>>a >> a very, very good afternoon to you and a very, very happy new year. it's 2025 and it's 3 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show here on gb news, bringing you all the very latest up until 6 pm. we're getting all the latest to the horrific attack in which at least ten people have now been killed and 35 more injured and hospitalised after vehicle was driven into a crowd of people in central new orleans in the early hours of the morning. with the fbi now investigating, as they say, an act of terrorism, and the suspect has now been confirmed to have been eliminated at the scene. and the prime minister has this special new message for you. this government will fight for you. well, that was the prime minister there, not even bothering to wear a jacket or a tie, delivering his new year's message, where he also said that the government has plans for

more cash in your pocket in 2025. d0 more cash in your pocket in 2025. do you believe it.7 do you believe in a happy new year or will it be a nightmare on downing street? we'll get all the reaction throughout the show. last night, over 4000 farmers. look at that gloriously lit beacons of hope across the uk to signify the fire is still raging against labour's inheritance tax raid. will the farmers force the government into a climbdown, or will ministers plough the same old furrow, leading to potential strikes and even food shortages in 2025? and it's that dreaded day of the year when we all noficed day of the year when we all noticed the flab, the wheezing and the wrinkles. well, to help you and me, to be honest, get fitter in 2025, we've got a gang of experts to help you shed the pounds, stub out the ciggies and transform you from a couch potato into a hot potato. that's all coming in your next hour. of

the show. hope you had a corker last night with your friends, your loved ones. wherever you were, you stayed safe. 2025 what a year ahead politically. we'll take a look back at the political parties leaders messages. kemi badenoch was 24 seconds. seriously, i've done longer burps. you should have more to say. if you're a leader of a political party, surely sir keir starmer says he has a plan for change. says you'll have more money in your pocket. do you believe that? and meanwhile, nigel farage, channelling his inner donald trump, has promised to make britain great again. let me know what you think about the party's prospects for the year ahead by going to gb news dot com forward slash your say. but now it's time for your news headunes now it's time for your news headlines and it's sophia wenzler. >> martin thank you. it's just gone 3:00. these are your headlines. the suspect in the new orleans attack that killed ten people today is dead,

according to the city's police force. the fbi are investigating this morning's deadly attack as an act of terrorism. at least 35 people have been injured after the man drove a pickup truck into a large crowd on the corner of the popular bourbon street in the french quarter of the city. local police have been giving an update and saying the pickup driver was drunk, drove the truck at a very fast pace and it was very intentional behaviour. they said the driver of the vehicle got out and opened fire on police with two officers shot, but in a stable condition. while the suspect was declared dead. it happened at around 3 am. local time and people are being asked to stay away from the scene. in other news now, sir keir starmer has hailed 2024 as a year of change as he shared his first new year message as prime minister. sir keir declared that the uk will embark on a year of rebuilding and rediscovering the great nation

we are in 2025. >> until you can look forward and believe in the promise and the prosperity of britain again, then this government will fight for you. >> but the conservatives have accused labour of offering change for the worse, as kemi badenoch used her own new year message to warn that efforts to turn around tory fortunes would be bumpy. >> happy new year! like all of you, i am looking forward to a 2025 that is full of hope, security and prosperity. the conservative party is also going through a period of change. this process of renewal will be a long term project. things may be bumpy along the way, but the party i now lead is going to do things differently. watch this space. >> meanwhile, following a stormy new year's eve, the wild weather looks set to continue with london's new year's day parade delayed due to high winds forecast. it has now got underway in central london, with

thousands of revellers braving the weather. forecasters are predicting 50mph gusts in london on new year's day as wind and rain sparks travel disruption in the uk. domestic energy prices have risen with more pain for bill payers set to come. the second increase in ofgems price cap this winter takes effect today, and it means someone paying by today, and it means someone paying by direct debit and using a typical amount of gas and electricity will pay £1,738 a yeah electricity will pay £1,738 a year. that is a £21 a year more increase than under the previous cap. so bill payers are being urged to submit a metre reading to avoid overpaying on estimated usage. bills are about 50% higher than pre—covid levels, and analysts predict they will rise by a further 3% in april to scarborough. now, where brave people are ringing in the new year's day by jumping in the freezing cold sea. the 2025 new year's day dip has over 150

dippers, helping raise thousands of pounds for charity. thousands turn out on the south shore to see scarborough's mayor welcomed the dippers before the town crier sent them on their way into the cold north sea. our yorkshire reporter anna riley is on the beach in scarborough. >> the new year's day dip in scarborough, where 150 swimmers have taken to the north sea. here you may be able to see the crowds that have turned out. hundreds of people have come to the beach here to encourage people to take the dip. and it's all about charity. it's something that's been arranged by the scarborough lions. they take a fee for people to enter that goes towards charity. and then many people here are raising money for charity through doing this new year's day dip. it's certainly attracted a lot of crowds. you can see some people here in the crowd in fancy dress. there's been a competition for the best dressed and we can see people

