number until about a fortnight time, i think in the third week of may. but for now inflation remains above target. that's the main reason why i'm expecting the bank of england any second now to announce that they're keeping interest rates on hold. but i still haven't got the news. maybe you'll find out before me. >> we are still waiting on that decision. liam i'm being told. i'll be told in my ear as soon as it happens. but what are the implications for it being held, if indeed that is what happens .7 if indeed that is what happens? >> well, the implications are that certainly that if you are trying to remortgage your house, then, liam, i'm going to interrupt you because they have now they have indeed been held. yeah they have indeed been held at 5.25. if we can go to the graphic , you can see there that graphic, you can see there that they've been they first reached 5.25% back in august 2023. so this is the sixth hold in a row.

the bank of england's monetary policy committee, the nine economists who decided interest rates, they don't meet every month. they meet eight months a yeah month. they meet eight months a year. the fact that they have been held, it is disappointing for lots of people who want to remortgage their house. they want to see mortgage rates come down, it's also disappointing, of course, for someone called rishi sunak, who is betting he's bet the ranch , bet the tories bet the ranch, bet the tories entire strategy for this election, to the extent they have a strategy on playing the long game, on waiting for interest rate cuts on getting more tax cuts in. we've had two so far, those national insurance reductions, tory high command wants to get another one in before the general election. so i don't think there'll be disappointment in downing street because they knew this was coming. they knew there wasn't being an interest rate cut today . now, when i take my eyes away from the camera and manage to read, or maybe you guys can read, or maybe you guys can read, if we look at the bank of england minutes of that meeting, there will be hints there. and i suspect the minutes will point to interest rate cuts relatively

soon. so the government is likely to cling, cling on to those comments and say, you see, you see the economy is getting better if you've got borrowings, if you're a hard pressed family with mortgages. shadow chancellor rachel reeves, of course, will then say she's already done a sort of prebuttal already done a sort of prebuttal a rebuttal that happens before the event. she'll say that ministers are gaslighting the british public on the economy, because if anyone thinks that the economy is getting better, they must be woefully out of touch. wealthy tories who don't understand the country. >> liam, i'm just reading here that the monetary committee, the monetary policy committee, voted by a majority of 7 to 2 to maintain that bank rate at 5.25. so quite overwhelming majority there . there. >> it is overwhelming, emily. and why is it overwhelming? because we've seen inflation in the last month or so actually go up in the united states . and the up in the united states. and the federal reserve is very important to the bank of england behind me . it tends to stay behind me. it tends to stay pretty much in lockstep with the

federal reserve. may be cutting interest rates a bit sooner, maybe cutting interest rates a bit later, but pretty much always in the same direction. so there are fears that inflation could spike . i think the next could spike. i think the next inflation number when it comes out later this month, ironically , will be a lot lower than 3.2% where it currently is, it will be near the 2% target. it may even go below the 2% target because this time last year there were changes to energy prices. we've had the reduction in the ofgem energy price cap that tends to regulate household utility bills . but the general utility bills. but the general mood on global financial markets is that commodity prices based on geopolitical risk are going up.the on geopolitical risk are going up. the opec energy exporters cartel is keeping oil prices ferm, working hand in glove now with non—opec member russia to limit oil supplies to global markets and keep prices high. so even though the bank of england's monetary policy committee, the nine economists rate setters nothing they do

impacts global oil markets, of course. but if global oil markets are punchy, petrol pnces markets are punchy, petrol prices are going up, diesel pnces prices are going up, diesel prices are going up, diesel prices are going up, transport costs are going up. that pushes up food costs. there's a lot of oil and gas and energy involved in food production and inflation in food production and inflation in the uk starts going up again this summer. don't shoot the messenger. it could happen. it will be very, very difficult for the bank of england to do multiple interest rate cuts because inflation, even the chancellor said it before and i have to agree with him on this. doesn't generally fall in a straight line. i do think interest rate cut interest rates will be lower than where they currently are by the end of the yean currently are by the end of the year, but we may just see one maximum two cuts before the general election, not the 3 or 4 that rishi sunak and his strategists were hoping for. >> and liam, it's worth saying those two dissenters of the nine mpc members, they did vote for a cut . i think mpc members, they did vote for a cut. i think i'm right in saying that the last time this happened, there were also two who voted for a cut. it's worth saying that uk inflation is now

lower than us inflation. inflation went down by more than was expected in the last announcement. are we relying too much on the us or is this simply out of the control of people on our island ? our island? >> you'll know, tom, because i know you follow these economic issues very closely. both of you do. we often talk about economics on your show? don't we? but you'll know that i've been saying for months and months and months that interest rates should be cut. we've already seen the swiss cut interest rates ahead of the americans . this morning we saw americans. this morning we saw the swedes, the swedish central bank, cut interest rates before the americans. it's almost as if the americans. it's almost as if the monetary policy committee is too timid to do anything until it gets permission from our american cousins. i say it gets permission from our american cousins . i say that american cousins. i say that partly in jest, but only partly because i do think the bank of england needs more cognitive diversity . i do think they need diversity. i do think they need more people out on the committee who haven't just been appointed by the treasury, because the

treasury knows that they'll be well behaved economists spouting conventional wisdom rather than being people of serious intellect, of serious grit, who can actually argue the other case, people who should have been arguing on the mpc throughout 2020 and 2021, that the notion that inflation coming out of lockdown will be transitory was complete nonsense . a lot of us said it at the time, but it's what the americans were saying. so we felt we had to say it too. we have many very, very talented economists in this country. we need more diversity of opinion on the mpc, real diversity, cognitive diversity , the sort of cognitive diversity, the sort of diversity that, when it comes to policy making , really counts. policy making, really counts. >> yes, rachel reeves didn't seem too interested in that , did seem too interested in that, did she? she didn't seem appear to see that as being a problem. can i ask you about something else that's just being in the press, reported in the press today, liam, while we've got you economics related, of course. now, the national institute of economic and social research, i don't know if you know much about them as an organisation , about them as an organisation, but they're saying whatever

government we have at the next general election , taxes will general election, taxes will have to rise. income tax will have to rise. income tax will have to rise by potentially up to 3% just to fund our public services. and because we've got so much debt, i mean, what would your response be be to that sort ofidea your response be be to that sort of idea ? ofidea? >> well, a lot of gb news viewers and listeners will have heard of the ifs, the institute for fiscal studies. heard of the ifs, the institute for fiscal studies . they tend to for fiscal studies. they tend to opine on tax issues. for fiscal studies. they tend to opine on tax issues . and if you opine on tax issues. and if you like, kind of microeconomic issues, budgetary issues . the issues, budgetary issues. the national institute for economic and social research, which is probably the most respected economic think tank in britain, arguably in europe, it's been around for many, many, many years . the head of the national years. the head of the national institute is a very independent, economic called jagjit chadha, who is increasingly carving out a reputation as somebody who's prepared to at least quench question conventional wisdom. and the national institute are weighing in, and they are a deeply apolitical organisation . deeply apolitical organisation. i've been talking to them basically since i was an a—level student . i know the institute

student. i know the institute very, very well. for them to say that any party that comes in is going to have to raise taxes , going to have to raise taxes, they're not doing that from a kind of ideological point of view. they're not saying that because, you know, they want higher taxes. they're saying that because that's what they see as an economic inevitability . vie given the fact that growth has been so slow, if the economy doesn't expand, politics gets really nasty and venal because the cake gets doesn't get bigger. and when the population is going up at the rate ares's the cake per head, the slice each individual person gets actually gets smaller. and that's what we've seen in the uk over the last two years. gdp per capita, as we say , the economy, capita, as we say, the economy, the size of the economy per head has been shrinking. and that's why the public finances are under pressure . that's why under pressure. that's why there's no sign of a feel good factor. that's why the main reason, i would say, why the tories are in a whole really interesting stuff. >> liam halligan, thank you very much for joining >> liam halligan, thank you very much forjoining us live outside much for joining us live outside a very sunny bank of england

today. very jealous. there seems today. very jealous. there seems to be the best place to be broadcasting from, and we couldn't hear that many, building works. >> no, actually sounded all right, didn't it, interesting that he says this, institute that's come out to say that tax rises may well be inevitable. he says. liam says they're a they're apolitical. it's not like they're socialist organisation that want us all to have higher taxes for ideological reasons. they're just saying, you know, with the rate of debt and our public services and no promises and all the promises that these politicians keep making, if spending money here and spending money there, taxes wouldn't have to go up if politicians were courageous about finding some savings. >> but it seems that they're really, really not. >> and interest rates aren't going down. and of course, this will have a big impact on housing, high interest rates taking their toll on mortgage owners, potential buyers across the country as well. >> ray bolger is the senior mortgage manager at john charcol and joins us now, ray , frankly, and joins us now, ray, frankly, there will be lots of disappointed people today, hoping for, lower rates because higher rates do tend to gum up

the housing market. >> yes. well, although, as you say, people will be disappointed . there was no real expectation we would see a cut in bank rate today , and it is encouraging today, and it is encouraging that the two dissenting members of the monetary policy committee at least voted for a reduction , at least voted for a reduction, as liam said, the fact that the fed looks like being further away from cutting rates is unhelpful, but perhaps what's more relevant is that the european central bank is expected to cut rates at its next meeting, and our economy, of course, is closely linked to the eu economy than the us economy. so i suspect that the next mpc meeting we will see a much closer vote. and whereas this time round, no change was expected, i think next time round it'll be much more difficult to forecast. >> and ray, how is this impacting people looking to, move or buy their first property? do you imagine that people will, put it off a little longer, hoping that at some point , longer, hoping that at some point, perhaps during the summer

or early autumn, those rates will come down? >> well, i think there's no doubt some people have been putting it off in the hope of rates coming down, but i think if it's right for you to move or right for you to buy your first property, actually that's more important than worrying about the last 5% in interest rates. assuming of course, you can afford mortgage payments, the expectation is that we will see rates come down over the next 2 or 3 years. and if you buy your house at the right time or your flat, whatever it is, then whatever your first mortgage deal is, you're going to change it probably in a few years time anyway. but but there is no doubt that anybody looking to move because in many cases they will be paying a really low rate of interest in some cases as low as 1. if they're looking to move increase their mortgage, they've got the double whammy of a higher interest rate and a bigger mortgage. so that's clearly holding back people looking to move. >> yes. and that does mean that we have seen a little bit of a dip in house prices . although

dip in house prices. although they are expected to return to growth next year. i suppose that is intrinsically linked with interest rates and mortgage rates. >> well, they certainly are . >> well, they certainly are. yes. i mean, house prices actually have done very little over the last few months , if you over the last few months, if you look at the nationwide index, if you look at the real prices, rather than the seasonally adjusted ones, they tend to announce they've actually increased slightly in the last few months. but basically the market's pretty flat. there was a report out today from rixx saying that there are more properties coming on the market. so that will be helpful for people looking to buy. they'll have more choice , and i think have more choice, and i think all the indications are that pnces all the indications are that prices are not really going to move very much over the next few months. yeah >> so it'll be very interesting to see. i mean, the issue with supply is just there, isn't it really, which is keeping those pnces really, which is keeping those prices , which is keeping those prices, which is keeping those pnces prices, which is keeping those prices high regardless of, the interest rate question. but how is the market doing generally, do you expect that if interest rates were to fall and hopefully they will at some point, that ,

they will at some point, that, people would start moving, buying prices would rocket again, well, i don't see prices rocketing , and although rocketing, and although obviously supply and demand is always going to be a factor if you take a long term view by far and away the biggest single factor influencing house prices is interest rates , because it's is interest rates, because it's all down to affordability, so as we see interest rates fall over the next couple of years , the next couple of years, assuming that's what's happened, what happens? yes. that will be positive for house prices. but of course there's some catching up to do because, with the level of inflation we've had, we're now in a situation where in general, salary rises are slightly higher than inflation, but it takes the time. it takes quite a while before people adjust. so people have not only got to look at higher mortgage rates, they've also got to look at higher cost of living. generally one thing which i think is well worth mentioning is that for first time buyers , is that for first time buyers, there is perhaps more choice and

better options now than there has been for some time. there's a perception if you're a first time buyer or a renter generally, that it's really difficult to move without any deposit. and it's certainly true to say that the bigger the deposit you've got, the better the mortgage deals available. but there is, for example, one mortgage on the market from skipton called the track rate track record mortgage, which is based on your rental ability , based on your rental ability, and that's priced at 5.55% for a five year fix for 100% mortgage. now that's only about 1% dearer than the best five year fixes for people with big deposit. so there will, i think, be some people watching this who are thinking, i've got no chance of getting a mortgage and it may well be they do. so i would recommend anybody who's thinking of buying actually dig into it and you might actually find something. >> thank you so much, ray bolger , senior mortgage manager at john charcol. really great to get your expertise on a day like today. although those interest rates have of course held. you know, there is always some

people who think, oh, maybe , people who think, oh, maybe, maybe they might fall, maybe they might fall. but sadly not there are people who have savings who quite like higher rates as well. >> so it's not always a very clear cut thing, although i think in general at the moment most people would probably like a little bit more economic growth, which is tend tends to be associated with with lower rates. >> yes. it might leave a bit more cash in people's pockets if they do eventually come down, but there you go. liam halligan will keep us updated on any movements. keep your views coming in. lots of you getting in touch about that point, about, potential tax rises. i mean, oh, 3. another 3% on income tax. not what you want, is it? >> it's worth saying there's a bit of a sting in the analysis, or that the bank of england has published alongside this decision. they've projected what inflation is expected to do. and they're saying this quarter the second quarter of this year, it's going to fall down to the 2% target. we're going to finally meet that 2% target after years and years and years this quarter . after years and years and years this quarter. but then the following quarter it's going to go back up again. they're saying

that all of the worry around, fuel oil , gas prices, that's fuel oil, gas prices, that's going to send it back up to 2.5. so it might be that by the time we go into an election in, inflation is actually ticking back up, albeit to a to a reasonable level. 2.5, i don't think is disastrous for anyone. there's a bit of a bit of a row going on on gbnews.com/yoursay over whether it's a good thing that these rates have been held, greg says cut rates to stimulate growth. >> simple, really, as jane says, that's what i thought. but wrong apparently. and gary says not really . cut rates. pound falls really. cut rates. pound falls against the dollar. oil fuel pnces against the dollar. oil fuel prices then increase. then the cost of virtually everything rises. then you have to raise rates just leave them at normal where they are at the moment and leave them alone for years. well, yes, people do point that out that these are historical norms. we just had very, very, very low interest rates for while. >> no. and gary has written another comment saying stop saying rates are high, rates are normal. and if we take a view not just of the last decade, but of the last 30 years, of course, rates are normal . 5.25% is. i

