we won't find out the 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 a sobering and sombre message. it's time to declare a national knife crime emergency in britain after the tragic killing of three children, five others critically injured in southport after machete marauding mobs on the streets of southend last night. this is getting totally out of control. throughout today's show. i'll be speaking today's show. i'll be speaking to a range of experts, former coppers and community activists who say it's time to call enough is enough on knife crime. no more messing about. let's get tough. let me know your thoughts gbnews.com/yoursay. let's have your headlines now with sophia wenzler . wenzler. >> martin. thank you. good afternoon. it's 3:02. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. 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 the 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. they threw rocks larger than bricks and set 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. 54 police officers were injured in clashes and 27 were taken to hospital, some with broken bones. jenny stancomb, who's whose daughter elsie died in monday's attack , elsie died in monday's attack, pleaded on social media for the violence to end , saying the violence to end, saying the police have been nothing but heroic . they and we don't need heroic. they and we don't need this. police made three arrests and they say more will follow. 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. >> in other news, former bbc star huw edwards has pleaded guilty to three counts relating to images of children. he's now admitted to receiving 41 indecent images on whatsapp, seven of which are the most serious kind . it's a significant serious kind. it's a significant fall for the 62 year old, who was once the broadcaster's most senior news presenter . senior news presenter. westminster magistrates court heard he'd taken part in an

onune heard he'd taken part in an online chat with another adult man, who sent him the images, including one of a child as young as seven. a homeless man who pushed a passenger onto the tracks at a london tube station has been found guilty of attempted murder . kurdish attempted murder. kurdish migrant brwa shoresh , who's 24, migrant brwa shoresh, who's 24, shoved tadeus potucek off the platform at oxford circus station in central london. he narrowly missed touching the live rail and was quickly helped back on the platform by another passenger. speaking after the verdict, the judge said shoresh was guilty of a very serious offence and a long prison sentence will follow . hamas's sentence will follow. hamas's top political leader, ismail haniyeh, has been killed during an attack on the iranian caphal 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 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 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 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 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 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 . 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 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. >> thank you sophia. now merseyside police are making security plans for the week ahead.a security plans for the week ahead. a southport locals worry after yesterday night's violent riots. more than 50 police officers were injured after bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars were set alight outside a mosque following the vigil for the three girls killed in the southport knife attack on monday. now gb news north—west of england reporter sophie reaperis of england reporter sophie reaper is in southport. sophie, welcome to the show. so much has happened since we last spoke yesterday . let's start with the yesterday. let's start with the immediate aftermath. at the vigil. so the vigil was held. it started off peacefully and then

things changed and they change very quickly. sophie, how did that happen? the police are blaming the media have been briefed. it's the edl. the edl hasn't existed since 2013. to your knowledge, was it people coming in from outside the area doing this? was this locals doing this? was this locals doing this? was this locals doing this ? and some gravity has doing this? and some gravity has been given to the fact that a man was arrested at that vigil with a knife , and that in itself with a knife, and that in itself may have been a flash point . can may have been a flash point. can you build a picture of how we got to the confrontation, and then we'll deal with today's aftermath? if we could ? aftermath? if we could? >> well, it's very difficult to speculate on at this point, martin. of course, we haven't really heard much from the police following last night's events other than the fact that several police officers, i believe it was 54 officers, were injured in those riots. now, obviously, we spoke to you yesterday from here where the stabbing attack took place on monday , and from there the monday, and from there the entire day, it was completely

calm. it was a sense of community, togetherness . then community, togetherness. then a similar atmosphere at the vigil. people came together to express sympathies and sadness and express guilt. and then it almost just seemed that the touch paper was lit. it just seemed that all of a sudden there was this sense of anger. now i can't speculate particularly about who was there . particularly about who was there. i will say that this morning, when myself and my cameraman arrived on the scene, two scenes of rubble and debris all over saint luke's street where it took place, the first people to approach us were three men, and they said the first thing they asked was, were we media? we said yes and they told us we are southport residents. we live on the streets. we want the media to let people know that this was not the people of southport. this is people from elsewhere. now again, that is, i can't comment on whether or on the accuracy or not of that . and i'm accuracy or not of that. and i'm sure over the coming days there will be information that comes out on that. of course, serena

kennedy of the merseyside police, she said that three arrests were made. however, more will follow. she said it's impossible to say how many arrests will be made. it's really early days in the investigation, so this is one of those things where it seems that it's just sparked and it just went from there. now, of course, i know you know that myself and some of our gb news colleagues were there in the middle of things. it was very hectic, very chaotic and quite scary at points as well . and but coming points as well. and but coming in this morning to see, see the rubble and the debris and the destruction that had taken place. but seeing then the community that had once again come together as it had yesterday, you can see now all the flowers behind me, they came together once again this morning, some there from five 6:00 in the morning. volunteers local residents, local business owners doing what they can to put what was made wrong last night, to put it right this morning .

morning. >> and sophie, we'll see the cleanup operation there. and that's very much a community coming together in a sense, sophie, this is a community that's been traumatised twice. first by the obvious deaths of those children, the stabbing attack. and now by this riot, people are angry, but destroying communities never surely is the correct thing to do. doesn't help anybody. when we see scenes like this, particularly when we see so many police officers being injured, as we keep saying, the police officers who risked their own safety rushing to this, the same, police officers who've been very highly commended in other places like manchester airport. let's move on now to the suspect. the suspect is being questioned. there's been a huge conversation. of course, part of the, dovetailing into what happened last night was about the identity of the individual, the identity of the individual, the speculation, which hasn't helped at all, has it ? we can helped at all, has it? we can all agree we have to follow due process . journalists like you process. journalists like you and i, sophie, we have to follow due process because that's the core of the law. that's the law

of the land. we shouldn't be speculating. and that has been no doubt a contributory factor. a backdrop to that. now, sophie, is that the individual in question is being questioned for a longer period of time. and that's perfectly within the law. and the police have 36 hours. but now that's been extended, to 96 hours, has it not? sophie >> absolutely. and i think there's been a lot of speculation online, on social media about why the media haven't revealed the identity of this 17 year old in police custody. and as you say, we are bound by due process. in fact, i've seen a lot of comparisons to the brianna ghey trial. the two, of course, her murderers, their identities were revealed, but i think what a lot of people are seeming to forget is that they their identities were revealed once they had been found guilty at the end of their criminal trial. at this point, we're at the very beginning of the investigation. while the police are still questioning this 17 year old. so as it

stands, we are unable to reveal that identity because this person hasn't even been charged as of yet with their under suspicion of murder and attempted murder. but until we get word that we can reveal identity, we are bound by that process of the courts , that we process of the courts, that we are not allowed to reveal that identity and that is just, unfortunately, the way that it is in this country. and that is the way it is . the way it is. >> yeah. but sophie, i think it's really important that we point that out a lot of people have been saying, well, why don't you name this individual? well, even if we knew it would be illegal, there is a due process in our country for very good reason. it's to protect the innocent until proven guilty and it is to protect people. that's the law of the land. we are bound by it. now, can you tell us about the mayor? the mayor of liverpool came to the area . we liverpool came to the area. we saw a short speech from him earlier, but i'm trying to unite the wider merseyside community behind the residents of southport . southport. >> absolutely. and steve rotheram is someone who is

usually very vocal about these kind of things. he's obviously commented asking people to to not speculate again because we can't reveal the identity at this point, but to not bring things like race and religion into it. yet until perhaps we know more . but this, this as it know more. but this, this as it stands, there are three little girls that are dead. there are others that are in critical conditions in hospital. now is not the time for conversations about race or religion. as sir keir starmer said yesterday , keir starmer said yesterday, politics can come later. that is a conversation for another day. at the moment there are three families who are grieving now. steve rotheram spoke earlier about this and this is what he had to say. >> no, i can't understand the sort of confected faux , pretence sort of confected faux, pretence that this is something to do with racism or with religion or with racism or with religion or with any sort of division . this with any sort of division. this is a terrible, awful tragedy

that has happened in southport, and we need to always think back to there were three kids that went to a dance class that didn't go home. that's the most important message. and how anybody can try to argue that somehow what happened last night with the disorder is supportive of a viewpoint that those children, they were out there trying to do something because these children had been killed and he was trying to show solidarity or support for these children, though they weren't. they were they were doing the exact opposite . exact opposite. >> you heard steve rotheram there say that the most important message is that those three little girls never came home from that dance class. and thatis home from that dance class. and that is the message here in southport . and this is something southport. and this is something that i think shows that you can see these flowers here behind me. people have been coming in their hundreds to lay flowers here. and the other side of the

police cordon there's balloons. you can see that message. i'm not sure if you can see that message right at the end. there the three angels of hart street never forget nine, six, seven. that's the ages of the three girls who lost their lives. thoughts with the families. because that at the centre of all this is there are families. there are those three families who are grieving the loss of such young girls, taken far too soon from us. truly heartbreaking. and that is something that people really need to focus on right now as those families and this community here in southport continue to grieve. >> sophie reaper in southport. thank you very much for that update. excellent as ever. thank you. now moving on. 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, and gb news homeland security editor mark white, has been at the court throughout the day and we can

speak to him now. mark, welcome to the show . so, the highest to the show. so, the highest paid bbc news presenter of them all, a crown jewel in the crown of the bbc, is now spectacularly fallen from grace today. >> yes, it was a surreal sight to watch. huw edwards head to westminster magistrates court surrounded, of course, by dozens of photographers, camera crews and reporters as that scrum moved its way towards the front entrance of the court . and as entrance of the court. and as huw edwards, then about 40 minutes later, stood in the dock to plead guilty to charge after charge relating to the making of indecent images of children. now, it was clarified in court by the catch all term of making indecent images can actually mean, accessing and downloading

images, which is what happened on this occasion. he was in regular conversation, it seems, with another man as yet unnamed on the messaging site whatsapp. that man had sent him over a penod that man had sent him over a period of time, some 377 sexually explicit images , 41 of sexually explicit images, 41 of those involved children. seven of those were in the most serious category category a, that shows the most serious of abuse of children. 12 were classed as category b and another 22 images were category c. so on those three counts relating to those categories , he relating to those categories, he pleaded guilty in the dock. he has been released on bail and will be back at westminster magistrates court on the 16th of

september, when that magistrate will have to decide what sentence to impose . at the sentence to impose. at the moment he is looking for sentencing reports, so that will effectively mean, martin, that they delve into, huw edwards background to see if there's any, previous offending behaviour, what his character is . behaviour, what his character is. and the defence lawyer said he is not of good character but of exemplary character, well, he is also, suffered , according to his also, suffered, according to his defence lawyer , from mental and defence lawyer, from mental and physical, conditions over the years, which are well documented , years, which are well documented, which eventually resulted in him resigning from his bbc job, in april of this year. but until april, he was still being paid his salary of the bbc of close to £500,000, close to half £1

million. as one of the bbc's best paid presenters . best paid presenters. >> okay, mark wyatt, thank you for that summary. >> okay, mark wyatt, thank you for that summary . and yeah, a for that summary. and yeah, a spectacular, spectacular fall from grace. and i'd just like to commend the sun newspaper, i used to work at the sun newspaper. they got a lot of stick for going into this investigation against huw edwards, especially from his bbc chums, who said, oh, you know, he's entitled to a private life. nothing illegal here. that was proven wrong today. so hats off to the sun for pursuing that case and getting justice on the case and getting justice on the case of huw edwards now, coming up, the chancellor has admitted that the tax rises that will appearin that the tax rises that will appear in the october budget are she attempts to plug the gap in the public finances, but just who and will who will she target ? who and will who will she target? be warned they might be coming for your pension . and could for your pension. and could there be a return of the hated dementia tax? i'm martin daubney on gb news. britain's news

welcome back. your time is 324. i'm martin daubney on gb news now a little later on we'll be discussing how last night feral gangs fought with machetes in south end. i'm asking the big question is it time to declare a national knife crime emergency? i'll speak to one of britain's top anti—knife cops and the youth campaigner, who says they both say it's time for zero tolerance. you're not want to miss that debate now, as predicted, chancellor rachel reeves has admitted . yes, i will reeves has admitted. yes, i will have to raise taxes to fix broke britain, who didn't see that coming ? well, she's ruled out coming? well, she's ruled out like delboy. no income tax, no vat hikes. but does something more sinister lurk under the bonnet with pensioners firmly in the labour party site today i'm asking the shocking question is

