is too concerns. the information is too sensitive, as the illegal migration crisis rages on. don't we have a right to know how our cash. we have a right to know how our cash . is we have a right to know how our cash. is being we have a right to know how our cash . is being spent? labour may cash. is being spent? labour may give you the right to sue your boss for working. you too hard. is this really the right thing to be doing during a period of productivity deficit ? shouldn't productivity deficit? shouldn't we be working more? not less? and the new england boss says he won't sing. the national anthem is his career over before it started? i'm darren grimes and the weekend starts . the weekend starts. here. now, hey, as you'll know by now, this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting

gbnews.com/yoursay and join the conversation. i've got it open right here, right now. i'll be joined shortly by gb news contributor benjamin butterworth and the political commentator suzanne evans. but my friends before we get stuck into today's stories, here's the news with sophie reaper. >> thank you darren. now it's time for your latest headlines. police searching for a british man in majorca, in the same area where a british woman was found dead earlier this week, have found a body the spanish civil guard have said they believe the pair had been swept away in a flash flood after a storm hit the mediterranean island on tuesday . emergency services have tuesday. emergency services have been searching the area near the tramuntana mountains since wednesday . later today, prime wednesday. later today, prime minister sir keir starmer will meet with his irish counterpart simon harris , as part of simon harris, as part of a commitment to reset relations between the uk and ireland. the

pm will travel to dublin to meet mr harris, where the pair will also sit down with business leaders from across the country. it's expected that trade across the irish sea will be top of the agenda , with that relationship agenda, with that relationship worth an estimated ,100 billion every single year. a source for the royal family has said that the royal family has said that the king's health is improving, stating that it's heading in a very positive trajectory. britain's monarch was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and has since been undergoing treatment. queen camilla seems to have confirmed the news of his improvement early this week, whilst opening a new cancer centre in bath. she commented that the king was doing very well . a royal navy serviceman well. a royal navy serviceman who was killed when a helicopter made a deliberate emergency landing over the channel on wednesday, has been named as lieutenant rhodri leyshon. three people were on board the merlin mklr people were on board the merlin mk4 during a night exercise when it ditched off the dorset coastline, killing the 31 year old. a statement from rodger's

family described him as talented, passionate , strong and talented, passionate, strong and loyal. it said we will always have him in our hearts. our wonderful boy . the snp has wonderful boy. the snp has called on the prime minister to u—turn on plans to cut winter fuel payments. research has shown that close to a million pensioners in scotland received the payments between 2022 and 2023, but under new plans by the labour government, 87% of those would lose that financial support . more heavy rain is support. more heavy rain is expected across the uk today, with many still at risk of flooding. the met office has said a new band of heavy and thundery rain will arrive on the south coast today, and it will make its way north overnight . make its way north overnight. britains jack draper has crashed out of the us open after being sick four times during his semi—final. the british number one had hoped to emulate the likes of andy murray and emma raducanu by taking the title, but was ultimately beaten by

jannik sinner. draper cited issues with anxiety as the reason for his exit from the competition, describing it as the worst feeling ever. >> i had chances here and there and i didnt take them and obviously when you play the best players in the world, you need to do that. and yeah, i obviously wasn't wasn't feeling my best and struggled. at certain certain periods of the match, especially towards the end. but you know, yannick, yannick beat me fair and square. he was too strong for me today. >> later today, england will take on ireland in the uefa nafions take on ireland in the uefa nations league. this will be the first test for england's interim manager , lee carsley, following manager, lee carsley, following gareth southgate stepping down after defeat in the euros final this summer. carsley has faced criticism after he said he will not sing the national anthem tonight, although the former england ireland player says he is respectful of the concept. elsewhere in the competition, wales faced a goalless draw last night against turkey and on thursday night scotland lost three two to poland and northern

ireland beat luxembourg two nil and some positive news now it's been another brilliant day for team gb so far at the paralympics. we started the morning on 100 medals and that number has now grown once again with a further three golds, a silver and a bronze for the british team, including a win for finley graham in the men's c1 three road race. those are your latest gb news headlines for now i'm sophie reaper. more from me 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. >> thanks very much, sophie. let's get stuck into today's topics. now estonia's justice minister has confirmed that her country is considering housing british criminals in one of its

jails after holding talks with the uk's justice secretary, shabana mahmood. this comes as it was revealed that the prison population in england and wales has reached a record high, and in a further attempt to help reduce prison overcrowding, sir keir starmer is reportedly planning to free domestic abusers as part of the government's early release scheme. these include one man who was jailed after strangling his partner and breaking her jaw. it must be said that sir keir starmer has distanced himself from a deal with estonia, with his spokesperson saying that the government is making no such plans or announcements in relation to estonian prison places. well, we're going to discuss this further with our panel. brilliant panel. gb news contributor benjamin butterworth and the political commentator suzanne evans. suzanne was nearly pipped by the transport in this country. >> so disaster with south west

trains in the hero. >> she's a right. she's arrived. suzanne, where are you at on this? i mean, prison population has been an issue for many , many has been an issue for many, many years. you go back to the last labour government and it was starting to become an issue even then. this is a dereliction of duty by the many politicians that have been in office. but would you be happy with sending them abroad? >> well, not really, no. i mean, i just think there's a complete irony here, isn't there, that we had human rights lawyers up in arms about sending migrants to rwanda, but they're quite happy to send prisoners to estonia. now, i know it's not an exact comparison there, but i think it's an interesting one. also, let's look at the facts. so there are around 10,000 foreign prisoners in our jails at the moment. if we were to deport even 10% of those 20%, 30% of those, which we presumably could do with those countries that we have agreements with, then that would help free up the population as well. so rather than sending british prisoners overseas, i think we should first be looking at what we can

do about the foreign prisoners that we've got in our own jails as well. and the other thing, you know, part of the reason that the prison population is suddenly so high is because they've jailed about a thousand people within the past four weeks. now, i'm not saying for a moment that that those people shouldn't be jailed, although i think there are some arguable cases. most definitely. but at the same time, the government's also looking at ways to increase the prison population even further for example, just a couple of weeks ago, it was talking about treating misogyny as extremism . so again, we have as extremism. so again, we have this complete disconnect. the cases, the islamophobia is coming down the track as well, potentially as well. but you know, you've just mentioned that they're talking about releasing domestic abusers from jails. now, how does that square with trying to make misogyny extremism and presumably send more domestic abusers to jail? none of this makes sense. it just smacks of the fact that nobody's thought about this seriously. they're just coming out with sound bite policies, and they're going to make terrible mistakes. >> jess phillips suzanne, before i put this to benjamin, jess phillips is a campaigner on

issues around domestic abuse and violence against women. she is a junior government minister. ought she resign? >> well, i think i think jess phillips could probably have resigned over a number of things in the past, i think. but but, you know, she doesn't stand up against this. and if she doesn't say keep these men locked up. and i was horrified to hear as a on a different channel on the news as i was as i was listening to the radio, as i was coming here, you know, they're talking talking about, a it's just it's just ridiculous, yeah. i can't even remember what i was talking about now, but it's just it's. yeah, i was just just listening to people talking about letting people out. that's right. it was because they cost £50,000 a yeah because they cost £50,000 a year. but what is the cost to society if we do let these people out? >> and that's a point on the, you know, the cost of actually keeping foreign nationals in british prisons as well. benjamin butterworth , on that benjamin butterworth, on that point around jess phillips's laudable campaigning on against issues like violence against women and girls , the fact that

women and girls, the fact that we're releasing people who have been violent against women and girls and found by a court of law to have been, should she not resign as a matter of principle over issues like that. >> i mean, her resigning wouldn't create any more prison places. so you know that person, if they were to be released at 40% of what the judge gave them, would most likely still have that happen. so, you know, i can understand that she wouldn't do that. you have to remember, the reason we have this problem is because the last government got to a situation where i think there was just 7 or 800 vacant places at the time they left office. and you do wonder because everyone was perplexed about the timing of the election, whether this was one of the reasons that they didn't want a summer of this happening on their watch, when, you know, they really would be accountable for it. i think the idea that suzanne put about foreign prisoners is an interesting one. i would wonder whether that were possible. if it were possible, surely they would have already tried it. and, you know, i mean, albania, because of the european convention on human rights. >> you mean, is that sort of thing precluding them from are you wanting us to get out now?

>> benjamin, are you putting words in my mouth? i think, but you know , i would wonder, you you know, i would wonder, you know, would british prisoners in other countries would they then say, well, okay, we'll do a deal say, well, okay, we'll do a deal, but you have to take them back. >> and who knows the numbers. but having said that, the number one foreign nationality in british prisons is albanians. we already have a deal on the boats with albanians. so clearly we have quite good relations with that country. so maybe it's possible. >> go on. kath has written in benjamin and kath says if starmer can send prisoners to estonia now again, number 10 has denied that. but if they could theoretically, why can't we deport illegal migrants who aren't here? you know, you can see why viewers are getting a bit frustrated. i mean, we can deport illegal migrants. >> the question is how long, how long it takes to process their claims and what we do with them beforehand. >> we accept 90% of people who arrive here. benjamin. that's the approval rate in this country. we're a soft touch. we're a joke. >> but i mean, well, that's because they meet the criteria to legally be here and therefore those people aren't illegal migrants, are they? because, you know, and it depends on the

countries they're coming from. lots of them have come from afghanistan. and then they throw their papers overboard and they say, oh, i'm from afghanistan. >> i've come here. i, you know, i've got a right to be here. >> i would just put the question, i don't believe for one moment that this new government wants to be in this situation with prison places . situation with prison places. it's going to be very uncomfortable. but the question is that if you don't release these people at 40%, rather than 50%, which of their time which it probably would be otherwise , it probably would be otherwise, well, then you can't put new offenders behind bars. and if you take away the threat of prison to people misbehaving right now, i think that is still a more dangerous situation. >> can i before i throw this to suzanne , the former conservative suzanne, the former conservative justice secretary, alex chalk, has said earlier today that the justice system should not be locking up everyone where cross with as longer custodial sentences are actually expensive, with, of course, the prison population at that record high of 88,521 on friday, with actually more than a thousand people being banged up over the last four weeks. is there a point there that we are banging

people up that we think have said some unsavoury things and ought to go into the slammer for it? i mean, there was one guy flying a saint george's flag outside of an islamic centre, and he was banged up. benjamin, that's a bit silly, isn't it? >> look, as much as i'd like to put you behind bars, i don't think that's what's going on. i honestly, you know, the idea that people are getting locked up for tweets, i really think is an exaggeration. and, you know , an exaggeration. and, you know, also, suzanne mentioned misogyny. well, if that were to become a hate crime, it's very difficult to get a prosecution on a hate crime. as it is. it almost always has to be attached to another offence. i'd like to see them criminalise ageism because you'd be in the slammer. >> you really would. suzanne. >> you really would. suzanne. >> what else? i was talking to you the other day on this channel, but. yeah. no the interview with alex chalk, that was the one i was desperately trying to remember. and i was absolutely horrified when i heard him say it. so expensive. i kind of support what the labour government is doing. and i'm thinking this also just shows just how soft the conservatives had become. >> but he did say we shouldn't be locking them up if we're just cross with them, right? >> if we just think, oh, this ,

>> if we just think, oh, this, this person said something beyond the pale, that's true. >> but he was also backing the government's attempt to release some prisoners early. well, he would, despite the fact they might be very dangerous. well, well, you're exactly right. i agree with you on that. but, benjamin. no, but his party were for many years, you know, they could have built more prisons. they could have taken a tougher approach to law and order, but they didn't. yeah. which is one reason why they lost the election, regardless of why they called it. and i think benjamin does make a point there about they could see all this coming down the tracks. they could see the boat numbers increasing as well. that was also potentially another reason why there was a snap election. >> but do you trust, actually, given the rhetoric that's come out of germany recently with the interior minister actually saying, that migration, part of the migration committee to look into this issue, do you actually have any confidence whatsoever that the boats and the numbers will come down under labour? >> no , i think one of the first >> no, i think one of the first things that labour did when it took office was to completely scrap the rwanda scheme , and

scrap the rwanda scheme, and that clearly took away any deterrent that there was. you know, the migration bill is still the act is still in force in theory. we should still not grant anyone who comes over here illegally asylum or right to remain. >> but benjamin says they're not illegals, right? they're not. when if they get here and they've put their claim through and they're accepted under under the under the terms of the migration act, if the under the terms of the migration act , if they the under the terms of the migration act, if they come here without having authorised their entry in advance, they're illegal. so labour aren't the party of law and order then. yeah >>i yeah >> i mean i think there's a dishonesty about the question of people coming over in boats, illegal immigration and legal immigration, which is that the world is changing, you know , world is changing, you know, there are all sorts of disasters in other parts of the world. it's never been more attainable to cross the world. the ability to cross the world. the ability to control something like the channelis to control something like the channel is incredibly complex. look, if it weren't, i'm sure they would have done it right. it's obviously very difficult, and i don't think that any party

is going to be able to just stop the boats, you know, any time soon. but politicians acted in australia. >> yeah, they did it. but you're right, the world is changing . right, the world is changing. and in a sense i sometimes think, you know, with my positive hat on that all this illegal migration is, in a sense a positive story because it does show how the world is developing, because people now have the money to be able to pay the people traffickers to come. so in that sense, the world is getting getting richer and poverty is very slowly diminishing. but that still means it's a massive and there will be wrong ones among them. >> right there will be a lot of wrong, and there are no present places, a lot of wrong ones. >> and i'd argue that, you know, these rongen's coming over are taking places for people in desperate, genuine need. >> yeah , well, what would you >> yeah, well, what would you reply to that ? reply to that? >> well, it is a national security concern. is it not? >> i mean, you can't say it's not because you don't know who these people are and therefore that brings problems. but i just always think when people say, well, they're going to have very different cultural values to us. they're obviously from very different cultures. but the people that come here from some of these unpleasant countries,

as we would, would see them, you know, they are most likely to be the ones that have left that for a purpose. just because they're a purpose. just because they're a man from afghanistan doesn't mean that they subscribe to taliban like values. i'll tell you what the purpose is bed board and benefits from the british taxpayer. that's what it is, i think. i think one of the main draws is a cultural one. they're familiar with the engush they're familiar with the english world. they probably speak a bit of english if they have any second language. >> yes. that's a that's a very, loose definition. >> that is true. but it doesn't mean that we should not, for that reason, be absolutely tougher. >> all right . tougher. >> all right. right. we'll tougher. >> all right . right. we'll leave >> all right. right. we'll leave that one there. thank you very much to my panel, benjamin butterworth and suzanne evans. now, my friends, for all the best analysis and opinion on that story and more , you can go that story and more, you can go to our website, gb news. com now you're with me darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up on the show. the home office refused to disclose the cost of furnishing asylum seeker flats over concerns the information is too sensitive as the illegal migration crisis rages on. don't we have a right to know how our

