we need to move away - from mass low—skill, low—wage migration towards a much, i much lower limited number of high—skill, high—wage migrants. they want to increase the size of the economy and shrivel the immigration numbers. big asks, particularly when you try to do both. sir keir starmer has accused the conservatives of deliberately allowing net migration to balloon while in office. in 2009, the last full year labour was in power, net migration — that's the difference between the number of people arriving in the uk and leaving — stood at about 229,000.

we will talk to the man advising the government on net migration. also tonight, louise haigh admits she pleaded guilty after misleading the police in 2014. and gregg wallace steps away from presenting masterchef while allegations of sexual misconduct are investigated. his lawyers strongly deny the allegations. sir keir starmer has accused the conservatives of deliberately allowing net migration to balloon while in office. in 2009, the last full year labour was in power, net migration — that's the difference between the number of people arriving in the uk and leaving — stood at about 229,000. fast forward to 2023 — a record 906,000 more people arrived in the uk than left in the year to june of that year. the prime minister said this was because the previous government was running a one—nation experiment on open borders. yesterday, the tory leader, kemi badenoch, admitted her party had got it wrong on immigration.

0ur political editor, chris mason, has more. who arrives in the uk, and who goes. who is welcome, and who is not. the politics of immigration over the last decade is a catalogue of failure, when you compare the numbers with the words. net migration to this country will be in the order of tens of thousands each year. no ifs, no buts. it is important we have net migration that is in sustainable numbers. we believe sustainable numbers are the tens of thousands. the numbers will come down because we will be able - to control the system. i am committed to bringing those numbers down. for now, at least, the prime minister can and does blame his predecessors. this happened by design, not accident. policies were reformed deliberately to liberalise immigration.

brexit was used for that purpose, to turn britain into a one nation experiment in open borders. he says they are working a plan to cut the numbers of legal migrants with a crackdown on visa abuse and better training, so employers don't need as many foreign workers. he won't put a number on the net migration he'd be happy with, but says it has to come down significantly. the uk appears to have become addicted to immigration, despite the fact that millions of people for years and years have indicated they wanted to see the numbers fall. why should people believe you, now, that you can achieve something that predecessors have not? there is a fundamental problem here, and that is to do with the way our economy works, and the loss of control of immigration under the last government. we are going to turn that around with the measures i have set out. yesterday, the new conservative leader kemi badenoch and her shadow home secretary said their party had

got immigration wrong, so what would they do now? we need a new approach, we need a hard cap on numbers. we need to move away from mass, low skill, low wage migration towards a much, much lower limited number of high skill, high wage migrants. but the conservatives won't tell us what that numerical cap would be. reform uk celebrated having 100,000 members today. nigel farage says the consequences of the immigration numbers are obvious. horrendous, if you want to get a gp appointment. horrendous, if you want to travel around britain's motorways. horrendous, if you want your kids or grand kids to ever get a foot on to the housing ladder. arrivals and departures here will remain central to our national conversation for years to come. joining me is professor brian bell.

he is the chair of the migration advisory committee which provides advice to the home secretary on immigration policy. he's also professor of economics at king's college london. from 2009 to 2024, we had almost a fourfold increase in net migration. yesterday, kemi badenoch said the party had got the strategy wrong. what mistakes did they make? the first thing _ mistakes did they make? the first thing to _ mistakes did they make? tue: first thing to point mistakes did they make? tte: first thing to point out is although the number is true, it stayed at around 200, 200 50,000 for most of the 2010s, it's only after the pandemic we see the rises. they made bad choices, they decided they would be generous to international students and made a graduate route that would allow students who came to the uk to stay after they graduate and work in the uk labour market. they decided to open a scheme for ukrainian and hong kong citizens to provide them

