>> good morning. thursday the 6th of february. live across the uk. this is britain's newsroom with andrew pierce and bev turner. >> thanks for joining turner. >> thanks forjoining us. so democracy denied. deputy prime minister angela rayner has cancelled local elections for 5.5 million people, outraging reform ukip leader nigel farage. >> there is no justification for cancelling these elections whatsoever other than sheer cowardice of what reform might do to them in those campaigns. to get. >> earning or get out. that's the message from the conservative leader. kemi badenoch to migrants who haven't got a job. >> yes, it's been a long wait, hasn't it.7 but finally, a policy from kemi badenoch. can they get a hearing from the british public, who at the moment increasingly look like they're turning to reform? >> incoming british.

>> incoming british. >> president, who is little short of a white nationalist and racist? >> so that's the incoming british ambassador to america, lord mandelson, being less than complimentary about donald trump in 2019. he's now calling those comments childish. but there's somebody waiting in the wings for his job. >> nuclear nation planning rules are to be ripped up, making it easier to build small nuclear reactors to power millions of homes. >> and should we ban children from social media altogether? that's the message from britain's head of counter—terrorism policing, who says that the harm caused by social media is similar to the cancer caused by smoking. >> d—day for grenfell tower the government is to announce it's to demolish the tower block where 72 people died. that is in the face of opposition from the families of the victims. and do you care what the royals wear? that's what we're going to be

debating. is the princess of wales wants people to focus on her work instead of her fashion choices, and she isn't going to tell us what designer she's wearing. that princess of wales story. it is very odd to me you understand more about royal journalism. >> i covered the patch for nearly ten years. you always. if a royal goes out on the road, female, it has to be said you would get a note from the palace saying she's wearing x and normally it would be a terrific boost for the designer or nearly always british designer. if it was a zara outfit sold out immediately. >> yeah, so now they're changing it. they're saying, no, we're not going to tell you what she's wearing. you need to concentrate on what she says, not what she looks like. in principle. i like the idea, but does that mean she's going to go out in her sweatpants and a hoodie? because if we're not meant to care, maybe she shouldn't care either. >> and does that mean she's going to start saying things that are interesting? because

what she does, she just chats to people and says, how are you? what you do? well, no, i mean, she's not going to make speeches about issues, is she? because royals don't. yeah. that's the problem. yeah. >> so very odd. >> so very odd. >> how does it become interesting. >> so we're going to talk about that this morning i want to know what you think gbnews.com/yoursay here's tatiana sanchez now with your news. >> thank you very much. and good morning. the top stories conservative leader kemi badenoch says immigrants should have to wait at least 15 years before they become eligible for british citizenship, making one of her first policy announcements since becoming leader. badenoch also said indefinite leave to remain should not be granted to those who have criminal records or who had claimed benefits or social housing. mis badenoch has also announced plans to kick out low paid migrants and ban those who claim benefits from becoming citizens. elsewhere, the bank of england is expected to cut interest rates today. analysts predict the benchmark rates will

reduce from 4.75% to 4.5%, as the bank comes under pressure to boost the uk economy, which has been showing slow growth. the change could mean the cost of borrowing would fall to its lowest point in more than 18 months. in other news, the government has announced plans to make it easier to build mini nuclear power stations in england and wales as part of its efforts to boost economic growth in the country. the prime minister announced that more nuclear power plants will be approved as red tape will be, he says, slashed. the reforms will clear a path for so—called small modular reactors to be built for the first time in the uk, which ministers say would help to deliver clean, secure and more affordable energy. the government announced that archaic rules will be ripped up, while growth will be prioritised ahead of nimbyists , and the ahead of nimbyists, and the metropolitan police has stepped up its efforts to clamp down on phone thieves, seizing a thousand stolen mobile phones and arresting 230 people in a

single week. during a week of coordinated action across london. the force specifically targeted and clamped down on phone thieves. this included action in hotspot areas like the west end and westminster, where nearly 40% of thefts occurred, said the met police described it as a £50 million a year trade that saw stolen phones resold abroad and in the uk. that saw stolen phones resold abroad and in the uk . later abroad and in the uk. later today, the home secretary, yvette cooper, will chair a summit with law enforcement bodies to focus on tackling smartphone thefts. and those are the latest headlines for now. more for me in half an hour. >> 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. >> very good morning to you. bev and andrew here until midday and if you're listening on the radio, we particularly want to

say thank you because we've had quite a leap in our radio figures, haven't we. >> you may have. you get caught quarterly or annually. they're called the rafe jars. and it is the listening figures. and britain's newsroom is up 41% year on year. so thank you for tuning in on the radio. we love you.thank tuning in on the radio. we love you. thank you for listening. and we hope you continue listening to us. we hope we're giving you what you want to heat giving you what you want to hear. yeah. and of course, our viewing figures are up substantially too. >> they are. so thank you. we couldn't do without you. right. moving on. deputy prime minister angela rayner has confirmed that local elections in nine council areas are going to be postponed until 2026 at the earliest, as part of its reforms of local government. >> this is an outrage. >> this is an outrage. >> i know you think so. it's an outrage. >> i mean, we can't let some local elections were cancelled dunng local elections were cancelled during covid because they wanted to restrict movements, and that the excuse then was we were in a pandemic and they didn't know how serious it was. so because this government has decided it's going to reorganise the local

government map, it's saying to 5.5 million people you can't have a vote. that's right. so you might want to you might be furious about your waste disposal. it might be your bin collection or potholes or parking charges going up. you're going to have no opportunity to register your vote. >> so the impacted areas, let's just give you the list to see if you're in it. east sussex. west sussex, essex. >> thurrock. >> thurrock. >> hampshire. >> hampshire. >> the isle of wight. >> the isle of wight. >> norfolk. suffolk and surrey. so that is about, as andrew says, 5.5 million voters. and the idea being labour is saying look, look, look, look, look. if you if you vote in these elections in the spring, they're only going to be there for a yean only going to be there for a year, because then we're going to re delineate these particular areas to become. >> unitary authorities, that sort of thing. >> yeah. and we're going to have more mayors. so it's just a waste of time. so just let's not do it. nigel farage is furious about this and quite rightly too, because i don't think people have ever been quite so excited about local council elections as we are this year, quite because it's going to be a real barometer of public opinion and how you feel about labour

and how you feel about labour and where you might want to give them a massive shot across the bows. >> it's the first big electoral test of this wretched government of kemi badenoch tory leadership, which, let's be honest, isn't going particularly well. and of reform, which is the party that has momentum. yeah. and people are going to be denied that chance. i think it's an outrage and i'm amazed there's not a bigger hue and cry because we should really be jumping. well, we are jumping up and down on this station. i don't say you hear them jumping up and down much on others because some people say, oh, local government is boring. actually it isn't. >> it's so important. it is the issues that affect all of us every day. you know, your local one way system is disrupted. can you park near your local supermarket you park near your