>> morning wednesday the 26th of february live across the uk. britain's newsroom with andrew pierce and bev turner. >> good morning. so the prime minister has had to washington sir keir starmer will hold crunch talks with us president donald trump after announcing a defence spending boost. here. >> let me spell that out. mr speaken >> let me spell that out. mr speaker, that means spending £154 speaker, that means spending £13.4 billion more speaker, that means spending £154 billion more on defence every year from 2027. >> well, maybe the general shouldn't get too comfortable because the defence secretary repeatedly refused to rule out that money. billions of pounds to go to the chagos islands, to mauritius may come from the

defence budget. >> you step up europe. you couldn't make it up, could you.7 with couldn't make it up, could you? with this government, chancellor rachel reeves is now demanding european leaders match britain's 2.5% defence spending commitment. >> climate change advice. you're going to have to use a heat pump. you should drive less, you should fly less and you should eat less meat. this is what scientists want from you. to cut greenhouse gas emissions. are you going to take it on board? >> deportation denied and albanian people smuggler is allowed to stay in the uk because he's a valuable member of society. kick him out. here we go. the british rights to a family life. >> and a young farmers are now pleading with the government. children are calling on sir keir starmer to reverse the inheritance tax. we're going to be speaking to the dad of eight year old leo aveling, who is on the front page of the daily express newspaper this morning. >> and the silent i protest

album. kate bush, annie lennox, billy ocean are just a few of the 1000 artists rallying against the government's ai plans all to do with copyright. we're going to bring you their best song shortly. >> and getting things done. president zelenskyy is going to head to washington as he agrees to exchange mineral resources in return for aid from president trump. have a listen. >> i hear that he's coming on friday. certainly it's okay with me if he'd like to. it's a very big deal. look, it could be $1 trillion deal. it could be whatever. but it's rare earths and other things. >> and you've just spotted a video, haven't you? >> that trump extraordinary video that trump's put on his truth and whatever his. >> truth social. >> truth social. >> truth social website. it's a it's an ai video, but it's of a vision of gaza because as he said, he wants to take over gaza. it includes trump hotels and a huge gold statue of donald

trump. now it's an entertaining video. but why would the president of united states put that on his website? is that what the is that the vision of the middle east he's got? >> it's better than the vision they've got now. better than now. we need change. if he's going to push it through, then why would that be a bad thing? >> where's he going to put the 2 million people who live there? there in a trump hotel, possibly. >> gbnews.com/yoursay. let us know your thoughts this morning. we've got some fantastic topics between now and midday, and we're going to show you that video of trump's vision for the middle east as well. here's sam francis now with the news. >> very good morning to you from the newsroom. 9:55 the top story. well, more than 2000 small boat migrants have crossed the channel illegally since just the channel illegally since just the start of this year, gb news can reveal. this morning. the latest group of 158 arrived last night, brought into dover by border force after being picked up in uk waters earlier. another

boat was intercepted after some on board refused french rescue and continued towards britain. sources say people smugglers are taking bigger risks, launching in even rough seas after weeks of bad weather. the government, though, is pushing new laws to criminalise those who reject rescue as labour vows to smash the gangs. sir keir starmer is heading to washington to meet donald trump after unveiling plans to raise uk defence spending to 2.5% by 2027. the prime minister says cutting the foreign aid budget will fully fund the increase, a move backed by donald trump but slammed by charities, calling it a betrayal. the shadow defence secretary, james cartlidge, told us earlier this morning that the government's figures, he says, don't seem to be completely right. >> there seems to be a big difference between what the prime minister said yesterday and what the actual amount is, but that's something we're going to have to interrogate. obviously, that's our job as the opposition. but, you know, the big picture is on something like this. we do have to kind of look

at the national interest with the threats we face. we think it's the right thing to do. >> it comes amid fears the us could strike a deal with russia to end the ukraine war, leaving europe exposed. donald trump, who wants european nato allies to pay more, has spoken to vladimir putin and is pushing for a rapid peace agreement. sir keir starmer will face mps today at prime minister's questions before flying to the united states, where ukraine will be top of the agenda. and speaking of ukraine, donald trump says he expects volodymyr zelenskyy in washington on friday to sign a minerals deal after ukraine agreed to an agreement. reports suggest a us demand for $500 billion in revenue from ukrainian resources has been dropped, but there are still no firm guarantees for kyiv. donald trump claims the deal will give ukraine the right to fight on, though he hasn't confirmed it's final. the us president has long pushed for access to ukraine's minerals in exchange for military aid since russia's full scale invasion. >> get right down to it.

>> get right down to it. >> bp is expected to confirm a major u—turn on green energy, slashing its renewable investments and ramping up oil and gas production. the company is under pressure from investors, with profits and shareholders returns lagging behind rivals like shell and exxon. bp had pledged to cut oil and gas output by 40% by 2050, but after scaling back that target last year, it's now expected to scrap it altogether. environmental groups and some shareholders are warning the shift, though, could backfire. while greenpeace says bp should brace for pushback at every turn. and the prince and princess of wales are visiting pontypridd ahead of saint david's day. meeting locals hit by severe flooding late last yean by severe flooding late last year, william and catherine will stop at the historic market, helping to prepare traditional welsh cakes and speaking with business owners about the impact of the storms. they'll also visit a community garden restored by volunteers after the floods. catherine, who announced her cancer remission in january,

has been making a gradual return to public duties. that's the news on gb news. plenty more on all the top stories and of course, the latest on the migrant figures as we get them. now, though, it's time to head back to andrew and bev. >> 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/advent. >> malcolm grimston. >> malcolm grimston. >> good morning. welcome to britain's newsroom with andrew and bev until midday. now the topics in the air. today is all about military spending. foreign aid. foreign aid. where we should be spending our money. what about countries overseas? should we be investing in them or not? this is all building up to show you this video that we've got. in a minute. this is donald trump. >> of course, just before keir starmer heads to the united

states to see donald trump, the second european leader. he's there after macron and he's. what's his first question going to be? to me, i think he's when we say, would you any would you like me to kneel on mr trump? >> well i absolutely there's a there's a distinct relationship evolving here isn't there. it's emerging to us that we are that keir starmer is going to do everything that donald trump wants him to do. i personally like the idea of sir keir starmer following donald trump. but what does it tell us about the president of the prime minister tells us he doesn't stand for anything, does he? this video is what trump has just posted on to his social media site, which is called truth social. >> an i video. but the fact he's put it on his website to me suggests this is something he rather approves of. >> here we go. have a look. >> here we go. have a look. >> donald trump set you free. bringing the light for all to see. no more tunnels, no more. >> listening on the radio. it's. he's juxtaposing images of gaza as a war zone compared to gaza,

looking like a tropical middle eastern paradise. people are literally dancing on the beach with money falling out of the sky. >> with a trump gaza hotel with a 1523 00:0