rates are normal. 5.25% is. i mean, we say it's the it's the highest it's been in 16 years. yes. but what was it, 16 years ago for a protracted period of time , up until the financial time, up until the financial crisis, we had rates between 4 and 5 and 6. probably that was the range. >> the problem is, though, the reality is we're all leveraged so much. i mean, people taking out an average for mortgage 35 odd years now. with wages not growing very quickly. so yes, we're all at a bit of risk. absolutely. if interest rates go high, borrowing, borrowing, £100,000 at a 5% interest rate, that's one thing. >> borrowing £400,000 at a 5% interest rate, that's a very, very different kettle of fish, especially when you thought you'd be borrowing it at a 1% rate. >> there you go. let us know your reaction to this all eyes prize by the bank of england holding the rate again . would holding the rate again. would you accept higher tax rises for pubuc you accept higher tax rises for public services? we've got ourselves into a bit of a pickle with all the debt that we've accrued. but coming up, the former chancellor, nadhim

zahawi, becomes the latest senior conservative mp to announce he's standing down at the general election. that takes the general election. that takes the tory quit account to 64. >> well, more on that very shortly. this is good afternoon britain on

gb news. good afternoon. britain. it's 12:21 now. former chancellor nadhim zahawi will not stand at the next general election . the next general election. >> yes. the mp for stratford on avon is now the 64th tory to announce he will not be running. look at that screen. those are the 64 conservatives, nadhim zahawi. they're at the bottom . zahawi. they're at the bottom. addition craig whittaker, jamie wallis , kwasi kwarteng, brandon wallis, kwasi kwarteng, brandon lewis, theresa may of course james keeping, robert halfon , james keeping, robert halfon, richard bacon, lucy allan, nikki

aitken, adam afriyie , graham aitken, adam afriyie, graham brady, george eustice, mike freer lots and lots of names that will be familiar to many watching brandon lewis there as well. interesting to know what you make of this. well. interesting to know what you make of this . 64 you make of this. 64 conservative mps, deciding you know what? don't fancy running again . i'll stand down before again. i'll stand down before the general election. is it because they suspect that perhaps they may not, win their seat or do you take a generous view that perhaps, you know, they've done some good work and they're on to the next thing? >> well, people like theresa may and sir graham brady have been there since the 1990s. they've done a long stint and they might think, you know, i've reached the end of my career, but there are some people here in their 30s. there's one in her 20s, i believe had enough, had enough. >> well, joining us is gb news political correspondent , olivia political correspondent, olivia utley. olivia, just looking at that graphic there 64. >> 64 mps standing down, conservative mps standing down before the next general

election. to put that in perspective, in 1997, before the blair landslide , just 75 blair landslide, just 75 conservative mps had stood down. so we're very, very nearly there and we're already at a bigger percentage of the parliamentary party than back in 1997. the loss of nadhim zahawi is actually quite a blow for the prime minister. obviously, he had to step down under a bit of a shadow when it emerged that he had covered up hmrc investigating his tax affairs, but he is a very popular mp within the party, his back story is incredible. a boy from baghdad who came here speaking no english at all, set up yougov, obviously a very successful business, although perhaps not particularly popular with conservative mps at the moment, and then on to be chancellor of the exchequer. education secretary. he says he wants to see in his resignation letter he wants to see someone with energy and vigour standing for the historic seat of stratford on avon. it's hard to

imagine who would want the job. there are conservative candidates , there is a waiting candidates, there is a waiting list of conservative candidates. but god, it's going to be hard to get them standing nadhim zahawi like so many of these mps who are standing down, has a big majority. he got 60% of the vote in 2019, but having a big majority, these days just doesn't mean very much. we have seen swings bigger than that already in by elections away from the conservative party and towards labour, and i expect that there are some mps who are thinking, well, even if i cling on to my seat, do i want to be sitting in parliament for five years as part of a really weakened small opposition ? weakened small opposition? >> yes, it's a real big question, a conundrum for conservatives, many of whom, because there was such a clear out in 2010 with the expenses scandal, many, many mps on all sides of the house stood down. you've got a huge number of new mps in 2010 and then, of course , mps in 2010 and then, of course, we had some big changes over brexit. people leaving in in

2019, new ones coming in. david cameron quite abandoning his job, quite a fresh house of commons. you'd be hard pressed to find many conservatives who've been there. well throughout the long, hard years from 1997, do you think they're fair weather tories? i wonder? i wonder if many are wondering. olivia watts opposition about, i mean , most of these people have mean, most of these people have never had to endure it. >> well, absolutely. i think i'm right in saying there's literally only a handful of conservative mps who are still there from the 90. even someone like theresa may, i think she was elected in was it 2001? it does feel as though quite a lot of these mps, they've never seen opposition before, and they probably don't really like the look of it. the fact that so many conservative mps are standing down suggests that they at least think that we could be heading for the sort of landslide seen in 1997, being part of a strong opposition, perhaps up against in a hung parliament with labour as the

largest party is one thing, journalists like us are interested in what you have to say. you are providing some robust opposition to the government, and you might even be able to stop flagship , be able to stop flagship, important government legislation going through being part of a really small minority opposition of sort of 100 mps, which some people are suggesting might be the case for the conservatives. this time round is a completely different kettle of fish and will be really, really tough for mps who, as you say, tom, most of whom have only known life as an mp for the governing party. >> indeed, thank you so much. olivia utley gb news, political correspondent. live there from westminster, shall we get a little more political analysis from peter spencer, who is a political commentator , peter, political commentator, peter, thank you. thank you so much. i mean, it must be pretty depressing for rishi sunak with all of his colleagues deciding that they're going to stand down. they must believe they don't stand a chance, really, of, governing . of, governing. >> i have a mental picture of rishi sunak this time next year,

enjoying the view from his palace and silicon valley, thinking why would why did i even try? because of the fact, as you rightly say, he is watching his party implode in front of his base and nadhim zahawi zahawi in his, i think, rather charming and very dignified resignation letter. cited, romeo and juliet parting is such sweet sorrow, but his real parting shot, i have to say, is today's poll in the from the company that he himself founded, yougov , which gave founded, yougov, which gave labour its biggest ever lead , 30 labour its biggest ever lead, 30 points. it also timed that. >> do you, peter? you don't think he's. i don't know, malicious in announcing this today with that, yougov poll out ? >> 7 >> actually, i ? >> actually, i doubt that because of the fact that he would have thought about this quite long and hard and i would

suspect that the figures from. >> and the day after natalie elphicke crosses the floor. i mean, a bit of a brutal day for the leadership. >> oh, totally. i mean, natalie elphicke came in second in a fortnight or whatever it is. i mean , i to use, lady bracknell mean, i to use, lady bracknell here to lose one mp, looked like misfortune to lose two looks like carelessness and who knows how many more are going to follow. but but to go back to zahawi zahawi himself. i mean , zahawi zahawi himself. i mean, he's had a pretty a starry role in parliament. he served in so many of the great offices, and i suspect his real motivation is, look, we're going to get utterly slaughtered in the general election. do i really want to be languishing on, on, on the opposition benches ? and i've opposition benches? and i've known plenty of mps in my time who have found themselves, particularly tory mps after the blair landslide, who were in a

state of clinical depression and remained in that for a considerable length of time. >> it's worth saying, peter , >> it's worth saying, peter, that, were to we believe this 30 point labour lead in the latest yougov poll, some people have projected that sort of uniformly across the 650 constituencies. of course, it wouldn't properly work like that. there's always tactical voting and local differences and all the rest . differences and all the rest. but, just just doing the little exercise of projecting it uniformly across the uk, you end up with the tories losing all but 13 of their seats, all but 13. it's the most extraordinary situation. >> well, yes. i mean, it's funny you should mention that. i mean, actually it's been on the cards for years and years for the palace of westminster to get rebuilt. so it doesn't, doesn't catch fire because of all its out—of—date wiring . it would out—of—date wiring. it would seem quite a good moment to actually redesign the commons chamber, would it not? because

it's going to be it would be so ridiculously imbalanced redesign winston churchill's commons chamber that that sounds that sounds a little uprooting of history . well, i could couldn't history. well, i could couldn't agree more. but at the same time , there is there is a quite a, you know, a palpable danger that the place will catch fire because there is so much dodgy wiring around and that talking about this for years and years and years and then, oh, something needs to be done. and it's put together by prince albert, for heaven's sake. so but i mean, yeah, joking aside about winston churchill and the and the side that one of the things that i think particularly as gives the tories good reason to be troubled is not just the swing apparently to labour, but also the swing in the direction of reform . 1 in 4, it suggested, of reform. 1 in 4, it suggested, of reform. 1 in 4, it suggested, of the 2019. in a tory voters have now switched to reform now because of our voting system first past the post, the

likelihood of any reform mps actually getting elected are very is very slim. but at the same time, in each of these constituencies where reform are putting up a serious punt, what you're going to see there is a door wide open for yet more labour mps . labour mps. >> yes. well, thank you very much indeed. peter spencer, political commentator. always great to speak to you. i think, tom, you can't really extrapolate , can you? it's a bit extrapolate, can you? it's a bit of a nonsense. and also when it comes down to it, on the day of the general election, people will view this as a choice between keir starmer or rishi sunak or at least a lot of people will, and that might change. you know, it's easy to say that you're going to vote for one party in a survey like that, particularly when the governing party is seen to be failing on many fronts. but, emily, general elections, you know , at a time when sir keir know, at a time when sir keir starmer is positioning himself to take the votes of everyone from john mcdonnell to natalie elphicke, i mean, you can't really there's no room left on the political spectrum in the united kingdom . united kingdom. >> the labour party will be so,

so broad tent. i mean, obviously it won't stand for anything at all. and that might put off some people, but generally i find it quite hard to see if that is genuinely the spread of ideological opinion. now within the labour party, many voters will be saying, i can see myself somewhere upon that spectrum, and this is the problem. >> this is the problem, yes. it may be, useful for keir starmer for his own, plight to, try not to say too much and to invite everyone into team labour. but we don't know what exactly he stands for. i mean, what do you make of that polling? let us know. gbnews.com/yoursay the conservatives, 30 points behind laboun conservatives, 30 points behind labour. now wow. >> goodness me. it's a bit like in the american south where you the democrat party in the in the united states, sort of in the 19505, united states, sort of in the 1950s, you used to have the liberal democrats and the conservative democrats, and it's almost like it was two completely different parties. you might start to see that within the labour party over here or perhaps not, but much more to come. rishi sunak meeting with university bosses.

of course, today is the safety of jewish students at risk. well, we'll get to that after your latest headlines. >> tom, thank you and good afternoon. the top stories, the bank of england's base interest rate is unchanged for a sixth time, held at 5.25. economists had expected the bank to hold its rate with inflation remaining at 3.2, which is above the 2% target. the bank's governor, andrew bailey, struck an optimistic tone, saying progress was being made and its target would be met within a couple of months . commuters are couple of months. commuters are facing a third consecutive day of disruption as the rail industry's longest ever strike action continues. members of aslef at lner, transpennine express and northern trains are walking out today. the union claims its members haven't had a pay claims its members haven't had a pay rise in five years and is using the government of giving up trying to resolve the issue. but the government says drivers have been offered salaries of up

to £65,000, almost twice the uk average . the home office has average. the home office has removed figures on french efforts to stop small boat launches from its website . the launches from its website. the clear u—turn comes a little more than a week after it first started publishing the data. in an effort to show cooperation between french and uk authorities. the most recent figures had shown that french authorities stopped more than 1000 migrants from launching boats since last week . an 18 boats since last week. an 18 month old girl has had her heanng month old girl has had her hearing restored after she became the first person in the world to take part in a new gene therapy trial. opal sandy was born deaf due to auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses from the inner ear to the brain. now, thanks to an innovative new treatment being trialled here, opal hearing is almost normal and could even improve further . almost normal and could even improve further. her almost normal and could even improve further . her parents say improve further. her parents say they are delighted . for the they are delighted. for the latest stories you can sign up

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i >> -- >> well, it's 1238 now. in a few minutes, we're going to be talking about what's going on at our universities, particularly our universities, particularly our campuses across the united kingdom. really? rishi sunak has been meeting with the university bosses today to essentially tell them to take anti—semitism a tad more seriously. we're going to talk about whether we should actually clamp down harder on these university protests, or would that be wrong? would that be wrong for freedom of speech? very important principle freedom of protest . but but we've seen of protest. but but we've seen what's happened in the united states. we saw how those escalated. we saw the harassment of jewish students. do we want the same thing happening here?

