well >> good afternoon britain. it's 12:00 on thursday the 3rd of october. i'm tom harwood and i'm miriam cates. an imminent israeli response. how could it look? and when could it happen? we're taking a closer look at benjamin netanyahu's options following that, iranian missile attack on tuesday . attack on tuesday. >> i knew you were trouble. a red faced prime minister repays more than six grand in gifts covering covering the cost of six taylor swift tickets, amongst other things. lord alli is now being probed by a house of lords watchdog over an alleged non—registration of interests. we'll have the latest. >> and britain just got smaller. the new government has decided to cede sovereignty of the

chagos islands in the indian ocean to china. allied mauritius is the sun now setting on british global influence . british global influence. now, such a lot to cover on the program today. i didn't expect to be talking about a smaller britain in the face of this, this barmy decision. >> yes, it's honestly just a few months after the election and when parliament isn't even sitting . huge decision. sounds sitting. huge decision. sounds like it's been negotiated by the foreign office. tom tugendhat said against british interests , said against british interests, but without any announcement to parliament. >> yeah, and that's the biggest issue here. surely mps should be able to speak on this. surely there are bigger and wider implications. what are the americans going to say ? they've americans going to say? they've got an airbase there. but more than that, it's just a sense of britain in the world shrinking

now and getting smaller. >> yeah, and i mean, historically, you know, obviously britain had a lot of overseas territories that we don't have anymore, but this is not amongst the most controversial. and as you said, there's a really important military base there, american long—range bombers. you think at a time when the world is clearly not a safe place, we absolutely need to protect our allies interests, but mauritius is allied with china? yeah this astonishing decision. >> it's like we're giving xi jinping a gift here. but, what do you think of it? perhaps you're in favour of giving up more islands. what gibraltar next? perhaps. send in your views and post your comments by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. we're going to get to all of that and so much more after your headunes that and so much more after your headlines with sophia wenzler. >> tom. miriam thank you. good afternoon. these are your headunes afternoon. these are your headlines at 12:00. at least nine people have been killed and 14 wounded in an israeli airstrike in central beirut. that's according to lebanese

officials. the israeli military say it was a precision attack on the building, which they say housed a hezbollah affiliated health centre. israel is carrying out an offensive against the iranian backed terror group in lebanon, which partly prompted iran to launch around 180 ballistic missiles at israel. but us president joe biden says he wouldn't support israel striking back against iranian nuclear facilities in response to tehran's missiles. journalist charlie faulkner is on the ground in beirut and again today in the south of lebanon. >> residents have been told not to return to their houses. these people were told to evacuate yesterday. we're talking about something like nearly 30 villages in the south that have been told to evacuate . residents been told to evacuate. residents that i spoke to through the south were telling me yesterday that they are absolutely terrified about the israeli troops being inside lebanon, and their biggest fear is that actually it won't be the sort of

limited operation and that what will end up seeing is a much bigger war. and essentially that there will be, that the israelis will be here for, for an extended period . extended period. >> meanwhile, more than 150 british nationals, independents have left lebanon on the first uk government chartered flight out of the country. foreign secretary david lammy confirmed there will be additional chartered flights to help those who want to leave, as he warned about the volatility of the situation. there to uk politics now, where downing street said the prime minister has paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality received since becoming prime minister. it follows a backlash over donations. it comes as labour peer at the centre of that row over the donations to sir keir starmer, has been placed under investigation by the house of lords standards watchdog. lord waheed alli faces a probe over what is being called alleged

non—registration of interests. lord ali is one of the party's biggest donors and the largest donor to the prime minister. but business and trade minister sarah jones says no rules have been broken . been broken. >> i don't think there's any question that he was trying to influence anything other than to deliver a labour government. he had a pass for a very short penod had a pass for a very short period of time. it was a temporary pass. he doesn't have it now. he has made significant donations to the labour party, which we're very grateful for, to help us get a labour government, but that is the end of it . he is government, but that is the end of it. he is not influencing any policy at all. i believe, genuinely, that the prime minister is right to look at these principles around hospitality. of course, as your caller says, no rules were broken. we all know that. but we are looking at those principles . are looking at those principles. >> in other news, now britain is giving up sovereignty of a remote group of islands in return for securing the long term future of a strategically

important military base. the deal important military base. the deal, reached after years of negotiations, will see britain hand over the chagos islands to mauritius in a historic move. meanwhile, the joint us, uk military base remains on diego garcia, the largest of the islands, and means the status of the base will be undisputed and legally secure. the announcement ends decades of often fractious negotiations between the two countries over the islands. six people have been arrested after a newborn baby died and a mother was left with serious injuries in a hit and run. lancashire police said a pregnant woman in her 30s was walking along a pedestrian crossing in the village of bamber bridge on sunday when she was struck by a car. she was admitted to hospital where her son was delivered but died a short time after. the mother remains in hospital in a critical condition. passengers on a ryanair flight have been forced to evacuate after an explosion left the wing of the plane on

fire. it's being reported that no one was injured during the failed take off from the aeroporti di puglia in italy. the flight was due to head off to turin when those on board noficed to turin when those on board noticed a strong flame from underneath the wing of the boeing 737. initial reports say the fire was sparked from an issue with the engine. this is just the latest in a string of incidents in a boeing manufactured jet, and in the us, melania trump has defended a woman's right to abortion, including in the late stages of pregnancy, while her husband, donald trump, backs the ability for us states to restrict the procedure. writing in her upcoming memoir, the former first lady says it is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference for having children based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government. those are the latest gb news headlines. more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign

up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is 12:07 now. after iran's missile attack on israel, significantly heightened tensions in the middle east. speculation has been mounting as to how israel will respond , especially after will respond, especially after the country's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu , swore that benjamin netanyahu, swore that iran will pay for launching that missile barrage. >> now, one option israel is reportedly considering is a retaliatory strike on iran's nuclear sites, something that joe biden has said the united states strongly opposes. >> meanwhile, former defence secretary ben wallace has said that britain's armed forces are not up to defending israel from missile attacks after the uk was relegated to a supporting role, while the us defended israel

from iran's enormous onslaught . from iran's enormous onslaught. >> now let's get some more on that story with the gb news home and security editor mark white. over to you, mark. >> well, we've got a map here of the region. and if it looks like an impenetrable hot mess, well , an impenetrable hot mess, well, it actually is. it's a perfect illustration of the complexity of this current conflict. now, it began on october the 7th last year down here in gaza , where year down here in gaza, where hamas terrorists moved over the border into israel, slaughtering 1200 innocent people and taking 200 hostages. since then, as you can see with the images here. israel has taken that fight to hamas, trying to degrade and destroy this terror group as well as that operation has been widening , winding down what widening, winding down what israel has managed to do is to move troops who have been down here in gaza, up to the northern

border. there they are dealing with another threat, this time from the hamas, the hezbollah terrorist group. and you can see very intense fighting that has been happening on the border with southern lebanon, because as hezbollah now for the better part of a year, has lobbed more than 8000 missiles, drones and rockets into northern israel . rockets into northern israel. israel has said clearly, enough is enough. and they want to deal with that particular threat. now, as part of that, they have gone after the leadership of hezbollah and in particular have taken out, killed the leader of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah, hiding in an underground complex in central beirut. they used bunker busting bombs to kill hassan nasrallah and not just him, but many hezbollah

commanders have been taken out of the picture. it has dealt a very significant blow to hezbollah , and inevitably, we hezbollah, and inevitably, we were expecting this response from iran. and sure enough , from iran. and sure enough, that's what we saw on tuesday night with these ballistic missiles raining down in parts of israel. thankfully not causing significant damage or serious injury. but there will inevitably be a response from israel and the world waits to see just what that response will be. how significant the attacks on iran will be, and whether or not that then compels iran to launch further attacks on israel. now the uk government, along with the us government, has been by israel's side here in sending over typhoon raf typhoon jets to act as a

deterrence on this occasion to really show that britain is by israel's side here. but in deaung israel's side here. but in dealing with ballistic missiles, they are not able capable of doing that because these ballistic missiles go way, way up into the upper atmosphere. then come down very fast in the terminal phase and that's beyond the capabilities of the raf jet. so we await what the next move will be. but if this turns into a very significant, wider regional war, then there is real concern that the uk, the us, other israeli allies could be sucked into a deeper conflict that would have very significant ramifications right across the west. >> mark white, thank you so much for that comprehensive analysis there. real concern and no doubt

people's ears on the ground. eyes fixed by trained trained on that region . but for more that region. but for more reaction, let's get the thoughts of former armed forces minister james heappey, because james, what might israel do now ? well, what might israel do now? well, i think the analysis of your homeland security editor is bang on. >> i mean, i think a reprisal is nigh on guaranteed. i think netanyahu sees this as an opportunity to get after not just israel's security concerns in its south in gaza, but also along its northern border as well. and indeed, to go after iran and the regime. and if that is what he is set to do, then it will be incredibly destabilising for the region. whether you agree with netanyahu's calls or not, the fact is, for the rest of us that it will be an incredibly destabilising thing. and as you hint at in your introduction to our conversation, there is a real risk that the uk, france , us and

risk that the uk, france, us and other western allies will find it awfully hard not to be involved in the region in some way. >> james, you say it will be destabilising and i'm sure that is absolutely true in the short term. but is there another argument that actually iran needs to be dealt with for the stability of not just the middle east, but actually the wider western world? and is it actually in everybody's interests that israel do take this further, that it do try to take out the iranians nuclear ambitions? >> yeah. i mean, i'm not making any point to say that it would, that what they need to do is necessarily the wrong thing. i'm just it's a fact that it will destabilise quite an important region. geo in sort of geostrategic terms. but you're absolutely right. you know, in many ways, and i suspect this is why the response from people like the saudis, the emiratis, the jordanians is, is pretty moot , because the jordanians is, is pretty moot, because in some ways , this moot, because in some ways, this is something that's been needing to happen for a while. but but i

think we just need to be clear, because war is a serious business and the impacts on, for example, global seaways like the straits of hormuz and the bab el mandeb strait at the bottom of the red sea will have real consequence on the flow of oil and gas and other goods from the far east and the middle east through to europe. so, you know, there are real consequences of this, even if there's a really strong argument for why netanyahu is doing everybody a favour by finally sorting out iran and its proxies. >> that is to say, if iran can be sorted out , >> that is to say, if iran can be sorted out, we >> that is to say, if iran can be sorted out , we know that iran be sorted out, we know that iran is a rich country. it's an oil producing country. it has capability far beyond that of hamas, hamas and hezbollah . and hamas, hamas and hezbollah. and if the fight becomes state versus state rather than state versus state rather than state versus non—state actor, this is a different category of warfare. this is something far, far more serious. >> oh , 100%. and that is that serious.

>> oh ,100%. and that is that is >> oh, 100%. and that is that is why people should not be sort of oh, you know, the iranians have it coming. let's get it done. new middle east all sorted. within months, the world will be a better place. you know, if this ends up being a state on state conflict , that is a big state conflict, that is a big deal state conflict, that is a big deal. it won't just be a state on state conflict because of the proxies that iran has grown around the region over the last couple of decades . so it's an couple of decades. so it's an absolute hornet's nest. and the capabilities that both sides are able to launch at each other, even given that israel has been engaged now in conflict in itself for the last year, and iran has been giving lots of its most advanced munitions to putin to fire at the ukrainians over the last couple of years. there's still plenty of capability left that should cause us all concern. most obviously, the ballistic missiles that we saw launched at israel the other day . israel the other day. >> james, can i just ask you a question about britain's involvement? because back in april when iran launched a similar attack, although with less powerful missiles, the raf was involved in helping to defend israel. but it seems to

be now that this time with with more powerful missiles, the raf, the british forces just don't seem to have had the capabilities to help out. is that the case? why is our capability changed? >> so there was a there was a complexity to iran's attack back in april. they used a combination of very slow moving one way attack drones quicker moving cruise missiles, but still on a sort of conventional trajectory. and then the ballistic missiles that sort of arc all the way up almost into space and then come back down. so in that attack, the anti the kind of air to air capabilities that are on the uk, raf typhoon jets were very relevant against the slow moving drones and the cruise missiles. but not against the ballistic weapons, which is why us warships in the eastern med dealt with those. the attack we saw earlier in the week was exclusively ballistic missiles, and ben wallace is 100% correct in saying that the uk has

warships that are designed to be able to provide ballistic missile defence, but are not yet fitted with that capability. i think we should be urgently investing in that capability. >> but is that capability even that comprehensive? we all have heard so much about israel's iron dome defence system, and yet we just saw the images , yet we just saw the images, missile after missile, after missile after missile, after missile came down, got through the iron dome and struck ground. we can see these explosions on our screen now. is it possible for a country to defend itself in the way that it can against cruise missiles or drones against these intercontinental ballistic missiles? >> well, iron dome is an integrated air and missile defence system. it's got missiles. as you progress up multiple different systems through system.)se systems missiles. as you progress up through system. it'ssystems missiles. as you progress up through system. it's gotems defence system. it's got multiple different systems within it, designed to go after within it, designed to go after different types of threat from different types of threat from drones through to ballistic drones through to ballistic missiles. as you progress up missiles. as you progress up

through that, those systems through that, those systems from drone to ballistic missile, they become progressively harder to stop. and in fact, you know , the stop. and in fact, you know, the defeat of the inbound ballistic missiles in april was pretty much the first time that we've seen those sorts of missiles defeated in that way. so no , defeated in that way. so no, tom, there is no way that the uk could ever invest in an iron integrated air and missile defence system that would guarantee that every last inch of uk soil could never be hit by a missile . of uk soil could never be hit by a missile. but of uk soil could never be hit by a missile . but at the of uk soil could never be hit by a missile. but at the moment we haven't got any defence against ballistic missiles and putting those onto type 45 destroyers so that they can a protect our carriers when they're at sea. from that sort of attack, but also be positioned around the homeland in order to provide some homeland defence. i think is urgently needed. >> and james, just finally all the way through this conflict,

