secretary ed the way energy secretary ed miliband has gone. pylon mad, even though there is a suggestion that if he waited a few years, cables underground would potentially be cheaper saving the british taxpayer money. ed miliband is trying to push ahead with his pylon plan, so would you be happy with the pylon in your backyard? i've got a pull up right now on x asking you that question . then in my you that question. then in my niggle, which is coming up next, the king and sir keir starmer face demands to pay £200 billion in reparations over britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade. but should they cough up the compensation? really? then the compensation? really? then the interview. i'm joined by fashion designer extraordinaire jeff banks. he's going to be here live to talk about his remarkable career, from dressing annie lennox to his friendship with vivienne westwood. he's doneit with vivienne westwood. he's done it all. you won't want to miss that. he'll be here live. then, of course, supplements sunday is on the way. but then, of course, supplements sunday is on the way . but before sunday is on the way. but before we get started, let's get your latest news with katie bowen .

latest news with katie bowen. >> nana. >> nana. >> thank you and good afternoon. it's just gone. 4:00. these are your latest headlines from the gb newsroom. the king says he's greatly saddened by the sudden death of alex salmond , former death of alex salmond, former first minister of scotland. the alba leader died yesterday afternoon, aged 69, from a suspected heart attack during a trip to north macedonia. mr salmond had made a speech at the institute for cultural diplomacy forum and is understood to have collapsed at a lunch in a crowded room. people in scotland have been reacting to his death. >> his passing is a great shock and i think for most scots , and i think for most scots, whatever their opinions, it's sad. he's a. he was a pillar of the independence movement . the independence movement. >> i think he'll be remembered as the man that nearly got scotland independence. >> well , he nearly got scotland independence. >> well, he nearly got his independence, but you know, nearly, nearly is not good enough. i can't believe it, to be honest. >> you're shocked. i don't even

know how he died yet. i'm not sure. i met him years ago when he was trying to be. he was walking around swinton crescent in baillieston and he was handing out leaflets and he played pool. >> he's a good man, a very good man, a very good man. done his best for scotland, you know . best for scotland, you know. >> alex salmond, who died yesterday . elsewhere, robert yesterday. elsewhere, robert jenrick says he'll make sir jacob rees—mogg chairman of the conservative party if he triumphs against kemi badenoch in the party leadership contest as chairman. sirjacob, in the party leadership contest as chairman. sir jacob, who in the party leadership contest as chairman. sirjacob, who lost as chairman. sir jacob, who lost his seat at the general election, will be put in charge of the party's campaigning operations. mrjenrick of the party's campaigning operations. mr jenrick told of the party's campaigning operations. mrjenrick told gb news this morning that jacob has been a tireless campaigner for the grassroots and he understands better than anyone the need for party reform. >> we want to have a different way to select candidates, so we end the favoured sons and daughters of the leader being parachuted in. that was a disgrace . i want to stop members disgrace. i want to stop members just getting emails asking for money, but never asking what do they want? where do they want they want? where do they want the party to go? let's build a

mass membership. democratic organisation. i think jacob will be a great asset to that. >> jonathan reynolds says it's not the government's position that p&o ferries is a rogue operator, despite a press release this week calling them a rogue employer. p&o ferries owner dp world will attend the international investment summit tomorrow. they had previously threatened to pull out of the event, and a £1 billion port investment . that's after the investment. that's after the transport secretary, louise haigh, criticised their employment strategy and called for a boycott. the operator was criticised by politicians from both main parties in march 2022, when it suddenly sacked 800 british seafarers and replaced them with cheaper, mainly overseas staff, saying it was necessary to stave off bankruptcy. the business secretary told gb news camilla tominey that the billion pound investment will go ahead quickly on this issue. >> that's not the government's position. the issue obviously with p&o ferries is we're not going to recoil from that. we thought it was wrong, the fire and rehire that we saw those

