precisely at midday starting precisely at midday today, marking two years since the official accession of king charles to the throne. a day, of course, of celebration of a new king, but also a twinge of sadness to mark the passing of the late queen as well. let's listen . in. now listen. in. now.

andrew gwynne .

100. >> for those of you just joining us, you are watching and listening to the live scene here in hyde park in central london. a special military celebration marking the second anniversary of the accession to the throne of the accession to the throne of his majesty king charles the third. this this is the king's troop, royal horse artillery , troop, royal horse artillery, the british army mounted ceremonial unit that fires royal salutes on royal anniversaries and state occasions such as state visits and of course, royal birthdays. but today is

all about the accession of king charles the third, and also, very sadly, the two year anniversary since the passing of her late majesty queen elizabeth the second. now a team of black horses pulled these gun carriages , these the gun carriages, these the gun carriages, these the gun carriages to this particular position in hyde park. black horses. they're permanently based in woolwich. the king's troop soldiers famous throughout the world, really for their ceremonial excellence. and they, of course , also serve of course, also serve operationally throughout their careers in the royal artillery. but these guns just used for ceremonial purposes. world war two, world war i era 13 pounder guns here they started firing this 41 gun salute at exactly midday. the tradition is 21 guns, all as tom was saying earlier, dating back to ships that they were friendly firing as they came into a friendly port from the sea. but because

we're in a royal park , 21 guns we're in a royal park, 21 guns shots have been added. of course they are firing blanks here at this particular situation, and it is very much a tradition here every year, every day that these guns will fire the king street royal horse artillery in full military dress uniform. the last time they fired these guns, i believe, was earlier this summer for the trooping of the colour. the king's official birthday that was fired in green park rather than hyde park. as i say, full military dress. the regimental colours, distinctive dress uniform including their gold braided jackets and busby hats. at the end of this 41 gun salute at 1:00, a similar gun salute at 1:00, a similar gun salute will take place at the tower of london, his majesty's royal palace and fortress. that will be the honourable artillery company, 62 guns at that time.

21 for the tradition. another 20 because it's a royal palace and another 21 because the gun salute is taking place in the city of london. now, accompanying this royal gun salute marking the ascension, the two year anniversary of king charles ii's taking the throne, the band of the welsh guards have been playing music ahead of this gun salute , so they've just this gun salute, so they've just returned from arras. the northern french city where they were given the freedom of the city, marking the 80th anniversary of the welsh guards liberating that french city from the nazis. in 1945. >> well, cameron, thank you so much for bringing us that live from hyde park. the 41 gun salute to mark the accession of the king. >> thank you very much indeed , >> thank you very much indeed, our royal correspondent. now we're going to turn to domestic politics because the prime minister, he could be facing a bit of a rebellion over the government's plans to cut winter fuel payments, with reports as many as 50 labour mps could

refuse to back the policy. >> well, even his own health secretary, wes streeting, admitted he's not remotely happy about having to take money away from pensioners , particularly as from pensioners, particularly as fuel prices are rising. this winter. but even wes streeting insisted that this was a necessary move. >> yes, well, mps will have their chance to vote on plans to scrap winter fuel payments for pensioners tomorrow, joining us now, i'm delighted to say, is gb news very own alastair stewart. >> alastair, this is a big test for the incoming government . for the incoming government. >> it's a huge test and i think at the heart of it is the fundamental differences between the conservative party and the labour party. and the conservative party obviously are looking at their hearts and souls deciding who is going to be the new leader, because we heard starmer on bbc and on news bulletins make the point at the weekend that if you are on the

additional allowance of the pensioner credit , then of pensioner credit, then of course, although the means test kicks in, you will still get the winter fuel allowance . fact of winter fuel allowance. fact of the matter is that if you like many people, including my good self, when you were working full time, put a bit aside, built up some savings for a rainy day, or are still trying to work even now in retirement. every now and then you very, very quickly hit then you very, very quickly hit the ceiling, which means you can't get that pensioner credit so it means that you cannot get the winter fuel allowance because i think at its heart, labour believes the state knows best and the state will look after people that really need it. and if you stand on your own two feet and try and look after yourself, you're on your own sunshine. and that's where i am. and thousands of others as well. we also see the unite union, the

biggest trade union, kicking in and telling starmer exactly what they want as well. and that's reminiscent of the old day when i was an industrial correspondent and the transport and general workers union that became unite, and the engineers used to go into downing street and tell labour prime ministers exactly what they wanted. and nine times out of ten they'd get it. i don't think unite are going to get their way this time on the winter fuel allowance, but i think it's an outrage. but i think it's much deeper than just a few quid is very interesting to watch. >> what's going on here? why do you suspect he's expending so much political capital on this issue, which isn't going to save the government all that much money in the grand scheme of things , because historically , things, because historically, labour's greatest single weakness in nearly all of the opinion polls has been economic credibility. >> do the voters, however big a majority they gave to sir keir starmer and his party not that long ago ? and there he is with long ago? and there he is with rachel reeves, his chancellor,

sitting there on his left and on his right, angela rayner , the his right, angela rayner, the deputy prime minister. a lot of people still don't think that when push comes to shove, the labour party can be trusted with the economy. so i think what keir starmer and rachel reeves are both saying in perfect harmony is, yes, you can trust us with the economy. we are prepared to take even really tough decisions at the expense of pensioners to show that we will do the right thing to try and balance the books. of course, that's complete nonsense because they'll get nowhere near balancing the books because the national debt is trillions and trillions of pounds. what it does mean is that many people will lose out a small amount of money for the sake of political caphal >> and alistair, the bizarre thing about this all is of course, this is at the same time that the government is spending more money on wage rises above inflation, pay increases for many people, train drivers ,

many people, train drivers, doctors, all the rest of it, but but it's interesting listening to what some people in the labour party are saying. rachael maskell, the labour mp for york central, has said that people will die as a result of this change of policy. she says that being cold leads to an increased likelihood of strokes, heart attacks, hypothermia , pneumonia attacks, hypothermia, pneumonia and is saying that she won't back this policy. do you think that there will be a serious rebellion from labour's own ranks on this? >> yes, i think there could be, because it's i'm not knocking rachel at all. i think she's an honourable person. and i think the point that she makes is, is perfectly reasonable. and many doctors would agree with that. but i think what you'll see is a parade of labour mps wearing their hearts on their sleeves because, frankly , this lot that because, frankly, this lot that you're looking at at the moment, prime minister, chancellor and chief secretary are trying to find a way that will allow those

rebels like rachel to abstain rather than actually vote against, because they won't want the full embarrassment of a total rebellion . total rebellion. >> alastair, what does this all tell us about the man in number 10, he's chosen to take this on. this is quite a big battle. right at the start of his premiership. lots of people are talking and commentating, saying that he comes across as extremely miserable . he doesn't extremely miserable. he doesn't seem to have a vision for hope, nor change anymore, which he did in the in the run up to the election. how is he playing this in your view ? in your view? >> i read dan hodges, who's one of the long term labour supporters who then turned into a labour critic who said he's playing it quite well in the sense he's he's trying to show that he's all of those things that he's all of those things that many people said that he wasn't, i.e. he's tough. he's to prepared take on his enemies, even if they are within his own

party. and i think going into the rose garden and saying, look, things are going to get worse before they get any better was a statement of the blindingly obvious . what i don't blindingly obvious. what i don't think will last for very long is for him to just keep blaming the conservative party for everything that's wrong. the institute of fiscal studies, who institute of fiscal studies, who i would, i would trust with my credit card and my chequebook because they're honourable men and women there said, you can expect labour to blame the state of the books when they take oven of the books when they take over. and it's all dreadful, and it's nonsense because actually, sue gray and the leadership of the labour party have known for months and months what the real state of the public finances are, and so to say, they suddenly found a £20 billion black hole, i think is complete nonsense. as i said at the beginning, i think that keir starmer is risking a lot within his own to party prove to the electorate that he can be trusted with the economy, even when it comes to taking tough decisions. but i think it also shows is that they don't like

people who stand on their own two feet and they don't like wealth creators . so watch the wealth creators. so watch the budget for an increase in capital gains tax, >> i think that's a that's a wise watchword there. of course, we're expecting many different tax rises potentially potentially those that go against maybe not the letter, but certainly the spirit of rachel reeves election promise to not raise taxes on working people. i'm thinking about what vat exemptions might be abolished, whether fuel duty will rise, all of these different taxes that aren't the three main taxes they promised to freeze. but are all of the taxes around those? not the central ones, but every other tax you can think of that could well be going up as soon as october. >> yeah, absolutely. and also what i hate is this kind of playing with words. you know, we won't increase taxes on working people. but if you were a pensioner like me and you're retired and you earn more than 2 or £300 a week, 200 is an

individual, 300 as a couple, then you do get taxed and that tax is in the form of losing the winter fuel allowance. so be warned. if you want to work hard even when you're retired, labour don't like it? >> goodness me. >> goodness me. >> well, thank you very much indeed alastair stewart, always fantastic to get your take on these things. gb news very own alastair stewart, what do you make of it all? i was reading that charlie mullins is going to sell off his £12 million property in london and put all his money into dubai and spain instead. i mean, it's depressing if true. >> well, we are seeing an exodus of millionaires, more than any other country in this part of the world, matching the sort of scale of millionaire exodus that india is experiencing. and china is experiencing. but perhaps we need to look to the countries that are having net import of millionaires and seeing what they're doing, because , i mean, they're doing, because, i mean, is it better or worse to have more millionaires in your economy? i think there are many in the labour party . there are

in the labour party. there are many labour mps who have actually said that every billionaire is a policy failure, as if they don't want rich people in their country. well, if there are no rich people in the country, taxes are much, much higher on the people who aren't rich to then fund everything. >> you see people saying, you know, when someone tweets or notes that millionaires are leaving and that this might be bad for the taxpayer in the long run, you know, some people on the left. oh, by then, by then. cheerio. we don't need you. okay, well, then you're just going to have to be taxed more. >> yeah, i mean, it's the top 1% that pays for about 25% of income tax . where are you going income tax. where are you going to get that quarter of all income tax receipts? if the top 1% leave? yeah. >> it's not going to be very helpful, is it. and you might say oh well it's just tax wealth more and more you know quick fix to our ailing nhs. but you only have to look at other countries that tried it to see that it wasn't awfully successful. it wasn't awfully successful. it was quite the opposite. >> boris johnson's favourite anecdote as mayor of london was that he was the mayor of the fourth largest french city on the planet. why because all the

french millionaires left under francois hollande, under that disastrous presidency and moved to london instead. >> yeah, well, maybe it's not that popular to say we need to win back millionaires, but it's quite practical, though i don't want to be taxed more. most people don't want to be taxed more. apart from the patriotic millionaires. that's the group that wants to be taxed more, believe it or not. >> but they could always, you know, write a check to hmrc. i hear maybe a bank transfer even. yeah this is good afternoon britain on gb news now coming up a senior met officer admits that mistakes were made in the policing of pro—palestine protests. just a few. more on that after this .

>> well good afternoon britain. it is now 1219 and the assistant commissioner of the metropolitan police has admitted that the force made mistakes in its policing of pro—palestine protests , particularly in the protests, particularly in the early stages back in october. >> well , early stages back in october. >> well, speaking to the think tank policy exchange, matt twist cited the decision to not immediately arrest demonstrators, shouting jihad as an example that the met is not acting decisively enough during these protests. i mean, they started getting into a public discussion about the meaning of jihad and the different interpretations, as if shouting it on the street was was an inner search for peace. >> i know crazy . anyway, he >> i know crazy. anyway, he insisted. police tactics had since developed and he strongly rejected any accusations of two tier or differential policing. >> well, let's get the thoughts now of former police sergeant harry ten hag. harry, this is a pretty stark admission from a very, very senior officer in the met >> yeah, it is, but i often wonder if it's the same as

politicians that say, yes, we will learn from things and things are never learnt from. i think it's even bigger than the met. unfortunately. i think it's home office. it's that decree. these things. and even when you go all the way back to the stephen lawrence inquiry and that side of things, the police became very sensitive, through the government's direction when it involved race, culture, religion, that side of things . religion, that side of things. and i think, you know, it came from people are getting frustrated because you've got black lives matter, nothing to do with britain. you know, george floyd, american, you've got stop oil where people realise we're creating very little pollution. you've got palestine. there's nothing to do with great britain. it's nothing to do. and we want our country back from these individuals. and you'll find the more extreme protesters are taking full advantage of the weaknesses in our system. and i think now we have the internet. there has got to be a better, more peaceful

and less, sort of destructive way of protesting, especially when it's week after week after week, and especially when it means it affects people in our country, for example, with the palestinians, with the jews not able to go into london feeling unsafe, etc. and i think it has to be dealt with consistently. this happened way early on when i was taught my sergeant's interview. when i went in, i knew that don't treat people equally. you treat them according to their own particular needs, which sounds great, but it can be taken advantage of and before you know it, multiculturalism. we thought , it, multiculturalism. we thought, hey, that was the great thing. everyone's earning loads of money for multiculturalism . and money for multiculturalism. and then you realise that people stayed in their communities a lot of the time, and they didn't sometimes learn the language, and then they wanted their culture back into this country and it became divisive. and i think interrogation, we're realising that interrogation integration is everything. and it's been completely different thing and much easier to police if everyone is integrated and

policed at the same level. and policed at the same level. and police are on the front line, police are on the front line, aren't they? >> in dealing with these issues, they see how community tensions can make policing very hard indeed.i can make policing very hard indeed. i mean , there was that indeed. i mean, there was that extraordinary moment in westminster you had from the river to the sea, which many people do find deeply offensive, projected onto the side of the house of parliament, the big ben.no house of parliament, the big ben. no less, and the police were seen were seen to do nothing. >> and i think it's amplified with the met. i mean, these rules and regulations from the home office and how you were meant to be treating people with threat assessments or risk assessments. and i always said assessments. and i always said as a police officer on the street, no one dictates to the police if they get arrested or not. all right. and if it gets messy and it gets dirty and untidy, then you still have to make that arrest to make a point and show that it shows the rest of the community around that you're sticking up for what's right. and i think that's where we've slipped, especially with mainstream media picking a side very early on, which has lots of clickbait, and you've got too