labour quietly introducing a version of theresa may's hated dementia tax? and to probe this, i'm joined now in the studio by gb. news, political editor chris hope. chris, we all knew tax rises were coming. there's no magic money tree with £2.7 trillion in debt. let's first look at, how theresa may how rachel reeves might go after our money. if they're not going after income tax, they're not going after vat. what are the roots? >> could there be rachel reeves is a chancellor she's got a budget on october the 30th. martin, she has said that there'll be no increase in income tax, no vat. as you say. and add that national insurance, that means there's a 40% gap in the in the funds they've got to raise from taxation. people are looking at what they might try and do. would they look at inheritance tax. that's quite a small number. £200 million might be raised for that. more likely, capital gains tax, maybe increasing up to 40% from 20% or pension relief. that's your pensions point there. so i was

wondering where will she find the money. this is because she claims labour claims the government claims with backing from the obr. the official forecaster of the government and the independent ifs in in some part there's a £22 billion black hole. she was asked last night on the on an lbc podcast and she admitted for the first time i think we'll have to increase taxes in the government. sorry. forgive me. i think we'll have to raise tax, increase taxes in the budget. now that's interesting because that's not what we thought was coming. she refused to rule out increases in pension tax and elsewhere. but back in in may for your programme may 28th in rolls—royce, i asked her these very questions and here's what she had to say. then >> i don't think we've got it . >> i don't think we've got it. let's just keep going. we'll pull that up in a minute. but i remember the interview very, very well. and she did seem at the time confused about, about tax avoidance and tax evasion. and we were saying, we were saying then that we would have to look at tax rises if we can't

get the clip, remind us, what did she say? >> well, she said, in terms i'm not going to introduce wealth taxes twice. i said, what about capital gains tax? and she said, no, we're not going to do that ehhen no, we're not going to do that either. we're not going to and there's no wealth taxes planned for the manifesto. i think what's fascinating here is it looks like we now have wealth taxes back on the table. and as you say, pensioners could be a target. we saw earlier this week, didn't we. how they're going to lift this cap on care costs. >> yeah. now this is worth pausing on because the dementia tax back in 2017, it almost let jeremy corbyn into downing street. and that was because the rules were changed. chris, bear with me. so if you had over £23,250 in savings, you had to start paying for your care. and she raised that to 100 grand. so anything below a tory government, the tory government. so anything below 100 grand. theresa may could take. it was hated so much she had to do a violent u—turn before the election, but it still lingered .

election, but it still lingered. here's a party that's after your pensions. borisjohnson here's a party that's after your pensions. boris johnson changed the rules and capped the costs lifetime costs £86,000. phew. still a lot, but nevertheless may be a cost that we're prepared to take. then rachel reeves said words it should chill pensioners. it will not be possible to take forward those charging reforms. what does that mean, chris? >> well, people who are concerned about this area are appalled. andrew dilnot, who wrote the first attempt at deaung wrote the first attempt at dealing what's known, what's known as this, this death death tax there, there's this potential tax. he called it a tragedy. age uk says at least pensioners on their own. martin they say caroline abrahams, director of age uk, the charity, says it's gone from merely creaking to a state of near collapse, the ifs are saying it will leave, will be paying extremely high social care costs. the reason why this is, is it's dementia, which which means you have a long drawn out. you live longer, decline more. yeah. pay more . may have longer yeah. pay more. may have longer time with your disease. hence

higher care costs. now it could you could see people losing property, their homes, trying to sell their properties to pay for care costs. but where will they live? so the idea that the tories had was to try and mitigate that. with this £86,000 cap that's gone. and what cups right now there's lots of uncertainty i think, for anyone who's facing dementia and early stage dementia, worrying about it is a worry. >> now we have got that rachel reeves clip now, chris, from you at the rolls—royce factory. >> we're listening again. let's go to it now, 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. >> 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 will be nothing in our manifesto that requires any further increases in taxation . further increases in taxation. >> so that was rachel reeves. there saying that they won't go after capital gains tax. interestingly, a tweet resurfaced yesterday from 2017 where he said labour will always

defend the winter fuel tax for pensioners. so we're seeing all sorts of volta farces. no surprise the biscuit tin is empty, but back to this dementia tax. i think this is the big story that hasn't really been picked up on final day of parliament yesterday. and chris, the alzheimer's society today have said the burden is now entirely on individuals to fund their own care. that is a sentence, i think that should send chills down the spine of many , many brits and any pensioners. >> you have some savings. they're trying to work out. how can i afford to spend that? how much do i need to keep hold of in order to? i can see out my time, you know, a big worry, a huge worry, and the tories had tried to deal with that. labour are saying no , i think also are saying no, i think also capping adding that into the winter fuel allowance being removed. it's a worrying time for pensioners under this government. you know , chris, government. you know, chris, i think we need to look more into this tomorrow. >> let's, let's try and get an expert on and really, really go into this because this to me is a big story that seems to have gone under the radar on the

final day of parliament. chris, always a pleasure. thanks for coming in the studio and see you in the next hour. thank you. and lots more still to come between now and 4:00. i'll discuss the significant drop in income for uk farmers who are now scared for their futures. as the uk's food security plummets. but first, here's your headlines with sophia wenzler. >> martin thank you. it's 331. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. the people of southport are cleaning up their streets after widespread damage caused by rioters who'd gathered outside a local mosque . it's outside a local mosque. it's after the crowd turned on police , after the crowd turned on police, throwing rocks larger than bncks 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. more than 50 officers were injured and 27 were taken to hospital . sir injured and 27 were taken to hospital. sir keir injured and 27 were taken to hospital . sir keir starmer says 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's westminster magistrates court to three counts relating to images of children . he admitted to 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 , man, who had sent him the images, a homeless man who pushed a passenger onto the tracks at a london tube station has been found guilty of attempted murder. kurdish migrant bowerchalke, who's 24, shoved tadeus potucek off the platform at oxford circus station in central london. he narrowly missed touching the live rail and was quickly helped back onto the platform by another passenger. speaking after the verdict, the judge said schorsch was guilty of a very serious offence and a long prison sentence will follow hamas's top political leader, ismail haniyeh, has been killed 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 . there have further escalation. 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 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. >> thank you very much , sophia. >> thank you very much, sophia. now, if you want to get in touch with us @gbnews, simply go to gb

news. com forward, slash your sale and make sure to out the best your messages a little later in the show. i'm

welcome back. your time is 337. i'm martin daubney and this is gb news now. 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. now, 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 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. >> president of the ulster farmers union, william irvine, has seen many struggling farms and has concerns over food security. >> every business has has bad 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 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 farmer, one of the frustrating things around the agriculture

minister's desire to cut 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. 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 winter. so we either need sustained viable support from society , or we need more income society, or we need more income from the marketplace. so a but either way, we cannot continue

to function at at a loss . to function at at a loss. >> dougie beattie gb news. northern ireland. >> well, now joining the studio by gb news reporter dougie beattie beautiful package that was zigi very, very emotionally shot. cinematic, wonderful. but ask big questions about the importance we place upon the farming industry. the court in the perfect storm, you know, soaring costs, fertilisers, fuel net, zero targets, madness that's punishing them . squeeze that's punishing them. squeeze margins by the supermarkets and you know, are we just completely forgetting that we've got no farmers, we've got no food? >> well, it does seem that way. and the labour government at this time is now in negotiations between the four regions to know what subsidies are going to be given here. because if you listen to that, out of that 340 million, rather annoyingly, 298 million, rather annoyingly, 298 million of it was subsidies and we don't yet know and haven't

had confirmed was the 35 million that was for tb , was it out of that was for tb, was it out of that was for tb, was it out of that or was it still to be added? and if it was morton, what were we really looking at at this point is we need to let subsidies go. we need to throw the markets open. and in doing so, we would have to ditch net zero because we would have to be able to compete at the same playing field as the rest of the world. i mean, back in 1980, britain was 80%, 80% self—sufficient. now it's not even 50% self—sufficient. and we have and i've said it all day, we have had obesity, diabetes, heart disease all coming in. and it's linked in that same period . it's linked in that same period. we are now the third biggest importer of food in the world. and most of that food does not come from inside the eu. this is the problem. so farmers are now right across europe having to compete in a marketplace with their hands tied by net zero and

various european laws and regulations. >> and yet, dougie, we've seen those competition laws really impacting european farmers. >> there's a huge outcry. and of course, the protests we saw even outside brussels burning tires outside brussels burning tires outside the parliament where i used to go. and because, of course , deals from brazil, from course, deals from brazil, from argentina, beef, they don't have to meet those net zero targets. they don't have to rewild their fields, they don't have to meet targets. and so the playing field isn't level. but do you think that's going to change any time soon? we've got a labour government and it seems to want to get closer to the eu. >> well, exactly. i mean, the first thing that ed miliband did when he came in to his office was take out 2800 acres on sussex , really good land for sussex, really good land for growing barley and wheat . and he growing barley and wheat. and he has put over £600 million, over half a billion into a solar farm. now, you know, when you're looking at farming and saying we are in trouble here, our our pnces are in trouble here, our our prices in the supermarket has

risen 18% over the last two years. and people say, oh, inflation is back down to 2%. but it doesn't mean that the 18% dropped. of course, it means it's just rising slower. and we've all seen it in on in our supermarkets. it shows you that the type of priorities that this labour government is putting on farming and producing food , farming and producing food, they're talking about taking 20% of land out to green. if you had 100 head of cattle, that's one, head per acre. you take 20% out, you've lost 20 cattle. then they want you to hit with methane taxes to lose a third of your herd. now, herds make manure and arable farmers for growing vegetables need manure. if you start taking that out of the equation, where are they going from their manure? they're going to russia, belarus, all these places that that, produce nitrogen fertiliser, which has to come across in a boat, in a

lorry , in another lorry belching lorry, in another lorry belching out co2. it's the same thing as you mentioned with brazil and argentina. we have massive meat products coming in from there. and it's not because of net zero, because they have to transport this food the whole way from brazil. and argentina into, britain and europe . it's into, britain and europe. it's not making any sense. >> fascinating report. maybe they should get all the manure out of parliament and put that on the fields. dougie beattie always a pleasure to have you in the studio. thank you very much. now, coming up, the leader of the proscribed terrorist group, hamas has been killed in iran. just how significant could this be? and we face a serious escalation to the conflict in the middle east. i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news channel

welcome back. it's 349. i'm martin daubney on gb

news now . the top political news now. the top political leader for masca, ismail haniyeh has been assassinated in the iranian capital of tehran . and iranian capital of tehran. and this comes amid tensions in the middle east due to the war in gaza and deepening conflict in lebanon. iran's revolutionary guards confirmed the death of haniyeh hours after he attended a swearing in ceremony for the country's new president and said it was investigating the attack. israel is believed to be behind the attack but is yet to comment with the supreme leader of iran saying israel had provided the grounds for harsh punishment for itself. well now can speak with defence analyst stewart crawford. stewart, welcome to the show. so another one bites the show. so another one bites the dust, a significant character, a huge leader of hamas. is this significant in the downgrading of hamas, or will he simply be replaced by another leader ? and has it any another leader? and has it any wider significance in the heightening of tensions in the

middle east, >> good afternoon, martin and thanks for having me back on again. >> it is a significant development. >> clearly, the, widely regarded leader of hamas , be it political leader of hamas, be it political leader, has been eliminated by the israelis. which is very much in line with what they said they were going to do after the october the 7th attacks. >> they said that they would eradicate hamas. >> and this is part and parcel of that process. how they have doneit of that process. how they have done it is not yet clear. people say it's an air strike, which makes me question what the iranian air defences are like or what they weren't doing, or if it is a strike by israeli agents inside tehran , then that would inside tehran, then that would just follow the pattern that's happened before. but it is a significant development . i significant development. i suspect that what will happen in hamas is they'll just appoint a successor in due course. but all of the leadership is at risk. in fact, i would say that they're