coming out of the water now who have taken part. >> and those are the latest gb news headlines. now it's back to martin. >> thank you sophia. now at least ten people have been killed and 30 more injured and hospitalised after a vehicle was dnven hospitalised after a vehicle was driven at speed into a crowd of people in central new orleans in the early hours of this morning. the driver then got out of the vehicle and started firing a weapon, and police returned fire, with a local police superintendent saying that the gunman was hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage that he did. and the fbi has since taken over the investigation and say they are investigating this now as an act of terrorism, with the suspect being declared deceased on the scene. we can now speak with the us political commentator leigh cohen. leigh, welcome to the show and a very happy new year to you. shame it's under such sad circumstances. a terrible incident has struck america. the

fbi now in the last few moments, confirming they are treating this as an act of terrorism. what more do we know? >> well, martin, thanks for having me. >> and happy new year to you and your audience. what was supposed to be a day of celebration and hope has tragically turned into one of shock and grief for new orleans, and more broadly, for america. >> this is so heartbreaking. people from all over our country, and i know my british friends are joining us and sending our deepest condolences to the families of the victims. and as you said, it was released last hour that the suspect is dead. so god's will be done. having passed away after exchanging gunfire with the police, it's unknown whether he was hit by an officer or ended his own life at this moment. >> and we know that two police officers were injured in that exchange and they're hospitalised, but we believe they're stable. so mercifully, it seems at this stage there are no casualties, at least on the

police side. although, of course there will be pedestrians who were hit at some velocity and then the exchange of gunfire after that, tragic as it was. and questions will now be asked, as we saw in germany at the street market there, how this was able to happen. a known gathering spot, a world famous tourist event. it's new year's eve, you know, it would have been high on any target list of any potential terror attack, if that's what it is. and already questions are being asked about the state of the barriers. were there anti anti—crash barriers in place? were they circumnavigated? there'll be a huge amount of questions asked around that topic. lee cohen. >> well indeed. and this will surely cause law enforcement to evaluate security protocols to hopefully head off such horrific events from happening in future , events from happening in future, and particularly looking at new

measures to enhance safety at large public gatherings and events, so—called soft targets. they must learn from this and strengthen their response. but martin, i'm glad you brought up the incident in germany because often i hear from my friends outside of the united states what a violent society is the united states. and i know we have a lot of gun violence. tragically and sadly. but incidents like these are, of course, not confined to the united states, as we saw in the horrible attack at the christmas market in germany. and, you know, sadly, there's mental illness and terrorist impulses all over the world. it's not confined just to my country. >> and lee cohen, as tragic as this was, evidence is emerging. it could have been worse in the back of that pickup truck. reports coming out of improvised

explosive devices that were figged explosive devices that were rigged up. we don't know if they were able to be detonated. they didn't mercifully go off. but again, the investigation area, now the whole area has been treated as a crime scene. we heard earlier on the mayor, the police chief calling for everybody to stay eight blocks away from bourbon street in every direction. so every approach will be analysed, every piece of evidence, evidence will be analysed and some of the videos coming out. we've got some pictures there i think live now from that. that's not like that's from earlier on of new orleans. the area was very quickly cleared by police on horseback. again, a very highly attended event. mercifully, police were present and able to deal with this perpetrator as quickly as possible. so now the identification of this individual will be the big question. we don't know the motivation. we shouldn't speculate about the motivation. as you said, these kind of events aren't unusual in europe. the firearms makes it more of an

event that's more likely to happenin event that's more likely to happen in america. reports of there being assault style weapons. the videos you can hear certainly sound like rapid fire weapons going off reports again that the gunman was had armour on him. so it seems from the evidence that's emerging to have been pre—planned, premeditated and a highly sophisticated piece of terror. and as the police superintendent and kirkpatrick said, this suspect was hell bent on conducting carnage. >> indeed. and one thing that i think bears mentioning, perhaps for viewers who are not familiar with the area, this is an attack on new orleans beloved french quarter martin, a place that holds a special significance to both residents and visitors from across the globe. it's really deeply shaken the sense of security in one of america's major cities. and that extends to all of our country, especially, as we already said

dunng especially, as we already said during what should have been a joyful, hopeful cause for celebration in the new year's day. >> and we have live pictures on our screens there now in of a heavy police presence. now daylight, of course, is upon the area and we're expecting a full police press conference around about 5 pm. and of course, we'll have that live on gb news. we're expecting more details to emerge, potentially, of the perpetrator and perhaps, perhaps the reasoning behind this. that's 5 pm. that'll be live here on gb news. thanks very much for joining here on gb news. thanks very much forjoining us. and that's much for joining us. and that's the american political commentator, a friend of the show. thank you. happy new year again to you, lee cohen. thank you. i'm moving back to domestic politics here in blighty. and his first new year's message from downing street. the prime minister, sir keir starmer, has declared that the uk will embark on a year of rebuilding and rediscovering the great nation that we are in 2025. 2024 was a

