sir keir starmer has set out six targets or milestones for the labour government to achieve, including more police, more housing and shorter nhs waiting lists. but why were there no promises on immigration and europe's baby bust? birth rates across our continent have plunged to an all time low, as experts warn that the demographic crisis will cripple western economies. the number of babies born in europe fell by

over 5% last year in the biggest drop since records began. meanwhile, britain's most popular baby names have been revealed olivia for girls and mohammed for boys and the legacy of lockdown. chancellor rachel reeves has appointed a covid corruption commissioner, who will examine an estimated £7.6 billion of covid related fraud. but during the pandemic, the labour party pushed for more lockdowns, more spending and more debt. so when will the labour party examine their own role in britain's lockdown legacy and fat jab disappointment? millions of obese people will be denied free weight loss jabs due to a lack of nhs capacity. should the taxpayer fund drugs to help the overweight slimmed down, or is it time for some personal responsibility ? and joining me responsibility? and joining me tonight i have a fantastic panel tonight i have a fantastic panel, ben habib, businessman and former deputy party leader of reform and bill rammell, former labour mp and government

minister. but first, your latest news headlines . news headlines. >> good evening. it's 6:01. i'm cameron walker here in the gb newsroom. sir keir starmer has once again promised to reduce immigration but avoided setting specific targets. in a speech at pinewood studios earlier today. he outlined his plan for change, though immigration was absent from his six pledges when pressed, the prime minister said the government would only tackle the government would only tackle the issue with a serious plan focusing on dismantling people smuggling gangs. reform uk have quickly criticised the lack of measurable targets. but sir keir starmer argues controlling borders is still a fundamental responsibility for 14 years we had an arbitrary number under the previous government, they said. >> it was a hard cap, it wasn't hard and it wasn't a cap. the net result of their deliberate policies was that migration went

up four times. staggering. those figures of last year. so we will not be following that approach. we're going to do this in a serious way to take migration down and i think that's what the british public want, a serious plan to ensure we've got control of our borders . of our borders. >> the french prime minister, michel barnier , has resigned michel barnier, has resigned after his government was ousted in a no confidence vote, the first since 1962. 331 mps backed the motion sparked by his use of presidential powers, to push through a controversial ,60 billion budget without a vote, despite the resignation, he will remain in office until a successor is appointed. president emmanuel macron, now faces the challenge of selecting a new prime minister from within a new prime minister from within a divided parliament. macron is set to address the french nation this evening . the archbishop of this evening. the archbishop of canterbury says a head had to roll following a review into the church of england's handling of

abuse allegations. speaking in the house of lords, he said that safeguarding in the church of england has improved, but it is clear that he must step down in the wake of the report. his departing speech comes after it emerged the outgoing archbishop will not take part in any public christmas services this year, despite still being in post until january . and speaking of until january. and speaking of christmas, time to get you into that christmas spirit. let's bnng that christmas spirit. let's bring you some live pictures now of trafalgar square in central london, where a ceremony is starting for the christmas tree lights switch on. they are performances by the royal marine corps of drums, which you can see on your screen, and the regent's hall bands of salvation army kicking things off. of course, the tree is a gift from norway, something that's happened every year since 1947 to recognise the uk's assistance to recognise the uk's assistance to the country. during the second world war, the lights are switching on at exactly 630 tonight. well, those are the latest gb news headlines for how. >> now. >> back to miriam 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 back to dewbs& co with me miriam cates standing in for michelle dewberry tonight and joining me until seven. i've got my panel, ben habib, businessman, former deputy party leader of reform uk and bill rammell, former labour mp and minister and hopefully we will be going to trafalgar square live when we have the switch on of the lights for that christmas tree. now, as ever, please get your views in at gbnews.com/yoursay and we'll be reading out some of your comments later on in the programme. well, on to tonight's news. prime minister sir keir starmer has launched a major government reset this morning, announcing more details of his plan for change. but he didn't miss a chance to take a swipe at the tories for the current state

of britain. >> and this is a big job. pfisons >> and this is a big job. prisons overflowing the nhs on its knees , a £22 billion black its knees, a £22 billion black hole in our public finances and which, to put that in context, is nearly half of what we spend on defence of our country . now, on defence of our country. now, i don't want to use that as an excuse.i i don't want to use that as an excuse. i expect to be judged on my ability to deal with it, and the work of change has begun . the work of change has begun. >> now. starmer, based his speech around labour's five missions and outlined his six milestones to get there. let's take a listen to those six milestones. >> higher living standards in every region of the country . every region of the country. britain rebuilt with 1.5 million new homes, safer streets, more police on the beat . the best police on the beat. the best start in life for every child with a record proportion of five year olds starting school ready to learn clean power by 2030.