many politicians as as leaders. the met is amplified because the world is watching , and it's not world is watching, and it's not necessarily watching somewhere like devon and cornwall and south yorkshire, you know, south wales , etc. it's quite so much. wales, etc. it's quite so much. and so these are amplified and i think people are a bit struck. first of all, police leaders are struck. they don't know what to do initially and they want to see how it all plays out. well, that's too late. let's stick to the basics through no fear nor favour. if it's unlawful, if it's creating division and violence, then it has to be stopped there and then. that's very tricky when your resources are low and you can't arrest everyone there because you've got no one to deal with. the aftermath violence. that's the problem. it's a catch 22 sometimes. >> yes. and i can understand the intimidation and frankly, the problem of arresting people when there are, you know, 200 protesters perhaps looking a bit threatening and just two police officers, i can understand how there wouldn't be an arrest made there. but but what i can't

understand is police officers standing next to a projector thatis standing next to a projector that is projecting what many people interpret as a genocidal slogan onto our national parliaments. i mean , if could i? parliaments. i mean, if could i? i don't think i could imagine the french police standing by a projector projecting onto the national assembly. projector projecting onto the national assembly . they would national assembly. they would have that projector would would be in bits on the road. i mean, it would be smashed to pieces or the dc capital police. i can't imagine if that slogan was projected up on the capitol building in washington, dc, that it would last two minutes. why is why is our police force so different? >> we need strong leadership and unfortunately it's going to take a while to get in there because unfortunately, you've got this if you like. there's certain wokeism and that is brought in to think that you just hug everyone and everything will be fine. and unfortunately, you have to make some difficult decisions. leadership needs to be there to say, right , clear be there to say, right, clear that that's going arrest these individuals. this is what needs

to be done for an individual police officer to take it upon themselves, to take that off, to take, you know , to turn that take, you know, to turn that projector off and to arrest those people and then create, obviously, a huge melee around, then that's just not feasible for that individual, because they know they're not going to get the backing of the system, of the police, of the iopc, of the mainstream media, etc. why should anyone throw themselves to the wolves to make a point? this is why we need proper leadership for once, not politicians in the police. and i'll tell you that the front line i was getting messages from those police officers during the black lives matter when they were pinned up against the wall, and you had the, the, the psu , and you had the, the, the psu, the public order officers around the public order officers around the corner waiting to be called in, waiting to be called in, and they were told no standby. it will just might make things worse. and while their officers were getting beaten, that has to stop. >> harry, this, senior scotland

yard officer, he's, he's rejected the accusation that there is two tier policing. he says that the policing of these types of protests has improved, and that new tactics have developed, do you agree with him on that? >> well, i think policing has to be seen to be done as well. if you remember, the mark duggan 2011 riots, there's not a lot could be done. at the time. the streets were left to burn quite frankly. but then there were thousands of arrests and serious prosecutions afterwards. for about a year afterwards, wasn't it? and that sent a message. and so if that's really visible and that people are getting their comeuppance, then great. i don't think the public are seeing that right now. and they're seeing certain people and cultures , certain people and cultures, because i think this country is the leadership in this country is so frightened of culture. that they and they don't understand it. they don't understand it. they don't understand it. they don't understand it. so they don't know what is islam, what is just culture and nothing to do with islam or like, you know , for islam or like, you know, for some reason, yesterday you had

pakistanis, celebrating the birthday of, of muhammad on, on the streets. now to for islam, that's considered blasphemous. you don't celebrate the birthday. no one knows the birthday. no one knows the birthday. but for a culture for pakistanis, that's very different. now, i doubt many people in the uk know that. i only know that because i'm actually, i'm my girlfriend is from jordan and knows just as much about islam as she does catholicism because she was brought up in a catholic convent school as well. so it's quite useful knowing the difference between culture, race and religion. and some people in this country are taking full advantage of our ignorance on that. and the police are too scared to say no. enough clear the streets. that's nothing to do with religion celebrating your your, you know , the times your your, you know, the times of your life and things like that. and yet in jordan , they that. and yet in jordan, they celebrate christmas. there's christmas trees there in saudi arabia and things. it's there's so much more integration. >> it's very difficult. it's very difficult for the police ,

very difficult for the police, >> i was just gonna say, i think jordan also bans the burqa despite being a muslim country, because there are different interpretations. anyway, before we get into the weeds, it's very hard for british police officers to understand all these differences. >> harry, thank you . thank you >> harry, thank you. thank you very much indeed. former police sergeant. great to have you on, yes. i think he highlighted how difficult it is in terms of interpretation, but i think jihad being shouted on the streets, probably , probably. you streets, probably, probably. you don't need to look at the different interpretations. >> no, i think i think it's pretty clear that how threatening that sounds , i think threatening that sounds, i think so it's very difficult for police, but it is very interesting that they're willing now to say, oh, we got things wrong, because back then i don't remember there being any talk of from the police themselves about maybe we could have done this differently. >> maybe we can get a little bit of hindsight. >> although i have to say this , >> although i have to say this, there's a bit of this that doesn't sit quite easy with me. from a free speech perspective. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> should should people be allowed to shout offensive things on the streets? i mean maybe should, should people be

allowed as long as they're not inciting direct violence, they should be able to, you know , say should be able to, you know, say things that everyone would find distasteful. but of course, we don't live in the sort of society that has the same level of free speech as the united states of america. and perhaps there's more leeway given to, i mean, maybe some than others. >> maybe people should technically be allowed to shout horrible things in the streets, but i just wish they didn't want to. >> so >> so there >> so there you >> so there you go. >> so there you go. let >> so there you go. let us >> so there you go. let us know your thoughts. gbnews.com slash yours. so please do get in touch. let us know what you make of the police saying that actually we may have got a few things wrong, a few things wrong, but no two tier policing. absolutely not. anyway this is good afternoon britain . we've good afternoon britain. we've got lots more coming up, including, yes, the actor and campaigner idris elba. >> he's joined the prime minister and home secretary to launch a new effort to tackle knife crime on our streets. we'll have more of that after your headlines with tatiana . your headlines with tatiana. >> tom. emily, thank you and

good afternoon. the top stories a gun salute has marked the anniversary of the king's accession . the 41 gun salute has accession. the 41 gun salute has taken place at hyde park in london, and marks the two year anniversary of king charles taking to the throne. and that gun salute fired by the king's troop, royal horse artillery. it also marks the passing of the late queen elizabeth the second. in half an hour's time. a similar gun salute will take place at the tower of london. in other news, leaders of two of the biggest unions have put further pressure on the government over its plan to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in england and wales. unite and the pcs union have both criticised the plan, while paul novak , head the plan, while paul novak, head of the trades union congress, says the government should rethink the plan and consider other lines of support for pensioners . the health secretary pensioners. the health secretary says the policy will have a negative impact on his constituents, but also insists it's a necessary move. mps will

vote tomorrow on the plans to scrap the payment , new analysis scrap the payment, new analysis has revealed . significant has revealed. significant corruption took place in the handing out of covid contracts dunng handing out of covid contracts during the pandemic, official reports identified that 135 high risk contracts , with a value of risk contracts, with a value of £15.3 billion, had three or more corruption red flags . corruption red flags. transparency international uk are requesting the national audit office public accounts committee and the chancellor, rachel reeves, look into those findings. the impact of the covid pandemic on nhs workers , covid pandemic on nhs workers, patients and the delivery of health care is set to be examined by a public inquiry. with that first public hearing currently being held , currently being held, campaigners have expressed concern over what they see as a lack of representation of bereaved families . hollywood bereaved families. hollywood actor idris elba has joined the prime minister in downing street to launch a new effort to tackle knife crime. elba, an anti—knife crime campaigner, joined sir keir starmer this morning as he launched the coalition which aims to stop young people from

being dragged into violent gangs. the coalition will bring together campaign groups, families of people who've lost their lives to knife crime and young people who've been affected by it, as well as idris and the home secretary, yvette coopen and the home secretary, yvette cooper. sir keir starmer says he wants to make it harder to buy dangerous weapons online, as he's pledged to double down on efforts to tackle knife crime . efforts to tackle knife crime. and those are the latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm tatiana sanchez. i'll be back in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward alerts

>> welcome back. you're watching and listening to good afternoon britain. now the actor and campaigner idris elba. he's joined the prime minister in

downing street this morning to launch a new effort to tackle knife crime. >> well, he's highlighting a coalition which will aim to bnng coalition which will aim to bring together campaign groups , bring together campaign groups, families of people who've lost their lives to knife crime , and their lives to knife crime, and young people who's been affected by it. >> now, ministers have already taken steps to ban so—called ninja swords and plans to strengthen the laws around the onune strengthen the laws around the online sales of knives. so how might this go? what more can they do? >> well, joining us from westminster is our political correspondent, olivia utley. now olivia, is there anything concrete coming from this or is this just another talking shop ? this just another talking shop? >> it does seem to be more of a conversation than any new policy announcement. it's actually very similar to what we saw on friday when yvette cooper met at the national crime association with all sorts of representatives from the cps, etc. and again, there was very, very little actual concrete policy information coming out of this. this meeting, it seems, was pushed by idris elba, knife

crime campaigner who's putting together a coalition of people from youth workers to police officers to politicians, to try and stop people getting into knife crime in the first place. let's have a listen to what the actor had to say. >> today was identified some of the low hanging fruit that can be actioned quickly, right? things around, you know , things around, you know, accessibility of knives online sales and things like that. there's all these things take time to actually get into law. but today was really about how do we get to them quicker. and so our next step is to aggregate the thoughts that we've had today. we've got a point of contact , and that person will contact, and that person will be, aggregating those action points and then those involved in those action points will be then tasked to get them, get them done. the prime minister, by the way, is super, super keen to just keep pushing. and that's what we've seen. so it's been good. >> so a lot of aggregating

action points there from this group, this coalition of workers, not very much concrete policy. one thing that keir starmer is doing is getting a review into gaps in legislation around zombie knives. zombie knives have been outlawed, but there is a lot of concern that zombie knife owners are finding ways around that legislation. in fact , zombie ways around that legislation. in fact, zombie knives were first outlawed in almost ten years ago. and again and again, these criminals have found ways around that legislation. so it is possible that that legislation might just be tightened up a little. but that's the only really policy development that we have . yes, olivia, i mean , we have. yes, olivia, i mean, tightening online sales of these horrific knives is, i guess, a good thing to do. >> people shouldn't be able to go onto amazon and buy a zombie knife or a ninja knife or a machete, but it's not going to stop people from carrying, you know, a standard kitchen knife and doing damage with that.

we've seen so many stabbings across the country where it's just something that you could take from your kitchen, that you can take from your kitchen. >> well, absolutely. and ultimately, this is what is so, so difficult for every government about tackling the knife crime problem. obviously, you cannot outlaw the ownership of knives . people need knives of knives. people need knives for legitimate reasons in their day to day life, which is why idris elba and knife crime campaigners like him are trying to go down the social route, rather than purely the legislative route, trying to stop people getting into knife crime in the first place. but of course, that is easier said than done, particularly in an age of social media. we say it again and again, but it is worth saying because it is very true. there's all sorts of influences coming in from young people, from all sorts of varied sources. one element is perhaps holding social media companies to account. that's something, again, that idris elba has been talking about with the prime

minister. this morning. but again, easier said than done. we've seen what happens when the law tries to regulate social media companies. it just doesn't tend to work that well. these companies are so much bigger than british legislation. at the end of the day. >> and it's when people start talking about social media. when it comes to knife crime, i always just think, hang on, was there no knife crime before around 2010? i mean, this was always a social media problem in the 90s. and then it sort of decreased a bit and now it's been on the increase again, i don't think it's necessarily, but the government just always wants to find what it can try and regulate the bogeyman, isn't it? >> oh, if elon musk regulates twitter a little more, then we'll all be safe. >> it's like when david amess, the mp, sir david amess was was was murdered by an islamist terrorist. then everyone started talking about anonymity on twitter. i mean, the guy didn't even have twitter who killed him? >> exactly. >> exactly. >> olivia, i suppose people to

some extent want to be seen to be doing something, but but there is also a risk to that in that if they pass a lot more laws, ban a lot more knives, and this still keeps on happening, the government might look fairly impotent . impotent. >> well, exactly. and i mean , >> well, exactly. and i mean, there is a very good argument to make that all of the laws are already in place to prevent knife crime taking place. it is clearly illegal to stab somebody with a knife, and it does sometimes feel as though in wanting to look as though it's doing something about this terrible, terrible scourge. the government adds in increasingly complex legislation which makes life more difficult for police officers and doesn't actually change the results on knife crime that much. which, of course, is why people like idris elba and knife crime campaigners try and tackle the problem from a different angle the social angle trying to stop people wanting to get into knife crime in the first place. and so then you get into conversations about youth groups , social groups, youth groups, social groups,

social media as well, etc. but again, it all feels pretty small in relation to this absolutely enormous problem. >> well, thank you very much indeed. olivia utley. our political correspondent in westminster. i think, i think, and i wonder if you agree it should be a zero tolerance approach. come down hard. >> punishment you found with a knife time behind bars. it's got to be. >> it's got to be. because at the moment you've got kids running around southend with machetes, you've got small children being stabbed to death at a taylor swift concert. you've got people in our city centres seeing young people just carrying knives as if, as if it's as if it's just normal these days. i mean, it's got to be a zero tolerance approach, surely, and stop and search. i wonder if they talked about that. >> yes. i wonder because because it does seem that we do see this more and more. and i don't know if this is just because we're seeing more of this because everyone carries, in effect, a camera around with them, their, their phone. and you see people brandishing knives on trains. or

there was that man that was on that jumped onto the back of a bus and had a big machete in his hand. and you just see these really vivid images more than you used to. i wonder , has this you used to. i wonder, has this stuff always been happening? but we see it more now, or is this a genuine increase in the incidence of these occasions? >> well, we see everything now, don't we? we see through tiktok, through social media, through wherever these images , these wherever these images, these videos of the most shocking crimes, people just holding knives on public transport, for example. but i think it's got to be zero tolerance. otherwise, how on earth do do you stop someone from just feeling like, you know, no one's going to get them invincible? >> this is the thing i think the government has shown . it can do government has shown. it can do zero tolerance to people. for example, who who joined in with the despicable violence in the riots in august. i mean, if you were for if you had no criminal record before but were at a riot and shouted at a peace officer or whatever, you've had time behind bars, why is it different

for people who are found to be carrying a knife, even if it's the first time they've come into contact with law enforcement? we've seen that if it's the first time someone's come into contact with law enforcement in the in the case of the riots, a ton of bricks comes down on them. why are you not people carrying knives? and we should have seen an emergency speech about knife crime. >> following that horrific stabbing attack in in southport . stabbing attack in in southport. shouldn't we really? i hope this isn't just a talking shop. i hope they decide that they're going to come down hard on this issue.i going to come down hard on this issue. i don't think a few more youth clubs is going to solve this, but, hey, let us know what you think the answer is. gbnews.com/yoursay is the way to get in touch. >> well, this is good afternoon, britain on gb news. lots more coming up. we're going to be live at the tuc conference in brighton. this is interesting because the unions are now taking aim at the reform. uk leader nigel farage, calling him a fraud and a putin apologist. why are they so focused on reform uk?