we'll have that debate very shortly indeed. yes. >> my right to extend my fist stops just a couple of inches before your face begins right . before your face begins right. well, yes. >> yes. i mean, there's so many jewish students have come out. did you see the shocking news that the national union of students voted out? out of their union, the jewish union of students? yeah which is quite an extraordinary thing to happen . extraordinary thing to happen. they say it's because they supported israel. >> it's extraordinary . but it >> it's extraordinary. but it does not surprise me. i, once upon a time , was was was elected upon a time, was was was elected to the national union of students . i went to multiple students. i went to multiple conferences. pinnacle of his career, height of his career, the height of my, my. i went there for one purpose, which was to ruthlessly take the mick out of people who saw themselves not as representatives of students, but as some sort of legislative chamber that was more interested in international affairs than , in international affairs than, you know, employability. >> oh, come on, tom, i imagine you used it as a, you know, a

platform to pontificate about world affairs, well, i actually did about the wonders of free market economics. what i actually did was show them up by doing precisely that. my election was all about defeating isis, it was about, what? an agricultural reform building a death star , i think. yeah. no. death star, i think. yeah. no. >> well, enough of your illustrious career . let's speak illustrious career. let's speak to the director of investigations and enforcement at the campaign against anti—semitism, stephen silverman , stephen. rishi sunak. prime minister he's had this, meeting with the university bosses, the vice chancellors. i don't know exactly how many of them he met, what's your understanding of what's your understanding of what happened at that meeting ? what happened at that meeting? and are you, hearing that things are moving in a positive direction, well, we've heard nothing from that meeting. i don't know what was said , we are don't know what was said, we are not moving in a positive direction, and it is probably going to take far more dramatic action than those who attended

the meeting want to carry out in order to reverse what is a i mean, i was going to say a very frightening situation , but the frightening situation, but the reality of it is we are now seeing things that, evoke what happenedin seeing things that, evoke what happened in the early years of the nazi regime to jews in germany. >> what sort of things? stephen >> what sort of things? stephen >> well, jews being refused admission to parts of their university, a jewish chaplain at ye at leeds, having to go into hiding because of death threats to him and rape threats to his wife , it is just horrendous. and wife, it is just horrendous. and the fact that the, national union of students, who were the subject of an absolutely damning report by the distinguished casey rebecca tuck last year because of the, because it is so riven with anti—semitism, could actually hold this vote, albeit non—binding, that called for the

expulsion of the union of jewish students , which means that students, which means that jewish students do not have a voice at the nus . this is it's voice at the nus. this is it's just mind blowing that this could actually happen. we are in a very, very dangerous place right now . right now. >> i mean, when you put it like that and highlighting those circumstances, it does look absolutely terrifying. it's as if some of these students don't have any grasp of history. >> they don't. and you see that time and time again, they they self—certify themselves as being free of anti—semitism by dictating to jews about jewish identity, the number of times we hear zionism has nothing to do with jewish, with being jewish. well, i'm sorry they are wrong. they know nothing about the history of the jewish people. they know nothing about jewish identity . vie they also know identity. vie they also know nothing about the history of the region that they're protesting about. they've just been

radicalised by propaganda, on social media, by the reporting, the woeful reporting by some of our media outlets, and this is the cause that they have espoused in order to make them feel good about themselves and the effect on jewish students , the effect on jewish students, as far as they are concerned, is irrelevant because they have decided that they are the good guys. and if you have israel as part of your identity, which the majority of jewish students will do, they are the bad guys and are worthy of hatred. this has to stop it runs counter to every decent british liberal democratic value. >> stephen. it totally runs counter to all of those values, but it also runs deep and keeps rearing its head. a decade ago, when i was at university, the president of the nus was a woman by the name of malia bouattia. she described the university of birmingham as a zionist outpost because it had a large jewish society. this stuff keeps coming

back and coming back and coming back and coming back and coming back. >> yeah, i mean, this is why anti—semitism is often referred to as a virus because once it it infects society, it runs rampant throughout it. and then just the society believes it has found a way to vaccinate itself against it. it mutates . and what we're it. it mutates. and what we're seeing now is the most recent mutation of that virus, people hide themselves, shield themselves, with the world word zionism when it's blatantly obvious they're talking about jews , it's true. jews, it's true. >> and people don't. people don't seem to care when jewish students say we're feeling intimidated, i am genuinely fearful of revealing even the fact that i am jewish. i mean, i've heard stories in particular from nottingham university about jewish students essentially being asked to expose themselves as to whether they're supportive of israel as an entity, as a

nafion of israel as an entity, as a nation state. i mean, it's quite ridiculous . just lastly, do you ridiculous. just lastly, do you think it's time to clamp down on these protests , or do you these protests, or do you believe that that would be an affront to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, protest, etc? >> look, absolutely not, free speech is of paramount importance and that while universities should uphold that right, it has to be exercised in a respectful and lawful manner and without trampling all over the rights of other minorities. and when you have people, such as oxford at the oxford , protest as oxford at the oxford, protest camp, participants have been asked to agree that palestinians have the right to resist against occupation. in other words, october 7, which was the largest slaughter of jews since the on one day since the holocaust that october the 7th was legitimate. it is literally endorsing the actions of a proscribed terrorist organisation. this is nothing to do with freedom of

expression and everything to do about hatred, to do with hatred of israel and hatred of the jewish people . jewish people. >> it is it is clearly something thatis >> it is it is clearly something that is bubbling over with hatred. one of the things that i think is the most revealing about some of that footage we could see from oxford was how many people were covering their faces with masks. are they ashamed of what they're saying or why are they trying to hide from their university? why are they trying to hide from everyone else there? what's going on with covering the face with covid masks? they might all be sick in what they're saying, but they're certainly not all, sick with covid. very, very curious, well, if the calls that you're espousing requires you to cover your face, you might want to consider if you're espousing the right cause. >> well, yes, thank you so much for your time. really appreciate it. stephen silverman. thank you very much for talking to us, coming up, pratt. very much for talking to us, coming up, pratt . plonker. numpty. >> are those all of the words that you're describing? those

protesters with no . yeah. protesters with no. yeah. >> no, just you, tom. no, not at all. not at all. is your favourite insult, dying out. find out

i >> -- >> good afternoon. britain. it's ten minutes to one. now, a survey has found that the word plonker is one of 15 british inside out, with many younger people neither using nor understanding them . understanding them. >> others include toerag, pillock, nitwit and numpty . so pillock, nitwit and numpty. so the best ones. really? numpty? it's fair to say gen z may struggle to get their heads around this kind of talk from legendary british comedy only fools and horses, you stupid little plonker rodney. >> here i am on the verge of losing the biggest deal of my life, and this plonker here wants to give me a lecture about poxy wants to give me a lecture about poxy butterflies. >> you've got a rhinoceros, right? and one day ain't there? you tend to know it's missing .

you tend to know it's missing. >> don't be a plonker all your life, rodney . life, rodney. >> i love the word plonker, plonker . plonker. >> although i think for me numpty is the is the pinnacle of british nitwit. >> anyway, joining to us discuss this is comedian bruce devlin, bruce thank you so much for joining us, do you think the world would be a worse place without the word plonker? >> i don't think it would make any difference at all. i think that's a good one. that's a word . it sounds good. and i think people should get over themselves and stop crying about things that just don't harm them i >> -- >> are you. are you serious? >> are you. are you serious? >> bonkers . >> bonkers. >> bonkers. >> are you suggesting that we're getting upset over the erasure of these words? because what the research shows is that people are taking on american insults, and we're losing our british insults . insults. >> so we want british insults for british people. yeah exactly. >> exactly. >> exactly. >> we'll get that through the lords. no problem. no, i mean, i think the problem with younger

generations and i say that now realising i'm a slightly older person, is they believe their time is now and everything should be on their timetable or their watch . i think plonker is their watch. i think plonker is a fantastic word. i think the eradication of the word plonker is being done by plonker, who have no personality and need to pipe have no personality and need to pipe down. >> well, i think what younger people are using now they say things oh, you're so basic. apparently brexit has become an inqu apparently brexit has become an insult . so you can say that's so insult. so you can say that's so brexit, meaning , you know, brexit, meaning, you know, that's so lame. >> i've never heard of that one. >> i've never heard of that one. >> i've never heard of that. i heard of the weekend though. if it's a banging beat, you say it slaps . yeah. and i thought, oh slaps. yeah. and i thought, oh right. i kind of give in. so yeah. >> no, you can say things slap and that they have riz . and that they have riz. >> that was the word of the year last year. riz it's short for charisma. >> oh well you . know something.

>> oh well you. know something. it's the same when people ehm. if you're called tara and someone calls you tea. i don't understand the need to shorten all these words down to look cute or heartening, or any of that kind of stuff. i would go back and say they are bin lids, that's a favourite insult of mine. it's not going anywhere sooi'i. 500“. >> soon. >> well, shall we have a look at some of the words? because i want you to point out perhaps your favourite. there's numpty prat plonker, git scallywag nitwit nitwit pillock . toerag nitwit nitwit pillock. toerag tosspot drip cad ninny blighter and bampot. those are all the words at risk of going out . words at risk of going out. >> undoubtedly bampot bampot in because so many people are bampot. i'm very surprised you were able to use the other word at lunchtime, but well done you that. >> now i should say at this point we do apologise for anyone who was offended by that. i couldn't see what was coming next in the list. >> but yes, bampot, that's hardly ever used , is it? hardly ever used, is it? >> it's used a lot in scotland, funnily enough , along with funnily enough, along with crosspatch. but that's more my

mother. she calls everyone a crosspatch, including the new leader of the snp, john swinney . leader of the snp, john swinney. >> bruce. >> bruce. >> so can we conclude from our conversation here that you're not too bothered about the language changing and that, and that will will create new insults that are just as wonderful? >> but you know something? until this generation dies out, you're not going to lose them any time soon. it's up to the individual what they want to say. i actually feel the people that are pushing things like slap and raise are missing out on a vocabulary based. they are, they are. >> thank you so much, bruce devlin. thank you very much for your time. >> you have great respect. i just think we should bring back biting our thumbs up. don't go anywhere. >> we're getting all the latest reaction on the world of politics. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb views. >> hello. >> hello. >> welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news. not

often we've been able to have . often we've been able to have. a headune often we've been able to have. a headline like this through the spring. it's been fine for a day or so in the south, but now most places joining in thanks to this area of high pressure. not fine everywhere. there's always 1 or 2 exceptions. this weather front is bringing a little more cloud across the far north—west of scotland, through the western isles, and some patchy rain here. a bit more cloud two over north eastern scotland and northeast england. staying fairly grey in some places here, but for most it's dry fine. plenty of spring sunshine coming through, lifting those temperatures quite nicely, the coasts a little cooler, particularly where it's a little bit misty, but in the sunny spells 22, maybe 23 c, that cloud thickening up across northern scotland, caithness, sutherland and then the northern isles , seeing a bit of rain isles, seeing a bit of rain through the evening and overnight. but for most it'll stay dry. we'll see a bit more cloud and mist returning to parts of eastern england. some fog patches possible across parts of southern england and south wales as well. temperatures in rural spots dipping to single figures. but most towns and cities staying in double digits and most will have

a cracking day tomorrow. yes, could start a little misty. some fog patches , but they should fog patches, but they should clear fairly sharply. some patchy rain . across shetland, patchy rain. across shetland, but even that's on its way out by lunchtime. some of the coasts again a little bit misty at times, particularly in the east, but most places dry, sunny spells and warmer still. temperatures high teens, low to maybe mid 20s across the southeast . southeast. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers . sponsors of boxt boilers. sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> well. good afternoon. britain it's 1:00 on thursday, the 9th of may. >> former chancellor nadhim zahawi becomes the latest senior conservative mp to announce he'll stand down at the general election, taking the tory quitter count to 64 this on the day . that one poll puts labour day. that one poll puts labour

an astonishing 30 points ahead of the conservatives and rishi sunak has met with university bosses to demand assurances for the safety of jewish students. >> he's warned protests are in some cases propagating outright harassment and anti—semitic abuse. is it time for a clampdown? we'll be debating that and househunters are flocking back to london in their droves after the covid era exodus. >> but why are they doing this? could it be, as some are claiming, because the countryside is boring? >> surely . >> surely. not. >> surely. not. >> that's the claim from some people that. that the countryside. there's not enough to do. well, yes. >> so essentially why we're talking about this is because there's a big piece in the papers today about this couple. now, they left to go live in the welsh countryside . they thought welsh countryside. they thought it would be an absolute dream,

but they moved back six months later to london because they said it was boring and they had nothing left to talk to each other about. so is it the countryside that's boring? or is it these newlyweds that are bonng it these newlyweds that are boring ? let us know what you boring? let us know what you think. if these two people believe that they are the love of each other's lives , and after of each other's lives, and after six months, they're sitting there in stony silence, i think that probably has a little bit more to do with their own relationship than the british countryside . and yes, blame all. countryside. and yes, blame all. blame all your relationship issues on where you live, but yes, so they thought the welsh countryside was going to be an absolute dream for them. turns out they didn't have anything to talk about and it was boring. >> i have to say, sometimes i find if i'm with people that i don't know that very well, or whatever, i find there is always more to talk about on a long walk through the countryside than when they start talking distractions in big cities. >> i mean, if you especially, i mean, i've done i've done lots of walks in wales and one of the

things is i think when you when you're climbing a mountain or going on a coastal path or something, you never stop having things to talk about. >> i feel like walking through the countryside with you would be like listening to an audiobook , wouldn't it? it'd be audiobook, wouldn't it? it'd be like listening to an audiobook. anyway, what do you make of that? is the countryside boring, or are the people who don't like the countryside the boring ones? let's get your headlines . let's get your headlines. >> emily, thank you and good afternoon. the top stories from the gb newsroom. the bank of england's base interest rate is unchanged for a sixth time, held at 5.25. economists had expected the bank to hold its rate with inflation remaining at 3.2, which is above the 2% target. the bank's governor, andrew bailey, struck an optimistic tone, saying progress was being made and its target would be met within a couple of months . the within a couple of months. the chair of the labour party, anneliese dodds, says former

tory mp natalie elphicke has been held to account for her past comments about sexual assault. the mp for dover announced her defection from the tory party to labour just moments before prime minister's questions yesterday, but it's ignhed questions yesterday, but it's ignited a backlash among some labour mps after comments miss elphicke made in defence of her former partner during his conviction for sexual assault. well, anneliese dodds told gb news that proper process has been followed well. >> those were very, very serious issues . the sexual assault that issues. the sexual assault that was rightly prosecuted . and of was rightly prosecuted. and of course there was a parliamentary process that followed that , process that followed that, including a parliamentary process that applied to natalie elphicke. so it's absolutely right that there was accountability there . this is an accountability there. this is an incredibly important matter. every workplace , including every workplace, including parliament, has got to be free of sexual harassment . of sexual harassment. >> the number of people waiting for hospital treatment is still on the rise, despite the government's promise to end year long waits by next march, nearly