all dead men walking, and you only have to look back to the aftermath of the 1972 munich olympics massacre of israeli athletes to see to what lengths the israeli state will go to, to track them down and eliminate the attackers. and it took them many years and it will take them many years and it will take them many years and it will take them many years now, so it's a it's a big event and i suspect that they'll now be looking for other, hamas leaders like , yahia other, hamas leaders like, yahia sinwar , who's, i think skulking sinwar, who's, i think skulking somewhere in tunnels underneath the gaza strip. but they're all dead men walking , and they will dead men walking, and they will meet their fate sooner or later . meet their fate sooner or later. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> i mean, stuart, the israeli defence front, they said right along this was their intention. they made good on that word. but will it be as significant, say, as taking out saddam hussein? the whole regime fell with osama bin laden being assassinated. the taliban effectively was decapitated. or is this an

example of that? many headed hydra where you cut off one head? there will just be another one to replace it? or as you are saying , is this you think the saying, is this you think the beginning of the significant beginning of the significant beginning of the end for hamas ? beginning of the end for hamas? >> well, i think it's certainly the beginning of the end for hamas. but as you say, it's a multi—headed, beast. hamas is just one element of it. you also have hezbollah in south lebanon and the houthi rebels and various other jihadist groups. but there's no the backdrop to all of this is the confrontation between iran and the usa via its staunchest ally in the middle east, which is israel . all of east, which is israel. all of those parties wish to avoid a wider escalation of the war because it's in none of their interests at the moment. i have said many times before, and i may well have said it to you before, martin, that at some point the usa is going to have to confront iran and sort out

their differences. hopefully by diplomatic means, because nobody wants a usa iran conflict with israel, israel and all the other arab peoples caught in the middle. >> and it's astonishing to think that, ismail haniyeh was for a long time residing in qatar, living the life of raisi the life of billionaire playboy, which asked big questions about where all that money came from, all that money that was going in to hamas. of course, a lot of that money, western money, a lot of that money from previous regimes in the united states . regimes in the united states. defence analyst stewart crawford, thank you very much for joining us. fascinating forjoining us. fascinating times. keep a close eye on events in the middle east. as events in the middle east. as ever, we appreciate your expertise. now on the way, we'll be discussing last night's horrific scenes in south end as feral gangs fought the machetes on the streets . as you can see on the streets. as you can see on the streets. as you can see on your screens there, i'm asking the big question is it time to declare a national knife crime emergency? i'll be joined by a policeman who's been campaigning on this precise

issue for over 20 years. after this, i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news channel. now it's your weather with annie shuttleworth . shuttleworth. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . solar sponsors of weather on. gb. news >> hello. good afternoon. welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you from the met office . it is from the met office. it is staying warm and humid for the next few days. for many of us, there's still plenty of dry and sunny weather to come, but there is an increasing threat of thunderstorms as low pressure approaches from the south, bringing that threat into the south—east. through this evening. high pressure still dominating across the north. so plenty of dry weather to come across much of scotland and northern england. but it's across the south—east where there's a warning in force through this evening. some uncertainty in the extent of the thunderstorms, but that threat really does increase overnight tonight, spreading in from parts of wales as well as the south east once again. and it's going

to be a humid and sticky night for many areas overnight. as you can see, the temperatures in the high teens , possibly the low 20s high teens, possibly the low 20s for some of us now there's quite a wide area covered by a thunderstorm warning through thursday, with western areas of wales. the southwest of england should stay largely dry, but it's further east where we've got that risk of very heavy, torrential downpours , hail and torrential downpours, hail and frequent lightning, so that could bring some travel disruption in the morning, some very tricky driving conditions further north into scotland, dner, further north into scotland, drier , but still some rain drier, but still some rain moving in from the west throughout the morning. the best of any brightness across eastern areas of scotland. now, once this main area clears away to the east behind it, it will brighten up for a time, but that will allow some further thunderstorms to break out quite widely across areas of england and wales, where we do have that thunderstorm warning in for. some of these could bring some pretty major disruption to travel, so please keep up to date with the forecast. but it's going to be another humid and very warm day. temperatures

climbing to the high 20s, most likely in the north. a more pleasant feel with temperatures in the low 20s or high teens through thursday evening. there's a continued risk of thunderstorms across eastern areas of england further north, though it should be a dry end to the day. but that does change into the weekend as it turns much fresher with and windier from the north and west. by that warm feeling inside. >> from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb

>>a >> a very good afternoon to you. it's 4 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. on today's show. four arrests have now been made in relation to the riots in southport, as merseyside police called in support across the region to avoid a second night of rioting in the tragedy hit

town of southport. we'll bring you the latest from the ground there and last night's feral gangs fought with machetes in the streets of south end. i'll be asking the big question is it time to declare a national knife crime emergency? i'll speak to one of britain's top anti—knife cap cops, who's been campaigning for over 20 years on this topic, and also a youth campaigner who both say it's time for zero tolerance. and as predicted, chancellor rachel reeves has admitted she will have to raise taxes to fix broke britain, after all. but with pensioners firmly in her sight today we're asking the shocking question is labour quietly introducing a version of theresa may's hated dementia tax? and that's all coming in your next hour. welcome to the show. always a

pleasure to have your company. now today i'm saying with three children stabbed to death in southport, machete mobs marauding on the streets of south end , stabbings in every south end, stabbings in every major city across britain simply becoming so commonplace we don't even listen to the news anymore. is it time to declare a national knife crime emergency? no more nonsense. zero tolerance. enough is enough . nonsense. zero tolerance. enough is enough. bang them up. mandatory sentences. we have to stamp out this cancer once and for all before we lose britain's streets. that's the debate of this hour. let me know your thoughts. gbnews.com forward slash your say. but before all of that is your headlines and it's polly middlehurst . it's polly middlehurst. >> martin thank you and good afternoon to you. well, the people of southport are cleaning up their streets today after widespread damage caused by rioters who gathered outside a

local mosque last night. the prime minister said they'd hijacked a peaceful vigil and insulted the community as it tried to grieve for the three young girls who were killed in monday's stabbing attack on a houday monday's stabbing attack on a holiday club. the prime minister warned they'd feel the full force of the law. well, it started when a group of around 300 people who'd gathered outside the mosque turned on police throwing rocks and setting cars alight. police say 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 reports on social media, which claimed that monday's attacker was muslim. 53 officers were injured and 27 were taken to hospital, some with broken bones. jenny stancombe, whose daughter elsie died in monday's attack, pleaded on social media for the violence to end, saying the police had been nothing but heroic. four men have been arrested and merseyside police are now calling in extra resources tonight to avoid a repeat of the

violence. chief constable serena kennedy says the rioters will face justice. it was just outrageous. >> it was disgusting. >> it was disgusting. >> it was disgusting. >> i was watching it live, from footage coming in, i was absolutely appalled by the level of violence directed at my officers. the very officers that had been in this community for 48 hours, providing support to a traumatised community. >> utterly disgusting. >> utterly disgusting. >> but those people last night do not represent the communities of southport. the communities of southport are the people that have turned out here today en masse. >> to make sure this community is restored to normality, but i am absolutely appalled and disgusted and we will identify them well. >> hey, news away from southport, the former bbc presenter huw edwards has pleaded guilty at westminster magistrates court to three counts relating to images of children . it's a significant children. it's a significant fall from grace for the 62 year old, who was once one of the corporation's most senior news presenters . he's now admitted to presenters. he's now 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'd sent him the images , a man who'd sent him the images, a homeless man who pushed a stranger onto the tube tracks in london has been found guilty of attempted murder. kurdish migrant berva schorsch, who's 24, shoved tadeus potucek off the platform at oxford circus in central london, narrowly missing touching a live rail well. the victim was quickly helped back onto the platform by a passer by.the onto the platform by a passer by. the driver of an oncoming train said that if he'd been on the tracks just a few seconds later, he would have been killed. speaking after the verdict, the judge said that schorsch was guilty of a very serious offence and a long prison sentence would now follow. international news and 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 has not yet commented, 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 was attacked. well, a strike on tehran comes hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese capital, 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 a further escalation of the conflict, with nearby qatar warning it undermines the chances of peace and the region risks slipping into chaos here at home. the deputy prime minister, angela rayner, is playing down suggestions of a backlash against the government's house building drive as she launches a new towns task force. she told mps yesterday the government was restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities after they were scrapped by the conservatives, but there were also plans to drop the previous

government's requirement for new homes to be beautiful, with labour arguing it's subjective and difficult to define . conor and difficult to define. conor mcgregor has been banned from the roads for two years for dangerous driving. the world famous fighter was charged with several motoring offences following an incident in west dubun following an incident in west dublin in march 2022. he was also fined and handed a five month suspended sentence . month suspended sentence. olympics news and team gb have landed two more golds at paris olympics, both coming in quite a dramatic fashion as well . alex dramatic fashion as well. alex yee snatching victory in the closing stages of the men's triathlon, while the women's quadruple sculls rowers pipped the netherlands right on the finish line to secure their gold. their sensational comeback putting britain fourth on the medal table. now those are the latest gb news headlines. i'm polly middlehurst i'm back in half an hour. see you then. >> 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. >> thank you paulie. now merseyside police are making security plans for the week ahead as southport locals are showing their concern after yesterday night's violent riots and now four men have been arrested and taken into custody. more than 50 police officers were injured after bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars were set alight outside and cars were set alight outside a mosque following the vigil for the three girls tragically killed in the southport knife attack on monday. and gb news nonh attack on monday. and gb news north west reporter sophie reaperis north west reporter sophie reaper is still in southport. sophie, welcome to the show. so, a town ravaged by tragedy with the three killings of those children. now the riots, in a

sense, the town retraumatized by that and the latest news, sophie, we have four arrests bnng sophie, we have four arrests bring us up to speed . bring us up to speed. >> well, martin, in the last half an hour or so, we've heard from merseyside police, they're making a request to the public to send in any videos or information they may have from those riots last night here in southport, as that investigation is now underway . you say there is now underway. you say there there were over 50. it was 53. police officers, 49 from merseyside police and four from the lancashire constabulary. thatis the lancashire constabulary. that is because merseyside police asked for the other constabularies in the north west to come and essentially give them a helping hand. they were commended this morning. officers from lancashire, greater manchester and cheshire all made the journey to southport to try and support their colleagues here in the merseyside region. those officers received injuries such as broken bones , such as broken bones, lacerations, concussion. there were also three police dogs who

were also three police dogs who were injured last night. now, we've also heard in the last half an hour about these four men who were arrested and taken into custody. there was a 31 year old man from saint helens. he was arrested on suspicion of violent disorder, a 31 year old man from west derby in liverpool was arrested on suspicion also of violent disorder. a 39 year old man from southport was arrested again on suspicion of violent disorder. and this is the crucial one here at the end, a 32 year old man from manchester with a probation address in southport was arrested on suspicion of affray and possession of a bladed article. so those four men now in custody, one would assume they'll be questioned by detectives, based on that , the detectives, based on that, the riot that we saw here in southport last night . now, southport last night. now, serena kennedy of merseyside police has spoken out about the events of last night, condemning them. and here's what she had to say . say. >> i'm absolutely appalled and disgusted at the level of violence that was shown towards my officers. this is the same

officers who've been supporting this community for the last 48 hours. some of the first responders who attended that awful scene on monday and then were faced with that level of violence from what was this is not southport, this is not the communities of merseyside . this communities of merseyside. this is a close knit family type community who were there at the vigil to share fellowship , show vigil to share fellowship, show their respect, grieve, speak to each other about those terrible events and just show the families of those little girls how much this has impacted on them. and yet that turned to a night of violence, and i'm just disgusted and appalled . disgusted and appalled. >> well, that's the merseyside chief constable , serena kennedy, chief constable, serena kennedy, speaking now, and i think she really highlights that contrast that we saw here yesterday. members of the southport community were coming out in the morning and do what they can to support those police officers who were the first responders on monday. after that stabbing

attack. they were doing what they could, bringing them cups of tea and offering bacon sandwiches and then a complete contrast. last night, the police being injured and attacked by those at the riot. and that is exactly why i think members of the southport community have been so keen to highlight the facts that this is not southport. you heard serena kennedy say that that this is not southport, this is not what they do. and this was not local residents that were were there last night. >> well, so sophie, it's worth pointing out though, that of those four arrests there, two of them are from southport, two of them are from southport, two of them were from southport. addresses. one of them there, 32 year old richard from manchester, in southport. arrests of a bladed weapon that may well have been that arrest that happened at the vigil that was well documented on social media. somebody was arrested with a knife. but can we talk about the, about looking forward now, what the community is trying to do to pull together