good afternoon britain. it is 12 minutes to one and the general secretary of the trade union congress is telling members that sir keir starmer's government have the interests of working people at the heart in a way that the conservatives never did. >> right. well, speaking at their annual conference in brighton, paul novak told unionists he's prepared to work closely with ministers to deliver for workers and bring what he calls the last 14 years of chaos to an end. >> okay, but he's also hit out at the reform uk leader nigel farage calling him a putin apologist and a fraud right. >> okay. well joining us from brighton is our reporter, adam cherry, adam, how much time did he take slagging off mr farage? >> quite a long time, actually. i think the reason is because in

nigel farage's own words, the reform are coming after labour voters next. and there are a lot of, as you would expect , lots of of, as you would expect, lots of labour voters here in traditional trade union, working class communities who may be tempted by what the reform party is offering at the next election, or at least that's that's the fear here. so it's no wonder that he's gone after them. of course, he also in caveated language, reminded the labour government that although there's lots of handshaking and backslapping over their stomping victory, a couple of months ago, these unpopular decisions in keir starmer's own words, are not popular at all with the trade union movement. of course , trade union movement. of course, tomorrow the winter fuel allowance vote is in front of the commons that will be voted through, and there's a lot of anger on the floor here about that. anger on the floor here about that . as delegates were coming that. as delegates were coming out of the speech when it was ovenl out of the speech when it was over, i was speaking to a few of them as they were coming out and they all said basically the same thing. they're thrilled that labour have won. you know, a huge round of applause over all those tory mps who were booted out. but the decisions that are

being made early on in this, in this new government are worrying them. so it's really a tale of two halves, triumphant, but at the same time cautioning the government not to go too far. >> yes, it was very interesting to hear in that big keynote speech the sort of personal attacks that were made against conservative politicians listing the names very slowly, of those who lost their seats, and almost this jeering coming from the crowd when the names of these individuals were read out, it sounded, to some extent a little threatening. i thought. but, but there is this interesting line coming out from unite and the tuc saying that the proposed withdrawal of winter fuel allowance is cruel. that's a very harsh word to be using . very harsh word to be using. >> yeah, and actually i've just spoken to a few people from the national pensioners convention and they said they just sort of summarise what they said, but they said they hated rachel

reeves. they really don't like it. they don't think she's up to the job and they're furious about this, pointing out that they think millions of people, millions of pensioners are going to suffer badly, not just those with swimming pools and champagne in their fridge . so, champagne in their fridge. so, yeah, it's not an easy environment that the prime minister enters tomorrow when he gives his speech. i think we saw from ellie reeves, the party chair yesterday a flavour of what we can expect from him. it will be, well done. us. we've we've achieved this great result. but to fulfil our promises to the electorate, we have to make these, again, unpopular decisions early. but trust us and stay with us. that's what i would expect to see tomorrow and do you sense that the unions are winning the battle when it comes to workers rights? >> i mean, there's been quite a lot of pressure on angela raynen lot of pressure on angela rayner. also, rachel reeves to water down some of this workers rights package that they spoke about before the election. trade unions certainly won't want to let them get away with watering that down. will they ?

that down. will they? >> oh, no, absolutely not. in fact, as you come in at the entrance to this venue, a new deal for working people, which is angela rayner's project that's emblazoned right across the front of the of the building here in massive letters . so it's here in massive letters. so it's a central, a central plank of what the unions are after here. they're not going to accept any dilution of that. they want those promises upheld, but they know, you know, actually labour government have been, shall we say, have been reluctant to keep hold of all of those things that they promised before the election or over the last few years, moving into government. so they are keeping a close eye on that. the deputy prime minister, angela rayner, is here tonight at a conference dinner , tonight at a conference dinner, so i'm sure she'll try and mollycoddle those who are here and assure them that everything is fine. but nonetheless, there is fine. but nonetheless, there is some apprehension and a warning that the unions are going to keep an eye on this. >> well, adam cherry , live from >> well, adam cherry, live from the trade union congress. really

appreciate your thoughts on this. it's interesting that there seems to be this fracturing because when you win a majority, although a massive majority over 170 seat majority, but on just 33.9% of the vote, can you afford to lose anyone from your right flank or your left flank? >> well, yes. and there's always the threat of more strikes as well to contend with this good afternoon britain, we're on gb news. we've got lots more coming up on today's show. so stay tuned. we're looking ahead to that potential labour rebellion over that winter fuel allowance scrappage. we're also going to be live at the tower of london. to mark two years since the king's accession to the throne. don't go anywhere . don't go anywhere. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . news. >> hi there and welcome to the latest update from the met office for gb news. following some very wet weather over the weekend, today's drier for many of us, some sunshine, particularly in the west, but some rain also arriving into the

northwest later with this frontal system . but for the time frontal system. but for the time being, a ridge of high pressure across the uk and the weekend's rain clearing away. although eastern parts of england still clinging on to some cloud and some patchy light rain through the afternoon, and that does tend to fizzle away later on, brighter skies follow for the west midlands, northern england, parts of the southwest as well as wales. temperatures of 18 to 19 celsius a fresh feel, but pleasant enough in the sunshine. scotland and northern ireland cloudier skies increasingly so, with some showers turning to longer spells of rain for western scotland, with some heavy outbreaks through the afternoon and into the evening. staying bright in the east of scotland, but increasingly cloudy. northern ireland, likewise seeing some rain turn up likewise seeing some rain turn ”p by likewise seeing some rain turn up by evening and temperatures of around 15 celsius, but we've got this slice of fine weather through the midlands , southern through the midlands, southern england, south wales as we head into the evening and overnight,

we keep the clear spells across the south and southeast, but cloudier skies arrive into scotland, northern ireland, northern and western england as well as wales. outbreaks of rain mostly light and patchy in the south, but further north that rain will be heavy, accompanied by a strengthening wind. temperatures overnight dipping to 11 or 12 celsius, but an unsettled start for northern and western parts of the country. first thing a spell of wet weather moving south through scotland and northern ireland, eventually into central and northern parts of england , as northern parts of england, as well as wales. showers to the south of that and to the north of that, with some brighter skies in between. the showers, but also a blustery wind and some particularly heavy and windy heavy rain and windy weather for the far north. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . sponsors of boxt boilers. sponsors of weather on

>> good afternoon britain. it is now 1:00 on monday the 9th of september. i'm emily carver and i'm tom harwood. >> let's cross now straight to the tower of london's gun wharf, where the honourable artillery company is performing a 62 gun salute to mark the king's accession to the throne. let's listen . in. varne number one. >> 031 the special military

celebrations are continuing here in london, marking the second anniversary of the accession of his majesty king charles the third, a 62 gun salute currently being fired outside the tower of london by the honourable artillery company . 21 london by the honourable artillery company. 21 guns is the tradition dating back centuries. really? the ships that would fire their guns signalling to the friendly harbour that their guns are in fact clear and they are no longer a threat. plus an extra 20 guns because they are in a royal palace and fortress, of course, the tower of london, plus another 21. because the tower of london sits within the city of london, it was at precisely 1:00 on the word of command that the 6262 gun salute is was starting to be fired. one of the three guns in turn, at ten second intervals, filling the wharf as you can see on your

screens, if you're watching on television with white smoke, the sounds reverberating from the tower battlements and probably startling a few tourists who are probably watching on tower bridge, which has just been masked by the smoke here of course, firing blanks over the river thames outside the tower of london, the honourable artillery artillery company is the army's oldest regiment. the british army's oldest regiment, with a wealth of traditions. and of course, today is all about traditions. because it is two years. yesterday since the accession of king charles the third, but also very poignantly, very sadly, the death of . her very sadly, the death of. her majesty queen elizabeth the second. this is the second anniversary of the traditional gun salutes. just an hour ago, where i am in hyde park, the king's troop, royal horse artillery, fired a 41 gun salute inside hyde park as again it is 21 guns as tradition, plus an

extra 20 because it is in a royal park. >> cameron walker thank you very much indeed. and what splendid guns they are . guns they are. >> spectacular sight there in the tower of london, isn't it ? the tower of london, isn't it? absolutely beautiful. so there you go. the 62 gun salute fired by the honourable artillery company. and please do get in touch with us throughout the show. we've got a lot on our plate this afternoon, but we're going to go to the headlines quickly before we're back . quickly before we're back. >> emily, thank you very much. the top story. and as you've just been hearing, gun salutes are marking the anniversary of the king's accession today . a 62 the king's accession today. a 62 gun royal salute is being fired by the honourable artillery company at the tower of london, and marks the two year anniversary of king charles taking to the throne. and earlier. if you're watching us on television, you can see the 41 gun salute took place at hyde park in london, and that gun salute fired by the king's troop ,

salute fired by the king's troop, royal horse artillery. it also marks the passing of the late queen elizabeth the second. in other news, leaders of two of the biggest unions have put further pressure on the government over its plans to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in england and wales. unite and the pcs union have both criticised the plan, while paul novak, head of the trades union congress, says the government should rethink the plan and consider other lines of support for pensioners. the health secretary says the policy will have a negative impact on his constituents, but insists it's a necessary move. mps will vote tomorrow on the plans to scrap the payment. >> play our part in recasting britain's industrial future and above all, we'll work with the government to face down those on the right who wish to sow the vision and discord in our communities, and our message to the tinpot politicians. the street thugs and any ragtag group that tries to promote their message of hate is clear. not in our workplaces, not in

our communities , not on our our communities, not on our watch . watch. >> hollywood actor idris elba joined the prime minister in downing street to launch a new effort to tackle knife crime. elba an anti—knife crime campaigner, joined sir keir starmer this morning as he launched the coalition, which aims to stop young people from being dragged into violent gangs. the coalition will bring together campaign groups , together campaign groups, families of people who've lost their lives to knife crime and young people who've been affected by it, as well as idris and the home secretary, yvette coopen and the home secretary, yvette cooper. sir keir starmer says he wants to make it harder to buy dangerous weapons. idris says it's dangerous weapons. idris says wsfime dangerous weapons. idris says it's time to put ideas into action. >> today was identified some of the low hanging fruit that can be actioned quickly. right things around you know, accessibility of knives , online accessibility of knives, online sales and things like that. there's all these things take time to actually get into law. but today was really about how do we get to them quicker. and

so our next step is to aggregate the thoughts that we've had today. we've got a point of contact, and that person will be. aggregating those action points and then those involved in those action points will be then tasked to get them, get them done. the prime minister, by the way, is super, super keen to just keep pushing and that's what we've seen. so it's been good. >> new analysis has revealed significant corruption took place in the handing out of covid contracts during the pandemic. official reports identified that 135 high risk contracts with a value of £153 contracts with a value of £15.3 billion, had three or more corruption red flags. transparency international uk are requesting the national audit office public accounts committee and the chancellor, rachel reeves, look into those findings. the impact of the covid pandemic on nhs workers, patients and the delivery of healthcare is to be examined by a public inquiry , with the first

a public inquiry, with the first pubuc a public inquiry, with the first public hearing currently being held . campaigners have expressed held. campaigners have expressed concern over what they see as a lack of representation of bereaved families . now, measures bereaved families. now, measures to empower local leaders to take control of bus services have been unveiled by the government. transport secretary louise hague blamed her but claimed her bus revolution will save vital routes nationwide. legislation giving all local transport authorities new powers to run their own bus services will be laid before parliament today . laid before parliament today. there are only a few areas in england where the local bus company is owned by the council, and supporters say it means profits can be reinvested into services . the metropolitan services. the metropolitan police says it's very likely arrests will be made more quickly when it handles large protests in the future. assistant commissioner matt twist also admitted the force didn't get everything right when policing recent demonstrations. frequent protests and

counter—demonstrations have been held since last october, including by environmental campaigners and from groups calling for a ceasefire in the israel—hamas conflict. will protests also developed into rioting and disorder after three little girls were killed in an attack in southport in july . attack in southport in july. cancer deaths in the uk could increase by 17% by 2029, when compared with the last five years, the charity warns. cancer research uk also projects new diagnoses to jump by more than a fifth during the same period. experts say the stats highlight the devastating impact cancer continues to have on people across the uk. they also urged the government to develop a long term strategy for the disease, with a focus on funding , with a focus on funding, research, early diagnosis and prevention . and noel gallagher prevention. and noel gallagher says he is thrilled and honoured to have his portrait added to the national portrait gallery, despite, he says, being a grumpy

middle aged man who hates having his picture taken. well, the picture taken by zoe law, will go on display for the first time on the 29th of november as part of the london gallery's legends exhibition, which will feature 100 portraits taken by law of people who've influenced her life and career. the image of gallagher will remain part of the gallery's permanent collection once the exhibition ends on the 2nd of march next yeah ends on the 2nd of march next year. and those are the latest gb news headlines for now. i'm tatiana sanchez. 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 gb news. >> .com. forward slash alerts . >> .com. forward slash alerts. >> .com. forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is 1:09. we're going to take you live now to downing street because of course what is going

