is the darren grimes and this is the weekend on gb news shocking new figures show 7 in 10 disabled pensioners will lose their fuel payments this winter. that comes from the department for work and pensions , admitting 1.6 million pensions, admitting 1.6 million disabled people who rely on the benefit may well miss out. that's just days after more than 50 labour mps defied sir keir starmer to abstain from his crucial vote to scrap the payment that many have come to rely on. and today is national trail hunting day. but with labour vowing to ban the practice , are its days numbered? practice, are its days numbered? we'll be finding out more shortly. and as prince harry prepares to celebrate turning 40 tomorrow, many are left wondering how happy the so—called spare really is with his new life in california. and as labour announces a watershed on junk food advertising that will be enforced by the start of

next month. but will that actually help fight britain's obesity crisis? i'm not convinced, but i'm darren grimes and the weekend starts . and the weekend starts. here. now, this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. i hope you know that by now. let me know your thoughts on all the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com. forward slash your say join the conversation there now keeping me company this hour is the former labour party mp stephen pound pounding the alarm and former conservative special adviser charlie rowley probably rolling across the floor by 3:00. but before we get stuck into today's stories, here's the news with sophie reaper .

news with sophie reaper. >> thank you. darren. it's just after 12:00 and these are your latest gb news headlines . prime latest gb news headlines. prime minister sir keir starmer met with president joe biden last night to discuss strategy and tactics regarding ukraine and the middle east. meeting at the white house in washington, dc, the pair sat down for talks that sir keir described as long and productive. speaking afterwards, the pm also said that he and the us president had reached a strong position regarding ending the conflict in ukraine. >> we've stood with ukraine. ukraine has a right to self—defence and we've stood united, not just with our allies here in the us , but across with here in the us, but across with our nato allies. that's very, very important to us. but today was about having the chance to talk not just about a particular step or tactic, but the strategy in relation to ukraine. but also we covered the middle east in some extensive detail and other areas across the world. so it

was a really important occasion for us to have this chance to discuss with our allies. >> meanwhile, back on home soil, more questions have been asked about the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments following a vote earlier this week, figures released by the department for work and pensions estimated that almost 800,000 pensioners will miss out on the benefit under the new plans of those set to lose the support. around two thirds have a disability and 83% are aged 80 or over. downing street has said that a full impact assessment of the change has not yet taken place. staying with politics now and a rebellion could be brewing within the labour party following recent comments by the pm around a ban on smoking outdoors at pubs. labour mp for newcastle upon tyne east and wallsend mary glindon, has tabled a motion in parliament against her own party in order to try and block the potential plans in the motion. she praised the indoor smoking ban of two thousand and seven, but said that extending the ban outdoors

could unduly restrict individual liberty . and i think we can now liberty. and i think we can now go to some live pictures from the lib dem conference in brighton, where ever the showman sir ed davey, the leader of the party, is arriving at the conference on a jet ski. we can see him there arriving at the conference on a jet ski, as we saw throughout the campaign of the lib dems, he was always bringing us something interesting. certainly that's ed davey there now moving on. today is, of course, the first day of the lib dem party conference in brighton with the cost of living defence, veterans, climate change and, crucially, their plans to fix the nhs right at the top of their agenda. the party won 72 seats in july's general election, their best ever result and more than six times the number they took in 2019. this afternoon, a rally is expected to take place in glasgow. ten years on from the scottish independence referendum organised by hope over fear , the

organised by hope over fear, the event marks a decade since scots took to the polls to vote on independence from the uk . today independence from the uk. today marks national trail hunting day, an annual event organised by the british hound sports association in their manifesto earlier this year, the labour party promised to ban trail hunting. so this year, organisers have said they are sending a strong message to the new government . and finally, new government. and finally, today is the return of strictly come dancing. the bbc bbc show is back and celebrating its 20th yeah is back and celebrating its 20th year. but following a series of controversies , many will be controversies, many will be watching to see how they handle the show, how the show handles allegations against some of the professional dancers. just some of the famous faces appearing on the show this series include football pundit paul merson , football pundit paul merson, singer shayne ward and olympic gold medallist tom dean and sam quek . those are your latest gb quek. those are your latest gb news headlines for now. i'm sophie reaper. more from me in

half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> thank you as ever, sophie. let's get stuck in to today's topics. well ed davey, we've got some live pictures of him coming into brighton. and i tell you what, i've never been more clear. we need to stop the boats. stop the boats. it's getting out of hand. i've just stolen charlie rowley's joke. there now, obviously, stephen pound and charlie rowley are still with me now. stephen would you have done this as leader of. were you to have been made leader of the labour party? do you think this would have got you think this would have got you a few snaps in the press? >> well, i need to actually grapple with that concept of reality for a moment. as me

leading any political party, even my own birthday party, i have trouble with. but leaving on a jet ski and don't know when i'll be back again. it's a fairly weird but look, i remember and it's engraved on my heart. the horror of poor neil kinnock and glenys dancing on the beach at brighton, and he supped the beach at brighton, and he slipped and fell, and that was almost as it became, almost as iconography , as emblematic as iconography, as emblematic as john major's tucking his shirt into his underwear. >> was he caught on camera? >> was he caught on camera? >> he was dancing, of course. you're too young, aren't you? yeah. and so it was in the late 80s, and he was dancing on the beach. and he was quite a good dancen he beach. and he was quite a good dancer. he and glenys used to do a lot of jiving. i remember. and he suddenly slipped on the pebble. because brighton has no beach, as you know. yeah. oh, it's all pebbles. >> all pebbles. so it can all. it can all be fire. >> the thing with ed davey was, i mean, you know, when he threw out the i mean, you can't actually knock the bloke because it worked. he got 72 seats, but when he was on that surfboard, on a sort of a faeces filled. >> stephen i'm not sure he got 72 seats by virtue of, you know, messing about on these all these

photocalls. i think he got 72 seats because the conservatives were so terrible. well, i think that's true. >> and probably like him, like most of the lib dem policy seems to be going round and round in circles. i don't think he knew how to stop. >> no, he didn't seem to be heading to the beach. but are you saying. >> are you saying that they're washed up? >> get some advice from a migrant coming over in a dinghy. >> are they washed up or are they just wets? well, yeah. >> all right, we'll move on from ed davey now, folks, documents have been well, have actually revealed from the department of work and pensions that seven out of ten of disabled pensioners may well lose their winter fuel payments this year. that report admitted that roughly 1.6 million could actually miss out on the payment. this winter. and to top it all off, downing street has confirmed that it carried out no impact assessment before making the decision with medical experts warning people could well die this winter as a result of the cold. well joining me now is the writer for conservativehome , charles amos. conservativehome, charles amos. charles, thank you very much for your company. now, charles, you

are my friend. a hard liner on this issue and you think, well, you know , know nowt for the you know, know nowt for the pensioners. essentially >> absolutely. the bottom 20% of pensioners spend about 17% of their income on recreation and culture. hotels and cigarettes, alcohol and tobacco. they don't need the winter fuel allowance that 17% refers to. £2,100 of expenditure. all they would need to do to take account of the reduction in the winter fuel allowance, or the elimination of it for them, rather, is to reduce their leisure expenditure by 10%. that is not much to ask. >> 10%. quite a lot , is it not? >> 10%. quite a lot, is it not? i mean, if you're a pensioner that's worked all of your life, they're putting a charles, as you well know . i they're putting a charles, as you well know. i think you would agree with this argument that through the government's pursuit of net zero, for example, energy is getting more expensive. and that means that pensioners who

may well have gotten used to the fact that they received this winter fuel payment can't actually afford the energy bills that are going up, what, 10% this winter ? this winter? >> i don't think that's the case at all. if you look at the state pension that is due to go up £690 this year, that more than makes up for the reduction. it's still one of the lowest in the oecd. >> we don't in the but certainly in europe we don't have good highly paid pensioners. you know, you're making out that this is the land of milk and honey. >> the fact that we have a lower state pension means that taxes are lower, and that allows people to pay into a tax. >> you know, taxes aren't lower. >> you know, taxes aren't lower. >> stop trying to sell that. that's a dead horse you're trying to flog. >> all else equal, if you have a higher state pension, you've got to have higher taxes. meaning given britain has a lower state pension, it's got to have lower taxes relative to those other countries that you speak about, which allows people to make their own decisions to pay into a private pension if they. so please , which will in most cases

please, which will in most cases offer a better return than the state pension. >> but well, come on, what have you got against pensioners? why not look for cuts elsewhere? right. there are a myriad of things you could do. what about not sending £12 billion abroad in so—called climate aid for start? >> yeah, i would eliminate that £12 billion altogether. i would eliminate a vast majority of the welfare budget. i would cut defence. i would cut a great number of things. >> you would cut defence, i would cut defence. >> but given that the government is not going to do that, darren, it's very important. >> well thank god i'm making this £1.5 billion cut because it's essential that this government closes the deficit of £122 billion to help us get down the national debt, which is at the national debt, which is at the moment £2.5 trillion. >> they're doing the right thing, the labour party, and they ought to be supported by classical liberals such as yourself. >> well, charles, what about this then? £600 million to ukraine on a war that some are starting to argue they ain't going to win.

>> yeah, i wouldn't spend that money either. but that doesn't detract from the fact that the why would you spend money on fuel allowance should be eliminated. >> you're starting to sound very tight , charles. tight, charles. >> oh, i am a very tight individual. both personally and individual. both personally and in my politics. it's very important that the state reduces its spending and it starts to reduce down the national debt. this government is taking the prudent course of action, and it ought to be supported by everybody who is prudent. >> well, you're saying it's got a prudent action toward the economy. >> i mean, i don't think that 12 billion commitment, the 600 million just announced for ukraine, they say they've got a 22 billion black hole, yet they can find all of these ways of spending the cash , wasting it on spending the cash, wasting it on these pet projects of theirs. i don't think this is a prudent government in fact, i'd argue that it looks quite reckless and it just wants to start intergenerational warfare. >> well, i would take the point that it's not as prudent as it 2222222277: 22021277: z --272 its not epzrudentzas . , could be, but i think when it 7 its not epzrudentzas it: , that it's not as prudent as it could be, but i think when it comes to making the hard choices comes to making the hard choices

of cutting winter fuel of cutting winter fuel allowance, it's certainly making allowance, it's certainly making allowance, it's certainly making a good start. i would dispute allowance, it's certainly making a good start. i would dispute that it's launching that it's launching intergenerational warfare. in intergenerational warfare. in fact, it's just trying to stop fact, it's just trying to stop boomers essentially ripping off boomers essentially ripping off young people. if you look at young people. if you look at those born between 1945 and those born between 1945 and 1961, you'll find that they have 1961, you'll find that they have taken or will take £1.20 out of taken or will take £1.20 out of the welfare state for every £1 the welfare state for every £1 they have paid in. pensioners they have paid in. pensioners under this government are under this government are starting to get what they starting to get what they deserve, which is less. deserve, which is less. >> that's appalling. that is an >> that's appalling. that is an appalling thing to say, what appalling thing to say, what they deserve. well, it makes it they deserve. well, it makes it sound like they have. they not sound like they have. they not worked all of their lives, have worked all of their lives, have they not contributed to building they not contributed to building this country into what it is this country into what it is today ? have they not? they had today ? have they not? they had today? have they not? they had interest rates far higher than today? have they not? they had interest rates far higher than what we have today. and they what we have today. and they they went through the winter of they went through the winter of discontent. they went through a discontent. they went through a whole host of things in which whole host of things in which the economy was far worse than the economy was far worse than the what we enjoy right now. >> and actually giving a to train drivers for example, or thethat

on that. >> i'm gobsmacked. in all honesty, that was a conservative, classical liberal. i appreciate that kemi badenoch has come out and said she's in favour of means testing the winter fuel allowance and, you know, fair play to kemi. but that's extraordinary. look, there's a couple of things i felt which which actually do need to be sorted out about this. firstly this business about people with disabilities. if you're a person with a disability, you're going to be on disability benefits. if you're on disability benefits, you're on disability benefits, you're still going to get the winter fuel allowance. so what that figure that they're quoting there, which is actually nuanced with roughly about and it's not a precise figure. it's the number of people who are not claiming that's still a lot, but let's get them to claim. but the thing is, look, there were three benefits that went out to everybody. there was ted heath's tenure. do you remember at christmas you were too young to know about this, but at christmas you get a tenner. just before christmas, courtesy of ted heath back in 1975. that goes to everybody. it should be worth about £260 now, but you still get a ten. the second one was the free tv licence. now the idea we can argue about whether the bbc should be subsidised by the bbc should be subsidised by the state. that's another argument. i think it's probably

been lost. but when the government, a couple of years ago decided to end the universal free tv licence, they said, we're going to target it. we're going to means test it, because there's no reason at all why wealthier pensioners should actually get this benefit. then when we had the debate on the winter fuel allowance, the killer line for me always was, look, why should king charles get this benefit? now, when you say we could spend it on something else, it's not a zero sum game. i'm a pensioner and i care about many, many things. personally, when i got the winter fuel allowance, i tried to send it back. they said you can't do that. so i gave it to the salvation army. you know, suitably topped up, obviously. but the reality is i care about the nhs, i care about security, i care about the policing, i care about the prisons, i care about the armed forces. and if the money from that £200 can go towards those things that matter towards those things that matter to me and to other pensioners, then fair play. i'm proud to do my bit and say farewell to me. £200. let the people most in need have it. let people like me who are not in it. let's see that money diverted to all those other good causes. >> so, charlie, the argument here would be that one, there isn't a way of clearly , judging

isn't a way of clearly, judging by those figures from the dwp, there isn't enough of an awareness campaign to get people to sign up if they are indeed eligible for pension credit, and also at a time when energy bills are going up 10%, people are going to feel that in their pockets. >> totally. and the dividing line is sort of encouraging people to sign up, which i think is the right thing. and versus what you heard earlier on through charles rae no bigger than a fruitcake, not wanting anybody to sign up at all, because that'll cost us even more. so, you know, what do you want? and i do think you want people to sign up, but let's let's just bring this back to reality. we're not talking about , reality. we're not talking about, you know, the most well—off pensioners. of course, there's a way. if you want to really make things fair, if you've got to make those savings, if you've got to make those tough decisions, there will be some wealthy pensioners out there, very, very wealthy pensioners that might not need the winter fuel allowance. that's just a fact. you know, they will openly, like steven has just said on this show, that you'd happily give it back or pass it on to another cause, a cause

