gb news. >> hey. very good afternoon to you. it's 3 pm. >> and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. broadcasting live from the heart of westminster. >> all across the uk. >> all across the uk. >> on today's show, 711 people were detected crossing the engush were detected crossing the english channel on wednesday. yesterday, the highest number on a single day so far this year. we get stuck into that story. is it time to admit we simply cannot stop the boats and civil servants have been trying to prevent deportation flights taking off from rwanda by mounting a legal challenge against rishi sunak's flagship policy. i'll ask who's really running this country next up,

kate forbes has confirmed that she will not run to be the next leader of the snp, as john swinney announced his intention to stand as the next snp in the leadership race. we'll get the latest from the scotland , and latest from the scotland, and predictions state that britain will be the slowest growing economy in the g7 next year, as we suffer economic downgrade. all of that coming up and course, one more story and after 100 years of talks , a tunnel 100 years of talks, a tunnel that could link europe to africa may be built by 2030, costing a whopping £6 billion. a tunnel linking europe to africa. what could possibly go wrong? that's all coming up in your next hour. welcome to the show. i want to hear from you. please get in touch. gbnews.com/yoursay your your topics today. i want you to get firing on. we've seen woke protesters blockading a bus ,

protesters blockading a bus, leaving with asylum seekers allegedly bound for the bibby stockholm and a sit down protest. is it time to send in the cops ? they're stopping the the cops? they're stopping the legal removal of illegals . is it legal removal of illegals. is it time to send the water cannon in, even because donald trump and america has said radical leftists are ruining our country is the same here. the home office is digging in. it won't allow rwanda deportations to go ahead, sit in pro palestine protests on university campuses and 100 police are mighty. 100 have been deployed to the irish border to try and stem asylum seekers getting into ireland from the uk. but the police and the northern ireland, well, they're not reciprocating the deal they're not reciprocating the deal. is it time to admit that northern ireland and ireland have got a huge problem with their border? remember, ireland didn't want a border back in the days of brexit. now all of a sudden they do. but first it's time for your latest news headlines.

>> good afternoon. it's 3:02. i'm sophia wenzler in the gb newsroom. your top story this houn newsroom. your top story this hour. 711 people were detected crossing the english channel on wednesday, the highest number on a single day so far this year, according to home office figures . it brings the total number who've crossed so far this year to nearly 8300. that's 34% higher than the total at the same point last year. meanwhile, protesters have surrounded a coach at a migrant accommodation centre in south london in order to prevent the vehicle leaving with migrants on board, the activists formed a wall around the coach in peckham and jammed a rental scooter under the vehicle. it's believed the coach was headed to the bibby stockholm barge in dorset. it comes a day after the home office confirmed that it had started the process of detaining illegal migrants ahead of the first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july.

first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july . a due to take off in july. a spanish brazilian national has appeared in court charged with the murder of schoolboy daniel anjorin in north—east london. marcus aurelio ordini monzo, from newham in london, is also charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of grievous bodily harm. the prosecutor alleges the defendant was armed with a samurai sword . was armed with a samurai sword. daniel was fatally injured as he walked to school on tuesday morning. four other people, including two police officers, were injured next to wales, where a woman's body has been found on a beach. pembrokeshire police say the body of 32 year old sian batchelor was found near pembroke dock . in near pembroke dock. in a tribute, her family described her as beautiful, tribute, her family described her as beautiful , funny and her as beautiful, funny and lovely person. officers say they are treating her death as unexplained and are now appealing for information from the public. voters are heading to the polls today in a series of local elections across the country. there are elections in

107 local authorities across england as well as 11 mayoral races. a by—election will elect a new blackpool south mp following the resignation of former conservative scott benton. police and crime commissioners will also be chosen. prime minister rishi sunak has been out and about campaigning today. sunak has been out and about campaigning today . meanwhile, campaigning today. meanwhile, labour leader keir starmer was at the polling station and lib dems leader ed davey was also casting his vote, as well as reform party leader richard tice, who was also out casting his vote. this morning. john swinney could become scotland's first minister as early as next week. hours after mr swinney confirmed he's standing his would be rival , former holyrood would be rival, former holyrood finance secretary kate forbes confirmed she wouldn't be running against him. if successful, it will be the second time mr swinney, who was deputy first minister for more than eight years under nicola sturgeon, has led his party. he previously held the post between

2000 and 2004. speaking in edinburgh, he confirmed he would be running for first minister to build on the work of the snp government to create a modern, diverse and dynamic scotland that will ensure opportunity for all of our citizens. >> i want to unite the snp and unite scotland for independence . unite scotland for independence. >> now today could be the warmest day of the year so far , warmest day of the year so far, after heavy rain and thunderstorms hit southern parts of england and wales overnight. two buildings in sussex were damaged by lightning strikes, according to west sussex fire and rescue . a care home in elma and rescue. a care home in elma was struck with damage to its roof , while a university roof, while a university building in chichester sustained damage to its roof and power system. storms hit the southeast , southwest and wales, the met office warned storms might cause travel disruption and some flooding, leading to difficult driving conditions and some road closures . and the prince and closures. and the prince and princess of wales have released a photograph of their daughter

to mark her ninth birthday. catherine took the photo of princess charlotte with a beaming smile. it comes as the family continues to navigate catherine's cancer treatment . catherine's cancer treatment. and for the latest story, sign up to gb news alerts by scanning the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts. now it's back to . martin. now it's back to. martin. >> thank you sofia. now yesterday marked the busiest day for small boats arrivals of this year so far, with 711 small boats arrivals yesterday alone. and this takes the total for the year now to 8278. exactly one third more than the same period last year. 14 boats were detected yesterday , suggesting detected yesterday, suggesting an average of 51 people per boat. and a home office spokesperson said this the unacceptable number of people

who continue to cross the channel demonstrates exactly why we must get flights to rwanda off the ground as soon as possible. well, i'm joined now by our home and security editor, mark white. mark, welcome to the show. so yesterday was the good news day, operation vector. 800 officers in a new clampdown. today the news couldn't be more stark and the timing terrible for prime minister rishi sunak. >> yeah, the optics are terrible because actually, on the day that the home office was alerting us all to the fact that finally they could say there was momentum in this long stalled rwanda policy , we with the first rwanda policy, we with the first of those asylum seekers that are earmarked to go to rwanda, being rounded up around the country with 800 immigration enforcement officers involved in that operation at that very same time, 711 more migrants were crossing the english channel in 14 small boats. so they are not

getting the message, that message of deterrence out that rishi sunak says the rwanda policy will be about. now, the government might quite understandably, perhaps turn round and say, well, look , a round and say, well, look, a flight hasn't yet left for rwanda. wait until the policy is properly working and judges on whether this is a deterrent then. but these are the same ministers, martin, who just this week have been telling us how rwanda is a deterrent already, how it's driving people en masse over the border from northern ireland down into the republic of ireland because they are so frightened about the prospect of being sent to rwanda . you can't being sent to rwanda. you can't claim one aspect as a deterrent yet the other aspect, clearly it's too early to say that it's a deterrent or not. >> and mark wyatt, another couple of grim milestones amidst all of this. that now brings us

to 45,000 arrivals by small boats. since rishi sunak became prime minister and 10,000 since james cleverly became the home secretary. it never rains, but it pours. >> well, indeed. and what this actually does as well, with these record arrivals yesterday , these record arrivals yesterday, is it pushes the number of migrants who've come across since the 1st of january to more than 8200, a third up on where we were last year and what that does. martin is it effectively cancels out the gains that we saw last year when the government said that the small boats policy was behind the reduction in the numbers crossing the channel, they were very pleased to announce that the number of migrants crossing the number of migrants crossing the channel had dropped by a third. well, now , as i say, that third. well, now, as i say, that has been cancelled out. however, the government is saying that the government is saying that the reason now that we're seeing

an increase in the numbers crossing the channel, they're not mentioning the small boats policy . they're talking about policy. they're talking about the fact that criminal gangs are persuading increasing numbers of migrants from vietnam to come across and fill those boats. >> okay. mark wyatt , excellent >> okay. mark wyatt, excellent as ever is. it shouldn't be time to admit, like king canute , this to admit, like king canute, this is a tide that cannot be stopped. mark white thank you. excellent as ever. and meanwhile, tense tensions beg your pardon? continue to rise as ireland's government has confirmed that there will be no irish police deployed to the border on the island. and we're joined now by the author and commentator on irish politics, kevin maher. kevin, welcome to the show. always a delight. the tensions are escalating in ireland . the blame game seems to ireland. the blame game seems to be deployed. we saw a tented city cleared in dublin yesterday. meanwhile 100 cops apparently here are being deployed to the irish side of

the border. but northern ireland aren't reciprocating in a like for like manner. does that mean that the irish seem to want some kind of hard border? >> it may sound a bit paradoxical, given that the long, drawn out debate we've had in the post—brexit era about keeping the border open for trade. >> but this this is, this is this is a new and compelling problem. and, you know, we've just heard they're just you know, in terms of the crossings coming across the english channel record number again today that, you know, western governments, the british government, the irish government are being overwhelmed. and what's happened very much in ireland is that, ireland's gone from a position in the very relatively recent past of not having very much immigration historically, having a lot of immigration historically , but immigration historically, but not much immigration. and it's going through the kind of process that perhaps we've gone through over 25 years, which is which is some immigration comes it's broadly accepted because the population are nice people and perfectly liberal and all

the rest of it. and then it gets to a point where people sort of say, wait a minute, actually, this is going a bit too far. now you asked us to move up the bench a little bit to let the ukrainians in and some other people, and we've done that, but we're facing a housing crisis of our own. we're facing a crisis of public services, of our own islands doing very well economically . but its public economically. but its public services are geared towards an irish population , which is now irish population, which is now swelling very rapidly. and there is nowhere , literally nowhere to is nowhere, literally nowhere to put all these asylum seekers, which is which is driving the irish public, crazy . frankly, irish public, crazy. frankly, they're getting very frustrated with their politicians. the politicians have started, i think, to pick this up and started to think, actually, we've got an election year in ireland. we could have a general election in ireland and the same week as we have in britain, even, it's becoming a real hot topic issue. and people are saying, look, enough is enough. we've played the game. this isn't about not liking foreigners and all the rest of it, but literally there is no where to put them. and the irish government keeps trying to push asylum seekers into small hotels and b&bs in rural ireland. it's

causing an awful lot of tension and an awful lot of frustration, and an awful lot of frustration, andifs and an awful lot of frustration, and it's got to that point where you know, something's got to give and that's that's pretty much what we've seen. this week. >> okay, kev. and yet the british government is now accusing the irish of cherry picking from the good friday agreement the common travel area, the brexit withdrawal agreement. beloved of open borders as an eu member state and now suddenly , as you say, and now suddenly, as you say, there is a very real political backlash , big european elections backlash, big european elections coming up. this could cost them dearly. is this politicians appearing to act tough with abject hypocrisy because they know if they don't do something, they're in for a good hiding at they're in for a good hiding at the electoral debate . the electoral debate. >> that's pretty much it. i mean, the way that you discipline your politicians is giving them a very hard kick at election time. and as you say, there's local elections and european elections in ireland in june and a general election by probably the autumn, the autumn as well . but i probably the autumn, the autumn as well. but i mean, probably the autumn, the autumn as well . but i mean, what the as well. but i mean, what the nub of it this week seems to be is dublin is saying that britain has britain entered into an arrangement, a treaty with

ireland in november 2020, for return of asylum seekers that come across the border from northern ireland into the irish republic? now, now rishi sunak is saying we're not taking any back now. downing street, interestingly, is not denying that there is a deal. the question is what's the legal validity of that deal ? now, if, validity of that deal? now, if, if, if, for example, the irish are right and rishi sunak is wrong, then rishi sunak is going to have to eat humble pie, i suspect to make a big u—turn and accept some of these returns back into northern ireland. if the british government is right and the irish government is wrong, what's going to happen then i think, is that dublin will harden its approach to asylum seekers already as as i say, it's run out of space to put these people in. it's giving them tents and it's just cleared a pile of a tent settlement in the centre of dublin the other day, so it's getting a tougher line and what that might see is some of these asylum seekers voluntarily returning back across the border into northern ireland themselves. i mean, ultimately , whether, you know, ultimately, whether, you know, for the british government or for the british government or for the british government or for the irish government, you can't just keep passing the

parcel. this is a much bigger problem for western democracies, for western european countries and the kinds of levels of migration and asylum seekers that we're seeing today is nothing compared to what it's going to be in 5 or 10 years time. so rather, in a sense, than just shuffling around the problem, we've got to address it collaboratively and do something to cut off supply. and that means, i think, working much more closely , particularly with more closely, particularly with northern african countries as well, which is obviously the stopping off point to come into europe in the first place. >> kevin, it's worth pointing out and nobody's saying that they're trying to man the barricades, man the border as they were during the time of the troubles. but if they're serious about that, 25,000 troops were deployed at that time, plus police. this is the 100 cops over a 300 mile frontier. one every three miles. it's a token gesture . and the big question gesture. and the big question is, kevin maher, will the irish pubuc is, kevin maher, will the irish public buy it? >> no. i suspect this is a bit of a pr stunt. these 100 extra

police apparently are not actually going to the border. they're not actually acting as border guards because of course you can't. it's a big porous border . it's 310 you can't. it's a big porous border. it's 310 miles long. it cuts through fields of forests and rivers and mountains and all. you know, if you want to walk around a checkpoint, you'd be able to do it. i mean, it's just it's impossible. it's utterly porous. the issue is we've got to stop the kind of, as i say, pass the parcel. there's obviously migration from northern ireland into the irish republic. that's pretty much , republic. that's pretty much, you know, what's been happening for the last five years. it's got a lot more in the last. the last couple of years, but it could go back the other way. so rather than just keep passing the problem back, we've got to work collaboratively. >> okay. kevin we've got to leave it there. an excellent start to the show. thank you. always a pleasure to have you on gb news. and of course, we'll have lots more on that story throughout the show. and there's plenty of coverage on our website gbnews.com and you've helped to make it the fastest growing national news website in the country. so thank you very much. now, civil servants have been trying to prevent deportation flights, taking off for rwanda by mounting a legal

challenge against rishi sunak's flagship policy. i'll ask this who's really in control of the country? i martin daubney on gb news, britain's news