on this week is a pretty seismic vote on the winter fuel cuts. now this is a big totemic moment for this government. >> it absolutely is. >> it absolutely is. >> there's talk of potentially 50 labour mps rebelling on this. there's been accusations of cruelty from the prime minister over this, even that his hair may have gone white as a result of all the stress. but that's a little frivolous. but yes, we're looking at downing street, our political editor has been in a lobby briefing, so we're going to be talking to him very shortly indeed. christopher hope , shortly indeed. christopher hope, of course. but there's a huge amount of pressure, isn't there? so far. keir starmer is justifying this, saying, an upfickin justifying this, saying, an uptick in the state pension will more than cover this. but of course the timing of these payments is very difficult indeed.in payments is very difficult indeed. in the run up to the winter months. lots of charities also speaking out and talking about how potentially there could be deaths as a result of this policy. so this is a very

difficult day for the prime minister. tomorrow there will be that vote. >> absolutely. and it's not just the backbench labour mps who are speaking out about how this could, in effect, kill pensioners . it's also the pensioners. it's also the conservatives who are doing research on this. interestingly, the conservative member of parliament, neil o'brien, has been asking the government for estimates of numbers , how many estimates of numbers, how many pensioners are going to be affected by this change. he wants a constituency breakdown of these numbers . now. it seems of these numbers. now. it seems that the government has done this calculation, but they're not releasing the numbers. so now conservative researchers are going through the new constituency boundaries and trying to crunch these numbers themselves. it seems like this will be a very pertinent line of debate over the next few weeks, andindeed debate over the next few weeks, and indeed probably stretching to on the next general election. everyone remembers how gordon brown's first big pension decision are uprated pensions by a measly couple of pounds. if i

remember correctly, that dogged him for the rest of his political career. could it be that this big totemic vote will dog this chancellor for the rest of hers? >> do you suspect there will be some kind of compromise in october's budget from rachel reeves, that they'll look at all of this backlash? they'll be listening to their backbench mps, they'll be listening to advisers, charities, the unions, of course, too, who have also spoken out and that potentially there could be some more targeted help come october. >> well , it's possible targeted help come october. >> well, it's possible indeed we've already. >> but then what's the point? >> but then what's the point? >> we've already seen the language around this issue change considerably . the prime change considerably. the prime minister was interviewed yesterday and when he was asked about it, the first thing he said is that doing this means that we can commit to the triple lock. he's doing this pivot to commit to a much more expensive policy that uprating pensions by more than inflation or average earnings, or 2.5%, whichever is highest. committing to that much more expensive policy in to order cut the cheaper policy. i

mean, it seems perhaps he's dug a larger hole trying to justify this move. >> he's spending a whole lot of political capital on something that isn't as expensive as other policies, not least the pay offers to the unions. we're going to be speaking to our political editor very shortly. it appears to be quite a long lobby briefing, so we'll join him very shortly. but another man who has been in number 10 today is the actor and campaigner idris elba. >> yes, he joined the prime minister in downing street this morning to launch a new effort to tackle knife crime. he's highlighting a coalition which will aim to bring together campaign groups, families of people who've lost their lives to knife crime and young people who've been affected by it. >> okay . well, joining us now is >> okay. well, joining us now is anti—knife campaigner ken hines. ken, tell us a little bit about idris elba and his approach to this issue . this issue. >> well, i know ages got involved with, really got to the heart of the matter when he actually went on patrol with farren paul, another local young

man that has been doing work getting knives off our streets for many years and being very effective and, and, and elba has seen firsthand just what a difference one man can make and from that's happened he's now taken on the baton and he's he's dnven taken on the baton and he's he's driven it to 10 downing street and i'm very happy with the work that he's doing and the profile that he's doing and the profile that he's doing and the profile that he has , that's actually, that he has, that's actually, putting the spotlight on actually knife crime. but my thing is sadly, simply this , we thing is sadly, simply this, we are talking a lot about enforcement . we're talking about enforcement. we're talking about being tough on crime and being tough on the nature of, of knife crime . but tough on the nature of, of knife crime. but it's tough on the nature of, of knife crime . but it's never going to crime. but it's never going to work . i've been on i've been on work. i've been on i've been on the street for many years. i'm on the street still today, as part of a group called street father, you may call it patrolling, but we like to call

it street engagement , where it street engagement, where we're talking to young people who may be the perpetrator or victim of knife crime. and what i've seen quite clearly is that unless you start taking a real pubuc unless you start taking a real public health approach to this serious subject , we're going to serious subject, we're going to keep getting this. we're going to keep failing young people. we have to look at the most. influential group on children in schools, schools, has children in predominantly their most productive years. and we need to look at ways of what of we've given children what we call, rights. but but with our liberalism has gone so far that we don't tell them about the responsibility that goes with that rights. if you were to smack a child, you'll get yourself in trouble. if you were to talk too hard to a child now emotionally damaging that child, you could get yourself in trouble. so it's given the

child, you know they can do whatever he wants or she wants. and we're we're feeling the backlash now. >> it's almost we've given too much with nothing in return. ken, i'm interested when you when you're out on the streets, when you're out on the streets, when you're out on the streets, when you're talking to young people in areas of particularly high knife crime, what do the young people who carry knives say to you about why they do it? >> well, young people says, look, i'm doing it to protect myself because he says, quite clearly that, you know, they've got, you know, they've seen they don't they don't want to be a victim to, to a knife crime because it could cost them their lives. so they say they much prefer to be cool with their knives by the police and given a smack in the hand rather than be caught without it by their opposition, and maybe carried to their grave by six of their peers. >> but, ken, isn't that one of the problems? ken that, that people only get a slap on the wrist if the criminal justice system, if the police came down

very hard on knife crime, had a zero tolerance approach to even carrying a knife with these young men, which mostly it is, and boys stop carrying them , and boys stop carrying them, >> i don't believe so , because >> i don't believe so, because you're not tackling the root cause. and the root cause is a lack of self—esteem. and the fact of the matter is, if you could be putting whatever draconian measures you want, but if you. my thing is, we've lost this, young teenage group. we've lost them. we've got to go back to primary school. we've got to put in what what it is to be a good citizen. what's a what's the role of a good citizen? what does that look like? we've got to we've got to look because i just i just came back from lithuania and i find it so unbelievable to see that they've got no anti—social behaviour problems. they've got kids that's been brought up with respect and the reason they've done that is partly because they're still got part of the

soviet era, that they're carrying forward. but they've got capitalism to go with that. so they've got a combination and thatis so they've got a combination and that is working very well for them. i think we can learn a lot from what they are doing that we are not doing. we've got to stop are not doing. we've got to stop a more cohesive, a more cohesive society. >> it's more than just punishment, isn't it, ken heinz? we'll have to leave it there. but thank you very much indeed for your time. anti—knife campaigner. >> well, mps of course, have their chance to vote on those winter fuel cuts for pensioners tomorrow. reports suggesting many labour mps could refuse to back the policy as many as 50. well we're joined now by the director of silver voices, an organisation for senior citizens in the uk, denis reed. denis, thank you so much for your time this afternoon. this is a real totemic moment in the early days of this parliament. >> well, it is, and i'm afraid they've picked the wrong fight here with, with older people. i mean, even if they force it through tomorrow during the debate tomorrow, it's not going to go away. i mean , as you said

to go away. i mean, as you said earlier in the programme, this is going to haunt the labour party throughout the rest of their of their term in office, unless they actually, change plans. and we don't think this is going to go away at all because the next target date for us will be the budget on 30th of october, when we'll be pressing the chancellor to find funds from other means so that older people can be safeguarded this winter. >> i mean, denis is there not an argument to means test this winter? fuel allowance at least a little bit? i mean, there will be pensioners out there who use this well, who don't even notice the money to begin with, or they use it as a deposit on a on their their next cruise or, you know, put it in the champagne fund , should it not be means fund, should it not be means tested a little ? tested a little? >> well, it's not a king's ransom, is it? £300. and that's the maximum amount that people get. but this is the only argument that the government have got. that there's a few

wealthy older people who don't need the, don't need the payment. you know, i heard mick jagger mention this morning. well of course, mick jagger doesn't need the payment nehhen doesn't need the payment neither. neither does sir jim ratcliffe. but in to order get the payment away from them, the government is actually talking about removing it from millions of older people who definitely rely on that payment to pay their energy bills during the winter . actually, silver voices winter. actually, silver voices has suggested, an alternative and that is if there has to be a cut off point, which we don't agree with, but if there has to be one, it should be at the level of the higher rate of tax. so that would remove all these arguments about, you know, billionaires and millionaires and so on. getting it. and it would mean that those on modest incomes, because they've got a small work pension or something like that, or they've got savings and that those people would not lose their winter fuel payment. >> now, that is a really interesting point there because it sounds like there might be some negotiation, there might be

some negotiation, there might be some negotiation, there might be some negotiation with the trade unions, there might be some negotiation within parliament itself on how this policy is delivered. do you get the sense from the politicians you've been listening to and speaking with in the in the last few weeks, that there might be a climbdown over this issue ? over this issue? >> well, look, this, this, this unhes >> well, look, this, this, this unites the, the political spectrum from the left to the right, you know, the unions are support, support the campaign , support, support the campaign, the charities all support the campaign . everybody supports campaign. everybody supports seems to support the campaign apart from the labour frontbench, who appear to be imprisoned in an echo chamber with their special advisers, somehow thinking that this is necessary to resolve the problems of the economy and it isn't. everybody knows it isn't. it's a relatively small beer compared to the size of the budget. and it's just, you know, a virility test that the government has decided to do this and thinking that older people are soft targets . well,

people are soft targets. well, we've shown that we're not soft targets and we're not going to go away. even if the regulations go away. even if the regulations go through tomorrow. >> well, quite. thank you very much indeed, dennis reed, you are the director of silver voices. that's an organisation for senior citizens in this country. yeah. it's not going to go away. the pensioners are good at mobilising. that is absolutely a powerful , powerful absolutely a powerful, powerful electoral bloc. absolutely. well, this. good afternoon , well, this. good afternoon, britain. let us know your thoughts. we've got lots more coming up on today's show, including the met police has actually admitted it made mistakes in its policing of the pro—palestine protests, but they continue to strongly dismiss any accusation of two tier policing. stick with

us. welcome back to good afternoon britain. it's now 125. now the assistant commissioner of the

metropolitan police has admitted that the force made mistakes when policing pro—palestine protests, particularly in the early stages. >> well, speaking to the think tank policy exchange, matt twist cited the decision to not immediately arrest demonstrators, shouting jihad as an example of the met not acting decisively enough during the protests. >> well, however, he did insist police tactics had since developed and he strongly rejected any accusation of two tier or differential policing. >> well , tier or differential policing. >> well, delighted to be joined now in the studio by the former scotland yard detective, peter bleksley peter , have the police bleksley peter, have the police finally admitted what a lot of people could see for a long time that too often they would simply stand on the sidelines and watch what many people would see as unacceptable behaviour go without challenge. >> yes, i think they absolutely have. >> yes, i think they absolutely have . particularly as assistant have. particularly as assistant commissioner matt twist admits with regards to jihad. let's just rewind those few short

months to october of last year and the police were saying ludicrously , that jihad can ludicrously, that jihad can actually mean a spiritual striving against moral failings. that's how it can be interpreted. >> and yet there were people with hatred written all over their faces, chanting for it clearly wishing death and genocide upon a whole range of people. >> it was ludicrous that they weren't more forceful, but this , weren't more forceful, but this, unfortunately, is what you've got with this current breed of senior police leaders who actually think that policing is actually think that policing is a popularity contest and we must curry favour as much as we possibly can, we're of course, that's sheer utter nonsense. they lack experience. they've risen without trace. they don't have operational grip. and consequently, this is the policing that we get. >> peter, you mentioned the chanting of jihad that, if i remember correctly, was a hizb ut—tahrir protest which was on

the sidelines of the mass pro—palestine protest. and i understand that they decided that there was no offence at all. i believe they they spoke to one of the people chanting and, you know, discouraged them from doing it. >> again, spiritual striving against moral failings. i mean, it's laughable that they didn't go in there and make arrests at the time. but this , the time. but this, unfortunately, is what we've seen. okay, let's take the submission. at face value. it's a positive sign if they're going to learn from it. but of course , to learn from it. but of course, we know in very recent times look at how the riots were quite rightly quelled by the mobilisation almost instantaneously of 6000 police officers countrywide . let's officers countrywide. let's rewind just a few days to the notting hill carnival. the metropolitan police 7000 officers ready and mobilised for that event. if there's the political will and there's the policing, will so many of the ills that blight this once great nafion ills that blight this once great

nation could be addressed? it's just a case of will they? >> it's such an interesting point because this isn't of course, to say that everyone on these protests were worthy of arrest. there were many good people who went on these protests who perhaps didn't see or in different bits of where the troublemakers were, but let's not beat around the bush. there were troublemakers there. there were troublemakers there. there were troublemakers there. there were people chanting genocidal slogans. there were people getting away with things that you wouldn't expect on the streets of britain. do you think that the police will learn from this now? >> i sincerely hope so. i'm going to give some credit now for the policing of the protests at this weekend. that's just gone. there were only eight arrests, six from the pro—palestinian side and two counter—protesters. so in terms of the planning, the prep and largely keeping people separated, they did a very competent job. but it's not so long ago that a man with a red

football shirt was walking down oxford street with hamas on the back, and the number seven, that man has still not been arrested. and i say to the metropolitan police, well , why not? police, well, why not? >> it's quite interesting how our police decided well and our government, our politicians, the mayor of london. et cetera. et cetera , how they chose to police cetera, how they chose to police because other countries in europe just decided to blanket ban these types of protests. i believe france had pretty much a zero tolerance after the first 2 or 3. i'm sure they're still going on in smaller numbers, but they did try to completely stop them. would that have been the right approach, or would that have been too much of an attack on our basic rights to protest? >> well, the police will always say that they will protect the right to protest. and i think of course, that's the absolute right position to adopt . but right position to adopt. but we've had 18 of these now and this report published today has told us what so many of us knew already, and that there is a significant impact on businesses, from shops to

