you. good afternoon. it's just gone 12:00. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. sir keir starmer has accused those involved in a riot in southport last night of hijacking a peaceful vigil with violence and thuggery. he said they'd insulted the community as it grieves for three young girls who were killed in monday's stabbing attack and warned they'd feel the full force of they'd feel the full force of the law. it started when a group of around 300 people who'd gathered outside a mosque turned on police throwing rocks larger than bricks and setting cars alight. many were supporters of the english defence league and were not from southport. they'd been encouraged by false posts on social media, which claimed the attacker was muslim. nearly 40 officers were injured and 27 were taken to hospital. jenny stancomb, whose daughter elsie died in monday's attack, pleaded

on social media for the violence to end, saying the police have been nothing but heroic. they and we don't need this. the mosque's chairman, ibrahim hussain, told reporters the riot was planned and coordinated. >> i kept getting messages from day before and they were planning it. they obviously accused the muslim. they obviously, find this guilty and they were going to punish us for whatever happens, which is awful, by the way. whatever, whatever happened on monday is absolutely heartbreaking. i would like to thank the police very, very, very much indeed. and i'm very sorry for the casualty that the police took. they took a very bad beating. >> in other news, huw edwards has pleaded guilty at westminster magistrates court to three counts relating to images of children. it's a significant fall for the 62 year old, who was once the bbc's most senior

news presenter. he's now admitted to receiving 41 images on whatsapp, seven of which are of the most serious kind. the court heard that he'd taken part in an online chat with another aduh in an online chat with another adult man, who sent him the images . adult man, who sent him the images. hamas's top adult man, who sent him the images . hamas's top political images. hamas's top political leader, ismail haniyeh, has been killed during an attack on the iranian capital. the terror group is publicly blaming israel for the attack. israel hasn't commented yet, but has previously vowed to eliminate hamas's leaders. the us says it's working to ease tensions, but confirmed it would help defend israel if it were attacked. the strike on tehran comes hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese capital of beirut . the lebanese capital of beirut. israeli officials say he was behind saturday's rocket attack on the golan heights, which killed 12 people, mostly children. the strikes have immediately raised fears of further escalation, with qatar warning it undermines chances of peace and the region risks

slipping into chaos. back in the uk angela rayner is playing down suggestions task force . the down suggestions task force. the deputy prime minister told mps yesterday the government was restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities after they were scrapped by the conservatives. she's also appointed two experts to lead an effort to create communities of at least 10,000 homes each. housing minister matthew pennycook told gb news the government has its work cut out for them . for them. >> inheritance. we're picking up is absolutely dire. we're looking at new housing supply dipping under 200,000 homes a yean dipping under 200,000 homes a year, partly due to some of the changes the government made late last year, abolishing mandatory housing targets, which we reversed in the changes we made to national planning policy yesterday. so it's a five year target. it's stretching. we think it's achievable partly because of those changes we made yesterday. but with this new

towns task force bringing forward appropriate locations forward appropriate locations for large scale new communities across the country above, over and above that target that we've announced on local authorities across england to bring forward 370,000. >> there have been cheers at team gb's paris hq in the last few moments after the women's rowing team struck gold. it was a sensational comeback for the rowers in a race that looked as if it might be over with, around 250m still to come, but a last minute sprint means they're coming home with britain's sixth gold medal. and it comes after alex yee scooped up gold in the men's triathlon , while beth men's triathlon, while beth potter took bronze in the women's event. potter took bronze in the women's event . and while the women's event. and while the skies are a little gloomy in london today, heat warnings remain in place across the uk. parts of england are facing forecasts of 28 degrees today, which is expected to continue into friday. but if you fancy a last minute trip to the beach,

you better be quick because thunderstorms are expected later in the week . those are the in the week. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm sophia wenzler 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 . slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is seven minutes past midday now. former bbc presenter huw edwards has pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children. >> the 62 year old arrived at westminster magistrates court this morning for his first court appearance since being charged on the 26th of june. >> so let's head straight to the court now and speak to gb news home and security editor mark white. mark

>> well, this is without doubt a meteoric fall from grace for the bbc's most senior news presenter presenter, who presided over these huge state occasions. one of the biggest paid presenters in the bbc. now, of course , no in the bbc. now, of course, no longer a bbc presenter and now someone who has pleaded guilty to serious sexual offences , to serious sexual offences, three counts involving 41 separate images , indecent images separate images, indecent images of children. the charge is that huw edwards made indecent images. it was clarified in court that the category actually can account for what the defence say was the case in this instance, which was accessing and downloading images from an individual, he was in contact with on a whatsapp group. but he arrived at westminster magistrates court this morning

just after 9 am, and decided to front it up effectively in the way that he walked in. a lot of these high profile celebrities like kevin spacey, who i was here covering, recently, pulled up in a taxi straight out and into court within seconds . but into court within seconds. but huw edwards started. he was dropped off a street away and started walking to the court, and that gave the dozens of press reporters and tv camera crews and reporters that were here. the opportunity to surround him in that classic sort of press bunfight following him to in westminster magistrates court for that heanng magistrates court for that hearing . and i have to say that hearing. and i have to say that really, he took everyone by surprise in there because often at this stage we don't really get pleas entered or if they are, it's normally a not guilty plea. but the charges were put to huw edwards and he stood in

the dock and he said guilty to all three counts. there were audible gasps from those inside the court as huw edwards gave those three guilty pleas. now the charges themselves, relate to as i said, 41 separate indecent images. to as i said, 41 separate indecent images . seven of those indecent images. seven of those were the most serious category a sexually explicit images. 12 of those were category b and 22 were classed as category c images. and the ages ranged at the most serious end from a child, they believe, aged about seven, because they haven't identified that child. but a child aged seven up to other children aged about 15. he's pleaded guilty today. he will be next back here at westminster magistrates court on the 16th of september. the judge has asked

for some pre—sentence hearings at the moment to pre—sentence reports to get an indication of clearly any previous offending behaviour, whether he was off. good character previously looking at those well—publicised mental health issues, they will be taken into account and also the fact that he pleaded guilty at the very earliest opportunity and it was the earliest opportunity. this is his first appearance in a criminal court and immediately he has pleaded guilty. so that will result in a discount on his sentence as well . discount on his sentence as well. and the judge may decide when he comes back here on the 16th of september that he can deal with it. if it's a sentence that is 12 months in prison or less, it can be dealt with here at the magistrates court. however, if the judge decides it should be a more significant sentence, then he'll be sent off to the crown court for sentencing .

court for sentencing. >> mark, just the most extraordinary and shocking story , extraordinary and shocking story, thank you very much for providing all of those details there from westminster magistrates court >> now , dozens of southport >> now, dozens of southport locals have gathered to help clean up the aftermath of those riots that broke out yesterday evening. >> more than 50 police officers were injured after bricks , were injured after bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars were set alight following a vigil for the three girls killed in the southport knife attack. >> gb news reporter will hollis is at the scene. will, what's the latest .7 the latest? >> yes, well, it's a very different scene here in southport. a little over 12 hours after that riot was taking place. here in the background you can see this red brick building. now that's southport mosque, where much of the violence and disorder that we've

seen played out on the streets and on social media was centred around what spread as rumours and speculation about the identity of the person who is accused of attacking and killing those three little girls arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, spread like wildfire. and it wasn't long before, as the police describe it, there was serious violence that was sickening at a time when a community is grieving what we saw here, our gb news team on the ground was pieces of brick being broken away from walls, fencing panels, both of which were thrown into crowds into arms, rows of police, many of whom were wearing riot gear , headgear and wearing riot gear, headgear and protective clothing and barrier shields as well, but many of whom had no protection whatsoever because they were just doing normal police work

monitoring the area. this is only a stone's throw away from hart street, where there was that attack at that taylor swift summer dance school. what we saw was police officers with blood on their faces. what we've heard from merseyside police is that they, some of them suffered broken noses. there were fractures and one police officer was knocked unconscious. more than 40 or so police officers had to be treated by the north west ambulance service, and that disorder went throughout the night . we could hear helicopters night. we could hear helicopters throughout the night, and what we're seeing now is the clean up. lots of people from the community. but we've heard for the first time from the chairman of the mosque, ibrahim hussain, who spoke to journalists a short while ago about how the people who were trapped inside of their that mosque, while the riot was taking place, were fearing for their lives. >> we kept getting messages from day before and they were

planning it. they obviously accused the muslim. they obviously , find this guilty and obviously, find this guilty and they were going to, punish us for, for whatever happens, which is awful, by the way. whatever whatever happened on monday was absolutely heartbreaking. i would like to thank the police very, very, very much indeed. and i'm very sorry for the casualty that the police took. they took a very bad beating. i would to , love make it better , would to, love make it better, but it's nothing i can do about it. they are supposed they used to this kind of thing, but i would like to thank them for their support because at one point we thought they coming in and they're going to burn the place down. >> just shocking to hear and heartbreaking as the chairman of the mosque was saying. but will, how did this all start? how did how did this all start? how did how did this all start? how did how did an event like this that was a peaceful vigil turned so

violent ? violent? >> yes. well, there were a number of what we can describe as vigils or community events happening in southport last night , before the violence and night, before the violence and the disorder, maybe an hour or two before thousands of people gathered in the town hall, a square, and they were laying flowers and wreaths, and there was local church leaders, as well as the mayor from both liverpool and for sefton, the southport area. and that was very peaceful. that's maybe about a five ten minute drive away from where we were . but at away from where we were. but at the same time as that, people were gathering here outside of the mosque to protest because of speculation, most of which spread online, according to merseyside police about the identity of that young male. and then what erupted were those tensions. but what is very clear from the police is that they think that this was not people from southport, they think it

was people from areas outside of this region who were coming here specifically to target this mosque. and specifically to cause disorder at a time when there is great tension in a community that is grieving. the police are very clear that they say that they think the people that came here were members of the english defence league, and thatis the english defence league, and that is why there was such a distaste towards the mosque and the muslims who live here in southport. so very worrying for community tensions. but what we've seen here today, this morning is the community coming together at a time when some people who are supposedly from outside of the town are trying to tear these streets apart . to tear these streets apart. >> well, will hollis, thank you very much for reporting on the ground there at that scene of utter disorder last night. >> now, the prime minister has condemned the rioters, who he says hijacked the vigil, saying the violence was an insult to the violence was an insult to the community as it grieves.

>> well, the riots followed hundreds of people, of course, taking part in what was a peaceful vigil for the victims outside southport's atkinson's arts venue , which, with many arts venue, which, with many laying flowers and other tributes, now gb news northwest of england reporter sophie reaperis of england reporter sophie reaper is live for us now in southport. >> sophie, you've been talking to people there on the ground. what is the atmosphere like? >> well, it's a similar story here at the scene of that attack on monday 48 hours ago, that it is outside the atkinson gallery. it's very calm. the community is coming together now in the last few moments we have actually seen some activity happening behind us. this is obviously the police cordoned. those remained in place since that knife attack on monday. i'm not sure if we'll be able to say anything, but we have seen people in forensic uniform going in and out of the police cordon in the last few moments, so clearly there is

some work still going on with the police at the heart studio where that attack took place on monday. now, as you say, we've been here since yesterday talking to people on the ground. as those tributes began to pour in. when we spoke yesterday, there were hardly any flowers here and now there are hundreds and hundreds of bunches people continuing to come. you may see some people coming in the shop behind me as we speak , people behind me as we speak, people bringing their children out to lay flowers , trying to explain lay flowers, trying to explain to them the horrific attack that took place in their home town. we spoke to one gentleman earlier who explained to us that he was actually present during the attack, and he helped a ten year old girl who had been stabbed. we don't know what's happening with that now, but he truly is a hero for what he did. and he told us that his five year old daughter, actually, she sent him yesterday morning that she wanted to use her pocket money to buy flowers, to put them out here. and that's just one of many stories we've heard.

we spoke earlier to a couple of ladies who'd come down and they wanted to lay flowers here, even though it was 48 hours after they wanted to come and pay their respects and show their sympathies, this is what one of them had to say. >> the attack has had on not just me, but the whole community is southport's just it's a small town. nothing happens, you know , town. nothing happens, you know, andifs town. nothing happens, you know, and it's the fact that it's just and it's the fact that it's just a bunch of kids. they all just want to go to have a dance . and want to go to have a dance. and none of them, three of them didn't come home. it's just heartbreaking. it's horrible. that's what it's the impact on the community. it's going to it's going to take a very, very long time for this. it's never going to be forgotten, but it's going to be forgotten, but it's going to be forgotten, but it's going to take a very long time to build ourselves back up. but we're just going to come back so much stronger. that's what southport is, and that's what merseyside is about. yeah >> and that line there that they just wanted to go and have a dance. i think that's something that's truly resonating, not just with the community here in southport, but all over the country as people really take stock of the fact that this was children, this was children aged 6 to 11 who have been violently

attacked by a man with a knife. now that man remains in police custody, but we'll be bringing you all the latest on that as we get it. >> well, sophie, thank you so much for bringing us the very latest there. live in southport . latest there. live in southport. >> just absolutely horrendous. >> just absolutely horrendous. >> yeah. no, really, really, really terrible . really terrible. >> so elsewhere, chaos also erupted in southend on sea yesterday evening with a vicious machete fight forcing police to issue an urgent dispersal order in the area for people to stay away. >> well, as you can see from these shocking images, masked men brandishing huge knives what look like machetes attacked each other in in the open. and the essex police have confirmed that eight people, eight have so far been arrested . i mean, it is been arrested. i mean, it is just shocking to see in the broad daylight in what is a charming seaside city that that this sort of brawl can take.