cash is being spent? we have a right to know how our cash is being spent ? let me cash is being spent? let me know. and the new england boss says he won't sing. the national anthem is his career over? before it started, all of that and more to come. you're with gb news, where britain's news channel

welcome back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. now, lots of you have been sending in your thoughts. thank you very much for doing so . lady you very much for doing so. lady westminster says hearing benjamin say that afghani refugees are coming here on boats because they want the british culture would be hilarious had it not been so totally ridiculous. i know he's a leftie, but get real, that's you told and peter says 80 years ago the uk managed to stop the german armed forces from

crossing the channel now we can't even stop a dinghy. the pensioners are going the other way . peter, grumpy grandad says way. peter, grumpy grandad says ihave way. peter, grumpy grandad says i have no confidence in labour stopping the boats. i still don't believe they want to stop it. actions speak louder than words and so far they're just making it easier for them to come here. but what's most worrying is that they'll wave them through with no proper security checks. well, indeed. and it's very hard to do security checks on someone that's throwing their papers overboard and not done anything else. now, on the issue of the home office and accommodation, one of our viewers says the home office won't tell us how much it costs to sort out migrant accommodation. why not? it's our money. we have every right to know. every single penny is spent or it's wide open for corruption . indeed. that's corruption. indeed. that's a good point. keep your views coming in gbnews.com forward slash your say. join the conversation there or get in touch on our socials. we're @gbnews now. as was mentioned, there , the home office is facing

there, the home office is facing criticism not just from our viewers, but elsewhere too, for refusing to disclose the cost of furnishing flats for asylum seekers. they've cited concerns around the sensitivity surrounding the issue. the information commissioner ruled information commissioner ruled in favour of keeping these costs secret, arguing that revealing them could put asylum seekers at risk of protests and harms . risk of protests and harms. critics, including our very own reform uk mp lee anderson, argue that taxpayers have a right to know how their money is spent . know how their money is spent. so that's the question don't we have a right to know how our money is being spent? well, let's see what my panel make of this one. gb news contributor and political benjamin butterworth and political commentator suzanne evans. benjamin, i'll start with you. apparently these flats market rate could be about 1400 a month. there'll be many british people watching this programme thinking, oh, i wouldn't mind cushty flat , £1,400 a month, cushty flat, £1,400 a month, furnished out by the taxpayer.

oh, that sounds lovely. that get me in there. but they can't, can they? it's for people that have arrived here illegally who come get bed board benefits and luxury tidings. not bad. >> well, i don't think they get luxury. it's something like £40. >> have you seen those flats? >> have you seen those flats? >> like £40 a week. i think there's the allowance that a refugee has. >> £40 a week. and you're staying in accommodation like that. and some of them could be working in illegal trade as well. >> well , i well. >> well, i think personally that they should be allowed to work so that they can pay for some of these things themselves, and that we should have id cards. how many more people would come then so that you can only have people working that we've permitted to work, whereas right now you have this ludicrous situation where they get a flat which sounds nice enough like this, and then they go to work in a car wash with no papers, no documents, and are paid cash in hand. and so they're taking up the space of a job that we've said they can't have, but they're not paying tax on it. and taxpayers are paying for the flat. i think that's a ridiculous way round it. but the

question of whether we should. no, i mean, look, i'm a journalist, so it'd be remiss to say that we shouldn't know this information. it strikes me as peculiar that they're not allowing this information to be known. you know, the question is, you know, did it cost more than it should have? was it more generous than most of us would think? is appropriate? but at the same time, we have just had people locked up for firebombing hotels where refugees were staying. and so maybe there is a legitimate concern in this area that it would draw attention to these flats and that they would be the target of vandalism, of attacks of xenophobia, and is that a useful outcome? well, no, it's not. >> so some people , suzanne, may >> so some people, suzanne, may be of the view that benjamin has a point there and that there's an issue of safety and security of people, but equally, is this just going to be used now to censor every piece of debate and speech around this issue in order to clamp down on dissent and voices? >> this is my worry. this sets a very dangerous precedent. what else could the state potentially

try to hide for us, supposedly on the grounds of an individual or a group of people ? security. or a group of people? security. so, for example, could we decide at a point in the future that mps salaries are not going to be released into the public domain because they've gone up so high that people feel affronted by it and don't want to pay for it. and an mps security might be further threatened. very, very dangerous precedent indeed . dangerous precedent indeed. this, you know, this money that is being spent is yours. and my money it is taxpayers money. the government has an absolute duty to inform us how it spends it. thatis to inform us how it spends it. that is only fair and any government that doesn't, i'm afraid, has really gone rogue. it's a breach of trust with the british people because we'll be paying british people because we'll be paying their housing costs, their heating costs , their their heating costs, their electricity costs, when we might be very well struggling to pay those ourselves. in the current climate, we'll be paying for their clothing, their food and other living expenses again, when some of us might be very much struggling. it is a serious breach of trust. this it's

completely unacceptable. and i don't think the safety arguments wash, really ? because because as wash, really? because because as i say, you could say safety was going to be compromised in just about every case. you could think of. >> gb news is tom harwood benjamin last night, yesterday , benjamin last night, yesterday, rather was speaking to the government minister, dan jarvis, and dan, mrjarvis refused to actually say where the new arrivals who will be receiving what some call de facto amnesty to remain in britain with 90%, as i say, of applications being accepted. he refused to say whether or not they would be placed in social housing. so of course, right now there is, as you well know, and i don't doubt for a second you're not honest in your campaign to build more houses , but that social housing, houses, but that social housing, benjamin, is going to be swallowed up by illegal migrants. so you can see surely the anger from people like

susanna and our viewers who are saying this is just a total joke. >> i mean, the waiting list for social housing are extremely long and you get lots of legitimate cases where people can't get a council house. you have lots of situations where someone has had more children and they have a completely inappropriate sized house. so that's definitely a problem, you know, the truth is that when you arrive, you have rights to very few things. certainly as a legal migrant, you get you get nothing. and that's the right idea because you're here to do a job that you've chosen, so i do think we need to build more houses. i think the question is, though, you know, look at what the last government was doing. they were putting £300 million on paper in the budget to deal with this. and then we're getting several billion pounds as a top up from the treasury to cover the real costs. i think it was thought to be something like £7 billion that was actually allocated for this. and so they've been grotesquely dishonest about how much it's costing. it's not going to be fixed overnight. >> suzanne, where are you at on that? then that question of

well, actually the unfairness. >> oh, it's totally unfair. and i think anybody, you know, that's on a social housing waiting list is going to see it's grotesquely unfair, and this all comes back to what we were saying earlier, really, in our earlier debate, you know, if we knew that everyone housed in an asylum hotel was a genuine asylum seeker who hadn't come here having chucked their papers overboard, who hadn't tried to game the system, then i think the british public would be very sympathetic, because i don't. i've never met anybody that doesn't want to give a genuine refugee somewhere to live and safe harbour in a safe country, it's the way in which the system is being exploited that makes people very, very angry, to be honest. particularly those who are missing out. >> i'm at the stage now where i think close the borders, because i think the asylum and migration system is a total mess. well, it's not working. >> exactly. and it should be working, because if we did shut the borders and we did stop our asylum program, then genuine people would die . there's

people would die. there's absolutely no doubt about that. the system's got to be reformed. we've got to stop it being exploited and abused . exploited and abused. >> all right. thank you very much to my panel, benjamin butterworth and suzanne evans there. now folks, you're with me. darren grimes on gb news. we've got lots more coming up on the show . first of all though, the show. first of all though, we're going to get your bulletins with sophie reaper . bulletins with sophie reaper. >> thank you darren. now it's time for your latest headlines from the gb newsroom . police from the gb newsroom. police searching for a british man in majorca in the same area where a british woman was found dead earlier this week, have found a body the spanish civil guard have said they believe the pair had been swept away in a flash flood after a storm hit the mediterranean island on tuesday. emergency services have been searching the area near the tramuntana mountains since wednesday. a woman in her 60s and her dog have both died following a collision with a taxi whilst out walking in kent.

officers attended the scene last night along with south east coast ambulance service, but the woman and her dog sadly died at the scene later this afternoon. prime minister sir keir starmer will meet his irish counterpart simon harris, as part of a commitment to reset relations between the uk and ireland. the pm met will meet mr harris in dublin, where the pair will also sit down with business leaders from across the country. it's expected that trade across the irish sea will be top of the agenda, with that relationship worth an estimated ,100 billion every year. as well as supporting thousands of jobs, a royal navy serviceman who was killed when a helicopter made a deliberate emergency landing over the channel on wednesday, has been named as lieutenant rhodn has been named as lieutenant rhodri leyshon . three people rhodri leyshon. three people were on board the merlin mk4 dunng were on board the merlin mk4 during a night exercise when it ditched off the dorset coastline, killing the 31 year old. a statement from rhodri's family described him as talented , family described him as talented, passionate, strong and loyal. it

said we will always have him in our hearts. our wonderful boy . our hearts. our wonderful boy. later today, england will take on ireland in the uefa nations league. this will be the first test for england's interim manager , lee carsley, following manager, lee carsley, following gareth southgate stepping down after defeat in the euros final this summer . after defeat in the euros final this summer. carsley has faced criticism after he said he will not sing the national anthem tonight, although the former ireland player says he is respectful of the concept. elsewhere in the competition. wales faced a goalless draw last night against turkey and on thursday night scotland lost three two to poland and northern ireland beat luxembourg two nil andifs ireland beat luxembourg two nil and it's been another brilliant day for team gb so far at the paralympics. we started the morning on 100 medals and that number has now grown once again, with a further three golds, a silver and a bronze for the british team, including a win for finley graham in the men's c1 three road race. those are your latest gb news headlines for now. i'm sophie reaper more from me in half an hour for the

very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code , alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com. >> forward slash alerts . >> forward slash alerts. >> forward slash alerts. >> thank you sophie reaper. isn't it wonderful to hear that northwest accent on the box? now remember folks, you can let me know your thoughts on all the stories we've been discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join the conversation there. loads of you. well, they're quite animated about our benjamin suzanne, i'll tell you that. lots more coming up on the show, though. labour may give you the right to sue your boss for making you work too hard. is this really the right thing to be doing during a period of productivity deficit? shouldn't we be working more, not less? well, benjamin butterworth's champing at the bit for that one. all of that and more to come. i'm darren grimes and

you're with gb news, britain's news channel

welcome back to the weekend with me darren grimes. now lots of you have been sending in your thoughts, tony, who actually did send in a freedom of information request to the home office regarding the furnishing of flats in farnborough. and he appealed it to the information commissioner's office. and he was told, well, no, sorry, no can do. so he sent it to off journalists and he says, tell benjamin that british citizens in need are told to use second hand from charity shops. well, you know, that's the frustration of tony, who is a gb news member. thank you very much, tony. and actually , on the tony. and actually, on the question of why migrants are getting all the bells and whistles, to according one viewer, the threat like royalty compared to some british people,

which is so wrong on so many levels. and vanessa says the government must issue costs for furnishing flats if requested in order for those costs to be scrutinised to ensure cost efficiency. how are we going to ensure suppliers aren't inflating costs ? otherwise they inflating costs? otherwise they could be excessive. must be excessive if they are hiding these costs , good second hand these costs, good second hand furniture could be used whenever possible, just as most of us had to do when setting up our first homes, for example. lots of you very , very frustrated about very, very frustrated about that. and i can understand that. believe me now, folks , let me believe me now, folks, let me know. continue letting me know your thoughts on all the stories that we've been discussing. the link that you need is there on the screen. it's gbnews.com/yoursay. join the conversation or message us on conversation or message us on our conversation or message us on our socials . we're @gbnews now. our socials. we're @gbnews now. the labour party are set to introduce sweeping reforms in a new workers rights bill. this

will enable employees and said employers to sue their bosses for overworking them. the proposed legislation will grant protections from the first day on the job overhaul, employment tribunals and extend workers rights to bring claims , creating rights to bring claims, creating a potential shake up in employer employee relations . however, employee relations. however, businesses fear that this move could actually stifle job creation and increase legal challenges at a time, of course, when productivity is at. well, it's in deficit . should we not it's in deficit. should we not be working more instead of seeking to work less? well, let's see what my panel make of this. gb news contributor benjamin butterworth and the political commentator suzanne evans. political commentator suzanne evans . suzanne, i'm going to evans. suzanne, i'm going to paint a picture. we're living in a country in which the government are making it harder. you can't. and i know you're a landlord. you can't kick people out if they're unruly, right. and you can't get rid of them if

they're causing mayhem and all they're causing mayhem and all the rest of it in your flat or property. we can't if you're if you hire someone from day one and figure out that actually quite quickly, they're a bit of a lazy lout, you can't do anything about it. they'll be able to take you to the cleaners. are we not becoming a country in which it's impossible to do anything and that, frankly , to do anything and that, frankly, we're going to be an international pariah when it comes to work and productivity and making a living in this country. >> i think, you know, when it comes to the employment rights, obviously we need to have employment rights. there's no dispute about that whatsoever. and they've been strengthened up quite considerably over the past few years. the problem now, i think, is the pendulum has swung too far the other way. so employers , employees have really employers, employees have really got the got the upper hand over the people who are actually paying the people who are actually paying them to do the job. that they do. and there has to be a balance struck here. and this legislation, i think, oversteps that balance by quite considerable margin. and i think we see that by the fact that almost all business organisations have come out against it and are warning about

the damage it could do. and of course, ultimately, and in fact , course, ultimately, and in fact, the government was warned just this week that it could actually harm the very people it's supposed to hurt. because if employees have too many rights, employers simply won't hire them, particularly not when you're talking about smaller family businesses where their margins are much less, and so on.and margins are much less, and so on. and so forth. so what will happenis on. and so forth. so what will happen is that we'll find an increase in the use of temporary contracts, for instance, so people won't have job security. we'll find an increase in the use of zero hours contracts, which labour says it's going to ban. but i think that legislation is really not going to get off the ground because a lot of people have zero hours contracts and actually want to have zero hours contracts because they don't want 9 to 5 formal day in day out employment. i suppose i'm working on a zero hours contract contract being here as is, as is benjamin, i'm sure too. so i think what labour is doing is risking actually chucking the baby out with the bathwater. here they are risking by trying to strengthen employees rights . to strengthen employees rights. they're risking actually making life very difficult for employees because employers will