restaurants to bars to any other kind of entertainment business in central london, because people in substantial numbers when these marches are on are just going. do you know what? i'm not going to london. i'm not going to spend my money and the economy is being affected. >> oh, you can see that in central london. regent street and oxford street are empty sometimes. yeah, absolutely. it feels empty apart from the socialist worker placards and the like. >> indeed. and we have a government that's promising growth and talking about growth almost endlessly. well, that's not going to happen if huge swathes of our capital city are regarded as a no go area by people who simply don't want to run the risk of getting caught up in these protests. >> well, peter bleksley former met detective , really appreciate met detective, really appreciate your thoughts on this issue. no doubt it won't be the last that we hear of the metropolitan police and how they approach these protests. yes. >> please do get in touch. gbnews.com/yoursay a lot to come in support for kamala harris already dwindling. the latest polling suggests donald trump is now one point ahead of the

current vice president , now one point ahead of the current vice president, as now one point ahead of the current vice president , as they current vice president, as they prepare to face off in a televised debate. tomorrow. we'll be discussing that after your headlines. >> emily, thank you and good afternoon. the top stories. gun salutes are marking the anniversary of the king's accession today, a 62 gun royal salute has been fired by the honourable artillery company at the tower of london. and marks the tower of london. and marks the two year anniversary of king charles taking to the throne. earlier today. the 41 gun salute took place at hyde park in london, and that gun salute fired by the king's troop, royal horse artillery. it also marks the passing of the late queen elizabeth the second, leaders of two of the biggest unions have put further pressure on the government over its plan to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in england and wales. unite and the pcs union have both criticised the plan, while paul novak, head of the trades union congress, says the government should

rethink the plan and consider other lines of support for pensioners. the health secretary says the policy will have a negative impact on his constituents , but he also constituents, but he also insists it's a necessary move . insists it's a necessary move. mps will vote tomorrow on the plans to scrap the payment . new plans to scrap the payment. new analysis has revealed. significant corruption took place in the handing out of covid contracts during the pandemic, official reports identified that 135 high risk contracts with a value of £153 contracts with a value of £15.3 billion, had three or more corruption red flags . corruption red flags. transparency international uk are requesting the national audit office public accounts committee and chancellor rachel reeves look into the findings . reeves look into the findings. the impact of the covid pandemic on nhs workers, patients and the delivery of health care is set to be examined by a public inquiry today, with the first pubuc inquiry today, with the first public hearing currently being held. campaigners have expressed concern over what they see as the lack of representation of bereaved families , and hollywood bereaved families, and hollywood actor idris elba has joined the

prime minister in downing street today to launch a new effort to tackle knife crime. elba, an anti—knife crime campaigner, joined sir keir starmer this morning as he launched the coalition, which aims to stop young people from being dragged into violent gangs. young people from being dragged into violent gangs . the into violent gangs. the coalition will bring together campaign groups , families of campaign groups, families of people who've lost their lives to knife crime and young people who've been affected by it, as well as idris and the home secretary, yvette cooper. sir keir starmer says he wants to make it harder to buy dangerous weapons online. idris says it's time to put ideas into action. >> today was identified some of the low hanging fruit that can be actioned quickly , right. be actioned quickly, right. things around, you know, accessibility of knives, online sales and things like that . sales and things like that. there's all these things take time to actually get into law. but today was really about how do we get to them quicker. and so our next step is to aggregate the thoughts that we've had today. we've got a point of contact, and that person will

be, aggregating those action points and then those involved in those action points will be then tasked to get them, get them done. the prime minister, by the way, is super, super keen to just keep pushing. and that's what we've seen. so it's been good. >> and those are the latest gb news headlines for now i'm tatiana sanchez back in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone. >> sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash

>> good afternoon britain. it is 138 and idris elba has been in downing street today . he's been downing street today. he's been talking to the prime minister about knife crime . about knife crime. >> yes. and some of you have got in touch. david says idris elba

should have ignored starmer and cooper and had a meeting with peter bleksley. yes, lots of love for peter bleksley , love for peter bleksley, although i must say nick has got in touch and he says so basically ban peaceful protest against genocide so the shops can make a living. how about stop the genocide? then there will be no reason for any protest given you're meant to be an independent, impartial channel, you really do say something absolute rubbish trying to look like you care. we have a right to voice our opinions in this country. no one has the authority over another to denounce their views. et cetera, et cetera. i think it's a good point. i mean, a lot of people would say people have the fundamental right to go out and speak their mind, protest, even if there is a level of disruption. >> but do you have the right to close a road ? well, a public close a road? well, a public road. do you have the right to close that? i'm not sure you do. you have the right to say say whatever . you have the right to say say whatever. yeah. don't close you have the right to say say whatever . yeah. don't close the whatever. yeah. don't close the road. >> yeah. and there are allocated spaces for protests , not least spaces for protests, not least outside the houses of parliament, but there you go . parliament, but there you go. that's a view we've also got, michael, who says protests are not the only problem with london at the weekend . i'm sick of at the weekend. i'm sick of railway closures. so there you

go . go. >> well, shall we head to downing street now and speak to our political editor, christopher hope? he's been in a briefing with the prime minister's official spokesperson all afternoon . chris, this issue all afternoon. chris, this issue of the cuts to the winter fuel allowance is not going away . allowance is not going away. >> certainly isn't tom and emily and good afternoon here from number 10 downing street. there is sadly nothing the government will do to mitigate further this, this withdrawal of the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners. the government has made very clear. in the cabinet meeting behind me, a chaired by sir keir starmer, the chancellor was there, rachel reeves and many other cabinet ministers. they made clear there that this this change, this withdrawal of this payment of £300 payment that would have been paid out in november will not be changed at all. that will be removed . all. that will be removed. instead, the government is doing a lot of effort behind trying to get people to sign up for this pension credit. there's 800,000 more pensioners who have not signed up for that that benefit

yet. so far in the past five weeks, the numbers applying to apply weeks, the numbers applying to apply for that benefit has increased by 100 150%. but that figure is very , very low. just figure is very, very low. just 17,900 applied in the previous five weeks. and that doubled to 38,500. so really barely touching the sides. many people have put off by the very long questions. you've got to fill in 243 questions on the paper version number 10 say that 80% of applications are by the by the over the internet and on and on there. there's fewer boxes to tick. but as things stand, there is cold comfort for pensioners affected by the withdrawal of the benefit. they're very clear here. difficult decision made by the government, but they must make it, as they say, to balance the books. >> but could this surge in applications for pension credit, if it continues, actually outweigh the saving from from means testing the winter fuel allowance ? allowance? >> that's a question, emily. they wouldn't answer . there are

they wouldn't answer. there are suggestions that you get towards the 1.2 million pensioners who may sign up to it. and you do remove the £16 billion in savings. so we're not there yet. but certainly that's an unanswered question by number 10 downing street this lunchtime. it is fascinating to see that this is one of the early battles the labour party pick. >> it could go one of two ways. of course they will get the vote through, no question about that. with their massive majority. but will it mean that they feel like they have then done the tough decision and everything else ? decision and everything else? they might be a little bit less tough with? or is this really a new iron chancellor? is this going to be the lady's not for turning 2.0? >> well, certainly an iron chancellor. but there is big worries here, i think, for the labour party. it's 6 pm. tonight. rachel reeves , the tonight. rachel reeves, the chancellor, will address members of the of the parliamentary labour party and this issue will come up. and then at 7 pm, i can reveal that alison mcgovern,

she's the pensions minister. she has organised a mass member briefing online of as many labour members who can get on to that phone call. so 6 pm. members are briefed . 7 pm. any members are briefed. 7 pm. any labour member in the country who wants to be briefed by alison mcgovern can log in to a zoom call or a call. a secure way of speaking to the to the minister online. and that comes ahead of this vote tomorrow, expected shortly after lunch. when we're going to see a vote by mps on whether they approve or not of the withdrawal of this benefit. so very, very tricky time, i think, for the prime minister before that, he's expected to be addressing the trades union congress in brighton . congress in brighton. >> that's very interesting indeed. so they're really trying to rally the troops behind this policy, try desperately to get people on side, even just general members . general members. >> that's right. because of course, this this idea was not talked about in the election campaign. no one saw it coming. it was a big surprise in that

budget. the sort of budget by rachel reeves towards the end of july. no one thought this benefit was being removed. and it does seem to have rebounded quite severely on many , many quite severely on many, many labour mps are protesting and saying it's caused a huge issue in their post box. many of those . in their post box. many of those. labour mps aren't used to being in government at all. in fact, most of them are not used to being in government and making tough decisions, and many are not used to getting on the wrong side of the electorate so soon in their time as mps. and that's why these meetings tonight are so important. but as things stand, tom, emily and bookmark this, there is no change to this withdrawal of the benefit. despite two big unions, including unite sharon one graham, of the top three donors to the labour party. they are they are saying, time for a u—turn that shows leadership. sir keir starmer as things stand, that's not going to happen. >> and just quickly, chris, another big issue on the plate of the government is the government's decision to release prisoners earlier than serving half of their sentence. the 40% threshold that the government

has instituted, rather than looking at other options like deporting foreign criminals or using space in prisons overseas, did did the government discuss this huge issue at all at cabinet earlier today ? cabinet earlier today? >> and the answer is no, tom. not a single cabinet minister mentioned the fact that around around 2000 offenders will be released tomorrow, months early, in many cases after serving just 40% of their term of their sentence to it. despite the fact you've got thousands of victims who will be deeply upset by this , who will be deeply upset by this, many of whom have been contacted, we know @gbnews being called by the probation service to tell them this is happening. not all we might we may be saddened to learn not everyone watches gb news or pays attention to the news. so many of these people will be hearing for the first time that the offender who has caused their family's lives so much misery is being released early by this government. that issue was not raised today in the lobby meeting just now with the prime

minister's deputy official spokesman, we are told there that if they hadn't done this, the prisons would have run out of space and police would have been unable to make arrests. so it's a difficult but necessary decision made by this government. but as things stand, it was not discussed at the cabinet. >> okay. well, thank you very much indeed, christopher hope, our political editor there outside number 10. i mean, you've got the domestic abuse commissioner also talking about many women who are having sleepless nights because there could be could be among some of these early released prisoners, people who have committed those types of crimes. hopefully not. but it's very worrying. >> i mean, you can understand why the government is doing this. you know, prisons are full, but they haven't explored in any depth the other options, the deportations that could occur or whatever else. but the fact that not a single cabinet minister brought this up at cabinet today, to me, is absolutely shocking. now, whether they agree with the decision or not, they're not going to talk about how it's being implemented at cabinet. extraordinary, extraordinary. >> okay. well weight loss pills

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>> good afternoon britain. it's just coming up to 10 to 2. now. here's an interesting one for you. a new poll by the new york times has suggested that support for the vice president of the united states, kamala harris , is united states, kamala harris, is starting to dwindle. this as she prepares to debate her republican opponent, donald trump, tomorrow night. >> now, after replacing joe biden as the democratic nominee for the white house, kamala harris and her running mate tim waltz had experienced a strong surge in support. >> but as november nears and the election date is the kamala carnival beginning to fade? >> the kamala carnival? okay well, joining us now is electoral campaign strategist pablo ohana. there did seem to

be quite a lot of wind in her sails. things were going quite nicely for kamala harris, what's happened? >> i mean, you see this a lot in polls is that, you know, people go up, people go down. i mean, if we were to believe the polls, then, you know, trump would have lost in 2016. >> brexit would have never happened. >> so i think there's you have to take every poll with a pinch of salt. and i'm certainly not focusing on what the polls say. i'm focused on the election day and making sure that we get through that day, but you must have been happy when it showed the when she was ahead in the polls. yeah. i mean any any poll thatis polls. yeah. i mean any any poll that is positive obviously gives you a bit of, you know, wind behind your sail. but i think you have to focus on, on the, the goal, which is to get kamala harris into the white house, win the senate, win the house. i think, you know, it's easy for people like me and sometimes you guys as well to kind of get wrapped up in polls and they can be exciting. and, you know, when you see polls that really go in your favourites, it's hard not to kind of be by, you know, be tempted by that and be pulled in by that. but i think you have to, you know, maintain focus,

keep moving forward and trust the process. and i think it's a very tired line. and even i get bored of saying it. but the only poll that really matters is the one on election day is the problem here for kamala harris. >> that she ran for the white house four years ago, promising to ban fracking, talking about defunding the police, having a voting record in the senate that was pro the green new deal and all of these things that now she's suggesting she's not in favour of, and she hasn't had a serious one on one sit down interview tomorrow night will really be the first time she's had that one on one scrutiny since she became the democratic party nominee for president. and the thing is, she's got a record, a record of saying things that she's now saying the opposite of. this is going to be a pretty challenging debate for her. >> not at all. i think she's going to absolutely eviscerate donald trump. she is a prosecutor . she knows her stuff.