welcome back. your time is 321. i'm martin daubney and this is gb news. now, civil servants have been trying to prevent deportation flights taking off from rwanda. and we'll turn our attention to scotland also, where kate forbes has confirmed that she will not run to be the next leader of the snp. but let's get back to that story on civil servants, because they've been stopping those flights taking off by mounting that legal challenge against rishi sunak's flagship policy, as we said, and the fda, which represents senior civil servants, submitted an application for a judicial review over concerns that home office staff could be breaching international law. well, i'm joined in our studio by gb news

political correspondent olivia utley olivia, always a delight to have you in the studio here. who's in control of the country, i guess is the basic question. we have a flagship policy. the prime minister has brought it in. some would say he's doing his very best to try and make it work, but there's a feeling that the civil servants don't want it to work. >> well, the you could certainly argue that the fda, which is the union for senior civil servants, is taking the government to the high court because they argue that if the rwanda policy is implemented, if the new rwanda bill specifically is implemented, then civil servants could be put in a position where they are in danger of breaking they are in danger of breaking the civil servants code. now, to break that down a little bit more, essentially, the rwanda bill, which rishi sunak passed last week, says explicitly that ministers are able, by law to override any decisions from the european court of human rights and send migrants to off rwanda. civil servants say that if those

if ministers direct those civil servants to send migrants off to rwanda against the express wishes of judges from the european court of human rights, then those civil servants will be in a position where they're essentially torn between the judges and the ministers. they are obliged to implement policies designed by ministers and passed by parliament. but you could argue that they are also obliged to follow international law. that is the position of the fta. now now the government has come back really, really fighting against this. the ethics adviser, the impartial ethics adviser to the government, has said that there is no danger that civil servants here would be in danger of breaching the civil servants code. breaching the civil servants code . what he said was in code. what he said was in implementing the decision, civil servants would be operating in accordance with the civil service code, including the obugafion service code, including the obligation not to frustrate the implementation of policies once decisions are taken. so basically what that means, the government says that no civil servants are obliged to implement the will of ministers

first and foremost. above anything else, it would be really interesting to see what the high court makes all of this, of this , whether they'll this, of this, whether they'll come to the same conclusion or whether they will agree with the fda that that civil servants would be in a really awkward position, don't you think? >> this feels like somebody's been through this with a fine tooth comb, looking for a loophole ? and this is what we loophole? and this is what we expected and predicted and our worst fears from the ngos, from the charities, from the lawyers , the charities, from the lawyers, from the lobbies, from the lineker. let's call them what you want and now the home office looking for that in the armour where they could say, well, hang on a minute. you know, we might be doing something wrong here. and i talk to a lot of politicians . you do too. and politicians. you do too. and particularly from the conservative side of the fence, they do seem to say very, very often they feel the home office quite often, particularly on on issues of immigration in digs in its heels, and it seems to be rowing in a separate direction to the government in power. >> well , it's to the government in power. >> well, it's quite hard to find anyone really inside of parliament or outside of it, who

thinks that the home office is doing a fantastic job, either on the left or the right. but as you say specifically on the right, there are concerns that civil servants, including some quite senior civil servants, try to frustrate the will of the government, particularly when it comes to immigration and the fact that this, this, this movement, now, this, this move to the to the high court, taking the government to the high court has been orchestrated by the fta. a union does suggest that there might be a political element to all of this. in fact, i think it would be quite naive to suggest that there isn't a political element to all of this, as i say, really , really this, as i say, really, really interesting to see how it pans out, but the government is pushing back as hard as it possibly can here, essentially saying that, no, there is absolutely no way that the civil service code could be breached and i mean, you can see the argument, you can see the argument, you can see the argument that the government is making ultimately the role, the purpose, the raison d'etre of the civil service is to implement policies , which have implement policies, which have passed through parliament, put

forward by elected politicians, by ministers and civil servants are obliged to implement those . are obliged to implement those. how can they argue that that that the rwanda policy is somehow different to all of that? >> there's a trial going on in america at the moment. donald trump, of course, is the centre of that. he's got an idea to get around a similar problem in america. federal employees there, he said during his last term, were dead against his more conservative approaches. and he's proposing, if he gets elected again to go nuclear on this problem and basically to make everybody who works in the federal government, which is their version of the civil service, reapply for their jobs. and if they don't agree with the government line, you're fired. is there an argument for having a not a depoliticised home office, but at least a home office, but at least a home office by mandate must run the same direction as the government in power . or same direction as the government in power. or there's the door clear off. >> i think you get onto a bit of a sort of slippery slope. i

mean, america obviously has a completely different political system to ours, and in britain we pride ourselves on our sort of impartial , all apolitical of impartial, all apolitical civil service. but the idea well, i mean, that is the question, you have the idea of civil servants, signing up to personally having to agree with what a minister is trying to implement , i what a minister is trying to implement, i think would open a huge can of worms. i don't think there's much of an appetite for that in the uk. but that said, if you are operating in a system where civil servants or at least civil service unions are becoming quite politicised, i mean, obviously senior civil servants would absolutely, categorically argue that they are not being political at all here or should should just make that clear. but if you are getting into a situation where it seems as though as you put it, politicians or civil servants are rowing against the direction of the government, then you do have a little bit of a problem as well. i wonder how labouris a problem as well. i wonder how labour is going to deal with this issue, because although labouris this issue, because although labour is taking a very different stance on immigration, it says that it would, take out

the rwanda policy altogether, even if it's working. i'm sure that labour will have its own issues when it comes up against the home office. on issues surrounding immigration. labour has said that it will be tough on immigration. it said it's going to hire all sorts or a thousand more. i think it is new caseworkers. what will the civil service make of that, and how will the labour, if we have a labour government, how will the labour government, how will the labour government, how will the labour government tackle that issue? >> and that neatly brings me on to my next point , because labour to my next point, because labour said today that it will admit small boats, migrants into the asylum system, and that could be asylum system, and that could be as many as 115,000 people by the end of this year. that goes against the illegal migration act, which is the government's present line. and you'd assume the home office would have no problem with that kind of stance because they'd be more. am i being cynical here? they'd be more bent to be sympathetic with people's rights to remain rather than the current right to be

deported. am i being cynical? a lot of people that have been contact with the show today have seen hundreds and hundreds of your sites coming in. that's what they feel. they feel that the home office isn't on the government's side. >> well, there are certainly lots and lots of people who believe that the civil service would argue categorically that it is not being political in any way. and that it would treat labour policies in exactly the same way as conservative policies. it's interesting that labour have now said that it would admit small boat migrants into the asylum system. that is something that those on the left of the labour party, both inside parliament and outside of it, have been fighting for a long time. there are plenty of labour politicians who i've spoken to who say that these migrants coming in on small boats, all they want to do is get a decent job, set up a better life for their families, etc. they should be allowed to do that. the problem, they would argue, is , problem, they would argue, is, is that they are treated as though they are illegal in every way and are packed off to hotels and are unable to set up their

lives in the uk. so it's really, really interesting that keir starmer has now, essentially acquiesced to that position and is now saying that small boat migrants would be admitted into the asylum system. i wonder what that will do to the number of migrants coming over here in small boats . there are quite a small boats. there are quite a lot of deterrents at the moment from the rwanda policy to the deal with the french, where migrants can be, you know , if migrants can be, you know, if not sent back, then stopped in their tracks. and yet we still have thousands of migrants coming over here. what would happenif coming over here. what would happen if essentially labour just opened the floodgates? would we see thousands more small boats coming in every year 7 small boats coming in every year ? and what would that do to trust in a new labour government? could this be the very first big issue facing a new labour government come next year ? year? >> olivia utley excellent summary. and look, i'm no sherlock holmes, but i do suspect a softening of a stance may lead to more boats arriving even than we have now. record amounts. olivia lee, political correspondent excellent as ever.

and there's loads more still to come between now on 4:00 and next, we'll turn our attention to scotland, where kate forbes has confirmed that she will not run to be the next leader of the snp. what would that mean for politics north of the border? but first, it's time for your latest news headlines and it's sam francis . sam francis. >> martin, thank you and very good evening to you. >> it's exactly 3:31, and we start with the top story this hour that the daily number of migrants arriving here in the uk in small boats has now hit a new eight month high. 711 people were detected crossing the engush were detected crossing the english channel on wednesday. it bnngs english channel on wednesday. it brings the total number who've made the journey since january to nearly 8300, according to home office figures. that's up 34% compared to the same time last year . 34% compared to the same time last year. meanwhile, 34% compared to the same time last year . meanwhile, protesters last year. meanwhile, protesters have surrounded a coach at a migrant accommodation centre in south london in order to prevent the vehicle leaving with

migrants on board the activists formed a wall around the coach in peckham and jammed a rental scooter under the vehicle to stop it from moving. it's believed the coach was headed to the bibby stockholm barge in dorset , and the bibby stockholm barge in dorset, and it comes just a day after the home office had confirmed it is starting the process of detaining illegal migrants ahead of the first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july. flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july . a spanish to take off in july. a spanish brazilian dual national has appeared in court today charged with the murder of 14 year old boy in northeast london, daniel anjorin was fatally stabbed in a sword attack on tuesday morning as he was making his way to school. four others were also injured in that attack. 36 year old marcus aurelio arduini monzo, from newham in london, is also charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of grievous bodily harm . voters of grievous bodily harm. voters are continuing to head to the polls today across 107 local authorities in england , where authorities in england, where elections are taking place. there are also votes in mayoral

races for dozens of police and crime commissioners. and there's a by—election in blackpool south voting in many parts of england and wales ends at 10:00 this evening , and former deputy first evening, and former deputy first minister john sweeney has confirmed he is running to succeed humza yousaf as both snp leader and scotland's first minister. it comes as the former scottish finance secretary, kate forbes, has confirmed she won't be standing for the leadership. if successful, it will be the second time that mr swinney, who was deputy first minister for more than eight years under nicola sturgeon, has led his party. that's the latest from the newsroom for now. more in half an hour until then, you can sign up to gb news alerts. just scan that code there on your screen or go to gb news. common shirts. >> thank you sam. now we've got loads more still to come . in

loads more still to come. in a few minutes we'll get the latest from scotland. but first, there's a new way to get in touch with us here @gbnews. and here's bev turner with all of the details. >> we are proud to be gb news the people's channel. and as you know, we always love to hear your views. now there's a new way of getting in touch with us @gbnews .com forward. slash your say by commenting. you can be part of a live conversation and join our gb news community. you can even talk to me, bev turner or any of the members of the gb news family. simply go to gb news. com forward slash your say

i >> welcome back. it's 337. i'm martin daubney on gb news now. new predictions show the uk will be the worst performer in the g7 next year. that's according to the oecd. and after 100 years of talks, the tunnel that could link europe to africa may be

built by 2030, costing a whopping £6 billion. what could possibly go wrong? but first, let's turn our attention to scotland now, where kate forbes has confirmed that she will not run to be the next leader of the snp and scotland's former finance secretary, said that the only way to deliver urgent change in scotland is through john swinney's leadership and thatis john swinney's leadership and that is exactly who she will now be supporting. well, the snp, snp msp rounded off her statement and said you can be certain that delivering on the priorities for which we have together advocated in recent years has been at the heart of today's decision. what does that mean for scotland? well, we're going to find out by going to holyrood, where gb news scotland reporter tony mcguire is getting the latest for us. welcome to the latest for us. welcome to the show. always a pleasure , the show. always a pleasure, tony. so tell us, how significant is kate forbes decision? it seems to imply that for the snp it will be business as usual .

as usual. >> well, i think there are probably a wee bit more nuance to it than that. martin. i think what we have to do is probably roll back a little earlier in the day and, you know, look at john swinney's announcement speech today. he certainly, you know, spoke and great admiration of kate forbes. and, you know, that was kind of a nice and interesting to hear, bearing in mind that absolute bloodbath of a leadership race that we had this time last year. a leadership race that we had this time last year . you know, this time last year. you know, mr swinney used words like intelligent and creative and thoughtful, certainly the kind of language that you see when you're looking to bring someone around to your way of thinking. and it very much sounded to the audience of snp members and media there that he wanted kate forbes on his side. and that in itself is interesting because only a couple of days ago we saw that while the snp membership was hugely in favour of john swinney , actually the elected it swinney, actually the elected it the people of scotland. well, they had a higher preference for kate forbes. so as you know,

many pundits were predicting over the last few days, you know , almost like a dream team of those two would certainly kill two birds with one stone. but, you know, kate forbes ourselves, i think i think she had quite a lot to think about. and it certainly looks like she was waiting to hear how john swinney came to the podium earlier on. she, i think, has taken a decision that not just in light of last year's runner up place, but, you know, with a man with as much of a experience and, you know, loyalty within the party, you know, i reckon that she was probably trying to weigh up not just whether she could win against john swinney, but also what would happen when she won. would she have to win the greens around how would she get a stable majority when it came to things like passing budgets and other legislation? so i think , other legislation? so i think, you know, a lot of people probably think, well, they are disappointed and indeed , she disappointed and indeed, she actually referenced that, you know, that she received a huge

amount of support and a huge amount of support and a huge amount of support and a huge amount of encouragement to go for this role. but i think , you for this role. but i think, you know, if things shake out the way that we think they will. and john swinney ends up going into monday when those nominations close without any other contenders . and he eventually contenders. and he eventually is, you know, we've been calling it a coronation up here of the snp. so there will be no contest. and then i think very shortly we'll see. kate forbes not too far away from him on the front benches of the scottish government and of course, with john swinney at the helm, well, the greens are more likely to vote alongside them, you know, and we can look further afield actually let's look at ian blackford and alister jack. they've both said john swinney is a man they can work with. >> okay. thank you very much tony mcguire for that update from holyrood. now don't go anywhere because still to come liam halligan talks us through. why the oecd has warned that the uk will be the slowest growing economy in the g7 next year

welcome back. it's 344. i'm martin daubney. welcome back. it's 344. i'm martin daubney . this is gb news. martin daubney. this is gb news. now, the organisation for economic cooperation and development. the oecd has warned that high taxes and interest rates will make britain the slowest growing economy in the g7 next year. economists at the paris based institution predict that our gdp will rise by a meagre 0.4% per capita this yeah meagre 0.4% per capita this year. well, forecasters are blaming rapidly rising public spending for holding britain back. i'm now joined in the studio by liam halligan to discuss this. liam, welcome to the studio. always a delight. the last time you were in liam, we were predicting the imf was saying we're going to be one of the fastest growing in the g7. so who are this mob forecasts? martin are not destiny.