because we don't want to see any more scenes like last night. are there any indications so far, sophie, that that may repeat itself tonight? >> well, the earlier today, the chief constable did comment about the potential for that. they have . merseyside police they have. merseyside police have said that they are perhaps concerned about a repeat of last night's events. i will say in the last 30 minutes or so it's not there now, but we have seen a police helicopter now. there's nothing to suggest, nothing to confirm that that is anything to do with what has been going on in the past few days. but merseyside police, as i say , merseyside police, as i say, have said that they are perhaps concerned about something similar happening here tonight . similar happening here tonight. >> sophie reaper live from southport. thank you very much for joining us. excellent as forjoining us. excellent as even forjoining us. excellent as ever. thank you . now moving on. ever. thank you. now moving on. 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, and gb news home and security editor, mark white, has been at the court throughout the day and we can speak to him now. mark. so huw edwards, the highest paid of all of the bbc newscasters, the jewel in the crown of the newsroom, a sensational fall from grace. tell us more. >> well , from grace. tell us more. >> well, indeed. >> well, indeed. >> i mean, such a well—known figure. he was the most senior presenter on the bbc. and as you mentioned, there are all of these big state occasions in recent years. it was huw edwards who anchored them , and that made who anchored them, and that made it all the more surreal to watch this man in the dock with his now familiar welsh lilt , just now familiar welsh lilt, just saying and confirming his name, his address, his date of birth and then pleading guilty to these serious sexual offences ,

these serious sexual offences, these serious sexual offences, the making of indecent images of children. now that relates to downloading images that were sent to him by another man as yet unnamed on the messaging app whatsapp and 41 images in total were told were sent to him. seven were of the most severe category a showing very serious offences committed against children. the youngest child on these images was aged between seven and nine. the oldest just 15, and the 41 images were some of some 377 explicit images sent to the former presenter by this man. but of course the 41 are the images that form the basis of these charges because they

are images . of these charges because they are images. illegal images of young children . now he's pleaded young children. now he's pleaded guilty at the moment. so what that means is that he will appear back at westminster magistrates court again on the 16th of september for sentencing. the judge has ordered sentencing reports , ordered sentencing reports, reports on his character and his behaviour previously on the mental health issues that we've heard spoken about. so often in terms of those mental health and physical issues that have afflicted him. and of course, they'll take into consideration factors such as him pleading guilty at the earliest possible opportunity that will mean that there will be a reduction in the sentence that's finally handed down. now, it could be that the magistrate decides that that huw edwards should be sent to the

crown court, that the one year prison term that he could hand down is not enough, and it deserves a crown court sentencing procedure. but we won't know that , martin, until won't know that, martin, until the 16th of september, until huw edwards, the bbc's former main and most senior news presenter, appears back at westminster magistrates court for sentencing. >> thank you mark white. a spectacular fall from grace there for huw edwards and hats off to the sun newspaper for that investigation . they did it that investigation. they did it in the face of much media hostility, certainly from the bbc, who'd like to mark their own homework. the sun stuck doggedly to their guns , and they doggedly to their guns, and they have got a resolution on this. and now huw edwards will face justice. mark white, thank you very much for joining justice. mark white, thank you very much forjoining us. always very much for joining us. always a pleasure. now, i have lots more on that story at 5:00. and there's plenty of coverage on our website, gbnews.com. and

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>> join me, neil oliver, every sunday night at 6 pm. on gb news. and if an hour is not nearly enough for you, go to gb news.com for special extended episodes online every friday at 9 pm, where we can truly get

into the nitty gritty of what's going on. gb news britain's news channel. >> welcome back. it's 422. i'm martin daubney on gb news. chaos erupted in southend on sea yesterday evening with a vicious machete fight , forcing police to machete fight, forcing police to issue an urgent dispersal order in the area for people to stay away. and as you can see on your screens from these shocking images , masked men brandishing images, masked men brandishing huge knives , attacking each huge knives, attacking each other in the open, in broad daylight by a child's funfair in essex, police have confirmed that eight people have now been arrested so far. well, i'm sure. are you going to speak to someone who has been campaigning on this for over 20 years? and as you can see in this photograph on your screen, that's norman brennan at downing street 20 years ago. and yet it's street 20 years ago. and yet wsfime street 20 years ago. and yet it's time seems to have stood still. that man, as he director

of law and order foundation norman brennan . and he joins me norman brennan. and he joins me on the show now. norman, welcome to the programme. we've had this conversation so many times. you've been campaigning tirelessly on this for 20 years. you've served in the front line . you've served in the front line. you've served in the front line. you've been stabbed yourself. you've been stabbed yourself. you know how this works. do you think, norman brennan? we're at a point now. knife crime is so commonplace we barely. it barely even makes the news. and that this week , something this week, something extraordinary seems to have happened. three dead children in southport , lawlessness on the southport, lawlessness on the streets of southend . and you streets of southend. and you report all the time so many stabbings in london, it barely raises a flicker. i think it's time to declare some kind of national knife crime emergency. norman, do you agree? and if so, how would that work? >> yeah, good afternoon martin. >> yeah, good afternoon martin. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> you're right. i look very tired. i'm worn out, >> it's been more than 20 years. >> it's been more than 20 years. >> it's 30 plus years. >> it's 30 plus years. >> 15. >> 15. >> while a serving officer . 15 >> while a serving officer. 15 while retired. i've never given

up . knife crime in britain is up. knife crime in britain is a cancen up. knife crime in britain is a cancer. you just showed the evening standard headline there. i warned tony blair that unless his government and that was labour at the time , acted not labour at the time, acted not just listened, there would be an epidemic coming. we're talking about an epidemic. it's a cancen about an epidemic. it's a cancer. it's an epidemic. about an epidemic. it's a cancer. it's an epidemic . and cancer. it's an epidemic. and you rightly highlight it's a national emergency. and if i was describing it in medical terms, we're on life support. in the past decade, knife crime in britain has gone up by over 80%. in the last year alone in the city of london, 88% in london, just this last year alone, 20%. it's about 6,070% over the last 5 or 6 years. at what figure do we have to reach? where three years ago, in london, for example, we had the highest child homicide rate on record, 27. that means that over the past decade, martin, 2 or 300

parents have been planning funerals instead of bright futures. we need a major consensus. the government, the criminal justice system, the police, the public and the communities. nobody ever seems to get together. everybody blames each other. and what we do, and it's far past time. and this government are not looking at it. we need a mandatory prison sentence of five years for anyone carrying a knife on the streets without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, and maybe for a juvenile three years, you're more likely martin to be stabbed to death three times more than if you were shot to death. yet if you carry a firearm , you get a minimum of firearm, you get a minimum of five years imprisonment. and even today , if you carry a knife even today, if you carry a knife which is as lethal as a firearm, it may be as low as a parking fine or a conditional discharge . fine or a conditional discharge. what message does that send out?

>> well, it sends out a message that there is absolutely no deterrent. the first question people will raise their normal brain is, well, we've only got 700 places left in the british jail system anyway. we're going to need to build more jails. but norman brennan, we seem to be able to house asylum seekers. we seem to be able to launch plans to convert raf wethersfield or scampton into asylum seeker centres. sir keir starmer was talking about making those into new mega jails. talking about making those into new mega jails . great idea. why new mega jails. great idea. why don't we make them into mega jails for knife offenders and just get these yobbos off the streets? >> i think the government have got to ask themselves this question at what price of what value do they put on the life of children and innocent victims that are murdered daily? in the last 24 hours, there's been 17 stabbings in stoke newington, the latest stabbing murder. a man in his 30s. i've just been texted four minutes ago, another

stabbing in bournemouth last night. there was madness with machetes in south end last night or the night before last. a man was attacked by somebody with a knife in a park in ipswich. it's not life threatening, but it's life changing. life changing needs to happen today on knife crime. we can't make any excuses unless this government get their act together , and i've seen act together, and i've seen nothing in their manifesto. that's reassures me to reassure the public and victims of crime that this government have got anyidea that this government have got any idea of taking knife crime seriously. it's no good, martin. giving somebody a football and saying, have a kick around. let's sit down round a table. let's sit down round a table. let me tell you how bad it is. and i know we've we're sort of caught for time. martin 4000 gangsin caught for time. martin 4000 gangs in britain 4200. in london. they number from 12 to 50. nearly every single one of those will be carrying a knife. how does a government expect to address them? we don't have the

police. we need at least another 18,000 police officers just to keep up with the population growth. what's the answer? what's the solution ? well, five what's the solution? well, five years mandatory prison sentences. if the government can't do that, it means they have no interest. they have no interest in spending money. and they've got to ask himself what is more serious to them, saving lives or ensuring that lives are safe by actually sending more people to prison in the short term? mass stop and search. we haven't got the officers in the last six years stop and search has gone down from 1 million, 1.5 million to 500,000. personal and parental responsibility. why not stick the parents in the dock with their children? let's find out where they're going wrong . let's find the solutions. wrong. let's find the solutions. mentors. let's get mentors. and let's make sure that parental and personal responsibility is there. and more importantly, and as importantly, martin and national education program get get the police into schools,

into the communities, talk to them . we're actually their them. we're actually their friends. and whilst they think that we're our enemy, the higher the crime goes up and the less that they see police on the streets, the more children and young men in particular will slip a knife into their pocket . slip a knife into their pocket. martin, as routinely as their mobile phone . that cannot be right. >> norman brennan, you know , >> norman brennan, you know, you're speaking so much common sense. i'm actually getting quite emotional now. if only we had people in power like you talking sense to the home secretary instead. you'd have seen last night, you know, terrible scenes where coppers being pelted by communities at boiling point because these things aren't getting sorted out on the streets. we're not having the crackdown. we're not having the crackdown. we're not having the violence reduction units , the violence reduction units, we're not having the stop and search. we're not seeing these harsh sentences. the crowds are running wild. the yobbos are running wild. the yobbos are running the streets, innocent children are being stabbed to death in school events. it feels to me, norman brennan , like to me, norman brennan, like we're at boiling point and

something needs to be done very, very quickly. quick final word to you. and then we'll go on. >> martin, this government seem to find £9 million a day to house asylum seekers. if you or if the government gave me £1 million, even if it was 100,000 to start off with. do you know what? i could get a most formidable team together and all the threads around britain where nobody knows where they're going . nobody knows where they're going. i could get a team together and i could get a team together and i would dedicate my life as i do at the moment, to pull all those threads together and slowly but surely we will take knives off the streets. we will stop sending children and young adults to prison, and we will give them something more worthwhile to do. and while they have no value of life, they have no qualms of taking somebody else's life and loses theirs. that's a damning indictment on britain's criminal justice system. in 2024. >> you know what, norm brennan? i think we've got to try and make something happen with this, mate. let's take this offline after this and let's try and get something going. i know, i know

a few people, you know a few people. we've got to try and do something about this, mate. because how many more times are we going to have this conversation on brennan before so many more young lives, so many lives are tragically lost on our streets, as you say to the cancer of knife crime. norman brennan, you're inspiring character. thanks for joining norman brennan, you're inspiring character. thanks forjoining us on the show. and let's hope, let's hope and pray something comes of this. thank you. lots more still to come between now 5:00. and we'll discuss the significant drop in income for uk farmers who are now scared for their futures. and of course, the uk's food security. but first, it's your headlines with polly middlehurst . with polly middlehurst. >> martin. thank you. good afternoon. well, the top stories this hour. the people of southport have been cleaning up their streets today after widespread damage caused by rioters who'd gathered outside a local mosque last night. it's after the crowd turned on police yesterday evening, throwing bncks yesterday evening, throwing bricks and setting cars alight. they'd been encouraged by false