prosecutor. she knows her stuff. she's a very serious person. why is she u—turned on fracking? i think she's she's a politician that evolves with the time, and she understands that people have different views on different things. and, you know, it's not the first time that a politician might start off in one place and move to a different place, i think. i mean, you know, if you want to talk about flip flopping, i mean, donald trump is the is the king of that. but ithink on is the is the king of that. but i think on on fracking in particular, you can you can be in one place if, if the public changes, if the if what you think maybe evolves over time, then i think that that's, you know, it's a it's a perfectly plausible place to be. i don't think that there is anything wrong in a politician moving positions. if they if they decide that actually, you know, they've heard some different opinions, they've maybe read something different. >> i guess that's what what sir keir starmer would say over here as well, because things have changed since our election. but pablo, what does she actually for ? stand what are her big policies? >> well , i policies? >> well, i mean, look at her record. she expanded health care to millions of low income americans. she lowered drug

costs, you know, the cost of insulin. i mean, it's hard to kind of always grasp this in the uk because we have the nhs, which is of course, incredible. but insulin here in the us at one stage was $600 a month. she brought that down to 35. i mean, you know , her record speaks for you know, her record speaks for itself. i think that she has, you know , she was a fantastic you know, she was a fantastic vice president to come on one policy. joe biden , sorry, one policy. joe biden, sorry, one policy. joe biden, sorry, one policy that she's she's offering the public. no, not at all. i mean, i'm saying look at her record. she expanded. she expanded tax credits. i mean , expanded tax credits. i mean, you know, she introduced same sex marriage, she reduced drug costs, i think, you know, pablo, i'm really sorry. >> we're going to have to leave it there because we've actually run out of time. but great to speak to you, pablo. we've got lots more coming up, including the met police finally admitting they made some mistakes in policing the pro—palestine protest. stay tuned . protest. stay tuned. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb

news . news. >> hi there and welcome to the latest update from the met office for gb news. following some very wet weather over the weekend. today's drier for many of us. some sunshine, particularly in the west, but some rain also arriving into the northwest later with this frontal system. but for the time being, a ridge of high pressure across the uk and the weekend's rain clearing away . although rain clearing away. although eastern parts of england still clinging on to some cloud and some patchy light rain through the afternoon, and that does tend to fizzle away later on, brighter skies follow for the west midlands , northern england, west midlands, northern england, parts of the southwest, as well as wales. temperatures of 18 to 19 celsius, a fresh feel but pleasant enough in the sunshine . pleasant enough in the sunshine. scotland and northern ireland cloudier skies increasingly so, with some showers turning to longer spells of rain for western scotland, with some heavy outbreaks through the afternoon and into the evening .

afternoon and into the evening. staying bright in the east of scotland, but increasingly cloudy. northern ireland likewise seeing some rain turn up likewise seeing some rain turn ”p by likewise seeing some rain turn up by evening and temperatures of around 15 celsius. but we've got this slice of fine weather through the midlands, southern england, south wales. as we head into the evening and overnight we keep the clear spells across the south and southeast , but the south and southeast, but cloudier skies arrive into scotland , northern ireland, scotland, northern ireland, northern and western england, as well as wales. northern and western england, as well as wales . outbreaks of well as wales. outbreaks of rain, mostly light and patchy in the south, but further north that rain will be heavy , that rain will be heavy, accompanied by a strengthening wind. temperatures overnight dipping to 11 or 12 celsius, but an unsettled start for northern and western parts of the country. first thing a spell of wet weather moving south through scotland and northern ireland, eventually into central and northern parts of england, as well as wales. showers to the south of that and to the north of that, with some brighter skies in between the showers, but also a blustery wind, and some particularly heavy and

windy heavy rain and windy weather for the far north. >> that warm feeling in from boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> good afternoon britain . it's >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:00 on monday the 9th of september. i'm tom harwood and i'm emily carver unions turn on laboun i'm emily carver unions turn on labour. the trade union movement has turned on sir keir starmer, just 66 days into his premiership, the leaders of unite and the tuc say starmer's cruel winter fuel cuts pick the pockets of pensioners and the metropolitan police has admitted to making mistakes in its policing of pro—palestine protests. >> the force's assistant commissioner has admitted demonstrators shouting jihad on the streets should have been arrested and happy accession day to mark two years since king charles acceded to the throne,

hyde park hosted the royal horse artillery spectacular 41 gun salute and not to be outdone, the tower of london hosted a 62 gun salute and blistering blizzard to blast britain. oh, great. batten down the hatches! an arctic blast is incoming! what areas will be affected? stay tuned to find out . stay tuned to find out. i did not know we had to batten down the hatches. yeah, that's news to me. >> arctic blast, arctic blast. >> arctic blast, arctic blast. >> that's nice. do you remember the beast from the east? >> i do, it was cold five years ago. >> or something like that. >> or something like that. >> very cold indeed. >> very cold indeed. >> freezing. >> freezing. >> although i have to say, if we get snow with the arctic blast, i'm heavily in favour. why >> i love snow, i guess it's beautiful for a bit until it turns into slush and makes everything more difficult for everyone. >> i should clarify, i like snow for about six hours. >> the railways can't work , the >> the railways can't work, the roads can't. no different. you

know anything. everything can't work. people take days off, school, days off work. >> although do you know what i've heard that schools have started to ban snowball flights . started to ban snowball flights. why? health and safety. >> what? people put rocks in them? >> well, no. they just. they could. they could include some grit and therefore it would be unsafe to throw a snowball as if, as if generations haven't been throwing snowballs for, you know, hundreds of years. >> i mean, we've just been talking about kids carrying around knives. i think snowballs with a bit of grit in them are small fry, small fry completely. anyway, get in touch gbnews.com/yoursay. particularly over this winter, fuel payment fiasco. i mean, if it's going to be a cold winter and there's going to be a lot of pensioners going to be a lot of pensioners going without the heating, so please do get in touch. gbnews.com/yoursay. but shall we get the headlines with tatiana ? get the headlines with tatiana? >> and emily, thank you and good afternoon. let's start this bulletin with some breaking news that stephen ling, who raped and

stabbed joanne tulip 60 times in a sadistic murder in northumberland 27 years ago, should be freed from prison. that coming from the parole board in the last few moments. stephen ling was jailed for life in december 1998 after admitting his horrific attack on joanne tulip, who was 29 years old. ling was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years, which was then reduced to 18 years by the high court. more on this as we get it. gun salutes are marking the anniversary of the king's accession today. a 62 gun royal salute has been fired by the honourable artillery company at the tower of london, and marks the two year anniversary of king charles taking to the throne. earlier, the 41 gun salute took place at hyde park in london. that gun salute fired by the king's troop, royal horse artillery. it also marked the passing of the late queen elizabeth the second. leaders of two of the biggest unions have put further pressure on the government over its plan

to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in england and wales. unite and the pcs union have both criticised the plan, while paul novak , head the plan, while paul novak, head of the trades union congress, says the government should rethink the plan and consider other lines of support for pensioners. the health secretary says the policy will have a negative impact on his constituents, but insists it's a necessary move. mps will vote tomorrow on the plans to scrap the payment. while speaking at the payment. while speaking at the tuc conference in brighton, paul novak said he'll work with the government to rebuild public services. >> play our part in recasting britain's industrial future and above all, we will work with the government to face down those on the right who wish to sow division and discord in our communities and our message to the tinpot politicians , the the tinpot politicians, the street thugs and any ragtag group that tries to promote their message of hate is clear. not in our workplaces, not in our communities, not on our watch . watch. >> elsewhere, hollywood actor

idris elba has joined the prime minister in downing street to launch a new effort to tackle knife crime. elba, an anti—crime. knife crime campaigner, joined the keir starmer this morning as he launched the coalition, which aims to stop young people from being dragged into violent gangs. the coalition will bring together campaign groups , together campaign groups, families of people who've lost their lives to knife crime and young people who have been affected by it, as well as idris and the home secretary, yvette coopen and the home secretary, yvette cooper. sir keir starmer says he wants to make it harder to buy dangerous weapons online and idris says it's time to put ideas into action. >> today was identified some of the low hanging fruit that can be actioned quickly. right? things around, you know, accessibility of knives , online accessibility of knives, online sales and things like that. there's all these things take time to actually get into law. but today was really about how do we get to them quicker. and so our next step is to aggregate the thoughts that we've had today. we've got a point of contact, and that person will

be, aggregating those action points and then those involved in those action points will be then tasked to get and get them done.the then tasked to get and get them done. the prime minister, by the way, is super, super keen to just keep pushing. and that's what we've seen. so it's been good. >> the metropolitan police says it's very likely arrests will be made more quickly when it handles large protests in the future. assistant commissioner matt twist also admitted the force didn't get everything right when policing recent demonstrations, frequent protests and counter—demonstrations have been held since last october, including by environmental campaigners and from groups calling for a ceasefire in the israel—hamas conflict. protests also developed into rioting and disorder after three little girls were killed in an attack in southport in july and noel gallagher says he is thrilled and honoured to have his portrait added to the national portrait gallery. despite, he says, being a grumpy middle aged man who hates having his picture taken. the picture, taken by zoe law, will go on display for the

first time on the 29th of november as part of the london gallery's legends exhibition, which will feature 100 portraits taken by law of people who have influenced her life and career. the image of gallagher will remain part of the gallery's permanent collection once the exhibition ends on the 2nd of march next year, and those are your latest gb news headlines for now. i'm tatiana sanchez, more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is 2:07. now the prime minister could be facing a rebellion over the government's plans to cut winter fuel payments, with reports that as many as 50 labour mps could refuse to back the policy.

>> yes, even his own health secretary, wes streeting. he admitted he's not remotely happy about having to take money away from pensioners, but insisted it is a necessary move . is a necessary move. >> well, mps have their chance to vote on the plans to scrap winter fuel payments universally for pensioners tomorrow. >> well, let's head to westminster and speak to our political editor, christopher hope. now, christopher, last time i was on this seat, there were no plans for a vote. in fact, i thought the government had vetoed such a vote. how did that come to pass? how did that come to pass? >> i think the government here is looking to try and find a way to allow mps to let off steam and understand that there are some tough choices to be made in government, but there's no question the government is facing the most difficult day tomorrow of its short two months so far in office. tonight, rachel reeves, the chancellor, meets with the parliamentary labour party with many labour mps upset by this. this this withdrawal of this fuel benefit for so many millions of

pensioners, of some of them who are their voters. and then at 7 pm, alison mcgovern , who is the p.m, alison mcgovern, who is the pensions minister i can reveal has called a mass meeting of labour party members to explain why they're doing it. and that comes ahead of a vote tomorrow. we're expecting the result around 2 pm. when, as you say, as many as 50 labour mps could not support the government. and then what does the government do? does keir starmer suspend the whip from those who have opposed the government or gone absent without leave? a difficult day and that starts tomorrow for sir keir starmer with the tuc conference, when it's when two very big unions have already said you must go back and do a u—turn on this measure, which will save maybe £1.6 billion, which barely touches the side of the £22 billion alleged black hole that the government says is there. so a difficult time for the for the prime minister. and they're facing it head on. we're told from the cabinet meeting this morning that there was no attempt to say we're going to water down this change. no one

spoke out against it. it seems that all the cabinet are in favour of a measure which will leave many, many pensioners colder this winter. >> now, chris, you and i were in the room the last time keir starmer spoke at that conference venuein starmer spoke at that conference venue in brighton. that was back in i think it was 2021 when he was the fresh leader of the labour party and was trying to push through all sorts of controversial constitutional reform to his party. he was heckled and heckled and heckled. a speech that should have taken an hour took almost two hours because of all of the people standing up and shouting at him, might he have a similar sort of reception from these trade unionists who seem pretty angry about these winter fuel cuts ? about these winter fuel cuts? >> tom, you're right. they might well do. i mean, 2021 is a lifetime ago in politics. back then, sir keir starmer , there then, sir keir starmer, there was talk of a leadership challenge for angela rayner . challenge for angela rayner. would she have to be sacked or leave the government or leave the shadow, the frontbench team

at a different time altogether ? at a different time altogether? i mean, three years later, he is king of all. he surveys. but i think people wonder why on earth this government has taken this choice to remove this benefit from so many pensioners. it wasn't mentioned in their manifesto. it's not a manifesto breach, but it is one that has made a clear choice between increasing pay for public sector workers who can work and can get pay workers who can work and can get pay rises, or even leave their jobs and get a second job, whereas pensioners are stuck on fixed incomes. and that's why it's so politically toxic, i think, for this government. but of course, we heard from rachel reeves at the end of july. she made very clear they need to do this to pay down this large, this to pay down this large, this large black hole in the pubuc this large black hole in the public finances. they say they've found. >> okay. well, thank you very much indeed, christopher. hope our political editor there in westminster. very interesting that not one cabinet minister spoke out about this policy, considering it was not in the manifesto. perhaps they knew it was coming, but in the conservative days, cabinet ministers would would speak out

quite frequently, would they not? >> but also, it's interesting listening to what rachel reeves was saying as recently as june or july 2024, saying that, they should the conservatives should not break commitments on winter fuel payments. indeed, in 2017, the labour party calculated 3850 pensioners would die if winter fuel payments were means tested. well, did they not believe it when they said it then, or are they simply being callous if they're being consistent? >> i guess they just say things change. things change. joining us now is politics editor of the huffpost uk, kevin schofield, this is very tricky for keir starmer. yes, he has his cabinet on side. none of them speaking out today in cabinet. but this is playing very badly with the pubuc is playing very badly with the public isn't it. >> playing very badly with labour backbenchers as well, >> as you mentioned earlier, up to 50 could potentially rebel

either by voting against the government tomorrow or by abstaining, finding something better to do than tripping through the voting lobbies and tomorrow afternoon. >> now, this is causing severe discomfort, as i say on the labour back benches, i think thatis labour back benches, i think that is being transmitted to the treasury. but as chris hope was just saying there thus far, anyway, both number 10 and number 11 are sticking to the line. there will be no u—turns, there will be no tweaking of this controversial policy. there'll be no sweeteners short of basically the campaign they launched last week to try and get uptake of pension credit increase. because if you are on an income threshold that allows you to claim pension credit, then you will keep your winter fuel payment. but that still means 10 million pensioners who receive their winter fuel payment last year will not receive it this year. and obviously they are very unhappy about it. >> it is of course, a pretty extraordinary political fight to pick in early days of a

government of course, we know that the grey vote is the perhaps the most powerful interest group in the united kingdom through all the years of austerity, where cuts were made to services for anyone under the age of 65, of course, pensions grew by their fastest rate in history. free bus passes were maintained, free television licences all the rest. it was austerity for those in work, but not for those retired. might we be seeing an inverse of that relationship now taking place ? relationship now taking place? >> absolutely. i mean, you know, dunng >> absolutely. i mean, you know, during the election campaign, the both main parties went out of their way to reassure pensioners that the triple lock on pensions will be maintained throughout this parliament. now, labour have said they are sticking to that. but there was certainly no mention during the election campaign of winter fuel payments being taken away. now remember, winter fuel payments were actually introduced by a labour government under gordon brown many years ago. so this is a really big deal, and lots of laboun a really big deal, and lots of