be much more nervous about who they hire, on what cost. and for how long and on what terms and conditions. >> so benjamin robb has written in and robb says you can't get growth without increasing productivity. that's a fact. people voted for change and growth. they should put their shoulders to the wheel and back up their convictions. >> well, i think the question is, how do you get workers to be more efficient? and the idea that the only way that people are more productive is by doing more hours sat at the desk. for most people's jobs, i think is wrong to make that assumption. you know, a lot of people will know that when they feel refreshed, when they enjoy their job, when they want to be there, they're more productive. if you look at countries like germany or switzerland or luxembourg, that have more efficient, much more efficient economies than we do, they don't have longer working hours than the average british worker. and so i think it's a mistake to think that. and one of the things that angela rayner, the deputy prime minister, had talked about ahead of the election was the idea of

workers being happy in their jobs. you know, i think as a country , we're in a situation country, we're in a situation where lots of people feel a bit miserable , feel quite run down, miserable, feel quite run down, feel like there's not the hope they want and having a better work life balance. i actually think , is a really important think, is a really important thing for a government to try and shift, because we've lost it. >> but what about what suzanne says that actually killing the flexible market for in the job market will actually hamper the economy? >> labour's policy has never actually been to ban zero hours. it's been to stop you being forced to have them. so they've never actually put anything forward that says that it won't exist at all. but i think there's some semantics means that actually you won't be able to sack someone. >> for example. >> for example. >> well, well, no. i mean, one thing that amazed me actually reading about this was that there's a suggestion you get sick pay from day one. i can't believe that everybody wasn't entitled to that. i think that's the kind of thing that most people would say is, is quite dickensian. that if you get sick that you could not get your normal pay. i think that's unfair. i think that's exploitative . but also the fact exploitative. but also the fact that you get workers rights from day one. so at the moment you

have to work somewhere two years now we know that the economy in the shape it is at the moment, people move jobs far more frequently than they used to. so you've got people that have got no protections, employers that can get rid of them on, you know, personal reasons rather than appropriate reasons, because the employee doesn't have the protections . and have the protections. and another change is that, you know, you can only now get £25,000 in some tribunal claims that could rise to £100,000, you know, £25,000 for a big business isn't much of a punishment for mistreating an employee. >> very, very briefly. >> very, very briefly. >> you know , benjamin has just >> you know, benjamin has just highlighted the problem. what employer is going to take on someone and then think, oh, it's absolutely fine , that the next absolutely fine, that the next day they go on maternity leave or on a three week holiday? >> indeed. it's i don't think anyone can go on holiday when they get a job without permission. >> they want rights. >> they want rights. >> they want rights. >> they have holiday pay. >> they have holiday pay. >> absolutely paid holiday. >> absolutely paid holiday. >> okey doke . thank you. >> okey doke. thank you. >> okey doke. thank you. >> disappear though. >> disappear though. >> thank you very much to my panel there. that's gb news contributor benjamin butterworth and political commentator suzanne evans. are you with me? darren grimes on gb news lots more coming up. the new england boss says he won't sing the

national anthem. is his career over before it started? should it be? and tomorrow marks two years since the death of our beloved, our late and great queen elizabeth the second. we'll be looking back at her remarkable legacy and a look ahead to tomorrow's events. all of that and more to come. you're with gb news, where britain's news channel

welcome back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. thank you very much for your company. now it's time for your company. now it's time for your latest sports update and top of everyone's sports box agenda. today is the new interim england manager , lee carsley, england manager, lee carsley, refusing to actually sing god save the king. aidan magee tell us more. us more. >> us more. >> well, you know what, darren? he was in a press conference

last night. he will not have seen this question coming. there's an element of rabbit in the headlights to this because he's only ever managed kind of representative teams at age group level. a brief spell in charge of brentford in amongst a few other things that are nothing like as big as the england job. the fa won't have anticipated it. so no time to brief him and say he's hit between the eyes with this question. are you going to sing the national anthem now? i think it was a briefing with the written press after the main press conference. and so it was all private. and so when the when the written press gets something to themselves, that's when they go big. it's international weekend anyway. so there's no premier league. so there's no premier league. so there is space to fill. and he said look i'm not going to sing the national anthem, not because ihave the national anthem, not because i have any disrespect towards the concept, but because it's not part of my ritual. when he played for republic of ireland, don't forget he won 40 caps and played in the world cup for the repubuc played in the world cup for the republic of ireland, albeit the fact that he's from despite the fact that he's from despite the fact that he's from despite the fact that he's from birmingham, he he never sang the national anthem then, so i don't really see the fuss. and as i've said a couple of times this morning already, i know you'll probably disagree if england get if

england get results, no one's going to worry about this, darren. this will disappear in a puff of smoke. >> do you know what even though. aiden, when i watch england matches and some of the players don't sing the national. >> well, that's what i said. that's what i said this morning. inoficed that's what i said this morning. i noticed several players in the summer during the euros. not singing it. they may not know the words. >> darren, i notice it that, well, they should know the words, but i notice it. other people will definitely be noticing that when. >> john, you're probably too young to remember john >> john, you're probably too young to rememberjohn redwood when he was welsh secretary, not knowing what the welsh national anthem. well, yes . anthem. well, yes. >> i mean, i don't know what the welsh national anthem is. i couldn't sing it. but, you know, i'm not playing for the welsh national team. >> no, listen, listen. but darren, i think listen, i don't think it's important in terms of how he does the job, but this is a line in the sand. now the fa are going to be briefing all their staff and all their personnel. if you're in public, you say you sing the national anthem. it will seem a bit draconian to some of the players apart from anything else, some of the players might be more republican minded. to be honest with you, the ones i've met are not particularly political, politically motivated at all. they go along with most of the politics that comes out of the fa to be political, to sing the national anthem. >> it's unifying what unites us

all. >> a lot of people would dispute that. somebody contacted me this morning, a guy called steve adams, who's a gentleman who watches the show, and he said, if the he said he's an avid gb news viewer, but he said that sometimes that the anthem isn't as inclusive as it could be. a lot of people aren't necessarily republican. they're not necessarily aren't necessarily monarchists. maybe the anthem should be changed to something like jerusalem. what do you think about that? >> no, no. >> no, no. >> can we open the channel to the national anthem? we open this channel to the national. >> i know we do. yeah i know aiden, can i ask you about heartbreak for poor jack draper? >> he was doing ever so well, wasn't he? >> he was. i mean, he was very close to the first two sets. i watched it myself last night. i had very high hopes. although he was up against jannik sinner world number one australian open champion, of course, and i mean, he's been involved in a drug drug doping scandal at the beginning. he was cleared , he beginning. he was cleared, he was cleared of it, but there's still a bit of a cloud over his head. he's not popular because of that. although we should stress there's no there's no evidence of any wrongdoing at this stage. so jack draper, look, he hadn't lost a set leading up to this semi—final. i don't think it was a case of him playing within himself. that's what usually happens when an unheralded player gets to that

level. it was actually the opposite. he was trying shots which are not going to work against the world. number one, he couldn't find the gaps. he was also had the problems with the with the sickness. i think that was more to do with taking too much fluid on board. i'm not sure he was genuinely ill, but he was vomiting several times. the umpire eventually had to step in. also, sinner sinner actually got involved in it and said, look, you know, it's pretty disgusting. i've got to stand up there in 2 or 3 minutes time and i'm standing in vomit now. he was cleaning up with the towel, but the umpire had to get the area treated. so it's all a bit disgusting to talk about, but it does have to be mentioned, we should say. but you know what? when we look back on the tournament itself in its entirety, he has performed magnificently and we hope he's going to be around for a while to come. >> well, just briefly emma raducanu and of course, jack draper, all of both of them actually in line for really big sponsorship deals. do you think there's too much pressure on these very young people to actually perform like this at something like the us. open part of the game? >> it's part of the game. that's that's the deal you make with the devil if you want to get if i had the bank balance, you know what i mean, though, you know, i know, but that's that's part of that's part and parcel of being

an elite elite. anything pop singer, artist, an elite elite. anything pop singer, artist , footballer, singer, artist, footballer, anything like that. you've got to suffer the pressure, the scrutiny. and when you, when you surpass that and you achieve the big rewards, that's when the sponsorship happens . sponsorship happens. >> because emma you know, she's she's not. >> that's a different that. no that's a different issue. i think she's been mismanaged over the last three years. there's been injuries. i also don't think that i think she's gone through probably 6 or 7 coaches since then. that can't be right . since then. that can't be right. if that was a football club going through that many managers in that time, we'd say they're they're a basket case, wouldn't we? >> definitely would. aidan magee thank you very much. >> all the best, darren. >> all the best, darren. >> cheers for that analysis. you're with me, darren grimes on gb news my friends. lots more coming up on today's show. so don't go anywhere . well there's don't go anywhere. well there's loads to talk about in this next houn loads to talk about in this next hour. i'll tell you that. and we've got a new panel. find out who that is. first of all we're going to get a look at the weather with greg dewhurst . weather with greg dewhurst. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar. sponsors of weather on gb news .

news. >> hello there. welcome to your latest gb news weather forecast from the met office. it's turning increasingly unsettled yet again across england and wales. some heavy showers, some thunderstorms developing and just turning a little chillier as well. low pressure in charge of our weather at the moment. bringing this unsettled weather right through saturday evening. overnight into sunday as well. and that showery rain is also affecting coastal areas already this evening. but as we head into the early hours, it becomes more widespread across england and wales and pushes northwards. torrential downpours possible. a met office warning for heavy rain but dry across parts of northern ireland and northern and western scotland. some clear spells here. overnight temperatures 1415 celsius under the cloud and heavy rain around 16 or 17. so a muggy start to sunday, but some torrential downpours across england and wales. first thing there could be some disruption. a quieter start to sunday across scotland. some low cloud though , mist and some low cloud though, mist and murk across the north and east. some drizzle in there too. best

of the sunshine across central and western areas. quite a cloudy start for northern ireland. too thick enough for some drizzle, but it is across england and wales where we've got heavy rain and thunderstorms. some potential disruption first thing and some brightness across parts of east anglia and the south east. but here, as .we go throug h the day, here, as .we go through the day, we'll see some thunderstorms developing, some longer spells of rain possible for parts of wales, the west country, as well. so do stay tuned to the forecast as we go through the next 24 hours. as there could be some disruption generally staying dry for northern ireland and scotland. temperatures here cooler than recent days 1718 celsius. best of the sunshine 22 or 23 celsius towards the east and southeast and then through into the evening time. those thunderstorms continue. they do also produce some heavy rain across southern and eastern parts of scotland. as we end the day generally staying dry for northern ireland, the outlook is for it to generally remain unsettled, but turning unseasonably cooler as we get towards the middle of next week looks like things are heating up

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>> well . >> well. >> well. >> good afternoon. it's 1:00 >> well. >> good afternoon. it's1:00 on saturday the 7th of september and this is the weekend on gb news now. rumours circulate that prison overcrowding could lead to convicts being sent to serve their sentences in estonia. number 10 have denied the plans. but with prisons set to burst. what on earth will happen with our jails in the what on earth will happen with ourjails in the coming months? the home office refused to disclose the cost of furnishing its seeker flats over concerns the information is too sensitive, as the illegal migration crisis rages on. don't we have a right, my friends , to we have a right, my friends, to know how our cash is being spent? and as the government

reportedly scrapped plans to give nuanced education on the british empire, is this another case of the politicisation of our classrooms? and tomorrow, it marks two years since the death of our beloved late and great her majesty, queen elizabeth the second. we'll be looking back at her remarkable legacy and a look ahead to tomorrow's memorial events. i'm darren grimes and this is the weekend . this is the weekend. now, i do hope you know by now that this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. you're a rowdy bunch in there right now. i'll tell you and join the conversation. they're now keeping me company this hour is

the leader of the heritage party , the leader of the heritage party, david curtin, and the former labour party adviser scarlett mccgwire. but before we get stuck in to today's stories, here's the news with sophie reaper. reapen >> thank you darren. now it's time for your latest gb news headlines. police searching for a british man in majorca in the same area where a british woman was found dead earlier this week , was found dead earlier this week, have found a body the spanish civil guard have said they believe the pair had been swept away in a flash flood after a storm hit the mediterranean island on tuesday. emergency services have been searching the area near the tramuntana mountains since wednesday. a woman in her 60s and her dog have both died following a collision with a taxi while out walking in kent. officers attended the scene last night along with south east coast ambulance service, but the woman and her dog sadly died at the

scene this afternoon. prime minister sir keir starmer is meeting with his irish counterpart simon harris, as part of a commitment to reset relations between the uk and ireland. in the last few moments, the pm met with mr harris and the two will now sit down with business leaders from across the country. it's expected that trade across the irish sea will be top of the agenda. with that relationship worth an estimated ,100 billion every year, as well as supporting thousands of jobs. every year, as well as supporting thousands of jobs . a supporting thousands of jobs. a source for the royal family has said that the king's health is improving, stating that it's heading in a very positive trajectory. britain's monarch was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and has since been undergoing treatment. queen camilla seems to have confirmed the news of his improvements earlier this week , whilst earlier this week, whilst opening a new cancer centre in bath. she commented that the king was doing very well . a king was doing very well. a royal navy serviceman who was killed when a helicopter made a deliberate emergency landing over the channel on wednesday,

has been named as lieutenant rhodn has been named as lieutenant rhodri leyshon. three people were on board the merlin mk4 dunng were on board the merlin mk4 during a night exercise when it ditched off the dorset coastline, killing the 31 year old. a statement from rodger's family described him as talented, passionate, strong and loyal. it said we will always have him in our hearts. our wonderful boy . the snp has wonderful boy. the snp has called on the prime minister to u—turn on plans to cut winter fuel payments. research has shown that close to a million pensioners in scotland received the payments between 2022 and 2023, but under new plans by the labour government, 87% of those would lose that financial support. more heavy rain is expected across the uk today, with many still at the risk of flooding, the met office has said a new band of heavy and thundery rain will arrive on the south coast today and will make its way north overnight. britains jack draper has crashed out of the us open after being

sick four times during his semi—final. the british number one had hoped to emulate the likes of andy murray and emma raducanu by taking the title, but was ultimately beaten by jannik sinner draper cited issues with anxiety as the reason for his exit from the competition, describing it as the worst feeling ever had chances here and there, and i didn't take them . didn't take them. >> and obviously when you play the best players in the world, you need to do that. and yeah, i obviously wasn't wasn't feeling my best and struggled. at certain certain periods of the match, especially towards the end. but you know, yannick, yannick beat me fair and square. he was he was too strong for me today. >> later on today, england will take on ireland in the uefa nafions take on ireland in the uefa nations league. this will be the first test for england's interim manager, lee carsley , following manager, lee carsley, following gareth southgate stepping down after defeat in the euros final this summer. carsley has faced criticism after he said he will not sing the national anthem tonight, although the former ireland player says he is

