>> good morning. a swift meeting the scandal. the prime minister can't seem to shake off. >> well, it's now revealed that he had a ten minute meeting with the global superstar, which, when he attended her concert in london. >> this was following the approval of a vip police escort for the singer, organised by his former chief of staff , sue gray. former chief of staff, sue gray. >> meanwhile, the chancellor has told cabinet ministers that plans to fill the £22 billion black hole will be enough only to keep public services standing still. >> it comes as she's accused of hypocrisy after it's emerged that she criticised rishi sunak on national insurance rises in 2022, calling it the worst

possible tax rise. >> assisted dying is set to return to parliament as a new bill is formally introduced in the house of commons. >> and staggering new figures show 20% of welsh children are illiterate by the time they reach secondary school. >> and a new survey finds that the majority of parents say fines for unauthorised absences wouldn't deter them from taking their children out of school for a holiday. okay, so we're asking should you be fined for kids missing term time or should you be sent to jail .7 be sent to jail? >> fair enough. and in the sport, this morning it's not pep or klopp. thomas tuchel will be unveiled as the new england manager this afternoon. are manchester united disrespecting sir alex ferguson? a new marathon world record holder richard whitehead, joins us in about 20 minutes time. >> it's a warm wednesday for all. a wet day for some though.

find out whether you'll be soggy or dry with a full forecast coming up later at 7:01 o'clock. >> a very good morning to you on this wednesday morning. i'm eamonn holmes. indeed. on the tuesday morning i was eamonn holmes as well. and as far as i know on monday morning. yes. so i'm not just eamonn holmes on a wednesday morning. >> i'm only isabel webster on a wednesday. this is gb news and we're here with breakfast every day . day. >> paul the thomas i love it when you're aiming holmes by the way i do. i love it when you're aiming. holmes. i'm not sure. yeah, thank you very much. >> i like it when he's george clooney myself. >> thomas tuchel. yes, sir. so he did the business at chelsea, but he left there under controversy. yes. he now looks like he's going to be the man. though not confirmed as head of the england football team. i'm

disappointed because if we were to have a replacement manager at man united, i would have wished for him. yeah. what's your view on the man and his abilities? >> i think he'll be good, actually. and the two things you mentioned, the manchester united thing. i think this decision has been pushed through maybe a little quicker. it's like, let's get this done because manchester united must be sniffing around thinking he'd be good for us with erik ten hag. the other thing is so many people saying, well, you know, it'd be better if we had an english manager, but then who are the other names that everybody wanted ? jurgen that everybody wanted? jurgen klopp, german. pep guardiola is spanish , so they're probably the spanish, so they're probably the big three. i think it's going to be a success. i think he's worked with harry kane, he knows how to work with him . when he how to work with him. when he was at bayern munich, harry kane scored loads of goals. he's going to play to his strengths. i think it will be good. i think he will. i think he'll have successes as england manager. at first i was thinking am i slightly underwhelmed? but the more i've looked into it, the more i've looked into it, the more i've looked into it, the more i've thought about it. i think it's a good decision and hopefully things will work out, but not until january.

>> we'll talk more in depth in 20 minutes time. >> thank you all right. let's talk about taylor swift, shall we? because this is the story that keeps on giving. and the freebie scandal continues to cause headaches for the prime minister, as it's now been revealed that he met with swift at her wembley gig back in august, on the day that downing street intervened to grant her a vip security. >> so is the real right. not that he met her or not that this was some sort of payola, but that she in return got a free vip escort. is that the controversy? >> yeah, lots of . well, i think >> yeah, lots of. well, i think there's just extra layers to it. i mean, at the time this picture came out, everybody said how lovely they are supporting the british economy at this big gig. and then it turns out they had a little tete a tete and sorted out blue lights for the superstar. >> my question is, what on earth does a 60 year old man want to go and see a teen idol family outing? >> he took his kids as well. oh did he? yeah. and she's mega. >> that would be my idea of hell. well, where are we going, dad? we're going to see taylor

swift. >> goodness, i'd love to have gone anyway. but anyway, the prime minister and his family reportedly spoke with the pop star for a whopping ten minutes, and they were given free tickets to one of her gigs in the summer. >> summer. >> okay, who are we going to talk to about this? nigel huddleston? nigel huddleston mp is there. i don't know if he. nigel good morning to you. did you go and see taylor swift ? you go and see taylor swift? >> i'm afraid i didn't. no i was not invited. yeah. >> all right okay i just want to start this little interview with some breaking news because i'm just hearing that inflation has fallen below the 2% target for the first time in three years, which is great news for the government. and it's the sort of figures that rishi sunak had been seeking for the whole time . been seeking for the whole time. >> well, indeed. and i have to say, on the taylor swift thing, let's be clear. that's not a good look, is it? for the prime minister? >> come on to that in a minute. but i just want your reaction

to. >> but but the inflation. yeah. so it's obviously good news that inflation is falling again. of course a lot of the dynamics of the economy mean that inflation figures are coming down largely as a result of the work of the previous government, because what this government's been doing with inflation busting pay rises for example, might compromise the direction of travel there. but it's good news because of course, this was a key strategy and key target of the last government, and we had to make difficult decisions in to make difficult decisions in to order bring inflation down. so i welcome the numbers, but i fear what may come next. >> yeah, but nigel, sorry, just on this point, does it not just make you a little bit frustrated that rishi sunak jumped the gun so early in calling that election ? election? >> well, look, there was never a good time to call an election. it might have been better to do it after the challenge . at the it after the challenge. at the end of the day, we're going through a lot of soul searching at the moment as to why we lost the last election. the economy was one aspect of it, but let's be clear, there was a lot of other factors why the british pubuc other factors why the british

public were frustrated with us and were in a listening mode at the moment to understand that, but i am glad that these figures have come down. i do want to welcome good news in the economy, because after all this government has done nothing but taught the uk economy down since they came to power, which itself is causing damage. but i welcome these figures. this is good news for the uk economy. but let's be clear this is not a result of government policy. current government policy. current government policy. >> okay, nigel, let me ask you, when you know so much is made of this black hole of £2.2 billion and i rachel reeves is saying even if we pay that off, the economy will only be standing still. we're going to have to do more. so we all dread what the heck's going to happen in this halloween horror of a budget thatis halloween horror of a budget that is coming our way, and that she's not talking about what would you if you were in power? what would the conservatives do you think do with that black hole? my point being, do we necessarily have to address it ? necessarily have to address it? >> well, look, there's a black

hole or the government's calling a black hole because of political choices they are making about the spending decisions they themselves are making . we had budgets, jeremy making. we had budgets, jeremy hunt had budgets, and we had forecasts, and we worked with the obr to make sure that we spent within our means. that's the point of having fiscal 1528 00:08:18,4