310,000 people had been waiting longer than 52 weeks for routine treatment. last month , there's treatment. last month, there's been some progress with referrals for suspected cancer , referrals for suspected cancer, slightly up from 64 to nearly 69. but it's still far short of the 85. downing street blamed strike action, insisting the latest figures were a significant achievement in the context of industrial action in the nhs . commuters are facing the nhs. commuters are facing a third consecutive day of disruption as the rail industry's longest ever strike action continues . members of action continues. members of aslef at lner, transpennine express and northern trains are walking out today, with none of the train companies using new laws aimed at ensuring minimum service levels during strikes. aslef's dispute has been running for two years and it hasn't met the rail delivery group for fresh talks in over a year. the union claimed its members haven't had a pay rise in five years, and it's accusing the government of giving up trying to resolve the issue. but the

government says drivers have been offered salaries of up to £65,000, almost twice the uk average . the home office has average. the home office has removed figures on french efforts to stop small boats launches from its website , but launches from its website, but the clear u—turn comes a little more than a week after it first started publishing the data. in an effort to show cooperation between french and uk authorities. the most recent figures had shown that french authorities stopped more than 1000 migrants from launching boats since last week. former chancellor nadhim zahawi has announced he'll step down as an mp at the next general election. he's been mp for stratford on avon for 14 years, but he was sacked as tory party chairman in january last year after an inquiry found he'd failed to disclose that hmrc was investigating his tax affairs. in a statement posted to social media, mr zahawi said that his mistakes were his own, but it had been his greatest honour to serve his constituents . an 18

serve his constituents. an 18 month old girl has had her heanng month old girl has had her hearing restored after she became the first person in the world to take part in a new gene therapy trial. opal sandhu was born deaf due to auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses from the inner ear to the brain . now, thanks to a new the brain. now, thanks to a new treatment being trialled here, opals hearing is almost normal and could even improve further. her parents say they are delighted . and police are delighted. and police are appealing for help locating two people suspected of stealing culturally significant gold artefacts from a museum . cctv artefacts from a museum. cctv shows two people in hooded tops climbing through a window at ely museum in cambridgeshire in the early hours of tuesday. footage from a second camera shows two people rushing past in the opposite direction, then returning seconds later. one of them apparently carrying a rucksack. cambridgeshire police said an item called the east cambridgeshire gold torc was taken along with a gold

bracelet. anyone with information is being asked to contact police or crime stoppers . for the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts. now back to tom and . emily. and. emily. >> good afternoon . britain is >> good afternoon. britain is 1:07. now the former chancellor nadhim zahawi, will not stand at the next general election . the next general election. >> yes, the mp for stratford on avon is now the 64th conservative to announce he will not be running, throwing the towel in. it hasn't been the easiest of rides after being embroiled in a tax controversy and being sacked as the party chairman last january, there's a little graphic showing the 64, now 64 conservative mps who don't fancy running again, but in a statement. oh, sorry. >> go on. i was just going to point out some of them. you've got mike freer, graham brady,

theresa may. people might recognise chris grayling robert hur often, robert goodwill, adam afriyie , lucy allen i mean, the afriyie, lucy allen i mean, the list goes on and on. chloe smith alok sharma, paul scully, douglas ross , gary streeter lots douglas ross, gary streeter lots of names that people will recognise. lots of names that have been on this programme. >> yes, but will you miss them? in a statement, nadhim zahawi wrote. it's time for a new energetic conservative party, adding that my mistakes have been mine. no, a new energetic conservative member of parliament for the area that he's in, saying his mistakes have been mine. >> well, let's speak to gb news political correspondent now, olivia utley, because this is becoming a steady drumbeat. the prime minister wanted a steady drumbeat of rwanda flights going off this summer. instead, he's got resignations as he has 64 resignations. >> now to put that in context, in 1997, before the blair landslide , there were 75 landslide, there were 75 conservative resignations . we're

conservative resignations. we're still not at the general election. we could easily get up to 75 by then, and already we're at a higher percentage of the parliamentary party than back in 1997. by contrast, only i think it's 18 labour mps have said that they won't be standing at the next election. it very much feels as though quite a lot of these conservative mps are worried that they're going to lose their seat, or if not, that, they're just not particularly interested in being particularly interested in being part of what might well be a very small and weak opposition in in the case of nadhim zahawi, he does have a big majority in stratford on avon. he got 60% of the vote last time . of course, the vote last time. of course, that doesn't mean that he's completely safe. no conservative majority is safe at the moment. we are seeing unprecedented swings towards the labour party in by—election after by—election, but it seems more likely that zahawi just isn't really interested in being a backbench mp in a weak conservative opposition. it is a blow for rishi sunak. yes, zahawi had to stand aside because of concerns about his

tax affairs. he covered up an hmrc investigation into his tax affairs, but he is widely regarded as a as a was widely regarded as a as a was widely regarded as a as a was widely regarded as an efficient minister, an effective local mp and he's admired his backstory is really impressive coming from baghdad, only speaking a little bit of english and then setting up yougov before going into politics. this is the sort of calibre of mp that the conservative party can't really afford to lose. >> yes. and this comes , of >> yes. and this comes, of course, after the, shock news that natalie elphicke, the was conservative mp for dover and deal conservative mp for dover and deal, defected to the labour party and the reactions are starting to come through thick and fast. of course lots of conservative mps , making jokes, conservative mps, making jokes, saying, this is awful, saying, what does this mean keir starmer actually stands for? if he were just welcomes in a right wing conservative mp like that, but also labour voices coming out, we've had john mcdonnell expressing his concern . we've

expressing his concern. we've now got the labour leader of the dover district council saying that he reacted with horror and that he reacted with horror and that he's extremely concerned . that he's extremely concerned. >> well, exactly. and i mean, there are plenty of conservative mps who are suggesting that actually, natalie elphicke is exactly the calibre of mp that the conservative party can afford to lose . obviously, her afford to lose. obviously, her political opinions are very much to the right of the conservative party. almost all conservative mps i've spoken to would say that they are to the left of natalie elphicke. she was part of the erg. she was part of the new conservatives group , that new conservatives group, that socially conservative group set up socially conservative group set ”p by socially conservative group set up by miriam cates and danny kruger. but also, i mean, that makes her controversial , but makes her controversial, but what makes her sort of widely disliked actually , on both sides disliked actually, on both sides of the house is the fact that she stood by her now ex—husband, charlie elphicke, when he was convicted of sexual abuse. she suggested that he had been punished for being attracted and attractive to women. now, those are not the sort of comments you

expect to hear from any politician, let alone a labour mp. so there are sort of jokes on the conservative back benches and real consternation among some labour mps who think that keir starmer should have said no when natalie elphicke approached him. of course, if you sort of get out of the westminster bubble a little bit and think of the an ordinary voter who may just, you know, glance at the headunes just, you know, glance at the headlines on gb news of an evening but isn't wrapped up in the minutia of what's going on. of course, this is a win for laboun of course, this is a win for labour, someone defecting from the conservatives to the labour party , someone on the front line party, someone on the front line of the immigration debate. the mp for dover deciding that she trusts the labour party. more on immigration. so there are two different ways of looking at it, but keir starmer is facing a big backlash from labour mps today, especially female labour mps. yes it's interesting perhaps, that there was another mp who was suspended by starmer some months ago because of a newsletter she wrote on

holocaust memorial day, talking about what she described as a genocide in gaza to be thought of on that day. >> she was suspended for that and brought back into the labour party yesterday. i wonder if that was a response from the leadership of the labour party trying to shore up some of the left flank or some of those very unhappy mps taking on quite a right wing conservative mp he had to take back one of the left wingers he expelled for what was accused to be an anti—semitic incident , taking back in just incident, taking back in just just to steady the ship, perhaps he i don't think it was a coincidence that kate osamor was given back the labour whip yesterday. >> i think you're quite right, tom. i think there will be plenty of left wing labour mps who are spitting feathers at the idea that someone like natalie elphicke , a real hardliner on elphicke, a real hardliner on immigration, someone with very conservative views, socially conservative views, socially conservative views, socially conservative views can be accepted into the labour party. but some of these more left wing labour mps don't seem to be

welcome there anymore . i think welcome there anymore. i think that this was definitely a case of keir starmer trying to placate the labour left, who haven't really been happy since the removal of jeremy corbyn. >> well, thank you very much indeed. olivia utley gb news, political correspondent. a huge amount going on. and of course, that poll that shows , labour that poll that shows, labour party are now 30 points ahead of the conservatives, at least according to that yougov survey. quite extraordinary. >> but doesn't that just show? i mean , i know that a lot of the mean, i know that a lot of the fieldwork for that poll was done before the defection, but it will be very interesting to see further polls. i would think that that poll shows that the strategy of the labour party praising margaret thatcher, trying to see more right wing than rishi sunak on some areas they'll be delighted with conversations like the one that we've just had where where the casual observer might just hear , casual observer might just hear, oh, the labour party's got an mp who's very tough on immigration now . and that's exactly the sort now. and that's exactly the sort of impression that they want to

make . make. >> are we that fickle? oh, the british public, that fickle , let british public, that fickle, let us know. but joining us now is political commentator stephen carlton—woods, stephen, hard to know where to start with everything that's going on in the world of politics, the world of westminster, also holyrood and everywhere else. and in wales too, the welsh parliament. but let's start with nadhim zahawi and his decision not to stand at the general election. he's served as an mp for 14 years. is it 14 years, 14 years? 14 years? so all the time that the conservatives have been in power in one way or another, do you think he just doesn't fancy being in opposition , i don't being in opposition, i don't know, really, i think he sees his political career at, at its limits now after, his tax , limits now after, his tax, problem last year. so, probably that's got a big part to play in this. and then with the current political climate and the

conservative party moving forward, i think he's probably got better things to be doing now than, hanging around westminster . westminster. >> he's just got too many options. he's been a minister. he's been a chancellor. he's ticked that box now onto something more lucrative. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> well, i mean, it was a big business man, a very successful businessman. and so, i always question really , it's great that question really, it's great that we have such a calibre of person in westminster, but, i think if i was that calibre of person, i really wouldn't want to be in westminster . really wouldn't want to be in westminster. i'd want to be doing other things with my life . doing other things with my life. >> well, it's supposed to be the greatest privilege . greatest privilege. >> well, it is, yeah, it is a privilege. and they will all say it's a great privilege to serve the country . but the baggage the country. but the baggage that comes with that and all the, you know, your life is completely overtaken and you're in the, you're in the spotlight all the time. so any little mistakes that you do, are

amplified. really. so i'm sure he'll have a much calmer life moving on and doing other things, but i think it's a big loss to the conservative party. that calibre of person deciding to not continue? >> yes, i imagine so. >> yes, i imagine so. >> i want to move on now to this other big issue. of course, the reaction to the defection yesterday, the sensational defection that actually saw natalie elphicke sit in the middle of the labour benches dunng middle of the labour benches during prime minister's questions. all of her colleagues around her, her new colleagues, her labour colleagues looking incredibly uncomfortable . i've incredibly uncomfortable. i've never seen labour mps squirm quite so much . they must have quite so much. they must have watched their own side , but but watched their own side, but but there has been a lot of commentary , not just around the commentary, not just around the politics of natalie elphicke, but the personal, conduct of her. gabriel pogrund is a journalist at the times and he wrote, that, natalie elphicke his words cruelly and publicly

tormented the victims of her sex offender ex—husband , ed charlie, offender ex—husband, ed charlie, gabriel pogrund then goes on to say, there are other things i cannot report. the number of rumours swirling westminster about the conduct of natalie elphicke and her husband, charlie elphicke, particularly with regards to sex crimes , is with regards to sex crimes, is fairly shocking. >> yes it is, but yesterday came to a big surprise to many people, when that happened, i remember the news breaking and i couldn't believe what was going on. but the thing the biggest question there. i can't believe that keir starmer accepted her into the party. i mean , she has into the party. i mean, she has no values at all with that are in line with the labour party, and she's not covered herself in glory at all, so another one that was stepping down, apparently. anyway, for the next term , where's she going to go term, where's she going to go from here? i also think she's

done herself any favours. >> so what's the game plan, then? do you reckon stephen? why do you think she's done this ? do you think she's done this? >> you know, i'm really. i lost for this one. i can't think if he was really going to expand your career. maybe. is that a done deal behind the scenes with labour? i wouldn't think so. and would she? i would have thought reform would have been more in line with her, you know, ideals , line with her, you know, ideals, but, stephen, reform is not going to form the next government. sir keir starmer is likely to. perhaps there has been some sort of job offered. >> she doesn't want to stand as an mp going forward. >> no, but she could be. she could run a quango . she could could run a quango. she could get a tsar type role. there are all she wrote a lot about housing, didn't she? >> she wrote a lot about housing. >> that's probably i think that's probably what is on the cards behind the scenes . but cards behind the scenes. but we're only speculating at the moment. no one knows, or no one's admitting to any sort of back door deals that may or may not have been done. >> no, i think we'll find a lot of these defectors that are now going to on stand down might

well get public appointments. doctor dan poulter is another example. a few weeks ago, former tory mp, now labour mp , he could tory mp, now labour mp, he could very well run a commission to do with the nhs . he could have been with the nhs. he could have been promised something in the vast web of state appointments. >> i think that's probably the case there as well. yes. >> yeah. well, stephen carlton—woods, thank you very much for joining carlton—woods, thank you very much forjoining us and talking much for joining us and talking through the aftershocks of some big political stories , these big political stories, these backroom deals, potentially potentially grubby business politics. >> anyway, in other news, institutions are under pressure to act against pro—palestinian protests on campus. to act against pro—palestinian protests on campus . the prime protests on campus. the prime minister's told university bosses to show zero tolerance towards anti—semitism . so? so is towards anti—semitism. so? so is it time to clamp down on these university protests? we'll be debating that very shortly

well, it's 120 for. good afternoon. britain. now the prime minister, rishi sunak, is meeting university leaders up and down the country today over campus protests. yes. >> the education secretary, gillian keegan, is joining the prime minister and university leaders to discuss tackling anti—semitism on campuses. so as the prime minister is meeting all of these university bosses , all of these university bosses, we're asking, is it time to clamp down on student protests at british universities, or would that be a front to civil liberties? >> joining us now to debate this is author and broadcaster rebecca reid, who doesn't think that university protests should be clamped down on and the leader of ukip, neil hamilton, who does think they should be. rebecca so many, jewish groups , rebecca so many, jewish groups, anti—semitism campaigners have expressed multiple concerns about students feeling intimidated , harassed on intimidated, harassed on campuses. and it's clear these protests are very much adding towards that . towards that. >> yeah, absolutely. >> yeah, absolutely. >> and i completely respect and

understand that. and anti—semitism is intolerable and should not be tolerated. i think the difficulty is it's a very, very broad, tool to say because there is anti—semitism happening on some campuses at some protests , we are going to shut protests, we are going to shut down protests. and i am worried about the government's increasingly intolerant attitude towards protest in general. i think suella braverman illustrated that fairly clearly , illustrated that fairly clearly, that it seems like they would like to be able to shut down protest protests more and more often, and i feel like that's a slippery slope. i think the rights process should be an inalienable human right. well, let's throw that over to neil hamilton. >> neil, is this not a tricky one for free speech? absolutists there's lots of things that are legal to say in the united kingdom that happen to be anti—semitic . that happened to anti—semitic. that happened to be horrible. and you wouldn't want to say, but they're still legal. >> yeah, but the real intolerance here, of course , is intolerance here, of course, is the cause that these students are demonstrating in favour of, you know, from the river to the sea means the physical

annihilation of the state of israel. >> and along with that goes the annihilation of the jewish people in the minds of quite a lot of the hamas related hotheads who are behind these protests . ultimately, of course, protests. ultimately, of course, the students are just the useful idiots for these people. you know, i've lived through this many times before , in my many times before, in my lifetime, when i was a student, it was the high point of student revolt. in 1968. you know, they were real demonstrations compared with the ones that we've got today. this question of proportion , isn't it? these of proportion, isn't it? these permanent demonstrations have now gone for on too long. yes, i believe in the right to free speech and the right to make your point, but not when it's every single week and it's there in your face every single day. and by the scale and size of these marches, they are in themselves intimidating to jewish students and the jewish minority . vie there are only minority. vie there are only 300,000 jews in the whole country , 6.5 million muslims and country, 6.5 million muslims and given the scale of these marches in london and elsewhere as well

