tonight as keir starmer nation tonight as keir starmer announces he is willing to put british troops on the ground in ukraine to defend a peace deal. tonight we will reveal the doge policies that are needed to fund our defence spending. meanwhile, the nhs may be breaking the law as it emerges. 30 trusts have signed up to an anti—racism scheme that aims to implement race quotas. we'll be assessing vice president j.d. vance's speech that sent shockwaves across europe. plus, we'll be commemorating the near death of the working from home era, as nine out of ten people are made to go back into the office. but so—called feet up fridays appear here to stay. state of the nafion here to stay. state of the nation starts now. i'll also be joined by my most intellectual panel, the former conservative cabinet minister, sir john redwood, and the former labour mp lloyd russell—moyle. as ever, it's a crucial part of

the programme. i want to hear your views. mailmogg@gbnews.com but now it's your favourite time of the day. the news bulletin with katie bowan. >> jacob. thank you and good evening. it's 8:01. these are your latest headlines from the bbc newsroom. sir keir starmer has said that the future of ukraine is an existential question for europe as a whole, and is vital for britain's national interest, as he called for a us backstop to effectively deter russia from attacking ukraine again. speaking after a summit of european leaders in paris this afternoon, the prime minister reiterated that he is prepared to consider committing british forces on the ground in ukraine if there is a lasting peace agreement. sir keir starmer confirmed that he will travel to washington, dc next week to meet with president trump. >> it must play its role, but i am prepared to consider committing british forces on the

ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement. but there must be a us backstop because a us security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter russia from attacking ukraine again. so i will go to washington next week to meet president trump and to discuss what we see as the key elements of a lasting peace. >> an update from the vatican. now pope francis remains in hospital, but is in a stable clinical condition and does not have a fever. a statement released a short time ago has said . earlier, doctors had to said. earlier, doctors had to change treatment for the pope's respiratory tract infection to tackle what they called a complex clinical situation. the 88 year old pontiff has been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week, and was admitted to rome's gemelli hospital on friday. nhs

england has revealed an additional 2 million appointments were delivered dunng appointments were delivered during sir keir starmer's first five months in power. the government says the nhs is on the road to recovery after meeting this goal, and figures show nhs waiting lists continue to fall in december for the fourth month in a row. sir keir starmer says he knows the job isn't done and has promised further reforms to deliver faster treatment. police were called to bbc headquarters earlier today after glass doors were smashed and red paint was sprayed on the building. the metropolitan police have launched an investigation after protesters vandalised the broadcaster's office in portland place in london. the group palestine action has issued a statement claiming responsibility for the damage, saying it covered the building in blood red paint in protest against what they claim is the bbc's pro—israel bias. those are the latest gb news headlines. now, let's go back to jacob.

>> 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/poll. >> james matthewson. >> james matthewson. >> welcome back to state of the nation. defence spending has to rise, but how can it be paid for? rise, but how can it be paid for.7 i don't want to be one of those people who calls for more money for defence, but won't say how to fund it, because that's basically a dishonesty on the british public. so donald trump has made it clear that the era of blank checks from the united states is over, but the threat from russia remains. this means we must find the cash from an economy that is overtaxed and low growth. there is no room for tax increases, so spending priorities must be changed. choices to be made. defence needs more. and it must come

from other budgets. so first for the chop in the firing line is overseas aid at nearly £14 billion a year. at least half of it should be redirected to defence. it's time to stop the absurd overseas aid spending, which includes 5 million on wait for it transforming feminist funding in iraq. 25 million for green urban growth in somalia and 38 million for green growth in nepal. if you've got some green scheme in a poorer part of the world, the british government will pay for it. in addition, if we left the and closed our borders effectively, we could go further. rather than wasting cash out of the overseas aid budget on bogus asylum seekers. next in the firing line is the bogus civil service. bofis is the bogus civil service. boris johnson had a plan to cut it by 20%, which would have saved about £5 billion annually. that too must go to defence. and at a time when taxpayers have been mercilessly squeezed, with thresholds being frozen now for

several years, the welfare recipients they pay for have not been affected. this year's 1.7% increase in benefits other than pensions should be frozen, adding another £2.5 billion for defence. then the crazy schemes should go. green subsidies and follies must be abandoned. carbon capture and storage would save £20 billion a year if in total, if it were given up. we could also save billions if the chancellor had any gumption, and ordered the governor of the bank of england to stop selling bonds for quantitative tightening purposes and just let them mature. this has been a tragic waste of money. if all this were done, there would be at least £20 billion extra for the ministry of defence, and perhaps we would begin to be taken seriously again. donald trump is right, but too long. the uk and europe has been too comfortable relying on the us as a security blanket. taking money away from defence and using it to lie back

and live the easy life of welfare dependency and flabbiness. it is in our own interests to hear what he has to say, and remember that the first duty of government is defence of the realm. as ever, let me know your views via mailmogg@gbnews.com. but i'm very pleased now to be joined by the defence specialist, andrew fox, as well as my most intellectual panel, the former conservative cabinet minister sir john redwood, and the former labour mp lloyd russell moyle. andrew, let me come to you first because we need more money for defence. but actually, shouldn't a first starting point be the ministry of defence spending its money? well? >> yes. >> yes. >> i fully agree and i think we've got a track record of procurement failure. and also of the army, you know, and other members of defence organising themselves in ways that just don't make sense. so we saw the last defence review where we put effectively a decision to be the world's counterinsurgency gendarmerie , rather than

gendarmerie, rather than a coherent fighting division. and our one division now is two bngades our one division now is two brigades and a half brigade. >> just explain what is two bngades >> just explain what is two brigades and a half brigade? what does this mean in numbers and capacity? >> so the army works in threes. so it's three battlegroups to a brigade. >> so how many. people in. >> so how many. people in. >> a battlegroup? 450. and a number of tanks, of course. three battlegroups, two brigade, three brigades to a division. three divisions to a corps. we always worked on the two division setup. so when i joined the army, we had one division in three division, and now we're simply down to two and a half bngades simply down to two and a half brigades comprising our one deployable division. so we've been absolutely cut to the bone. and we you know, the army has in many ways been the architect of its own errors. >> and isn't this a reminder that ultimately you need boots on the ground if you're going to do things? you need numbers. it's all very well having tech and having guided missiles and so on. but if you're to secure territory, you need a physical presence. >> presence. >> yes, absolutely. you cannot take and hold ground with a drone. you cannot take and hold

ground with auxiliary. what we needis ground with auxiliary. what we need is what? field marshal slim called the full orchestra of war. so not only do we have to have the tanks and the soldiers to crew them, but we need the logistics chain to make sure fuel and ammunition gets to the front lines. we need to make sure there front lines. we need to m