say exist at a local level. do you support this or not.7 and farmers went to london en masse again today, asking the government to scrap their tax plans. but now they're even a high profile pro—labour tax adviser has changed their mind and said, yes, the government has got it wrong and they should change it. but will they or not.7 and in the wake of the horrific murder of little sara sharif,

the children's commissioner says that smacking your child needs to finally be banned in england. do you agree with that or not.7 and the person who threw a milkshake at nigel farage has avoided jail. he says that's evidence of two tier justice. is he right.7 and speaking of reform uk, harriet harman says that there are a risk to british democracy. is she right.7 all of that and lots more. there's been a lot happening today, i can tell you. and look who's keeping me company. my panel, alex dean, the political consultant, and krish kandiah, the cultural commentator. but before we get stuck in, let's cross live for the 6:00 news headlines. >> good evening. it's just gone. 6:00. i'm sophia wenzler with your headlines on gb news. the alleged chinese spy linked to prince andrew has said he did nothing wrong or unlawful after

he was named publicly for the first time in a statement. yang chengwu added that the widespread description of me as a spy is entirely untrue. 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. pressured to reveal his identity mounted after reform uk's. nigel farage vowed to name him in parliament. meanwhile, this morning, sir keir starmer defended the government's china policy. >> it's important to engage, of course we have to challenge where we must, but it's better to engage the challenge than to stay a side, as it were, important to cooperate where we

can on issues like climate change, which need that cooperation. so i am very pleased with the engagement and the progress that we've made. >> meanwhile, the duke of york will not join the royal family for christmas at sandringham. that's according to sources. it's understood both prince andrew and his ex—wife, the duchess of york, have decided to avoid the annual family gathering amid the ongoing scandal over the duke's close links to the alleged chinese spy. it comes after the duke was urged to do the right thing and maintain a low profile over the christmas period, to avoid causing further embarrassment to the king. in other news, killer nurse lucy letby, his legal team, has said they will be asking the court of appeal to immediately review all her convictions because an expert witness has now changed his mind on the cause of the death of three babies. her new lawyer, mark macdonald, said doctor dewi evans had told the jury letby

had injected air down a nasogastric tube, leading to the death of the three babies. but he said doctor evans has now changed his mind. letby is serving 15 whole life terms in prison for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of seven others while working at the countess of chester hospital in 2015 and 2016. a snap election has been triggered in germany after chancellor olaf scholz lost a vote of confidence in parliament. the german chancellor called today's vote, which he lost, paving the way to an early election on the 23rd of february next year. it follows the collapse of scholz's three party coalition government, which left the embattled chancellor leading a minority administration. those are the latest gb news headlines. now it's back to michel 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 for that. i'm michelle dewberry and i'm with you till 7:00 tonight alongside me, i've got my panel, alex dean, the political consultant, and krish kandiah, the cultural commentator. good evening to both of you. you're very welcome. good evening. and you know the drill on this programme. it's not just about us three. it's about you guys at home as well. what's on your mind tonight? we have lots that we need to discuss, ladies and gents. and you can get involved all the usual ways. you can email me gb views @gbnews. com you can go to the website gbnews.com/yoursay. or of course you can tweet or text me in just a couple of minutes. i'll get into the farmers summit. do you think that the labour party will change their mind on this tax issue or not? but of course there was so much will he won't he should he shouldn't they today when it came to politics. what am i talking about? about whether or not the person that

was alleged to be a chinese spy should be named. you had reform uk saying that if they weren't named, they would essentially, perhaps use parliamentary privilege to name the individual accused. anyway, that didn't happen because the individual was separately named, and i have to say that individual does indeed deny the allegations made against him, but come under the spotlight again as a result is prince andrew. i have to say he's a bit of a problem child, i'll put it mildly. but he's not allowed to go to sandringham again this year. he's been asked not to do that. do you think that's the right move, alex? >> i just think it's profoundly sad what's happened for that family. of course, his association with epstein was poisonous and down to him. but nevertheless, there's an element of human tragedy that you can't help but see when families can't spend christmas together, be they ever so high or ever so low. if you can't be together at christmas, there's something very sad about it. i'd just say this about the naming of the spy alleged spy. for all that you may wish to respect somebody's

anonymity in a court system, it becomes a farce in the age of the internet when that person is being named in other countries at will, because right across europe, in the united states, in asia, this person's name was out there for people to see. so i think it's this individual example is almost neither here nor there. the name was going to come out eventually. we're going to have to revisit the way we look at these laws about what you can name, and not in the internet age when news is global and law is national. >> chris, i think the prince has made a series of very bad decisions, but giving him a time out at christmas isn't a good idea. i think he needs his family around him. they can give him the advice to get back on the straight and narrow, and we talk about time in in our family rather than putting people on the naughty step. let's spend more time and allow those values that we treasure in our royal family to impact him. >> but a christian forgiveness, perhaps for him. what do you make to this prince andrew's situation? and also that point, i think, is such a fascinating one as to whether or not the guy

that's been accused of being a spy that's been accused of being a spy should have been named. i find that really interesting. i've got to say, i do echo your point there, alex. life has moved on. technology has moved on, hasn't it? you guys will have strong opinions on that at home. there'll be some people watching that say, gosh, chance to be away from my family at christmas would be a fine thing. i can hear some of you shouting at your screens at home, i hear you. look, let's talk farmers then, shall we? because we've covered this story at length, haven't we, about the inheritance tax changes. we've been right front and centre of the process that have taken place in central london. then today the farmers have come back today the farmers have come back to london again, this time indoors. i'm sure they'll be pleased about that because it's been really quite cold. again, lobbying the government to try and reverse their so—called family farm tax. i can tell you now, kemi badenoch, she didn't miss the opportunity to take to the stage and speak out. let's listen to what she had to say. >> everyone knows how hard it is to keep a farm going, and it is often only the people within the family who understand how the