>> and the great economist jake galbraith, probably the first time he's ever going to be quoted on gb news. >> he once said that economic forecasters exist to make astrologers look respectable while economic forecasting. >> take it from me, i'm highly trained in it and have done plenty of it in my time. it is educated guesswork because the economy is so complicated. that's not to say that it has no role and no value. of course it does. we have to try and make forecasts , but it means forecasts, but it means forecasts, but it means forecasts should be always taken with a pinch of salt, especially when they're from big multilateral organisations . now, multilateral organisations. now, the imf is washington based. it sometimes gives the uk a hard time. but the oecd, which is paris based, nearly always gives the uk a hard time and in these figures we see the oecd, a french based think tank. the oecd is the economic organisation for economic cooperation and development, which is 28 wealthy countries around the world, of which britain is one, and the kind of

organisation, headquarters and their economic secretariat, which is very powerful, full of technocratic economists , is technocratic economists, is based in paris. so the oecd is saying that this year , 2024, the saying that this year, 2024, the uk will outgrow germany and will grow the same as japan. japan, of course, is the world's third biggest economy. but next year the oecd are saying, that the uk is actually going to grow by less than germany 1% a year, rather than 1.1. us and canada each growing by 1.8. and this is in the context when the global economy is actually speeding up . economy is actually speeding up. now why is that important? that's important. martin because the oecd are saying that the economy in 2025 will grow by a lot less than our own office for budget responsibility is saying, and if it does grow by a lot less, i actually believe that the obr is nearer the money for my for that's my opinion. if we do just grow by 1% next year rather than 1.9, which is what the office for budget

responsibility says . our own responsibility says. our own sort of westminster whitehall based economic like, forecasting body, if you like. then there's going to be less money, less pubuc going to be less money, less public spending, less tax revenue. taxes are more likely to go up in order to generate pubuc to go up in order to generate public revenue in order to fund pubuc public revenue in order to fund public services. so these forecasts are important . and forecasts are important. and another thing i'd say is that the oecd is also saying, and here i do agree with them, that uk inflation is going to be quite sticky coming down. so we may see, you know, a decent fall in inflation last month when the numbers come out. but inflation could easily go up again this summer. and the oecd they now say and again i think i probably now agree with them, that the first cut in interest rates in the uk isn't going to come until this autumn, and from 5.25, which is where interest rates currently are. the oecd is saying they're going to be 3.75% by the end of next year. i think that's actually quite a credible

prediction , ian. so i don't buy prediction, ian. so i don't buy the oecd's , predictions on the oecd's, predictions on growth, but i do buy their predictions on where uk interest rates are going. but, you know, these are economic forecasts. you pay your money, you take your choice. they are politically important. they cause a lot of sort of political heat and light and so on, if you like lots of people discussing them. but actually they are just forecasts . forecasts. >> and we should always remember that superb liam halligan always on the money. thanks for joining us in the studio. and a little earlier on, the chancellor of the exchequer, jeremy hunt, spoke out on this issue . well, spoke out on this issue. well, the oecd numbers are actually pretty much what we would have expected because we've just come through a period where the big challenge was to bring down inflation from around 11. >> when i became chancellor. and so interest rates have gone up and that's squeezed a lot of growth out of the economy. what is more significant is that having started to win that battle against inflation, as you look forward 5 or 6 years, just

a couple of weeks ago, the international monetary fund said that the uk would grow faster than france, germany, italy or japan. than france, germany, italy or japan . so our longer term japan. so our longer term prospects are very encouraging . prospects are very encouraging. >> well, that was the chancellor of the exchequer earlier. now i'm joined in the studio by my panel to have a good old debate. i'm joined by political commentator stella . try to do. commentator stella. try to do. i got it right. there you go. and the writer , columnist and the writer, columnist and journalist emma wolf, welcome to the studio . i'd like to start on the studio. i'd like to start on something that's getting people very, very hot under the collar in gb news land today. and it's that protest in peckham that took place earlier today. a group of locals have surrounded, a coach which they believed was taking asylum seekers from a hotel in peckham to the bibby stockholm . they've performed a stockholm. they've performed a sit in. we'll have some footage of that in a minute. sit in. we'll have some footage of that in a minute . they of that in a minute. they slashed tires, they put a lime bike underneath the vehicle to prevent it from moving . it's

prevent it from moving. it's totally out of control. the service, public services are just trying to do their job, and the locals have taken the law into their own hands. where do you stand on this? >> well, look, i think a few days ago, when the home office announced the government, for some reason announced and sort of trailed the fact that they were going to start forcibly moving people, preparing them for rwanda flight. >> i think there was a sense from all of us that this was going to get this was going to get nasty. >> people were going to be protesting. >> people were going to be, you know, objecting to this forcibly, violently protesting against the removal of people that people were going to be going rogue and disappearing into the system , into the into the system, into the country, and that there was going to be a lot of endless appeals and things. so, look, deportation in this country doesn't work. >> the home office, the entire immigration system is broken. and how smoothly people are going to be deported is well, seems very, very unlikely to me. >> stella, people have a right to process, but do they have a right to vandalise vehicles? do they have a right to prevent the police from doing their job? the

police from doing their job? the police are simply standing by idly and watching. >> i have i have sympathy for sir for for the the public sector workers who have to do these jobs for the for the police officers and all of that will have to deal with these situations. i have sympathy for them, but at the same time, i'm a lot more concerned about the video that the home office released this week, where they are showing police going into a house and arresting a migrant and asylum seeker to put them on the flight and deport them, and people being used as human props that they're in that job. >> they're enforcement enforcement officers . that's operation. >> the police officers are doing their jobs. >> the police officers are doing theirjobs. but >> the police officers are doing their jobs. but why are >> the police officers are doing theirjobs. but why are human beings being used in this propaganda by the home office to show that their plan is working well? >> because if they're illegally in the country and they don't have a right to be here, and immigration officers are enforcing the law of the land and they're filming it, that's that's simply this is how we want to deal with. >> come here. >> come here. >> and you apply for asylum. >> and you apply for asylum. >> whether your claim is credible or not. you. that is the application process you are

going through. will i be accepted by this country or will i not? and when they are not accepted and they need to also accepted and they need to also accept that they're going to be deported and is the way to deal with this, to film it as the home office, to film it and then to put it on social media as , as to put it on social media as, as as as as a piece, as a piece of i don't know what they're trying. >> well, it may be a show, it may deterrent to a deterrent to people traffickers who are then risking the lives of many people who are coming over and drowning. >> you know, we have children drowning in the english channel. >> this is a really, really serious matter. and of course, some of it is propaganda, but it's also a clear message that england, that britain is no longer going to be a soft touch because we've been a soft touch for too many years now. >> well, they think it's a bit it's looking at it the wrong way to say the problem or the enforcement officers. >> the problem is the people who are here illegally in the first place. >> surely i have i have a big problem with, with these videos because i think that it does a lot of damage to, to the psyche of british people. i think that it damages the social fabric of british society. >> it doesn't do that gb news

viewers that they're all they all want the law of the land to be enforced, that these officers are the law of the land. >> to be enforced is one thing. human beings being used for propaganda is a completely different thing. i think this is completely unnecessary, and i also question rather happen. theni also question rather happen. then i also question the policy of doing this out of the blue and going and arresting and basically arresting people who didn't have the expectation that this would happen to them. it's not it's not out of the blue. >> it's we've been talking about this for months, if not years, that, you know, if your if your claim is turned down and you can appeal and they appeal and several several appeals, if your claim is turned down, you will be removed from the country. >> the home office have have now, you know, started that process. i think it's chaotic. i think it's been badly managed. i think, you know, sort of trailing it in that way is only going to make people overreact and spark these kind of protests . but yeah, what we're seeing in peckham is, is pretty, is pretty unedifying . unedifying. >> and it shouldn't be happening in this country. but i think we're divided, martin. i think people are angry and almost ready to, to, you know, to get violent about pretty much anything at the moment. >> nobody wants that. surely

enforcing the law of the land will will stop people getting, taking the law into their own hands. but we have to leave it there. emma and stella, we'll see you again in the next hour. hopefully. then we'll have a bit more time now. new underwater tunnel could link europe to africa by the end of 2030. what could possibly go wrong? we'll discuss it next. but first of all, it's time for your weather. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> hello again! here's your latest gb news weather brought to you by the met office. northern parts will stay dry as we go through the rest of today, but further south we have some thundery, showery rain and that's in association with a front that's trailing across central parts at the moment . and central parts at the moment. and we do have low pressure towards the southeast. and that's brought quite a blustery , breezy brought quite a blustery, breezy theme for many of us. but it is theme for many of us. but it is the heavy perhaps thundery downpours across central parts of england and wales as we go into the night. that's most likely to cause some disruption

in a few places. there will be quite a bit of cloud for many of us, but towards northern northwestern parts of the uk, some clear skies. despite these though, temperatures not dropping a huge amount. many towns and cities , especially towns and cities, especially where it stays cloudy, will hold up in double figures. a bit of a wet start, then across some central parts as we go through into friday and also watch out for some showery outbreaks of rain which could turn thundery, pushing across northern parts of england and southern scotland. two to the north of the areas of wet and cloudy weather. there will be some decent sunshine, so for northern scotland and also to the south, so across southern parts of england , i'm expecting parts of england, i'm expecting some bright sunny weather and where we see some sunshine, it is going to feel pretty warm, but under the cloud and rain feeling markedly cooler than it has done recently. as we go into saturday and the weekend as a whole, there's a fair bit of uncertainty at the moment. it does look like it will be quite cloudy, with some outbreaks of rain for scotland and northern ireland, and some showers feeding up from the south, and the risk of showers continues as we go through sunday and into bank holiday. monday as well. could turn heavy and possibly

thundery at times. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers. sponsors of weather on gb news as

i >> -- >> well . >> well. >> well. >> a very good afternoon to you. it's 4 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster. all across the uk. coming up on today's show, 711 people were detected crossing the english channel yesterday. the highest number on a single day so far this year. and we'll get stuck into that topic on the show. and civil servants have been trying to prevent deportation flights taking off from rwanda by mounting a legal challenge against rishi sunak flagship policy. i'll be asking who's running the country ? meanwhile, running the country? meanwhile, in scotland, kate forbes has confirmed that she will not run to be the next leader of the snp

as john swinney announced his intention to stand as the next snp leader. and we'll get all the latest from north of the border. and students in the uk have set up sit in camps across universities in britain to protest israel's war with hamas and the reports coming in from leeds, sheffield and newcastle will be live in sheffield to try and make sense of it and we'll bnng and make sense of it and we'll bring you all the latest from the usa and talk trump, biden and the 2024 election. huge amounts come in the next hour. well, the show always a delight to have your company who runs the country. how can it be that the country. how can it be that the home office is launching a legal claim to say they don't want to implement the law of the land, rishi sunak's rwanda bill? they may not like it, but it's the law. are they allowed to say

no? is it time to make them reapply for their jobs? donald trump is going nuclear on federal employees in the usa. if he gets into power, saying he believes that they are blocking the will of the president, there, is it time to do the same here? and also those protests earlier on in peckham , people earlier on in peckham, people doing a sit in to stop an asylum seeker coach moving on, the police once again standing around twiddling their thumbs, doing nothing, should they have dragged those people out of the road and allowed those coaches to go on, get in touch? already got hundreds of comments. i'll make sure to read out your essays and get those in to me. gbnews.com/yoursay get them over and i'll read out a bunch before the end of the show. but before all of that, it's time for your news headlines. and it's sam francis. >> martin, thank you very much and good afternoon to you.

>> it's 4:02. >> the headlines from the newsroom this hour, the daily number of migrants arriving here in the uk in small boats , has in the uk in small boats, has now hit a new eight month high. 711 migrants were detected crossing the english channel on wednesday, and that brings the total number who've made the journey since january to now nearly 8300, according to the home office figures. that's up 34% compared to the same time last year. meanwhile, police have made a number of arrests in south london, where activists surrounded a coach in order to stop the vehicle, leaving with migrants on board. the protesters had formed a wall around the coach in peckham and jammed a rental scooter under the vehicle to stop it from moving. it's believed the coach was headed to the bibby stockholm barge in dorset. well, that comes a day after the home office confirmed that it had started the process of detaining illegal migrants ahead of the first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july. first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july . a due to take off in july. a spanish brazilian dual national has appeared in court charged

with the murder of a 14 year old boy in northeast london, daniel anjorin was fatally stabbed in a sword attack on tuesday morning as he made his way to school. four others were also injured in that attack. 36 year old marcus monzo, from newham in london, has also been charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of grievous bodily harm. well next to wales, where a woman's body has been found on a woman's body has been found on a beach, penguin pembrokeshire police say the body of 32 year old sian batchelor was found near pembroke dock . in near pembroke dock. in a tribute, her family have described her as a beautiful, funny and lovely person. officers say they are treating her death as unexplained and they're appealing for any information from the public. voters are continuing to head to the polls today across 107 local authorities in england, where elections are taking place, there are also votes in mayoral races for dozens of police and crime commissioners and there's a by—election in blackpool south

voting in many parts of england and wales ends at 10:00 this evening. former deputy first minister of scotland john swinney could become both the snp leader and scotland's first minister as early as next week, hours after confirming he's standing his would be rival, former finance secretary kate forbes confirmed she wouldn't run against him well if successful , it will be the successful, it will be the second time that mr swinney has led the snp. he previously held that post between 2000 and 2004. speaking at first minister's questions, the leader of scottish labour dismissed the snp's internal problems again. >> the snp are putting party before country and their own problems before the people of scotland. >> so isn't it the case that regardless of who the snp imposes , they will not be able imposes, they will not be able to fix this mess and deliver the change scotland needs next to the us , where violent clashes the us, where violent clashes between police and protesters are continuing at universities