labour, not just backbenchers, but, people in government are scratching their heads as to as to why rachel reeves has decided to why rachel reeves has decided to pick this particular fight so early in this government's tenure. and when you look at what it saves, something like £1.5 billion, really, it's chicken feed, really . when you chicken feed, really. when you look at the overall size of the government's budget and yeah, it's as you say, there are powerful lobby group pensioners. they do tend to vote come election time. so they have it in their gift to really punish labour when they next go to the, to the country, either at the next general election or the upcoming local elections, because there will be many local elections obviously, between now , elections obviously, between now, now and now and then. >> yes. okay. well, thank you very much indeed. kevin schofield, politics editor of the huffpost uk. thank you very much indeed. i mean, i'm sure quite a lot of people on on pensioners will get in touch and say what you said was outrageous. tom. >> well, there wasn't austerity for older people. well, i think that they use public services,

do they not? they do, they do. but whilst there were pay freezes for people in work, pensions, did rise in the last 14 years by the fastest rate they've ever risen, thanks to they've ever risen, thanks to the triple lock that was introduced. >> i'd be grateful . >> i'd be grateful. >> i'd be grateful. >> well, i just think it's a fact that the amount spent on pensioners rose while the amount being spent in other areas of the economy fell. >> yes, but when you say that people will point to the state pension elsewhere in the world and look to the continent and say it's far more generous, and that actually, you know, very difficult for someone to live purely off the state pension. yes these days. yes. that's frankly impossible. depending on where you live, depending on where you live, depending on where you live and whether you own your house outright or not, and loads of other income, lots of different factors. >> but, saying these levels start, i mean, it starts. it used to be the case that there was a huge degree of pensioner poverty, that pensioner poverty was the biggest blight in society. now pensioners as a group have less poverty than those in work and proportionately sad state of affairs really. >> but john's got in touch, he

says.i >> but john's got in touch, he says. i bet anything that rachel reeves finds the money to pay pensioners and that will be her rabbit out of the hat. come the budget. what do you think this is all some kind of game that actually, actually, they will find the money magically and then everyone will love them again . again. >> terrifying people for a game. i doubt it, to be honest. i think the u—turn would be humiliating. >> very cynical from john, >> very cynical from john, >> but we're going to go back to some of that breaking news we heard at the top of the hour. now, the parole board says that stephen ling, who raped and stabbed a woman 60 times in a sadistic murder 27 years ago, should be freed from prison. but it's a truly shocking story, and we can get more on it now with our national reporter, charlie peters. charlie, what do we know? >> well, you will never be released so long as it is thought that you constitute a risk to women. that's the language used by mrjustice potts when he sentenced stephen ling in the december of 1998 to a life sentence with a minimum term of 20 years that was later

reduced to 18 years by a high court judge in 2009. he's been in prison now for 27 since being arrested in 1997. after that christmas day murder. this is now stephen ling's fifth parole hearing, and he is now set to be released. speaking at the parole , released. speaking at the parole, which the parole board, which happened earlier this year in july , two psychologists spoke of july, two psychologists spoke of his enduring shame about his monstrous past. now, one of the psychologists said that the risk that mr ling posed was not imminent and was manageable in the community. they added i believe that now means his risk is at a level where he does not need to be kept in prison anymore. now it's important to stress that in 2022, the then justice secretary, dominic raab, personally intervened to prevent stephen ling from being released. he overruled a plan to transfer ling to an open prison. that was another recommendation by the parole board that year.

once you've reached your minimum sentence as part of a life sentence, that minimum term you are allowed to apply to the parole board every two years. it's not like a whole life tariff where there's no chance of parole. now as you can imagine, this decision has been met with some sharp reaction, least of all from doreen soulsby, the mother of the victim of this appalling case, who said that she was appalled and disgusted by the parole board and that they've made this decision to release my daughter's murderer into the community. she also said that man committed horrific offences against my daughter, and yet it is deemed not to be high enough risk and is safe to be released from prison. it's outrageous. doreen soulsby has urged shabana mahmood, the justice secretary, to intervene, use those legal powers that mr raab used two years prior and stop this from happening. >> and charlie, remind us of some of the horrific details of this case. some of the details are truly horrifying. raped and

stabbed this woman 60 times. >> so carved swastikas, swastikas and crosses were carved into the body of joanne tulip at a house where stephen ling was living at the time in christmas. on christmas day 1997, he was a farm worker, and at the time of the sentencing in 1998, where stephen ling pleaded guilty in the court to this count. the judge did refer to an act of sadism occurring as part of this murder. over 60 stabbings. he later admitted that he also had raped her. it is a truly appalling case and one that will test, i think, shabana mahmood at a time when there is a lot of focus on the justice secretary about who is being released from prison. >> i mean, if life doesn't mean life for something as heinous and sadistic as you say, as this kind of crime, i mean, it does. you know who gets life, then? >> what is it? what is life for? i mean , it also gets to a big i mean, it also gets to a big debate about what prison is for. is prison about reforming people

so that then they can get out and back into the community as soon as possible? is prison about keeping society safe by blocking people? frankly, who would do others harm? or is it about a sense of justice and punishment for those who commit evil acts? i mean, it would suggest to me that looking at this case, the parole board thinks it's option number one. it's all about getting people back out into the community as quickly as possible. >> they look at risk. they look at risk. prison is there to rehabilitate and to reduce the risk to the community. it has multiple functions, of course. prison. there is a punishment aspect right at the front. the deprivation of liberty. but the opfion deprivation of liberty. but the option and the goal of imprisonment is to rehabilitate and return someone to society. that's why you have the parole board as part of that minimum term on a life sentence. it's only in very rare and exceptional cases that you find people, given those whole life tariffs that prevent them from

ever being released. i think it's worth noting that this is now the fifth time that stephen ling has appeared in front of the parole board. there is still this campaign from the family, very understandably, do not want this man to see freedom. indeed, i think many people watching and listening to this will be stunned that he has been granted freedom, and there will also be additional concerns as part of the risk management offending review. that goes on where he might end up, and how confident are we that the probation services and the custody staff involved in this process will be able to keep an eye on it? >> well, that's the big question. let out into the community monitored. and there will be, you know , will be, you know, institutional. we've seen institutional. we've seen institutional failures time and time again, haven't we, where people who've committed crimes are allowed back out and then they go on to commit further crimes? the probation service is under enormous strain at the moment. >> i actually spoke to someone who's been released from prison a few months ago, earlier today, about a completely separate situation, just to get an understanding of how they're deaung understanding of how they're dealing with their situation since leaving prison, how the

probation services were with them. overwhelmed is the word that that prisoner used to describe the services. they can't get them accommodation. they can't find them work. another 1700 to be released tomorrow in a separate situation. but clearly they're under a lot of pressure , under a lot of pressure, especially with these very significant offenders with sadistic crimes on their record set to be released into the community. >> do we know how old he is now? >> do we know how old he is now? >> he was 23 at the time of the offending in 1997. sorry i'm not that good at maths. >> well, he'll be in his mid—forties. yeah. >> he's not. not an old man? no, not an old man. >> charlie peters, thank you so much for bringing us the details on that horrific, horrific case. this is good afternoon britain on gb news. much more coming on today's show. we're going to be back in brighton trade unionists have taken aim at reform uk and their leader nigel farage, calling him a putin apologist. fraud. why are they coming after

nigel? good afternoon britain. it's 2:26 now. the general secretary of the trade union congress is telling members that sir keir starmer's government have the interests of working people at heart in a way that the conservatives never did. >> speaking at the annual conference in brighton, paul novak told unionists he is prepared to work closely with ministers to deliver for workers and bring what he calls the last 14 years of chaos to an end. >> an appropriate name for a trade unionist, isn't it, paul? no work, he also hit out at the reform uk leader nigel farage, calling him a putin apologist. fraud. >> okay, well, joining us from brighton is our reporter, adam cherry . okay, adam, we've just cherry. okay, adam, we've just read out a few, a few highlights, but what else is going on at this congress ? how going on at this congress? how important is it ? important is it? >> i have been speaking to lots

of delegates and visitors over the last couple of hours to get their feeling for both the response to paul nowak and the government's actions over the last two months. and i think, as you would expect, everyone here is furious about the winter fuel allowance cut. i spoke to members of the national pensioners convention who were particularly furious with the chancellor, and we caught it on camera. so why don't you just have a look? this is what they had to say. >> it wasn't in the manifesto. i don't particularly like the chancellor anyway, but that's my. >> why is that? >> why is that? >> i just don't think she's got the gravitas to be chancellor of the gravitas to be chancellor of the exchequer. she may well have worked in the bank of england as an economist, but that doesn't give her the experience, really, to be chancellor of the exchequer of this country. >> it doesn't bode well when you had the two, child policy rebellion and immediately they were slapped down with six month suspension from the party. so there will be a lot of people that will, i suspect , vote with

that will, i suspect, vote with the government on the policy. i would hope that a majority would abstain to allow the policy to fall, because it's a bad policy thatis fall, because it's a bad policy that is being made . that is being made. >> they're not the only ones. in fact, on stage right now as i'm speaking, is sharon graham, the general secretary of unite, one of the biggest unions in the country. and she's just said that labour are picking the pockets of pensioners and calling for a wealth tax on the top 1%. furious about this, obviously, the prime minister is here tomorrow to deliver his own speech at the same time or on the same day as his mps vote against or vote in favour. rather vote for scrapping the winter fuel allowance. so it's not the rosy day that you would expect here at the conference, given this is the first tuc congress in 15 years since a labour government. so a slightly tense mood here, guys. >> yeah, it's interesting to hear from some of those delegates about rachel reeves, not much support for her and not

much love for her, which is quite interesting. and i have a theory that perhaps keir starmer delivered that very miserable speech in the rose garden in order to perhaps protect rachel reeves a little bit, because she's going to be the one that delivers the really bad news in the budget for a lot of people. so if keir starmer sort of, you know, says that everything's going to be terrible, then rachel might be let off the hook a little. i don't know . a little. i don't know. >> possibly. yeah. it'll be interesting to see how he delivers his speech tomorrow. that might clue us in on that , that might clue us in on that, excuse me. ellie reeves, chancellor's sister and the labour party chair , was here labour party chair, was here yesterday, and she essentially said, look, we might disagree with the unions as a government from time to time, but remember, this party was born out of the trade union movement. we are allies here and we're going to try and work together. so i suspect that's the approach he will take. try and absorb some of that damage early on. you know, there are two months in

and they have a massive 170 seat majority. so they're banking on making these unpopular choices now. they call them unpopular themselves. and then in four and a half years, hopefully reap the rewards. >> well, adam, something else interesting , just very briefly, interesting, just very briefly, was the mention of nigel farage at this conference. does the spectre of reform uk haunt the halls in brighton ? halls in brighton? >> i suppose so, yeah. paul noakes saying in his speech today and in a press conference yesterday that farage is a fraud and so on, but also acknowledging that reform voters are also trade unionists. there will be people walking around here who voted for reform two months ago, and he doesn't want to upset them and he's trying to welcome them in. obviously, farage and reform have said themselves that they're coming for labour voters in the next election, so they know that this is a dangerous territory for them and they don't want to lose them. so attacking farage but very clear , they're not very clear, they're not attacking reform voters very

interesting. >> thank you very much, adam cherry, for being there at the tuc congress. now it is accession day for the king. we're going to be outside buckingham palace straight after your headlines with tatiana . your headlines with tatiana. >> emily, thank you very much. the top story. while gun salutes have marked the anniversary of the king's accession today, a 62 gun royal salute was fired by the honourable artillery company at the tower of london and marks the two year anniversary of king charles taking to the throne. and the 41 gun salute took place at hyde park in london. that gun salute fired by the king's troop, royal horse artillery, and it also marks the passing of the late queen elizabeth the second. leaders of two of the biggest unions have put further pressure on the government over its plan to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners in england and wales. unite and the pcs union have both criticised the plan, while paul novak, head of the trades

union congress, says the government should rethink the plan and consider other lines of support for pensioners. the health secretary says the policy will have a negative impact on his constituents, but insists it's a necessary move. mps will vote tomorrow on the plans to scrap the payment . the scrap the payment. the metropolitan police says it's very likely arrests will be made more quickly when it handles large protests in the future. assistant commissioner matt twist also admitted the force didn't get everything right when policing recent demonstrations , policing recent demonstrations, frequent protests and counter—demonstrations have been held since last october, including by environmental campaigners and from groups calling for a ceasefire in the israel—hamas conflict. protests also developed into rioting and disorder after three girls were killed in an attack in southport in july , and hollywood actor in july, and hollywood actor idris elba has joined the prime minister in downing street to launch a new effort to tackle knife crime. elba and anti—knife crime campaigner joined the keir crime campaignerjoined the keir starmer this morning as he

launched the coalition, which aims to stop young people from being dragged into violent gangs. the coalition will bring together campaign groups, families of people who've lost their lives to knife crime and young people who've been affected by it, as well as idris and the home secretary, yvette coopen and the home secretary, yvette cooper. sir keir starmer says he wants to make it harder to buy dangerous weapons online, and idris has said it's time to put ideas into action. those are the latest gb news headlines for now. there's more news in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward alerts