>> and again, so many children, i mean, i grew up not far from southend and, and you know, there's a there's a fun park there's a there's a fun park there . there are arcades. it's there. there are arcades. it's a place where during the school holidays, there'll be lots of families going to the seaside with the wonderful weather and everything. and i think people are seeing these images not just here, but also an image from a few days ago of someone on sort of hooking themselves to the back of a bus, holding a machete. people will be, you know, really wondering what on earth is going on because it seems like our streets are out of control. it is shocking, the contrast, seeing the funfair in the background, seeing the swings and the roller coaster and presumably children having a great time and on the road that that main pedestrian area there people are definitely people are definitely feeling angry and frustrated about the situation because like i say, it really does feel like it's out of control and particularly during the school holidays as well. and after everything that's happened, people want to know that their kids are safe. you

don't want to have your kids sort of locked inside for their own safety during the summer holidays, because there are men running around in the streets with machetes. it's just an absolutely crazy situation that i think would have been unthinkable. even five years ago. >> well, let's get more now with ken hines, who's an anti—knife campaigner, because, ken, i mean , campaigner, because, ken, i mean, i am watching these images. i'm transfixed. i can't take my eyes away from them. we didn't used to see things like this on the streets of our cities . streets of our cities. >> absolutely right. but you see, what happens is these things go viral very quickly. and the effect it has on young people is to say young people said , well, if that's the kind said, well, if that's the kind of weapons people are using, then they need to step their game up. but what is quite what that's what's going on there. is that's what's going on there. is that young people are out of control now . again, they don't control now. again, they don't care who's around and who gets hurt in that situation . hurt in that situation. currently we do patrolling as

part of street barbers. we go into these hotspot areas , and if into these hotspot areas, and if we were to come across a situation like that , we would situation like that, we would step in to de—escalate the violence because we have you've got to, first of all, earn the respect the police cannot arrest their way out of this. stop and search. do not pick up these sort of knives, because the people , the young people know people, the young people know how to circumvent, stop and search. this is why more young people are carrying these type of horrendous type of weapons. >> ken , what is the solution >> ken, what is the solution then to this problem? is it just that young people look at these images, but also just from their own experience, the people who are carrying these enormous weapons like machetes just think, well, the law isn't being properly enforced. so i can get away with it. and there will be no repercussions for me. what what can the police do to stop this situation from spiralling even further out of control?

>> it's not to do with the law. you could give them ten years for carrying a knife, but people will still carrying a knife. it's about the fear factor that young people often tell me that they feel scared to go out of their areas, or even to walk without a knife because they feel that they're, about their own well—being. they say quite clearly to me, i'd much prefer to be caught by my, by the police with my weapon than to be caught by my by ups without it. because if i get caught without it, i could be carried to my grave by six of my peers. and if l, grave by six of my peers. and if i, if i do get caught by the police, i often get a slap on the wrist. and even if i do a bit of jail time, at least i'm coming out. there's often they often say i much prefer to see the other mother crying than my mother crying. but in this situation, not only the both mothers are crying, but the community is also affected by the horrendous kind of violence that we see.

>> i it just boggles the mind as to this sort of, adversarial nature of just walking down the street. i mean, i can understand why someone would instinctively, if incorrectly, think they'll be safer if they carry a knife. but we know the statistics. you're not safer if you carry a knife, you're more likely to be killed . you're more likely to be killed. if you carry a knife. yes. why are people fighting in the first place? >> well, it's a it's about ego. it's about pride. it's also about social, social media, social media is a way of before when we have back in the days, in my days, we didn't have social media. so the so the conflict was kept localised. but because now you've got social media involved, it can go like it can go national and national means you can get more people involved in that sort of in that sort of a fray. now again , sort of a fray. now again, conflict is this, ken, is this territorial?

>> is this, interpersonal ? what >> is this, interpersonal? what is creating this sort of fighting? >> it could be simply because it could be some sort of disrespect that's gone on. it could be disrespect over a drug deal. it could be disrespect over a woman. there's many things that that work on a young person emotionally , but i think many emotionally, but i think many people will. the common theme, sorry, the common theme i find, is that the low self—esteem, if you can raise their self—esteem , you can raise their self—esteem, then it's more unlikely you will see these sort of horrendous acts being, put up, being played out on, on our communities, many, many people. >> ken will be wanting to know though, why you? no offence taken is translating into people fighting with machetes in the street, because it never used to be the case that you know, maybe, maybe in the 18th century men used to jul when somebody was offended over a woman. but this is not something that is broadly regarded as an

acceptable response. and as you say, if you have people carrying knives because they feel safer and therefore you see a proliferation of people carrying knives, how are how are you going to reverse that spiral and set it on a more positive course? is it an education issue, you know what what needs to be done to, to, to stop this from being something that we see regularly on our streets ? regularly on our streets? >> it's a multitude of things that need to be done . but that need to be done. but essential to this is that we need men to step up as fathers, okay? we need men to step up as responsible people in our community. so we need men that when they see these sorts of things going on, we come together and we say , not in our together and we say, not in our community, we stand together . community, we stand together. it's you see, young people think that they can violate anybody because what the law is at the moment, if they're under 18, there's classified as a child . there's classified as a child. and they say that you cannot put

your hand on a child. so young people have been taught that they've got rights, but they haven't been taught the responsibility and accountability that goes with that. right? so there's a there's a disconnect. so what we need to do is also acknowledge that we need to have people from grassroots groups going into the schools and working with some of these youngsters . and let me these youngsters. and let me tell you this, there's a few youngsters that are really dangerous, and what they need is support . support in the sense of support. support in the sense of mentoring, support of the fact that maybe even being tagged or sanctions given to monitor their behaviour until their behaviour change. if we don't do that , change. if we don't do that, there are going to infect, like a ripple effect on other people who get drawn into their, into their conflict. we have to do more as a community. we cannot just leave it down to the police. we have to work with the police. we have to work with the police. but we have to do something to change the mindset of young people so that when they're having these conflicts, they've got to realise that it

takes a bigger man, it takes two to go to war, one to make the peace. you've got to decide which one you're going to be. i'm on the side of being the peacemaker, ken. >> incredibly wise words. appreciate your time and your thoughts on on these horrific scenes that we're seeing. thank you very much for joining us. anti—knife campaigner ken haynes. >> role models so important . so >> role models so important. so now coming up, the political leader of hamas has been killed in iran .just leader of hamas has been killed in iran . just how could the in iran. just how could the situation escalate from here? we'll be discussing this after your headlines with sophia wenzler . wenzler. >> emma. thank you. it's 1230. >> emma. thank you. it's1230. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. sir keir starmer has accused those involved in a riot in southport last night of hijacking a peaceful vigil , and hijacking a peaceful vigil, and says they'll feel the full force of the law . it's after a crowd

of the law. it's after a crowd who'd gathered outside a mosque turned on police, throwing rocks larger than bricks and setting cars alight. they'd been encouraged by false posts on social media which claimed the attacker was muslim. nearly 40 officers were injured and 27 were taken to hospital . huw were taken to hospital. huw edwards has pleaded guilty at westminster magistrates court to three counts relating to images of children. it's a significant fall for the 62 year old, who was once the bbc's most senior news presenter. the court heard that he'd taken part in an onune that he'd taken part in an online chat with another adult man, who sent him the images. hamas top political leader ismail haniyeh, has been killed in an attack on the iranian caphal in an attack on the iranian capital. the terror group is publicly blaming israel for the strike. it comes hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese caphal commander in the lebanese capital, raising fears of further escalation. angela rayner says labour was elected on a manifesto to build more

houses, as she plays down suggestions of a backlash. the deputy prime minister unveiled a plan that will see mandatory housing targets for local authorities. she's also appointed experts to lead an effort to create a series of new communities of at least 10,000 homes, each . and there were homes, each. and there were cheers at team gb's paris hq in the last hour after the women's rowing team struck gold. it was a sensational comeback for the rowers in a race that looked as if it might be over, with, around 250m still to come, but a last minute sprint means they're coming home with britain's sixth gold medal. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm sophia wenzler 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 33 minutes past midday. now the deputy prime minister, angela raynen deputy prime minister, angela rayner, has set out her vision for the future of towns and housebuilding plans across the country. >> she says the conservatives failed to build enough homes and pushed the dream of home ownership out of the water for many first time buyers. >> but the deputy prime minister pledges new towns will deliver 10,000 new homes each. is that enough? urging labour will make sure the green belt doesn't block housebuilding plans, but there have been some curious changes to some of these housing targets , including a cut of 20% targets, including a cut of 20% for london. >> joining us now is head of policy at britain remade. sam demetriou polly middlehurst pronouncing your name a bit funny there. sam, thank you so much for joining funny there. sam, thank you so much forjoining us. so tell us a little bit more about about

labour's planning plans. >> sure . so the new targets , >> sure. so the new targets, they present a pretty substantial uplift overall nationwide from 300,000 to 370,000. they are also binding. that means they actually have a bit more weight in terms of what the consequences are for not meeting the planning targets. if you don't hit the targets, then it's much, much more likely that developments in your area will get approved , even if the get approved, even if the council itself doesn't necessarily want them . so these necessarily want them. so these are positive steps. now, one of the ways they've changed how housing targets are set is by essentially moving from a system that was mainly based on population growth, with an uplift for urban areas to a system that's based on the amount of housing stock you already have, and then also affordability. now, the affordability. now, the affordability change is really positive. one of the one of the issues with with not incorporating affordability is

that areas where actually building more would lower prices and lead people to move there, but those areas, if they don't actually build them , those that actually build them, those that population growth never happens in the past. so that actually let councils in the past get away with under—building and then not being told to make up for that. >> has there been a perhaps less than perfect correction for that? we're looking at these new targets, the north east of england is going to have to build. well, it's having a 99% rise in its house building targets. that's the north—east. that's where housing is statistically the cheapest of any of the regions in england. and then you look at london, where statistically housing is the most expensive of any of the regions of england, and the targets have been cut by 20%. how on earth does it make sense to build more where there's less demand and less where there's more demand? >> i think you're right to raise this point, tom, the main the main issue is that the past

government brought in a thing called the urban uplift. this said that more housing should be concentrated in urban areas where there are good transport links already. now, this new approach is kind of replicates that in some ways, but it doesn't go as far. and in london, in particular, it's gone from 100,000 target, which was what the last government was talking about, to a target of 80,000. this would still be one of the biggest targets ever for london, i think, more than they built even before the second world war, when we had metro land expansion. but london can and should build more. if you look around the world, places like auckland, tokyo, austin , like auckland, tokyo, austin, texas, these places are delivering the equivalent of 100,000 more homes per year. if you adjust it for their population, why can't we? and i think there are huge opportunities to build more housing in london. so one issue is our post—war estate. so we've got lots of cold, cramped and sometimes damp as well.

properties that were, were built, you know, at a time when we needed to house lots of people, but now are not fit for purpose. now, they were actually built at very low densities. we can rebuild them with more private housing mixed in and use that to upgrade those properties for the existing tenants. this is a win win policy. it's extremely popular whenever residents are told about it, and that's one way of doing it. another way is looking around, train stations and tube stations. we should be saying that any housing within walking distance of a train or tube station, unless there are extremely good reasons to , not extremely good reasons to, not should be able to build up to at least six stories. this is what worked in auckland, and it meant that their housing rents haven't risen by as much as they would have.in risen by as much as they would have. in fact, they didn't rise by around about a third as much as they would have if you had a similar prevention of a third rise in rents in london, that would be a pretty substantial, cash boost to people around the caphal >> but sam, is this not going to

end up with a situation where, particularly in the north, and obviously that was one of the ideas behind the green belt was to prevent london from becoming this sort of straw , sprawling this sort of straw, sprawling metropolis . are we not going to metropolis. are we not going to end up with problems of urban sprawl up in the north of england, where people may not be happy, with housing being planned in that way and may not want to live in cities that become so sort of sprawling. and as some people have referred to as some people have referred to as being a sort of new town dystopia . dystopia. >> so i think it's worth keeping in mind what the changes to the green belt are. and i think it's quite an interesting approach. so first of all, you have what's called grey belt infill. so if you've got a petrol station on the on the green belt, unless it's there are particular reasons why, you wouldn't want to develop it. perhaps it's in the middle of nowhere and you need to build a big road to bnng need to build a big road to bring the house, to bring people to actually to the houses and back to work and so forth, those

projects can go ahead. and then once you've done the brownfield , once you've done the brownfield, the green, the grey belt, then you start looking at those bits of the green belt that don't actually fulfil that purpose of preventing urban sprawl or protecting the countryside from encroachment or leading to these sort of merged cities that people are concerned about. i think that is actually quite a reasonable approach. if we could focus our green belt policy on preventing sprawl and actually say, look, there are some bits of green belt land that could be much denser that are on the very outskirts of that, are on the outskirts of that, are on the outskirts of that, are on the outskirts of town. they're not far into the green belt. then that would be sensible, but, you know, we'll see what happens in practice, what councils will choose to designate in their local plans. >> so on a, on a, on a broad score of where we are right now, where would you put what the government is currently trying to do? have they shown any interest in this idea of knocking down those old ugly concrete estates and making them perhaps a bit more dense and a bit more beautiful? or are they

sort of being a bit more cautious than is necessary? >> so , i mean, i mean, london >> so, i mean, i mean, london does do some estate regeneration already, i think it could do a lot more. and i think there are various changes you could make to give councils and housing associations the confidence to actually bring projects forward. but, you know, i think i think we are this is , this is broadly we are this is, this is broadly a positive move, you know, housing targets that actually buy, you know, the main issue is, you know, we can talk about targets as much as we want, but london's housing delivery against those targets was exceptionally poor. london wasn't building anywhere near enough homes, even with a low target of 52,000. so, you know , target of 52,000. so, you know, compared against that, this is still quite a big uplift. but i think there are more things that need to happen alongside the housing targets. i don't think we should rely solely on housing targets. there was a good measure, for instance , in the measure, for instance, in the national planning policy framework that came out yesterday, which suggested that upward extension should be made

much more, much easier to do, previously it was kind of focused on mansards, which are it's a perfectly acceptable form of upward extension. but there are many more kinds that could be done. you know, if we can build up gently. gradually, then that potentially could unlock a lot more homes. something again, auckland style . hopefully that auckland style. hopefully that will be on the agenda eventually, but at the moment we don't have any clear details on something like that. >> interesting. well, we're going to need a lot of details. if they're pinning all of their growth hopes on this building revolution. but for now, sam demetriou, head of policy at britain remade. really appreciate your time. thanks for joining us. >> now coming up, get your swimsuits out. we're heading to weston—super—mare as the sunny summer continues, but will it last? we'll bring you the latest after this.