across the country. >> overnight, hundreds of riot police moved in on protesters at the ucla campus in los angeles, and around 300 students were arrested during police crackdowns across the us in demonstrations. meanwhile, here in the uk , students have also in the uk, students have also set up their own sit in camps in protest against israel's war with hamas. students at universities in sheffield, leeds, newcastle and in bristol set up tents outside campus buildings and organisers are now suggesting the demonstrations will spread. they say across the uk . today could be the warmest uk. today could be the warmest day of the year so far , despite day of the year so far, despite heavy rain and thunderstorms sweeping across parts of england and wales overnight. two buildings in sussex were damaged by lightning strikes and a care home was also hit, causing damage to its roof. the storm also damaged a university building in chichester and disrupted its power supplies . disrupted its power supplies. and finally, before we hand back

to martin in westminster, the prince and princess of wales have released a photograph of their daughter to mark her ninth birthday. catherine took this photo. you can see here on the screen if you're watching on television of princess charlotte with a beaming smile. and it comes as the family continues to navigate catherine's cancer treatment . those are the treatment. those are the headlines. for more, you can sign up to gb news alerts . just sign up to gb news alerts. just scan the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. com slash alerts. now though, it's back to . martin. >> thank you sam. now yesterday marks the busiest day for small boats arrivals as this year so far with 711 small boats arrivals in one day alone. and this takes the total for the year to 8278, which is exactly one third more than the same penod one third more than the same period last year. one third more than the same period last year . 14 boats were period last year. 14 boats were detected yesterday, suggesting

an average of 51 people per boat. and a home office spokesperson said this. the unacceptable number of people who continue to cross the channel demonstrates exactly why we must get flights to rwanda off the ground as soon as possible. well i'm joined now by our home and security editor, mark white. mark, welcome to the show. yesterday, operation vector 800 officers put in the boots through the doors . getting boots through the doors. getting tough on immigration today. a totally different picture. 711 arrived on that very same day and the timing couldn't be worse. terrible optics . worse. terrible optics. >> yes, there's no doubt about that. the message that the government really wanted to get across this week was that finally we were seeing some momentum in the rwanda policy. after more than two years of stagnation since boris johnson first announced the policy at lydd airport in kent, it's

first announced the policy at lydd airport in kent , it's been lydd airport in kent, it's been mired, of course, in legal challenge after legal challenge. finally, the government, having pushed a couple of bills through parliament, the latest bill on rwanda was passed and gained royal assent just last week and that meant the government was free to start planning. and that's what we're seeing now . that's what we're seeing now. the planning phase, with multiple people being rounded up by those 800. as you mentioned, immigration enforcement officers that are involved in this nationwide operation. that's the opfics nationwide operation. that's the optics that the government was hoping that we would be viewing. but actually, what many people will now be fixated on is the fact that we had a record day and by some margin, almost 200 up on the previous highest day this year, with 711 people crossing the english channel in 14 small boats. so whatever the deterrence is that rishi sunak

believes the rwanda policy will provide or eventually provide, it's certainly not kicking in as yet. >> and mark two other grim landmarks in these figures . it landmarks in these figures. it now is 45,000 small boats arriving under rishi sunak's premiership and 10,000 under the custody of james cleverly, the home secretary. these are not the kind of figures that send out the message that this is a government stopping the boats . government stopping the boats. >> no, indeed. and in fact, just, in the past eight days now. so just over a week, the number of people who have crossed the english channel illegally on these small boats is , is more than 2000. so more is, is more than 2000. so more than 2000 and just over a week is an indication of what the government is up against and what it might realistically have to do if it's to try to ensure that that rwanda policy is a

deterrence , it you know, if it deterrence, it you know, if it is just a handful of flights, even if it's a regular drumbeat of flights, but only a handful of flights, but only a handful of migrants each time, and it nowhere near matches the numbers coming over the channel. is it really going to provide that deterrent factor? because there's a calculation, as always , that not just the criminal gangs, but the migrants themselves will make. what are themselves will make. what are the chances that they will be sent to rwanda if the chances aren't very high, then, having travelled many thousands of miles to get here, they're probably going to take that risk. >> okay , mark white's gb news >> okay, mark white's gb news home and security editor thank you for that update as always as even you for that update as always as ever. excellent. thank you. now meanwhile, tensions continue to rise as ireland's government has confirmed that we heard reports earlier that 100 police officers may be deployed to the border on the island. well, i'm joined now by the immigration barrister , by the immigration barrister, paul turner. paul, welcome to the show . so many people would

the show. so many people would have been led to believe , paul, have been led to believe, paul, that ireland was a huge fan of open borders. they didn't want any form of border controls at brexit, didn't want any form of border controls that contravened the good friday agreement nor the good friday agreement nor the common travel area, nor the brexit withdrawal agreement. but now they've seen a huge spike in the numbers of asylum seekers, 90% of whom they claim come from the united kingdom. they seem to have changed their tune . have changed their tune. >> well, yes, martin, you're you're right. that but in some respects the this is partly due to the, the, the current government and rishi sunak, trump going on about, they're not going to accept people back . not going to accept people back. now, downing street acknowledges that there's a the irish refer to it as operation sonnet, which is a 2020 agreement between the uk and ireland whereby people within each country would return asylum seekers over the open

border and what we've now seen is rishi sunak saying we are not going to take these people back. yes, there is an agreement, but it's not a legal one, so we're going to not honour that agreement . now. that's the agreement. now. that's the background to why the irish have said that they're going to send the garda north. it's important to remember that they haven't said they're going to, put fences in, and they're going to mount checkpoints because, as we know, given the troubles in ireland and northern ireland, that would be unacceptable to both parties . but one has to both parties. but one has to share some sort of symbol or have some sympathy for the irish, given that, as far as they were aware, there was an agreement between their government and our government to accept people back, and it seems to me that rishi sunak is, desperately trying to make an issue out of this. i mean, i think he's he's been a hostage to fortune in this regard because i think it was at the weekend. they were all patting

each other on the back and crowing about the deterrent effect of, rwanda in that people have, gone to the republic of ireland. and so therefore the rwanda scheme was working, obviously, as we can see from your screen, yesterday was a record day for migrants arriving , and it looks like there are more migrants arriving this year than there was in 2022. >> but, but, but but but paul, paulifi >> but, but, but but but paul, paul, if i could interject, you could equally argue that the irish, institution are cherry picking from international agreements. that's what rishi sunak has claimed. the one minute they want open borders , minute they want open borders, the next minute they say that's not working out for them. so they're deploying police. and it was their decision . ian paul was their decision. ian paul turner, you must admit it was their decision to say they would not accept the terms of the rwanda deal and therefore the united kingdom was not a safe country. that was their decision that wasn't rishi sunaks decision. and so now you could say they're being hung by their own petard because they made

their country singularly safe in their country singularly safe in the eyes of people flooding over the eyes of people flooding over the border . this the eyes of people flooding over the border. this is on them, not rishi sunak. >> well, in that regard, martin, i'd agree with you. i think that. but yes , that is a that. but yes, that is a consequence of what has happened. but this is a consequence of the irish high court finding that the uk is not a safe third country, much the same as this . the supreme court same as this. the supreme court in the uk found that rwanda was not a safe third country. so yes, we have the irish have got there by putting us in the same boat as rwanda . but you are boat as rwanda. but you are right, this is a consequence of what i would say. it's a consequence of the irish, adhenng consequence of the irish, adhering more to their international obligations that we are , and yes, making we are, and yes, making themselves more attractive to people that are very desperate. >> yeah. and now, paul, suddenly, when it's going down like a cup of cold, sick with the irish electorate who are absolutely sick to the back teeth, have seen protests across dublin. we've seen arson attacks. we've seen ordinary families being branded as far

right by the leaders, by the police, by the media. they simply want to take back control of their borders in the face of an overwhelming public revolt against a very unpopular policy from the leadership. they're suddenly acting tough because they know , paul, that there are they know, paul, that there are elections coming up in june , elections coming up in june, european elections and the pro strong control of borders parties are expected to make safe gains. and suddenly the irish institution realised they may have backed the wrong horse . may have backed the wrong horse. >> that's one way of looking at it. it's entirely reasonable way . another way of looking at it would be that the irish are only in this position because rishi sunakis in this position because rishi sunak is seeking to undo the 2020 deal, which would have meant that the uk could have taken people back and the 2020 deal was essentially post—brexit. so rishi sunak has scored a point, if you like, by playing tough with the irish. but it's not. why should we play this? >> why should we take people back from ireland when we can't send people back to france? if

these international treaties and obugafions these international treaties and obligations exist, surely it must work both ways . must work both ways. >> well, ireland's not france and there is a common border and and there is a common border and a common history. very close one. and there is an agreement that, as i say, is referred to as operation sonnet. between 18 the uk and the irish to facilitate , the common travel facilitate, the common travel area which we share with ireland, which we don't share with the eu. and that's an important distinction . we have important distinction. we have this, common travel area, including united kingdom and the repubuc including united kingdom and the republic of ireland. and in order for that to work well , all order for that to work well, all the uk and irish governments reached an agreement which was enforced by operation sonnet, whereby they could, irrespective of eu laws and eu conventions , of eu laws and eu conventions, return people from both sides of the border. so yes, i can see at first glance why it's good for the goose, good for the gander. but the uk and ireland have a very close and special relationship and have reached an agreement which rishi sunak is seeking to undo and i would say

undo for political reasons. >> well , and i undo for political reasons. >> well, and i made my point that it was the irish premierships decision to declare the united kingdom wasn't a safe country. and some may argue, paul turner, you reap what you sow. nevertheless, thank you for joining us. >> pull you up on that, martin. i'll just pull you up on that. it was the irish high court, not the irish president. i think they were very unhappy with the high court's decision. >> but but but the deputy, the deputy premier blamed the uk and presumably could have overturned that legislation or done something about it. they chose not to. and now here we are in a border stand off paul turner. we simply have to leave it there. we've run out of time, but thank you for joining we've run out of time, but thank you forjoining us. fantastic debate. we'll have lots more on that story, of course, at 5:00. and there's plenty of coverage on our website, gbnews.com. and you've helped to make it the fastest growing national news website in the country. now, don't miss out on your chance to win a £10,000 greek cruise, a luxury travel bundle and a whopping £10,000 in tax free cash, it's our biggest prize of

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.com. forward slash win. please check the closing time if listening or watching on demand. good luck . good luck. >> now remember the good old days when the civil service used to be impartial? well, now one of their unions is taking legal action against the government to stop rwanda flights from taking off. plus, stay tuned to hear about the labour party's soft touch plans for immigration. i'm martin daubney on gb news. britain's news channel

welcome back. it's 423 now. coming up, we'll turn our attention to scotland. where kate forbes has confirmed that she will not run to be the next leader of the snp. but before that, civil servants have been trying to prevent deportation flights taken off for rwanda. i'm martin daubney on gb views. i'm joined in the studio now by olivia utley to discuss this . now, back

utley to discuss this. now, back in the good old days, it used to be a case. the civil service was meant to be politically neutral in this instance, it appears that they're not. what's the detail? >> well, what's happened is that the government introduced the rwanda bill last week, and under a clause in that rwanda bill, ministers can ignore injunctions from, judges from the european court of human rights and send migrants to rwanda. basically, this bill overrules these international laws. now, ministers obviously instruct civil servants to carry out their policies . but civil their policies. but civil servants, or at least the fda, the union which represents senior civil servants, is worried that once this bill is implemented, civil servants will be in an awkward position under the civil service code . they are the civil service code. they are obuged the civil service code. they are obliged to obey the will of ministers to implement policies that have been passed in parliament, but they are also obuged parliament, but they are also obliged to follow international law . now, if the will of law. now, if the will of ministers is, which is , you

ministers is, which is, you know, the will of the people, because ministers are elected , because ministers are elected, politicians comes up against the will of judges in strasbourg. then civil servants worry that they will be in danger of breaking the civil service code if they follow ministers instructions. now the government has said categorically that civil servants would not be in danger of breaking the civil service code. the government argues that the civil service is there to implement policies , there to implement policies, passed through parliament by ministers. so the civil servants one and only job is to get those policies up and running. but the fta disagrees. and they are now taking the issue to the high court. be really interesting to see what the high court makes all of this and the fact that it's a union involved here would suggest that there is a level of politicising portion of the decision. >> unions don't tend to be conservative in their political output, and it begs the next question is it time donald trump

has said that he will do this in america? if he is re—elected, he'll go nuclear on this situation. he said in america that federal employees similar situation to civil servants here were dead against a lot of his more radical plans on border control. on the economy. he's going to make them all reapply for their own jobs. going to make them all reapply for their own jobs . and if for their own jobs. and if they're not in line, falling in line with the direction of travel of the ruling constitution, the republican party, the president, he's going to make them he's going to kick them out. so is there any prospect that that could happen in britain? it's like if you want to be a civil servant, you need to actually do your job and do as the government wants rather than trying to derail it all the time. >> i don't think there's an appetite in britain yet for civil servants who have to sign up wholesale to government ideas, but there is definitely some disquiet in government and on the conservative benches with the idea that there are some civil servants and some very senior civil servants , perhaps

senior civil servants, perhaps particularly in the home office, who are actively now trying to frustrate the will of ministers and, by implication, the will of the people. it'll be really interesting to see if labour has the same problem when it gets into government . it's very into government. it's very difficult to find anyone at the moment who believes that the home office is, is doing a good job. is that because the home office has just become too big, too unruly as lots of people argue and is essentially impossible to, to to, function smoothly? or is it because there are senior civil servants who are senior civil servants who are deliberately rowing against the will of parliament, the will of the government? we will find out if and when labour gets into power , because then there will power, because then there will either be the same sort of friction that we're seeing at the moment, or magically labour policies will just sail through to implementation phase. >> and priti patel , in her to implementation phase. >> and priti patel, in her time as home secretary, suella braverman, robert jenrick on immigration, they constantly said they were running into obstacles within the home office that may or may not be true. it

may be a foil, may be an excuse, but they said it. and that bnngs but they said it. and that brings us neatly on to another story today , olivia. labour's story today, olivia. labour's asylum plan allegedly , they have asylum plan allegedly, they have now clarified that the illegal migration act, which at present passed in july last year effectively bars anyone who comes to the uk illegally from claiming asylum will be overturned if the labour party gets into power. that could be as many as an extra 115,000 arriving illegally by dinghy allowed to claim asylum. >> i think one of the most obvious, and very quick changes to britain that we will see if we do get a labour government is changes to the immigration system. this announcement that illegal migrants could now claim of small boat migrants, that is, could now claim asylum under asylum laws under a labour government is very very different really a lot of clear blue water between labour and the conservatives on that. and it's not the only place where labour and the conservatives now are completely at odds on