home grown british energy waiting lists in our nhs cut now . waiting lists in our nhs cut now. >> the lib dem leader, ed davey, has already criticised the speech, accusing the government of moving the goalposts and creating milestones on the road to nowhere. others have questioned why starmer's ambition for the uk to be the fastest growing economy in the g7 has been quietly dropped, but there were plenty of good intentions to be welcomed in the pm's speech. ben lots to be welcomed. there surely some common sense themes that everybody can get around. >> well, i mean, when you declare you're going to build homes, when you declare you're going to mend the nhs, you're going to mend the nhs, you're going to mend the nhs, you're going to get extra police on the on the beat, come down hard on crime. no one can disagree with you. it's whether or not any of those things actually result in genuine action. you know, and we had sunak's famous five pledges. do you remember. and i think eventually i do remember ben inflation eventually came down.

but i'll believe it when i see it. the budget that, you know, i have to go back to the budget, the budget that rachel reeves revealed included £36 billion worth of tax rises, 34 billion of borrowing on top of that, most commentators with half a brain recognise that the private sector is going to be hit very hard as a result of her budget and the united kingdom. i can't see how andrew bailey, for example, came out today and said that, you know, he can see interest. for interest rate reductions coming next year, if her ability to grow this economy disappears, if instead , she ends disappears, if instead, she ends up with a ballooning budget deficit, which is very much on the cards because the economy may not grow and she'll therefore have to borrow more, she will have rising borrowing costs, rising inflation, a weakening pound and will be in a downward spiral. so all these declarations are all great, but actually the mechanisms and the steps we're hearing from this

government simply aren't going to deliver it. >> i mean, bill, do you think that's right? there was there was no particular economic target. there was the target to raise the standard of living or raise the standard of living or raise people disposable incomes, which people would be very pleased with. but do you think there was a deliberate evasion of those specific targets around the economy? >> no, i don't, but let me firstly address what ben said. you know, if, if, if we, we get an economic crisis. well, the oecd yesterday was significantly upgrading the uk's growth forecast, and i'm fully aware that labour's success is dependent on economic growth. but what we saw today was the putting the flesh on the bones of our aspirations for change. and i think you're right, virtually every item within the list people would agree with on the specifics of living standards . we haven't moved away standards. we haven't moved away from wanting to be the fastest growing economy in the g7, but i think we've learnt from the american experience that you can have the fastest growing economy in the world, but if people don't feel it in their pay packets, then it doesn't really

impact. >> that's right, the gdp figures are fairly meaningless to most people. it matters what's in your payslip and the cost of bread and milk. >> they are absolutely right. but i'd also, if i'm being absolutely dispassionate, the criticism i would make of my party and my government is we weren't well enough prepared for government. we should have had an emergency budget within weeks of the general election. this programme should have been announced in early september, and the other criticism i would make is in politics and government. you need to paint pictures to tell a story in words, and all of this is really, really good. but we still haven't created that picture of where it's all leading to. >> and i think that's the and how it's going to work. i mean, you said if, if, if i use the word if repeatedly, actually the obr itself came out and said that the budget rachel reeves announced is balanced on a knife edge. and i think if growth doesn't assert itself, if we end up and all the signals, by the way, pmi purchasing managers indexis way, pmi purchasing managers index is below 50. so we're

heading towards a recession. according to the pmi, if we end up in recession, you won't have an extra 32 billion of borrowing. you'll have another 40 billion or 45 billion. and the 22 billion black hole that starmer keeps wishing to identify, and i completely reject that. there could ever possibly be a black hole government spending is all discretionary. you decide where you're going to spend your money. if there's a 22 billion black hole, the last thing you do is announce, as rachel reeves did, £70 billion worth of spending in her budget, which is effectively what she did. we are on a knife edge, bill, and this economy, this private sector, cannot take more regulation, more taxes. and we haven't even touched on the employment bill, which is going to be so damaging to the private sector. >> on the regulation, though, ben. i mean, i think a very fair criticism of the past government, previous government is that we didn't build enough houses particularly, and we really stalled in infrastructure and actually british record in building infrastructure in recent years is very, very poor. now, starmer touched on these things that we need to build