a war on at least two fighting a war on at least two fronts. do you think they will ignore the west again and push ahead with attacking iran, or do you think they'll be a bit more conversation with the us first? >> i think netanyahu has shown time and time again that he will do what he thinks israel requires of him , again, discuss requires of him, again, discuss whether he's right or wrong , but whether he's right or wrong, but that's a fact about his personality. i also think, though, that israel is very, very canny at knowing where its boundanes very canny at knowing where its boundaries sit from the conversations that they really have with the us and the us national security machine behind the scenes. and i suspect that the scenes. and i suspect that the israelis are very clear about where, where their license to operate finishes . and to operate finishes. and i suspect that they understand that if they were to, for example, to go after the israeli nuclear facilities without really fully discussing that target set with the americans

and the americans, then in turn, talking about it with the saudis, i just don't think they will it be a major, major diplomatic effort would be required before i think israel has license to go after the iranian, nuclear installations , iranian, nuclear installations, >> huge, huge concern for everyone involved. let's hope that these operations are swift and successful, as they do seem inevitable . james heappey, inevitable. james heappey, former armed forces minister, thank you so much for joining former armed forces minister, thank you so much forjoining us here on good afternoon britain. well this is good afternoon, britain on gb news. lots more coming up in today's programme. >> is britain's influence on the world stage waning? the uk government has agreed to hand sovereignty of a cluster of strategically important islands to china allied mauritius. we'll be discussing this after our short

break. >> this sunday, join me , camilla >> this sunday, join me, camilla tominey, for an exclusive interview with one of the most controversial, influential and

unique political figures of our time, boris johnson will be in studio discussing his new memoir , studio discussing his new memoir, unleashed, the gripping story of how he dealt with plotting politicians, problematic princes and a pandemic. >> from boris bikes to brexit and everything else in between. this sunday at 9:30 am. only on gb news, the people's channel. britain's news channel . britain's news channel. >> good afternoon britain. it is 12:25 now. breaking news this morning the uk has announced that it will be handing sovereignty of a cluster of strategically important islands in the indian ocean over to mauritius, ending years of negotiations. >> yes, the uk has handed sovereignty over the chagos islands or has had it for over half a century and has a military base there, but has long faced calls to give them to the mauritians after being

accused by some of a crime against humanity. when the island's original inhabitants were expelled in the 1960s and 70s. >> now let's discuss this further with a former another former conservative mp sir michael fabricant. michael, welcome and thank you so much for joining the show. how do you react to this breaking news this morning? >> well, with wonder, actually, i mean , first of all, this was i mean, first of all, this was announced when parliament wasn't sitting. none of us knew that this was going to happen. but i'm also rather concerned because we know that mauritius has got very close ties now with the people's republic of china , the people's republic of china, and china are looking for more and china are looking for more and more bases in the indian ocean. now the diego garcia base is on the chagos islands. the actual name of the islands is the british overseas pacific territories. >> i think i've just got that right. and they've been there for a specific reason as a bulwark against china and to,

you know, project british interests into the indian ocean. and this, to me, is just symptomatic of this labour government who seem to concede everything when anybody asks for it, whether it's railway drivers, whether it's junior doctors, and now whether it's mauritius . once again, the mauritius. once again, the labour government has caved in. >> although, michael, i suppose you could make an argument that train drivers and people who work in the nhs that's in, in, in their interests , they're in their interests, they're british. i struggle to see whose interest this move is in other than china, other than a prime minister who used to be a lawyer wanting to appear very loyally in front of international courts and trying to buy favour by giving up territory, i mean, is that basically the foreign office view here that will look

nicer. we'll look better in the world if we give up yet more land. >> well, it's quite clear, isn't it, that keir starmer , who it, that keir starmer, who always has been a defender and often rightly, in fairness to him, of those people who he thinks are oppressed, has decided that he wants to look good. and as i say, give up this territory in the indian ocean. but the real problem is what is going to be the impact for the united kingdom, the united states, seato, which is the southeast asia treaty organisation, which is the regional equivalent of nato with an aggressive china, who at the moment are, as you know, creating islands around the philippines, creating islands off vietnam in order to expand their overseas reach. now, this is getting dangerously close to india, dangerously close to africa, and it's quite clearly

going to be used as a base and i do wonder what the us state department had to say when their base, diego garcia , is now being base, diego garcia, is now being ceded over to an ally of china? >> yes, absolutely. because although in the announcement today, it said that that base can stay there, are you saying that it won't be long before the chinese make noises and say to mauritius, we're not happy about this, you need to get that. is that what you're suggesting, that what you're suggesting, that this the agreement today won't actually last? >> i think it's inevitable that china will say just that, because i think the whole reason and the whole pressure, if you like, for these islands to be handed over to mauritius and it is worth remembering that mauritius was formerly a french territory at the end of the napoleonic wars, they were handed over to the united kingdom, and those islands never were a part of an independent

state of mauritius , it to me is state of mauritius, it to me is an extraordinary event and people will say, well , it's, you people will say, well, it's, you know, a group of islands, a long way away from britain. does it really concern us? but it does. there's a huge amount of merchant shipping that goes in the vicinity. and if there was going to be, if there were going to be some sort of crisis with china and already, you know, there are very, very tough tensions between china and the united states, then that base and i think there will be a china base on those islands. that base could be used to disrupt shipping to the united kingdom and the west, which will be inevitably causing mass inflation. >> now, michael, of course, we're talking a lot about china. i think we'll all remember. well, you were , of course, in well, you were, of course, in parliament when britain handed control of hong kong back to china in 1997. many people will say that hasn't gone all too

well. but it reminded me of something that jonathan powell, who is back in government now but was in government, of course, under tony blair, he was speaking in a documentary just a couple of years ago of tony blair's reaction to losing control of hong kong. let's take let's take a listen . let's take a listen. >> just after the handover of hong kong, tony said to me, apropos of nothing, really, we shouldn't lose any more territory. and we both looked at him and thought, what are you talking about? and he said, no , talking about? and he said, no, no, no. after hong kong, we mustn't lose any more territory. britain's not big enough. >> britain needs to be bigger. >> britain needs to be bigger. >> i mean, look at look at a map. look at it. britain it's so small and yet jonathan powell now back in government alastair campbell friends to lots of those in government . those in government. >> well they've done it again . >> well they've done it again. >> well they've done it again. >> and you know keir starmer is no tony blair. i've said this before . you know three months before. you know three months after the 97 general election ,

after the 97 general election, tony blair had a popularity rating of plus 68. now less than three months after the last general election , keir starmer general election, keir starmer has a popular has a popularity rating of minus minus 23. it's remarkable, but as i say, it is symptomatic of this government that they just want to concede to every single demand. it's damaging to the security of the united kingdom, but it's inflationary too, for all the reasons i've talked about in the last ten minutes. >> astonishing. thank you so much , michael. really good to much, michael. really good to hear from you. and i think tom tugendhat has tweeted saying that the foreign office seem to be negotiating against britain's interests, which is obviously extremely worrying given that we completely trust them to negotiate in britain's interest. what will be next anyway? >> it's almost trading real hard power, actual control of

territory for some amorphous soft power . goodwill, i'm territory for some amorphous soft power. goodwill, i'm not sure. >> and i think there's this view that, you know, there was a point in time where, you know, there were fixed geographical boundaries. and we've deviated from that. but of course, that wasn't that's never been true. and actually, these islands historically had nobody living on them until the french put slaves there in the 18th century. there isn't some indigenous population that's been displaced. so i think they need a history lesson. >> well, this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up. not so swift. a red faced pm hands back. money to repay freebies including taylor swift concert tickets. more on that after your headlines with sofia . sofia. >> and tom. miriam. >> and tom. miriam. >> thank you. these are your headunes >> thank you. these are your headlines at 1233. at least nine people have been killed in an israeli airstrike in central beirut. that's according to lebanese officials. the israeli military say it was a precision attack on a building, which they

say housed a hezbollah affiliated health centre. israel is carrying out an offensive against the iranian backed terror group in lebanon, which partly prompted iran to launch around 180 ballistic missiles at israel. but us president joe biden says he wouldn't support israel striking back against iranian nuclear facilities in response to tehran's missiles. meanwhile more than 150 british nationals and dependents have left lebanon on the first uk government chartered flight out of the country. foreign secretary david lammy confirmed there will be additional chartered flights to help those who want to leave, as he warned about the volatility of the situation . the uk has announced situation. the uk has announced it is giving up sovereignty of the chagos islands after more than half a century. the deal, reached after years of negotiations, will see britain hand over the chagos islands to mauritius in a historic move. it includes a tropical atoll of

diego garcia, which is home to a military base used by the uk and the us. under the agreement, though , the base will remain though, the base will remain under uk and us jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years. downing street has said the prime minister has paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality since becoming prime minister. it follows backlash over donations. it comes as the labour peer at the centre of that row over donations to. sir keir starmer has been placed under investigation by the house of lords standards watchdog lord waheed alli faces a probe over what is being called alleged non—registration of interests, but business and energy minister sarah jones told gb news no rules have been broken. >> i don't think there's any question that he was trying to influence anything other than to deliver a labour government. he had a pass for a very short penod had a pass for a very short period of time. it was a temporary pass. he doesn't have it now. he has made significant donations to the labour party,

which we're very grateful for, to help us get a labour government. but that is the end of it. he is not influencing any policy at all. i believe genuinely , that the prime genuinely, that the prime minister is right to look at these principles around hospitality. of course, as your caller says, no rules were broken. we all know that. but we are looking at those principles . are looking at those principles. >> those are the latest gb news headunes >> those are the latest gb news headlines for now. more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gb >> dot com forward slash alerts

>> good afternoon britain. it is 39 minutes past midday. now more on this breaking news that britain is giving up control of

the chagos islands, their territory in the indian ocean. our political editor, christopher hope, is with us now. christopher, you've been talking to the foreign office. yes. >> the foreign office are making very clear that this deal was done now. and it has no bearing on other, other territorial claims on our our territories overseas , notably gibraltar and overseas, notably gibraltar and the falklands, because, frankly , the falklands, because, frankly, that when the people who live there want it to happen, it can happen. until then, it won't happen. until then, it won't happen. there are 20 people living on the chagos islands have been a long standing legal dispute. the foreign office have been battling with the international court of justice. we lost a un vote unanimously on our right to the sovereignty of the chagos islands. and they're just trying to say that they are dealing. and it happened now, because an election starts tomorrow in mauritius and we couldn't interfere in that process. and that's why it's not monday. sources tell me that david lammy, the foreign secretary, has spoken to the speaker of our commons, lindsay hoyle, to explain this to them. and almost certainly there'll be a statement on monday from the

from the foreign office. so we're going to have david lammy in the house defending this obviously against a lot of a lot of concern from tory mps and others on monday. >> chris, i think what our viewers will find extraordinary is that there's no demand from anybody living on the islands themselves to be returned because nobody is living on the island themselves. and this transfer is entirely in the interests of mauritius and therefore china. what interests could it possibly be for britain to do this? and if there are no interests, why is the foreign office done it? >> i think the road to run out for the uk defence of not doing this with mauritius. but you're right, no one's living there calling for it. joe biden has released a statement just now. he says this is a clear demonstration that through diplomacy and partnership, countries can overcome long standing challenges historically to reach peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes. so the us seems official, the us seems relaxed about it. some would say and are saying to me privately, this weakens our value internationally. to the us , if

internationally. to the us, if we've given up sovereignty, the us can say bypass us and we'll talk straight to the mauritians about the control. we're told there's a 100 year deal in this treaty. tom, wait for the detail. i know you'll be concerned about this. there'll be a treaty giving us 100 years of rights to this , and it can be of rights to this, and it can be extended if we want to. after that. >> it's not like handing the military base correct about the base itself. time limited control over that base that we built, that's leased to the americans. but the rest of the islands go to correct? >> that's correct. and of course, rights to mineral rights. i imagine, and others and fishing rights, etc. around the islands . the islands. >> i think it is it is just extraordinary that because we've lost a vote at the united nations, we now start giving up territory. i mean, one can easily see a slippery slope argument here. we know that china has invested a lot in lots of african countries, in lots of south american countries, in lots of smaller countries, or get an equal vote at the un. they've been building a voting alliance at the un. they are winning more and more votes at

the un. could it be that china could orchestrate votes just to take to if we say we lose a vote at the un and therefore we have to give up an island? well that's a slippery slope. >> there's also the long standing international court of justice cases we've been losing there. it's been difficult. the value of this of these islands cannot be understated. they were used for bombing raids into afghanistan, weren't they? in 2001. and we do refuel and look after nuclear submarines in the deep water base. they're vital to us. >> it just seems another example of british officials thinking that international opinion is more important than what's best for britain . and we've seen this for britain. and we've seen this repeatedly over the last few years, but we should probably move to on domestic politics. yes, keir starmer is still in trouble, isn't he the. well, he's tried to solve it. >> moves on trying to solve a problem by making do something which makes it even worse. he's repaid £6,176 worth of freebie gifts since he became prime minister. in a nutshell, that's six taylor swift tickets to

concerts , four visits to concerts, four visits to doncaster races and a clothing deal for his wife victoria. but he's hanging to on 41. partridge in a pear tree, £40,000 worth of clothes, foot glasses , clothes, foot glasses, spectacles, football tickets. they're not being returned. that's before he became prime minister. so what's happened is he believes that because i'm prime minister, i must hand back all the freebies i've got. which is interesting. and that means, well, when you got them. when you're a leader of the opposition, surely they're the same impact on people getting getting influence over you. but it puts into some trouble or some questions over other donations to other cabinet ministers let's look at angela raynen ministers let's look at angela rayner. an ibiza trip dancing in that booth on that disco tom, £836 worth of a nice trip there, which we didn't know was paid for by somebody else until now. maybe that must be returned to. >> i mean, this does open the question that if he pays back the money that he's taken since becoming prime minister, is that really a material change in circumstance? can a prime minister be influenced by gifts?