immigration. the labour party has said that even if the rwanda scheme is up and running, working really well, by the time labour gets into power, they would dismantle it completely. what effect will that have on the number of migrants coming over here? labour's plan to tackle it is to employ a thousand new caseworkers. well, conservative mps i've spoken to say that more pen pushers is the absolute last thing we need, but perhaps with a more operational home office with, you know, dare i say, a home office, which is more, conducive to, to the government . it might be that government. it might be that actually immigration falls under laboun actually immigration falls under labour. we'll have to wait and see. >> and all those extra pen pushers, of course, if their job is to simply sign people into the country because they're allowed to apply for asylum. olivia begs the question . that's olivia begs the question. that's not much of a deterrent. that's more of a kind of is that rolling out the red carpet? >> well, it'll be really interesting to see how it all comes into play. you could argue that at the moment,

comes into play. you could argue that at the moment , there are that at the moment, there are all sorts of theoretical deterrents to migrants coming over here. you can be pushed onto a barge in the middle of nowhere. you can be you won't be able to stay in your cushy hotel for a while. you might even be deported to rwanda. and yet, day after day, there are more and more migrants coming over here. in fact, in the last week, there was a record number of migrants coming over here. so yvette cooper and keir starmer would argue the tory way hasn't worked. it's time to try something new. >> fair point. something new. >> fair point . olivia utley >> fair point. olivia utley always a pleasure, never a chore. thanks for joining always a pleasure, never a chore. thanks forjoining me in the studio now. loads more still to come between now and 5:00, including the big news this afternoon from north of the border. and that is kate forbes has pulled out of the snp leadership race, and she's now thrown her weight behind john swinney. all the scottish nationalists scraping the bottom of the barrel. will it be business as usual? don't go anywhere. but first it's your latest news headlines with sam francis . francis. >> very good afternoon. 4.30 a

recap of the headlines this half houn recap of the headlines this half hour. the daily number of migrants arriving in the uk in small boats has hit a new eight month high. 711 people were detected crossing the channel on wednesday , which brings the wednesday, which brings the total number who've made the journey since january to nearly 8300, according to home office figures. that's up 34% compared to the same period last year. meanwhile, police have made a number of arrests in south london, where activists surrounded a coach in order to stop the vehicle from leaving with migrants on board. the protesters had formed a wall around the coach in peckham, which was taking asylum seekers from a hotel to the bibby stockholm barge in dorset. it comes a day after the home office had confirmed that it had started the process of detaining illegal migrants ahead of the first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july. first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july . a due to take off in july. a spanish brazilian dual national has appeared in court charged with the murder of a 14 year old boy in northeast london. 36 year old marcus monzo, from newham,

is also charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of grievous bodily harm. daniel anjorin was fatally stabbed in a sword attack on tuesday morning as he made his way to school. four others were also injured in the attack. voters are continuing to head to the polls today. across 107 local authorities in england, where elections are taking place . there are also votes in mayoral races for dozens of police and crime commissioners. and there's a by—election in blackpool south. voting in many parts of england and wales ends at 10:00 tonight. and in the us, violent clashes between police and protesters are continuing at universities across the country . universities across the country. hundreds of riot police moved in on protesters at the ucla campus in los angeles overnight, and around 300 people were arrested dunng around 300 people were arrested during police crackdowns . during police crackdowns. meanwhile, here in the uk, students have also set up sit in camps in protest against israel's war with hamas students

in sheffield, leeds, newcastle and in bristol set up tents outside their campus buildings , outside their campus buildings, and organisers are now suggesting those demonstrations could spread across the rest of the uk . for the latest stories, the uk. for the latest stories, sign up to gb news alerts . you sign up to gb news alerts. you can scan the qr code on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts

i >> welcome back. it's 4.36. i'm martin daubney, and this is gb news. now coming up, i'll show you the woke british university students setting up camps in protest, of course, about the war in gaza. and we'll cross live to sheffield shortly . but live to sheffield shortly. but first, let's turn our attention to scotland now, where kate forbes has confirmed that she will not run to be the next leader of the snp and scotland's

former finance secretary said that the only way to deliver urgent change in scotland is through john swinney's leadership, and that is exactly who she will now be supporting. well, the snp msp rounded off her statement and said you can be certain that delivering on the priorities for which we have together advocated in recent years has been at the heart of today's decision. well, let's cross now to our reporter , tony cross now to our reporter, tony mcguire, who joins us from outside holyrood in scotland. tony, welcome to the show . tony, welcome to the show. >> good afternoon. i am here, still outside holyrood, parliament in edinburgh, and not long ago we heard that kate forbes, last year's runner up to humza yousaf in the snp leadership race, will not be seeking a run again this year. this just came hours after we heard from john swinney, nicola sturgeon's former deputy first minister, who indeed will be looking to replace humza yousaf now. he himself was actually

previous leader of the scottish national party and led the snp into a european election back in 2003, which unfortunately at the time did not work out so well for him. but he will be looking for him. but he will be looking for a second bite at the cherry now. and you know, he brings with himself a huge support from the snp party in and of itself. now what is interesting is he is also recognised the merits , the also recognised the merits, the qualities, if you like, of kate forbes . and he was using forbes. and he was using language to describe her like intelligent and creative, and it sounds very much like he has her pegged sounds very much like he has her pegged for a real top spot in his government if and when he is elected as the leader. now, we're about halfway through the nomination process. i've got to say, over the last few days there were some other names, smaller names like neil grey and jenny gilruth, which very quickly lined up behind john

swinney, along with the rest of humza yousaf's cabinet, quite frankly. and if any other names were to come out to stand against john swinney, well , were to come out to stand against john swinney, well, i think the safe to say that they would be coming out of left field now. kate forbes, she identified that actually, well, on paper they have very different views. john swinney is very much, you know, dare i say it, the continuity candidate and kate forbes this time hasn't used her. her big phrase from last year continuity won't cut it and it looks like she's going to give it a chance. she's actually identified some things that she has in common with john swinney, and she hopes that they can work on them together. things like the net zero target, things like the economy and very much work together to bring scotland ever closer to, of course, their unified goal of independence . but for now, the independence. but for now, the first big test on the horizon is, of course , that general is, of course, that general election. but yet on monday next week, we'll find out whether

there has been any other nominations. but it looks like today could have been humza yousaf's final qus. and next week, around this time , we could week, around this time, we could be recognising john swinney as scotland's next first minister. >> thank you, tony mcguire. there is outside holyrood now. you've been getting in touch in your droves today via gb news for.com you all say and the one topic that's really got you going is that protest in peckham, where a group of locals have surrounded a coach that was meant to be taken asylum seekers, apparently to the bibby stockholm they wouldn't let it go. and a common theme , it has go. and a common theme, it has to be said, is the mighty water cannon . you don't seem to have cannon. you don't seem to have a great deal of sympathy. let's start with this one. susan harris. very amusing sending the coppers the water cannon, the sas, and even jim dale with a megaphone. then they have the choice of disbursement or being bored to death. it's a bit harsh, susan. i think jim dale is a cracking gentleman and a good sport , but, ann sewell adds

good sport, but, ann sewell adds this. while the police talking to the protesters. and why are they all wearing masks ? i they all wearing masks? i thought face coverings were illegal. and here's another one from heather cameron again. why are their faces covered? it's either cowardice or they're scared of being identified by their parent. s jake adds this it's nice of their bosses to give them a day off, isn't it? do any of these people work? and susan harris, echoing that theme i mentioned earlier , says, get i mentioned earlier, says, get the water cannons down to peckham. they all look as though they could do with a good wash . they could do with a good wash. so not much charity amongst you towards those protests in peckham. i'll be discussing that with our panel coming up shortly, and also we'll be cutting to the sheffield university because there's a sit in protest there and students across the land or copying events in america. but their protests aren't quite as intimidating yet. have these people been radicalised by bad

actors? is it time to send in the police to our campuses like they have done in america? are we debating that next? i'm martin daubney on gb

welcome back 445 is your time. i'm martin daubney on gb news now. coming up. ireland. were planning to send police officers to the border to stop migrants entering the country from britain. so will there be a hard border? and is the good friday agreement under threat? i'll speak to the experts. but first, students in the uk have set up sit in camps across universities in britain to protest. of course, israel's war with hamas . course, israel's war with hamas. and there are reports coming in from leeds, sheffield and newcastle. and this is after 300 people, of course, were arrested in the us over pro—palestinian protesters yesterday. so what is going on with all of these protest ? while our gb news protest? while our gb news reporter anna riley joins us

now. anna, welcome to the show. i believe you're at sheffield university. vie what's it all about? what are they telling you ? >> 7- >> good ? >> good afternoon. 7 >> good afternoon. martin yes, here. it's a group called the sheffield campus coalition for palestine that has set up a number of tents and a large gazebo outside the student union at the university of sheffield. the sit in protest is being done also in partnership with sheffield hallam university and the groups made up of both students and staff from both universities . they've got a universities. they've got a number of signs and placards. they're flying the palestinian flag in this tent type encampment. they're also speaking on a megaphone to people that are coming past that chant of from the river to the sea. they're blaming sheffield university for their part in what they say is arming israel by funding weapons that israel

are using in the conflicts that's ongoing thing. and of course, a number of them as well , are also wearing face masks as part of their protest . but in part of their protest. but in contrast to what we've seen in america from what i saw this afternoon, it's all been very peaceful there. and it's of course, like you said, it's not just sheffield, it's a number of universities that are taking part in this action. russell group, universities, it all started yesterday. and after what we saw in, yale university and other universities in america . yeah. so far here, it's america. yeah. so far here, it's in manchester, leeds, bristol, newcastle as well as sheffield with morecambe due to be set up in universities including lancaster , swansea and lancaster, swansea and edinburgh. these activists from across all these universities are saying they won't leave the campuses until universities, which they accuse of being complicit in genocide, meet demands including ending

investment in israeli companies and in defence companies that sell equipment to israel . this sell equipment to israel. this all started yesterday as part of other may day events organised by, a trade union groups, and there was a blockade of the department of business and trade in london as well. anti—semitism monitoring organisations in britain have said that these sit in protests are likely to be smaller and less confrontational to what we've seen in america. and of course , there's been and of course, there's been several protests in british campuses since hamas's attack on october the 7th. >> okay, anna riley, live there at sheffield university. thank you for that report and try and make sense of that. now, back in the studio , i'm joined by my the studio, i'm joined by my smashing stellar panel, literally stella chatty and also emma wolf. thank you forjoining emma wolf. thank you for joining us in the studio. can you try and make me help me make sense of that? how can sheffield

university be complicit in genocide in in gaza? how? >> martin, i was going to say make that make sense, because frankly, it's very telling , frankly, it's very telling, isn't it, that this is these protests, it's sort of contagion from the us, from those ivy league universities that we saw now spreading to the russell group, universities . this now spreading to the russell group, universities. this is very much a middle class thing to do. this. i know many middle class families that go out on these pro—palestinian marches every weekend. as a family. jolly. how on earth they think? well firstly that this is going to have any effect on the war. >> secondly , the idea that >> secondly, the idea that sheffield university, that their own universities are somehow complicit in genocide, it just is for the birds, i'm afraid. >> and i don't know what these sit ins are trying to trying to achieve , but they're not going achieve, but they're not going to achieve anything at all. and i just hope that they stay peaceful. >> stella, you can you can of course, say you can. of course, make fun of the students and say how naive they are. they think that divesting that their universities divesting from israel is going to have any, any impact, any difference on this conflict. but they will be

looking at history and saying, this is the way that that people have protested. similarly events or other or other things that they disagreed with that like they disagreed with that like the apartheid in south africa, they will say this is exactly they will say this is exactly the same thing. and to be honest with you, i see everyone being so angry about these students protesting. and i'm thinking you have over 1400 children who have died in gaza. one third of the hospitals in gaza are not functioning . you have 300% functioning. you have 300% increase in miscarriages . you increase in miscarriages. you have one third of infants starving. you have almost 100 journalists that are dead, and 90% of schools completely flattened . and i'm supposed to flattened. and i'm supposed to be mad about students camping in a university. >> the point is , stella, with >> the point is, stella, with respect, why would the idf, why would benjamin netanyahu? why would benjamin netanyahu? why would hamas listen to a blue haired student from from sheffield ? sheffield? >> and what is the blue student in sheffield supposed to do about the fact that there are so many innocent lives that have

already died , and so many more already died, and so many more that are about to die? it's the utter disconnect between the two. >> and when you list those stats, it's not as though what do they do? what they make it sound as though people like me and martin don't care, i care passionately, i believe that every innocent life. >> i believe that you care. tell me, how can they protest? i don't see what they think they're going to achieve by sitting in tents outside . you sitting in tents outside. you don't believe in protest. you don't believe in protest. you don't believe in protest. you don't believe that protest using up valuable police. here we are talking about it. you don't believe in the value and in the power of protest. and then here we are talking about it. they made us notice. they made us sit still and pay attention. they have achieved their goal, but in america we saw it get to the point where there was an occupation. >> there was vandalism. the police had to be deployed. how helpful is that? >> i disagree with, harassing, especially harassing other students, especially jewish students. i really disagree with that. there were some videos on social media that i found to be very concerning. i think this is unacceptable. having said that, students , young people, they

students, young people, they have to use their voice some some way and history shows to them that this is the way to do it. that's what history says. >> i hope they go out and vote today. >> guys, we have a passionate debate. stella and ammar, thank you very much. always a pleasure. now what's going on with the us election? it's trump versus biden once again. and meanwhile today, trump's ongoing hush—money trial continues. news while president joe biden addressed the current student protests for. join me now to discuss the latest polls , discuss the latest polls, reactions and more is greg swensen, chair of republicans overseas? greg, it's going to be the greatest show on earth when it happens in november. and the warm up, by jove, it's heating up already . up already. >> it really is. >> it really is. >> martin, i'm here in new york, andifs >> martin, i'm here in new york, and it's a real trip here. the trial is, you know, a few blocks away , you've got columbia away, you've got columbia university, you know, upside down. this week . that's a few down. this week. that's a few blocks the other direction. so it's, it's a big news week here in new york. >> and let's talk about the trial earlier on, donald trump on his way in. he was calling radical leftist morons, calling them imbeciles . he said he said