with humanitarian access to the uk, that was a choice they made. then they decided to expand the skilled worker route to allow care workers to come in because of the plight of the care worker workforce. that was a choice. ., , ., care worker workforce. that was achoice. . . a choice. can you increase the size of the _ a choice. can you increase the size of the economy _ a choice. can you increase the size of the economy and - a choice. can you increase the size of the economy and at. a choice. can you increase the | size of the economy and at the same time reduce the size of the workforce?— the workforce? you can if workers _ the workforce? you can if workers become - the workforce? you can if workers become super i workers become super productive. that's the only way you can do it. the only way you can make the economy bigger is either to have more people doing the same level of work or to get fewer people to do more work in terms of being more effective in theirjobs. effective in their jobs. clearly effective in theirjobs. clearly we would prefer to have people who are more productive but that's not an easy thing to achieve, it's certainly not been easy for the uk economy over the last few years, we have had quite poor productivity growth. have had quite poor roductivi urowth. ., . productivity growth. you are in a position _ productivity growth. you are in a position where _ productivity growth. you are in a position where you're - a position where you're advising the prime minister, he says they will imminently put out a white paper with the solutions to deal with this. what are you telling him, what advice would you giving? the

thin i advice would you giving? the thing i think— advice would you giving? the thing i think the _ advice would you giving? tte: thing i think the labour party and labour government have got right here is to think about what the causes of the increase in immigration is and to deal with those, and when you deal with those, and when you deal with those, and when you deal with those, you will reduce net migration because you dealt with the problem. i think that's probably a criticism of previous governments that immigration often been the solution to avoid dealing with the problem. to give you two simple examples, if you don't pay care workers enough, you won't get enough people wanting to do care work. it's very hard and quite stressful and there are easierjobs to do that pay the minimum wage, so you've either got to pay care workers more or you often will rely on immigration, so there's a policy that you pick. for universities, who either work out how to fund universities properly so that they don't lose money when they teach british students and have to make up that loss with international students. you either solve that problem or you rely on immigration to solve the problem by having lots of international students.

they are choices that you need to make and i think the government are getting it right when they say let's look at those choices first and let's try and address those, and if we address them and are successful, net migration will fall as a result.— fall as a result. you want to set a figure _ fall as a result. you want to set a figure he _ fall as a result. you want to set a figure he is _ fall as a result. you want to set a figure he is aiming - fall as a result. you want to | set a figure he is aiming for, he won't set a cap —— he won't set a figure. is that for political reasons i doesn't mean we're not having an honest conversation about what the uk economy really needs? —— does it mean? economy really needs? -- does it mean? ., u, economy really needs? -- does it mean?— it mean? you could argue it is false to set — it mean? you could argue it is false to set a _ it mean? you could argue it is false to set a figure. the - false to set a figure. the cameron administration continually set a figure and consistently fails to achieve it. i'm not sure that encourages people to have faith in immigration sol encourages people to have faith in immigration so i think it is more sensible to talk about the direction of travel and to address the higher immigration. if you do that, net migration will fall. wear it false to both depend on how successful

the policies are. the more successful you are in training british nurses and doctors and increasing training programmes for those workers, the more successful you will be on reducing reliance on international nurses and doctors. international nurses and doctors— doctors. on the figures themselves, _ doctors. on the figures themselves, are - doctors. on the figures themselves, are they l themselves, are they trustworthy? the figures for 2023 were upscaled nearly 20% today. how does the office for national statistics get it so wrong? t national statistics get it so wronu ? ~ ., national statistics get it so wronu ? ~' . ., wrong? i think there are two problems- — wrong? i think there are two problems. firstly, _ wrong? i think there are two problems. firstly, these - wrong? i think there are two problems. firstly, these are | problems. firstly, these are experimentalfigures, experimental figures, essentially the ons experimentalfigures, essentially the ons are experimental figures, essentially the ons are having to deal with the fact we left the eu and have to have new ways of measuring migration. it's a difficult time for them to be doing that, particularly when there is such a change. i think one issue is that they want... there is a trade—off between publishing numbers fast to that policymakers can get a sense of what is going on almost in real time and when you do that, you inevitably have to make lots of assumptions or stop a simple example, one of the reasons they had to revise the numbers is that they assume a lot of

