>> morning 930 on tuesday the 15th of october. live across the uk. this is britain's newsroom on gb news with andrew pierce and bev turner. >> good morning. thanks for joining us. so chancellor rachel reeves looks set to raise national insurance for businesses as the tories claim it's a manifesto breach. speaking to gb news, she didn't deny an incoming tax hike. >> you've read our manifesto and in black and white it said we will not increase taxes on working people. and that was national insurance income tax and vat, not employers. that was not in the manifesto. >> is she kidding? now, if you're too fat to work, don't

worry. the health secretary's plans to give obese , unemployed plans to give obese, unemployed people weight loss jabs paid for by the taxpayer to get them back in the office. another gimmick. more on that to come. >> doom scrolling danger. children under 16 face restrictions on smartphone use to stop them looking at their phone for hours on social media. hurrah! how do we make these phones less addictive ? phones less addictive? >> britain's mini military. the army will have fewer than 70,000 trained soldiers next year. that's not enough people to fill out wembley stadium. where does this leave us? on the world stage? >> and sadiq, the swiftie the story that won't go away for laboun story that won't go away for labour, it turns out. guess what? london mayor sadiq khan discussed the pop superstar taylor swift's security arrangements with the metropolitan police. two did he have a free ticket? >> yes, he did.

>> yes, he did. >> champagne socialists, the lot of them. they love a bit of a bit of glamour, don't they? they can't get enough of it. now, don't forget it's decision time this week. the race to lead the conservative party is heating up on thursday the 17th of october. this week it is robert jenrick versus kemi badenoch live only on gb news from 7 pm. >> we'd like to hear what you think, so send your views , post think, so send your views, post your comments by visiting gbnews.com/yoursay. but first, here's the news with tatyana . here's the news with tatyana. >> bev and andrew. thank you very much. the top stories the health secretary says unemployed people living with obesity could be given new weight loss jabs to help them get back into work. wes streeting suggested the latest generation of medicines, including ozempic, could be life changing for individuals and would ease pressure on the nhs. in an opinion piece for the telegraph, he said the long term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our approach to tackling obesity. exchequer

secretary to the treasury james murray told gb news it's good for the economy. >> we want to make sure that people who are not working at the moment for any reasons, but obviously obesity is one of them. we want to support them to get back into work . and these get back into work. and these weight loss jabs are just one opfion weight loss jabs are just one option for helping people to lose weight. there will obviously be a discussion between a patient and their doctor to work out the best way for them to lose weight . these for them to lose weight. these weight loss jabs play a role as part of the overall set of interventions that you can make to help people lose weight and to help people lose weight and to where they can work. get back into work, which is good for them and good for the economy . them and good for the economy. >> an mp has warned that children who are doomscrolling for hours a day on smartphones are at risk of widespread harm, according to labour mp josh mcallister. the equivalent of seat belt legislation is needed for children and their social media use to help them manage addictive content tomorrow. mcallister will introduced a

private member's bill in parliament on protecting children from harms caused by excessive screen time. the bill is expected to call for the age at which companies can get data consent from children without parental permission to be raised from 13 to 16 to make smartphones less addictive. and the prime minister will host a special meeting of his cabinet this morning, with all government fixed on the budget. at the end of this month. the deadune at the end of this month. the deadline for wrapping up major budget measures is imminent, and so the prime minister is gathering his top team today to discuss how their all important first financial statements will play first financial statements will play out. now, this comes as the chancellor, rachel reeves, has been accused of breaking the party's pledge on tax, as she hinted at increasing national insurance contributions for employers. and those are the latest gb news headlines. for now i'm tatiana sanchez. more from me in half an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gb news .com forward

slash alerts . slash alerts. >> welcome to britain's newsroom live across the uk on gb news with bev turner and andrew pierce. >> well, it's there in black and white in labour's manifesto. they say explicitly about attacks we will not raise the rates of national insurance. >> well , paul rates of national insurance. >> well, paul johnson, the director for the institute of fiscal studies, has said to increase them would be a straightforward breach of labour's promise. >> but while the manifesto does say on working people now , say on working people now, whatever that means. exactly. now let's look at what the chancellor, rachel reeves, said to gb news very own political editor , christopher hope, yesterday. >> the budget your manifesto says we will not increase national insurance, but you're looking at increasing employers national insurance. aren't you breaking a manifesto pledge with that? >> well, you've read our manifesto , and in black and manifesto, and in black and white it said we will not increase taxes on working people. and that was national insurance income tax and not

employers. that was not in the manifesto. >> who's she kidding? >> who's she kidding? >> she didn't deny it, did she? >> she didn't deny it, did she? >> let's be honest. it's going up. >> it probably is going up. and in a way. okay, fine. if you have to put tax up, then you should be able to justify it. clearly, you should be able to communicate that. you should be able to even admit if it wasn't in the manifesto and say , well, in the manifesto and say, well, we've had to change various things. i realise that that would not go down well. as you can see, i don't work in political comms, but there must be a way to get this over the line without upsetting everybody, which is what they're doing at the moment. >> well, also, they're weeding out ministers to say we're not breaking. it's the rate. they said they wouldn't raise taxes. that's the point. specified vat income tax , national insurance, income tax, national insurance, national insurance. it looks like it's going up. >> the thing is, i think when they said we cut, we won't raise taxes.i they said we cut, we won't raise taxes. i don't think there was a person in this country who didn't think, well, that can't be true. you're going to have to raise taxes somewhere because we

spent half £1 trillion on the pandemic. so we're going to have to raise them from somewhere. >> and we know that they're going to raise capital gains as well. that's for sure. but national insurance, i just think when they're looking wobbly on issues about transparency, and you remember they're bringing a law about after after hillsborough, about transparency and public organisations. you've got to be transparent themselves under the duty of candour, of candourin under the duty of candour, of candour in public life. we need a duty of candour from ministers about tax rises. >> well, i think so. should we talk to geoff hoon? yeah. former labour mp geoff hoon joins us now , former defence secretary now, former defence secretary who held many big cabinet jobs geoff hoon. >> morning to you. you've been in these difficult situations before. the poor old treasury minister wheeled out today, james murray, getting a battering whenever every interview he goes in. because people say you're not telling it straight, minister. >> well, i've also conducted a textual analysis of the manifesto as you clearly have as well. and it does seem to me quite clear that the manifesto rules out increasing taxes for individuals. it talks about not

increasing national insurance, income tax and vat, all of which are tax paid by individuals. and i think everyone understood at the time that that is what the manifesto was referring to and what the labour government are implementing. >> geoff, what is a working person? >> well , i person? >> well, i mean, virtually everyone in the country is a working person. >> that's why i say that it refers to individuals taxes on individuals. as far as those three main taxes are concerned. it was clear to me at the time of the election that that was what was being ruled out. and i think it's perfectly reasonable in those circumstances for organisations like businesses to pay organisations like businesses to pay their fair share of taxation. >> but it doesn't use the word individuals, it uses the expression working people and are you saying then, geoff, that are you saying then, geoff, that a plumber who may employ eight people isn't already paying his fair share of taxes? he's people isn't already paying his fair share o