as in universities, i think that it is out of all proportion. and vice chancellors ought to take a tough line . tough line. >> i mean, rebecca, we've seen how these types of protests have escalated over in the united states, on university campuses. over there is there not an argument to try and nip them in the bud here? i don't think so, because i think how much you dislike a cause you still have to tolerate the right to protest. so i find the anti—abortion marches abhorrent. i think if you are anti—choice, you are a fundamentally evil human being. however, they still have to do it there. there is. i don't think there's an excuse for it. i think it's an intolerable attitude. however, they still have to be able to have their marches. they just do. otherwise, if you say no to ones that you don't like when you're in power, people will say no to the ones that they don't like. when you're in power, we have to let everybody have their go. and yes, they are annoying. and yes, they are in—your—face. but as with just stop oil as with any of them, protest is designed to be inconvenient and attention grabbing. it's not a protest. if you will queue up neatly and let people go ahead, kneel when it's a conflict of

rights, isn't it? >> it's a conflict of rights . a >> it's a conflict of rights. a peaceful, law abiding citizens have a right to go about their lives in the way that they want, not, inhibited or in any way inconvenienced by other people. now, there has to be a balance here and all i'm saying is there should be a balance. and the balance so far is skewed very, very heavily in favour of the disruptors, you don't have every every week anti—abortion marches up and down the country in vast numbers. whatever your views are on, on abortion, you know, i believe both sides should have the right peacefully to protest if it goes beyond a certain point , then i think the general point, then i think the general pubuc point, then i think the general public has a right to say that our rights need to be considered and taken into account. >> matisse asked rebecca something because we have seen at one university. i'm sure you've seen the story , a you've seen the story, a pro—israel, a jewish student waved an israeli flag. it immediately got ripped off him from pro—palestine protesters at a university. should that not be an indication, then, to just shut down that protest ? clearly shut down that protest? clearly it's discriminatory against one

student. does that did their rights not count? i think there's two things. firstly, let's be really careful that we don't conflate being pro—israel and being, jewish. those two things aren't necessarily the same thing. so there are jewish people who do not support israel, and there are non—jewish people who do support israel. so i think it's just important when we talk about it, not to conflate the two, i would say that you have to wait for something illegal to happen before you can arrest somebody. and if anybody is being anti—semitic, they should be they should be thrown out of university. it should be properly investigated first, obviously, but they should not be able to continue at the university and the police should intervene completely. but you have to let something happen before you can convict somebody of it. and i think like shutting down protests because something might happen is so dangerous and so slippery. and then it's easy for any person in power to say, well, we think these people might be a bit dangerous. one day, so we'll stop them before it's happened. and then you are stopping protest. >> neil, you mentioned the 1960s, 1968, 1969, in paris, in

the united kingdom, in california , the world was on california, the world was on fire at university cities. i mean, this is nothing in comparison. surely it doesn't merit the same sort of clampdown that we saw in the late 1960s? >> well, in october 1968, during the democrat convention in chicago, the mayor actually won the university, actually got the national guard to fire on the students. well, i'm not suggesting that we should go back to that, obviously. but, i do think that we've got to keep things in proportion here. and the main point that i want to make also is that what is the purpose of these demonstrations ? purpose of these demonstrations? ultimately, there isn't going to be a ceasefire because hamas doesn't want a ceasefire in the long term. they want to annihilate the state of israel. so it's a it's a preposterous proposition to start with. and given that the idea behind this is to destroy a state and a people by overt acts of

violence, in a sense, these demonstrations are in trying to sanitise something which is revolting . and we've seen revolting. and we've seen demonstrations, for example, on national holocaust day, which are about the most disgusting sight that you would ever see, the behaviour that took place then. so i don't think that, we can give any credence to the motives or the people behind these protests . why aren't they these protests. why aren't they protesting about the hostages? that hamas still won't release? what about the october the 7th massacres, which are the ultimate cause of all this, current, turmoil in the middle east? that's what they should be protesting against the right for israel peacefully to exist. >> rebecca, just a word from you to finish. i would just say that what a lot of the. >> i believe in israel's right to exist. but what i would say is that a lot of these students are protesting against their university having links in terms of funding, sponsorship and research with israel as a state. so it's not that they are saying they're not demonstrating

because they want it to be a demonstration , may i just say, demonstration, may i just say, rebecca, it is worth pointing out that israel is a huge part of a lot of jewish people's identity , so ripping an israeli identity, so ripping an israeli flag out of a jewish student's hand and is seen as incredibly inflammatory to many jewish people and a stigmatisation, but but i accept your i accept what you say that not all jewish people are as attached to the israel in the same sense, but thank you very much, rebecca reid and neil hamilton. good stuff. >> right? we've got to get to some breaking news now . we were some breaking news now. we were just discussing how labour's newest member of parliament now , newest member of parliament now, natalie elphicke, has apologised for comments she made supporting her ex—husband after he was convicted of sexual assault following criticism from her new party colleagues . so she following criticism from her new party colleagues. so she has following criticism from her new party colleagues . so she has now party colleagues. so she has now apologised for other comments she made supporting her ex—husband after he was convicted of sexual assault. of course, she hasn't apologised

for those comments up until this point , despite for those comments up until this point, despite some senior members of the shadow cabinet suggesting that she had. but she has now apologised after that criticism. >> that's very interesting indeed. we'll come back to that indeed. we'll come back to that in a little bit . we're also in a little bit. we're also going to be talking about, actor hugh grant because he's hit out at apple, the tech company, of course, saying their new ipad advert is tasteless , it is quite advert is tasteless, it is quite intriguing. i personally do not like this advert, but i'd like to get your assessment of it. advert we'll be watching and reviewing. we'll have a little bit of a ding dong, i imagine. latest headlines with tatiana now. how. >> now. >> emily thank you. the top stories this hour. the bank of england's based interest rate is unchanged for a sixth time, held at 5.25. economists had expected the bank to hold its rate with inflation remaining at 3.2, which is above the 2% target.

the bank's governor, andrew bailey, struck an optimistic tone, saying progress was being made and its target would be met within a couple of months. shadow chief secretary to the treasury darren jones says it's clear the economy has not turned a corner. >> the bank of england's decision today is its independent right to make decisions about interest rates. >> but clearly that's bad news for people at home who are having to reset their mortgages for the years ahead at a more expensive rate, and people having to pay rent for their homes . homes. >> and that's why the economy has not turned a corner, and why people at home are not feeling any uptick when they're told by conservative ministers doing victory laps this week that the country has turned a corner when it hasn't . it hasn't. >> and as you've just been heanng >> and as you've just been hearing some breaking news, the new labour mp natalie elphicke, has apologised for comments she made about sexual assault. the mp for dover announced her defection from the tory party to the labour party just moments before prime minister's questions yesterday, but has ignhed questions yesterday, but has ignited a backlash among some

labour mps after comments that she had made in defence of her former partner, who was convicted of assaulting two women. the home office has removed figures on french efforts to stop small boat launches from its website . the launches from its website. the clear u—turn comes a little more than a week after it first started publishing the data, in an effort to show cooperation between french and uk authorities. the most recent figures have shown that french authorities stopped more than 1000 migrants from launching boats since last week . for the boats since last week. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts . news. com slash alerts. >> cheers! britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report. >> here's a quick snapshot of today's markets. the pound will

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i >> -- >> well, -_ >> well, we brought you the breaking news that labour's newest mp, natalie elphicke , newest mp, natalie elphicke, who, of course, defected from the conservative party yesterday. she's now, after quite some time, responded to all the criticism about her previous comments about her former husband . former husband. >> yes, she, of course, had said that she stood by her former husband, who is a convicted sex offender. she seemed to blame

the women, saying that her husband , her former husband, was husband, her former husband, was attractive. yeah, and that's why all these women, seemed to have relations with him. quite extraordinary comments. >> yeah, she's put out a bit of a long statement so we won't read it. absolutely. all to you. but she says the period of 2017 to 2020 was an incredibly stressful and difficult one for me, as i learned more about the person i thought i knew, i know it was far harder for the women who had to relive their experiences and give evidence against him. i have previously and do condemn his behaviour towards other women and towards me. it was right that he was prosecuted, she says. and i'm sorry for the comments that i made about his victims. she goes on to say it is vital that women can have confidence in the criminal justice system , and our criminal justice system, and our rates of prosecution and conviction are far too low. as a country. she goes on to talk about keir starmer's mission to halve male violence against women and girls. she says that's critical and she wants to take the opportunity to express her

explicit support for labour colleagues working to realise this , so there you go. this, so there you go. >> it's worth saying that when this story came out in 2022, in full in the times, the sunday times, revealed how he had used british libel law to silence many of those who had complained against him. lots of labour mps at the time commented on this, saying what an appalling situation that what this was. jess phillips said that the ordeal, this these women had has been appalling and those who helped harm them have no place in our politics. one could argue that that might have included not just charlie elphicke, but his wife, who supported him. >> well, i wonder if, keir starmer impressed on her the importance of her making this apology. >> well, then why didn't she? perhaps labour mps like jess phillips were saying to keir starmer , you need to make her starmer, you need to make her apologise for all this , apologise for all this, otherwise we won't accept her. >> well, it was interesting

because anneliese dodds , the because anneliese dodds, the chair of the labour party, was having some interviews this morning and she claimed to multiple journalists she's addressed this, she's apologised, she's apologised. turns out she hadn't . turns out she hadn't. >> she hadn't says here that she has condemned his behaviour. she says i have previously and do condemn his behaviour towards women and towards me. so will that be the end of this? will that be the end of this? will that be the end of this? will that be the end of this for, for natalie or will it continue to come up again and again? >> it seems like it's all a little bit messy. there are lots of holes in what has happened and the labor party is going around trying to plug them. i bet she didn't write this statement. this statement was written by a labour press officer. >> yes, it does sound like it. she does say quite a lot about how fantastic the labour party is and all of this, but yes. in other news, hugh grant actor hugh grant has hit out at apple's new ipad advert. >> yes, he's called it tasteless, saying it ruins the human experience. >> he's actually right about this one. i think the advert features musical instruments and art being crushed. let's take a

watch . a when of all that they watch. a when of all that they go . go. >> and we watch the melting snow . sohrab ahmari fall, spring. all the things you do. give me a reason to build my world on. around you . come and follow around you. come and follow rainbows i am told the most powerful ipad ever is also the thinnest. all i ever need is a great advert. >> it's absolutely miserable . >> it's absolutely miserable. >> it's absolutely miserable. >> it's absolutely miserable. >> it's brilliant. it's showing all of these things compressed into this little, very, very thinner than an ipod nano. >> it's saying be glued to your screen all day. you don't have to, you know, actually try painting in real life . you don't painting in real life. you don't actually have to read a book.

you don't even have to play with your children. you don't even have to go outside because it's all on your ipad. and, you know, hugh grant winds me up quite a lot , quite hugh grant winds me up quite a lot, quite winds me up quite a lot, quite winds me up quite a lot, but he's absolutely spot on about this. he says this is the destruction of human experience , destruction of human experience, courtesy of silicon valley. >> just by advertising what the ipad does by saying, look, it can do music and painting and art and books and, and films and sculpture, because that's all in there . there. >> he's not allowed to apple aren't allowed to say that, aren't allowed to say that, aren't allowed to advertise that. look, this is all of these things that this marvellous little machine can do. >> tell me wrong. >> tell me wrong. >> you're just wrong. it's a really negative advert. it's not about how you know , you can about how you know, you can encapsulate all human experience or whatever and all of these different activities just in this little bit of metal. but you can. yes, but why not? >> why do you get why can't apple show . it's pretty, pretty apple show. it's pretty, pretty obvious that technology , while obvious that technology, while it has many, many positives.

>> tom, i will concede that it is taking away real experience from a lot of us. you know, people only communicating via whatsapp. we were doing how gen z don't pick up the phone or can't make phone calls anymore. you know why? learn an instrument when you can get a piece of music played on your ipad? why paint a picture when you can doodle on an ipad thing? why speak to anyone in when you can talk to a chatbot on the internet? >> not a complaint against you? >> not a complaint against you? >> prefer talking to a chatbot than a creative advert of squashing all this stuff down. >> and it's in the vein of you can see a lot of these videos onune can see a lot of these videos online of various things going into crushes. they're brilliant and they all explode, and all the rest of it doing that to show how thin the new ipad is and what it can all do, is quite and what it can all do, is quite a clever and creative thing. that's a completely separate issue to the real social problems of going into restaurants and seeing kids with ipadsin restaurants and seeing kids with ipads in their faces, not talking to their families. i'll agree with you there. >> that's what's with the clamp squashing all of the things that people once enjoyed. >> that's a common theme of

video online, where you can see all sorts of things. you can you can see sort of rubber balls put in clamps, and you can see, various household items being squashed by these industrial. >> i don't think that an ipad, i don't think an ipad is a good, alternative to actually experiencing all of these nice things in real life, but that's my view. gbnews.com forward slash your say it's for your view at home and let us know. but house buyers they're reportedly flocking back to cities. and some are saying in the case of a couple of newlyweds that it's because the countryside is just boring and they've got nothing to talk about.

break. right. it's 150 break. right. it'5150 in break. right. it's150 in the break. right. it's 150 in the afternoon and. is the countryside boring? and are cities much more exciting ? better places to live?