we're talking about 10 million people, 10 million pensioners in our country are not well off. they are not in the higher bracket of income or pensions. these are people that, yes, they will get an increase in their pension as charles actually, to his credit, did say that he's coming in train. but winter fuel bills, fuel bills , as you said bills, fuel bills, as you said darren, are going up. there will be 10 million pensioners who won't have that allowance this yeah won't have that allowance this year. that will face a choice between heating and eating, that will find themselves, i'm afraid going to see a gp or having to see a specialist or go to a&e because they are cold or they're getting ill, or they're or they're getting sick. and the very idea, you know, i don't know much about charles, >> mr eamonn not sure. >> mr eamonn not sure. >> i'm not not sure. i'll read much more about it either. but, you know, when you're in government, you've got to make difficult decisions. but you can also learn from the past. now, we can have a conversation again another time about liz truss's budget and all the rest of it there. but one of the criticisms there. but one of the criticisms there that there was no impact assessment, the economic impact assessment, the economic impact assessment during that mini—budget, the very idea that this new government has come in

and the dwp themselves has said and the dwp themselves has said and the dwp themselves has said and the government has had to admit, that they have not carried out an economic impact assessment on taking away that winter fuel allowance shows that it's pure politics. it is a choice. they're making the wrong one. no wonder those 50 mps are labour mps were up in arms about it. it should be reversed because you're going to see many, many innocent pensioners on top of what dwp are saying today. on top of what dwp are saying today . disabled people, some of today. disabled people, some of the most vulnerable people in our society, along with pensioners losing out, that is a political choice. it is the wrong one and this government should hang its head in shame. >> so stephen, the point that some of our viewers are making is that actually it's a red herring to say, oh, well, there are some rich pensioners because these rich pensioners will be paying these rich pensioners will be paying income tax, they will be paying paying income tax, they will be paying tax . paying tax. >> this isn't taxable. the winter fuel allowance isn't. it should be. but but yeah. no that would you talked about german levels of benefits and you talked about some of the other european benefits. one of the things that is that they are taxable. it would in my opinion, it would make more sense to actually put that, put all that into one basket and have it taxed. that would solve the problem immediately. but on the

question of the 12 labour mps abstained. 12 the other people would be people like david lammy, who's in the ukraine, hilary benn, who was in northern ireland. there were people who had someone said she was having the mp for liverpool, the dentist, the dental appointment. oh come on, i've counted her in the people who. right. okay. yeah, but look , the reality of yeah, but look, the reality of that appointment i should imagine as well to get it that quick. but can i just say, i mean, i have to say i'm, you know, like, like a lot of people of my generation, i've read the bible, and i think the prophet amos was a particularly gloomy prophet. it wasn't quite as gloomy as job, but i have to say, charles amos came up with most extraordinary statements. i think the one thing he didn't pick up on is, in all honesty, there are a lot of pensioners and who are proud too proud to take the benefits. yeah, well, i think that's an issue. exactly. stop slamming the baby boomers. a lot of them are actually quite too, too proud. >> no i agree, i agree. right. thank you very much that was the former labour mp stephen pound, pensioner, conservative special adviser charlie rowley, also a pensioner. now for all the best analysis and opinion on that story and more, you can go to our website gb news.com. you're

with me darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up on the show as prince harry celebrates well, prepares to celebrate turning 40. he's flying away on houday turning 40. he's flying away on holiday with his closest mates. wonder how that lads weekend might go down with meghan markle. all of that and more to come. you're with gb news, britain's news channel

welcome back to the weekend with me darren grimes. now lots of you have been sending in your thoughts. well some of them i can't read out but, it's glowing red hot. it is, it is, it is the steam coming off this laptop. helen says in discussing the winter fuel allowance. no one has mentioned the two tier pension payment . new payment is

pension payment. new payment is £221.20. many of us only get the lower rate of £169.50. this has nothing to do with what a person paid in. also, why do pensioners who live abroad continue to get the payment, which is of course true because of the withdrawal agreement that we signed with the european union saying that they'd continue to get we would pay they'd continue to get we would pay for the winter fuel payments . pay for the winter fuel payments. and to be honest with you, i think you need it more in scunthorpe than you do spain. but never mind , benny says the but never mind, benny says the bottom line is a lot of old people are being put in unnecessary hardship . so the unnecessary hardship. so the greedy train drivers on 70 grand a year can keep up their lifestyle . they won't be cold lifestyle. they won't be cold this winter. no, i imagine those trains have some pretty nice heating in there. >> they'll be on strike as well. >> they'll be on strike as well. >> well, they'll be, i hope not, because otherwise i won't be able to do my shows. and what will you do then? >> oh, well they'll be, they'll be on the streets. riots again. they'll be on the streets. >> all right. now let me know all your thoughts on all of the stories we've been discussing

today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join the conversation or message us on conversation or message us on our conversation or message us on our socials . we're @gbnews now. our socials. we're @gbnews now. prime minister sir keir starmer met with president joe biden last night to discuss strategy and tactics regarding ukraine and tactics regarding ukraine and the middle east. the prime minister said that he and the us president had reached a strong position regarding ending the conflict in ukraine. well, that comes as david lammy announced an extra £600 million worth of support for ukraine, taking the uk's bill. are you ready for it to nearly £8 billion? but i want to nearly £8 billion? but i want to know is it time we considered putting our country's needs first? can ukraine actually win this war or are we frankly? well, i was about to swear there, but i won't. let's see what my panel make up the wall. >> were you going to say? >> were you going to say? >> yeah, i was, i was, yes. former labour mp stephen pound and former conservative special

adviser charlie rowley. now i think you're both massively in support of continuing our taxpayer resource and military might. >> we've got no alternative. we genuinely haven't . look, the genuinely haven't. look, the reality is that a year ago, 18 months ago, everybody thought that this was going to be over. by that this was going to be over. by christmas, the russians were going to roll in up the road to kyiv and bish bash bosh. donbas would then become part of russia. they'd annexed crimea and we didn't do anything about it. and it's exactly the same. the analogous situation is that when the when the germans remember they came into austria, they came into what was then czechoslovakia, then they came into poland bit by bit. you know, as mao tse—tung said, when you're advancing with a bayonet, if you find concrete, you stop. if you find porridge, you advance . and the reality is, if advance. and the reality is, if we don't stop russia on the border now with water, with nato, then watch out. hungary finland, you know, the whole of that bloc is going to disappear. the question is, how much in this country can we afford to commit to it? and i think we for some reason don't pay as much towards nato as many other countries. the americans i mean, trump should he, in the unlikely event, become president, says

he's actually going to stop making the contributions to the un and to nato because people should pay their fair share. look, i would say that the situation with putin is existential. this is absolutely there are, reader crosses to germany in 1939. this is a real horrific situation. we know that they're trying to assassinate people on british soil. they're interfering with our, you know, it's cyber attacks all the time. and one of the papers said today, i think it was in the telegraph today, actually said that putin is sabre rattling and every time he's drawn a red line it's been ignored. it's been. yeah i don't think that we can afford to gamble with somebody who has his finger on the nuclear button. >> well, indeed, not. so then therefore, stephen, are you not saying it's unwise to give them these missiles that they're requesting? i think the idea of ukraine firing missiles into russia is going to galvanise russia. >> already . don't forget, there >> already. don't forget, there was an attack in a moscow tower block last week. and don't forget, the ukraine is now actually occupying a huge amount of territory around kyiv. but don't forget that the russians started this. they annexed crimea , they took in, they put

crimea, they took in, they put their troops into ukraine, they started it. so i'm not happy about the idea of missiles whizzing across the border and finally hitting, you know, saint petersburg. i mean, that would be pretty terrifying. however, i think putin has to be actually brought to the table, and we need to look him in the eye and say, you cannot win this war. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> well, charlie, that well, that's the point that i would make. actually, you cannot win this war. you might well be able to say that to president zelenskyy as well. i don't think this war is one that can be won maybe by either side. so frankly, is giving them another taxpayer worth it for the exchequer, because the fact of the matter is, in 2022, most of the matter is, in 2022, most of the reports say that we advised ukraine not to actually go into peace talks with russia. so are we just dragging this out and actually causing a great deal of pain here at home, as well as for the, well, the ukrainian people? >> well, there is an argument that it has gone on for far too long. could it have been stopped

earlier? i think it could have if there was unity across european allies. so obviously bofis european allies. so obviously boris johnson was, you know, zelenskyy's number one sort of ally in trying to sort of, you know, get this, this war brought to an end. and i think you need a cooperation with france, with germany and others in to order bnng germany and others in to order bring this, this conflict to an end. i think everybody's acting sort of individually and sort of committing, some pots of money here, some pots of money there. it took a while to get the sort of the billions, the billions from the us approved from the senate, so there has been no coordination in terms of amongst ukraine's allies for ukraine. everybody has acted sort of individually. so i think if we'd come together a bit sooner then we could, could have spoken with an even stronger voice to say to russia, you know, this is not on you have started this war, charlie. >> it may not be palatable, but i think we have to actually think about the future of what ukraine is going to look like. the word ukraine in russian

means the border. i've been there. i used to run a charity called saint michael mission, which was actually building the churches back in ukraine that had been destroyed under the communists. if you drive across ukraine from east to west in donbas region, around there, all the radio is all russian. as soon as you get to the centre, it's ukrainian. as soon as you get to the west, it's polish and there are certain parts of the donbas particularly i'm thinking around there. you know, i mean, i know it probably from shakhtar donetsk, you know, going to the football, but those areas which actually feel russian and i think at the end of the day there's going to have to be a peace settlement, which will involve some compromise. well, indeed. >> so let's do it now. right. you're saying you're saying you mentioned president trump earlier. if we'd had president trump still in office, many are of the view that actually this would have been done sorted. well he's he's on that view. >> i'm not sure anybody else is. >> i'm not sure anybody else is. >> well i don't think i mean, the good thing about donald trump is that i agree with donald trump when he says that actually europe needed to pay more for nato because it wasn't actually europe needed to pay more for nato because it wasn't and america was spending and america was spending probably more than what it thought it should do. and it probably more than what it thought it should do. and it can't police the world that's, can't police the world that's, you know, that's donald trump's you know, that's donald trump's view. and actually, you know, view. and actually, you know,

nato allies stepped up. nato allies stepped up. >> well, russia didn't feel it >> well, russia didn't feel it could do this under his could do this under his leadership. >> exactly. and i think, look, leadership. >> exactly. and i think, look, you know , i'm trump has got you know , i'm trump has got you know, i'm trump has got many, many faults. but i do you you know, i'm trump has got many, many faults. but i do you know, ask people to consider, know, ask people to consider, you know, if you're under any you know, if you're under any kind of threat or if it's you kind of threat or if it's you versus donald trump , you know, versus donald trump , you know, versus donald trump, you know, my money would probably be on versus donald trump, you know, my money would probably be on donald trump most days of the donald trump most days of the week. but i don't think i mean, week. but i don't think i mean, my fundamental point is that i my fundamental point is that i think, look, you know , you're think, look, you know , you're think, look, you know, you're right, steven, russia did start think, look, you know, you're right, steven, russia did start this war. it is the first war this war. it is the first war that we've seen on european that we've seen on european soil. since 1940, since the end soil. since 1940, since the end of 1945. so we can't allow that of 1945. so we can't allow that to continue. we can't allow that to continue. we can't allow that to continue. we can't allow that to be okay. we can't just accept to continue. we can't allow that to be okay. we can't just accept that and allow russia to say, that and allow russia to say, well, you've, you know, you've well, you've, you know, you've done what you did in crimea. you done what you did in crimea. you did what you did in georgia. did what you did in georgia. you've now taken a bit of you've now taken a bit of ukraine and we'll say, well, ukraine and we'll say, well, we'll just call it quits there. we'll just call it keir no, this has to come to an end. i think ukraine has to win. russia needs to be told and taught a lesson that it can't do this, and it won't do it again because of the strength of the community and support for ukraine. >> okay. yeah. well there's a mix of views going on in our eoc

right now. >> keep europe needed pay

conflicts that sir keir described as long and productive. speaking afterwards, the pm also said that he and the us president had reached a strong position regarding ending the conflict in ukraine. >> we've stood with ukraine. ukraine has a right to self—defence and we've stood united, not just with our allies here in the us, but across with our nato allies. that's very, very important to us. but today was about having the chance to talk not just about a particular step or tactic, but the strategy in relation to ukraine. but also we cover the middle east in some extensive detail and other areas across the world. so it was a really important occasion for to us have this chance to discuss with our allies. >> meanwhile, the government is facing further backlash following its decision to cut winter fuel payments. figures released by the department for work and pensions estimated that almost 800,000 pensioners will miss out on the benefits under the new plans of those set to

lose the support around two thirds have a disability and 83% are aged 80 or over. downing street has said that a full impact assessment of the changes has not yet taken place. elsewhere in politics, today is the first day of the lib dem party conference in brighton, with the cost of living , with the cost of living, defence, climate change and their plan to fix the nhs . just their plan to fix the nhs. just some of the topics on the agenda.a some of the topics on the agenda. a short while ago, party leader sir ed davey arrived at the conference on a jet ski. he's scheduled to speak at the event tomorrow, where a celebration is anticipated after his party won 72 seats in july's general election, their best ever result . today marks ever result. today marks national trail hunting day, an annual event organised by the british hound sports association in their manifesto earlier this yean in their manifesto earlier this year, the labour party promised to ban trail hunting, so this year the organisers have said that they are sending a strong message to the new government

and today is the return of strictly. the bbc show is back and celebrating its 20th year, but following a series of controversies , many will be controversies, many will be watching to see how the show will handle allegations against some of the professional dancers . some of the professional dancers. those are your latest gb news headunes those are your latest gb news headlines for now. i'm sophie reaper more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts

>> welcome back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. thank you very much for your company. now today is national trail hunting day. it's an annual event that showcases the best of

hunting. but with the new labour government threatening to outlaw the practice , could this be the the practice, could this be the last of its kind? well, gb news brilliant yorkshire and humber reporter anna riley is in charm park in scarborough. anna what have you got for us? go on, give us some views on what this would mean. up in scarborough . mean. up in scarborough. >> good afternoon. darren. yes, we're here of course. trail hunting. it goes on every day for people who like to go out and hunt it came in after the fox hunting ban was put in place in 2004. but now trail hunting is at threat. the labour government say that they still feel it's cruel towards animals and that they want to ban it, but the people organising this event here today, including gareth, who i'm joined by now, are campaigning to keep it going. just tell me what trail hunting is. >> it's a trail. hunting is the

hounds. we lay a trail. we lay an animal based scent that the hounds will follow throughout the countryside. and we try to lay those trails to mimic the traditional hunting. >> and we may be able to see pictures that are being used. now, i've actually went and followed along today and saw what was going on. what would you say to people who say it is still cruel? you know, a fox still cruel? you know, a fox still could get caught at the end of this? >> yeah, so that's completely untrue. but i think the best, you know, we're open to anybody, anybody to come and view what we do. this is why we've put this on today. so this is a big national, national effort that we've put on 30 locations throughout the country. but this is what we do every week, two and three times a week. but we've invited all the general pubuc we've invited all the general public here just to see what we are about, rather than having a misconceived idea. >> and what would it mean to you if trail hunting was banned and what would it mean to the wider rural community? well, yeah , rural community? well, yeah, that's the issue. >> it is the wider rural community. it plays a large part in the rural areas. there's so many things that hunting does, you know, without charity work,

but local, local things that bnngs but local, local things that brings local communities together . domino brings local communities together. domino drives, pie and pie suppers in the pub, all of that. and for that to stop, it would. it would stop a lot of our older generation and community being able to come together, we've also got the next generations coming through and we want to secure our future for those. i'm the third generation of my family. that's hunted, and i want my daughter to be able to do the same. and her children after that. and i just feel that if it was to go, you know, we've also got one of the biggest issues for us at the moment is we don't know the future of our hounds, and we care very, very much about our hounds. there's 15,000 hounds hounds. there's15,000 hounds throughout the country. there's 247 packs, all with a big industry and a big infrastructure. and what what would happen to those hounds is a real scary thought for us. >> and it is a polarising topic. you know, many people disagreeing with it. what does it mean to you? what what do you get out of it, and how much of a sort of british tradition is it for you that you want to keep

going? >> yeah, well, it's a bit of everything. you know. it's a real passion, there's no doubt about that. and everybody that you probably speak to today would have a similar passion shared. and it's, it's about communities coming together. it's about spending time in the countryside and being able to have access to land that we wouldn't have under any other circumstances. and, and everybody you know, enjoys different sports and different things. and this activity that we take part in, for me, i've grown up in and i couldn't think of not being able to get up on a, on a weekday or a weekend and be able to do this. this is this is what this is what i do. you know. >> thank you so much, gareth. thank you for sharing that with us. so we'll be here throughout the afternoon. darren coming to you later. getting more views on this, which will certainly get people talking whether or not trail hunting should be banned. >> indeed. and as you said, polarising indeed . but it's polarising indeed. but it's a tradition. so we'll see what the views set tell us. thank you very much, anna riley. there now we're going to go to ed davey, who i believe has moored his little jet ski . i tell you, the little jet ski. i tell you, the worst boat arrival that we've

had this year so far, and turn him back . yeah, tow it back. tow him back. yeah, tow it back. tow it back. send him to france. all right. we'll be getting more. on what? ed davey has to say to his lib dem masses. and which phone box are riding the wave . 7272 box are riding the wave. 7272 mps, big phone box. right. thank you very much. to my panel there. that was stephen pound and charlie rowley. we'll be back with them shortly. you're with me, darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up, including the north london derby tomorrow as arsenal face tottenham. i'll be joined by the sports broadcaster aidan magee for his predictions. all of that more to come. you're with gb news and where

welcome back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. now the tottenham tottenham

manager , has actually played manager, has actually played down the significance of the nonh down the significance of the north london derby . he said that north london derby. he said that their league cup tie against coventry on wednesday is as important and he doesn't want his players to approach their game against arsenal any differently than previous fixtures. i imagine there are a few fans who disagree with that analysis. joining me now is the sports broadcaster aidan magee aidan. if you're a tottenham or an arsenal fan, you care about this game, right? >> without question. >> without question. >> but i think ange postecoglou, this is a pointed piece of analysis and or preview, if you like, because he was very disturbed at the end of last season that the home game against manchester city , he felt against manchester city, he felt that the club or the players and everybody at the club in fact, and it was indicative of their mentality and their and their kind of their disposition over recent years, their mentality. >> he said that, you know, we should have played the game rather than the occasion. he said that we were more interested in not getting the result against manchester city, just to stop arsenal winning the league than actually furthering our own champions league ambitions by beating man city

ourselves. now, of course, beating man city home or away, or in a neutral venue is extremely difficult. but as far as today's or tomorrow's fixture is concerned, yeah, you're absolutely right. i mean , the absolutely right. i mean, the reality, despite his protestations, was that most spurs fans, i imagine, did care more about stopping arsenal winning the league than man city going on and doing it themselves. >> and tell us about this controversy with the premier league saying, actually, arsenal can't wear their shirts because there's too much white in it or something like that. >> yeah, it does happen. >> yeah, it does happen. >> it's quite a common protocol nowadays. >> anti whiteness everywhere now, nowadays, nowadays the what a spin you put nowadays the colours are . colours are. >> are there any dispute over colours. any possible clashes. are discussed a week or two in advance. so that's because i've been at matches before. i remember being at a game between gillingham and millwall at the den back in 2001. sorry and sorry it was a good day. it was a good one for the purists. it was a good day and so gillingham turned up with, with the wrong away kit because the because the kitman had packed the wrong kit and they ended up beating millwall, their sworn rivals at the den, wearing millwall's away kit. so it's to avoid situations like that we've had. it comes up every now and again. the kitman

has one job. if he doesn't, if he doesn't pack the right kit, then that's what that's why they discuss it a week in advance. now there's too much piping on the on the red shirt, which is too white. it clashes with tottenham. and when you're talking about very marginal offside decisions, then it can. it's for the benefit of the video. the var really because sometimes it can. believe it or not, it can actually cause some some discrepancy over, over whether whether someone's offside or not, particularly on socks and shorts. but as charlie said in the break, arsenal did offer to wear red shorts and red socks. so for the first time in my memory, i don't. i can't recall both teams either wearing , recall both teams either wearing, wearing. they're wearing their traditional kit. so for tomorrow, tomorrow we won't see it. >> i think what's truly weird is that arsenal will run out with visit rwanda. yeah, i thought the last people on this planet who actually talking about visiting rwanda are the arsenal team. >> yeah, well it is, it is a bit ridiculous. i mean, i used to be a referee. i didn't know this was a weekend pursuit. >> apparently. >> apparently. >> yes. yes, absolutely. >> yes. yes, absolutely. >> and obviously the man who did it is mine. >> but it's you and keir starmer. but it's quite easy, but it's just ridiculous. i mean, it's taking the fun. we can have a whole debate about

var another time, obviously, but like it's taking the fun out of it. >> but i think the fans will be pleased. >> of course they of course the spurs will be pleased. >> it's a little bit of a psychological. >> they've got nothing else to do. >> it's like pizzagate, nothing else to play for. they never had a pizzagate apart from winning the 2004. >> yeah, but football should be for the fans and fans want to see arsenal in red. they want to see arsenal in red. they want to see spurs in white. they want to see spurs in white. they want to see that at the emirates as well. so i want spurs to turn up at the emirates in white. i don't want them to turn up, you know, in their on the field kit, whatever it is on the field of play, fans on the on the on the field of play arsenal i've got injury problems. >> obviously declan rice is suspended having been sent off against brighton. it's a big doubt about martin odegaard in midfield, although there are those at spurs who think it's a bit of a ruse and i think he's going to be fit tomorrow and i think he's going to be well. >> well, stephen pound was happier than a sort of cat with a saucer of milk at emile smith rowe. >> he was saying earlier, i'll tell you what, he's a revelation. >> yes, he is, but he's one of those players who, as arsenal got, got some got, you know, more established and ready to go for the title as they have in the last two and a half seasons.

he's somebody who got left behind just because of his injuries level, injury level. he couldn't really keep up with him. and so he had to go elsewhere. and i think for £30 million that's a good, good bargain. >> you talk about talk about the nonh >> you talk about talk about the north london derby. i'd like viewers to remember that today is actually the east west london derby. west ham, fulham. >> yes i know, yeah i know dawn neesom that point this neesom made that point this morning forcibly. >> but but she's west ham. >> but yeah but she's west ham. >> but yeah but she's west ham. >> is indeed. >> she is indeed. >> she is indeed. >> may i say i'm not know. >> may i say i'm not know. >> well i hope actually people are watching the weekend on gb news and not watching the west ham game. yes absolutely. >> it's no contest, mate. >> well, indeed, i'll be watching gb news what's your prediction then, aidan? on what the result will be tomorrow. >> you know what? arsenal? arsenal have won the last two games. they're having had a wretched run there since 2014. i don't think they're going to win tomorrow though. i think those misses in midfield, they're going to play deep. possibly raheem sterling might play, but i'm going to go for a21win raheem sterling might play, but i'm going to go for a21 win to tottenham. oh guys how can you say something. i've got to stay neutral i'm sitting right next to you. you're you're you're you're a referee. you're a referee is all about neutrality isn't it. >> will declan rice be a miss. >> will declan rice be a miss. >> yes. hugely. yeah. because i mean i think he only missed two games last season. so it's actually difficult to understand what arsenal are going to look like without him because he's

always been there. >> yeah i mean are you a bit pessimistic, charlie. >> no, i'm up for it. i'm up for it. wearing whether you're wearing red, black, blue, any colour of the rainbow, he's a neutral referee. arsenal. arsenal. arsenal i'm big. arsenal. arsenal i'm big. arsenal fan. we're going to win. it'll be. i think it'll be about three nil. >> he's a season ticket holder. >> he's a season ticket holder. >> i know he is. yeah, i know nil i know. >> what's your prediction then. who do you think , steven, who do you think, steven, >> i'd quite happily see them both lose to be perfectly honest. >> no. you know what? it's the one derby in english football that doesn't disappoint. you always get a story out of it. you see loads of goals, loads of incidents i can think of. at least if you think of the top 50 premier league games in the last 30 years. i think you'd probably see half a dozen north london derbies in those where when newcastle last played sunderland. >> and now you're talking my oh yes. yeah, i was terrified . yes. yeah, i was terrified. genuinely terrified, they always have. how embarrassing would that be. >> yeah i know it went. >> yeah i know it went. >> it also kicks off at 12 noon doesn't it. yes. it's like cardiff swansea . yeah. let's not cardiff swansea. yeah. let's not even mention more places. >> more security than a sort of donald trump. >> do you think sterling will

play >> do you think sterling will play tomorrow? >> i think there's a chance he might play. he's been talking up his mentality. he's been talking up his his his suitability for a game like this. so i wouldn't be surprised to see him unleashed and the boys hungry. there's no question about that. he's got a point to prove. he's been bundled out of chelsea didn't finish off, didn't finish well for him at man city either. didn't get in the in the euros squad. even so at the age of 29 this is this is an ideal match for him to get in there and show his quality. has there been a lot of, sort of, well, hiccups with the international break or not? yeah. there's been injuries. yeah. no question about that. odegaard was one who i mean he was playing for norway and he got injured against austria. and this is what annoys the clubs because the clubs pay their wages . they do get paid their wages. they do get paid a minimal amount playing for, for their countries. but there's always a doubt that when you send a player to far flung areas of the world, are they going to be cared for properly? >> don't you reckon there's too much football? now that the pfa said last week they're just overloaded with fixtures? no, i want more. >> well that's true. yeah, more, more, more. all right. thank you very much. are you with me? darren grimes on gb news loads more coming up on the show. don't go anywhere. first of all, it's your weather. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb

news >> hello, good afternoon and welcome to your gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. well, we have a bit of a split in the weather for this weekend . fairly unsettled in the weekend. fairly unsettled in the north, but mostly fine and dry elsewhere and it is going to be feeling warmer than of late too. and the reason for this split in the weather is that we've got high pressure dominating the south, but generally low pressure in the north. and nofice pressure in the north. and notice the squeeze in the isobars there too. so fairly blustery conditions in the northwest as we head into this evening, it is going to be turning fairly chilly across the south, particularly under clear spells. may even see some rural grass frost develop in southern areas , but across the north, areas, but across the north, largely mild. plenty of blustery showers moving their way in across western parts of scotland, and then some rain and drizzle into northern england by the time we reach sunday morning. so fairly chilly in the south but milder in the north. now to start the second half of the weekend, we're going to see plenty of bright spells, but also plenty of showers moving

their way into northwest scotland. still fairly blustery here though. winds should ease up through the day. quite a cloudy start in northern ireland, and we've still got this band of rain and drizzle moving into northern england, northern parts of wales but elsewhere there should be plenty of bright sunshine. but, as i say, a fairly chilly start in the south now through the course of the morning, this band of rain and drizzle, it's going to be fairly slow moving, so in some places it's going to remain fairly damp through the day. plenty of showers across scotland, these banding together to bring some longer spells of rain at times may see some hail and some thunder mixed in there too. but across the midlands and the south, once again another dry, fine settled day, perhaps just a bit more cloud around it looks like things are heating up . looks like things are heating up. >> boxt boilers sponsors of

well. >> a very good afternoon. it's just gone. 1:00 on saturday the

14th. you're with me , darren 14th. you're with me, darren grimes. and this is the weekend on gb news now. shocking new figures show that 7 in 10 disabled pensioners may well stand to lose their fuel payments this winter . the payments this winter. the department for work and pensions admits that 1.6 million disabled people who rely on the benefit may well miss out. that's just days after more than 50 labour mps defied sir keir starmer to abstain from his crucial vote to scrap the payment. that so many have come to rely on. and, well, we'll have more from the lib dem leader, sir ed davey. he's arrived in the worst small boat of the year to party conference in brighton on a jet ski . he in brighton on a jet ski. he seemed to enjoy the summer election campaign , so what more election campaign, so what more tncks election campaign, so what more tricks can he bring out for a bit of the media spotlight? and my friends, today is national trail hunting day. but with labour vowing to ban the practice, are its days numbered

and are you concerned about losing that tradition? let me know and we'll find out more on that shortly. and prince harry prepares to celebrate turning 40 tomorrow. many are left wondering how the so—called spare really is, how well is he happy? is he content with his new life in california? and as labour announces a watershed on junk food advertising, by the start of next month, will this help fight britain's obesity crisis? do we all need a little more nanny? i'm darren grimes and this is the weekend . and this is the weekend. now, this show is absolutely nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on all the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gb news. com forward slash your say and join that conversation . and join that conversation. they're keeping me company this houris

they're keeping me company this hour is the political commentator, emma burnell and journalist claire muldoon. but before we get stuck to in today's stories, here's your news with sophie reaper . news with sophie reaper. >> thank you. darren. it's just after 1:00 and these are your latest headlines . prime minister latest headlines. prime minister sir keir starmer met with president joe biden last night to discuss strategy and tactics regarding ukraine and the middle east. meeting at the white house in washington, dc, the pair sat for down talks that sir keir described as long and productive. speaking afterwards, the pm also said that he and the us president had reached a strong position regarding ending the conflict in ukraine. >> we've stood with ukraine. ukraine has a right to self—defence and we've stood united, not just with our allies here in the us , but across with here in the us, but across with our nato allies. that's very ,

our nato allies. that's very, very important to us. but today was about having the chance to talk not just about a particular step or tactic, but the strategy in relation to ukraine. but also we cover the middle east in some extensive detail and other areas across the world. so it was a really important occasion for us to have this chance to discuss with our allies. >> meanwhile, back on home soil, more questions have been asked about the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments following a vote earlier this week, figures released by the department for work and pensions estimated that almost 800,000 pensioners will miss out on the benefit under the new plans of those set to lose the support. around two thirds have a disability and 83% aged 80 or oven disability and 83% aged 80 or over. downing street has said that a full impact assessment of the change has not yet taken place. staying with politics now and a rebellion could well be brewing within the labour party. following recent comments by the pm around a ban on smoking