but a leader of the opposition not be? i mean, the leader of the opposition is a member of the opposition is a member of the privy council, is a is a senior role a very highly paid role in british politics? it's a pubuc role in british politics? it's a public office. >> it is. and there should be no real difference. and if you're saying it's a judgement call to accept the money or all the gifts in the first place, that hasn't changed since he became prime minister. you're still very influential. you're still, you know, as you say, privy councillor and all those key roles. and you can question the government about policy. i mean , government about policy. i mean, i think it just it makes it worse. and what i don't understand about this government is they have control over all of the news in the country. they have the full site of the of the iceberg of information we see above the waterline. but there's so much else happening. if they were clever, canny, they would try to put us off by dropping in a bit of the budget into the news now and or another announcement or a review of something, anything to change the subject. but they're not. >> but but really, they are reaping what they've sown over the last few years. and, you know, they spent their whole

five years trying to bring down different tory mps and tory prime ministers. they should do as opposition. >> miriam, you may not like it when you're a tory mp. >> you could you could argue that although the leader of the opposition, the opposition should act in the national interest. now, that doesn't mean they should ignore wrongdoing on they should ignore wrongdoing on the opposite benches, but it does mean they ought to be focusing on issues at to the national interest. they didn't do that. and now they're being treated, treated the same. now, you know , obviously starmer's you know, obviously starmer's been very, very unwise here. the point of the expenses scheme is surely to make politicians think ihave surely to make politicians think i have to declare this. how will it look , therefore should i or it look, therefore should i or not accept it? but to me, the problem is the clothes. i don't really have a problem with, you know, mps accepting tickets in their constituencies to go to an event that's important to their constituents. i think that's part of an mps role. or certainly if you're a prime minister or a cabinet minister and you're being given hospitality abroad, that's important. but clothes, why would anybody accept clothes for your wife and yourself of yourself and your spouse? you can spend £32,000 on a superb. >> apparently it's possible. i mean, he's paid a lot of money. we know he's paid £166,000 from

the uk taxpayers being mp and pm, his wife gets the money from a job she has. i don't know why you need to do that. i mean, it's hard to fathom. i mean, there's pressure to return the clothes. well, we had becky long—bailey on the channel earlier. the labour mp saying she just says no to a handbag. she was offered. there's an mp in south shields, she said she hands it all back and i think that probably is where it's going. >> goodness me. well watch this space i suppose. perhaps he's opened a pandora's box. i think he is shutting down the issue. christopher hope, thank you so much for talking us through those two big issues today. goodness me . goodness me. >> well this is good afternoon britain on gb news. and there's lots more to coming up on today's show isn't there, tom? >> there is. a startling study has revealed 1 million brits now vape despite never having been smokers, and a seven fold increase in just three years. more to come after this

good afternoon britain. it is now 10 to 1 and here's one for you. a new study has found that 1 million people in england now vape despite never being regular smokers, starting a startling seven fold increase in just three years. >> now, this report, published in the lancet research, highlights growing concern among health experts who are calling for stricter regulations to kerb the trend and prevent new public health risks, especially for young people. >> well, joining us to discuss this now is the director of research at the adam smith institute , maxwell, marlowe and institute, maxwell, marlowe and maxwell. we all understand that vaping is less bad for you than smoking. all public health organisations say if you're a smoker, it's better to vape . but smoker, it's better to vape. but this research suggests that people who've never smoked are

taking up vaping. should we be concerned? >> well, i'll quote the, the author of the research and she points out this is ucl's doctor, sarah jackson, by the way, and she points out that we need to look at the context of this and ask, what would these people have been doing if they hadn't taken up e—cigarettes? and there's a hint there that they may have moved on to smoking. and we know that since 2021, that that figure for smoking has fallen considerably. so hopefully we can take away from this that actually the government. so both the previous and the current government strategy of rolling out vaping and encouraging it for people who could be smoking or were smokers is actually being very effective. and i think we should be quite happy with that. i mean, let's, let's remember vaping isn't the best thing to do. quitting is the best thing to do. but you know, if you're going to smoke , you should going to smoke, you should probably vape instead . probably vape instead. >> but maxwell, vaping is soaring amongst children, and a lot of health experts are

concerned because they are a lot more addictive than traditional cigarettes. they contain a lot more nicotine, and i've certainly spoken to people who get up in the middle of the night to vape because they are so addicted. do you accept in principle that the government should at least be regulating addictive products for young people ? people? >> it does regulate addictive products for young people . products for young people. buying a vape if you're under the age of 18 is illegal and it is illegal for shop shopkeepers to sell vapes to young people as well, though some, you know, there are fines in place. the fines aren't heavy enough, though. the uk, via the uk vaping industry association, has been trying to increase the level of fines and the and the enforcement of, of this, you know, regime because we have too much, illegality by shopkeepers selling to children. so it needs more enforcement. i completely agree. however, the law is already in place and it should be enforced much more. >> of course , what some people >> of course, what some people argue is that the law is not strong enough, despite the fact that it's not being implemented widely enough . we saw, of

widely enough. we saw, of course, the last government push ahead with banning disposable vapes, banning flavoured vapes. they say that these different , they say that these different, sort of innovations amongst vapes that you can buy are targeted directly to children . targeted directly to children. >> i mean, i would be sceptical of that , i mean, anyone who of that, i mean, anyone who enjoys a fruit salad, for example , who's over the age of example, who's over the age of 18 knows that that, you know, they like different fruit flavours or, you know, people who go to gale's or greggs, you know, they like baked goods. it's we shouldn't be really squeamish about the fact that adults are allowed to enjoy different flavours. now, children obviously love really sweet things. so things like, you know, flavours like unicorn vomit should obviously be gotten rid of. and, you know, having vapes with children's cartoons on they need to go to. however most vapes i think are perfectly for okay adults, >> i have to say, maxwell, i didn't expect to be discussing unicorn vomit this afternoon on gb news, but thank you so much for joining us. maxwell marlow forjoining us. maxwell marlow of the adam smith institute . of the adam smith institute. >> now you're watching this afternoon, britain on gb news.

lots more coming up on today's show. of course, the latest from the middle east where israeli, israeli pm benjamin netanyahu has vowed revenge. following that iranian ballistic missile launch. don't go away . launch. don't go away. >> ooh, a chilly start will give way to a lovely warm afternoon. >> boxed heat pumps sponsors of weather on gb news >> hello, good morning and welcome to your gb news. weather update brought to you by the met office. well, after all the heavy rain we've had the last few days, we are expecting to see more fine, dry and settled weather. plenty of sunny spells and feeling quite warm where you do catch the sunshine too . and do catch the sunshine too. and it's all because of this area of high pressure which is currently building across the uk, bringing a calmer end to the working week. a little bit of mist and fog today to start, but that's generally cleared away now, leaving plenty of sunny spells across the country largely dry . across the country largely dry. just the chance of the odd shower occasionally hitting southeastern coasts. but you'll be fairly unlucky if you do

catch any of those. it should be largely dry and feeling rather pleasant where you catch the sunshine in those lighter winds. a different story across the northwest, though, we'll see more and more cloud spill in from late afternoon and into the evening, and we may just catch a little bit of light rain just clipping the hebrides by the time we reach this evening as well. but elsewhere , plenty of well. but elsewhere, plenty of dry weather to end the day, and a similar story across northern ireland too. just in western parts. we'll see that cloud begin to spill in, but in the far east, plenty of sunshine to end the day and similar across the country. the rest of the country as well. plenty of dry weather on offer , but as soon as weather on offer, but as soon as the sun goes down, it is going to be feeling cold. likely to see some frost overnight. you may even see a little bit of frost on your car by the time we reach tomorrow morning. a different story in the northwest, though more and more clouds spilling in across the northwest of the country and likely to see some outbreaks of rain by the morning too . but rain by the morning too. but where we do see those clear spells, it will be cold and we're also likely to see some mist and fog by the morning, too. may just be a little bit stubborn to clear in places ,

stubborn to clear in places, particularly across parts of yorkshire, but generally clearing by around mid—morning. but do take care if you are travelling early on tomorrow. still, that cloud and rain moving into

well >> good afternoon britain. it's 1:00 on thursday the 3rd of october and i'm miriam cates and i'm tom harwood now in imminent israeli response. how would it look and when could it happen? we're taking a closer look at benjamin netanyahu's options following that iranian missile attack on tuesday , and a red attack on tuesday, and a red faced prime minister repays more than £6,000 in gifts covering the cost of six. >> taylor swift tickets, amongst other things . lord alli is now other things. lord alli is now being probed by a house of lords watchdog over alleged non—registration of interests. we'll have the very latest . we'll have the very latest. >> and britain just got smaller. the new labour government has

decided to cede sovereignty of the chagos islands in the indian ocean to china . allied mauritius ocean to china. allied mauritius is the sun now setting on british global influence . british global influence. >> now, miriam, did you buy your dress yourself? >> i did from vinted. i think it was £15. i was an absolute bargain. i think i should be recommending vintage to the cabinet, actually save an awful lot of money. >> £15? >> £15? >> yeah. vintage. i'm obsessed with vintage, but. but as an when i was an mp, i mean, you do get given gifts. i mean, i got sent some amazing things through the post. lots of books that i've never read. it's amazing. pop up boris that came in an envelope and my star, my star wasn't there. my staff opened it and it jumped up. of course, they were really frightened. what could it be? but it was amazing. i've kept it. i don't know how much did boris send that to you? i don't think so. i think a lot of mps got sent it.

so of course you did get offered gifts. and there is an important part of that. people want to, i mean, tea and coffee of course, no problem. but people want to, to treat you. but there's, you know, obviously there's a line. and it very clearly seems that starmer has crossed that. >> well, it's very, very odd that he's decided to pay back £6,000. he'd accepted over £100,000, £6,000 paid back. it almost seeds the argument that what he was doing was not against the rules, but against the spirit of what most people would expect a well—paid politician to be engaging in. but but that leaves the question, what about the rest of it? >> yeah, it seems like a very artificial line, doesn't it? before and after the election and i think the problem is not accepting gifts, but too many from one source. and also there are gifts that obviously help in your job. are gifts that obviously help in yourjob. and, are gifts that obviously help in your job. and, you are gifts that obviously help in yourjob. and, you know, if you're a constituency mp and you're a constituency mp and you're given a ticket to a local event, that's obviously something that's good to go to. but the use of clothing and housing and glasses does seem a bit excessive. and what always happens is you get, you know, these offenders that make the

news. but what actually happens is then the job of ordinary mps who aren't breaking the rules in any way gets harder and harder. >> yeah, everyone gets tarred with the same brush. much more on that. and all our other stories, of course . you're very stories, of course. you're very welcome to comment on all of them. we'll be getting to some of your views a little bit later in the program. that's at gbnews.com/yoursay that's after your headlines with sophia wenzler . wenzler. >> tom. >> tom. >> miriam, thank you . good >> miriam, thank you. good afternoon. these are your headunes afternoon. these are your headlines from the gb newsroom . headlines from the gb newsroom. it's just gone 1:00. at least nine people have been killed in an israeli airstrike in central beirut, according to lebanese officials. the israeli military say it was a precision attack on the building, which they say housed a hezbollah affiliated health centre. it comes as israel has today warned more people to evacuate in southern lebanon. meanwhile, in the last few minutes, hezbollah says it has detonated a bomb against israeli forces infiltrating a

southern lebanese village. israel is carrying out an offensive against the iranian backed terror group hezbollah, which partly prompted iran to launch around 180 ballistic missiles at israel . launch around 180 ballistic missiles at israel. but us president joe biden says he wouldn't support israel striking back against iranian nuclear facilities in response to tehran's missiles. freelance journalist charlie faulkner is on the ground in beirut and again today in the south of lebanon, residents have been told not to return to their houses. >> these people were told to evacuate yesterday. we're talking about something like nearly 30 villages in the south that have been to told evacuate residents that i spoke to through the south were telling me yesterday that they are absolutely terrified about the israeli troops being inside lebanon. and their biggest fear is that actually it won't be this sort of limited operation and that what will end up seeing is a much bigger war and

essentially that there will be, that the israelis will be here for, for an extended period . for, for an extended period. >> meanwhile, more than 150 british nationals and dependents have left lebanon on the first uk government chartered flight out of the country. foreign secretary david lammy confirmed there will be additional chartered flights to help those who want to leave, as he warned about the volatility of the situation to uk politics. now where downing street said the prime minister has paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality since becoming prime minister following a backlash over donations. it comes as the labour peer at the centre of that row over donations to. sir keir starmer has been placed under investigation by the house of lords standards watchdog. lord waheed alli faces a probe over what is being called alleged non—registration of interests. lord alli is one of the party's biggest donors and the largest donor to the prime minister. but

business and trade minister sarah jones says no rules have been broken . been broken. >> i don't think there's any question that he was trying to influence anything other than to deliver a labour government. he had a pass for a very short penod had a pass for a very short period of time. it was a temporary pass. he doesn't have it now. he has made significant donations to the labour party, which we're very grateful for, to help us get a labour government, but that is the end of it. he is not influencing any policy at all. i believe , policy at all. i believe, genuinely, that, the prime minister is right to look at these principles around hospitality. of course, as your caller says, no rules were broken. we all know that. but we are looking at those principles how. >> now. >> the uk has announced it is giving up sovereignty of chagos islands after more than half century. >> the deal, reached after years of negotiations, will see britain hand over the chagos islands to chinese ally mauritius . it includes the mauritius. it includes the tropical atoll of diego garcia ,

