already. nearly october already. nearly finished. how is this happening? okay, now, sir keir starmer has said that the upcoming budget will not be a war against the middle classes following recent tensions about potential tax rises and his definition of what a working person is. then several protests are taking place in the capital today, including unite the kingdom march, organised by tommy robinson, will be there live and more migrants are crossing the channel this year and the figure has reached more than the whole of 2023 already. i'm dawn neesom and the weekend starts right here. so thank you for joining me on the saturday afternoon. hope

you're having a lovely weekend out there. and if you are travelling around or doing something in the garden or whatever, remember we're on your radio as well so you can listen to us as you're moving about. but the best thing to do is sit on the sofa and just enjoy yourself and get involved in the show. really, really simple. and you are the most important people either as well. it's not me, it's not my brilliant panellists who are brilliant, but it's not about them. it's about you. and you can get involved in the show really simply by going to gbnews.com/yoursay and join the conversation. whatever we're talking about, whatever you want to talk about, it's the weekend. we're light and easy here. keeping me company this hour is former labour advisor the wonderful scarlett mccgwire and former conservative mp neil parish, who's already being a bit naughty here in the corner, ihave bit naughty here in the corner, i have to say, hasn't he scarlet? oh yeah. yeah, we're we're . we're. >> yeah. this is what the hour is going to be like keeping an eye on me too. >> don't worry. but before we get into today's stories, here's the news with sophia wenzler . the news with sophia wenzler. >> jordan. thank you. good

afternoon . these are your afternoon. these are your headunes afternoon. these are your headlines from the gb newsroom. downing street says escalation is in no one's interest. downing street says escalation is in no one's interest . after is in no one's interest. after israel conducted precise strikes on military targets in iran overnight, the retaliatory strikes against the iranian regime come after tehran launched a barrage of more than 180 ballistic missiles at israel three weeks ago. terror group hamas has condemned israel's attack on iran as an escalation , attack on iran as an escalation, calling it a violation of iran's sovereignty and a threat to regional security. but the idf says they'll do whatever necessary to defend the state. >> the israel defence forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in iran. our defensive and offensive capabilities are fully mobilised. we will do whatever necessary to defend the state of israel and the people of israel . israel and the people of israel. >> meanwhile, the prime minister ,

>> meanwhile, the prime minister, sir keir starmer, has said the uk is monitoring the live situation and warned iran to not respond. >> israel does have the right to defend itself, but we are urging and have been urging all sides to show restraint . iran should to show restraint. iran should not respond. we will continue to work with allies to de—escalate the situation across the region. >> in other news, the prime minister has denied he was plotting a war against middle britain after suggestions that those who make an income from property or shares do not fall within his definition of working people. it comes after the chancellor insisted that sir keir starmer is a working person, and could be among those protected from the government's controversial tax hikes in the upcoming budget. it comes as rachel reeves will reportedly raise employers national insurance by up to 2% in her october budget on wednesday. only private sector employers will carry the load, as public sector contributions are set to

be reimbursed by the treasury. the chancellor is also expected to target employers pension contributions with national insurance. it all forms part of £40 billion in fiscal measures to meet the government's spending promises. now the prime minister has given a press conference as the commonwealth summit in samoa draws to a close after the uk failed to keep language on reparations out of the joint statement signed by attending nations, sir keir starmer addressed the issue , starmer addressed the issue, insisting that there had been no discussions about money at the major summit. the prime minister downplayed the prominence of repertory justice on the agenda, saying talks about climate resilience had instead been the absolute priority. meanwhile , absolute priority. meanwhile, the king says he hopes he survives long enough to see samoa again as he bid farewell to the pacific islands. king charles and queen camilla ended their four day state visit to

samoa by visiting a village twinned with the uk as the major commonwealth summit drew to a close . back in the uk, now, a close. back in the uk, now, a man remains in custody on suspicion of attempted murder after a woman and two children suffered stab wounds in a truly shocking incident. police were called to dagenham where they found the woman in her 30s. an eight year old girl and a two year old boy, all suffering from stab wounds. while the girl's injuries are not life threatening, the conditions of the woman and the boy remain unknown. detectives say those involved were known to each other, and they are not seeking any further suspects. now, political activist tommy robinson is missing his own planned protest in central london today after he was remanded into custody by police overnight. kent police confirmed the 41 year old's arrest as he faces potential jail time for alleged contempt of court. hundreds of supporters have started walking down victoria street towards parliament square

for the rally. some demonstrators were wearing i am peter lynch badges in reference to a 61 year old man who died in prison after being jailed for screaming abuse at riot police outside a hotel housing asylum seekers. and phil lesh, the founding member of the us rock band the grateful dead, has died at the age of 84. the bass player featured in the original line up of the band, alongside jerry garcia, bob weir, bill kreutzmann and ron mckernan. the musician's official instagram account said he passed peacefully this morning. he was surrounded by his family. peacefully this morning. he was surrounded by his family . those surrounded by his family. those are the latest gb news headlines. now it's back to dawn . headlines. now it's back to dawn. >> thank you very much, sofia. looking lovely in orange , isn't looking lovely in orange, isn't she? this is an orangey red. before you ask. and before we get started, i'm going to say a good morning to or good afternoon even to kez . dawn, afternoon even to kez. dawn, what's the point in asking for

our comments? we just get ignored. just think how many can be read out every time you ask for one of us. well good morning, i've just read your comment out gbnews.com/yoursay if you want to get in touch. okay, now let's get straight into today's stories, shall we? sir keir starmer has said that the upcoming budget will not be a war against the middle classes , a war against the middle classes, following recent tensions about potential tax rises and his definition of what a working person is. oh my lord, i have to say that phrase one more time. i'm going to kill myself. the prime minister also addressed the issue of reparations, stating that conversations around reparatory justice have been agreed at the summit, but that none would be around money. he spoke earlier. let's have listen. >> i should be really clear here. in the two days we've been here, none of the discussions have been about money. our position is very, very clear in relation to that . relation to that. >> very clear. okay. joining me now is gb news political correspondent, the wonderful katherine forster catherine. he used the word clear twice in one

sentence there without being actually very clear about anything. what did you make of what he had to not say. >> yes, indeed. good afternoon dawn. well, in terms of reparations for our part in the slave trade, i think moderately clear in that he said that although there is a reference to reparatory justice in this communique that's gone out on behalf of all the 56 countries that were there , none of the that were there, none of the discussions have been about money. so the government is saying they're not going to pay any money in reparations, which will be a relief given that some people were saying that our liability could be up to 18 trillion. i don't think that was ever possible to be honest, given that we couldn't begin to afford it. but i think going forward there may well be other discussions around supporting some of these countries more with climate change, something

that the government is already doing because many of these are small island nations, commonwealth nations, and climate change is already really affecting them. it might too be, that some of the long term debts that some of the long term debts that these countries have could be written off. but in terms of working people, my goodness, the government have got themselves into an almighty mess about this, haven't they? but i