outdoors at pubs. labour mp for newcastle upon tyne east and wallsend , mary glindon, has wallsend, mary glindon, has tabled a motion in parliament against her own party in order to try and block the potential plans. in the motion, she praised the indoor smoking ban of two thousand and seven, but said that extending the ban outdoors could unduly restrict individual liberty. today is the first day of the lib dem party conference in brighton , with the conference in brighton, with the cost of living, defence and veterans climate change and, crucially, their plan to fix the nhs as just some of the topics on the agenda. earlier this afternoon , party leader sir ed afternoon, party leader sir ed davey arrived at the conference in style on a jet ski. he is scheduled to speak at the event tomorrow, where a celebration is anticipated after his party won 72 seats in july's general election, their best ever result . election, their best ever result. now, someone who is speaking at the conference today is the deputy leader for the scottish liberal democrats , wendy liberal democrats, wendy chamberlain. earlier, she told gb news about the need for

parties to work together to tackle the broken nhs. this is what she had to say without supporting social care and we've been very clear that we are keen to work on a cross—party basis to work on a cross—party basis to solve it, because no matter what party is in power. >> social care is an issue that is not going away. but if you don't support social care, you're not going to fundamentally sort the problems within the nhs. keir starmer has said that fixing the nhs is a ten year job. said that fixing the nhs is a ten yearjob. he said that fixing the nhs is a ten year job. he won't be said that fixing the nhs is a ten yearjob. he won't be able ten year job. he won't be able to do that unless he keeps other parties onside, so that we can all do that work together. >> today marks national trail hunting day, an annual event organised by the british hounds sports association. in their manifesto earlier this year, the labour party promised to ban trail hunting, so this year organisers have said they are sending a strong message to the new government. and today is the return of strictly come dancing, the bbc show is back and celebrating its 20th year, but following a series of

controversies, many will be watching to see how the show will handle allegations against some of the professional dancers. just some of the famous faces appearing on the show this series include football pundit paul merson , singer shayne ward paul merson, singer shayne ward and olympic gold medallist tom dean and sam quek. those are your latest gb news headlines for now. i'm sophie reaper. more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign up to news your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . slash alerts. >> thanks very much, sophie. we're going to read out some of your comments that you've been actually messaging in on gbnews.com/yoursay. barbara says the smoking ban seems to be more important to some labour mps than keeping pensioners alive on

the hunter. the trail ban potential trail ban. janet says tell anna anna riley our reporter, to ask the hunters about the terrier men who send their dogs down fox holes to chase the foxes out for them to hunt, as well as the terriers ripping the babies to pieces. janet says it's barbaric. but then james says the point is, darren, this is a british tradition. this means it's okay to ban it. if it were a non—british minority tradition, they'd be too afraid to even consider banning it. two typekit strikes again. lorna says last night i was very cold. this is lorna on the scrapping of the winter fuel payment. last night i was very cold and i have a number of disabilities i racked up, but in the end i had to put my heating on when the temperature went down to 35. we live in rural and rural area and have to use oil . we're not even have to use oil. we're not even in winter yet. we also can't get pension credit because of an age difference. so my state pension

is only £169 and my husband, after working all his life, had after working all his life, had a bad accident, now has six fractures in his back. they get £299 in universal credit. and lorna says she's going to really struggle. so there are a lot of people here who, you know, we're talking about millionaire pensioners. it doesn't sound like lorna is a millionaire pensioner. so there's some room for debate there. thank you very much for your comments. please do keep them coming in now on that story. seven out of ten disabled pensioners potentially set to lose their winter fuel payments this weekend. that comes not from my mouth, but from the department of work and pensions , which is has admitted pensions, which is has admitted roughly 1.6 million disabled pensioners may well miss out on that payment this winter. and to top it all off, downing street has confirmed it carried out no impact assessment before making the decision to scrap it, with medical experts warning that people could die this winter as

a result of the cold. and let's not forget many poor people die of the cold than they do the heat. of the cold than they do the heat . so joining me now is the heat. so joining me now is the charity director from age uk, caroline abrahams. caroline, thank you very much for your time. how concerned are you that enough people who may well be eligible to receive pension credit simply aren't taking it up? you know, there are a generation of older people who may well too be proud to think of applying for pension credit. >> yeah, well. good afternoon. >> yeah, well. good afternoon. >> yeah, well. good afternoon. >> yeah, we're very worried. and we're even more worried now. we've seen the government's own official analysis, which you've just quoted from, because another thing that document says is that even after they tried to help people claim this year, they still expect three quarters of a million of those very poor pensioners not to get pension credit and therefore to lose their winter fuel payment. and they really are not going to be able to afford it this winter, especially as our bills are all going up by 10%. >> yeah. so caroline, then i

wonder to what extent would you say that there is merit to the argument that labour might well make, which is that, you know , make, which is that, you know, there are many pensioners for whom their winter fuel payment may well be the champagne fund, and they just pop it to one side and, you know, ordering some bubbly and perhaps they shouldn't be getting it . shouldn't be getting it. >> well, i don't know about many, but of course there are certainly some older people who've done very well in life and who have retired on a comfortable income, and they won't miss their retirement at all. so that's absolutely fair to say. but the problem is, of course, the in our estimate, 2.5 million older people, right at the other end of the spectrum who are going to miss it a lot. and the truth is that with universal payments , what we're universal payments, what we're what you pay the price you pay for that is that you do give it to people who don't need it. but the benefit is, you know, it goes to those who need it the most . and there really isn't most. and there really isn't another alternative which ensures that all the older

people who are on those very low incomes or who are sick and disabled will still get the money, largely because they have to claim it. and lots of them don't. or because they're just above the line and they're still on a very, very low income but don't quite qualify. yeah, exactly. >> i mean, you're not lord sugar if you're just over the line there on that threshold. but caroline, to what extent are you worried about something that i'm deeply concerned about? and i'll tell you what that is. it is a growing sense of resentment and intergenerational warfare, essentially between the young people who can't get on the housing ladder. et cetera. et cetera. who blame the boomer generation, who worked so hard to actually build britain to what it is today. i'm worrying that actually there is a growing sense of dissent and actually resentment. and the fact of the matter is that politicians rhetoric around this issue is exacerbating that fact . exacerbating that fact. >> i am quite worried about that narrative because it's just not true. really. of course, there

are older people who are well off. i've just said that. but lots who are . and equally, there lots who are. and equally, there are some young people who are doing quite well and many who need much more help. and the big issue in our society really isn't young versus old. it's the fact that we have such a spectrum of income and wealth right across our society. in all age groups, and the differences in income and wealth are greater within generations than they are between them. and the problem with the intergenerational narrative is, as you've explained it is it kind of takes away our attention from that. and actually we need to be working harder, i think, to support people on low incomes of all ages, whether they're single parents, families with children, people living on their own, very young people, or indeed much older people. they all need more help. and in order to rebalance the books financially as a country, i think it's absolutely right that some people are going to have to pay more, but it ought to be the people, as the politicians put it, with the broadest shoulders, who can afford to, not people on very, very low incomes like disabled

and sick older people in their 80s who might only be on 13,000 a year but are going to lose their winter fuel payment if they're not careful. >> yeah. all right, caroline, thank you very much for that insight. that's the charity director from age uk, caroline abrahams. now my panel are still with me in the studio. we of course still have emma burnell and we've got clare muldoon as well . emma, and we've got clare muldoon as well. emma, i'll start with you. the last remark said that those with the broadest shoulders should take the heat . do you should take the heat. do you agree with that sentiment? but would you also make the argument that actually this policy is those with the broadest shoulders taking the hit ? shoulders taking the hit? >> i definitely agree with the sentiment. i think that that is the best way of dealing with the financial issues that we i think we all agree that we that we have as a country on this measure. i think, i mean, i've spoken to a number of labour mps

who are really upset that this is something that they they this is something that they they this is the first thing that they've kind of come in and had to deal with. and they are getting a lot of posts about it. and i don't think anyone's going to say that this is a thing that anyone's doing. walking through a lobby with joy in their heart over. i personally , there are a couple personally, there are a couple of issues that i find quite interesting on this. first of all, there is the concept of universality when it comes to benefits and usually, this argument is flipped on its head andifs argument is flipped on its head and it's the right saying we shouldn't have universal benefits, and the left saying, yes, universality is what makes sure that everybody gets what they what they should get. and that tapering issue where the people who are just over. >> well, that's without the without the need for means testing. that's what universal credit in any form actually is. >> yeah. and this, this is, this is and it's interesting that this has kind of flipped on its head this time. and you've got, you know, a left government saying, actually we need to be means testing and other the, the right opposition saying actually

it should be universal. where i think that because we've been talking about this for some time now and what i haven't heard anyone making an argument about is the party in this that is not being discussed is the energy companies, because actually, what winter fuel payment is in many ways is the government giving a bunch of money. that is then given straight to energy companies. and i think that labour could have been a lot cleverer on this . and i as you cleverer on this. and i as you know, i'm a labour member, labour supporter . i've got my labour supporter. i've got my red nails, but i don't always try to be just pure partisan. and i think they could have done something much cleverer, which is bringing in something like a social tariff. and that would then ensure that those people who then had that benefit withdrawn actually were entitled to a lower fuel bill and actually put the pressure on to the energy companies rather than putting the pressure onto the

individual consumers. >> play the point there would be there are many people making this point that actually the reason energy bills are going up . reason energy bills are going up. and ed miliband just signed us up to, oh, don't remind me on contracts for wind farms and all the rest of it. that will put pressure on energy prices. and the fact of the matter is the pursuit of net zero. net zero. so, you know, there are two questions here from that one, do you blame the energy companies ? you blame the energy companies? and secondly, do you actually think that this is an element of intergenerational warfare where actually labour are pinning everything on older people, getting rid of, for example, the single person discount on council tax? well we don't know if they're going to do that yet potentially for this new budget that's coming out with rachel reeves or rachel reeves , reeves or rachel reeves, whichever way you want to want to name her. >> i don't think and i hope it's not an integer rational thing, because i'll tell you why. the government, the international inheritance tax will take care

of the 3% of people who will fall into that category. it's only 3%. it's not a lot, right? most people, most of the baby boomers, my parents, my mum now is part of it. she owns her home outright. when she dies , her outright. when she dies, her threshold because of scotland will not meet the threshold of inheritance tax. that then will fall to my sister and i. it then goes down a generation . that's goes down a generation. that's what an inheritance does. people should not be punished for that, and that will then free up the homes, the flats, the habitats that need to be thrown up for the fact that when the council stock was sold off by thatcher, the problem was not that i've got an issue with capitalism in any way, shape or form. i think it adds to social mobility. the issue was, as we all know, the stock was not replenished but added to that, the amount of immigration that this country has to put up with. we don't have any room to have anyone else. and for sadiq, sadiq khan

to say that he wants to now, put the people who have been released from prison above those people that might be homeless, above those families that might be homeless, amongst those the table will show that if you're an immigrant, you're much likely you're much more likely to be housed than those people who have been born in this country, raised in this country, and have fallen through the cracks onto hard times. so going back now to the winter fuel allowance that i think is an absolute abomination. i think it should be universal. i don't think they've got the wherewithal nor they've got the wherewithal nor the time now to means test it as a benefit. i think it should be given to all that way you will be completely partisan. everyone will be completely equal. be completely partisan. everyone will be completely equal . and will be completely equal. and the energy companies, they are laughing all the way. we will be told that it is pensions that we are investing into bp, shell and all the rest of it. i don't care, the government have got a responsibility to protect the vulnerable in society, as our laws have to be made, as well,

and they should be putting in a windfall tax to the energy companies right now to help them out. if they keep banging on about this £22 billion black hole once more, i'm going to scream. i am sick of them already. >> well, the financial times i'm gonna put in a foi of freedom of information request. it was about this. this 22 billion black hole and the financial the financial times. it was knocked back. knocked back. yes. that the request was rejected. and do you know why? well, they say they know. does anyone know that? well the response from the government was that they want to make sure that the data are all correct. >> and the fact that the ministers and the civil servants have everything to in place before they actually speak to the public. i think that's shocking. >> where are you on that, michael? as a labour party member, because some people are saying, well, i want to know the evidence about this £22 billion black hole that's used as justification for the winter fuel payment being i think we've

seen quite a bit of the evidence from the ons and other places like that. >> and there is a there. what the problem is, is there's a load of evidence from each different department. it's been sort of put together. 22 billion is the headline figure, but it is the headline figure, but it is a lot of, different pots of money. i'm a journalist. i believe in freedom of information. i think the government should say where this has come from. i think the response should have been, we will give you this information, but it's coming from 20 different places, so we'll have to give you it in 20 different ways, and you'll have to do the adding up the way that we have, but i do believe in open government. i think that that's important. and we are, you know, i don't think anyone , whether i don't think anyone, whether it's whether you're sick of heanng it's whether you're sick of hearing the figure or not, thinks that our economy is okay at the moment, and it needs a lot of work. and it needs there will be tough decisions. but i do think that there is i mean, i agree with with claire on putting some of the emphasis on

the energy companies. i might do it. i mean, a windfall tax is certainly one way of doing that, but i think a longer term way of doing that would be something like social tariffs, making sure that the bills for those who can't afford them, are kept at a level whereby that they, you know , and that has to be that know, and that has to be that would have to be done in such a way that the people who pay for that are the you know what? >> i'm just i'm absolutely sick of it. we were told to buy energy efficient bike light bulbs. we're told to insulate. we're to told do this, that. and the next thing i mean, edwina currie was banging on 20, 30 years ago to all the eps where where a warmer jumper. years ago to all the eps where where a warmerjumper. nothing has changed. nothing has changed. and if anything is actually getting worse and this is this is an energy companies, you know, they they haven't been properly regulated, interfered with, told to how behave as companies as, as responsible capitalists for far too long. >> so we could start by getting rid of the environmental nonsense that's whacked on. yeah, that would be one way of

reducing that will save money in the net zero. >> no it won't. yes, it will. >> all right. we'll leave that one there. you're with me, darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up on the show. the lib dems are going to set out how they plan to be a constructive opposition. but what can they actually bring to the table other than a jet ski? all of that and more to come. you're with gb news where britain's news

welcome back to the weekend with me , back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. lots of you have been sending in your thoughts. very active today. the one of the comments by smash the gangs. that's a labour slogan says the uk electricity market included the concept of contract of difference for difference , difference for difference, introduced by the conservatives, the lib dem coalition