workers being sacked and then taken back on. on fewer terms and conditions, but we have changed the law. it was lawful under the conservative government. it will be unlawful under this labour government. so where companies accept that, acknowledge that can work within that framework, we will of course talk to them about investments. and i can tell you they're coming to the summit and they're coming to the summit and the investment will go ahead. >> nearly 500 migrants have made the crossing of the english channel to the uk in one day. new figures released by the home office today show 471 migrants crossed the channel on nine small boats yesterday. the latest arrivals bring the total so far this year to just over 27,200. a home office spokesman insists they're committed to dismantling people smuggling operations, saying the government will stop at nothing to bring these criminals to justice. un authorities in lebanon have said this afternoon that 15 peacekeepers have been injured due to the actions of israeli military, in what they call a shocking violation , after

call a shocking violation, after israeli tanks also destroyed their main gate. it comes as the uk is among 40 nations strongly condemning attacks on united nafions condemning attacks on united nations peacekeepers in lebanon. lebanon's health ministry says at least 15 people have been killed in the last day by israeli airstrikes on three different villages. israeli military say around 115 rockets have been fired from lebanon into israel today . hezbollah into israel today. hezbollah rocket barrages triggered sirens across northern israel overnight and into today, and just briefly this afternoon, former us president donald trump, who is the republican presidential candidate, said he spoke with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu . two days ago, trump netanyahu. two days ago, trump made the comments in a fox news interview that aired earlier today. interview that aired earlier today . and finally this today. and finally this afternoon, elon musk's spacex has caught the starship rocket booster for the first time ever as it returns to earth after launch. if you're watching on

television, you can see these extraordinary pictures of the lift—off. this is the fifth test of the starship rocket. spacex ceo elon musk has simply wrote, good morning on x after the test made flight history, the starship has also reportedly performed a successful water landing in the indian ocean. those are the latest gb news headunes those are the latest gb news headlines for now, i'm katie bowen. more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gb news .com forward slash alerts . .com forward slash alerts. >> it's seven minutes after 4:00. this is dup news. i'm nana akua. we're live on tv, online and on digital radio. i am so sick of this conversation, but here it goes. reparations king charles and sir keir starmer are

set to face demand that the uk pays £200 billion in compensation for its role in the transatlantic slave trade. 15 canbbean transatlantic slave trade. 15 caribbean governments have decided to put slavery reparations on the table at the commonwealth heads of government meeting in samoa later this month. of course, they have. who doesn't like being given pots of money because they believe they've been wronged? un judge patrick robinson even called the 200 billion figure an underestimation of the damage caused by the trade. he said that he was amazed that countries involved in slavery think that they can bury their headsin think that they can bury their heads in the sand on the issue , heads in the sand on the issue, and stated, once a state has committed a wrongful act, it's obuged committed a wrongful act, it's obliged to pay reparations . you obliged to pay reparations. you know what this is, don't you? they've seen how woeful and weak our government is. they've watched foreign secretary david lammy flippantly hand back the chagos islands labour, using their vast majority to get

policies through unchallenged. and these countries have thought we're onto something here. david lammy is also in the past said that he would take the responsibility of being the first foreign secretary, descended from the slave trade incredibly seriously. he said that his guyanese parents would not have believed their skinny son in nhs prescription glasses, who got stopped and searched on the streets of tottenham, could end up reaching the foreign office. sorry, but this sounds a little bit like we're in sort of chip on shoulder territory . chip on shoulder territory. that's just my view. david also tweeted in 1833, parliament passed the slavery abolition act, £17 billion of compensation to slave owners for the loss of their property. my ancestors, their property. my ancestors, the slaves, received no reparations. some people simply do not know their history or do not want to know hard truths . not want to know hard truths. okay, let me give you some hard truths, david. even if we were to agree to reparations, who do we pay ? just because my skin is

we pay? just because my skin is considered black doesn't mean i am one of the wronged party this country is also full of people from all nations. should they contribute to the pot to pay just because they live and work in the uk? i mean, where do you think the money is going to come from? and for those receiving the funds, for all we know , they the funds, for all we know, they might be descendants of slave owners because the trade did not happen without the cooperation of many from those very nations demanding the reparations . demanding the reparations. unless we are all prepared to take a dna test first so we can work out what our actual ancestry is and whether they were friend or foe to the trade, or whether many demanding reparations are in fact , even reparations are in fact, even caribbean, then how do we ascertain who gets what? you see, the problem with this is that not all caribbeans are innocent. being black doesn't make it so many benefited from the slave trade and carte blanche. blame it on the uk and demand a ludicrous sum is frankly naive, and i don't see why i, as a ghanaian descendant born in newcastle, living in the