tropical atoll of diego garcia, which is home to a military base used by the uk and the us. under the agreement, the base will remain under uk and us jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years. however several prominent conservatives have criticised the move as weak, with leadership hopeful robert jenrick saying it's a dangerous capitulation that will hand our territory to an ally of beijing and in the us. melania trump has defended a woman's right to abortion, including in the late stages of pregnancy, while her husband, donald trump, backs the ability for us states to restrict the procedure. writing in her upcoming memoir, the former first lady says it is an imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government . those are the the government. those are the latest gb news headlines . more latest gb news headlines. more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , sign up to news

smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com >> forward slash alerts . >> forward slash alerts. >> forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it is 1:07 now after iran's missile attack significantly heightened tensions in the middle east, speculation has been mounting as to how israel will respond, especially after the country's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, swore that iran will pay netanyahu, swore that iran will pay for launching that missile barrage. >> now, one option that israel is reportedly considering is a retaliatory strike on iran's nuclear sites. but that's something that joe biden has said. the united nations, the united states strongly opposes. >> meanwhile, former defence secretary ben wallace has said britain's armed forces are not up to defending israel from missile attacks after the uk was relegated to just a supporting role, while the us defended israel from that large attack on

tuesday. >> now, let's get more on this story with gb news home and security editor mark white, who has a fantastic map. >> well, indeed , looking at that >> well, indeed, looking at that map of the region and the current hotspots, well , it looks current hotspots, well, it looks like an impenetrable mess. very difficult , really, to get to difficult, really, to get to gnps difficult, really, to get to grips with this, but it really underlines the complexity of the current crisis we're in and the current crisis we're in and the current crisis we're in and the current crisis as such, began on the 7th of october down here in gaza, when hundreds, many hundreds of hamas terrorists spilled over the border into israeli communities and murdering 1200 innocent people, taking 200 people hostage and more than 100 of those hostages still being held. well, for the past year , the idf, the israel past year, the idf, the israel defence forces have been involved in a bloody war in gaza on the ground to try to degrade

and dismantle this terrorist organisation. yes, to try to free the hostages, but also to go after the underground tunnels to destroy them and to stop the capability of hamas, of firing these rockets over into israeli territory. now, as that operation winds down, what the israeli military have been able to do is to move a significant, significant number of their forces, thousands of soldiers from gaza up to their northern border with southern lebanon, to deal with the threat from another terrorist group, hezbollah . and you can see just hezbollah. and you can see just some of the bombardments there on that border with southern lebanon, because hezbollah, in support of their fellow terrorists in gaza , have terrorists in gaza, have launched more than 8000 missiles and drones and rockets over into israeli territory. the israeli

government has said enough is enough. that's why they are taking the fight to hezbollah. and as part of that , they have and as part of that, they have decapitated the leadership, the most notable figure, the supreme leader, for want of a better word, of hezbollah , hassan word, of hezbollah, hassan nasrallah, who was in an underground bunker complex in the lebanese capital, beirut, and he was taken out by bunker busting bombs along with many other hezbollah commanders. it has dealt a very significant to blow hezbollah, and, of course, that has now elicited the expected response from hezbollah and hamas backers. iran sending these ballistic missiles , almost these ballistic missiles, almost 200 of them over into israel . 200 of them over into israel. quite a number of these ballistic missiles landing, thankfully not causing much in the way of damage and not causing any significant injuries to israeli citizens. now as far

as the west is concerned, we have raf typhoons that have been brought in by the british military to assist as well as the us forces in the mediterranean as well, taking down some of these ballistic missiles coming across as far as the raf. typhoons are concerned , the raf. typhoons are concerned, though they are limited, they can't really respond to ballistic missiles that go very high up into the upper atmosphere. before coming down in the terminal phase at very high speeds . in the terminal phase at very high speeds. that's in the terminal phase at very high speeds . that's beyond the high speeds. that's beyond the capability of the missile systems on the typhoons to be able to deal with that. but there is wider concern about the potential for the uk, the us and other allies to be sucked into this complex conflict as it progresses because we know that israel will respond to that ballistic missile attack on its territory. quite what that response will be. we don't know

yet, but if it's significant, then without a doubt, iran will probably feel compelled to fire even more ballistic missiles into israeli territory then all bets are off in terms of the downward spiral into a wider regional war. >> mark white, thank you so much for that overview. really, really concerning. and fascinating stuff. let's get more now with the defence and foreign affairs editor of the daily telegraph, con coughlin. con what should britain be looking for in this conflict? how might britain be involved? >> well, it's a good question and i think the starmer government really needs to give serious consideration about, first of all, our relationship with israel. and secondly, the preparedness of our armed forces , preparedness of our armed forces, because the starmer government has a very ambivalent attitude towards israel. one of david lammy's first acts as foreign secretary was basically to

support an international criminal court attempt to arrest the israeli prime minister on war crimes charges. then he imposed some suspensions on arms suppues imposed some suspensions on arms supplies to israel. and this is not what you want to do if you supplies to israel. and this is not what regard israel as an ally. so that's the government needs to get its head round . what is its get its head round. what is its policy towards israel? is israel an ally or not? and then you've got the issue which mark just mentioned about the military contribution, you know, we did deploy the typhoons from cyprus, but they don't have the capability to shoot down iranian missiles. meanwhile, we've got two aircraft carriers sitting in southampton not ready to deploy, and the unreadiness of our armed forces is nothing short of a scandal . so, you know, if we scandal. so, you know, if we want to be a proper ally and supporter of israel, we need to

a work out our policy towards israel . and b, make sure that israel. and b, make sure that our armed forces are in a position to make a proper military contribution to any action that needs to be taken against iran. >> now, clearly, our uk support, i'm sure the israelis would welcome, but what they really need is, is us support. now so far they've they've trodden a very fine line. they have gone against the us sometimes in terms of their invasion of gaza and now moving over the border into lebanon. but would an attack on, let's say, the iranian nuclear facilities be one step too far? what would the americans do if israel did that despite them not agreeing ? despite them not agreeing? >> well, i think the again, the united states has a rather ambivalent attitude towards israel. i mean, i would say that the americans have put two aircraft carrier battle groups into the middle east region to support israel, and the us was undoubtedly involved in shooting

down some of those ballistic missiles that were fired on tuesday night. so us military support is very important and active. but i think the policy decisions now and there's a lot going on in terms of discussions between the israelis and the americans on what to do next. and the israelis will be aware that. do they want to have a major war with iran or do they just want to put iran back in its box? the main israeli objective at the moment is to get their citizens back into their homes in northern israel. if they provoke an all out war with iran, that's not going to happen. and that will be politically damaging for netanyahu. so there's a lot of thought needs to go into what the israelis do next. but, make no mistake, they will do something. >> and of course , the history of >> and of course, the history of the world is littered with examples of states trying to teach other states a lesson, thinking it will be a limited

response to wrap the bad guys on the knuckles, and then it just escalates because there's a for tat and a for a tat. and before you know it, complex webs of alliances are all drawn in, and we're in a very dangerous place indeed. what is the risk here of serious escalation ? serious escalation? >> well, it is significant, but what i would say, first of all, is what what the recent events have shown is how weak iran is. i mean, iran has made a lot of how strong hezbollah is in southern lebanon for many years. and in the last two weeks it's been degraded to a, you know, a level where it's really struggling to survive, iran keeps launching missiles at israel, but they never get there, so that shows that the iranian missile systems are not, you know, are inferior to what the israelis have. but having said all that, i mean, let's look at the wider picture. iran is an ally of russia. iran is

supporting russia's war in ukraine. iran also has warm relations with china . so this is relations with china. so this is this is where it gets very dangerous , because if the dangerous, because if the israelis overstepped the mark, and particularly if the americans are seen to support the israelis in overstepping the mark, then countries like china and russia will say, well, hang on, you know, we've got a we've we have a voice in this too. and suddenly you've got an escalation and nobody wants to see, frankly , in terms of the see, frankly, in terms of the wider region of the middle east, certainly the gulf states are very supportive of the palestinian cause, but they're not particularly friendly with iran. >> if israel did make an attack on iran, how would the gulf states react? >> well, that's a good question. and you're right. the gulf states want a palestinian state, but they're also bitterly opposed to the islamic revolution in iran, not least because the ayatollahs, for

several decades have been trying to destabilise the gulf states . to destabilise the gulf states. countries like bahrain and saudi arabia have been the target of iranian malevolent activity. so the gulf states are not friends of iran. and i think would secretly like to see something happen to put the iranians back in their place. but, you know, i don't think anybody in the gulf is talking about regime change in tehran . although, of course, in tehran. although, of course, if you look at the wider picture in the middle east, if the iranian regime were to fall, a lot of the problems affecting the region at the moment would end.so the region at the moment would end. so there's a big question. i mean , say we are at i mean, say we are at a crossroads, but i'm not sure anybody really knows in which direction it's going to go next. >> goodness me. absolutely fascinating stuff. con coughlin, defence editor at the daily telegraph. thanks so much for talking us through that. >> now a historic sentencing at nottingham crown court this morning , the first ever person morning, the first ever person to be convicted of conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation in england and wales.

>> 47 year old emad kaki has been sentenced to four and a half years for conspiracy to commit fgm and forced marriage. he attempted to arrange the travel of a young girl from the uk to iraq, where she would have been the victim of fgm and forced into an arranged marriage. >> now let's cross to our east midlands reporter will hollis, who is outside nottingham crown court. will, can you tell us a little bit more about this case? >> yes. well, for a start, the crown prosecution service has said that this is a landmark case because this is the very first time in england and wales that a person has been convicted of conspiracy to commit . fgm, of conspiracy to commit. fgm, fgm, female genital mutilation has been a crime in england and wales since 1985, but this is only the third case of the sort to come to court. and emad kaki, who arranged for a young girl to

travel to iraq from the uk while he was living in nottingham, studying as a phd student, has today been sentenced to four and a half years in prison. that's a concurrent sentence for the crimes of conspiracy to commit fgm, as well as forced marriage. in sentencing. just a few moments ago here at nottingham crown court, the judge said that fgm is a barbaric practice often inflicted on young girls and young and vulnerable girls, and that they can have a lasting effect. and because of that, the judge said that the sentence that she was handing down had to be substantial to act as a deterrent. as i say, the crown prosecution service has described this as a landmark case because of the very first time that it has actually come to a prosecution in prosecuting. today, the barrister said that

this is a complex case that involved significant planning by emad kaki . defence lawyers said emad kaki. defence lawyers said that no procedure was ever carried out and no actual harm was caused. it's important to explain a little bit about fgm, which is obviously quite disturbing in the violence that it is against girls. it is the removal or changing of the sexual organs , but predominantly sexual organs, but predominantly in place in parts of the middle east, africa, as well as parts of asia. and this is really the first time that the conspiracy has . conspiracy to commit fgm has. conspiracy to commit fgm has. conspiracy to commit fgm has appeared a court in the uk and in the court at a court in wales in england . wales in england. >> that report live outside nottingham crown court. >> this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up on today's show. >> britain just got smaller and it paid for the privilege. the new government has decided to

cede sovereignty of the chagos islands in the indian ocean to china, allied mauritius and we're giving them money to do it. more on that very shortly

>> this sunday, join me camilla tominey for an exclusive interview with one of the most controversial , influential and controversial, influential and unique political figures of our time. >> boris johnson will be in studio discussing his new memoir, unleashed, the gripping story of how he dealt with plotting politicians, problematic princes and a pandemic. from boris bikes to brexit and everything else in between. this sunday at 9:30 am. only on gb news, the people's channel. britain's news channel >> goodness me. looking forward to that. on sunday. but in the

meantime sir keir starmer was last night humiliated into coughing up more than £6,000 to repay freebies , including taylor repay freebies, including taylor swift concert tickets and lady starmer's designer dresses. >> the announcement comes as lord alli, the labour peer at the heart of the donations scandal, is to be investigated by the lords commissioner. >> well, tory leadership hopeful tom tugendhat labelled the labour government the most venal in history. but will this move by the prime minister finally put a lid on the freebie scandal that never ends? >> for more on this, we're joined by a former labour adviser , scarlett mccgwire adviser, scarlett mccgwire scarlett. thank you so much for joining us. do you think this will be the end of the scandal, or is it something that's going to run on and on? >> i think it should be the end. i mean, i think it's just turning into a ridiculous witch hunt. i think , frankly, what hunt. i think, frankly, what keir did yesterday, he should have done four weeks ago, he should have just said, okay, let me pay these things back and

let's just finish it. me pay these things back and let's just finish it . and let's just finish it. and instead, his team has allowed it to run on and on and but but it's over. i mean, we know about it. we've said what we think and actually the good that's come out of it is that they've changed the rules so that government ministers have to declare everything, which is not what used to happen . what used to happen. >> but surely, surely , this idea >> but surely, surely, this idea that some is paid back, but not all has just opened a lot more questions for this government . questions for this government. will rachel reeves pay back? will rachel reeves pay back? will angela rayner pay back? why? why only pay back 6000? not the full six figure amount? >> no . okay, tom, i think he's >> no. okay, tom, i think he's he's not paying back the football because what he feels is the football is something thatis is the football is something that is not a freebie. he has he he you know, we all know he's an arsenal obsessive. and he says that the only way that he can get to arsenal without costing