>> good afternoon britain. it is 45 minutes past midday. >> heat warnings remain in place across the uk today, with parts of england forecasting 28 degrees, which is the kind of temperature expected to continue until friday. >> do you know what's really useful about this? i go on houday useful about this? i go on holiday on saturday, so i think i think i might have timed this jammy perfectly , but some parts jammy perfectly, but some parts of the uk might experience a few thunderstorms later on today , thunderstorms later on today, but let's find out precisely where that might be. our reporter, jack carson, joins us from a sunny weston—super—mare. first of all, jack, is it just as hot as yesterday? >> it's absolutely beautiful here on the seafront at weston super mare. we only hit about 24 degrees, so far today, we're expected to get highs of 27, possibly 28, here on the seafront, where i am elsewhere in parts of the country. you know, yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. not necessarily sure we're going to

reach that kind of 32 temperature again, but certainly the high 20s for so much of the south west and south—east as well. looks like it's going to continue, of course, over the next 24 hours. but how long after then? we're not too sure because of course we had. the met office have announced this yellow weather warning for much of south of england in the south—east, particularly over the next 24 hours for thunderstorms. then when you get into tomorrow, you very much get much of the country covered in thunderstorm warnings on that yellow weather warning. now, much of that is because right now we've got a huge bit of high pressure which is causing all this beautiful weather here in the uk, meaning people here at weston super mare have come out onto the beach today. they're riding the donkeys, they've come on to the pier behind me, which was originally built in 1904. they've been enjoying the sights here. but of course, whether that pressure lasts is the big question. looking into the weekend , temperatures certainly weekend, temperatures certainly dropping around 5 or 6 degrees. so certainly cooler here, but certainly the sun not really going away . many. well really

going away. many. well really any time soon, particularly here in the south—west of england where i am just outside of course, the bristol channel, which is absolutely beautiful this time of year. i've been speaking to some people here on the seafront today about what they love about weston—super—mare, what they like about coming here in the sun. here's what they told me. have you ever been on the donkeys? >> yeah. >> yeah. >> what are the donkeys like , >> what are the donkeys like, >> what are the donkeys like, >> you sit on them. they're very fluffy and you can go round the beach on them for a while, i come here on holiday. >> yeah. how many times have you been here now? >> i think three times. >> i think three times. >> and what's it like? you like it? yeah, it's really nice. >> so we just came down for the day, haven't been here for quite a while. it's a nice sunny day . a while. it's a nice sunny day. why not here? >> what is it? no, we like the beach. >> we like the beach. so we're just going back down to the car we parked and then get our sunbeds out of the car and put them on the beach for the day. >> well, i haven't been for ages, so i'm not. i don't know what it's about now. i think it's improved a lot since i came last time. yeah, yeah.

>> and what kind of you know, have you come here since you were kind of a kid? >> oh, yes. >> oh, yes. >> i used to come over. berkeley was once a year for the holidays with my parents and my brother and sister. yeah, we were always, around here for. for that. >> people have been enjoying about weston—super—mare today. plenty of people on this beach. i've lathered up on the sun cream. my shorts are on. i'm not going to show you my knees. that would really put you off your lunch. but the beautiful weather here in weston—super—mare continues here and across the country for at least the next 24 hours. >> marvellous stuff. jack carson. we'll catch up with you a little bit later, but for now, enjoy some ice cream and perhaps a paddle. >> i love the idea that it's almost 30 degrees and people think i'm going to go and ride a donkey . i mean, never mind the donkey. i mean, never mind the poor donkey. it makes you proud to be british, doesn't it? it does. >> there's very little that's more british than that. but, the in in, in, slightly less sunny news or depending on your perspective. >> well, i would say rather sunny, but there you go. >> the political leader of hamas ,

>> the political leader of hamas, ismail haniyeh, has been killed while staying in iran with the terrorist group, saying that an israel airstrike is responsible. >> the killing has thrown hope of a ceasefire into doubt and has raised concern of a spilling conflict out into the wider region. iran's president in the last hour has also promised to avenge the death, calling the attack cowardly. >> well, for more on this, we can speak to the editor in chief of the jerusalem post, zvika klein , because zvika the reason klein, because zvika the reason i say that some people are trepidatious about this is not that this guy was a beastly individual. clearly he was . but individual. clearly he was. but the risk that this could escalate the risk that iran could strike back and this could spill out to a much wider war. >> right, 100%. so yeah. so i mean, basically, i mean, it's very interesting how there's a very interesting how there's a very big kind of, bulk of israelis who are happy, let's say today, my personal view is not to celebrate the death of anyone , even though we're

anyone, even though we're talking about a murderer and someone who kind of, is, you know , woke up every morning and know, woke up every morning and hoped that people who are jewish would just be killed, that said, definitely there is that that that risk israel has taken, let's say if the reports are true, that israel was the one to attack to and kill him in iran, definitely. there is a that threat. but from the israeli perspective, definitely the audience, you know, the, you know, the general average israeli, there's a sense of a bit of sense of pride in their own military also, regarding, the assassination of a chief, a member of hezbollah in lebanon last night. so when you put those all together and tomorrow , those all together and tomorrow, we're, unfortunately going to be, not celebrating, but commemorating. i guess, 300 days for the beginning of this war.

so there's a bit of, of kind of hope amongst israelis, but also anxiety on what is expected in the near future . the near future. >> what is the feeling amongst the israeli population in the face of those threats from iran to avenge, avenge this death ? to avenge, avenge this death? and how how is the sort of the israeli resolve when it comes to getting those hostages back now that in many countries across the world, the news has sort of moved on to focus on other things, almost as if those hostages have been forgotten . hostages have been forgotten. >> right? well, i mean, three of us are in news, and we know that certain things have a certain, you know, expiration date , and you know, expiration date, and unfortunately, as you said, people aren't focusing on it as much, ismail haniya was actually the guy in the room in the negotiations for the ceasefire, as well as the hostage release. so that definitely will have some sort of an effect on this

type of a deal. and regarding the question on iran. so, i mean, israel has actually already, physically suffered a missile attack, you know, just a few months ago from iran. so this is something that's been , this is something that's been, in theory, in the in the military books for decades. yes. >> i wanted to ask you about that because it was only in april when 300 drones and missiles were launched at israel. thankfully, most, if not all, were taken out by, not only the iron dome, but also british aircraft, american aircraft and jordanian aircraft . might there jordanian aircraft. might there be a similar coalition of the willing to respond to a similar attack, but of course, the british government has changed the british government's position on israel is slightly different now than the previous british government, is there is there concern that perhaps, the political situation in america has shifted as well, that there'll be less willingness to

defend israel if there are now hundreds more missiles , to come hundreds more missiles, to come down on that country . down on that country. >> i think that's a great question. and definitely we haven't yet been able we haven't like tested quote unquote, the british government, though there were reports right, about about halting military export and etc, i think definitely that there is a certain sense of, of that. but also i would say it definitely the us in the us considered ismail haniya, who we have , who ismail haniya, who we have, who who has been assassinated. reportedly by israel. they are on a list of terrorists of the united states. so therefore it's not like israel did something now that was against, you know, western agenda or western kind of, you know, military or espionage, rules. so, so i think, you know, definitely the united states would i think would , would continue with that would, would continue with that type of support unless they

leave israel. >> klein, thank you so much for talking us through that . editor talking us through that. editor in chief of the jerusalem post. that's all from us this hour. stay with us. we'll be back on the ground in southport after this. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb news . news. >> hello. welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you from the met office. dry and sunny and warm. for most of us, it's feeling increasingly humid over the next few days that's going to increase the threat of thunderstorms for some areas. low pressure is not too far away across the near continent. that's where that threat of thunderstorms is coming from. further north, though, high pressure still dominating, so plenty of dry and warm weather. quite a lot of sunshine as well. still some hazy sunshine here and there across parts of northern england. some areas of northern ireland and the far north of scotland still holding on to a bit of cloud and possibly some

rain. but where we do see the long lived sunshine across southern areas, temperatures will likely climb into the 30s once again this afternoon . but once again this afternoon. but it's across the south—east where there's a risk of thunderstorms. there is some uncertainty in whether they will bring any impacts, but i think you will likely see some lightning offshore further north, though no risk of thunderstorms across scotland, it's likely to be a slightly warmer evening this evening than last night. it was quite a chilly night out across scotland compared to elsewhere in the country, so temperatures in the country, so temperatures in the country, so temperatures in the mid teens 20s for some areas of central southern scotland and some cloud around, but mainly a dry and pleasant evening for most of us. but there's still this threat of thunderstorms and a warning in force for the southeast throughout the afternoon and into this evening. but the threat really does increase overnight tonight as an area of thunderstorms develops across parts of wales and across the southeast, and those will push north and eastwards overnight. so there's a wider area that's covered by this thunderstorm warning. we could see some localised impact due to flooding, lightning and some fairly large hail as well. and

it's going to be a humid night for most of us. as i said, a milder night tonight across scotland than last night as well. so potentially a pretty wet start to the day across some eastern areas of england, some southeastern areas of scotland , southeastern areas of scotland, potentially with that thunderstorm risk continuing and behind it, we see some more thunderstorms breaking out across much of england and wales. but away from this risk . wales. but away from this risk. dry, sunny and again another very humid and warm day. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . boxt boilers.

>> good afternoon britain. it's 1:00 on wednesday, the 31st of july. >> i'm emma webb and i'm tom harwood . harwood. >> guilty. that's the plea of former bbc presenter huw edwards, who has admitted to making indecent images of children. we're live at westminster magistrates court, southport riot unrest bursts onto the streets of merseyside

last night after a peaceful vigil for three girls dead and seven others in critical condition following monday's horrific mass stabbing. >> we're live on the scene and more unrest at the other end of the country. >> the streets of southend played host to a daylight machete fight. the seafront was cordoned off as a brutal brawl forced onlookers to flee. we'll be joined by a former local mp . be joined by a former local mp. >> now these events are separate. the machete brawl in southend and the horrific stabbings, up in southport. and of course, the riot that occurred afterwards. but we saw a riot of course, in leeds not that long ago as well . it feels that long ago as well. it feels like there's this, this sense that law and order in this country is breaking apart. well,

they're not separate in people's minds. >> and i think that's, you know, it's adding to a general feeling of instability . things feel like of instability. things feel like they're sort of spiralling into chaos. we did a great interview, earlier with a fantastic knife crime campaigner, and he's talking about this spiral of the way that, you know, people feel unsafe. so they then carry knives. and so then the spiral of violence just continues. and i think people do feel that things are just getting out of control, and they need to see the government stepping up and doing something about it. and i don't think it helped that keir starmer, when he went to lay those flowers, just sort of blinkered himself and didn't respond to any of the people that were. they've been described as heckling him. but i think what they wanted was a little bit of real, meaningful , little bit of real, meaningful, humane support rather than just a kind of ceremonial laying of flowers. >> yeah. so it's an interesting question. it will be one that perhaps shortens the honeymoon of this government. people will want to see a sense of there's no luxury of a honeymoon restored. let's, let's see how

how, if at all, there is a policy response to any of this, but so much to cover throughout the show. and we want your comments and thoughts throughout it. visit gbnews.com forward slash yoursay to have your say. that's all. after your headlines with sophia wenzler. >> tom thank you. good afternoon from the gb newsroom. it's just gone 1:00 your top story this houn gone 1:00 your top story this hour. the people of southport are cleaning up their streets after widespread damage caused by rioters who'd gathered outside a local mosque. sir keir starmer said they'd hijacked a peaceful vigil and insulted the community as it grieves for three young girls who were killed in monday's stabbing attack. and he warned they'd feel the full force of the law. it started when a group of around 300 people who'd gathered outside a mosque turned on police throwing rocks larger than bricks and setting cars alight. many were supporters of

the english defence league and were not from southport. they'd been encouraged by false posts on social media which claim the attacker was muslim . nearly 40 attacker was muslim. nearly 40 officers were killed and 27 were taken to hospital . jenny taken to hospital. jenny stancomb, whose daughter elsie died in monday's attack, pleaded on social media for the violence to end, saying the police have been nothing but heroic . they been nothing but heroic. they and we don't need this. the mosque's chairman, ibrahim hussein, told reporters the riot was planned and coordinated, kept getting messages from day before and they were planning it. >> they obviously accused the muslim. they obviously, find this guilty and they were going to punish us for whatever happens, which is awful, by the way. whatever whatever happened on monday was absolutely heartbreaking. i would like to thank the police very, very, very much indeed. and i'm very