exciting? better places to live? >> well, apparently, house buyers are returning to cities in their droves following a covid era exodus. >> yes. in august 2021, almost half of london based house hunters were looking to leave the capital, to according data from the property website rightmove anyway. but now they're returning back, including one couple who went from london to wales to pursue a dream countryside life. but after just six months they returned because of, quote, xenophobic locals are depressed dog and, crucially, boring locals . i didn't realise they'd locals. i didn't realise they'd called them xenophobic as well. >> that's extraordinarily good grief. >> well, there you go. >> well, there you go. >> well, there you go. >> well, let's get the view now of, arable farmer andrew ward. m.b.e. andrew, you're standing in the countryside now for us. you must be bored. >> well, when you look here, i don't know whether you can see it. >> i've got a tractor over my left shoulder planting sugarbeet at the minute. i'm out in the lincolnshire countryside. we've got birds singing above us all the time. skylarks in

particular. >> and it's most glorious place to be producing food in an environment where you can relax, just soak up nature and the sun. >> i mean, how boring is this? it's fantastic. this is , i it's fantastic. this is, i always think when i go to london, i actually i actually think the same when i go to london because i go there 3 or 4 times a year and, and i get there and i can't wait to come back home to this. >> andrew, your tractors just come into view behind you. it's majestically . what is it doing? majestically. what is it doing? tilling the soil or something, no, it's planting sugarbeet. >> and so this will end up on your table as silver spoon which with british sugar, so not imported cane sugar. this is sugan imported cane sugar. this is sugar. you'll end up on your table . grown from british sugar table. grown from british sugar beet such as this behind me. >> lovely . >> lovely. >> lovely. >> andrew, you must have the most spectaculart shirt. tan from standing out there in the british countryside , what do you british countryside, what do you say about these londoner types who think that moving to the countryside is going to be, this dream experience? and then they

find that actually they find it bonng find that actually they find it boring and they say things like the locals are xenophobic. is it them? that's, the boring ones? >> well, i would say so, because whenever i do come to london quite well, i don't know my way around the underground. and if i've asked people, which way do i've asked people, which way do i go or which platform do i want, i get ignored and i actually find londoners are very rude because they just ignore you and all i want to do is ask directions and, but but i think when you start to look at the countryside, there is no doubt just being serious for a minute. there is no doubt that it is a different way of life to the town or the city. there's no doubt about that. and we do have certain things that we have to do because we are we have to look after nature. we want to look after nature. we want to look after nature and wildlife. and i did see the report you just, mentioned that . i think just, mentioned that. i think they said that if the dog was actually let off the lead , it actually let off the lead, it would be shot. well, i don't know whether that's quite right . know whether that's quite right. what i've seen are signs that if a dog is actually worrying livestock, then legally a farmer

is allowed to shoot the dog. not. but as in all these cases, it's normally the owner that's the problem, not the dog, because they let it off the lead in the first place. so i think the countryside is different to the countryside is different to the city, and everybody needs to recognise that . but just enjoy recognise that. but just enjoy it. but no way is it boring. >> no, i think i think you hit the nail on the head there when you're walking it. sometimes there's a very odd, inversely proportional relationship between the number of people in a place and the willingness of those people to talk to one another. when you're in a bustling , crowded city, weirdly, bustling, crowded city, weirdly, it can feel more lonely than if you're out on a walk and past someone else. you're much more likely to have a conversation because no one trusts each other in london, do they? >> no one trusts each other. is there more ? there's more trust there more? there's more trust in the countryside, isn't there? yeah i think there is. >> and i think the thing with, especially with farming, whether it's country life or farming, you don't very rarely go anywhere without, you know, someone everybody knows somebody in that area. and i must admit, i when i

in that area. and i must admit, iwhen i do in that area. and i must admit, i when i do come to london, i stay at the farmers club, just off whitehall and, and, i go there and i'm a member there. and when i walk in there at night, there is always farmers in there from other parts of the country, and it's like walking into my local. so that is the only time in london that i actually feel welcome. >> so you bring the countryside to london when you come. >> thank you so much, andrew ward, mba. really great to speak to you. enjoy the rest of your day. arable farmer andrew ward there. well there you go. he told them absolutely no. >> i think there's so much truth to what he was saying. and there is nothing that beats a good countryside walk across , either countryside walk across, either a coastal path or even through some of our undulating hills. >> well, coming up, we'll have the very latest on that apology from labour's new brand new, spanking new mp, natalie elphicke . elphicke. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar, sponsors of weather on gb news . news. news. news. >> afternoon. welcome to your

latest weather update from the met office here on gb news tomorrow. well, more of the same pretty much for most places. a fine , fairly warm spring day. fine, fairly warm spring day. it's not been glorious everywhere today. there's been quite a bit of cloud around across parts of the north, and some outbreaks of rain just trickling across northern scotland that will continue through the night across northern parts of the mainland up towards the northern isles. for most, though, it's going to be a dry night with clear spells, a bit of mist and low cloud. returning to parts of eastern england and in southern england, south wales, maybe 1 or 2 fog patches around temperatures could dip down as low as 4 or 3 degrees in some rural spots . most towns and rural spots. most towns and cities, though, staying in double digits and a fine day to come on friday, any morning fog in the south will clear pretty quickly. some mistiness around some coasts, perhaps parts of norfolk and suffolk, some damp weather early on across shetland, but that should scoot away. small chance of an afternoon shower over northern england and southern scotland, but the vast majority dry, fine and warmer than today. 21, 22, maybe 2324. in a few places .

maybe 2324. in a few places. fine day to come on saturday as well, perhaps again , some of well, perhaps again, some of this mist and low cloud just threatening to make it quite murky on some eastern coasts. but for most dry, fine and sunny, maybe again, 1 or 2 isolated, but perhaps heavy showers over northern england and southern scotland, but generally more spring sunshine to come and warmer still 23, 24, maybe 25 on saturday in those sunny spells. bye for now. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors

gb news. >> good afternoon. britain. it's 2:00 on thursday, the 9th of may. >> the newest labour mp, natalie elphicke, has apologised for comments she made supporting her ex—husband after he was convicted of sexual assault. this comes following criticism from her new party colleagues and rishi sunak meets with

university bosses to demand assurances for the safety of jewish students. >> he's warned protests are in some cases propagated outright harassment and anti—semitic abuse. harassment and anti—semitic abuse . is it harassment and anti—semitic abuse. is it time for a clampdown? will cross live to one of these british encampments and whilst prince harry appears to have celebrated the anniversary of the invictus games during his time in the uk this week, he has failed to see his father and brother. >> we'll be asking whether the duke's had a successful visit. yes, so we're going to be crossing live to one of these student protests to see if they're multiplying or if it's still only a few tenths. will it be a huge tent city? now what you said the other day, maybe it was yesterday, even about the fact that you're not actually allowed by a college rules in

oxbridge to even stand or walk on the grass. but yet we see tents everywhere which presumably have pegs which presumably have pegs which presumably ruin the grass. >> there's an old anecdote about an american who visited one of the colleges at cambridge university and said, how do you get your grass so luscious, so green, so, so splendid looking? and the college, principal or whoever said, well, we get out every morning, we roll the grass, we make sure it's watered and fed properly, and no one's allowed to walk on it. and the american goes, well, that's what we do. and then the brit goes, well , well, you we do. and then the brit goes, well, well, you miss the most crucial bit. we do it for 800 years. >> yes. >> yes. >> well, it's funny that you mention the americans because, from, looking at these protests and hearing from some of the people at them, there's quite a lot of american student activists who are taking part in these encampments, almost as if they're importing this trend to this country, although i'm sure

the british students could think of it themselves if they tried hard. hard enough. yes. but there you go. we're going to be live at those encampments to see exactly what they're protesting about. exactly what they're protesting about . do they understand their about. do they understand their cause properly? do they think they have the moral high ground on this one? what do they make of, concerns over harassment, intimidation and fear felt among some jewish students ? some jewish students? >> and why are they all wearing covid masks outdoors ? covid masks outdoors? >> there's a very good question, keep your views coming in on everything we're discussing. gbnews.com/yoursay is the way to do that, shall we get the headunes do that, shall we get the headlines with tatiana ? headlines with tatiana? >> emily. thank you. the top stories from the gb newsroom. the bank of england's base interest rate is unchanged for a sixth time. held at 5.25. economists had expected the to bank hold its rate, with inflation remaining at 3.2, which is above the 2% target. the bank's governor, andrew

bailey , struck an optimistic bailey, struck an optimistic tone, saying progress was being made and its target would be met within a couple of months. shadow chief secretary to the treasury darren jones says it's clear the economy has not turned a corner. >> bank of england's decision today is its independent right today is its independent right to make decisions about interest rates. but clearly that's bad news for people at home who are having to reset their mortgages for the years ahead. at a more expensive rate, and people having to pay rent for their homes. and that's why the economy has not turned a corner, and why people at home are not feeling any uptick when they're told by conservative ministers doing victory laps. this week that the country has turned a corner when it hasn't . corner when it hasn't. >> new labour mp natalie elphicke has apologised for comments she made about sexual assault . the mp for dover assault. the mp for dover announced her defection from the tories to labour just moments before prime minister's questions yesterday, but it's ignhed questions yesterday, but it's ignited a backlash among some labour mps after comments she

made in defence of her former partner, who was convicted of assaulting two women. the chair of the labour party, anneliese dodds, says she has been held to account for her past comments. >> well, those were very, very serious issues, the sexual assault that was rightly prosecuted . and of course there prosecuted. and of course there was a parliamentary process that followed that, including a parliamentary process that appued parliamentary process that applied to natalie elphicke. so it's absolutely right that there was accountability there. this is an incredibly important matter. every workplace , matter. every workplace, including parliament, has got to be free of sexual harassment . be free of sexual harassment. >> protesters are gathering in malmo's central square in support of palestine ahead of the second eurovision semi—final. if you're watching on television , you can see live on television, you can see live pictures of the historic stortinget market square. hundreds of demonstrators can be seen waving palestinian flags in opposition to israel's participation in the song contest. crowds could be heard booing during israel's

performance last night by eden golan . organisers were also golan. organisers were also forced to apologise after sweden's eric saade wore a palestinian scarf, a breach of the contest's ban on political symbols . in other news, the symbols. in other news, the number of people waiting for hospital treatment is still going up, despite the government's promise to end year long waits by next march. nearly 310,000 people had been waiting longer than 52 weeks for routine treatment. last month , there's treatment. last month, there's been some progress with referrals for suspected cancer, slightly up from 64 to nearly 69. but it's still far short of the 85% target. downing street blamed strike action, insisting the latest figures were a significant achievement in the context of industrial action within the health service . the within the health service. the home office has removed figures on french efforts to stop small boat launches from its website. the clear u—turn comes a little

more than a week after it first started publishing the data. in an effort to show cooperation between french and uk authorities . the most recent authorities. the most recent figures had shown that french authorities stopped more than 1000 migrants from launching boats since last week . now an 18 boats since last week. now an 18 month old girl has had her heanng month old girl has had her hearing restored after she became the first person in the world to take part in a new gene therapy trial. opal sandi was born deaf due to auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses from the inner ear to the brain. now, thanks to a new treatment being trialled here, opal's hearing is almost normal and could even improve further. her parents say they are delighted and. and police are appealing for helping to locate two people suspected of stealing culturally significant gold artefacts from a museum site . tv artefacts from a museum site. tv footage shows two people in hooded tops climbing through a

window at ely museum in cambridgeshire in the early hours of tuesday. footage from a second camera shows two people rushing past, then returning seconds later, one of them apparently carrying a rucksack. cambridgeshire police said an item called the east cambridgeshire gold torc was taken along with a gold bracelet. anyone with information is being asked to contact police or crime stoppers . for the latest stories, you can sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts. now back to tom and . and. emily. >> good afternoon britain. it's 2:08 now. labour's newest mp, former conservative natalie elphicke, has now apologised for comments made about her ex—husband. the comments that were made after he was convicted of sexual assault and jailed in

2020. >> yes, she'd previously defended charlie elphicke, saying he was in, quote, attractive and attracted to women and an easy target for dirty politics and false allegations. now, in a statement released in the last hour, she condemned his actions towards women , including herself, adding women, including herself, adding it was right that he was prosecuted. >> did she write that statement herself , or >> did she write that statement herself, or was it >> did she write that statement herself , or was it squeezed >> did she write that statement herself, or was it squeezed out of her by the labour press office? let's get the view of one of her colleagues, one of her formerly more close colleagues, now a colleague across on the other side of the house of commons benches, conservative member of parliament for lichfield, sir michael fabricant. sir michael, this this shocked a lot of people. but now, now, natalie elphicke is getting a lot of heat from her own side . heat from her own side. >> well, it's not surprising. >> well, it's not surprising. >> i mean, she she is the most extraordinary fit with the labour party. i mean, she is far more right wing than than most of the people in the erg. i

remember at christmas time she was saying to me about the, boat people coming across the english channel that the royal navy should engage the french navy and push these boats back into the middle of the english channel. and if it meant attacking french naval warships as well, so be it. so, did you. >> sorry, sorry. michael fabricant, the newest labour mp , fabricant, the newest labour mp, genuinely said to you she wanted to tackle french warships and potentially sink migrant boats. >> it was extraordinary and there are plenty of witnesses to there are plenty of witnesses to the event. >> so, you know, i just think, you know , it was going to be you know, it was going to be difficult enough to keep her in the conservative party with views like that. i mean, she makes reform look like a bunch of marxists. >> now, this is now this is the line . line. >> now, michael, we are hearing a lot about this. and of course, she's not here to defend herself from these comments. but, you know, you know, you're allowed to speak free speech and all

that, but michael and plenty of witnesses, the conservative conservative mps are trying to get this narrative that she's the most right wing mp ever, that she was even more right wing than the erg, more right wing than the erg, more right wing than the new conservatives , wing than the new conservatives, more right wing than everyone, whatever. >> more right wing than nigel farage, but that doesn't that doesn't stop the fact that doesn't stop the fact that doesn't stop. >> that doesn't change the fact that i haven't spoken to anybody. >> i've not colluded with anybody . anybody. >> but it doesn't change the fact, michael. >> it doesn't change the fact, michael, that rishi sunak is losing mps , by the dozen . losing mps, by the dozen. >> well, what's that got to do with natalie? i do not know. but anyway. >> well, we've got nadhim zahawi today. >> we've got nadhim zahawi coming out today to say that he's not going to stand at the next election. that makes him the 64th conservative mp to say that. okay, so that's 64 going. they don't want to stand again for his party. >> and we've got natalie elphicke defecting to the labour party even though she's apparently so right wing.