>> all right. good afternoon britain. it is now 237 and it's that time of the day where we check in with martin daubney, who's up at 3:00. martin, what

have you got in store this afternoon? >> well , it's afternoon? >> well, it's a fabulous show today, fellas. well done on that front. >> so black lives matter. >> so black lives matter. >> trans lives matter , refugees >> trans lives matter, refugees lives matter. it seems that everybody's lives matter to the labour party. unless you're an old age pensioner. why on earth are they choosing this hill to die on? and why on earth is a report out by the labour party in 2017 predicting 4000 deaths? not going to happen now. there are more pensioners now. energy is higher price now than ever before. i'll be joined by a guy who started a new movement called the pensioner vote. he'll be naming and shaming every single member of parliament who votes for the winter fuel allowance cut tomorrow, and will be applying pressure and every letterbox in every constituency on everyone to name and shame them. that's the kind of people power we like here @gbnews. talking of which, i'll also have some exclusive footage from calais. an intrepid journalist was over there filming an attempted dinghy departure, and he even got involved and stopped

one himself. it's chaos in calais. we'll have exclusive footage on the show. 3 to 6 pm. >> goodness me. a sort of vigilante action. they're stopping the boats. if the french police won't do it, i suppose other people will. martin, looking forward to it. 3:00 pm. see you then. >> i think that's a good point. people see their taxes squandered on a daily basis, and then it's pensioners who are having their their benefit taken away. right. anyway, weight loss drugs, they're being used more frequently around the world. but some experts are concerned that people are using them incorrectly. >> well, new research has revealed the hotspots in the uk for people researching these drugs with bolton in greater manchester being at the top of the list. >> interesting. well, our north—west of england reporter sophie reaper. she spoke to one woman who lost ten stone using one of these drugs , saxenda wegovy. >> and of course ozempic just some of the weight loss drugs making recent headlines used to suppress appetite. if taken correctly, these drugs can help

those who need it to lose large amounts of body fat. just one of those people was colleen calnan. >> i was over 25 stone at that point and was delusional and i had amazing results. i lost like ten stone and it was a hard journey. 150%, but it was one of the best things i've done. obviously, i've had a gastric sleeve now. now i'm back to what i should be, i suppose. >> but despite her amazing results, colleen still advises caution. >> it's dangerous. is a black label medication? yes, it changed my life, but it needs to be used responsibly. >> speaking on weight loss drugs, the national medical director for the nhs has also warned medical professionals to take care. he said there can be dangerous if they're being prescribed without proper checks, so online pharmacies and clinics need to act responsibly. they should have safeguards in place, including checking a person's weight in person to keep patients safe at the

prestwich pharmacy in greater manchester, they're advising people only to use these products with the appropriate support. >> always use a professional. you may need to get bloods done. you may need to get bloods done. you certainly have to measure your blood pressure . it's really your blood pressure. it's really important that you have a support network that helps you get to your target goal. this isn't about a quick fix, it is about a lifestyle change. >> however, despite warnings these weight loss drugs are still in high demand in particular. new data from the simple online pharmacy has found that four of the top ten places in the uk researching these drugs can be found in greater manchester, with the town of bolton taking the top spot. would you ever consider using a weight loss drug? >> no, not not me , not because >> no, not not me, not because of my age and because of the, complications of using them. >> i would just because i think it's easier than going to the gym. and obviously everyone my

age wants to be skinny at work, and it would have really bad side effects. >> and absolutely, if you're going to lose weight, you should do it the ethical way, like working out a topic that divides opinion. >> the use of weight loss drugs has skyrocketed in recent years, and for now at least, it's a growing trend. sophie reaper gb news. >> gosh, i wouldn't want to go around a city centre asking people if they'd think about taking a weight loss jab or not, but i'm glad sophie reaper did absolutely . oh, do you think absolutely. oh, do you think i need to ? need to? >> oh, but i do think there is. this is such a fascinating story because the whole history of sort of modernity has been all these weight loss fads and different things and pills and gastric bands and all these, all the rest of it. and finally , the rest of it. and finally, finally there's been this miraculous discovery of what can only be described as a miracle drug. this thing actually works . drug. this thing actually works. it's less expensive than some of the other options. and for

people who are severely overweight, for people who are morbidly obese , every single morbidly obese, every single person should be on this. >> yeah. but, you know, as well as i do that it's not just the morbidly obese who are taking this drug, it's people who just want to lose a couple of inches around their waist when they're perfectly svelte. and i think that's a bit of an issue. i don't know if you saw in the daily mail it was leading the website for a little while. kate moss and her heroin chic and apparently, you know, parents of young daughters were speaking out against her and coming up to her in the streets and saying, you're promoting this skinniness. i do wonder if ozempic has brought that back. you know , i look at quite a lot you know, i look at quite a lot of female content young female content on online, and there's a lot of, you know , accusing each lot of, you know, accusing each other of being on ozempic if they lose a bit of weight, it does feel like skinny, very skinny is in. >> but why is it an insult to say that you've been on ozempic? i don't think that's something to be ashamed of at all. i think that it should be celebrated if people want to, you know , people want to, you know, voluntarily lose weight, particularly if they're very overweight. i mean, why is that wrong to say? i feel like

there's been maybe, maybe the. yes, i see the concern about people getting really skinny, but i think there's been too much. i, you know, the sort of fat acceptance movement that you can be healthy at any weight. that rubbish. that's rubbish . that rubbish. that's rubbish. that's complete rubbish. >> yeah, it is complete rubbish. i just hope i just hope that this is a miracle drug and we don't find out that there are lots of awful side effects, but i do think that for people who are very overweight , it i do think that for people who are very overweight, it is probably a good option less invasive than a gastric band. i suppose. >> absolutely. and of course, i mean, of course there are there are some side effects. i think people feel sick sometimes and all the rest of it, but compared to the side, johnson couldn't hack it. no, he couldn't, but compared to the side effects of being very fat, of which there are many, your chance of cardiac arrest is much higher. your chance of all sorts of cancers is much higher. i mean, you need to weigh out the risks and rewards of doing anything. and so for some people it will make much more sense. and for some people it won't. >> apparently you can eat through it if you really are

desperate to gorge. goodness me. yeah, there you go. let us know . yeah, there you go. let us know. perhaps you're on ozempic or a similar weight loss jab. and it's worked wonders for you. or perhaps like boris johnson, it didn't. it didn't do the trick. but let's get some views. patrick says this is on. we were talking about the shocking case of stephen king, who may well be let out of prison. he was supposed to serve life, and patrick says it's crazy that we release murderers, murderers early, but have jail spaces for those people who write hurty words against you online, what on earth is happening? and yes, this comes in the context of tomorrow, which is that big prison early release day. 1700 people released early. >> well, livy says, my husband paid into a union all his working life. the reps never really did anything for him . really did anything for him. they just played at being the big guys. when he looked back at all the money he'd paid, he couldn't believe it. >> after 40 years, yes, you have to sign up to all the political asks, don't you? at the same time, dave says, watching that display down in brighton, i'm forced to ask whether these unions think they run the country now. well, they certainly want to. they said.

we're willing to work with the labour party to solve all these things of course they are. of course they are. >> echoes of the 1970s. >> echoes of the 1970s. >> yes . well, keep your views >> yes. well, keep your views coming in. we love to read them this. good afternoon. britain coming up. an arctic blast is incoming. >> yes. which will be affected? stay tuned and find

good afternoon. britain it's just coming up to 10 to 3 now. the united kingdom is bracing for an arctic blast this week as temperatures are set to plummet following a weekend of wet weather. >> oh, brilliant, brilliant. the met office warns of chilly conditions, more showers, colder air moving in from the arctic. >> wonderful. lovely to have such a glorious end to a british summer. that's it, isn't it? london and much of the country will experience a significant drop in temperatures, with daytime highs struggling to reach 15 c and overnight lows

dipping to seven. >> okay, well, it's not absolutely freezing , but let's absolutely freezing, but let's speak to meteorologist john kettley . john, what's to blame kettley. john, what's to blame for this cold blast? we're expecting ? expecting? >> well, it is a cold blast. >> well, it is a cold blast. >> it is an arctic blast. i think there will be a run of, everybody going for some cock a leekie soup for a few days, but it's not the end of the world. you know, i think it is going to be a very short nap of chilly weather coming in from the north. what we've got at the moment is a band of heavy rain approaching northwestern scotland, and that's going to turn to gales and heavy rain through the northern isles through the northern isles through tonight and tomorrow morning. and it's behind that as that moves into the north sea dunng that moves into the north sea during tomorrow, it will introduce this much colder to north north westerly wind which will bring temperatures right down. don't forget, on saturday the temperature in northern ireland and scotland, the west of scotland anyway, did get to 27 or even 28 degrees. so it is a big, big change, there's no doubt about that. and i can't see there being any snow lie—in. i don't think schools will close anywhere in the next few days, but we are certainly going to see temperatures plummet and i

think, say, wednesday and thursday in particular. we're going to see 15 degrees at best in the south and further north. well certainly in northern scotland never getting above 9 or 10 degrees. so it is it's a big change and there will be a frost in the north as well. >> john, this has been the most miserable summer i can remember. |, miserable summer i can remember. i, i thought that this country was supposed to enjoy balmy septembers where the real sort of heat came about, sort of, you know, at some point halfway through september and now and now we're getting this arctic blast. what's going on? >> well, the only thing balmy is the weather, really, tom, isn't it? i mean, the weather is balmy in this country. you can never take it for granted in any week, in any month, in any year. and just 12 months ago. and this is difficult to take in. you sit down while you listen to this. 12 months ago. exactly the temperature was 31 degrees c in the south—east of the country. so what a change. you see, you've forgotten emily, hadn't you? you'd forgotten. >> i'd forgotten. yeah, i'd forgotten. it's the weather. is the weather actually getting worse, john? because lots of

people are saying this. you know, i remember the summer used to be very distinct. the winter used to be very distinct. and now we're all sort of muddled in the middle. >> yeah, i think the seasons are a little bit amorphous these days. it is very difficult to judge which season you're in sometimes. and we've all heard this phrase, you can have four seasons in one day. and i think that's going to be taking over in the next few weeks as well. so you know, i'm not a great fan of this idea that we're just on an exponential curve into heat and nothing like it, because this has been said for 20 or 30 years and it's never really happened. years and it's never really happened . we've had short snaps happened. we've had short snaps of very hot weather, agreed. but it doesn't really take off. and for most summers it's still pretty ordinary. it has to be said. this year i agree with tom has been just one of the worst that i has been just one of the worst that! can has been just one of the worst that i can remember. although i didn't grow up in the 50s and the 60s and they were dire. i can tell you that although the summer was it 70, 74, 76, five, 75 and 76 were brilliant. yeah, they were . they came out to the they were. they came out to the blue. really. they came out of the blue. and that's what made them even better. 83, 95 some

more good summers. more good summers. >> more good summers. >> it's funny because just a couple of years ago we were experiencing, well beyond 30 c, we were sort of baking as you walk down the streets, all these hot weather warnings and now it's the opposite. what i'd love a hot weather warning. well, john kettley , thank you so much john kettley, thank you so much for joining us. my pleasure. i forjoining us. my pleasure. i don't envy being a meteorologist. i have to say , it meteorologist. i have to say, it seems like it's an impossible job to get right because it changes. so frequently. >> it does change so frequently. i remember in the run up to my wedding day, it changed every single day. one day it was going to be stunning. sunshine one day it was going to be rain. anyway, that's it from us. i'll shut up this has been tom harwood and emily carver will be back tomorrow. don't go anywhere . tomorrow. don't go anywhere. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on . solar, sponsors of weather on. gb news. >> hi there and welcome to the latest update from the met office for gb news following some very wet weather over the

weekend. today's drier for many of us. some sunshine , of us. some sunshine, particularly in the west, but some rain also arriving into the north—west later with this frontal system. but for the time being, a ridge of high pressure across the uk and the weekend's rain clearing away. although eastern parts of england still clinging on to some cloud and some patchy light rain through the afternoon, and that does tend to fizzle away later on. brighter skies follow for the west midlands, northern england, parts of the southwest, as well as wales. temperatures of 18 to 19 celsius. a fresh feel but pleasant enough in the sunshine . pleasant enough in the sunshine. scotland and northern ireland cloudier skies, increasingly so, with some showers turning to longer spells of rain for western scotland, with some heavy outbreaks through the afternoon and into the evening. staying bright in the east of scotland, but increasingly cloudy northern ireland, likewise seeing some rain turn up likewise seeing some rain turn ”p by likewise seeing some rain turn up by evening and temperatures of around 15 celsius. but we've

got this slice of fine weather through the midlands and southern england, south wales as we head into the evening and overnight, we keep the clear spells across the south and southeast, but cloudier skies arrive into scotland, northern ireland, northern and western england as well as wales. outbreaks of rain, mostly light and patchy in the south, but further north that rain will be heavy , accompanied by heavy, accompanied by a strengthening wind. temperatures overnight dipping to 11 or 12 celsius, but an unsettled start for northern and western parts of the country. first thing, a spell of wet weather moving south through scotland and northern ireland, eventually into central and northern parts of england as well as wales. showers to the south of that and to the north of that, with some brighter skies in between the showers, but also a blustery wind and some particularly heavy and windy heavy rain and windy weather for the far north. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers , sponsors of boxt boilers, sponsors of weather on gb news.

>> join me, neil oliver, every sunday night at 6 pm. on gb news. >> and if an hour is not nearly enough for you, go to gbnews.com for special extended episodes onune for special extended episodes online every friday at 9 pm, where we can truly get into the nitty gritty of what's going on. gb news britain's news channel >> join me nana akua for an informative , interactive news informative, interactive news programme with a difference. >> it's fun . oh no, he didn't >> it's fun. on no, he didn't say that though . i said surprised. >> i think there's an element of truth to that . truth to that. >> join me from 3 pm. every weekend only on gb. >> news, britain's news channel >> news, britain's news channel >> it's patrick christys tonight and here we do things differently. >> explaining the absolute madness of this, doesn't it? it's explosive. i mean, this is very good. it's lively. >> 850 your government sat there, sean, and it did nothing. >> it's controversial in the middle east, has been in turmoil since before i was born. it's

everything you need to kick start your evening. everyone's had their weetabix tonight. i love to see it. that's patrick christys tonight. weeknights from 9 pm. only gb news. the

>>a >> a very good afternoon to you and a very happy monday. it's 3 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster all across the uk. today with the revolt over the winter fuel allowance and 2000 lags being released early from jails. could this be labour's darkest week and the beginning of a long winter of discontent? for sir keir? starmer's under—fire government will bring you the inside line from the heart of westminster. and on friday, an emergency meeting at the national crime agency promised to smash the gangs. but today a damning report claims that the nca is on its knees with its it systems creaking and with almost 25% of senior roles vacant. the report

warns of potentially