sorry for the casualty that the police took. they took a very bad beating . bad beating. >> in other news, huw edwards has pleaded guilty at westminster magistrates court to three counts relating to images of children. it's a significant fall for the 62 year old, who was once the bbc's most senior news presenter. he's now admitted to receiving 41 images on whatsapp, seven of which are the most serious kind . the court the most serious kind. the court heard that he'd taken part in an onune heard that he'd taken part in an online chat with another adult man, who sent him the images. hamas's top political leader, ismail haniyeh, has been killed dunng ismail haniyeh, has been killed during an attack on the iranian caphal during an attack on the iranian capital. the terror group is publicly blaming israel for the attack. israel hasn't commented yet, but has previously vowed to eliminate hamas leaders. the us says it's working to ease tensions, but confirmed it would help defend israel if it were attacked . the strike on tehran attacked. the strike on tehran comes hours after israel killed

a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese capital of beirut. israeli officials say he was behind saturday's rocket attack on the golan heights, which killed 12 people, mostly children. the strikes have immediately raised fears of further escalation, with qatar warning it undermines the chances of peace and the region risks slipping into chaos. back in the uk, angela rayner is playing down suggestions of a backlash against the government's housebuilding drive as she launches a new town task force. the deputy prime minister told mps yesterday. the government was restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities after they were scrapped by the conservatives. she's also appointed two experts to lead an effort to create communities of at least 10,000 homes each. housing minister matthew pennycook told gb news the government has its work cut out for them. >> inheritance we're picking up is absolutely dire. we're looking at new housing supply

dipping under 200,000 homes a year , partly due to some of the year, partly due to some of the changes the government made late last year abolishing mandatory housing targets, which we reversed in the changes we made to national planning policy yesterday. so it's a five year target. it's stretching. we think it's achievable partly because of those changes we made yesterday, but with this new towns task force bringing forward appropriate locations forward appropriate locations for large scale new communities across the country above, over and above that target that we've announced on local authorities across england to bring forward 370,000. >> and there have been cheers at team gb's paris hq after the women's rowing team struck gold. it was a sensational comeback for the rowers in a race that looked as if it might be over with around 250m still to come . with around 250m still to come. but a last minute sprint means they're coming home with britain's sixth golden medal. and it comes after alex yee scooped up gold in the men's triathlon, while beth potter took bronze in the women's

event. those are the latest gb news headlines for now, i'm sophia wenzler more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign 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. >> forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it's 1:07 now. former bbc presenter huw edwards has pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children. >> the 62 year old arrived at westminster magistrates court this morning for his first appearance since being charged on the 26th of june. >> well, gb news home and security editor, mark white, has been at the court throughout the day and joins us now in the studio. mark, the most extraordinary events? yes. >> i mean, it was surreal being in court number one at

westminster magistrates court to see a man, a figure who is a household name right across this country fronting bbc coverage for years, all of the big state occasions. huw edwards would be there and presenting for the bbc, but there he stood in that dock, admitting charge after charge of indecent making, indecent images of children and three counts he faces relating to 41 separate images of children as young as seven and as old as 15. a mixture of still images and videos that were apparently exchanged on a whatsapp group sent to him by another man, not identified and in his defence, the solicitor claimed that he was not making images simply accessing images, downloading images that were sent to him regardless of that,

it's a serious offence. he could well be looking at jail time. what will happen is that huw edwards will be back at westminster magistrates court on the 16th of september, as at the moment they are looking for pre—sentencing reports and what that means is they are carrying out all kinds of reports delving into his background, seeing if there's any history of offending behaviour, looking at his previous good character, looking at the issues around his mental health which have been well publicised and were partially responsible for his departure from the bbc, we're told. and also looking at the fact that he pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity, which was today his first appearance in court, that will give him a deduction on his sentence of about 25%. so it may be that it's dealt with by the magistrates court, but if the magistrate decides on the 16th

of september that he feels it warrants a more serious sentence than 12 months in prison, then he could pass that on to a crown court. >> what is the upper end of the sort of sentence that he might receive for this type of offence? >> it is a ten year maximum. it would be rare that anyone would be looking at that type of significant sentence , there's, significant sentence, there's, as i say, those mitigating factors that they'll take into consideration as well. and chief among them is the fact that he has pleaded guilty, some acknowledgement of his crime and his offending behaviour there at the earliest possible opportunity. and the reason, i mean, people might get understandably angry that just because you've pleaded guilty, how on earth should that result in you getting a quarter of your sentence deducted? but the reason they do that is because, one, it shows some kind of acknowledgement and contrition on the part of a person who is putting their hands up and saying, yes, i'm guilty . also,

saying, yes, i'm guilty. also, though, it saves potential victims the ordeal of having to sit through a court case in many respects, and it saves the courts an awful lot of money. so the incentivise that by giving a quarter of their sentence . quarter of their sentence. >> and just lastly, he he got out of a car a little bit of a way away from the court and made a very long walk through a throng of press. >> that's that's quite unusual. >> that's that's quite unusual. >> yeah. i mean, some people have described to me as demeanour, as being quite arrogant. i didn't see that as such. that's not how i would describe him. what i think he was trying to do was just to give it an air that he wasn't scuttling into court. he was prepared to front it out. he works and worked in this news business. he knows how it operates. so he was there and he didn't take the easy option, which would have been just to

jump which would have been just to jump out of the car and immediately run into court. in just a few seconds, he came right round the corner, allowed those cameras to get the pictures of him, you know, so small comfort, if any comfort . small comfort, if any comfort. but at least you know he did. he did that , it's. you didn't hide did that, it's. you didn't hide away this sort of facing up to what? >> perhaps expecting that he would be criticised if he were to just scuttle in and not really face the music properly. yeah. >> mark, thank you so much for bringing us that extraordinary story there of huw edwards pleading guilty to making indecent images of children . indecent images of children. >> now the police are investigating the mass stabbing investigating the mass stabbing in southport and have been granted more time to question the suspect. >> a 17 year old was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after the knife attack at a taylor swift themed children's holiday club on monday. >> let's cross live now to gb news, northwest of england. reporter sophie reaper. what's the latest ? well if these and

the latest? well if these and here at the scene, it's been a real sense of community coming together. >> but of course then last night we all saw the pictures of a riot essentially, truly , myself riot essentially, truly, myself and my team were here. we saw it all happening. we saw that police riot van on fire. we saw and heard the shouts of the crowds gathering. now this morning when we arrived, we spoke to some local residents and they told us that they want the media to really reinforce the media to really reinforce the fact that this was not the people of southport that carried out that riot last night, that it was other people. of course, this took place outside the mosque here in southport and earlier the chairman of that mosque spoke to the media. here's what he had to say. >> we kept getting messages from day before and they were planning it. they obviously accused the muslim. they obviously , find this guilty and obviously, find this guilty and they were going to punish us

for, for whatever happens, which is awful, by the way. whatever, whatever happened on monday is absolutely heartbreaking. i would like to thank the police very, very, very much indeed. and i'm very sorry for the casualty that the police took. they took a very bad beating. i would to , love make it better , would to, love make it better, but it's nothing i can do about it. they, i suppose they used to this kind of thing, but i would like to thank them for the support, because at one point we thought they coming in and they're going to burn the place down. >> well, here at the scene where that heinous attack. unity. ever since, even today , more than 48 since, even today, more than 48 hours connection there. >> sophie, your line is just dropping out a little bit. but we did get the bulk of that. sophie reaper on northwest of england. reporter reporting from hean england. reporter reporting from heart street in southport. a

really, really shocking, event, but but also a bizarre targeting of a mosque afterwards , given of a mosque afterwards, given that what we do know about the 17 year old, who has been arrested, although obviously presumption of innocence must remain, the fact that was released about that suspect was his parents come from rwanda. rwanda is a 94% christian country. just 2% of people in rwanda are are muslim. it doesn't seem that that islam is involved here in any way. >> well, i think it's difficult to know exactly what it is that sparked what happened on the ground. and there's been some speculation and whether this, you know, in people's perception or not, had an effect that somebody , seems to have been somebody, seems to have been arrested for carrying a machete. but i say this is just speculation, but this was something that's obviously online. people in the local area and outside of the local area can also see that as well. so, i mean, we don't really know

exactly what was going on on the ground and what what sparked that riot. it's very interesting. the police have now been given an extension on the amount of time they have to interview this suspect, because i think we would have expected by now, that the individual would have been charged lots of people probably at home wondering why on earth have we not seen this individual being charged yet? and of course, we don't have the information about him because he's under the age of 18. so that's not something that can be, publicly released. so i think it's very frustrating for a lot of people who are feeling very, very angry. and i think that that that feeling of not to justify, of course, any criminal behaviour. but but the feeling of frustration and angenl feeling of frustration and anger, i think, is perfectly legitimate, when children have been killed and i think people are feeling very frustrated that they don't have more information. yeah. about this attacker , certainly one of the attacker, certainly one of the one of the big issues here, one of the powder kegs here, is this lack of information. >> and it's understandable, a lack of information. we have laws about people under the age

of 18, even though i suspect if you were to see some 17 year olds with, you know, a facial hair and six foot three or whatever, you might not think that they should have the same protections as someone who's, you know, 15 years old. but but it's well, perhaps the labour government should look into changing the rules, but it is the law in this country that if someone's under the age of 18, there are all sorts of protections on what can be released about them, about images and all the rest of it. now, it might be that after a trial, the judge then decides to release all of this information, as happened with two, murderers under the age of 18. the two children who killed brianna ghey, last year. children who killed brianna ghey, last year . their faces and ghey, last year. their faces and names and details were were released . but but only after the released. but but only after the trial. so it might be that we have a frustrating few months to wait before all of this comes out, i think. >> i mean, from the perspective of the local community, i think it's really, really difficult to sort of live in suspense knowing that, you know, that just having

to accept the cogs of justice are turning, but you don't really know anything about what's going on. and in the meantime, you know, children are still in hospital. the adults who try to protect them are still in hospital. some of them may still be fighting for their lives. and i think that's very difficult for a community who are feeling rightly angry . are feeling rightly angry. >> well, coming up, the uk's national debt in cheerier news. oh wait, no, it's soaring to unimaginable highs currently passing an astounding £2.5 trillion. yes, that's trillion with a t. well, it's fast rising and we're going to have a look at our national debt clock after this

good afternoon britain. it's 1:22. now here's a cheery one

for you. the uk national debt is sitting at an inconceivable £2.5 trillion. and it's increasing by £382 million every day. >> this comes as chancellor rachel reeves reveals a £22 billion black hole in public finances. these huge amounts are hard to fathom or even understand, and so the taxpayers alliance have relaunched their ticking debt clock to help break down the state of the uk's national debt. >> well, joining us from the taxpayers alliance is their head of campaigns, elliott keck. elliott, well, no, we've got, let's see if we can return to the taxpayers alliance in just a moment. why don't we talk about housing now? because we're joined delightfully by samuel hughes, of the of the centre for policy studies. samuel. we were going to talk to you in a moment, but let's talk to you now instead , housing is, of now instead, housing is, of course, a huge issue. we've seen

two big announcements over the last two days a new planning framework with new targets across the country, but also an agenda of new towns to be built. samuel, what do you make of what the government's announced ? the government's announced? >> it's a bit of a mixed bag, i'm the country. i don't need to tell you, tom, that the country does have a serious housing shortage. it's obviously good news that the government's ambitious about tackling that. it's good news they've raised targets . it's good news. they've targets. it's good news. they've also made targets a bit more binding than they were before. so it's more likely that those targets will actually be met, i think the more concerning part is the distribution of those targets. so we've seen cuts in most of urban britain , and most of urban britain, and increases in rural areas , increases in rural areas, especially oddly, in the north, the north—west, which is an area that doesn't have an acute housing shortage. so that's, that's , julia, now, because a that's, julia, now, because a lot of people sitting at home might say, sorry, i think there

might say, sorry, i think there might be a delay on the line. >> i just want to get this. a lot of people at home might be saying, hang on, isn't this a just thing? isn't this a levelling up thing? why should london get all the houses? isn't it better to distribute them evenly across the country and give more to the north? >> i mean, that may be the thinking behind this. and there is a case there. the complications are, firstly, britain's housing shortage is really very concentrated in the south—east the north actually has fairly abundant housing and it's not clear that house building is the i mean, mainly what it needs is, is jobs and economic activity rather than still more houses to be added. the other thing is it's only, you know, local areas in a way housing is good for them. but i think a lot of northern councils seeing their housing targets going up hugely, are going to think, well, actually that's, if you could level us up in some other way, that might be more welcome, so i, i'm not sure that's how it's going to land. i think it's kind of an odd, an

odd move that they made on distribution that that, you know, that i mean, odd that they've been raising targets in they've been raising targets in the north less odd. they've been raising targets in rural areas. that's a bit more familiar in british politics that labour likes to raise targets in rural areas where there are conservative or liberal democrat mps. and the tories like to raise targets in urban areas where there are labour mps, so that that's kind of what you expect, whereas this thing that's gone on about the regional distribution is a little bit stranger . little bit stranger. >> maybe they've got this sort of attitude of build it and they will come mistakenly thinking that if you build more houses in the north, it's sort of putting the north, it's sort of putting the cart before the horse. you don't have the economic activity up there to necessarily support it because as you say, there isn't as much demand on housing in the north. they do have ample supply . the house prices are supply. the house prices are actually quite reasonable up north, could we end up with a situation almost like you see in some communist countries where you have enormous ghost towns that have been, created, but there is just simply no demand for them and that this could end up being a blight on what is a

lovely rural areas up north and actually damaging the quality of life for those who are already living in those areas . living in those areas. >> i don't think it will get that far. so the housing can only be built. i mean, it's going to be built by private housebuilders, so they'll only build it if it's financially viable and if it's financially viable and if it's financially viable it will have occupants. so i don't i don't think we're in a ghost town scenario , but we in a ghost town scenario, but we are in a situation. i mean, given the immense amount of political capital and political will labour has, it's a bit of a pity will labour has, it's a bit of a pity to see it spending all of that house building will and that house building will and that house building will and that house building, political capital on building in areas where they don't, you know, it's really a very low priority and it's not clear how that it's worth the disruption that it's going to cause in those communities, rather than building in areas where the housing crisis is extremely acute, that that having been said, targets are going up in the south east where there is an acute housing shortage, not not in london specifically, but in in london specifically, but in in home counties. so and that