year of change. not, sadly, in the football. another agonisingly close shave for england, but changing politics with the election of this labour government in july and, more importantly, with the work of change that we've begun, the minimum wage raised by a record amount. wages up more broadly. returns of foreign national criminals up 20%. billions of pounds worth of new projects in clean british energy, making our country more secure and £25 billion invested in our nhs. starting to cut waiting lists in your local hospital. now i know there's still so much more to do and that for many people it's hard to think about the future when you spend all of your time fighting to get through the week. so i want to be clear until you can look forward and

believe in the promise and the prosperity of britain again, then this government will fight for you. now, i know it's new year's day and you probably struggle to stay awake during that, but wakey wakey, let's have some fun back here in the studio, because i'm joined by the political commentator ken blackwell and the journalist sarah—louise robertson. welcome to the studio, both of you. ken, i'm going to start with you. why did he have to mention england losing at football in the opening sentence? like straight away it like, sapped all the energy. >> i know what he's like. >> i know what he's like. >> he's doom gloom, you know. >> he's doom gloom, you know. >> that's what. >> that's what. >> that's what. >> that's his whole spiel, isn't it? >> really. and i mean, really what i would say is labour and keir starmer keep talking about how they were elected on a promise of change. >> well, actually, what they have delivered is a promise of pain for millions of people out there. they have taken away the winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners. they are deliberately destroying family farms in the uk and, you know, they are actually taxing businesses to a staggering amount, which is really, really

terrible for this country and for our economy. so, you know, i also think he just looked a bit scruffy, quite frankly, you know, so put a tie on. you know, we all have to you know, you're the prime minister. you're meant to represent this country. you know, you can at least look smart while doing it. >> sarah louise, let's bring you in. now, one line i watched the full thing for my sins. and one line that leapt out is that he did say immigration reduced only two words, but it did touch upon it, and it seems to be the elephant in the room that he never really gets around. so do you think, on that particular point you've got any faith in him delivering? >> absolutely not. >> absolutely not. >> and the fact was, it was buned >> and the fact was, it was buried within that turgid speech which we just heard, which put most people to sleep listening to it. >> so as you said there, the word was reduced, immigration reduced. he didn't go in hard on immigration and migration the way that we heard nigel farage when it was his speech, there was no comparison between the two men. when you looked at both of them, kyrees was dull,

flaccid, much like his leadership today, and the fact he was advising him on his aesthetics and styling. they obviously don't like him. as you've pointed out, he looks scruffy. he couldn't be bothered to put a tie on. he looked tired, paunchy. >> you know what's happened as well. like in that speech? he had a union flag behind him. he's the prime minister. people have been complaining about the fact he had he had a union flag behind him, as if, you know, a prime minister on new year's eve shouldn't be allowed to have a union flag. >> we should see the union jack. >> we should see the union jack. >> i was annoyed that there was only one. yeah, i want more. yes, we want more union flags. >> we do want more. but yes, it was interesting that point that he he sort of buried it within the speech. it was almost like he's he's paying lip service to what he thinks is a small portion of the electorate, when actually it's most of the electorate who are worried about net migration and the illegal immigrants, that which are coming into this country every single day across the channel. >> and there's one point they're keen to bring you back in that doesn't add up for me and this, this notion of we're going to

build 1.5 million new homes. well, the last slot said that as well. but the point is, if you let a million people into your country per year, those homes have gone. well, exactly. they've gone. there's not a single home going to come onto the market for the existing population. if we can't control our borders. the two, to me logically seem intrinsically linked, and yet the penny just doesn't seem to be dropping 100%. >> they're linked. if you don't see if you can't see how they are linked, then you know one. you don't deserve to be in politics. and two, you have no idea what's going on in this country because, you know, housing is a massive issue for many, many people. you know, whether you are on the side of, you know, wanting more homes because, you know, we need more homes for our younger people, or you're on the side of, you know, actually, we've had a load of housing in our area. and, you know, we're not getting seeing that across the country. there is there's two sides of this story. but what i would say is, this is what we haven't done for so long, is build the right sort of homes for the people of those localities. that's one of the main problems with housing is we're not building the right sort of homes, four bedroom

