>> good afternoon britain. it's 1:00 on wednesday the 27th of november. >> i'm miriam cates and i'm tom harwood a convicted terrorist who groomed the manchester arena bomber salman abedi has been freed from prison despite a parole board saying they fear he will reoffend. >> is this the best? is this in the best interest of the british public? >> and keir starmer has faced demands from not one but two of his mps at prime minister's questions to introduce blasphemy law, including banning desecration of holy books. the prime minister sidestepped the issue. >> from russia with drones, could flying objects spotted over air force bases in the united kingdom really be part of a sinister plot by vladimir putin? all eyes look eastwards as cabinet ministers are banned from russia and questions are asked about a series of strange

events across the country . events across the country. >> well, welcome to good afternoon britain. >> an interesting pmqs. >> an interesting pmqs. >> there because, as we said in the headlines, two mps are asking for potentially punishments for desecrating ruining holy books such as the quran. >> yeah, really interesting there. because i seem to think that we had something called the enlightenment in this country where we learnt that it's to okay criticise religions, where we learnt that it's okay, it's legal to be a heretic, where we learnt that it's all right and perhaps even advisable to be able to not only give out, but also receive criticism that we all become better people if we are able to criticise and

receive criticism in turn, what sort of a country would we be if we start to ban that? >> well, i think that's such a good point. >> and freedom of religion is one of the things that marks the uk out as a free country. >> and of course, it is offensive to go around burning the holy books of other religions. >> of course it is. and sometimes people would mean it to be offensive, but it certainly doesn't mean it should be illegal. and once you start down that route, it's a very rapid path to kerbing incredibly important freedoms. and actually there is a link between this and there is a link between this and the kind of non—crime hate incident row that we've been having over the last few weeks. if you start to legislate for offence, you're very, very quickly in in tricky waters. >> absolutely . and what i find >> absolutely. and what i find most extraordinary is, i mean, thank goodness the prime minister didn't say, yes, we're going to ban the burning of books or we're going to we're going to ban the desecration because desecration. what does desecration mean? i mean, there was a case in i think it was the east midlands where where someone scuffled a quran ever so

slightly and there was a there was ambiguity as to whether this was ambiguity as to whether this was deliberate or not. but some schoolboy didn't treat this holy book with the reverence that some parents thought that he must, and therefore he had to sort of be be paraded out with press conferences and apologies. and it was sort of like a something you'd see in the middle ages, a sort of and i think we've got to be honest, this is a particular issue with islam . islam. >> christian. i'm a christian. i don't want anyone to burn the bible, but i certainly wouldn't retaliate or take offence if somebody did it. but it does seem to be very different rules in islam, and we do need to make sure we uphold free speech. >> and i do wonder if it was a conservative christian who stood up and said , shall we have laws up and said, shall we have laws about desecrating the holy bible? would the prime minister have just sidestepped the issue , have just sidestepped the issue, or would he have stood there and made a full throttled defence of liberal freedoms, of free speech and of the enlightenment? well, we'll never know anyway. >> much more of that coming up. >> much more of that coming up. >> but first of all, your headunes >> but first of all, your headlines with sam francis .

headlines with sam francis. >> very good afternoon to you from the newsroom at 1:04. and the top story this lunchtime. well, making everything worse. that was the charge from conservative leader kemi badenoch accusing sir keir starmer of dodging the chancellor's pledge not to raise taxes or to borrow more in the future , in a fiery exchange at future, in a fiery exchange at prime minister's questions earlier, sir keir starmer hit back, though, saying the leader of the opposition wanted all of the benefits of the budget without explaining how she'd pay for it. >> two weeks ago, she stood there and said that she wanted all the investment , there and said that she wanted all the investment, all there and said that she wanted all the investment , all the all the investment, all the benefits of the budget, but she didn't know how she was going to pay didn't know how she was going to pay for it. i noticed that having come here criticising the national insurance rises over and over again on monday, she admitted that she wouldn't reverse the position that we set out . and meanwhile her science out. and meanwhile her science minister was saying he was going energetically to do the opposite. they really haven't got a clue what they're doing in

response to those roars from the labour benches, kemi badenoch suggested sir keir starmer should resign over what she described as labour's lies. if he wants to know what conservatives would do, he should resign and find out . should resign and find out. until then, i'm the one asking the questions. there's a petition out there, 2 million people asking him to go . yeah, people asking him to go. yeah, he's the one who doesn't know . he's the one who doesn't know. he's the one who doesn't know how things work. it is not government that creates growth, mr speaker, it is business, roads and railways across the country have been hit by flooding today, and various train stations evacuated as storm connell struck in london. >> king's cross station was forced to shut due to overcrowding, with commuters describing absolute mayhem at the station. trains have also been unable to stop at platforms at euston underground station due to overcrowding. meanwhile, the tube network has also been plagued by fire alerts, causing

issues on a number of lines. paddington station was among those forced to close earlier as tfl responded to one of those fire alerts . six people have fire alerts. six people have been arrested in london as part of a counter—terrorism investigation into suspected activity linked to the kurdistan workers party, also known as pkk, that is a proscribed terrorist organisation. the suspects, aged between 23 and 62, were detained under the terrorism act, with officers conducting searches at eight different addresses across the city, including the kurdish community centre in haringey. police there say there is no immediate threat to the public, but the centre will remain closed for up to two weeks as their investigation continues . their investigation continues. in the middle east, israel has now, for the second time since a ceasefire with hezbollah came into force, has said its troops have fired shots in southern lebanon. that comes as thousands of displaced residents in the south are currently returning home after 14 months of fighting .

home after 14 months of fighting. but israel is warning people not to return until its forces have fully withdrawn from certain areas, which they say could take up to two months. here, the prime minister, sir keir starmer, says the ceasefire is long overdue , calling for a long overdue, calling for a political solution to end the crisis permanently. meanwhile, aid organisations are calling for the truce to extend to gaza, where fighting continues . three where fighting continues. three former conservative prime ministers boris johnson, theresa may and liz truss have come out against the assisted dying bill ahead of friday's vote in the commons . opposition is also commons. opposition is also growing, with more than 1000 anglican clergy warning the legislation is , they say, a legislation is, they say, a dangerous threat to society. a cross—party, so—called wrecking amendment could see the bill scrapped before it even reaches a vote. meanwhile, sir keir starmer, who once supported changing the law, is yet to reveal how he will vote. nhs dental services are in crisis, according to a new report, with treatment levels still millions short of pre—pandemic numbers. the national audit office says

the government's dental recovery plan aiming for 1.5 million extra treatments this year, is unlikely to meet that target. even if it does, that's still a 2.6 million fewer treatments annually than before covid. critics, including mps and the british dental association, say that measures like mobile vans and dentist bonuses have failed to improve access to dental care . to improve access to dental care. parents in england will soon be benefiting from 30 minutes of free childcare at the start of the school day, as the government rolls out breakfast clubs. applications are now open for 750 primary schools to join a £7 million trial, with free breakfasts and childcare starting in april. the chancellor, rachel reeves , has chancellor, rachel reeves, has pledged to triple funding for the scheme to over £30 million by next year, calling it a landmark opportunity to improve attendance, improve behaviour and support families. well, under secretary for education stephen morgan spoke to us earlier here on breakfast and he

said that the scheme will break down the barriers