respectful of the concept. elsewhere in the competition. wales faced a goalless draw last night against turkey and on thursday night scotland lost three two to poland and northern ireland beat luxembourg two nil and some positive news. it's been another brilliant day for team gb so far at the paralympics. we started the morning on 100 medals and that number has now grown. once again, with a further three golds, two silver and a bronze for the british team, including a win for finley graham in the men's c1 three road race. those are your latest gb news headunes are your latest gb news headlines for now. i'm sophie reaper more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> thank you very much to the brilliant sophie there. let's get stuck into today's topics. in the last few moments, prime

minister sir keir starmer arrived at family house in dubun arrived at family house in dublin for meetings with the taoiseach, simon harris. he was greeted on arrival at the irish government's formal reception house, with trade across the irish sea expected to be top of the agenda, with what the relationship is worth. an estimated ,100 billion every single year. as well as supporting thousands of jobs. now the meetings take place ahead of tonight's republic of ireland versus england. kick off at 5 pm. this evening. we'll bnng at 5 pm. this evening. we'll bring you more as it happens . bring you more as it happens. but estonia's justice minister has confirmed that her country is considering housing british criminals in one of its jails after holding talks with the uk's justice secretary, shabana mahmood. this comes as it was revealed that the prison population in england and wales has reached a record high, and in a further attempt to help

reduce prison crowding , sir keir reduce prison crowding, sir keir starmer is reportedly planning to free domestic abusers as part of the government's early release scheme. these include one man who was jailed after strangling his partner and breaking her jaw. now it must be breaking herjaw. now it must be said that sir keir starmer has distanced himself from a deal with estonia with his spokesperson saying the government is making no such plans or announcements in relation to estonian prison places. let's discuss this further with the former labour advisor scarlett mccgwire and the leader of the heritage party, david curtin. david, i'll start with you. i mean, a politician's promise doesn't count for much these days, does it? more u—turns and. well, goodness only knows what. but too many u—turns and you quickly end up in the u—bend. is this one of them? do you think we'll. we will see prisoners. british prisoners go to estonia. and if they do, david, how much of a farce is that given we can't send them to rwanda? >> well, it's interesting the language that is being used

there that they have no plans to do something. >> and when a politician , >> and when a politician, especially one in the government, says we got no plans to do something, you can be sure as chips, and that is going to happenin as chips, and that is going to happen in the next few weeks or few months. so i think that they are seriously considering this. actually, they may be denying it at the moment, but i think they're beta testing the idea to see what reaction comes back from the media, from the public, and so on towards this. and, you know, it's absolutely wrong to send british citizens to estonia. i mean , they should estonia. i mean, they should stay in this country. and clearly there is a problem with prison overcrowding. but he's going about everything in completely the wrong way, releasing people who are guilty of very, very serious, violent assaults. i mean, we have there in the introduction some people who have been in prison for domestic abuse. but, i mean, that hides the fact that they are have assaulted their partners and family members absolutely dreadfully and are going to be out of prison within a year or two, so it's completely wrong to do that .

completely wrong to do that. they should be kept in prison. they should be kept in prison. they should be kept in prison here in this country. one caveat i would say to that, though. i don't have a problem with deporting foreign prisoners. so if these are foreign nationals and there are 10,000 foreign nationals in our prisons at the moment, you could deport all of them. that would free up space for the people you need to put in prison in this country. and if they are foreign nationals who are at risk of returning to the country, i've got no problem with them being sent to estonia. you know, some of them will be closer to the home. you know, if they're from eastern europe or they're from eastern europe or the middle east anyway. so that would be the only reason i would say that this, this idea is a go. otherwise it's completely the wrong thing to do. >> scarlett , has david got a >> scarlett, has david got a point then that actually we could free up some space within the prison population if all the foreign nationals who are in prison. i mean, i mean , there prison. i mean, i mean, there certainly is a problem about about foreign nationals because actually, as soon as they're released from prison, they're

deported, >> and so one can say, i mean, what we don't know is what's really going on. so we know we know for absolutely certain that this week , again, the prison this week, again, the prison population hit record numbers. >> we also know that because of the riots that people are being jailed an awful lot at the moment. and although, possibly for other crimes outside the riots , magistrates are going to riots, magistrates are going to think, do i really send this person to prison? there will be more rioters sent. so there is a very serious problem that we do have to do something. and i can understand why, you know, one is one is looking at all sorts of ways to try to try and square a very, very difficult circle. i don't know what's going on. i mean, i think that that number 10, as i say, i mean, i think that probably, you know, that's what that's what's happening is

what that's what's happening is what do we do? i think as far as the domestic abusers, i think there's a, there's a for most. so if you have been accused of a violent sentence that is more than four years, you're not going to be let out early. and the problem is that and i have always been shocked by this, is, is that domestic abuse , which is is that domestic abuse, which is just being violent, being violent and often trying to kill your wife or your girlfriend or partner is normally your husband, normally done by men, but sometimes it's women as well. >> yeah, yeah. >> yeah, yeah. >> but what i'm saying is , is, >> but what i'm saying is, is, is that domestic abuse has always been given lower sentences than if it was a normal violent crime. i mean, i remember being really shocked by some woman whose brother killed his wife 17 times. he stabbed her. his wife 17 times. he stabbed hen he his wife 17 times. he stabbed her. he was done for manslaughter and given 17 months. >> good lord. i mean, what would you say then to people that

argue that there are, so—called champions against domestic violence and the abuse of women, for example, like jess phillips, who was a junior government minister in the home office, and they're saying, actually, there's rank hypocrisy there if we're letting out these people whilst we've got a government minister saying that this government's going to be on the side of the victims. >> yeah. i mean, the problem is , >> yeah. i mean, the problem is, is that if you get given a sentence of less than four years, right, you do get let out early. exactly. and what and that's been going on for many decades. >> no merit to that argument. >> no merit to that argument. >> jess phillips and others are so, so that's always been true. >> this isn't so what this government is saying is instead of letting them out after 50% half of their sentence, we're going to let them out after 40. 40%. and and what they've done is so if you've done if you've been done for stalking, if you've been done for coercive control, you're not allowed out early, right . and obviously early, right. and obviously what's got to happen is they've got to review every sentence and

actually if you've been done for domestic abuse, you shouldn't be let out early. >> david, one of our viewers, stephen, says , so were housing stephen, says, so were housing migrant prisoners in the uk and were sending british prisoners to estonia. the optics look absolutely insane. >> yeah, i mean, this is an idea that's been floated at the moment, as i say, confirmed, i do. i don't mind if they send foreign prisoners to estonia, but they shouldn't be british citizens. absolutely not. but you know , there's another issue you know, there's another issue here is in the, aftermath of what i would say are the protests. and some of them did turn violent. i mean, these are protests that happened over the last couple of months after the murder of three girls in southport. we need to remember that this is what people were protesting about, and some people have been put in remand and have been given long prison sentences just for things they wrote on social media, which wouldn't happen in any other context in any other time. it seems that we seriously do have a two tiered justice system in this country. at the moment,

where we're letting out people who are in prison for violent crimes, assaulting their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, whatever. but then we're putting people in prison for some post on x. this is wrong and it's absolutely crazy. you know, in inverted that we're doing that. >> it has david got a point there scarlett, because the former justice secretary, the former justice secretary, the former conservative justice secretary alex chalk, has said this morning that the justice system should not be locking up everyone that we're cross with as longer custodial sentences are very expensive for the taxpayer. the prison population, of course, as you mentioned , of course, as you mentioned, 88,521 people on friday and it's risen by more than a thousand over the past four weeks. and as david said, that's in large part due to the what occurred during the riots. now, not all of them were violent, of course. some of them banged up for flying flags outside of mosques or for writing something on social media. >> okay. i mean , i heard the >> okay. i mean, i heard the interview with with alex chalk and he really wasn't talking

about that. what he was saying is that we've got to which is a completely different argument. we've got to sort out that we don't get cross and send somebody to prison, that actually people who are being sent to prison, they're being sent to prison, they're being sent to prison, they're being sent to protect the community. and there are people in prison who, who , who, who, who probably who, who, who, who, who probably shouldn't be there , i mean, as shouldn't be there, i mean, as far as as far as the riots go, most of the prison sentences were being given . i mean, i were being given. i mean, i mean, it was we do have to remember how shocking it was. and we have to think about those people, you know, those those people, you know, those those people in the mosques who thought they were going to be killed. and what it was like. and, and it's incitement to violence, which is a crime , violence, which is a crime, right? incitement to violence is a crime. >> flying a flag is incitement to violence. >> no. i was talking about what was i don't know, the particular case you're talking about. i mean, but but can we remember

it's really, really important that we have an independent judicial system that is not part of the government and that is very, very important. and they decide whether somebody is innocent or guilty and the sentence and it is not politicians who say this. >> i think there was an element of politicisation of all of that, to be honest with you, david, i really do. it was. yeah. >> keir starmer specifically said, if you've been involved in this, we are coming to get you. you will be held on remand. i mean, who is the home office posted on x saying these criminals and that was before that. >> you're supposed to we're supposed to be a country that believed in and championed , believed in and championed, innocent until proven otherwise. these people hadn't been through the court system yet. >> that drives the coach and horses through the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, doesn't it? which is completely wrong. and the politicians here in the labour government, the starmer regime, as i call them, have done that. you know, yesterday a chap was sent to prison for 27 months for throwing a bicycle at a door of

an asylum centre. okay. so he acted in frustration. that was wrong, but he didn't hurt anybody and he walked away straight away. the footage of thatis straight away. the footage of that is everywhere you can find it 27 months for, you know, just something which didn't hurt anybody and it didn't cause any damage . oh, ridiculous. damage. oh, ridiculous. >> david, thank you very much. in scarlet. thank you very much. we'll be coming to the panel shortly. now, for all the best analysis and opinion on that, go to our website. we're @gbnews .com. you're with me darren grimes on gb news. thank you for your company. lots more coming up.the your company. lots more coming up. the home office refused to disclose the cost of furnishing asylum seeker flats over concerns the information is too sensitive as the illegal migration crisis rages on. don't we have a right to know how our cash is being spent and as the government reportedly scrap plans to give nuanced education on the british empire, is this another case of the politicisation of our classrooms and our children? all of that and our children? all of that and more to come . you're with gb and more to come. you're with gb news, where britain's news channel

welcome back to the weekend with me darren grimes. now on screen. now you can see prime minister sir keir starmer with the irish taoiseach simon harris meeting to reset the relationship between the united kingdom and of course, a very close , literally neighbour. the close, literally neighbour. the repubuc close, literally neighbour. the republic of ireland. they're missing their meeting to discuss trade. they're meeting to discuss. well sir keir starmer's plans. he wants a reset of our relationship with the european union . it has to be embedded in union. it has to be embedded in things like peace, yeah. we can hear a little bit of what's been said there, and i'm really looking forward to having an opportunity. now, of course, ireland has its own issues right now. our voices are a little bit too quiet for you to hear at home, but they're talking about

issues around migration and ireland has its own issues. the taoiseach is under a lot of pressure actually due to ireland's own significant issues with illegal migration on the emerald isle there as well. so much to discuss with sir keir starmer. we'll bring in the panel on this. starmer. we'll bring in the panel on this . scarlett mccgwire panel on this. scarlett mccgwire joins me, former labour party adviser, and the leader of the heritage party, david kirton . heritage party, david kirton. scarlett. i mean, this reset with the european union. ireland is going to be pretty important in that discussion, isn't he. >> yeah. i mean, the main thing that they're doing, i mean obviously key is using it as an excuse to go and watch the football because we all know that he's a complete fanatic, but the main the thing about these talks, what's really, really important is trade . and, really important is trade. and, as you say, they're our closest neighbour, i mean, in fact, i mean, they border part of britain and, and it's been very complicated , under the last complicated, under the last government, the, the then

taoiseach, head of ireland, brought up what's called the windsor framework to try and get something to work. i mean, always with brexit, the most complicated bit has been northern ireland because nobody wants a hard border. so we effectively have a border in the irish sea. although, as rishi sunak said, the people in northern ireland are getting the best of both worlds because they have they're both in the eu and out of it, but that's what, that's what, that's what keir starmer is going to be trying to do is, is he's going to be trying to work out how to get trade flowing. >> have you as my first guest at chequers on the eve of the blenheim summit, that we had the summit there, and, you know, it's a pleasure to be here, to have this opportunity which we will to take renew the friendship between our countries that reset, i think, can be meaningful. it can be deep, of course, it covers the relationship between our two countries, obviously it has to

cover the good friday agreement, and i take very seriously our joint role in relation to that. and i've been very clear about that for many, many years and renew that commitment here today. and the wider eu reset, but of course, at the same time there are international issues which are pressing the situation in ukraine. you've just come back from your visit, i went there last year , and the next there last year, and the next few weeks and months are going to be crucial as they are in the middle east and we have to be clear in the face of russian aggression, we have to stand together to coordinate, stand with our allies and give ukraine all of the support that it needs for as long as it needs in relation to the middle east, we need a ceasefire, so that the hostages, remaining hostages can come out so that desperately needed aid can get in to gaza and that we can step down the path towards a two state

settlement, which in my view, is the only lasting settlement, that will bring about lasting peace. but to have this opportunity so early on, i'm only behind you, but i'm still only behind you, but i'm still only eight going on nine weeks into office. and i think for us to be having our second meeting at this level in those few weeks shows a real intention on both our parts to reset this relationship, renew this relationship, renew this relationship, deepen it, and that will be of great benefit to ireland and great benefit to the united kingdom. so thank you very much for finding the time and hosting me with such a welcome here today. >> thank you so much. you're very welcome. >> well, it's nice to see keir starmer at work after 5:00 on a friday isn't it. he said he'd be taking a weekend off. well, i guess he is actually. he's watching the footy but i think we've got some shots of them actually holding up some. an england shirt and a shirt of the repubuc england shirt and a shirt of the republic of ireland. we'll get those shots up for you in a