government. it's been a complete disaster and the politicians are too thick to realise it's causing massive overcharging on our bills. so more criticism of the energy companies there and the energy companies there and the one of our members. thank you, eddie says labour's ban on trail hunting is nothing about animal welfare. it's all about the far left attacking those who they perceive to be of a higher class. what's wrong with following a trail and then another viewer , claudette, says, another viewer, claudette, says, well, and she's talking about the labour party. so much for the labour party. so much for the most transparent, most fair, and most lightly treading government in years. indeed. indeed. let me know your thoughts on all of those stories we've been discussing by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay and join the conversation or message me on our socials. we're @gbnews now. the liberal democrat leader, ed davey. sir ed davey, has jetted to in the party's conference in brighton. now, once he's dried off, he'll be

looking to focus on the cost of living, defence, climate change and, crucially, their plan to fix the nhs. they're just some of the topics on the agenda. the party won 72 seats in july's general election. that's their best ever result and more than six times the number they took in 2019. but will they be able to push on as the vow to be the constructive opposition? well, joining me now from the conference itself is the former liberal democrat adviser , pablo liberal democrat adviser, pablo ohana. pablo, thank you very much for joining ohana. pablo, thank you very much forjoining me. pablo. to what extent do you support these gimmicks of coming on on a jet ski? is some of our viewers are saying this silliness needs to stop . stop. >> there's a very serious point behind this. i think that we, you know, we're in a country where the media is excellent. there are great journalists , but there are great journalists, but it's not always fair in its in

its coverage. and i think it's important that the liberal democrats do what they, they can to get cut through. and sometimes that means we have to be creative with how we do that . be creative with how we do that. i think there is no doubt in my mind that the liberal democrats ran an exceptional general election campaign, and that was that was proven in the results that was proven in the results that we got. >> well, indeed. but you could argue that the majority of those 72 seats were only won because the conservatives were doing such a pretty poorjob. >> well, the conservatives certainly did have a tough election. but in this election, the liberal democrats set out a very clear mandate, a very clear policy. what they were going to do, what they wanted to deliver for the country being local constituency mps, being champions for their area, as well as fixing problems nationally, undoing the damage that the conservatives have done and holding to labour account. so i think there is absolutely an element that the conservatives collapsed in this election or in the election in july, but it is also true that people voted positively , people voted positively, proactively for the liberal democrats, for local champions, for people that they saw doing the work. and a lot of these

seats, these were councillors, they were local champions who'd been around for a long time, who'd put the work in. people saw them, they knew them, they recognised them. they knew that they were going to be a good local mp and people voted for that. i don't think it was a surprise that people wanted a change from the division that we've seen, from the chaos, from multiple conservative prime ministers and governments. i think it was an exceptional night for the liberal democrats. and, you know, we're here to celebrate that and we should do so. >> well, pablo, i can imagine there are a few of our viewers screaming at their television sets right now saying a liberal democrat talking about causing division. remember what they, the so—called liberals and democrats tried to do to our vote for brexit? >> we can extract the liberal democrats were clear from day one about brexit. >> and i think that the fundamentals of a healthy democracy and a country that is a democratic country, we are allowed to put across our point of view. boris johnson in the 2019 election, for example, bofis 2019 election, for example, boris johnson said that he wanted to get brexit done and move forward. the liberal

democrats put across another view, which is that we wanted to stop brexit and we wanted to have a referendum. i don't think that it have a referendum. i don't think thatitis have a referendum. i don't think that it is unfair. i think it is completely it is within our rights to put across another point. >> well, we did have a referendum. we did in 2016. >> we wanted to remain into the eu . we had a referendum and it eu. we had a referendum and it was one narrowly and it was won on the basis of things that have not transpired. the majority of people today feel as though brexit has not delivered the benefits that were promised to them. 350 million a week for the nhs. where is that gone? >> oh well, they've had more than that now, pablo. lots more than that now, pablo. lots more than that. gobble gobble gobble, says the nhs. i tell you that. but what are you hoping to hear from sir ed davey today? then >> i'm sorry. say that again. >> i'm sorry. say that again. >> what are you hoping to hear from sir ed davey ? from sir ed davey? >> i think ed davey will continue to put across a positive vision for our country. he did an incredible job during the general election. i mean, listen, if you had to choose a campaign to be a part of in this general election, would it have not been ed davey's? he had so

much fun. you know, he he got across his message through creative and fun and engaging ways. it's exactly what we need in politics. we need positive people with positive visions that bring the country together, that bring the country together, that put forward serious, well thought out policies that make people's lives better. that's what ed davey has done his whole career . it's what he what ed davey has done his whole career. it's what he did in the election. he was rewarded for that by the electorate. we had an unbelievable night, even myself. you know, i will say it's not always been easy to be a lib dem. you know, i've been around the party for a long time and we've had, you know, we've had our moments where it's not been quite so fun . we, we had an been quite so fun. we, we had an incredible night and that was down to ed davey's leadership. i expect to see more of the same from him. i dare say that there may be some something going on outside. i don't know . outside. i don't know. >> yeah. all right. >> yeah. all right. >> i'm sure we'll see some more fun from ed davey. >> indeed. all right. thank you very much, pablo ohana there from lib dem conference in brighton. let's see what my panel make of this. i'm still joined by emma and i'm still

joined by emma and i'm still joined by emma and i'm still joined by claire. now, emma, i'll start with you because the what is the difference between i mean , he said that claire did he mean, he said that claire did he not that they had a good election campaign. i seem to remember a lot of people reminding him that he was the post office minister during that campaign. but, the difference between the lib dems and the labour party, what is it ? labour party, what is it? >> so. well, i mean, it kind of depends which lib dems you're talking about quite a lot of the time. so where i live in east london, you'll get lib dems pushing at you from the left, right, not necessarily economic left . these terms have become left. these terms have become almost meaningless, but certainly on social issues in particular. you'll have lib dems sort of pushing further on some of those things, on the other hand , if you move out into hand, if you move out into surrey and down into the south—west, the lib dems are much more tory facing. there'll be a bit more sort of, much more tory facing. there'll be a bit more sort of , the kind be a bit more sort of, the kind of picking off those soft tory

tory remain votes , people like tory remain votes, people like that. so people who are never going to be voting labour people with backyards even, dare i say, claire, what have you got? >> will you see? that's the thing. because a lot of the lib dems now coming through are very much the nimbys , not in my much the nimbys, not in my backyard. and they and everyone votes locally, and when they votes locally, and when they vote locally, they tend to vote for lib dems because they often run extremely well played out . run extremely well played out. local elections, local campaigns, then it's different messaging and different. >> it is the country, isn't it? so it's disjointed and that was a real problem for the coalition government. it was early days. it was all right. sorry. we've run out of time there, but emma and claire will be coming back to you very, very shortly indeed. folks. you're with me. darren grimes on gb news. we're going to get your latest news with sophie reaper . with sophie reaper. >> thank you darren. it's just after 1:30. and these are your latest headlines prime minister

sir keir starmer met with president joe biden at the white house in the american capital last night. the pair sat down for strategy talks about global conflicts that sir keir described as long and productive. speaking afterwards, the pm also said that he and the us president had reached a strong position regarding ending the conflict in ukraine. >> we've stood with ukraine. ukraine has a right to self—defence and we've stood united, not just with our allies here in the us, but across with our nato allies. that's very, very important to us. but today was about having the chance to talk not just about a particular step or tactic , but the strategy step or tactic, but the strategy in relation to ukraine, but also we cover the middle east in some extensive detail and other areas across the world. so it's a really important occasion for us to have this chance to discuss with our allies . with our allies. >> meanwhile, the government is facing further backlash following its decision to cut winter fuel payments. figures released by the department for work and pensions estimated that

over almost 800,000 pensioners will miss out on the benefit, under the new plans of those set to lose the support. around two thirds have a disability and 83% aged 80 or over. downing street has said that a full impact assessment of the change has not yet taken place. elsewhere in politics, today is the first day of the lib dem party conference in brighton, with the cost of living defence, climate change and their plan to fix the nhs just some of the topics on the agenda. earlier this afternoon , agenda. earlier this afternoon, party leader sir ed davey arrived at the conference on a jet ski. he is scheduled to speak at the event tomorrow, where a celebration is anticipated after his party won 72 seats in july's general election, their best ever result . election, their best ever result. the funeral of olympic athlete rebecca cheptegei took place in her home country of uganda this morning. the runner died earlier this month after she was doused with petrol and set alight by her former boyfriend. she returned recently from competing

in the paris olympics when the attack took place . and today is attack took place. and today is the return of strictly come dancing. the bbc show is back and celebrating its 20th year, but following a series of controversies, many will be watching to see how the show will handle allegations against some of their professional dancers. those are your latest gb news headlines. for now, i'm sophie reaper and you'll have more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign up to to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> thank you very much, sophie. lots more coming up on gb news now as labour announce a watershed ban on junk food advertising. will that actually help britain's obesity crisis? all of that and more to come.

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

welcome back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. lots of you have been sending in your thoughts. as i say, a very , very active as i say, a very, very active inbox today. and actually, well, richard says that it's about time politicians who get into number 10 live in the real world. it's well, like they all live in their own little bubble and on trail hunting. james says. well he's quite upset by it being promoted on this channel. but look, we've got to have this discussion. there are lots of people who feel that this is an affront to a british tradition, and there are lots of people who also think that actually, this is a very cruel thing to do. some people, one of our viewers who's comment there was pretty stern there saying

that every time she's been out on trail hunting, no animal has been harmed . so there are been harmed. so there are diverging opinions here. and i think we are the channel that will actually air them . so will actually air them. so i stand by that. i'm afraid now the black hole comment , barbara the black hole comment, barbara says, well , mr miss brown, says, well, mr miss brown, i think it is. how many more times why did labour stand if they were going to whine and whine about a black hole? of course a black hole that they didn't tell us about back then, but then the tories say this was all open information and first and foremost, the responsibility should be to protect british families. and yeah, not happy. many of you actually of the same view on the pension front on the winter fuel payment front and being pensioners there are lots of pensioners very active in the inbox now. let me know your thoughts on all the stories we've been discussing. you can visit gbnews.com/yoursay. join the conversation there. and

we're also on social media @gbnews. now the government has confirmed that a ban on junk food adverts before 9 pm. will come into effect from the 1st of october, 2025. the labour party , october, 2025. the labour party, which pushed for the ban, aims to tackle childhood obesity through stricter advertising regulations alongside a total ban on paid for online junk food ads. so is britain becoming a nanny state, or is this ban called for necessary and laudable? well, joining me now is the deputy editor of spiked online. fraser myers fraser, thank you very much for your company, my friend. where are you at on this ? because britain you at on this? because britain does have you know, we are a bit of a problem when you look at us on an international scale when it comes to obesity levels. >> well, i think you've got to look at this measure in the round of what else has been announced by keir starmer on its own. perhaps it's not a huge not

a huge deal. i think it's a waste of time. as it happens. i don't think it will have any effect on obesity. children are not suddenly going to forget that mcdonald's exists just because it's not being advertised to them. before 9:00, i mean, you look at the ad ban, the junk food ad ban in london has had no effect on obesity. actually, london obesity has gone up at a faster rate than the rest of the country. i'm not saying the two are related, but you can see how little impact this is having. i think what worries me is there is a sort of mindset in the starmer government that , the problem government that, the problem with, you know, he's looking at the problems in the nhs and he says he wants to take a preventative approach. it's as if, you know, the healthcare service isn't failing. we are failing the healthcare service. and, you know, we need to essentially cut down on the foods we enjoy, cut down on our drinking , foods we enjoy, cut down on our drinking, cut foods we enjoy, cut down on our drinking , cut down foods we enjoy, cut down on our drinking, cut down on smoking in order to save the sainted nhs. and i think that's, you know, completely the wrong approach to life. people should be one of the good things about, you know, having a free healthcare system is surely that it should free us

up to live our lives as we see fit. unfortunately the starmer government seems to think if you are not as puritan as sir keir himself, then you need to be whipped into shape and you need to follow. you know, we all have to follow. you know, we all have to share the same taste as he does. >> well, it's a keir starmer worry here. i imagine would say something to the effect of, well look, the nhs is under pressure like never before . we've got an like never before. we've got an ageing population. there are going to be more and more constraints placed upon it. so actually if we could cut the fat quite literally, we can actually help the nhs get back on track . help the nhs get back on track. >> well, look, there's absolutely laudable to reduce obesity and to make people healthier. i don't actually see a problem with that. giving people the right advice. that they need on their diets. you know, i'm amazed also by the power of ozempic and these wonder drugs that are cutting obesity. those things seem absolutely fine to me. i wouldn't object to measures like that, but it's when you're telling people how to live their lives interfering with things as

important as their their diet. you know , using coercive you know, using coercive measures rather than advice, rather than treating us like adults, then i think we need to kick back a little bit because, again, it's not just, you know, one piece of legislation. it's not just a ban on junk food advertising. increasingly, i suspect, you know, we'll see soon minimum pricing on alcohol for instance, we know that with outdoor smoking ban is coming, which didn't work in scotland. >> fraser. it didn't it hasn't worked. >> absolutely. it has again, you know , a sort of a know, a sort of a well—intentioned measure that actually hasn't tackled the real problem of, you know, really heavy drinkers and people suffering from serious alcoholism. it'sjust suffering from serious alcoholism. it's just punished the average person who's trying to enjoy a good time. and, you know, again, what is wrong with having a good time? what is wrong with enjoying the odd mcdonald's occasionally, indulging in the odd cigarette every now and again? you know, having a few pints at the pub. i worry that these measures are being taken away from us, and, you know, we're starting to it's starting to become a very grim country out there. and you know what's there to look forward to

in the in the next five years where, you know, keir is promising a lot of pain, but where are the sunlit uplands that are . yeah. that are. yeah. >> well, indeed. all right, fraser, we'll leave that one there. thank you very much. that's fraser myers, who is the deputy editor of spiked online, claire, i started with emma last time. i'll start with you now, kids watching telly. there aren't an awful lot of them now, so. >> no, there aren't. so it's a bit of a moot. it's a bit of a moot point because they get all their entertainment from their phones and their tablets and on the internet . tick tock. they the internet. tick tock. they get their news from news bulletins now have come through from via twitter, snapchat , from via twitter, snapchat, everything. that's where the that's where the model is. that's where the advertising is for young people. and if this move, they've already reduced the number of or banned billboards from a certain degree of distance from schools. so that can't happen now either. and that's actually proven to have actually worked in terms of, not getting the appetite for want of a better word for children to eat junk food. but

i'm afraid it's very much the starmer's puritan, the way that he wants to rule and govern and take every bit of goodness away from our lives. there's nothing like an ultra processed , piece like an ultra processed, piece of fast food. maybe on a sunday morning or maybe on a saturday morning or maybe on a saturday morning when you need it and you know what i mean. >> i do know what you mean. emma, where are you at on this? >> then i think if keir starmer were snatching the big mac out of your hands or the bacon sandwich, which, when i still drank, was definitely my hangover food of choice, because that's what you meant, hangover food of choice, because that's what you meant , claire. that's what you meant, claire. let's face it, it is. that's not what's happening. we're talking about stopping advertising . now, about stopping advertising. now, i don't know about you, but i don't feel advertising is one of the joys of my life. that i would feel so desperately sad if it were taken away from me . it were taken away from me. >> so why is he doing it, then? >> so why is he doing it, then? >> well, because it's advertising works. and the reason i know it works is because people pour billions of pounds into doing it, and they wouldn't be doing that unless they were seeing a financial

benefit i.e. improved sales . so benefit i.e. improved sales. so yeah, this is this is why you go for in advertising rather than banning foods. you know , and banning foods. you know, and again i say, but you're taking it, you're eliminating choice. >> you're eliminating choice. choice. you are you are, you are. >> choice is still there. they're just not advertising it at a certain time of day. >> that's what advertising is as you've just said. yeah. >> advertising is saying, hey, have this lovely, fabulous thing. it's not saying this fabulous thing, but they're saying you can't advertise it before 9 pm. frankly, they're not saying mcdonald's has to close down. >> well, i just find it a bit patronising though. emma because like, i don't watch a mcdonald's advert and then think, oh, i've got to go put five big macs down my gullet. but there is a reason that mcdonald's advertising budget is so big. >> a lot of people do. >> a lot of people do. >> i think it's more moving to on the uber eats just eat apps. i think that's what has to be tackled. yeah. >> we'll come back to the lovely panel there. claire, thank you very much for that. and emma burnell before now you're with me. darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up on the show.

