now, let's speak to the northern ireland secretary, chris heaton—harris, secretary, chris heaton— harrison—harris, who is at a spin room in central london spinning on behalf of sunak versus starmer. lovely to see you, minister. thank you very much for your time . you're very much for your time. you're competing a little bit with some background noise, but that's to be expected , the big debate of be expected, the big debate of the day actually hasn't really involved rishi sunak and keir starmer. it's involved boris johnson and nigel farage rowing about putin's invasion of ukraine. but farage is right, isn't he? in calling boris johnson a hypocrite? because there is that headline in the i newspaper from 2016 suggesting that the former prime minister had suggested that the eu was to blame for the russian invasion. so boris johnson can't have it both ways, can he ? both ways, can he? >> i'm afraid this is where i will have to completely disagree with nigel farage, boris has been completely down the line, straightforwardly acknowledged this evening, by keir starmer of all people , supportive

my personal take, then chris heaton—harris of the conservatives.th leaders faced tough scrutiny both from the sun newspaper's political editor harry cole and the audience of that newspaper's readers. it's an opportunity to once again scrutinise the two men, one of which is most likely to become prime minister and hear their answers.— hear their answers. harry farley a thank you. _ hear their answers. harry farley a thank you. our— hear their answers. harry farley a thank you, our political— thank you, our political correspondent in the spin room with the position of the conservatives, earlier harry spoke to someone from the labour party and there is much more on our website. you are watching bbc news and you can stay up—to—date with all our election coverage on the bbc news website and app. a man has gone on trial accused of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder the tv presenter holly willoughby. gavin plumb, who's 37 and from essex, is alleged to have developed an obsession with the star over a number of years. he denies the charges. our corresponde

chris heaton—harris says it amounts to suggesting they're guilty until proven innocent.t comes after former minister tobias ellwood called on rishi sunak to suspend those involved. but the northern ireland secretary insists that while one of the candidates admitted to placing a bet and accepts it was wrong, the investigation is still ongoing and facts must be determined. >> gambling commission are looking into the betting scandal. they've issued a statement over the weekend that says they're investigating it. they are not going to confirm or deny names, and they're not going to comment further. while the investigation goes, goes on, rishi sunak has said himself that if anybody's found guilty in that investigation , they'll in that investigation, they'll be thrown out of the party. i don't think it can be much clearer than that. >> and the scottish conservatives will launch their manifesto today with a promise to recruit thousands more gps and police officers. the party will lay out what it's calling a laser like focus on a real priorities . at an event in priorities. at

well, bev, with me now is chris heaton—harris , the now is chris heaton—harris, the former northern irelandecretary and mp. now forgive me, the current northern ireland secretary and a former mp forgive me, chris heaton—harris. was that audience biased against the tories? >> oh no . a bad politician will >> oh no. a bad politician will always blame the audience and i know i heard your question to lisa about what they clapped for and whatever , i don't think you and whatever, i don't think you can read anything into that because had you gone back to 2016 and any of the debates on leaving the european union, if you'd have gone by audience reaction alone , we'd have stayed reaction alone, we'd have stayed in the european union with a massive majority. >> so you don't have to worry about that. >> surely in that case, then you're completely out of touch with the mainstream public opinion because they're applauding anti—brexit comments and they're applauding pro—migration remarks. basically, you're out of touch in the tory party >> never, never blame the audience. chris, for how about the people

chris heaton—harris says it amounts to suggesting they're guilty until proven innocent .t comes after proven innocent. it comes after former minister tobias ellwood called on rishi sunak to suspend those involved. but the northern ireland secretary insisted that while one of the candidates admitted to placing a bet and accepted that it was wrong, the investigation is still ongoing and facts must be determined . and facts must be determined. >> gambling commission are looking into the betting scandal they have issued a statement over the weekend that says they're investigating it. they are not going to confirm or deny names and they're not going to comment further while the investigation goes, goes on, rishi sunak has said himself that if anybody's found guilty in that investigation, they'll be thrown out of the party. i don't think it can be much clearer than that. >> but labour, shadow health minister wes streeting says the prime minister has shown a lack of leadership. >> rishi sunak is the only person in this country who knew for certain when the election date would be

and it was bizarre because i have questioned chris heaton—harris on many occasions and he's talking about're talking about the 3.3 billion that was brought here. but of course he was on the opposite side of the table from northern ireland politicians when they were trying to get that very deal through. so it was very hard to understand as a journalist, looking at chris heaton—harris , launching this heaton—harris, launching this manifesto and to be fair to him, he did do quite a good job of explaining what they were looking for in northern ireland. and, and the five, candidates that are standing and the constituencies that they're standing in and their hopes for those constituencies were right at the forefront of that manifesto. but we have even with the labour party in northern ireland, we have the sdlp, the social democratic and labour party. the alliance party is very closely linked with, the lib dems. and now we have the tuv , the sister party of them tuv, the sister party of them being reform uk . so it is a bit being reform uk. so it is a bit strange why on earth they have actually

later in the show, we'll also be joined by northern ireland secretary chris heaton—harris to react tot ten days to go until britain heads to the polls. and as always, get in touch with your thoughts on tonight's topics by visiting gbnews.com. forward slash your survey. but first, here's the news with polly middlehurst . news with polly middlehurst. >> camilla, thank you and good evening to you. well, the top story from the gb newsroom tonight is that britain's next government will face big decisions on taxes and the size of the state, according to the institute for fiscal studies today. unveiling its analysis of the major parties manifestos, the major parties manifestos, the think tank accused both labour and the conservatives of maintaining a conspiracy of silence on their spending plans. but rishi sunak insisted