them imbeciles. he said he said they're trying to take over this country. and he will not allow it to happen. in fighting talk. >> yeah, absolutely. martin. and it works for president trump. he's he's really good at these, you know, off the cuff remarks . you know, off the cuff remarks. he visited a police while in new york. he's visited construction workers. he went to a bodega, which is not something that you'd see president biden do by any means. but he went to a, you know, a corner store in, in harlem, and visited a bodega owner who was who was arrested for defending himself against shoplifters. it'sjust for defending himself against shoplifters. it's just really falling into president trump's lap , cnn came falling into president trump's lap, cnn came out with a poll this week showing trump leading by six points, 49 to 43. and that poll was taken during the first week of the trial . first week of the trial. >> and, greg, an astonishing report out today would have raised a lot of eyebrows. joe biden's popularity is plummeting with young people. what's happening? >> it really is. i mean, you've got on one hand on the radical extreme left, you know, these student protesters , they are

student protesters, they are disappointed with his support of his so—called support of israel. but on the other hand, you have a lot of young people that he's totally historically, the democrats are totally dependent on young people as well as as african americans and hispanics. all three of those categories are changing dramatically . he's are changing dramatically. he's down 30 to 40 points in all three. even a five point shift in those in those identity groups would be devastating for president biden . so 55% of president biden. so 55% of voters polled by cnn said trump's presidency was a success, and 61% have said biden's has been a failure. this is a disaster for president biden and can this be turned around quickly, do you think, greg, by some form of ceasefire , greg, by some form of ceasefire, you know, possibly, but i doubt it. >> you know, the president made a speech or a very, very short 2.5 minute comment today from the white house that was not very inspiring. it was it was absolutely scripted. he read it

off the teleprompter. he didn't take questions. so i don't think it's going to work. the violence in the streets, violence in the streets will not stop just because the war stops. okay greg, we have to leave it there. >> the greatest show on earth, november the 5th. certainly going to be fireworks. stay with us. we'll be discussing the full implications of record numbers of migrants crossing the channel yesterday. first, your weather with alex burka . with alex burka. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> good evening. it's time for your latest gb news. weather update brought to you by the met office. there's going to be quite a bit of rain around tomorrow, but before then, the risk of some heavy thundery downpours overnight night in association with a front that's still lingering across central parts at the moment. and we do still have some blustery conditions because of an area of low pressure over the near continent. but i think it's the thundery downpours across central parts of england into wales, where we're most likely to see any issues. some of the

showery rain will continue as we go overnight, and we'll likely see a few bursts pushing in from the north sea further north as well. but many areas towards the north—west of the uk staying dry. some clear skies, but for most a relatively mild start to the day tomorrow as we go through tomorrow itself. then more rain to come across central parts of england, wales and some showers across northern england and into southern scotland. to some of these could be heavy and thundery, lots of cloud and showery rain continuing across many areas , but towards the far many areas, but towards the far north and the far south of the uk, we should have some decent dry and sunny weather in the sunshine. it will feel quite warm, albeit temperatures not quite as high as they were today as we look towards the weekend. and while it is looking pretty messy on saturday, there's going to be quite a bit of cloud and outbreaks of showery rain across the northern half of the uk before some showery stuff is likely to push its way up from the south as we go through the day. and that could be heavy, possibly even thundery. more mixed weather to come. as we go through sunday into monday there will be some drier, brighter weather at times, but also plenty of showers as well. i'll

see you again soon. >> looks like things are heating up. boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

gb news. >> a very good afternoon to you. it's 5 pm. and welcome to the martin daubney show on gb news. we're broadcasting live from the heart of westminster, all across the uk. on today's show, 711 people were detected crossing the english channel on wednesday . yesterday, the highest number on a single day so far this yeah on a single day so far this year. next up, kate forbes has confirmed that she will not run to be the next leader of the snp, as john swinney announced his intention to stand as the next snp leader. and we'll get full reaction from scotland . and

full reaction from scotland. and it's been reported that fraudsters are editing vehicle photos to add fake damage in the latest uk insurance scam. we'll have an expert telling you how you can keep your motor safe and as it's princess charlotte's ninth birthday, we'll find out all the latest from the royal household with that wonderful photograph as well to mark the event. and that's all coming up in your next hour. event. and that's all coming up in your next hour . welcome to in your next hour. welcome to the show. always a delight to have your company. if you haven't joined us so far. have your company. if you haven't joined us so far . wow, haven't joined us so far. wow, you've missed quite a show. we had a huge debate a moment ago about a student sit in at sheffield university. why on earth the students in britain think that the idf, the israeli military, will listen to them in their sit in protest copycat protests? of course , from what's protests? of course, from what's been going on in america where they had to send in riot police after campuses were occupied and

taken over and vandalised. meanwhile, in peckham earlier on today, a coach with illegal immigrants asylum seekers destined they claim for the bibby stockholm was surrounded by a bunch of locals. they slashed the tires , put a lime slashed the tires, put a lime scooter under the vehicle, stopped it moving. the police, meanwhile, simply stood by and watched. where were their backbones? where was the action? who's in control of the company of the country? send your views in the new way. gbnews.com/yoursay gets looking at hundreds so far. get yours in and i'll read out a few before the end of the show. but before all of that is your headlines andifs all of that is your headlines and it's sam francis . and it's sam francis. >> martin, thank you very much. and good evening. just after 5:00 and the top story this houn 5:00 and the top story this hour, the daily number of migrants arriving in the uk in small boats has hit a new eight month high. 711 people were detected crossing the channel on

wednesday , which brings the wednesday, which brings the total number who've made that journey since january to nearly 8300, according to home office figures . 8300, according to home office figures. that's up 34% compared to the same time last year. meanwhile, police have made a number of arrests in south london, where activists surrounded a coach in order to stop the vehicle from leaving. with migrants on board. the protesters had formed a wall around the coach in peckham and jammed a rental scooter under the vehicle to stop it from moving . it's believed that coach moving. it's believed that coach was headed to the bibby stockholm barge in dorset, and it comes a day after the home office had confirmed that it had started the process of detaining illegal migrants ahead of the first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july. first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july . a due to take off in july. a spanish brazilian dual national has appeared in court today charged with the murder of a 14 year old boy in northeast london. 36 year old marcus monzo, from newham, is also charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of grievous bodily harm. daniel

anjorin was fatally stabbed in a sword attack on tuesday morning as he made his way to school for. others were also injured in that attack next to wales , where that attack next to wales, where we've heard that a woman's body has been found on a beach, there . pembrokeshire police say the body of 32 year old sian batchelor was found near pembroke dock in a tribute. her family have described her as a beautiful , a funny and lovely beautiful, a funny and lovely person. officers say they're treating her death as unexplained and they're also appealing for any information from the public. well, as we've been hearing today, voters are continuing to head to the polls across 107 local authorities in england, where elections are taking place. there were also votes votes in mayoral races for dozens of police and crime commissioners. and there's a by—election in blackpool south voting in many parts of england and wales ends at 10:00 tonight. former deputy first minister of scotland john swinney could become both the snp leader and scotland's first minister as

early as next week. hours after confirming he's standing his would be rival, former finance secretary kate forbes confirmed she wouldn't run against him. if successful, it would be the second time that mr swinney has led the snp. he previously held that post between 2000 and 2004. well, speaking earlier at first minister's questions, the leader of the scottish labour party, despite list the snp's internal problems again , the snp are problems again, the snp are putting party before country and their own problems before the people of scotland . people of scotland. >> so isn't it the case that regardless of who the snp impose, they will not be able to fix this mess and deliver the change scotland needs in the us? >> president joe biden has called for order on college campuses after violent clashes between police and protesters in california. hundreds of riot police moved in on pro—palestine protesters overnight at the ucla campus. police there say they've made hundreds of arrests during

crackdowns on demonstrations and meanwhile, here in the uk, students have also set up their own sit in camps in protest against israel's war with hamas students in sheffield, in leeds, newcastle and in bristol set up tents outside their campus buildings . tents outside their campus buildings. organisers are now suggesting those demonstrations could spread across the uk . could spread across the uk. today could be the warmest day of the year so far , despite of the year so far, despite heavy rain and thunderstorms sweeping across parts of england and wales overnight. two buildings in sussex were damaged by lightning and a care home was also hit , by lightning and a care home was also hit, causing damage to its roof. the storms also damaged a university building in chichester and disrupted its power supplies . as some royal power supplies. as some royal news and the prince and princess of wales have released a new photograph of their daughter on her ninth birthday, catherine took this photo . if you're took this photo. if you're watching on television, you can see here of princess charlotte with a beaming smile. they followed the format of last week when prince louis turned six by

sharing the image on social media during the day. traditionally, though, royal photos are released the night before a birthday and it comes as kate's away from official royal duties to undergo her cancer treatment . and finally, cancer treatment. and finally, some news from the world of sport. worcestershire cricketer josh baker has died at the age of 20. it comes just a day after he took three wickets for the second team against somerset . no second team against somerset. no further details have been shared at this stage, but his family have asked for privacy and in a statement, worcestershire county cricket club say they are heartbroken to announce josh's untimely passing. he was only 20 years old. that's the latest from the newsroom. plenty more to come with martin throughout the next hour. until then, you can sign up to gb news alerts. just scan the code on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts .

alerts. >> thank you sam. now let's get cracking into this hour, because yesterday marked the busiest day for small boat arrivals of this year so far, with an astonishing 711 small boats arrivals in one day yesterday alone. and this takes the total for the year to 8278, exactly one third more than the same period last year. and 14 boats were detected yesterday, suggesting an average of 51 people per boat. a home office spokesperson said this the unacceptable number of people who continued to cross the channel demonstrates exactly why we must get flights to rwanda off the ground as soon as possible. well, i'm joined now by our home and security editor, mark white. mark, welcome to the show. so what a difference a day makes. mark yesterday, operation vector 800 officers clamping down boots through doors, getting tough on immigration. today the polar opposite 711. in

one day the optics look terrible for the government . for the government. >> and it shows you really just what rishi sunak is up against in trying to turn around these small boats to bring forward the deterrence that he hopes that the rwanda policy will be. if, as he is planning the first flights leave in two and a half to three months time , and then, to three months time, and then, of course, he's hoping that the message will get back to the other side of the channel, that that will stop people coming across because it will break the business model of the criminal gangs. if they feel that there is a very significant chance that, having made it across to the uk, they're going to be sent on a flight to east africa. however, they are plugged to in what is happening on the other side of the channel. they're more than aware of the debate, and while the government is claiming that the deterrence is already happening and working

with regard to northern ireland, the fact that they say we are seeing a mass exodus of people from northern ireland into the irish republic because they're concerned about being sent to rwanda , it seems that the same rwanda, it seems that the same deterrence effect is not happening with regard to those coming across the channel so in the fullness of time, we will wait to see just how committed the government is to rwanda in terms of the numbers that they send over, because having been in the camps and having spoken to people in northern france for two years now, since this policy was announced , they were very was announced, they were very concerned at the beginning about what this meant for them over the months. and now over two years. they're not concerned at all. they don't believe that there's any chance they'll be sent to rwanda . so the sent to rwanda. so the government really has to show that it government really has to show thatitis government really has to show that it is committed to sending significant numbers over there

before people will perhaps get that message on the other side of the channel and mark two other grim milestones in today's figures . figures. >> it's now 45,000 who've arrived via small boat since rishi sunak became the prime minister, and 10,000 since james cleverly became the home secretary. this is not sending out the message that the government is successfully stopping the boats, is it ? stopping the boats, is it? >> no. and i think one very worrying aspect of the latest figures , as far as the figures, as far as the government is concerned, with the 711 arriving, in fact, more than 2000 over the past eight days have arrived . and that's days have arrived. and that's meant that there is a 34% increase in the number of small boat migrants who have come across the channel compared to this point last year. and at this point last year. and at this point last year, of course , this point last year, of course, and at the end of the year, the government was hailing the fact that they had achieved a 36%

reduction in the number of small boat migrants coming across. they said that was largely due to the government's small boats policy. well, this year they're not really mentioning the policy as such , but what they are as such, but what they are saying is that the vietnamese migrants are being encouraged by asylum seekers to come across in very significant numbers. now, the largest group coming across. and that has effectively made up for the fact that we have seen a very significant rise. so we have gone full circle, if you like, from, a fall to now, a complete rise in those figures . complete rise in those figures. >> okay. mark wyatt, thank you for that summary. >> okay. mark wyatt, thank you for that summary . excellent as for that summary. excellent as even for that summary. excellent as ever. now moving on. the irish senator niall blaney has said the irish government fell asleep at the wheel on the issue of immigration, while blaney hails from donegal, where 1 in 100 people are now asylum seekers. and this comes amid a diplomatic

row between ireland and the uk, with claims that up to 90% of asylum seekers arriving in dubun asylum seekers arriving in dublin had crossed the open border with northern ireland. so could we see the return of some form of hard border between the two countries? indeed, is the good friday agreement at stake? well, i'm joined now by professor in british and irish politics, jonathan tong. welcome to the show , jonathan. the to the show, jonathan. the british government today accusing the irish government of cherry picking from legislation . cherry picking from legislation. it's saying that the deploying 100 police officers around the border seems to contravene the good friday agreement, the common travel area and the brexit withdrawal agreement. cherry picking from that legislation . what's your take on that? >> yeah, relations between the british and irish governments have not been healthy for quite some time, and they become even more unhealthy because of this route. i mean, there's been some grandstanding, it should be said on both sides. on the irish side, this claim that 80 to 90% and that both those figures ,

and that both those figures, both 80% and 90% have been offered the 80 or 90% of, asylum seekers in ireland have come from northern ireland, there's no real evidence to back up that figure. it's based upon a couple of interviews that the irish authorities appear to have done with asylum seekers, but there's no real big statistical basis to it. on the british side, rishi sunak has claimed that this shows that the rwanda policy is working, which begs two questions. first of all, where is this evidence? and secondly, if it was working, why are more boats coming across the channel with, asylum seekers? so, on both sides, there's been some overclaiming here. how this is resolved, it's mighty difficult. the irish government says it wants to send back those who have arrived in, in, in ireland, back to the uk. that simply isn't going to happen. the idea that you hand people over the border, which has to remain politically silent, because of all those post—brexit fallouts in trading arrangements , the one