prince harry prepares to celebrate turning 40 tomorrow. many are left wondering how happy the so—called spare really is with his new life in california. all of that and more to come. you're with gb news, where britain's news

welcome back to the weekend with me , darren grimes. we're going me, darren grimes. we're going to move straight on to today's topic. prince harry is turning 40 tomorrow. and the duke says he was anxious about his 30s, but is nothing but excited about his 40s. were you like that at home? let me know if it's anything like this last decade, though. for harry, it'll be a busy one. the prince between netflix projects and pseudo royal trips alongside meghan, has got a fair bit on his plate. joining me now is a historian and broadcaster rafe heydel—mankoo rafe . to what heydel—mankoo rafe. to what extent, then, is the prince

going into his 40th year with a foreboding element of have i done the right thing ? done the right thing? >> well, i'm sure he'd be reflecting on ten years ago. to paraphrase dinah washington, what a difference a decade makes, because ten years ago he was celebrating with a black tie dinner. his 30th birthday, at clarence house, surrounded by his family and lifelong childhood friends. that was organised by his then beloved brother and sister in law , and brother and sister in law, and his ex—girlfriend was also present there ten years later, celebrating in a very different way , estranged from almost way, estranged from almost everybody at that party, now celebrating privately with meghan at home with his best gifts. as he said , his two gifts. as he said, his two children, but then going off also for a lads only excursion into the californian wilderness with new friends that he's made over the last few years. so a great contrast there and i'm sure he can't help but reflect on what's been a very tumultuous time for him. >> well , tim, time for him. >> well, tim, you could argue that that tumultuous period has

been brought about by his own doing. right? no argument there. >> i think . >> i think. >> i think. >> but to what extent will there be press then at this wilderness retreat? because, you know, he hasn't been shy about welcoming some. you might call it press intrusion despite speaking about how evil and horrible the press are. >> yes, i think this may be the one occasion when you don't have a press team following him around, or any pr snaps. he's going to be communing with nature , going into cold lakes nature, going into cold lakes and so forth . but, you know, he and so forth. but, you know, he said, you know, he's looking forward to the next ten years. he's inheriting £8 million from the queen mother as well. so not a bad birthday gift. >> all right. rafe, i'm sorry we're out of time there. the timing's gone slightly over, but we'll find out more from rafe. about what prince harry got up to. are you with me? darren grimes on gb news. lots more coming up. we're going to get your weather first. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello. good afternoon and

welcome to your gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. well, we have a bit of a split in the weather for this weekend . fairly unsettled in the weekend. fairly unsettled in the north, but mostly fine and dry elsewhere and it is going to be feeling warmer than of late too . feeling warmer than of late too. and the reason for this split in the weather is that we've got high pressure dominating the south, but generally low pressure in the north. and nofice pressure in the north. and notice the squeeze in the isobars there too. so fairly blustery conditions in the northwest as we head into this evening, it is going to be turning fairly chilly across the south, particularly under clear spells. may even see some rural grass frost develop in southern areas, but across the north, largely mild. plenty of blustery showers moving their way in across western parts of scotland and then some rain and drizzle into northern england. by the time we reach sunday morning. so fairly chilly in the south but milder in the north. now to start the second half of the weekend, we're going to see plenty of bright spells, but also plenty of showers moving their way into northwest scotland. still fairly blustery here, though, winds should ease

up through the day. quite a cloudy start in northern ireland, and we've still got this band of rain and drizzle moving into northern england, northern parts of wales, but elsewhere there should be plenty of bright sunshine. but, as i say, a fairly chilly start in the south now through the course of the morning, this band of rain and drizzle, it's going to be fairly slow moving, so in some places it's going to remain fairly damp through the day. plenty of showers across scotland , these banding together scotland, these banding together to bring some longer spells of rain at times may see some hail and some thunder mixed in there too . but across the midlands and too. but across the midlands and the south once again, another dry, fine settled day, perhaps just a bit more cloud around that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb. >> well .

>> well. >> well. >> good afternoon. it's 2:00 on saturday the 14th and this is

the weekend on gb news now. shocking new figures show 7 in 10 disabled pensioners will lose their fuel payments this winter. that comes from the department for work and pensions, admitting that 1.6 million disabled people who rely on the benefit will miss out. but that's just after more than 50 labour mps defied sir keir starmer to abstain from his crucial vote to scrap the payment. that so many have come to actually expect and rely on. and today is national trail hunting day. but with labour vowing to ban the practice, are its days numbered? will be finding out more very soon. and as prince harry prepares to celebrate turning 40 tomorrow, many are left wondering how happy the so—called spare really is with his glitzy new life in california . and, well, my panel, california. and, well, my panel, they will find out who that is after this, i'm darren grimes and this is the weekend .

and this is the weekend. but before i reveal the panel, you're a busy lot online today. this show's nothing without you and your views. let me know your thoughts on the stories we'll be discussing today by visiting gbnews.com forward slash your say. join the conversation and keeping me company this hour is the political commentator matthew stadlen and the former coal deputy leader of reform uk, ben habib. but before we get stuck in to today's stories, here's your news headlines with sophie reaper. >> thank you darren. it's just after 2:00 and these are your latest news headlines. prime minister sir keir starmer met with president joe biden last night to discuss strategy and

tactics regarding ukraine and the middle east. meeting at the white house in washington, dc, the pair sat down for talks that sir keir described as long and productive. speaking afterwards, the pm also said that he and the us president had reached a strong position regarding ending the conflict in ukraine. >> we've stood with ukraine. ukraine has a right to self—defence and we've stood united, not just with our allies here in the us , but across with here in the us, but across with our nato allies. that's very, very important to us. but today was about having the chance to talk not just about a particular step or tactic, but the strategy in relation to ukraine. but also we cover the middle east in some extensive detail and other areas across the world. so it was a really important occasion for us to have this chance to discuss with our allies . with our allies. >> meanwhile, back on home soil, more questions have been asked about the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments following a vote earlier this week, figures released by the department for work and pensions

estimated that almost 800,000 pensioners will miss out on the benefits under the new plans of those set to lose the support, around two thirds have a disability and 83% are aged 80 or over. downing street has said that a full impact assessment of the change has not yet taken place. staying with politics now and a rebellion could be brewing within the labour party . within the labour party. following recent comments by the pm around a ban on smoking outdoors at pubs. labour mp for newcastle upon tyne east and wallsend mary glindon, has tabled a motion in parliament against her own party in order to try and block the potential plans. in the motion, she praised the indoor smoking ban of two thousand and seven, but said that extending the ban outdoors could unduly restrict individual liberty. today is the first day of the lib dem party conference in brighton, with the cost of living, defence and veterans, climate change and, crucially, their plan to fix the

nhs as just some of the topics on the agenda. earlier this afternoon, party leader sir ed davey arrived at the conference on a jet ski. he is scheduled to speak at the event tomorrow , speak at the event tomorrow, where a celebration is anticipated after his party won 72 seats in july's general election , their best ever result . election, their best ever result. now, someone who is speaking at the conference today is the deputy leader for the scottish liberal democrats, wendy chamberlain. earlier, she told gb news about the need for parties to work together to tackle the broken nhs. this is what she had to say without sorting social care and we've been very clear that we are keen to work on a cross—party basis to work on a cross—party basis to solve it, because no matter what party is in power , social what party is in power, social care is an issue, is not going away. >> but if you don't support social care, you're not going to fundamentally sort the problems within the nhs. keir starmer has said that fixing the nhs is a ten year job. said that fixing the nhs is a ten yearjob. he said that fixing the nhs is a ten year job. he won't be said that fixing the nhs is a ten yearjob. he won't be able ten year job. he won't be able to do that unless he keeps other parties onside, so that we can all do that work together. >> today marks national trail

hunting day, an annual event organised by the british hound sports association. in their manifesto earlier this year, the labour party promised to ban trail hunting. so this year organisers have said they are sending a strong message to the new government. and today is the return of strictly come dancing. the bbc show is back and celebrating its 20th year, but following a series of controversies, many will be watching to see how the show handles allegations against some of their professional dancers. just some of the famous faces appearing on the show this series include football pundit paul merson, singer shayne ward and olympic gold medallist tom dean and sam quek . those are dean and sam quek. those are your latest gb news headlines for now, i'm sophie reaper. you'll have more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts .

gbnews.com forward slash alerts. >> thanks very much, sophie. let's get stuck to in today's topics. now, seven out of ten disabled pensioners are going to lose their winter fuel payments this year. those are figures released by the department for work and pensions, estimating that almost 800,000 pensioners will miss out on the benefit. under new plans. medical experts are warning that people could die this winter as a result of the cold. so it's heat or eat. now joining me now is the retired civil servant william pickup. william. thank you very much for your company. where are you at on this? this is of course wasn't a manifesto commitment, but labour argue that it's necessary to actually reduce the £22 billion black hole that they were. well that they inherited. >> well, this isn't going to

affect me personally, but it's going to affect my wife. who does? who got to being a pensioner state pensioner before me . and but and it really isn't me. and but and it really isn't an issue for us. we're reasonably comfortably off and we're okay without it. and we have given the money to charity in the past. but what's important is not people like me. we're irrelevant. it's the people who are going to die as a result of this government enacting this policy almost instantaneously. and even if they manage to get more people to claim pension credit, we know today there's probably three quarters of a million people who will be claiming pension credit as a result of this. who who won't get the go ahead from the government in time to receive the winter fuel allowance? yes. it's quite shocking really , and it's quite shocking really, and i'm really opposed to it. i mean, for me, the solution is to leave it a year and in a year's time the those people who have appued time the those people who have applied for pension credit will get it. and those people who don't get it will have had a

year to save for next winter. there is no time for them to act at all now. >> now, william, some people have been arguing that actually there is an intergenerational issue here where pensioners are doing better off than the youngest in society who are just coming to in the labour market trying to get on the housing ladden trying to get on the housing ladder. you know, fighting all of these pressures of student debt or whatever else and that actually this is a necessary rebalancing of the economy in favour of the young. now i happen to think that this is all getting very dangerous and they're pitting young against old. but do you find any merit in that argument? >> i think there's merit in the argument. it's really tough for younger people today to get on the housing ladder. there's no question at all about that . it's question at all about that. it's extremely tough for them. on the other side , they will be other side, they will be inheriting properties from their parents and the grandparents, worth hundreds of thousands of pounds more than we did when i was a lot younger. pounds more than we did when i was a lot younger . so there is was a lot younger. so there is some benefit, for i've got

nothing wrong with any sort of rebalancing going on. i have got a problem. if it means pensioners are killed as a result of it. >> how much do you how much onus do you put on that fact that actually energy bills are going to go up by what almost 10% this winter? >> that actually to do it right now at this point actually maybe we should get rid of the green tariffs on energy bills and all of this net zero nonsense. and that actually would render the winter fuel payment completely unnecessary. >> i agree entirely with that. these supplements, in terms of green energy are completely wrong. it's a long way off before any sort of climate change is significantly going to affect us, if at all the deaths are going to happen in months . i are going to happen in months. i mean, last year i think it was about 5000 pensioners died. how many more are going to die as a result of this? the government doesn't know it's done. no impact assessment. and what's even worse, i don't think the government care. >> yeah. all right, william, we'll leave that there. thank you very much to william pickup.

the retired civil servant, for offering us his opinion on all offering us his opinion on all of that. right. we're going to see what my panel make of this. now, the political commentator matthew stadlen on my left , matthew stadlen on my left, obvs. and the former deputy leader of reform uk, ben habib, on my right. matt, i'll start with you , because a lot of with you, because a lot of people are messaging in saying that actually they're second guessing what you're going to say. matthew but i think you might surprise them right now. take it away . take it away. >> well, it's an interesting position to be for in me as someone who routinely criticised, i think totally, fairly and accurately the conservative government that we had before the election. now we've got a labour government that i've always said, i broadly support under keir starmer's leadership over the last 2 or 3 years, and of course they're going to make mistakes and inevitably they will do things that some such as myself, who back them or voted for them are going to criticise. and that's quite right. they need to be robustly held to account, not just by the right.