houses, you know, for people who can move out of london and sell their two bedroom flat for £500,000 and come down to somewhere like kent where i'm from, and get a lovely four bedroom property. but, you know, this is the problem that i think both labour and the conservatives have paid lip service on these issues. >> they fail to tackle it. >> they fail to tackle it. >> yeah, yeah they have. and i do think there needs to be a bit more of a radical approach. >> thank you very much. sarah—louise robertson and caine blackwell. and at 4:00 we will be applying the same scalpel like scrutiny to kemi badenoch speech. and then at 5:00, we'll be looking at the speech of the reform uk leader, nigel farage. so stick around with us. thank you guys. i'll see you in the next hour. if you didn't get everything on your christmas list this year, then how about 50 grand in tax free cash as a new year's present, courtesy of us here @gbnews, because it really could all be yours and our biggest ever great british giveaway. and here's the details that you need to enter. >> there's still plenty of time to grab your chance to win our biggest cash prize ever. an incredible £50,000. what would

you spend £50,000 on in the coming year? spectacular holidays, a brand new car, home improvements? or maybe you'd just like to save it for a special occasion. £50,000 is an amazing amount of money and it could be all yours. for another chance to win £50,000 cash, text cash to 632321. entry cost £2 plus one standard network rate message or text bonus to 632325 entries. cost £5 plus one standard network rate message. go to gbnews.com/win. entries start from just £2. you can call 0903 6813232. calls cost £2 plus your network access charge or post your name and number two gbio, p0 post your name and number two gb10, po box 8690 derby de1 9tt uk only entrants must be 18 or oven uk only entrants must be 18 or over. lines close at 6 pm. on the 31st of january. please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. good luck.

>> coming up throughout the show, we're getting all the latest in the reaction to the horrific attack, which is now being treated as a terror attack in which at least ten people have been killed and 35 more injured and hospitalised after a vehicle was driven into a crowd of people in central new orleans in the early hours of this morning. all the latest on that, with a live press conference expected around about 5 pm. i'm martin daubney on gb news. this is news

welcome back. it's 324 with me. martin daubney on gb news on new year's day, and at least ten people have been killed and 35 more injured and hospitalised after a vehicle was driven at speed into a crowd of people in central new orleans in the early hours of the morning. well, the fbi has since taken over the investigation and say that they are now investigating an act of terrorism, and the new orleans

police department have confirmed that the suspect was declared deceased on the scene. i'm joined in the studio to discuss this further with the chair of republicans overseas uk, greg swenson. greg, welcome to the show and a happy new year. so all eyes now are on 5 pm. we're expecting a press conference. we're expecting to learn more information. we understand that the individual is deceased. sounds like he was shot dead by police at the scene. what do you think we're going to learn at five? will we learn more about the guys who he was? his modus operandi. what do you think we're going to get? >> i hope so, but i think there might be some caution because there's a big football game tonight, american football game, which will occur around 1 am. our time here. but it's the sugar bowl which is part of the college football playoff system. now you have georgia university of georgia versus notre dame. so you know number two against number five. both schools are are known to travel well. in other words their fans often travel to bowl games. so you'll

see 74,000 people at the stadium tonight. so i think the first challenge for the police and the fbi right now is just to make sure that this was a lone wolf, to make sure there was no other potential connections to this, to this terrorist. and if there is, act accordingly. i would hope that they actually provide some information that might be helpful for even people, citizens that are attending the game or near the game to keep their eye out for certain certain types. >> we have a live pictures on the scene there. you can see there's a huge police presence. they've asked for an eight block kind of quarantine zone away from there. they're telling people to stay away. the entire area has been treated as an active live crime scene. so as we said there, we'll learn much more at 5:00. it's a great point there, greg. 74,000 people. that in itself could be a target. and what the police won't want to do at 5:00 is spook that crowd, because who knows what may happen then? greg swenson, thank you very much for joining us. and we'll speak to you again later in the show, and you'll be

joining us for that live press conference for your expert analysis, then. thank you, greg. now moving on. private schools in britain are increasing their fees today by more than the government predicted as its vat rate takes effect. sir keir starmer's controversial move to apply 20% vat to private schools was designed to boost the state sector, with the tax increase set to fund measures including more teachers. but will that happen? let's now speak with the teacher, the maths teacher. bobby seagull bobby, a very, very happy new year to you and you probably need a bit of cheering up the way west ham are playing at the moment. i digress bobby, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show. so look, on the one hand, the government are saying this will raise £1.7 billion. which money? which is much needed to fund state schools. but of course the state the private schools today are defying the government and in many instances passing the entire sum onto fee paying students. and what i've said all along is that that won't bother the richest students. it won't

bother the richest parents, but it could force out the aspirational, hard working middle classes who i've said all along could be the could be the ones who lose out in this entire system. >> so happy new year, martin, and to all our viewers here. so yes, the intention behind the policy was raising funds, resources for the state sector, which we know has historical issues in education so that they can recruit more teachers. >> but again, i live in the real world. i know that the impact of this won't be on the students that go to the eton's again. i was lucky enough to get a scholarship to eton from a local state school for my sixth form studies. it's not going to impact those students, studies. it's not going to impa