us an awful lot of money because of private protection is to go in the director's box. but i just think we should we should actually call it a day. unless, i mean, if you really want us to find out what government ministers last in the last year, have been taking, then i'll go with it. right. but at the moment, everything is about the top people in labour and the top people in the conservatives. of course , did not have to. they course, did not have to. they didn't have to declare anything. well, scarlett, if . well, scarlett, if. >> apologies for interrupting you, scarlett. my understanding was that ministers did have to declare gifts of over £50. i think that was received in engagement of their duty. so i'm happy to be corrected on that. but that was my understanding. but. but isn't the point of the. hold on. sorry. yeah. do come back on that. >> no, you're right and you're wrong. >> you're right. they have to declare it. you're wrong that we don't find out about it. it's a private matter. it stays in the department. we have . no, do not

department. we have. no, do not tell me that government ministers have not been taking you know, tickets. it possibly wasn't taylor swift, but probably harry styles. all of those sort of things. >> but, scarlett, do you not think there's a distinction here that the public will understand that the public will understand that if, for example, a business minister went to a business on an official visit and was given an official visit and was given a memento of the company, that is something that absolutely the minister should accept. but that's different to something that's different to something that's clearly for personal enjoyment, such as . taylor swift enjoyment, such as. taylor swift tickets. so isn't the point of the expenses scheme the registration of interest that the public can see who might have influence over our politicians? and isn't that why it's become such a row? >> no, it's really become such a row because actually we think that keir starmer shouldn't have been taking money for clothes and glasses. >> that's the that's the real thing. i didn't say that government ministers shouldn't take, you know , mementos when take, you know, mementos when they visit a factory . i actually

they visit a factory. i actually said that i would be very interested , or rather not in how interested, or rather not in how many went to harry styles. right. how many went to the brit awards i mean, we know we know that all these tickets are given out now. some i think are absolutely right. i think that if rishi sunak went to wimbledon for the men's final, i think that's fine. he's representing the country. i think going to a football matches, i'm not talking arsenal here, i'm talking arsenal here, i'm talking england or rugby matches or whatever to represent the country . i think that's country. i think that's absolutely fine. it should and i think it's fine that they're declared what i'm saying is, is that there is a two tier system here and that the opposition had to declare and the government didn't. and actually, what's changed now is the government is going to have to declare everything from now on so we can say, yeah, okay. of course, keir can go and watch our football team and cheer it on. but if

he's going to taylor swift again, he's going to have to pay for it. >> okay. well scarlett mccgwire former labour adviser always appreciate. oh yeah. go on. >> okay. how many freebies have you accepted? i mean, journalists take a lot , right? no. >> it's fair. i have, i've been to some concerts actually, but that's. but that's about it. i mean, i can say i paid for my suit myself. very good. i paid for my tie myself. i know, but i don't wear glasses, thank goodness. >> i would expect you to pay for the suit, but you got tickets to concerts, right? and then. and then you criticise others for doing the same. that's what i'm talking about. >> no, no, to be fair, to be fair , i don't think i've fair, i don't think i've criticised anyone for going to a concert. what i have done is made the note that the frontbench of the labour party said that for example, a conservative peer, lord brownlow, should not have bought wallpaper for downing street, not for boris johnson , but for not for boris johnson, but for downing street. why is that different to lord alli buying things personally for keir starmer? i would have thought

that buying something for the home of the prime minister that should last many years, that's a gift to the nation in many ways, seems a lot sounder than than giving stuff to people for how they look. >> except, to be fair , the >> except, to be fair, the wallpaper obviously did not suit the next prime minister, right? because it is no longer there. so it wasn't a gift to the nation. it was a gift to boris johnson and his wife. >> well, i mean, that was the choice of the next prime minister, wasn't it? but scarlett mccgwire nicely do appreciate your time and always, always a joy to talk to you. but this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up on gb news. lots more coming up on today's programme. >> a bold but expensive initiative to tackling the declining birth rate in greece will have all the details after your headlines with sofia . your headlines with sofia. >> and miriam. >> and miriam. >> tom, thank you. these are

your headlines at 133. some breaking news in the last half houn breaking news in the last half hour. a 47 year old has become the first person to be sentenced to for conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation. emad kakihas female genital mutilation. emad kaki has been sentenced to four and a half years for conspiracy to commit fgm and forced marriage. the judge said fgm is a barbaric practice, often inflicted on young and vulnerable girls. sentencing therefore, needs to be substantial to act as an appropriate deterrent, and we will bring you more as we get it. now, at least nine people have been killed in an israeli airstrike in central beirut, according to lebanese officials. the israeli military says it was a precision attack on the building, which they say housed a hezbollah affiliated health centre. israel is carrying out an offensive against the iranian backed terror group in lebanon, which partly prompted iran to launch around 180 ballistic missiles at israel . meanwhile, missiles at israel. meanwhile, more than 150 british nationals

and dependents have left lebanon on the first uk government chartered flight out of the country. foreign secretary david lammy confirmed there will be additional chartered flights to help those who want to leave, as help those who want to leave, as he warned about the volatility of the situation. there in other news, the uk has announced it is giving up sovereignty of the chagos islands after more than half a century. the deal, reached after years of negotiations , will see britain negotiations, will see britain hand over the chagos islands to china ally mauritius. it includes the tropical atoll of diego garcia, which is to home a military base used by the uk and the us. under the agreement, though, the base will remain under uk and us jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years. however several prominent conservatives have criticised the move as weak, with leadership hopeful robert jenrick saying it's a dangerous capitulation that will hand our territory to an ally of beijing. those are the latest gb news

headunes those are the latest gb news headlines more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . forward slash alerts. >> cheers! britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report . financial report. >> it's the pound will buy you $1.3104 and ,1.1872. the price of gold is £2,020.92 per ounce, and the ftse 108,311 points. >> cheers, britannia wine club proudly the gb news financial

>> good afternoon britain. it is 1:39 and today the united kingdom government has announced that it will cede sovereignty over islands that britain owns in the indian ocean, the chagos islands and as you've pointed out, tom, we are going to pay for the privilege because we are going to be giving mauritius some finance to go along with this. >> so we are giving away our islands and paying to do so. >> this is extraordinary. this is from the official announcement from the government today. i'm going to read you this quote from their press release to enable this partnership, the uk will provide a package of financial support to mauritius. this will include an indexed annual payment for the duration of the agreement and the establishment of a transformational infrastructure partnership underpinned by uk grant funding. so, to recap, the uk government is giving control of these islands that we've had since the times of napoleon to mauritius, an ally of china.

these are strategically important islands in the indian ocean. but it's not just that we're giving the islands away. we're paying mauritius each and every year of the next 100 years so that the americans can keep a base there. who did this negotiation? it's negotiation. the foreign office clearly negotiating with the foreign office sounds like the easiest thing in the world. >> well, it does seem part of this wider trend of the last 10 or 15 years to put international opinion much more seriously than opinion much more seriously than opinion at home. and i've always wondered, of course, some of these international organisations are good and they have some benefits, but they don't really have any accountability. they can't be voted out in the way that the british government can. so why do we do what they say? >> it's fascinating when you look at the number of democracies in the world and the number of autocracies in the world, or the number of democracies that are influenced by autocracies. if we're going to go to votes at the un, we're going to be outvoted every single time. it's the free world. >> and, you know, of course, diplomacy is important. and we

should have an eye on what other people think of us. but we should always put british interests first because every other country does. >> well, we're going to come back to this story in just a few minutes. but before that, greece is set to invest ,20 billion in a bold initiative to tackle its declining birth rate, which has reached a record low. >> the government's national demographic action plan will offer financial incentives such as day—care vouchers and tax breaks, to encourage couples to have more children with greece's fertility rate amongst the lowest in europe. >> the plan aims to reverse the worrying trend and safeguards the country's future. >> now joining us now is a research director from the social market foundation , avik social market foundation, avik bhattacharya. avik, thank you so much for joining bhattacharya. avik, thank you so much forjoining us. now, greece has a very low birthrate. i think the total fertility rate is 1.3 children per woman. if that doesn't go up, what will happen to greece? >> well, i mean , there's a kind >> well, i mean, there's a kind of micro problem and a macro problem. the micro problem is for those families that want to have children and kind of around

the world, there's kind of a consistent tendency for women to want, a bit around about the 2.4 children of, of cliche. and if you're, if your total fertility rate is 1.3, obviously that's about one child per mother that isn't being born. so that is a lot of families that would like to have , to have bigger to have, to have bigger families, to have more children that are unable to fulfil those desires. now, at a societal and an economic level, what happens is that your dependency ratio, the ratio between people who are, not able to work because they're retired and the people who are in work, that goes up. and so it is harder economically to sustain, both kind of the people who are out of work and also more broadly sustaining the state through the kind of fiscal challenges. yeah. >> and we're seeing we're seeing that in the uk as well, aren't we? with the proportion of people who are retired compared

to the proportion of people who are in work, has been growing and growing and growing that dependency ratio has made making pensions, for example, giving people decent pensions more expensive and more expensive and more expensive as a proportion of our income. but i want to know the data here, because lots of countries have been trying to tackle birthrate issues for a long time. one of the most prominently cited examples is hungary, which has incredibly generous tax credits and breaks for people who have large families. but sometimes just these financial incentives alone don't seem to have turned the tide. >> yes. and i mean, it's interesting that, so greece, you said, has has total fertility rate of 1.3. as it happens . rate of 1.3. as it happens. that's near enough. the same total fertility rate as scotland has. so we're not that far off, andifs has. so we're not that far off, and it's interesting that the uk seems to be a bit behind in terms of taking this issue seriously , i think there's a bit seriously, i think there's a bit of a tendency towards pessimism because you look at that, that

target of 2.1, which is what's called replacement rate, that's the level of , the birth rate the level of, the birth rate that you need in order to be able to sustain your population without immigration. and we say that if countries aren't hitting that if countries aren't hitting that target, then they must be failing. now, the reality is that there's the closer you get to it, the easier these problems become. so there's a huge gap between france, for example, which has a relatively higher fertility rate, and the countries like spain , italy, countries like spain, italy, greece and the mediterranean that have lower runs. and long before you get to korea, which is, which has a fertility rate under one, and so what we can see from the countries that have done things, that includes hungary, that includes poland, but that includes countries like france, includes australia at different points, they've all taken measures that have reduced the costs of parenthood and as a result, have had positive results. it might not get them all the way back up, back up. it might not, quote unquote, solve the problem, but at least makes it easier. it mitigates some of

the challenges . and on top of the challenges. and on top of that, again, i would urge us not to lose sight of the individual families that are able to get the children that they want to have as a result. >> thank >> thank you. >> thank you. yeah. >> thank you. yeah. a >> thank you. yeah. a really, really important topic and one that we are not talking about anywhere near enough in this country, unlike our european neighbours. >> oh, there we go. this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up on today's show. we're going to be going back to the chagos islands. what doesit back to the chagos islands. what does it mean for britain's place the world, losing some of our most strategically important

>> good afternoon britain. it is a 1:49. and as we've been discussing the uk has announced it will be handing sovereignty of a cluster of strategically important islands in the indian ocean over to mauritius, ending years of stop start

negotiations. >> well, let's discuss this further now with the writer and commentator benedict spence. benedict. this, of course, began under the last government. but when david cameron became foreign secretary, he put a stop to it. he said , we're not going to it. he said, we're not going to it. he said, we're not going to negotiate handing over these islands, but this government seems to have restarted the process. but not just that. done it in record speed. >> yes, they've quite literally fast tracked it, and they've doneit fast tracked it, and they've done it at a time when parliament isn't sitting and the conservative party is in the midst of its incredibly self—indulgent leadership contest. so there is little scrutiny can be placed on this as possible. of course, this will come as a relief, i suppose, to one of the candidates, james cleverly, who was responsible for restarting and overseeing part of this negotiation process. but this is, i think , a taste of what is is, i think, a taste of what is going to come over the rest of the period in which labour is going to be in power. and remember, this is what, 91, 92 days into this new government, we haven't even reached the 100 day mark yet, and they are already agreeing to give away important, strategically important, strategically important bits of british territory to countries that

didn't even exist when these places were first populated in the first place. for some context, the chagos islands have been inhabited even less time than the falkland islands have. mauritius only got its independence as a state in 1962, and the mauritian people were not in fact part of the indigenous or even the early settling group of people that were there. they tended to come from india, malay and of course, from india, malay and of course, from europe. what this is all about , obviously, is from europe. what this is all about, obviously, is a bit of a shakedown by mauritius. the international court of justice issued an advisory decision saying that it felt that britain didn't have a say to the island and that mauritius did. you don't actually have to abide by an advisory , statement. it is an advisory, statement. it is not binding. it is simply the opinion of the court. but the british government has decided to do this nonetheless. and what mauritius now gets out of this is that the british government will pay mauritius for, for the privilege of resettling these islands with whoever it is that they want to settle them with. and on top of that, you know, as a little sort of addendum, we get to lease for money the

military base at diego garcia for 99 years, which of course, we're subcontracting out largely to the united states. so we're going to pay for this for less than a century, though, of course, given that mauritius is not like the uk and it is not one of these countries that necessarily follows the letter of the law, it is entirely within its rights to rip up that agreement. if it would like. it's also entirely within its rights to give away any of the other 1000 chagos islands to any other 1000 chagos islands to any other power that decides it would quite like to bid for them. and this, of course, is why these islands are so important, and why it is that mauritius gets so much money specifically from china in terms of international aid, because it wants a say in this china does not actually even need to build a base in the chagos islands. all it needs is access to one in which it can then start installing radar stations, listening stations, and at that point, that base becomes functionally useless at a crucial time for, for geopolitics. we have given away sovereignty of something to a country that never had any right over this thing for some far fetched idea of, i don't even know, postcolonialism post