more houses and we need better infrastructure. but how can he unblock those serious issues when the conservative government couldn't? >> and where's the money coming from? >> it's about political will. i mean one it's about is it though or is it about a huge amount of regulation that no one can wade through? it's about cutting through? it's about cutting through that regulation. it's about imposing housing targets on local authorities, which are desperately needed. it's about unblocking the blockages to infrastructure. he quoted one statistic today hs2 . £100 statistic today hs2. £100 million spent on a tunnel, 100 billion, 100 million hundred million on the backs of. yeah, yeah, a group of bats. i mean, come on. for too long in our country , local opposition has country, local opposition has been able to block infrastructure projects and housing development. that's desperately needed. and it's about time that changed. and to come back to the obr. the obr has not factored in things like the infrastructure changes that are within these announcements. and i think when that happens, you'll begin to see the picture change. >> but i completely accept what you're saying about political

will and perhaps there wasn't enoughin will and perhaps there wasn't enough in the last government. and certainly some backbench conservative mps blocked the only chance of reforming planning that could have built more houses. so i accept that. but actually, haven't we just become such an overregulated country completely? lots of people don't want their neighbour to have an extension. they don't want a new housing estate. how can any government in just four and a half years? let's face it, break through that kind of red tape? >> absolutely. and one of the biggest regulations is going to be prohibitive for housing is net zero, because all new houses have to meet excessively high net zero targets. and so housebuilding has become excessively expensive. it also means, for example, that tired town centres which can't meet the net zero requirements, are not being converted to residential. you know, you end up in a downward spiral every time a government passes a regulation , every time it raises regulation, every time it raises a tax, what you do is create more friction for the economy, more friction for the economy, more friction for the economy, more friction for the private sector, more friction for the individual. and that friction manifests itself in an ever more

expensive and slowing economy. and if you you can't go on punishing the goose that lays the golden eggs. and we've had the golden eggs. and we've had the same basic. sorry, i'm nearly finished. we've had the same basic approach to governance for the last 27 years. more regulations , years. more regulations, micromanaging the way the country operates and more taxation in order for the government to become ever more nanny. i call it a wet nurse. now it does everything and we're going to be talking about obesity, but we're no longer a nanny state. we're a wet nurse state, and we've got to pair all of that back. we've got to liberate british business. we've got to liberate individuals. >> people like you on the economic free marketeer, far right , far right have held sway right, far right have held sway for donkeys . for donkeys. >> he is on my right, but he's certainly not a far right. >> and you've said all we need to do is strip away regulation and the economy. >> no, i didn't i didn't , and it >> no, i didn't i didn't, and it hasn't happened. no, but the economy is going. we've got the highest debt levels since world war ii, the highest taxation as a proportion of gdp growth rate,

gdp per capita, which is the measure of personal wealth, has been going down for the last 12 quarters. this country is in trouble, gentlemen. >> we will be continuing this discussion after the break. obviously, a very big speech. i think also we need to consider are the housing targets ambitious enough? i mean, 1.5 million houses. there's only 300,000 a year. that's only slightly more than the previous government managed. and that clearly wasn't enough. anyway, coming up, we have been dissecting this plan, this speech, his plan for change. but where were the pm's target on immigration? as net migration into the uk reaches record levels? does the pm have pm have any plan to get it down? see you after the break.

welcome back to dewbs& co with me miriam cates and keeping me company until 7:00. i've got ben habib, businessman and former deputy party leader of reform uk and bill rammell, former labour

minister and mp . now some minister and mp. now some breaking news. the financial times is reporting that the labour mayor of london, sadiq khan, is to receive a knighthood in the new year's honours list. does he deserve it? ben ? what do does he deserve it? ben? what do you think? >> well, he deserves a lot of things and knighthood is not one of them. what for ? what is he of them. what for? what is he being given this knighthood? crossrail was late and over budget. knife crime in london is up. tfl doesn't work. it's basically bust and had to be rescued by the government. council taxes are going through the roof. police there aren't enough police on the streets in london. i mean, any metric you wish to choose about london? it's basically deteriorated over the last over his time in in office. i wouldn't give him anything. i'd be booting out of the office. i'd abolish the role of the mayoralty of london. >> bill, this is just convention, though. formality, isn't it? when a party gets into power . anybody elected? senior. power. anybody elected? senior. he's been elected for two terms. just gets an honour. >> well, let me just come back

to ben. i mean, you know, the electorate don't agree with you. he's been elected three times in a row with a much bigger margin this time. but but but i don't agree with serving politicians getting knighthoods. i actually think people are very cynical about it. it sends out the wrong message. i'm not sure why a serving politician would want to be a knight. >> yes, that's an interesting prospect . actually, i have quite prospect. actually, i have quite a few of my colleagues got knighthoods when i was in service serving as an mp, and you have to remember to call them sir in the chamber. i mean, that's just a little bit of, you know, kudos in the tea room, really, isn't it? >> but i mean, if you've made a genuine con