in trading arrangements, the one thing that the british and irish governments agreed upon was that there must be no hard border on there must be no hard border on the island of ireland, so that's not going to happen, and i think that the irish government is confronting a problem that the british government has had for some time now. how do you address this issue? and i don't think either government has really got a handle on this. >> and, jonathan, isn't this a case of the old bogeyman has been pulled out of the closet. the union flag, bad guy blaming britain, an actual fact. the fact of the matter is, it was the irish government's decision to declare the united kingdom not safe due to rwanda. and they claim that's why. so many asylum seekers are flocking over the border. the reality , as we all border. the reality, as we all know, jonathan, is there are elections in the offing and the huge influx of asylum seekers into ireland has been massively, massively unpopular. there's a critical housing shortage, there's a public services crisis. people are fed up to the back teeth about it when they complain about it. they're called the far right by the

political class , by the media political class, by the media class. it's spectacularly backfired. and now suddenly the irish politicians, they they need to act tough to try and save their own skins . save their own skins. >> yeah. i'm not sure how much you blame the brits. policy will really cut it amongst the irish electorate. it's true that all the main parties in ireland, whether it be, fine gael, whether it be, fine gael, whether it be finn foyle, those two parties, of course, in coalition in ireland or whether it even be sinn fein, they're all struggling to, as to what approach to take in terms of deaung approach to take in terms of dealing with asylum seekers. and yes, there's an election not that far away in ireland. and then in terms of the uk, yeah, rishi sunak is facing an election. he needs his rwanda policy to work, if you look at pubuc policy to work, if you look at public opinion in the uk, it is just about supportive of that policy. but there are huge differences according to whether you're a conservative supporter or a labour supporter. the latter are against it. keir starmer says he'll get rid of the policy. conservative supporters are in favour, a majority are in favour and so in terms of shoring up the conservative vote or getting it

out, come the looming election. rishi sunak, i suppose, needs that policy . so yeah, there's an that policy. so yeah, there's an awful lot of party politics as well as the actual issue, that are being played here. >> well, we have a borderline face off. excellent guest. thanks for joining face off. excellent guest. thanks forjoining us. face off. excellent guest. thanks for joining us. jonathan tong, professor in british and irish politics. please come back on the show. fabulous stuff. now there's lots more still to come between now and 6:00, starting with this. have you noticed how your motor insurance has gone through the roof ? well, i'll through the roof? well, i'll tell you why. a growing group of scamsters a fraudsters could be responsible for your rocketing premium

welcome back. the time is 520. i'm martin daubney on gb news. still to come. has john sweeney just been granted the keys to holyrood? and will the labour party be taking advantage of the chaos in the snp? but before

that, i'd like to go through a few of your sage, but get in touch by for your hundreds today and a topic that's really got you going is those protesters. i don't know if i've got any footage we can quickly put on screen. some protesters in peckham in south—east london, just down the road from where i live, surrounded a coach of asylum seekers who they believe were being sent to the bibby stockholm. they did a sit in around it. they put a hired scooter underneath it, and they even slashed the tires of this vehicle completely preventing it from moving. now, two years ago, locals in peckham, the same demographic i know because i live there, they stopped a van. you can see pictures on your screen. there they are. look surrounding this coach. that's a hotel. it used to be a only fools and horses themed tourist hotel. i go past it on my way to work every day. now it's been taken over by asylum seekers. there are hundreds of bikes outside that hotel. these locals

got wind of the fact they were trying to get them out of the area, and they surrounded the coach and the police stood by and did absolutely diddly squat. to my knowledge, it's still there. not a single person has got out and people are just saying, quite simply , bring out saying, quite simply, bring out the water cannon. there is not a great deal, in fact, not a shred of sympathy amongst you out there in gb news land. i'll read out a couple of comments. neil stephens says this. i'm sorry. just get the hose pipes out. they will soon move. livvy wilkes adds this. get the water cannon out. oh, i forgot theresa may sold them off. steve says this. the police are pathetic. look at them standing around doing nothing. i've seen more spine in a jellyfish . and joan spine in a jellyfish. and joan dusa says this. i suppose all these protesters do not have jobs or schooling. what a life. and again, claudette echoes that statement. just power hose these miscreants out of the way. in fact, claudette was saying that about these campus sit ins you can see on your screen there at

sheffield, there's a sit in, of course, in favour of palestine, of course, in favour of a ceasefire in gaza, as if the idf, as if benjamin netanyahu is going to listen to a gender studies graduate in sheffield above the military might of israel and the western world, you couldn't make it up. and finally , a quick comment before finally, a quick comment before i move on on the topic of stopping the boats. of course 711 crossed yesterday. record numbers 34% year on year up, including rishi sunak now overseeing 45,000 small boat arrivals . as william macduff arrivals. as william macduff says this martin, i'm starting to believe this country couldn't stop a rubber duck , let alone a stop a rubber duck, let alone a boat.i stop a rubber duck, let alone a boat. i think they've completely given up. and jim siri adds this before we move on, it's obvious that the rwanda act is having an effect . just look at the effect. just look at the hysterical reaction from ireland and the eu. of course, jim,

they're referring to the fact there is a stand off between ireland and the united kingdom on the amount of asylum seekers who they claim are pouring over the border into ireland from the united kingdom. from northern ireland, 100 police have been deployed . are we looking at some deployed. are we looking at some kind of border standoff, a return to the bad old days of the troubles loads has got you going. please keep them coming in. i'll try and read out a few more before the end of the show. now let's move on to a story i found fascinating this morning, because soaring car insurance really gets my goat. and it's been reported that fraudsters are now editing vehicle photos to add fake damage to their claims in the latest uk insurance scam. well, the insurer alliance and lv said incidents where apps were used to distort real life images, videos and documents have increased by an incredible 300% increased by an incredible 300% in the last year. this is the way they're rocketing claims.

this is the way they fleecing you. well, let's go now to ex—bbc journalist danny kelly and used car salesman danny. i bet my old son this comes as no surprise whatsoever to you. >> it's remarkable. 5 or 10 years ago, martin, we used to have the crash for cash. >> where there would be gangs of mostly youths, and they would stage accidents by roundabouts and have completely innocent people ram into them from behind when they thought it was clear to move on. and lo and behold, these youths would get out of their cars clutching their necks and feigning injury. and then the next thing there was two and a half grand whiplash damage for each of the occupants, completely fraudulent, and the insurance companies wised up to this, and they've put measures in place. lots of dash cams on cars nowadays that limits the opportunities for the classic crash for cash. so what the fraudsters have come up with martin, they're using artificial intelligence. and let's make it personal for yourself . that personal for yourself. that beautiful £100,000 blue bentley that you've got. i saw you driving around the west end in only last week , let's just say

only last week, let's just say it's in pristine condition. but you, martin, fancy doing an insurance scam. so what you do is you take a photograph of it, you upload it to an app, and then all of a sudden, lo and behold, the app creates major accident damage to your car. >> and 5 or 10 years ago, martin, the insurance companies would send out an assessor. so the assessor would see that you've scraped your car down one side needs a headlight, and it needs a bumper. >> total damage. let's just say 12 grand. nowadays. they'd ask you to upload some photographs. you've got a pal in the body shop game , martin. shop game, martin. >> he provides you a moody, a moody invoice, and then you get your 12 grand payout. it gets even more sophisticated, though , even more sophisticated, though, martin. let's just say, you wanted to do an insurance scam on a £20,000 range rover that had been involved in an accident. the owner didn't have fully comprehensive, so he can't go through the insurance company. he's only third party. >> he puts it on ebay for three grand spares or repair. >> salvage? you go along and you buy it for three grand because it hasn't gone through any insurance protocol. you then register it in your name. six months later, it gets nicked.

the insurance company asks you what was the condition like because it's never been on any insurance register. you say the car was mint, you're asked to prove it. and what have you done, martin? you've gone and taken a photograph of an identical car. but with this, a ai identical car. but with this, a a! technology, you have ai technology, you have superimposed your number plates onto this brand new or sorry, second—hand 2025 grand pristine car. and you say there's the evidence. the registration plate tells you all you need to know and you get 25 grand. there was and you get 25 grand. there was a gang that had been sentenced in warwickshire about 18 months ago for doing exactly this . the ago for doing exactly this. the technology really is catching out a lot of people, but the insurance companies are onto it, martin, because they've even got technology, a! that can detect it's not infallible , but they it's not infallible, but they think that they can detect over a phone conversation if they're talking to someone who is indeed a liar. so they're trying to close all of these, these a! loopholes . close all of these, these a! loopholes. martin. but the thing is, martin, i mean, it's almost ironically funny with incredulity that people are doing this, but people's insurance is rocketing. my own

trade insurance . martin has more trade insurance. martin has more or less doubled in the last 12 months. i don't know anybody who isn't moaning about the cost of their car insurance and that's why because the insurance companies are having to cover the costs . the costs. >> it's astonishing. they're called shallow fakes . they're called shallow fakes. they're ostensibly doctored images. in many cases, as you said, danny, there's no actual physical damage at all, or the damage is grossly exaggerated . and, and to grossly exaggerated. and, and to add, there's been a 300% boom in this. it's the latest scam. how can people keep themselves safe to this? because we've all had those claims come in where i was sure it was only a little prank. wow, he's putting in for a whole back bumper. he's putting in for a whole rear end of his car. it was only a scrape. how do people keep themselves safe? >> well, martin, it's the insurance company. the onus is on the insurance company to make sure they're not being scammed. and if they reduce the scams, then our policies should come down. i mentioned earlier that 5 or 10 years ago, they would send a bloke around to actually, physically inspect the damage. and now because of technology,

they're making people redundant and saying, well, we don't need and saying, well, we don't need a bloke on 30 grand a year to we'll just rely on someone's photograph. so the insurance company, i think they need to actually go back in time and stop trusting technology and actually start physically inspecting the bumpers, the headlights. and by the way, martin, even if it is a legitimate claim, the cost of bumpers and headlights have all gone up . everything's gone up in gone up. everything's gone up in price worldwide. it's worldwide, so if you do have even a minor bug mate and it's legitimate, then you are going to find that then you are going to find that the insurance payout is significantly more than it was two years ago. and of course, if the insurer has to pay another couple of grand on a bumper, a headlight, and all of these door mirrors and wings and doors, then that reflects on our policy. unfortunately >> and isn't that the point? i know people have had their bumpers stolen 3 or 4 times, because the bumper on a beamer can be worth a few grand. they don't need to bother nicking the whole car, they've just taken bits and bobs off. >> martin, if you go on to ebay motors, it's an aladdin's cave. it's a den of iniquity. all rob stuff, all stolen stuff. car interiors, range rover, bmw m5

interiors, range rover, bmw m5 interiors and guess where they came from? they came from a rob car, a nick car for pristine alloy wheels . it stripped before alloy wheels. it stripped before the morning before the milkman's coming round dropping off the milk. they'll be working overnight and it's on ebay and of course, these things don't have indelible identification numbers imprinted onto the beautiful hide of an m5 bmw. it's just there, sitting on a workshop floor, and the old bill can't prove where it came from. martin. of course they can't. there's no chassis numbers imprinted onto alloy wheels or beautiful interiors . honestly, beautiful interiors. honestly, it's so sophisticated. they strip him and they'd send him off to nigeria or something. the actual whole car's the old pillar on top of it, but it's they're chasing their tails, mate. there's so many people at it. >> danny kelly, fascinating stuff as ever, and helping people keep safe out there. always a pleasure to have you on the show. thank you danny kelly. now still to come , kate forbes now still to come, kate forbes pulls out of the snp leadership race, paving the way for a john swinney procession. so another sturgeon ally looks likely to take charge. we take a look at

the ramifications for this continuity of the union, but first it's time for your headunes first it's time for your headlines with sam francis . headlines with sam francis. >> martin, thank you. and a very good evening to you. it's just after 5:30, our top stories this hour, after 5:30, our top stories this hour , the daily number of hour, the daily number of migrants arriving in the uk in small boats has now hit a new eight month high. 711 people were detected crossing the engush were detected crossing the english channel on wednesday. and that brings the total number who've made the journey since january to nearly 8300, according to the home office figures. that's up 34% compared to the same time last year. meanwhile, police have made a number of arrests in south london, where activists had surrounded a coach in order to stop the vehicle from leaving. with migrants on board, the protesters formed a wall around the coach in peckham and jammed a rental scooter under the vehicle to stop it from moving . vehicle to stop it from moving. it's believed the coach was

headed to the bibby stockholm barge in dorset. well, those protests come a day after the home office had confirmed it has started the process of detaining illegal migrants across the country ahead of the first flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july. flight to rwanda, which is due to take off in july . a spanish to take off in july. a spanish brazilian dual national has appeared in court charged with the murder of a 14 year old boy in north—east london, 36 year old marcus monzo, from newham, is also charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of grievous bodily harm. daniel anjorin was fatally stabbed in a sword attack on tuesday morning as he made his way to school. four others were also injured in that attack. voters are continuing to head to the polls across 107 local authorities in england , where authorities in england, where elections are taking place today. there were also votes in mayoral races for dozens of police and crime commissioners , police and crime commissioners, and there's a by—election in blackpool south voting in many parts of england and wales ends at 10:00 this evening, and in

the us, president joe biden has called for order on college campuses after violent clashes between police and protesters in california. hundreds of riot police moved in on protesters at the ucla campus in los angeles. police there say they've made hundreds of arrests during their crackdowns on demonstrators . crackdowns on demonstrators. meanwhile, in the uk, students have also set up sit in camps in protest against israel's war with hamas students in sheffield, in leeds, newcastle and bristol set up tents outside campus buildings. organisers are now suggesting those demonstrations will spread across the uk . that's the across the uk. that's the latest. more at 6:00 from the newsroom. until then, you can sign up to gb news alerts. just scan the code there on your screen or go to gb news. common alerts . alerts. >> cheers! britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news

financial report , and here's financial report, and here's a look at the markets this evening. >> the pound will buy you $1.2503 and ,1.1682. the price of gold tonight is £1,839.55 per ounce, and the ftse 100 has closed the day at 8172 points. >> cheers britannia wine club proudly sponsors the gb news financial report . financial report. >> thank you sam. now it's my favourite time. i cannot hear my show. of course i'm cutting now to michelle dewberry, the queen of prime time political debate . of prime time political debate. we know we got a technical problem there. don't worry, we're going to

soon. welcome back. 537 is your time.