uk, should pay a penny towards it. and whilst the slave trade was an abhorrent, vile business, it brought some benefits to those nations. have you factored that into the calculation, david? ironically, it's not black and white. so what is it that the history of slavery reparations demands? right? i'm joined now by author and historian martin whitaker. martin, welcome to the program. so martin, lovely to have you on board. so, martin, talk to me. why is there this constant demand from different nations for reparations when really it's almost impossible to work out who, what to give whom if there is any blame to be attributed? >> well, as you say, it's certainly very , very certainly very, very complicated. but just to give people some sort of background in this, the kind of the moral and economic case that is made is that by the beginning of the 19th century, it's thought that the british gdp benefited about

11% of that gdp because of slavery . so effectively about slavery. so effectively about 11% of the gross british domestic product in the beginning of the 19th century was generated by people who , was generated by people who, over 200 years had provided unpaid slave labour. >> the second factor is that as as david lammy pointed out in 1833, a huge loan was taken out. >> the british government took out a huge loan and it repaid the slave owners. >> but it didn't compensate the slaves and people may be shocked to discover that that was still being paid off as late as 2015. >> so we have a background in which the british economy, as other advanced economies certainly gained huge advantage by unpaid labour, in our case, particularly in the caribbean, and that the british government's government, after government's government, after government was paying basically reparations. but two slave owners as late as 2015. and of course, nobody ever complained about that . so that's what this about that. so that's what this is the background to this people saying, well , shouldn't there be

saying, well, shouldn't there be some kind of recompense now for those communities that were damaged by slavery? that's what the debate is all about. >> but but martin, weren't some of those slave owners black and some of them were from the caribbean. so when you realise that not all of them were uk from the uk, how do you then determine who to give what if you are even going to do that? because some of those compensated would have been black owners, certainly in west africa, for example, as you as you rightly alluded to, the situation was extremely complicated because there we have people like the spanish, the portuguese, the british and others actually negotiating with some west african tribes who of course had enslaved people from further in land in africa, certainly in west africa . certainly in west africa. >> it's highly complicated. in the caribbean, i think it's less complicated because without a shadow of a doubt, most of the economy there was driven by unfree labour. now, there would have been some people who benefited from it who, you know , benefited from it who, you know, who were mixed race. but certainly the majority of people that provided the unfree labour

were black. and what happened afterwards was it was replaced by a system of indentured labour by a system of indentured labour by which, even when they were freed in 1833, they were having to provide a great deal of input into the west indian and canbbean into the west indian and caribbean economy. basically, they weren't being paid the market rate by any means whatsoever, while at the same time, of course, compensation was going to the slave owners, not to the slaves. and that's the argument that basically these these communities have started so far behind because of treatment in the caribbean that something needs to be done now in order to bring them up to a level that's at least approaching some kind of some kind of equity. really? yeah. >> but wouldn't some of the slaves have built infrastructure and things like that, that there would be some sort of benefit to the people in those countries? and also lots of people who are canbbean and also lots of people who are caribbean and other descendants live in this country. so ultimately, the money that will be used to compensate them would be used to compensate them would be the british taxpayer would be paying be the british taxpayer would be paying for this. surely. so how if, for example, i was one of