second. but those pictures there, he is clearly determined to actually reset our relationship with the eu. david, i'm a bit worried and sceptical about what that means, to be perfectly frank. but i think it's obvious to anyone that followed the brexit negotiations that you have to have the full support and backing of the european council that includes all of the members of the eu. so he's trying to pick them off piece by piece. that didn't work for boris johnson. >> no, i mean, the best thing for ireland, to be honest, is that they come out of the european union as well and enters into a customs agreement, a customs arrangement with the uk and we could trade with each other. we already have a common travel area , we could have a travel area, we could have a common customs area and that would benefit them. they went into the eu, i think, badly at the same time as we did in 1972, and they should come out with us as well, because that would benefit their economy, that would benefit trade between the uk and the republic of ireland,

and then that would sort out all of the issues to do with northern ireland as well. so that was the shirts there. >> you had a starmer and you had a harris shirt for the irish premier, and of course the prime minister of the united kingdom. there it is . they've swapped there it is. they've swapped shirts in that emerald green there. and of course the england shirt. well yeah. cheers keir. now predictions. predictions scarlet you're a big footie fan. >> i'm not really but i do think england's going to win. >> i would say two nil. >> i would say two nil. >> all right. okay. >> all right. okay. >> well i mean that's what you want. you want a prediction? i can ican want. you want a prediction? i can i can be wrong. >> mystic meg, mystic meg. scarlett mccgwire wrong. >> i'll go for some more excitement. i'll save more goals. let's let's have for tea. >> i think they stand a pretty good chance. i really, really do. >> oh, look, i think the england football team is, is really , football team is, is really, really excellent. not as good, unfortunately, as the spanish one but better than the irish on the on the point of what we've

been discussing there and the i mentioned earlier that the repubuc mentioned earlier that the republic of ireland , david, very republic of ireland, david, very much have their own migration issues as well . issues as well. >> and it's chip chapman away there at the support for the likes of sinn fein and the, the main political parties now , do main political parties now, do you think that that's an issue that they'll be discussing there? and i wonder if ireland might well be saying, well, the germans think rwanda was onto something maybe. >> i mean, there's a massive issue, as you say, with migration into ireland. they've got huge problems with crime rising across the country and villages being overwhelmed with migrants coming into camps. the government's building, and this is a problem for the parties that are in power and have been in power. you know, fianna fail, fine gael, sinn fein, as you say, they're losing support because people realise that sinn fein is just as globalist, just as into mass migration as the other two parties that have been in power. and i think a lot of people are switching to other parties now, like the irish

freedom party, run by herman kelly, who is against mass migration, and also for coming out of the eu as well. so i think that is something to look forward in future. >> yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch actually, because, you know, maybe we've got a bit more in common than, than perhaps some of us thought dunng than perhaps some of us thought during the brexit negotiations. >> well, i think we've always had an awful lot in common with ireland. i mean, i talk as somebody who's, you know, family comes from, well, my somebody who's, you know, family comes from, well , my ancestors comes from, well, my ancestors do too, funnily enough. >> anyway. scarlet, thank you very much for that. and david curtin, thank you as well. are you with me, darren grimes on gb news lots more coming up on the show. first of all though, here's the news with the brilliant sophie reaper. >> thank you darren. now it's time for your gb news headlines. in the last few minutes, sir keir starmer has arrived to meet with his irish counterpart, simon harris, as part of a commitment to reset relations between the uk and ireland. the pair are in dublin this

afternoon and will now sit down with business leaders from across the country. it's expected that trade across the irish sea will be top of the agenda, with that relationship worth an estimated ,100 billion every year, as well as supporting thousands of jobs. police are searching for a british man in majorca, in the same area where a british woman was found dead earlier this week, have found a body. the spanish civil guard have said they believe the pair had been swept away in a flash flood after a storm hit the mediterranean island on tuesday. emergency services have been searching the area nearby since wednesday after they rescued ten hikers and recovered the body of a 26 year old woman. a woman in her 60s and her dog have both died following a collision with a taxi whilst out walking in kent. officers attended the scene last night along with south east coast ambulance service. but the woman and her dog sadly died at the scene. a

royal navy serviceman who was killed when a helicopter made a deliberate emergency landing over the channel on wednesday, has been named as lieutenant rhodn has been named as lieutenant rhodri leyshon. three people were on board the merlin mk4 dunng were on board the merlin mk4 during a night exercise when it ditched off the dorset coastline, killing the 31 year old. a statement from rhodri's family described him as talented , family described him as talented, passionate, strong and loyal. it said we will always have him in our hearts. our wonderful boy. and later today england will take on ireland in the uefa nafions take on ireland in the uefa nations league . this will be the nations league. this will be the first test for england's interim manager, lee carsley, following gareth southgate stepping down after defeat in the euros final this summer. carsley has faced criticism after he said he will not sing the national anthem tonight, although the former ireland player says he is respectful of the concept. elsewhere in the competition, wales faced a goalless draw last night against turkey and on thursday night scotland suffered defeats three two to poland and northern ireland beat luxembourg two nil. and finally it's been

another fabulous day for team gb at the paralympics. we started the morning on 100 medals and that number has now grown once again, with a further three golds, two silvers and a bronze for the british team, including a win for finley graham in the men's c1 three road race. those are your latest gb news headunes are your latest gb news headlines for now, i'm sophie reapen headlines for now, i'm sophie reaper. it's back to darren for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward alerts

>> welcome back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. thank you for your company. now the home office is facing criticism for refusing to disclose the cost of furnishing flats for asylum seekers. they've cited safety concerns and sensitivity

around the issue. the information commissioner ruled in favour of keeping these costs secret, arguing that revealing them could put asylum seekers at risk of protests and harm. critics, including reform uk mp lee anderson, argue that taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. so asking that very question do we have a right to know how our money is being spent? well, joining me now is the businessman and former brexit party mep ben habib. ben, thank you very much for your company. always a pleasure. where are you at on that question? a lot of our viewers are saying, hang on a minute, this, this. we need to be able to scrutinise this, to see just how much this is costing the taxpayer . costing the taxpayer. >> yeah. so you were talking earlier, darren. i've been listening for a while, and i have to say, it's quite depressing listening to some of the stuff you've been discussing because your heart just sinks, your stomach stinks, sinks with

a wreck, a sort of resignation to our government's inability to stand up for what's right for this country, and this refusal to hand over perfectly legitimate information to the british taxpayer about how their money is being spent is yet another example of how our government stands in opposition to us, it's not just about the info, by the way. we know that the info is going to be embarrassing for the government because otherwise they would have released it. we know it's going to reveal that lots of money has been spent on fitting out flats for illegal migrants who've come, come to this country. we know that already, and their refusal to disclose it just confirms it. >> yeah . and ben, i wonder then >> yeah. and ben, i wonder then as well, because we had the with tom roberts, the aspiring royal marine, who was murdered, and there's going to be no inquiry into his death. and the failures of the state as far as asylum and migration is concerned with someone who pretended to be an afghan child. now can you see

why our viewers are getting really frustrated and saying, this sounds far more than like, cover up than it does conspiracy ? cover up than it does conspiracy? >> yeah, well, as i said, you know, both my heart and my stomach sink every time i hear how our government is governing us, how it promotes the interests of people who've entered this country illegally , entered this country illegally, over and above and to the detriment of the british people, to the point where it's so embarrassed about the information on money. it's spending on people who have no right to be in this country, that it appeals to the information commissioner to quash freedom of information. we already . have the quashing of already. have the quashing of freedom of speech coming through the various social media channels. now they're just not going to tell us what they're doing with our money, because they know that we're going to be furious about it. and i mean, the whole thing is just infuriating. and you saw keir starmer trying to reset the relationship with the head of, of, of the republic of ireland. well, what reset? what further

concession can we make to the repubuc concession can we make to the republic of ireland? we've handed over northern ireland because they insisted there'd be a resumption of violence by the ira if we didn't do so. a threat of terrorism from the republic of terrorism from the republic of ireland under leo varadkar. we hand over northern ireland, people coming to the shores illegally have no right to be here. but ahead of the queue for, homeless people in the united kingdom, homeless veterans in the united kingdom, people who have been waiting for ages to get into social housing, given to these illegal migrants are given four star hotels fitted out at vast costs into flats. when i was standing in wellingborough, you may recall, darren, i don't know if you saw the story that there was an elderly couple who received a letter. they brought it to my attention saying the council was going to repossess their home so they could settle . migrants they could settle. migrants who've come to this country largely single young men from nonh largely single young men from north africa. i mean, you just can't make this up. and this is

a british government standing, in my view, in opposition to the interests of this nation to and the interests of the people of this nation. and that's why i've been saying for a while now that keir starmer is anti—british, and you see that in every step he takes, that information is legitimately our information. it should be in the public domain. if they're embarrassed about it, it makes it doubly important that it's in the public domain. we need to know what they're doing. >> yeah, well , ben, doing. >> yeah, well, ben, i couldn't agree. and i'm sure many of our viewers think that, you know, you're in agreement, like a nest of singing birds. but, ben habib, thank you very much. as ever. habib, thank you very much. as ever . now, folks, the labour ever. now, folks, the labour government has been accused of shelving a new history curriculum that would have helped schools teach children a more nuanced history of the british empire and slavery. a review of the modern history curriculum was commenced by the last government , after curriculum was commenced by the last government, after warnings that schools were coming under

pressure to wears that watchword decolonise the curriculum. but after labour won the election in july, they informed members of the review panel that their work would not be taken forward. are you surprised? well, joining me now is the historian and senior fellow at the new culture forum , fellow at the new culture forum, rafe heydel—mankoo rafe. thank you very much for your time. oh, rafe , where do i start with rafe, where do i start with this? i just want to pull my hair out. >> this is so outrageous. you know, i mean, every day now it seems as if labour is sort of tightening its ideological grip on on the country and on all of us. you know, we've had the chilling attacks on free speech and on legitimate criticism . we and on legitimate criticism. we had that outrageous striking down of the higher education free speech act, which was going to guarantee academic freedom at universities . and this is just universities. and this is just as sinister, you know, because it's now turned its eyes on our schools and si king to politicise the classroom by refusing to teach british history in a fair and balanced

way . and i'm just sort of way. and i'm just sort of despairing. this is only two months into a labour government. god only knows what's ahead for the next five years. look, history is not black and white. it's nuanced. and i've been writing and lecturing for years that we need to teach the full, the fair, and the balanced history of our nation. that means teaching the bad about the british empire, of course, but also the good about the british empire. that means teaching, of course, the horrors of slavery, but also teaching people that actually slavery was universal. the british came very late to it , the british came very late to it, and britain and the west were unique in the abolition of the slave trade. and none of that, of course, is now going to be taught to our children, it seems. i mean, it's utter madness. why you have to ask yourselves, why would you not want your children to actually be taught the full story here? you know , when is when is more you know, when is when is more information, you know, worse than having less information? i think what we can really see here now from all of these

things we've seen over the last two months, is that labour is hell bent on prioritising prioritising ideology over truth in our schools. and i think that should worry every parent. it should worry every parent. it should worry every parent. it should worry anyone who's actually, you know, i don't know, decent in this society because essentially what they're doing is they're trying to indoctrinate our children and we need to call it out for what it is. it's ideological subversion. >> and rafe. i mean, you could argue, couldn't you, that actually this is responsible for the fact that we've seen the pride in this country actually go down. and it is primarily young people. so we're creating a new generation of young people that don't have pride in what britain's done and what britain's done and what britain's done. i think is pretty damn marvellous. but rafe we'll leave it there. thank you very much for your time. i do appreciate it as ever. now we're going to discuss this with the former labour advisor, scarlett mccgwire and leader of the heritage party , david kirton. heritage party, david kirton. scarlett, brief comment from you if you would. >> this is this is complete and utter rubbish , right? what is utter rubbish, right? what is happening is that there's going

to be a review of the curriculum, the whole curriculum by the department of education , by the department of education, because actually what bridget phillipson, who's the education secretary, said in the manifesto is she wants to change the curriculum because at the moment the curriculum is far too academic. right. and it leaves out drama. quite a lot of sport, music and the arts and, and so what they're doing is, is, is they're putting all of this into a bebe. there is absolutely no question about having some ideology, if anything, what she wants is for schools to be able to teach what they want, rather than for governments to tell them, to tell them to tell them what they do. i mean, and that's what's happening. and all of this, this is, this is just kemi badenoch wanting to be leader of the conservative party, saying my ideas been ditched. isn't this terrible? >> david, a very brief comment from you, if you would. i mean , from you, if you would. i mean, there's a reason why schools haven't been left to do it

themselves, because actually there are a lot of activists within the education sector. >> and this is very , very >> and this is very, very damaging. i was a teacher for a long time before i got into politics, but i wasn't an activist. i was just teaching science. but there are a lot of activists, particularly in subjects like history and they want to get in to teach children that britain is bad. they want to, break the transmission of positive. you know, feelings towards our own country, towards transmission of values between parents and children and teach the everything about the past in britain was bad. there's slavery, slavery, slavery and like you said, not teach children that actually, britain was the first large country to stop and abolish slavery. look, children need to learn this as well. >> let's not attack teachers, right? no, right. >> let's attack the labour government. good idea. and this is coming from them. >> more , right? >> more, right? >> more, right? >> the labour government is trying to help teachers to teach. but this is part of a review. this has got nothing to do with ideology . this is about

do with ideology. this is about reviewing the curriculum. >> no, no, the labour is ideological and teachers are ideological. >> we need to get rid and on with that. >> we could go on and on with that. but scarlett and david, they thank you very much to my panel , they thank you very much to my panel, leader of the they thank you very much to my panel , leader of the heritage panel, leader of the heritage party. of course, david is. and the former labour adviser scarlett mccgwire there. you're with me, darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up on the show as we approach the second anniversary of the death of our late and great her majesty queen elizabeth ii . we will be elizabeth ii. we will be discussing her majesty's legacy , discussing her majesty's legacy, as well as what actor sir ian mckellen had to say about her. rudein mckellen had to say about her. rude in my opinion. all of that and more to come. you're with gb news, britain's news

welcome back to the weekend with me , darren grimes. now, tomorrow me, darren grimes. now, tomorrow will mark the second anniversary of the death of our late and great her majesty queen

elizabeth ii , who passed away elizabeth ii, who passed away aged 96 after 70 years on the throne. it was a great testament to her popularity that 4 billion people tuned in to watch her state funeral, and members of the public queued for over 12 hours. you remember those queues to see her lying in state. but how should we view her legacy two years on from her death ? and two years on from her death? and how will we as a nation be remembering her tomorrow? well, joining me now is the royal commentator richard fitzwilliams. richard, i've only got a short time with you , my got a short time with you, my friend, but i wonder, how do you think we will tomorrow? remember her majesty? >> someone who was perfect when it came to duty. >> someone also who left a legacy of. such as, for example, the formation of the commonwealth. she single handedly kept it together. and also a truly remarkable human

being with enthusiasms. were looking at one at the moment, her love of horses. i mean, she was perfection. she was one of our great sovereigns. and i'm delighted to read that a statue will be going up to her and indeedit will be going up to her and indeed it will be relatively near that to her mother. and also to her father. there's a fine statue of king george the sixth in naval uniform by kenneth macmillan, and also of her mother by philip jackson . her mother by philip jackson. and the way the nation will choose this, i mean, i can only hope that they get it right, and i'm sure that they will. >> so how will be we? the nafion? >> so how will be we? the nation? how will we as a nation be be remembering her tomorrow? because as you're more than acutely aware, she she was very much loved by the nation that i remember, you know, feeling a just an immense sense of grief, you know, like she was a member of your own family. >> yes. there was an ability

that she had even in her 90s, which i mean, the queen didn't appear conventionally old. and as she showed during covid, when she could reach out , to talking she could reach out, to talking about we will see our friends again, we will meet again. echoes of dame vera lynn, of course. she was the last sovereign to have have a reigning monarch to have served in the second world war. again, as we see in your film , i mean, as we see in your film, i mean, she was truly remarkable and everyone will have their own special ways of thinking in grief . when we heard of the grief. when we heard of the inevitable , but also in inevitable, but also in gratitude for a truly remarkable reign. >> yeah, and that statue that you mentioned, where is that reportedly going then? >> supposedly it's going in saint james's park, so that will place it in quite close proximity to the two statues that are there to her parents.