thatis in home counties. so and that that is valuable and we shouldn't shouldn't you know, deprecate that too much. >> and i suppose the new target for london is more mandatory than the old target for london. the old target was higher but less mandatory. and the new target is lower but more mandatory. so i suppose apples and oranges to a certain extent . and oranges to a certain extent. samuel hughes i'm afraid we're going to have to leave it there. but thank you so much for talking through what is perhaps a slightly more political announcement than many have, have, sort of interpreted from the labour party, perhaps a wee bit controversial. >> we'll see. now, hamas claims that its leader, ismail haniyeh , that its leader, ismail haniyeh, has been killed while staying in iran with the terrorist group saying that an israeli airstrike is responsible. >> the killing has thrown the hope of a ceasefire into doubt and has raised concern of the conflict spiralling out into the wider region. iran and lebanon have both condemned the actions that have been attributed to israel. >> for more on this, we can now speak to former british army officer and chemical weapons expert hamish de bretton—gordon. thank you , hamish, for joining thank you, hamish, for joining us. what are the you know, the

regional implications of this? because i think many people are worried that this might be a sort of france ferdinand moment, creating a spark that might ignite the entire region . ignite the entire region. >> well, i don't i don't hold to that view, i must say. and i think it sends a hell of a message, to the ayatollahs in tehran that, the political leader of hamas has been assassinated , you know, under assassinated, you know, under their protection. and that's important because those are the sort of things that these people react to. i tend to agree with lord ricketts, who said this morning that actually it gives an opportunity. one of the key things that have been holding back the ceasefire and negotiations is israel wanting to achieve its war aims and the, the, the number one of those was the, the number one of those was the, the number one of those was the, the destruction or the elimination of hamas. and by taking out their key leadership there are some way to that. and netanyahu and the leaders in tel aviv might believe that they're

now in a position where they can actually have a ceasefire as far as igniting the region. when, when israel last attacked, isfahan . isfahan, a few months isfahan. isfahan, a few months ago , that did not ignite, the ago, that did not ignite, the area and i think as long as the united states and its allies, including the uk, stay strong and dissuade others from getting involved. you know, the russians would like to see this go up in flames. i think this hopefully gives an opportunity to actually de—escalate and stop the dreadful killings that we're seeing on a daily basis, on both sides. >> well, it was contained last time, but it got blummin close to something that could have been very nasty indeed. when israel was accused of striking an iranian embassy of course, iran sent 300 drones and missiles from iranian territory into israel. that was of course, disrupted by israel's own

security , but also the uk, the security, but also the uk, the us and jordan. a coalition of jets taking down those missiles and drones. goodness me, that if the if those missiles and drones hadnt the if those missiles and drones hadn't been taken down, we would have been looking at something much more like a regional war. >> yes, but the point is that they were. and that sent a really strong message. so iran fires 320 odd drones at israel and 99% of them get taken down. israel fires one missile at tehran and actually at isfahan. and that went through and hit one of their nuclear facilities. and for all the all, all the bragging and all the venom coming out of, tehran from the ayatollahs and from their proxies , hezbollah, who, of proxies, hezbollah, who, of course, attacked, charles football match, on the golan heights over the weekend, killing 12 children for all their coming out of there. these

people know that militarily they are no match at all. so i think it is a salutary lesson. those are ayatollahs and also the leaders of hamas and hezbollah , leaders of hamas and hezbollah, who a lot of them sitting in luxury in gaza, you know, they're not on the front line. and it's a very strong message. they know that if they do try and escalate, they can't. i mean, the iranians have already tried to do that. so i hopefully see this as a positive. if, you know, every death is a tragedy. but if the assassination of the leader of hamas leads to a ceasefire and the stop of the killings in gaza, then, then i very much, will be delighted if that happens. and i do not believe that it will lead to escalation, nor do the americans . escalation, nor do the americans. >> well, let's hope that, that thatis >> well, let's hope that, that that is the case. hamish de bretton—gordon always a pleasure to talk to you. chemical weapons, chemical weapons expert. >> bit of a mouthful. >> bit of a mouthful. >> british army officer. >> british army officer. >> strategically effective. it would seem. >> yes. well, coming up, we are getting finally to that national

debt clock story. apologies for the confusion earlier. >> we promise it's coming. >> we promise it's coming. >> it is coming. and. goodness me. well, i mean, it was 2.5 trillion the last time we spoke about it. perhaps it's gone up, even more. we'll get to that after your headlines with sophia. >> tom. thank you. good afternoon. it's 132. >> tom. thank you. good afternoon. it's132. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. your headlines, the people of southport are cleaning up their streets after widespread damage caused by rioters who'd gathered outside a local mosque. it's after a crowd who'd gathered outside the mosque turned on police, throwing rocks larger than bricks and setting cars alight . they'd been encouraged alight. they'd been encouraged by false posts on social media, which claimed the attacker was muslim . nearly 40 officers were muslim. nearly 40 officers were injured and 27 were taken to hospital. sir keir starmer says those involved will feel the full force of the law . former

full force of the law. former bbc presenter huw edwards has pleaded guilty at westminster magistrates court to three counts relating to images of children he admitted to receiving 41 images on whatsapp, seven of which are the most serious kind. the court heard that he'd taken part in an onune that he'd taken part in an online chat with another adult man, who had sent him the images. hamas's top political leader, ismail haniyeh, has been killed in an attack on the iranian caphal in an attack on the iranian capital. the terror group is publicly blaming israel for the strike. it comes hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese caphal commander in the lebanese capital, raising fears of further escalation . back in the further escalation. back in the uk, angela rayner says labour was elected on a manifesto to build more houses as she plays down suggestions of a backlash. the deputy prime minister unveiled a plan that will see mandatory housing targets for local authorities. she's also appointed experts to lead an effort to create a series of new

communities of at least 10,000 homes each , and there have been homes each, and there have been cheers at team gb's paris hq after the women's rowing team struck gold. it was a sensational comeback in a race that looked as if it might be over with. around 250m still to come . but a last minute sprint come. but a last minute sprint means they're coming home with britain's sixth gold medal. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm sophia wenzler 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. >> cheers! >> cheers! >> britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report , and here's a quick report, and here's a quick snapshot of today's markets. >> the pound will buy you $1.2835 and ,1.1851. the price

of gold is £1,885, and £0.67 per ounce, and the ftse 100 are 8371 points. >> cheers ! britannia wine club the gb news financial

>> good afternoon britain. it is almost 20 to 2, so now the national debt for the uk is sitting at around an inconceivable £2.5 trillion, increasing . by £382 million per increasing. by £382 million per day. and that is inconceivable. well, it's 2.5 trillion. >> that's what a trillion looks like, by the way. i can't even count that high in terms of

those number of digits in a row. >> it's nauseating to look at that. number two. >> 2,536,000,000,000 and counting. 428,574,000. oh, no. now it's more. it's going up every blooming second. well, it's almost impossible to comprehend, but to try and help us work it all out is the group who have launched this tool , who have launched this tool, this clock, this national debt clock, the taxpayers alliance here to help us break it all down is their head of campaigns, elliott keck . elliott, i am elliott keck. elliott, i am transfixed looking at this number. i mean, the amounts are just impossible to get your head around . around. >> well, exactly. and thank you for having me on. you really can't look away. and the reason why you can't look away is it goes up every single second. it's completely without respite. and one of the things that really jumps out to me is that little ticker at the bottom, which shows exactly what that national debt could pay for. it could pay for the nhs budget

four times, 14 times over. so when we think about the consequences of politicians ignonng consequences of politicians ignoring the public finances for not just years but decades, the result is that there's a huge range of things that we'd love to pay for a huge range of taxes, that we'd love to cut, that we can't. as a result of this national debt. >> well, it is extraordinary. again, just looking at it tick up and up and up. these are these are real pounds and pennies. well, it's not even pennies. well, it's not even pennies. it'sjust pennies. well, it's not even pennies. it's just pounds. just pounds. but but you've published some facts alongside this clock. so, one, one of them, which is extraordinary is the national debtis extraordinary is the national debt is around 45 times the annual defence budget. >> well , exactly. and, you know, >> well, exactly. and, you know, the labour government have just come in and they've all these things that they'd love to spend money on. i think things like the two child benefit cap, all of these different spending priorities. and ultimately rachel reeves has made the decision, often correctly, that she cannot pay for them. and

that's because the result of the national debt, something which actually is real pounds, is that we now spend over £100 billion a yearin we now spend over £100 billion a year in debt interest for a long time, we thought that interest rates were never going to go up. and so we could just spend as much as we wanted. we could have one of the most generous public sector pension schemes in the world. we could have a state pension that went up under a triple lock. we could lock down the economy for 18 months. and none of this would really matter because ultimately debt interest was manageable. that's no longer the case. interest rates are heading up, back to relatively historically normal levels, and ultimately we are now paying for the consequences. >> elliott, one of the other facts that you've highlighted is that this could fully fund the nhs for 14 years. how does this square with the decision by the labour government to fork out more for public sector salaries and also potentially , as the and also potentially, as the adam smith institute has pointed out, that their vat raid on schools may actually end up costing the taxpayer more money. how? how are labour squaring

this? >> well, i think ultimately they're doing what every government before them have done, which ultimately to pretend that these figures don't actually exist. and ultimately they're going to find the money from somewhere. we know that labour and the public sector are incredibly close. we know that labour normally does prioritise the public sector, and so they are taking that massive democratic mandate that they have and using it to pay public sector workers more. but the reality is of taxpayers is that pubuc reality is of taxpayers is that public sector workers get better pay, public sector workers get better pay, pensions and perks, and those in the private sector, and it's of course, private sector taxpayers are going to end up paying taxpayers are going to end up paying for that. and it's all of us that will end up paying for the national debt. >> now, elliott, i was trying to get my head around these numbers. millions billions, trillions. i found that if you if you count these in seconds, 1,000,000 seconds is 12 days. 1,000,000,000 seconds. and this is quite hard to comprehend , right? >> so 12 days trying to stay with you. >> 12 days is 1,000,000 seconds.

1,000,000,000 seconds is 31 years , and 1,000,000,000,000 years, and 1,000,000,000,000 seconds is 31,688 years. so even though million, billion, trillion, they all sort of sound just like vast numbers. putting it like that , the difference it like that, the difference between 1 million and 1 trillion is 12 days to over 31,000 years. i mean, these are unquantifiable. large numbers . elliott. >> well, exactly. and that's the reason why underneath that headune reason why underneath that headline figure, we have the amount that it's going up per second, per hour and per day , second, per hour and per day, the per second rate £4,000, something that i think most people cannot comprehend. £4,000 is quite a lot of money for most people . but, you know, for most people. but, you know, for most people. but, you know, for most people £4,000 is something that they will spend regularly over certain periods of time. but to think that the national debt is going up by £4,000 per second, i mean, that really is quite extraordinary. and it ends up with these numbers that i mean, frankly, if i tried to read out

that number, we'd we, you know, you'd get to the top of the hour and i'd barely even be finished. >> goodness me. well, elliott cake, thank you so much for talking us through your new campaign, your new national debt clock. just lastly, where can people find it online? >> so it's at taxpayers alliance.com/debt clock or debts clock dot org. >> brilliant stuff elliott thank you so much forjoining us. >> blimey that is unsustainable . >> blimey that is unsustainable. crazy. well now coming up we're talking farming as the community accuses the labour government of ignonng accuses the labour government of ignoring the industry

good afternoon britain. it is almost 10 to 2. so now we're going to be talking about farming. farming in the uk has seen a massive drop in income,

but northern ireland saw a huge reduction from 609 million to 340 million between 2022 and 2023. well, many farmers are now concerned about their ability to survive and invest in the future. >> they're worried that that's all over with. serious concerns about the uk's food security that must be addressed. our reporter dougie beattie has found out some more . found out some more. >> we're down now to the average crop. farmer income last year was predicted to be 11,500, so that's about one fifth of the average household income in northern ireland. so we're we're working for double the hours for very, very little income. and that's not sustainable. >> richard orr is a farmer that is now working for much less than minimum wage and points to imports on certain markets and higher input costs. >> our input costs drastically rose at the same time when crop value rose a couple of years ago .