imperialism, repatriation. the chagos islanders themselves don't even want to be part of mauritius. they have not been the say in this. it's a disgrace. benedict. >> this does seem to be part of a wider trend, particularly amongst left wing politicians, to think that anything that the international community says is, is moral and ethical. but what british people want isn't. where does that come from, and are there any other international judgements that we should be concerned about? >> i mean, it's there are all sorts of international judgements that you should be concerned about. i suppose the main one was the advisory judgement that israel might potentially be capable of committing genocide in gaza, but hasn't actually, at which point half of the world said, here we are. this is evidence that israel has committed genocide in gaza. this is a large part of the problem is, of course, that people can decide if they want to misinterpret or wildly misinterpret judgements of international courts, but it's interesting what you point out there that this is effectively this. now means that britain's foreign policy, and indeed its domestic policy, can be influenced by the international community, whatever that is. it's very straightforward. what

that is. let's take a list of all the countries in the world and list which ones of those you wouldn't want to live in those countries all now get a say in britain's foreign policy and domestic policy , as long as they domestic policy, as long as they can influence international bodies like the united nations to say one thing. >> and we've seen the sort of chinese informal empire, the amount of money they've been pumping into these small, poor countries in and around africa to get more votes in the un. benedict, we could talk to you for hours, but i'm afraid we have run out of time. thanks so much for joining have run out of time. thanks so much forjoining us here on good afternoon britain . now this is afternoon britain. now this is sorry. good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more coming up on today's programme including is motherhood really out of reach for people in their late 20s and early 30s? >> that's to come. >> after this, we'll have a look at the weather forecast now and we'll be back with you . soon. we'll be back with you. soon. >> there will be a light breeze in the morning leading to a warm front boxed heat pumps, sponsors

of weather on gb. >> news . >> news. >> news. >> hello, good morning and welcome to your gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. well after all the heavy rain we've had the last few days, we are expecting to see more fine, dry and settled weather. plenty of sunny spells and feeling quite warm where you do catch the sunshine too. and it's all because of this area of high pressure, which is currently building across the uk, bringing a calmer end to the working week. a little bit of mist and fog today to start, but that's generally cleared away now, leaving plenty of sunny spells across the country largely dry. just the chance of the odd shower occasionally hitting southeastern coasts. but you'll be fairly unlucky if you do catch any of those. it should be largely dry and feeling rather pleasant where you catch the sunshine in those lighter winds. a different story across the northwest, though . we'll see the northwest, though. we'll see more and more cloud spill in from late afternoon and into the evening, and we may just catch a little bit of light rain just clipping the hebrides. by the time we reach this evening as well. but elsewhere, plenty of dry weather to end the day. and

a similar story across too . a similar story across too. northern ireland just in western parts, we'll see that cloud begin to spill in. but in the far east, plenty of sunshine to end the day and similar across the country. the rest of the country as well. plenty of dry weather on offer, but as soon as the sun goes down it is going to be feeling cold. likely to see some frost overnight. you may even see a little bit of frost on your car by the time we reach tomorrow morning. a different story in the northwest, though. more and more clouds spilling in across the northwest of the country and likely to see some outbreaks of rain by the morning too. but where we do see those clear spells, it will be cold. and we're also likely to see some mist and fog by the morning, too. may just be a little bit stubborn to clear in places, particularly across parts of yorkshire, but generally clearing by around mid—morning. but do take care if you are travelling early on tomorrow . still, that cloud and tomorrow. still, that cloud and rain moving into parts of northern ireland, parts of scotland into friday. but elsewhere, that high pressure clinging on so plenty of fine and dry weather still to end the week and in light winds. feeling pleasant where you catch the

sunshine too. >> we can expect clear skies leading to a light and warm day ahead. >> lovely boxt sponsoi's sponsors of weather on

well . well. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:00 on thursday the 3rd of october. >> i'm tom harwood and i'm miriam cates an imminent israeli response. how would it look and when could it happen? we're taking a closer look at benjamin netanyahu's options. following that iranian missile attack on tuesday. >> britain just got smaller. the new government has decided to cede sovereignty of the chagos islands in the indian ocean to china. allied mauritius is the sun now setting on britain's global influence, and a red faced prime minister repays more than £6,000 in gifts, covering the cost of six taylor swift tickets, amongst other things. >> lord alli is now being probed by a house of lords watchdog

over an alleged non—registration of interests. we'll have the latest . latest. >> also being discussed today is motherhood really out of reach for those in their late 20s and 30s? so says an article in the telegraph, indeed by lottie moore. >> and she is coming on later. and i think she's got some absolutely brilliant points. you know, there was a day a generation ago where people could buy a house, maybe in their early 20s, could afford to live on one income in their early 20s that is now increasingly not the case. and if you live in london particularly, you might be able to afford a one bedroom flat. but how are you going to bring a baby up in that? so i think an increasingly difficult problem and tied to the story we had on earlier about greece, how are we going to increase the birth rate if people can't actually afford to have children? >> yeah, no, it's a really, really big issue. although some people watching at home might say they struggled through it. they made sacrifices. perhaps they didn't live in the biggest city. they moved somewhere else.

i mean, is it is it a bit self—indulgent of young people? >> well, possibly, but i think a lot of these follow trends, don't they? and if you if you're in your early 20s and you see all your other friends having children, then people just got on with it and people don't do that now, partly so many people go to university, come out with debt. you then can't afford to buy a house. so i think culture has changed, but i think there's so many factors and i just don't think there's one solution, but something we could do is be a lot more positive about parenthood, because that doesn't seem to happen at the moment. >> i think the university point is huge as well, because the effective tax rate that that young graduates have to pay, i mean, it's your it's your headune mean, it's your it's your headline rate, of course. but then an extra what is it 12% on top of that. that's right. it's massive. it's the marginal tax rates are well north of 50%. >> indeed many people and all the kind of, you know, life experiences that used to happen before you had children buy a house, get married. there's just so much harder to do. anyway, i'm really looking forward to discussing that with lottie, who's written a brilliant piece later and much more to come. >> besides, do get your comments

and post your thoughts at gbnews.com/yoursay. all of that to come though , after your to come though, after your headunes to come though, after your headlines with sophia wenzler. >> told miriam thank you. good afternoon. these are your headunes afternoon. these are your headlines from the gb newsroom. it's just gone 2:00. at least nine people have been killed in an israeli airstrike in central beirut, according to lebanese officials. the israeli military say it was a precision attack on the building, which they say housed a hezbollah affiliated health centre. it comes as israel has today warned more people to evacuate in southern lebanon. meanwhile hezbollah says it has detonated a bomb against israeli forces infiltrating a southern lebanese village. israel is carrying out an offensive against the iranian backed terror group, which partly prompted iran to launch around 180 ballistic missiles at israel freelance journalist charlie faulkner is on the ground in beirut and again today

in the south of lebanon. >> residents have been told not to return to their houses. these people were told to evacuate yesterday. we're talking about something like nearly 30 villages in the south that have been to told evacuate residents that i spoke to through the south were telling me yesterday that they are absolutely terrified about the israeli troops being inside lebanon. and their biggest fear is that actually it won't be the sort of limited operation and that what will end up seeing is a much bigger war, and, and essentially that there will be, that the israelis will be here for, for an extended period . an extended period. >> meanwhile, more than 150 british nationals and dependents have left lebanon on the first uk government chartered flight out of the country. foreign secretary david lammy confirmed there will be additional chartered flights to help those who want to leave, as he warned about the volatility of the

situation and breaking news in the last hour, a 47 year old has become the first ever person in england and wales to be sentenced for conspiracy to commit female genital mutilation. imad kaki has been sentenced to four and a half years for conspiracy to commit fgm and forced marriage. the judge said fgm is a barbaric practice , often inflicted on practice, often inflicted on young and vulnerable girls . young and vulnerable girls. sentencing, therefore, needs to be substantial to act as an appropriate deterrent . now to uk appropriate deterrent. now to uk politics, where downing street said the prime minister has paid back more than £6,000 worth of gifts and hospitality since becoming prime minister following a backlash over donations. it comes as the labour peer at the centre of that row over donations to sir keir starmer, has been placed under investigation by the house of lords standards watchdog lord waheed. alli faces a probe over what is being called alleged non—registration of interests.

lord alli is one of the party's biggest donors and the largest donor to the prime minister. but business and trade minister sarah jones says no rules have been broken. >> i don't think there's any question that he was trying to influence anything other than to deliver a labour government. he had a pass for a very short penod had a pass for a very short period of time. it was a temporary pass. he doesn't have it now. he has made significant donations to the labour party, which we're very grateful for, to help us get a labour government, but that is the end of it . he is government, but that is the end of it. he is not influencing any policy at all. i believe genuinely , that, the prime genuinely, that, the prime minister is right to look at these principles around hospitality. of course, as your caller says, no rules were broken. we all know that. but we are looking at those principles how. >> now. >> the uk has announced it is giving up sovereignty of the chagos islands after more than half a century. the deal, reached after years of negotiations, will see britain hand over the chagos islands to

china ally mauritius. it includes a tropical atoll of diego garcia, which is home to a military base used by the uk and the us. under the agreement, the base will remain under uk and us jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years. however, several prominent conservatives have criticised the move as weak , criticised the move as weak, with leadership hopeful robert jenrick saying it's a dangerous capitulation that will hand our territory to an ally of beijing and some breaking news in the last half hour. anti—racism campaigner and founder of kick it out lord herman ouseley has died aged 79. he was chairman of kick it out for 25 years, which he founded to tackle racism and discrimination in football. the anti—discrimination charity announced lord owsley's death on its official x account, saying we are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of lord herman ouseley after a short illness .

ouseley after a short illness. those are the latest gb news headunes those are the latest gb news headlines for now. more in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gbnews.com forward slash alerts . gbnews.com forward slash alerts. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:08 now after iran's missile attack earlier this week. significantly heightening tensions in the middle east. speculation speculation even has been mounting as to how israel will respond, especially after the country's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, swore that iran will pay for launching that missile barrage. >> now, one option that israel is reportedly considering is a retaliatory strike on iran's nuclear sites. but that's something that joe biden has said that the united states strongly opposes. >> meanwhile, former uk defence

secretary ben wallace has said that britain's armed forces are not up to defending israel from missile attacks after the uk was relegated to a supporting role, whilst the us defended israel from that enormous attack. >> now let's get more on the situation with gb news home and security editor mark white. mark, tell us more about what's going on. >> well, if we look at a map of the region and the current hotspots, it looks almost impenetrable. but it is the perfect illustration of the complexity of this current crisis. although one entity, iran, is being seen by many as actually fuelling much of this current crisis, either directly or through its terrorist proxies in the region. now, the current conflict that we find ourselves in happened on the 7th of october down here in gaza , where october down here in gaza, where one of those terrorist proxies, hamas, sent hundreds of its

fighters across the border into israeli communities , killing israeli communities, killing more than 1200 people, murdering them and taking 200 others hostage. well that operation was launched then by israel to go after hamas to , of course, after hamas to, of course, rescue the hostages. but also to degrade and to destroy hamas's capability to launch more of these rockets and mortars and artillery into israeli communities. and over the past year or so, they have been successfully degrading that capability from hamas. and that's allowed thousands of israeli troops to move further north to the border with southern lebanon, to deal with another of iran's terrorist proxies, hezbollah . hezbollah, proxies, hezbollah. hezbollah, as you can see, they are coming under sustained fire from the israeli military in southern lebanon, have been firing over

8000 missiles and rockets and drones into northern israel in support of its fellow terrorists down in gaza. really, since october, the eighth last year. and israel has had enough. it says it's time to take the fight to hezbollah. they want just like they have done with hamas, to degrade its capability. they want to push them further north of the litani river, there to create a buffer zone so that it makes it much more difficult for them to launch those rockets and other munitions into northern israel and give some security to those communities who can hopefully return to their homes in northern israel. and as part of the strategy, they've also israel decapitated the leadership of hezbollah. the most notable figure there, hassan nasrallah, was killed when bunker busting bombs targeted the underground

compound he was in in the lebanese capital, beirut. well, of course, iran was expected to respond . and on tuesday night respond. and on tuesday night they did with ballistic missiles, almost 200 of them raining down on israel, many of them intercepted by israel's defence array missile systems. but others impacted the ground, luckily causing too not much in the way of damage. and very few injuries to israeli citizens. the british and the us , as the british and the us, as allies to israel, were involved . allies to israel, were involved. the british. they sent raf typhoon aircraft up into the skies over the region to try to act as a deterrent because against ballistic missiles, well, they just didn't have the capability to do anything . these capability to do anything. these ballistic missiles go very high up into the upper atmosphere,

and when they come down in the terminal phase, they reach very high speeds. and the missile systems on the typhoon are just not capable of dealing with that particular threat. but there is a great deal of concern that the british, the us and other israeli allies could be sucked into a deeper conflict here because we know that israel will respond to this ballistic missile attack from, iran. quite what that response will be if it's very significant, then that's likely to compel iran to respond again with more missiles. and then all bets are off. we could see our military, the us and other allies increasingly involved in what would be a very messy, very difficult regional war, really concerning stuff. >> there . mark white, thank you >> there. mark white, thank you so much for that broad overview for and your lovely shiny video wall. >> it's very good, very

informative. now the uk has announced that it will be handing sovereignty of a cluster of strategically important islands in the indian ocean over to mauritius , ending years of to mauritius, ending years of negotiations. >> yes, as part of the deal, the uk us military base there will remain there. but the uk will pay remain there. but the uk will pay for the privilege, providing a package of financial support to mauritius as detailed in the following statement. >> it says to enable this partnership, the uk will provide a package of financial support to mauritius. this will include an indexed annual payment for the duration of the agreement and the establishment of a transformational infrastructure partnership , underpinned by transformational infrastructure partnership, underpinned by a uk grant funding. >> well , there we go. the uk is >> well, there we go. the uk is handing control of these islands over to mauritius, a country augned over to mauritius, a country aligned with china , and we're aligned with china, and we're paying aligned with china, and we're paying them for it. well, let's get the expertise now of former nato commander , rear admiral nato commander, rear admiral chris parry. chris, why on earth has the government decided to do this ? this? >> well, i'm asking myself the same question, i'm afraid to say