we've got the northern ireland secretary of state chris heaton—harris. to speak to a member of the government shortly. but in the meantime, we're going to take a look. what is making the news with the former editor of the daily star. dawn neesom and the olympian kriss akabusi. good morning to both of you, chris, shall we start with the story on the front of the ft, which is about a third of conservative voters going elsewhere, according to a poll that they've conducted at the same group of people that they asked the same question to in january. >> that's right. >> that's right. >> so this is just in six months. >> yeah. 16,000 people were surveyed at the end of january. in the beginning of june, those same 16,000 have showed that there's a 32% swing away from there's a 32% swing away from the concert . however, that said , the concert. however, that said, the concert. however, that said, the conservatives still held their block because there also were the undecided who for some reason had have now decided to back the conservatives so they don't say why,

later in the show, we'll also be joined by northern ireland secretary chris heaton—harris to react tocampaign trail. with just ten days to go until britain heads to the polls. and as always, get in touch with your thoughts on tonight's topics by visiting gbnews.com. forward slash your survey. but first, here's the news with polly middlehurst . news with polly middlehurst. >> camilla, thank you and good evening to you. well, the top story from the gb newsroom tonight is that britain's next government will face big decisions on taxes and the size of the state, according to the institute for fiscal studies today. unveiling its analysis of the major parties manifestos, the major parties manifestos, the think tank accused both labour and the conservatives of maintaining a conspiracy of silence on their spending plans. but rishi sunak insisted tax cuts under the tories are possible with his government funding them by spending less on welfare . welfare. >> we have a fully costed manifesto which can deliver tax cuts for people at every stage in their lives, and that is largely funded by makin

we're also expecting to hear from the conservatives david davis and chris heaton—harris. it's one of the biggest moments of the election so far and you didn't have to watch it if you didn't have to watch it if you didn't want to, because we've watched it for you. why would you be anywhere else for the fallout ? all the action is now fallout? all the action is now in the spin room next door to the debate venue, so let's get there with gb news political editor christopher hope chopper. good evening . good evening. >> hello, bev. yeah, good evening. from the spin room here. shortly after the end of this seven way leaders debate, and all the parties have sent out representatives to defend their, their their candidates who are speaking in that debate. with me now is david davis, the candidate in holloway prison, howard and david. that's right. good to see you here. thanks for joining us on gb news, it feels odd to watch it from outside not being in it. >> normally you're in it, but they've got the big guns out in they've got the big guns out in the spin room. you heard there f

for the secretary of state for northern ireland, chris heaton—harris, who?nd it seems rather late, is going to launch the northern ireland conservative manifesto later on today. dougie beattie joins us now. morning to you, dougie. it does seem quite late in the day . in the day. >> well, it is quite late in the day and you're totally correct with that. and, you know, five days out from polling. why is that? well it's because, over decades there has always been an agreement with the tory party. in fact, it is the conservative and unionist party . and if we and unionist party. and if we look at the likes of enoch powell, he came out of, great britain and across to northern ireland this part of the uk, and he stood for the ulster unionist party in south down. so there has always been that sisterhood, if you like, of parties in northern ireland. we had the ulster unionist with the tory parties , we had the social parties, we had the social democratic and labour party, whose sister party, of course is the labour party. and we have the labour party. and we have th

actually, a lot of. colleagues, good friends of mine in fact, people like chris heaton harris, who hasel safe to stand down. but in response to what _ so i feel safe to stand down. but in response to what tom _ so i feel safe to stand down. but in response to what tom said, - so i feel safe to stand down. but in response to what tom said, they i so i feel safe to stand down. but in i response to what tom said, they have been 80 _ response to what tom said, they have been 80 tory mps standing down, not because _ been 80 tory mps standing down, not because they have done 25 years of service, _ because they have done 25 years of service, but— because they have done 25 years of service, but because they think they're — service, but because they think they're going to lose and they don't want to— they're going to lose and they don't want to fight and lose, and they have _ want to fight and lose, and they have given up in despair, whereas a few people — have given up in despair, whereas a few people have stood down from labour _ few people have stood down from labour that micro few people ha

we will pick up the general debate issues in a moment but we can now speak to chris heaton—harris northernhave been a chief whip. you _ security under labour. you have been a chief whip, you know _ security under labour. you have been a chief whip, you know how- security under labour. you have been a chief whip, you know how the i security under labour. you have been a chief whip, you know how the innerj a chief whip, you know how the inner workings of a party function, it doesn't sound like something is working? something is not going right there? it working? something is not going right there?— working? something is not going i right there?_ whose right there? it was a mistake. whose mistake? i listened _ right there? it was a mistake. whose mistake? i listened very _ right there? it was a mistake. whose mistake? i listened very carefully i mistake? i listened very carefully to what the prime minister said and he seemed to be sort of blaming some sort of google calendar, official got something wrong, that seemed to be what he was saying but that was actually a conscious decision not to a

chris heaton—harris says it amounts to suggesting they're guilty until proven innocent . shadow proven innocent. but shadow health secretary wes streeting says the prime minister has shown a lack of leadership . shown a lack of leadership. >> rishi sunak is the only person in this country who knew for certain when the election date would be, and who he chose to share that information with. we already know that one of his closest parliamentary aides placed a bet, and he has accepted that, and he's apologised for that. but, you know, from prime minister know, from the prime minister we've seen a total weakness and lack of leadership and to now try and suggest that somehow we're doing something wrong by asking for transparency in an election campaign. i think people should start to question, what is it the conservatives have to hide and why are they so desperate to hide it? >> now? britain's next government will need to make big decisions over taxes and the size of the state. that's according to the institute for fiscal studies, unveiling its analysis of the major parties ma