>> merry christmas britain. it's 12:00 on thursday the 19th of december. >> i'm tom harwood and i'm emily carver water rip off. >> well, as your bill jumps to nearly £600 a year from april, water bosses are cleaning up with six figure bonuses. but will they clean up your local river.7 >> yes. will they indeed? and stop that money? the head of the electoral commission says the rules around political donations need strengthening this, amid reports that elon musk is set to donate up to $100 million to the reform party. why are they only saying this now? >> up to 100 labour mps could vote against the government's waspi women. betrayal, as some would put it, that if they get a vote, could this destabilise an

already weakened prime minister ? already weakened prime minister? >> and it could be a very lonely christmas for prince andrew? he's decided to stay away from the royal family's retreat at sandringham. was it his choice? he's also now going to miss his family's traditional pre—christmas lunch at buckingham palace. >> and breaking news in the last few minutes. in the last minutes, the bank of england has held interest rates in yet another blow to the government's economic plans. mortgage repayments will remain at the current rate of 4.75%. that's the bank base rate. that, of course, informs those mortgage rates. we'll have the very latest. more on this breaking news very shortly. >> well, i don't know about you, but i was hoping when labour got in. you know, after 14 years of tory chaos, as they said the

economy would be stabilised, those interest rates would be coming down, inflation would be coming down, inflation would be coming down, inflation would be coming down, everything would be great. and now it looks like you're going to have to wait a little longer if you are indeed a mortgage holder. >> must be said this was expected that these rates would stay at the level they are, particularly in the wake of the inflation news that we heard earlier this week, that uptick in inflation, the sort of reversal of the downward trend. well, of course, the tool that the bank of england uses to control inflation is interest rates, higher interest rates , rates, higher interest rates, suppress inflation, try and cool down a heated economy. although it must be said the economy isn't feeling that heated right now. we've had two consecutive months of negative growth, and so i suppose there's some big decisions for the bank of england to make here. on the one hand, we've got rising inflation, but on the other hand we've got very, very low even

negative growth now, high interest rates. >> we could be heading into a recession. we could be heading into a recession. the economy has shrunk october, november. i mean, let's hope there's a christmas bounce. >> we'd need four. we need four more months of negative because it's two consecutive quarters. >> now, we know that businesses are hiring at a very low level at the moment. we've seen a large number of layoffs already, the economy shrinking those two months. i mean, things aren't looking good, are they? >> no, no, but i think it would be a fool's game to predict an official recession. i think what we're probably going to see is what we've seen for the last few years, and that's fuzzy data, where one month it's just marginally above zero, and the next month it's marginally below zero. and actually the average within the sort of realm of possibility, it's all just fairly flat lining. >> well, let's not be too miserable. yes, that interest rate has been held for now, but there's lots to be happy about.

but of course, the news today as well of the water bills going up isn't isn't fantastic, but we will bring some light as well as shade today. but do get in touch. gbnews.com/yoursay is that the right decision from the bank of england? and what do you make of those water bills going up yet again? that's after your headunes up yet again? that's after your headlines with katie bowen. >> and tom. emily, thank you and good afternoon. it's just gone. 12:00. these are your latest headunes 12:00. these are your latest headlines from the gb newsroom. and as you've been hearing, the bank of england has left interest rates unchanged at 4.75%, meaning mortgage repayments will remain at that rate. rising inflation and wage growth have persuaded the bank of england's policymakers to keep rate cuts on pause. we'll bnng keep rate cuts on pause. we'll bring you more on that economic news soon. water bills in england and wales are to rise by an average of 36% over the next five years, water regulator ofwat has announced this morning. that's the equivalent of an extra £31 a year. the regulator said the increase

would pay for a £104 billion upgrade of the water sector to deliver substantial, lasting improvements for customers and the environment. ofwat is already facing backlash, with liberal democrat environment spokesperson tim farron describing the regulator as toothless and defunct. it comes as around 58,000 homes in hampshire are without water today due to a technical issue. southern water are saying the response to that incident is being coordinated by the government, while business secretary jonathan reynolds spoke about the increase earlier on. >> look, i think everyone recognises this is another absolutely dreadful inheritance the new government has and the changes that have been announced, the work that the department of the environment have been able to do on this means that we will tackle the horrendous problem of sewage in our waterways, that we will have a more efficient system. we'll deliver the level of investment thatis deliver the level of investment that is required, and we'll make sure that money is no longer leached out of the system by way of bonuses and dividends. when a

good service that the public deserve is not being provided. so it's a set of changes that deliver that long term investment that will make sure these problems, which the british public are rightly angry about, will not happen again. >> to france, where this morning the lawyer of dominique pelicot, who has been sentenced to 20 years in jail, has said that her client is considering lodging an appeal. the 72 year old dominique has been found guilty this morning of raping, drugging and inviting other men to rape his ex—wife, gisele. the french court in avignon has found 47 men guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault in that mass rape trial. those men have now all been sentenced, and the defendants have ten days to appeal. the pelicot case made headunes appeal. the pelicot case made headlines after gisele waived her right to anonymity, saying she wanted to make shame swap sides from the victim to the rapist. the government has announced today a £100 million boost for adult and children's hospices, the biggest funding boost in a generation. children

and young people's hospices will receive a £26 million investment. the government hopes that the money will go towards delivering the highest quality end of life care possible for patients and their families. health secretary wes streeting spoke about the announcement earlier on. >> today we're announcing two things which are great news for hospices ahead of christmas the £100 million we're announcing over this year and next will help hospices to invest in not just the buildings, but the equipment and the kit that they need to provide modern support for people, not just in hospice buildings like this, but also the increasing range of hospice at home services. so it's going to make a real difference for people and for children's hospices in particular, which are really close to my heart. we're announcing £26 million. that's an increase in previous grant funding that's been available to provide a wider range of services to a wider range of services to a wider range of services to a wider range of children and young people. >> sir keir starmer is set to face questions from the liaison

committee today as an upset grows in his own party over the lack of compensation for the waspi women. the prime minister will face questions from a range of government departments and select committees. the guardian newspaper reported last night that up to 100 labour mps could vote against the government's decision to refuse a payout for the waspi women, and it's also been reported that sir keir starmer will appoint around 30 new labour peers today. sue gray, sir keir's former downing street chief of staff and former labour mps are tipped to be on the list. 213 year old boys, believed to be britain's youngest knife murderers, have had the minimum terms of their life . sentences for the killing life. sentences for the killing of sean zahawi increased from eight and a half years to ten years at the court of appeal. the two boys, who cannot be identified, were given life sentences with minimum terms of eight and a half years for the murder of 19 year old mr zahawi in wolverhampton on the 13th of november last year. those sentences have now been increased to ten years. a de