the people who was enslaved, or one of my descendants, i'm now paying one of my descendants, i'm now paying money through my taxes to then pay for people who, in another country for slavery. it's too complicated . it's too complicated. >> you're certainly right in saying it's massively complicated. it's too complicated. >> it doesn't work. >> it doesn't work. >> yeah, well, indeed, it might not work. what i think is necessary, though, is i think that the former slave owning countries like ourselves, like france , like like spain, like france, like like spain, like other countries, do need to think about where their foreign aid budget is going. to what extent it's making up for the kind of damage that was done by slavery. but i think when calculating that kind of figure, it also has to be taken into account what has been given in foreign aid since 1945, because clearly that's part of the global picture. so i think we in the wealthy north, we often say the wealthy north, we often say the west do have responsibility to assist people in the global south or in this case in caribbean, because they have suffered from the kind of behaviour that's happened in the past. but we do also have to take into account things that have been done in the last generation or so to try to recompense. so i don't think

it's as simple as saying we're starting from zero now. i think there needs to be some kind of contribution, needs to be some kind of engagement . but we do kind of engagement. but we do have to recognise, at the very least, the extreme complexity of it, as you pointed out, and how far back do we go? >> because we, you know, they can start there, but we can go further. back when other people were enslaved and so on and so forth. but do you know what i mean? it doesn't it? none of it makes any sense. in your view, how far back should we go? >> well, that's a very good question. i mean, obviously there comes a point in which you have to say, well, you know how far into history can you sort of right the wrongs? the only reason why the only reason why i would say something about the transatlantic slavery and the current day is particular and peculiar is because in many ways, the industrial revolution was driven by this kind of slavery, was assisted by the kind of slavery. and we live in that kind of world. so i would say the kind of world that we live in in 2024 is one that's been directly related to the world that emerged after, let's say, 1750, 1760. and i think we are peculiarly connected. i

think once you go back beyond that, it gets very , very that, it gets very, very difficult. but i think we are part of that modern world. if you like, that post—industrial world, which certainly did benefit. i mean , certainly in benefit. i mean, certainly in this country, although my ancestors were working class , ancestors were working class, obviously not a lot of the money flowed to them, but certainly people in institutions and in landowners in this country and elsewhere did benefit greatly. and i think it's that kind of conversation that needs to go on. but but it doesn't have simplistic answers as you as you rightly pointed out. >> and also the industrial revolution saved many, many lives, including including many in those countries as well. listen, martin whitlock , really listen, martin whitlock, really good to talk to you. thank you very much for your insight into that topic. that's author historian martin whitlock. right. before we get stuck into the debate , let me show you the debate, let me show you what's coming up in the show today for the great british debate this hour. i'm asking, are the freebies beginning to pay are the freebies beginning to pay off? the football freebie fighters kicked off once again after it was revealed that a senior labour donor advised an adviser landed a top lobbying job with the premier league. it follows reports the attorney general was drafted in to sign

off taylor swift's taxpayer funded police escorts and so on and so forth. the list goes on. then across the pond in world view, us presidential race is heating up as kamala harris puts pressure on donald trump to share his medical records. i'll bnng share his medical records. i'll bring you the latest with paul duddridge. and of course, the legendary jeff banks will be here live after 5:00. that is coming up in the next hour as even coming up in the next hour as ever. send me your thoughts, post your comments. gb news .com forward slash your say . but forward slash your say. but let's get back to ed miliband's plans to erect thousands of pylons across the country, which have been criticised as being way too expensive. an official report found that burying them the cables underground could be cheapen the cables underground could be cheaper, despite the government claiming that, on the contrary and all of this as transport secretary louise haigh rocked the boat further, get that attacking p&o ferries and risking £1 billion of investment by its parent company dp world. so is keir starmer lost control of his party? joining me senior

news gb news political commentator nigel nelson. hello , commentator nigel nelson. hello, nigel. nice to see you. right. let's talk about this because, you know, ed miliband has gone pile on. he really has gone crazy with these things. >> well, i mean, first of all, we've got we've got to decide whether this report is actually true. it does seem a bit a bit counterintuitive that tunnelling underground is actually cheaper than sticking up a pylon. if it is, then that's exactly what ed miliband should do, of course. but the there are other questions that come into it. and one of them is that according to this report , you wouldn't be this report, you wouldn't be able to complete this till 2034. the target for clean energy is 2030. and if you go beyond that date, you're going to have to pay date, you're going to have to pay the windfarm operators for not being able to use the grid. and that would cost you an extra 4 billion. so at the moment i don't quite think the sums add up . up. >> but that's a stupid plan,