we've got an ideologically based policy in play here. it's totally a strategic contrary to national interests , and i don't national interests, and i don't think people have thought through the consequences . through the consequences. >> why do you think it is that this new government, or perhaps the foreign office, which has negotiated this deal, are putting the interests or the opinion even of the international community, which includes many states, that we would consider our enemies over and above britain's strategic interests. >> because there are quite a few people in the labour party who are obsessed with the decolonisation agenda, and they think this is symbolic of that. what they're missing is that the diego garcia, which is one of the largest parts of the chagos chain, is home to a major air and naval base that is critical not to only our strategic security, but also to that of the americans as well. >> well, it's just extraordinary looking at the strategic

importance of this location, slap bang in the middle of the indian ocean, really key for trade, really key for any particular growing influence that china might be trying to exert in that area. and chris, this is my concern. do you really think that it's mauritius, a very poor country whose gdp, entire gdp of the country of mauritius is worth less than a fifth of what we spend every year on the nhs? i mean, this is not a big player in terms, but but but someone thatis in terms, but but but someone that is a big player and is that an ally of mauritius is of course, china. do you detect the hand of china behind these calls, behind this international move ? move? >> well, it's very complicated. i mean, mauritius doesn't have any entitlement to the islands anyway. they've constructed it over the last 30 years or so. as you say, mauritius is a relatively poor country, but there's a lot of what i call offshore interests, which are both licit and illicit. and we

have got a lot of concerns about mauritius in relationship to china. now, to be fair, diego garcia, the base is going to continue with access to it. but the fact of life is all the chinese have to do is rock up and put forces in the other islands, and they can actually neutralise diego garcia and frankly, you know, we have no assurances in place that the mauritians are going to behave themselves. it's a critical base, and i'm afraid, just like anything else here, it's driven by ideology, not by strategy. >> chris, you say it's a critical base. what particular military capabilities does that outpost have, and what would nato lose if it could no longer operate or was compromised? >> yeah, it's not so much nato. it's to do with the free to world tell the truth. so give you an example. it's got a huge runway that will take b—52 bombers during the first and second gulf wars. it was absolutely critical for transiting large aircraft into the gulf war. it's a major

pre—positioning base. the lagoon itself can hold up to three divisions worth of equipment , divisions worth of equipment, and has done in the past in pre—positioned ships. and my concern is, the americans and ourselves think that we've got exclusive access to the base. well, you know, if you give sovereignty away, they can foreclose that at any time. they like. and if china leans on mauritius at any stage or indeed starts to base any of its forces in the remaining chagos islands, then the base itself is worthless. >> really concerning stuff , and >> really concerning stuff, and deeply concerning to me that this happens during parliamentary recess, where we can't have government ministers questioned about it . our questioned about it. our political editor, christopher hope, was saying that there will be a statement on monday, but that's a post hoc statement after the fact, really concerning stuff. chris parry, a former nato commander, rear admiral, of course . thank you so admiral, of course. thank you so much for joining admiral, of course. thank you so much forjoining us here on good afternoon britain. really appreciate your time. >> now, just before we get to a

break, we have some breaking news. a 35 year old man has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm after a suspected acid attack outside a school in west london on monday. that's according to the metropolitan police. >> we'll have much more on that after your break. this is good afternoon, britain on gb news more aside from that as well. is motherhood becoming increasingly out of reach for young women across the uk? all of that and more in three short minutes

>> this sunday, join me camilla tominey for an exclusive interview with one of the most controversial, influential and unique political figures of our time, boris johnson will be in studio discussing his new memoir , studio discussing his new memoir, unleashed, the gripping story of how he dealt with plotting politicians, problematic princes and a pandemic. >> from boris bikes to brexit and everything else in between.

this sunday at 9:30 am. only on gb news, the people's channel. britain's news channel . britain's news channel. >> good afternoon britain. it is 2:22. pleasing time now. is motherhood becoming increasingly out of reach for young women across the uk? >> well, oxford educated lattimore says she earns more than £60,000 a year but is still worried about starting a family because of britain's cost of living crisis. she's called on the government to incentivise couples to start families through affordable housing and encouraging working from home. now this comes as kemi badenoch was criticised earlier this week for describing maternity pay as going too far, although i think she probably misspoke. >> well, it's an interesting discussion and we are going to dive straight into it. delighted to be joined live in the studio by lottie herself. lottie what made you write this article? >> yeah, so it's a conversation

i've been having with lots of people, lots of women my age that we feel that at the time in which we might be thinking about having children, motherhood is still out of reach. >> and i think that's down to a lot of factors. i think housing is a big one. the cost of living crisis, the fact that so many of us spend so much of our income on rent and basically at the time at which my parents were thinking about having children in their early 20s 30 years ago, thatis in their early 20s 30 years ago, that is now not an option for women. and that, you know, essentially, we will be timed out. and we also have a birth rate crisis. exactly. >> and your piece is incredibly moving because you're talking about something that is not just buying a house or buying a car. that's a kind of nice to have, but something that's really fundamental to the human experience. and we know that most women do want to have children. they want 2.4 children. they want 2.4 children. and yet economic circumstances are actually robbing people of that opportunity. so what what can the government do? >> so i think we firstly need to look at housing. and we also need to incentivise we need a government which prioritises the family and the institution of

the family. the current government's offering is basically to provide low cost childcare. women don't want to necessarily go straight back to work as soon as they have a child. they want to spend time with that child, and i don't think that this government values the institution of the family and family values. >> it is fascinating. i keep thinking back to my grandparents, who by the time they were my age, had all of their children, my parents, my mother. by the time she was my age, had had two children. i it is extraordinary that we sort of see more infantilized as time goes forward . the sort of people goes forward. the sort of people who are in their late 20s are almost the equivalent of people who were in their late teens many decades ago. is that just to do with housing, or is there some sort of societal shift that's happened? >> i think that there is a culture of risk aversion among young people today that wasn't necessarily there. you know, i think having kids used to be a process that you just get on

with. and i don't think now that that that is the same. everything has to be perfect. you have to be able to afford all the mini boden and the, you know , all the trappings in order know, all the trappings in order to have children. i also think, you know, you're taught to do the responsible thing, which is not rely on the state, not not just have a baby at 19 and expect the government to look after it for you. but there's no policies that incentivise families and a parent that wants to stay at home. if they choose to stay at home. if they choose to do that, there's no option for that. so i think that that's kind of where where it comes from, where it comes from. >> i mean, certainly, you know, what you're saying is very much what you're saying is very much what i've heard from other women your age, but is it just about women and the economic circumstances? what what do men think about this? are men as ready to settle down and have children as they used to be, or is that a factor that has changed as well? >> i think that's a very good question. and i think a lot of my male friends would say that they're also not in the same position. they can't provide in the way that they might want to, because they're also living in rented accommodation. they haven't got the income to

support a family. and i think it is a crisis, maybe that, you know , traditional family values know, traditional family values and traditional gender roles, which are not a bad thing in this sort of new liberal feminist age. everyone has to kind of women have to to, work and basically be more like men, and basically be more like men, and men have to be more like women. and we should all just be androgynous, >> and that's not a good way to produce children. >> no it's not. it's definitely not. >> back to the issue of housing. it is fascinating. the proportion of people who share rented accommodation. it's not just renting accommodation. it's sharing with friends, which is it's lovely to share with friends, but people are doing it well into their 30s now, and the proportion of people who've been doing that has been growing and growing and growing. i mean, fundamentally, why do you think it is that the conservative government over the last 14 years has allowed such an un—conservative thing to take place? >> yeah, i think it's a very good question. i think also, you know, i know a couple who who still have a flatmate and

they've just had a baby because they've just had a baby because they can't afford to live on their own, i, i do think that if you want to have a child, you need to have a stable base for that child. i think that's right. but, you know, 46% of income generally goes on rent, it's very difficult to get a mortgage. so we're in this bind. you know, lots of people have said to me, oh, well, you know, after the article, oh, well, if you just move out of london, you know, you can afford a house, stop buying oat lattes and. but then you wouldn't have a job. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> then i wouldn't have a job. my >> then i wouldn't have a job. my work is here. and also, you know, my support network is here. it takes a village. my support network is here. so why should i have to? why should i have to make that choice? >> one of the attitudes that seems to have changed over recent years is that having children used to be seen as an incredibly natural thing, and something and a contribution to society. now, when you have these discussions, people say, oh, it's such a selfish thing to have a child. where do you think that's come from? >> having a child is almost like buying a lamborghini or luxury. it's a luxury. it's not. we don't see children as a as a

pubuc don't see children as a as a public good. fertility is seen as a as a luxury, rather than something that we need to nurture and protect. >> and looking around the world, you can see the sort of stagnation in societies that don't have enough children. these fast growing east asian countries, south korea, japan that in the 80s looked like they were sort of taking over the world and have now fallen into decline because the number of people living in these countries is falling. i mean, there's an economic imperative here if we want to fund the nhs, if we want to fund pensions, we need more people. >> yes . exactly. >> yes. exactly. >> yes. exactly. >> how much do you think it's obviously economics is a really important factor, but how much do you think kind of women's career ambition plays into this? because often what you hear from the government is, you know, that we need more free childcare so women can get straight back to work. but, you know, do you think that is a big factor in it, or do you think it's just that? >> so i think if you actually ask women what they want and i know there's an organisation called the other half that's just produced a report on this where they actually asked women what they want, asked mothers what they want, asked mothers what they want, asked mothers what they want. it is not to go

back to work straight away. it is to spend more time. women want to be with their babies when they when they have children. i think this idea that liberal feminism has, has taught us is that you can have it all, that having a career is the only option. and actually, once you have your amazing career and you have your amazing career and you have your amazing career and you have your baby, you can just pay a nanny to look after it. and thatis a nanny to look after it. and that is not what women want. that's not good for children. it's not for good women, and it's not good for families. and i just think that the narrative, particularly that i've grown up with in the last ten years, has been incredibly skewed towards me having a career and having it, having it all, and it's only really dawned on all of us in the last couple of years that we can't do that. yeah. >> do you think we did some polling on this last year when i was an mp and found that a lot of women just don't have a proper biological understanding of fertility? i think two thirds of fertility? i think two thirds of women thought that modern technology could mean you could have a baby at any age. do you think there is some misinformation here? if you like? >> i do, and i think it's really dangerous. i've got a friend who's in a corporate law firm

basically, you know, work like a dog in your 30s when you're still relatively cheap for us. yes and you work really, really hard and then, you know , we'll hard and then, you know, we'll pay- hard and then, you know, we'll pay. we'll pay for you to have a baby. you know, we'll pay for you to freeze your eggs. that's an incredibly invasive, quite unsuccessful process. and it's selling women a lie. and surrogacy is the is the other is the other, i think, really dangerous , sort of idea that you dangerous, sort of idea that you can have a child by surrogacy if you, if you pass the point at which your body can have them. i think that we need to have a realistic, proper understanding and conversation about the limits at which women can have children and help them to do that. >> the ethics surrounding that as well. exactly. >> yeah, that is fascinating. i've always been fascinated with this idea that people who, if you look at people in their, you know, even even late teens from the 1950s, they look older, they look physically older, they look more mature . they've got their more mature. they've got their lives together. people, people in their early tom moore experiences in their early 30s don't have their lives together

how. >> now. >> it doesn't help if you don't have your first job until you're 22, does it? i mean, that is a big change, but lottie, thank you so much for coming in and talking through your experiences. >> this is good afternoon britain on gb news. lots more to come in today's programme, including red faced prime minister coughing up £6,000 as he attempts to put freebie gate to bed. >> that's after your headlines with sofia . with sofia. >> miriam. thank you. these are your headlines at 232. some breaking news in the last few minutes. a man has been arrested after a suspected acid attack, which seriously injured a girl outside a school in london. the attack happened at around 4:40 pm. on monday at a school in alfred road, where a substance was allegedly thrown at two children and a staff member. an investigation was launched and this morning a 35 year old man was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. we will bring you more on that story as we get it. now, in

other news, at least nine people have been killed in an israeli airstrike in central beirut. that's according to lebanese officials. the israeli military says it was a precision attack on the building, which they say housed a hezbollah affiliated health centre. israel is carrying out an offensive against the iranian backed terror group in lebanon, which partly prompted iran to launch around 180 ballistic missiles at israel. meanwhile, more than 150 british nationals and dependents have left lebanon on the first uk government chartered flight out of the country. foreign secretary david lammy confirmed there will be additional chartered flights to help those who want to leave, as he warned about the volatility of the situation . now, the uk has situation. now, the uk has announced it is giving up sovereignty of the chagos islands after more than half a century. the deal, reached after years of negotiations, will see britain hand over the chagos islands to china ally mauritius. it includes the tropical atoll

of diego garcia, which is home to a military base which is used by the uk and the us. under the agreement, though, the base will remain under uk and us. jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years. however, several prominent conservatives have criticised the move as weak, with leadership hopeful robert jenrick saying it's a dangerous capitulation that will hand our territory to an ally of beijing and anti—racism campaigner and founder of kick it out. lord herman ouseley has died aged 79. herman ouseley has died aged 79. he was chairman of kick it out for 25 years, which he founded to tackle racism and discrimination in football. the charity announced lord owsley's death on its official x account, saying we are deeply saddened to hear about the passing of lord herman ouseley after a short illness. those are the latest gb news headlines. more in half an hour for the very latest gb news

direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com forward slash

>> good afternoon. it is 1438 and you're watching good afternoon britain on gb news now britain just got smaller. the new government has decided to cede sovereignty of the chagos islands in the indian ocean to china. allied mauritius now. joining us now in the studio is gb news political editor, christopher hope. chris it's all kicking off now, isn't it? >> it is really i mean, it's getting political too. we've got tom tugendhat just putting out a statement now to gb news saying this initiative, these talks were started during liz truss's premiership and they should never have started. tom, who was the foreign secretary secretary dunng the foreign secretary secretary during liz tusk's premiership. >> well, that was james cleverly ,