students when they finish their course just leave, students when they finish their coursejust leave, but students when they finish their course just leave, but it's only a few months after they finish the course you really know whether that is true or not or whether they switched on to a graduate visa. essentially, it is that trade—off between getting numbers out fast but you are making lots of assumptions that might turn out not to be correct, so that is a choice you have to make. professor bell, thank _ you have to make. professor bell, thank you _ you have to make. professor bell, thank you for _ you have to make. professor bell, thank you for talking i you have to make. professorj bell, thank you for talking to us. the masterchef presenter gregg wallace, who has fronted the show for almost 20 years, will stop presenting the programme while allegations of historical misconduct are investigated. it comes after a bbc news investigation which heard from 13 people, accusing him of inappropriate sexual comments and inappropriate behaviour over a period of 17 years. his lawyers strongly deny that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature. the bbc says it takes any issues raised with them seriously. our culture reporter, noor nanji, has the story.

great creations on the way. but you've got 15 minutes to finish it. gregg wallace, one of britain's most recognisable tv hosts. what's that?! for years, he's been the face of primetime tv. but a bbc news investigation has heard allegations against him of inappropriate sexual comments and inappropriate behaviour across a 17—year period. the veteran tv presenter kirsty wark was a contestant on celebrity masterchef in 2011. two occasions in particular when he used sexualised language in front of a number of people. and it wasn't as if anyone engaged with us, it was completely one—way traffic, but i think people were uncomfortable. i was actually more angry than anything else, because i thought it was so inappropriate. get yourself organised. and no—one's been late yet — don't buck the trend. right. kirsty wark is one of 13 people making claims about gregg wallace's behaviour.

many are young freelancers. allegations we've heard include gregg wallace talking openly about his sex life, taking his top off in front of a female worker — telling her he wanted to give her a fashion show — and telling a junior female colleague that he wasn't wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans. gregg wallace! in 2018, a formal complaint was raised about him on the game show impossible celebrities. an hr investigation took place. in the outcome letter, which we have seen, the bbc concluded that many aspects of wallace's behaviour were both unacceptable and unprofessional. wallace apologised. a senior executive at the bbc held a meeting with wallace to make clear how seriously the bbc takes this matter. she also said that action would be taken to prevent a similar reoccurrence. but allegations of further incidents have since emerged. claire — not her real name — worked on masterchef

between 2018 and 2020. he would ask us for a massage if his back hurt. he was always staring straight at your chest even if you weren't wearing anything revealing. it was more in sort of, "i'm doing this to let you know i can do this." one of the biggest trade unions say they have been aware of a number of allegations against him. well, i'd like to say that i'm surprised by these reports. i guess my reaction is, it was a matter of when, not if, these stories started to emerge. on tuesday, we put the allegations to gregg wallace's representatives. today, it's been confirmed that he is to step away from presenting masterchef. wallace's lawyers say it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature and claim the bbc probe in 2018 found his behaviour was not sexually inappropriate. but tonight, more claims

have emerged, including from rock star rod stewart, who says wallace humiliated his wife when she was on masterchef, adding, "karma got you." noor nanji, bbc news. more on that story on the bbc news website. we will take a short break.

with his brother on several occasions since wednesday morning. three lebanese border towns are reported to have come under israeli gunfire today. israel also said its planes had struck a facility in the area used by his brother to store mid—range rockets. earlier, the israeli military issued a list of ten border villages that remain off—limits until further notice. the israeli military has renewed a night—time curfew for south lebanon, on day two of a ceasefire with his brother. any travel south of the litani river is banned, while those