robustly held to account, not just by the right . after all, just by the right. after all, there are only 121 tory mps left, but also from people in the media. and on this particular issue, i think they've got it wrong and i think they've got it wrong and i think they've got it quite spectacularly wrong . i think spectacularly wrong. i think they've got it wrong politically. i think it's an own goal politically. i think it's an own goal. but i also think the policy itself is wrong. why now? the reason i think it's wrong is because although with the triple lock pensions are going up and although pensioners are by no means the only constituency in our country that are suffering, there is widespread poverty in britain. let's be absolutely frank about that. and it's not just older people who suffer from the cold. despite that , we from the cold. despite that, we know that older people do have a particular problem when temperatures drop. and of course, in the summer when they go course, in the summer when they 9° up course, in the summer when they go up and to do this with such short notice so that hundreds of thousands of people who would actually be entitled to this winter fuel allowance, despite it being withdrawn from the majority of pensioners. but they

won't fill in the forms in time, maybe because they're complicated, or because they're not used to filling in forms. that, for me is a serious mistake. yeah. >> yes. >> yes. >> now, ben, i assume actually on this you're going to be like a nest of singing birds , which i a nest of singing birds, which i didn't think i'd. i didn't anticipate it when i first looked at the panel, but it that way. but do you agree with what. >> well, i would go one step further. i mean, i agree with everything matt said, but i'd go one step further and i'd come back to a point you made to that very sensible, retired civil servant, that actually, if we got our energy policy sorted out, we'd drop green taxes. for example, we used our naturally available gas in the north sea. we didn't tax the companies 75% in order to extract it. labour's going to increase it to 78% if we got our economy sorted out, we got our economy sorted out, we wouldn't need to provide these subsidies because people would be able to afford to pay. >> that's what sir keir starmer says he's doing right. he's sorting the economy out by

actually reducing this £22 billion black hole. yeah. >> so on the black hole okay. can i come back to the black hole in a second. but i think the calculation starmer has made is that it doesn't matter to him how popular or unpopular or unpopular he is. in the early days of his government, he's got this thumping majority and he's going to drive through his policies irrespective of what happens. and i do agree with matt that he's gone too far with this one. this one has alienated all those brave labour mps who abstained, who didn't vote against, but abstained, and the populists generally. but he is not getting our economy sorted out. the 22 billion black hole is fictitious. a black hole only exists to the extent that you're able, you're unable to fund that which you wish to spend. it is entirely discretionary for the government to decide how it spends its money. it is decided it's going to tackle the old age pensioners, and it's going to try and save 1.5 billion a year

there. but it has, as we know, contributed 11 billion to foreign climate change projects, 3 billion to the fight in ukraine. i don't want to get into a debate on ukraine, but that's what it's committed to do. it has settled those trade union disputes in rapid fire time, at a cost of billions of pounds to the exchequer, and i could go on and on. the £22 billion is a figure that rachel reeves needed in order to hang her unpopular hat on so that they could deliver these kinds of things. but the last point i just want to make and i and this really gets my goat , is that we really gets my goat, is that we lock down the economy. we caused a significant amount of the damage that we are now experiencing with the cost of inflation. you know, with the rise in inflation, cost of living crisis and so on, because we wanted to save the elderly. that was the argument that was made. and now they're throwing the elderly under a bus. >> well, do you agree with that? that sentiment that ben habib

makes there, matthew, which is that the older generations have been throwing under the bus and i worry , actually, that all this i worry, actually, that all this rhetoric around the elderly having it so good is actually adding to a sense of intergenerational warfare. >> i think what rachel reeves was trying to do was to convince the country and possibly convince the market. so i find that argument a little bit specious. >> the markets, by saying that we're in such a hole. >> i'm not sure about that, although i would like a little bit of a little bit more optimism. i think what she was trying to do was to make sure, to make sure that labour is no longer seen by some, as it has on and off, traditionally been seen as weak on the economy. she wants to be absolutely iron fisted in stabilising the books and then using that as a platform for growth. and of course, those two things can happen side by side . i don't happen side by side. i don't think she's set out to hurt pensioners. i think it is a mistake. as i've already said . mistake. as i've already said. but it is also undoubtedly true.

not only that pensioners are not the only people suffering in this country and that the tories have left the books in a perilous state. but also, and this is, i think, important. there are lots of pensioners who simply, for example , your guest simply, for example, your guest earlier, who simply don't need that £300. so we have heard stories and i don't think they're apocryphal of wealthy people when their winter fuel allowance comes in each year, going off and buying a disgustingly expensive bottles, £300 bottle of wine, drinking it to say these crazy politicians are giving me this. of course i don't need it. >> that's not the majority , is it? >> it certainly isn't. and that's why i think it's a mistake. >> so marianne has written in matthew and says, blimey, i never thought i would say these three words, but bravo, matthew stadlen so there we are. >> well, she might disagree with me, by the way, on 1 or 2 of the things that ben brought up, such as the green policies and net zero policy. now, i'm not saying that there are no issues with net zero. i'm not saying that every single net zero policy, or the way in which we get to net zero, has been sufficiently thought through. these are

difficult issues. but i would say to both of you and to anne to and everyone watching, we cannot simply put our head in the sand and pretend that climate change isn't happening, nor that it isn't going to affect us, because in the end, if we don't grasp this, and i accept it's not just a british issue by any means, we have to get china and other countries more on board. we will all suffer. and i'll give you one example of that migration, the crisis that is affecting our country. if you believe some on the right , that is only going to the right, that is only going to become a much, much , much bigger become a much, much, much bigger issue if places like bangladesh end up underwater. >> well, i mean, do you want me to respond very, very briefly? >> if you can, if it's possible? >> if you can, if it's possible? >> well , the majority of the >> well, the majority of the fuel that we use in our homes is gas. used to be gas. gas is actually a relatively clean fuel. it's not carbon emitting in the way that gasoline is or coal is. and the eu, the purveyor of all moral rectitude, the european union. i was being sarcastic there for viewers . was

sarcastic there for viewers. was on the verge of classifying gas as a green fuel back in 2019. >> you know, america, i remember america dropped out of the climate accords of the paris ones under trump, but it still reduced carbon emissions faster than europe did because of the fact that it was using gas. yeah. >> now, no one is saying scrap gas overnight. well they are. ed miliband certainly is. >> one very quick point. and thatis >> one very quick point. and that is the 2050 target is bad. but the intermediate targets are even worse for the united kingdom. and the reason, the reason i say that is the intermediate targets require certain percentages, reductions in carbon emissions and the uk was already very good. so for us to hit these percentage reductions is much more demanding than for the us to hit them or for china to hit them. are you with me? >> yeah, i'm with you. >> yeah, i'm with you. >> i'm with you completely. all right. >> we'll leave that one with me then i was you lost me.

>> matthew stadler and ben habib. thank you. you're with darren grimes on gb we'll be back just after this

welcome back to the weekend with me darren grimes. lots of you have been sending in your thoughts. lots of you angry with the rhetoric around the triple lock . some people saying some lock. some people saying some pensioners get different rises than others and that actually, you know, it isn't the safeguard that it's touted about as that's lindy who got in touch with that . lindy who got in touch with that. martin says, 11,500 is too much income to receive pension credit for a single pensioner. let that sink in. also, the 1.5 billion paid out will bring in £300 million in vat. that £300 bottle of wine will bring in duty , vat of wine will bring in duty, vat and corporation tax on the profits back to the treasury, some with the pay rises. income tax , national insurance and tax, national insurance and employer duties and all that vat coming back. the true cost is not the pay rises. martin. that's one view and grumpy

granddad says i like ben. he's very knowledgeable and can talk. i give you praise matthew earlier and can talk about a wide range of things. like the other reform leaders, they're all switched on and seem to know exactly how people are thinking and that tells me they speak to people and actually listen . people and actually listen. >> unlike labour, matthew, i would just say, because you're reading out those messages on the winter fuel allowance and we're still talking about it. i think another criticism of the government that i think is absolutely fair is that they didn't do a specific impact assessment on what taking the winter fuel allowance away from millions of pensioners would actually have on illness and likelihood of death. and to me, that does beggar belief. i don't think they did it because they want to harm pensioners. i don't know whether it was group think. i don't know whether it was this determination to show economic competence. i don't know quite what it was, but to me it was mistake. >> all right. >> all right. >> now let me know your thoughts on all of the stories that have been discussing today by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. join the conversation there or

message us on our socials. we're @gbnews. now, ten years on from the independence vote in scotland, ten years a hope over fear rally remains. the united kingdom that some are still demanding. another referendum. well, joining us now is gb news scotland reporter tony maguire. tony, thank you very much for your company. is it well attended then , attended then, >> no, i think i'm even trying to find a better, more diplomatic way to say that it's absolutely empty here in george square. but let's maybe just go with a few hundred people coming. and i'm sure that the rain will come into some of the dialogue in the next few days as to that low attendance. but you know , as i was talking about know, as i was talking about earlier on today, actually, the attendance for these kind of events has dropped down. and that's because really of a whole cacophony of reasons , splits cacophony of reasons, splits within the yes movement. and essentially ten years of not

particularly moving the dial in either direction . scotland's either direction. scotland's government, the snp, have still been unable to find that kind of sweet spot for telling westminster that there's an electoral mandate. but nevertheless, today at the rally, you know, we've heard from speakers such as tommy sheridan, who is a big political player up here in glasgow, who demanded that if there's the pro—independence parties get more than 50% combined in 2026, at the next scottish election, then we should just declare ourselves independent. i'm not quite sure if that will fly, but after him, of course. we also heard from alex salmond, the man who doesn't beat about the bush does not mince his words and he had some particularly cutting remarks to say about the government as it stands up here in holyrood assembly. >> parliament in holyrood is now. they've had ten years of mandates for a referendum and they have done nothing . our they have done nothing. our

biggest industrial facility is threatened with closure and they stand by and do nothing. >> hundreds of thousands of pensioners are threatened with fuel poverty this winter and they do nothing that has to end no more capitulation from our and that that very much is that booming voice of alex salmond there and, you know, talking to there and, you know, talking to the few hundred people who had come here today, but certainly not not the most lively independence rally we've seen in recent years . recent years. >> yes. >> yes. >> well, thank you very much for that. i just i think i agree that. ijust i think i agree with everything, alex salmond said there. so that's alarming in and of itself. tony maguire, thank you very much for that. i don't know what the palestinian flag is doing there. you know, at a scottish rally for scotland independence. but anyway, we'll see what my panel make of this. we'll go down memory lane with ben habib and matthew stadler

and ben, i'll start with you , and ben, i'll start with you, well, maybe there are merits to a little scottish independence. you might find it a low tax, you know, a deregulated economy. well devolution hasn't worked well for scotland, has it, >> you know, they've got higher tax rates, personal tax rates than the united kingdom. their economy is on its back, its sole source of, genuine sole source of independent economic well—being was fossil fuels. and, you know, that's gone , by and, you know, that's gone, by by the support of the snp , by the support of the snp, amongst others. so there's no case there was a very marginal case there was a very marginal case from an economic perspective in 2014, that one might have been able to make the national debt issue was never addressed. back in 2014. do you remember we used to debate that there. the case was marginal. then there is absolutely no case to be made for independence now. and the scottish people have spoken. and the scottish people have spoken . there were 55 snp spoken. there were 55 snp members of parliament. there are

now 11 snp members of parliament. and just last thing i'd say actually from my perspective, we are one united kingdom. i think the biggest mistake and one of the most damaging things done by blair was devolution. you don't strengthen the union by dividing it and i would abolish holyrood . it and i would abolish holyrood. i'd get rid of the welsh assembly , the senedd or whatever assembly, the senedd or whatever they call it, and i'd also aboush they call it, and i'd also abolish stormont, get rid of the irish sea border and i'd bring the united kingdom much closer together. >> you really need a scottish nationalist in here to oppose passionately what ben was just saying, because in my case, i believe and it is a belief very strongly in the united kingdom. and when we had that, when they had that referendum in 2000, 2014, i felt , you know, like 2014, i felt, you know, like a bit of a spare part in england down here in london. i thought, well, these guys are voting on the future, not just of their country, but my country. and it's been my country, not just all my life, but since the act of union in 1707. so, you know, you're not going to get a

scottish independence perspective from me. but having spent some of august up in scotland at the edinburgh fringe and interviewed humza yousaf until quite recently, was the first minister of scotland, and also alex salmond, there is still amongst some scots, maybe 45% of scots, which is a sizeable number, a real drive, i think, and i suspect a real passion for independence. they've got a real problem and the problem is that they had a referendum ten years ago and scottish independence as an idea, has still not got a majority. if you look, i mean, it's way if you look at the polls , if you look at the polls, polls, if you look at the polls, they're roughly they're roughly sort of stable. there's no clear consensus for scottish independence in my from what i've read. so but but but humza yousaf was clear. he said in his lifetime he does think that there will be independence. so you, you, if you are someone, if you, you, if you are someone, if you are a unionist. and on this ben and i share, share that position. there can be no room

for complacency, but the idea there's going to be scottish independence around the corner when you have the scottish national party failing as spectacularly as it has failed in this recent general election, seems to me to be pie in the sky. plus, alex salmond is no longer himself of the snp and he was sort of the big beast of the of the snp. so. so although he did very badly, there's a fracture within the movement. >> come back to ben's point on devolution, because they could argue that actually if they got independence, they'd be free from the labour party's pinching from the labour party's pinching from pensioner's pockets . from pensioner's pockets. >> i mean, you can always make that argument when there's a formula, when there's a when there's a government of whatever hue in westminster. i would say that a lot of scots would find your position on devolution insulting because actually and i think as a pragmatist, that devolution almost gives the scots and i don't want to sound patronising. there's always that risk. but the best of both worlds, you get to be part of the united kingdom, but you also have a degree of quite a significant degree of control over your own affairs.