posts on social media, which claimed that monday's stabbing attack on a children's holiday club was committed by a muslim. nearly 40 police officers were injured in the scenes last night. 27 were taken to hospital. police have now made four arrests and the prime minister says all those involved will feel the full force of the law . huw edwards, the former bbc law. huw edwards, the former bbc newsreader, has admitted to accessing indecent images of children, including one of a children, including one of a child as young as seven years old. the 62 year old had 41 of the most serious type of photographs in his whatsapp messages, westminster magistrates court heard that he'd taken part in an online chat with another adult man who sent him the images , and both sent him the images, and both the foreign and defence secretaries will travel to the middle east amid fears of growing tensions after hamas's top political leader was killed . top political leader was killed. ismail haniyeh died in an attack on the iranian capital, which the terror group blamed on israel. it came hours after

israel. it came hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese caphal commander in the lebanese capital. and angela rayner is playing down suggestions of a backlash against the government's house building drive as she launches a new towns taskforce. the deputy prime minister is restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities after they were scrapped by the conservatives, but there are also plans to drop the government's requirement for new homes to be beautiful, with labour arguing that that's a subjective definition and difficult to define well. 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 at the last minute the sprint meant they were coming home with britain's sixth gold medal. well done team gb. those are the headlines for now. i'm back in half an hour with more 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! britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report . financial report. >> well, the markets have been roaring away over the last few days. let's take a quick snapshot of what they're doing right now. the pound buying you $1.2835 and ,1.1851. the price of gold is £1,885, and £0.67 an ounce, and the ftse 100 is at 8371 points. >> cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report . financial report. >> thank you polly. now if you want to get in touch with us here @gbnews, simply go to gbnews.com/yoursay. hundreds of messages so far, especially on that national knife crime

emergency. get in touch. i'll read out the of your comments a little later

welcome back. your time is 438. i'm martin daubney and this is gb news now. 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. many farmers are now concerned their ability to survive and invest in the future is over. 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 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. 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 has bad 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 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 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 in common farms, 298 is from government subsidies. >> is it? no time? we looked at the possibility of open markets with a level playing fields on regulations, but 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 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 dougie beattie gb news, northern ireland well, it's a thought provoking package by gb news northern ireland reporter dougie beattie, who joins me now in the studio. >> dougie, a pleasure to have your company endless net zero red tape and increased costs, particularly in fuel costs and then importations . much, much then importations. much, much cheaper it almost seems, dougie, as if the government wants farmers gone. >> well, you would think that because instead of taking this industry and helping it, because, i mean, even in northern ireland, it feeds it's one of northern ireland's biggest industries . it feeds biggest industries. it feeds 6 million mouths in britain each and every year. and the farmers right across the uk seem to be brought down a road by government and said, here's the road that you're going down. and then three years later they're told, sorry, that's the wrong road, we're going to bring you back again. and of course, when

you're running a business that is a multi—million pound business, farmers unfortunately, are asset rich but income poor. and if this labour government has its way, it may well start imposing, lots of taxes on farmers. we've already seen that with red diesel through the tories. and the fact that that hits every single person in the pocket, we've seen potholes in our roads, etc. that is so expensive to fix now because you're not allowed to use red diesel outside the farm route, contractors used to use red diesel for fixing things like that. diesel for fixing things like that . so every diesel for fixing things like that. so every time diesel for fixing things like that . so every time they go one that. so every time they go one road, they're brought back and it's the whole way across europe. and it is not only affecting food prices, it's also affecting food prices, it's also affecting massive communities that are in round farming. they they supply amazing amounts of employment, they are at the forefront in a lot of ways of manufacturing and innovation because they've always had to try to make their their selves more efficient. but if we go back to the 1980s, martin, 80%

self—sufficient, nigh 50% at best. and then we look at rising food prices. but we also look at the health of our nation. obesity diabetes, heart disease. and it all stemmed from the 19805 and it all stemmed from the 1980s when highly processed food started to come in. britain is now the third largest importer of food from outside of britain, and we're meaning outside the eu. even food coming in from mexico, china, brazil, argentina . mexico, china, brazil, argentina. recent trade deals that the tory party did in the round. peru i mean eggs, you know, all that is, is starting to now really feed into our system . feed into our system. supermarkets are very much benefiting from that. the consumer is not and most definitely farmers are on the wrong side of that. so europe needs to take a look at itself. it needs to say where is farming going? and the answer at this stage, unfortunately, when you're looking at those sort of margins on, on, income may be

that they drop the subsidies to farmers, but when they do that, they must drop net zero and they must take the cuffs off farmers and let them compete in an open market. and that would leave our food prices very volatile indeed. >> sobering report and excellent insight. there dougie beattie, thank you very much for joining us in the studio. thank you. now some news just in the bbc has said that huw edwards would have been sacked had he been charged over accessing indecent images whilst still working for the corporation, adding that it was shocked at his abhorrent behaviour to just repeat that breaking news line, the bbc has said that huw edwards would have been sacked had he been charged over accessing indecent images while still working for the corporation , adding that it was corporation, adding that it was shocked at his , quote, abhorrent shocked at his, quote, abhorrent behaviour . shocked at his, quote, abhorrent behaviour. now i'll have more on that story as we get news in. that's a fast developing line on huw edwards. and coming up, taxes will go up under the

labour party, admits chancellor rachel reeves. well, who didn't see that coming? but who will they target in the upcoming budget warning brace yourselves if you're a pensioner, i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news channel

welcome back. your time is 449. i'm martin daubney on gb news now. as predicted, as sure as night follows day chancellor rachel reeves has admitted that she will have to raise taxes to fix broke britain, but she's ruled out hikes in income tax or vat. no money back, no guarantee. but does something more sinister lurk under the bonnet? well with pensioners firmly in labour's sights today, we're asking the shocking question is labour quietly introducing a version of theresa may's hated dementia

tax? welcome. now speak with gb news political editor chris hope, who joins me in the studio. chris, it didn't take a mastermind to work out . they mastermind to work out. they would have to raise taxes. there's no magic money tree with 2.7 trillion in debt. money's got to come from somewhere and austerity isn't going to be sir keir starmer's cup of tea. with that in mind, tax hikes are on the cards. it looks increasingly like pensioners might bear the brunt of that, and quite a surprise for millions of pensioners, many of whom watched gb news and listened to gb news. >> election day was four weeks ago tomorrow . let's let's not ago tomorrow. let's let's not forget that they're moving very quickly. this government and they have made very clear they think there's a problem with the finances. a £22 billion black hole, we're told by rachel reeves on monday that is disputed by jeremy hunt, reeves on monday that is disputed by jeremy hunt , who disputed by jeremy hunt, who said, well, actually they knew all about the problems facing the economy with a tight fiscal framework, that means not a lot of to money spend if you can't raise it somehow. labour said dunng raise it somehow. labour said during the election campaign.

it's all based on growth. well, they're getting ahead of that and saying we're going to remove benefits from some groups of people, and they're looking like they're targeting the elderly. we heard that in a way of their moving the winter fuel payment from this winter, again, the tories had said there's a problem there with the way that this calculated on the pension credit, but instead it's being removed completely and i think pensioners might feel picked upon. now, the new idea we're heanng upon. now, the new idea we're hearing about now is will they look at this dementia tax . well, look at this dementia tax. well, they said they will remove the cap at which you used to have to pay, cap at which you used to have to pay, but pay your care costs. but with the, the labour party , but with the, the labour party, rachel reeves, she made very clear in an interview interview yesterday they will have to increase taxes in the budget. so all the speculation now is where and many think it'll be on wealth taxes. she's refused to rule out a raid on pensions. but back in may for your programme, we asked rachel reeves would you look at the treasure chest of wealth taxes, capital gains tax or maybe iht? here's what she had to say then. i think on

wealth taxes . yet is that the. 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 on 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 costed and fully funded, and there will be nothing in our manifesto that requires any further increases in taxation . further increases in taxation. >> though you have no plan, no introduction of any new wealth taxes. well, what will book that mark will bookmark that for your programme, martin. but yeah, on the wider issue of how to pay for care costs, if you have dementia, you'll you need a lot of care costs. and that's why many pensioners might be seeing what they needed to raise money in to order pay those costs. with labour removing this £86,000 a year cap and it certainly lifetime cap , yeah, certainly lifetime cap, yeah, certainly lifetime cap, yeah, certainly warrants further analysis because the alzheimer's society is today, said the burden is now entirely on individuals to fund their own care. >> and this is because, chris, it looks like they're removing

that cap of £86,000 that boris johnson was going to introduce in this this october, if they'd beenin in this this october, if they'd been in power. and now it's limitless. >> and that's why it's called this dementia tax goes back to theresa may 2017. she had a cap then that she reduced didn't she. but it does hurt those who are long term sick in elderly age with a degenerative illness like dementia and that's why you've got age uk saying it leaves pensioners on their own. this has gone from merely creaking to a state of near collapse in terms of this sector. so a real worry, one to look after, look out in the future with you. >> yeah, we'll have a look at that tomorrow chris. hope always a pleasure. thanks forjoining me in the studio as ever. now on the way, we'll be discussing last night's horrific scenes in southend, southend as feral gangs, as you can see on your screen, fought with machetes in southend. is it time to declare a national knife crime emergency? i'll speak to an anti—knife crime campaigner next. i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news channel. now your weather with annie shuttleworth .

shuttleworth. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . sponsors of boxt boilers. sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello. good afternoon. welcome to your latest gb news weather update brought to you from the met office. it is staying warm and humid for the next few days for many of us, there is still plenty of dry and sunny weather to come, but there is an increasing threat of thunderstorms as low pressure approaches from the south, bringing that threat into the south—east through this evening. high pressure still dominating across the north, so plenty of dry weather to come across much of scotland and northern england. but it's across the south—east where there's a warning in force through this evening. some uncertainty in the extent of the thunderstorms, but that threat really does increase overnight tonight, spreading in from parts of wales as well as the south east once again. and it's going to be a humid and sticky night for many areas overnight . as you can see, the

overnight. as you can see, the temperatures in the high teens , temperatures in the high teens, possibly the low 20s for some of us now there's quite a wide area covered by a thunderstorm warning through thursday, with western areas of wales. the southwest of england should stay largely dry, but it's further east where we've got that risk of very heavy, torrential downpours , hail and frequent downpours, hail and frequent lightning so that could bring some travel disruption in the morning, some very tricky driving conditions further north into scotland, dry air, but still some rain moving in from the west throughout the morning. the best of any brightness across eastern areas of scotland. now, once this main area clears away to the east behind it, it will brighten up for a time, but that will allow some further thunderstorms to break out quite widely across areas of england and wales, where we do have that thunderstorm warning in for. some of these could bring some pretty major disruption to travel, so please keep up to date with the forecast. but it's going to be another humid and very warm day. temperatures climbing to the high 20s, most likely in the north. a more pleasant feel with temperatures in the low 20s or high teens

through thursday evening. there's a continued risk of thunderstorms across eastern areas of england further north, though it should be a dry end to the day. but that does change into the weekend as it turns much fresher with and windier from the north and west by looks like things are heating up . like things are heating up. >> boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news