who are there, should remain put. joining me now is dennis ross, a former middle east advisor for president obama and author of the missing peace. welcome to the programme. can we start with lebanon, because under this agreement, if hezbollah looks to be preparing an attack, israel has this side letterfrom an attack, israel has this side letter from the americans agreeing it can take military action so it would seem today they were enforcing the ceasefire according to their interpretation. how long can a ceasefire hold if that is the way it's going to work? t’m ceasefire hold if that is the way it's going to work? i'm not entirely sure — way it's going to work? i'm not entirely sure that's _ way it's going to work? i'm not entirely sure that's exactly - entirely sure that's exactly what we are seeing. what's very clear is that hezbollah is not supposed to be sending anybody back down into the cells. i think the israelis are saying, if they violate right now, we will respond. you are right that i think there probably is some understanding with the united states, but i think was

understandings are also a function of something that has not yet been set up. according to the agreement, there is supposed to be a committee in which if there is a violation, you immediately lodge a complaint and that committee which is chaired by the united states will seek to immediately reverse the violation, and if it isn't at that point reversed, then the israelis are entitled to act. the agreement itself talks about each side being permitted to engage in acts of self—defence and i think that's a euphemism for saying if there is a violation, each side has the right to do something. it's pretty clear at this point that hezbollah has been testing the limits by sending people to the south, the reason for the israeli curfew is because there is not supposed to be any movement to the south until you have the lebanese army deploying to the south. that hasn't happened yet. south. that hasn't happened et. ., ~' , south. that hasn't happened et. ., ~ , , ., yet. you think this is more the tension that _ yet. you think this is more the tension that would _ yet. you think this is more the tension that would ordinarily l

tension that would ordinarily surround a withdrawal from territory? you have a retreating israeli army moving back to the border and a lot of movement, obviously a lot of tension built into that, but you think it will change the way the israelis will respond once this committee is in place? t once this committee is in lace? ., , ., ., �* once this committee is in lace? ., . place? i do, you don't have the structure _ place? i do, you don't have the structure set _ place? i do, you don't have the structure set up _ place? i do, you don't have the structure set up that's - structure set up that's supposed to implement the accords but you have the ceasefire so you have hezbollah testing with the possibilities are, the israelis immediately demonstrating, don't think you can get away with violations. obviously a ceasefire in lebanon is not a precursor to one in gaza but benjamin netanyahu said today that conditions for reaching a possible deal had considerably improved. why do you think things have suddenly shifted? t things have suddenly shifted? i think there's probably two reasons for it. the first reason, probably the most important, is that hamas had counted on hezbollah to continue to tie down israeli

forces, counted on iran to be supporting hamas, and iran is probably the principal actors here that made the decision for hezbollah to do the ceasefire. it sends a related message that if there is a ceasefire that gives the iranians an excuse not to retaliate for what israel did in its retaliation for iranfiring israel did in its retaliation for iran firing 200 ballistic missiles on october 26, israel took out all of the radars and strategic area missile defence is that the iranians have an destroyed about 90% of its missile producing capability. iran had threatened they would retaliate. they haven't at this point and i think now that there is a ceasefire which hezbollah has adopted, that becomes a reason for iran to say, we have a reason not to retaliate now because there is a ceasefire. i think you look at that context, that backdrop, and what it means if you are hamas, you are suddenly much more alone, not only hezbollah going its own way but iran as

well. i suspect that's a factor here. i think the other one is that benjamin netanyahu is able to claim victory in lebanon because hezbollah has been largely decimated. the truth is, so has hamas as a military, mass doesn't exist any longer as a military. the biden administration actually working to create what would come after a war here, meaning, who is going to be assuming responsibilities in gaza on some kind of interim basis in a way that if you built some kind of international presence that included regional actors, israel would be able to withdraw, and is able to withdraw, and is able to withdraw in a circumstance where it can claim it has succeeded.— where it can claim it has succeeded. , ., , , succeeded. obviously when it comes to _ succeeded. obviously when it comes to that _ succeeded. obviously when it comes to that consideration, | comes to that consideration, the humanitarian effort which will be massive in gaza, has to be part of the solution, the un put out a reminder today that more than 2 million people are now trapped with little access to food and no access to safe drinking water. there have been

