starmer and instead attacked him on the economy. on the day that inflation went down. does badenoch have the bite, or do the tories need a leader to go for the kill? and a group called great british political action committee has slammed labour's plan to surrender the chagos islands and pay mauritius an eye—watering £9 billion for the privilege. it slammed it as reckless and short sighted. now this little known group includes members. nigel farage, suella braverman, sir jacob rees—mogg and baroness kate hoey, who joins me today in the studio. and gerry adams could be in line for a british taxpayer funded payout because of keir starmers human rights plans. well, today the prime minister appeared to do a u—turn on the issue. on today's show, i'll speak to the son of a belfast police officer who was murdered by the ira. and that's all coming in your next houn

as kemi badenoch got the bite to be a leader of the opposition. a few weeks ago, 500 tractors were outside whitehall. she didn't even mention them at pmqs. you could hear them inside a deafening cacophony of angry farmers simply ignored. today, tulip siddiq was put aside, resigned because of corruption charges. the anti—corruption minister following louise hague, who of course got the boot over a fraud allegation. two ministers gone to sweden. instead, kemi badenoch went on the offensive on the economy. well, inflation went down today. are they living in a bubble? have they got the teeth? have they got what it takes to be the leader of the opposition? let me know your thoughts. and the usual way to do that is gbnews.com/yoursay. but before we kick off the show, it's your headlines. and here's sam francis.

>> martin. >> martin. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> and good afternoon to you. >> and good afternoon to you. >> 3:02, the top story this houn >> 3:02, the top story this hour, sir keir starmer and kemi badenoch clashed over the uk's economy at prime minister's questions earlier, following speculation over the chancellor's abilities, despite an unexpected drop in inflation to 2.5% in december. the tory leader criticised the government over the economic situation and asked if labour will rule out any further tax rises this year. >> his chancellor ignored all the warnings and ploughed ahead with an unprecedented borrowing spree, leaving all of us more vulnerable. now we have businesses saying they will raise prices to cover his jobs tax. we have an energy policy that will drive up bills and all the while we are spending more day to day on debt interest than we do on schools and universities. the prime minister. the prime minister refused to repeat his chancellor's promise that she wouldn't come back for more.

will he now rule out any new tax rises this year? >> meanwhile, keir starmer said this is due to a £22 billion black hole left by the conservative government. the prime minister then went on to pledge his commitment to the chancellor, rachel reeves, but he stopped short of guaranteeing no more tax hikes. >> we had to deal with the £22 billion black hole that they left. the chancellor will be in place for many, many years to come. she'll outstrip them and. >> mr speaker, if we all thought that politics was about cheap points, i could criticise their chances. >> but i don't have enough time to go through all of the chancellors that they had. we have one budget. that is what we are committed to, strong fiscal rules, and we will stick to them. unlike the party opposite. >> in other news, the uk says it will not sign off a deal to relinquish control of the chagos islands to mauritius until donald trump's new us administration is installed. that indication from downing

street this afternoon. it comes after reports the mauritian government is seeking further talks with the country's attorney general travelling to london today. but a no ten spokesperson has said we will only agree to a deal that is in the uk's best interest and protect our national security well. it comes after prime minister sir keir starmer agreed a deal with the previous mauritian government to give away the indian ocean islands, which had been a british for 200 years. and sir keir starmer has said he is looking at every conceivable way to stop former troubles prisoners such as gerry adams from seeking compensation. the prime minister was responding to criticism of the government's proposed repeal of legislation that had put a stop to such civil claims. the current law blocks his claim for compensation over his detention in prison in the 1970s for suspected involvement in terrorism, but the repeal plan will reverse that. it's after the northern irish high court ruled that the legislation was

incompatible with human rights laws. two teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 14 year old boy, who was stabbed to death on a double decker bus in south—east london. kenyan boxer was pronounced dead shortly after being attacked in woolwich on the 7th of january. those two boys, aged 15 and 16, were arrested on wednesday and a 44 year old woman was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. all three remain in custody. and the death of a two year old boy after a medical episode at a children's nursery is being investigated by police. merseyside force said the incident was reported at the early learners day nursery just after 12:30 yesterday afternoon. the boy was taken to hospital by paramedics but sadly died and his family is now being supported. an investigation has been launched to establish the full circumstances and the cause of the young boy's death. mark

chapman, kelly cates and gabby logan have all been confirmed as the next presenters of the bbc's football highlights programme, match of the day. it's after it was announced last year that the current host of the bbc's flagship sports show, gary lineker, of course, will step down at the end of the season. the former england striker has presented the show since 1999, when the trio take over as hosts. it will be the first time the role has been shared by three people. and linda nolan has died at the age of 65 after several years of battling cancen several years of battling cancer. the irish star was part of the family group the nolans, which included her sisters coleen, maureen, bernie, denise and anne. she died peacefully in hospital this morning, confirmed by her agent earlier today. those are the latest headlines for now. i'll be back with you in half an hour. now, though, it's over 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. >> so what it's all about. nottingham forest and liverpool here in the studio. let's get back to politics now. the conservative leader kemi badenoch today miss a wide, gaping open goal, a bit like liverpool last night. well, yesterday sir keir starmer's anti—corruption minister was forced to resign over corruption allegations. and yet, at pmqs today, kemi badenoch decided to lead her main attack lines on the economy on the day that inflation finally went down. so today's big question is this does badenoch have the bite? or does badenoch have the bite? or do the tories need a leader who will go for the kill? well, i'm joined in the studio now by gb news political editor chris hope and the political editor at huffpost uk, kevin schofield. gentlemen, let's not argue about football any more. let's get

back to the politics. seriously, i was on the show yesterday. you and i broke the story. tulip siddiq forced out the anti—corruption minister. forced out. resigned. >> resigned. is the. is what happened? >> tomatoes. tomatoes. the fact of the matter is, it was over. corruption. wow. this is an attack line. louise haigh. of course. forced out. resigned. tomatoes. tomatoes over that fraud allegation. two ministers fallen already. this is the moment kemi badenoch can get them on. you promised change and yet you're more of the same old rot. instead, chris, she went on the economy on the day inflation was the first piece of good news rachel reeves has had this side of christmas. i think she missed a complete open goal. a fish was in a barrel waiting to be shot. do you think kemi badenoch has the teeth or is she simply not up to the job? >> i think she did quite well today. i think that she's on the back foot. the polls are looking pretty bad. looking at that yougov poll we had earlier this week, the first poll since the

election by yougov, labour dropping nine points over that grabbed the headlines. but i was struck by tory's down to 22 points, the benefit being reform uk and up ten points, a double digit increase. lib dems up one. i think she's on the back foot over reform i th