value rose a couple of years ago. and that has been very slow to come down. our fertiliser or energy or electricity or fuel. and so that knock on effect of the reduction now in prices for the reduction now in prices for the product we're selling last year was a very poor year for crop yield due to the weather, and yet we still have high input costs , probably 50, 60% more costs, probably 50, 60% more than what they usually were. >> president of the ulster farmers union , william irvine farmers union, william irvine has seen many struggling farms and has concerns over food security. >> every business has has bad years now . agriculture is years now. agriculture is surviving on the occasional reasonable year for too often we either lost money or just scraping by, and it it really puts into into question the sustainability of our industry. and that puts into question the food security of the united kingdom over the last 24 months, retail prices have risen by over 18%, and farmers insist they are

not profiting from their record retail numbers. >> the consumer doesn't need the food to raise any more. we need the food price that we receive at the bottom to be more equally shared, and we can manage that far better. it's the guys in the middle are taking too much, and they know they can get away with it. >> in 2019, theresa may agreed to nad zero by statute and there is a lack of knowledge or joined up thinking around costly fertilisers. >> suppose for us as a crop farmer, one of the frustrating things around the agriculture minister's desire to cut methane, cut emissions , put methane, cut emissions, put restrictions on the use of slurries and organic manures. to me, they're a valuable fertiliser that we can drastically use in the arable industry and the crop industry. we can take it from a livestock farmer. we can be part of the solution. >> within the 340 million in common farms 298 is from

government subsidies . common farms 298 is from government subsidies. is it no time? we looked at the possibility of open markets with a level playing field on regulations. >> that's a question for society. if as businesses we have to be viable, we need money in our pockets to buy the seed to plant for next year, we need we need to be able to grow our crops to feed our cattle next winter. so we either need sustained, viable support from society or we need more income from the marketplace . so a what? from the marketplace. so a what? either way, we cannot continue to function at at a loss dougie beattie gb news northern ireland. >> dougie joins us now in the studio. dougie in other places throughout europe, people we've seen movements of people really getting behind their farmers. why is it that in in the uk there seems to be more of a sort of lack of awareness around

these issues facing farmers? and why should people? we've just heard much of the detail there, but why should people get behind our farmers and really fight for them to have a sustainable living? >> well, it's a good question because there's three possible answers for that. >> sustainable. not in the eco sense. >> so first of all, there's food security . i >> so first of all, there's food security. i mean, >> so first of all, there's food security . i mean, we've seen security. i mean, we've seen this with what's going on in the middle east, supply lines, etc. being hurried as they try to come through, certain canals that hits our food system. it makes food more expensive and we need to have our own food security. i mean, back in 1980, we were about 80% self—sufficient. that's now dropped to less than 50%. some would argue that it's over 50%. but when you look at it in real terms, could we support a population of the current size compared to back in the 1980s? >> obviously we had less people. would we be able to farm again? >> you're asking the very question our population has now grown by roughly about 20%, and

we're back 30%. so, you know, if you if you arrive down from from an alien from space and said, you know , is this logical to do you know, is this logical to do this? well, it wouldn't be. and when you look at things like obesity , you look at diabetes, obesity, you look at diabetes, heart disease , all very much on heart disease, all very much on the high point now because we're eating so much highly processed food. and right across europe, we are held inside european regulations that tie the farmer's hands. they cost them a lot of money and some of them there is no linked up, joined up thinking between cause and effect. and that is costing a lot of money and a lot of farms are going out of business because they cannot compete with cheaper imports that are coming from outside the eu . so why are from outside the eu. so why are we inside the eu having to, conform to all these regulations? and yet, with all i mean, if i was in new zealand, i wouldn't have to have a milking parlour in the same way that we

do. i wouldn't have to have the they can produce food. >> so much more cheaply. dougie. we're going to have to leave it there. but thank you so much for talking through such an important issue. next hour we're back on the ground in southport. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello. welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you from the met office . dry to you from the met office. dry and sunny and warm. for most of us it's feeling increasingly humid over the next few days. that's going to increase the threat of thunderstorms for some areas . low pressure threat of thunderstorms for some areas. low pressure is threat of thunderstorms for some areas . low pressure is not too areas. low pressure is not too far away across the near continent. that's where that threat of thunderstorms is coming from. further north, though, high pressure still dominating, so plenty of dry and warm weather. quite a lot of sunshine as well. still some hazy sunshine here and there across parts of northern england , across parts of northern england, some areas of northern ireland and the far north of scotland. still holding on to a bit of cloud and possibly some rain . cloud and possibly some rain. but where we do see the long

lived sunshine across southern areas, temperatures will likely climb into the 30s once again. this afternoon. but it's across the south—east where there's a risk of thunderstorms. there is some uncertainty in whether they will bring any impacts, but i think you will likely see some lightning offshore further north, though no risk of thunderstorms across scotland, it's likely to be a slightly warmer evening this evening than last night. it was quite a chilly night out across scotland compared to elsewhere in the country , so temperatures in the country, so temperatures in the mid teens 20s for some areas of central southern scotland and some cloud around, but mainly a dry and pleasant evening for most of us. but there's still this threat of thunderstorms and a warning in force for the southeast throughout the afternoon and into the evening. but the threat really does increase overnight. tonight as an area of thunderstorms develops across parts of wales and across the southeast, and those will push north and eastwards overnight. so there's a wider area that's covered by this thunderstorm warning. we could see some localised impact due to flooding, lightning and some fairly large hail as well. and it's going to be a humid

night for most of us. as i said, a milder night tonight across scotland than last night as well. so potentially a pretty wet start to the day across some eastern areas of england, some southeastern areas of scotland, potentially with that thunderstorm risk continuing and behind it, we see some more thunderstorms breaking out across much of england and wales, but away from this risk. dry, sunny and again. another very humid and warm day that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . boilers. >> sponsors of weather on gb

>> well . >> well. >> well. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:00 on wednesday, the 31st of july. i'm emma webb and i'm tom harwood . southport riot unrest harwood. southport riot unrest burst onto the streets of merseyside last night after a peaceful vigil for three girls who lost their lives, and seven others in critical condition following monday's horrific stabbing attack . we're live on

stabbing attack. we're live on the scene and more unrest at the other end of the country. >> the streets of southend played host to a daylight machete fight. the seafront was cordoned off as the brutal, brutal forced onlookers to flee. we'll be joined by a former local mp . local mp. >> guilty. that's the plea of former bbc presenter huw edwards, who has today admitted to making indecent images of children. we'll have the latest developments and in slightly better news, a wonderful wednesday for team gb as they add two olympic gold medals to their tally. >> we'll have the very latest from paris as britain's kieran reilly could also bring home a third medal in the bmx freestyle . third medal in the bmx freestyle. i'm really hoping that kieran riley does very well with his bmx thing , i just don't

bmx thing, i just don't understand why bmx freestyle is an olympic sport. >> there are lots of i mean, i didn't even there are sports that i've discovered i didn't even know existed until until i've seen them in the olympic games. >> yeah, some of them seem more sporty and some of them seem just like we've rolled a tombola and picked something vaguely active. we're taking it out and we're going to throw this in the who cares? >> it's raining gold medals, so whatever. >> we've overtaken just about every other country apart from it's only china. france and one other country that's ahead of us now in the, in the medal table. >> i think the, the us have done very well in the gymnastics. i think i might be wrong. i haven't actually been watching it. >> i have to it.— >> i have to confess. it. >> i have to confess. we don't have to i can i can just talk amongst yourselves for a second. >> i'll, i'll get this medal table talk amongst ourselves. >> here we go. >> here we go. >> we're fourth. we're behind china, japan and france. so we're ahead of australia, south korea, the united states, canada, germany and italy, that's with six gold medals. so we're going to keep a tally on

those . those. >> well, we can actually talk amongst ourselves while tom does his googling. so if you send in your views or post your comments by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. but first, it's your headlines with sophia wenzler. >> emma. thank you. good afternoon. it's 2:02. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. your top story this hour. the people of southport are cleaning up their streets after widespread damage caused by rioters who'd gathered outside a local mosque. sir keir starmer said they'd hijacked a peaceful vigil and insulted the community, as it grieves for the three young girls who were killed in monday's stabbing attack . and he monday's stabbing attack. and he warned they'd feel the full force of the law. it started when a group of around 300 people who'd gathered outside a mosque turned on police, throwing rocks larger than bncks throwing rocks larger than bricks and setting cars alight. many were supporters of the engush many were supporters of the english defence league and were

not from southport. they'd been encouraged by false posts on social media which claimed the attacker was muslim. nearly 40 officers were injured and 27 were taken to hospital. jenny stancomb, whose daughter elsie died in monday's attack, pleaded on social media for the violence to end, saying the police have been nothing but heroic . they been nothing but heroic. they and we don't need this. liverpool mayor steve rotheram says people must avoid jumping to conclusions. >> community here is very close and tight knit and what we saw last night was infiltration by people from all over the country, stirred up by social media, and then whipped up into a frenzy whereby they were attacking the very people that everybody earlier in the day was celebrating for being the heroes, for running towards dangen heroes, for running towards danger. and it leaves a very sour taste in the mouth that these people believe that they can come here and divide our community. they won't be doing that and they won't. the haters won't win out .

won't win out. >> in other news, huw edwards has pleaded guilty at westminster magistrates court to three counts relating to images of children. it's a significant fall for the 62 year old, who was once the bbc's most senior news presenter. he's now admitted to receiving 41 images on whatsapp. seven of which are the most serious kind . the court the most serious kind. the court heard that he'd taken part in an onune heard that he'd taken part in an online chat with another adult man, who sent him the images. hamas's top political leader, ismail haniyeh, has been killed dunng ismail haniyeh, has been killed during an attack on the iranian caphal during an attack on the iranian capital. the terror group is publicly blaming israel for the attack. israel hasn't commented yet , but has attack. israel hasn't commented yet, but has previously vowed to eliminate hamas's leaders. the us says it's working to ease tensions, but confirmed it would help defend israel if it were attacked. the strike on tehran comes hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese capital of beirut. israeli officials say he was

behind saturday's rocket attack on the golan heights, which killed 12 people, mostly children. the strikes have immediately raised fears of further escalation, with qatar warning it undermines the chances of peace and the region risks slipping into chaos. back in the uk, angela rayner is playing down suggestions of a backlash against the government's house building drive as she launches a new towns task force. the deputy prime minister told mps yesterday the government was restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities after they were scrapped by the conservatives. she's also appointed two experts to lead an effort to create communities of at least 10,000 homes each. housing minister matthew pennycook told gb news the government has its work cut out for them. >> inheritance we're picking up is absolutely dire. we're looking at new housing supply, dipping under 200,000 homes a year , partly due to some of the

year, partly due to some of the changes the government made late last year abolishing mandatory housing targets, which we reversed in the changes we made to national planning policy yesterday. so it's a five year target. it's stretching. we think it's achievable partly because of those changes we made yesterday . but with this new yesterday. but with this new towns task force bringing forward appropriate locations forward appropriate locations for large scale new communities across the country above, over and above that target that we've announced on local authorities across england to bring forward 370,000. >> and there have been cheers at team gb's paris hq after the women's rowing team struck gold. it was a sensational comeback for the rowers in a race that looked as if it might be over with around 250m still to come . with around 250m still to come. but a last minute sprint means they're coming home with britain's sixth gold medal. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm sophia wenzler 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 . slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:07 now. the former bbc presenter huw edwards has pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children. >> the 62 year old arrived at westminster magistrates court this morning for his first court appearance since being charged on the 26th of june. >> well, our home and security editor , mark white, has been at editor, mark white, has been at the court throughout the day and joins us now in the studio. mark. >> well, this has been a spectacular fall from grace. a man who is known right across the country for fronting these big state occasions, as well as being the bbc's most senior news presenter until recently , when presenter until recently, when he, resigned from the

corporation. standing in the dock and admitting count after count of possessing making indecent images of children . 41 indecent images of children. 41 images in total that he's said to have accessed and downloaded. the youngest child being just seven years old, the authorities believe they've not been able to trace that child, so they don't know for sure. and the oldest being 15. seven of the images relate to what they call category a, which is the most serious in terms of the images, of sexually explicit images of minors. there are a dozen category b images , and there category b images, and there were 22 category c images. so he pleaded guilty to all three counts. and what has happened now is that huw edwards has been released on bail, and he'll

appear back again at westminster magistrates court on the 16th of september. at the moment they are delving into his background to get these sentencing reports prepared to determine the character of the man. any previous offending behaviour, the well—publicised issues around mental health and also weighing up the fact that he pleaded guilty to these charges at the earliest possible opportunity. >> should we be expecting the bbc to issue some kind of comment on this? >> i don't think so , the bbc >> i don't think so, the bbc commented at the time of course, last year, when there were allegations well publicised around the former presenter at that time, and of course he then was suspended. he had a mental health episode, we're told, and at that time the corporation spoke about that they lot. they

launched their own internal review. what we can say is that the allegations from last year are not related to these latest, offences that he has now pleaded guilty to. >> presumably it's because of that whole scandal that these have now come out of the. >> well, the because he's pleaded guilty today. the real detail of the charges and how the offences came about have not come out. so it's perfectly possible that they may have had access to his phone at some point and found this . i think point and found this. i think it's also possible that they may have had someone come forward that has provided information that has provided information that will come out when we get to the point of sentencing , when to the point of sentencing, when the prosecution is allowed in a bit more detail to give more on the case. >> now it's a slightly confusing charge , making indecent images

charge, making indecent images of children, what does that mean in legal terms? >> yeah, the prosecution and the defence actually, in this case, clarified a bit around that in court. so the prosecution said that it doesn't necessarily mean the act of making the images, but certainly accessing them and downloading them, which appears to be what happened, messages sent to him on whatsapp by another man as yet unnamed. we don't know if this individual is facing any charges or not, but images that were sent to huw edwards that he accessed 41 at least of those images and appears to have looked at them and downloaded them. a mixture of still images and videos. >> what is the expected timeline on this as we go towards sentencing, or is this a case of sort of how long is a piece of string the investigation could drag on and on, or is there a

sort of standard amount of time? >> well, he's on unconditional bail until the 16th of september, and then he'll appear back in court at that point, the magistrate will receive the sentencing report and he may sentence at that point or it may be deferred not to his court but to a higher court to the crown court, because potentially for these types of offences are the more serious end. he could be looking at. ten years in prison is the maximum, but because of the guilty plea, because of the otherwise, good character and otherwise, good character and other aspects that the judge may take into consideration, including the vulnerability around , his mental health around, his mental health issues, that might mean that there's a much reduced sentence and if it is 12 months or under, then a magistrate will deal with it at that court and not refer it at that court and not refer it up to the crown court. >> now, mark, we're looking at images here of, quite unusual