isn't it? that you've said it at a deadline where if you don't reach it now, you're then going to have to compensate wind farms. you get compensated anyway, by the way, for overproducing energy, which we don't use, which just then goes into the aether. i mean , it's into the aether. i mean, it's all it's all wrong, isn't it? i mean, it just doesn't work. none of it is working. we're losing a lot of the power and energy produced by these wind farms at a rate even now. >> yeah. we are. i mean, that's the whole point of sticking the pylons up, because that will carry it will carry the power from the wind farms to the grid. and at the moment, you're absolutely right. we are compensating the wind farms because they can't use the grid when it gets overloaded . so if when it gets overloaded. so if you go beyond 2030, we've got another four years of doing that when it comes down to the deadline, it's not really an arbitrary deadline. the whole point, and obviously this depends on whether you're a backer of net zero by 2050 or not. the whole point is to reach that kind of target by 2050. and

if we keep putting these measures back, we won't do that. >> all right. let's quickly move on to louise hay then. and her comments about p&o ferries, which was utter madness seeing as they have a meeting on monday with the backers who could be putting forward a £1 billion worth of investment. i mean, was that a bit ridiculous of her to do that? a bit foolish, some might say. >> well, i mean, i think she was right in what she said. i mean, the way that p&o, the treated it, treated its staff back in 2022 was absolutely abysmal . but 2022 was absolutely abysmal. but what we have here is the problem about being in government. i mean, pragmatism is sort of crashing into principle that while lew haig may well have been right in what she said, the timing was wrong. now there is some suggestion she wasn't aware that this billion pound investment into the london gateway port in thurrock was actually on the cards. i do find that a bit hard to believe, but she is the transport secretary, so if she didn't know there is a

failure of communication somewhere along the line which needs to be addressed. if she did know it was the wrong time to say it. you're talking about an investment summit tomorrow. the people coming are worth £4,040 trillion and a promise to stick £40 billion worth of investment in britain. that's really important. >> very briefly, i've got about seconds, nigel. should she perhaps resign, seeing as she's coming across as quite incompetent? >> no, i don't think she's incompetent. i think it was an unfortunate remark, and i think we can forgive this one. >> well, it depends how much it costs us. nigel. nigel nelson, thank you very much. that's nigel nelson. he's the gb news senior political commentator. right. you're with me. i'm nana akua. this is gb news. we're live on tv, online and on digital radio. louise hague, as we talked about it, rock the boat attacking p&o cruises ahead of prime minister's global business summit. should she forced to resign? let me know your thoughts. stay tuned. this is gb

right. 25 minutes after 4:00. welcome. if you're just tuned in. welcome. if you're just tuned in. welcome on board. this is gb news. where? britain's news channel. i'm nana akua. we're live on tv, online and on digital radio. welcome again to my panel. broadcaster and journalist danny kelly and also political commentator jonathan lewis. all right. let's talk about louise hague, transport secretary . should she resign secretary. should she resign jonathan lewis. >> absolutely not. why should she? >> well, because she may have cost . she may well be costing cost. she may well be costing billions in terms of investment because of her loose lips. and we can't have a secretary like that. all right . that. all right. >> well, to take on that, that, that that substantive point. the government has said that actually it's not the view of the government. what she said and the chief of the dp world is actually attending. well, he is now, but he wasn't going to. okay, fine. but you said it's cost billions and that's. no, no, we don't know that her comments could have cost

billions. >> and she's supposed to be the transport secretary. and one of the parts of her excuse was that she may not didn't know about the meeting. >> i think that it's i'd be amazed if the announced expansion of the london gateway port did not go ahead and that it seems completely ludicrous that they would sort of not make that they would sort of not make that investment because of the comments of louise hague. but i think it's going to there's a serious there's a serious point here that nothing she said was wrong . she said she, she, she wrong. she said she, she, she made a point, which she's made many times in the last two years, which is that p&o behaved disgracefully and it should not be legal what they did. and that is why the government has introduced legislation to make sure that it cannot happen again. so when she describes them as a rogue operator, she is completely within her rights to do that. and obviously she put out a statement in that, in that press release calling them a rogue operator. i don't think she said in the press release that they should. other people were encouraged, but she said it out loud. but she said it in an