and also, of course, there's queen victoria, that majestic statue by aston webb in front of buckingham palace. so royal statues in that area, i think. i think it's an extremely appropriate venue. but the main thing is hopefully they will get it absolutely right. i don't think there are any excuses for errors here, and it would be fascinating to see what they come up with. >> well, yes, hopefully it's not the fella that did that painting of his majesty the king, the red one with all the er. i mean, i don't know if you were a fan of it, but i wasn't. it looked a bit too modern. >> i didn't think my i thought the face was absolutely superb, but the rest of you. but i wish the rest of it hadn't been splashed. >> i agree, thank you very much for your time there, richard fitzwilliams. as ever, you're with me. darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up on the show. first of all though, we're going to get a look at the weather with greg. >> a brighter outlook with boxt

solar, sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello there . welcome to your >> hello there. welcome to your latest gb news. weather forecast from the met office. it's turning increasingly unsettled yet again across england and wales. some heavy showers, some thunderstorms developing and just turning a little chillier as well. low pressure in charge of our weather at the moment, bringing this unsettled weather right through saturday evening , right through saturday evening, overnight into sunday as well. and that showery rain is also affecting coastal areas already this evening. but as we head into the early hours, it becomes more widespread across england and wales and pushes northwards. torrential downpours possible. a met office warning for heavy rain but dry across parts of northern ireland and northern and western scotland. some clear spells here overnight . spells here overnight. temperatures 1415 celsius under the cloud and heavy rain around 16 or 17. so a muggy start to sunday, but some torrential downpours across england and wales. first thing there could

be some disruption. a quieter start to sunday across scotland. some low cloud though , mist and some low cloud though, mist and murk across the north and east. some drizzle in there too. best of the sunshine across central and western areas. quite a cloudy start for northern ireland. too thick enough for some drizzle, but it is across england and wales where we've got heavy rain and thunderstorms. some potential disruption first thing and some brightness across parts of east anglia and the south east. but here as we go through the day, we'll see some thunderstorms developing, some longer spells of rain possible for parts of wales, the west country as well . wales, the west country as well. so do stay tuned to the forecast as we go through the next 24 hours, as there could be some disruption generally staying dry for northern ireland and scotland . temperatures here scotland. temperatures here cooler than recent days 1718 celsius best of the sunshine 22 or 23 celsius towards the east and southeast and then through into the evening time. those thunderstorms continue. they do also produce some heavy rain across southern and eastern parts of scotland. as we end the day generally staying dry for northern ireland, the outlook is

for it to generally remain unsettled, but turning unseasonably cooler as we get towards the middle of next week. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb

>> well . >> well. >> well. >> good afternoon. it's 2:00 on saturday the 7th of september. this is the weekend on gb. news. rumours circulate that prison overcrowding could lead to convicts being sent to serve their sentences in estonia. number 10 have denied the plans, but with prisons fit to burst. what on earth will happen with our jails in the what on earth will happen with ourjails in the coming months? ihave ourjails in the coming months? i have asked sir keir starmer to send me there instead. the number of wealthy britons looking to move abroad has risen sharply since labour won the

election in july, over fears the chancellor will raise taxes on the highest earners in her october budget. one relocation company saw a 69% increase in enquiries in august, compared to the same month last year. the legendary actor sir ian mckellen has sparked controversy by claiming the late queen elizabeth elizabeth the great was rude to him on more than one occasion and that she was quite mad at the end. this has prompted to some claim he should lose his knighthood. i'm darren grimes and this is the weekend . grimes and this is the weekend. now, as you well know, this show is nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join the

conversation there. a lot of you animated about what's going on in our schools in that last conversation. now keeping me company this hour is the former adviser to jeremy corbyn, james schneider, and the former special adviser to michael gove. charlie rowley. he's deeply worried about labour's taxes on the very rich, but before, as a very rich, well, a wealthy man, he's taken me for drinks after this. but before we get stuck into today's stories, here's the news with sophie reaper . news with sophie reaper. >> thank you darren. now it's time for your latest headlines. in the last hour, sir keir starmer has arrived to meet with his irish counterpart, simon harris, as part of a commitment to reset relations between the uk and ireland. the pair are in dubun uk and ireland. the pair are in dublin this afternoon and will now sit down with business leaders from across the country. it's expected that trade across the irish sea will be top of the agenda with that relationship worth an estimated ,100 billion every year. as well as

supporting thousands of jobs. >> it's a pleasure to be here, to have this opportunity which we will take to renew the friendship between our countries. that reset, i think, can be meaningful. it can be deep and of course, it covers the relationship between our two countries and obviously it has to cover the good friday agreement. and i take very seriously our joint role in relation to that. and i've been very clear about that for many, many years and renew that commitment here today and the wider eu reset. >> police searching for a british man in majorca, in the same area where a british woman was found dead earlier this week, have found a body. the spanish civil guard have said they believe the pair had been swept away in a flash flood after a storm hit the mediterranean island on tuesday. emergency services have been searching the area since wednesday after they rescued ten hikers and recovered the body of

a 26 year old woman. a woman in her 60s and her dog have both died following a collision with a taxi whilst out walking in kent. officers attended the scene last night, along with south east coast ambulance service, but the woman and her dog sadly died at the scene . a dog sadly died at the scene. a royal navy serviceman who was killed when a helicopter made a deliberate emergency landing over the channel on wednesday, has been named as lieutenant rhodn has been named as lieutenant rhodri leyshon. three people were on board the merlin mk4 dunng were on board the merlin mk4 during a night exercise when it ditched off the dorset coastline, killing the 31 year old. a statement from rhodri's family described him as talented, passionate, strong and loyal. it said we will always have him in our hearts. our wonderful boy . the snp has wonderful boy. the snp has called on the prime minister to u—turn on plans to cut winter fuel payments . research has fuel payments. research has shown that close to a million pensioners in scotland received the payments between 2022 and 2023, but under new plans by the

labour government, 87% of those would lose that financial support . more heavy rain is support. more heavy rain is expected across the uk today, with many still at the risk of flooding. the met office has said a new band of heavy and thundery rain will arrive on the south coast today and will make its way north overnight . its way north overnight. britains jack draper has crashed out of the us open after being sick four times during his semi—final. the brit had hoped to emulate the likes of andy murray and emma raducanu by taking the title, but was ultimately beaten by jannik sinner. draper cited issues with anxiety as the reason for his exit from the competition, describing it as the worst feeling ever. >> i had chances here and there and i didnt take them and obviously when you play the best players in the world, you need to do that. and yeah, i obviously wasn't wasn't feeling my best and struggled. at certain certain periods of the match, especially towards the end. but you know, yannick, yannick beat me fair and square.

he was he was too strong for me today. >> later today , england will >> later today, england will take on ireland in the uefa nafions take on ireland in the uefa nations league. this will be the first test for england's interim manager, lee carsley, following gareth southgate stepping down after defeat in the euros final this summer. carsley has faced criticism after he said he will not sing the national anthem tonight, although the former ireland player says he is respectful of the concept . respectful of the concept. elsewhere in the competition, wales faced a goalless draw last night against turkey and on thursday night scotland suffered a32 defeat to poland whilst northern ireland beat luxembourg two nil and another fabulous day for team gb so far at the paralympics. we started the morning on 100 medals and that number has now grown once again, with a further three golds, two silver and two bronze for the british team, including a win for finley graham in the men's c1 three road race. those are your latest gb news headlines for now. i'm sophie reaper more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to

your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code , alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> thank you very much, sophie. let's get stuck into today's topic, shall we? estonia's justice minister has confirmed that her country is considering housing british criminals in one of its jails after holding talks with the uk's justice secretary, shabana mahmood. this comes as it was revealed that the prison population in england and wales has reached a record high, and in a further attempt to reduce prison overcrowding, sir keir starmer is reportedly planning to free domestic abusers as part of the government's early release scheme. these include one man who was jailed after strangling his partner and breaking her jaw. it must be breaking herjaw. it must be said that sir keir starmer has

distanced himself from a deal with estonia, with his spokesperson saying the government is making no such plans or announcements in relation to estonian prison places. what is a politician's promise worth these days? we shall see. let's discuss it with the former adviser to jeremy corbyn, james schneider, and the former conservative adviser charlie rowley charlie. do you think this is a laudable plan because your lot didn't sort out the prison crisis? did they? >> well, i think you're right. look, you know , there are far look, you know, there are far too many prisoners occupying prison places where you need the capacity, so you need to increase your prison capacity. and that was something that the tories failed to do, something that i haven't actually heard from the new government, how they're going to increase prison that much from the new government to be honest. >> so we as a church mouse rishi sunak. >> so we wait with bated breath on. yes indeed on that one. but look, in terms of estonia, i think, look, if you have a number of foreign criminals that are in uk prisons that you can deport either back to their own

country or do bilateral deals, that might be something to free up to 10,000 of them in british prisons. and i think that will be alarming. i don't think you'll ever get to a situation, frankly, for for just human rights abuses. and there will always be a lawyer that can come up with something. if you're deporting, for example, a uk national to an estonian foreign prison just to free up capacity in the uk. i don't think that's something that will ever get off the ground, but if it is a foreign national in a uk prison having a bilateral deal where you can deport them, maybe to serve the sentence in their own country or their country of origin , i don't think would be origin, i don't think would be would be a bad move, but that's not something i don't think the labour government are looking into. that might be their next, their next plan. >> i mean, james, we find ourselves in a position where the germans are saying, well, actually, i think actually there might be some merit to sending, at least for processing some migrants to rwanda. and then the uk government is saying, well, that rwanda stuff a bit barbaric. can't do that. what i will do though is send prisoners to estonia potentially. >> well, they've said that

they're not doing that and they you know, and i also saw in the quote that apparently it was a plan of the previous government. >> i never heard about it until the estonian minister spoke about it. i think it was yesterday, i would quite like to know why estonia has such a low crime rate and. >> well, probably because they've not got so many migrants . they've not got so many migrants. that might be one thing. >> yes. i probably don't think that that's it. >> there are 10,000 of them in prisons, and there are only about 80,000. what 80, 90,000, 90,000 overall. right. >> so anyway, i would be interested in looking at that clearly on its own. it's just a sticking plaster if they were to do it. and i think that there are clearly people in the prison system who that's not the best place for them, but those don't seem to be the ones that are being released. i think there are people who have done victimless crimes like, you know, drug possession or that sort of thing. who should you know if you were looking at who

you want to release, you should be releasing those people and not people early who have done violent crimes, for example, domestic violence crimes. and i think there are also non—custodial solutions to a whole number of crimes , whole number of crimes, particularly ones which are more to do with words and actions . so to do with words and actions. so i think that we have we probably have the wrong priorities on this. >> okay. charlie, the former conservative justice secretary, alex chalk, said this morning that the justice system should not be locking up everyone where cross with as longer custodial sentences are very expensive for the taxpayer . now, you know the taxpayer. now, you know we've mentioned the record high. it's 88,521 people on friday. more than a thousand within the past four weeks. now a lot of those banged up in the last four weeks will be those that took part in demonstrations, riots and sir keir starmer clamped down on them like you wouldn't believe. now, is this alex chalk

saying, actually, you know, i don't think we should we should be prioritising banging up a carer in her, you know, old twilight years for writing something on facebook. slap on the wrist might have done. >> yeah i think that's right. i mean, look, the problem with the prison system and the prison estate as well is that i think it's reoccurring offenders. so you constantly have people going through the revolving door of the criminal justice system, people that, you know, should be rehabilitated in prison, come out, re—offend, end up going back inside and, you know, for good reason, because these people clearly haven't been rehabilitated and they're clearly not safe, and they're a threat to the public. that's why you are in prison. it is a punishment , you are in prison. it is a punishment, but it's also because you are not someone that should be out on the streets of the uk. you are not safe. you are a threat to the public. that is why you are banged up in the first place. now i think if you have obviously committed an offence, something that you know, incited hate or incited some kind of violence, and you do find yourself in prison over the last four weeks because of the last four weeks because of the riots , you are probably not the riots, you are probably not going to be someone and you've never been to prison before. then you're probably, you know, you've obviously got a bit

carried away during this particular episode, i think obviously a few days in prison isn't nice. no. so i think a few days or a few weeks, well, two fellas that were off to the bingo had a one too many sherbets and came out and started shouting at the police. >> and they they banged up. >> and they they banged up. >> and they they banged up. >> and i think if they're in cells for 24, 48 hours, i think for most of us that would be enough. it would be hell . enough. it would be hell. exactly. so i think you know why they have got perhaps longer sentences or they're probably, you know, the government are going to hold those sentences as tightly as possible to the, to the, to the length that's handed down to them all the while, you know, still having an overcrowding prison population whilst trying to see whether we can do deals with estonia, all the while releasing prisoners early, which i know will come to you later on. >> well, james, do you think the likes of jess phillips, who's a junior minister in his and he said her his majesty's government and she's very vocal on domestic violence issues and violence against women in general. now, do you think there's a hypocrisy there for