>> so what on earth is going on michael . michael. >> emily. emily. you know i know you're trying to make us laugh, nadine zahawi was chancellor of the exchequer briefly . he was. the exchequer briefly. he was. oh, i can't remember now. another ministerial position. he's decided, like so many people , you get to a certain people, you get to a certain age. if you don't like being a backbencher , you stand down and backbencher, you stand down and then you perhaps get a job in business. >> what about the other 63 michael kill? what about the other 63? >> what about the other 63? sorry emily, you keep interrupting. >> sorry, michael, but what about the other 63? >> well, let's go. >> well, let's go. >> you name them. this is a very going to be a boring interview, emily. but if you want to go one by one through them, i'll happily. >> we've got a graphic about it. >> we've got a graphic about it. >> we've got a graphic ready. >> we've got a graphic ready. >> well, i can't see the graphic because it's all very, very tiny. let's all go through it. one by one. but it's going to be a very boring interview on gb news. >> well, we do only have a few minutes left . michael, i did minutes left. michael, i did want to talk to you about, what

has gone on over the last few weeks or even months , because weeks or even months, because this is the first time we've had you on the show since the local elections. you were very busy in the local elections, campaigning all around the west midlands. you were campaigning hard. you were quite involved in the andy street opera action. what went wrong ? wrong? >> well, what went wrong? it was very, very close. i think it's first of all worth noting that he only lost by a majority a labour majority of 0.25. oh. i thought it was going to be a picture of me for a minute, but it wasn't 0.25. and basically, as someone pointed out, actually, all it needed was one conservative extra vote in each ballot box than he would have won. what went wrong? it's quite interesting, i think what went wrong was, first of all, there was quite a labour surge in coventry. well, why in coventry? i don't know, but in coventry there certainly wasn't in birmingham. the birmingham

labour vote dropped substantially, and we didn't see many switchers. there wasn't conservatives voting labour. what we did get was for example in solihull where we normally get a lot of conservatives coming out to vote. they just didn't come out to vote. so that's partly went wrong. and i'll tell you something else as well . it was i'll tell you something else as well. it was originally the plan that he would take over, as in london, as in manchester, as in yorkshire with their labour mayors. he would take over the policing side. that didn't happen for all sorts of complicated technical reasons. within the home office, which i still haven't forgiven them for, but andy street has, i think, that didn't go ahead. it meant some of our literature had to be changed at the last minute . so changed at the last minute. so there was that issue too. but yeah, it was very close. but what i found very, very moving in the house of commons yesterday, i've had labour mps hugging me and conservative.

i've had applied cameras saying the same, one labour mp said to me i've had more than one labour mp saying to me, you know what, my parents live in the west midlands and they voted for andy. so he was very good, which only goes to show you can be an absolutely brutal , decent person absolutely brutal, decent person delivering. but when the tide moves , the tide moves , well, moves, the tide moves, well, could he, could andy street, run for nadhim zahawi seat? perhaps you want to keep him in politics? >> a very, very interesting question there. yes. and in fact, i believe in solihull, they would be happy. maybe i'm wrong about this, but i understand that's dillian whyte former seat. >> of course. who has had to. who said he's standing down solihull? julian knight, the former conservative mp now independent standing down. >> yeah, yeah. but well i don't know if andy would want to do that. you know, he's used to running things. he used to run a business with 92,000 employees and a turnover of £135

business with 92,000 employees and a turnover of £13.5 billion. he was running the west midlands and by all accounts , very, very and by all accounts, very, very effectively too, and, you know, i've heard this from people who are not actually politically engaged, but, you know, are involved in the also in the running of various aspects of the west midlands. he was very businesslike in the way he did that, i think, and i'm only guessing i think he would like to run a large corporation, you know , i don't know chairman of know, i don't know chairman of the bbc director—general of the bbc. >> oh, there you go. >> oh, there you go. >> gb news. >> gb news. >> well , i >> gb news. >> well, i suppose i suppose you have all of these politicians leaving their jobs in westminster to go off and be mayors, whether it's, places like the west midlands or i mean, london. >> of course, sadiq khan was formerly an mp there are many examples of these different skillsets, though. >> tom. it's a very different skill set, and you see it actually , mps are legislators actually, mps are legislators now. i happen to have a business, but i'm not planning to be mayor, by the way. but, you know, i did have a business

background before i came to be an mp. i was , setting up radio an mp. i was, setting up radio and tv stations for a living all over the world. but most mps don't have a business background. and suddenly , if background. and suddenly, if they become mayors, you know, it's all about running something. it's not being a legislator. it's actually running something. and you really do need business people to get into that. and that's why andy street was such a good fit. andy street was such a good fit. and in some ways, some of these big mayoralties a bit more senior, a bit more senior. >> it's an executive role rather than a legislator. you're not just one vote out of 650. you're the guy that makes the call, which i suppose is a more attractive a governor. >> you know how i feel about all these realities. thank you so much, sir michael fabricant, great to chat to you. hope you didn't mind me interrupting you too much. conservative mp for lichfield. great to speak to you. >> yes. no really interesting stat there. one more conservative vote in each ballot box and andy street would have won that mayoralty. really, really interesting . really interesting. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> no, but, don't go anywhere. we're going to be heading to one of those university encampments after this. don't go.

good afternoon. britain. it's 2:20 now. at the top of the show at 12:00, the bank of england held interest rates. let's speak to the man who was outside the bank of england when it happened. what on earth does it mean for all of us? 5.25. liam halligan is for here us now . halligan is for here us now. liam. it was expected , but it liam. it was expected, but it does have some implications . does have some implications. >> it does have some implications. tom. the bank of england sets the base rate of interest . of course. it's at interest. of course. it's at five and a quarter of a percent. it's gone all the way up from ultra low levels, 0.1. as we came . out of the covid pandemic.

came. out of the covid pandemic. and of course, interest rates have gone up very, very sharply in order to tackle inflation. but it turns out tom and emily, inflation isn't yet low enough for the bank of england to start lowering rates. the latest inflation numbers 3.2. that was annual price rises during the year to march. the bank of england's target is, of course, 2. so there's a way to go yet. so for now, the bank of england continues to hold interest rates, even though we have had some countries . around the world some countries. around the world the swiss, the swedes, they've actually started cutting. it seems to me as if the monetary policy committee are waiting for the mighty federal reserve, the us central bank, to cut rates, and that may be 1 or 2 months. yet >> liam, there were two members of the monetary policy committee who . said that rates should be who. said that rates should be cut, of course they were outvoted this time, but they do show that there is a strain of thought there that said that this was the wrong move today.

>> there have been 1 or 2 members of the mpc saying that we should cut rates for quite a few months now. what's . changed, few months now. what's. changed, tom, is that some other members of the mpc have stopped saying that we should actually raise interest rates. so the committee has been split for a while. the committee was very much in lockstep during 2021 by insisting that inflation was transitory, inflation wouldn't balloon the way it did. of course, we got all the way up to 11.1% inflation, big price increases is the height of the cost of living crisis. back in the autumn of 2022. but the bank of england's committee, they they denied inflation was coming. they said if it was going to come it would be transitory. it turns out that it wasn't. as interest rates start to move down, though, it seems as if the bank committee is split. i don't think we'll get to that magic. number five economists in favour of a cut, at least for another month or two. yet we've got the inflation number for april coming out in a couple of weeks time. it will be

lower than 3.2. it may even be approaching the 2% target. having said that, as we've been saying on gb news for weeks and weeks and weeks, oil prices are ticking up. petrol and diesel pnces ticking up. petrol and diesel prices are ticking up. that will feed into inflation, and that will make it hard for some members of the bank of england's monetary policy committee to vote to cut rates. because if pnces vote to cut rates. because if prices are going up, if inflation is actually going away from target, it doesn't make the bank of england look very credible if it lowers rates anyway. and that's the problem . anyway. and that's the problem. >> no. yeah. we may not be out of the woods quite yet, but thank you very much. liam halligan great to speak to you. our economics and business editor there with on the money. >> well, just this week, property analysts said that we could see a house price boom in britain again despite stubbornly high interest rates. but what does that mean for people trying to get on the property ladder? >> well, sally mitchell, the mortgage mum and senior mortgage broker, joins us now. sally, great to speak to you today ,

great to speak to you today, hell interest rates held. they are still 5.25. that makes mortgage. yes that makes a that makes mortgages extremely expensive for a lot of people and makes it quite tricky for people to get on that property ladden people to get on that property ladder. those payments are very high indeed, what's your perspective ? perspective? >> well, the idea of a property boom is something that just does not sound likely to me, you know, i'm at the grassroots. i'm with clients all the time and all i hear is, oh, my goodness, how am i going to afford my new mortgage when i come to remortgage? and if i'm a first time buyer trying to get on the ladden time buyer trying to get on the ladder, where are the affordable houses and flats and how on earth . can i reach the property earth. can i reach the property pnces earth. can i reach the property prices that i see advertised? i don't have enough deposit. i certainly don't earn enough to be able to pay the increased cost of these higher rates every month. >> it's interesting though, the

express had a big story out just a couple of days ago saying, tumbling inflation on likely cuts to interest rates and mortgage lending joy are set to boost house prices . boost house prices. >> okay. i mean, great, sometimes they just have to make a story . i sometimes they just have to make a story. i don't sometimes they just have to make a story . i don't know, it's an a story. i don't know, it's an interesting one. >> it feels to you on the ground, yeah. i mean, house pnces ground, yeah. i mean, house prices have not. we haven't had the crash that was widely reported or anticipated or, you know, scare mongered. we haven't seen that the two indexes or indices that we use nationwide and halifax, they have shown a small increase overall, which is good news, you know, the property market is fundamentally very resilient. it's a strong market for us, people are finding it harder to pay their mortgage. that's absolutely true, as for tumbling inflation, i mean, it's come down, but it

seems to have taken quite a long time, all lenders in the last two weeks, mortgage lenders have upped their increase their rates, in anticipation of this lack of announcement today , i'm lack of announcement today, i'm sure that the powers that be would love to see, especially the government would love to see a reduction coming soon, preferably before november, but . preferably before november, but. but i don't think we're going to get one until, well, at least in the next month. maybe even september. and what we will see will be probably only two, increases instead of the several that were forecast at the beginning of the year. and i think they'll only be, you know, o.25% think they'll only be, you know, 0.25% each. so it's going to be a long time before we see a real, influence on the current rates. >> yes, it all seems to be it all seems to be happening. happening rather slowly, doesn't it? thank you so much. sally mitchell, mortgage mum and senior mortgage broker. great to speak to you. get your perspective on all this. >> well, let's cross live to one

of these campuses across the united kingdom. after vice chancellors have been told to make sure they tackle anti—semitic abuse. we have a very special reporter live for us. patrick christys is in oxford and, patrick, what on earth is going on behind you ? yes. >> okay, so this is the oxford museum of national history, where you will be able to see an encampment behind me. >> quite a well fortified encampment. loads of signs here. welcome to the people's university for palestine. there's also jews for a free palestine over there. on the other side of it is a kind of rolling count of the amount of civilians that they are saying israel has killed. >> it does appear to be mostly students here. there's a checkpoint to the left of me there, which is where everybody who is, wanting to get access has to either sign a form to say that they support the palestinian cause, which led to a lot of controversy yesterday when a jewish student was reportedly turfed out of here. it comes off the back of rishi sunak trying to make sure that there is a clampdown on anti—semitism on campus , but

anti—semitism on campus, but also as well that national union of students motion to expel the national jewish union of students . so there's a heck of a students. so there's a heck of a lot going on here. they've got, seminars taking place. there's a medical tent as well, just at the back, and there is the tooting of horns as you go past. i actually spoke to a professor around the oxford area earlier on who said that he was very concerned because a lot of the tooting of horns is his. he understands it from members of staff at oxford university who are actually on their way home or on their lunch break. so not just members of the public. so yes, there is a sense here that perhaps the support is running right through academia, but i am going to try and, get through this picket line, as it were. we've had a chat with some of the police officers who've told us reliably, this is public land, so there's no way that they can legally stop me from getting in there. so i'm hoping to get a bit of that content for my show later this evening. >> you mean to say that this little form that they're trying to stop people with saying, i support the palestinian cause

and whatever interpretation that might be? you mean to say you're going to deny them the right to force you to sign up to their values in order to enter public space? this is going to be electric . electric. >> yeah. i mean, i think depressingly, even if i did sign that form, tom, they probably still wouldn't let me in. there is a sign on the wall over there that says hands off vietnam, which apparently has been here for decades, and, vietnam, 1975 palestine. so this actual site here does have form for supporting the viet cong. so read into that, of course, what you will. but yes, i'm just going to go and try and speak to a few of them. i'm really fascinated to know. i think one of the big questions about this is how many of them are actual students, and how many of them are the kind of renee tom moore activists. and we'll be honest with you, at the moment, it does seem the general vibe is that they just generally seem to be from here, from what i can tell. but yes, anyone who's not sympathetic to their cause. >> so yes, yes, very interesting what you say about academic ethics, tooting their horns and being involved in these protests

is that does that make this all a bit more complicated for the universities to deal with? thank you very much indeed, patrick christys. he'll be on again tonight at 9:00 and he'll have some conversations, maybe .with some conversations, maybe .with some of those, student activists. >> i was playing a fun game as patrick was taking up the whole screen there, which was just looking behind him, counting how many people on the little raised grass bit were wearing covid masks. >> i counted five in this heat. in this heat. i mean, i guess presumably it's quite a nice thing for , for you to do if thing for, for you to do if you're a student activist, sit there on the lawn in there. yeah. how many of the lovely weather, if it was torrential rain and freezing cold, how many would actually be sitting out there , but anyway, coming up, there, but anyway, coming up, don't go anywhere because we'll be discussing whether prince harry has had a successful visit to the uk this week, despite the fact that his father , king fact that his father, king charles, did not make the time to meet him. >> emily, thank you very much and good afternoon. the top

stories . the bank of england's stories. the bank of england's base interest rate is unchanged for a sixth time, held at 5.25. economists had expected the to bank hold its rates, with inflation remaining at 3.2, which is above the 2% target. shadow chief secretary to the treasury darren jones says it's clear the economy has not turned a corner. >> bank of england's decision today is its independent right today is its independent right to make decisions about interest rates. but clearly that's bad for news people at home who are having to reset their mortgages for the years ahead at a more expensive rate, and people having to pay rent for their homes. and that's why the economy has not turned a corner, and why people at home are not feeling any uptick when they're told by conservative ministers doing victory laps this week that the country has turned a corner when it hasn't. >> labour's new mp natalie elphicke, has apologised for comments she made about sexual assault. the mp for dover announced her defection from the

tories to labour just moments before prime minister's questions yesterday, but it's ignhed questions yesterday, but it's ignited a backlash among some labour mps after comments miss elphicke made in defence of her former partner, who was convicted of assaulting two women in. protesters are gathering in malmo central square in support of palestine ahead of the second eurovision semi—final . well, if you're semi—final. well, if you're watching on television you can see live pictures of the historic stortinget market square. hundreds of demonstrators are waving palestinian flags in opposition to israel's participation in the song contest . crowds could be song contest. crowds could be heard booing during israel's performance last night by eden golan, organisers were also forced to apologise after sweden's eric saade wore a palestinian scarf, a breach of the contest's ban on political symbols . and businesses have symbols. and businesses have been evacuated and ten fire engines sent to the scene after a fire broke out in a staffordshire parcel centre .