>>a >> a very, very good afternoon to you. it's 5:00 pm and welcome to you. it's 5:00 pm and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. on today's show, four arrests have now been made in relation to the riots in southport. last night, merseyside police called in support across the region to avoid a second night of rioting in the tragedy hit town. and we'll bring you the latest from our reporter there on the

ground. last night, feral gangs fought with machetes in southend as you can see on your screen as you can see on your screen how. as you can see on your screen now. disgusting scenes. is it time to declare a national knife crime emergency? i'll speak to a youth campaigner who says it's time for zero tolerance, and the political leader of hamas was killed in a missile strike last night, marking the most high profile killing since the october 7 terrorist attacks. with the fingers firmly pointing at israel, could we see a significant escalation in the conflict in the middle east? and that's all coming up in your next hour. of the show. always a pleasure to have your company. is it time to declare a national knife crime emergency? three children dead, machete mobs marauding on the streets of southend late last night . as you

southend late last night. as you can see in the last hour, i had norman brennan on the chief of the law and order foundation saying we need to stamp out the cancer of knife crime. but why do young men like that ostensibly young men leave the house tooled up with machetes? i'll be finding out the answer to that question in this hour. in a short while, i'll speak to a youth campaigner, a beautiful young black lad who's going to give us the inside information on what's going on and how we can stamp this out, get into unusual ways , unusual ways, gbnews.com/yoursay. but now it's time for your headlines with polly middlehurst . polly middlehurst. >> martin. thank you. well, we start this half hour with some breaking news coming to us from the bbc, who've issued a statement just moments ago. it says the broadcasters former news presenter huw edwards would have been sacked if he'd been charged while still working for the corporation. in the

statement, the bbc added it was shocked by what it called his abhorrent behaviour, but admitted it knew of his arrest in november. the former newsreader pleaded guilty today to three counts relating to images of children. he admitted accessing 41 indecent images of children, including one of a children, including one of a child as young as seven years old. the court heard that he'd taken part in an online chat with another paedophile who'd sent him the images. with another paedophile who'd sent him the images . well, in sent him the images. well, in other news today, the people of southport are clearing up the streets and rebuilding walls after widespread damage caused by rioters who gathered outside a local mosque last night. by rioters who gathered outside a local mosque last night . the a local mosque last night. the prime minister said the rioters had hijacked a peaceful vigil and insulted the community as it tried to grieve for the three young girls who were killed in monday's stabbing attack on a children's holiday club. sir keir warned they'd feel the full force of the law. it all started last night when a group of

around 300 people who'd gathered outside the mosque turned on police throwing rocks and setting cars alight. many of those supporters, the police said, were part of the english defence league and not from southport. they'd been encouraged by false posts on social media, the police said, which claimed monday's attacker was muslim. well 53 police officers were injured in that fracas last night and 27 had to be taken to hospital. some of them had broken bones. jenny stancombe, whose daughter elsie died in monday's attack, pleaded on social media for the violence to end, saying the police had been nothing but heroic and that we don't need this. well, serena kennedy, chief constable of merseyside police, says she's saying those responsible will face justice. >> it was just outrageous. it was disgusting. i was watching it live from footage coming in. i was absolutely appalled by the level of violence directed at my officers. the very officers that

had been in this community for 48 hours, providing support to a traumatised community. utterly disgusting. but those people last night do not represent the communities of southport. the communities of southport. the communities of southport are the people that have turned out here today en masse to make sure this community is restored to normality. but i am absolutely appalled and disgusted and we will identify them well. >> in other news, today, a homeless man who pushed a stranger onto the tracks at a london tube station has been found guilty of attempted murder. kurdish migrant brwa shawesh, who's 24, shoved tadeas potucek off the platform at oxford circus station in central london. he narrowly missed touching a live rail and was quickly helped back onto the platform by another passenger. the driver of the oncoming train said if it had been moments later, he would have died. speaking after the verdict, the judge said shoresh was guilty of a very serious offence and a long prison sentence would now follow. both the foreign and defence secretaries will travel

to the middle east amid fears of growing tensions in the region is after hamas's top political leader, ismail haniyeh, died in an attack in the iranian caphal an attack in the iranian capital, which the terror group has blamed on israel. the strike on tehran came hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese caphal commander in the lebanese capital, beirut. israeli officials say he was behind saturday's rocket attack on the golan heights , which killed 12 golan heights, which killed 12 people, mostly children . angela people, mostly children. angela rayneris people, mostly children. angela rayner is playing down suggestions of a backlash against the government's housebuilding drive as she launches a new towns task force. the deputy prime minister says restoring mandatory housing targets for local authorities is a key part of the government's plan to ease a shortage of housing. but there are also plans to drop the previous government's requirement for the new homes to be beautiful. with labour doubting that, saying it's a subjective judgement , it's a subjective judgement, team gb have landed two more

goals at the paris olympics. both came in a dramatic fashion as well. alex yee snatched victory in the closing stages of the men's triathlon, while the women's quadruple sculls rowers pipped women's quadruple sculls rowers pipped the netherlands right on the finish line to secure their goal the finish line to secure their goal. their sensational comeback puts britain fourth in the medal table. not bad. those are the latest news headlines for now. i'm back 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. >> thank you polly. four men have been arrested after hundreds of people were involved in rioting in southport last night. merseyside police are continuing to appeal for anyone with information or footage of the unrest to come forward. more than 50 police officers were injured after bricks, stones and bottles were thrown and cars

were set alight outside a mosque following the vigil . for those following the vigil. for those three girls tragically killed in the southport knife attack earlier this week . well gb news, earlier this week. well gb news, north—west of england reporter sophie reaper is in southport. sophie reaper is in southport. sophie welcome back to the show. sophie welcome back to the show. so four arrests, can you fill us in the details of who these individuals were ? individuals were? >> i absolutely can, martin. we of course don't have names at this stage, but those four individuals, i can tell you there was a 31 year old man from saint helens. there was a 31 year old man from west derby and a 39 year old man from southport. those three men were arrested on suspicion of violent disorder. and then we also know a 32 year old man from manchester, but with a probationary address in southport. he was arrested on suspicion of affray and possession of a bladed article. now that is essentially all we know at this point about those arrests. that's all merseyside

police have told us this thus far. that's coming in the last 90 minutes or so we've heard. so i imagine in the coming hours, coming days, we will get more information about those four arrests and we've also heard, of course, in the last few hours about the officers who were injured in last night's riots , injured in last night's riots, 53 officers, 49 from merseyside police and four from lancashire constabulary. they were injured, after people were throwing rubble, debris, bricks at them . rubble, debris, bricks at them. they had their riot gear out. but of course some were still injured. they faced injuries such as concussion, broken bones, lacerations. we saw one police officer with blood running down his face last night after facing debris being thrown at them. now the merseyside police's chief constable has spoken out serena kennedy condemning the attacks and this is what she had to say. >> i'm absolutely appalled and disgusted at the level of

violence that was shown towards my officers. this is the same officers who've been supporting this community for the last 48 hours. some of the first responders who attended that awful scene on monday and then were faced with that level of violence from, what was this is not southport, this is not the communities of merseyside. this is a close knit family type community who were there at the vigil to share fellowship, show their respect, grieve, speak to each other about those terrible events and just show the families of those little girls how much this has impacted on them. and yet that turned to a night of violence. and i'm just disgusted and appalled . disgusted and appalled. >> and there's a real focus, of course, on those three little girls. bebe elsie and alice, aged just six, seven and nine years old, just over 48 hours now since they were at that

taylor swift dance and yoga class just along this road here in southport, the start of their summer holidays , they would have summer holidays, they would have been preparing to enjoy several weeks alongside their family and friends, and instead, now we're looking at scenes behind us where people have laid flowers, floral tributes, teddy bears, balloons, messages of sympathy for their families because instead of coming home happy from that workshop, instead they will never come home. >> now, sophie, the police chief there saying, this is not southport, but it's worth pointing out. two of the four arrested are from southport . but arrested are from southport. but moving on, the concerns were that there may be a potential for the disorder to increase for a second night. tonight you're on the ground there, sophie. any indications of a police presence building up or any crowd turning up at this stage of the day, are we looking to have a second night of disorder, or does it look a bit more calm tonight ? look a bit more calm tonight? >> well, to be honest, martin,

here at the scene where that attack took place on monday, it's the same as it essentially always has been , relatively always has been, relatively quiet people coming throughout today and yesterday to lay those flowers. there is a small police presence here. there was a larger one this morning, but as it stands, there are just two pcsos here at this point, i imagine we know that obviously there's a section 60 in place, which is allowing the police to stop and search anyone they feel may be causing any kind of disturbance or trouble here in southport. so i imagine there will be police presence all over this seaside town. and as i mentioned to mention to you in the last hour, we have seen the police helicopter in the area in the last couple of hours. but that isn't to say that there is anything it could perhaps be that they're just checking the area. it could perhaps be completely unrelated to yesterday's events here in southport. but i'm sure the police will be on high alert following those events yesterday .

following those events yesterday. >> okay, sophie reaper, let's hope for a peaceful night ahead. thanks for joining hope for a peaceful night ahead. thanks forjoining us hope for a peaceful night ahead. thanks for joining us from southport , sophie reaper. now southport, sophie reaper. now hundreds of people have been getting in touch about, that violence in southport and indeed, our proposition on the show today to have a national knife crime emergency. let's read out a few of your comments now on southport . paul says this now on southport. paul says this with rioting incited by misinformation on social media becoming commonplace, perhaps it's now time to review the laws that protect under 18 seconds identity. paul, i think that's a really valid point and one we should explore on future episodes of the show. if the labour party think that people are responsible enough to have the vote at age 16, perhaps they're responsible enough to take control and accountability for their actions. criminality, when they are 16 and on the same topic. moving on. chaos erupted in southend on sea yesterday evening, with the vicious machete fight forcing police to

issue an urgent dispersal order in the area for people to stay away. as you can see from these horrific images on your screens, masked man brandishing huge knives and machetes attacked each other in broad daylight opposite a children's, funfair in the background in the open and essex police have confirmed that eight people have been arrested, so far. today's big question is it time to call for a national emergency on knife crime? and joining me now is anti—knife crime campaigner matt. matt, we've had you on the show before. we talk such passion at common sense. i wanted to get you back on again. we have norman brennan in the last hour, the director of the law and order foundation. he thinks it's time for zero tolerance. he thinks it's time for mandatory jail sentences as somebody with a much more of an understanding of the community. you work as a doorman. i know you deal with these kind of incidents in your day in, day

out life . sadly, it's a part of out life. sadly, it's a part of the backdrop now of modern britain is that kind of approach. matt's going to work a hard handed approach or does something else you think need to be done ? be done? >> yeah, i feel like there needs to be a hard handed approach, this is something you know, people go there, little kids go there. i've been to southend many times. people just go there. they want to enjoy, you know, the sun. we barely ever get sun , you know, in the uk. get sun, you know, in the uk. and when we do get sun, you know, we just want to enjoy it in peace. we don't want to, you know, have a warzone going on by the rights people are literally on the roller coaster and you have guys literally swinging machetes like it's a battlefield. you know, there needs to be a zero tolerance policy in regards to this because i believe that there's just zero respect for the law. and what makes it even worse is if they're under 18, they understand that, you know, there's you know, they understand that they're protected by the law. now, if they're under 18. so we just see absolute no respect for the law. and, you know, some something needs to be done because it's just getting out of hand. now,

you know, before it used to be gang members doing this in an alley. now it's just in broad daylight during the day by southend on sea beach. kids are their kids don't need to see this. there are some people who will never come back to southend after seeing this. something needs to be done and something needs to be done and something needs to be done and something needs to be done as well. >> and do you think, matt, we have a cultural issue with knife crime, especially machetes. undeniably, disturbingly so, it seems, seems to be ostensibly a lot of young black lads carrying these weapons. why? what's going on? >> i think this is a, issue of. yes, the music has a lot to do with it. the culture and what is glorified in the black community. but i also believe that the parents and guardians must take accountability as well. these kids are coming from some household, so how are these kids so comfortable and how are they so enabled in public to just be behaving like this? the parents and guardians, they need to step up. you know, if you saw your son doing this, whoever's watching this, if you saw your son doing this, you need to

speak with your son. you know, this is unacceptable. don't wait until he dies by a rival gang member or police. lock him up, and then you'll then say, oh, no , and then you'll then say, oh, no, black lives matter. forget that. you know, we need accountability and we need it now, since the law is not working and unfortunately, we have a woke labour government in power now. so i doubt things are going to get better with the woke labour government. you know, the parents and the guardians need to step up and they need to step up asap because this is unacceptable and people are just afraid to go out, in general. so. so yeah. >> but matt, what about when the parents and guardians aren't around? we see so many fragmented families these days. we see at that time, if we don't have a strong father figure in particular in households being that kind of backbone of discipline, then young men look for father figures in other ways. in other spaces, and those father figures can manipulate them . they can be gang leaders. them. they can be gang leaders. they can offer them shortcuts to wealth. they can offer them quick fixes in terms of not

bothering with school and education. it's not the state's job, is it? to be father figures to feral youths ? to feral youths? >> absolutely not. i would actually also like talk about black celebrities to come in and actually have a voice and say something because as i've just seen, there was, a popular netflix series called super soul netflix series called super soul, and he's a guy who started off in, i don't know if it was south london and he made it to the netflix, space, you know, so we need more influential people, more celebrities in the black community to come and talk with the youth, be that father figure for them. don't let it be the gang. don't let it be the rap music. don't let it be the drill music. don't let it be the drill music. don't let it be someone else because it can be destructive. you know, we need some of our celebrities to come down and speak with the youth. don't come and speak to the youth when it's blm and you just want to come and just be woke. we're done with that. speak to the youth now before it gets to that stage. >> do you think the problem though, and i speak to so many anti—knife campaigners from the black community on this show and they tell me something which

just chills me to the bone and thatis just chills me to the bone and that is being stabbed is like a badge of honour going to prison is a badge of honour. surviving is a badge of honour. surviving is a badge of honour. they would rather take the risk of carrying a knife and going to prison than not carrying a knife and going into a grave. are we really at the point where it seems any kind of intervention just isn't going to have an impact? kind of intervention just isn't going to have an impact ? well going to have an impact? well look, this issue has been going on for many, many decades. >> it's been just going crazy, but we can't give up. something needs to be done. if not, then we don't want to get to a state of anarchy. we don't want to get to a state where the youth are literally just, you know, killing themselves in public with no remorse. we're close to that stage right now. and i'll say something can still be done, and we can't. we can't give up just yet with youth, i feel like there still needs to be intervention, but not so much from the government. i'm looking at a black community to come in and step in now and be a voice for these youth and actually get them, you know, get them to see common sense because come on,

this just isn't on honestly. >> well, matt, you know, it's always an inspiration. you're a pleasure to have you on. please come back on more often because i think we have more voices like you. we might have a chance of reaching these people who just seem destined, sadly, to end up facing a life of criminality. anti—knife campaigner matt. thank you very much. it's always an absolute delight to have you on the show. well done mate. now coming up, the leader of the proscribed terrorist group , proscribed terrorist group, hamas has been killed in iran. just how significant could this be? and could we face a serious escalation to the conflict in the middle east? i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's news