>> yeah. grumpy grandad says that these days we see more palestine flags than we do union jacks, and you see them with the snp. >> yeah, the snp has aligned itself with the. >> there used to be known as the tory, the tartan tories , believe tory, the tartan tories, believe it or not. >> yeah, but i'm surprised you're against devolution because if you leave nationalism out of it, if you leave nationalism out of it, actually, surely you believe in power to the locality. >> no i don't for brexit. right. so some scottish nationalists may well be of the view that actually what they're doing is their own form of brexit. >> yeah, not at all. i mean, just because i believe that the united kingdom should be out of the horrible, malevolent , the horrible, malevolent, disgusting, wretched institution that the eu is , doesn't mean that the eu is, doesn't mean that the eu is, doesn't mean that i would want i would want my country broken up. the united kingdom is my country. it's one entity that's the democratic unit that is the nation state. so could europe, in which i then. no, it is not. >> but ben, on this point, surely you don't want sclerotic centralised government that doesn't properly understand the needs of different parts. and in

this case different nations of our great suggesting we don't have local authorities, we can have local authorities, we can have local authorities, but they mustn't. >> i mean, we have a real messed up system at the moment with different personal tax rates. different. >> why is that messed up? >> why is that messed up? >> different? because you get arbitrages if you don't have an economic unit, you don't have proper political, you can't have proper political, you can't have proper political, you can't have proper political units. >> more democratically accountable, surely. >> no, no, it's not. >> we'll leave that one there. thank you very much for your thoughts . thoughts. >> england has to pay up every time. okay. >> you're with me, folks. darren grimes on gb news. that was ben habib and matthew stadlen. lots more coming up on the show. strictly come dancing is returning this weekend. the bbc ain't dancing though , following ain't dancing though, following months of scandals surrounding its professional dancers will be getting the rundown from the one and only stephanie takyi. first of all, though, here's your news with sophie reaper . with sophie reaper. >> thank you darren. it's just

after 2:30 and these are your latest news headlines. prime minister sir keir starmer met with president joe biden at the white house in the american capital last night. the pair sat down for strategy talks about global conflicts that sir keir described as long and productive. speaking afterwards, the pm also said that he and the us president had reached a strong position regarding ending the conflict in ukraine. >> we've stood with ukraine. ukraine has a right to self—defence and we've stood united, not just with our allies here in the us, but across with our nato allies . that's very, our nato allies. that's very, very important to us. but today was about having the chance to talk not just about a particular step or tactic, but the strategy in relation to ukraine. but also we cover the middle east in some extensive detail and other areas across the world. so it was a really important occasion for us to have this chance to discuss with our allies . with our allies. >> meanwhile, the government is facing further backlash following its decision to cut winter fuel payments. figures

released by the department for work and pensions estimated that almost 800,000 pensioners will miss out on the benefits, under the new plans of those set to lose the support. around two thirds have a disability and 83% are aged 80 or over. downing street has said that a full impact assessment of the change has not yet taken place . has not yet taken place. elsewhere in politics, today is the first day of the lib dem party conference in brighton , party conference in brighton, with the cost of living, defence and veterans climate change and their plan to fix the nhs. just some of the topics right at the top of their agenda. earlier this afternoon, party leader sir ed davey arrived at the conference on a jet ski. ever the showman , he is scheduled to the showman, he is scheduled to speak at the event tomorrow, where a celebration is anticipated after his won party 72 seats in july's general election. their best ever result . election. their best ever result. the funeral of olympic athlete

rebecca cheptegei took place in her home country of uganda this morning. the runner died earlier this month after she was doused with petrol and set alight by a former boyfriend. she had recently returned from competing in the paris olympics when the attack took place . today marks attack took place. today marks national trail hunting day, an annual event organised by the british hound sports association. in their manifesto earlier this year, the labour party promised to ban trail hunting. so this year organisers have said they are sending a strong message to the new government . and today is the government. and today is the return of strictly come dancing, the bbc is the bbc show is back and celebrating its 20th year, but following a series of controversies, many will be watching to see how the show will handle allegations against some of the professional dancers. just some of those appearing on this series are the

likes of tom dean and sam quek, just two of team gb's gold medal winners. now those are your latest gb news headlines. for now i'm sophie reaper more in half an hour from the wonderful tatiana sanchez . tatiana sanchez. >> for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> thank you very much, sophie. now there's plenty more coming up on this show today. but before i tell you what, we've got lined up nana akua and i'm a man that believes everyone needs their nana. she's joined me in their nana. she's joined me in the studio. nana. and what have you got coming up? >> well, yeah, everyone needs their nana. >> and they want their nanas to be nice and warm. i'm absolutely. i'm absolutely furious , actually, with this furious, actually, with this government. and i'm furious with rachel reeves. the amount of money that she's claiming in

expenses, just like a lot of them, they are continuing to claim their fuel expenses, their winter allowances. i think that they are, rachel in particular, should actually maybe spend a week with one of the one of the pensioners who is on that line for the change with the allowance, who just literally misses out. i'd like rachel to spend a week with one of those pensioners and see what life is really like. but first and foremost, i'd like to see all those mps. all of them have their fuel allowances and their expenses removed because i don't see why we're paying for it. they're on £93,000 plus all the other bits and pieces. so we will be talking about that. we will be talking about that. we will be talking about that. we will be covering this and i will be focusing on it quite heavily . be focusing on it quite heavily. also, rogue landlord james archewell . oh, it's all gone archewell. oh, it's all gone very quiet. labour bringing out their renters rights bill and there's nothing from them. so we're going to we're not going to let that go either, because it's not acceptable for him to bnng it's not acceptable for him to bring out a licensing scheme that he himself does not adhere to and get away with it. so we're going to focus on those people who think they're getting away with stuff. you can see i'm

really angry today, darren. it's going to be fun . it's going to going to be fun. it's going to be fiery. >> oh yeah. nana's going to be in a bonnet . >> oh yeah. nana's going to be in a bonnet. hell hath no fury. thank you very much, nana. i look forward to it. now, remember, you can let me know your thoughts on all the stories we've been discussing today by visiting gbnews.com. forward slash your say and join the conversation . i'm darren grimes and you're with gb news where

welcome back to the weekend with me darren grimes. now lots of you have been sending in your thoughts on the trail hunt, which we're going to get to on right now, mason says, the banning of trail hunting. on what basis ? as far as i know, no what basis? as far as i know, no animal suffer as opposed to what hunting was, which i was against and still am. there is no logical reason for this sadism in the name of sport. the prey was said to be pests, the foxes

to justify the hunting. culling, if necessary, can be done as humanely as possible. well, we'll find out more on that by joining our brilliant reporter, anna riley, who is with us now, because actually, the new labour government are threatening to outlaw the practice of trailing. so could this be the last of its kind that's going on in scarborough today? we'll find out. anna riley , what have you out. anna riley, what have you got ? got? >> yes, darren. well, this event, this national event in 30 locations across england is all about this. the association wanting to keep trail hunting going. i'm joined now by ross crawford. he's the master huntsman for the bedale hunt. just tell us a little bit about what trail hunting means to you and what it would do for the rural community if labour, government were to ban trail hunting.

>> i think in one word to say for this day to be banned, it would be devastating to the whole to community the people, to what countryside, country, sports are about, as you can see from today, there was over 130 riders, probably up end of a thousand people, you know, on the feet. and it was a it was a fantastic day. we, as you saw, we hunted within the law, we've been out for probably over three hours and everybody's come back with a smile on their face. and we're having a, we're having a hunt now , and yeah, we've all hunt now, and yeah, we've all just had an amazing day and this eventis just had an amazing day and this event is to try and show people you've invited the media, you've ianed you've invited the media, you've invited the public to show what you do. >> but what would you say to animal rights groups who still say it is cruel to animals ? and say it is cruel to animals? and a fox could still get killed at the end of this? >> we just want these guys to come out, and i think it's about educating people to what we actually do . do, i think the actually do. do, i think the very tunnel vision to think that we, we do in 2024 break the law.

it's not what we do. it's not what we're about . we go out our what we're about. we go out our our main priority is to protect the welfare of our hounds and, and prolong, prolong our sport. and they were invited along today and sadly, they didn't turn up. but i wish they did because i mean, as you saw from from what we've done today , it's from what we've done today, it's been an amazing day. >> thank you so much, ross . and >> thank you so much, ross. and the sun's certainly come out for us for it. so yeah, this event is finished now. but it was 30 locations across england just showing what trail hunting is all about and why this organisation is wanting to keep the sport going . the sport going. >> so there's a lot of disinformation about what trail hunting actually is. anna. so thank you very much for that insight. that's gb news yorkshire and humber reporter anna riley, who's in charm park in scarborough . now you're with in scarborough. now you're with me. darren grimes on gb news. where? britain's channel. i'll see you after this

break. welcome back to the weekend with me, darren grimes. now, lots of you have been getting in touch with us via your say, sending in your thoughts. one of our viewers says, why don't you have any scottish panel members? well, we had tony maguire , who well, we had tony maguire, who is scottish, and he was in scotland, so , you know, it might scotland, so, you know, it might have been an english panel, but there were some diverging views on the panel nonetheless. and then a lot of you getting in touch to say you agreed with what nana akua said a moment ago, where actually, you know, rachel reeves has said herself expensed. what was it, rachel reeves has said herself expensed. what was it , £4,000 expensed. what was it, £4,000 for her energy bills in her second home in london and the labour party itself over the last five, £400,000 overall in expenses for energy bills whilst they take it away from pensioners. so the question that many are asking is, well, if the pensioners have to go without,

shouldn't labour party politicians have to go without as well? it's a fair question. let me know your thoughts on all of the stories we've been discussing by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. join that conversation there. now it's time for our weekly dose of showbiz news, and i'm delighted to have showbiz reporter stephanie takyi with me right now. stephanie, can we do justin timberlake first? because i think we've got a fair bit to cover when it comes to the bbc. justin timberlake dui yes, reduced sentence. >> yes he did. >> yes he did. >> very bizarre statement, very bizarre statement. >> so just in case our viewers don't know back in june, he was charged for driving under the influence because he when he was stopped by police, he had driven past the stop sign and he was swerving in between lanes. yesterday was his day in court. he now appeared for a lesser charge because he pleaded guilty. so they gave him the charge of driving while impaired, which he was found guilty for. he's now received a

fine of £500 and also 25 hours community service. but what was cnngey community service. but what was cringey about it all is that when he came out of court, he'd done a speech for his fans to say, if you've had one drink and you're feeling really drunk, just call an uber or call a friend. and for me, i was like , friend. and for me, i was like, well, justin, why didn't you take your own advice? but clearly he has been taught a lesson about this, and he's been made an example of and it's all about pr reputation now. and damage control. and for him to try and make it seem like he's rectifying the wrong that he's done. but i'm sorry , like £500 done. but i'm sorry, like £500 and 25 hours. it's nothing to someone like justin timberlake. so i guess it's for him now to clean up his image and make him seem appear responsible. yeah. >> and this sort of thing happens quite a lot with celebrities and especially in the states or even over here getting caught with these things. and the slap on the wrist seems to be a lot more minor than it would be for anyone else. to be honest, darren, i sometimes see it as quite pathetic because if it is someone, a member of the public, they get treated harshly by the

police. >> you know, especially when it's a drink driving offence. you've got the potential to take someone's life on the road. so when it's someone like a celebrity like justin timberlake, you expect them actually to be a bit more harsher. £500 is probably what he makes in two minutes. >> so i mean, captain obvious , >> so i mean, captain obvious, right? i know anyway, the strictly come dancing is back on the bbc, but now there have been obviously a host of controversies surrounding and yeah, really a quagmire of controversy. and now it's meant that the bbc have said, well, because of accusations of the professional dancers being involved in bullying and all the rest of it, that actually they need a chaperone. and is that chaperone step for each of the participants in the strictly and we've got 15 new contestants. >> so guess how much this is taxing, costing the taxpayer £250,000 for this series alone because of the mistakes. while the alleged mistakes that's happenedin the alleged mistakes that's happened in the past due to bullying and misconduct. so this

is very much going to be a highly policed strictly come dancing series. this is their 20th anniversary. >> it doesn't sound like it's going to be very fun, steph, because they're sucking the you know the joy out of it. the joy of very controlled the dancers, you know, dancing is one of those fields where you want to be able to express yourself , be able to express yourself, especially with a partner. >> but now the contestants are going to have a chaperone who's going to have a chaperone who's going to have a chaperone who's going to be there all the time when they're training to see, oh, was that touch out of place ? oh, was that touch out of place? was he a bit abusive there? was he a bit wrong? so i think that takes the fun out of strictly come dancing . and i think when come dancing. and i think when our viewers see it, what the bbc now have is a task on their hands to win the trust of the viewers and also actually win the trust of the contestants as well. >> well, they're not going to win our viewers because they'll be watching the saturday five. >> they will. >> they will. >> but steph, on that. on the point of the bbc itself, do you think if you were to put your mystic meg act on. yeah. do you reckon actually strictly do you think it's, it's future is in peril? >> well, i feel like the show

will try and go on, but i can imagine after this 20th series they might say, let's take a break, because you need that separation between all the controversy that's happened and to kind of create a fresh slate. so it all depends how this season goes. there could be some negative headlines which i think will come out in this season. so i think, you know, for the bbc they may need a refresher and to take a break. and we are still waiting for the results of what's happened between giovanni pernice and amanda abbington. and i have a feeling that will come up dead in the middle of the series. so whatever happens here could be pretty telling of what the future will be for strictly come dancing. >> the bbc wouldn't just sit on that until it's over. >> you think if they do, then that would be a big pr sham and then it will come out in the papers eventually ? papers eventually? >> yeah. so they're going to have to they'll be forced. >> they will have to because it's gone on so long. we were expecting actually to hear about this. maybe a month ago. so why there's been a delay is quite interesting. >> i think it should have got that out there before the show. well, that's the bbc.

>> yes it is, thank you very much. >> stephanie takyi there our showbiz well fantastic showbiz wheeze. now folks, you've been with me darren grimes on gb news. thank you very much for joining me . don't go anywhere joining me. don't go anywhere though in just a moment. it's fiery debate with nana akua. and at 6 pm. i'm back for the saturday five. you won't want to miss that. first of all though, we're going to take a look at the weather. >> and a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on gb news . on gb news. >> hello. good afternoon and welcome to your gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. well, we have a bit of a split in the weather for this weekend. fairly unsettled in the north, but mostly fine and dry elsewhere. and it is going to be feeling warmer than of late too. and the reason for this split in the weather is that we've got high pressure dominating the south, but generally low pressure in the north, and nofice pressure in the north, and notice the squeeze in the isobars there too. so fairly blustery conditions in the

northwest as we head into this evening , it is going to be evening, it is going to be turning fairly chilly across the south, particularly under clear spells. may even see some rural grass frost develop in southern areas, but across the north, largely mild. plenty of blustery showers moving their way in across western parts of scotland and then some rain and drizzle into northern england. by the time we reach sunday morning. so fairly chilly in the south but milder in the north. now to start the second half of the weekend, we're going to see plenty of bright spells, but also plenty of showers moving their way into northwest scotland. still fairly blustery here, though, winds should ease up through the day. quite a cloudy start in northern ireland, and we've still got this band of rain and drizzle moving into northern england, northern parts of wales, but elsewhere there should be plenty of bright sunshine. but as i say , of bright sunshine. but as i say, a fairly chilly start in the south. now. through the course of the morning, this band of rain and drizzle is going to be fairly slow moving, so in some places it's going to remain fairly damp through the day. plenty of showers across scotland, these banding together

to bring some longer spells of rain at times may see some hail and some thunder mixed in there too. but across the midlands and the south once again another dry, fine settled day. perhaps just a bit more cloud around compared to today. but feeling warm where you do catch the sunshine and then into the evening. we'll eventually see that cloud , rain and drizzle that cloud, rain and drizzle ease away and it's going to be turning cold once again across the across the north. but those showers are going to be easing away. and as we head into next week, high pressure is generally dominating for all. so lots of fine and settled to weather that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on gb. >>

well >> good afternoon. it's just coming up to 3:00 am nana akua. this is gb news. we're live on tv, online and on digital radio.

and for the next few hours, me and my panel will be taking on some of the big topics hitting the headlines. right now, this show is all about opinion. it's mine, it's yours. and of course it's theirs. who are they? we'll be debating and discussing and at times we will disagree, but no one will be cancelled. so joining me in the next hour's are dame conservative mp, former conservative mp dame andrea jenkyns. as a former labour mp lloyd russell—moyle. before we get started, let's get your latest news with tatiana sanchez . latest news with tatiana sanchez. >> nana, thank you very much. and good afternoon. the top stories. >> the prime minister met with the us president, joe biden, last night to discuss strategy and tactics regarding ukraine and tactics regarding ukraine and the middle east, meeting at the white house in washington , the white house in washington, dc, the pair sat down for talks that sir keir described as long and productive. >> speaking afterwards, the prime minister also said that he and the us president had reached

a