staffordshire parcel centre. firefighters are tackling the blaze at super smart services, a distribution warehouse. plumes of black smoke were seen billowing out from the centre this morning, with some on social media claiming it could be seen from ten miles away . for be seen from ten miles away. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen, or go to gb news. common alerts

i >> right. emma m >> right. it's 237. up next, prince harry back on uk soil this week. has it been a successful trip? and we're going to be getting to some of your views. lots of you have been writing in about everything, but before that, it is martin daubney who's at 3 pm. he joins us now. martin, tell us, tell us

all what's coming up. >> well , walker will take it back. >> control. published yesterday by robert jenrick and the. >> the former housing minister, neil o'brien, has proved that 89% of england's housing shortage has directly been dnven shortage has directly been driven by uncontrolled immigration and furthermore, only 15% of non—eu nationals arriving in the uk are actually working. came to here work in the past five years. astonishing figures this cannot carry on. there's a 30 point plan on how to rectify that. plus, of course, natalie elphicke. the scandal rolls on. now forced to apologise by labour mps who clearly don't even want her in the labour party . and finally, the labour party. and finally, protest within tents. your man patrick christys. of course, at oxford university we hope he's got a nice little water cannon under his arm. all of that coming up on the show. >> i did suggest in our morning meeting that he bring in a super soaker with him, but i don't know, it might be quite nice.

it's such a lovely day outside. everyone probably wants to have a bit of water. >> hopefully he doesn't get into any trouble. i mean, it probably won't be like the protest down in peckham that he was at, which did get a little bit rowdy, and a little bit violent, actually. >> these protesters clearly have never eaten a bar of protein in their life. i don't think that they're going to be able to, to land a land a hand on him at all. i think he's probably fine. >> so we're all safe. we're all safe. martin. it sounds like a fantastic show, really highlighting some of those key stats from that report, lots to get stuck into. thank you. martin, see you at three. >> i'm. i'm genuinely really looking forward to seeing how far patrick gets passed, because i can just imagine people sort of running after him saying, you've got to sign the form, and he'll just say, no, i don't know. >> i don't keep rolling, keep rolling , do we have time to do rolling, do we have time to do some views now , yes we do. well, sorry. >> go on. firstly, i really wanted to get to, paul's comment. paul has written in saying, why keep views coming in if you never interact with them? well, there you go, paul. that's your interaction. >> oh, very clever, very clever.

i'm sure paul will be delighted . i'm sure paul will be delighted. and we were talking about the countryside because this, couple of newlyweds said it's boring, xenophobic and that their dog was getting depressed living there. so they moved back to london, daniel says good afternoon, tom and emily. the countryside is the most magical place. you've inspired me to go for a walk down bournemouth beach in the sunshine. thank you. thumbs up, he says. well, remember , you can, stick us in remember, you can, stick us in your ears, to with the older radio, certainly. well, lee has been commenting on those oxford protests. he says, what's with all the covid masks? i agree entirely. >> well, you've been asking about that is an identity thing. is it that they're still stuck in pandemic times , or are there in pandemic times, or are there lots of germs going around at this particular encampment anyway? >> brendan. >> brendan. >> freshers week, brenda says all people in those protests on campus should have to prove their student id, otherwise they should be kicked off site. that would sort the renter mob out. yes, it's one thing to have students protesting at their own college, at their own university, on their own campus.

but when you start having agitators joining in, which i'm not saying is happening in oxbridge, patrick, we'll find out, but these things can escalate because lots of people who are just renter activists come along. don't they? >> well, stuart says, i thought that the police had the power to ask protesters, protesters to remove face coverings. did it come into force in february this year and yes, it is the case that on a protest march, the police can ask people to stop covering their faces, interesting that that's not going on here. it doesn't look like they'd resist particularly hard again. i mean, i've seen some pretty burly looking protesters out in the united states. these people don't look like they'd hurt a fly. >> well, to be fair, i don't believe that they're doing anything illegal that would warrant police intervention at this stage. >> cannabis. maybe. maybe i'm not. maybe they are. >> i don't know if it's against the law to be on that grass. perhaps against the university rules anyway. but yes, keep your views coming in. and lexi says, i was absolutely right about that soul crushing ipad advert. so thank you for that. thank you

for that. yes, it was. well, this was the advert that hugh grant said was a crime against humanity or something like that. >> and you agree with hugh grant? >> i do, there you go. so there you go. >> it's a match made in heaven, but speaking of crushing of the soul, prince harry has visited the uk this week to celebrate the uk this week to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the invictus games. >> that's a nice thing. that's a nice thing. but yesterday the duke of sussex, who was not accompanied by his wife or children, visited saint paul's cathedral for a service of thanksgiving with his mother. diana's relatives , just a few diana's relatives, just a few miles away. >> his father, king charles, welcomed guests at the first buckingham palace garden party of the year. his full program prevented a reunion with his . prevented a reunion with his. son so he said i don't know why prince harry couldn't pop along to the buckingham palace garden party. go from saint paul's to buckingham palace, not a million miles away. but, clearly, clearly there was no time. >> yes, prince harry's spokesperson did did did say that it was because king charles

was just far too busy. far too busy for him. so prince harry appears to have successfully celebrated the anniversary of the invictus games, but he failed to meet both his father and of course, his brother, too. so has it been a success? >> well, let's speak with the royal biographer, angela levin, because, angela, i'm reticent to say it, but the king could have made time, couldn't he ? made time, couldn't he? >> i really hate it when i hear people saying that, you know, he has just been allowed to go out. >> he's still having a lot of care because he has cancer and you don't do that to a king, you don't say to him, well, actually, william, harry has done this . he's actually tried done this. he's actually tried to make his visit impossible. he's done it 2 or 3 times by giving no, time before he comes oven giving no, time before he comes over, not saying when he's going to be there. he also, keeps on saying he wants apologies before they have a proper conversation . they have a proper conversation. and he often bullies his father for money. still. now, i think

that if you are that ill and you're 75 and you've got to go to an outdoor party where there are 8000 guests and you've got to shake hands and be very polite and say nice things, you don't want something negative to block you. and, some people asked him how he was feeling and he says, not too bad . well, for he says, not too bad. well, for me, that's being very subtle about too not good either. and he has to look after himself . he has to look after himself. and i think if harry had said when can i come? when does it suit you? when are you free? and i can come over and spend a little while with you and let's try and really work through this. he doesn't. when i was with him for 15 months in 2017 to write his biography, he was lovely. he was very flexible. but since he's got married, he is not flexible . he's demanding is not flexible. he's demanding and he gets angry and he won't

give in. he won't, sort of grieve to compromise. and so it's going to be that's a very good point you make there , good point you make there, prince harry was coming to the uk anyway for this invictus games event. he didn't bring his children with him, didn't bring his wife. he clearly hadn't wasn't intending to necessarily use this trip as a as a get together as an olive branch to his father, but yet he gets his spokesperson to say, oh, it's the king's diary. that's far too full, does seem a little bit, twisting the narrative, perhaps there a little. >> absolutely. as you said, tom, he could have made an effort. i don't think he's. it would be a goodidea don't think he's. it would be a good idea to go to the garden party because, the king has to go around to everybody else. he can't stop for having a conversation with harry. but it would, have actually said, well, if i see you just a few minutes

afterwards , i know you're being afterwards, i know you're being very tired, but let me pop round , i think he's demanding. he doesn't give in. he won't compromise. and it's really, really sad. and i think that to criticise charles when he's doing his best is, is, is really unnecessary, i think with harry that he also wanted to get out, to be, to be seen with his father so that when he and meghan go to africa to nigeria, then he can sort of imply that then he can sort of imply that the royal family in london, in the royal family in london, in the uk actually agree with what he's doing and are supporting him. and i think that they had to be very careful about that because they're not representing the uk, they're not representing anything. and you can say, why, who are you representing? they're going away for a holiday , really the sort of holiday they would like with lots of attention and free meals and

nice place to stay. i think it's all about that. i mean, meghan says she's got 43% in her genes of being nigeria. says she's got 43% in her genes of being nigeria . and so, you of being nigeria. and so, you know, let her enjoy that. find out what their lives are like. and if she and harry would like to go and live there would be fine. right? >> well, angela, we've run to the end. i'm afraid we've got to get to a break. but thank you so much for joining get to a break. but thank you so much forjoining us and talking much for joining us and talking through that issue. it's lovely to see such a sunny buckingham palace. sometimes those garden parties , the weather is not parties, the weather is not brilliant, but clearly it was a great day. great day to hold it this time. >> yes. don't go anywhere because coming up, we're going to be discussing how britain is refusing to sign a global vaccine treaty that would force it potentially to give away a fifth of our jabs. come another fifth of ourjabs. come another pandemic. that's after this short

break. well, it's 250 in the afternoon, and the telegraph is reporting today that britain is refusing today that britain is refusing to sign the world health organisation's pandemic treaty. if it continues to insist that the uk would have to give away a fifth of its jabs come another pandemic. >> well, the uk is said to be against such a commitment and won't agree to any form of pandemic agreement that undermines our sovereignty . undermines our sovereignty. >> yes, representatives of the organisation's 194 >> yes, representatives of the organisation's194 member states are said to be halfway through talks to agree on this agreement, which was first announced in may 2021. so it rumbles on. well we can get the view of the head of lifestyle economics at the institute of economic affairs, christopher snowdon. >> now, i remember the vaccine battles when there were when ireland said it might close the irish border , when the eu was irish border, when the eu was trying to stop exports of vaccines that we had bought first. i mean, are we just doing a bit of vaccine nationalism

here, no, i don't think so. >> i think it's i think the government is absolutely right to say no to the who. >> i think the government should say no to it more often. >> i mean, i don't think it's a good idea, to agree to just, you know, without knowing what's going to happen in the next pandemic , to say, oh, we're pandemic, to say, oh, we're going to give away a fifth of our vaccines. what happens if we're the first country to develop the vaccine? again? we've got to give away a fifth of them. and people in this country don't get them. i mean, even if you agree with the principle and the who's always going on about equity in this kind of thing , i wouldn't trust kind of thing, i wouldn't trust the w.h.o. kind of thing, i wouldn't trust the who. to do it. i don't think the who should be given any more legally binding powers. it's a completely corrupt and incompetent organisation. if anything, we should be cutting down what we give to it. we pay vastly more than other countries on a per capita basis , it's on a per capita basis, it's totally unaccountable, and i wouldn't trust it to run a bath. >> well, this is the thing, christopher. you've documented the who's failures . perhaps you

the who's failures. perhaps you can tell us a little bit about why you say the organisation is corrupt and something that perhaps we should consider leaving altogether. >> well, where do you begin? i mean, just look at its primary job of controlling infectious diseases. it dropped the ball massively on covid. it was far too close to china. it ignored and belittled taiwan's response. it got basic facts about the virus wrong , it got basic facts about the virus wrong, it said it got basic facts about the virus wrong , it said there it got basic facts about the virus wrong, it said there was human. there wasn't human to human. there wasn't human to human transmission. long after. it was obvious that there was. it was obvious that there was. it said it wasn't an airborne virus long after. it is obvious that it was. and in previous pandemics, or at least epidemics , zika, ebola and so on, it has been found wanting. it's a useless organisation that's obsessed with lots of things to do with, you know, sugar taxes and things like this and spreading misinformation about vaping rather than getting on with the job of dealing with infectious diseases. i think that we need actually to have a replacement for the who in the long term and pull out of it. i think it's absolutely broken

beyond repair. tedros should have resigned years ago due to his numerous mistakes with. >> and yet, christopher, there were i mean, it wasn't entirely incorrect about everything about covid. i mean, at the early stages, it was saying that masks are bad and it's not an airborne virus . by about year two, it virus. by about year two, it sort of had cottoned on to some of the right ways to deal with an airborne virus. >> it's still quite a lot of disagreement over whether masks helped at all. >> yeah, well, i mean, by year two, i think everybody worked it out. we didn't really need leadership from the who. the point of the who. or one of the main points about it is it's supposed to be tackling these things very early on. and, you know, there is certainly room for international cooperation when it comes to identifying these things and monitoring these things and monitoring these things. i just don't think these things. i just don't think the w.h.o. these things. i just don't think the who. is very good at it. it's been it was bad with covid. in fact, it was actively misled by china on covid, and it was

pretty poor with these other more minor viruses. i think the international medical and scientific community can do a lot better without the who. >> well, so you'd say the uk should just pull out of this treaty altogether and not follow with all these negotiations. i mean, it's been going on since 2021. should we just pull out ? 2021. should we just pull out? >> well, let's see what it says. you know, if it's pretty bland stuff , then we can go along with stuff, then we can go along with it. but if there's legally binding declarations such as we have to give away a fifth of i'm so sorry we've run to the end of the show. >> we'd love to talk to you for longer, but that's all we've got time for. thank you very much for joining us. that's it from forjoining us. that's it from us today. don't go anywhere, though, martin daubney is up next. see you then. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar . sponsors of weather on gb news. >> afternoon. welcome to your latest weather update from the met office here on gb news tomorrow . well, more of the same

tomorrow. well, more of the same pretty much for most places. a fine, fairly warm spring day. it's not been glorious everywhere today. there's been quite a bit of cloud around across parts of the north, and some outbreaks of rain just trickling across northern scotland that will continue through the night across northern parts of the mainland, up towards the northern isles . up towards the northern isles. for most, though, it's going to be a dry night with clear spells, a bit of mist and low cloud. returning to parts of eastern england and in southern england , south wales, maybe 1 or england, south wales, maybe 1 or 2 fog patches around temperatures could dip down as low as 4 or 3 degrees in some rural spots. most towns and cities, though , staying in cities, though, staying in double digits and a fine day to come on friday. any morning fog in the south will clear pretty quickly. some mistiness around some coasts, perhaps parts of norfolk and suffolk, some damp weather early on across shetland, but that should scoot away. small chance of an afternoon shower over northern england and southern scotland, but the vast majority dry, fine and warmer than today 21, 22, maybe 23, 24, in a few places. fine day to come on saturday as well. perhaps again, some of this mist and low cloud just

threatening to make it quite murky on some eastern coasts, but for most dry, fine and sunny , maybe again, 1 or 2 isolated, but perhaps heavy showers over northern england and southern scotland, but generally more spnng scotland, but generally more spring sunshine to come and warmer still. 23, 24, maybe 25 on saturday in those sunny spells. bye for now. that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> a very good afternoon to you . >> a very good afternoon to you. it's 3 pm. or welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. and what a show we have in store for you today. coming up, a shocking new report claims that uncontrolled immigration has been 89% responsible for a shocking 1.34 million increase in england's housing deficit. and it also reveals that only

15% of non—european union nationals who arrived to the uk in the past five years came here primarily to work complete that eye opener, and i'll speak to one of the report's authors, former housing minister neil o'brien, shortly and next the day after mp for dover natalie elphicke, sensationally jumped ship from the tories. she's been forced to apologise by labour mps for comments that she made supporting her ex—husband after he was convicted of sexual assault. we'll have the latest on the defection that rocked westminster and a wave of pro—palestine student protest camps has sprung up across the uk , mirroring action in america uk, mirroring action in america that to led 2500 arrests. our man patrick christys will join us live from oxford, where he'll confront them. let's hope with a water cannon. that's all coming up in your next hour. well, the