>> very good afternoon to you. welcome to martin daubney show live here on gb news a broadcasting from the heart of westminster and all across the uk. on today's show, sir keir starmer's popularity has plummeted to the lowest rating of any prime minister in history, with almost two thirds dissatisfied. and meanwhile, a 65% of brits think the economy will get even worse. never hear. keir is in norway and estonia today. can the embattled prime minister turn things around? and next up, the identity of the alleged spy has been named,

casting shockwaves through the heart of westminster and also dragging prince andrew into the story. we'll have the full details on this developing story. and will. how will brexit fishing rights be surrendered under a labour government? as the labour party allegedly hires 100 surrender squad strong of army of civil servants. i'll be speaking to great britain's best fisherman's friend, june mummery, to find out if our fishermen have finally been thrown under the bus. and bbc bullying letters are in and that is basically pensioners. will they be getting a visit from a tv licence detector man on christmas day? the bbc should be renamed the bah humbug broadcasting corporation as they threaten to harass pensioners as they watch the king's speech. i'll be contacted by activists who call this thuggish

behaviour. that's all coming up in your next hour. well, the show a pleasure to have your company. another story that's really caught my eye today is the labour party are saying that some local elections may be cancelled in may while they devolve power. that's right. restructure councils, meaning there'll be no need for a local election. well, guess who's angry about that? that's right. reform uk leader nigel farage. he reckons the labour party are using these rules as a cover to dive away from elections they get battered at. is that true? what do you think? is this a denial of democracy? a moving of democracy down the road to deny the electorate, to have their say in may, at those first local elections deemed to be absolutely talismanic? we just heard at the top of the show there. keir starmers popularity is the lowest of any prime

minister in modern history. his popularity is tanking. is this way? is this a way, this this devolution of him avoiding taking on those those electorates in that election? that's going to be next. but first, here's your news headlines. >> good afternoon. it's just gone 3:00. these are your headlines. the alleged chinese spy headlines. the alleged chinese spy linked to prince andrew has been named as yang tingbao. the high court lifted a ban on naming yang, described as a close contact of the duke, after rejecting his bid for anonymity. >> the 50 year old, who was banned from britain on national security grounds, ran a lobbying firm with ties to beijing, westminster and royal circles. yang reportedly attended the duke's birthday party in 2020 and helped organise a uk china business summit. pressure to reveal his identity mounted

after reform uk's nigel farage vowed to name him in parliament. >> meanwhile, the conservatives tom tugendhat told us this morning he thinks the government are moving too fast to re—establish uk china relations. >> the labour party is frankly being reckless in reaching out to china, as they did at the g20 and as rachel reeves is planning to do in january, without having the proper protections ready. look, the foreign influence registration scheme would have built up the pattern of life. that means that incidents like this would have been alerted, would have been brought to attention earlier, and we would have been able to deal with them because as the intelligence expression goes, if you want to find a needle in a haystack, first you need a haystack. and the first scheme, particularly with the enhanced tier, would build up that haystack, which means that you can actually find out what's going on. >> the archbishop of york, stephen cottrell, has apologised for not acting sooner in the case of sex abuse by priests david tudor, but insists there was no cover up.

was [10 cover up. >> was no cover up. >> tudor banned for life from ministry after admitting abuse involving two girls, was not removed until fresh complaints emerged. cottrell said it was impossible to act sooner and described the case as horrible and intolerable. his statement follows an investigation, and he stressed that tudor was never protected. cottrell is set to take on additional duties when archbishop of canterbury justin welby steps down in january. now a 12 year old girl has been charged with manslaughter over the death of an eight year old grandfather in september. our reporter, will hollis, is outside leicester magistrates court. >> grandfather bhim kohli was attacked in braunstone park, leicester, last september and died in hospital the next day. well, today a second person has been charged in connection with his death. a 12 year old girl appeared at leicester youth court this morning charged with manslaughter. after a short

hearing, the schoolgirl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was released on bail ahead of her next court appearance at leicester crown court in february. a 14 year old boy has already been charged with mr cowley's murder and is due to enter a plea later this week, ahead of a provisional trial date next february. >> in other news, bashar al—assad insists he never considered fleeing as rebels stormed damascus, making his first reported statement since the city fell eight days ago. shared on syrian presidency's telegram, assad claims he went to a russian base to oversee combat, only to find syrian troops had deserted and the base under drone attack. he says russian forces airlifted him to moscow but denies any plans to step down, calling his role meaningless if the state falls to terrorism. rebel groups led by tahrir al—sham are forming a transitional government, though their jihadist past raises

doubts about promises of tolerance. and back in the uk. nigel farage has condemned the suspended sentence given to the woman who threw a milkshake milkshake at him during the general election campaign, calling it an example of two tier justice. calling it an example of two tierjustice. onlyfans model tier justice. onlyfans model victoria thomas bowen was sentenced to 13 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, after pleading guilty to assault. the attack occurred outside a pub in clacton in june as farage campaigned for mp. the reform uk leader took to social media to say we now live in a country where you can assault a member of parliament and not go to prison, and the government has approved the £36 billion sale of royal mail's parent company to czech billionaire daniel kretinsky. the deal includes guarantees to maintain six day a week letter deliveries, protect pensions and avoid compulsory redundancies until 2025. unions

say they've secured commitments for a worker voice group and a 10% share of future dividends, while the government retains a so—called golden share. the company has faced heavy losses, pubuc company has faced heavy losses, public complaints and a £10 million fine for missed delivery targets. however, kretinsky plans major investment, saying he'll support royal mail for as long as i am alive. those are the latest gb news headlines. now it's back to martin for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/alerts. >> thank you very much, sophia. now, the prime minister continues to face shockingly low approval ratings five months into his premiership. a poll by ipsos shows dissatisfaction with sir keir starmer has reached

61%, which is highest as labour leader, and economic optimism also continues to deteriorate, with 2 in 3 respondents saying that they are expecting the economy to get worse over the next year. that equates to the worst score since 2022. and meanwhile, the alleged chinese spy, meanwhile, the alleged chinese spy, banned from the uk and unked spy, banned from the uk and linked to the duke of york, can now be named as yang xinbo after a ruling from the high court. he has, however, hit back that he has, however, hit back that he has done nothing wrong or unlawful, adding in a statement that the widespread description of me as a spy is entirely untrue. well, i'm joined in the studio now to discuss this by gb news political editor chris hope and chief political correspondent at the times, aubrey allegretti. gentlemen, welcome to the show. chris, let's start with you, and let's start with sir keir starmer, who is on his 15th foreign jaunt today to 13 countries since becoming prime minister in july 5th. this time norway and estonia on a green energy deal and tech sharing trip.

meanwhile, back home popularity the lowest of any modern prime minister. —37% that has plummeted since being elected at the same period five months in in 1997, blair plus 57. sirjohn major in 1994, plus 33. even less popular than gordon brown or rishi sunak. >> that's right. >> that's right. >> can he turn it around? >> can he turn it around? >> five months in your 1506 00:10