we go. ready britain. here we go. mass deportations are happening. just not here in britain. find out where next. >> very good evening to you. it's just after 9:00 . leading it's just after 9:00. leading the news tonight. the government has confirmed that grenfell tower will be dismantled nearly eight years after a fire killed 72 people. the process will take around two years and be done sensitively, with no changes. before june's anniversary of the disaster. the decision follows warnings that the damaged building is deteriorating and only remains stable due to protective measures. local people and survivors, though, are divided. some want the tower to remain as a memorial, while others say it's too distressing. officials have said that key materials will be preserved,

though for a potential memorial. if the community wishes. it's day 19 of donald trump's second term in office, and japan have today committed to doubling its defence spending by 2027. at a joint news conference earlier, trump pledged the full strength of american defence to its ally as both nations ramp up cooperation against china and tackle north korea's nuclear ambitions. japan's prime minister, shigeru ishiba promised $1 trillion of investment in the us, calling it unprecedented. the leaders also vowed to lead the world in al, semiconductors and energy development across the indo—pacific. hamas has named the next hostages to be freed in gaza this weekend, including three men. they are eli, sharabi, ohad, ben ami and orlev. 18 hostages have so far been released, with israel freeing 383 palestinian prisoners in return. by the end of this first ceasefire stage. more than 33 hostages and 1900

prisoners are expected to have been released, though israel says sadly eight of its hostages are believed to be dead. meanwhile, hamas has accused israel of blocking critical humanitarian aid, a claim that is disputed by the united nations. back here at home, a new poll is predicting a three way tie at the next general election, with labour cabinet ministers set to lose their seats and nigel farage holding the balance of power. the survey of almost 6000 people found reform uk would have 175 seats, up from only five. labour, meanwhile, would drop from 412 to 174, with the tories gaining around 50. it would mean that wes streeting yvette cooper and angela rayner would be among those to lose their seats, with the conservative and reform coalition the most likely outcome. a suspected drink driver's car has caused travel chaos today after crashing onto a railway track in salford. the bmw careered over a roundabout,

damaging overhead cables and closing lines between liverpool and manchester. network rail says repairs will take hours, with services likely disrupted for at least another hour. northern, transpennine express and transport for wales trains are all currently affected. and itv has pulled gino d'acampo shows this weekend from its schedule after accusations of inappropriate and intimidating behaviour on set. those include family fortunes and secrets of the south. they've both been replaced with no plans to air a new series filmed last october ehhen new series filmed last october either. itv says dozens of people accused the chef of aggressive and sexualised language throughout, though he denies those claims, calling them deeply upsetting. the broadcaster says it has strengthened duty of care policies in recent years, and called the alleged behaviour unacceptable. those are the latest headlines. i'll be back with you in another hour. now, though, 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. >> welcome back! if you thought the botched chagos islands surrender was over, well think again. the latest revelations about the prime minister and his alleged mates personal dealings with mauritius make love island drama look tame. let's start with what we know. the prime minister, in his infinite wisdom, is allegedly considering handing mauritius up to £18 billion. both uk and mauritian officials have denied this, but have not provided alternative figures as of yet. if that's true, though, that's enough to fund 20 hospitals, 300 primary schools or a fleet of warships. all things. this government is coincidentally delaying or scrapping. oh, and let's not

forget this money could also pay forget this money could also pay for that 85% of that elusive black hole in our budget. so why is this happening? well, if i had to bet, i'd say it's down to the student union politics, teenage level peer pressure that's now playing itself out on an international scale. now, one of starmer's long time lefty lawyer mates, philippe sands kc, has been pushing for this deal for years. he represented mauritius against the uk, of course, and seems to despise britain's history. mr sands compared our legal ownership of chagos to russia's invasion of crimea. yeah. crazy stuff. yes, that's starmer's mate. equating britain's presence in our own territory to putin's illegal military invasion in ukraine. it's just utter madness. but it gets worse. mr sands, in a blatant act of defiance, entered british territory, hoisted the mauritian flag and acted like some sort of colonial conqueror.

it's ironic, isn't it? well, funnily enough, he tweeted this, then deleted evidence. but it was too late because. yeah, that video was made by mauritius close ally china, who had their state owned media make a whole propaganda video on it. i wonder why. anyway, mauritian bias doesn't seem to stop there. today we learned starmer was wined and dined in mauritius back in 2013. well, he was flown out to a five star luxury beach resort to speak at a mauritian bar association conference on the chagos issue. well, he walked away with that with a model warship as a gift. and there's of course, there it is. there there's, of course, that little missing detail about whether the prime minister was paid for that trip. well, i'm

sure that will that will come out eventually. and today, the government finally gave a national security excuse for why we must hand over chagos. what's their claim? well, they claim diego garcia's electromagnetic spectrum, which enables secure military communications, can't function without a deal because there's a risk it breaches international law, a risk which the uk government will want to avoid. well, tom tugendhat, the former security minister, dismissed that argument pretty fast. he said as security minister, i saw the advice on the chagos islands deal. this explanation is nonsense. now he, supported by former government official who also shut down the government's argument. they said the foreign office is worried that it would make us look bad if we lost the case to try and keep the territory. they said to the global south we would look like colonisers again, and that the government are scrambling for a justification for giving away up to £9 billion, and that this telecoms issue could be

solved for a fraction of that cost. there you go. this isn't diplomacy, is it? it's a lefty lawyer coup. the prime minister seems to be compromised, tangled up in a bias due to his personal relationships and perceived loyalties to mauritian legal networks. and what's the apparent goal here? i think it's to sell him as some anti—colonialist hero. a man who sacrifices british sovereignty while uk taxpayers get fleeced for billions under the thin guise of reparations. but that being said, let's get the thought of my panel. we've got political consultant suzanne evans, we've got steven woolf, the director of the centre for migration and economic prosperity and labour party activist susie stride. hello, guys. how are you doing? very well. okay, surely. i mean, let's start with you for a bit of balance here. >> surely if. >> surely if. >> keir starmer took a five star, all inclusive, all paid for trip, which we don't know,

it's just alleged. but he took this trip. how can he have an unbiased perspective on this deal? he's got close connections with them, has he not? >> i mean, i've only just seen that article, but i mean, people can paint it that way if they want to paint it that way. i don't actually think that is why keir starmer is going the way he's going. i think ultimately, you know, james cleverly, who was obviously the former foreign secretary, was also trying to get a deal and they had 11 rounds of talks to get a deal. so i think this whole like to ing and fro now ultimately is the deal a good deal. look, i'm not an expert in this. it doesn't look great at the moment. i'm going to say. but what i don't think is right is this whole thing of, oh, there's some sort of bias going on because, because otherwise we would be saying, well, why was james cleverly trying to get a deal? why did we have 11 rounds of talks? why did james cleverly himself also say it is absolutely right that we adhere to what the international court has said? that's the word