politicians like her when her very her own government are letting out people who have been found guilty of such crimes , found guilty of such crimes, >> i mean, i'd have to look at the details of each of the cases.i the details of each of the cases. i think she should continue to speak out on the issues of domestic violence. and as i said, i think that releasing these types of prisoners is wrong when there are people in there, especially for things like drug possession, which are victimless crimes , which are victimless crimes, they shouldn't be in there if you're released and they should be released, as opposed to these people who've served part of their terms and less than the portion of their terms that they would ordinarily serve. this is apparently some temporary measure, but we should also look into the more long term things, because this isn't going to this isn't going to go away. and there were some proposals from there were some proposals from the former head of the prison service recently who you would have thought naturally would say, well, we need more prisons and that's that's what we need. but actually he was calling for instead of building more prisons

to redirect that investment into rehabilitation for exactly the reason that charlie was saying that you're getting people who are going through on small terms again and again, and then those build up. it's like an escalator. and on prevention , escalator. and on prevention, which has been stripped back dramatically . and i think, you dramatically. and i think, you know, if we're looking at this really in the round, that's the lesson that we should be taking from it, and we should be deciding policy going in that direction. >> all right. is that what we need? sort of, you know, a less more on rehabilitation and less on you know, perhaps focusing on what we're doing with the prison system. >> well, you definitely need, you know, well, people need to take responsibility and say whether it's sort of, you know, whether it's sort of, you know, whether it's sort of, you know, whether it's truancy in the classroom. you needed our schools to be, you know, you need teachers and headteachers to have the authority to sort of discipline kids. and, you know, parents need to take responsibility of their kids if they're falling into you know, a bad set of ways, you know, but you know as well as i do, you can walk around the streets of london and feel unsafe. >> right ? because they just >> right? because they just

don't fear consequences. we are a country without consequence. >> and that's why. and that's absolutely why. i don't know why you're laughing at me. i was being deadly serious. i mean, i've never seen you so emotionally moved by by that because. you're absolutely right . because. you're absolutely right. but that's what it what it boils down to also is the police in our country. now, of course, there are issues within the police. we hear about it all the time, sometimes within the met, there are bad apples. and these people should never be in the police force in the first place. they should be absolutely sort of cast aside. but, you know, police need to be able to have the ability without fear or favour going after the hard line criminals, whether on the streets of london or whether they're threatening people, whether they're mobbing your mobile phones, including if they've got drugs , if they've if they've got drugs, if they've if they're in possession of drugs. >> james doesn't want us to clamp down on those with drugs, of course, because, you know, if you're carrying drugs, that's a criminal offence. >> you should be sort of arrested and it should be confiscated and you should have the full law sort of followed up upon you because you can't then have, you know, for example, one of the problems that we have in

our country is the county line gangs. and in recruiting young people that are ferrying these drugs from county to county, very young people, very young people age 11, 12, 13, you know , people age 11, 12, 13, you know, so that is something that absolutely needs to be sorted out . but who should be absolutely needs to be sorted out. but who should be going to prison? hard line criminals , prison? hard line criminals, obviously not people who might have just said 1 or 2 things on twitter. the police should be going after these hardened criminals, whether they make threats on the streets or carrying drugs or violence, committing violence against women and girls who shouldn't be released early, or all of these things need to be addressed . but things need to be addressed. but you do need prevention. you do need rehabilitation, but also it serves as a punishment. it serves as a punishment. it serves as a deterrent. but if you commit a crime, you should feel the force of the law. you should serve your your time behind bars. all right. >> thank you very much. we'll leave that there. james and charlie will come back to you now, folks, for all the best analysis and opinion on that story and more, you can go to the website gbnews.com you're with me darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up on the show. now the number of wealthy britons looking to move abroad has risen sharply since labour won the election in july. that's oven

won the election in july. that's over. fears that the chancellor will raise taxes on the highest earners in her october budget. why are we driving wealth away from britain? all of that and more to come with gb news, britain's news channel

welcome back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. lots of you have been sending in your thoughts. brenda worries that actually sir keir starmer on his trip to ireland, of course, is determined to rejoin the european union. she says fortunately he has no mandate. we had 40 years of bureaucratic misery from a foreign power. it did not work then and it would not work in the future. starmer cannot be trusted, for he is an out and out europhile well, and colin says james drug

possession, possession rather is not a victimless crime. it funds violent criminal gangs who are involved in gang warfare. there are often victims of that, but then they also induct kids into this, such as county line, and start them on a life of crime that rhymed, often forcing them to get involved. well said column colin. column. are you okay? >> darren grimes rhymes about crimes. well, yeah. >> well done. and sean says, well, it's s atkinson. i've just called you sean. if you're not sean, if you're a steve. i do apologise, mr atkinson. jess phillips. what a hypocrite. it's okay to let a loose a whole load of undocumented males into communities. a female family member had to report being followed and intimidated by a non—western migrant in a local park, avoiding facts like cultural differences means women are less safe now. gosh, there's so many comments. thank you very much for getting them all in there now. well, george says

don't worry, five years is not a long time. when reform get in, they'll dump the echr and most of those illegals arriving here today will be flooding the repubuc today will be flooding the republic of ireland. well, i don't know what that's going to don't know what that's going to do to poor sinn fein, is it? i say that with glee . no, i'm an say that with glee. no, i'm an impartial presenter. of course . impartial presenter. of course. now let me know your thoughts on all the stories we've been discussing and you can visit the website gbnews.com forward slash yoursay and join the conversation there. or you can message on us on our socials . message on us on our socials. we're @gbnews now. the fear of rising taxes under labour's new government is prompting a significant exodus of the uk's wealthy elite, with reports indicating that britain could lose up to 9500 millionaires. this year. many high net worth individuals are moving their wealth and residence abroad. the surge in enquiries for relocation services highlights growing concerns over potential tax hikes , particularly tax hikes, particularly targeting non—doms and higher

earners. this trend not only affects the country's affluent, but also the high end property market, as uncertainty over taxation continues to impact investment decisions. well, let's discuss this with our panel let's discuss this with our panel. former adviser jeremy corbyn to jeremy corbyn james obe, a turn up for the books of goldman sachs , james schneider goldman sachs, james schneider and former conservative adviser charlie rowley james. i assume you're happier than a pig in muck. >> who will think of the high end property market? my goodness, what a what a what a terrible tragedy. now when we say that the wealthy are leaving britain, it presents this kind of idea, like they've got these sacks of money and they're taking the money away. the reason why people have wealth is either this is a non—dom. so that's we're talking about we are now going to tax their wealth , which isn't in britain, wealth, which isn't in britain, or we're talking about people who have assets here in britain. they're not picking up and

moving the houses that you own, the debt that you're paying, the assets that they hold in companies in infrastructure, in factories and so on. those things will stay here. wealth, actual wealth, the real wealth, which is in our country is quite easy, is quite difficult to move . easy, is quite difficult to move. the people that own it can move, but the actual things are still going to be here. >> all right , charlie, going to be here. >> all right, charlie, i mean, that's one view. my view would be that it's not just you're not. you're not thinking about lord alan sugar here. right? types like him, there's also actually doctors and nurses and all these other things that are saying i could go to australia, pay saying i could go to australia, pay less in taxation and get higher wages, why wouldn't i do that? it's not just all about squeezing the rich and the rich also spend their money here as well. they buy things here, they invest here and we're saying to those people, sling your hook. >> i think that's the most fundamental point. i think probably of difference that james and i might have is that i think people that actually who acquire wealth in this country, do so because they work hard.

these are people who have worked hard all of their lives. they might have built up business from small shops to big supermarkets or whatever they've done. these people have worked incredibly hard. you want them of course, then to employ somebody else to invest in the company, to grow a company, to recruit, to train, to innovate. that's the whole point. that's where as a free market society, as a capitalist society that generates that wealth, that redistributes that wealth, of course you want people to redistribute it . well, you want redistribute it. well, you want you want it to be distributed. so let's say since 2008, the wealth, the total wealth in this country has risen by 58%, but not the wealth of the average. >> the average person income pay is at the same level as it was people's debts are higher. fewer of us own our own homes. so what we what we have been seeing for the last 15 plus years is , is the last 15 plus years is, is a system that extracts wealth out to the top and also out of the country into tax havens that these same people have. now,

what we are doing, what we and there should be much more of this is to tax the assets that are here so that we can have a broader base of ownership of things so that more people can can own their own homes, and more people can have some wealth. we're talking about two categories in this. in this particular piece, right? one is non—doms. these are people who are we've made it extraordinarily easy to be resident here and not pay taxes here. and which has brought with it a large amount of corruption, as we have seen a lot of money laundering and a lot of other very dodgy things that have been going through london and the city of london, especially the high end property market, things that when you would see a story about it , you that when you would see a story about it, you would think that's corruption. that's not the sort of thing we don't want to be a butler to the world's super rich at all. now, if a small portion of those are leaving because the rest are paying taxes , we are rest are paying taxes, we are still getting more money in because they're paying taxes . because they're paying taxes. the other category is people who

are wealthy, people who wish to not pay taxes. they wish to abandon britain unpatriotic, but they still . and the reason why they still. and the reason why they still. and the reason why they have wealth is because they're your landlord, because they're your landlord, because they have a share in the credit card company, that that you have credit in, that they have a share in the company, that in this company for example. >> so would you bring in capital controls to stop this happening, to stop them taking their money out? i mean, i don't certainly not the labour party. >> i definitely don't speak for the for the labour party. i mean, i personally think that things were much better when there are certain forms of capital controls and countries that have certain forms of capital controls is, is a good thing. but that's not what we're talking about here. we're talking about here. we're talking about here. we're talking about, talking about here. we're talking about , for example, talking about, for example, changing capital gains tax means that, for example , like we had that, for example, like we had like we had like we had when thatcher was prime minister, actually, nigel lawson, that red in tooth and claw socialist brought it in, equalising the rate of tax that you pay if you earn money from going out to work, or if you earn money from

not going out to work from other people going out to work and you getting you getting the wealth, those should be taxed at the same level as a bare minimum. >> a lot of our viewers can remember what the economy was like back then. we were an absolute basket case. >> well, do you think that the british economy was in an absolute basket case when he came in and actually did what he did? >> yes, it was. and we had capital controls back then. that's what you were harking back to? >> no, no, no, i was talking about when nigel lawson increased capital gains tax to the same level as income tax, which i assume you support, because it's a very sensible thing. why should you? you have to go out to work. well no. and why should you get why should you pay why should you get why should you pay a higher rate of tax than rishi sunak? >> because capital gains tax is actually people making risks with investment. i don't think they should be paying high rates of tax on that. >> it's the income from it . so >> it's the income from it. so income being rewarded income that their income that they're getting. so you think that nigel lawson, when he when he brought that out on the very sensible keep saying that he's long gone i don't think he's going to chastise me . well he might but

chastise me. well he might but the point is more tax. he might, he could, he could be, he could be watching now. he could send an angry letter. >> more tax and higher tax is not the answer because you put your finger on it, darren. this this drain of talent where you can go to australia if you're a nurse, we need to recruit more doctors and nurses. we need to pay doctors and nurses. we need to pay them well. we need to make sure that they stay within the system and not feel the need to sell the solution. >> do you support increasing nurses pay? do you support the royal college of nurses and increasing nurses pay? >> i do not support the crazy idea of the unions sort of suggesting that, you know, any pubuc suggesting that, you know, any public sector. so you don't think the nurses should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be, should be receiving a 30 plus percent pay increase at a time when everybody has had to have their taxes increased because of things like covid and at the. and i don't believe that. that's right . right. >> so i had a year on year pay cuts since 2010. i think doctors and nurses would actually maybe that's why they quite rather to see pensioners actually make sure that their taxes were lower, kept warm this winter and not have their fuel allowance taken away and end up in hospital, that they'll end up having to look after. >> i would rather see the winter

fuel allowance kept absolutely . fuel allowance kept absolutely. >> well, there we go. one glorious point of agreement of course. the winter fuel allowance should be kept. you know how you could do it ? know how you could do it? increase capital gains tax and then have have rishi sunak pay then have have rishi sunak pay the same rate of taxation as the three of us. this is the socialist playbook. >> they said the same. >> they said the same. >> they said the same. >> the nigel lawson socialist playbook. >> they said the same things in venezuela. let's nationalise the companies. let's actually bring in this new tax regime. let's fleece the rich, the rich, all left. and now people don't have electricity or basic medicines. it's absolutely mad. >> it is the politics of envy. if you continue to just go after the top, who do bring in wealth, who do generate jobs? i just want to run the companies that come back to it. >> james, i promise we've got to go to the news bulletins now. you're with me. darren grimes and gb news. lots more coming up on the show. first of all, though, it's your bulletins with sophie reaper. >> thank you darren. now it's time for your latest gb news headlines. sir keir starmer has met with his irish counterpart simon harris this afternoon as

part of a commitment to reset relations between the uk and ireland. they're now sitting down with business leaders from around the country, with trade across the irish sea expected to be top of the agenda. with that relationship worth an estimated ,100 billion every year, as well as supporting thousands of jobs. this is what sir keir had to say about the relationship between the two countries. >> it's a pleasure to be here, to have this opportunity which we will to take renew the friendship between our countries. that reset, i think, can be meaningful, it can be deep, of course, it covers the relationship between our two countries, obviously it has to cover the good friday agreement, and i take very seriously our joint role in relation to that. and i've been very clear about that for many, many years and renew that commitment here today. and the wider eu reset the latest pro—palestine march has set off through central

london. >> the demonstration is the 18th, organised by the palestine solidarity campaign since october 2023. let's take a look at some of the footage from the march . march. jvt police searching for a british man in majorca, in the same area where a british woman was found dead earlier this week, have found a body the spanish civil guard have said they believe the pair had been swept away in a flash flood after a storm hit the mediterranean island on tuesday. emergency services have been searching the area near the tramuntana mountains since wednesday and later today , wednesday and later today, england will take on ireland in the uefa nations league . this the uefa nations league. this will be the first test for england's interim manager, lee carsley, following gareth southgate stepping down after

defeats in the euros final this summer . carsley defeats in the euros final this summer. carsley has defeats in the euros final this summer . carsley has faced summer. carsley has faced criticism after he said he will not sing the national anthem tonight, although the former ireland player says he is respectful of the concept. elsewhere in the competition. wales faced a goalless draw last night against turkey and on thursday night scotland lost three two to poland and northern ireland beat luxembourg two nil and finally, some positive news to finish on. it's been another brilliant day for team gb so far at the paralympics. we started the morning on 100 medals and that number has now grown once again, with a further three golds, two silvers and two bronzes for the british team, including a win for finley graham in the men's c1 three road race. those are your latest gb news headlines. that's all from me, but tatiana sanchez will have more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com. >> forward slash alerts .