interview. >> that's even worse. >> that's even worse. >> look, i think that she is entitled to her view. i think that sorry, jonathan, she is, but she's the transport secretary, so she can't really be talking like that. >> and then if she's saying that, why are the government then prepared to take another investment from this very same company that she is castigating ? company that she is castigating? this is the problem, isn't it? >> we have a really difficult situation with capitalism that sometimes we need investment in this country. that's absolutely undoubted. but also we need to look after people who work for those companies and sometimes there is a conflict between those two demands and so we hope that with a left wing government that with a left wing government that actually we of course we're welcoming investment, but we're also saying that people have to be treated well so that . so be treated well so that. so i it's i don't agree with people going into bat for some multi—billion pound corporations at the expense of workers, but at the expense of workers, but at the expense of workers, but at the same time, clearly we do need investment and there has to be some kind of balance otherwise. >> well, look, apparently, as

you said, they changed the legislation, so that won't happen again. so she should close her mouth about that. >> danny kelly, i think you need to use more intelligent language. i think first of all, i don't think p&o would have pulled out. this is just my view. p&o are hard nosed business people, and if it's good for them to do a deal with this country, they're going to continue to do the deal no matter what the transport secretary has said. but however, you need to use intelligent language and my concern, nana would be, is she can you have confidence in the woman you asked? should she resign? yeah, i think if she had lost this deal i think if she had lost this deal, although i just think that it would never be lost anyway. but if she had lost it, then definitely because of the language. but i don't want to appear contradictory because i don't think p&o would have pulled out anyway. but i think you need to have confidence in your secretaries and your ministers that when you open your gob, you're not going to inqu your gob, you're not going to insult vast swathes of the capitalist market. bearing in mind that there's such a left wing government as well . wing government as well. >> i read this from brendan, who sent me a message. i have no reason to doubt that he's not genuine. he says. i am one of the 800 staff workers who got made redundant two years ago, and i'm disgusted that louise

hagueis and i'm disgusted that louise hague is being condemned for saying p&o are rogue traders. i don't think that's quite why she's being condemned . when two she's being condemned. when two years ago, the head of the said in front of us, they all said that they will never get away with it, which they have done. and the government has now gone on to try to make investments with the traders. keir starmer doesn't care about the workers more about money and investment, and dp world would get investments they want and will go to on employ foreign labour going forward. we don't stand a chance to get those jobs, brendan, thank you for that. that's brendan saying that. listen, brendan, i think the fact is that no one's really saying that. she is wrong to have that opinion of how they treated the staff. it's more if they're going to get investment from this company. it's a bit silly. >> rogue is a very strong word. exactly. i'll tell you back to my earlier point. you could have used different words. she could have said, we don't agree with this policy. we don't agree that 800 people can be fired. and then rehired on different t's and c's. you can express your disgust in a very intelligent manner rather than being so blunt. it's like hitting someone

over the head with a hammer. >> so rogue. danny, i take your itake >> so rogue. danny, i take your i take your point and i do think that ministers need to be careful with their language, and we all need to be precise with our language. and obviously, ministers have a special responsibility to be a little bit diplomatic, but at the same time, i think that we are so fed up with wishy washy, mealy mouthed sort of completely milquetoast political statements. all the time where people will never say what they think and actually someone saying, you know what? this is a rogue cowboy . operator. i rogue cowboy. operator. i wouldn't use this service anymore. i think a lot of people would cheer that. >> well, if it costs trillions or billions of dollars or whatever it is that it may cost us if they do pull out because they did initially say that they won't be going to the meeting after her comments. if it does cost billions, then i don't think she'd be fit to run that office. but what do you think? gbnews.com/yoursay should a transport secretary, louise haigh , resign after her comments ? haigh, resign after her comments? gbnews.com/yoursay. next it's time for the great british debate this hour and i'm asking

our labour's freebies