images here of, quite unusual images for someone that's been accused of, of such heinous things because he parked a little way away from the court and made this long walk through and made this long walk through a throng of press towards that entrance. >> yes. i mean, some some people there described it to me as you know, quite arrogant, but i wouldn't categorise it. i'm not in his head, i don't know, but i suspect that probably what he was doing was trying to, not have an image of him scuttling into court, just running out of a taxi and or a car and straight through the front door that, you know, he's from the news business. he knows how it works. they want to get their photographs. he's walking in. he's fronting it up, basically, pleading, putting his hands up and pleading guilty. that's what i saw in those images anyway. but, regardless, it was an absolute. i've been in some

scrums in my time, and that was that was one one of, the team that was one one of, the team that was one one of, the team that was with hugh, edward, huw edwards. i saw pushing a photographer quite forcefully to the ground, smashed up his camera. i don't know if anything will come from that, but, yeah, it was, well, you can see was surrounded by police officers who were trying to push forward quite an agitated team. yeah, but i mean, to be fair, it's difficult in a scrum. and those who work these scrums regularly know it's a bit of rough and tumble. you've got to get in there to get your picture. and they know that on occasions you get pushed and you get pushed back. you can lose your balance. you can you can trip and fall. but it is they call it a bunfight. that's exactly what it is. people, journalists, scrambling to get the very best shot. as unseemly as that looks to the outsider. >> goodness me. well mark white, it's an extraordinary story. thank you so much for talking us through it. >> now, shadow chancellor jeremy >> now, shadow chancellorjeremy hunt has claimed that labour

planned labour's planned tax rises , labour has planned to tax rises, labour has planned to tax tax rises story from the get go. this follows chancellor rachel reeves admitting that taxes will rise in the upcoming october budget, although she says labour will stick to their pledge not to raise vat, national insurance or income tax. >> well, joining us now from westminster is gb news political editor christopher hope, because chris, what we saw earlier this week was potentially the chancellor rolling the pitch, preparing us all for some pretty significant tax rises. >> that's right. hi, tom. hi, emma. that's right. and we heard, didn't we, this £22 billion black hole that the chancellor said she'd found. and that's prompted a row of war of words with rachel reeves saying that the former chancellor, jeremy hunt, had lied about the state of the finances lying to even to partygate, jeremy hunt

has come out fighting . he's not has come out fighting. he's not having any of this. he was seen as a by many, as a bit of a fair dealer, certainly on the tory side, in trying to put right some of the more difficult the difficulties caused by the liz truss time in office. so friends of jeremy hunt, who told me this lunchtime that that rachel reevesis lunchtime that that rachel reeves is an old fashioned socialist economist, all this idea of a new labour, chancellor is for the birds. his friends say they think she's shown her hand properly. well, next, hear from these two individuals in the first week of september , the first week of september, when we'll have those treasury questions ahead of the budget on october the 30th. but i've been doing my own bit of work on this, remembering back to an interview that i did for gb news back at the end of may. when i asked rachel rees what her plans were for taxation and she gave us this answer on wealth taxes, which could come back to haunt her, i think on wealth taxes. yet is that the that's the that's the treasure chest you're keeping locked up. >> labour will not be introducing wealth taxes on homes, that kind of thing .

homes, that kind of thing. >> capital gains tax. >> capital gains tax. >> labour are not going to be introducing wealth taxes. indeed chris, we've set forward our plans and they are all fully costed and fully funded and there'll be nothing in our manifesto that requires any further increases in taxation. >> they have at rachel reeves telling me in rolls—royce, in derby or around that may the 28th, that labour will not be reintroducing wealth taxes. but that's exactly what many people think she'll do. and in fact, she refused to rule us out on a podcast last night with lbc. she said i think we will have to increase taxes in the budget. she will not increase taxes on the top lines. income tax , vat, the top lines. income tax, vat, national insurance but other areas of wealth taxes. inheritance tax may be almost certainly capital gains tax. many people believe , and also many people believe, and also pensions tax relief. those areas are wealth taxes. and that's what it seems from what she said to us back in may, she said she wouldn't do that is an extraordinary thing to pull back

up. >> chris, thank you for finding that. no wealth tax is said when, when she was shadow chancellor, said rachel reeves. and now she's not ruling out wealth taxes, perhaps capital gains tax. as we know, the labour honeymoon period is over. >> they're already going back on their word. >> the labour party's sister party in canada under justin party in canada underjustin trudeau, has just raised capital gains tax by by double digits. no doubt they're looking to do something similar. i'd be very surprised if they weren't so that seems like it's already rowing back on. something said in the general election. but christopher, we've got to look at the other side of the aisle as well, some bad news in the press about kemi badenoch . press about kemi badenoch. >> that's right. kemi badenoch is one of the six tory challengers to replace rishi sunak and she's a favourite, according to the bookies. the guardian have put some, reports about into the into their newspaper today. three officials have come forward from her private office when she was the business secretary, saying they felt bullied and forced out and

the allegations are there in the guardian. for her part, mrs. badenoch has hit back strongly. she calls them smears and she says that her campaign to be the next tory leader has clearly spooked the lefties . in her spooked the lefties. in her words, and she says that the no formal complaints were ever made by these individuals. so i think what we're seeing now is the beginning of a scrutiny of the six people or so who want to succeed rishi sunak, and the first target for those on the left, you might argue, has been kemi badenoch, who's a favourite to get the job. >> thank you so much forjoining us live from westminster. >> now coming up, southend machete madness. we're speaking to former mp for southend after this

>> good afternoon britain. it's 2:23 now. chaos erupted in southend on sea yesterday evening with a vicious machete fight forcing police to issue an urgent dispersal order in the area. you can see from these shocking images masked men brandishing huge knives. they attacked each other in the open and essex police have confirmed eight people have so far been arrested . arrested. >> joining us now is former mp for southend west, anna firth. thank you, anna, for joining us. what did you think looking at these images as the former mp of these images as the former mp of the area ? the area? >> well, i was absolutely appalled and shocked and i think it would be terrifying. this was happening in broad daylight about 7:00 in the evening, a time when, you know, lots of families in the in the summer are still on our seafront. you can see adventure island , our, can see adventure island, our, you know, you know, a major

theme park right behind where you would have families enjoying, enjoying, you know, everything that southend has to offer. and for this to be going on is totally unacceptable. and, you know, we've got to do more to stop these gangs even getting to stop these gangs even getting to southend, you know, as the mp one, this was a major, major focus for me for obvious reasons, given what happened to my predecessor. and one of the things i campaigned for working with the police was knife poles, so that when gangs come to southend and unfortunately it is part of a our seaside towns history that gangs do tend from time to time to come and to have a, you know, to have a rumble. we have to have the resources and the knife poles at the stations to take these weapons off these thugs before they get anywhere near our seafront . and anywhere near our seafront. and you know, the we've got the

resources. i campaigned for the resources. i campaigned for the resources. and that's what we need to be doing. >> and you mentioned your predecessor there, sir david amess, who of course, was was murdered in a knife attack, given your knowledge of the local area, if just for people who might not really understand seeing these images , what seeing these images, what actually is going on in southend that would lead to shocking images like this, is this gang warfare as we were discussing earlier with a knife crime campaigner, is this turf war stuff? is this people coming from outside of the area? why? why are we why are we seeing this, seeing this sort of thing on the streets of modern britain? >> yeah. so i mean, i think the first thing i want to say, as a resident here in southend and leigh on sea, is that these are, you know, are isolated incidents. this isn't happening every day in southend . but what every day in southend. but what did happen yesterday was gangs

coming into our area from outside the area . typically they outside the area. typically they come on the train because of course they want to drink and they are bringing these horrendous weapons. you can see a long machete there. you can see another big knife, you can see another big knife, you can see another big knife, you can see a flail. and these, these what we have to do is get more cross authority working between british transport police, the met and our own police officers to intercept these gangs and to avoid them even getting on to our seafront and doing things like this. i mean, this is particularly ironic because on sunday evening i was in southend high street, along with, you know, many other people bidding the knife angel farewell. i campaigned with the police and crime commissioner for the knife angel to come to southend. as you know, that is a national, a national monument which raises awareness of knife crime . and awareness of knife crime. and the whole point of it accompanies the statutory instrument that i got laid in january in parliament, which expands the definition of zombie

knives. whole point of all of that was to raise awareness and get these knives surrendered. and for me, it is it's unbelievable that within 48 hours of us bidding farewell to the knife angel, we've got this on, on our seafront and i sincerely hope that this will be the last such incident this summer, because this is unacceptable. >> it is shocking to watch. i'm transfixed every time i see these images, anna. but, but but i wonder, what is it about the seafront? a place that you'd associate for. for families, for children in front of adventure island, no less, where you can see the attractions there for children. why are people coming from much more urban areas? it seems to our seaside resorts. >> yeah. i mean, as i said, tom, you know, unfortunately there has been quite a long history of gangs coming to southend from

time to time, you might remember a film. probably. probably. you're way too young, tom, but there was a famous film called quadrophenia. quadrophenia, about the fights that used to take place between the mods and the rockers. now that that used to think that sort of thing used to think that sort of thing used to go on from time to time in southend, but it didn't take place like this is, you know, actually on our seafront in an area where, you know, we've got families who will be enjoying our seafront . so, you know, we our seafront. so, you know, we have got as i, as i say, the key thing here and this is what we were campaigning to do this summer with laying this new, statutory instrument with the surrender scheme comes into force in september. we have got to take these weapons off these thugs before they get anywhere near our seafront. near oui' seafront. >> near our seafront. >> it's a strong message . and a >> it's a strong message. and a and a former member of for parliament southend west really appreciate you talking through

this issue with us. it is shocking every time i see it. and, and, and i just can't get my head around how people would think that this is a productive or a fun or a i mean, how hollow does your life have to be? i don't think that's to need to get a kick out of trying to machete. >> i don't think that's really where their mind is and thinking about being productive or whatever. i think this is a this is just filling the time. well, no, i think i mean, i think probably for them it's probably quite a meaningful activity in the sense that, you don't go out with a, with a machete and, and fight like that unless you really have a very kind of like, tribal, we're talking about gang warfare, but a kind of tribal mindset, i guess. i don't know, but, i think there's a reason why it's beyond the comprehension of most people. that's because most people don't go out into the streets of our seaside towns wielding machetes in the middle of a of a beautiful summer's day , but, you beautiful summer's day, but, you know, i think, like we've been

saying, everybody's sort of transfixed by looking. we keep seeing these sorts of videos going viral. mentioned earlier, the guy who's on the back of the bus, somewhere else , holding, bus, somewhere else, holding, holding a machete. yeah, i think people are so shocked by these images, partly because it is it is beyond the comprehension of most citizens of this country. but there is obviously a subset of people, for whom this has become an acceptable behaviour in their minds , and they don't in their minds, and they don't think that there's going to be any repercussions because perhaps there isn't in their experience. >> we've been speaking about this all week. the lack of prison places, people going in for short sentences and actually there not being enough proper crime , justice, law, order, in crime, justice, law, order, in this country, perhaps there needs to be a lot more examples made of these people, but coming up, it's time to move away from southend on sea and instead hop across the channel and say bonjour to paris for an olympics check in. how many gold medals are we on now? well, we'll get to that after your headlines with sofia.

>> tom. thank you. it's 231. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. your headlines. the people of southport are cleaning up their streets after widespread damage caused by rioters who'd gathered outside a local mosque. it's after the crowd turned on police throwing rocks larger than bricks and setting cars alight. they'd been encouraged by false posts on social media, which claimed the attacker was muslim. nearly 40 officers were injured and 27 were taken to hospital. sir keir starmer says those involved will feel the full force of the law. former bbc presenter huw edwards has pleaded guilty at westminster magistrates court to three counts relating to images of children. he admitted to receiving 41 images on whatsapp, seven of which are the most serious kind . the court heard serious kind. the court heard that he'd taken part in an

onune that he'd taken part in an online chat with another adult man, who sent him the images. hamas top political leader ismail haniyeh has been killed in an attack on the iranian caphal in an attack on the iranian capital. the terror group is publicly blaming israel for the strike. it comes hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese caphal commander in the lebanese capital, raising fears of further escalation . back in the further escalation. back in the uk, angela rayner says labour was elected on a manifesto to build more houses as she plays down suggestions of a backlash. the deputy prime minister unveiled a plan that will see mandatory housing targets for local authorities. she's also appointed experts to lead an effort to create a series of new communities of at least 10,000 homes, each , and there have been homes, each, and there have been cheers at team gb's paris hq after the women's rowing team struck gold. it was a sensational comeback in a race that looked as if it might be

over , with around 250m still to over, with around 250m still to come, but a last minute sprint means they're coming home with britain's sixth gold medal. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm sophia wenzler 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. >> cheers! >> cheers! >> britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report , and here's a quick report, and here's a quick snapshot of today's markets. >> the pound will buy you $1.2851 and ,1.1850. the price of gold is £1,883.13 per ounce, and the ftse 100 are 8371 points. >> cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news

financial

>> good afternoon britain. it's 2:37 and that means it's almost 3:00. what happens at 3:00? it's martin daubney. of course. he's coming up next. and martin, what's on your show ? what's on your show? >> can i first say excellent show? you guys. you've been really expansive and thoughtful about how you've been talking about how you've been talking about southport and southend. i think that's the that's the question today. it's time to declare a national knife crime emergency. no more nonsense. no more mollycoddling, no more namby pamby messing about. it's time to get tough. zero tolerance, mandatory jail cells. if we can be accommodating to asylum seekers by turning raf wethersfield into a asylum seeker centre, let's convert it into a mega jail. like. like sir keir starmer wants. but specifically for knife