>> forward slash alerts. >> forward slash alerts. >> thank you sophie. now folks, there's plenty more coming up on today's show. but before i tell you what we've got lined up for you, nana akua has joined me in the studio. nana, what have you got coming up in your show later on? >> well, okay, so there's loads happening. we're going to in my niggle, which is my monologue, i'm going to ask you, i mean, who's in charge? is it the labor party as in the elected ministers, or is it actually the unions. because the first thing they did when they came into power , of course, was dish out power, of course, was dish out a load of money to the union members. >> but now the unions have actually stepped in over the winter fuel allowance, and they're not having it in fact, because a lot of the unions, including the pcs, which look after civil servants, they're saying that actually pensioners really need the money. >> so could the unions be the ones that step in then also, jazz asked, well, why has it gone so quiet on the labour benches about the biggest

landlord in the commons who happens to be a labour mp who's flouted his own licence, and of course is a landlord from hell. darren cross, i'm. yois'e with gb news darren cross, i'm. yois awith gb news darren cross, i'm. yois a landlord \iews darren cross, so we're going to be finding i'm. yois a landlord from hell. course is a landlord from hell. so we're going to be finding more about that and also the more about that and also the home office. what are they home office. what are they trying to hide ? why are they not trying to hide ? why are they not trying to hide? why are they not telling us more about how much trying to hide? why are they not telling us more about how much they're spending on migrants who they're spending on migrants who come here illegally? >> all right. gosh, nana lots to come here illegally? >> all right. gosh, nana lots to get through. i will see you in a get through. i will see you in a sec. lots more coming up on this sec. lots more coming up on this show . we'll be heading over to show . we'll be heading over to show. we'll be heading over to the west coast of scotland to show. we'll be heading over to the west coast of scotland to learn more about a viking learn more about a viking festival taking place in the festival taking place in the town of largs, the site of the town of largs, the site of the last mainland battle between last mainland battle between scottish and norse warriors. scottish and norse warriors. charlie rowley will explain all. charlie rowley will explain all. all of that all of that and more to come. and more to come. i'm joking, darren cross, i'm joking, darren cross, i'm. you're with gb news i'm. you're with gb news

welcome back to the weekend with me , back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. now we love talking about our nation's

heritage here @gbnews. and since 1980, scotland's west coast town of largs has been celebrating its historic victory in the battle of largs. at the last mainland battle between the scots and the norse. the annual festival gives the public a glimpse into life in a 13th century viking village, and there today is our scotland reporter tony maguire. oh gosh , reporter tony maguire. oh gosh, tony, it does look very realistic. not you , to be clear. realistic. not you, to be clear. the background, the background . the background, the background. >> good afternoon . yeah, well, >> good afternoon. yeah, well, so i've been here at this viking village down in largs all day, and obviously the vikings hold a very special place in the hearts of locals here because. 1261 well, that was when raft of boats, longboats who planned to come over from norway to pillage the west coast of scotland . the west coast of scotland. well, a storm washed them ashore

here right into the hands of a waiting scots army. and of course , the scots then claimed course, the scots then claimed victory over that and that raiding party and that indeed was, as you say, the last mainland raid in scotland. and only a few years later will the vikings signed the treaty of perth, and that then returned the isle of man and the western isles back to the kingdom of scotland. and that brought us a little bit closer to the map of scotland that we know today. but back to today here in largs. we've got so much going on. we have lots of people bone carving, we've got people painting shields. behind me you can see the king of scotland taking some of the kiddies, one on one into the battle ring and you can imagine that's something of a bit of a one sided fight. the kids are absolutely slaughtering them. but all through the day here, i think this has been such a huge part of the culture of the west coast of the culture of the west coast of scotland. so much so that i'm down in the scottish side, you know, talking to some of the, the, the living history actors .

the, the living history actors. and unfortunately i might have said the wrong thing to the wrong person because i seem to have been somehow conscripted into the re—enactment battle a little later. so before i get ready for battle, let me just hand you over to douglas blair. he's the chair of this year's largs viking festival. to tell you a wee bit more about why this is so important to this part of scotland , the time at part of scotland, the time at which scotland, the modern scotland, really started forged. because once the norse were defeated here, we then ended up ultimately with orkney, shetland and the like. >> the whole lands of scotland down to the borders and became the kingdom of scotland would scotland have the same map i did today without the vikings? if scotland had been defeated by the vikings, then the map of scotland might be more than different. in fact, maybe there wouldn't be a scotland because thereafter we had the battles of independence because we were attacked not only from the north and the east, if you like,

across the north sea we're also attacked from the south as well. so yeah, scotland, if you like, you could argue, was forged in largs . largs. >> oh, wow. >> oh, wow. >> so there you go. i never thought today might be my last day here @gbnews, but if i don't make it back tonight, then we'll certainly know why. however, if i do make it back past tonight's re—enactment, well, we've got the torchlight procession right up through the town and then the final act of the evening, the fireworks and the burning of the huge viking longship. it's going to be quite some end to this amazing festival that's been running here in the west coast of scotland all this week . of scotland all this week. >> well, tony, i do hope you and your massive weapon are ofcom compliant . anyway, thank you compliant. anyway, thank you very much tony. now we're going to we're going to turn to the panel. to we're going to turn to the panel . now again, to we're going to turn to the panel. now again, i'm still joined by the former adviser to jeremy corbyn, james schneider, and the former special adviser to michael gove. charlie rowley now charlie , you are an expert now charlie, you are an expert on the battle of largs. as i

explained before the break, could you let us know how important it is to the people of scotland? >> well, clearly very important . >> well, clearly very important. and you can see by the turnout there, you know, just how important it is. and a yearly festival, which we had some debate in this studio, actually, i wouldn't want to take any. i mean, tony's weapon looks so it could do some damage there. so i don't want to sort of contradict him too much, but we thought it was 1263 as opposed to 1261. so we've got two years to sort of debate over which i think people would rather do without on a saturday afternoon. but it's obviously a hugely interesting festival for the people that are there, including tony, and i hope he comes back in one piece. >> it is one thing, james said. people feel a little bit reluctant to do now. talk about history. it's controversial. it's all culture wars, so it's quite nice to see a group of people taking part in a real war, taking part in a real war. ihope war, taking part in a real war. i hope tony lives to tell the tale . tale. >> i don't think people don't like talking about history. history is history is fabulous and interesting, and we can learn a huge amount from it. and that looks like a very nice day

out for all the family. as long as you know no one gets bludgeoned to death or anything like that. no these things are lovely. i remember when i was a kid, i went to viking jorvik in, in york and got taken around and had a lovely day. and i played their equivalent of chess for ages with some poor person who had to work there and play chess with annoying children or whatever their game was with annoying children. all of this is all of this is good. rich tapestry of our country's life. no need to invite me out for the weekend if that's if that's what you get up to, i think. >> i think i'll pass. yes. yeah well, we were just. >> someone can let us know in the comments. are they all drinking mead up there? i don't know what they'll be drinking. will there be alcohol or am i showing my own wicked wickedness by discussing such things? i'm sure they're focusing entirely on the history. >> and i think that's right. and it is to be a little bit serious about it, to preserve some of the history. and, you know, people that were taking part in the crafting of jewellery and weapons and the obviously wearing what tony was wearing,

that's how people lived in the 13th century. and so it it becomes important to preserve those things, including things like stonehenge, and not have disruptors like those just stop oil crackpots that feel the need to tear up and deface all of our history and all of our public buildings at any given opportunity, defacing it with orange red paint. those people can those people can stay at home. >> he'll be covered in orange. anyway, a huge thank you to my panel anyway, a huge thank you to my panel. former adviser to jeremy corbyn, james schneider, and the former special adviser to michael gove. charlie rowley. now you're with me, darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up on the show. pop icon sir elton john has revealed that he had a severe eye infection that damaged his vision in one eye. however he's reassured fans that he's slowly healing and is indeed still standing . all of indeed still standing. all of that and more to come with gb news britain's news channel

welcome back to the weekend with me darren grimes. now lots of you have been sending in your thoughts on everything that's going on over this show. thoughts on everything that's going on over this show . well, going on over this show. well, grumpy grandad says it's to great see these traditional events like largs the way things are going. it won't be long before we see these events vanish completely. like all our traditions and culture, it's really sad to see our nation change so much just to keep others happy. yes let's keep reminding people of our history rich as it is and it looks marvellous. they're having a marvellous. they're having a marvellous day out up there and the weather looks lovely actually. right. let me know your thoughts on all the stories we've been discussing today. the link you need gbnews.com forward slash york to join the conversation now pop icon sir elton john has revealed he suffered from a severe eye infection that left him with limited vision in one eye. however, he was quick to reassure fans that he's on the mend and thanked the doctors

that have been taking care of him. meanwhile, sir ian mckellen has caused controversy by claiming that the late queen was rude to him on more than one occasion. he went as far as to say she was quite mad at the end. it's led to some to call for his knighthood to be stripped from him. well, let's discuss those stories now with the brilliant showbiz reporter stephanie takyi. stephanie, let's start with elton, shall we? yeah. the self—styled queen of pop oh, absolutely. >> love him. and i last saw him perform at glastonbury last year when he said that was going to be his final performance ever. and i think with elton john, he's 77 years old, he's had a lot of ailments over the past few years. a lot of fans have been thinking, will he do one more tour? will he get back out there? but following this disclosure this week, which he shared on instagram, he says it's been quite a severe eye infection. he has limited eyesight through this one eye that's been impaired and he said

it is going to be a slow recovery. so for him at the moment, he's going to be taking it quite easy. i know in previous things sir elton has been quite, you know, honest about having leg problems and knee problems, but he's never mentioned his eye before. >> do we know what's caused it? >> do we know what's caused it? >> no, he hasn't mentioned it. and to be honest, i think it was quite nice of him actually to share it with the public because we would have been none the wiser. isn't like there's been rumours behind the scenes, but i guess he wanted to keep his fans updated with his health battles and by the sounds of it, it's quite serious. >> yeah. now, sir ian mckellen. oh, i you know, i used to really, really respect sir ian mckellen, but this has made me it's just a very crass thing to do. is it not, darren? >> it's very distasteful. he's obviously working the interview circuit at the moment because he has a new film coming out called the critic. and in an interview with the times , they clearly with the times, they clearly must have asked him how it must have been like him meeting the queen who made him a companion of honour, which is one of the highest accolades you can get from the royal family . and

from the royal family. and instead of keeping their conversation private, he's you know, she said that she said to him, you've been doing this for a very long time, which he took offence by, which is just a, you know, a passing by comment. the queen, the late queen has spent many times giving out these accolades. she has to think of something to say . you said that something to say. you said that two minutes. >> you've been doing this a very long time, she wouldn't have been offended by it. >> no, not at all. and he said the way he she shooed him off, he also had a problem, but he didn't stop there. darren. he then went to go attack the king and said he seemed. he comes across as quite a bit of a damaged soul where he said he sides with prince harry, who was in a royal prison , and i just in a royal prison, and i just think, you know. >> but then he said prince harry was an intelligent. >> no. and i just think with sir ian mckellen, he's maybe reached that age now where he feels like he can just be honest with his opinions, but he needs to understand he works in the theatre world. he's an actor. there's always the actors and the royals. sometimes in occasions at events, do cross paths. he had a fall recently,

right? yeah he did. >> and did he bump his head? >> and did he bump his head? >> i think he did, because what he said is quite distasteful, especially as tomorrow is the two year anniversary of the queen. so for him to be producing such a headline is very tactless. >> he said she went mad. >> he said she went mad. >> yeah. and i just think, you know who are you to say that you knew nothing about the queen just in your short interactions? >> and when liz truss met her as the last prime minister. yeah. she said that she was completely with it. >> i just think i think he's clearly held on to some vengeance that he had towards the late queen. but this is totally overshadowed him and the film he was trying to promote. >> yeah, the critic, it's called. well, we don't want him to be a critic. thank you very much anyway. stephanie takyi thank you as ever , you've been thank you as ever, you've been with me. darren grimes on gb news. i thank you very much for your company, but don't go anywhere though. there's plenty more to come on gb news today. in a moment it's nana akua and at 6:00 i'm back with the saturday five. first of all, it's weather with greg dewhurst .

it's weather with greg dewhurst. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar. sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello there i welcome to your >> hello there! welcome to your latest gb news. weather forecast from the met office. it's turning increasingly unsettled yet again across england and wales. some heavy showers, some thunderstorms developing and just turning a little chillier as well. low pressure in charge of our weather at the moment, bringing this unsettled weather right through saturday evening, overnight into sunday as well. and that showery rain is also affecting coastal areas already this evening. but as we head into the early hours, it becomes more widespread across england and wales and pushes northwards. torrential downpours possible. a met office warning out for heavy rain but dry across parts of northern ireland and northern and western scotland. some clear spells here. overnight. temperatures 1415 celsius under the cloud and heavy rain around 16 or 17. so a muggy start to sunday, but some torrential downpours across england and

wales. first thing there could be some disruption. a quieter start to sunday across scotland. some low cloud though , mist and some low cloud though, mist and murk across the north and the east. some drizzle in there too. best of the sunshine across central and western areas. quite cloudy. start for northern ireland. too thick enough for some drizzle , but it is across some drizzle, but it is across england and wales where we've got heavy rain and thunderstorms. some potential disruption first thing and some brightness across parts of east anglia and the south east. but here as we go through the day, we'll see some thunderstorms developing, some longer spells of rain possible for parts of wales, the west country as well . wales, the west country as well. so do stay tuned to the forecast as we go through the next 24 hours, as there could be some disruption generally staying dry for northern ireland and scotland . temperatures here scotland. temperatures here cooler than recent days 1718 celsius best of the sunshine 22 or 23 celsius towards the east and southeast and then through into the evening time. those thunderstorms continue. they do also produce some heavy rain across southern and eastern parts of scotland. as we end the day generally staying dry for

northern ireland, the outlook is for it to generally remain unsettled, but turning unseasonably cooler as we get towards the middle of next week. that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb

>> hello, good afternoon and welcome to gb news. we're live on tv, online and on digital radio. i'm nana akua and for the next few hours, me and my panel will be taking on some of the big topics hitting the headlines. right now this show is all about opinion. headlines. right now this show is all about opinion . it's mine, is all about opinion. it's mine, it's theirs, and of course it's yours. we'll be debating and discussing and at times we will disagree. but no one will be cancelled. so joining me for the next few hours, human rights campaigner peter tatchell and also political commentator lin mei. coming up in my niggle

after agreeing to union demands for pay hikes for