european parliament, and alongside her matthew lars, are the former labour adviser. but before we get stuck in, let's cross live and give you your 6:00 news headlines. >> good evening. these are your headunes >> good evening. these are your headlines at 6:00. sir keir starmer has blamed a dangerous new era for his decision to increase defence spending and cut foreign aid. earlier today, the prime minister announced a major plan to increase defence spending to 2.5% by 2027, calling it the biggest sustained increase since the cold war. but to fund it, the aid budget will be slashed from 0.5% to 0.3% of national income, sparking backlash from charities who warn of devastating consequences. addressing the nation moments ago from downing street, sir keir starmer said the defence and national security of britain must come first. >> is that tyrants like putin

only respond to strength. so today i have announced the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war. we will keep our manifesto commitment to spend 2.5% of our gdp on defence. but in light of the grave threats that we face, we will bring forward that target. so we meet it in 2027. that is an increase of £154 so we meet it in 2027. that is an increase of £13.4 billion an increase of £154 billion year on year compared to where we are today. and we will go further. so subject to economic and fiscal conditions, we will also set out a clear ambition for defence spending to rise to 3% for defence spending to rise to 5% of for defence spending to rise to 3% of gdp for defence spending to rise to 5% of gdp in the next parliament. >> energy bills are set to rise again, with ofgem confirming a higher than expected increase of more than £100 a year from

april. the 6.4% hike will push annual bills for a typical household to £1,849, affecting 22 million homes across england, scotland and wales. the regulator says rising wholesale costs are to blame, and suggests customers consider fixing tariffs. but prices could fall again in july. standing charges are also going up for gas and. consumer groups warn the increase will hit struggling families hard. now the bbc has issued a public apology after a review revealed missed opportunities to address concerns over former radio 1 dj tim westwood's conduct. while the report found no widespread knowledge of serious allegations, the broadcaster admits it fell short of its values, apologising to those affected and promising changes to prevent future failures. westwood, who strongly denies all allegations, was accused of

creating a toxic work environment during his time at the bbc. the £53 environment during his time at the bbc. the £55 million review also outlines steps the bbc has already taken to tackle bullying and harassment. in other news, police have released footage of the moment thieves rolled a £4.75 million gold toilet away from blenheim palace. sledgehammer wielding thieves smashed their way into the oxfordshire country house, where sir winston churchill was born and stole the toilet in september 2019. the footage, played in court today showed two vehicles driving across the great courtyard before hooded individuals broke into the palace. 59 year old michael jones denies one count of burglary, while 56 year old fred doe and 41 year old bora grgak both deny conspiracy to transfer criminal property. and the prince of wales has met the new england boss, thomas tuchel, for the first time as he prepares

for his first matches in charge of the three lions. prince william, who is patron of the football association, met with two call today alongside fa chief executive mark bullingham at windsor castle. tuchel, who is german, has been tasked with leading england to world cup glory in the 2026 tournament. kensington palace posted an image of the prince and tuchel shaking hands alongside the message great to meet the new england men's manager for the first time today and hear about plans for the future. those are the latest gb news headlines. more in an hour. >> for the very latest gb news direct your smartphone. sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code , or go to qr code, or go to gbnews.com/advent. >> chris billam—smith. >> chris billam—smith. >> thank you very much for that.

i'm michelle dewberry. this is dewbs& co away with you until 7:00 tonight alongside me. i've got my panel, the baroness, jacqueline foster, tory peer and former member of the european parliament, alongside her matthew laza, the former labour adviser. good evening to you both. good evening. tonight, each and every single one of you at home. you're also very welcome this evening. and i want you to join the conversation all the usual ways. email me gb views at gbnews.com/win. you can go to twitter x, whatever it's called these days, you can reach me there. or of course you can go to the website gbnews.com/advent michael olise. there's a lot that we need to discuss tonight. some of it good, some of it optimistic, some of it not so good. like when it comes to the price of our energy bills, we're going to rattle through it all. so stay tuned. but now you've just been heanng tuned. but now you've just been hearing those clips there from keir starmer in the news bulletins. him he making announcements this afternoon. let's cross live to our political editor christopher hope. good evening to you christopher. bring us all up to speed with what some of us might

have missed today. >> hi, michelle. yeah, welcome to downing street. it's a big moment today. often some things in politics are signposted, like a budget or a big fiscal event. today wasn't. and the government announced out of the blue, really? they're going to increase defence spending by quite a lot. so currently it's 2.3% quite a lot. so currently it's 2.5% of our gross national product. it'll go up to 2.5% by 2027, and then 5% after 2050. that's a big increase. so in 2027, that's increase by around £13 2027, that's increase by around £15 billion a year. and that is in response to the issues that they've had with donald trump saying he may not support european security concerns about ukraine needs to support ukraine. they're paying for this by cutting the aid budget from 0.5% of gdp to 0.3%. that's around £6 billion. and the balance is made up from the economy, which should be growing again, we hope, by 2027. so a real moment here for me watching

this, this party, labour party, evolve into a governing party the moment, i think, when the party stopped being an opposition party and actually one of government, this is not easy for labour to cut aid spending in the way they've done it. this is an area which normally the left are very keen on to aid aid. spending by 6 billion is a big deal. i was struck, though, by the announcement from the from the pm today because it reminded me of the policies of a certain other party at the last election, a question i put to keir starmer moments ago. mohamed mansour christopher hope from gb news in july, reform uk, fought the election on a policy to increase defence spending to 2.5% of gdp by 2027 and 5% of gdp after 2050, funded by a £6 billion saving in the aid budget. you said you'd do the similar. you'll increase defence spending to 2.5% by 2027, 5% after 2050, funded by a 6 billion cut in the budget. are you nigel farage in disguise? >> nigel farage didn't even turn up to the debate in parliament today. nigel farage is fawning

over putin. that's not patriotism. that is not what working people need. what i have doneis working people need. what i have done is take the duty of prime minister seriously, which is to ensure that our citizens are safe and secure, and this decision is made to ensure that they are safe and secure. it is a decision intended to ensure that we fight for the peace that we've enjoyed for the last 80 years, so that for generations to come, they can enjoy the freedoms that we have enjoyed. so i've taken this with only one thing in mind, and that is the citizens of this country for whom i am responsible. >> a keir starmer. they're saying that nigel farage has been fawning over putin. that's not patriotism, he said. that will really sting the reform uk leader. but no question here. theideas leader. but no question here. the ideas they put together here by the labour government were offered to the electorate by reform uk back at the election. i think it's a real moment here for this government, its policies that what's driving it

is security, securing the borders, securing us internationally, securing families and also in the streets around them. and that's what we're seeing from this government increasing, honing down on what they are trying to tell the voters and gb news viewers. and a real moment, i think, for this government, i think, for this government, i think we will be welcomed by a lot of people, i think, on the right of politics. and that's why it's so fascinating to watch a labour government cut foreign aid and spend it on defence. they're basically they're melting down ploughshares and turning them into weapons. >> interesting stuff. some viewers are. chris will be watching this thinking, well, hang on 1509 00:09:32,736