torrential downpours over gaza, a lot of them under canvas, of course. do you think israel is doing enough to alleviate the suffering? t doing enough to alleviate the sufferin: ? ~ doing enough to alleviate the suffering?— suffering? i think israel all alon: suffering? i think israel all along has _ suffering? i think israel all along has not _ suffering? i think israel all along has not done - suffering? i think israel all along has not done what i suffering? i think israel all along has not done what it could have done in the humanitarian area but i think that includes notjust what it has allowed in and from time to time it has allowed much more in. the problem is, is not only is really a problem, when the israelis have dramatically increased the amount of humanitarian assistance going in, we see hamas and criminal gangs frequently seizing it. in the case of hamas, they go ahead and then they sell it. on the israeli side, they didn't do very much to deal with the security distribution but the rest of the world didn't either. if you're demanding that the israelis provide much more humanitarian assistance, and it was incumbent on the rest of the world to do what it could to ensure that there were security of that distribution. i think the israelis had some responsibility for that but i

think internationally there was also some responsibility. {lin also some responsibility. on the issue — also some responsibility. on the issue of _ also some responsibility. on the issue of the icc arrest warrant, obviously the europeans are split now. the french suggested yesterday that may be the court didn't have jurisdiction over israel. david lammy, the british foreign secretary, seems to think otherwise, that uk authorities would have to act of the prime minister came here. do you think it is going to complicate the west's relationship with israel and the attempts to try to two—state solution? —— find a two—state solution? to two-state solution? -- find a two-state solution?- a two-state solution? french president _ a two-state solution? french president macron _ a two-state solution? french president macron are - a two-state solution? french | president macron are position and then he changed it because the israelis were objecting to the israelis were objecting to the role that the french would play on the committee that the us would chair so it raises the question, if you want the israelis to be cooperating with you, will you be able to work on the icc and still have them cooperate with you?—

on the icc and still have them cooperate with you? thank you for talking _ cooperate with you? thank you for talking to _ cooperate with you? thank you for talking to us. _ cooperate with you? thank you for talking to us. thank - cooperate with you? thank you for talking to us. thank you. i the transport secretary louise haigh in the uk has admitted she pleaded guilty after misleading the police while a parliamentary candidate in 2014. she said she made a mistake and reported to officers that her mobile phone had been stolen on a night out. let's beat to our transport correspondent. she makes this report to the police, then what happens? report to the police, then what ha--ens? report to the police, then what ha ens? ., , report to the police, then what hauens? ., , ., happens? the only account of this we have _ happens? the only account of this we have at _ happens? the only account of this we have at the _ happens? the only account of this we have at the moment l happens? the only account of| this we have at the moment is from louise haigh. the metropolitan police with whom she served as a volunteer police officer and special constable saying that whatever the conviction is actually for, is spent. in other words, doesn't have to be disclosed by the average person for many jobs full stop on louise haigh's account, she said as a young woman she was mugged in 2013. she says she reported a number of items stolen from her

at that point. one of those she said was a work mobile phone given to her by her employer. later, it transpired another phone had been given to her and police have noticed on her statement she said the mobile telephone was turned on. she was invited in for questioning and advised by her lawyers to make no comments to the interview. she says it is a decision she regrets because it was passed to uk prosecutors, the crown prosecution service, and she appeared later at the magistrates' court and pleaded guilty to an offence. we don't know whether defences yet. she said she received the lowest possible sanction, a discharge. any response from the labour party tonight? irate any response from the labour party tonight?— party tonight? we are waiting for the full — party tonight? we are waiting for the full response - party tonight? we are waiting for the full response from - party tonight? we are waiting for the full response from the j for the full response from the labour party but whitehall sources have told us that louise haigh had fully declared her conviction when she was appointed to the shadow cabinet while labour were in opposition. all of the details