run the final furlong. i'm martin daubney on gb news. coming up, princess charlotte has turned nine today as the prince and princess of wales release this wonderful new photo . and royal commentator richard fitzwilliams has all the latest from the palace, including an imminent return to the uk from prince harry. but first, let's have a couple of quick emails. i've got one here. susan harris, this is on the rwanda being overhauled rwanda plan being challenged by the home office, who's in control. i've been asking the whole show. susan harris says this. martin, i agree . i'd like to know who is agree. i'd like to know who is leaking the information from the home office informing the great unwashed where and when the coaches are turning up to transport the illegals to the bibby stockholm barge. that surely needs investigating. susan is referring to that footage, of course. earlier in peckham in south—east london, locals surrounded a barge and a bus . sorry, i locals surrounded a barge and a bus. sorry, i would locals surrounded a barge and a bus . sorry, i would not let it

bus. sorry, i would not let it leave. the police simply stood by and do nothing. makes you wonder who's in charge now. believe we can go to my favourite part of the show now and cross through the queen of prime time political debate. the magnificent michelle dewberry. what's on your mind? sorry about that. >> earlier i was doing my stretches. >> i was warming up for action. martin, i apologise. of course . martin, i apologise. of course. i want to talk about that protest. why on earth are we letting mob rule dictate essentially our asylum policy in this country? i want to ask as well, post—brexit, is it right and proper now that we're going to have to submit our fingerprints if we want to go to some of these countries, and what are they going to do with that data anyway? >> and a story that's really upset and horrified me. martin i want to talk about the rise of organised dog fighting. this is such an awful situation. that's going on. and it turns out now that, among other things, i mean, this is a huge money making racket. so it seems, and people seem to be doing a lot of this stuff for entertainment as well, which is sickening. but also, you've got gangs now, martin, using dogs to settle their scores among each other.

it's absolutely revolting . the it's absolutely revolting. the sentencing for this kind of crime in this country as well is shocking . so i want to look at shocking. so i want to look at that and ask, what on earth do we do about this? is tougher penalties the answer or not? >> it surely is. and michelle, that will surely get our viewers going. we know gb news viewers love their dogs. fantastic show michelle dewberry six till seven. then i'll be back. i'm covering for nigel farage tonight , so covering for nigel farage tonight, so i'll be coming after you later on. jubes now, as i said earlier, princess charlotte has turned nine today as the prince and princess of wales release this wonderful new photo. royal commentator richard fitzwilliams has all the latest from the palace. but first, let's get on to scotland. let's cross north of the border because kate forbes , because kate forbes, dramatically today dropped out of the snp leadership race this afternoon and forbes said this. i recognised many might be disappointed that i'm not to be contesting the position of leader. to those people i say this, you can be certain that delivering on the priorities for which we have together ,

which we have together, advocated in recent years has been at the heart of today's decision, and she's chosen to endorse nicola sturgeon's former sidekick john swinney, adding johnis sidekick john swinney, adding john is clear that he is determined to return the snp to governing from the mainstream. so what does this mean? does it mean more of the same for the people of scotland? and what about the future of our cherished union? well, let's speak now to the political reporter at the scottish sun, lewis mackenzie lewis. welcome to the show. a significant decision this lewis, in terms of perhaps the future direction of travel of scottish politics. of course, john swinney seemed very much as the continuity candidate. a lot of people hoping that kate forbes may carry on because she, of course, being a christian, much more critical of the gender identity stuff going on, and also same sex marriage. is that why, though you think she may have pulled out last time they destroyed her over this? has she

opted for a quiet life ? opted for a quiet life? >> yeah. i mean, of course, as you mentioned , kate and ran for you mentioned, kate and ran for the leadership last year and, she did take a lot of flak for that. >> and very early on, she said that she wouldn't have voted for gay marriage. >> and then came forward in the scottish parliament back in 2015, that sort of, made a lot of snp , members of keep away of snp, members of keep away from backing her last time, so she did take flak over that, although she did run a pretty close in that race, even despite and this time around, she's, obviously she was very heavily touted to go for the leadership. it was certainly something that she was considering, but she spoke with john swinney earlier this week, and it seems that some sort of agreement and john swinney was very , praiseworthy swinney was very, praiseworthy of her. and this morning when he was making his announcement that he would be seeking the leadership . leadership. >> and so, lewis, do you think

that that will mean continuity for a lot of people ? maybe we're for a lot of people? maybe we're thinking there might be a deep reset of scottish politics with humza yousaf's departing. of course , the hate crime bill, the course, the hate crime bill, the gender recognition act, course, the hate crime bill, the gender recognition act , the gender recognition act, the obsession with net zero when a lot of voters were saying, can we please get back to basics and common sense? can we please talk about the nhs , crime and the about the nhs, crime and the basics that people care about ? basics that people care about? it seems we might just have more of the same . it'll be business of the same. it'll be business as usual north of the border . as usual north of the border. >> yeah, well, i mean, of course, when humza came in last yean course, when humza came in last year, he styled himself very much as a continuity candidate and coming in after nicola sturgeon , but when john swinney, sturgeon, but when john swinney, you have someone who is a very close ally to nicola sturgeon, deputy first minister under nicola sturgeon, he is in their own party for, a long time . and, own party for, a long time. and, you know, he was leader of the snp before as well. he served as

leader between 2000 and 2004. so, in terms of continuity , he so, in terms of continuity, he is very much the continuity candidate. i think he would have been a different direction for the snp. but a lot of people are sort of a steady hand and they want to possibly unite the party. and they obviously see that in john swinney the moment. >> okay, we're going to have to leave it there. thank you. lewis mckenzie, political reporter at the scottish sun. and apologies. there was quite a bit of background noise there. sorry about that . now don't go about that. now don't go anywhere because i've got big royal news for you, princess charlotte just turned nine years old today. time really does fly. and look at that beautiful photograph there. and as prince harry prepares to visit the uk next week, should he be paying a visit to his niece and the rest of his family, i'm martin daubney on gb news, britain's

welcome back 547. the final , final furlong. i'm

the final, final furlong. i'm martin daubney. this is gb news now . martin daubney. this is gb news now. hundreds of you have been getting in touch throughout the show via your essays. and it has to be said , the one topic that's to be said, the one topic that's really, really got your goat today is that protest in peckham. i don't know if we can get some pictures up now of that. what happened was, news broke out somehow that a hotel in peckham, a place i know well, it used to be and only fools and horses themed hotel where tourists could stay was taken over for usage by asylum seekers. a coach turned up to that hotel today, it leaked out somehow that they were being sent to the bibby stockholm. allegedly. we don't know if that's true, but locals surrounded that bus and stopped that vehicle from being able to leave. they simply surrounded it. they slashed the tires. they put a vehicle underneath it, a scooter . and the police stood by scooter. and the police stood by and did absolutely diddly squat. and it's really, really got you lots hot under the collar . let's

lots hot under the collar. let's read out a quick couple of comments like says this. anyone who remembers the 1980s will remember how effective water cannons were , and nothing like cannons were, and nothing like there's nothing like being drenched through to make you want to get home. and basically people are saying the same thing here. jake is saying, isn't it nice that their boss gave them the day off? do any of these people seem to have a job now ? people seem to have a job now? moving on to royal matters and today is princess charlotte's ninth birthday, and everyone @gbnews certainly wishes her a very happy birthday indeed . but very happy birthday indeed. but he's under a week now until prince harry visits the uk . so prince harry visits the uk. so should he visit his niece? well joining us now is the royal commentator richard fitzwilliams . richard, welcome to the show. let's start first with the nice story, the wonderful photograph that's been released. absolutely charming, smiling, beaming, beautiful child . beautiful child. >> absolutely. and a very

self—confident one. we gathered two. one who likes to pretend that she's a bit older than she actually is , and a nine, of actually is, and a nine, of course. and the facts, the facts are that one day she may well become a style icon like her mother, who, of course, took the lovely photograph. absolutely delightful . delightful. >> yeah, you can see there. and also bev turner and i agree with her. she said earlier on on gb news that she really looks like the late queen. and when the queen was much younger. there's definitely echoes there in princess charlotte's face. i think of an early queen elizabeth and in that sense a joyous, joyous moment . joyous, joyous moment. >> but no, absolutely so. >> but no, absolutely so. >> and it's so charming that she and her siblings go to the same school , to lambrook school. school, to lambrook school. >> you know, it's there's a togetherness there. and also, of course, as we all know, this is a very , very difficult time for a very, very difficult time for her parents.

>> and moving on now to prince harry visiting the uk, of course, he's coming back for the invictus games, the 10th anniversary. the story earlier this week was that nobody from the royal family will be turning up to that event . and of course, up to that event. and of course, meghan won't be in tow . so the meghan won't be in tow. so the question is, should harry now visit princess charlotte's for her birthday, or do you think he'd even be welcome ? he'd even be welcome? >> well, this is a very, very serious issue because there's a deep rift in the royal family. i mean, let's be frank , the mean, let's be frank, the sussexes of monetised their links with the royals, but they've also been extremely damaging in so many ways over some four years. and the way you build a bridge when there's a rift, you do it privately and it takes a lot of time. i don't think that in the present situation, i mean, we've yet to see, of course , that william see, of course, that william with catherine as unwell as she is after that very moving video

message, i doubt that he will be involved in links with prince harry. he may well, harry may well see king charles. i mean, last time it was only a brief 30 or 45 minutes, depending on what you believed. but it's a very difficult situation. i mean, meghan is very wise to not come. she's chosen a trip to nigeria , she's chosen a trip to nigeria, which has just joined the invictus games and apparently meghan has 43% nigerian blood. so that visit, because harry will be joining her, will serve , will be joining her, will serve, i think, as shall we say, a fig leaf to hide the fact that she really isn't welcome in britain after the way they behaved in recent years and richard, in a sense, parody becomes reality . sense, parody becomes reality. >> that south park sketch of the global privacy tour, as you recall, now becoming reality with this non—royal trip to nigeria. as you say. >> well, of course, we must also

remember that you think that nigeria is a member of the commonwealth, and harry and meghan were once the queen. the late queen elizabeth chose them to head the queen's commonwealth trust president and vice president. if you think back to their six hour harry and meghan documentary for netflix, i'm afraid in it talking heads trash the commonwealth and i thought that was outrageous. i mean, the facts simply are that they've got certain things going. meghan's now got, lifestyle brand. she's got her cooking and other , activities program for other, activities program for netflix. harry's got , polo netflix. harry's got, polo series. he may find polo is a bit elitist . we'll have to see bit elitist. we'll have to see to get large audiences, but the facts are i wouldn't have said that they were a—listers. what would they be without the links with the royal family? they can't criticise it now, for obvious reasons, but the facts are people do have memories.

bridges must be built when there are serious illnesses, but privately and it takes time. >> okay, superb . thanks for >> okay, superb. thanks for that. right? royal update richard fitzwilliam always a pleasure to have you on the show. now quick time for some of your essays before the end of the show. you've been sending it in. and on that topic of the university, sit ins, we were at sheffield university earlier, of course, in newcastle , manchester course, in newcastle, manchester and bristol campuses across the uk, campsites turning up with students in favour, of course, of palestine. michael beattie adds this all palestinian marchers and pro—hamas protests of any kind , including these of any kind, including these campsites, should be stopped. there priorities seem to be gaza trans issues, banning cars , trans issues, banning cars, banning free speech, unregulated mass migration and destroying the uk. time to stop it, right? that puts an end to this show for tonight. we've got a huge night of politics ahead of, of course, elections happening across the uk. up next is dewbs&

co six till seven and if you haven't had quite enough of me, i'm delighted to say i'll be back from seven till eight tonight. i'm covering for nigel farage, hugely looking forward to that. we've got some exclusive video in that show from ireland , shocking scenes of from ireland, shocking scenes of the clear out of those tented cities . i'm the clear out of those tented cities. i'm martin daubney on gb news now. it's your weather. >> a brighter outlook with boxt solar sponsors of weather on . gb news. >> good evening. it's time for your latest gb news weather update brought to you by the met office. there's going to be quite a bit of rain around tomorrow, but before then, the risk of some heavy thundery downpours overnight in association with a front that's still lingering across central parts at the moment, and we do still have some blustery conditions because of an area of low pressure over the near continent. but i think it's the thundery downpours across central parts of england into wales, where we're most likely

to see any issues. some of the showery rain will continue as we go overnight, and we'll likely see a few bursts pushing in from the north sea further north as well. but many areas towards the north—west of the uk staying dry. some clear skies, but for most a relatively mild start to the day tomorrow as we go through tomorrow itself, then more rain to come across central parts of england, wales and some showers across northern england and into southern scotland. to some of these could be heavy and thundery, lots of cloud and showery rain continuing across many areas, but towards the far north and the far south of the uk, we should have some decent dry and sunny weather in the sunshine. it will feel quite warm, albeit temperatures not quite as high as they were today as we look towards the weekend. and while it is looking pretty messy on saturday, there's going to be quite a bit of cloud and outbreaks of showery rain across the northern half of the uk before some showery stuff is likely to push its way up from the south as we go through the day. and that could be heavy, possibly even thundery. more mixed weather to come as we go through sunday into monday there will be some drier, brighter weather at times, but also

plenty of showers as well. i'll see you again soon. >> that warm feeling inside from boxt boilers sponsors of weather on

you will not believe your ears when i tell you some of the stuff that is going on. and i want to ask you, how on earth do we fix this? because i can tell you the sentences for those involved in this stuff are pitiful. also today i want to ask you, why have we got mob rule when it comes to dictating essentially our asylum seeking policy ? i'm speaking, of course, policy? i'm speaking, of course, of the army of do gooders that through their arms around a coach and stopped it moving migrants to the bibby stockholm

and talk about