>> hello, it's 7:00. welcome to gbn tonight with me emily carver on the show this new year's eve, farmers across the country have begun lighting their beacons of hopein begun lighting their beacons of hope in a new year's eve protest. we'll be speaking to one of the organisers as pressure mounts on the labour government. could 2025 be the year of the farmers revolt? meanwhile, as labour oversees a year on year increase in small boat crossings, gb news has been told by the former head of border force that labour will never stop the crisis unless they make one big change. and in what has been dubbed sir keir starmer's reward for failure, mayor of london sadiq khan has been knighted in the new year's honours. but why has khan, who loves decolonising things, agreed to become knight of the

order of the british empire? plus, we'll be looking at some of the new year's eve celebrations across the country. they haven't all been cancelled. i'm hearing our reporters will be live on the scene and that's all to come this new year's eve after the latest headlines with sophia wenzler. >> emily. thank you. good evening. your headlines at 7:00. japan, australia and new zealand were the first to ring in the new year, with celebrations and fireworks displays. they were followed by hong kong and taiwan, who in the last few hours celebrated the new year. and thailand, vietnam and india have also rung in the new year in the past hour. but as world welcomes in 2025, severe weather is set to hamper britain's new year's events. the edinburgh hogmanay celebrations have been cancelled due to severe weather conditions. heavy rain and high winds are causing disruption in

much of the country, with blizzards forecast in scotland and widespread travel disruption. fireworks displays in newcastle, blackpool and nonh in newcastle, blackpool and north yorkshire have all been cancelled. meanwhile, london has confirmed its annual new year's eve fireworks display will go ahead this evening despite the weather concerns. london mayor sadiq khan has received a knighthood in the new year's honours list, sparking fury among some amid his controversial ulez scheme and london's spiralling crime rate. sir keir starmer has been accused of rewarding failure as knife crime has increased in the capital by 50% since khan took office in 2016. the shadow home secretary, chris philp, said londoners would be furious. meanwhile, the newly appointed sir sadiq said he was truly humbled to receive the honour. in other news, tony blair's labour government pushed on with plans to open uk borders to eastern europe despite mounting concerns from senior ministers.

that's according to newly released official files . the released official files. the national archives has published cabinet office files from 2003 to 2004, when tony blair was prime minister. the documents revealed the issue of immigration was top of the agenda, with senior ministers urging the then prime minister to delay granting employment rights to eastern and central european workers. when the eu expanded in 2004. but mr blair's government went ahead with the plans despite the warnings, and johnnie walker has been described as a broadcasting legend following his death, aged 79. it comes two months after the radio presenter called time on his 58 year career because of ill health. dj bob harris, who took over bbc radio two sounds of the 70s show after walker's retirement, announced his former colleagues death live on the station today. helen thomas, head of bbc radio two, described

him as a much loved broadcasting legend, while the radio dj's wife tiggy has said she couldn't be more proud of her husband. and as new year celebrations get underway in the uk, police have shared footage of a driver who reportedly fell asleep at the wheel before crashing into a house as a warning about the dangers of drink driving. >> i suspect that you have had too much to drink and you're behind the wheel of this vehicle, so i'm currently going to lock you up for being unfit through drink or drugs, okay? you do not have to say anything at my defence. you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. anything you do say may be given in evidence. do you understand? >> south yorkshire police said officers in the force area came across a 40 year old man asleep in front of a car, which he had hit the side of a house in rotherham. temporary roads policing inspector brandon brown said we are releasing this footage on new year's eve to show road users just how dangerous drink driving can be.

those are the latest gb news headlines. now it's back to emily 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. >> gbnews.com/alerts. >> welcome back to jennie bond tonight with me emily carver. happy new year's eve to you at home now, one of the biggest thorns in the side of sir keir starmer since his record tax raising budget has been the farmers. a number of disruptive protests have unravelled across the country in recent months, and the government still continues to show absolutely no sign of wavering on its decision to impose inheritance tax on farms, the family farm tax rate and the farmers show no signs of stopping. could it be that 2025 is the year of the farmers revolt across the country? farmers have begun lighting their beacons today of hope in

their beacons today of hope in their latest demonstration against the government. here we go. here's for those listening on the radio. we're currently watching the beacon being put together in at the farm there by protest organiser oli harrison, who spent all day putting together this beacon before setting it alight moments ago, along with dozens across the country. there it is already alight. well, i'm delighted to say oli joins me now live from liverpool. oli, thank you very much indeed forjoining us. now you've organised this as a as a protest, a beacon of hope. you're in your tractor right now aren't you? and happy new year's eve to you. so tell us, what does this beacon protest mean? >> well, it was just something to give everyone something to do , to give everyone something to do, because everyone was wanting to get a little bit angry and start blocking roads and getting very european, shall we say. and we were like, well, what can we do to symbolise that, you know, the anger and the heat in the countryside at the moment, the fact that the countryside, you know, it's burning basically, you know, if it carries on and no one puts it out, there'll be

no one puts it out, there'll be no countryside left. there'll be no countryside left. there'll be no farmers left, there'll be no uk food production. so we thought, well, it's easy to do. we can make some beacons. this is mine. you can see on the screen now it is actually behind my shoulder at the moment. but i think it's just, just off, off camera. it needs a few logs putting on it. but it was just a focal point really. you know, get get people involved. we've got over 3500 people registered today to do one. so it's been a massive success within 24 hours, really 3500. >> that's amazing. and will you receive all the pictures of these beacons from across the country? will you be showing them all online or wherever? how is it going to be broadcast? apart from of course, all gb news. yeah. >> so we've told we've told farmers to put them on and on all the social media, share it with the hashtag farming beacons. and hopefully, you know, you'll see all them. i know, you'll see all them. i know i put a video on very early. i lit it quite early just for your show and unfortunately it's you can't really see it behind me now. >> oh no it's not run out has it. it's not gone out has it. i

can see it in the distance there. behind you. >> yeah yeah yeah. just, just it needs a few logs putting on it now, but yeah, mine's been burning since about 5:00 now. so it's ready for some some more timber putting on it. but no, 3500 across the country. the idea is everyone can see the neighbours. i could see one over there before actually. but yeah, that's an old map. actually, it's updated a lot since that point now, but no, it's gone. well, you know, we just want to sit down with the treasury and. oh policy. they've just got the numbers wrong. >> yeah. i mean, do you have hope?i >> yeah. i mean, do you have hope? i mean, you've got the beacons of hope. so presumably you do have hope that in 2025 the government might see sense on this policy. what do you think? >> i think so, yeah. i mean, some of the people that advised the treasury thought there was nothing wrong with the policy. after the first week or so, they quickly realised that it after