>> well, that was james cleverly, who just happens to be a leadership rival contender to tom tugendhat. is this a subtle dig? >> yes. is it a yellow card? miriam cates well, rempe is it blue on blue? >> well, there is some sort of rule about this. in the 1922 committee. but, you know, this is really interesting, isn't it, because it does beg the question, how much control do government ministers like the foreign secretary have over what's going on in their department? cleverly, did he even know that this was happening? did he direct it or did the foreign office just see an opportunity? >> he's saying week, week, week on twitter today. he thinks in his world this wasn't necessary. i think that's a that's a debate which will go on over the weekend and into monday when we'll have a statement from david lammy, the foreign secretary, to mps. he's been on the phone already to lindsay hoyle to explain why this happened today, when parliament wasn't sitting. it's a big deal, frankly, ceding sovereign territory to another to another country. and the fact that there's been no common statement yet is a problem. >> and such strategically important territory as well. slap bang in the middle of the

indian ocean. this is where trident submarines can refuel. this is in the middle of an important trade route and a sphere of the world, where china has been trying to expand its influence. the china question here is really, really deep because it seems that they might have been pulling some of the strings. it's something that tom tugendhat mentions in his statement. >> that's right. well china, of course, are closely, closely tied to mauritius and they are building their bases all over that, that that area of the world. yeah. and indeed, flights took to off bomb afghanistan from diego garcia . we are told from diego garcia. we are told the us don't mind this, but joe biden, the president, has issued a statement saying we're glad to get resolution. the resolution is 100 year lease on diego garcia. we then, as the uk, have a right to extend it and the foreign office brief that it's not a situation like with hong kong, where we ceded back control to china of hong kong back in 1997. but really, all the late 90s, but really a big worry here. and, you know, china

will be rubbing their hands with the uk withdrawing from the space. >> rear admiral chris parry a little bit earlier on the programme, who said yes, this 99 year lease is on the base itself, but the rest of the archipelago goes to mauritius . archipelago goes to mauritius. that's china allied. that could compromise the security of that base, of course, because if yes, if chinese operatives very near to that base, they'll be looking at it all the time. >> it will become less secure and the us may not want to use it anymore. and that weakens maybe our relevancy on the world stage. and particularly to our biggest ally, america. >> and what seems so extraordinary is that unlike other overseas territory, formerly hong kong, gibraltar, the falkland islands, nobody lives here in these islands. nobody's saying, you know, we want to be returned to mauritius or anything like that. this is this is almost an unforced error by the british government because nobody apart from the international community, wherever that is, is telling us to do it. so is this a sign of things to come? we've already seen david lammy, his views on israel, more into the international courts than they

are to what maybe british people think. is this a sign of things to come? well, that's the worry. >> we have lost several cases in international court of justice. we had a un vote unanimously against us since brexit. i've got to say we are more isolated on this. the eu had backed our continued claim to these these islands until brexit. of course, we lost that allyship when we left the european union and that's a worry now , the foreign that's a worry now, the foreign office do tell us in terms that the falkland islands and gibraltar, of course, are claims from argentina and spain on the on those two areas. they will stay british as long as the people they want to stay british. and you have these regular plebiscites referendums in these places and they do want to remain british, but they are the 20 or so chagos islanders. what do they think? i've asked the foreign office. i'll get back to you on that . back to you on that. >> goodness me. well, of course, it's not just that. that's going on in the world of politics today. we also learned well. we learned yesterday afternoon, evening that keir starmer is paying evening that keir starmer is paying back over £6,000 worth of

freebies . worth of gifts. that's freebies. worth of gifts. that's right. >> so we know a freebie keir or free gear keir as it's called by the conservatives. now he's taken £6,176 of gifts since he became prime minister in july. on july the 5th, six taylor swift gigs, four racing days at doncaster, one clothing deal for his wife victoria that the value of that is, is that amount £6,000 or so. that's all being paid back. but it doesn't go near or even touch the sides of the money. he earned deals he accepted before, when he was leader of the opposition, 40,000 quid's worth of spectacles, glasses, clothes and the like isn't the problem here that you know for the ordinary viewer at home, seeing keir starmer receive these very, very desirable gifts, you know, lots of people would have wanted to go to those gigs. >> it looks so unfair. but there's a bigger political question, which is he's received an enormous amount of donations from one single figure, lord alli. and people are asking what does lord alli want in return? is he beholden to him? in some

ways? what what are the answers on that? >> no one has really worked out what he wants in return. lord alli is not hasn't really been. obviously behind any change in the law, and he would deny it anyway. there's no we can't connect. >> he had a pass to downing. >> he had a pass to downing. >> he had a pass to downing. >> he had a pass. but then we don't know what happened from that tom moore. so he was there in and about helping set up the government. according to number 10, we can see nothing that has impacted on government action, which is what we look for in journalism. so it could just be he wants to be friendly and helpful as a good. >> he wants a labour government. so it goes on. >> but it could be he wants to just stalk the corridors of power and you can buy your way in there. of course, he has been a long standing labour supporter, but there is this sort of deeper question and i think it perhaps is something that number 10 might have overlooked. keir starmer can, in a whip on a whim in one month, pay a whip on a whim in one month, pay back £6,000. i don't know if i could just conjure up £6,000 in one month, this points to the fact that he was a very wealthy to man start with, and now he's

just sort of, for political expediency, decided to pay it back. why did he need to take all these gifts if he's such a wealthy man? >> maybe he's cashed in an isa like like other people. like your savings. i won't go on houday your savings. i won't go on holiday next year. he'll stay at chequers, his second country home. being prime minister, i don't know what's going to happen next. it puts all sorts of issues for other people because people like angela raynen because people like angela rayner, who we now know claimed £836 for that ibiza ibiza trip when she went when she was dancing in that dj booth that was that may now need to be paid back. david lammy five tickets to spurs games £2,300. so now he's done it. it's hard to say why the others haven't done it and if it's a judgement issue, surely you're as as influenceable . if you were in influenceable. if you were in the leader of the opposition, one of the pm as as when you were in number 10, and i mean the point of the expenses scheme is, yes, to be transparent so that you register these things, but also to make mps think before accepting a donation, how will this look? >> and i think people will very much understand politicians

accepting gifts that will help them discharge their constituency duties. so going to a constituency event representing britain abroad at something, but when something's clearly for purely personal gain, i think that that's where the problem is. but of course there's a lot of grey areas in politics, aren't there? all of our politics is funded by donations, so it's a judgement issue. >> so he said it's a judgement call. he's now saying he got it wrong and he's our prime minister and he sets the example. and i think he also by, i would argue he also got it wrong when he was the opposition leader as well . and during that leader as well. and during that time when he was facing boris johnson, liz truss, rishi sunak, he was attacking them for personal probity and this was going on and he now admits it was wrong. it's not a great look and i don't know why this government, for all its resource on finding things to talk about, won't change the subject. they seem like a rabbit in headlights in facing this problem. >> goodness me. well christopher hope, thank you so much for talking through those big, big issues facing the country today, much more on you later throughout the channel. >> now you're watching. good afternoon britain on gb news.

lots more coming up on today's show. a free speech row has erupted at durham university after its oldest student society excluded from taking in this year's freshers fair. more on

good afternoon britain. it is 10 to 3 and a free speech row has erupted at durham university after its oldest student society has been excluded from taking part in this year's freshers fair. >> yes, the durham student union said it made this decision because the durham union, that's the 182 year old debating society, much older than the student union, might i add, had failed to show its standards had improved following a string of racism allegations. >> however, the free speech union has accused durham student union has accused durham student union of censorious behaviour , union of censorious behaviour, claiming its decision to block the union society from its freshers fair was because it

isn't left wing enough. >> goodness me. let's get the analysis now of legal officer at the free speech union , stephen the free speech union, stephen o'grady. stephen, what's the background to this? i understand there was a debate that had to be cancelled. all sorts of roles between the student union and the union society. >> absolutely, yes. yes. on the surface of it, this might seem a sort of , you know, silly spat sort of, you know, silly spat student politics, that sort of thing . but it actually is a long thing. but it actually is a long running dispute between the durham union society and the student union. there it goes back several years and it's, it's bigger just than durham it's biggerjust than durham even. it's sort of pervasive rot that exists in our universities, which has been exacerbated by the decision of the secretary of state for education, bridget phillipson, to stop the commencement of the higher education freedom of speech act, which would have rarely been in place to deal with these sorts of things if it weren't for her.

this dispute goes back. it was a, revelations in the durham student newspaper several years ago in which the durham union was accused of being colonial apologists and various other sort of nebulous accusations like that. and there's been this on and off disagreement between them and the students union ever since then. >> it's fascinating. i should declare my interest here as a former president of the durham union, who managed to hold debates that were controversial. we had we had, i once got dragged out of a tutorial because the chinese embassy had phoned up the union because they wanted us to cancel a debate on whether china or not was a threat, and they threatened trade terms with the united kingdom. i think they sort of thought the durham union was more important than it was. but i said, no, we're holding the debate. and it was a massive success. but this, this seems that it seems that the society is facing a lot more trouble now because it's not just the

chinese government that's trying to shut it down, but the student union. >> absolutely, yes. they're on such nebulous grounds in what they're seeking to do here. you know, it used to be that these common room revolutionaries would use the language of marxism, but now they've embraced sort of trendy corporate newspeak , where corporate newspeak, where instead of the dictatorship of the proletariat, instead what they're trying to do is impose edi action plans on the durham union and various other task and finish groups and all sorts of absolute nonsense. but what's what's really going on here is essentially, we could say, a form of coercive control where they're using these sorts of things which might superficially sound reasonable, but to attempt to reshape the durham union in the image that they want for it. >> and stephen, in one sentence, can you explain to our viewers how the academic freedoms bill would actually have have changed this situation had it not been cancelled by labour? >> well, i can do it in one

sentence. i can do it in several. there are no no end of ways in which it would have helped for a for a start, it would have imposed duties on the student union to secure freedom of speech. and it would also have provided a mechanism by which the durham union society could have sold recourse via the complaint scheme with the office where they could have had their complaint adjudicated, it would have also had some effect on chinese pressure on uk universities, which we know is a massive problem and it would have placed transparency obugafions have placed transparency obligations on universities with regards to intervention there. yeah. >> concerning when a university can't hold free speech like debates, then we know that something's gone wrong. stephen o'grady, thank you so much for joining us. that's it for good afternoon britain. but of course, don't go anywhere because martin is up next. >> goodbye . >> goodbye.

>> goodbye. >> despite the morning rain, it'll be a nice, warm, cosy day ahead. >> boxed heat pumps. sponsors of weather on gb news. >> hello. good morning and welcome to your gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. well, after all the heavy rain we've had the last few days, we are expecting to see more fine, dry and settled weather. plenty of sunny spells and feeling quite warm where you do catch the sunshine too. and it's all because of this area of high pressure which is currently building across the uk, bringing a calmer end to the working week. a little bit of mist and fog today to start, but that's generally cleared away now, leaving plenty of sunny spells across the country largely dry. just the chance of the odd shower occasionally hitting southeastern coasts, but you'll be fairly unlucky if you do catch any of those. it should be largely dry and feeling rather pleasant where you catch the sunshine in those lighter winds. a different story across the north—west, though. we'll see more and more cloud spill in from late afternoon and into the evening , and we from late afternoon and into the evening, and we may from late afternoon and into the evening , and we may just catch evening, and we may just catch a little bit of light rain just

clipping the hebrides by the time we reach this evening as well. but elsewhere, plenty of dry weather to end the day . and dry weather to end the day. and a similar story across northern ireland too, just in western parts. we'll see that cloud begin to spill in. but in the far east, plenty of sunshine to end the day and similar across the country. the rest of the country as well. plenty of dry weather on offer, but as soon as the sun goes down it is going to be feeling cold. likely to see some frost overnight. you may even see a little bit of frost on your car. by the time we reach tomorrow morning. a different story in the northwest , different story in the northwest, though. more and more clouds spilling in across the north—west of the country and likely to see some outbreaks of rain by the morning too. but where we do see those clear spells, it will be cold. and we're also likely to see some mist and fog by the morning, too. may just be a little bit stubborn to clear in places, particularly across parts of yorkshire, but generally clearing by around mid—morning. but do take care if you are travelling early on tomorrow. still, that cloud and rain moving into parts of northern ireland, parts of scotland into friday. but elsewhere that high

pressure clinging on so plenty of fine and dry weather still to end the week and in light winds. feeling pleasant where you catch the sunshine too. >> oh, a chilly start will

>>a >> a very, very good afternoon to you. it's 3:00 pm and welcome to you. it's 3:00 pm and welcome to the martin daubney show here on gb. news of course we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster and all across the uk. on today's show, the free geer care scandal simply will not go away, despite the prime minister giving back a paltry £6,000 of the 107 grand he's been gifted since being made the labour party leader. but today it's emerged as he supped but today it's emerged as he slipped 62 grand to baroness uddin to help cover her expenses scandal. he might be minted, but is it time for labour to ditch lord alli ? an extraordinary lord alli? an extraordinary claim from former defence secretary ben wallace, who said that the uk can't defend israel