emerging as we speak. they have been emerging over the recent period of time, we will bring you updates and we are in touch with the department for transport and spokespeople for the transport secretary. irate transport and spokespeople for the transport secretary. we are auoin to the transport secretary. we are going to take — the transport secretary. we are going to take a _ the transport secretary. we are going to take a short _ the transport secretary. we are going to take a short break. - the transport secretary. we are going to take a short break. on| going to take a short break. on the other side of the break, we will focus on al decoded, we will focus on al decoded, we will take you into the ai world of combat, in particular the advances we've seen recently in ukraine. it will be really fascinating. stay with us for that. hello there. for most of us, it's been a dry but cold day today after that widespread frost. but things over the next few days are going to change. temperatures are going to be rising. the cold air that we've had underneath the high pressure is getting squeezed away, weather fronts just waiting to bring some rain in from the west. but this evening, there may well be an early frost across eastern scotland, the midlands and eastern

parts of england, where we've got clearer skies and also lighter winds. but temperatures will rise overnight. in the west, we've got most of the cloud. the rain that was in northern ireland will head its way up towards northernmost parts of scotland, and temperatures by the end of the night in western areas may well be in double figures, and further east, temperatures will have lifted above freezing by the morning. still a chilly start here, mind you, but for many central and eastern parts of england and perhaps eastern scotland, should be a dry day with some sunshine. stronger southerly breezes out to the west, where the cloud will thicken to bring rain back into northern ireland in the afternoon, western scotland and later over the irish sea. but for all of us, temperatures tomorrow are going to be higher than today — 12, maybe 13 for the western side of the uk, further east, eight or nine celsius. so things are turning milder because of this weather pattern — low pressure to the west of the uk, high pressure with the cold air to the east of us and a southerly breeze is arriving. that's lifting the temperatures. may be bringing a little bit of rain on friday night. that should have cleared away by saturday morning. and for many of us, it will be

a dry but quite cloudy picture on saturday. there could be a bit of rain around some hills and coast, particularly western scotland, bit of sunshine over the moray firth east of the pennines and in north wales, but it's going to be a mild day everywhere — temperatures 13, perhaps even 14 celsius. so quite a change for the eastern side of the uk. there is a bit of rain just waiting in the wings out to the west. this weather front will push some wet weather eastwards on saturday night. that rain soon clears away from scotland, but we'll see this rain moving into england and wales, so much more unsettled, i think, on sunday. the rain followed by some sunshine but also some showers. sunday, of course, is the first day of meteorological winter, but it's not really going to feel particularly wintry at all. it will be a mild day on sunday, temperatures again around 13 celsius. but that mild weather is unlikely to last into monday. the wind direction changes. instead, we get a northerly wind, and that will drop the temperatures during the day.

hello, i'm christian fraser. you're watching the context on bbc news. coming the context on bbc news. up, dawn of the robots we coming up, dawn of the robots — we will take a deep dive into the world of automated submarines working beneath the surface. , , . ., submarines working beneath the surface. , , . . surface. the submarine that has 'ust surface. the submarine that has just surfaced — surface. the submarine that has just surfaced next _ surface. the submarine that has just surfaced next to _ surface. the submarine that has just surfaced next to us - surface. the submarine that has just surfaced next to us does - just surfaced next to us does

not have a human crew. it is not have a human crew. it is not being remotely controlled. it is a fully autonomous vessel capable of making some of its own decisions. plenty to look forward to. let's first pause. sport, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's hugh. ruben amorim says he wants to bring some happiness to old trafford as he takes charge of his first home game with manchester united. it took just 48 seconds for his team to provide it in the europa league against norwegian champions bodo glimt. but it did not last much longer after that. that's one of ten matches in the competition that are around half an hour old. alejandro garnacho scoring early, although it's now 2—1 to bodo glimt. roma are also playing their second match with a new manager. claudio ranieri is back in england with roma to take on spurs, who also scored

an early goal, but that, too, is now level.