>> join me nana akua for an informative interactive news program with a difference. it's fun. it's true that you're not wrong . no one will be cancelled . wrong. no one will be cancelled. lovely. join me from 3 pm. every weekend only on gb news.

britain's news channel . britain's news channel. >> welcome back your time is 523. i'm martin daubney on gb news. the top political leader of hamas, ismail haniyeh, has been assassinated in the iranian capital of tehran. and this comes amid tensions in the middle east due to the war in gaza and deepening conflict in lebanon. iran's revolutionary guards confirmed the death of haniyeh hours after he attended a swearing in ceremony for the country's new president and said it was investigating the attack. israel is believed to be behind the attack , but is yet to the attack, but is yet to comment with the supreme leader of iran saying israel had provided the grounds for harsh punishment for itself . what punishment for itself. what i can now speak with the former head of counterterrorism at the ministry of defence, major general chip chapman chip , general chip chapman chip, always a pleasure to have you on the show . the big question is

the show. the big question is how significant is this take out? will it lead to an escalation or chip? is this the beginning of the end? a significant take down of a hamas leader ? leader? >> well, you had the escalation of rhetoric from those that you'd expect in iran and hezbollah and all the axis of resistance. >> i don't think it's as spectacular as people think in terms of what the reaction will be. i don't think iran cares about the hamas enough to hold itself hostage to them. i think actually more important, yesterday was the strike by iran, by israel on the hezbollah shura council building in south beirut, taking out the three ic, as it were, of , the, hezbollah as it were, of, the, hezbollah chap called fouad shakir, that is far more significant to see what the response might be. >> now, there's actually a triumvirate as well yesterday because the us did the first strike since february this year

on the popular mobilisation forces in iraq. so i would expect some sort of retaliation for this attack. >> but i don't think we're leading to a regional war. and the reason i say that is really twofold, firstly , israel has twofold, firstly, israel has escalation, dominance. >> and secondly , there's a >> and secondly, there's a capability mismatch. >> and you kind of saw this really in april with the, iranian response to the killing of one of their irgc commanders in lebanon, which led to their 300 ballistic missiles . 300 ballistic missiles. >> and drones are very few of them got through. and then that precision strike by the israelis on an artesh an iranian, iranian army base taking out an s 300 and an s 300 is a radar site that was saying, we've got the capability to get you anywhere we want the same as they did in south beirut yesterday. and that is really part of what could be the, israeli doctrine. there's a doctrine called the ja, ja, ja

doctrine, which is to do with disproportionate force if they are threatened. so at the moment, everything is calibrated. i don't think people want to do an escalation. there'll be this escalation of rhetoric. but i don't think we're heading for a regional war. neither do i think we're heading for world war iii. >> and chip , since october the >> and chip, since october the 7th. that terrorist invasion, those grotesque attacks on israel , the idf has been israel, the idf has been resolute. they will not stop until the leaders of hamas have been eviscerated, wiped out, very strong words in the aftermath of those terrible, terrible dog hours and days. they haven't claimed the credit for this, if that's the correct word . but all all the money word. but all all the money would seem to be on the fact that they said they would do it, and now they have. >> yeah, i would, i would think so. i think this is really embarrassing for iran, and he was supposed to have been in an irgc, iranian revolutionary guards corps , safe sort of

guards corps, safe sort of house. and so really it shows both the power of israeli signals intelligence and human intelligence and what will be interesting, i don't think we'll ever know this or not in the next few weeks, is whether the sort of tip off originally came from a chain of events through leaving qatar, where he's hosted, and most of the political leadership of hamas , political leadership of hamas, or from people in, iran itself, or from people in, iran itself, or from people in, iran itself, or from someone actually in hamas who tipped israel off. but it's an absolutely a targeting coup for the israelis. now, it doesn't mean that the this will end, because one of the things that hamas is not good for is it's not a good candidate for a decapitation strategy. if you could end the hamas as a group by targeted killings , israel by targeted killings, israel would have done that a long time ago. indeed, it did . it started ago. indeed, it did. it started to do this in 2004, when it killed a chap called ahmed yassin, who was the founder of hamas. so you've had, the political leader killed. you had, mohammed deif , the two ic had, mohammed deif, the two ic of hamas killed recently. so you

can take their bench, but there'll always be people to take over from them. and one of the interesting questions is who succeeds, haniya. and one of the candidates, of course, is yahya sinwar, who we think is possibly still in a tunnel in gaza at the moment as the sort of top military commander in gaza. >> and that is the point, this is a, a hydra, a multi—headed beast, not quite in the same league, of course , as the osama league, of course, as the osama bin laden. he was the head of the taliban, the saddam hussein regime. is that the point? there'll be simply another tyrant along to replace him? >> yeah . and what you never know >> yeah. and what you never know is if he's going to be, even worse than the guy he he replaced or whether he's going to be more pragmatic. now, you've had a number of people who said that, haniya was, pragmatic and moderate. that's nonsense. i mean, he wanted to destruction of the israeli state. so to use that language is absolutely wrong. and i don't think the israeli objectives have changed. you know, they

still want to release their hostages. they still want to make sure that hamas cannot have any military presence in the in gaza. they want to make sure that hamas cannot have any governing presence in gaza. and they also want to make their borders secure, both the border and the south with gaza and in the north with lebanon . the north with lebanon. >> fantastic. so thanks for joining us. give us your expert opinion as ever. that's the former head of counter—terrorism at the ministry of defence , at the ministry of defence, major general chip chapman. let's see what happens next. because of course they soft and all replace this guy lived like all replace this guy lived like a billionaire, in in qatar for all those years. and now he's met his maker. now there's lots more still to come between now and 6:00, including the tobacco industry is going up in smoke as spending on illegal tobacco reaches a whopping £5.7 billion per year. and could it get worse under the new smoking ban? but

first, your latest news headlines. and it's polly middlehurst. >> and we start this section with some breaking news. the man who sent former bbc presenter huw edwards indecent images of children was a convicted paedophile. according to the metropolitan police, 25 year old alex williams sent the images in an online chat. the former bbc newsreader pleaded guilty to three counts, admitting to accessing 41 indecent images of children, including one of a children, including one of a child as young as seven years old. in a statement, the bbc said he would have been sacked had he been charged while still working for the corporation. the broadcasters added it's been shocked by what it called his abhorrent behaviour, but admitted it knew of his arrest in november . admitted it knew of his arrest in november. meanwhile, police have arrested four men in connection with last night's violent riots in southport. more

than 50 officers were injured when 27 of them were taken to hospital after being hit by rocks and when vehicles were set alight . the rioters were alight. the rioters were encouraged by false posts on social media, the police say, which claimed that monday's stabbing attack on a children's houday stabbing attack on a children's holiday club was carried out by a muslim. merseyside police has called in extra support for tonight to avoid a repeat of any unrest, and both the foreign and defence secretaries will travel to the middle east amid fears of growing tensions in the region. it's after hamas's top political leader, ismail haniya, was killed in an attack on the iranian capital and that came just hours after israel killed a senior hezbollah commander in the lebanese capital. let me just bring you some other breaking news that we have in now from west yorkshire police, who've confirmed a woman and a girl have died in a house fire thatis girl have died in a house fire that is being treated as suspicious. the blaze struck in huddersfield this morning, claiming the life of a 31 year old woman and an eight year old

girl. a ten year old girl is also in a critical condition in hospital. detectives are asking anyone with any information to contact them as soon as possible. those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm polly middlehurst. i'm back in half an hour. see you then. >> 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 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 . report. >> now, if you're watching the markets closely this week, here are all the numbers you want to see. the pound buying you $1.2835 and ,1.1851. the price of gold is £1,885.67. an ounce, and the ftse 100 has closed the day to day at 8371 points.

>> cheers, britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report . financial report. >> thank you pauline. i've had hundreds of emails your season so far. let's go through a couple now. they've all been on knife crime. those disgusting scenes on the streets of south end last night. judy says this, that man, norman brennan on your show, talking about a national knife crime emergency. let's make him the prime minister. michael says this is disgusting. the society that we live in bnngin the society that we live in bring in tough measures to stop and search and hefty prison sentences . now it is just sentences. now it is just getting too much, enough is enough. and richard adds this. how about placing the uk army soldiers on our streets? britain is too soft on knife crime. this must stop now . well, joining me must stop now. well, joining me now is michelle juby , the queen now is michelle juby, the queen of political prime time debate. and no doubt jubes, you'll have

a few choice words to say about the disgusting scenes in southend. what's on your menu? >> gosh. well, look , what i want >> gosh. well, look, what i want to do tonight actually, is do a broken britain special, martin, because we've seen the horrendous the rioting , last horrendous the rioting, last night. there's no excuse for that inexcusable targeting police property , places of police property, places of worship. absolutely no defence for that. it is categorically wrong . separately to that, wrong. separately to that, though, i feel like there is quite an anger simmering beneath the surface in this country . i the surface in this country. i want to look at what is actually going on. there's tough questions to be asked, tough conversations to be had, and i will be having them at 6:00 till 7:00 tonight. >> superb stuff. people are demonised , people are ignored. demonised, people are ignored. people are made to feel terrible for living in their own country. and michelle, i think you're right. we need to do something about it quick. we're at boiling point. michelle dewberry 6 to 7 dewbs & co. thank you very much . dewbs& co. thank you very much. nice one to get in touch. please do so. you know the way

gbnews.com/yoursay and i'll read out the best your messages later in the show. i'm

