will. >> will. >> good evening. tonight immigration stats from the oecd saying we are taking more legal migrants than any other country on the planet. is it doing us any good? let's talk trump appointments and let's talk about doge. don't worry if you don't know about it. i'll explain the whole thing in a few minutes time. we must debate the assisted dying bill, which comes to parliament on november the 19th. probably the most significant private member's bill for decades to come. before members of parliament. and guess what? civil servants say they want to work a four day week because that would give them a very happy life. yes. not so happy for the taxpayers, perhaps, but there we are. we'll debate it all. first, let's get the news with sophie reaper.

>> thank you. nigel, the time is 7:00 and these are your latest headlines. law enforcement agencies in the uk, belgium and the netherlands have arrested a major supplier of small boats and engines to criminal people smugglers. the suspect, a 44 year old turkish national, was arrested after arriving at amsterdam airport. dutch authorities plan to extradite the man to belgium to face charges as part of an organised criminal operation. the national crime agency says that the suspect has been a top target of investigations for years. fewer pharmacies could be open in the evenings and at weekends from the new year. that's after pharmacy owners voted in favour of collective action for the first time in their history. some could also withdraw from providing emergency contraception and stop smoking services. more than 3000 independent community pharmacies independent community pharmacies in england , wales and northern in england, wales and northern ireland took part in the ballot, with 97% of those who voted saying they would serve notice

on opening hours above the minimum requirement by their contract. earlier, the chief executive of peak pharmacy told gb news this action is a cry for help. >> she and the general health service is in a sorry state now. i'm unfortunately , community i'm unfortunately, community pharmacy has suffered under the imposition of a ten year fixed funding deal effectively, which has really meant that it's now straining in every direction to continue to uphold the service that that, frankly, is starting to deteriorate . to deteriorate. >> council tax cut, council tax rises will help ensure local authorities are funded next yean authorities are funded next year, a minister has said, as he rejected tory claims of a £2.4 billion black hole. council tax bills in england are expected to increase by up to 5% next april, with families therefore facing a £100 rise. communities minister matthew pennycook said the government expects an additional £1.8 government expects an additional £18 billion to be raised through council tax next year ,

through council tax next year, and a 62 gun salute has taken place at the tower of london this lunchtime in order to honour king charles 76th birthday. today is the monarch's actual birthday, following the official celebration marked by trooping the colour in june . trooping the colour in june. earlier this morning, the royal family posted a new image of the king on x and the prince and princess of wales wished the king a happy birthday with this lovely image on instagram. and despite it being his birthday, the king is still carrying out his official duties. he's opened two coronation food hubs designed to bridge the gap between food need and food waste in the uk. for now, those are gb news latest headlines. i'm sophie reaper and now it's back to nigel for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone , news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code, or go to gb news .com . gb news .com. >> forward slash alerts .

>> forward slash alerts. >> forward slash alerts. >> good evening. a big thank you to you from a very, very start for watching us, for listening to us, whether it's live or on catch up. and we're being noticed, our influence is being noticed. i had allison pearson on the show last night talking about plod knocking on her door last sunday morning for something she said on x a year ago, and elon musk picked this all up and he posted last night and saying that what we'd done is the show had beaten sky and the bbc ratings combined. and he's making the point, elon, that basically people have had enough of old style mainstream media. so a big thank you to elon musk as well . now some elon musk as well. now some figures out today from the oecd suggest that the united kingdom saw a 53% surge in migration in 2023, the highest among wealthy nations. now americas number was

bigger at 1.2 million. but our numbers are pretty much off the charts and pro rata. our numbers are the biggest in the world. 746,900 people came for permanent type settlement in the united kingdom last year. well, i'm joined in the studio by mike jones, executive director of migration watch. i guess these figures are no surprise to you at all. >> no, not at all. they're shocking, but not surprising. and the numbers don't lie. and the numbers are devastating. i mean, according to the oecd , we mean, according to the oecd, we saw the largest percentage increase last year among permanent migrants, amongst the rich countries, about 53%. the only country that came close to this was south korea, with australia in a distant third. and as you said, in terms of raw numbers , we were second only to numbers, we were second only to the united states, which is six times bigger than we are. precisely. i mean, if you zoom out and you go back to 2019 to

2023, there was about 110% increase. only a very small number of countries outdid us there. i think it was poland, lithuania and new zealand. so the figures are absolutely staggering. >> they are. i don't know what you think at home , folks, but, you think at home, folks, but, you think at home, folks, but, you know, is this ever going to end? farage @gbnews. com. give me your views. is this ever going to end now, mike. the point is that and for years for 20 plus years i've talked about this worried that the population increase would just have an impact on services, etc. but i was told by real experts like nick robinson of the today programme that what mattered was it was good for the economy, that mass migration was good for the economy. and so we just have to put up with the m6 being a bit busier on a friday night. but there's evidence now coming through that actually it's not particularly good, is it? >> no. i mean when people

promote the economic benefits of immigration, they confuse elite immigration, they confuse elite immigration and mass immigration and gdp and gdp per capita. so if you increase the size of your population, obviously the economic pie is getting bigger, but gdp per person doesn't necessarily increase. in fact, mass migration can actually damage the economy. the last major study that was done on this by oxford economics, they found that it was a huge burden to the taxpayer in the financial year of 2016. but that was pre—brexit and non—european migrants were the biggest burden, according to that study. but since brexit and the post, the points based system was introduced, we've seen a huge surge in legal and illegal migrants from outside of the eu. so clearly the idea that it greases the wheels of the economy is a fallacy. >> also worth noting that the oecd do make the point that a very large number of those that came were dependents of those who had work visas, and that means providing education,

health, whatever else it may be. now, the numbers are going to be down this year. is that right? >> oh, i think so. you know, anywhere between you know, 100 to 150,000 in terms of net migration, that's the sort of ballpark figure. obviously, that's a result of tory party reforms. you know, james cleverly banned most postgraduate dependents and social care dependents. he, you know, tweeted about with the salary thresholds . but at the salary thresholds. but at the end of the day, neither the tory or labour parties believe in a cap on visas. in fact, the tory party got rid of theresa may's cap on non—european migrants. and ultimately, without a cap, there's no control. and that's there's no control. and that's the only realistic way of bringing numbers down. >> well, i think that's very interesting because we do have with us in the studio. tom pursglove, former conservative member of parliament and minister in the immigration department. i'm also joined by susie stride , former labour susie stride, former labour party adviser and activist . so party adviser and activist. so tom pursglove , i mean, these

tom pursglove, i mean, these figures are from the last year of your government. they're awful. >> well, i thought the numbers were too high, and that's why we got on and did something about it. and james cleverly is home secretary and me as the illegal as the legal migration minister in more recent times took steps to address this. and as has been touched on, the numbers will be down very