criminals. and while we're at it, why don't we lift reporting restrictions from all 18 year olds down to 16? if the labour party thinks you're old enough to vote and mature to vote, a 16, surely age 16, you're old enough to take responsibility for your criminal actions, lift reporting restrictions in courts, lift the frustrations that are sending the british pubuc that are sending the british public to boiling point over this cancer of knife crime. it's dividing communities. it's destroying the fabric of britain. it's making us ask questions about our political class and media class. and i spoke to my father last night, his 86th birthday, so i don't recognise my country anymore. i think we're at that point where we need firm, decisive action. or britain as we know it is going to be forever lost. that time is here. this week's terrible events surely should act as a wake up call to make us all take notice. really, that's the big conversation today and i've experts with 20 years plus of knife crime experience. i'll also speak to a young black lad,

also speak to a young black lad, a beautiful boy from a community who says that these communities are failing britain. they're bringing shame on themselves, and they also need to take responsibility for their own actions. no nonsense. >> 3 to 6 pm. goodness me, martin mega—prisons. and lifting these restrictions sounds pretty bang on to me. you're speaking our language here, martin. i'm really looking forward to it. it sounds like a manifesto on which on which the country should, should, should take up. but yeah, that's from 3:00. looking forward to it now. >> andy murray and dan evans have kept their olympic dreams alive , reaching the doubles alive, reaching the doubles quarterfinals in paris. >> the pair once again had to go down to a deciding third set to beat belgium. but murray's hope of ending his career with an olympic medal it's still on. it follows another dramatic morning for team gb, as they added two more gold medals to their haul. >> let's hear now from sports broadcaster chris skudder, who joins us now. what's the latest

chris? >> are medals coming thick and fast? not just two goals. >> just got a silver in the bmx bike. >> that's the thing where they go >> that's the thing where they 9° up >> that's the thing where they go up the ramps and throw the bike around, >> kieran riley from gateshead who was one of the favourites, almost delivered the gold. not quite, but another silver medal was also two bronzes. so it's been a fantastic day i think britain's best of the games. so far. and you know what, they're really leaping now. climbing up the medals table. they're up to fourth place just behind the hosts, france. and they've got 17 medals in all. that is more than china have got . let that than china have got. let that sink in for a minute. 17 medals so far. a lot of gold still to come. a lot of medals, money well spent. i think from the lottery funding. it's been a great game for britain so far. they're ahead of where they've been at all. the recent games. on what day? 517 medals. so far. six goals. that's fantastic. >> i'm just trying to do some quick maths. chris, on a per person basis, i think we've got about 100 times more medals than the chinese do. that's, that's very i think that's how we

should count it really . we'd be should count it really. we'd be top of the leaderboard on a per person basis, making up for the euros, but of course, we've got to talk about andy murray, this this really could be the send off to his career, an almost perfect send off. it's so rare that a sportsman gets to sort of retire at a high point in their career. it's usually the fact that they'll sort of decline as time goes on and think, okay, it's time goes on and think, okay, wsfime time goes on and think, okay, it's time to time to time to give up. but but with andy murray, he could really take this gold . this gold. >> he could. he's got two golds in the singles before and after in the singles before and after in the singles before and after in the doubles. but amazing last night wasn't it? i mean, we saw in the first round when he saved those five match points with his partner there, dan evans, last night we almost had a carbon copy. not quite as dramatic, but it wasn't far off against the belgian pair of james heale and vie. again there were two match points down. it looked as though he was about to play his last ever point, and somehow they won four points in a row. and you can see the faces there, it was

incredible. so they're through to the quarter finals now. they get through that. i think they guaranteed a bronze pretty much , guaranteed a bronze pretty much, and they're going to be playing, potentially the third seeds, taylor fritz or tommy paul of america, or a dutch pair , haas america, or a dutch pair, haas and roger. and they haven't played their , second round match played their, second round match yet. so the good news is that murray and evans will have an extra day's rest because their opponents for the quarterfinals will be playing this afternoon. it's very hot again, so that might be a factor, but yeah. hero. absolutely. i mean, without a doubt. i mean, i'm thinking now that he's britain's greatest ever sportsman, that's quite an accolade. but tell me who's going to beat him? i can't think of anybody. maybe hamilton, but i think andy murray. you'd think he'd be wondering whether maybe or not he actually doesn't want to retire after doing so. >> well , well, listen, retire after doing so. >> well, well, listen, his hips are all over the place , but, mean. >> yeah, i mean, it would be fantastic to go out on a high, but he's done it all, hasn't he? he's won the three majors. and he's just a great patriot when it comes to representing this country in tennis. they won the davis cup . he's won three.

davis cup. he's won three. nobody's got more olympic medals in tennis than andy murray which which is pretty amazing really. he didn't win as many majors as he might have done. but then again, he was playing at the same time as the three all time greats. federer nadal and djokovic. so, yeah, everyone's behind. i think all the neutrals are going to get behind andy now, i think it might be a bit much to ask him to win. to win the gold, i've got to be honest. but, you know, it's a it's a thrill ride. it's been so far. and the more he does this, the more everyone's loving it. >> well, our fingers are crossed, our toes are crossed. anything that we can cross is crossed. and let's hope that we do as well as possible. there six golds already. many, many more to come. no doubt. chris skudden more to come. no doubt. chris skudder, thank you so much for talking us through the olympics. so far. >> i'm wondering what he might go on to do next. what do tennis players normally do when they retire, >> sell things, sell television ? >> sell things, sell television? >> sell things, sell television? >> possibly, yeah. so now coming up as part of the country, sea temperatures nearing 30 degrees. we'll be reporting live from sunny weston—super—mare

>> good afternoon britain. it's 2:47 now. farming in the united kingdom has seen a massive drop in income , but northern ireland in income, but northern ireland saw a huge reduction from £609 million to 340 million between 2022 and 2023. >> many farmers are now concerned that their ability to survive and invest in the future is over, and serious concerns about the uk's food security must be addressed. our reporter dougie beattie finds out more. >> we're down now to the average crop farmer income last year was predicted to be 11,500, so that's about one fifth of the average household income in northern ireland. so we're we're working for double the hours for

very, very little income. and that's not sustainable. >> richard orr is a farmer. that is now working for much less than minimum wage and points to imports on certain markets and higher input costs. >> our input costs drastically rose at the same time when crop value rose a couple of years ago . value rose a couple of years ago. and that has been very slow to come down. our fertiliser or energy or electricity or fuel. and so that knock on effect of the reduction now in prices for the reduction now in prices for the product we're selling last year was a very poor year for crop yield due to the weather, and yet we still have high input costs, probably 50, 60% more than what they usually were . than what they usually were. >> president of the ulster farmers union, william irvine has seen many struggling farms and has concerns over food security. >> every business has had bad years now. agriculture is surviving on the occasional reasonable year. for too often

we either lost some money or just scraping by and it it really puts into into question the sustainability of our industry. and that puts into question the food security of the united kingdom over the last 24 months, retail prices have risen by over 18% and farmers insist they are not profiting from the record retail numbers. >> the consumer doesn't need the food to raise any more. we need the food price that we receive at the bottom to be more equally shared, and we can manage that far better . it's the guys in the far better. it's the guys in the middle are taking too much and they know they can get away with it. >> in 2019, theresa may agreed to nad zero by statute and there is a lack of knowledge or joined up thinking around costly fertilisers. >> i suppose for us as a crop farmer , one of the frustrating farmer, one of the frustrating things around the agriculture minister's desire to cut

methane, cut emissions , put methane, cut emissions, put restrictions on the use of slurries and organic manures. to me, they're a valuable fertiliser that we can drastically use in the arable industry and the crop industry. we can take it from a livestock farmer. we can be part of the solution . solution. >> within the 340 million in common farms 298 is from government subsidies. is it? no time? we looked at the possibility of open markets with a level playing field on regulations. >> that's a question for society. if, as businesses we have to be viable, we need money in our pockets to buy the seed to plant for next year, we need we need to be able to grow our crops, to feed our cattle. next winter. so we either need sustained, viable support from society or we need more income from the marketplace. so a what? either way, we cannot continue to function at at a loss .

to function at at a loss. >> dougie beattie gb news northern ireland. >> well, thanks for dougie for highlighting what is a huge issue across the uk and well across the world. >> really? yeah. i mean, i think it's a lot of people have been watching clarkson's farm and will have, been awoken as i have been to all of the problems that farmers face. but it's a europe wide problem, frankly , the wide problem, frankly, the barriers that governments put in the way of farmers, it's bizarre. it's ungrateful as well as being unjustified, i think, because they make our food. but but you know what else, makes our food? >> it's the sun in the sky. and heat warnings remain in place across the creative, creative segue there. tom, i like to try, but we're forecasting 28 degrees across parts of england today. it's the kind of temperature that could expect be expected to continue until friday, but some parts of the uk might experience a few thunderstorms later on today. well, our reporter jack carson joins us from a super

sunny weston—super—mare, jack, how sunny is it for you? >> well, it's been absolutely beautiful. there are worse jobs than the job i've had today, tom. i've had some fish and chips. i've had an ice cream. i've been enjoying the sun, as have thousands of people that have thousands of people that have come here to weston—super—mare today. i mean, of course, i've travelled down from birmingham. this is the kind of historic route that so many other brummies also take, because this is the closest beach to birmingham . so there beach to birmingham. so there have been a few brummies. i've heard a few birmingham accents around the seafront while i've been here today as well, but lots of people enjoying the sunshine. of course, you know the people coming to the seaside is massive, particularly for the small businesses here. you know, small businesses here. you know, small kind of coastal town businesses that are, you know, are working in this area, operate in this area, generate £3 billion for the economy. so the sun and the sun coming out on this warm weather that we've had recently means it really supports them. of course, across these summer months, combined with the fact obviously now most kids are on the school holidays, so lots of kids enjoying their time here today. so lots of kids enjoying their time here today . we've been time here today. we've been catching up with a few people on

the seafront about their time here today. have you ever been on the donkeys? yeah what are the donkeys like, you sit on them. >> they're very fluffy and you can go round the beach on them for a while , i come here on holiday. >> yeah. how many times have you been here now? i think three times. and what's it like? you like it? yeah. it's really nice . like it? yeah. it's really nice. >> so we just came down for the day , haven't been here for quite day, haven't been here for quite a while . it's a nice sunny day. a while. it's a nice sunny day. why not here? >> what is it? no, we like the beach. >> we like the beach. so we're just going back down to the car we parked and then get our sunbeds out of the car and put them on the beach for the day. >> well, i haven't been for ages, so i'm not. i don't know what it's about now. i think it's improved a lot since i came last time. yeah, yeah. >> and what kind of you know, have you come here since you were kind of a kid? >> oh, yes. i used to come over. berkeley was once a year for the holidays with my parents and my brother and sister. yeah, we were always, around here for

that. >> so there you go. there's some of the things that some people have been up to are going to be up to today here at weston—super—mare . i mean, the weston—super—mare. i mean, the grand pier that you can see behind me, i mean, that's stood here since 1904. and of course, people are enjoying that going up and down. why have we had this kind of hot weather recently? i mean, you know, it kind of takes a few days of a heat above the average temperature in the summer to qualify as a heatwave. so that's been the case in some parts of the country as well. we've had this band of high pressure that's covered most of the country, which is why we've had such beautiful weather. but of course, with that, high pressure means that eventually things turn a little bit nastier with those threats, of course, of thunderstorms. so those threats of thunderstorms at the moment are in the south—east. so parts of london, of course, and down, of london, of course, and down, of course, on the south—east coastline. they've got the threat and the yellow weather warning from the met office over the next 24 hours, but thursday is when most of the country is going to be covered in that yellow weather warning from the met office for thunderstorms. so, you know, yes, the next 24

hours might be lovely for a lot of the country, but things could turn a little bit sour when it comes to the weekend. but of course, temperatures here in weston—super—mare, even at the weekend is still going to be 20, 21, 22 degrees. so still plenty of good weather to be able to get here out here on the beach, of course. lots to offer. you heard about the donkey rides those kids were going on as well. i've seen some horses there. this kind of surfing going on here. there's everything going on. so there we go. lots to offer on the coast. on the coast, here at weston—super—mare and across the country. but be warned, in those next 24 hours to expect some thunderstorms across the uk. >> ooh, rumbling and exciting. jack, we'll let you get on one of those donkeys. and, and i'm sure viewers will catch up with you a little bit later in the day. thank you so much for ride away into the sunset. >> oh, there's ice cream in his fish and chips. >> absolutely majestic. >> absolutely majestic. >> you know, he's actually made me want fish and chips. i'm thinking about it now. >> well, just to finish the program, a crowdfunding page created by swifties. fans of taylor swift for southport has

raised more than £301,000 for alder hey children's hospital, where many of those injured have been and are still being treated. a really quite incredible feat there. £301,000 for alder hey children's hosphal for alder hey children's hospital, so please do donate if you can. >> we've got it up there, on the screen for you and that's it for today on britain's news newsroom. we'll see you tomorrow at 12.

>>a >> a 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. last night, a peaceful vigil in southport erupted into a night of violence, with over 50 police officers injured and a riot van torched. we'll be live from a community in shock as

police announced a suspect will now be questioned for four days, meaning we won't find out the suspect's identity of that knife attack any time soon. next up, the political leader of hamas was killed in a missile strike in iran last night, mocking the most high profile killings since the october 7th terrorist attack. with the fingers firmly pointing at israel. could we see a significant escalation of conflict in the middle east? and, as predicted , chancellor and, as predicted, chancellor rachel reeves has now admitted that she will have to raise taxes to fix what she calls broke. britain. with pensioners firmly in her sights. today we're asking the shocking question is labour quietly re—introducing a version of theresa may's hated dementia tax? that's all coming up in your next hour. welcome to the show. always a pleasure to have

your company today. i've got