>> every saturday ten till 12 will bring you all of the news that you need to know. >> we'll also remind you that there is so much to smile about. >> it's my favourite time of the week. i get to relax, enjoy some light hearted stories and let ellie teach me about fashion too. >> that's saturday morning live every saturday ten till 12. only on gb news, britain's news channel. >> welcome back. i'm martin daubney it's 539 on the final furlong here on gb news now. the illegal tobacco market in the united kingdom has absolutely rocketed. it's grown significantly, with spending estimated to reach £5.7 billion in 20 2324, doubling since 2021 2022. now, spending on legal tobacco is now twice as large as

spending on illegal drugs . as spending on illegal drugs. as pressure heightens to address this growing issue, well, join me now in the studio to discuss. this is japan tobacco international's sarah connor. sarah, welcome to the show. obviously you work for a tobacco company. so a little caveat there to slip in. nevertheless, it's no surprise that the illegal market is growing so much when you look at the cost of cigarettes in britain, huge amounts of duty , and oftentimes, amounts of duty, and oftentimes, of course, criminality always finds its way into the system. tell us more about your report. >> absolutely. >> absolutely. >> i mean, up to 90% of a packet of cigarettes is tax . and in the of cigarettes is tax. and in the last year there's been two tax increases that have equated more to the three years, the last three years combined. >> so now if you're a roll your own smoker, 30 gram pouch of roll your own will cost £22.50. but you can buy a counterfeit pack of 50g for £3. so there's a

massive disparity. >> and where's this stuff coming from? and we hear often, i mean, is it from the continent or do we not know and can contain all sorts of dodgy chemicals? i mean, we don't even know what you're buying. >> you definitely don't know what you're buying. and a lot of illegal tobacco is imported. but we do also have a problem in the uk with illegal tobacco factories. so in the last month, there's been an illegal tobacco factory in gateshead in berry busted producing roll your own tobacco. and on the 12th of july this month, west midlands gang illegal tobacco factory, some the gang was found guilty of producing illegal tobacco and that was more than £5 million lost tax revenue to the government. and actually all of those people found guilty got a suspended sentence. >> and how does that work ? >> and how does that work? they're literally importing container loads of raw tobacco and packaging it up in factories in britain. and what they're using, what appears to be

british packaging illegally. >> yeah. exactly that. yeah. some of it is branded packaging. some of it is branded packaging. so some of it isn't the kind of unbranded packaging we'd see on cigarettes and roll your own. now but it's relatively simple to reproduce , especially ohio. to reproduce, especially ohio. so our own tax, our own tax swap data now shows that about 50% of the roll your own market is illegal. tobacco >> and of course, sarah, we're looking down the barrel of a smoking ban on people moving forward. presumably if you take more and more people out of the legal market, you're going to fan the flames, as it were, of the illegal market. >> yes. so the labour government have brought back in a tobacco and vapes bill that includes a proposal for a generational smoking ban. so that means anyone born after 1st of january 2009 would never legally be able to buy tobacco . and that's the to buy tobacco. and that's the key word there. they wouldn't legally be able to buy it. so it's when they become adults. so this really will be a rolling prohibition. so a gift for the illegal trade and prohibition

has never worked . has never worked. >> we know that. we've seen that historically. but also higher taxation seems to be just driving people into the arms of criminality. how do we stamp this out? >> i think there's three things that can be done. i think we've got to give. we've got to invest more money in trading standards and also give trading standards more powers. so for hmrc to give trading standards the opportunity to issue on the spot fines , i think limiting fines, i think limiting extortionate tax increases because as you drive tax increases, again, you're driving the demand for the illegal market. and finally it's just making sure that any regulation that comes in is proportional. and as you said, rolling prohibition is not going to work. and that's really going to be a gift for the illegal trade. >> and do you think the smoking ban as it's going to be rolled out is going to be effective? is it workable ? it workable? >> i mean, at the moment this is just a proposal. so there will need to be a consultation for a

generational ban as part of the tobacco and vapes bill. when we've done research with retailers , they've been very retailers, they've been very clear they don't think this is enforceable , enforceable and enforceable, enforceable and trying to tell the difference between a 27 year old and a 28 year old is going to be very difficult. and so i think they have proposed alternatives such as, you know, an age of sale increase to 21 is something that's been floated by our retail partners. >> okay . thank you very much. >> okay. thank you very much. superb. great report there from sarah connor , japan tobacco sarah connor, japan tobacco international. thanks for joining me in the studio. absolute pleasure. now still plenty of time to enjoy a massive win this summer with your chance to win £30,000 in tax free cash. now you really could be our next big winner. and here's how. >> celebrate a spectacular summer with your chance to win an incredible £30,000 in tax free cash in our great british giveaway. >> it's the biggest prize of the yeah >> it's the biggest prize of the year. so far and it's totally tax free. >> what would you spend that on? >> what would you spend that on? >> luxury holidays? >> luxury holidays? >> a new car or just put it away for a rainy day? >> whatever you'd do with

£30,000 in tax free cash, make sure you don't miss out on a chance to make it yours for another chance to win £30,000 in tax free cash, text cash to 63232. >> text cost £2 plus one standard network rate message . standard network rate message. you can enter online at gbnews.com/win. entries cost £2 or post your name and number two gb zero seven, po box 8690. derby d19, double t, uk only entrants must be 18 or over. lines close at 5 pm. on the 30th of august. please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. good luck! >> now superb news. can team gb's wonderful wednesday continue? well, they've already secured two gold medals but could another soon be on the cards? let's hope so. i'm martin daubney on gb news. britain's news

welcome back. 548 the final final furlong now loads hundreds of you were getting in touch with your essays about the incident in southport and also the machete mob in southend on southport. james says this i think everyone will echo the sentiment. last night's events in southport showed utterly disgraceful , showed utterly disgraceful, supposedly grown men acting in such a shameful manner. there is no excuse ever for such behaviour , especially following behaviour, especially following the brutal murder of three innocent children marion adds this why don't police automatically carry shields and their police trucks? surely that's an essential when confronted by a rioting mob . confronted by a rioting mob. kevin, though, adds this as usualin kevin, though, adds this as usual in your report, i noticed the police standing back and doing absolutely nothing . what doing absolutely nothing. what exactly do they get paid for? well, kevin, they don't get paid to have rocks and bricks thrown on their heads. i think you will agree with that. now moving on

to the olympics, because andy murray and dan evans have kept their olympic dreams 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 hopes of ending his career with olympic medal is still very much game on. now follows another dramatic day for team gb as they added two more gold medals for to their haul. now for more on this and the rest of the huge olympic talking points is a sports broadcaster. chris skudder scored another golden day. i watched the, triathlon earlier, an astonishing final finish. let's start with that. an amazing gold medal for team gb. >> yeah, this guy is a hero. alex yee i mean, really it looked as though his chance was gone. looked as though his chance was gone . he got the silver in tokyo gone. he got the silver in tokyo and it was one of the favourites here. but he was up against a guy from new zealand called hayden wild. and after the

swimming and the cycling he was right up there. but then he fell right up there. but then he fell right behind in the, the running section, the hardest bit when he really pushing for the medal. he was 15 seconds behind and somehow somehow with a bit of help from his team mates, sam dickinson, who did a bit of the of the advance work for him, he pulled himself together just at the very end and overtook the kiwi, hayden wild and won the gold medal. it was quite extraordinary. he won it by six seconds. in the end he looked beaten and he came through. talk about, you know, the spirit of the brownlee brothers, who have dominated triathlon over recent years, this was right from the top book and an extraordinary gold medal, i think one of the best. we're going to see in these whole championships. so, you know , britain are great at you know, britain are great at triathlon and it's taken us up to to, six gold medals. but you can ask me, i know in a second about the rowing. it was even closer in the, the women's rowing, the quad sculls. the

girls were were the favourites for this race, but they were up against the dutch who went hell for leather out and the dutch were winning until the final couple of strokes. and somehow the quartette. i'll tell you who they were. hannah scott from northern ireland. lauren henry, lola anderson, georgina brayshaw they came through. they won it right on the line. and you know how long a rowing race is. they won it by 0.15 of a second. that thatis won it by 0.15 of a second. that that is going to be the closest race of the whole games. and you can imagine how delighted they were because, you know, britain in tokyo we got a great heritage in tokyo we got a great heritage in rowing . in in tokyo we got a great heritage in rowing. in tokyo in tokyo we got a great heritage in rowing . in tokyo they in rowing. in tokyo they struggled. they only got two medals, no gold. but this time the competing on so many fronts, gold medals . the competing on so many fronts, gold medals. today in the quads there's going to be a gold. we think on friday for emily craig and imogen grant in the double scull, plus some others as well, the regatta is going to be great for britain. a lot of countries do have their specialist sports, but rowing is going to deliver

for britain and they're doing great. up to fifth in the medal table, there were fourth earlier today. but, in the, canoeing just a few minutes ago, jess, fox from, australia as won the canoeing and, she actually has got a british father so he can claim a little bit of that, but, extraordinary day. and now britain's six gold, six silver and five bronze looking great. and as i said earlier this week, climbing that medal table very steadily . steadily. >> superb stuff. and as an added benefit in that triathlon, the french limped home third and fourth. we beat the french in paris once again, always an absolute delight . scuds. we'll absolute delight. scuds. we'll see you same time tomorrow. wonderful as ever. now then, as i said, we've had hundreds of your essays in today, and the topic that's really got you going, of course, has been knife crime in southport. and south end. let's finish off with a couple of your comments before the end of the show. peter, as this all police officers should now carry a taser, a standard they aren't allowed on the street with a baton and spray,

but a taser . street with a baton and spray, but a taser. is this optional equipment? it should now be compulsory, as a retired robert aziz, as a retired senior officer, old school peter bleksley was absolutely correct on gb news this morning. the senior officers of today have no idea how to police the streets and how to deal with violence against their front line officers over the last number of weeks, the violence against emergency workers is absolutely outrageous. i've got a simple answer . it's outrageous. i've got a simple answer. it's time to deploy the water cannons. thank you very much for all that. well, that's it from me today. i'll be back tomorrow three till six. and up next is dewbs& co. bring you all of the latest. she's got a broken britain special. today on our show, we declared it's time for a national knife crime emergency . norman brennan of the emergency. norman brennan of the law and order foundation thinks it's law and order foundation thinks wsfime law and order foundation thinks it's time to get tough. it's time to clamp down. this won't go away. no more mollycoddling. no more namby pamby. it's time to get tough before we lose our streets forever. thanks for joining me tonight.

streets forever. thanks for joining me tonight . i'll be back joining me tonight. i'll be back three till six tomorrow. now it's three till six tomorrow. now wsfime three till six tomorrow. now it's time for your weather with annie shuttleworth. >> it looks like things are heating up . boxt boilers heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb news . sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hello. good afternoon. welcome to your latest gb news, weather update brought to you from the met office. it is staying warm and humid for the next few days. for many of us there's still plenty of dry and sunny weather to come, but there is an increasing threat of thunderstorms as low pressure approaches from the south, bringing that threat into the southeast. through this evening. high pressure still dominating across the north, so plenty of dry weather to come across much of scotland and northern england. but it's across the southeast where there's a warning in force through this evening , some uncertainty in the evening, some uncertainty in the extent of the thunderstorms, but that threat really does increase overnight tonight, spreading in from parts of wales as well as the southeast once again. and it's going to be a humid and

sticky night for many areas overnight. as you can see, the temperatures in the high teens, possibly the low 20s for some of us now, there's quite a wide area covered by a thunderstorm warning through thursday, with western areas of wales, the southwest of england should stay largely dry, but it's further east where we've got that risk of very heavy torrential downpours, hail and frequent lightning, so that could bring some travel disruption in the morning. some very tricky driving conditions further north into scotland . dry air, but into scotland. dry air, but still some rain moving in from the west throughout the morning. the best of any brightness across eastern areas of scotland. now, once this main area clears away to the east behind it, it will brighten up for a time, but that will allow some further thunderstorms to break out quite widely across areas of england and wales, where we do have that thunderstorm warning in for some of these could bring some pretty major disruption to travel. so please keep up to date with the forecast. but it's going to be another humid and very warm day. temperatures climbing to the high 20s. most likely in the

north. a more pleasant feel with temperatures in the low 20s or high teens through thursday evening. there's a continued risk of thunderstorms across eastern areas of england further north, though it should be a dry end to the day. but that does change into the weekend as it turns much fresher with and windier from the north and west. by windier from the north and west. by that warm feeling inside. >> from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb. >>

saw violence against our police officers, the very ones, by the way, that helped care for the children that had been hurt and killed just hours before. what on earth

is going on? nothing at all. excuses any of that behaviour completely inexcusable. but i personally feel a sense that britain is on the edge. there is something simmering beneath the surface. so many people are angry if you ask me. hard conversations need to be had in order to make things get better going forward, not worse. for tonight, let's do a special focusing on broken britain. what's going on? what's causing it, and how on earth do we fix it? >> at 6:01. good evening. this is the latest from the gb newsroom and we have had the breaking news in the last hour that the man who sent former bbc news presenter huw edwards indecent images of children was a convicted paedophile. the metropolitan police confirmed 25

year old