>> good evening. it's 9:00 pm and this is ben low tonight with me, alex armstrong. it is my last night covering for ben. he'll be back as usual with you all next weekend. but in the meantime, i promise i'll give you all of my upfront opinions and hard hitting facts tonight on the show. the uk has now surpassed italy in illegal migrant arrivals. italy's prime minister has slashed illegal crossings by 59% while ours continue to soar. i'm going to give you the cold, hard facts, so brace yourselves because it's going to sting and bev turner is

joining us all the way from washington, dc as she gives us the inside scoop on trump's impending inauguration. and we'll be giving you an exclusive sneak peek at her interview with nigel farage. you won't want to miss that. plus, as another heartbroken mother tells of her grief after hearing lyrics referencing her son's murder. i'll be asking, is it finally time to ban violent lyrics in music? also, a leaked report reveals that south yorkshire police ignored grooming gangs to meet home office targets set by the last labour government. yeah, they focused on vehicle crimes instead of child protection. are we headed for the same crisis all over again? also, i'm joined by the director of the iea, an institution that margaret thatcher claimed had saved britain. i'm asking him if they can do it all over again. and sadiq khan has launched a fresh attack on donald trump,

claiming that the democratically elected president is part of a wave of resurgent fascism. surprise, surprise. maybe it's time for someone to remind the mayor of his place. stay tuned for that. and of course, tonight i'm joined by my superstar panel and nancy rees—mogg, diana moran and nancy rees—mogg, diana moran and paul richards, who'll be giving their expert opinions on all of tonight's biggest stories. our labour importing voters next. >> alex, thank you very much and good evening. the top stories three israeli hostages released from hamas captivity today have been reunited with their families. sir keir starmer says their release, including british citizen emily de—man, is wonderful news after months of

agony for them and their families. earlier today, the red cross said they were all in good health. all three are now currently at the sheba hospital in israel. emily's mother has thanked everyone who never stopped fighting for her throughout this horrendous ordeal. she says her daughter is finally home. there were chaotic scenes in gaza city as the three female hostages were released after more than 470 days in captivity, along with 28 year old emily's. released today are two other named hostages , 24 two other named hostages, 24 year old romi gonin and 31 year old rina steinbrecher, who were also freed. the israeli prime minister's office says four other living hostages will be released in seven days time, as the hostages were released after 15 long months, there were cheers and tears from crowds in tel aviv. there are still many others yet to be released at a later stage, in response to the ceasefire being enacted earlier

today, terror group hamas fighters gathered in gaza in order to celebrate videos released from the region show members of the hamas armed wing chanting and celebrating as the delayed truce came into effect this morning. aid trucks have now been entering into gaza since the ceasefire was enacted. displaced palestinians have now begun returning to their homes, and 90 palestinians are set to be released today. thousands of donald trump supporters waited for hours in the cold and rain to attend his victory rally, taking place today, a day before the president elect returns to the president elect returns to the white house. the soon to be 47th president arrived in washington late last night with his wife, melania, ahead of his inauguration tomorrow. just a warning. there are some flashing images coming up. trump is hosting a make america great again rally currently in downtown washington, although a counter rally also took place yesterday, with thousands attending that to protest the

incoming president. he placed a wreath first earlier on at the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington national cemetery today. and tiktok is restoring its service to its 170 million users after president elect donald trump said he would revive the app's access in the us when he returns to power tomorrow. the statement came after us users reported being able to access the chinese owned services website, while the far more widely used tiktok app itself did not appear to be immediately available. the ban had come into force after the us supreme court passed a law in april which stated the platform's china based parent company, bytedance, must have sold the platform by today, which it didn't. tiktok thanked the incoming president for providing the necessary clarity and assurance, and said the company would work with trump on a long term solution that keeps tiktok in the united states safe. this morning, a british government official said there are no current plans to ban

tiktok here in the uk. those are the latest headlines. for now, it's back to alex 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. >> all right. do you want the cold, hard facts about illegal immigration in the uk? well, buckle up because this is going to sting. let's start by talking about giorgia meloni. italy's prime minister. of course, she's just achieved the lowest illegal immigration figures in italy since january 2022. that's right. meloni has slashed illegal immigration by a staggering 59% in just one year. 66,000 migrants landed in italy dunng 66,000 migrants landed in italy during that year. and how did she do it? well, the eu say it was by spending cold, hard cash

funding, training and equipping tunisian and libyan coast guards to stop the boats before they even set sail. and let's not forget, italy is managing the mediterranean sea, a body of water so vast it makes our engush water so vast it makes our english channel look like a puddle. but let's turn back to the uk, shall we? that short stretch between dover and calais? well, more migrants crossed into britain than italy, with over 67,500 of them. and that's after we threw 500 million at the french border force to supposedly keep us safe. and for what? more crossings, more chaos and more failure. but here's the killer stat. between december and january, italy had just 478 arrivals by sea and the uk. well, we had a jaw dropping 300 to 3254. that's a 580%

difference. so our libyan coastguard is genuinely more effective than the highly trained, well equipped and extremely well funded french coast guards. in further stark contrast, trump has vowed to launch the largest deportation program in american history, starting on his first day in office tomorrow. the scope of his deterrence is staggering, with an estimated 11 million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers in the us. it's going to be a big job, but i think there's only one man for it. where's the will? where there's a will, there's a there's a way. right. but this constant failure to grasp the illegal migration issue is leading to more and more questions and less answers from our government. disturbingly, all of this news comes at a time when deputy prime minister angela rayner is seriously considering scrapping voter id rules and potentially exploring granting voting rights

to foreign nationals. this raises even more extremely uncomfortable questions for our government, doesn't it? and of course, elon musk has gone as far to suggest that keir starmer is importing voters, but i possibly couldn't comment. but let's get the thoughts of my panel let's get the thoughts of my panel. we have the head of communications at the popular conservatism brand and rees—mogg, fitness expert and journalist dubbed the green goddess diana moran and former labour special adviser paul richards. and nancy, i'll start with you. look, we've given we've pledged half a billion to the french coastguard. the libyans and the tunisians are cutting, you know, this illegal migration crisis over in north africa towards italy by a staggering 69%. what is it? is it the french coastguard is being absolutely incompetent? or are we just spaffing money up the wall? >> i think we have to look at why people want to go to italy

or come here, and we are giving illegal migrants great incentives to come that you get a hotel, you don't get detained. it's not a punitive way of life. there are benefits available food allowances, mobile phones, free dentistry, so on and so forth. and maloney has done an immense job of making it pretty unpleasant to arrive in italy. and funnily enough, if it's not a nice place to go, people don't want to come. >> yeah. so, paul, it's that deterrence, isn't it? you know, a lot of illegal immigrants seem to think that we're the sort of benefits britain. they're going to benefits britain. they